A new little drone has arrived in my life, just in time for swarm season. As he is very cute I won’t be kicking him out in the autumn 🙂
We’ve named him Thomas Dylan Robin. He’s now seventeen days old.
There were some complications in my last week of pregnancy when I was diagnosed with obstetric cholestasis, a liver problem which affects around 1 in 140 pregnant women. It causes extreme itchiness, particularly in the feet, so much so that sleeping is very difficult. Even when I did eventually get to sleep, I was scratching myself in my sleep. The hospital recommended I was induced at 39 weeks, as some studies suggest obstetric cholestasis causes a small increased risk of stillbirth.
I ended up staying in hospital three days while they waited for a bed to become available. One of Ealing’s maternity wards has closed down recently, causing extra pressure on the hospital I was at. I was waiting around in a ward full of women in a similar situation. Every now and again one of them would actually go into labour and I would hear their screams, which didn’t make for a relaxing wait! Eventually a bed became available at midnight on Friday and Tom emerged after a drama-full thirteen hour labour. I envy the queen bee’s simple egg-laying task!
Adventuresinbeeland's Blog 
Oh my! He’s beautiful! Congratulations!
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Congratulations! All the best!
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HAPPY BIRTHDAY!! He’s so beautiful my friend. XOXO – Bacon
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Congratulations! He’s so beautiful. I love the little tongue sticking out…so cute.
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Congratulations, Emily! He’s beautiful! May your days with him be sweet as honey.
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Congratulations! What a sweet boy
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What a joy for you. He is gorgeous, Emily. Well done x
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Congratulations, Emily!!
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Good job, mum! He’s just beautiful! Take good care of yourself and get people to help out so you can grab some nap time yourself. Blessings, pet!
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Congratulations
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This is wonderful news. It’s lovely to see the photos of him and best wishes to you both x
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Great news! Sorry you had such a hard time. Thank you for posting his photographs, he is certainly worth keeping in the hive. Amelia
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Congratulations!
You will get to sleep through the night again. Eventually!
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Dear Emily
Congratulations! He is bee-dutiful.
Alan Jones >
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He’s marvelous, definitely a keeper! I don’t know which I like best: the squinty face or the little tongue sticking out. I guess I don’t really have to choose, since you posted both photos. Thank you for sharing him with us! Here’s wishing you all peaceful sleep (even if it’s not all during the night) and much joy.
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Congratulations! He is the most beautiful drone I ever saw 😀.
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Congratulations! I bet you’ll keep him through the winter as well, unlike most drones. Enjoy!
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He’s beautiful. So happy both Mom and Thomas are OK. Congratulations!
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Congratulations!
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Thanks everyone for your nice comments 🙂
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Congratulations to both of you!
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So sorry you had complications. He’s adorable! Congratulations!
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many congratulations!
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Welcome to the world, Tom (such a good name); and congratulations Emily. RH
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Congratulations to you Emily and your family x x x
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What a cutie Emily, Congratulations to you both…Gary and Margaret
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Congratulations! He’s a really cute little drone.
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Belated congratulations.
Oddly enough, I know as little about human drones as bee drones, so I look forward to learning more about them.
. . . while still thinking it’s a lot of work . . .
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You may know more about human drones than you think; after all you were one once.
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Actually, I fibbed a bit. I changed many diapers, sat up with crying babies, and know a fair amount about the work involved . . . hence our decision not to have kids.
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Ha! Yes, the endless diaper (or nappy as we call them) changing. And then the challenge of eventually getting them to stop using nappies.
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Congratulations! Such a beautiful child!
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Thank you 🙂
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Just in time for swarm season – haha! Love it. I was sorry to read of your complications, but very glad that everything turned out well in the end. Love the 1 week old photo. Thomas is adorable; congratulations!!
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Thanks very much!
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Congratulations Emily, he’s perfectly beautiful and we know from the love and atention you give to your bees that he’s chosen himself a wonderful mummy! Enjoy every minute, they grow so quickly!
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Thanks very much! He has already gained 4 1/2 honey jars in weight.
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We are dreadfully late with our congratulations but at least the wee honey-child is not yet off to uni. We wish the very best for you all.
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The “honey-child” – I like that!
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He is so adorable and you picked a really nice name. You must be very happy and proud. Congratulations to the three of you.
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That’s very kind of you Donna, thank you.
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Congrats! He is super cute.
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Thank you! He was so tiny back then. He’s a big boy now!
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