No, I haven’t fallen off the face of the earth. I was just about to write that I have a bit of spare time, but that’s not true at all. I have so much to do now!!! I mean, I had a lot to do before, but I now realise I have to at least have 10 minutes to myself to sit down in the day and I’ve really missed blogging! These posts might be a bit smaller now, that’s all. So yeah, we have had a beautiful baby girl and called her Amber about 8 weeks ago now. I seriously can’t believe that 8 weeks have gone by! They do say that the more children you have, the quicker life goes by. I can believe that now! The last 8 weeks have been all over the place. The first couple were a bit hard. Jay and Luke were extremely testy, I felt like I was telling them off every ten minutes! I got Amber in a routine by about the third week I reckon, so that was good. She has been excellent I must say! From the time she was born she would sleep for a good five hours between feeds at night, then a four hour stint. Now she sleeps for 7 to 8 hours at night, so I’m not really getting up at all. She’s been doing that since she was about 5 weeks old, I’ve been loving that! Living in the shed with the 5 of us now is interesting! Amber gets moved around everywhere in her basinet, but fitting in so well! We have two bedrooms in the shed, so she gets moved from the kids room, to our room, the lounge and even the bathroom! We have finally heard from the building supervisor and hopefully some movement will happen next week with our new house. At this stage the house will be finished just before Christmas – CAN’T WAIT! It’s only been about 3 years since we’ve had our own house. I’ve got so much to say, but I’m going to have to leave it at this for now! This is just letting you all know that I’m still alive, and it’s all good here. Haven’t gone crazy or anything, like a lot of people were telling me before Amber was born!
Well, it’s been interesting the last few weeks! Talk about false alarms! I’m really hoping that I’ll definitely know when I’m going into labor this time. My waters broke with the two boys both times, so that was pretty obvious, but as most people know, that doesn’t always happen. I’ve been getting painful contractions everyday. Sometimes I’d get them every 10 minutes for an hour, then they’ll stop, then other times they’d just be random, like one every hour (most of the times in the arvo / evening). I also found out the difference between Braxton Hicks and contractions from my midwife yesterday. She said that the Braxton Hicks happen when your stomach is tight all over. Then the contractions are low, like a period pain and / or comes with back pain. Oh, it’s lovely stuff we have to go through – anyway, the other night about a week ago between 1am and 3am, I was getting them every 10 minutes and definitely thought, “This is it!” but yeah, nothing ventured, they just stopped! Darren’s been extremely anxious about it too now, probably because I’ve been getting so many contractions. I try not to tell him now, but it’s a bit obvious when I’m having one! Yesterday I had my general check-up and made the mistake of telling my midwife that I have felt a little bit of fluid about 2 to 3 times a day since Saturday. She said that what can happen sometimes, is that your waters can break, but just start trickling out, so I was sent down to Womens Assessment and had to lie on a bed for an hour not moving, with them monitoring the baby’s heartbeat and my contractions. After that they did a few lovely tests and an ultrasound. Anyway, after 4 hours, they couldn’t tell me if it was my waters or not, but the ultrasound showed that there was enough fluid around the baby, so everything’s fine and they sent me home. The midwife said that they’ll probably induce me if it was my waters and move it along a bit quicker and that I’ll probably end up in the labor ward (yesterday), but no! I mean, I’ve still got a week and half to go until the due date, but man! It’s really hard not to get anxious sometimes in these last stages!!! Then other mum’s have been saying to me, “It really is best for the baby to stay in full term.” To be honest, you really don’t want to hear that, especially when you’ve got all sorts of pains every time you walk, have no energy, tired all the time, extremely uncomfortable, can’t tie up your shoes, snapping it for no reason, crying for no reason. Oh yeah it’s all good alright!!! I have been a bit up and down, no doubt about that. I’ll have one day that I’ll just be so over it and wanting this bub to be out NOW, then another day, I won’t be so bad and be thinking, “The baby will come in it’s own time.” The fact is, one way or another, this baby will eventually come out and I can’t make that happen, being natural and all. You never know, the next post might be about little bub’s arrival…
Well, I’ve got about 3.5 weeks left now (until the due date that is – when little bubba comes is another story!) and I must admit, I’ve been getting pretty anxious for the arrival. It’s only been about a week now though that I’ve had everything organised (all bags packed, kids clothes organised, baby stuff organised, the one room for all the kids and baby organised). That was worrying me a bit before, but now that it’s all done, I’ve been thinking, “Come on! Something has to start happening now!” I’ve been getting really strong and often painful Braxton Hicks too, which has been going on for quite a while. If they were regular enough, it would be the same as when I was in the second stage of labor with both boys. I didn’t have it like this before labor with the other two though, definitely not strong ones like I’ve been getting. They probably get as regular as 10 mins apart for a couple of hours, then stop. That’s probably the other reason I’m getting anxious. I’m also now really looking forward to meeting this little one, which is good finally. I’ve been way too busy and not ready (as in room, clothes etc) to think about it. I’m trying not to think about sleepless nights though, because I’m not really having the best sleeps at the moment. I’m getting extremely hot too! It’s probably been only about 10 deg over night up here, and I’ve been just having a sheet over me - it’s ridiculous! Darren’s totally rugged up in a real thick quilt, and I’ve just got a sheet, sometimes a thin rug and rolling over every 30 mins! Anyway, it’s all good, won’t last too much longer (getting uncomfortable and hot that is). I’m going to really try and not to worry about it so much now, it’s not going to speed up the process worrying and getting anxious all the time! The boys have been great too, which is fantastic! If we weren’t on 80 acres and they didn’t get along so well, it might be a different story. They also entertain each other well, which is great for me, especially at the moment, it gives me a chance to rest and put my feet up. Although every now and again, one or both of them have ended up in tears lately, majority of the time it’s when they’ve been on the trampoline and usually Luke is the one crying. They can get pretty rough on the trampoline (even though Luke’s only two, he’s a tough little thing!) and Luke is now standing up for himself, look out Jay! Because the trampoline has a bouncy surface, they both can pull the other one down without hurting themselves, which they do quite often while laughing at each other. It’s when one of them jumps on the other one while he’s down that they get hurt, but then the one who did get hurt will hurt the other and vice-versa so it goes on. Now I’m not as fast as I usually am obviously, so I can’t get to the trampoline quick enough to stop them, so end up telling them both off and telling them to be nice to each other, when the first one gets hurt, just call out to Mum or Dad blah blah blah. It’s when I’m not looking for that split second and someone’s in tears and I don’t know who hurt the other first etc. Still trying to work out what to do in that situation??? When it first started happening, I always thought Jay was the bruiser, because he’s older and most of the time it was Luke who was crying, but I’ve caught Luke out a few times now hitting back at Jay, so little Lukey is not as innocent as he seems! Just wait till the next one comes along… could be interesting.
Don’t know if anyone else has noticed (it’s pretty obvious to me!), but a lot of kids these days have no manners, respect or values. I overheard a little four year old the other day ‘demanding’ that he “Wanted a biscuit now!” from his mum. It really gets under my skin for some reason. I suppose it could be because I’ve been brought up to use manners perhaps and to respect others. Now our boys are definitely not perfect in this regard! I sound like a broken record everyday! “No Jay, that’s not the way you ask for things.” Jay is four now and he still needs to be reminded how to ask nicely for something and I KNOW – you’d think he would’ve got it by now!!! It really doesn’t bother me that some times he still needs to be reminded, at least he is getting taught. It will eventually sink in. I think what bothered me the most about the comment from the four year old, was the mother didn’t seem to notice. Our kids, no matter what sort of personalities they have, need to be taught manners, respect and values, but most parents are too late and miss the first stage of learning in their child’s life. There are of course other things to consider, like how we, as parents act around our children. They won’t behave very well if mum and/or dad are treating each other or others like dirt, no matter how much you remind them. It just could be, though, that we as parents live in a different world now, than when we were kids, in that there are so many rules and restrictions that have been placed on parents these days, that they even feel bad to tell off their children in public. It could even be that parents couldn’t be bothered and think, “They’ll grow out of it, they’ll probably learn their manners at school anyway.” I know this can be a very touchy subject, but what sort of generation do you want your kids to live in. They are the next generation. It’s our responsibility as parents to teach our children all these things. What would you rather: a rude, arrogant child that always demands things and never says ‘thankyou’; or a nice, well mannered child that asks for things nicely, is respectful of others and always says ‘thankyou’? I know what I would choose.
Well, I’m coming up to 31 weeks now, so I’ve started thinking a little bit about labor, you know, what every pregnant woman looks forward to. I’m still not sure yet what exactly is happening, whether I have to have a C-section or is it safe to go natural. For some reason my midwife hasn’t brought it up yet, but I’m definitely going to bring it up at the next appointment, so I have been remembering the 2 other times I’ve been in labour. With Jay, at about 4am one night when I was around 34 weeks pregnant, my waters broke so that was a bit of a shock and a bit weird. I didn’t feel any contractions, so I didn’t think I was in labor and I didn’t think my waters broke either. I really had no idea what it was, but I knew I hadn’t wet my bed! Anyway, I rang the emergency doctor at the hospital, who said to come down, so we just casually got dressed and went down there (I didn’t have my bag packed or anything, because I thought it wouldn’t have been that bad, I’m not in any pain, so I just had the clothes on my back). Well, I got all hooked up to the machines, had all those lovely checks and apparently my waters had broken, I was in labor and having contractions (so it said on the machines). I remember them asking me, “Can you feel those contractions?” “No,” I kept saying. Jay was breach, so they said to me that if Jay doesn’t turn, I’ll have to have a C-section in 2 hours. About 30 minutes later, Jay turned, so they let me go naturally. Around 4 to 5 hours later, my contractions started dying off a bit. By the next day, the contractions stopped. I had all my family (both sides) there, waiting for this little baby to arrive, then nothing! The next 3 weeks I had to stay in hospital. Because my waters broke, I was prone to infection, so the first two days I was prodded and poked every four hours, then I could take the medication manually for the rest of the time. I felt regular contractions that went for a couple of hours all the time for those weeks, which was so frustrating! I also had to share a room for the first week and a half until they finally transferred me to my own room, so every couple of days, I had a new room mate, because the previous one went into labor and had HER baby! The doctors said to me that 70% of pregnant women go into labor within 4 days after their waters had broken, and the rest usually go into labor within 7 days. NOT ME! NO, I had to wait until they finally decided to induce me at 36.5 weeks! They kept tossing up whether to induce me really early (because of the infection issue), or let me go seeing as though it was best for Jay to stay in my belly as long as possible. I just wanted him out! I know I was probably pretty selfish at the time, but man! I was so sick of being in that hospital! Jay also had jaundice, so I had to stay in there after wards for another 5 days. I know though, if I didn’t stay in hospital for all that time, I wouldn’t have rested. I had a REALLY GOOD rest before Jay’s arrival. There are so many people who have been through a lot worse than me. At the time, I was so up and down emotionally, but the best thing is that both Jay and myself were fine. That’s really all that matters. Anyway, on the 31st January at about 9am, I had the drip put in my arm to be induced. Nothing really started happening until about 2pm, then the contractions started slowly, getting a bit stronger until about 11pm, then it was all hands on deck! At the last stage of labor, I had no breaks or breathers, pretty full on for those 3 hours. I only had to push for about 15 minutes and Jay was out at about 2am Feb 1st. Not too bad a labor. I only had the gas. He was 5 pounds 10, and really healthy, didn’t have to go in the humi-crib. Luke’s labor was a bit different to Jay’s though, but I’ll save that post for another time.
What’s the point of having a blog when you’re not writing any posts??? So sorry guys! I had a few complications with my blog and actually went offline for a while. Also have been extremely flat out, with Christmas, New Years, going away, etc. Hopefully I’m all back on deck again, no more disturbances. Hang on – I’ve got a baby coming! To be honest, I haven’t thought much about the third bub coming along. I really need to START thinking about it now though. I’ll be 30 weeks on Monday and I am already looking forward until I’m no longer pregga’s and thoughts like ‘Get this baby out now’, which would be a real bad idea for little bubba. I know some people would say that I’ve still got another 10 weeks to go, there’s plenty of time, but my waters broke at 34 weeks with Jay (my first) and I definitely wasn’t prepared. I was in shock! Luke (second) was born right on the due date, which was actually frustrating for me, because I was expecting him from 34 weeks! Who knows what will happen this time? It’s not like we have to get a whole lot of things for the baby. We pretty much have everything (good old hand-me-downs), it’s just sorting out all the baby clothes and also working out where exactly this baby is going! We only have two bedrooms in the shed-house, the boys in one, we’re in the other, so we were thinking of putting the boys and bub in together. There’s no way that the baby is going in our room, sorry I’m not like everyone else these days! Darren and I enjoy our sleep too much! We were thinking of perhaps having bub in the lounge at night then in the boys bedroom through the day. Still not sure yet. It might be a trial and error thing when bub actually arrives. Our new house won’t be ready until November (so they say!), but we’ll be right! As long as we’ve got a movable basinett on a stand and ear plugs, we’ll be fine! I have been struggling with this pregnancy a bit now, and it really doesn’t help when it’s been 40 degrees or over for the past 5 days and it’s still meant to stay like that for a few more! What is this??? Thank God for air conditioning! I’ve also got the very attractive varacose veins all over my legs, which are becoming a bit painful now. Meant to wear the stockings every day, but I think I’d just pass out with this heat! I already feel faint every now and again when I’m outside atm. My blood pressure has been excellent, which is a really great thing and the baby is perfect size, with a perfect heart beat. I have been getting a bit more quick tempered lately too and take it out on the kids or Darren. I really hate that! These emotions are going a bit crazy, but at least it won’t last too much longer.
At times it’s hard to believe it will! I really AM trying to get a bit more order in my life and it’s funny (not at the time) when you discover something that works, you feel like you’re getting somewhere & things seem to be going really well for at least a day, that another thing goes wrong. Can anyone else relate? Like at the moment, I haven’t had my modem for 10 days and going absolutely crazy, which was another thing I got really messed around with! The place where I got it from were saying that it’s not their responsibility, it is the online customer service problem (phone, you know – where you’re on hold for about an hour!), then of course they’re saying it’s definitely the responsibility of the place where you purchased it from. ANYWAY, I’m now waiting for a free new modem with a better deal, which should come in the next day or two – yah!!! Sux not having the net! They said the old modem won’t be fixed for another 2 to 3 weeks and that I still might have to pay for the repairs – I only got it about 3 months ago. Definitely happy with a free new modem and the better deal, so that’s one good thing. Our whole family went through about 2 months of sickness, so yeah, my lovely husband did end up being sick, probably haven’t seen him that bad for a long time and when he was having his worst night, I had to go out, which was something that at least one of us had to go to that we couldn’t get out of. Obviously Darren had to stay home, so I fed the kids, got their PJ’s on and all ready for bed, so Darren just had to put them in after I left. When I got home late that night, I saw a plastic bag just outside the door, then some cleaning products on the bench that wasn’t there when I left. I knew something had happened, so I went to bed, Darren was half awake then said, “There was an accident”. He put them to bed after I left, all was good, so went to bed himself. About 20 minutes later, he heard them walking and mucking around, so opened their door… There was poo everywhere and they were just having fun squishing it in their feet, doing a bit of foot painting – great stuff!!! I think Darren had to stop himself from throwing up a few times, which would’ve been pretty hard for him that night and then had to do a full clean up of the room and the kids! Another great thing that happened (there’s that sarcasm again) about a week ago was half of the sheep (about 30) got into our fenced off area and ate a fair few of our precious trees that Darren has been babying and growing beautifully for the last two years. He was NOT a happy camper that day, didn’t help when I was the one who left the gate open – big oops! We live on 80 acres, but there are not many trees on our property, so we WERE pretty impressed with how those trees were growing so well – not any more! We ended up getting a few more of the bigger sized trees and the first one that Darren got out of the pot, broke in half! Poor luv, I felt that sorry for him! We’re all over our sickness now, at last and things WILL get better! Our little bub is going really well too, feeling a lot of movements, which is an amazing feeling at the start, you really do forget. That’s it now, we’ve all had enough, and I’m not one to give up, so yeah I am going to be positive and all the rest of it. There are a lot of people worse off than me, who don’t even complain – like my Dad for example, save that for another time.
Well, our household has been sick yet again. I think it was only about 2 months ago that we all went through this, but I copped it big time this time. Actually the last few times there’s been sickness around, my hubby managed to miss it – lucky him, so technically it hasn’t been everyone. I think the bub must have a bit to do with it though, taking all my nutrients and all that. First with me was gastro – great stuff (!), then I got a bad head cold, then got a chronic sinus infection. The boys had a cold and conjunctivitis, which probably lasted about a week. I didn’t think I could take anything other than paracetamol and fess nasal spray, but then one of my friends said she had to go on antibiotics when she was pregnant, so by Monday, I just couldn’t hack it anymore! I can’t remember ever feeling that bad, plus looking after 2 boys under 4 didn’t make it any easier, so the Doctor did put me on antibiotics. By the third day, my brain started working again (think I missed it a bit), so yeah it’s just been terrific. I’m so glad I’m over it now. The boys were so good though while I was sick. I do notice that I say my kids are often really good, but honestly they are! Unless I’m just the sort of person who can put up with a lot, but I really don’t think so. I’m definitely not a real stressful person – that probably does help too. I also have a fair few boundaries and there’s consequences if not obeyed, so you could say that I haven’t let myself put up with much?! Anyway, I have great kids and it does gripe me when I hear parents putting their kids down, calling them beep, beep and beep. Seriously, why do that? Everything we say to our kids sink in, no matter what their age is and can affect them when they’re older, which I can relate to. Not saying that I had a bad up-bringing, I had an excellent up-bringing and love Mum and Dad heaps. There was just something said about me by one of my parents that I overheard once (they didn’t know I was listening) that affected and hurt me for years. I really do try and be careful what I say around my kids and even talking about them to others when they’re not around. No wonder so many kids in this day and age have absolutely no respect for anyone or anything, are swearing at such a young age and even things that they know about, which they really shouldn’t know about when they’re so young – things I didn’t find out about until at least high school, it’s a real sad case. I love my kids so much and they really are precious to me and I really don’t care how ‘lovey dovey’ I sound! It’s ridiculous that in this world most people listen to ‘how bad things are’ or ‘what’s the worse news’ or ‘who just had an affair’ or ‘how bad are your kids’, I’m so over it! That’s my little spill for the day!
Well, eventually it ended up being OK - definitely not at the start though! Thought I might right my own experience about what I went through toilet training Jay. Some of the things I found worked and those that definitely DID NOT work! Haven’t started with Luke yet, but would be absolutely FANTASTIC if he was trained by the time ‘bub’ comes along! That is my next goal / challenge for summer, which is just around the corner. He is already saying ‘toilet’, ‘poo’ and wanting to copy Jay pretty much every time he goes, so they’re pretty good signs that he’s ready. I have sat Luke on the toilet a couple of times (he gets so excited - amazing what excites kids!), but nothing has happened yet - that’s all cool. Anyway, Jay took a fair while to train. I’d say, in the end it was about 8 / 9 months (for poos and wees in the toilet). Now, the potty training book is great for those who have a lot of patience and at least 3 full days at home, but that just wasn’t an option for me the time I was training Jay (a few too many changes were happening in our lives, plus I had the miscarriage), and personally I just couldn’t put up with all the mess!!! I used pull-ups most of the time, which I do think was part of the reason it took so long. Not sure what anyone else thinks, but Jay could not tell he was wet in those pull-ups. A bit of an advertising gimmick I think! They were great when we went out though. A lot easier to pull them down than trying to take a nappy on and off. He was also able to wear them at night too and didn’t leak. He actually was dry mostly every night from when I first started training, so I was pretty lucky there. Through the day though was a different story, it probably didn’t help with me getting frustrated and not really hiding it sometimes, then apologizing after - we’re all human! Poor little Jay - copped a bit from mum through those ’scraping poo off jocks’ times! I did TRY and train without reading any books or getting good advice first, just had a bit of bad advice, which obviously didn’t work (I know, pretty stupid!). Two great things that helped and I noticed a change straight away, was the teddy (or doll for girls) and the reward chart. Jay got pretty excited about showing teddy how to go to the toilet, changing his pants and saying ‘Good boy teddy, you did a wee!’ Very cute! Toilet chart is a definite must. He loved it! What ended up happening with Jay, is that he was perfect with wees, hardly an accident, but the poos weren’t quite as good, so I ended up making my own chart for him and said to him that he’d get a suprise when he did just even one poo in the toilet and then he got one after about 20 wees. I left him in his pull-ups until he did his poo (hoping to catch him before he did it - he used to run and hide in his room, usually the same time every morning), then he was in jocks for the rest of the day. Another thing I ended up doing (great tip from the book) was to make it really exciting for him. It does sound a bit weird, but I used to sing stupid songs, and really joke around with him, or tickled him, SOMETHING to get him laughing! I also remember talking about ‘getting another cool sticker’ (Lighting McQueen a huge favourite!) or about the chart in a real excitable tone (if anybody else was listening, I would’ve sounded pretty stupid, as we mums do most of the time!!!). Before I started doing these things, he absolutely cracked it every time I took him to the toilet, so it really wasn’t a joyous experience for either one of us. Didn’t really take too long after I started these little tips. Trying not to let out frustration (man, I know how hard that was! Slipped too many times) is a good one and not rushing or pushing it. Anyway, I hoped this can help someone. I’m writing this to myself too, I’ll be re-reading this again when I start with Luke!
Well, it’s been a while, yet again, since I’ve blogged. It’s been pretty ridiculous the last month and a bit. I’ve been hanging out to write about this though! I’m 12 weeks pregnant, again! We’ve were trying to keep it quiet until I was about 12 weeks, but if you actually saw me, you’d have no problems guessing! I honestly look like I’m about 6 months pregnant, and no, I’m not exaggerating. With my first Jay, I could only just hide it until I was 12 weeks. With Luke (2nd), friends were guessing at about 9 weeks. This little bub - 7 weeks! Can you believe that! It’s like as soon as my body knows that I’m pregnant, it wants to make way more space than what the baby needs and make me look like I’m having triplets or something! I’ve copped heaps of comments about that already, “Maybe your having twins or triplets!” My first appointment was last week and even the midwife asked if I was sure I was only 11 weeks. I had to have an ultrasound at 7 weeks, which showed the dates were spot on, so for some reason with my body, my stomach comes forward more (so my doctor said when I was pregga’s with Luke) rather than sit back a bit. It’s all good, I am hoping that I don’t get too big, but deep down know that I probably will. I was absolutely huge with Luke. I was fairly big with Jay, but didn’t make it full term (write about that another time). Anyway, this pregnancy has been very different. Just to let you know, this is actually my 5th pregnancy. Jay was first, had an ectopic which was 2nd (didn’t know I was pregnant with this one - just started having the worst pain I’ve ever had in my life, a lot worse than labor), Luke was 3rd, Leah (miscarriage at 11 weeks) was 4th, so this one makes it my fifth. I’ve had morning sickness, which is quite normal for most pregnancies, but not for any of my others! I’ve actually had great 1st and 2nd trimesters, just felt a bit off every now again, but could pretty much eat anything. Wasn’t off of coffee, wine (not that I drank a lot!) or certain smells. Well this time, you could say that I’m having a normal pregnancy. I’ve been throwing up, dry reaching, just the smell of coffee was making me sick at the very start, the thought of red wine just puts me off (very strange for me!), onion’s not good at the moment for some weird reason, off of chocolate and milk. Now I just love apples, dry biscuits, carrots, cucumbers, all the healthy stuff, which is good though. Definitely don’t have to make myself eat healthy at the moment. Another thing I didn’t have with my other pregnancies was being so tired all the time! That has been really frustrating for me! I just can’t get everything done anymore. I have all these things written down to do, but I just can’t do it all. My hormones are just all over the place too, so I’ve been a real snappy tom. So yeah, between all the moving up to our shed-house and cleaning etc, I’ve been feeling pretty sick, drained physically and emotionally. I’m a lot better now. This is probably the first day for about 2 months that my life is getting back into routine and order again, at last! The sickness is going away already too, still very tired though. It’s all good, looking forward to meeting this little bub in April, just have to work out where bub is going to sleep in this 2 bedroom shed-house for the first 6 or so months. At this stage, we’re thinking of having the boys and bub in the same room - a bit scary, but we’ll give it a go!
