We-make-four

Well, I have taken my time getting this post done, but here it is, one week on.

Claire arrived on Tuesday 6th September (1 week overdue) weighing 4.225kg and measuring 52cm long. 

Skip the next few paragraphs if you don't want to read the birth story.  I just feel like I need to tell my story and get it over with.  Weird, I know, but it's like I have to let go of it or something and telling it or writing it helps me do that.  

For about a week  before she came I had been convincing myself that the Braxton Hicks were getting stronger and that maybe, just maybe, they were getting painful.  I'm sure Lyle was sick of me mentioning this all day long and had stopped listening to me altogether.  However, at 2:30 on Tuesday morning I woke up with a sore back, thought nothing of it and tried to go back to sleep.  The pain didn't go away and I was wondering if I should wake lyle up or if I was just getting excited over nothing again.  The next one came and I decided it probably was labour and we should think about making our way into town and dropping Milly off at Nan's.  By the time we got to the hospital I knew for sure that I was in labour.  As Milly was born via emergency Caesar I was determined that this birth would be a VBAC.  In the case of a VBAC labour has to run perfectly and at a good progression rate.  If slowed down at all a caesar needs to happen straight away.  Because of this I was determined not to have an epidural (as the last one stopped my labour completely) and so endured labour with gas.  I have to say the gas worked amazingly for awhile, then I got sick of trying to breathe so much.  After 6 hours I was checked and found to be 10cm (they decided to check because I was screaming about wanting an epidural and the fact that I couldn't take anymore. Luckily Daddy and the midwives knew how much I didn't want another caesar and managed to convince me that it was too late anyway). However, her head was still too high and my pushing was doing nothing, so it was decided that I couldn't labour any longer without risking uterine rupture and I would need to have a caesar.  At the time I felt nothing but relief that the pain would soon be over from the spinal.  There was only a very tiny niggly thought of disappointment that I would have to recover from another caesar.  Once I got the spinal I was a very happy, chatty and excited patient and felt my energy rushing back.  However, when the lady beside me was up carrying on life as normal after her delivery and passing me Claire and making me cups of tea I was jealous, but really, once I had my baby in my arms I just didn't care.  

This time around the whole caesar experience was completely different.  I wasn't scared because I knew how it worked and what happens.  I also wasn't sick from loss of organ function (which I was last time) and so knew my recovery would be quicker.  I was out of bed the next day (it took 3 days last time) and home on day 2.  I was able to care for my baby on my own so much sooner and didn't have trouble with my milk coming in because I wasn't on all the drugs I was last time, so was able to successfully breastfeed from day one without the help of midwives.  (Claire also had a much better idea of what to do than her slightly tongue tied sister).  Being able to care for baby on my own so soon was such an uplifting feeling and the energy that came with this little high is yet to leave, even with the sleepless nights.  At the time of Milly's birth I had no idea that a Caesar recovery wasn't always that traumatic and didn't realise that my extra health problems were slowing things down so much, which is why I was so completely against another one.  It turns out that if there are no complications it is not nearly as bad, at least in my case anyway.  Still far from ideal, but not as traumatising.  

OK, birth story over now!

Since arriving at home, I have pretty much returned to normal house duties or made ways to make things possible (like getting Milly into her cot without Daddy's help).  Mostly I feel absolutely fantastic and I don't think I could be any happier or any more in love with my little family.

I also have to say that Daddy was a wonderful birth support partner and although I didn't abuse him in any way, I said some pretty irrational things and he let me squeeze his hand (HARD) with every contraction.  He did exactly what I needed him to and when and I didn't let him out of my sight.  Oh and little Miss Milly is LOVING her baby sister, but gets very worried whenever she cries.  She looks at her so intently and pats her on the back or gives her rocker a rock and says 'heyo Care' in the sweetest voice ever.  She also says 'mook pees mummy' (milk please mummy) when you ask her what Claire says.  

about 3 hours old

ladies of the house

5 days old

3 days old

Milly meeting Claire.  

Exciting Shouse developments!

Ok, when I say exciting it might seem a bit odd, because I am mostly talking about shelves, BUT shelves mean I can unpack things properly and in a more useable manner.  I now have all my craft stuff out and it has inspired me to make a few things.  

These are my new shelves.  There is only one supporting beam down the middle so this is as big as my shelves could be without needing support at each end, but they are a metre long each and so far they hold everything I want them to.  I was way too excited to get them up and get craft things unpacked to be bothered painting them and waiting for paint to dry so they are just bare pieces of pine, but maybe one day I'll be bothered staining or painting them.  (probably not!) Underneath my shelves is a little solid timber table to put my laptop/sewing machine.  I glued some red and white polka dot fabric to an old pinboard to put on the wall between the desk and the shelves.  

While I was photographing my shelves there was a little lady in the background sitting in her dolls pram and playing with monkey and pink cat. 

Now for some perspective.  My craft space is a tiny metre wide spot in the corner of the already crowded lounge room, but I love it.  It's my new little 'happy space' and I get a little jolt of joy every time I walk in and see it.  That sliding glass door leads to outside.  In the other corner daddy is playing the piano and in between the corners are daddy's guitars, which will hopefully be moving to the tank once it's fitted.

 This is the perspective from behind the couch.  Ignoring the pile of stuff in the shelves behind daddy.  That's one of the little jobs I have been neglecting to do, but I will get there. That big plastic container isn't usually there.  That's what had my craft stuff in it.  As long as we keep it tidy it doesn't feel too small.

Another exciting thing for me is these hooks.  I was given them for my birthday way back in May, but they were white and because we have white walls I had nowhere to hang them.  I FINALLY remembered to buy some spray paint at Bunnings on the weekend and painted them.  Now I just have to decide where I want them.

Since putting up my shelves (which I put up with minimal help from daddy, I feel I need to say, because that means I used a drill and for some reason I'm very scared of power tools) I have been inspired to sew.  Miss Milly loving putting her 'babies' to sleep at the moment so I thought I would have a go at making this dolls quilt for her.  (Sorry about the sideways photo, but I couldn't figure out how to rotate it).

I'm well and truly nesting.  I have re-arranged this hutch 3 times in the last week and cleaned the set of bookshelves.  

I'm hoping to have a baby tonight so maybe the next post you see from me will be a baby post.  Fingers crossed please!!!!

Her favourites!

It's been so long since I did one of these posts! So much has changed and I wish I had kept up to date with them, but what can you do with no home internet I suppose?  Anyway, these are some of her favourites at the moment. 

Playing with her babies and feeding them and putting them to sleep.  She lies them down and says 'noy noyt, baby' and then straight away says 'det up, baby' and picks them up.  She also makes them jump and dance. Here she is feeding baby monkey a sultana. 

Playing with the blocks at the library.  She brings them to me one at a time and tells me what colour they are then piles them up.  This is her saying 'Big tower'.

Playing with playdough. I've never really liked playdough much myself, but I'm so glad I got over it and gave her some to play with.  She LOVES it! In this picture she has made a snake, which I taught her to do, but she has also made something on her own.  Daddy pointed to the little V shaped thing in front of her and asked her what it was.  She said 'bu-fy' (butterfly).  No-one has ever made her a butterfly before so it was purely imagination and made me so excited, proud and emotional all at once.  (Crazy pregnant lady hormones probably!)

Wearing 'do air dye' (two hair ties).  She asks me for 2 hair ties and a 'pitty air cip' (pretty hair clip) when I do her hair every morning.  I also love her hair this way.  It makes her so grown up and extra cute!

This is bad photo, but she is lining rocks up on the doorstep.  She loves telling me if it is a big rock or little rock ( I don't think she really knows what it means though) and lining them up and counting them.  Then she gets a stick and flicks them all off.

Playing in the dirt. This photo was taken before 8 in the morning and she was filthy! It was the morning the tank got delivered and I just let her run wild in the dirt.  Needless to say, both her and the sleep suit have since been bathed!

A few of her other favourites that I don't have photos of include: jumping, watching the wiggles and doing some of the dance moves, counting, saying hello and goodbye to people, using a watering can to water plants, 'helping' me cook, putting money in a money box, putting her gum boots on and off, copying everything anyone says, talking to 'Ganma' on the phone and a million other things.  She is forever growing and changing and I love her to bits.  

Our favourites!

I'll get mine out of the way first...........

Watching my lady play with playdough.  She is completely engrossed and learning so much through play.

My makeshift garden.  I'm still waiting for the dirt to go in my real garden so I've been improvising.  Although it looks pretty skimpy, it's providing me with free lettuce, basil, rosemary and hopefully soon some strawberries.

This kit to make little lady some owl puppet gloves bought for me by my mummy when she went overseas last year.  Looking forward to making these sometime through the week!

Baking, baking and more baking.  This is a sultana slice with melted chocolate on top.

Having such a HUGE window that opens out so I can do things in the kitchen while little lady occupies herself outside.  We can still see each other and chat to each other, but it's great for her to play on her own every now and then.

This is daddy's current favourite and our latest addition to the 'shouse'.  It's a concrete water tank delivered this morning and is going to be fitted out and used as a studio for daddy's drums.  As a professional working musician he has really suffered not having anywhere to have his kit set up and even though it's not my fault, I've felt terribly guilty that he is missing out on practicing as it is what he has put his life into.  I'm so glad this is coming together finally and hopefully it won't be long before he can start practicing again.  (I also plan to use it as an escape to get some sleep every now and then!!!)

Thanks for reading!!! I'm about to do a post on the little lady's favourites too.  I thought she deserved a post of her own. 

Crafting and storage!

Ok, this is not the promised Milly update, but I wanted to share some crafting, as it's been about 6 months since I did any other than crocheting.  So, here it is!

When you live in a 6m x 9m shed with your partner, a toddler and a baby on the way you have to get clever with storage.  I am always thinking of new ways to store things so that it doesn't look too messy and disorganised.  I've found that loose things on a shelf make the place feel cluttered so I've been buying baskets to put on the shelves.  This is working, but I thought I could do it in a more budget friendly way and decided to have a go at covering some of the many nappy boxes (I haven't got back into the cloth ones since we moved up here) I have waiting to be burnt with fabric and use them instead.
This is where our appliance cables/leads/junk is currently stored (still hasn't been unpacked since we moved as we had nowhere to put it anyway.

This is what I did with the nappy box.
First I cut the flaps off the box using Daddy's leatherman. (Swollen hands due to being 38 weeks pregnant)

Then I put the fabric wrong side up on a flat surface and measured out a cross shape, leaving about an extra 2-3cm to go over the top of the box.

Next, I centred the box on the piece of fabric. I did this outside on the grubby concrete so I didn't use a drop cloth or anything, but it's probably a good idea if using spray adhesive). I sprayed the two long sides of the box AND the fabric (because this is what the can of glue said to do) and waited about a minute before sticking the fabric to the box.

Then I did the same with the short sides and just folded the excess to make a flap and glued it down.

The finished box.

Overall, I think it looks great. From a distance! I have no patience and like to get things done in a hurry so it's certainly not perfect.  All I can say is, it's a good thing I used a dark fabric that hides wrinkles and silly mistakes and I learnt a few things for next time. From start to finish it took me about 15 minutes (plus another 15 to untangle all the leads and put them in their new home!  Our cables are still in a mess, but at least they're in a pretty box now!

What we've been up to!

Well, I have been enjoying myself immensely since I finished work.  I have been doing all of those things I mentioned I wanted to do in my last post and more! This is what we've been up to:

Lots of baking:

Pikelets

Do I have anything on my face mummy?

Choc chip biscuits

Berry yoghurt muffins

Pizza scrolls

Little Miss Fractured her arm by falling of a dining chair while she was helping me cook dinner one night. She was VERY brave and did a good job of wearing a sling for 2 weeks.  Not bad for an 18month old.  Hopefully my next night trip to the hospital will be to have a baby and not to get this one fixed!

We've been enjoying painting onto old nappy boxes.  She is still in her pyjamas in the first photo and if you look closely you can see the paint all around her mouth, all over her hands and all over her clothes.  She was under Daddy's watch at the time and he left for 2 seconds to go to the toilet and when he got back this is what she looked like.  

She's such a big girl now that she likes to think she can carry her new backpack.  She wobbles from side to side and falls over about every 3 steps, but she is so determined to do it on her own that I just stand back, watch and giggle. 

We've also been doing some gardening.  My veggie garden is still waiting for it's top soil and I've gotten impatient and started planting things in pots instead.  This is Little Miss with own shovel, bucket and lettuce seedling.  She loves to dig and water with the watering can.

I've been enjoying night times on the couch watching Frasier episodes (I almost wasn't going to admit to this, but in a few years time when I look back on this I'll want to remember that I was completely addicted to Frasier during my whole second pregnancy.  While I'm watching TV I've been crocheting a throw for the couch and thinking about crocheting a blankie for the baby.  I'm 37 weeks exactly here.  I've also been eating plenty of things that aren't good for you while watch TV and crochet and this particular nights delicacy was some of the above mentioned choc chip biscuits.  When I made that batch I froze some of the dough and sliced and baked it after dinner last night.

I realised today when I was making icing for a chocolate cake that I don't ever remember my mum licking the beaters.  It occurred to me that this is because she gave them to me and my sister.  I'm thinking now that with a second daughter on the way MY days of licking the beaters are nearly over.  I've already had to cut down to one so my little lady gets one.  This was her first time and she thought it was amazing.

Licking the beaters

I know this is a terrible photo and it's really hard to see, but this is me at 37 weeks the second time around.  The sun comes through those french doors onto the mirror at any time of day and I don't like asking daddy to take my photo, because I hate trying to pose, so this will have to do for now.  I'm almost past the same time that Little Miss was born and heading into unknown territory.  I'm very uncomfortable and ready to have my baby girl out in the world.  Mostly I'm sick of having to ask for help to do so many things.  My baby belly is smaller this time around, but I'm in so much more pain and I've been sooooooooo much busier this time around.

37 weeks

So there you go. I've been baking (a lot and loving it!), crocheting, gardening and playing with my lady. I plan to do a post on some of her current favourites and really regret not having kept up with those posts as there have been so many changes and developments over the past few months.  Hopefully now that the internet has finally been connected at the 'Shouse' I can do these more often.  

As well as simple activities that have been bringing me endless joy (because they are not 'work') I have been sorting through Little Miss's newborn clothes and washed them all in LUX soap flakes and put them in the drawers ready for the new baby to wear.  The cupboard smells FANTASTIC! We have borrowed a bassinet this time around as our place is much smaller than last time and a cot won't fit in our room.  We don't even have a possible list of names and I'm hoping something amazing jumps out at me soon.  If you're reading and you have a suggestion, go for it! 

That's more than enough from me for now, but I'll be back in the next few days (provided I'm not off having a baby) with an update on the Little Lady.  

I've just previewed this post and need to apologise for the photos in a line, but I don't know how to fix this.  Also, since taking these photos I have figured out how to turn the flash off the camera on my iphone, so hopefully they'll be better from now on.  

I can't wait!!!

Well, no photos again, because I still haven't had time to hook up internet at the shouse, so I'm on someone else's computer again (thanks Nan), but I wanted to share the excitement of my life right now. Due to everything getting completely on top of me (you don't need a list, everyone is busy) I am finishing work 2 weeks earlier than planned (at my boss's suggestion, so guilt free) and using up my 2 weeks worth of sick leave as 'stress' leave.  This is great, because I didn't have to start my maternity leave early and my doctor was completely willing to come to the party with a medical certificate, but I don't feel quite right using the term 'stress' leave, it seems a bit dramatic for my situation.  It's more like 'drowing in life and need some air' leave.  I'm completely fine and not breaking out in rashes or coming down with everything under sun or anything like that, I just need less to do right now.

So anyway, I have 1.5 days to go and I am so excited.  If only report cards weren't due at the end of that 1.5 days.  I'm so excited to be able to stay home with my lady again.  I've missed her so much, but I know she has a great time with Daddy through the day when I'm gone.  I often come home to a drawing, random towers of blocks throughout the shouse, a bucket full of dirt and rocks in the yard, a VERY grubby face and can't find any of my shoes.  Even though daddy isn't very good at cleaning up her messes, I'm glad, because it's like a series of clues on what they did that day and I spend the first hour at home discovering things and asking about their day and, to be completely honest, my mind frame on cleaning lately has been very much along the lines of 'I'm the only person who cares about the mess and I'm at work all day and don't have to see it anyway, so why waste the 2 precious hours I get to spend with them cleaning the place'.  Daddy's views on housework are things like dishes every 2nd day, washing once a week, what's a mop?, the dust will blow away on it's own and I'd rather be outside.  I'll be home for good in 1.5days anyway and I'll take back the house cleaning reigns.

I'm also looking forward to finally unpacking the rest of the boxes and setting the shouse up how I want it.  Not sure if this is frustration from living in a shambles of boxes for so long, or the nesting that comes with being 29 weeks pregnant.  Oh, and crafting, which I haven't even thought about since January when I started making the bunting.  I still have the bunting and I WILL finish it! I also want to crochet my little family some socks and make something for my growing baby.  Oooooh, and baking!!!! I forgot about baking.  I made  a chocolate cake a few weekends ago actually and it was one of the most enjoyable things of done lately.

Anyway, that's enough for now.  It's probably hard to keep you engaged without photos! We're off to Gladstone for a cousin's wedding this weekend and then the lady and I are going to spend a week with my parents so daddy can do some more work on the outside of the shouse and I can spend a week relaxing with the help of my mummy.