Camping it up at a drag show for Sophia's b'day

Fabulous Aunt Jane's recent visit was over too quickly

Willow is starring in her Friday swimming lessons

Willow is now 4 months old can you believe it! I'm still loving being mummy.....she is a joy!

Birthday Surprise!


For my (ahhum) birthday last week, my lovely husband took the family to Ibiza for 3 nights. We stayed at a gorgeous hotel right on the tip of the north of the island, called Na Xamena (Hacienda Hotel). It's a 5 star spa hotel and the staff, food and accommodation were impressive. The slight problem we had was that the airline lost our suitcase on the way (although it was only a 50 minute flight and there were only 10 people on the flight!) So we struggled through with no luggage, having to buy nappies etc for Willow as soon as we could and making do with hotel toiletries. To cap things off, on the Saturday night we went for dinner in Ibiza Town and I was unfortunately covered in red wine by a little girl swinging her coat and taking my glass with it! I burst into tears and lamented that this was my only outfit, and she apologised lamely as did her father, both in shock at what had just happened, so we told them just to go! Can you imagine the faces of the reception at the hotel, they couldn't believe our bad luck! The hotel experience was brilliant but the bad luck continued on the trip home. We had to fly via Barcelona but there were problems with our plane for the trip back to Malaga and so after 6 hours in the airport it was finally cancelled and we had to stay in a hotel overnight and take an early flight the next morning. So all in all quite an experience to start the rest of my life with!....

The view from our window

Our room

Las Cascades Water Treatments

The high life!

Tancrede demonstrating the paper undies used in the spa

Willow loved the Egyptian cotton sheets!




and the 5 star restaurant!

Daddy's little girl

another day, another beach...

So I have finally booked our tickets to Oz at Christmas. Can't wait! We arrive Christmas Eve, stay for 16 days and leave Melbourne on 9th to go to Hamilton Island, then to Sydney on 15th for 2 nights, flying back to London on 17th. All that with 6 month old Willow. Will be challenging I expect!

We went for a walk on Sunday to work up an appetite for lunch. Weather was beautiful so we took Willow for some cross-country pramming near Lake Istan, 20 minutes drive from our place.

Guess who drew the short straw!

Oh dear, it's been such a long time between bloggings! I'm still trying to 'manage' my time efficiently; some days are successful and others seem to disappear into nothingness except for the quality time spent with my gorgeous daughter Willow. It's hard to drag myself away from her as I really do have things to do.... !

We had a great couple of weeks with our visitors, first Marcella Brennan came to stay (Renee's mum) and then Lois and Norman (Tanc's parents) came to visit; Willow of course being the centre of attention.

Marcella and Willow deep in conversation

The windows to her soul....

Lois and Norman looking very cool and relaxed in Plaza de Naranjos

Willow enjoying a laugh with Grandma Lois


Willow and I started swimming lessons last Friday. The first class she didn't like so much as the room was very noisy and it was all a bit overwhelming but yesterday she enjoyed herself. She now has a little friend called Liv who is in the class too. She is Cecilia's 7 month old daughter and unbelievably I met Cecilia in Japan about 10 years ago! The world really is a small place! I will get some photos next time.

Enjoying the last of the season's sun


Willow was very brave on Thursday and had her first lot of immunisation. No problems or side effects which was great as obviously it is stressful for the parents! The doctor gave her the once over. She is the perfect weight for her height and only 5% of the baby population at 3 months are taller/heavier than her. According to him if she continues at the rate she is going she will be at least 5 ft 8 inches when she is 20yrs old, but I seem to remember that's what they said to Lindy (my sis) didn't they, and she's my height! So doc's advice was to just keep doing what I'm doing until she is 6 months when we can start with the solids as she is getting all she needs from my milk.

Tanc stopping to smell the roses?

Willow, 3 months

Willow's Wardrobe

Alfresco Dining

Our new apartment in Berlin is on this street

6 Weeks

Antenatal Class Reunion Lunch - all boys plus Willow!

Proud Daddy showing off daughter at Antenatal Class reunion lunch

Too hot for clothes!

Willow loves her bathtime!

Tanc's gorgeous sister Amanda was over from Florida visiting England so she came over to meet her new niece. She was a life-saver in those first few days, doing everything from packing the dishwasher to feeding me as I concentrated on Willow and her needs.

2 Days Old with Aunty Amanda

Exhausted but very proud Daddy!

Exhausted but very proud Mummy!

The Day After....

Part 3

After walking around for 20 minutes I lay back on the bed in the theatre and Dr Berral was able to give me the first successful internal examination of the day and saw that I was 5.5cm dilated. He said that it would be around another 4-5 hours before delivery as with a first pregnancy the cervix dilates at a rate of a cm per hour.

So Tanc decided to go and find something to eat as it was now 10.30pm and he could finally relax a bit after the day's tension and before the final act. Well, next thing we knew my cervix was fully dilated and Willow was right there ready to come out. All the staff put on their theatre outfits and the lighting set up and I was rolled into position. The only thing left was to find the husband! Dr Berral called his mobile and discovered he was in the port having a tapas and a beer. Tanc had to fly back, put on his greens and run in to where we were all waiting for him! There seemed to me to be about 10 people gathered around my nether regions. Tanc stood by my head holding my hand and saying reassuring things.

It was never going to be an easy delivery as Willow was over 9lbs but the next half hour required an enormous amount of strength from me, the doctor and 2 nurses sitting on my chest, pushing my stomach. Dr Berral was telling me to take a deep breath then push with the next contraction but you try taking a deep breath with 2 women sitting on you! Anyway, it wasn't working and the doctor said, scarily to Tanc, I have to talk to you. We feared the worst, but he went on to say that he would have to us the suction and that he only had 3 tries before the baby would become distressed. It only took one almighty pull/push combination from all of us and Willow was dragged out. Funnily enough her heart rate did not even really change! She was placed onto my stomach and I will never forget the feeling of her skin. It felt like hot, wet velvet. She was then taken by Yolanda and Tanc out of my view to where she was smacked in an effort to start her breathing. I couldn't hear anything and kept calling out to Tanc but soon all the staff were clapping as she took her first breath. It was such a surreal experience, almost out of body experience.

Dr Berral was busy sewing me up with his best cross-stitch technique. Seemed to take an awful long time which was slightly worrying!

Yolanda brought Willow back so I could have a proper look at her. Wow! Good work! She is beautiful! I was rolled back to our suite which was adjacent to the baby room where Tanc had gone with Willow to see the paediatrician and have the tests. Just as I was lying back, obviously shell-shocked, the sky suddenly filled with fireworks! What a magical ending to a hell of a day!

Part 2

After we'd settled in, Yolanda came back with Dr Berral and they strapped me up to the monitor to see how things were looking. It was all very jovial and relaxed as Tanc sat on the couch making jokes with the Doctor while I lay there doing a beached whale impersonation.

I started on tablets under my tongue every half hour to induce labour. The contractions became more and more regular and stronger but manageable. After four hours of this it seemed to stop working so doc put the gel somewhere down there. The contractions got a lot stronger but bareable as I walked around the room and up and down the corridor with Tanc by my side. The first problem arose when the doctor tried to reach my cervix with his fingers to check on the dilation. Willow's head was so big and so engaged that he was unable to reach the cervix as it was so posteriorally positioned. I was in agony as he tried and tried. I began to dread these attempts and my body began to tighten up even more making it impossible. It was very hot and I was sweating with the stress and pain so Yolanda sttempted to put a glucose drip in my arm to deep me hydrated. I screamed as she tried to put the catheter in my right arm. It was impossible as the vein had collapsed and I cried with the pain. She was very upset so Dr Berral attempted on my left arm. The same thing happened to him. They were extremely perplexed as my veins appeared large and juicy. They decided that as well as having extremely muscular legs and stomach muscles I had tough walls of my veins. Basically they said I was a tough old thing! The next option was to take me down to theatre and talk to the anaesthetist about options as it was imperative that I had a drip in asap and that doc got a look at my cervix.

The anaesthetist managed to put the drip in without using an anaesthetic thankfully. Next thing Dr Berral got out the oversized knitting needle and proceeded to insert it. Not the most pleasant experience but he managed to break my waters or rather open the flood gates! Out came the buckets to catch all the amniotic fluid that Willow had been enjoying her swimming lessons in. Well, once that was done the contractions went up about 10 notches in strength and I was soon out of my body with the pain. I was shivering, vomiting, screaming.... the usual things. Poor Tanc was suffering just as much watching me I found out later. The doctor also couldn't bear to see me like that and explained that I would have several hours of this level of pain or more and that he suggested I had the epidural as we had already tried gas and air with no success. As millions of women before me I screamed yes give it to me! Tanc questionned my decision as we had discussed prior, in case I could just hold on a bit longer but not for long as he couldn't cope watching me. Once we had called for the anaesthetist it seemed like an eternity. There was an emergency next door so it was 15 minutes more before he came to see me. It's all a bit foggy but I remember begging Tanc to ask them to wait for the pain to stop before he put the needle in my spine. It was done very smoothly and quickly and I was soon feeling the pain level lift like a dark cloud. My legs began to feel like pins and needles and the contractions were completely bearable.

Tanc used this break in the proceedings to go outside for a cigarette and a beer. The poor thing was quite traumatised. When he came back in (looking very sexy in his Geroge Clooney green outfit) he was overjoyed to see me sitting up smiling. The doctor suggested I walk around to increase the speed of the dilation so we walked laps up and down outside the theatres, me with my epidural drip attached to a mobile station. It was fantastic.... I was smiling and enjoying the moment. My legs were fuzzy but I could still feel them. I told the anaesthetist that I loved him!

end of Part 2 - Willow again!