Baby in arm, Toddler underfoot. love.

When I became a mother my whole life changed. My perspective on life, My routine, My priorities. Everything.

Now that I’ve become a mother for the second time my life is again changing.

My head had been afraid my heart wouldn’t catch on. How could I love another little being as much as I love Eli? How could another child possibly ever be as perfect as my firstborn is?

Once Fyn arrived scarily and hurriedly on the bedroom floor all my worries ceased. How could I NOT love my second little miracle as much as I love Eli!

And so, again our life has been thrown upside down and inside out and a turbulent atmosphere reigns the house, but in a good way.

There are two bodies to snuggle

Two little faces to kiss

Two little people to tuck in at night and sing lullabies and read bedtime stories to.

I got a nice change for myself too.

The much matted, even slightly dreaded,  very unlooked after mane of mine was all chopped off, in favour, rather of an Emma Watson post harry potter style pixie cut.

My “Mummy cut” and although a huge change I’m loving rocking a new ‘do’ suitable of my new lifestyle, busy mummy of two.

Eli has adapted beautifully to the arrival of his little brother. Insisting he gets lots of cuddles from the interesting creature that often spends hours lounging on the couch. He inspects Fyn’s hands and feet and watches intrigued as I change Fyn’s little Nappy..

Regression of my first born was something I was very worried about. I’d heard so many stories of children reverting back to crawling or losing a lot of words they’d been using or becoming clingy and needy .

The only regression I have noted in my well adapted eldest son however is extra reliance on his dummy (which could also be put down to the fact that currently in his little mouth two canine teeth and two molars are painfully emerging)

He has also been harder to put down for a nap during the day and the experience has begun to be a battle of wills in which Eli mostly wins. But this could also be due to painful teething, his age or the fact that he’d rather be downstairs playing with his little brother.

Fyn has put on weight and is feeding beautifully. Such a contented little bundle and so alert! We often find him just lying there big blue eyes open gazing around the room and cooing to himself.

I know there will be tears and tantrums, routine changes and two lots of nappies to change now.

There will be tough days, the rough sleeps, sick children and my bodies aches and pains.

But we will adapt and continually learn from each other. I will deal with my toilet shadows for the next few years. with sharing my food, having my belongings broken and a chaotic house because all of those things come hand in hand with the delicious giggles from my toddler. The contented wind smiles that blossom upon the face of my sleeping newborn and the satisfied sigh at the end of the evening from my husband as he finally pulls his jet fuel soaked work boots off and then leaves them strewn across the lounge room floor.

I have a home and a heart full of love and smiles and understanding.

I’m always there to comfort a cranky baby or an injured toddler.

I’ll juggle the two and my hubby sometimes I’ll complain because I’m human but deep down I’ll always enjoy it because I was born to be a mummy and a wife. And I love it.

Nic

Eli

Fyn

My Everything’s.

My life as a Mummy

I wear bags under my eyes now

Not under my arm.

I wear food on my clothes

Not jewellery.

My perfume is eu de baby spew.

My iphone is full of children’s songs

Not top of the pops.

My brain battles the challenges of a toddler and the fatigue of a newborn

Not the adult tasks and conversations of a workforce.

I line up for hours to see children’s characters

Not rock stars.

I haven’t travelled the world

But I have travelled the playroom through a tunnel and disappeared into a land of dinosaurs and bedtime stories.

I don’t spend my weekends searching for that perfect glittery dress to wear to those fancy events

But rather, poking my head round bench tops and couch arms playing peekaboos with that cheeky grin that looks back at me.

I spend hours a day breastfeeding a tiny little bundle

Not traipsing around shops in heels.

I am forever changing poop.

I get weed on.

I get snotted on.

Sneezed on.

Spewed on.

Yelled at.

Slapped.

Headbutted.

Kissed.

And hugged.

And guess what?

ILOVE IT!!

Fyn Anthony Jarrett - my second little miracle

Home birth.

Not something I had heard much about or ever really considered even considering.

My first labour was 15 hours long and even then only ended with the aid of suction.

I had been beginning to fear that my labour with Fyn would never eventuate so the week leading up to my due date was a long week of long walks, sitting on and bouncing on my exercise ball endlessly, inserting and ingesting evening primrose oil tablets, drinking raspberry leaf tea by the gallon and even having sex! On the 22^nd (the day before my due date) I braved the dreaded castor oil!

Castor oil was thick and foul and tasted like nothing I can describe.

At 12 am the morning of my due date the 23^rd of July I went to bed thinking that I was yet again doomed to another day of the torments of late pregnancy.

At 5 past 12 I woke up with the most intense pressure down below. Knowing my lovely next door neighbour Luke was still awake I texted him to come keep me company until such time I felt I should wake my blissfully sleeping husband.

I didn’t believe that would be for some time yet as far as my last labour was concerned.

As of 10 or 15 past 12 my contractions had started.

And started fast and extreme. Unlike with Eli these pains were only in my lower belly right down low and right at the front.

These were shockers! Worse, I believe, than any of the pain with Eli and so close together so early! Right from the start they were 1 minute apart dropping me to my knees with every wave of contraction.

I woke Nic up and he made me a cup of coffee and we debated whether or not to go to the hospital right now. Luke (my next door neighbour) suggested not having the bath I had asked Nic to run for me and rather, to call the ambulance . When Nic resurfaced from running the bath I hit the floor , incapacitated by yet another contraction.

“Nic call the ambulance”

His reply was something about whether or not I should wait and have a bath first

“Don’t fucking question me right now” I directed eloquently and with so much class as usual!

At this point I had a very strong urge to either poo or wee, either way I was busting and Needed to go! I told Nic and the 000 lady instructed Nic not to let me go at any cost, which of course infuriated me further.

“I just need to Fucking Poo”

Nic on guidance from the 000 lady made me lie down on the bedroom floor to which I begrudgingly complied with and with that motion my waters broke and gushed out on another contraction.

I cannot exactly remember what was being said at this point but Bec ( my best friend) said she came running down from the toilet desperately trying to get her pants up as Nic mentioned his wife’s waters broke on the phone

I really felt the urge to push now and went with it as another contraction surged on.

My body was a powerhouse, it just took control. I can remember being surprised above all the pain at how well my body was dealing with this.

Then Fyn was crowning! I felt his head and remember having thought after horrible nasty thought running through my mind.

My baby was coming out dead.

This was so wrong.

Something bad is happening.

There’s no way either Fyn nor I would be ok.

I was so scared and in so much pain.

Nic was wonderful, he held his head so calmly and so completely, delegating tasks to both Bec and Luke with such a take charge attitude not usually typical of his personality.

This is where the 000 lady told Nic to apply pressure to Fyn’s head so he wouldn’t come out too fast. The little poppet was miraculously facing the right way, head down facing inwards and as soon as Nic released a bit of pressure on Fyn’s head, the most horrific contraction I have ever felt arched my body, made me holler like a stuck pig and out came his body

He was crying!

He was pink!

He was breathing!

Still attached to the chord Nic placed Fyn on my chest and we waited the 20 minutes until the ambulance arrived.

Looking back at our telephone records, from the time Nic rang 000 to the time Fyn was born was 13 minutes flat! He definitely was in a rush

Bec and Luke did wonderfully working as a little team assisting Nic so he didn’t have to worry about anything but what was happening down the business end!

The ambulance arrived 20 minutes after Fyn Anthony entered the world and they were lovely, sped all the way to John Hunter, making it there in 45 minutes flat even including the occasional stops for hardcore contractions as I still hadn’t passed the placenta.

I felt great being wheeled into the hospital on the stretcher hearing other ladies in birthing rooms screaming with agony. I’m sure I had a smug smile on my face.

“Ner ner all my hardwork is done and dusted Ner Ner” piped the antagonist in my head.

I was sewn up by doctors, finally having some gas as they kept pricking me in places the local hadn’t numbed.

I’d  apparently gone into shock after Fyn was born, shaking something fierce and unable to control it. But by this point almost all the pain had subsided and I had passed the placenta with the help of a shot of sintocin at 230. It took me a whole hour and a half to birth the placenta! – longer than it took to birth my son!

They checked me out and did a thorough check on my tiny little bundle and told Nic and I we were perfectly fine and able to leave when we wanted.

I’d spent 5 hours at John Hunter and that was enough. I firmly believed I’d rest better at home without the sound of other women screaming ringing through my ears, personally, labour was too fresh in my mind to be able to deal with that.

We made it home just as Eli was having breakfast which was perfect timing because for him it would have only had been like mummy and daddy had slept in and come out with a baby!

I am truly blessed and so completely happy to have my husband and two healthy little boys surrounding me.

Our family is complete.

xx

ooh my little munchkin

As of tomorrow there will only be 5 days till this strange yet so perfect little being becomes a big brother.

It is still so surreal to me that very soon my baby will no longer be a baby.

My breastfeeding journey

When I started breastfeeding I wasn’t completely naive, I knew that the process of breastfeeding was a learning experience for both me and my baby and for the first few times I fed I made sure I had a midwife in the room with me to help. Most were wonderful, instructing me without judging or imposing their opinions upon me. One was horrible all I can remember was being on the verge of tears as my breasts were still only producing colostrums and I was struggling to  get Eli to latch on correctly the first time This horrible midwife grabbed my nipple to get a drop of milk out to coax a fussy Eli and grabbing my newborns head and rammed it on. I was very uncomfortable with this and obviously made my complaints.

Latching on is something baby and you have to learn. They obviously have their natural born instincts and I found it actually easy to wait until Eli was fussing before putting him on as I was guaranteed a 9 times out of 10 time of a perfect latch. (if they don’t latch on the best advice I was given was to use your little finger to lease the little suction cap they’d created and try again.)

The third day when my milk came in I remember being so teary and over the idea of breastfeeding. My breasts were so painful. I can remember wanting to cut them off and grab a bottle! What was all this rubbish about breastfeeding being a beautiful thing?

But I was too lazy to learn about bottles and formula and I was convinced I would attempt to give my baby the best of the best and I am very, very big on “breast is best” and I adamant at having a red hot go at this!

I am not going to lie as I am doing this breastfeeding blog for mothers I know who have asked me about my experiences with it. Breastfeeding for me, was painful to start with, after Eli and I had conquered the latching on, which until he mastered that brought on a few tears, there was the milk coming in! The painful engorged leaky breasts, the bed being wet, constantly having to change breastpad’s and nursing tops, not being able to breathe properly due to the two massively engorged painfully stretched rocks sitting on my chest. When was this torture going to end?

My milk finally settled down within a week My body had finally learnt when Eli would want a feed and I now had the challenge of coping with the hot sensation of the letdown and feeling my uterus contract every time Eli latched on, I also had to deal with the fact that my right breast was cracked sore and bleeding.

If this happens to you I strongly recommend lanasolin cream for your nipple you don’t need to wash it off before feeding and it prevented the nipple drying out and your poor cracked part sticking to the breast pad (cringe)

This pain was the worse. I gave myself a month.

I swore I would give it a red hot go. If this pain wouldn’t go away after a month of applying lanasolin so regularly I went through so many tubes then I would give up and try bottles.

Nevertheless the pain stopped and Eli and I became pros

We learnt to be able to feed in the dark, he learnt to find my nipple himself without my guidance, and the bonus of breastfeeding for me was, on a very rough night I could just bring him right back to bed with me, lie down and latch him on and snooze off! No warming bottles and I hardly even had to wake up!

There were other obstacles, for the first few months I had to really watch what I ate. Nothing to gassy no cabbage, I couldn’t eat chocolate !!! argh! I’m a new mother, sleep deprived with no chocolate!

A common misconception is that breastfed babies will not sleep through the night as well as bottle fed babies. This is untrue, If you have baby on a proper routine  (I chose Tizzie Hall Save our sleep and I swear by it!) then a full night’s sleep doesn’t have to be an issue at all.

Tizzie Hall Save our sleep was a godsend for me. Through the use of this book and following its routine Eli slept from 7 to  7 from 3 months on. Eli went down at 7 every night after a feed and I would then give him what is called a dreamfeed at 1030 ( a dreamfeed is getting your baby out of the cot , latching them on and giving them the 1030 feed without waking them up. Feeding is an instinct so he will not choke.)

I ended up feeding Eli with no issues until he was 14 months old, he started weaning himself from certain feeds at about 9 months when I fell pregnant, (not sure why but maybe my milk tasted differently? Or maybe he just didn’t need it?) but, we still had the upset feeds and the night time feed.

Finally weaning Eli off the night time feed was the hardest. Don’t get me wrong, he was fine and at 14 months he was more than ready to leave that feed in his baby days but I didn’t cope so well, the first night he went without a feed I cried, I missed our moment  together, looking down and staring at my beautiful little baby boy feeding.

Breastfeeding , to me, is the most beautiful natural thing I have ever done.

I’ve been asked a few times about my experience with breastfeeding, and before I continue I’d like to make sure people know am not an ABA counsellor, I have no qualifications, and am no kind of lactation specialist, but,  my answers to the following are honest stories and answers from what I have had to learn through my 14 months of breastfeeding.

Also keep in mind, everyone’s bodies are different and every baby and breastfeeding experience is different.

Questions I have been asked

Did your baby bite when he got teeth?

I was petrified of this one and felt lucky Eli didn’t get his first tooth until 9 months old (I was dreading it, so many people told me horror stories) but don’t worry my baby didn’t bite especially with only his bottom teeth. His tongue covered them. Even with 8 teeth he didn’t bite except the occasional time he was being a cheeky bugger rtoward the end and hed bite and look up at me with the devil in his eyes and not just laugh, he would CHUCKLE!!!

Can you get pregnant when you are breastfeeding?

Yes.

Look at my belly!

I’m pretty sure under 6 months old and for a fully demand fed baby that it can be considered a contraceptive but don’t quote me on that but I fell pregnant when Eli was on 4 feeds daily and I knew I was pregnant instantly .

Eli started feeding strangely, not as much and not really enjoying feeds and holy moley was I tired.

He soon adapted and just slowly weaned himself off

Is breastfeeding bad on your unborn child?

I was worried about this too but the doctor reassured me unborn bub would take first dibs on the goodness then Eli, through breastfeeding and then I could have whatever nutrients were left.

I don’t believe, if I were to ever get pregnant again whilst breastfeeding, that I would ever breastfeed as long but as I am not planning on any more children I am hoping to breastfeed Fyn at least until he is two.

Shock horror! Yes, I said it breastfeed until he is two!

Why not? Breastfeeding is possibly the best bonding experience out and so good for our little ones

Don’t you want your own body back? I’m asked..

Breastfeeding was the best weight loss I went back to smaller than my pre pregnancy body within a month breastfeeding and frankly (except for the occasional night)

I don’t care about drinking and when put on a proper routine I can plan my life and not be locked in the house I can go clubbing (sober of course) and I can do everything other 22 year olds do but I became a mother to be a MOTHER and if that means losing my “party animal” identity for a while then it is worth it to provide my baby with breast milk the best thing for them!

My little miracle. Eli Harrison Jarrett

As Fyn’s birth nears I thought why not torment myself even further and write Elis birth story which would then be very interesting to compare to Fyn’s which is to ensue in the next 13 days.

I’d lost my mucous plug the morning before I went spontaneously into labour.

The morning (2am) I went into labour I knew it was labour straight away. It was definitely not Braxton hicks. A tight burning sensation would start in my lower back and spread rapidly over my belly.

I walked around for a little bit to see if these pains would indeed prove to be Braxton hicks after all. I thought several times about waking Nic up but thought better of it. Why not let him sleep, what use would he be right now but to be stressing me out.

I racked my brain, trawling my memory for all the advice I’d been given during my pregnancy.

Hot bath,

 at this point the contractions Id been getting were starting to get painful so I ran a hot bath and (with great difficulty considering my significant girth) sat in it. Until I was bored and the bath went cold.

I had a cup of coffee.

I walked up and down the hallway.

Another piece of advice Id been given was not to go to the hospital until I could not control the noises escaping my mouth or my waters broke. This is what I was aiming for, I was adamant to remain soley in control for as long as I could manage.

I’d begun writing and timing my contractions, I had another bath and then I woke Nic at 7 because the contractions were 4 minutes apart by that point and strong enough to drop me to my knees if I wasn’t supported by the wonderfully pain dulling hot water of my bath.

At first Nic didn’t believe I was in actual labour he says. It wasn’t until I dropped to the ground when the next wave of contractions snuck round from my back that he believed me.

I remember us discussing whether or not to go to the hospital yet and thinking “if this is labour, which I know it is, its painful but really quite manageable.. I can do this!”

At about 7:30 we threw the bag I’d packed weeks ago in readiness of this moment in the back of the car and buckled in.

Lordy lordy,  contractions are not fun when you’re in the passenger seat of a car. Your body is unable to contort to its more comforting positions. You’re sitting upright and its downright painful and stressing. At least, living in Katherine the drive was very short.

I dropped to my knees in the carpark attacked by yet another contraction and visions of a carpark birth flooded my mind. Not to worry though I still had a long time to go!

Approaching the counter at the maternity ward in Katherine hospital NT Nic and I must have looked so calm, almost blasé about the whole thing because again I was not believed that I was in labour.

Then creeping through my back and BAM! all around my stomach came another crippling contraction and the midwives believed me and sent me straight to a birthing suite.

Daunting things, those birthing suites, so grey and formal, full of medical equipment which for someone like myself who has never even broken a bone is almost scary, however I had my pain to distract me! They checked my dilation and I was pretty proud that I’d gone to 4 centimetres dilation at home on my own without even waking Nic!

I asked the midwives to hit me with whatever they had drug-wise! I was not ashamed to ask for drugs and to be assisted in my pain. I received a shot of pethidine (which I maintain to this day did absolutely nothing for me) and sucked down the gas like there was no tomorrow. I dreaded needing to pee it meant I had to leave my lovely gas!

I’ve heard so many other birth stories and seen pictures, people walking around, using birth balls and being really quite active but I found myself flipping into the “doggy” position on the bed and yelling out my frustration in that position. Entirely glamorous of course!

The contractions got worse and worse and Nic says I would cry and wince during a contraction and then laugh and joke between them. All I can remember is when that pain started in my back my mind would scream “NO! NO! NO! NO!” as it knew it was only a matter of nano seconds before the horrendous contracting in my belly.

Nic being male kept sneaking sucks of my gas, the cheeky bugger, and apparently I ripped into him for that.

A mate of mine at this point had turned up at the hospital to see if she could come in and support me all I remember doing is swearing my nut off and screaming “tell them to fuck off I’m not having a  fucking picnic”

As you can guess she left.. oops

Before we had left home we rang the lovely Jackie Harper who was my chosen support person aside from Nic and as she had to drive down from Darwin she turned up at this point after dropping her son, Jordy off at a babysitters.

Having a female presence there helped me , calmed me and her support was very invaluable thank you Jackie!

I laboured on for what didn’t seem that long to me but must have been a few hours, Jackie left to check on Jordy and suddenly in walked this doddery old man I had never seen before.

The foul language turned back on

“Who the fuck is this old man?”

Turns out this was doctor Scattini the doctor in charge of giving me my epidural.

When  I got my epidural my memory is only filled with managing contractions enough to stay still curled up on my side, petrified of ending up a quadriplegic if the needle hit a rogue nerve.

Nic said DR Scattini’s hands shook something fierce, but, as soon as he picked up the scalpel to make the incision for the canular his hand ceased shaking and as steady as a rock he cut my back. He dropped the scalpel and began shaking again. He inserted the needle into my spine through the canular and gave me a whole dose of whatever the numbing medication is in the epi.

At first, having not been able to attend any antenatal classes I was petrified to move in the bed while the epidural took its 20 minutes to kick in. I was so afraid of some huge needle sticking into my back. There wasn’t though, the midwife informed me the needle was removed there was just the plastic tubing in my back and that i was free to move as much as i was capable with my legs about to lose function.

As I now couldn’t feel my lower body aside from the niggly pain of the occasional whopper of a contraction , my belly all strapped and monitored up Nic fell asleep in the recliner next to my bed and I was able to rest finally still sucking down gas on the occasional time I did feel a contraction.

Nic went home to get some food and I was given my second dose of epidural after my dilation was checked and I really still had a long way to go and the machine was still measuring contractions quite large.

Nic fell asleep at home and my lovely neighbour who has very, very quick births told Nic off and made him come back to the hospital where he walked in to a very agitated me with growing discomfort as my second shot of epidural had pretty much worn off.

I loved the epidural it was like paradise between the pain, it allowed me to lay down and rest and forget about the pain, unfortunately I was then unable to work up tolerance to the build up of intensity in my contractions.

Once the epidural had worn off the midwives asked me if I would like to try the birthing stool, a ridiculously potty like contraption on which I swore profusely as I sat on it with Nic sitting behind me to lean on.

A nightmare. I hated it I felt restricted and in immense amounts of pain. I can remember asking why they wanted to kill me, asking why I couldn’t have more epidural and try again tomorrow.

Whilst on the birthing stool the midwives broke my waters for me which Nic said was “disgusting” as it all erupted over the floor.

I can’t remember having an urge to push.

I got another half shot of epidural and was warned that after that it would be push time and to prepare myself.

Suddenly the monitor attached to my bump measuring Eli’s heart rate and my contractions started going ridiculous. From 20 to 130 to 40 to 160 to 20 again. Eli was starting to distress and because of the intervention of the epidural my contractions had slowed and labour was not progressing. I freaked out and they turned the monitor away from me. My mind was racing.. Was my baby ok?

I can vaguely remember midwifes talking amongst themselves and talking to Nic. And then them hooking a different bag onto the one that had been keeping me hydrated. I knew this was the same kind of thing that helped bring on labour. I knew this would make my labour pains even more intense but my lovely caring husband Nic decided to FIB and tell me it was just more of what had been there before.

Nonetheless he lied. And I found out shortly!

Push time was foul, painful and I thought I would die. Poor Nic kept trying to give me cordial and wipe my forehead and in return get sworn at only for me to swear at him again when he backed off asking him where my cordial and face washer was?

He couldn’t win!

I can’t remember too much from this part.

Nic said at this point I was blacking in and out of consciousness. I remember him trying to take the gas off me and I growled at him like a dog with the mouthpiece firmly held between my teeth.. No one was going to take those drugs off me and end up alive!

I was screaming, and Jackie, who had been through this before explained that I should stop screaming and use the last of my energy on pushing, I remember her putting her hand over my mouth to quieten me and I remember threatening to bite it off.

I had the mirror in front of me and this was my only sanity. I could actually see that my pain was getting me somewhere.

Another doctor came in at this point (iIhave been told since by midwives this was for “maternal exhaustion” and the fact that Eli was in distress) the doctor told me he was going to ventouse  (suction) Eli out. And that if this didn’t work in time we were looking at a c section delivery as Eli needed to be out right NOW.

I think at this point this is why I tore so bad. When the doctor had (in my memory) stuck both hands in me and I felt like a cow he did some pumps on his little vetouse and I knew at this instant that even though i wasn’t having a contraction that if i didn’t push RIGHT NOW i wouldn’t be able to push any more ..and pop out came Elis head!

 Nic said the tearing happening down there sounded like tearing fat off meat! I’m so glad I can’t remember that!

In my memory Elis head is as large as an adults head. It was grey and scary but still so cute at the same time.

Then all of a sudden I was on my own. Nic said when Eli came out his chord was wrapped around his neck and from being in distress for such a lengthy period he was refusing to breathe.

Nic stepped back and let the doctors cut the chord and, blocking Eli from my view, they took him to a workstation and put an adult sized oxygen mask over his entire face.

suddenly my energy levels snapped back.

Why couldn’t I see my boy? What was wrong with him? Why wouldn’t they tell me anything?

I then heard a gurgle ,not the cry like you hear in the movies.

And I had my very own tiny little miracle sitting on my chest.

Suddenly there was no pain.

I gazed at his little face and cried.

I’m pretty sure this is when I got the needle in my leg to pass the afterbirth and they tugged it out, and made preparations to put my stitches in.

But all I could think about was my little Boy. It was 5:19 and after 15 hours of the worse pain I had felt in my life I was sitting blissfully with my own little baby boy, all 7 lbs 13oz of him, and such a long little bubba he was a little skinny spidery thing. The spitting image of his daddy.

No one has ever given me such a precious gift.

Overdue?? Not An Option.

I’m halfway through my 37^th week of pregnancy.

I’m over being uncomfortable. Tired of being in pain and I long for the little things like sleeping on my belly.

I’m far from a wonderful pregnant person. I don’t glow. I whinge and complain. I get a huge belly, pee a lot and suffer insomnia when it’s time to sleep and can’t keep my eyes open when it’s not appropriate to sleep.

The last three weeks of pregnancy are the worst. And did I mention that I whinge a lot?

This pregnancy I’ve had the hopes and dreams but I’ve been there twice now and I’ve reached the point where I want to hold my little boy in my arms NOW.

I know what childbirth is like and it sucks, It’s entirely painful and I’m dreading it. So to really flip myself out I’m going for a different approach to the massive amount of drugs I used last time to trying a drug free waterbirth

Yep ick.....

On the weekend, after reading that bromelain, an enzyme in pineapple, can help soften your cervix and therefore maybe bring on labour. I ate an entire 820 gram can of it!

This succeeded only in giving me some burning wees and a mild niggly stomach ache.

No labour.

I also read that the process of canning destroys the bromelain.

After I had eaten it!

Great

Awesome

Just what I wanted

This week my beautiful best friend, down from the Northern Territory to support me through the last weeks of my pregnancy, found raspberry leaf tea for me!

3 cups a day? Huhh? Who actually follows instructions?

Yesterday I went for a brisk walk early in the morning, followed by more of an amble in the afternoon.

Still no labour

Wicked back pain

Sore legs

No labour!

What’s a girl to do? I swear I will not go overdue with this baby.

Its Tuesday, I slept on the couch last night as I just couldn’t get comfortable and Nic was making his weird noises again.

2 long walks are planned again today. This morning we are going to the shopping centre for Bec to try on dresses then coming back for Eli bugs nap then walking on back down for her to get her nails done .

I’m excited!

Eli was such a good boy this morning so after Nic had awoken at 430 to get ready for work and tucked me back in my own bed I was able to sleep until 7!

I have no clue why I whined and complained quite so much when I was pregnant with Eli, Having a toddler puts pregnancy in a whole other playing field. I can’t just sleep when I’m tired. The  few times I did have morning sickness this pregnancy they were the times I was accompanied by my small shadow curious as to why mummies head was in the toilet.

So it seems riding the porcelain bus is not even sacred to a 1+ year old!

Even when watching television I am actively preparing for this labour which I’ll be damned but will be better than Eli’s that I sit on an excersize ball! This baby will NOT be overdue especially now with Bec leaving a week early Baby can’t be late!

ABC for kids is not cutting it for Eli this morning so a little Einsteins DVD it is to entertain whilst I get ready for the day! I always swore my child wouldn’t watch television much less would be watching American television but reality bared its ugly face and oh for the bliss of TV!

We went to the shops,

Bec tried on two dresses which with her hot little body both looked absolutely stunning so I just had to help convince her to buy both! We travelled back home (walking again this baby had better come soon) and Eli and I settled for a nap.

That afternoon Eli bug was ratty and nasty and just really unsettled not knowing at all what he wanted. So we walked back down to the shops for Bec to get her nails done and I bought Eli some flash cards from the salvos store that looked brand new.

Sitting in the nail salon blissfully smelling the fumes that reminded me of my selfish Jamee Saunders glammed up days I was astonished at the recognition skills of the grubby little monster in the pram!

He’d say dog he’d copy noises and was generally a little smarty bum which quite obviously made me one proud little mumma bear.

Taxi home as it was dark and freezing and its “Winners and Losers” night on TV with my best friend here and my husband home to deal with rat child Eli bug

How good can life get?

Oh wait

I’m still pregnant

Still waiting for Fyn the worm to make his appearance!

Yours still pregnant

Jamee

Antenatals and Old Macdonald Quack quack Roar!

Eli woke up a tad grizzly and frazzled this morning, I found him sitting in his cot playing with his feet. I think he was upset he couldn’t suck his toes because of his long onesie pyjamas he wears for his night sleep.

We had a quick snuggle in my bed as he was so happy to get out of his cot then he sat down and hurriedly scoffed down a huge breakfast of cereal and jammy toast before beginning the hectic rush the both of us had to get ourselves ready this morning.

My first antenatal appointment here went pleasingly well today. I managed to get Eli bug and myself dressed and ready and arrive at the doctors surgery 15 minutes early.

The midwives however, were not as organised as us! We waited an entire hour in the waiting room (disappointingly illequipt with any toys or anything with what to entertain a child)

We drew on paper, HE drew on his legs, which in retrospect I probably should have stopped him from doing but, strapped in an unmoving pram for an entire hour would be enough to have driven anyone insane.

We were finally called in (and as this was a booking in appointment) we took a long time with the medical history questions in which I get really good at saying the word NO

Heart problems   No

Medicine   No

High blood pressure    No

Allergies   No

Family history- wouldn’t have a clue.....

Where at this point  I am forced to give a quick rundown on my personal history which is the cause of my lack of family history which is

Um

Awkward...

Eli was fascinated with how the midwife checked Fyn in my belly, measuring my uterus and listening to his heartbeat. His eyes widened as he heard the racing horse like beats of his healthy new little brothers heartbeat.

My charming little conman did his bit and played his part of angel child perfectly by turning on the smiles and giggles as if with a tap every  time someone payed attention winning himself a play with a stethoscope and a blown up rubber glove “balloon” which he quickly got stuck into drawing upon.

Piles of paperwork  later, myself teamed up with a student midwife (who will accompany me to all my appointments and whom I must ring when I go into labour), Eli all tuckered out we finally made our way home.

I was singing as loudly as I could (to what else but Dinosaur Roar!) to keep Eli awake until we made it home which he did due to my terribly off key vocal skills.

Eli settled beautifully and had a great 2 hour nap waking up in a great mood.

We had a whole hour bath during which Eli impressed me with his animal recognition.

We sang Old Macdonald over and over again amidst hugs and giggles, Old Macdonald , in our version of the song, has only 3 pets on his farm. He has a “Woof Woof”

After which Eli yells

“DOG”

Old Macdonald also has a Dinosaur

Yells of “RAAR!” explode

And he has a Duck

“Quack Quack Quack” loudly from Eli.

‘Galumph went the little green frog’ was sung at least 20 times as Eli attempted the hand motions and became really quite good at them.

It was so rewarding to watch his little mind ticking over everything that we did. He was thoroughly proud of himself and I can safely say I was more than impressed with his accomplishments!

And so, with another day spent with my little blonde ray of sunshine over I shall leave you to your evening. My head still echoing with Baa Baas and Mary Marys and 5 little ducks taking a long walk over a hill and far away.

Ciao

xo

lovely days, toy addictions

How odd is it that we physically found it impossible to leave the comfort of our nice warm beds in the morning before we had children. Now, we just DO it AND we are nice to our kidlets when we do!

WOW!

Everyone made sure they warned me of late nights and early mornings. When you’re pregnant people find it their duty to tell you you’re going to be sleep deprived, they tell you you’re going to find it hard to cope at times.

Why do people do this? Why dampen a good thing? Obviously every parent knows it’s not going to be all sunshine lollypops and rainbows all the time.

We do it and even though we whine, secretly, deep down how nice is it to be getting up to the little one YOU created?

I love this age Eli bug is at. We may be up early but Im sitting pretty having a coffee whilst he feeds himself breakfast like a little champion spoon and all!

This morning was blissfully uneventful. Eli drew and pottered around and helped me do housework. He went down for a nap with next to no complaints despite Fyn kicking him roughly in his side.

I’ve often wondered when Eli would wake up and PLAY in his cot like I hear of some children doing and, today he DID!

I heard him grizzle as he awoke from his nap. Got my big belly out of bed (I was taking an opportune nap whilst the house was so serene) Started making myself a coffee and waited for him to call out for me crying, I had a full cup of coffee and it was then that I heard giggle.

Giggles? I must be hearing things!

So I snuck up the stairs to watch him nibbling his toes quite contentedly and giggling at his own antics.  I managed one quick sly happy snap then he spotted me!

“Don’t!” he says

Then promptly

“Mum Mum Mum”

So I go up only to be greeted by the happiest chappy alive!

We read books, he sang into my deodorant he’d claimed for a microphone and he danced away to the tunes on his wiggles dance mat.

We had a bath to get off the unfortunate cereal that had baked into his scalp over nap time and I’m preparing myself now for a lovely afternoon.

This afternoon we played, did housework and had a visit from Adam from next door who had just finished his last exam which is pretty exciting, then we made our way to the shop to do the –everything but the meat- grocery shopping.

Justine Clarkes Dinosaur roar was our song of choice as per usual and I sang loudly proud as punch each and every time Eli big roared on queue.

Argh, I’m terrible. I keep seeing blue and red little boy’s toys everywhere! Today it was Woolworths that I lost out to my addiction as before my eyes were rows upon rows of reduced “Cars” things

I looked at all these shiny red toys and I looked at the face of my little boy who was not to be spoilt on his own for much longer and shamefully I bought him a play tent and tunnel combo.

The sheer delight on his face when we got home and he explored his new toy’s !

His giggles were delicious! The sight and sounds of my big little boy was lying down next to his gumboots in his very own tunnel giggling his little noggin off

Mummy did well!

Nic is home now and I’m winding down with a cup of tea whilst he bathes Eli in preparation for the Bugs bedtime and I’m hoping for a night of sewing (finally)

Hope everyone had a day as wonderful as I and I hope you all had more control over your shopping addiction than myself today

xx

xx