The ward was a small one of four beds, each sectioned off by a curtain only. Cori's was one of the lucky ones with a window (which made for some lovely light!).
After unpacking some of the stuff and feeding Oshin, Cori handed him off to me to hold. But, seeing as he was completely asleep, I tried to lay him in the cot, and we were all amazed to find that he lay there perfectly asleep.
We didn't have long to wait until the boys arrived with Cori's mum, sister & niece. They were on the first bus available from Peel after the Good News and were with us by 3.30pm, very excited to see the new arrival:
Connie and Jaimie, of course, had come all this way to be here for The Arrival, and so they were especially delighted to meet this one we'd all be waiting so long for:
But this didn't compare to Orry's sheer glee at seeing his baby brother for the first time. We knew that he and Finn were excited to see him, but we hadn't realise what a pure joy it would be for Orry. When I ushered him in, I imagined him to be shy or curious, or just happy, but not beaming-smile-gleeful-and-excited. It was a lovely thing to see. We all smiled in seeing it, and we were very glad that Jaimie had her phone ready for those first moments when he first came in and was allowed to touch this long-awaited baby:
Everyone got a hold: the delighted Orry, who was so excited to be leap up onto the bed, get set up, and to be the first child to hold Oshin; Finn, who was somewhat nervous of it and passed it up the first time round, only holding him after Orry had held him twice; and cousin Josie too, who wasn't really so fussed about it all!
Finn was overall very serious about the whole thing, and concerned that everything was "OK" with the full weight of the word. At one point, he put a heavy hand on Orry's shoulder and said: "Orry, I need to tell you, things are going to be different now that the baby is here. Mama is going to be very busy and things are going to change." To which Orry replied "That's ok. We just have to love the baby and everything will be fine." Needless to say, hearts melted at the exchange.
In that tight a space though, things were rather unruly and stressed so soon after a birth, so we were rather relieved when the children were moved off. But not before Orry got the camera and took some pictures of us:
That just left the three of us again to achieve such things as seeing in Oshin's first poo, and getting it all over my leg:
... followed by our first changing of the baby (Oshin didn't like it especially!)
... and also Cori's first real rest/sleep since the birth, which was glorious:
It would probably have been more glorious if it had not been for the bed next to ours, occupied by a couple of young parents who lived with TV on in the background from the moment of waking up till the point of sleep. It was very strange to have our peaceful quiet first few hours with Oshin to the sounds of The Big Bang Theory only yards away. But at least it was better than with Finn, when Cori was on a ward of six or so beds, all of whom had their TVs on, competing in volume to be heard over the others!
I was only with them for a few more hours, seeing in dinner and beyond, before leaving the two of them to it for the night. (I couldn't stay, even if I'd wanted to). But not before some final pictures of Oshin:
Cori's night was not spectacular, as Oshin had come awake just at the point she wanted to go to sleep. He then refused to come off her breast without crying. This went on until 2am or so, when Cori was in danger of dropping him from falling asleep, so she called the midwives/nurses. Cori was nervous to ask for such help but they were quite nonplussed when they saw that he was refusing to settle close to her, smelling that she was close, and so they offered to take him away to settle and sleep. Cori was amazed and delighted at the suggestion. She settled down for four full hours of sleep, joyously!
Oshin was also due to be in 24 hours, to ensure that the Strep-B wasn't an issue, but he wasalso to stay in until Monday for a scan, requested by the doctor who'd come into the labour ward the day before rather ridiculously. So Cori knew that she had all of Sunday and more to hang around.
Knowing that Connie only had until Wednesday on the Island, she was the one to go in and hang out all day with Cori, and I was to be at home with the boys. But me and the boys drove her in, and hung out for the first 45 minutes or so before going home.
At Cori's request, we had come via McDonalds, though sadly too late for the breakfast (Cori was aghast at how long it genuinely took us to get ready, out the door and to her!), but at least it meant that Orry could join in the photo-taking with his meal's gift:
If he was actually taking pictures, they would probably all have been of Oshin, but some might have looked like this:
The boys still really enjoyed being around Oshin, and treated him with reverence. As they needed entertaining but I didn't want to leave just then, I went and got a book - The Patchwork Cat - from the parents' kitchen, and we sat down and read it 'to' Oshin. In fact, Finn read it, from cover to cover. We were amazed; that he read it so well (in English, not Manx), and that he had the stamina to keep it up for the whole thing. None of us thought he had it in him, as we'd not seen anything like it from him. We were all amazed. (I'm sure Oshin appreciated it also, even if he pretended to be asleep throughout!)
After that, it was Connie who was left to hang out with Cori and Oshin for the day. It was mostly passed chatting, cuddling Oshin, chatting to the midwives/nurses who checked in only occasionally on Cori (as the not-first-time mother on the ward, she was left to herself really, with them assuming that she knew what she was doing and would ask for help if needed, which was nice), and also continuing to suffer the television from the bed next to them!
They did, however, take the opportunity to take a few nice pictures of Oshin:
After a day at the Peel Carnival, and the return of Connie on the bus followed by the evening meal, I set off back to the hospital, where I caught Granny on her first visit to see the latest addition to the family:
As the pictures show, Granny was delighted to see & hold her grandson!
She visited in the 7pm till 8pm slot, so it wasn't long until I too had to go, leaving Cori for another night in the hospital with Oshin, but not before the obligatory picture of dad awkwardly holding the baby:
Monday morning was what Cori and Oshin had been waiting for, to get the scan done, but when Monday morning came, the doctor's in charge of the scanner got back to say that they didn't understand the point, as he had already had a pre-birth scan. The midwives agreed, but they'd not had the authority to overrule the baby doctor's request for it, at which they decided to suggest to Cori that she might not want to have the scan. Cori didn't need to be asked twice and she messaged me to come and get her - Oshin was free to go.
So, over my lunch hour at work, I went out to the hospital again and collected them for the At-Last trip home:
The arrival at home was hotly anticipated. This was heightened when I couldn't get from the car (parked in front of the house) to the door with Oshin without the shop-keepers coming out to admire him. I stopped for a chat and to show him off, as Yvonne in Clive's shop below darted off and got her gift for him, which was lovely. By this time Finn and Orry were making forays out of the door to see where I was, and they were delighted when I did come in with Oshin at last:
As soon as Oshin was lain on the mat, the boys were at him and adoring him. All the adults sat back to admire the scene. That was the first scene of Oshin's life at home, which seems like an appropriate time to leave it for now.
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