Introducing Benjamin James
on Jan 31, 2017, Updated Oct 11, 2019
This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure for more info.
Born 21st January 2017, 8 pounds 5 ounces!
Apologies for the lack of new recipes around here lately, but I do have a pretty good excuse.
Benjamin James was born just a little early on the 21st January at 6.59am, weighing in at a pretty chunky 8 pounds and 5 ounces – for those of you who like these sorts of details!
We’re absolutely thrilled with our cute new addition, and very happy to be finally home from the hospital and settling into some kind of routine.
Before the birth, several friends and acquaintances hinted that things never quite go the way you’d imagined, and this couldn’t have been more true for us!
I was admitted to the hospital with suspected early membrane rupture on the Friday lunchtime. I was all prepared to be induced, but after my waters were properly broken, I went into labour by myself and our son was born the following morning.
It’s at this point that things got just a little crazy. We were all ready to go home the following day when the hospital informed us that I’d been accidentally overdosed on paracetamol (!!!) so would have to stay another night while some tests were run. I’d been given 1 or 2 more tablets than I should have within 24 hours, which was unlikely to cause any damage, but was technically an overdose. Whaaaat?
We had the tests done, which did actually show something a little skewy with my liver function. Whether that was a direct result of the paracetamol or not we don’t know.
We then began to notice that Benjamin was turning yellow. He had a spot of jaundice of course, but to everyone’s horror a routine blood test then showed he had off-the-chart bilirubin levels and he was rushed down to the neonatal baby unit.
The short version of the rest of the story is that this turned out to be a false alarm, but Benjamin still needed treating for the jaundice. So under the UV light he went for 24 hours – very stressful when you’re trying to establish feeding!
In the meantime, another blood test showed that Benjamin did in fact have some sort of infection, although he seemed well – just very sleepy from the jaundice. He was given a lumbar puncture to test for meningitis, samples were sent away to try to identify the infection, and he was started on a 5-day course of antibiotics.
We never found out what the infection was (did he catch it because of the early membrane rupture?), but suddenly we were very grateful for the paracetamol ‘overdose’ that kept us in the hospital and led to all those other things being discovered!
Benjamin is now feeding well and keeping us awake all night like newborns do. The consensus is that he looks like Mum, but he has Dad’s cute dimples and side parting! He likes looking around at the lights and having a cuddle on Mum’s chest, but he doesn’t think much of bath time!
Apologies to those of you who couldn’t care two hoots about newborn baby news! I have several new recipes ready and waiting in the wings and will be publishing a new post very soon.
Believe me, after a week of hospital food, I’m ready to get back into the swing of things as soon as I can!
So stand by if you’re looking for an easy, delicious and impressive Valentine’s Day dessert.
In the meantime, let’s celebrate the birth of Benjamin James with two of my favourite cakes:
Peanut butter, banana and chocolate chip cake
Mmmmm!
I left a message here earlier but it ISN’T HERE!!! I came back to have another read. That sleepy photo of him is EVERYTHING! CONGRATULATIONS HELEN! To you and your beautiful family. Lots of love – Nagi! N xx
Oh no! I’ll check my spam comments – maybe some comments have gone in there?
Anyway, thanks so much for the congrats. We’re shell-shocked, quite frankly… lol! 🙂
Gosh Helen – what a ride! So very pleased that you are all home safe & sound and getting into your new family life. Sending you all lots of love and good wishes. HB xx
Hello Heather – thank you so much, and I really hope you can meet Benjamin when we’re back in Perth! xx
That is one beautiful baby boy, Helen — congratulations to you and Mr. Scrummy! I’m so sorry to hear about the overdose and the infection the baby had…as if having your first child isn’t stressful enough? I’m so happy to hear you’re both doing well and enjoy this wonderful time!
Thank you so much for the good wishes, Marcie! Really, everything was fine all along, it was just stressful that we had to stay in hospital so long. Anyway, it’s all pretty much forgotten now we’re back home safe and sound. 🙂
Helen thanks so much for sharing you new gift with everyone… Recipes are great, but cannot take the place of such great NEW news… so happy for you both on the new adventure you are about to start…
Hello Lynn – thank you so much for taking the time to post your good wishes. It means a lot! 🙂
Wow, that was an incredibly scary time for you, Helen! So glad everything is now OK and that you can begin to enjoy your lovely boy. (And be sure to give yourself time to recover; recipes can wait!) My daughter had a son in September, so I am very familiar with what you are experiencing: intense love like you’ve never felt before, coupled with extreme exhaustion! Enjoy watching Benjamin change. Each new thing, from those early smiles to the cute sounds and then the real giggles, brings such joy. Check out an app called TinyBeans, which allows you to save tons of photos and share easily with invited friends and family. My daughter uses it to record milestones as well as keep the family updated (she is in Boston, I am in San Diego), The daily photos and videos make me feel so much more connected to the baby.
Hello Marlene – thank you so much for the good wishes. This certainly is the most intense experience I’ve ever had – but all for a good reason. And yes, I’m so looking forward to experiencing all those milestones. I can’t wait for him to start to smile!
I’ll check out the app too – it sounds brilliant!
Congratulations Mum and Dad and welcome Benjamin James.
Pleased to hear that all is well.
Hello Ann – thank you so much for the congrats. Really enjoying having Benjamin home with us!
Congratulations! I’m so glad you are all home, doing well and settling in.I would like 1 slice each of the cakes, please.
Thank you, Janette! We’re thrilled and slowly getting the hang of this Mum and Dad lark!
Félicitations Helen! Il est adorable et tellement mignon! Profitez de ce temps magique même si parfois la fatigue sera très présente, c’est des beaux moments qui passent trop vite! Je vous souhaite beaucoup de bonheur à tout les trois! Bisous xoxo
Merci, Eva! C’est vraiment un temps magique, malgre la fatigue!! xx
What an emotional roller coaster, Helen! I couldn’t help but choke up reading about the whole experience. I’m so happy that you’re home with your new, beautiful, healthy baby boy!! 👶 Congratulations, my sweet friend.
Thank you so much, dear Marissa. It certainly was a bit of a roller coaster, but really all along he was fine. It was just lucky we were still in the hospital for all those preventative measures to be taken!
Congratulations!!!! What a stressful/happy time you had in hospital – but the main is you are both home safe, sound and healthy. Benjamin certainly had a fully cooked birth weight even if he was early 🙂 Baby news is always good news xx
Yes, we were very pleased with his weight! He’s lost a bit of his birth weight now, but judging by the amount he’s eating he’ll soon be putting it all back on!