Needles - Yuck

Poor Muffin had his first needles yesterday. We had a good morning, he got all dressed up in his first big boy outfit (a little singlet and some boardies) and we had a pleasant walk around to the chemist for our fornightly weigh in and chat (he put on 700 grams) and then came home for a sleep and a feed and then another sleep and then it was time... I had to wake the poor little bear up to go (which I hate doing) but he was all happy and unsuspecting, and after a short wait at the doctors (they had some new mags though, well, they were from last November but at least that's an update from 2004 ones there previously) we went in.

He had to have two needles, which was a surprise to me, and my baby boy just screamed when they went in. I felt so terrible, not so much about the crying, cause I am kind of immune to it now, but because I couldn't protect him from the pain. He was fine after a quick leg rub, and we went home and had a feed and everything seemed good. Until 6.30. Then the screaming monster came out and couldn't be consoled. Daddy was sent around to the chemist for some baby Panadol, just in case the needle site was sore or something, but it was 3 hours later, and many false starts, before he settled down and fell asleep. I was expecting a really restless night, but to my surprise he slept until 4.30 this morning.

I have a love/hate relationship with those nights, and they do seem to be becoming more frequent (touch wood!). I love the uninterrupted sleep, but I hate the humungous, leaking, sore boobs that arise from it. They were so big that he was full after just one side, so I had to stumble around the kitchen cleaning and steralising the breast pump so I could get a bit of relief.

I have started putting my little precious in bed with me after DH goes to work. He seems to get unsettled when the sun comes up, but calms down when we sleep together. We both get a bit of a sleep in too! A well rested mummy is a happy mummy!

Just cruising

Everything is just cruising along nicely (now). We had a nightmare of a weekend. Left DS at Nanny's on Sat while DH slept in after his week of night shift. I had to go to Medicare, I actually got there before it opened and had to wait out the front like a goober, I handed over all my receipts and my form for the maternity payment, but forgot to get DH to sign it! Now I have to go back. Grr. I always post everything to Medicare, but you have to put that form in in person. Then made hairdressers appointment only to find out that my regular had left! We have been together for almost 4 years, apart from a breif fling I had last year on a cost cutting mission that failed miserably and saw me slinking back to her with my tail between my legs, and now she has gone. I will have to see if I can find out where she went...

DS had one of the worst nights I can remember on Sat. He just had too much stimulation through the day, and couldn't sleep. Every 3 hours I was up with him, and after my early start on Sat (we were up for good at about 6.30) I was an absolute mess on Sunday, bawling my eyes out at everything. Sunday night was more of the same, but since then everything has one back to normal. Go figure.

I think that the unpredictability of having a newborn has been the hardest thing for me. I think that's why everyone wants to get a routine so fast. We have a bit of one, but nothing you can set your watch by. I know it won't always be like this, but I do miss my eight hours of (consecutive) sleep.

I am slightly obsessed

I think I am slightly obsessed with Bec Hewitt and baby Mia. Not that I am a stalker or anything, I don't want to be her but we were pregnant at the same time and it is just interesting to see what her baby looks like and how she is recovering and stuff. I have to say that I am quite disappointed in Woman's Day though, I bought a copy this week and they didn't even have new photos (wow, I really do have problems). They did have some piccies of Jen and Ben (also pregnant together) and Rod and Penny (ditto). I am proud to say that they both have my pram (go Bugaboo), I always told DH that it was the famous person's pram. They probably don't have their baby sleeping in the basinette though! I just love pregnant celebrities, ever since I started thinking about having a family it feels like every second Hollywood star is have babies!

Is this a routine...

I think that we may have inavertantly stumbled across a routine, my baby boy and I. There really does seem to be a pattern emerging from has previously felt like random feeding, playing and sleeping. I almost don't want to talk about it in case I jinx myself! It seems like the day has turned into feed for about half an hour, play for about an hour and then into noddy-land we go. He has been sleeping like a trouper at night time as well. Friday night was our record, he went nigh-nigh's at about 8.30, then I didn't hear a peep out of him until 2am. I even got up to check that he was still breathing. Every night since has had a big sleep as well. Mummy is loving getting big chunks of uninterrupted sleep too, although the boobs don't seem to appreciate it. I have taken to sleeping with a towel up my pj top because the the soft bra and breast pads were just getting way too annoying. A misplaced towel does cause a bit of a mess on the sheets though!

I have four weeks to go until I spend a whole weekend away from DS. All day Saturday and half of Sunday. DH has already informed me that he will be spending that night at my mum's house as he is scared that he won't wake up when the boy cries (he sleeps through everything now). I have been stocking up the freezer with milk so there is plenty to leave for them.

Healthwise, the past week has been interesting. Had DS to the GP on Friday with two swollen eyelids. Normally I am quite laidback as a mum, if I can find what I think is wrong in Babylove (my bible) I usually keep an eye on it but aren't too worried. The eyelid thing I couldn't find, so off we trotted. The GP said everything looked fine, and the Paed backed that up at our 6 week check on Monday so all is well. Then it was off to be weighed, and my chunky monkey is now 5kgs. I had a bit of a scare on Saturday, my 6 week old caesar started to hurt again, got a bit swollen and hot and pink. I ended up with antibiotics, but I can't believe that it got infected so long after the operation. DS also had his hip ultrasound on Friday to check them out after being breech, but I am pleased to say that everything is fine with them.

He has just woken up, must go and do mummy things!

Introduction to me

I think I will start with a bit of background. I am 27, have been married to my husband, 30,(der, who else would I be married to?) for 2 1/2 years. We had our beautiful baby boy on 19/12/05. He is our first, although we did suffer a miscarriage at almost 8 weeks at the end of November 04. We had decided in the September that is was baby-making time and, wouldn't you know it, we got it right the first time! DH was actually in WA for work when I found out (we live in Sydney), after many, many tests just to make sure that those two lines stayed blue. I had zero pg symtoms, so I assumed I would just be one of the lucky ones who would zoom through the whole thing. When DH came home (the two months he was supposed to be away for miraculously turned into one, he was very homesick poor bubby) we were just at the end of the 4th week, so of course we told the world. My parents, his parents, friends, the used car salesman (we of course bought a new car straight away, a family size one). Basically everyone. Then came week 6 (the day after we bought the car), and the spotting. Just a little bit, but every day there was just a little bit. It started on the Monday, and by the Wednesday I was at the doctors, slightly hysterical. He got me in for an ultrasound the next morning where I was slightly reassured when the heart beat was found, but I was measuring I think 2 weeks smaller than my dates. The details are a bit hazy now, that's why I think I feel I have to get them all down now, before I forget even the big things. Even though it was a totally crappy time I don't think I should forget it, and if anyones reads this that may be going through the same thing it might be of a little comfort. I know that when it happened I read everything I could on the internet, got every book from the library, just to try and come to grips with it all and realise that I wasn't the only one in the world it had happened to (what a sad library record I must have had, going from the pregancy books to the positive sounding "Miscarriage".) So anyway, I hadn't even told DH that I was bleeding when he came home that Thursday to find me more than slightly hysterically crying waving the ultrasound report around. It said something about the size, blah blah, but the worst bit was the part about assessing the viability of the embryo ( I think it was still an embryo, you would think that with the amount of preggo books I have read I could be an OB, but now I have 'mummy memory'. I'm lucky if I can remember to wash my hair). The spotting was relentless, and after a weekend on Google doing searches like 'bleeding, pregnancy', I went back to my GP on the Thursday, he got me in for another u/s on the Friday. I spent all Thursday night in tears (and it was a stinking hot night for November, I remember that distinctly) then went with DH to the hospital for the u/s. I had started bleeding a lot by then, so I only had a little glimmer of hope that things might be OK, but the technician couldn't find a heartbeat through my tum, and then the vaginal thing couldn't find one either. The next 5 days were a blur of tears (I could bawl just writing about it now) and another doctors appointment and another u/s, but the worst bit was telling people. We definitely didn't tell as many people the bad news as we did the good, I sort of assumed the grapevine would do it's job, so we had a few people congratulate us afterward and I think that was the hardest bit.

**** take a breath ****

While DH was in WA, he thought he got pricked by a needle while he was at the beach. He had a test while he was over there, and then had to have another one in the following January. I am sort of glad that happened, because it obviously meant we had to postpone the baby making. I am sure that if it wasn't the case I would have wanted to get cranking straight away and I absolutely know I wasn't ready. Once we got the all clear I was raring to go. We had missed O for Jan, so the serious business didn't start until Feb. I had always been pretty regular since coming off the pill at the start of Jan 04, so I guessed when I would be ovulating and just went for it. Nothing happened that month, so I researched as much as I could about taking your temperature to predict ovulation and started religiously making my little chart. I didn't have to do it for long because March was the month DH's smallest cell met my biggest cell and gave us the sqirming purple creature we were to meet in December.

My fingers are getting tired (I haven't typed this much since I was at Uni), so I will start the day to day stuff another time. I think I will also put a bit about my pregnancy into each entry. I really regret not keeping a diary all through it, because I definitely don't want to forget it.

Just quickly now:

Pregnancy Week 1-4

Hmm, don't really now I am pregnant yet. Since the m/c have been a little irregular so don't think too much of it. Spotting on the Thursday of week 4, assume is AF and start a detox. Poo all weekend but still only have that one day of spotting. Do test on Mon, BFP! Tell DH in the following way: Me - (crying and waving preg test around) "There's two lines!"
Him - "It's alright, we'll keep trying."
Me - (still crying) "No, we're having a baby!" (or something to that effect, I wished I had taped it)

Week 5-8

At GP, in tears, after another spot. Get HCG test (and a massive bruise from the needle, thanks Doc) and the follow up (much less painful). Get results, levels are perfect. No moe bleeding. Feel very relieved, but still don't want to get excited. Get morning (or should I say all day) sickness. I was never actually sick, but just a constant nausea. There were many times I took refuge in the work toilets just resting my head on the toilet roll (very relaxing). I was quite upset when I got too preggo to be able to bend over to do it! Went away for the weekend at about 6 weeks. Pretty uneventful month. Stepbrother and his girlfriend announce they are pregnant. My mum guesses that I am too (few signals, biggest one being I didn't drink at DH's 30th birthday party). Tell her not to tell anyone (turns out she told my uncle, apparently he was the only one).