Introducing…

Ronan Peter Lynch, born on 11th March, and already settling in well, surrounded by handknitted goodness (the blanket is courtesy of the lovely Liz of Knitting on the Green).

I have been rather remiss in posting recently, and indeed the little chap has nearly managed to get to the age of two weeks before making his public appearance here. I’m planning to write a post or two about his birth, as there are a few things I feel I need to talk though before they disappear into the fog of newborn-induced sleeplessness. As far as I can tell at the moment, things seem to be going very differently to the aftermath of Eoin’s birth. Hopefully this will continue: coping with a newborn seems to be a whole different experience when you aren’t also struggling with a range of fun symptoms related to anxiety and PND. One thing that hasn’t changed, though, is the fact that all tiny babies, even the laid-back, self-burping kind, need heaps of attention, so I will have to keep this post short.

For the moment, though, I should say that, from the midwives to the anaesthetists, the surgeons to the diabetes specialists, and most particularly my very lovely GP, the whole medical team involved in the pregnancy and birth have uniformly excellent. I couldn’t have asked for better care, and I owe an enormous thank you to all the people who looked after me, and to the NHS in general. Once again, I am reminded how very lucky we are to have a health service in this country. People moan a lot about problems with the NHS, and I realise that, like any large organisation, it does have its issues. It is, however, all too easy to moan about the bad things, and forget to praise the good things. There is so much excellent work done by so many dedicated and talented people, and I am uncomfortably aware that, like a lot of people, I am guilty of not saying a public thank you often enough. I’ll be sending a letter to the hospital as soon as I can (there may be a large box of biscuits involved), and I’d urge you to show some love to the doctors, nurses and other marvellous medical types in your life too. We’d be lost without them.