Early days - day 6 of life with Eoin

Well we have made it as far as day 6 in one piece - perhaps a little ragged around the edges from the lack of a solid night's sleep.

So far Eoin is probably on the better side of what we expected - he is eating and pooping with regularity and sleeps pretty consistently for about 3 hours at a time (with the exception of at night where he seems more restless (they say babies' days and nights are backwards initially so perhaps this is the case with Eoin). He did sleep in today - looks like he had too much to drink last night!



Later in the day Eoin went on his first shopping trip around Old Town with stops at the bank, pharmacy, local bakery and coldstone creamery - he kindly donated his ice cream to Biz and I! Here he is afterwards taking a well needed nap after all that fresh air and sunshine!



Then there was tummy time - important for building up his neck muscles and avoiding flat head. He actually managed to roll over from his back to his tummy on his own at one point - we were both impressed.

Biz went to bed a little early tonite to try and get some much needed shut eye before the early morning shift starts - this left the boys to fend for themselves for the evening! So we cracked open a few bottles and Eoin decided that he was going to feed himself - he showed some good bottle handling skills for a complete novice!



Finally it was it was time for a nap on the sofa after all the exertions of the evening:



He does sleep alot!

Eoin Robert Murphy has arrived!

Eoin (for those not familiar with the name, the 'E' is silent so similar pronouncement to Owen) was born at 10:30pm on Saturday 23rd May. He weighed in at 7lbs and 11oz and was 21 inches long (he is fine and tall for now at least!).

Biz was in labour from early on Saturday morning (with some early indications from Friday afternoon) and she did a wonderful job in bringing Eoin into this world - the stamina she's developed from all those marathons came into good use.

Here they are not long after birth:

Eoin had to spend his first 2 days in the NIC. Sounds like a jail but it is the Neonatal Intensive Care unit - just as a precaution in case he developed an infection.

I am not sure we can match the 24 hour VIP treatment he got in the NIC!

He got discharged this morning (he got out of the NIC early for good behaviour!) and is now doing great at home with us.

The final frontier!

It's Thursday 21st May. The doctor's prescribed due date for the smurf was Tuesday 19th while my own calculations, using a pregnancy calculator courtesy of the esteemed resources of the worldwide web and some intuitive predictive skills passed down from generations of Murphy's before me (and me being the 1st son of the 7th son so therefore ALMOST having special powers), predicted Friday 22nd May. At least I am still in the running.

And with a new frontier dawning for us we did go to see the new Star Trek movie this week -overall I wasn't overly impressed - however I thought Biz was going to leave during the opening scenes where James T Kirk is born in space as a raging battle takes place and they are fleeing for their lives - it wasn't the soothing images that perhaps a first time expectant mum with one week to go should be exposed to!

1 week to go!

We were at the doctors this morning - no dramatic changes in the past week but some little signs that the 'smurf' is edging closer to coming out from the comfort of the womb! Biz is holding up pretty well. Here's to our likely last weekend sans baby : - )

B-Day - only two weeks (or so) to go!

We did our final class in preparation for the baby at the hospital today - 'Breastfeeding for Beginners'. I can now tell whether the baby will be properly 'latched' onto Biz or not - its amazing but there's a lot more than just bringing this little 'horse' to water so that he can drink!

One statistic which surpised me (but makes sense when you think about it) is that the worldwide average period of time a woman breastfeeds her child is 5 years! Also consider that this average is brought down by us in the western world. I also learned that a years supply of baby formula can cost from $2,000 to $5,000!

Anyway all is well on the Biz and baby front - Biz did have today what felt like Braxton Hicks or 'false' contractions which is basically the wombs way of 'practicing'!! So we are presumably getting much closer to B-Day! We feel we are now pretty much as ready as we can be - all the necessary baby equipment, such as the stroller and car seat that Biz is modeling in the picture above, are in hand while we also got lots of great baby outfits and other gifts at the recent baby shower organized for Biz. So we are down to just enjoying these final few weeks before we become a family of three!

Munster v Leinster

Went to the Irish bar, Fado, to watch this 'titantic' clash of two Irish provinces contesting the semi final of their European Cup rugby competition. The bar was not as busy as I expected, the gorgeous day outside may have been too tempting for some after the long winter - the Irish breakfast was worth it for me.

Leinster played better than I have seen them in many years and unfortunately beat my home team Munster. I wasn't too disheartened by the defeat - Leinster simply deserved to win and Munster were the reigning European champions and winners twice in the last three years so perhaps, a bit like the team, when you have gotten used to winning that hunger / desire to succeed wanes a little. However I do hope it doesn't mark the end of this amazing Munster team and the great times we have enjoyed with them.

Leinster were really up for it yesterday and I hope they go on and produce a simlar performance and win against Leicester Tigers in the final - while it has been great to have the bragging rights over Leinster, many of the players on the Leinster team (who contibuted so much to Ireland winning the 2009 Grand slam) should have won a European Cup by now. Of course I would also always prefer to see an Irish side triumph over an English one.