After watching the movie Fireproof we have decided to take on the LOVE dare, a 40-day challenge.
Day 1 is about having patience and not saying one negative thing to your partner the entire day. Today has been my day 1.
Love my be patient but my baby certainly is not (just handed him over to mémé whilst I type...
I think I did good today not saying anything bad, i did have the odd thought because as much as I love my man he has a terrible habit of not cleaning/picking up after himself and having him AND a baby tends to drive me mad!!
I found a quote on patience - Patience is a bitter plan but its fruit is sweet.
Lets hope so!
Bring on day 2
Sunday, January 3, 2010
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Gabriël's video is finished
I finally finished the montage of Gabriël's story! Im rather proud of it and probably watched it 10 times already!
Tomorrow he will be 7 weeks old, I think time is flying so fast. We were at the clinic Monday and Im happy to report that this little man has picked up a kilo in 2,5 weeks on mummy's milk alone so he now weights a whopping 4,78kg - which may not sound like much but TRUST me if you are going to be lugging him about on your left shoulder all day it adds up!
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
The birth story (not for the weak-stomached)
I have been meaning to write this for ages so I must just get it done with!
OK! On the 24th june it was a very very hot day, I spent some time sunning myself and also found myself jumping up and down trying to chop down some overgrown vines in the front yard.
My nesting I beleive was the entire week i had been making enough food to feed an army, we had huge portions of macaroni & cheese, a chicken curry and a stew in the fridge but that night bcos it was so hot I whipped out a simple salad that night for supper. I honestly did NOT think baby would come the next day because I had had no signs at all except now that I think about it, my back had been aching and I had bad constipation that wouldnt go away.
I called my friend Nicola in the evening to wish her a belated birthday and also mentioned I felt fine and the baby would probably be a week or so late...Little did I know!
At 23:45 after reading our Bible reading and said a prayer I decided to go for my last pee before bed, so I gathered the energy and rolled out of bed and when i stood up beside the bed I felt like I had wet myself, I was so embarressed that it took me a minute before I told Gerhard that either I had wet myself...or my water had broken..When i started walking downstairs the water kept trickling and I realised hmmm this could be my waters, in the toilet i had a teeny weeny spot of blood which convinced me the baby was on its way.
I thought Id have a 20 hour+ labour and didnt want to call the mw cos it was midnight - in fact I told hubby lets have a glass of wine and watch some TV and get some sleep cos the next few day or 2 might be crazy. Eventually we saw what looked like meconium in the waters so we called the mw. While waiting for the mw my contractions started and they seemed to be 20 mins apart. The mw confirmed it was indeed meconium and i needed to get to the hospital asap - she didnt even check me out.
I was in shock that we needed to get to the hospital so soon but went with it, the contractions seemed to speed up to almost 15 or 10 mins apart and were becoming uncomfy.
At the hospital I was moved to the bed and strapped down with two monitors for babys hb and contractions. I didnt like these as I had imagined a very active labour and even brought my ball! Needless to say i stayed strapped in and on the bed for the labour. We got to the hospital just before 2am.
At 2am I was checked out to be fully effaced and already 2cm dilated! The Clinical mw from the hospital who took over said she could feel the head (this made me feel rather woozy at the thought) That was scary and quite fast. They also had to give me an enema cos I had the back pain/constipation and that was gross. I kept my pride and insisted they wheel me to the toilet at least (they put me on this poo chair in the middle of the room!! - for heavens sake!)
I was still strapped down so my poor birthing ball came with for no reason :P
At 3am I was given pethadine, the pains were getting quite bad and I didnt want to opt for the epidural just yet and hoped the pethadine would take some pain away (those are the only choices here in Holland..pethadien or epidural) The peth made me rather drowsy and vomity in between contractions - but I still felt every one of them and it was painful!
At the this stage I clutched my vomit bag like a safety net and kept it close by at all times.
I must also mention my hubby - who was so brilliant at supporting me and just being there. I think he was really scared and at one stage when the pain was too much he felt so bad for me and so helpless, but he was simply amazing!
It is all a slight blur from there but all I remember is hubby coffee-breathe which i was trying not to gag at or say anything about, the aweful nurse Joan who didnt know ANYTHING (she had a manual for the one machine i was hooked up to at one stage and hubby was helping her read thru the instructions...scarY!)
All of sudden it was around 5-6am and I was 6cm dilated and it sped up to 10cm by 6:30, I felt the pushing urge and realised the pethadine had worn off and it was too late for any other pain relief...This made me scared and not want to push but so much was going on around and I was scared something was wrong with my baby and I realised it HAD to push weather I wanted to ot not.
It took 4 or 5 pushes in 20 minutes and he was out and they lay him on me and I was still so shocked that it had gone so quick, he looked so small and I noticed his cord had already been cut - it had been tangled around his head so tight they had to cut it while I was pushing.
I was torn and a little bruised, but i think he is worth it
I healed up within 2 weeks and tomorrow it will be 6 weeks since the big day and I will be allowed to bath at last! Im feeling 100% fine just a bit of a mummy-tummy and some stretchies that are putting up a fight to all my creams & lotions.
OK! On the 24th june it was a very very hot day, I spent some time sunning myself and also found myself jumping up and down trying to chop down some overgrown vines in the front yard.
My nesting I beleive was the entire week i had been making enough food to feed an army, we had huge portions of macaroni & cheese, a chicken curry and a stew in the fridge but that night bcos it was so hot I whipped out a simple salad that night for supper. I honestly did NOT think baby would come the next day because I had had no signs at all except now that I think about it, my back had been aching and I had bad constipation that wouldnt go away.
I called my friend Nicola in the evening to wish her a belated birthday and also mentioned I felt fine and the baby would probably be a week or so late...Little did I know!
At 23:45 after reading our Bible reading and said a prayer I decided to go for my last pee before bed, so I gathered the energy and rolled out of bed and when i stood up beside the bed I felt like I had wet myself, I was so embarressed that it took me a minute before I told Gerhard that either I had wet myself...or my water had broken..When i started walking downstairs the water kept trickling and I realised hmmm this could be my waters, in the toilet i had a teeny weeny spot of blood which convinced me the baby was on its way.
I thought Id have a 20 hour+ labour and didnt want to call the mw cos it was midnight - in fact I told hubby lets have a glass of wine and watch some TV and get some sleep cos the next few day or 2 might be crazy. Eventually we saw what looked like meconium in the waters so we called the mw. While waiting for the mw my contractions started and they seemed to be 20 mins apart. The mw confirmed it was indeed meconium and i needed to get to the hospital asap - she didnt even check me out.
I was in shock that we needed to get to the hospital so soon but went with it, the contractions seemed to speed up to almost 15 or 10 mins apart and were becoming uncomfy.
At the hospital I was moved to the bed and strapped down with two monitors for babys hb and contractions. I didnt like these as I had imagined a very active labour and even brought my ball! Needless to say i stayed strapped in and on the bed for the labour. We got to the hospital just before 2am.
At 2am I was checked out to be fully effaced and already 2cm dilated! The Clinical mw from the hospital who took over said she could feel the head (this made me feel rather woozy at the thought) That was scary and quite fast. They also had to give me an enema cos I had the back pain/constipation and that was gross. I kept my pride and insisted they wheel me to the toilet at least (they put me on this poo chair in the middle of the room!! - for heavens sake!)
I was still strapped down so my poor birthing ball came with for no reason :P
At 3am I was given pethadine, the pains were getting quite bad and I didnt want to opt for the epidural just yet and hoped the pethadine would take some pain away (those are the only choices here in Holland..pethadien or epidural) The peth made me rather drowsy and vomity in between contractions - but I still felt every one of them and it was painful!
At the this stage I clutched my vomit bag like a safety net and kept it close by at all times.
I must also mention my hubby - who was so brilliant at supporting me and just being there. I think he was really scared and at one stage when the pain was too much he felt so bad for me and so helpless, but he was simply amazing!
It is all a slight blur from there but all I remember is hubby coffee-breathe which i was trying not to gag at or say anything about, the aweful nurse Joan who didnt know ANYTHING (she had a manual for the one machine i was hooked up to at one stage and hubby was helping her read thru the instructions...scarY!)
All of sudden it was around 5-6am and I was 6cm dilated and it sped up to 10cm by 6:30, I felt the pushing urge and realised the pethadine had worn off and it was too late for any other pain relief...This made me scared and not want to push but so much was going on around and I was scared something was wrong with my baby and I realised it HAD to push weather I wanted to ot not.
It took 4 or 5 pushes in 20 minutes and he was out and they lay him on me and I was still so shocked that it had gone so quick, he looked so small and I noticed his cord had already been cut - it had been tangled around his head so tight they had to cut it while I was pushing.
I was torn and a little bruised, but i think he is worth it
I healed up within 2 weeks and tomorrow it will be 6 weeks since the big day and I will be allowed to bath at last! Im feeling 100% fine just a bit of a mummy-tummy and some stretchies that are putting up a fight to all my creams & lotions.
Monday, July 27, 2009
Smile a while :)
This morning I got the first smile from my baby boy. It was an incredible moment and to see him use his whole face to express such love and contentness just blew me away x
Saturday, July 25, 2009
Oh baby!
Hmm long time no write? What can I say - Today my baby boy is one month old, yes Ive been lacking on the updates because the sleepless nights are taking their toll! I will update soon and post a brave birth story of what happened that night one month ago :)
To be brief, my boy is happy & healthy, he has put on a kilo in the month he has been on the planet and is 100% booby fed.
Cheers people I have a booby call to attend to...
To be brief, my boy is happy & healthy, he has put on a kilo in the month he has been on the planet and is 100% booby fed.
Cheers people I have a booby call to attend to...
Friday, June 19, 2009
Its the Final Countdown...
The countdown is ON! Today we are 39 weeks+1 = only 6 days to go, and what a busy next few days I have planned...Is it my way of nesting?
Last night we had our last antenatal class - yes I amanged it! It was a breastfeeding class and very informative. As petrified of it as I am i think Im ready for it now. I think Gerhard will be ready too, just this morning he said he cannot wait to hold and play with the baby..I did tell him that newborns just sleep eat and poop and he said he just wants to be able to hold him for a little while..and then he promptly started welling up *awwwww*
As we left the antenatal class we were being given the 'once-over' look from all the men and women there as they know Im ready to pop at anytime. We hope on making it to the dinner next week (yes on my due date) but we all know that it may not happen for me. But personally Im sure I will make it.
My Mom came back from Switzerland last night after being away for 3 weeks and Im SOOO relieved!! Yeay! Someone to help me out around here :) She brought back lots of choccie mmm and alot of people have sent little gifts for Baby G as well which is so sweet.
Today I have a midwife appointment at 11:30 and then Im going to relax a bit and prep for tonight as we have invited some friends over for a meal - a couple we met at the Hospital tour and again at antenatal class. They have been so kind and offered us lifts to some of the classes and even bless them for when we have to go home from the hospital with the baby. So we thought we would have them over for a loverly meal :)
Tomorrow we up and early again, this time into..AMSTERDAM City! Im rather scared as no 39 weeks pregnant lady should venture so far out, but with Gerhard around Im sure we will be fine. We are going to meet up with an old high school friend of Gerhards who IS Dutch and from SA but here for a visit. So should be fun :)
Well Im off to start baking the cake for tonight...
Love Celine
Last night we had our last antenatal class - yes I amanged it! It was a breastfeeding class and very informative. As petrified of it as I am i think Im ready for it now. I think Gerhard will be ready too, just this morning he said he cannot wait to hold and play with the baby..I did tell him that newborns just sleep eat and poop and he said he just wants to be able to hold him for a little while..and then he promptly started welling up *awwwww*
As we left the antenatal class we were being given the 'once-over' look from all the men and women there as they know Im ready to pop at anytime. We hope on making it to the dinner next week (yes on my due date) but we all know that it may not happen for me. But personally Im sure I will make it.
My Mom came back from Switzerland last night after being away for 3 weeks and Im SOOO relieved!! Yeay! Someone to help me out around here :) She brought back lots of choccie mmm and alot of people have sent little gifts for Baby G as well which is so sweet.
Today I have a midwife appointment at 11:30 and then Im going to relax a bit and prep for tonight as we have invited some friends over for a meal - a couple we met at the Hospital tour and again at antenatal class. They have been so kind and offered us lifts to some of the classes and even bless them for when we have to go home from the hospital with the baby. So we thought we would have them over for a loverly meal :)
Tomorrow we up and early again, this time into..AMSTERDAM City! Im rather scared as no 39 weeks pregnant lady should venture so far out, but with Gerhard around Im sure we will be fine. We are going to meet up with an old high school friend of Gerhards who IS Dutch and from SA but here for a visit. So should be fun :)
Well Im off to start baking the cake for tonight...
Love Celine
Monday, June 8, 2009
Hormones & Pain Relief
Time is ticking away quite fast lately and I cant stop it, this baby is coming wether we are ready or NOT! Luckily I beleive we are almost ready...Ill be ready in 2 weeks, eviction may be allowed from 23rd June (Nicola's birthday)
Last week, in fact almost exactly a week ago I had a little accident :( It was a public holiday here and my Moms away so Gerhard and I were relaxing with one another and I was on my way to check the laundry when i struck my baby toe with so much force against a doorframe. I cried and waited for the pain to leave..but it never did. I must of been in deep cry fro at least an hour, Gerhard didnt know what to do except suggest ice and I was getting so fed up with that suggestion as I couldnt possibly imagine the extra pain it would cause my poor toe.
Eventually I agreed to the ice to stop him from playing the guilt game while I was howling in pain - he kept telling me how I was doing all the things Google suggested NOT to do - not the support I was looking for..So I agreed to get the Fricking ice and leave me alone. Then he started whining how we have no ice at which point my crying came more out of frustration than pain.
Then I began thinking how much worse childbirth was going to be and I was barely handling a sprained tow - how on earth would I manage childbirth? So needless to say...more crying.
What a week that was, on Tuesday Gerhard had a work from home day as I was immobile. Food this week consisted of "Go to the shop find something microwavable/oven-heated and make it" I felt so bad. Mom had only been gone 3 days and I wanted to show my man what kind of domestic godess he had married and I couldnt even drag myself to the toilet! I missed my Mom too as I needed to be looked after.
That Tuesday was distrastorous as Gerhard kept leaving me all alone in my Moms room so he could watch TV or check his email or moan about his headache - I told him id gladly trade him my pulsating painful toe for his headache he said sure because clearly his headache was much worse. That really set me off! Not only was I immobile and couldnt even get to the toilet without such pain but I wasnt even able to sleep as the pain kept me awake. Luckily I had it confirmed by the midwife I called that I am actually allowed a max of 6 whole paracetomol tabs a day - thank GOODNESS! I needed 2 that night as one still had me awake from pain :(
The next day Gerhard went to work and I managed to stay downstairs all day and rest and things started getting a little bit better. I obviously gave pregnancy yoga a miss on the Thursday and on Friday Gerhard and I cycled over to the midwives as I didnt think i could manage such a long walk.
The midwife says baby is all well and has started engaging (I can feel that ouch!) and she also said he wasnt coming anytime soon and probably in 2 or 3 weeks, also she said he wont be too big a baby - not bigger than 4kg for sure so that made me happy.
This past weekend we trekked back to the pram shop to return their shop-model part for our new frame. Another mega mission. After some hissy-fit antics hubby and I ended up buying loads for our baby boy, a baby gym, lots of bottles and accessories, some blankets, a toy and a diaper bin! We had a very unhelpful person 'help' us exchange our parts so I was insitant that we set up the frame to make sure it worked (previously we received a frame that wouldnt fit a front wheel) While Gerhard was setting it up the 'helper' went to fish out the rear wheels of the shop-model from the box so I noticed if we had gone home with this box of ours we would of been minus 2 rear wheels..now THAT would of peed me off.
Regarding pain relief - we have been chatting alot about that between me and G and at antenatal. im becoming fed up with people telling me what I must and must not have...was very upset to hear they do NOT offer gas & air here in Holland, so my choices are either au natural or pethadine/epidural - which have all these negative side-effects for me and for baby. But after much deliberation Ive decided to try au natural as long as I can and then be advised by the midwife which pain relief would suit my situation. So Im open to anything really and am praying already that my labour will go as smoothly as it can.
Well thats more than enough ranting from me. I know Im being more moody and hormonal, but Im in so much pain sometimes. I feel so huge and heavy and when i wake up to pee in the night I have an urgent sensation im so scared Im going to wet the bed sometimes. I'm sure I can feel the babys head in my pelvis and sometimes its so uncomfortable and hurts so much. Looking forward to having baby here soon, just need to get through the last antenatal class and of course I got Sims 3 on Friday so I need time to play that too ;)
Last week, in fact almost exactly a week ago I had a little accident :( It was a public holiday here and my Moms away so Gerhard and I were relaxing with one another and I was on my way to check the laundry when i struck my baby toe with so much force against a doorframe. I cried and waited for the pain to leave..but it never did. I must of been in deep cry fro at least an hour, Gerhard didnt know what to do except suggest ice and I was getting so fed up with that suggestion as I couldnt possibly imagine the extra pain it would cause my poor toe.
Eventually I agreed to the ice to stop him from playing the guilt game while I was howling in pain - he kept telling me how I was doing all the things Google suggested NOT to do - not the support I was looking for..So I agreed to get the Fricking ice and leave me alone. Then he started whining how we have no ice at which point my crying came more out of frustration than pain.
Then I began thinking how much worse childbirth was going to be and I was barely handling a sprained tow - how on earth would I manage childbirth? So needless to say...more crying.
What a week that was, on Tuesday Gerhard had a work from home day as I was immobile. Food this week consisted of "Go to the shop find something microwavable/oven-heated and make it" I felt so bad. Mom had only been gone 3 days and I wanted to show my man what kind of domestic godess he had married and I couldnt even drag myself to the toilet! I missed my Mom too as I needed to be looked after.
That Tuesday was distrastorous as Gerhard kept leaving me all alone in my Moms room so he could watch TV or check his email or moan about his headache - I told him id gladly trade him my pulsating painful toe for his headache he said sure because clearly his headache was much worse. That really set me off! Not only was I immobile and couldnt even get to the toilet without such pain but I wasnt even able to sleep as the pain kept me awake. Luckily I had it confirmed by the midwife I called that I am actually allowed a max of 6 whole paracetomol tabs a day - thank GOODNESS! I needed 2 that night as one still had me awake from pain :(
The next day Gerhard went to work and I managed to stay downstairs all day and rest and things started getting a little bit better. I obviously gave pregnancy yoga a miss on the Thursday and on Friday Gerhard and I cycled over to the midwives as I didnt think i could manage such a long walk.
The midwife says baby is all well and has started engaging (I can feel that ouch!) and she also said he wasnt coming anytime soon and probably in 2 or 3 weeks, also she said he wont be too big a baby - not bigger than 4kg for sure so that made me happy.
This past weekend we trekked back to the pram shop to return their shop-model part for our new frame. Another mega mission. After some hissy-fit antics hubby and I ended up buying loads for our baby boy, a baby gym, lots of bottles and accessories, some blankets, a toy and a diaper bin! We had a very unhelpful person 'help' us exchange our parts so I was insitant that we set up the frame to make sure it worked (previously we received a frame that wouldnt fit a front wheel) While Gerhard was setting it up the 'helper' went to fish out the rear wheels of the shop-model from the box so I noticed if we had gone home with this box of ours we would of been minus 2 rear wheels..now THAT would of peed me off.
Regarding pain relief - we have been chatting alot about that between me and G and at antenatal. im becoming fed up with people telling me what I must and must not have...was very upset to hear they do NOT offer gas & air here in Holland, so my choices are either au natural or pethadine/epidural - which have all these negative side-effects for me and for baby. But after much deliberation Ive decided to try au natural as long as I can and then be advised by the midwife which pain relief would suit my situation. So Im open to anything really and am praying already that my labour will go as smoothly as it can.
Well thats more than enough ranting from me. I know Im being more moody and hormonal, but Im in so much pain sometimes. I feel so huge and heavy and when i wake up to pee in the night I have an urgent sensation im so scared Im going to wet the bed sometimes. I'm sure I can feel the babys head in my pelvis and sometimes its so uncomfortable and hurts so much. Looking forward to having baby here soon, just need to get through the last antenatal class and of course I got Sims 3 on Friday so I need time to play that too ;)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
