The Red Book

This is a great idea actually - apparently 'red books' have been around for 30 odd years in Britain, and are a complete record of your child's health, including check ups, immunizations, etc. Your local health visitor (social worker) drops in to check on you after a week or so of giving birth to give you your 'red book' and warns you to treat it like gold! The warning is for good reason, as the doctors and midwives here need this in order to see your child. If you don't have one, (or god forbid lose it!) you are treated like a 2nd class citizen or just ignored.


So Jake and I went to his first official check-up, which you are supposed to do between 6-8 weeks, armed with our red book. We walk in to the local clinic during drop-in hours to find chaos! At least 15 moms and babies (and prams) in a tiny little waiting room. There is no reception, so I follow another mom who also just arrived into a smaller room to see 3 wire baskets. 1 has a sign on it saying 'red book', another says '6 weeks' and another 'immunizations'. I hesitate and then place Jake's red book into the 6 week basket and hope for the best. (not sure what the red book basket is for....) About 10 minutes later, a midwife with a strong british accent yells out 'Jack?' - after the third try, she yells 'Gavin' - so Jack Gavin and I figure out its our turn.


After the initial confusion, we are treated very well, but we did witness a mom who had the nerve to come in sans red book, and she was almost turned away. One of the midwives took pity though and after a long wait, reluctantly wrote down some information about her child on a form.


So, we are pleased to report that Jake now weighs a whopping 11lb 12oz and received a clean bill of health from the pediatrician! Here are some pics of him as he is growing into his 3-6 month outfits now...