my-speck

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

Easter Monday. 73 days and counting. April 13, 2009

Filed under: eating,pregnancy — rakster @ 1:52 pm
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Hello little monster child,

how are you?  Well, I hope.   Its been pretty quiet down there today, but you do seem to have moved in the past few days to be further down in my stomach.  I’m pretty sure your hard and heavy head is nestled just to the right of my groin, so when I’m walking up hills I can feel it and my thigh almost pushes on you.   Else I’ve swallowed a rock and its lodged somewhere down in my intestines in that area.  Its a pretty solid head-like lump.   However that hasn’t stopped the pushing on the lungs.  I think I am going to look forward to when you head hopefully drops down more, a few weeks before you’re due (if it goes to plan) and I have some more room to breathe.   I get pretty breathless very easily, though the breathing we did in antenatal yoga in Sydney, concentrating on different parts of the lungs etc, really does help.

Its raining again.  Your dad and I went down to the Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA) this morning for a wander.  It was pouring, so we lazily drove instead of walking, as it was just too sodden.  But it was a good browse, a bit over an hour, just wandered through two big rooms and then decided we’d had enough.  Lucky its close enough to be able to do that easily.   The rain started pouring down at one point and it was lovely to be inside a huge room with lovely paintings (my favourite today was a green dot-style painting by Maringka Baker…

Kura Ala – Maringka Baker

It was also lovely to see out to the river and the new Kurilpa walking bridge being built over to the city. We can take you there when you get older and you can ignore the art and just enjoy running up and down the wheelchair access ramps outside screaming at the top of your lungs with laughter and shrieks the way the other kids were today 🙂

This afternoon we’ve had miso and soba soup for lunch, and after a break I’m going to go and help your dad finish sanding your cot. Your dad and grandad M stabilised it on Saturday with some extra bits of wood (as it is an old silky oak one and was slightly rickety), and now we’re just taking off the lacquer so we can refinish it so it looks lovely and spick in your room. Its a mini little cot, maybe it will only fit you until you’re about one year old, ’cause the sides aren’t that high. But it is cute and we think you’ll like it.

Hope you’re well and that your dreams aren’t as involved and engrossing and sleep-depriving as mine.

love you
mum

 

Antenatal classes Mark 2#. And these iron tablets do really make me farty. April 10, 2009

Filed under: baby stuff,birthing,cooking,dreams,emotion,healthcare — rakster @ 10:33 am
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Hi Speck,

Its Easter friday!  Yay for holidays.  I’m baking almond and chocolate friands to take to your Grandma K’s for an easter get together.  Your dad is doing his usual interfering and telling me my oven is too hot (despite the fact I’ve never seen him cook any cake except cheesecake in his life).  He’s just a know-all.

almond chocolate friands

almond chocolate friands

So.  Last night was antenatal classes Mark 2.  This time with a midwife instead of with a physio.  Actually learnt a lot.  Which was good – the time went quickly rather than slowly.  The class was about introducing us to the three stages of labour, and talking about when we should think about phoning the birthing ward to come to hospital.  We had a tour of a birthing suite and watched a few videos of babies being born.  Lots of things to think about. I cried watching the videos.  I’m still really emotional and I got a bit scared and excited and happy all at the same time.  Luckily I was at the back of the room so it was only your dad, the couple beside me and the midwife who noticed tears streaming down my cheeks.  Its strange to not have any real idea what is going to happen to you and how you will cope, and not have much control over it all.  It could all go smoothly and then we get to choose some things, or it could all go a bit not as expected in which case we relinquish control to a bunch of health-care professionals.  I could just lose it and go crazy in the middle of it all.  Who knows.  Maybe I’ll get to transition stage and just be adamant that I’m going to pack up and go home and pretend there is no baby business happening at all.

Anyway, I’m glad I took a notebook, as everyone had lots of questions and the class was good in that it was relatively unstructured and the midwife was thorough in her answers.  I wrote down a bunch of things I wanted to find out more about; things to ask and talk to our obstetrician about (gee, who knew that some of them still want you to get up onto the bed and be prone when you’re actually pushing the baby out in the second stage – I thought things had moved on – maybe not – gee I hope ours lets us do it however feels best for me); things for your dad and I to decide (do you need a vitamin K injection and Hep B as soon as you’re born?); and just general stuff that I thought I’d forget.   We walked to the hospital again but it was raining on the way home so we taxied.  May have to rethink the walking to the hospital idea just ’cause your dad will be in charge of bringing all the stuff along.  But maybe we can still do it just with our birthing bag, and someone can bring the rest later?  Mmm..   Anyway, I think the most important things to remember from the class was the phone number of the birth suite and basically if you get any body fluids happening then phone them.  Got it.  Phone them.  Your dad put the number in his phone.  Hopefully he can find his phone when the time comes.  I might just write the number on the whiteboard too.

When we got home we had a chat about some of the things they talked about at the hospital.  I think both of us think that since we’re so close (literally 10 minutes walk) that we don’t have to worry about traffic or anything, so we should be ok to stay at home if everything is going well for quite a while.   Yes, the hospital is brand new and the rooms are big and spacious, and pretty nice, but its still a hospital with linoleum floors and unnatural lighting and lots of equipment and not much to look at.   I think if we are in first stage of labour for a long time it would be much nicer to be at home if we’re comfortable with that.  We can have whoever we like there, we have our own creature comforts, and there is more to do and look at.   But, who knows.  We may panic in the throws of pain and think its all happening much faster than it is, or be uncomfortable at home, and then just trip on in really early.

Yep, so of course I dreamed about you arriving again last night.  This time it was more focussed on your birth.  I was on all fours on the ground a lot, near a hand-wash basin for some reason, during a lot of the labour.  It was kinda painful but rhythmic.  I remember thinking oh, there it goes again and feeling it just going of its own accord.  Then I was squatting on the side of a chair and you came out, all slimey and red and with a lot of white vernix all over you.  You had blackish hair plastered to your head, but not too much, just some.    Your head was squished and a bit oblong.  And this time you were a boy and I definitely sighted your genitalia.   For some reason when you were born I actually forgot to see if you were a boy or a girl and I remember asking people a few minutes later and they were all surprised I hadn’t worked out or checked that you were a boy already.  I remember just being glad that you were out and you were healthy.

This dream went on and on and on.  I woke up and one point and I’m pretty sure I told your dad about it then went back to sleep and continued on with the same dream.  Until you woke me at 6:30 with some strong stomach pounding.

Going to get non-burnt friands from oven and go for morning tea.

Love you

mum

P.s. Oh yeah, side effect of these iron tablets seem to be even worse gas than I had previously.  I read a bit on the web and there are a bunch of women on forums who say this has happened to them too.  And some of them say the smell is really bad.  I haven’t noticed that yet thankfully, but it means I have to be very careful.  I was like a ticking time bomb during the antenatal classes.  I didn’t make it out of the room a few times and let loose big loud ones.  The tour of the hospital and where to park was a good diversion as we were outside and I could lag behind the group.  But sitting still and watching videos as I felt like I might float out of my chair was trying.  Your dad was peeing himself with laughter and kept telling me to go to the toilet (again, helpful if you know you need to fart but they come on very quickly and are very large and frequent.  So I would be like a yo-you back and forth.  My policy is hold them in and then do it all at once in the toilet).