The First Bath

When I was put on bed-rest with Little A, my co-workers from Donnan put together a lovely gift package for me, that contained all sorts of things to keep me busy while I was lying around. I really enjoyed the thoughtfulness of it all (there were all kinds of yarn and patterns for knit and crochet--something I was learning at the time). My friends Matt and Marci brought it over to the house at lunch-time, along with lunch. Matt took Phinn out for a quick walk, and I had a great visit to break-up my day (otherwise, it was a lot of me, my knitting needles and Smallville). All the gifts were packed up neatly in a little blue First Years baby bath-tub. We have gotten a lot of use out of that tub, and each and every one of my babies has had their first bath in there.

The 'Helpers' playing with peacock feathers

Today, we took the time to give NB S her first massage and bath. They actually did not bathe her in the hospital as they said she was very clean (plus, Nurse Cecile told me that the NICU was 'toxic' because there were several really sick babies in there, and they likely wanted to limit the exposure the healthy babies had to them). We have not been in a rush to give her a bath--our priority has been feeding and sleep (for New Baby, not me). Peter has taken two more days off, today and Wednesday (he'll be back to golf, errr...make that WORK...on Thursday) so we decided today would be a good massage and bath day.

Who doesn't love a good massage?

The massage was very successful. Using ancient massage techniques passed along to me through the Hindu collective unconscious (and reinforced at the Bonnie Doon New Mom's Group), NB S had a very successful and enjoyable massage (as evidenced by the quiet contemplative looks, the pee and the poo).

Rub-a-dub-dub!

We are also pleased to have our first baby who enjoyed the water from the first immersion. Although A & N love it now, both of them were quite unhappy in their first bathing experiences. We wrapped her up, brushed her hair and she slowly drifted off to sleep. I thought she might enjoy some milk before heading to dreamland, but apparently the whole experience was very relaxing and enjoyable for her.

Off to dream-land