26 April 2013

One month old

Smalls is one month old.
Can you believe it? She's actually five weeks and two days old but who's counting.

It's been a whirl. I feel like I'm only just resurfacing and we are starting to get back into some kind of routine.
Norah's a nice kid. She's feeding like a pro and sleeping like... a baby.
I'm getting used to broken sleep and trying to keep awake for mid night feeds. There's nothing like waking up a few hours later to find a baby right where you left her on your lap. Eeek!

Norah seems to enjoy sleeping on her own a bit more than her sister although I'm still learning this new world of putting baby down for naps. Sometimes the cute for crying will be to put Norah in her cot , a concept that after Lucy boggles my mind.

The first time she smiled she was two days old and I'm convinced it was a real smile. She looked me straight in the eye and gave a big toothless grin. I'm convinced because she keeps on doing it now with cooing sound effects. It darn near breaks my heart.

Norah is very loved by her big sister. Despite her general out of sortness we haven't had any real baby jealousy. It's so nice to see Lucy watch and cuddle and kiss her little sister. I'm guessing they are going to be great friends.

Myl again is proving himself to be a wonderful dada. He's got a spot of man flu at the moment but still is loving and caring for our family. It's a real lark seeing him with a newborn again. No better sight.

Well what else can I say? She eats, she pops, she sleeps. She's pretty happy except when she isn't (ha!). I'm so thankful for a phone that can take half decent photos or there would be very few of our little smally. But here they are. Her first month.













24 April 2013

Lately.2

It struck me that my last post might have sounded rather annoyingly chipper.
While we are loving the giant blessings of our little ones let me say one thing.

Two kids is hard.

I have seen more holes in my personality in these last few weeks than in the last twenty or so years. My patience wears thin, my voice raises, my ability to cope with exhaustion falters.

We have these beautiful moments of calm and joy often when out in public or surrounded by numbers of friends and family but when it's just mama and the babes I often feel like I'm just keeping afloat in deep deep water. Struggling to keep my head up.

We've hit some tricky toddler territory that requires so much patience I often feel like plucking out my eyeballs. How do you reason for the 3657th time that dummy us just for sleep time or one viewing of Mary Poppins per day is quite enough?
It's hard to push through the screaming sometimes but oh the sweetness of cuddling that girl to sleep. Well, that's why we do it.

I'm learning to juggle the constant needs of my two and figuring out what needs to be done when one cries for hunger and another needs the potty.
I'm figuring out a new routine and thanking the good Lord for my baby wrap.

I'm trying to find joy in this season. The spoonful of sugar to make the medicine go down. It's there if I look hard enough, stop to take a breath, pray, smile.
But I know life is a whole lotta crazy right now.




Do you have crazy baby days? I'd love to compare stories. Any hot tips?

22 April 2013

lately

 photo smileynorah.jpgWe've been having a lovely time getting acquainted with the newest member of our family.

Norah makes a lovely addition to our family. She's a peaceful little chap.
It's been a bit of a challenge adjusting to new routines and having less time for everything but we are getting there.
Lucy loves her little sister but seems a bit overwhelmed by the whole thing sometimes.
We've been so loved by the gifts, the meals and the kind words and prayers from our family and friends.

It might be a little quiet over here for a while but be assured we are loving all the blessings of this new season of life.

18 April 2013

2 - thirty nine (bit late)

So... lets just pretend you stepped into a time machine and I haven't birthed Norah yet. Here's my 39 week update. It was to sad to let it not be posted even if it is about five weeks late.

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feeling

pretty perky but pretty keen to meet this kiddo. she keeps doing sneaky things like turning around to almost posterior which freaks me out.
i still resemble a stranded whale when i get up in the morning but still have ankle definition so that's a win.
Starting to feel the baby pressure. So many people due after me are having their babies. Really not looking forward to 40+ weeks.

doing

lots of stuff on hands and knees to combat the sneaky baby. Scrubbing the floors and playing duplo. The only thing is when I do it when Lucy is around she thinks it's time to play "horseeee!"
Going for brisk walks and those kinds of things but trying not to try too hard. She'll be coming round the mountain when she comes.


Thinking

I hope this is my last weekly post. There are things I love about being pregnant but going overdue aint one of them.

17 April 2013

Norah's Birth Story : Part One


We were feeling ready for our girl to come. The house had been scrubbed from top to bottom, the fridge was full of food, and I was feeling calm and focused.
I woke up at six a.m on Tuesday the 19th needing to go to the bathroom only to discover that my waters were breaking. My first thought was fear. It was happening the same as last time. This time however there was no merconium in the water. Good news. But still, broken water and no labour was a foreboding sign.
I rang my mum. My first port of call. She was reassuring and said she was on her way. A three hour trip. We then rang the birth centre. A few weeks before I had found out I had Group B Strep. I needed to take antibiotics when either labour started or my water broke. The midwife told us to come in and we called Uncle Ben to look after Lucy. He arrived while she was still asleep and Myl and I walked over to the birth centre.
As we walked I willed labour to start. Every twinge was exciting as I thought it could be a contraction. I had to stop a few times to breathe through a tightening.
We got to the birth centre and were shown to a room. They checked Norahs heartbeat and all was ok. Then they got down to business. Because of my previous Caesarean and Group B Strep I was in a pretty abnormal situation. Usually waters break after established labour has begun but in my case they didn’t. I would need to get into labour soon or interventions would need to happen.
Just to make sure everything was all ok they had me go over to the delivery ward to monitor Norahs heartbeat. I was hooked up to a machine for about twenty minutes. Myl and I sung her songs. Her heartbeat stayed nice and steady when we sung low songs and skipped a little higher when the notes were high. It was nice to see her in there happy and safe. I talked to my little girl, told her it was ok and that we were looking forward to meeting her however she came but that it would be super nice if it were soon.
All of a sudden a team of doctors and midwives entered the room. I was introduced to the obstetrician, a man whose name was on my hospital stickers but whom I had never met. He was very charming. He informed me of the multitude of risks to do with my situation and strongly suggested I stay in the delivery ward and (in so many words) have an elective Caesarian. I thanked him for his concern but told him I knew what I was doing, had done a lot of reading and was comfortable with my decision to continue attempting a VBAC.
It all felt so familiar. Things were not happening according to “plan” again. This time, however I felt empowered and educated. I knew my options might be and I knew that I wanted to try my very best for a VBAC. I asked what they were willing to let me do. The midwife told me I would need to start taking antibiotics and then come see them every 24 hours till labour started and became established. I told the midwife I was keen to give it a day but that I didn’t want to put Norah at risk of infection much longer than that. I thought I’d give it my best shot to get into labour and then deal with interventions the next day.  The midwife went away to discuss things with the midwife on charge and came back with an appointment made for 1:30 the next day to discuss induction or caesarian.
My mind was focused on the 36 or so hours ahead. I didn’t want to think about induction till it was necessary. In my mind I was sure labour would start in the next little while and our girl would be here very soon.
I was dosed up with antibiotics and sent home. We decided to start operation “have a baby.” I walked vigorously home and tried to will my body into labour. We got home and said hello to Lucy. She was reading books with Uncle Ben and had been watching Narnia. A little while later Mum turned up. She had gotten here very quickly. We decided the best course of action was to get walking and try to get the contractions to start.
We walked down the road to the Broadway shops. I was having contractions  about every ten minutes. They weren’t strong but they were exciting. We got to the shops and had some lunch. I had a bowl of duck laksa. Apparently the duck was a good choice for before having a baby mum said. We walked around the shops for a bit and bought some last minute baby supplies.
I had to go back to the hospital to pick up some antibiotics at four so we walked along Parramatta rd and up to the hospital. I was feeling pretty tired. The contractions had stopped at lunch time and hadn’t really properly started up again. The walk helped but I was starting to feel a little worried. We picked up the pills and headed home.
I put Lucy to bed thinking that it might be the last time I saw her before Norah arrived, hoping. We sat down to watch Brothers and Sisters, the latest tv series we were watching on TV. It was beautiful distraction. I sat facing backwards on a dining room chair trying to get contractions going and they did. I had some really lovely strong ones. It was getting promising. Ten minutes apart, eight minutes, ten, six. They kept on all the rest of the evening and at 10pm we decided to go to bed and get some rest. The contractions stopped. I slept till 3am.
They had started up but not properly. I dozed on and off till about 7 when Lucy woke up. We had breakfast and walked down the road to pick up a parcel from the post office. I couldn’t get the contractions to start up again. They were few and far between. I was feeling pretty sad but there was really no more I could do. I was walking and thinking about flowers opening and helpful things like that but it was no use.
We went for a coffee and then headed home. We were due at the hospital at 1pm so we just hung about at home and I rested up. I was sure to be in for a whole lot of something in the next few hours.

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