my-speck

i'm pregnant and it's going to be a rollercoaster

Yep. Allergic to Amoxil. And some cute talking practice December 29, 2009

Filed under: Parenting — rakster @ 8:06 pm

Hello Little One,

So.  It wasn’t Miss Polly’s dolly who was sick yesterday, but you.  The doctor came, with a big bag but sans hat, and he only wrote on the paper for a bill bill bill not for any pills pills pills.   He did however shake his head very vigorously, and told us that yes, you are allergic to Amoxil, and that given that it could be quite serious implied we should have stopped the medication a lot sooner.  So now we know what an allergic reaction from medication looks like, we’ll be sure to stop it sooner next time.   (Note – again, bad parent of the day award to mum.  Though I did specifically ask the pharmacist what to look for in an allergic reaction as I’m allergic to it too, and he told me redness around the mouth and swelling in which case to take you straight to emergency, and that wasn’t the reaction you had).

Anyway, all appears to be ok now, you’re happy and the ear infection has apparently abated.

You’ve been busy practising talking.  Current favourite seems to be a close approximation of what I’d expect a teradactyl to sound like.  Haven’t got that on film yet, but have got some squawks:

Poogie – practising talking

Love you

mum

 

mishaps… baby safety and a big rash December 27, 2009

Filed under: healthcare,Parenting,Raising a Child — rakster @ 9:32 pm
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Hello Little Pumpkin Pie,

so.  It’s now the 27th of December, two days have passed since Christmas.  Your fever broke on boxing day, and you seemed to be doing quite well today.  Apart from the bit of a red rash that you got yesterday / on Christmas day.  Which was just light and a little red, so we figured it was just maybe some food that maybe someone slipped you in passing on Christmas day, or just a reaction to the heat, to the humidity (it’s been around 100% and raining a lot for the past 4 days, highly unusual for this time of year but hot and sticky), or just ’cause you were tired.  Or …

But.  Another day on, and you’ve just had boob juice today as the rash was a little worse yesterday so we wanted to check.  The rash is getting redder, brighter, bigger.  And while you’re off the panadol, you seem a little unsettled.  So hard to tell why though: it could be shock from when you rolled of the bed today onto the floor when I turned my back on you for a second when you were almost asleep on our bed (I felt like the worst mum on the planet, a feeling that actually got progressively worse for an hour or so after it happened after my immediate panic and caring for you had passed).  Or it could be just that it’s been a very busy few days and whilst we’ve been trying to keep it a little quiet for you as you had an ear infection, it’s been hard to do that so there have been a lot of people about.  Who knows?  Maybe you have an opinion you could share with us if you could talk.  Your signing isn’t quite up to it yet.

What your Dad and I do know is that we’ve decided to cancel our planned trip to Straddie (Stradbroke Island) for the next two days and take you to the doctor instead as we didn’t fancy two days on an island with limited medical facilities if there is in fact something wrong with you.  And we figured that you’d only worked your way through about half of the antibiotics prescribed, so we couldn’t really stop giving them to you in case the ear infection wasn’t gone properly yet, but we couldn’t keep giving them to you as that might be the cause of the spreading rash.

Rash smash.

So.  We might just have a quiet time at home depending on what the doctor says.

Ah, the joys of being a new parent.   😉  I sigh.  I love you but goodness, there is a lot to worry and think about.  It’s all a bit stressful sometimes, but it just creeps up on you.  All fine, all fine, then BOOM!  Rash has got worse and it looks like you’ve got the pox and we’re feeling like bad parents again. I’m starting to get the picture that this is a common feeling of parenthood.

kisses and hugs to my little boopie baby

mum

 

Murphy’s Law, Christmas and an Ear Infection December 24, 2009

Filed under: healthcare,Parenting,Raising a Child — rakster @ 2:58 pm
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Hello Poogie,

you are reclining on our bed, coming in and out of dozing.  You are officially ear-infected, and on a bunch of paracetamol to bring your 39.5 degree celcius (that’s 103.1 farenheit) fever down.

Yesterday you came down with a fever in the morning, so I dosed you up on paracetamol, as it was pretty high, and made sure to give you lots of breastmilk during the day.  I am not a generally ‘give babies paracetamol’ kinda person, but your temperature was HIGH and you were burning up, and I’d rather keep your temperature down so you have a chance to recover.  You seemed to get better, but another fever spike late in the afternoon, so we kept you in bed with us and you spiked again around midnight.  The paracetamol seemed to bring it down, and you weren’t screaming in pain or anything, but oh, so hot.  The books I read seemed to say you’d be ok if the fever came down with paracetamol, but I figured 24 hours the day before Christmas was long enough to wait to see if you could right yourself, and I didn’t want to spend the next two days lining up at the emergency ward of the hospital…

So.  I managed to convince the lovely receptionist at the Doctor that we really did need an emergency appointment, she was much more resistant than normal but finally relented.  You screaming your way through the waiting room I’m sure helped us get moved up the list…  And you have a middle ear infection.  Right on the six-month mark – just what the baby books say is common in infants six months to 2 years.  Good work.  I’ve had a stressful night and morning worrying about you – not just the ear, but the antibiotics too – both my sister and I are allergic to the one you got prescribed, so I’ve been watching you to make sure you’re ok with it..  But now, apart from being very dopey, you seem a lot better.  The doctor said 24 hours or so until we should see a big improvement, and to lay low.

So.  Santa, be quiet when you come, we have a sleeping, dozing, recovering baby in the house.

Shhhhhhhhhh

mum

 

Sleep, glorious sleep: Happy Christmas Mum! December 23, 2009

Filed under: development stages,exhaustion,family,healthcare,Parenting,Raising a Child — rakster @ 9:59 am
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Hello Poogie,

Yes, you’re having your morning nap and I’m taking the time out to write.  Because I am blissfully rested 🙂

Three days ago I was exhausted once again, from the combination of the flu and you waking up four times a night.  And I just decided and said to your Dad,

“That’s it.  Poogie slept through for months.  Right from when he was about six weeks old until about a month ago.  I’ve had it.  He hasn’t been having a growth spurt for a whole month… He is now over his flu so is sleeping and feeding perfectly well.  And he slept through for so long before that I know he can do it.  And he is eating two square solid-food meals a day.  Enough.  I need my sleep.  Tonight if he wakes we are just going to try to settle him and get him back to sleep without feeding him.”.   ..

Tentatively, your Dad, “Ok…”  Pause.. “I’m just remembering what G&J said about T learning to sleep through at six months, and how it was 3 nights of pain and no sleep while G nursed him back down each time he woke.”…

Me: “We can do it”.

Did I ever mention just how much I need my sleep??? Me: no sleep, emerge crazed automaton manic woman.  Can you imagine automaton and manic combined?  Think sci-fi-horror film character with wayward curly crazy hair.  You’ve got it.

So.  First night.  1.12 am.  Crying from your room.  I put the pillow on my head.  Ten minutes later soft crying has escalated to loud crying.  Your dad gets up.  Here we go, I think, he’ll nurse you back down.  Pillow on head.

1.13 am:  30 seconds has gone by and your dad comes into the room with you and puts you in the middle of the bed between us, you keep crying and do the automatic ‘search for boobie’ reflex thing you have going when you’re half asleep and crying.

me: thinking, “C, did you even try to settle him???  30 seconds really isn’t long. Oh well, your Dad isn’t the best in the middle of night.  He’s good early in the morning, but between 11 and 2am not so great. ”  Pick you up.

your Dad: “Are you really going to not feed him? Mmm. ZZzzzz”

1:14-1:36 am: So I got you up, bounced you around for a bit until you stopped crying, tried to rock you to sleep for 15 minutes.  Got sore legs. You were awake but happy.  So I put you in your cot and went back to bed with the pillow on my head.  Without using my boobs at all!

1:36-1:48 am: resting with pillow on head.  Noises in your room escalating.

1:49-1:55 am: retrieve you from your cot where you are once again crying.  Repeat bouncing motion.  Settle you.  Hear door opening as your Aunt gets home and think, “Damn, the front door waking the baby again, this just isn’t going to work”…

1:55 – 2:10 am:  More bouncing…  Stick you back in cot.  Return to my bed.  Again, no use of the boobie at all 🙂

1:56 am: put pillow on head, think “mm, there is a lot of ‘talking’ going on in the cot, I bet I’m going to have to feed him”

1:58 am: pass out.

….

6:20 am: wake-up to baby talking in the next room…

Yippee…

Three days on…

And you’ve now slept through perfectly for four nights.  And I’m becoming more and more sane by the minute.  Scratch that.  I’m becoming more and more like my usual self by the minute.  Woot.

I think you woke on the second night, and your dad gave you a bounce and you went back to sleep.  And the third night I heard you, but you just did a little talking at around 3am and then went back to sleep.   Apparently you woke up last night and did a little crying.  But I just slept on through, and your dad said you were asleep again by the time he went to the bathroom and came back.

You seem to have adjusted your feeding accordingly too – back to your old HUGE feed, followed half and hour later by another HUGE feed, just before you go down for the count.

so, excellent work buddy.  Please keep it up.  This is a GREAT Christmas present.  Thank-you!!!

love mum

 

Happy (1/2) Birthday to you, Happy (1/2) Birthday to you, Happy (1/2) Birthday dear Poogie December 20, 2009

Filed under: Parenting — rakster @ 7:17 pm
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Hello Little Munchkin,

Happy HALF birthday!

Today to-the-day six months ago you were squirming your way through the birth canal and I was vocalising my quite large lungs out in the birthing suite at the Mater Hospital. I’m amazed that the time has passed so quickly, and that you seem to have survived your dad and my parenting for six months without suffering any majorly noticeable strange physical or mental effects.

(Aside: Though the doctor when examining you this week did comment on how stubborn you seemed.  “Is he normally this stubborn?” was her question in response to your repeated attempts to eat her finger then her stethescope, and not be dissuaded by anyone, nor distracted by anything else. Sure meant taking your vitals was a bit harder than normal.  Well, there wasn’t much chance of that character trait not getting passed down.)

you’re gorgeous

So.  You’re still a little gorgeous one. When you first came out of the womb, you looked like this:

Fresh from the womb - first photo of you

Fresh from the womb – first photo of you

You’ve grown somewhat over the six months.  Funnily.  I still can’t believe how much.  This week you weighed in at 7.8 something kilos.  Heavy like a brick.

somewhat bigger today at six months!

somewhat bigger today at six months!

We had a very chilled-out celebration of this big milestone.  You practiced laughing a lot, did a lot of rolley polley on the bed with your dad and I, and we took some photos

Celebrating Six Months - the three of us in the mirror

Celebrating Six Months – the three of us in the mirror

and had some great play-time:

mum play time

mum play time

So.

Happy Birthday darling, and a big self-congratulatory hug to both myself and your dad for getting this far.

Love and kisses
mum

P.S. And if you’re reading this, leave a comment to Poogie to pass on your wishes personally!

 

…escape is imminent… December 19, 2009

Filed under: Parenting,Raising a Child — rakster @ 3:50 pm
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Hello!

Well Poogie, I’m still sick.  But I’m not going to dwell on it as it’s really boring and I’m over it.  So.  I got a few shots of you over the past few days that I wanted to share.

The increased mobility and ease with which you roll around has meant some interesting sleeping positions.  I haven’t captured any of those, but got you just after you had woken up in the cot, trying to claw your way through the bars.  I’m sure I put you to sleep with your head at the other end and actually under some kind of cover…

you're trying to work your way out..

you’re trying to work your way out..

You are doing much better than me.  Today is Saturday, so thank goodness, your dad is at home to keep you entertained all day (though big thanks to Grandma K who came over to help out for a couple of hours each day when I was feeling totally rotten and got you out and for a walk etc while I slept).  You have been super-excited to see and play with your dad all day, with the biggest smiles reserved for him.

Playing with dad

Playing with dad

You’re getting so big!

Love and kisses

mum

P.S.  I have been tapping away at my computer a little each day.. And yesterday we made the change – our blog is now moved and at www.my-speck.com …  Our own new space to write away to our heart’s content.   If you’re reading and you have it bookmarked, you can update your links, but the old blog is redirecting to our new home anyways.  If you’re subscribed via emails, I think you mighta got an extra one yesterday, sorry! Hopefully it’ll all be back to normal from now.  And lastly, if you already link to us from somewhere else, we’d appreciate if you could update your links (though again, the redirects will sort it out if you don’t)!  thanks ..

P.P.S.   Christmas is less than a week away and I haven’t managed to do much at all to get ready.  Lots of presents and food NOT DONE YET.  And no sign of recovery yet so a few people may be getting big hugs rather than nice wrapped gifts 🙂

 

And bring on the summer flu. Erk. December 15, 2009

Filed under: healthcare,Parenting,Raising a Child — rakster @ 11:26 am
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Hello Poogie,

Well, you had a snuffle on the weekend, and so did I.  So we laid a little low.  But to no avail.  Full blown flu has hit.  I thought you were worse than me – snuffling and coughing and having difficulty breastfeeding.  But today it’s me that is worse.  Think all out on the floor unable to do much except get a glass of water then lie down again.  And feel like death warmed up.   You are relatively cheeful for someone who is obviously sick too – despite coughing and hacking and nasal-breathing difficulties, you still seem to want to play in between longer-than-normal sleeps.  Which is tough for me as all I want to do is lie down and stare at the ceiling.  So.  We’ve reached a middle ground.  You’re on the bed with me, playing rolley-polley while I lie there staring dejectedly looking at the ceiling, alternatively moving you back to the middle when you’re in danger of rolling off the bed again or giving you a muslin wrap to play with (you are endlessly fascinated by the variety of ways in which you can eat, wrap yourself in, cover you face etc by such a cloth).

You are supposed to be having your six month vaccinations today.  I think they won’t give them to you as you have a cold.  But we’ll go to the doctor – to check you, and hopefully get me some medication.

Ark. Erk. Yuck.

love you

ps. your Aunt is severely afflicted too. In fact, I think she is worse.  Your dad however is at work and seems to have escaped so far.

P.p.s. And yes, this  is the first time you’ve been sick.  And I was really worried about you and feeling bad on the weekend.  But I took your temperature a lot, and you aren’t feverish.  So I figured just a bit of mucous and discomfort.  But still felt heartwrenchingly bad for you.  Now that I’m feeling like death, I do feel bad for you too, but in a more detached way.  Like, as long as you are ‘ok’, then you’ll get through it and be ok.  I just don’t have the energy to feel bad for you anymore.  Sorry.

 

on a lighter note, you got your first pair of sunglasses December 12, 2009

Filed under: Parenting,Raising a Child — rakster @ 6:55 pm
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and you look very cute.  If I do say so myself.

baby wearing sunglasses

you in your new sunnies

We went to the fruit markets at Woolloongabba this morning and you wore them to keep out the glare.

I’ll have to re-wrap them for Christmas day!

love you

mum

 

To childcare or not to childcare. December 10, 2009

Filed under: Parenting — rakster @ 3:59 pm
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Hello Little Screaming Monster,

so. I started this post more than two weeks ago. But haven’t got back to it. For a number of reasons.

  1. I’m busy. It’s nearly Christmas, and things to do with Christmas and all that jazz just seem to get in the way of things.
  2. I thought I’d unpack a few of the mountain of boxes in our store room from one of our previous moves (they were all numbered and logged but after 3 moves the pile has just got bigger, numbers overlap, and frankly I don’t care about what is in them so much as I haven’t used it in years or months). It’s like a game of ‘garage sale shopping’ but in your own storeroom.  Did I already mention I was busy? Well.  I guess I got more busy.  (As an aside, 5 boxes down and I’m over it again for a while).  I think I’ll aim for 5 a month for the next year.  That should get through the pile in say 3 years.
  3. It’s hot and I’m busy.
  4. You seem to be awake more and sleep less and more games and fun stuff is required of me.   Well, “fun” in the mum does “fun” stuff with baby kinda way.  Which is a little different to my pre-child definition of “fun” stuff.  But fun it is.
  5. I am fully mobile again, oh yeah!  No boot, just trainers and the car keys and you!  So we have been trekking back and forth across the burbs of Brisbane to mum’s groups and the grocery store and the pool and .. and .. and.
  6. Did I mention I was busy?

But the main reason I haven’t got back to this post after starting it so many days ago is that it’s a hard one.

The issue:

I got a call from the childcare center near here, where your cousins and our close friend’s kids go, telling me that “there is a spot” for you from January next year.  Two days a week only.   But “A Spot”.  Now I guess you need a little context here.   Brisvegas and Australia in general are having a baby boom.  I live in the inner city, and childcare spots are a bit like hen’s teeth – rare.  The center that offered you a spot is notoriously hard to get a spot in, and is apparently the bees nees.   It’s friendly, great staff, local, vegan-friendly, breastfeeding friendly, and small (only six spots in the under 12 months room).   And two days a week is precisely what I think you’ll be after at some point….

But when is that point?

I was at first excited when they rang.  Then immediately I hung up the phone, I looked at you and almost cried.  You’re my little baby.  You’re still so small.  You’ll only just be six months old.  That is so little.  You’ve never really been sick.  You’ll be sick for weeks on end when you start childcare – good as it is, kids just love touching other kids faces etc and germs spread.  And you’re so small, my little baby.  Did I mention that already?

Aaagh.  Then there is the issue of what I’d do if you did have a childcare spot.  And that is the one that has really been occupying my mind for the past few weeks.  I’ve been contemplating what it is like to be a SAHM (stay at home mum) and whether I want to continue (and whether we can afford) being one.  It’s such a hard call.   If we can afford it or not is a simple question.  And the simple answer for that is that only two weeks before they phoned, I pretty much decided that we could afford it for a bit longer, so as there was no childcare spot, I should just relax, enjoy the experience and then start to think about work and the whole “what do I want to do with my life” question in another few months.  In the interim, I decided to take another course from my MBA next semester and see how that went as a starting point to ease back into things non-baby related…

And my sanity.  Can I be a full-time SAHM and keep my sanity?  Your grandmother described it very well when she said it was “mind-numbingly boring” at the same time as being “intensely satisfying and rewarding” especially as the bond you have with your child is so close, so special and so important.  A dichotomy.  I caught up yesterday with an old friend from uni who has two kids, both under 5, who first thing, asked me, “How are you coping with the SAHM thing?  are you BORED?”.  And then went on to clarify that she has been fighting with herself mentally for the past five years trying to come to peace with whether or not she is satisfied, happy, ok with it, balancing work (does she do enough at one day a week, look at the other positions she could be applying for if she worked more)  and family and what to do.  And she’s at peace, pregnant again with number three, so does find it a worthwhile and happy experience, but also very mentally challenging.  We were chatting about mother’s groups and she said, “But yes, once you’ve talked about poos and wees and developmental stages, it would be nice if once in a while someone maybe mentioned politics or what is going on in the world”.   (Aside: we then had an interesting conversation about how the conservatives in Australia have just ousted their leader and gone for a right-wing approach to tackling our government head-on with experienced members (ahem, cronies) from a yesteryear re-promoted to front-bench positions.  And whether or not such a strategy would prove fruitful).  … Mmm..

That was just one conversation.  There have been many more.  And lots of thoughts about it all.

So.

Decision

For now, you’re not taking “the spot”. You’re gonna stay home with me.   And your dad will try to finish a bit early one day a week so you can have some time with him and I have some time to myself and to study.  And your Grandma K will look after you a few hours one afternoon a week too.

And in the meantime, we’ll continue to be busy busy busy and I’ll contemplate my purpose in life in between changing pooey nappies, swimming at the pool and doing loads of laundry.

love and kisses

mum

P.S.  constructive feedback and notes on your own experiences from readers out there most welcome by comment…  We’d love to hear.

baby at the pool

poogie – you and me in the pool today

P.P.S.  We went to the pool again this morning.  You love it.  You were tired when we got there but managed to swim quite happily for 45 minutes, got splashed by the hoardes of big kids and didn’t seem to mind at all, and attracted the attention of a very friendly boy about 12 years old who was just overjoyed that you enjoyed the water so much and spent about 15 minutes playing with you and a ball and then encouraged his friends to do the same with the other babies.  Funny!