It used to be that i would announce things via a blog post. Haven’t now traversed into the world of twitter i found that tweeting everything with twitpic links was a much more instant way of getting the good news across. If you find this blog in any way interesting i suggest you follow me on twitter at www.twitter.com/kpatton

Anyway, welcome Lia Rose you are truly a beautiful precious thing to us. Lia was born at 10.22am by c-section on July 22nd weighing 3090g (6lb 10oz). Mother and baby are doing very well.

We just had our 20 week scan and found out that we are definitely having a little girl! Due August 4th, very excited. Tommy didn't quite get it and said "I'm going to be a big sister!".

Video and pics from Annabel's posh camera to come soon!

Will post up video and pics after today, here is the naming ceremony stuff. Thanks to Dad, Gaye and Mum for sending pressies from back home!!

Naming Ceremony for Thomas Alan Decorcy Patton

28^th April 2007

Celebrant

On behalf of Annabel & Keith, it is my pleasure to welcome you on this very special occasion, the 1^st Birthday and Naming Day for their son, Thomas.

Before we start the ceremony, I have been asked to invite Carin & Jim forward as I believe they have a special tribute to make.

Carin & Jim speak

We are gathered here today to formally welcome baby Thomas into his family, to name him and to share with his parents and grandparents, delight and joy in his safe arrival.

The miracle of birth, the creation and arrival of a brand-new human being is both exciting and moving, but it brings awesome responsibilities.

We are here to offer support for those who will take care of him. Bringing a new life into this world is one of the most important things any two people can do.

For many years to come, this child will be dependent on his parents. They are very aware that the way a child is looked after, cared for and loved, will all play a part in determining the sort of adult that child will become.

Annabel and Keith, this child is your message to a time you will never know. Remember that all that you teach him, will be what he teaches your grandchildren and their children. You are continuing a dynasty that was started by your own parents and their parents and this is how it should be. Remember your part in ensuring that he grows to be a good citizen and a good parent when his time comes.

It’s now my pleasure to hand over to Annabel and Keith.

Annabel & Keith speak

From Mum

[to be added]

From Dad

I’ll start with a quote the great Zen Master Suzuki-Roshi once said.

“Everything is perfect, with much room for improvement”

About 5 minutes after Tommy was born I was ushered over to where the baby doctor was doing some measurements. I think the best way to describe the feeling is like winning some huge lottery or finding buried treasure, something like that. I felt an instant change inside, a shedding of skin, a total overwhelming feeling of responsibility, love and intense connectedness to the world.

Everything was perfect, but I certainly felt there was much room for improvement, particular with respect to the inside of my stomach at that point.

Since he looked into my eyes that morning and I into his, we have watched in awe at his growth and development. In terms of parenting, with my many year of experience, I can only offer a single observation.

Having your first child is like a gardener being given a packet of unlabelled seeds. The resultant flora will no doubt have ideal conditions for its growth that will result in its flourishing rapidly towards the sun. However, the gardener must experiment, and guard the growth of the unknown seed with great humility if it is to become as great as its seed dictates.

To that end, our roles as a parents are as of the gardener. Tommy, I will aim to listen, learn, guide and instruct you to become the very best person that you want to be.

As you must discover this path for yourself, I can simply offer you my unlimited support, understanding and love as long as it shall be required. Love, Dad.

Celebrant:

An important tradition in our culture on these occasions is the responsibility accepted by others who taken an active interest in a child’s wellbeing. Annabel and Keith have asked Carin, Jim & Udi to be Life Mentors to Thomas and they have agreed to undertake a special and lifelong interest in Thomas’s welfare. Unfortunately, Udi is unable to be here today, so I’d now ask Carin and Jim to come forward.

Together with Annabel and Keith, now place your hands on Thomas’s head and say these words together:

“Today we name Thomas Alan Decorcy Patton with love.

We dedicate ourselves to care for him

and we promise always to consider his interests.

We will always be aware of how needing of our care

Thomas is and will do our best to raise him as a good person.”

Keith, I ask you to light this candle as a symbol of the path you will light for Thomas. May you keep the light and brightness for his life, allowing him to walk the path of life in his own way, waiting patiently if he stumbles, standing still if he wanders so that he may return and find you there. Pace him as he runs and guide him by example as you walk through the years.

Annabel, please take this balloon. Hold it as you will hold the hand of Thomas as he learns to walk and dream. Before this day is done, release it into the air to travel without attachment. So too, when your baby has outgrown the need for your support and assistance, let him fly without hindrance.

Celebrant:

Thomas, on behalf of everyone gathered here, I congratulate you on your safe arrival and thank you for the joy your first 12 months has given to many. May you grow to be a kind, honest and loving human being, for which all of those gathered here today would be so proud. May you have a peaceful community around you and may you strive to reach your full potential to the best of your ability.

Reading – Thomas’ Grandmother, Gill

May the strength of the wind and light of the sun, the softness of the rain and the mystery of the moon, reach you and fill you.

May beauty delight you and happiness uplift you.

May wonder fulfil you and love surround you

May your step be steady and your arm be strong

May your heart be peaceful and your word be true

May you seek to learn, may you learn to live

May you live to love and may you love always.

Conclusion

Family and friends, may your future with this family be filled with happiness and the delight that Thomas has already brought. May the joy that you hold in your hearts today, remain with you forever.

We realised we hadn't take much video of Tommy recently so here he is enjoying his evening splish splash, and practising his new noises.

Tommy in Bath (3.5MB)

here we go, a 7MB whopper video to update you on all things tommy, with....

Video (6.9MB, wmv format)

demo of our new kettle!

tommy cooing!

tommy cooing again!

tommy crying!

annabel sending thank you cards!

annabel on the phone!

sneak preview of our new microwave

FREE!

tommy's first ever video exclusive. He shits, he smiles he sneezes! enjoy...

we just received the birth certificate for one of new zealand's latest citizens, mr thomas alan decorcy patton!

I thought i better post up a bit more of a detailed description of the night and morning of the labour. Earlier in the week, monday i think, the midwife told us that because of lack of progress that we should come into hospital on the Thursday at 7.30pm to be induced. We'd read the books and stuff but because Annabel was already 2cm dilated, we weren't anticipating the c-section at this time at all.

We dutifully arrived at the hospital complete with soothing brian eno cd, aromatherapy and a pc magazine for me. The midwife applied prostaglandin (i think that's how you spell it) which i lovingly refer to as simply fanny goo. I then went and purchased 2 six inch subways. A meatball and cheese one for me and a veggie delight for annabel. After that i got a little tired and with hindsight rather foolishly attempted to get some kip on the mattress thing they had provided.

Around 9pm Annabel started feeling things, and by 9.30 things were as painful as they had been over the last few weeks so we presumed something was happening. Annabel also got really nauseous and filled a large cup or two (exorcist style) of lovely puke. A fair bit of puking and back rubbing went on for next couple of hours until pain started to get pretty bad and we called in the on duty person at the womens assessment unit part of the hospital. She agreed things looked like they were progressing (it was pretty obvious to me) so an examination was carried out to determine exactly how dilated annabel had become. One annoying thing about being induced is that sometimes the early pains may not actually be labour at all and are simply pre labour pains and contractions brought about by the hormone stimulation, but without the actuall triggering of labour. Kind of annoying.

The lady confirmed dilation of around 3-4 cm and suggested Annabel have a deep bath. Water based pain relief was always on the agenda, so we were really pleased to have this option and she ran us a bath. She also asked me if i wanted to join annabel, but i politely declined. This, again in hindsight turned out to be a marvellous decision as annabel's waters broke during the bath and the previously installed inducement device also joined the party. I was happy to be back on dry land as the designated back rubber and vomit catcher for sure. Annabel had an injection of something to reduce the nausea, but she refused the pethedine on offer and also found the gas and air made her even more nauseous.

And so it continued, with more back rubbing, and more pain until the midwife arrived at about 2am. After an examination she said annabel was about 5cm dilated and we all moved through to the delivery suite, annabel in a wheel chair now. And then it all became sane... The midwife suggested that as tommy was still quite high up and the cervix was not close to fully dilated as yet, the pain was going to get much worse and she recommended a 'light eipidural'. I'm not sure if such a thing really exists, but after a shortish consultation annabel made the executive decision to remove the pain, a wise choice all round. Because of the nausea (the injection hadn't worked) made worse by a bit of dehyration by all the puking, she was hooked up to a drip as well to get some fluids in.

After the epidural had been administered (by the ever popular anaethetist person), annabel got a bit shaky for a while, but once it kicked in and she got some fluids, everyone become quite chatty, as annabel's mum and dad arrived. It was like "oh look at the chart, another contraction". The next few hours were very nervewracking all round as we waited and waited for tommy to make his move. I tried to get some kip but couldn't instead downing a couple of V energy drinks to keep myself awake. At around 5.30 i think the midwife mentioned the C-Section pending one last attempt to get him into position by dosing annabel with some pure oxytocin which i believe is the chemical/hormone that brings on the contractions in the uterus. For some reason, this had very little effect and if anything the contractions got quieter. 

By about 7 am the decision was made to get the specialist out of bed for an emergency c section as it was pretty clear tommy wasn't going to come out on his own. I think although he is a slightly above average sized baby, his head wasn't aligned correctly with a cervix that wasn't fully dilated, so it was the only sensible course of action, given the messiness and unnecessary risk of something like a forceps delivery in these circumstances. I think the surgeon guy came in around 8am and everything happened very quickly after this. Once we had decided on the c-section i felt a huge sense of relief basically because i knew that everything was coming to a close, and that the operation was very safe.

So, the whole ER thing started, mask and gown, hat and covers for feet, but when we actually got into theatre, everyone was very chilled out, such an everyday thing, with radio on in corner and people whistling. I mean this in a good way, you felt immediately at ease because you just knew people did this all the time and it was no big deal. I sat by annabel's head as the pain man rubbed ice cubes on annabel's torso just to make sure she couldn't feel it. All that was required was a top of of the epidural that was connected to annabel's back, so preparation for the operation was pretty straighforward. I also didn't realise that you can still feel a sensation of touch, pushing and pulling, but you simply cannot feel pain.

They put a curtain up and began. The pain guy was very, very good saying things like "in about 5 seconds you will hear noise X, and then Y will happen", and he was funny and made annabel and myself very relaxed. The weirdest thing about all this is i had this notion that i was a squeamish person. I believe this myth about myself grew out of feeling queasy when attempting to eat curry and watch Casualty on BBC one in the mid nineties. I have, alas, no other tangible evidence for such a weakness of character, and so was pleasantly surprised to find myself peering over the diagonally draped curtain to ponder my wife's innards. At about 8.50 the pain man said "your baby boy will be born in the next 5 minutes". My stomach dropped, i couldn't really focus properly and simply tried to continue smiling whilst trying not to crush annabel's hand. Then it happened, a silence and then, "look, look, your baby's being born" from the pain man. I saw his head get stuck and then slowly get nudged out, followed by a quick, sloppy entrace with his legs and arms flailing. He started wimpering after a few seconds and i just went completely to pieces inside.

I think the whole birthing bit took about 10 minutes once the operation started, but i can't really remember, but it was quick. About 5 minutes after he was born they ushered me over to where the baby doctor was doing some measurements. i think the best way to describe the feeling is like winning some huge lottery or finding buried treasure, something like that. I felt an instant change inside, a shedding of skin, a total overwhelming feelingn of responsbility, love and intense connectedness to my own self. So yeah, i flipped.

They sat me down and brought him over and then i held him and showed annabel (who was still getting stiched up) for about the next 10 or 15 minutes. He was awake and stared straight into my eyes. I stared back and there was nothing in between.

When annabel was all fixed up we got moved (i pushed tommy in his little capsule thingy, very slowly) to the post natal care unit for a few tests. Annabel got the chance to do the first feed which was lovely. She couldn't feel her breasts because of the numbness so this must have felt just a little weird. I went out and made calls to my mum, dad and close friends, before we were moved off to our room, picking up annabel's parents on the way.

I hung about until lunchtime after the birth when i really couldn't physically take any more experience. To round things off, i got another subway (meatball and cheese of course) before getting a taxi back to sleep and dream as if i could dream anything more wonderful than had happened to us over the last 24 hours.

this is probably my last post before wee tommy arrives. Annabel is to be induced in just under 2 hours. With genetically inherited punctuality on his mother's side, tom looks like being around a week late. He has been really active, but seems to think in utero not such a bad existence, and who can blame him. I think the weirdest thing is everythign feels like it goes from being totally out of your control to being nothing but under your control. This is going to be one hell of a journey, that's for sure!

annabel went to see the midwife today. tommy has dropped down to his eyebrows in her pelvis and midwife thinks that it will be 1-2 weeks, so he may pop out a little earlier than we thought. Annabel also had her baby shower on Sunday when she received lots of pressies and stuff for the baby. Jim particularly enjoyed the soft synth rendition of Scott Joplin's The Entertainer. Aside from waiting for the baby, Annabel has completed all of her weddings and is trying to relax and not bend over to pick things up. I am still flat out on a project that's been running since before end of last year and will run up until end of May, although i will get a wee break to welcome tommy.

It'll only be Annabel coming back to the UK in August due to overspending on south island trip earlier in year. She'll be going to Lucy H's wedding as bridesmaid and hoppin g over to Belfast to show off Tommy to my Dad, Mum and Gaye. We are both planning a 4 week trip next March/April to make up for the mis-planning and hope to stay off in London for at least a few days to catch up with old friends.

We've had our house painted by Annabel's Mum and Dad who have done a terrific job in the front room and in tommy's room. Everything's looking a lot snazzier now thanks to Gill and David!

Today we had our second scan and got confirmation the wee thing is to be thomas alan patton!

Hoorah! I can now reveal that Annabel and I are expecting our first child. We've just passed through the first "trimester" without problems. Congratulations to me old mucker Chris W back in blighty is well, who was shagging at the same time as us.

Here are some pics, some of them look like there's an alien ghost present as well as a child!

alice has just had a baby in london, congratulations to her and luke, he's gorgeous!

Just got the following from an ex-colleague and friend in London (Alice Grattan). Annabel and I wish her and Luke every happiness for the future!