I have a TEENAGER!

I can hardly believe that my beautiful baby boy turns 13 today! I can't believe that 13 years ago today I was in labour, I remember that day as though it was yesterday, my parents came down in the morning as I told them I thought things were beginning to happen. We had Macdonalds for lunch and abour 1pm my contractions (and they were only niggly at this stage anyway) stopped. We called out the midwife and she said that she expected the baby to be born before the weekend was out, that did not thrill me as I thought it was happening NOW!!!

We had a long but slow walk around the nearby park that afternoon and the niggly came back, by 4pm I could tell they were getting stronger but I kept quiet, at 5pm my mother looked at me and realised that I was in a lot more pain and so we got in the car to go to the hospital, rush hour on the Thursday evening of a bank holiday weekend, it was not fun and it took from 5.30-6.10pm to get to the hospital.

I was examined at 6.30pm and told I was 3cm - I am a planner and wanted to know an ETA and I was told around 2-3am as a rough estimate. I read up on child birth soooo much, I did not want to be unaware of what was happening. At 9pm I felt really distressed and was told to take a bath which I did, I then started pushing in the bath the urge was that strong, unfortunatley I was almost drowning myself with each push and so I had to get out! I wasn't due to be examined for another hour but I insisted that I needed to push, the midwife insisted I wasn't that far along but did examine me. I was ready! 20 mins later at 9.52pm Joe was born! My first words about my baby? "He smells like raw sausage" (I do sometimes need to get a sense of occasion!)



He was such a scrunched up little baby, face and fists furiously clenched and squishy, he had stork marks up the top of his nose and forehead.

Little Joe was a laid back baby he slept through the night at 7 weeks and has always slept well and consistently.



He was physically on the mark with all his milestones, he crawled at 6 months and was cruising the furniture at 7 months, he walked just after his 1st birthday

He was a fussy eater and would not eat lumpy food for a very long time, he lived off smooth baby food (my big mistake with Joe was not home cooking) by the time he was 1 I was pregnant with his sister and had such severe morning sickness that I had to keep him on the baby food as I could not go in the kitchen without being sick let alone smell cooking! To this day he is a fussy eater and likes very little, luckily he LOVES fruit and eats apples like the are going out of fashion.



Joe was a quiet and introvert little child, he did not start to speak when he should, he would communicate by pointing and grunting, his only words were "want ummm" which meant I want a drink. At 3 he started seeing a speach therapist and was on their books for about 3 years. I needn't have worried, he was going by his own timetable, he was too busy thinking to be bothered with talking. To this day his speech is fine, he has a high reading age and keeps trying to engage me in conversations on world events, I am asked my opinion on Libya after he has given his. One day soon he is going to realise how little his mother knows!!

He only gets annoyed when he thinks he is not being listened too, I can understand that, with the whirlwind that is Jessica talking my ears off it is sometimes easy to overlook him (that and he mumbles like any teenager!)



So now he is 13, due a massive growth spurt any day and a lovely thoughtful and easy going young man. Happy 13th Birthday Joseph - I love you xxx