jules and dave down under: Isla Comes Home

It's nice and quiet in the house. Isla is sleeping peacefully in her cot and Julia is snoozing on the couch. Outside it is another hot and windy day in Melbourne. Inside we've got the air-con on again and the TV is murmuring in the lounge - we've been watching the Australian Tennis Open. So I thought I'd take a moment to tell you the story of how Isla came into this world.

As you all know or can imagine it's been an incredible week. Our world has turned upside down! But in the most wonderful way. Julia woke me up on Tuesday morning at 6am to tell me that her contractions had started and were already coming 7-8 minutes apart. We'd been booked in to have the labour induced on the Wednesday so for some reason we'd almost given up thinking that labour might begin by itself. We were very excited and terrified. After contacting the hospital for advice we stayed at home till mid-afternoon. By then Julia's contractions were coming fast - almost down to 4 or 5 minutes apart and we could hold off no longer.

We made the journey to the the hospital in the center of Melbourne with poor Julia suffering every time I hit a bump on the road. Julia survived another 4 hours in the delivery suite on only the gas and air, but after an examination at 9pm we were told that it could be another 8 hours or so before the baby would come. That was when we decided to go for the epidural and seeing the pain Julia was in I could sympathise, especially when she reached out to grab me in the middle of a contraction and got a hold of my left nipple - it took all my reserves not to shout the place down. Her contractions by that time were already every 2 minutes and lasting for up to a minute and a half - she was getting no time at all to recover. She definitely made the right decision.

The anaethetist soon came in and set about the epidural. He was being a bit sarcastic and Julia threatened to slap him. The epidural turned out to be a good one so we forgave him his bedside manner. After all the pain Julia could now recover a bit. She was exhausted by this time and we both ended up conking out for a few hours. Our Obstetrician, Amber, came back in at 4am in the morning and said it was time to get the baby out. She didn't want Julia pushing for a couple of hours at this point as the baby might get too distressed. I was amazed how quick the next bit happened. She decided it would be a forceps delivery and after just three more pushes for Julia and a tweak with her tongs Isla was born.
I can't really describe the emotions at this point but you might know what I mean: disbelief, shock, wonder, indescribable happiness, a giant grin came over my face that I could not control.

My first look at Isla was strange. She was a floppy, blue-grey, slimy bag of bones!
I was allowed to cut the umbilical cord and then Isla was plopped down on her mother's chest for her first cuddle. We spent the next hour or so just staring in amazement at this little person we'd created. Nurses and midwives and paediatricians came and went and we were then allowed up to our room in the Maternity Suite.

The days after Isla's birth were a blur of visitors and checks. Julia's room in St. Vincents Hospital was great, and she was able to stay for 4 more nights with the support of all the health staff. I went home each night to our house in Essendon but was able to stay over the final night with Julia and Isla - my first of many sleepless nights to come. Though the main reason I couldn't sleep was that I was just too excited. We've been lucky with Isla so far - she is very healthy and is feeding really well. Julia has been amazing - the nurses in the ward kept commenting on how relaxed she was about it all. Relaxed or just still in shock? Hard to say! She is sore and tired but is over the moon about being a mum - it already suits her.

We checked out the hospital on Sunday. That was a funny moment. There were another four couples and their babies checking out at the same time. After the babies had been transferred to car seats the men had the jobs of returning the hospital cribs to the reception. It was as if we'd all just done our shopping and were returning the shopping trolley to the bay. Some tourists who were passing stopped to take a picture of this bizarre baby factory.

We're happy to be home now and it is pretty special the first time you all sit down together in your home. Now there are three of us! And the reality and responsibility kicks in. We can no longer just buzz the midwife if we've got a worry - it's up to us to take care of things and cope by ourselves. I think we'll be alright.

And what can I tell you about Isla? She weighs 8lb 1oz and is 50cm tall. She has very fair skin that turns pink when she yells. Her hair is blonde. She has Priestley ears, a Gourlay forehead and a Walsh chin. When she sleeps she makes a little peep like an oyster catcher. When she's awake she's all arms and legs like a spider monkey. She spews and poops and cries. She likes to sleep A LOT. She looks particularly good in purple.

We had a nice moment after we'd got home, when Julia and I were cuddled up in bed and Isla was asleep in her cot. She was making lovely gurgling and chirping sounds as if she was talking to the birds outside and we were all lost in a magic moment until Isla ruined it by letting off a big ripping fart.

It's great to be a dad.