Jakes Story... Part 2

The first eight weeks of Jake's life are a blur of Doctors visits no sleep and the Commonwealth Games or was it the Olympics.  I don't know.
Jake was in a full body splint so car travel was difficult and dangerous.  He wasn't allowed to travel out of a capsule so I have to wedge him in, as the splint was so large that he would be suspended in the capsule, so if we had of crashed he would have flown out.  Not to mention how incredibly uncomfortable it was for him.
I remember having to put him in the car for yet another time out, this time to centrelink for paperwork and to prove that Jake was a special needs case!!!

Poor little bubby couldn't sleep in his cot.  When on his back all the time his back and ribs would get sore.  The back piece of the splint ran from the back of his neck to his tail bone, with side pieces that came over his shoulders to the front and up the sides, and the last two pieces wrapped around his legs to spread them into frog position.

The only way he would sleep was on my chest.  So for 8 weeks he slept day and night on my chest.  My then Husband (he’s a story in his own right!) was being kept awake from Jake's crying, so we had to go and sleep on a mattress in the lounge room.  I didn't sleep.  My nerves had been damaged during the epidural and walking, moving sitting standing were painful, and sleeping on my back was a huge no no.

What was I suppose to do.  My baby was in more pain, and need the sleep and feeds to gain the weight to have his cleft pallet operated on.  So I did what every other Mum would do and my needs took a back seat for a while.

Bath time was fun.  Having the splint on was like having a baby with a handle.  Jake had the water swishing between the splint and him and he was light and comfortable, he looked so happy and peaceful.  Then I would take him out and the splint would be cold and the sponge would stay wet for hours, not good in winter time.
I'd put my size 2 outfits on my little tiny bubby and wrap two towelling nappies around, under and through, wrap him up and rock him to sleep for a little while.