I have two sisters Jo and Sarah. This year Sarah got married in lockdown and got on TV and Jo had her first baby. I'm in serious danger of not making it on to my family's Christmas letter, it's a very really threat. A few years ago Jo didn't make it on because she'd just had an ordinary year doing her job as a doctor, saving lives... but that's not good enough. You need to get married, have a baby, move countries or get on TV to be sure to get on. I once had cancer and that didn't even make it on.
But back to Jo. Back in week 1 of lockdown, while everyone was making banana bread, they were making a baby. The 3 sisters had a WhatsApp call together and we all chatted for ages about how we were doing in lockdown before Jo shared the news... We were both very excited! I already have an adorable niece and nephew on Dan's side, but this is my first on this side and I know they've been thinking about it for a while, so I was very happy for her and her husband Elisha. It also brings me one step closer to my dream of being a smug parent of older children. Theres been a few family holidays when I've been up all night breastfeeding and they rock out of bed at 11am and say "lets got to the beach now" and they're ready in 5 mins but I have to pack snacks and water bottles and nappies and swim nappies, and a spare set of clothes and a bucket and a spade and armbands and then suntan lotion 2 squirming little people. And then my kid is at the beach just eating sand while Jo and Elisha are trying out surfing. I can't wait to go on a beach trip where we just shout "boys get your beach stuff!" Does that ever happen?
We had a nice online baby shower where we did a few games and a quiz about babies. Did you know the most babies born to one woman is 69? Yeah, 69 a position they should have tried. I also learnt only 5% of babies were born on their due date. Jo's baby was in that special 5%. She ended up getting induced last Saturday in the late morning and we were all taking bets on the time of arrival. Percy was the official winner with a guess of 5am but the baby didn't come out till a bit later than that at 8:35. I was up at 5:30 with the news she was fully dilated, we had a bit of WhatsApp chat.
Then she went for an instrumental delivery which sounded scary. I was a bit worried and praying everything would be ok. Thankfully it was all ok, he came out and is beautiful. Zachariah Edward Hastings welcome to the world.
Jo lost a lot of blood. 2.6 litres that's A LOT! Like way more than you can mop up with a tea towel. That's like a life time of periods in one go. They gave her a blood transfusion 12 hours later after she'd been fainting everywhere. I was there to support her every step of the way through her blood transfusion, by sending empathetic photos, like this one:
She had a terrible nights sleep that night, about an hour, ( and that was the second night of just an hours sleep) that is not ok! I recently talked about this on my podcast, but I become EVIL on less than 4 hours sleep.
Because of Covid Elisha was only allowed in the the hospital for an hour a day, so she desperately needed some help and some sleep, but they wouldn't let her go because she needed either blood or what they were actually planning was an iron transfusion, but getting her more blood was not on the top of their to-do list. It was getting late and she was facing another terrible night (she'd already waited 36 hours since first loosing the blood) so decided to do a brave thing and discharge herself. She felt fine blood-wise, but knew she needed more sleep and help so she had to sign a thing to say she was leaving against medical advice even though she is an actual doctor.
Elisha was there ready to take on the role of Dad to a newborn, which is wearing the baby in a sling all night while playing computer games. I remember Dan doing a lot of that in the first few weeks.
It's wasn't till week two when there was a time when the three of us were all asleep at the same time for an hour or 2. Sleep deprivation is the worst and probably the main reason we have decided against having another one.
Our family is now overrun with boys. I grew up in a household of 4 females to 1 male, I also had 5 female cousins and only one male, and both my parents only have sisters. But now our extended family on my side is 4 female to 7 male. I'm hoping for a granddaughter one day.
I can't wait to meet my new nephew. It's such a shame I cant just go round, my parents are going to go but we are Christmas bubbling with Dan's side this year. The last time I saw them in person was when I was doing a comedy gig in a pub in Leeds, just before they went into tier 3, and on the way back I thought "I recognise this road" and then I was less than a minute from her house so I knocked on for a doorstep chat which was a super lovely surprise.
Congratulations Family Hastings, I hope to cuddle you all again one day xx
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