So tonight, for the first time ever, I got to meet a nephew or niece whilst they were still very, very new - and still in hospital.
It was a wonderful time except for a few things. Firstly, I am still sick, and I just don't want to risk making my brand new niece ill - can you imagine how bad that would be? So I didn't get to nurse her - I just can't run the risk. The doctors don't know what's wrong with me - and no antibiotics have been working - so if she was to catch it, well, that would be absolutely awful. I would never forgive myself.
The other thing was - is there an unspoken etiquette for visiting a new baby and mum in hospital? The reason I ask is, when I arrived, there was already a room full of visitors. Granted, the visitors were Beck's friend and her two children, but the space was tiny, so nonetheless the room was full. What does that mean in terms of visiting etiquette? Am I supposed to wait outside, til the previous visitor finishes their visit - or does my arrival herald a 'hurry up, you have to finish up and get out of here'?
I wasn't really sure what to do - so I did what Beck said, which was come in to the room. But as I didn't know the lady who was already there, nor her children, I felt uncomfortable and unable to visit properly. So I had just made up my mind to leave (and come back the next day), when Beck announces she has to feed the baby - which sparked off the other woman feeding her baby - and provided the perfect catalyst to get out of there - who wants to be in a room where all the other women have their boobs out feeding babies? I was out of there like a shot!
All that being said, I did get to see my new niece quite clearly, and she is terribly gorgeous. She will most definitely be a heartbreaker.
The next day I did return, having made up in my mind my own version of baby visit etiquette - which was, if, when I arrived, the room was full of people I didn't know, I would politely announce that I would go away and get a coffee at the cafe, allow the visitors to visit properly with Beck, and then come back later (in the hopes they'd taken the hint and moved on). And this is exactly what I did. Fortunately when I returned, the other couple were just wrapping up their visit, and I got a full 20 minutes or so alone with Beck and Gaby. And this time, I did get to have a nurse (I just didn't breathe!).
How gorgeous is this?
Isn't she just gorgeous?
My two lovely ladies
Big sister Marcella
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