Still here…

…well, kind of…

I’m definitely a part-time blogger at the moment. I’ve still not managed to read/comment on any blogs (and have this morning realised that Google reader is confusing matters by only showing posts as unread from the past month and I’ve not really read any since the boychild was born 2 months ago!).

We’re all doing ok down here. Still fighting a losing battle with the mess in the spare room (which we need to clear and decorate for the girlchild as it has a lot more space than her current room which will mean her toys with little bits like Playmobil can be out of the boychild’s way once he’s mobile, then the boychild will move into her little room and out of ours, though that room needs redecorating too).

We’ve finally put in the girlchild’s application for primary school, after a lot of soul searching we’ve applied for the school with strong links to our church despite it’s 5 mile journey. It’s a long way, but seems by far the best school for her. The main downside is that I now have 9 months in which to apply for a provisional licence and learn to drive! (and for us to possibly or maybe definitely buy a second car) The journey is possible by bus but will take over an hour each way.

The boychild is still a fantastic little man. He gives us the most wonderful smiles and sleeps very well, if he wakes in the night then it’s usually just that he wants his dummy back, we’re averaging on night feed a week at the moment. He’s a little mite, down on the second centile, but following it well. He has got a heart murmur which has meant we’ve been referred to a paediatrician since he goes completely white at some point every day, sometimes for well over an hour. The GP is fairly confident however that it will turn out to be innocent.

We’ve all had a bout of the flu this week, whether is of the swine variety or not we don’t know. It took it’s time to come down and by the time we realised it probably was flu it was too late to call the helpline and get the antivirals (to be most effective they need to be taken within 48 hours of symptoms starting – from what Mr H has read anyway). The girlchild has been off nursery all week, she’s just gone in today, and Mr H even felt bad enough to take a day off (a fairly rare occurence). Thankfully we’re all doing ok now, though I’ve been left with my usual post viral fatigue, but I know from experience that my energy levels will gradually recover over the next two or three weeks. Even the boychild suffered a bit, thankfully he didn’t get the cough the girlchild and I did, but he was very snotty for a few days, we even had him sleeping at night in his rockerchair to help .

Well, that’s an update from us, I really do hope to come and visit your blogs and soon – honestly!

Happy birthday!

I can’t believe that in less than 6 hours my daughter will turn four!

To my beautiful girlchild I hope you have a wonderful day and enjoy seeing your friends and opening your presents. You’re so special and we all love you so much. Happy birthday darling!

Snuggles

Snuggles

Originally uploaded by hannah1981blog

Sisterly love! A new photo to apologise for being away for so long.

Birth story

The first section of this was written while I was in labour, the rest less than a week after the boychild’s birth, I’m not quite sure why I didn’t post it then, but here it is now, as much for my future reference as for anything else (as you may be able to tell by the spelling and grammar!).

Jotted as notes as things happen

• Woke up at 7 with wet pants ?waters leaking?
• Phone labour ward, 7:40, see what happens in next 2 hours and ring back
• Take munchkin to nursery school
• Phone back labour ward – tell me to go in to birthing unit to get checked out, determine whether waters have gone
• Arrive at about 10:45
• Midwife and student midwife decide that waters probably haven’t gone, but I need to be vigilent, watch for any more possible leaks and see if contractions kick in (have had a couple while there)
• Get Mr H to pick me up from hospital at 12 (he had to stay home to work and pick the munchkin up from nursery)
• Have a couple more contractions over lunch time – about 20 mins apart, not too strong
• Go out to see district nurse to get burn on bump dressed again – mention the contractions and she gives me extra dressing to use in case I can’t get in to see them
• Have a couple of contractions while out (including on bus!) but no regular and seem to be a little further apart
• Waiting at bus stop on way home lovely friend J stops in car and gives me a lift home. Invite her and her daughter L (the munchkin’s best friend) in for a cuppa.
• Contractions start again and stick to every 15-20 mins
• J offers to have the munchkin overnight if things get going properly and offers to take the munchkins to nursery in the morning as well (L goes to a different nursery, with slightly different timings), says she’ll take her mobile to bed with ehr and to call any time
• By 5:30 contractions every 15 mins and getting more uncomfortable
• Every 10 mins by 8:30, cooking dinner was interesting!
• 10:30 – every 7 mins, very uncomfortable, have to stop and breathe through, go to toilet and waters def leaking
• Call birthing unit, say to go in when contractions get to every 3/4 mins and 1 min long, book me in for induction at 7am if I’ve not gone in by then (in case waters actually did go in the morning)
• Call J and ask if we can take the munchkin over – she’s quite happy for that so we get the munchkin up (cue unhappy little girl until she realises she’s going to be staying over at J and L’s)
• Midnight – contractions every 8-10 mins lasting 45s, Mr H has gone to bed for what rest he can get, I sit watching TV and typing this while playing Bejewelled on Facebook
• 12:30 – have a show – suddenly realise I’m going to be a Mum of 2 soon!
• 2am – Every 3-4 mins lasting over a min on average, phoned birthing unit, asked to wait until 3am before going in
• Had a bath – not helpful, Mr H finally started looking at baby names books
• 3am set off for birthing unit
• Taken to a lovely large room with a birthing pool
• When examined found to be only 1cm dilated very upset
• Sent home, told to ring antenatal ward at 7
• Went to bed when got home at just after 4 (had been advised to have a bath but just felt awful and needed to snuggle under covers). Few contractions when in bed, but v painful. Midwife had given me a couple of co-dydramol to help with pain. Did get some sleep
• Up at 6:30 walking round and sitting on gym ball to try and get things moving again before going in
• Phone antenatal ward at 7 as instructed. Midwife there not happy, said that due to shift change need me to call at 8:30 and that there are 3 others needing to come in for induction as well. In addition to that the labour ward was full… as I’m having contractions I’d probably need to go there for a drip and not stay on antenatal ward (can’t have any of the pessaries that would usually be used to try and induce labour).
• Very disappointed at being told one thing and then another, really hope I can go in at 8:30
• Couple more contraction, strength a bit erratic
• 8:30 – ring antenatal ward, say not to go in until11:30-12… so unhappy, already feeling like a huge failure for not managing to progress on my own. Spend next 20 mins crying on the bed
• By 9:30 have only had another 2/3 contractions, fed up of my body being useless
• On a good note Mr H has his (very) short list of baby names and we have a little sit and compare – a couple of surprises (including a name on there I love that he’s vetoed all through!)

This next bit was written afterwards in odd moments I could snatch.

The labour was interesting… My waters broke on Wednesday morning and contractions started but they weren’t doing enough for me to progress properly. I was having very frequent contraction by 3am on Thursday but was only 1cm dilated when we got to the birthing unit. I had to be booked in for an induction. All my contractions tailed off when we got home so I managed a little rest, they started again in the morning. We got to the hospital at 12 and was finally put on the monitors at 4. The monitor showed I was having contractions but they weren’t strong (despite the strong pains in my back). I was examined by the midwife as at 2 cm and was given a prostin (hormone) pessary at about 5:45. Mr H went home to get some food and a bit of rest and returned at 8. By that time I was getting much stronger pains and had to ask the midwifes for some pain relief (I was given 2 co-drydamol [paracetamol and codiene]). I tried bouncing on a birthing ball for a while but after a bit I was getting shaky and feeling like I was going to fall over so moved onto the bed. At about 9:45 the rest of my waters went with a pop. We called the midwives and they changed the bed before examining me, I was 7cm so we packed our stuff and moved to the labour unit (just across the corridor). At the door to the unit I had another big contaction and needed to push! We moved rather quickly to a labour room and got me up on the bed. I started pushing straight away and the boychild arrived about 3-6 minutes later (from reading my notes) at 10:03pm. The midwife didn’t even have time to read my notes (they’d just had a shift change at 9:30) and didn’t manage to get the gas and air out for me. I did tear again, but not as badly as with the girlchild. However I did develop a haematoma (bloodclot) in my tear within a couple of hours so had to be un-stitched and re-stitched after the clot was removed. The most painful part of the whole thing was when the haematoma had to be squeezed out! We had to stay in for 24 hours for the boychild to to checked (due to my waters breaking over 24 hours before the birth) and then were delayed a little coming home as he wasn’t feeding too well, but we were home mid afternoon on Saturday.

The midwife (an Irish lady called Sandra) was absolutely wonderful. We had hoped a midwife friend from church would be on duty and able to deliver baby #2, but she wasn’t, however Sandra was amazing and really lovely.

I’m getting over the birth much more quickly this time around, my stitches seem to be healing well (they’re definitely less sore). I’m very tired but that should ease, the boychild’s being remarkably good at night, sleeping in 4 hour bursts so usually only waking us once. I’m feeling much better than I did when I was pregnant, it’s shown quite how much this pregnancy was affecting my day to day life. It did take me a little while to really come to terms with having a boy – I’d desperately wanted a boy but must have persuaded myself I was expecting another girl as I just couldn’t believe it when he came out and I saw his boy bits, it was quite a shock. Both Mr H and I kept referring to him as she/her at times, we were so used to dealing with a girl but that’s wearing off now!

Mum of 2!

Hello! Thank you so much for the lovely comments you’ve left.

I’m still around – kind of… There’s been very little time to blog, whether it’s been posting on here or reading anyone else’s (Google reader has given up counting and is just telling me I have 1000+ posts unread!). However I am absolutely loving being a mum of 2.

The boychild is an absolute joy, despite his desire to fill his nappy during/straight after every single feed (hence an occasional nickname of Stinker!). He sleeps fairly well (usually only waking for a feed once a night – though more often to have his dummy put back in – I’m so glad I’m not breastfeeding, he’s such a sucky little thing). He’s feeding well though getting wind out afterwards takes far longer than feeding. Generally we’ve been so blessed once again with a placid happy little baby. He’s now 5 weeks old and weighs 8 lb exactly. It’s great to have the boychild’s blue/green/brown clothes around the house rather than girly colours (never thought I’d say that!), but a boy definitely makes nappy changes more interesting…

The girlchild thinks her little brother is wonderful. She wants to do nothing more than hug and kiss him. She can’t wait for him to be old enough to play with toys with her. The only moment of jealousy we’ve had, was when the boychild was 3 weeks old and Mum came down to stay, she really didn’t want to be left at nursery then while the boychild, Mum and I went back home. However after a couple of days of that Mum left and the girlchild has been absolutely fine since.

Mr H loves being a dad of 2, though is struggling a bit at the moment with the disturbed nights. It took him a little while to get used to holding/feeding/changing a baby again but loves it now.

We still haven’t registered the boychild’s birth yet, just as with the girlchild while his first name was easy to agree on his middle name is harder. We have a shortlist of two names, but cannot agree, each of us much prefers one name over the other. The deadline for registering him is next Thursday and we have an appointment at the registry office on Wednesday morning so we have to decide by then. Anyone who is a friend on Facebook will hear as soon as we agree!

Anyway, I have to go, the boychild’s due for another feed, hopefully as we get more into a routine I’ll be around more often. Bye!

Introducing…

…the boychild!

My gorgeous little man. Born on Thursday 17 September at 22:03 weighing 6lb 8.

I’ll post a proper birth story type thing when I have a little more time (and sitting down isn’t as uncomfortable…).

Light relief…

Thanks to a friend and his friends on Facebook – be prepared to cringe!

• How do dinosaurs pay their bills? With Tyrannosaurus checks.
• What do you call a dinosaur that smashes everything in its path? Tyrannosaurus wrecks.
• What do you call a dinosaur that wears a cowboy hat and boots? Tyrannosaurus Tex.
• What do you call a dinosaur who works out? Tyrannosaurus Pecs.
• What do you call a dinosaur who is a despotic monarch? Tyrant-o-saurus Rex.
• What do you call a dinosaur who plays football for England? Tyrannosaurus Becks.
• What do you call a DJ dinosaur? Tyrannosaurus Dex.
• What do you call a dinosaur who casts spells? Tyrannosaurus Hex.
• What do you call a dinosaur eating tacos? Tyrannosaurus Mex.
• What do you call a dinosaur wearing glasses? Tyrannosurus Specs.
• What do you call a dinosaur with vampiric tendancies? Tyrannosaurus Necks.
• What do you call a dinosaur that is really annoying? Tyrannosaurus Vex.
• What do you call a dinosaur that enjoys long walks? Tyrannosaurus Treks.
• What do you call a dinosaur that likes late 90’s pop music? Tyrannosaurus Steps.

Just for fun!

To alleviate my boredom I thought I’d run a little challenge here.

I want you to guess when baby is going to arrive, it’s gender and it’s weight. If I can get myself organised at all (it might happen – you never know!) there may even be a tiny prize (or two or three…) down the line for the closest guess. You can have more than one guess (especially if the date you suggest goes past!)

Please help keep me amused

For info – the munchkin arrived the day before her due date (baby is due on the 28th Sept) and weighed 6lb 11oz.

Still waiting…

I think this may be a recurring post title over the next few weeks (though if I go overdue there may be a few more symbols in there…).

I really have had enough of being pregnant and I could have another 4 weeks of it! Every day at nursery I get a ’still waiting then?’ or words to that effect from at least one other mum. I’m uncomfortable, I can’t wash up or cook or even sit/eat at the table with out catching the bump and getting either a vicious kick or a Braxton hicks contraction in return. And now, thanks to nursery I have a cold. Every sneeze produces another kick or contraction.

Don’t get me wrong, I am delighted to be able to be pregnant and have a baby coming (a very special friend has been trying for a baby without success for a couple of years, I can see her pain and do realise how fortunate we are), I just feel like this pregnancy has gone on too long already.

Anyway enough whining from me – following on from my last post:

Mum of 4 – I had wondered whether the names you used were the children’s middle names, I remember you saying at one point they weren’t their ‘real’ names. I’d thought of that, but going on past history baby would be without a middle name for almost 6 weeks. We agreed on the munchkin’s first name almost as soon as we saw her, but we couldn’t agree ona  middle name. We had a short list of 5 we just couldn’t work out. A day or two before the deadline to register her birth we ended up each ranking the 5 names in order of preference and the munchkin was given the one that came out top overall! (can you tell we’re both mathsy/sciencey people?) Thankfully now it just seems perfect and I can’t imagine her being anything else. I’ve been drinking raspberry leaf tea (though forgot to buy any in town yesterday so am running very low – must get some tomorrow), I’m hoping it helps speed things up. RE the burn, I was dressed and wearing an over the bump skirt and long t-shirt so had two layers over the area that got burnt (right side low on bump), goodness know how bad it would have been if I hadn’t! I’ve not had a linea nigra so I just have a very odd red blotchy patch there (which is now blistering more than ever, seems to be any time anything touches it, a bath yesterday left me in tears for 15 minutes it was so raw!). My bag was almost packed last Saturday, burning my self prompted me to finish it in case we had to go in and get the burn checked out. We just didn’t have a bag the right size, we’ve ended up with one for me and one for the baby.

Blue Spice – I quite like the animals idea, sadly seasons/months probably won’t work. They’ll both be autumn babies, and if this one is 3+ days late they’ll be born in the same month too! (something I really don’t want as Mr H’s birthday is October as well). As for my imagination running wild – I’m not very imaginative – I don’t really do creativity (in any respect, I love card making but they always end up very similar either to things I’ve already done, or to designs I’ve seen in books/magazines). I’ll keep thinking though.

Vic – I’m glad I’m not the only one with the problem, though if baby cooperates next week and you can find out what you’re having you’ve got a few months notice to work it out! (and if this baby continues to sit apparently comfortably in me you might even work something out before me!).

Thank you…

…for the lovely messages. Baby is due on 28 September, which puts me at 37+1 today. I’m technically full term now, any day would be wonderful! If he/she comes at the same gestation as the munchkin I would have to wait until 27 September.

I’m still having a lot of very nasty Braxton hicks contractions and some strong feelings of baby pushing down (I was definitely waddling on the way to pick the munchkin up from nursery this morning, baby was pushing down so hard!). My bump seems to have dropped but it’s hard for me to tell.

Due to a moment if idiocy with a pan of boiling water on Saturday I would in some ways like baby to wait a little bit longer as I have quite a burn/scald on my bump just where they’d put the straps for monitoring baby, it’s very sore and blistering, Mr H is having to dress it for me twice a day. Which in itself is interesting as I’m allergic to adhesives, and have had a reaction to the hypoallergenic micropore tape we used yesterday, he’s now using small pieces of a hypoallergenic plaster strip which seems to be better, it’s itchy but not as bad.

On a good note at the moment I am actually sleeping again now, I’ve managed 6-7 hours in each of the last 4 nights (though I was told I looked tired in the line outside nursery this morning…).I do feel a lot better for it. I’ll feel even better when Mr H agrees to discuss baby names properly… he thinks there’s no rush, we have 6 weeks to decide after the birth… I’d much rather have a short list and decide soon after baby is born and be able to introduce the munchkin to the baby by name.

I do need to work out a name for the baby on here. I’ve been thinking of changing the munchkin for a while but have never worked out what to (I think she’ll grow out of the munchkin soon). If baby is a boy I may just use boychild and girlchild, but that’s just doesn’t strike me a quite right either… Any suggestions from anyone out there?