Mutterings for the Minority

Back to work

After two weeks of enjoying time with the family and in particular the new addition, it was time to say goodbye to my paternity leave and return to work.  Bah humbag.

I suppose the only positive we could all take out of it was the fact that it was at least some sort of return to our normal routine - which I think is important and me being home too long, could have proved to be both a distraction and disruption.  After all Mrs DDWT is used to being home with DDWT Junior day in day out and has her ‘own’ routine with him - which is obviously quite different to mine!

Just to break us all in gently,  I decided to take DDWT Junior to school and give everyone a bit of space on the first day of our new school day routine.

So here we are in completely new territory…

Shopping again

I seem forever to be shopping at the moment, if not for food then for nappies!

Mind you, it’s also made me realise at first hand how much the price of food and fuel have gone up - something which had previously passed me by as Mrs DDWT has been doing the shopping. I can now fully understand why everyone keeps saying about the credit crunch

Baby DDWT continues to be quite a good sleeper, which is a Godsend considering how bad DDWT Junior used to be. The sheer thought of all that sleep deprivation again had filled us both with trepidation.

The other noticeable difference between the two is that she is far more placid and content than he was at the same stage. It’s looking increasingly like the daughter is following the mother in this case!

The deluge of gifts from family and friends continues unabated and we are extremely grateful to everyone.

Welcome to the world Baby DDWT

Our very special daughter and sister to DDWT Junior came into the world today at 18:17 and weighed in at a healthy 8lb 8oz.

I’ll now try and tell you all about the day - from what I can recollect.

03:10 - Mrs DDWT wakes up because baby is starting to rumble her tummy - consequently I start to mildly panic and insist we call the hospital.

03:50 - I go and get my Mam (in order to babysit DDWT Junior) and the first words I hear on the radio on the way are “Relax, take it easy” (from one of Mika’s songs). How apt! My Mam duly arrives and is as nervous/excited as we all are.

07:00 - Baby was now beginning to get a good contraction rhythym going and it was time to head off to Singleton hospital. Details of my nervous system and my urgent requirement for the toilet shall remain undisclosed - except to say that I made it in time…just.

07:30 - Ok, we’re on the labour ward. Mrs DDWT starts to crank up the TENS machine a notch or two.

09:00 - Baby decides to take her time and slow down the old pelvic thrusts. This meant Mrs DDWT was taken down to the maternity ward to wait and “see what happens”.

11:05 - Things start to gather pace again and we were on the move (literally) - this time to the delivery unit. Here we were greeted by Fran Hathaway and Eleri Beckett the midwives on duty at the time. Everyone thought it would all be done and dusted by clocking off time at 14:00. Little did we know at that stage eh!

14:30 - Baby was still inside Mrs DDWT’s tummy and had seen off two midwives when number 3 arrived, Linda Richards. Linda was going to be with us until 21:00 - if it took that long. Mrs DDWT was getting well into the gas and air.

17:15 - It was decision time as Mrs DDWT was now beginning to tire and was in a lot of pain - with no sign of baby either. A quick examination showed that baby had moved the wrong way and it was decided that the best course of action was an epidural - which neither us were very happy about. At this stage in proceedings Mrs DDWT gave me a slap for my efforts and tried to ‘trap’ the midwives arm whilst trying to break the waters! I can laugh about it now.

17:50 - The thought of the epidural was too much and the sight of the anaesthetist all tooled up and raring to go was enough for Mrs DDWT and baby to get their skates on and quickly. Thankfully Linda could see that the situation had dramatically changed and the threat of the injection went away as we were now well and truly into the final stages of labour.

18:17 - will now go down in history as the time that Baby DDWT came into this wonderful world.

So there you have it, my account of our little daughters journey into the world.

Swans DVD review

Contrary to some of the b*ll*cks spouted on Planet Swans about the Swans League One Review DVD and its quality, I was impressed. It had all the Swans league goals, Roberto giving his review throughout the seasons and finished off with some interviews with the players.

I’d gone for the t’internet order option (£19.95 all in) - so got the Swans v Leeds DVD chucked in for free - rather than visit the club shop. Granted the Leeds dvd wasn’t the best, but the season review dvd was fine and showed that at least the club had listened to the fans in light of previous video/dvd productions.

Was it worth the money? Well for me yes it was and it will be a nice dvd to play when wanting to recollect a great Swans season. If you’re not a big Swans fan then I’d recommend you spend your money elsewhere.

After enjoying reliving the Swans championship winning season, I put up DDWT Junior’s new La Redoute ‘toy box’ furniture. Well he’s got to store his mammouth collection of dinosaurs somewhere!

Exclusive Discount Code

Now this is a first for me - my very own wonderfully exclusive and very special discount code, courtesy of PowerplayDirect.com (thanks Paul).

As you all know I’ve been dabbling about in the world of affiliate marketing for a good few months now, so today was indeed a breakthrough in terms taking the ‘Money Off Shop‘ another step forward - albeit a little one.

Anyway, the code will give you a 2% discount off any purchase from PowerplayDirect.com

Poor old DDWT Junior is under the weather again unfortunately. He just can’t seem to get out of the little rut he appears to be in at the moment. He’s got a temperature, is very tired and consequently is right off his food.

Perhaps it’s little wonder though really, as there is forever someone in his class off school with one illness or another. I do hope he gets back to his normal self before DDWT Junior no. 2 comes along though as it’s going to be mighty tough going with everything otherwise.

Here we are just a few days into June and I’ve now got my hands on my Swans season ticket book! The excitement is already starting to build and I’m eagerly anticipating the fixtures being released on June 16th.