Weigh in, and test results

James was weighed again yesterday (just under four weeks old) by the Health Visitor, and was a healthy 8lb 14oz (6lb 9oz at birth), so I don't know what Sharon has been eating but it's obviously working!

He's also had the standard hearing test this morning (at Royston hospital) which was all fine, so that's good news.

Finally, we had the results of the heelprick test (Guthrie test, I think it's called), and that's all normal as well.

That's it, I quit!

Following the enlargement of our family, and a long period of generally decreasing morale at work, I've finally taken the plunge and handed in my notice.

After almost ten years there, during which the company has changed a huge amount (including going from a small privately owned company to part of a large US-owned public corporation), I've decided I need a change and am therefore now looking for new opportunities.

My preference at this point is for software contract work, ideally something like two to three month fixed term projects that maybe I can do from home so I don't need to drive into Cambridge every day.

So, if you need a hard-working, experienced software engineer, specialising in embedded C, with detailed knowledge of military and civilian radar systems (including target tracking) as well as video, graphics, sonar and TCP/IP networking, then I'm your man!

You can find my CV at:

http://www.rewarren.co.uk

Please feel free to pass it to suitable companies who are looking for contractors!

My final day at Primagraphics (oops, sorry, Curtiss-Wright Controls Embedded Computing, Cambridge) will be Thursday 3rd May 2007, after which I want a few weeks off with the newly extended family before considering future options.

Let's just hope I haven't overestimated my chances in the job market!

Weight and photos

James was weighed by the health visitor on Wednesday (which I think is officially day 12, because he was born after 12 noon so the birth day is called day zero), and is already up to 7lb 4oz. So, he's more than regained his birth weight, and is either feeding remarkably well or the scales at the hospital underestimated the weight in the first place!

I've finally got around to uploading some more photos of James and Imogen (to Photobox, my preferred photo printing and hosting company at the moment). At the time of writing, they are available as a slideshow at:

http://www.photobox.co.uk/slideshow/viewer.html?c_album=5231750

The individual photos are at:

http://www.photobox.co.uk/album/5231750

Currently, there are 25 photos there, spread over two pages, so be sure to continue through to the second page if you are interested.

Midwifery Services

There's a lot in the media at the moment about how bad the services to expectant mothers is in the UK nowadays.

Well, I just wanted to say what a good experience we had. James was born at the Midwifery Led Birth Unit, which is attached to the Rosie Maternity Hospital within Addenbrooke's in Cambridge. For the whole time we were there, we had the fantastic one-to-one attention of Emily Moy, one of their midwives, who was very very helpful. Everything was about as relaxed as it could be, and basically I'm not sure we could have asked for anything more!

That said, we were the last family there that day before the unit had to shut (again, apparently) for a while because of a lack of staff, so perhaps we were the lucky ones?

Chicken Pox

We think Imogen has got Chicken Pox (Varicella). I say "think", because it seems to be a very mild case, but then 1 in 10 infections goes unnoticed apparently!

She was really grumpy last week, off her food and generally not herself, which at the time we put down to being overly tired from all the visitors, grandparents and so on coming to see and help with the new baby. With hindsight though, it was almost certainly the onset of the virus I guess. We noticed half a dozen flat red spots on her yesterday, mainly on tummy and back, and one or two had already started crusting over. Some of them had gone down this morning, but a few are still crusty/scabby.

With any luck, that will be the extent of it and we can count ourselves lucky it was just a mild case, but we'll see. She was exposed to the virus (well, shingles) just after she was born, so whether that's made any difference to her tolerance of it or not I've no idea.

Anyway, she's coping brilliantly with it so far, with very little scratching, but then she's had such itchy skin in the past that maybe this is insignificant to her!

Our main concern was with James, who is still less than two weeks old. However, we've spoken to the midwife and a doctor, who believe that he is very unlikely to get it since he will still be getting loads of antibodies from Sharon so should have a good immunity at the moment (another of the many many wonders of breast-feeding). Fingers crossed, that will protect him, because the possible side-effects in vulnerable children can be pretty nasty in rare cases.

James is still going very well, eating and sleeping very regularly, with alert periods most mornings and late afternoons. He gets another couple of visits this week, firstly from the Health Visitor and then from the Community Midwife again.