Our Dormouse

There was cause for celebration yesterday when I heard the news that my cousin has become a daddy.

Some families aren’t very close, and cousins don’t see one another regularly, but in our family, when I was growing up, my cousins were very much a part of my everyday life. In fact, they were more like siblings than cousins to me. As we got older for a number of reasons we’re not as close as we used to be; but still, to find out that he’s become a daddy is brilliant news.

It’s been a bumpy road for him and his fiancée – first he was under investigation for fits, and they suspended his driving license and he had to have all these tests and scans done to try and find out what was happening (they never did get to the bottom of it, and the fits stopped as suddenly as they’d started) Then his fiancée had some health issues of her own, which resulted in her coming off the pill and she became pregnant.

It’s the third baby for her – she has two older sons from her first marriage, who are young teenagers now – but they knew it would most probably be their only chance at having a baby together, so despite the health risks involved for her and the baby, they decided to go for it. At the 20 week scan it was confirmed their healthy bundle of joy was a girl.

Their daughter was born yesterday via c section due to the health issues, and everything went well. A healthy 8lb baby, she’s already earned herself the nickname of ‘Dormouse’ because she’s so quiet and content to curl up and sleep. She’s also the first female to be born into the maternal side of my family since I was born, which is pretty crazy! It isn’t like a whole lot of babies have come along since me, though – my brother, two of my cousins had sons and then I had The Boy, so not a huge population boom in thirty years of family I suppose! But even so, it is nice to welcome a girl into the family at last.

We’ve been told not to buy her anything – my cousin says his fiancée’s friends are so generous, neither of them can believe the amount of things they’ve been given by people, saying “Oh, have it, my daughter is too big for it now” and they’re ending up with huge black sacks of clothes, half of which still has the labels in. Gifts so far have included a complete travel system, a Moses basket, the nursery furniture and a glider chair, and apparently Dormouse has enough clothes already to wear a different outfit everyday until she reaches nine months old!

Unfortunately despite my excitement it won’t be possible to meet Dormouse and congratulate my cousin & his fiancée for another couple of months – they live a long distance away, and the next time we’ll get together will be at my brothers wedding, which is just under six weeks away. However I will be naughty and buy her a small gift – she doesn’t need clothes or anything like that so I’m going to be creative and see what I can come up with! After all, it isn’t every day we welcome a new family member!