Pearl Patricia Akoko Nyakiamo

Pearl finally arrived on Sunday 27th January at 10.30pm weighing 3.005kg.

The first week and a bit were hard work; getting over the shock and exhaustion and trying to get the hang of breast feeding. But, despite our constant panic, Pearl is doing really well and at her 2 week check had gained 700g!

Now, at nearly 4 weeks old, she is starting to get herself into a routine and is developing her own little personality. She definitely knows what she wants and has found her voice to tell us when she needs something (luckily, at the moment she uses it at select times).

We love her so much, she is amazing!

After her first bath, all snuggly.

First time in the sling.

With Grandpa.

At Lilly Lake.

Out for dinner for my birthday.

 

Pearl's first encounter with lion, at Nairobi National Park .

36 weeks and 6 days... nearly there!

The past few weeks have been very busy, I have managed to find time to relax and have managed to get a nap in each day! Back to school tomorrow and the children start back on Tuesday - really trying to gear myself up for this, only 7 days with the children and then I am on maternity leave.

A bit of cheese at 31 weeks 3 days

Today - 36 weeks 6 days

Since I last blogged we have moved to our larger flat - it is really lovely and seems much more spacious. The high ceilings make the place much more light and airy. Hannah these pictures are for you...

 

View from the front door. The door on the right leads to the spare bedroom and bathroom. The doors at the far side of the room open on to the balcony.

View from the bottom of the stairs. You can see Gregory washing up in the kitchen (I have him well trained!). The stairs lead up to the mezzanine floor where we sleep and where the nursery is.

Our bedroom and the door on the left leads to the nursery.

 

 

We have also got a little nursery for the baby (still waiting for our friends to bring out the moses basket - the moses basket and cot bed we had previously ordered were returned as they were too big)...

 

 

 

 

 

 

Everything is ready to go, we have packed the hospital bags and put all of baby's things into the drawers. One last thing to do is have a longer seat belt fitted into our car - the seat belts are too short for the Maxi Cosi seat that we bought!

 

Bye for now - perhaps next time I blog there will be three of us!!

30 Weeks and counting...

Once again I apologise for being so quiet, to be honest nothing much has been happening! The baby is constantly kicking/ moving and only seems to rest during the day -  this is worrying, will it be up all night?

We went for our 30 week check up on Friday, which was exciting as we hadn't been since 21 weeks and we got to hear the baby's heart beat. The baby's heart rate stayed around 130 so it's obviously a nice and relaxed baby (I refuse to believe the whole old wife's tale that 140 and above it is a girl and that below 140 it is a boy!).

The doctor told us that baby is head down, so it is in the right position and all ready to go. Hopefully it's not fully engaged yet as that would be slightly worrying, we would like it to stay in for at least 8 more weeks. The Doctor showed us how to feel the baby's head, it is tiny and, although she assured us that we couldn't, we worried about squashing it.

When the doctor asked whether we had any concerns or whether I had any questions I explained to her that I hadn't been as 'regular' as one might expect to be, her advice was to eat 2 or 3 prunes with my breakfast every day. Gregory looked strangely excited by this; later on he told me that he thought she had said prawns and he was imagining the many ways that he could eat prawns for his breakfast: Masala prawns, Coconut prawns, Fried prawns! Honestly!

After we had finished with the doctor we decided it was time to go and see the Labour Ward. This was very exciting, Gregory acted a little bit strangely, nervous perhaps? It is very unusual for Kenyan men to be in the room with you when the birth is happening. A great example of this was when I was on a recent training course about behaviour management; we were shown an incredible video clip about the development of a child's brain from birth all the way up to 24 (when the brain finally finishes developing). While we watched we were asked to make notes of 'wow' things we had seen and 'new facts' we had learnt. In the feedback session a Kenyan teacher immediately put his hand up to contribute to 'wow' things that he had seen, he explained that the most amazing thing he had seen was the man in the delivery suite!

Therefore, I am very grateful that Gregory is coming into the room with me - but really he has no choice!

The labour ward is reasonably small and as clean as they would be in England. There is a choice of 'ward beds' - 4 beds in a pod all sharing a bathroom, 'duplex rooms' - 2 beds, shared TV and bathroom or two different 'private rooms' - either in the labour ward or in the Princess Zahra Pavilion, Gregory is able to stay the night in these ones and you have your own bathroom. As the insurance is now paying I am going to go for the nicest, private ones.

The lady who showed us around informed me that I am not allowed to only have midwives delivering as they are not qualified. I also have to have the on duty Paediactrician and Gynae - it is going to be a full room. There is now a birthing pool in one of the rooms, so I am hoping that when I go in to labour it is free. I would love the option of a water birth.

In other news, we finally get to move in to the bigger flat tomorrow! Woo hoo! This means that we can start organising the baby's room. There is a lady from school who has started doing a PGCEi with us, her husband works in the army and she has very kindly let us use her BFPO to send things here from England. Everything is so much cheaper in England. We think we have the main things that we need now:

• moses basket
• cot bed
• reusable nappies
• sling
• car seat

Everything else we'll get as and when we need it, also Dad can bring bits over when he comes in February.

I am sure that with the end of term and Christmas, the next few weeks will fly by and our baby will be here before we know it so we are making sure we make the most of the weekends by having looooong lie ins.

October Half Term Trip to Mfangano Island

I have been meaning to visit Mfangano Island (in Lake Victoria) for ages as it is where Gregory's family is from and he has inherited land there. I am SO glad that we went this holiday as it is beautiful and there is so much of his family history there that it was really interesting.

 

It is a long 7 hour drive from Nairobi across to Mbita and then anything between a 20 minute to 1 1/2 hour boat ride, depending on the type of boat that you take. We were collected by Gregory's Uncle (his Dad's cousin), Jack, in his speed boat; the lake was rough and I wasn't really enjoying the ride (due to being 25 weeks pregnant) so we went slowly and it took an hour to reach Mfangano.

 

 

This is the Suba Luo Peace Museum that was set up by Jack. We stayed here all nights but the one when we stayed up in the hill with his Gregory's other family. Jack is an incredibly interesting man, he speaks English, Swahili, Luo and Suba and he told me all abou the history of the Suba and Luo Tribes on Mfangano and how they got there. Gregory's family is Suba and they intermarried into a Luo family, hence him having the Luo surname Nyakiamo. There are a number of family tribes on the island and Gregory is connected to all of them but two. There are also lots of cave paintings on the Island, thought to be at least 1000 years old, but we didn't go and see them as I had had enough of bumpy piki piki (motorbike) rides.

 

 

 

The day after we arrived we headed up the hill to visit some of Gregory's other family and to see his land.

 

 

Gregory's land is on the middle hump, with the forest growing on it.

 

 

The view from up on that hill, with the forest behind us and beautiful Lake Victoria in front.

 

Inside Gregory's forest, where there are monkeys!

 

We spent a night with Gregory's Great Uncle, Fredrick Obogno.



 

Me with Gregory's Great Uncle, his Dad's Cousin, Kesia, and Dad's other Cousin's (Odhiambo) baby, Kate Zawadi (this means Gift in Kiswahili).

 

Babu (Grandfather in Kiswahili) and me eating lunch - they killed a chicked for us; it was very tasty but SO tough!

 

Family photo: (L-R) Dad's Cousins wife , Gregory, Babu, Me and Kate, Dad's Cousin Odhiambo, Odhiambo's other children Robert and Cecelia. Just after this photo was taken Kate did a wee on me! Babu said that this is a blessing and it means I am having a baby girl and should name it after my mum... we will find out if this is true in a few months!



After spending a night sleeping on the floor of Odhiambo's mud hut we headed back down the hill. Early the next morning we woke up for sunrise over Lake Victoria and met the fisher people collecting their nights catch.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Later on that day we took a 10 minute boat ride over to Takawiri Island (this is the only island on Lake Victoria that has natural sand) to have a swim. Luckily there are no hippos hanging around here! 

 

 

 

After 5 days on the Island we headed back to the mainland, this time the Lake was calm and the boat ride only took 20 minutes!



25 weeks and 2 days

Quite a lot of growth since last week!