Spring time and spiders!

I knew spring would be here, when it was time for our new baby to don his Spiderman suite. David is an avid Marvel Comics fan, and purchased this suit on special, long before Peter was born.

It has been waiting patiently in the cupboard and finally the weather has warmed enough to bring it out!

This is the kind of spider I like to have around the house.

Peter's Story - days 6 - 8

Days six and seven, were Peter's first real taste of home. It's where he got to see his family in action, and where we got to see how everything suddenly changed around this new little person.

After our first bath at home

Peter enjoyed his first bath at home, and Dad was proud to see him wearing the "Doctor Who" body suit he got especially for him. I dedicated a lot of time breastfeeding, which I missed out on doing while in hospital. It was a lovely time.

Of course, speaking of 'hospital' there was a little proviso in leaving - getting a follow-up blood test to check how his borderline jaundice was progressing. On day eight, we had a lactation consultant appointment at the hospital (which was brilliant at helping me) and so we took Peter to do the blood test afterwards. Then it was off to catch-up on some food shopping!

Life was returning to normal. But just as we hit the first shop to collect some bibs for Peter, we received a phone call on the mobile. It was the dreaded paediatricians again, and it wasn't good news. Two hours later and the blood results were already in. They wanted to admit him that night, to do some light therapy for his jaundice. It broke my heart...

Love you Sweetie!

So my little baby boy, got another feeding tube up his nose, he was cooked under the lights for 12 hours and had to wear a blindfold so it wouldn't burn his eyes. My breastfeeding got put on hold again, but at least I got to spend the night with him in the Pediatric ward. On the whole though, I hated it and I hated the whole industrialised attitude at the hospital.

I don't want to mar Peter's story with grievances about hospitals, but I will say that while I respect the need of trained medical staff to save lives which are in serious jeopardy, I'm not sure why they would want to clog the system up with "just in case" patients. One would think a firm diagnosis would ensure necessary treatment, rather than treating every baby as if they were in serious jeopardy.

I can only say this having birthed two children, ten years apart. The system has changed from a diagnosis based treatment plan, to a mass production line of neonates - all being treated as if they're going to die. My son was denied breast milk during those vital few days following birth, in preference for being dosed up on antibiotics, formula and glucose drips instead.

I cannot say if these added measures saved his life or not, because it wasn't a diagnosis based treatment plan. It was explained to me every time, as a, 'just in case', measure.

 Peter loves cuddles

But that part of our lives is behind us now. Our little Peter is going from strength to strength. Whatever lack of appetite he experienced in the past, has been made up for now! Sadly, we had to give up breast milk, due to Peter's tongue being the wrong shape for good extraction, but it was the second bout of mastitis which really did it for me. I'm glad we stuck with it, for as long as we could though.

And now about Peter's name. We had originally selected another one, and it's one I really loved. It was, "Millan". Feedback from relatives however, wasn't very encouraging. We decided to err on the side of caution and stick with a traditional name instead. "Peter" was in honour of David's departed Father.

So in a nutshell, that is Peter's story, of the first eight days of his life. When I look at his older sister though, I know how quickly time flies by. It's why I cherish every smile I give him now. He will linger with us for as long as possible, but manhood will soon call him one day, and I will have to say goodbye to my little boy, once and for all.

In the meantime its lots of cuddles and kisses!

Peter's Story - day 5

Day five from birth was coming home day! Our little guy had been through so much in the Special Care Nursery. He started with a feeding tube in his nose, which then became a glucose drip in his wee little hand, that lead to a nasty course of antibiotics.

For the record, I believe a lot of this was unnecessary, but that's a subject for another post. Because when it was the day to come home for Peter, nothing could have wiped the smile from my face.

Returned to hospital 24 hours after my discharge

I kept my hospital tag on, until we arrived home together

With the feeding tube removed from his nose, I was able to successfully breastfeed him for the first time before we left the hospital. I couldn't wait to leave the place, but we will miss "Lincoln" who was Peter's little premature room buddy. He was so tiny compared to Peter, yet just as robust!

 You've earned the rest, Peter

My boy looked just like a regular baby now. No more facial bruising, and I even noticed how much blonder he appeared, than his older sister when she first left the hospital. But they both still had Dad's long eyelashes!

Mum's papoose

I almost felt like a prison escapee when I tucked my precious little bundle under my wing and fled the hospital confines. We had our own paparazzi following our every step though, with David clicking madly to capture everything - even when we finally wrangled him into the baby capsule to drive home.

Dad's got you!

But driving home was the best feeling of all, because 24 hours earlier I was arriving home after my discharge without our baby boy. I stayed in the car for at least 10 minutes, afraid to go inside and not find him there. All of those five days had been spent in a matter of confines. I couldn't take him out of the Special Care Nursery, I couldn't feed him, nor could I hold him close - not without some tangle of medical tubing getting in the way.

Yet coming home that day made up for it all. We brought him home and he was where he belonged. We all took our turn holding and adoring him.

Our two treasures

We even got that precious picture of sister and brother, we failed to capture at the hospital. She likes to hold her little brother - in fact, we all do. The novelty hasn't worn off for any of us. Although the occasional sore arm reminds us to swap sides more frequently! I swear we can see him growing every day.

Never too young to start garden appreciation

Of course, what would be coming home without a casual walk through the garden. I couldn't wait to show him everything out there. In a day of patchy weather, we were even fortunate to catch some afternoon rays too.

A fitting end to a tumultuous five days - or - so we thought...

Peter's Story - day 2

Day two of Peter's entry into life, would have been the hardest for me as a mother. I had given birth under traumatic circumstances, and just as my body and mind had a chance to clear from the blur, I'm faced with the reality there are babies crying in the maternity ward all around me, but none of them were mine.

My little boy was in the Special Care Nursery, with a feeding tube in his nose. Others were looking after him, and I had to press a buzzer to be allowed in to see him.  But see him we did.

Proud parents

David was as proud as punch, but I was still a cocktail of conflicting emotions. Here was our baby and I loved him immensely, but he hated the tube up his nose and I couldn't take it away from him.

Sweet siblings

Sarah got to meet her new brother for the first time in the Special Care Nursery, and she even got to hold him. We didn't get a photo because visiting hours were coming to an end.

A loving glance from Nan

There was still enough time for Nan (my mum) to have a cuddle though. If Peter's head looks a little blue, it was from the bruising he received during birth. It took a while for his normal colour to return.

I wasn't sure how much I should share about that day, as it was particularly difficult. Not only because I was mourning something I didn't entirely understand, but I realised the conflicting advice/communication with staff in the Special Care Nursery added to my woes.

Everything hinged on who was on the next shift. If they were all about "procedure", that is what happened to my son, regardless of what I had to say about it. If they were about working with the parents, then they worked your requests into the treatment plan. It was the kind of unnecessary confusion I didn't need.

As much as we could though, we tried to be there for Peter. David spent all day with me at the hospital, and even brought me food from home! He asked for two weeks off work, which was an absolute Godsend. I really appreciated his support. One of his female work colleagues has even offered us the use of her electric breast pump, as she's between children at the moment and wouldn't need it until the next one comes along.

So it's been somewhat of a mixed blessing time for us. Unfortunately, Peter wasn't discharged from hospital until five days later - I was discharged after four. But home he did come eventually, so the next entry for Peter's Story will be day five.

Coming home!

Peter's Story - day 1

It has been over a week since my "planned" induction date, but our son had other ideas of when to make his appearance. I was due to arrive at the hospital at 7.30am for the scheduled induction, but I woke that morning at 2am. There was mild cramping, but nothing which said labour was eminent. By 3.30am however, David was racing me to the hospital and they took me straight into the birthing suite.

37 weeks and 2 days gestation

This was the last photo taken of my baby bump, the night before. I wore this nightie, simply because both my suitable ones were already packed in my hospital bag. There was literally no time to change in the wee hours of the next morning. So imagine how embarrassed I was, when the midwife helped remove my robe at the birthing suite, and said: "now that's a raunchy outfit to wear for birth."

Believe me, I wanted to laugh along with her - she had no idea of the strange turn of events that had befallen me. I won't go into them, but it was like I knew he was coming (even though I was completely clueless) and things just "happened" to get us to hospital on time. Speaking of which, little Peter arrived just 40 short minutes after we got into the birth suite.

Peter William Riley, with Dad

a few minutes old

There was somewhat of a drama to his entry though. They couldn't find his heartbeat at first. I had one of those undignified births, where you're flat on your back and your legs are (well) kept out of the way, for want of a better description. But they had to place a sensor on his head to get a heartbeat. I kind of knew he was still with us, but the collective room breathed a sigh of relief when the machine started registering his pulse. There were quite a few medical people in the room by that stage too.

Meconium was found in the fluid, which was a sign he was in distress. Then when his heartbeat started dropping again, they wanted to get him out quickly. I was told to push, and when his head finally emerged, they pulled the rest of him out rather forcefully. I knew he would be okay (just as I always have - there's more to this story) and I still wonder if the medical intervention would have been necessary, had I arrived earlier and they were able to monitor him sooner. It's about their procedures and being able to document how labour progresses.

There was very little warning with Peter's birth though. Three hours passed between the first mild twinge, until he was born - and 30 minutes was spent driving to hospital, parking and getting to the birth suite!

A few hours old, dressed in my hand knits

He was average size though (nearly 4kgs) or 8 pounds, 6 ounces. I tried to breastfeed him in the birth suite. My poor muscles were shaking though and it was all a bit of a blur. The midwives conducted several heel-prick blood tests, and after 4 hours his blood-glucose level, hadn't managed to go over the 2.6 they like for newborns. So the Paediatric doctor came to our birth suite, and proposed taking him to the Special Care Nursery.

That is another story to tell about Peter's arrival though. He had quite an eventful first week of life...

The countdown!

So we have been booked for an induction at the hospital, next Thursday 16 May!

Free pattern, here

There is so much to do in the meantime. I'm not sure if I will finish knitting the blanket I have started, in amongst the other "to do's" on our list. I had to make it slightly bigger than the original pattern, didn't I? At least it may give me something to complete in the hospital after the birth. I hope we don't have to stay too long.

I am happy and scared. Come next Thursday though, we will know who this little bump has been in my ever expanding waistline. Every time he kicks, I think about Sarah and the days which led up to her birth. I asked the same thing - who will this little person be?

Surprise!

She is ten years old now and just had her birthday. She is pretty awesome and has her own mind. We chatted about this after school today, and she enjoyed hearing how I thought of her as a bump too, and wondered what she would end up liking and disliking. She is happily her own person, and knows the answer to my question, more than I. So who will her brother be next?

We will get to know, soon enough I hope. I can't wait to hold him to my cheek and inhale that sweet new baby smell.

Some days are surprising

David and I had "the talk" recently. We sat down and took stock of our plans for baby. Although we had given most of our baby gear to charity (10 years is a long time between pregnancies) there were a few remnants laying around the house. Both of us had been avoiding "the talk" however, because it meant knuckling down and meeting new objectives, which neither of us felt we had the time/funds for.

Yet in as little as 6 weeks, we're looking at a wonderful bundle of baby coming home and what will we have prepared for it? Bits and pieces are nice, but we had to bight the bullet on some bigger items. This is where my day of surprises began.

Waiting for baby

I did a Google search on baby bassinets, to see what brand new ones would cost. We weren't planning on buying new, I just wanted the ball-park figure to start from. At least when I did the rounds of the second-hand shops, I would know what is a realistic amount to pay for second hand. They were going for around $120-150 brand new. Here is the exact same one advertised for sale at Target.

So imagine my surprise, when the search on baby bassinets, also turned up a result on Gumtree. Gumtree is like an Australian version of Ebay, only without the auction side. There was a brand new bassinet, going for $50, about a twenty minute drive away from here!

I thought surely it would have been sold by now, as it was listed over a month ago? I tossed my hat into the ring anyway, and received a quick reply. Before I knew it, I was organising to come and take a look - then I was driving home with it. The previous owners, even gave us a new baby breathing monitor they didn't use, along with the bassinet. Apparently, they had planned to use both, but their baby ended up co-sleeping with them instead. It was also meant to have sold about a month ago, but the buyers were no-shows.

Bed for the first 3 months of baby's life

So yesterday, I rearranged our bedroom and set the new baby bassinet up! We planned to have the baby in our room, to share the heater with us during winter. Otherwise we'll be paying for 3 heaters to run, as Sarah's room has one too. Much happier to only pay for 2 heaters instead. Plus it's easier to collect them from beside the bed, than walk to the nearest room. We did that when Sarah was a baby, and you get chilly feet walking between rooms - even when they're just a few meters away!

All in all though, WOW, I was shocked to find such a lovely, never used item, at a price we could afford. Imagine my good fortune, to still have it listed when it was supposed to have sold a month ago too. WOW! Some days are just so surprising, and I'm glad we finally had "the talk".

If you're an Australian, have you ever used Gumtree?

Early labour

Click to enlarge

This picture was taken yesterday, before we left for my 32 week ultrasound scan. I'm looking much happier than I did the day before, as a strange turn of events happened from something rather simple.

I'm not entirely sure when it happened, it could have been 3 days ago when I put on my ugg-boots for the cooler weather - as I noticed my feet starting to swell then. Or it could have been 2 days ago, when I went outside to pick the guinea-pigs some food in some tall weeds and thongs.

But at least 2 days ago, I noticed one particular foot starting to swell. There was a welt on it, like something had bitten me. I noticed a couple on the other foot too, but they were smaller and not painful. The bad foot swelled, became painful to walk on, I couldn't fit any of my shoes any more, but worse of all - I started to get painful contractions.

I didn't notice it at first. I just had several nights of sleeplessness. I kept getting up every two hours to use the toilet. It started to remind me of my pre-labour before Sarah was born - even David said he heard me making the same noises. We called the hospital when it became apparent it wasn't going away, and visited the birthing suite for a thorough overview.

They strapped their little machine to me, which monitored the baby's heartbeat and any contractions. It was clear I was either going into early labour or experiencing braxton hicks. As it had developed over a few days, they couldn't rule out early labour, so ordered a test to be sure that wasn't happening.

Thankfully, the test came back negative, which meant they didn't have to inject me with steroids to mature the baby's lungs in case he came early. I was relieved, but they did say to return, should the pains reoccur. My antenatal appointment was moved up a week, just to keep an eye on the situation too.

I suspect I know what happened though. Something did bight me (I don't know if it was a poisonous spider, or whatever bit me gave an allergic reaction) but the result was a fever to fight the infection and nausea - which probably also led to my uterus contracting.

As I said to David when we left the hospital, I'm glad we got it checked, even though I suspected it would pass through my system. It was sensible to get it checked out medically. But I'm also glad to know my body did what it had to do naturally, given a very simple source of infection had entered it.

Needless to say, I'm watching my shoes very carefully and it's the families job to pick food for the guinea pigs now!

Other good news is, I think we have finally settled on a name. I don't want to share it until our little guy arrives though.

Half way there

I've officially reached the half way point of my pregnancy: 20 weeks (21 weeks now). The ultrasound went well. Nothing major to report, other than everything is going as expected. Oh yes, and the gender. We found out, which was really exciting.

Sarah was hoping for a baby brother, and she was disappointed to realise that's EXACTLY what she was going to get! Ha, yes, fooled you. She was really excited and so were David and I. I've got some photos of the ultrasound.

Don't be scared of the skeletal imaging - it's meant to look that way. Click on the images to make them larger.

Side Profile

The head pictures weren't very clear, because he decided to park it right underneath my belly button. The radiologist got a lot of the necessary pictures of the heart and blood flow (plus other body parts) but he wouldn't budge his head from my belly button. On the contrary, he was quite happy to get the radiologist to chase his hand  around like a conductor though!

Side profile (close-up)

Twenty minutes into the ultrasound and after every other accessible image was taken, I was asked to walk around and have something cold to drink, to see if that would make him move. Fifteen minutes later, we returned and his head changed position just enough to get these poor quality shots. He sure was having fun hiding.

Front profile

This is Sarah's favourite photo because she's already nicknamed her little brother, "The Red Skull". If you're a Marvel comic book fan, you will recognise the Red Skull as Captain America's nemesis.

I was told by the radiologist some people freak when they see these head shots, because of the skeleton, but we all thought it was cool. Did I mention, Sarah joined us for the ultrasound? School holidays didn't give us much choice, but we wanted her to come along anyway. I suspected I was going to have a boy, and I wanted her to join in the moment we all found out.

The shirt is orange, not red like it looks here

This photo was taken at 21 weeks. The large shirt I bought second-hand, and just tied the straps around me. The maternity skirt was a loaner from someone I know, who likes to wear some items of maternity clothes. They believe they're more comfortable to wear, and I would have to agree!

Finding clothes hasn't been too hard, or that expensive. I've been able to get a few items second-hand (fill a bag for $5) and other items I have modified from my own wardrobe, thanks to these internet tutorials:

Modest maternity mini - my favourite
Maternity shirt and shorts - simple and easy
Room to grow top - spacious and inventive
Maternity pants

As I've had a baby before, I know I don't really need a lot of stuff. We will buy a new baby-carrier for the car (safety reasons) but everything else will be what we can purchase second hand. Like these cute singlets I collected, in fill a bag for $5...

The yellow is my favourite and still suitable for a boy

Some items we won't even bother with, like a change table. It takes up too much room, and I have plenty of tables I can change him on, with a thick towel. I would like to use cloth nappies, which I hope to sew myself with more internet tutorials - but I will share those later.

I'm really happy to have gotten this far in the pregnancy, and my only (small) gripe is the medical side. Too many appointments. Nothing is wrong, it's just standard procedure apparently. It's not my thing to fuss so much, so I've canceled a few appointments here and there. It makes for managing my stress levels easier.

I can't believe it's been 10 weeks since I last posted about our baby's development though. Time has just flown by.

One week of Mew

It has officially been one week since we located a wee kitten inside our garden wishing well. It's been a big learning curve of feeding with a syringe, moving to a bottle, and with plenty of kitten napping in between. I guess kittens are just like babies in that regard.

Photo compliments of Sarah

We had to start feeding him with a syringe because that's all we had at the time. It was the perfect size for his small mouth but it was certainly an art to keep him interested. He recently graduated to a small bottle which is a lot kinder on his mouth.

 Photo compliments of Sarah

We always know when he's had enough milk, because he becomes drowsy and cannot keep his head up for long.  Small kittens sleep a lot.

Little pudgy boy

And who couldn't resist an afternoon siesta, with a full belly and a warm friend to curl up next to. He dreams a lot and wiggles his wee paws. We like that he's growing a round belly, as we are not so worried he's being underfed.

Peekaboo...

So we decided to name him. David wanted to call him Wishes (as he found him in the wishing well) but the two girls in the house wanted to call him Mew - as that's all he says right now..."mew-mew-mew". He is developing a rather loud purr at the moment too.

Rather than have to choose between either name, we decided to call him Mew-Wishes. That way, we can call him both names OR we can call him by either. Maybe when he grows into a cat, we'll morph his two names into Mewichious?

At the moment though, he's our little Mew. And just because we're corny...

~ Mew Wishes you a Merry Christmas ~

I had plans...

I had plans to write another post in the new series I have currently going, but then something unexpected came up. Something really unexpected.

Our ornamental wishing well

A surprise arrived in our wishing well in the garden yesterday evening. Of all places, it's not where we expected to find what we did. David went outside on dusk after the rain had eased, and startled one of the local cats, which suddenly jumped out of our wishing well. Curious, he popped his head into the well and saw...

 An unexpected interloper

She must have been moving her litter, or maybe this was the only one - but we guessed she chose the wishing well as it had a cover from the rain. As it was nearly dark we brought the little guy inside as we thought we knew who owned the cat.  After a phone call to the neighbour we discovered it wasn't their cat, but they directed us to another house further up the street.

David got in the car and drove there, but it turned out it wasn't their cat either. So now we are left hand feeding the new arrival. We haven't seen the mother back since. Today we visited the vets to buy the proper kitten formula, and he seems to be eating with a healthy appetite.

I really wish people would de-sex their animals. Though the fact it arrived in our special wedding day, wishing-well, has more than "surprise" written all over it.

Ultrasound

So I went to my dating ultrasound yesterday. Nothing flash, but everything is happening as expected - perfect heart beat and development. Picture below:

Click to enlarge

Due date is expected around 31 May 2013, give or take. They say I'm presently 10 weeks and 6 days. So it's kind of real now. Our newest member of the family has officially made it to the blog.

Sarah joined us at the ultrasound, and Dave said it was the first time we got to see each other with the four of us. I didn't think of it like that. I was too busy trying to figure out the parts! No sexing done at this stage, so still a mystery.

In case you cannot make out the picture, the baby's head is the big round thing! They still look like a little tadpole, but they'll be growing pretty quickly. It's amazing how this whole process works.