It's official!!!

After being cooped up indoors for the past week adjusting to life with a newborn, we took our little man out on his first outing in the car today and took a trip down to Calderdale Registry Office. His birth has been registered and Dexter Aaron Fleming now officially exists in the world :)

All that excitement was obviously very tiring lol...

Welcome to the world...

On Saturday 10th November 2012 (5.20am) we were finally able to welcome to the world, at 8 days overdue, our beautiful son... Dexter Aaron Fleming, weighing a very healthy 8lb 12.5oz.

Pronounced: Deck-ster Air-on

After 28 long hours of labour and a trip to theatre for a forceps delivery, he arrived completely unphased by the whole ordeal and amazed mummy & daddy with his full head of gorgeous dark hair (we're not sure where this came from as we were both blonde as children)!

After only a few days together at home as a family, it is already hard to remember what life was ever like without him xxxxx

40 weeks (+1 day)

Ok, so it's not uncommon. You excitedly wait 40 whole weeks for your little bundle to arrive... your due date comes around... and guess what, no baby! Not even a twinge! So now the tense waiting game kicks in. Just exactly how fashionably late does he intend to be?

The midwife is due to come visit me at home in a few days time to see if a stretch & sweep will help things progress but I'm keeping my fingers crossed my son attempts to break free of his own accord before then. Wish us luck!

Here we are at 40+1 weeks...

The waiting game...

After 3 weeks on maternity leave, boredom is well & truly setting in. There is only so much cleaning & tidying that you can do to occupy your time before your house is as spotless as it is ever going to be... and let's face it, daytime TV is nothing to shout about.

So at this point I'm 39+2 weeks and even though baby Fleming is not due for another 5 days, mummy & daddy are starting to get a little impatient and just want to meet our little man. I live in hope each day that those first pre-labour signs will start to put in an appearance but as of yet, no such luck!

Ok, so maybe I'm being a little optimistic in thinking that there is any possibility that munchkin is going to arrive early, or even on time for that matter, but I'm sure gonna try and do my bit to help him along. I'm dealing with my aversion to spicy foods, my fridge is full of pineapple and my cupboard is full of raspberry leaf tea. Along with a few other *ahem* suggested methods I am determined to shift him along.... let's hope they work :-)

Daddy Fleming says he's going to be on the edge of his seat at work from here on just waiting for that call saying it's started........

The Nursery

All the clothing and bedding has been prepared for my little man and his room is now all made up and ready for his impending arrival.... fingers crossed this will be in 19 days time :)

36 weeks, the final stretch!

Ok, so there is only 4 weeks until the big day now...   that's a mere 28 days!!!! which makes it sound even closer :) and needless to say my belly is looking rather stretched now as poor baby Fleming has less and less room to move about.

Mummy & daddy took a trip to Calderdale Royal Hospital last week to have a preview of where it's all going to happen. Thankfully there were no women in the birth centre screaming in pain so it wasn't too scary but it did make it feel that little bit more real. Standing in one of the delivery rooms just thinking that in a matter of weeks I'll be in one for the main event. Yikes!!

Maternity leave has now officially kicked in so now I can prepare by getting all my little man's clothing and bedding washed and set up properly in the nursery ready for his arrival.... exciting times.

Here we are at 36 weeks...

Locked, loaded & ready...

Following a growth scan last week, it was comforting to find out that even though my bump is measuring big, baby boy is actually measuring average in size :) Phew! Now all those dreams of giving birth to a 12lb baby have subsided.

On another note, the midwife had a good old feel around at my tum on our last visit and told us that our little man's head is now engaged and he is in position, back to front, ready for birth yippee! It does look blatantly obvious from the outside too as my bump has dropped down quite significantly. Let's hope he stays that way now, only 6 weeks to go.....