Long time, no see

Well now it really has been a while since I updated this. I just haven't had the time!! Seth went from sleeping like the proverbial angel to driving me insane! 45 minute naps all day, every day. Settling him to sleep was hell too. I was always rocking the cot, patting his tummy, turning him on his side and patting his back, stroking his head, letting him fall asleep feeding or on me. Hell I tell you!

My mum was my saviour, even with all her faults and everything about her that irritates me so much, she has been invaluable to me over the past few months. She called for help, Plunket help, and they were actually very helpful. Shh but the area coordinator gave us a little booklet of advice which has changed our live now, for the better! It's not Plunket endorsed so really they can't hand it out but mum and I were SERIOUSLY desperate.

So now after putting the advice in the booklet into practice, Seth is now going down to sleeps a LOT easier, I put him down, tuck him in and walk away. He's still only sleeping for 45 minutes at a time but I can deal with it a lot better now. It's even better that in the past few weeks he's been sleeping for longer and longer during the night. He's now sleeping from between 7 and 8 pm until between 5 and 8 am. It's so cool, I actually get to sleep. Now what is sleep again?

Seth is now fully formula fed due to my supply reaching a maximum of 80mls at a feed while Seth was taking more than twice that amount, medication for my PND when I was diagnosed (yeah I have PND, will talk about that later), and Seth not gaining weight as he should have been. Things have been going pretty well here since I decided to wean, yes wean not just go cold turkey. I managed to do it with nearly no engorgement. I still have a small supply if I try to hand express, it'll still shoot across the room, but that will eventually fade, probably. Seth has taken the transition pretty well though he still turns to my breast at times and will try to feed even though there is clothing in the way. Makes for lovely slobber patches. I still give him breast occasionally if he's really frantic for a feed, though he pops on and off so he barely gets anything.

PND. Ah yes, postnatal depression/distress. I think it started slowly with just little things, having to settle Seth to sleep every. single. sleep. His screaming in my ears as I did so. The frustration at not being able to fully breastfeed like I wanted and expected to. Little things that built up until I was screaming at him to shut up and go to sleep. Slamming my fist into a wall so I wouldn't do something I would later regret. Banging my head against a wall for similar reasons. I would get SO angry that he wasn't sleeping, that he was crying, that he wouldn't cooperate. That he wasn't doing what I wanted him to and what I thought he "Should" do.
Looking up the signs and symptoms was hard, talking to my husband about it even harder. I was put onto the Edinburgh scale by a few people I would talk to online and I scored an 18. Not as bad as it could have been but bad enough. I went to the doctor and he prescribed me some medication and I'm going to a PND support group which is really helping.
Since being on the meds things have improved hugely. I don't start screaming/crying/raging over little things anymore. If I miss a dose then the next day is bad though. I can now handle things a lot better and I feel a lot more relaxed. Most of the time anyway.

Well that's a bit of a novel so I shall leave you with that and I will certainly try to update more often.
Ciao for now.

Boobie Madness

So breastfeeding is still tormenting me, but not as much as it was. I talked to a Lactation Consultant and she said that my problem could be that I don't have a lot of breast tissue, the milk producing tissue, and that could be why I'm not having an easy time of it. Seth is now starting to take even more formula at his topups, up from about 50mls at a time to anywhere up to 90mls. I'm still giving him as much boob as he will take, he just drains them and gets really fussy because he's sucking and barely any dribbles are coming out.
I'm wondering if my boobs are going to go through a growth spurt and suddenly start producing more milk (heh, wishful thinking right) but something is going on with them at the moment because about an hour after a feed my boobs start getting a bit stingy painful and it tends to just linger until the next feed. Weird, huh! It's similar to the achey feeling I would get in my boobs occasionally during my menstrual cycle.

I'm still taking my Domperidone and supplimenting my diet with other lactation promoting foods and trying to get enough protein and plain enough to eat! I'm terrible for forgetting to eat.

Hurdles

I guess there's plenty of hurdles to traverse and hoops to jump through when you're a parent and I'm just starting to stumble my way through the course but damn if I'm not stubbing my toes! Well the hurdle of sleep is overcome for now, the one I'm trying to find my way over at the moment is breastfeeding. I'm stuck on this one because I still have to top up my little darling with formula otherwise he just wont settle and I can't pump enough breastmilk to use that as a topup, hell I can only pump 20mls at the most at the moment and most topups are more like 40-50mls.

I'm also not very happy but I am relieved because I've had to make one feed completely formula, which The Man Thing gives to the munchkin while I get some sleep because before we started doing this I was on the verge of an emotional breakdown due to lack of sleep and now that we have started this (we're only on day 3) I'm much more relaxed, rested and able to cope with those hairy moments when the baby just keeps crying! I know it's not going to do my milk supply any favours but it was a case of do this or go insane. I prefer to keep what remanants of my sanity I still have so I'm ok with our decision.

Growth Spurt Hell

So my little munchkin has hit his 2 week growth spurt and my sanity has gone right down the drain. Since Saturday my little angel has been a screaming little mess which then turns me into a crying mess and it's a horrible cycle because I can't get him to settle which means he gets overtired and cries which upsets me and then upsets him and so on and so forth.

Today I think that either I made a bit of a breakthrough or he's settling down again. 2 feeds in a row now I've managed to get him into bed without a fuss, long may it continue! I think I was keeping him awake for far too long feeding him and so now I've started trying my best to get him fed, changed and back into bed within an hour, things seem to be looking up. 2 hours of awake time is a lot for a little baby!

Anyway, just thought I'd leave you with that little update. I'd better head to bed now before my eyes fall out! Babies are not good for the under-eye luggage!

Birth Story

Ok so I know I said I'd post it last night but I got a little busy with the Boob Limpet (who didn't want to sleep anywhere but on his mummy) and by the time I got him into bed I was ready to fall into bed myself.

So, here it is. My birth story!


12:50am on the 13th of March, Seth Asher decided he wanted to come out and so, while I was on the toilet he gave a big wriggle and writhed around a bit then I had my first contraction. I was pretty damn sure it was a contraction because it was stronger than any of my BH had been and was painful. Half an hour later when I was back in bed, an ache started up right across my lower back and down low in my abdomen. This kept me from drifting off to sleep so I got up, took a couple of panadol and tried to stretch my back to ease the ache. No matter what position I tried or how I sat or lay, the ache was constant. Trying to distract myself I roamed around the internet, complained on facebook and just generally tried to keep my mind off the ache, it didn’t really work so well. I tried timing the pains to see if there was any rhythm to it but it just seemed to be so constant that I couldn’t tell the beginning or end of anything, just this darn ache!

After getting in and out of bed several times and a couple of doses of panadol, around 6:30 the pain finally eased enough for me to get a rest, and so I slept. About 3 hours later when I woke I felt great, really refreshed. Not long after that the ache started back up again and so back to trying to distract myself and possibly rev them up a little, I was walking tracks in the carpet going round and round the house. It was sometime about here that I went to the loo and had my show. It didn’t look like much, just a whole lot of clear, slippery, sticky mucus. After a little while I decided to try and conserve some energy so went back to bed to lie down and try to rest up. I had noticed that my belly seemed to be pretty much constantly hard, there didn’t seem to be any break between “contractions” and I was starting to get a little worried. By about 3pm, after bouncing in and out of bed a few times, several toilet trips where I had noticed that my show had taken on a bloody tinge, walking around and around in circles and positioning the couch and a chair so I could lean forwards and still be comfortable, I told DH about my tummy staying hard all the time and he urged me to ring the Delivery Suite at the hospital for their opinion. I wasn’t expecting them to say much but they recommended that I Go in for monitoring and to get everything checked out, so at about 3:30 we got there, I was strapped to the monitors and sure enough I was having frequent, regular, pretty strong contractions, about 3 minutes apart and all I could feel was the same ache I’d been having all day! Babys heart rate was fine and there were no issues with the tracings at all so they were quite happy and yes, my tummy was actually relaxing between contractions it just didn’t really feel like it.

At about 4:30 the midwife asked me if I wanted to have my cervix checked and I was actually pretty excited to think that things were happening but I was just expecting to be in the early stages of labour. Nope, I was 4 to 5 cm dilated and everything was all on. I think the midwife was as surprised as I was that I was that dilated because I was just lying there happy as a clam, chatting normally and only occasionally wincing a little at the pain. Since I wasn’t going to be heading home anytime soon I texted friends and family to let them know what was going on and did a little facebook surfing from my phone too, updating a couple of friends.

At this point DH went to get himself some dinner and at 5:20pm my waters broke just as I was about to walk to a labour room rather than an observation room. This kicked my contractions up a notch and they were more noticibly contractions at this point. Then my MIL rang to say her congratulations and I was trying to talk to her during contractions and it wasn’t working too well. She handed the phone to my SIL and I just couldn’t figure out a polite way to get off the phone so I could concentrate more on what was going on with me than what was happening in my ear. Luckily, DH and my mum soon arrived and I pretty much threw the phone at DH and filled mum in on the latest happenings since neither she nor DH knew that my waters had broken.

Not long afterwards we moved to the bigger room and I settled myself in, leaning on the bed. I was then offered to have the entonox tank brought in and I was a little hesitant, I wanted to see how far I could go without it, but I accepted and goodness did it make the contractions easier to handle, especially when I had to lie there with the monitor belts strapped around me. My nana turned up just before the entonox arrived and we pretty much just had a little party going on lol. Not long afterwards my med students came and we just pretty much sat around watching the monitor, me sucking back on the entonox and keeping ourselves occupied. When I was unstrapped from the monitor I spent a lot of my time leaning on the raised back of the bed. I would have been leaning over it but I was a little short lol. I bunched up some pillows at one point and stuffed them under my chest so there was something a little lower for me to lean on.

At about 8pm or so I think I started getting a little grunty during contractions and felt a little bit like pushing. About this point I think we asked if I could get in the tub and see if it helped any. I was not impressed when I was told there was a 25 minute wait for it to be filled but we still asked for it to be filled anyway. By the time the tub was ready I was getting pretty vocal. The midwife was pretty sure I was already pushing and hey, so I was. I never made it to the tub. A second midwife came in and everyone gathered around while I started into the real pushing. DH held my hand and kept telling me how great I was doing. The midwife checked me and said I had a slight lip of cervix at the front and she tried to hold it out of the way while I pushed during a contraction but it just slipped back again. Soon that wasn’t a worry and I was just pushing away with all that I had and the midwife told me she could feel babys head right there! DH zipped away with the camera and started taking pictures (Yes, of my bits!) In the pictures you can see Seths white head just peeking through and then more and more of it as I pushed him further and further out. They brought me a mirror that one of my med students held on to while I pushed so I could watch what was happening. It was fascinating!

Soon I had DH holding one of my legs and a midwife holding the other while I planted my feet against them and pushed with all I had. I kept running out of puff lol and the midwife kept urging me to hold it just a little longer, just push a little more. I could feel this band of resistance right around where I was supposed to be stretching and I said to the midwife “I don’t think I’m going to be able to stretch” About 5 minutes or so later and after a couple more contractions and more pushing that just didn’t seem to be getting anywhere, babys heartrate on the monitor was starting to get a little wobbly so the midwife said “I’m going to have to give you a little cut” and I practically shouted YES at her. DUH, I’d suggested that like 5 minutes ago! So out came a whopping great big needle and a tube of local anaesthetic and, believe me, I was sucking back on the gas pretty hard as she numbed me down there. As soon as I was good and numb she brought out the scissors (both DH and my mother tell me they were gigantic!) And gave me a goodly sized episiotomy. Seths head popped right out after that! Waiting for the next contraction, it felt like a lifetime passed! My mum told me that the midwife really barely had time to lift his head and pull the cord over it before I had pushed him out and he was plonked up onto my belly.

A flurry of warm towels descended on us and all I could do was stare down at my gorgeous little man as they dried him off a bit and wrapped both of us up. He didn’t really look all that pretty lol, in fact he was really quite white and looked rather pissed off at being evicted from his lovely warm home.

This is about the time things took a downward turn. I was bleeding. A lot. They jabbed me in the thigh with the synto and DH cut the cord. They then had me deliver the placenta and jabbed me in the other thigh with some more synto to try to get the bleeding to slow. DH said it looked like I was peeing blood lol. In the end they reckon I lost about a litre all up. I then needed to be stitched back up and the doctor who did it was lovely. He was explaining everything to my med students while he did it and although I have to say it’s a little disconcerting having people chat over your nether regions, I had other things on my mind like my little man who was still snuggled up on my chest/tummy, bundled up under a whole lot of warm towels.

The doctor put my feet up in the stirrup things and very soon they went icy cold from the blood leaving them for more important destinations lol. While I was being stitched (which took about half an hour!) I gave Seth his first feed and just lay there looking at each other. I had a loot at his eyes to see if I could see whether he was going to have the same genetic disorder that I have and when I saw that he most likely wouldn’t, I announced it in a bit of a squeak to the room and my mum did a happy dance lol. After I was all stitched up and the room was tidied a bit, they put the bed back together and let my feet down. Gosh it was good to get them warmed up! DH got to hold Seth and pass him around for the others to meet while I slowly made my way to a position closer to sitting. That was definitely uncomfortable. Then they weighed him and measured him and dressed him up in a cute little outfit.

Soon my mum and nana left so DH and I could just sit and enjoy our new arrival and I had a shower to make me feel a little refreshed. In the shower I felt a little faint but didn’t really think much of it, I had after all just given birth. When I got back to the room the bed linens had been changed and the floor had been mopped and there was my MIL and SIL meeting Seth and just cooing all over him! We stayed in Delivery Suite until about 11:30pm when they came with a wheelchair to wheel me to my room on the maternity ward. I was definately in need of a good sleep at this point and not long afterwards everyone had to go home and I had my first night with my darling little angel.

During the night I had quite a bit of pain where my stitches were and I couldn’t sleep because it was so bad. My bladder got really full but everything was quite bruised so I couldn’t pee and when they tried to get me on a bed pan to give it a go, well the room started going white around the edges and my hearing got really muffled so I quickly lay down on the bed again. It took me a couple of minutes to feel right again.
Two days later they transfused 3 units of blood into me because my hemoglobin was horribly low (I started at around 130, dropped to the 80s the day after delivery and was in the low 60s the next day) and had dropped more than they thought it would. They took me in for a scan to see if I had any internal bleeding and what they called “Free fluid” but they found a hematoma instead, which is basically just a bruise. I didn’t know it but I also had one on my butt around where the end of my episiotomy is and I think that’s why I had such a bad night the first night with pain.

Now I’m feeling a lot better, I have to take iron tablets religiously and because of the blood loss it took a little bit longer than normal for my milk to come in but it’s slowly getting there. I think the Domperidone is helping as is pumping at every opportunity.

Seths Stats were 3310g (7lb4), 50cm long with a 36cm head.   

Welcome to the World

My gorgeous little son, Seth Asher, was born on the 13th of March at 9:01pm. Yes, that was really it!
20 hours of labour and all I used was the entonox! Go me *Wink* He was 7lb4 (3310g), 50cm long with a 36cm head. A big head just like his father lol.

I've written out my birth story and I'll post it later on tonight, I really have to get started on dinner and hopefully eat it before the little munchkin wakes up for his next feed!

Progress

Well, I'm still in one piece, for now. I managed to get about 3 hours sleep and a couple more hours of just lying down dozing, trying to reserve my energy. The pains keep coming and going but they're not exactly timeable at the moment so I'm still in wait and see mode.
I've had my "show" as far as I can tell and the pains have been very slowly amping up since then but the last time I tried timing them I got 40 seconds long and 1min20 apart. Lol. Somehow I don't think that's quite right...

Anyway, I'd better get back to pottering around doing random bits and pieces to keep me occupied while I wait.

Could it be..?

Could this be it?
37 weeks 6 days and I'm having pains and have a belly that feels like a brick. This has been going for about 3 and a half hours now. I have no idea how far apart the pains are because at first it seemed like it was never ending and right now it's hard to figure out when they start and stop. They're not massively long though so I think I have a little while to go yet.
Heh, I tried to get some sleep but that was an absolute no go. This is like the absolute worst period cramps I have ever felt times 4! Not quite as bad as mistprostil contractions though, those bastards brought tears to my eyes. These ones just make me squint a bit at the moment. I'm managing to type through them without spelling mistakes lol so either I'm good at this or they're not that bad. HA!

The Man Thing woke up so I let him know what's happening and told him to get some sleep so he is. I think. Either that or he's just lying in bed lol.

I'd better see if I can time the pains and see how long and how far apart they are. I don't want to be rushing to the hospital when I realise that I need to push lol.

Still In One Piece

So it's another month and I'm still in one piece. Wow, 37 weeks, I never thought I'd get here! Very happily married for almost a whole month now and things are going great between The Man Thing and I.

Mr Squigglebum is still squiggling around in there quite happily though I think his living quarters are starting to get a bit cramped. Now some of the movements that he tries to do really hurt! Especially when I get an entire limb feel like it's trying to escape out through my side!

Still getting lots and lots of Braxton Hicks contractions which are a pain in the butt. They haven't managed to keep me awake at night in a little while but according to The Man Thing I'm now whimpering and making funny pain noises in the middle of the night, loud enough and frequently enough to wake him from a dead sleep!

Last week I had my cervix checked out visually to see if there was any remnants of the cerclage still hanging around and remove them if needed but the Obstetrician (not my usual one) couldn't see anything which is awesome. Hopefully that means that when this ship is ready she'll take off *Wink*

I also have 2 lovely med students following my pregnancy now and how everything is going to turn out. After last time where things didn't quite go to plan I'm quite happy that this time everything -should- work out, fingers crossed!
I also had another med student in on the last appointment with the OB, checking my cervix. She was lovely and I'm quite happy that I gave her the opportunity to learn *Smile* Gosh I just love being a guinea pig don't I!!
I've asked my two med students if they would like to sit in on the birth and they both said that they would love to. I don't mind having a couple of quiet spectators or even a couple more hands if required lol, and I'm hoping to get one of them to video or at least take pictures of the birth so really they would be doing ME a favour!

I've also been writing out the draft for my final birth plan, the one that is going to go with me to the hospital. It will be short and sweet and basically say "I know what pain relief is available to me, please do not offer me pain relief, if I require it I will ask for it" and "If a cesarean under a general anaesthetic should be required I would like my husband, The Man Thing, to have skin to skin time as soon as physically possible, if he wishes" and that's something I'm going to talk to him about too.

I have a new midwife. My last one has left the hospital to return to her home country and now I have a lovely lady who I feel just as comfortable with. I guess from spending a lot of time in the hospital as a child I got quite accustomed to new faces in my health care.

My back pain has been coming and going. It's usually a lot better after The Man Thing gives me a back massage, something I've been asking for a lot lately. Pity he isn't home tonight to give me one because I can feel my back starting to tighten up already.

I've started drinking Raspberry Leaf Tea to get my uterus in tip top condition. I'm wondering if it's going to make my Braxton Hicks contractions worse or if they will just stay the same. I've slowly increased my consumption from one cup of RLT a day to three as of today. I'm also going to get some Evening Primrose Oil capsules. Even if they don't do anything, well the tea tastes quite nice and the EPO caps make my skin look amazing. I know, I used to use them every day to help lessen PMS symptoms and ease the skin conditions I've been troubled with for years.

Anyway, I think that's enough from me for now. I'd better see what's for dinner and so on.

*Drumroll*

Aaaaaand we're hitched!! Have been for a week now lol. Everything went swimmingly, even though it ended up NOT being a picnic. We were at our backup location (the bar) and everything went great!! The food was lovely, the ceremony went well and we have heaps of photos of it all!
Only a couple of downsides which were people getting a little too friendly with the alcohol but meh, it went pretty damn well otherwise!


Babies have started arriving in my due date thread on a certain forum I frequent and I am SO jealous!!  I want to hold my precious little darling in my arms too!!!  5 weeks left and then I can!
It really doesn't help when my mum keeps hinting that she would like me to pop sometime soon as well!!  Grr!!! Baby will come when he's damn well ready to come! Just kind of sucks that I'm almost as impatient as she is!

So The Man Thing and I have been getting into the cleaning up of the house and I have to say I think I've been nibbled by the nesting bug. Wanting to do laundry at 2:30am??  I'd call that nesting!!

Babys room is now lovely and tidy and I just need to get in there with the sucky-moto (vacuum cleaner) and make sure it's not too dusty or musty.

I also have about a weeks worth of laundry to wash, dry and fold. Pity we don't have a clothes dryer lol.
So at the moment I'm busy busy busy, though I spend a lot of my time sitting on my bum. Hmm...

Oh mum says I've started waddling now. Thanks mum! *eye roll*
Last time I saw my Midwife she DID say that bubba boy was on the brink of engaging so I have a feeling he's made a little bit of progress since then.

I next see my OB on the 28th and she's going to have a look up me to see if she can see any more stitching and remove it if she can. Woohoo, unlocking the door for bubba to make his entrance!

Better get back to the laundry! Have lots to doooooo!!!!

Yet again, I suck, and also the latest

I seriously don't do so well with keeping this updated now do I?

*sigh* Ah well.

So, what's been going on lately is...

Wedding plans are sorted and finalised and the wedding is on SUNDAY!! (the 13th)
So that's one excuse that I have lol. I've been too busy trying to get everything sorted out for that!

Had an appointment with the Physio to see what's wrong with my back. She thinks it's just muscular from things getting strained with my pregnancy and so on. Makes sense to me. Doesn't mean it doesn't hurt though!! I have a Smiley Belt to help balance me out and redistribute the weight more evenly so I don't end up with so much pain. It helps, I think lol.

A few days before my Physio appointment I managed to arse over at the beach and landed flat on my bum. Took a few days for it to start hurting but believe me, my back was punishing me!! I couldn't even take a short trip in the car without whimpering in pain!
Good thing is that has now sorted itself out and I'm just back to the comparatively mild ache from the stressed muscles.
Goodness is it nice to get The Man Thing to give me a massage before bed lol. Must see if I can get him to do that more often!!

Had an appointment with the OB and another scan to check my cervix. Cervix is doing well, still holding up to the pressure. Also had a growth scan and Mr Squigglebum is growing perfectly to dates which is awesome!
OB doesn't need me to have anymore scans unless something goes amiss and she doesn't need to see me until the end of the month, when she'll take a little looksee and see if there's any stitching left up there. If there is then she will try to remove what she can, if not well it's not something we will have to really worry about anymore!

I'm starting to get massively annoyed with these darn Braxton Hicks that I keep getting. Last night is the second night that they've managed to keep me awake for more than an hour!
Bloody things kept coming 3 minutes apart too so I barely got a break!
I only know they weren't real contractions because they started off at 3 min apart and gave me barely a niggle, and I think that was more from my achy hip than anything else!

Now because the wedding is on SUNDAY!! (OMG!!) we're having to give the house a massive spring clean! Luckily my mum came and gave us a hand picking things up and weeding because up until a couple of days ago I couldn't bend over without massive pain. Still have a few things to do like the kitchen and bathroom but then we're pretty much done!
Only reason we're cleaning so thoroughly is because I'm expecting an influx of The Man Things family after the picnic at the park and I don't want the house looking like a bomb hit it lol.

I have 2 new Med Students following my pregnancy. I've met one of them and she's lovely, though a little skittish. I'm going to invite them around for dinner (goodness what will I cook!!) so we can have a relaxed meet and greet and so they can learn everything they need to know about me in a nice relaxed environment!

Right now, I think that's the latest. Hopefully I remember to update a little more frequently!!

It LIES!!!

My ticker lies I tell you!!
It says baby will have less wiggle room and will be sleeping most of the time.

PAHAHAHAHA!!!

Less wiggle room, yes, I can agree with that. Still doesn't stop this little wriggler from making my belly look like a scene from Alien though!

Sleeping most of the time?  Is that supposed to be a joke? Little Mr here wriggles morning, noon and night! I think he has catnaps because he's never quiet for any real length of time that can be classed as a "sleep".
I'm forever getting a hip scoot across the front of my belly or a knee/foot jabbing me off to the side. Then there's the head wobbles which squish my bladder and make me run to the toilet!

Sleep? My Jacksey!!

The latest

Well a week after the back pain started and it's STILL lingering. I have an appointment to see the Physio though, thank goodess, and it's later on this week. I SOOOOO cant wait to get my belt contraption thing!
What really doesn't help the pain is when I have a braxton hicks. They tug at the sore part of my back and make it feel even worse!  I had a right doozy earlier on today. Hurt so bad I was desperate to get completely horizontal and on my left side to HOPEFULLY get some relief! Good thing it worked too (though after a few minutes and with The Man Thing providing a little hands on comfort) otherwise the hospital would have been getting a visitor. "Give me stronger drugs!!!" Lol.

Further on the braxton hicks, the other night they tried to trick me into thinking I was in for the big show. They were coming 3 minutes apart for over an hour!!  Good thing it clicked with me that they didn't feel ANYTHING like labour, just a niggly, annoying, tight belly, so I knew we didn't have to go for a trip to the hospital. Would have been bloody Murphys Law though. My bag of emergency clothes is damn near empty and the weather has been absolute crap so I haven't been able to get washing done, not that I've even felt like it with this damn back pain!!

I suck, and other news

I seriously suck at keeping this blog updated *Blush*
So, as a catchup, we have now sneakily passed my birthday and I'm now 20, I've made it to 31 weeks with barely a hiccup, I'm getting married in 3 weeks time and I'm currently living on painkillers.

To elaborate a little:

It was my birthday about 2 weeks ago now and I wasn't expecting anything fancy, hell I wasn't even expecting a cake. I was surprised by a LOVELY cake from a couple of friends of ours. My Nana also gave me a set of kitchen scales so now I don't have to borrow hers.

Yep, I'm 31 weeks today and so very very happy that I have made it this far.
I had an appointment with my Obstetrician this morning and a scan to check up on my cervix and the good news is that since I'm now 31 weeks there is a very VERY good survival rate and a VERY good survival rate with no long term effects of prematurity! Oh and even better news is that over the last 2 weeks my cervix hasn't shortened any further!!  I'm deliriously happy right now!

The Man Thing and I decided at the end of last year that we are finally going to tie the knot. We've only been engaged for something like almost 2 years now lol. So we set a date which also happens to be the same date that we got engaged (Feb 13th) and that is now 3 weeks away.
My Aunty is helping me with my dress and the cake, our friend is (hopefully!!) going to be our celebrant and the rest of it is going to be as simple as it can get. We've planned for a picnic in the park where everyone brings a plate, then a small get together afterwards for drinks and talkies.
I'm going to be one day off 34 weeks. I must be mad lol.

Ah yes, the painkillers.
Well on Friday I woke up and before I managed to get out of bed my back started aching. 13 hours later, still in pain but by now it's even WORSE, I go to the hospital. Diagnosed with a possible kidney infection even though the dipstick came back clean. I was sent home with antibiotics and pain relief.
Roll around Monday, I've been taking my painkillers and antibiotics religiously. Painkillers (paracetamol and codeine) are barely helping and I live with a hot water bottle almost strapped to my back. Obstetrician looks at all the results from the tests they did. No kidney infection, nothing wrong with my bloods.
Seems it could be musculo-skeletal in nature, something along the lines of arthritic type pain, and now I've been referred to Physiotherapy to get a belt thing which is supposed to help. Well I freaking hope it does because I don't like being in pain like this, especially when there's no reward like a squishy pink baby at the end of it!!

I've also been told about a couple of baby clothes sales in the direction of 50% and 60% off. I'm drooling at the thought!!! Now if I can only beg and bribe The Man Thing into not only letting me spend money but also being my taxi, then I might do a little bit of shopping for winter clothes for my little Mr Squigglebum.

Oh and the little Mr is now most definately head down. WOOT!!!

Worries and Wonders

So today I was pretty worried about Mr Squigglebum here because he was quiet. Too quiet... I jiggled and poked, prodded and drank ice cold water and all I got was brain freeze and a couple of little hiccups. That certainly made for a worried mama!! So I told myself if he hadn't given me a few more wiggles and boots before 12 then I was going to go get him checked out.
Well, needless to say he then started booting me didn't he. This kid is giving me grey hairs and he's not even born yet!!!

He HAS been a bit on the quiet side all day, though I get kicks and wiggles so I know he's ok.

Oh and also I think he's turned head down. I'm not entirely sure since I'm no pro at baby groping lol but I'm as sure as I can be. Believe me, it's one hell of a relief!
I'm not enjoying the sensation of my bladder being squished into my pubic bone though. It STINGS!!

The man thing and I may possibly, maybe, could have finally decided on a name for this little wriggler!
I like it.
He likes it.
My mum and nana like it!!!

Now the hard part is finding a middle name that goes well with it!!

Progress and Passing out

I'm now officially 29 weeks. Woot!! Things seem to be getting a little rumbly in the cervix area though. Have had some interesting discharges but nothing that suggests an infection or thrush to me (thank goodness!)
Have been having what I can only describe as FULL feelings, which makes me think that my cervix has been taking a hammering.

I was really paranoid when I woke up this morning that bubs hadn't been moving. I poked and prodded a little bit and woke him up (sorry baby!) but it certainly reassured me. Guess he'd been quiet overnight and my brain kept track. He certainly let me know he was there over the course of the day though, booting away. While I was awake anyway.

For some really weird reason I slept all day today. Like seriously, all day. I woke up, had breakfast and an hour later I was exhausted and back in bed. Stupid thing is I was tossing and turning and not able to get to sleep for ages. Then I finally woke up again at 2.30.
Roll on 5pm and it was like I'd been hit over the head with a stick, I was dizzy and tired and really needed to lie down. So I did. And then woke up again at 8pm. So so weird...

A Stitch in Time

More stitching has come away. Ho hum. More pain came with it, just a couple of sharp stabbies. It will be interesting to see the state of my cervix on Tuesday at the scan.

My boobs seem to think that when it's hot they have permission to dribble everywhere lol. Earlier on tonight BOTH of them started dripping at the same time! Of course, me being naked to cope with the heat we've been having lately (I live in front of the fan) the colostrum had nowhere to go but down my belly. Luckily there was a towel nearby that I could grab to stem the drip drip drip. Still, the man thing saw be dripping and cracked up laughing. Nice to know he's not freaked out by leakiness lol.

Away Time and Appointments

Just got back from a little holiday with the man things family. It was only a couple of nights away but it was certainly enough.

I kept getting comments on how big my bump is and how much longer I have to go until I'm due to pop. I feel like a whale and certainly look like one too so I don't mind so much. It's the truth after all lol.

I had a midwife appointment today, just the usual little checkup of my blood pressure and what not. Everything is going swimmingly, my blood pressure is nice and steady and normal, baby's heart rate is wonderful. Bubby boy is stubbornly head up though. I think he takes after both of his parents in that respect. I was a cesarean breech and the man thing was a vaginal breech. Here's hoping that our little bugger decides to buck tradition lol and come head first.

I've gone from having just a few stretchmarks now to having a great big bunch of the buggers. Doesn't overly bother me, they just itch!!

Happy New Year

And that pretty much sums it up lol.
Hope everyone enjoys tonights celebrations and behaves responsibly *Wink*

What a year filled with hope this year is.