Las Abuelas - by Theo

In one of the pre-natal classes we attended with our midwife Maite, she drew two large columns on the board, one for the men and one for the women. Then she asked the guys to suggest problems that new mothers would face in the first few weeks following birth, and asked the women to do the same for new fathers. At one point Maite wrote, in huge block capitals, sprawling across both columns "Las Abuelas" - the Grandmothers. Clearly in Spain the attentions of the Grandmothers during the first few weeks of their precious grandchild's life is something new parents anticipate with dread and trepidation!

Rosie's early arrival threw everyone into a state of shock, perhaps none more so than her Grandmothers, Cathy (maternal) and Diane (paternal). Prior to the birth they had both been talking, calmly and rationally, about coming over during Easter week to visit. However once Rosie's arrival in the world became reality this calm pre-planning went out the window as they both scrambled to get over here asap - they would have come while we were still in the hospital if we hadn't stopped them!

In the end they came last weekend. My mother, Diane, and my sister Hermione (Rosie is her first niece... or nephew!) flew over on Friday and booked themselves into a hotel around the corner. Kate's mum Cathy flew over on Saturday and took up residence in our spare room. Suddenly we had babysitters - Hurrah - and Kate and I were able to take 2 hour siestas while a small army of attendants bathed, changed and comforted Rosie while we slept. My Mum and Hermione flew back on Sunday to their busy schedules, but Cathy is with us until tomorrow and is currently filling our freezer with delicious things. Really I don't know what our fellow parents in the pre-natal class were worried about; thank goodness for Grandmothers!

I'm now waiting for the Grandfathers to show up - I've got some DIY I want their help with!