An early Christmas present and he only weighed 5lb 1 oz!

It is a few months since I last updated my blog and some tremendous events have occurred since then - well one tremendous event really.  I became a grandmother.  Sarah (and Tim) produced a tiny baby boy in the evening of December 19th.  I have never been renowned for my time keeping, but child birth was the one exception, I produced Sarah the day she was due.  Sarah henceforth has been punctual with everything - a little too punctual sometimes, and clearly child birth was going to be one of those times. At 36 weeks last Monday, just when I thought I had at least a month to finish all the baby sewing projects I had started, but not finished (due to too much holidaying and curtain making), Sarah phoned me to say she was possibly in labour.   Her husband, Tim, sent me a text at 3 in the afternoon to say that the contractions were coming every 5 minutes or so and Sarah and he were staying put at the hospital.  I stopped cleaning the car and scrubbing the kitchen floor (clearly I was doing the nesting instinct for Sarah. Before you give birth you have a surge of energy, it is said, and start cleaning things that you never did before,  When I asked Sarah if she was doing any unusual cleaning that morning, she said she was not and not likely to either thank-you.)  Strange how I felt the need then to clean the car and the house!  However all was abandoned after Tim's text.  Fabric, pattern and sewing machine were taken out in order to finish at least one item promised for the baby's birth.  The baby was born just after 8 in the evening and the baby sleeping bag was finished at 4 a.m. in the morning!!!  A very sleepy grandmother went to see a very sleepy new grandchild at Epsom General the following day to present said gift and do some serious bonding.

Proud grandparents or what?

I was quite unprepared for the amazing surge of emotion one gets on seeing and holding a child created by your own child.  Needless to say Ralph is adorable (I would say that wouldn't I.) Both David and I are really looking forward  to our grandparent duties when he has put on a bit more weight - Ralph not David, he's already done that.  We had to decide on names for ourselves - there are two grandparents called Dave which would have been confusing and I, of course, am far too young to be known as granny. So I decided on Nonna (Italian for granny) with Anita tacked on the end which makes Nonnanita.  However I keep forgetting that and slip into grandma, so I am renamed Gramanita which sounds a bit like a nutty cereal bar, but what the heck.  Just hope I am around long enough for him to pronounce my name anyway he can.  Dave is going to be Poppadave - not quite an Indian crisp served with curry, but close.  The other grandpa Dave is going to be Umpadave and Tim's mum is sensibly sticking to Grandma Sarah.  Do all families have this naming difficulty?

Baby Ralph a few days' old 

Well enough grandparent chatter - boring I know to those who aren't grandparents, the other good news this month was the results of the latest scans.  I was (and still am) getting lots more back pain again after having none for over a year.  I thought it was best to get another scan in case the bone metastasis had progressed again.  Thankfully my bones can be checked with a bone scan so I didn't need a CT scan.  I had the scan done at the beginning of December and I received the result on 23rd December, just in time for Christmas.  The scan showed absolutely no progression in the cancer.  So two good Christmas presents!  To get rid of the back ache before - when I was first diagnosed in June of last year -  I underwent radiotherapy on my back and ribs.  I don't know how it stops the pain, but it did and I expect the effect of that has now worn off so I might have to have more of that.

I have been grounded for a few months and have not planned any more holidays until next February or possibly March at least, but hope to travel to somewhere with a different culture  - Dave is keen to go orienteering in Wales.  I keep telling him that the cultural abnormalities of the Welsh was not what I meant when I suggested a different cultural experience.  Now where did I put that world adventures brochure ...........?

Happy New Year to everyone reading this.  Look forward to seeing lots of you in the new year.

(Gram)Anita xx