Caitlin Crisp laughs as she looks at the carefully curated wardrobe she lovingly pieced together before her baby arrived – tiny linen rompers, hand-stitched knits and woollen tights.
“Nothing fits him!” she laughs.
“By two and a half months, he was already in six- to 12-month clothes and he’s in the 92nd percentile for size. Mum and Dad call him Little Bruiser, so unfortunately, when I put him in some of those traditional European boys’ clothes, he looked ridiculous – even I had to admit it. He’s just such a bonny boy!”
Gorgeous little Charlie is thriving at four months old – and so are his 29-year-old mum and dad Andrew Vincent, 31.
“Charlie is just the most joyful baby,” grins Caitlin.
“I think that’s because he’s surrounded by so much love. Andrew is the best dad and talks to him all the time. We’ve had so much help from both sets of grandparents – there’s always someone in his face, smiling, talking and playing with him. We are all just obsessed!”
Yet his smiley blue eyes and sunny nature are worlds away from his challenging arrival. Caitlin went into labour naturally a day after her due date, labouring for 10 hours before complications called for an emergency Caesarean.
When labour took an unexpected turn
Caitlin recalls, “I’d had an epidural and they’d just put in the hormone drip when his heartbeat dropped suddenly. I was completely exhausted – I actually fell asleep – and the next thing I knew, there were 12 people in the room and we were heading into theatre.”
Thankfully, Charlie’s heartbeat stabilised and Caitlin remained awake for the delivery.
“Hearing him cry for the first time was magic,” she says.
“Andrew was right there beside me and I felt so present for it all. It was one of the most special moments of my life.”
Feeding, recovering, and loving every minute
Caitlin’s early weeks as a mum were a blur of feeding, recovery and soaking in those newborn snuggles.
“He was a very immediate baby,” she tells.
“When he was hungry, he was hungry. He used to feed for 45 minutes to an hour on each side, so by the time he’d finished, it was nearly time to start again.”
Satisfying such a hungry newborn took a toll, with Caitlin back to her pre-pregnancy weight after a couple of weeks simply because of how much Charlie was feeding.
Exhaustion and endless feeds
“I had great supply of milk, which is lucky, but it was hard on my body. My boobs were constantly sore and I was completely drained. My mum sat me down and said, ‘You need to eat twice as much
as you are right now.’”
Since then, Caitlin has made nourishment a priority so she can keep up with a growing lad.
“I have these amazing subscription smoothies from a brand called CupFull, plus loads of protein bars I eat through the night, oats in the morning and big chicken sandwiches for lunch. I eat so much more now than I ever did before becoming a mum!”
Healing takes time
The busy business owner also had to learn how to take it slow as she went through a “brutal” recovery following her C-section.
Caitlin exclaims, “Anyone who says a Caesarean is the easy way out – oh, my gosh, no! I was still having specialist appointments at eight weeks to check the scar tissue because I just wasn’t healing properly. In those first weeks, I was in so much pain and could barely pick him up, so Mum and Dad came up from Christchurch, moving in with us for a few weeks. I’m so lucky to have them.”
Being forced to take it easy so she could heal turned out to be a blessing as she cosied up with her family.
Slowing down to bond
“Mum had the best perspective. She said, ‘This is a gift. It’s winter, you’re warm at home and Charlie’s getting the best start in life.’ “And she was right. We just moved from the couch to the bedroom to the nursery, getting to know each other. It forced me to slow down and accept help. I’m used to being go-go-go, but this made me stop and really bond with him.”
Her bonny boy is named after her great-grandfather Charles Crisp, who was a tailor. Like him and his mother, Charlie – whose middle name John is a family name on both sides – now shares the famous “CC”.
“I was always called Cece growing up and he was the original one, so it just felt right,” she explains.
A last-minute naming dilemma
But while the name was locked in, there was a last-minute panic between Andrew and Caitlin about what to put on the birth certificate.
She tells, “On the way to the hospital, I suddenly thought, ‘Wait, are we calling him Charles or Charlie?’ I just assumed it would be Charles formally, but Andrew looked at me like, ‘Why would we do that?’ So Charlie it was!”
Blending two worlds
As the creative force behind her own fashion label, Caitlin is managing to merge her two worlds as her team steps up to do the day-to-day, while she provides creative input on the vision. In fact, Charlie hit one of his big milestones right in the middle of one of Caitlin’s fashion sample sales.
“We were at work, taking a little break, and he was having some nappy-off time. All the girls were there and Andrew walked in just as Charlie rolled for the first time. It was perfect timing. Everyone was clapping and cheering – it was such a fun moment to have him there in the studio where so much of my world happens.”
A little explorer in the making
To the delight of Caitlin and property development manager Andrew, Charlie already seems to love their favourite things.
“He’s a big fan of boats and helicopters,” she enthuses.
“Andrew is a helicopter pilot and Charlie enjoyed his first ride in Queenstown. He slept through most of it, completely unfazed. We took him out on the boat recently and he had his best sleep ever!”
The realities of new motherhood
As bubbly and optimistic as Caitlin is, she’s also refreshingly honest about the adjustment to new motherhood.
“It’s the hardest and most beautiful thing I’ve ever done. There are so many opinions out there, and I just keep in mind that every baby and journey is different.”
She’s also realistic about social media and the pressure to appear like you’ve got it all together.
“Sometimes you catch yourself saying, ‘Yeah, things are great,’ when they’re actually hard. Not because you’re lying, but because you can’t be bothered going into it. But I do think it’s important to be honest. My mum told me, ‘1% get unicorn babies, 95% are struggling and 4% are lying!’ And she’s right.”
