Don't look back, they might be gaining on you

Now that I've finished renovating the house, it's time to renovate the blog

2010-03-19T19:20:00.003+11:00

So I'm moving, and taking all my posts with me.
It's going to be a gradual process but I'm attempting a Project life blog - so be prepared for some stuff being backdated to Jan 1st 2010.
Hope to see you all over there.
http://brodricklive365.blogspot.com/

xx

Not content with doing some home renovations...

2010-02-21T22:09:00.002+11:00

...we decided to renovate our dining room chairs today. After over six years and three children, there was no way I could call them cream anymore - as evidenced by this pic:

How much better does this look?

Yeah I know I'm crazy as the base color is still cream - but I have plenty of left over material to recover again if need be.

There's a fine line between pleasure and pain

2010-02-17T23:12:00.002+11:00

So take your pick, what is it - pleasure or pain?

Such is the joy of first time swimming lessons eh?

Oh precious source of light, how I love thee...let me count the ways

2010-02-17T16:43:00.002+11:00

ONE: I love how after 10 years, you are special enough to be the first item deemed worthy enough to cover a naked bulb in my house.

TWO: I love how the sunlight glimmers off your plasticness, giving the impression to those with less than 20/20 sight that you are in fact crystal.

THREE: I love how you glow an almost McDonalds cheese colour when your bulb is heating up.

AND FOUR: I love how Miss Almost Two jumps up and down and shrieks "pretties" at her new light pendant. For that your McDonald's cheese plasticness is worth every cent.

A meal that brings back my childhood

2010-02-10T23:42:00.001+11:00

Dinner 2
Originally uploaded by The B Boys

It's been many years since I've eaten Chow Mein/Kai See Ming. In fact I think I may have only made it once since I left home. I can't remember what made me think of it, but once it was in my head I had to make it there and then.

So tonight I put it in front of my kids for the first time ever and their faces said it all. I was lucky to even get them to taste it.

Well I liked it. I guess I'll be eating it for a while considering how much I bloody made.

We'll go dancing in the dark, walking the in the park and.....

2010-02-05T16:49:00.002+11:00

.... ~~reminiscing~~ reading through old blogs.

Now I've got that damn song in my head. Anyway, there is nothing like reading back through a poor neglected blog to get you typing again. There are so many little things that you have totally forgotten until you start to read.

Like the kids deciding to make you eggs for breakfast, making then wrecking gorgeous baby singlets, Jack strutting his stuff - The Village People style, taking the novel approach to getting the kids to eat and the hair snagging saga.

I've laughed and I've cried today reading through all of them and I've realised that I've missed blogging. I've missed having a record of the daily grind. I've missed sharing it with friends and family.

So I'm starting blogging again...soon.

And the bedroom debate continues

2009-10-19T10:25:00.005+11:00

So today I've moved out the couch so I can have a better look at what I'm doing in there.

Picture 1 & 3 are taken from the same spot and picture 2 is just to show the amount of room on the floor if I left the expedit sideways.

I really wanted it to work sideways, but now I'm leaning toward against the wall.

Oh and please excuse the messy expedit - I'm still moving stuff around everywhere.

A little bit more work in Imogen's room

2009-10-18T23:11:00.010+11:00

Well that empty Expedit from my last post, is now in Imogen's room and I'm having a bit of an internal debate over where to put it.

So for the time being the bedroom is set up like this:

Picture 1: Standing in the doorway looking right. Now my idea with this area between the expedit and cupboard was to have different frames and a mirror all a kid height. I was even considering on getting one of those wall stick on chandeliers to sit above the pics.

Picture 2: Is standing next to her cot looking back the other way. This pic is really to have a look at the height and to suss of how it's looking on that angle.

Picture 3: Is standing in the doorway looking horizontally across the room. Now bear in mind that the couch is not staying. I've taken this photo more so that you can see the edge of the Expedit to get an idea of how it's going to make the room pan out. So the plan is, in the corner next to the window will go the chair I'm reupholstering from this post with the cushions you see on the couch. I'm thinking of either buying or trying to make some ginormous floor cushions to go up against the wall between the chair and the expedit.

Ok, so eye for detail people what are your thoughts? Is having the expedit on this angle just crazy and making the room look too small? Should I just put it flush against the wall where the couch is and push it closer to the cupboards so that I can still put my chair in the corner? What does everyone think?

Oh yeah and for those that have noticed, I was trying out different handles on the drawers to see if I liked them. I think I'll go with the silver handles, but in a brushed finish rather than all shiny.

What does one do with an empty expedit you may ask?

2009-10-18T09:36:00.004+11:00

Well in this house we pretend that Mummy is a fancy ass photographer and play stick the kid in the hole.

Or at least that's what we try to do. :P

To the baby sister I've never known

2009-10-15T22:25:00.007+11:00

Given that today is the International Pregnancy & Infant Loss Remembrance Day it's got me thinking about you.

I wonder who you would be like?
Would you have blonde/brown hair like me and your big brother or red like your little brother and sister?
Would your eyes be hazel like me and your big brother or blue like your little brother and sister?
Would you have the good ol' childbearing hips that me and your sister were lucky enough to inherit or would you be a string bean like your brothers?
Would you have been an avid reader like the rest of us are?
Would you have found some imaginative way to dispose of peas when Mum and Dad were not looking like the rest of us did?
Would you have followed the insane Hungry Jacks family trait?
Would you have added to our brood of nieces and nephews?
Would you...

_______________________________________________________

Sarah Beth Robinson
Born 21/01/1980 too early, too small, too precious but to last a few hours in this world

"Sara, Sara, no time is a good time for goodbyes" - Starship

Home renos - bodgy style

2009-10-04T21:00:00.004+11:00

Working on a shoe string with minimal space is not normally something that I would call fun, but I'm actually enjoying toying with the prospect.

So really I'm not renovating, more interior decorating. I've been looking at various internet sites and I'm hooked on Real Living magazine and between the two I'm starting to formulate more ideas.

So my boys room...well it usually looks like a bomb has gone off in it and there is not enough room to swing a child in there. Here's what it looks like on a usual day:

And this is little Miss's room (on a particually bad day when I was folding washing in her room):

So my big problem in the boys room is lack of space, but after reading this months Real Living mag I think I may have a solution. I came across these pics of a shared bedroom. It'd hard to tell from the photos (as it wouldn't scan so it's a photo of the pages), but the beds are pushed up to each other with the bedheads at 90 degree angles. Like so:

So I'm currently trialing it with the bed kind of like this - now just to do the rest of the room.

In beginning Imogen's room I've got a 4x4 white expedit from Ikea http://www.ikea.com/au/en/catalog/products/40047675 and a few boxes for the drawers. I'm watching a toddler bed on Ebay but I'm happy to keep her in a cot for a while still. My latest purchase is the one I'm the most excited about though. I managed to get a Eames style armchair on Ebay for a whole five dollars. While it's been recently upholstered, the pattern is horrible and I have these grandieur ideas of recoving it in maybe a white and pale pink candystripe. Hmmm, not sure but I'm sure I'll know the material when I see it.

This is what the chair currently looks like:

So there is the beginning of what might become either beautiful bedrooms for my kids or a nightmare for myself. Hopefully not the latter.

For the non-facebookers

2009-09-28T20:34:00.001+10:00

I guess you guys won't know that I bought myself a little present (well to be correct the bank did), so it's out with the old and in with the new.

Goodbye old friend, you served me well ♥ ♥

Hello, new little beast

Swimming in September, who would have thought??

2009-09-21T20:20:00.000+10:00

The first day of school holidays I ventured out to the far side of town to join some friends at a beach. The weather was nice, but typical Melbourne in September day. The kids were all dressed in jeans and jumpers so who would have thought the day would have gone down this path?

The moment the mother of every little girl is waiting for...

2009-09-12T12:20:00.002+10:00

After having two boys first, the day is finally here.....the day that I've been waiting for...

Yes, that's right, Miss Imogen has her hair in a pony tail. How cute and how little is it? Oh and how much does it look like business at the font and a tied up party at the back. LOL

Test photo blog

2009-09-11T10:36:00.001+10:00

Just doing a test.

And from the mouth of babes

2009-09-02T23:16:00.002+10:00

Yesterday while driving down a ford (Cottrel St for those in the know) Jack made an interesting observation.

"Mum, I like driving down here. It makes me doodle go down"

Okaaayyy then. What do you say to that other than "That's great Jack"

One can't help but laugh at other's misfortune

2009-09-01T09:28:00.001+10:00

I know there are so many "Funniest home videos" naysayers. Those that don't understand how someone hurting themselves is funny. I'm not one of them. Yeah I don't laugh if someone really hurts themselves and there is even stuff on the show that I cringe at - but this, this IS funny.

This is Jack learning to play footy.

Can't . Keep . Eyes . Open

2009-08-24T10:36:00.004+10:00

I could so do with a little rendition of Brahm's lullabye right now. I'm struggling to keep my eyes open while I'm typing this and it's only 10.30am. I think I'm officially partied out.

We had a Maccas party on Saturday for Liam and his school friends and yesterday was a family and close friends party for both the boys. The kids had a ball though and that's all that matters.

Here's a few snaps from the weekend:

For lovers of the paranormal

2009-08-23T01:31:00.003+10:00

Usually I try to keep my blogs lighthearted with a bit of humor thrown in for good measure, but it's not everyday that one has a paranormal experience.

Let me start by saying that I've always been the type of person who reads all the paranormal stuff and wishes it was her that it happened to. I've been on ghost tours, I've sussed out supposed haunted places but I've never seen or felt anything. That is until tonight. And it scared the hell out of me. Scared me enough that I felt physically ill. Scared me enough that my hands were shaking for about 10 minutes. Scared me enough that I was on the verge of crying in front of the rest of the staff at work.

Now at my work people talk about a ghost that haunts the place. I've always had a bit of a chuckle about it if it comes up in conversation. It was always Chinese whispers and seemed like massive exaggerations. Although that said, recently one of my Duty Managers (who is a pretty laid back sorta guy) left the store in a big hurry when noises of doors slamming around him freaked him out.

So anyway, I work in a supermarket as a night fill supervisor. So in reality I spend a heap of time in the storeroom moving around stock. About a year ago the store was renovated and what was originally our meat room (the room out of sight where the butchers cut up all the meat) is now just a storage room. It still looks like a meat room, it still has the hanging beam thingy that the carcases would slide along, it still has benches - only difference is we put cages of stock in there now. The meat room is located right at the very back of the storeroom in the left corner. You need to walk up a little hallway to get into it. The windows are all blacked out (well whited out to be exact), so you see nothing until you enter the room.

So I'm pushing a cage of boxes up the back to the meat room. There is no one in the storeroom except for me. Everyone else is out on the shop floor. As I reach the doorway I see the light is off in there but there is enough light behind me to push the cage in while still seeing fairly clearly. Pretty much at the same time I register that the light is off, I notice the room looks kind of smokey/hazy. Initially I thought "Oh my god, something is on fire" and continued pushing the cage forward so I could get inside and check. It didn't occur to me that I couldn't smell anything burning. Almost immediately the hair on the back of my neck stood on end and I felt like I was going to simultaneously vomit and start crying. I turned and ran out and quickly got out onto the shop floor. All this happened so quickly, like in a matter of 30 seconds.

I ran over to the Duty Manager and was trying to tell her what had happened, but I could hardly speak I was so freaked out. I have honestly never felt like that in my life and I hope to never feel like that again.

I'm still shivering just writing this out.

Sometimes I wonder...

2009-08-20T13:12:00.002+10:00

...did I read way too many books about serial killers, phychopaths and the like during pregnancy. Have I caused some sort of freaky cross over in my children.

I ponder these things at 3am when I'm woken by a 6 year old who is dreaming about his brothers eyeballs coming out. WT????

I also ponder these things in the car when my 5 year old tells me that Mr Men are bad. They are bad because they go into peoples houses and put things in there. Even in Mr Strong's house. Mr Strong doesn't like that - so he kills them all. Allllllllrighty then. What is up with that??? I swear we were watching the same Mr Men cartoon yesterday, but he was obviously seeing something I wasn't.

I guess I can joke about it now, but um yeah - bit weird.

What a brilliant way to return to blogging

2009-06-15T20:44:00.004+10:00

After a huge hiatus, this was just too good not to blog.

Liam is really into drawing at the moment. The kid would draw all day long if I let him. He's not too bad actually - definitely didn't get his artistic skills from either his father or I.

So this was last nights masterpiece:

It's a bus. Nice eh?

Take a closer look - notice anything out of the ordinary for a 5 year old's drawing?

Maybe this might help:

I saw it and it took me quite a while to realise what it actually said. It's actually his brother's name - Jack. But with the "J" written backwards and the "A" looking more like an "O".

I think it qualifies for a "What The??" if ever I saw one.

This is the post that never ends...

2009-01-03T11:38:00.030+11:00

....it just goes on and on my friends. He, he lets see how long that gets stuck in your heads.

Anyway peoples, it's been a long, long time between posts so here's a massive one for you to let you know what the Brodrick Bunch has been up to.

So my last post was all the way back in November when Liam caught Chicken Pox of Jack and I was thinking that he might have it mildly because he was immunised. WRONG! For some reason unbeknown to me, Liam was never immunised. I thought he was, but no. So the poor little man was sick, really sick in fact. Although he's smiling the the photo, this was probably the first smile I got in a week. Poor thing pretty much lay on the couch for a week straight.

And moving on to the first week of December we have a big case of Deja vu when Imogen decided she wanted in on the action.

So as you can imagine, this house was a barrell of laughs for a few weeks. As for the rest of the first week, I had a ball with my Aunty and her partner over from New Zealand. It was fantastic catching up with her, I'm kicking myself for not getting any photos. It was the first time my family had met her partner Dave and I have to say they seem so happy together and he is just lovely. I hope the feeling is mutual as our family can be pretty hot to handle at the best of times.

The second week of December turned out to be quite emotive for me. Starting off with Liam having a fitting for his school uniform. I can't believe that my little man is going to be a preppie. I managed to keep my composure and not cry infront of the shop lady, but damn I was close. I always look at him and think how big he is now, but in the uniform he looks tiny. I know come first day of school that I'm be a complete blubbering mess.

Liam had his Kinder excursion this week. Every child had to have a chaperone with them, so I left if to Liam to choose whether he wanted Mum or Dad to come - of course Dad was the chosen one.

Still in week two of December we had a Christmas Party at an indoor playground with a group of my online friends. There was a brilliant time to be had all round.

That same day, Liam had his prep orientation. I thought he'd be a little shy and clingy since there was no kids he knew there, but we were lucky enough to find that one of the Prep teachers (Mel) had done some training at his Kinder so her knew her. He was pretty excited to see her. The kids and parents were seperated for about 45 minutes. I had nothing to worry about since Liam just said "Ok Mum, see ya!" and ran off to play. He seemed to really enjoy himself. I'm not too sure how well he mixed with the other kids though as he seemed to cling to Mel.

Then that same night we were meant to go to Bess's house to celebrate her birthday. Both me and the kids though were way too buggered, so a big sorry to Aunty Bess.

After all that we still had a party to attend on the Sunday. One of my cousins turned 18 and her sister turned 14. My Aunty's house was packed with just as many little people as there was adults. Between my brother, my sister and myself we have 8 kids - 4 of them being under 9 months. So it was babies galore. Was a great day but I was absolutely exhausted by the time I got home.

It was the most full on week I'd had for a while. Made even crazier by the fact that Brian was pretty much working 7 days a week.

Week three of December started off very quietly but went of with a bang. Liam had his last official day of kinder. It was so sad seeing all the kids say goodbye with none of them realising that it really was goodbye. We don't live near Liam's kinder and as far as I know, only one child from his kinder is going to his school. I think I was more upset about the whole thing than him. Here's some pics of his last day.

The friday night was the Christmas Party for daycare. The kids all had a ball when Santa turned up. Liam asked Santa for a Night Guardian, which was great since Santa was bringing him one. Jack asked Santa for a Speed Racer game. Hmmm, Santa was not bringing a Speed Racer game. Santa didn't even know what a damn Speed Racer game was. Looks like Santa would be joining the returns queue in Target to return the other Night Guardian and stalking the shelves for some kind of Speed Racer game.

On the Sunday I decided to brave the movies with the kids for only the second time ever. Myself and a friend got tickets to see the Wiggles. What the deal was that the Wiggles were playing live in Sydney, but it's broadcast live to different cinemas. It wasn't as painful as I thought it would be. There wasn't too many people there, maybe 15 adults and about 20ish kids. Most of the kids ended up down the front and running up and down the stairs. My kids thought that doing laps up one side, across the back, down the other side and across the front was more fun than watching the Wiggles - much to my embarassment. Oh well, mine were not the only kids doing it.

Heading into week four was actually quiet. Christmas Eve we had a friend and his kids over for dinner, I had a little too much to drink and ended up still wrapping presents at almost 2am. Ooops. Finally the end result looked like this:

Then on to the complete madness of Christmas day.

All the family had a great time and my lounge room was an absolute sea of presents - it was crazy.

And last but not least - the food. Mmm,mmm,mmmmmm the salads table was delish. I'm just kicking myself that I didn't get a photo of all the meat we had. It was a carnivor's delight.

So now that we've caught up to the end of 2008 - I will return soon with all the trials and tribulations (and some good stuff too) that 2009 has so far bestowed.

And now it's Liam's turn

2008-11-29T15:55:00.002+11:00

The boys had a party to go to this afternoon. We were having a lazy day and I'd let them stay in their pyjamas until it was time to get dressed for the party. Jack was almost dressed and I was helping Liam and "BOOM" there they were - right in my face CHICKEN POX.

Poor little man howled his eyes out when I told him he couldn't go to the party.

Now I'm really just hoping that because he was immunised his spots crust over quickly. He's got his kinder concert on Wednesday night. If he has to miss that he is just going to be gutted.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...NOT

2008-11-29T13:18:00.006+11:00

Ahhh yes, it's that dreaded time of the year again when all parents think that they posess the skills of a photographer.

Alas a photographer I am not and here is the proof:

The Christmas Photos that Weren't...

Oh no! Our first infectious disease

2008-11-17T09:49:00.002+11:00

Ok just a tad melodramatic, but Jack has Chicken Pox. Now the wait is on to see if both Liam & Imogen get it as well. It has anwhere from a 10 to 21 day incubation period, so I could be waiting a while.

I have to say though, I'm even more an advocate for immunisations now. Jack has spots, infact not even heaps - maybe 20 at the most. But that's it - no fever, no cold symptoms and he's happy as Larry - annoying even, so he must be fine.

According to the Dr, she's seeing more and more kids with only very mild Chicken Pox thanks to them being immunisied. According to her, Chicken Pox is a very horrible virus for the kid suffereing it. I can attest to that - I still remember having it and I've still got the scars to prove it.

Vegies aplenty

2008-11-13T14:36:00.002+11:00

On Tuesday Brian and the boys decided it was time for a new vegie garden.
This time we decided to make something that was a bit more user friendly and mobile.

Here are the results:

Sing along if you know the words

2008-11-08T10:44:00.004+11:00

Y...M...C...A...

Sorry not the highest quality pic cause it was taken on a mobile, but who could resist this clanger for a 21st blackmail.

Jack got the costume the other week and it was still in the packaging. He wanted to wear it, I said fine and he took it inside to get dressed. This is his result. LMAO

The great debate over what to call certain parts of the human anatomy is finally solved

2008-10-08T14:21:00.003+11:00

Ever since Liam was born, Brian and I have been arguing over what we words we'd like the boys to use for various body parts. Doodle was decided nice and easy, but as for the girl bits a battle has ensured with me refusing to back down. Brian seriously wants to teach the kids to call it (Gran close your eyes if you're reading) Fanny. What the hell is up with that? I just cannot imagine that word coming out of an innocent childs mouth. So this argument has gone on for five years now. We've managed to get this far without the boys asking the direct question.

But today all thanks to this painting and the conversation following, all our problems are solved.

Liam: Mum I did this painting of you today. You're the yellow one.
Me: Cool, great picture babe. Who else is in the painting?
Liam: I'm blue and the other one is Daddy.
Me: I thought you said it was me?
Liam: It can't be you cause this ones got a doodle!
Me: Oh, ok.

Silence for about 2 minutes

Liam: When it's you I do a stripe.
Me: What do you mean?
Liam: You don't have a doodle, you have a stripe, so that's what I paint.

I have never in my life had to fight so hard to stifle laughter.

We love to bake

2008-10-03T15:53:00.000+10:00

Well the original plan was to make some basic biscuits to ice, but when we didn't have all the ingredients luckily I was able to improvise with some shortbread. I have to say though, iced shortbread is so not as nice as biscuits.

Here's the boys icing to their hearts content:

And proud as punch at the end results:

Just sharing something that amuses me

2008-09-26T15:20:00.006+10:00

I have to admit that I stole this from someone on EB using it as their signature, but everytime I see it I still laugh. I think it's the bacon that gets me every time.

I think it all started with this one.
I laughed so hard I cried.

Just too cute not to post

2008-09-20T14:05:00.002+10:00

What's nicer than a snuggle with your brothers.

Especially when it's not prompted by Mummy,

but rather by your brothers setting it all up while Mummy goes to the loo.

WOW...I think I've finally mastered something crafty

2008-09-20T12:00:00.010+10:00

I actually spend a fair bit of time surfing the blogs of crafty people - drooling over their artfulness and admonishing myself for my severe lack of talent.

But today I had a burst of inspiration and let rip with what I'm calling an "Art Display Canvas".

Ok so admittedly only some material and staples and a little bit of talent - hell who am I kidding, my besties 12 y/o could probably make one just as good. But still - I'm proud.

This is just a close up so you get the idea

My bit of allright husband

2008-09-19T10:16:00.003+10:00

Since Mr I love myself is now walking around with the biggest head in history - I thought I'd bring him crashing back down to earth.

Hmmmm can anyone say *cough* closet?

Nom Nom Nom

2008-09-17T18:37:00.002+10:00

Well today we finally went for broke and Imogen got to wrap her taste buds around rice cereal. Mmmmmm nom, nom, nom - NOT

Yes, I'm all cute and happy.
I'm siting on the table, I've never done that before.
I wonder what's going on?

Okay, what's that stuff that Mummy's holding?
It looks a bit suss

Hmmm, it's going in my mouth.
It can't be too bad right? RIIIIGHT?

Mmmmm.....if only

2008-09-17T18:31:00.002+10:00

Conversation I had with Liam this morning while driving to kinder:

Liam: Mum can you go to the paint shop while I'm a kinder and buy some red paint?
Me: What do you need red paint for?
Liam: So we can paint your car red.
Me: Babe, it doesn't work like that. Whatever color car you buy, that the color you need to have.
Liam: Well next time we go to Subaru can you buy a red car? So then you can be Lightening McQueen and Daddy's car can be his friend?
Me: Ummm, we'll see.

Gee, do you think that Daddy has them hooked on Subaru?

Fathers Day 2008

2008-09-07T23:11:00.000+10:00

Ahh there was fun to be had all around - although I think the boys got more of a kick of of the pressies than their Daddy did. Oh and take special note of Brian's lovely tie. Another pressie proudly made by Liam at Kinder.

The thumb is mightier than the munch

2008-09-04T10:56:00.001+10:00

It's time I made it official - I have a thumb sucker!

As much as I know that it's not ideal, she is just so damn cute sucking away.

Oh and just for good measure this is what you get when the thumb is otherwise occupied.

Grrr what is with the pixilated photobucket pics :(

A bogan child no longer

2008-08-29T16:17:00.003+10:00

Okay, so I'm not the best hairdresser in the world but a pair of sharp scissors and a wriggly four month old are not a good combination. Here's the results:

Imogen BM (Before Mullet)

Imogen AM (After Mullet)

Yeah, yeah I know the cutting job is dodgy but gee it looks a damn sight better.

This post is bought to you by the letter L and the number 5

2008-08-19T16:59:00.005+10:00

Five years . . . five emotionally draining, tiring, pull your hair out years but the best years of my life.

Five years ago today we commenced a new chapter in mine and Brian's lives - we became parents.

Liam George 8lb 12.5oz 55cm long

This little being that I'd dreamt of for so many years was finally here. I'd longed for your touch, longed to stroke that baby velveteen skin, longed for that moment when your eyes first met mine and now here you were. Those first few days were a blur but having you home with me was nothing short of amazing.

Then the reality hit and along with this came the panic. Am I doing the right things? Why isn't he sleeping? Why does he keep crying even though I'm holding him? Why is he still losing weight? How can I not have enough breast milk? What type of a mother am I if I can't do the basics like breastfeed? Why do I feel like I've failed him?

I look back now and shake my head at my naivety. I really struggled those first few months. Not that I struggled with Liam - he was nothing short of an angel baby. But I struggled with myself. It took me almost three years to even be able to talk about my struggles breastfeeding Liam without crying. If I only knew then what I know now - but I guess that's what being a first time parent is all about.

My baby boy you taught me what life is all about. I cannot even put into words the joy and wonderment you put into my days. I thank you for all that you are and all that you have made me to be.

Happy Birthday my Big Man xx

And again since it's all over the WWW I thought I should put it up here as well - Liam's Birth Story:

I considered that I was having a fairly normal pregnancy - morning sickness until 14 weeks, bad indigestion for the whole thing (and I mean really bad indigestion), except for the excessive weight gain.

The weight gain didn't really start until the last trimester. I had my gestational diabetes test at 28 weeks, but didn't have another appointment with my OB until 32 weeks. Obviously he didn't check the results until my appointment, since I wasn't asked to come in early. I ended up with GD that I couldn't control with food and was on insulin injections. At the same time my blood pressure was high enough for me to be put on medication for it. The only good news that came out of this was an induction at 38 weeks.

The induction went smoothly - 1st lot of gel at 7am and other at about lunch time. By about 2pm I could feel period pain cramping in my lower stomach. My water broke at about 4pm and along with that came intense contractions 3 minutes apart. This part of the labour continued for a few hours with the contractions getting closer together, me having the gas and eventually asking for an epidural. I was given pethidene at 11pm and the epidural went in at about 11.30pm. Apparently I went straight to sleep.

I was woken up to check how the epidural was working with the ice block. When they got up to my breasts and I still couldn't feel anything the midwife had a bit of a panic and people started running around pushing a beanbag and heaps of pillows behind me so I was almost sitting up to a 90 degree angle.The epidural had pretty much stopped the contractions, but had really dropped my blood pressure so I had one arm hooked up to two IV lines and the other arm with a blood pressure cuff permanently left on and the monitor thing on my finger permanently left on.
At this point I was drifting in and out of sleep for a few hours (God knows how!) and eventually started pushing at 3am.This is when I realised that the epidural was not working properly - I could feel in some areas, but not in others. Unfortunately, the place I could feel really well was my bum. I said this to the midwife who said "I'm sorry darl, but that's probably the worst place to feel it". (Thanks for the encouragement)

I felt like I had been pushing forever when the OB finally appeared, did an internal and decided that one lip of my cervix just would not flick back, so it was time for a vacuum extraction. Throughout the whole birth, this being inserted was the most painful part. The midwife and DH had to pretty much hold me down as I was climbing the walls from the pain.
I remember the OB sitting on a stool between my legs and pulling with all his might every time I pushed through a contraction. All of a sudden, the vacuum slipped and the OB went flying off the chair, back into the wall, while I screamed from the most excruciating pain I have ever experienced. The OB started yelling instructions at the midwife and the room started filling up with equipment and people. I saw him pick up something that looked like scissors (my DH looked like he was going to pass out at this point) and then he cut me, and went in with the forceps. This is when he realised that Liam had his head turned at a funny angle - he tried to turn him, couldn't and just grabbed what he could with the forceps and pulled his head out. Then Liam's body just followed through with the next contraction. This was at 3.51am.
He was put straight on to a resus table and checked out before they passed him to me for a few seconds. I was told he wasn't breathing properly and had to go the SCN. I sent DH with him. The placenta was delivered and I was stitched up and given an injection to help me sleep. The next thing I knew it was 7am and I still hadn't really seen my baby.
A midwife came and I asked to see Liam. She was shocked that I hadn't been allowed to see him yet. She told me that before they would bring him in, I should be warned that he was a little bruised and battered from the birth.

I cried when I saw him - he had a cut that went across his nose, the bridge of his nose was swollen and a black/yellow color which went all the way over his eye and on to his forehead. On the top of his head he had an enormous bruise (the size of the vacuum suction cup) with a deep cut running through it that was about 6cms long. I was told to breastfeed him with him lying down and me leaning over him as he would be in too much pain if he was held upright at all. I wasn't allowed to move him other than to change his nappy then back to the SCN to be monitored. He was allowed in my room after about another 12 hours.

Liam was born 8lb 12.5oz and was 55cms long.

Snipity, snip, snip

2008-08-17T10:09:00.002+10:00

Would it be remiss of me to say that I giggle everytime Brian tries to walk.

Ok, so I don't outright laugh in his face - but by God am I getting a good snigger at his John Waynesque gait.

And the nightmare begins...

2008-08-17T09:59:00.005+10:00

The dreaded post pregnancy shed.

So you're probably wondering why it's a nightmare???

www.dontlookbacktheymightbegainingonyou.blogspot.com/2008/04/at-what-point-does-quirkiness-become.html

And there is your answer!

I like to bounce

2008-08-16T22:10:00.005+10:00

Considering the princess is obsessed with standing I though I'd try her out in some new positions to see what she thought...

And today was the first exploration of a playground.

By all accounts, both seemed to be a hit!

In keeping with the Olympic theme

2008-08-16T21:10:00.006+10:00

Let them eat ~~cake~~ donuts...

Grrrr I don't know what is up with Blogger, but this pic is crystal clear on photobucket!

To my littlest man

2008-08-15T19:22:00.007+10:00

A year ago tomorrow at precisely 9.42pm my life changed forever - forever for the better.

Jack Graham Brodrick 10lb 13oz (4990gms) 59cms long

When I close my eyes I can still feel the excitement and anxiousness building while waiting for my contractions to start - watching the clock tick by waiting for that first little sign that you were making your way into the world.

In what was to become so much like you, you arrived with all the bells and whistles blaring. Just like it is today, four years ago the Olympics was playing in the background. Ausralia was celebrating a gold medal win and just as the first strains of Advance Australia Fair began playing you took your first breath. Your Daddy and I wonder whether it's an omen of what's to come - maybe you'll one day be an Olympic athlete. Your Daddy thinks more like a politician since you've been blessed with the gift of the gab.

Looking at you now, it's so hard to imagine that you and that chubby bubby are one and the same. You've become such a little man and you amaze me everyday with your thoughts and actions. You are now, and always will be my little ray of sunshine.

Happy 4th Birthday Little Man xx

And since I have it saved on my computer and various places all over the WWW - here's Jack's birth story:

Jack Graham (aka Horace throughout pg)was born 16th Aug 2004 at 9.42pm. Weighing 10lb 13oz, 59cm long and with a head circumference of 36.5cm.

Where to begin...At 36 weeks an ultrasound estimated that Horace's size was already 9lb 2oz, so I begged them to induce me before 40 weeks. I know most people hate the idea of inductions, but Liam was 8lb 12oz and I had heaps of trouble delivering him (failed vacuum extraction, episiotomy and forceps delivery) so I was scared that the same thing would happen again. The OB said no for the time being and to discuss it with him at 38 weeks again.

So 37 weeks comes around an it's a different OB and she doesn't even want to talk about inductions, so instead I convince her to give me an internal to see if anything is happening. Thank god - I am 2.5cm dilated and 30% effaced, so I can finally have my induction.

16th August, 2004

7.45am Arrived at the hospital and was shown to a delivery suite and was told to make myself comfortable and that a m/w would be with me shortly.

8.30am Still no sign of any m/w.

9.00am M/w comes in and explains that since I am an elective induction, I have a lesser priority over some of the other patients, and that she was about to go and do an emergency caesarian, I had to bide my time. She said not to panic and that my baby would be still born today.

Between 9am and 11am I have several m/ws check in to see how I am and to make sure that I am settled in.

11am Another m/w and student come in and want to break my water. She has two goes and can't break the membrane. Another midwife has two goes as well and she can't break it either. They call in an OB to have a go. The OB gets it first go, but I think it's because she is SOOO much rougher than the m/ws. Anyone who tells you that having you water broken doesn't hurt, lies. (Then again maybe it was just that OB).

Between 11am and 1.30pm Nothing was really happening except fairly mild contractions.

1.30pm Here is where the pain started to kick in. This is when the m/ws decided that I was officially in labor. From here the contractions were at about 2 minutes apart and lasting for about 45 seconds. The m/w offered to check how dilated I was, but I said no as I was not too concerned as I knew I still had hours to go.

4.00pm Decided it was time for the gas. At this point the only comfortable position for me was sitting straight upright with my legs handing over the side of the bed. The gas was great. At first it wasn't doing anything, so the m/w turned it up and suddenly, WHAM, the room was spinning. I didn't tell the m/w that as there was no way I was letting go of the gas.

6.00pm Time for the epidural. I was really concerned about getting this, as it was patchy with DS1. Between contractions, I managed a discussion with the anesthetist as to why it didn't work last time, and was it going to happen again. Basically the answer was, I don't know - to both questions. By this stage I figured, what the hell, he is here anyway, might as well do it. It took 5 attempts and staying still during contractions is almost impossible, but boy was it worth it.

7.00pm Pain free and kicking back watching TV. After Liam's birth, it was really weird to be in labor and not in pain. I could still feel when I was having a contraction, but it just felt more like pressure rather than pain. I don't believe that I slept at all during this stage, but I did really relax.

8.50pm The pressure is getting a lot stronger and I feel like I need to push. The m/w checks me and tells me that I can push whenever I am ready. This starts off a flurry of activity - things are getting wheeled in, other things moved out.

The bed is getting set up for the stirrups (I asked for them to help push). Did you know that they end of the bed comes off for these? I found it quite fascinating, the m/ws were laughing at me.

It was at this stage that I started to get a bit panicky. I had got a hemorrhoid the day before and I was terrified that it was going to get worse and/or I'd get more. The m/w thought this was funny and said that it should be the least of my concerns. Brian thought that me having a hemorrhoid was hysterical and proceeded to call it Roy and informed the m/w of this. So here I am, legs in stirrups, in full labor, big hemorrhoid sticking out of my bum, and Brian and the m/w are pissing themselves laughing at my expense. I was not amused, as you could imagine.

Suddenly the room is full of people, there are 2 trainee m/ws (one of which is delivering the baby), and 3 other m/ws. They start telling me to push harder when I have contraction, 3 pushes per contraction. Between contractions they are all talking amongst themselves, but soon as one starts building they all are staring intently between my legs. As the head starts to crown, they ask Brian and my mother if they want to look. Brian declines, but they talk him into it. I can tell by the look on his face that he was a little horrified by what he saw, but my mum is almost crying. They ask me if I want a mirror - No thank you!!! One of the m/ws is giving me a running commentary of how much of the babies head you can see. It's the size of a 20c piece, it's the size of a vegemite jar. By the time she got to margarine container, I was beginning to think he was never coming out. How much bigger could his head be??

9.42pm All of a sudden he was there. They told me to stop pushing while they cleared his airway, but the next contraction pushed him out without me trying. I was stunned. I just lay there, I didn't know what to say or do. I could hear the m/ws laughing and I was starting to stress out, but all they were doing was placing bets on his size. They brought him to me and my first thoughts where, "Oh my god, no wonder I was so fat". He was the boofiest thing I had ever seen. But he was also the most precious thing (well equal to his brother) that I had ever seen.

After this, it was the usual, deliver placenta, get stitched up (2nd degree tear), feed baby, have shower.

And thus - Jack Graham entered the world.

What was Mummy thinking?

2008-08-03T21:32:00.001+10:00

Since Miss Imogen is now too small for her baby bath, I decided to try a novel approach...

Probably won't be doing that again in a hurry considering I ended up almost as wet as her!

It's a pain in the bum that one of my knees is still too wrecked from her birth for me to be able to bath her in the big bath - although that said, at least I can palm bath time off to Daddy :)

Not content with loving their sister to death...

2008-07-19T12:58:00.004+10:00

... the boys have taken it to a whole new level

If I was a horse, they would have shot me

2008-07-17T19:00:00.001+10:00

Ahh the words of wisdom from a great friend ring so true.

Why is it that I can't even have a medical issue like a normal person? Everything seems to be blown into some kind of drama.

After my last post about having this great new super hearing, it's all gone pear shaped. My right ear (my so-called bad ear) got infected and was bleeding (hmm lovely yeah). After a trip to the GP and a phone call to the hospital I was booked in for an "emergency consultation". I was having a bit of a laugh that they call it an "emergency consultation" since I had to wait over a week for it. In the meantime I had antibiotics to take and I had to see my GP on Monday if it got worse.

Well by Sunday night that whole side of my face was hurting, so back to the GP again. This time I was put on antibiotic eardrops. Interesting fact though - instructions say not for perforated ear drums but I was told to ignore that.

So I had my "emergency consultation" today. It was the head surgeon that I saw. In a nutshell he told me I'm a freak. When they cut my ear drums there was no fluid at all in there, which he admits is really strange considering all my test results done prior to surgery. They put the tubes in anyway based on those previous results. My right ear has some pretty bad scarring from previous surgery (I had grommets as a child - twice I think) and he thinks that may be what is affecting my hearing.

So after all that, I have to go back again next week when the infection is fully cleared for more hearing tests. He just said he'll have to play it by ear (and gave a nice little chuckle at his own humour) after my next appointment.

Bring on next week so I can just get this all over and done with.

My wannabe photographer

2008-07-12T21:00:00.000+10:00

As per usual, if I'm silly enough to leave my camera anywhere that it can be accessed (and by accessed I mean climbing the kitchen stool if need be) Liam will be running around snapping at anything he can.

Daddy playing with Lego.......................Mummy & Imogen.............................Nan & Grandad

Jack..............................................Imogen..............................Imogen, Daddy & Grandad

Hmmm, what an interesting collection

2008-07-09T09:01:00.005+10:00

Hopefully it's one I won't be needing to be adding to for a long, long time.

Well I must say that the Victorian public health system certainly works in my favour.

For those that don't know, I've had problems my right ear since about half way through my pregnancy. I had constant ear infections and fluid build up that couldn't be cleared. By the time I had Imogen I'd ended up with glue ear and I couldn't hear anything. I couldn't even hear my baby crying if there was background noise. It has gotten to the point where it was really affecting my daily life because my hearing was so bad.

I saw a specialist on June 18th. He determined that my hearing was severely reduced in both ears. I was really shocked to find out that my hearing was actually worse in my left ear even though I hadn't had any problems with it. I thought my left ear was fine. Turns out that because my right ear is blocked, my hearing is muffled from that ear thus making my brain think it's worse. Weird hey?

So I was put into the public system for bilateral grommets (tubes in both ears) as a category 2 patient (which means the surgery should be done in 90 days). Last Tuesday I got a phone call from Footscray Hospital telling me that although I'm meant to be having surgery at Sunshine, they've got a vacancy for Monday the 7th and would I like it? Umm, yeah - of course.

So on Monday I was admitted at 12, whipped in for surgery (first cab off the rank, what a bargain) and was discharged by 3pm. Admittedly I was still feeling quite groggy and like I wanted to spew, but that was fixed by a 2 hour sleep once I got home.

So now it's 2 days post op and I can't get over how different my hearing is. Is kind of scary to realise how much I couldn't actually hear before. I'm pretty excited though.

Ask me how excited I am in about a week though - I'm sure my tornado kids will change my mind.

Hmmm, a baker I aint

2008-06-30T23:05:00.004+10:00

For those who don't know, my little brother is a qualified baker (and a good one at that I might add). I was hoping it might be in the genes, but alas...

So I get a breadmaker and after a few successful loaves I'm thinking I'm Otto Plarre (of the Fergurson Plarre fame)and decide to bake some hot dog rolls.

Now bear in mind I DON'T BAKE. Prior to the breakmaker any form of baking dies in the ass - cakes turn out like pancakes, soft biscuits are hard as a rock. You get my drift? But now this breadmaker has got me not so quietly confident.

And my hot dog roll - da darrrrhhhh......

Look like anaemic pieces of dog shit. Hmmm, I'm also thinking the taste may have been comparable.

Baby's got style

2008-06-30T22:31:00.004+10:00

I saw these adorable little shoes today and I just couldn't help myself.

I got them in one size bigger, so they should be good over summer.

What a bargain though, they were only $5

The things we do to get our kids to eat part 2

2008-06-26T10:52:00.001+10:00

Today we have little houses with a butterfly in the sky.

Welcome to the world little one

2008-06-08T12:05:00.000+10:00

I figured that it's finally time that I get around to writing up Imogen's birth story. The longer I leave it, I'm pretty sure the more I'll forget.

If you've read my last post, you'll know that I was scheduled for an induction on Thursday April 24th, 2008. From the moment the midwife wrote my details in her diary, I was counting down practically every second. I wasn't either nervous or scared. It even really wasn't that I was waiting to meet my baby - I just wanted my body back. I wanted to be able to breathe, sleep, eat and roll over again.

The alarm went off at 5am and I lay in bed rubbing my belly for what I desperately hoped was the last time. Brian was already up and in the shower and the boys (who had miraculously appeared in our bed at some ungodly hour) were trying to jump all over me. I dragged myself out of bed and got the kids dressed for creche and made sure their bags were packed. The whole time I kept reminding them that they were going to be big brothers today. Both of them seemed excited - Liam especially. Brian left to drop them at creche and I jumped into the shower and finished putting the last few things in my suitcase. By the time I'd done all of that, Jacqui (my best friend and birth support person) had arrived so now we were just waiting for Brian.

Before we could leave for the hospital - I had to indulge in my last big craving. I'd organised with Brian to pick up Maccas for breakfast on his way back home. Mmmm, that breakfast roll went down a treat.

We got to the hospital at about 7.45am (oops a bit late) and were taken to a delivery room straight away. I was hooked up to a monitor (man I hate those things) and told the Dr would be in soon to do an internal and see whether they were going to use gel or just break my water. So it finally got to 9am when we saw the Drs and they decided to give me gel. Their parting words to me were - we'll see you at 3pm to see if you need more gel. I was thinking "What the hell - 3pm, as if nothing will happen by 3pm." Pfft...famous last words.

So back on to the monitor we go again. They want at least a 20 minute trace after having the gel. Miss B doesn't like the monitor. She never has. Actually Miss B doesn't like much - any touch to my stomach makes her move away, so I knew this was going to be the longest 20 minutes ever. Especially since in this pregnancy I've had problems with my back and hips and any laying on my back becomes excruciating after a few minutes. I think I spent almost 1.5hrs with that stupid monitor strapped to me before I was finally allowed to get up. I decided to try sitting on a birth ball to ease some of my back pain. It was absolutely killing me and I wasn't even in labour yet. So to kill some time I read a magazine, I helped Jacqui and Brian do a crossword, we played eye spy. We were ridiculously bored and hanging for something to happen, but no. Lunch time came and went and still nothing.

Finally 3pm comes around and the midwife comes in and wants another trace. She asks me if I've had any contractions and I said that my back was killing me, but apart from that nothing. So on the monitor we go AGAIN (did I mention that I really, really hate this monitor by now).

After a while I realise that the back pain I've had is actually registering as contractions on the machine. I never thought I'd be excited to see those numbers going up - but I really was. I decided that now would be a good time to try to get some rest before the real action kicked in. I lay there with my eyes closed, not sleeping but just drifting when all of a sudden big contraction from out of nowhere. Only thing is, just like Liam's birth it's not my upper or lower stomach that's hurting, but the pain is all in my bum - it feels like she's trying to come out through there. I didn't move a muscle and just waited for it to go away.

At this stage I didn't mention anything to Jacqui or Brian - they didn't notice anyway as they were too busy arguing over crossword puzzles. I just waited it out to see if there was more coming. About three minutes later another wave of pressure hit my rear again. This time I said to Brian and Jacqui "Check this out" pointing to the machine. I was so excited to be actually going into labour without needing more gel.

Finally 4pm rolls around and the midwife announces she's not going to wait any longer for the OBs and will do an internal to see if she can break my water. Luckily enough I'm now dilated enough and just as she goes to do it the OBs walk in. A conference happens between the three of them and it's agreed to go ahead. By this time I'm wanting to yell "Just somebody bloody well do it" after all the stuffing around. So the water is broken and it's now all systems go.

From this point on, I pretty much lost all sense of time except for occasionally hearing what was on the TV in the background. I know I laboured for a while sitting in bed before it started getting a little too painful. Then I laboured for a while bouncing on a fit ball whilst leaning on the bed. I'm pretty sure it was at this point that I started with the gas. Now I have to say here that boy was I loving that gas. For anyone who has not tried it, this is the simplest description I can give - you know when your really drunk and you fall over quite badly...so badly that you know it hurts but your too drunk to care. That's like gas - the pain is still there, but you're too off your face to associate with it.

I'd previously discussed both with my physio and Anita (my midwife) the best positions for birthing a big baby and both agreed that being on all fours, leaning over a fit ball was ideal. Funnily enough when that primal urge took over, that is exactly what I felt like doing. So on to the floor I went with the gas tube snaking along behind me. That position felt much easier as much of the pressure seemed to be relieved. I laboured like this for what seemed to be hours before the gas just wasn't cutting it any longer. Once I'd realised this, I wanted pethidine and I wanted it NOW.

As soon as that needle went in I felt almost immediate relief and again nature took over and I laid down on my side in the fetal position. I don't remember too much between now and the pushing stage as I thought I just slept until it was time to push - but apparently not. Apparently I was awake with each contraction and I was still using the gas.

When the time came to push, that primal instinct took over once again. I still had the gas at that point and was still leaning over the fit ball. I remember getting angry as the gas wasn't doing anything, but I was at the point where I couldn't talk anymore to ask for it to be turned up, so I threw the hose across the floor and just concentrated through the pain. By now the pressure was that great that I was unable to control myself from making guttural sounds with each contraction. It's weird when I look back to the boys births as they were both so quiet in comparison. According to my discharge notes, I was pushing for 35 minutes - but I really must have been drifting in and out for it because it really only felt like 10 minutes to me.

I remember the Anita asking me if I wanted to feel the baby's head coming out but I was too exhausted to even try - all I wanted to do was to get her out and get rid of the pressure I was feeling. Finally I felt a tremendous release and her head was free and with the next contraction the rest of her followed.

Welcome to the world Imogen Laura Brodrick at 8pm on April 24th, 2008

First photo

Weighing in at a massive 4780gms (or 10lb 8oz for the oldies) and 53cm (21.5") long with Apgars of 8 at 1 minute and 9 at 5 minutes.

So now should have been the easy part, delivering the placenta. I stayed in that same position on the floor on the birth ball to deliver the placenta and Brian had brought Imogen over to me for that first meeting. I looked at that puffy little face and was instantly in love.

It's at this point that I want to say that anyone who is particularly sensitive or is currently pregnant might want to hit the back button. Although we were extremely fortunate enough to have a great outcome, things were a little scary for a while.

Whilst I was cooing at my beautiful new daughter I could see Brian looking over my head watching the midwives working to remove my placenta. I could feel the cord being pulled but I could no long feel any contractions to push the placenta out. According to Brian he could see the midwives whispering amongst themselves. I heard Anita say to Julia (the student midwife) to get her another container then she said quite urgently to me "Kylee, I need you to roll over on to your back right now and push the placenta out".

I wasn't too sure but I felt like I was bleeding quite heavily so I said to Anita "Am I hemorrhaging? I did with both the boys but not badly." She seemed a little panicked with my statement and asked how much I'd bleed. I told her only 500mls and didn't need a transfusion or anything. I was feeling quite laid back about what was going on - I'd been in this position before - no big deal. Just as I was thinking this Anita asked Jacqui to hit the assist button on the wall and had told Julia to go and get another midwife. This is when I started to think that maybe this was much worse than the boys.

The room started to fill up with people and I managed to look over at Brian who had been pushed to the far side of the room out of the way. I didn't feel at all scared or that the situation was out of control until I looked into Brian's eyes and saw just blind panic. He handed Imogen to Jacqui and came around and knelt beside me and started rubbing my face telling me that everything was going to be okay. I had doctors and midwives surrounding me (in total there was 8 of them in the room). I had a catheter put in, I had IV lines being shoved in both my arms and some sort of pain killer tablets being administered in my rear and a midwife with his hand inside my uterus trying to curb the blood flow. All the while Brian was kissing my forehead and stroking my hair telling me that is was all going to be ok. (I have to admit that I'm struggling to write this part as I know that from talking to Brian later that it was at this point that he was trying to reassure me whilst thinking that I was dying before his eyes)

Because I was laying on mats on the floor on my back, I couldn't see the floor but I could still feel the blood flowing quite freely. My only real indication at the time of how much I was bleeding was seeing the Drs and midwives legs covered in my blood as they worked around me. I looked to the side and I could see Anita with a metal tray and pieces of my placenta trying to put them all back together like a jigsaw puzzle so that they could ascertain how much was still retained.

Another Dr came into the room, spoke briefly to the others then quickly donned some gloves and took over from the midwife who was trying to stop the bleeding from the inside. I'm not sure how many people where actually touching me at this point but there was pushing and shoving going on all over my stomach whilst the Dr felt around internally trying to assess exactly where I was bleeding from. Suddenly he pulled his hand back out holding a piece of placenta - and just like that the bleeding stopped.

As I found out later what had happened was that my placenta had torn quite badly leaving behind a large piece still attached to the wall of my uterus. My uterus was still supplying blood to it so as fast as the blood was being pumped into that piece of placenta it was running out the other side and straight through me out on to the floor.

Now that the bleeding had been stopped they wanted me moved up onto the bed so that they could properly get all the IV lines and blood transfusion going. I had three or four people around me pushing and pulling me into a sitting position. I felt like I had no control of my body and I couldn't move myself without their help. They kept telling me that I had to get my feet under me so I could stand up, but I just couldn't do it. Eventually they managed to lift me to my feet and with their support I was led to the bed. It was only at this point that I managed to look around me and see the reason that Brian had looked so scared. Over half the floor in the delivery room was covered in my blood. At some point it must have really been pumping it out as around the bottom of the walls you could even see where the blood had splashed up. There were sheets, blankets and paper towels strewn around the place - again all covered in my blood. It was only really now that I grasped the reality of how bad this had really been.

Eventually everything was restored back to normal other than me being covered in IV lines. Brian and Jacqui headed out to the corridor to make phone calls and one of the OBs returned to do my stitches. While sewing away she quietly said to me "Kylee do you realise how serious that situation was? We came very close to losing you. Are you planning on having more children?" Before I could even reply to anything she said "I couldn't strongly recommend highly enough that you have no more children. I believe it's too dangerous for you." I think I was still too much in shock to even give her a decent reply other than we weren't planning on anymore anyway. Her reply was a firm "Good"

The next morning Anita came to see me for what I guess you would call a little debriefing session. I think it was as much for her as it was for me. She said in her career she'd never seen anyone bleed like that and it scared her. She said that she'd read about it in text books but the likelihood of actually seeing something like it was low. She was over the moon to see me looking so well and chirpy. I asked her about Julia, the student midwife, and how she is after the night before. Anita admitted that once the room started filing up, Julia panicked and left the room. I felt so bad for that poor woman. Turns out it was her last shift of placement. I hope to hell that I haven't put her off.

So from here on in the rest of my hospital stay was a non event. I was kept in for a total of 5 days because they wanted to be 100% sure I was fine before releasing me.

I was released on antibiotics because after the manual removal of my placenta the chances of infection were high. But I'll save that story for a whole new monster post.

After everything that has happened, as much of a cliche it sounds, it's made me stop and evaluate my life. I missed out on the kids as babies while I was working long days, I missed out on spending time with my husband whilst working at night, I didn't look after my health so my weight hit an all time high a few years ago, I guess I didn't really look after anything except the day to day slog and I don't want it to be that way anymore.

So here's to a brand new life of family, fun and love and lots of Mummy and Wifey time for everyone.

The things that bring back childhood memories...

2008-05-31T11:34:00.007+10:00

Two weeks ago (yeah I know I'm slack in posting) Brian and I were going stir crazy in the house with the kids so we decided to go for a drive to Mt Macedon.

When we got there we did a bit of a debate about walking up to the memorial cross as it was late in the afternoon and only six degrees, but we figured after driving here we may as well.

As we got to the end of the walking trail, Brian and boys ran ahead up to the cross and I stood on top of the little hill looking down at this..

(Yes that is Brian and boys standing under it, but it's really too dark to see)

Surprisingly it really stirred up some feelings - I think maybe because it was only just after ANZAC day and I'd been thinking a fair bit about my grandfather serving in the war.

When I reached the bottom and walked around the cross I began to feel really quite emotional as on the back of the cross I found this lone bunch of flowers:

I didn't actually cry looking at them, but I really felt like I needed to and I'm not entirely sure why. Yes, I know I've just had a baby and are quite hormonal - but the feelings were very strong.

Anwyay, I was quickly brought back to reality by the kids insisting that I take photos of them:

Then there was the view from there:

And lastly the pic that really brought back the childhood memories:

Yes I know it's just the sun through the trees in the bush, but when I looked at it I saw it through a little girls eyes. That same little girl who used to spend school holidays at her Grandparents house in Macedon. That same little tomboy who would almost squeal with delight at the prospect at walking into town with her Poppy - walking through the bush path, listening to all the birds and looking around at the sun streaming through the trees. I'd honestly forgotten about those walks my Poppy and I used to take. I really hope in my heart that he remembers too.

EDITED TO ADD: I don't know what is up with the photos. They are as clear as day in photobucket, but for some stupid reason have come out all pixilated here.

The things we do to get our kids to eat

2008-05-20T17:07:00.005+10:00

Introducing "Fish nuggets swimming in yellow & green seaweed"

(Oh and just for the record, they still didn't eat their vegies)

And out of the rubble arose a city

2008-05-20T16:06:00.007+10:00

A sheet of cardboard, a big black texta, some toys and a big imagination is all that's needed for a makeshift city.

Just a quick running update

2008-05-07T14:31:00.007+10:00

I know there are a fair few people asking for updates so I thought I'd better quickly pop one in.

Imogen Laura was born April 24th, 2008 at 8.40pm

She was 4780gms (or 10lb 8oz for you oldschoolers) and was 53cms (20.9in) long

Her birth went really well and I actually managed to give birth without an epidural (for those who don't know me well, I'll admit that I'm a real wuss when it comes to pain).

After the birth was where the complications set in - I had a rather large hemorrhage which resulted in two blood transfusions and having to spend 5 days in hospital.

When we finally came home, I got busy writing her birth story. I spent three days on it and I'm still only up to my waters breaking - so be prepared for the epic when it's finally posted.

Unfortunately I got sick last weekend and ended up back in hospital with a Golden Staph infection and I've only just got home again today.

So now I'm fighting fit and just a little sleep deprived, so watch this space and I promise I'll be back to crazy blogging sooner rather than later.

Oh and here's some pictures of the (no so) Little Miss:

The last OB's appointment

2008-04-23T18:43:00.004+10:00

Am finally back on here after my OB appointment.

I saw a different guy again today, but he is one of the senior OBs.

He is really relaxed and down to earth. He had a quick look at my file, asked a couple of questions, checked bp, did a quick ultrasound to make sure that Miss B is head down and then said the magic words..."Let's get you booked in for an induction!"

He sent me around to the booking midwife, but with the strict instructions that I must be booked when there will be a registrar(sp?)working. (This is because of the size of the baby they are worried about the possibility of shoulder dystocia). So that put Fri/Sat/Sun out of the question. So I said "How busy are you tomorrow?" And she said that tomorrow was all good if I was ready. Hell yes I'm ready.

So tomorrow morning (Thursday 24th) 7.30am it's induction time YAY, YAY.

So to all my family and friends, please be patient waiting for the announcement. Just remember Liam's labour was 18 hours and Jack's was 9. If it gets too late at night, we won't be texting people until the next morning.

See you all on the other side.

Baby B finally has a bedroom

2008-04-21T17:27:00.003+10:00

And not a moment too late considering she's due today.

Seriously we are going to be so, so screwed if she is infact a he.

This is what her room looked like this morning:

From the doorway:

From next to the cot:

From the wardrobe:

The eviction notice has been served

2008-04-20T14:35:00.002+10:00

Dear Miss B

Tenant has 3 days in which she can either gather her belongings and vacate the premises, or wait until the final day. After which she will be physically removed from the property.

She is being evicted due to a breech of contract and destruction of property.

Expansions only to the front of the property, within reasonable limits, were discussed. Not only have these limits been exceeded, but additions to the back of the property were also made.

Remodeling and gutting the property was never approved, nor was changing the initial layout and base structure.

Due to property damage, there are now leaks in both upper and lower levels of the property.

Also, late night parties have been discovered on the property and are not greatly appreciated!

Any further problems will result in immediate removal!

Sincerely the Landlady (Your mother)

*I can't take credit for this one - I found it on the web and thought it was cute.

39 week monster belly shot

2008-04-18T09:57:00.005+10:00

After my wishful thinking that last week would be my last belly shot, here in all it's glory is my 39 week belly shot. If you are wondering why it looks like it's really shrunk there is 2 reasons.

1. Little miss is fully engaged now and

2. I'm wearing my new funky abdominal support band.

Fingers crossed for me that this really is my last belly shot.

Is this the longest pregnancy in the world or what?

2008-04-16T22:33:00.002+10:00

This time I saw a different OB again.

For some reason my file had been misplaced (aparently they were still waiting for it to come up from records where they think it was after my physio appointment yesterday), so all they had was the record book that I carry. I had to go through and explain my history all over again.

I explained everything that happened with my physio yesterday and she seemed not worried at all. Infact she didn't really say anything.

My blood pressure was great, no protein in my urine, no swelling. Weirdest thing that happened was that my fundal height was only 45cm when last week it was 49cms. It hasn't been at 45cms for weeks. She double checked it again and said that it was definitely only 45cms. I was starting to think what the hell??? but it's a GOOD thing. What it means is that the baby has dropped right down and is now fully engaged. (Which is what I thought anyway because since Saturday my bum has felt like it wants to explode)

But no mention of induction even though last week I was told they wouldn't let me go over 40 weeks. So of course I wasn't going to let my chance of induction walk away. So I asked about it and was told:

"We don't induce due to hypertension. We don't induce due to pelvic instability. We don't induce do to abdominal separation. But since you have a combination of the three, you may be a candidate. Let me check."

As soon as she left the room I knew there was no chance because I knew the person she would have to consult would be the OB that I usually see (the guy that's the head of obstetrics). So of course she comes back and says that he said "no medical reason for the induction".

It took a major effort not to cry right there and then.

So I have another appointment booked for next wednesday when I'll be 40 weeks and 2 days. That's when they'll talk induction.

The only good news that I got out of today is that she thinks that there is no way that I'll still be pregnant next Wednesday.

So that's my sook for the day.

No actually - no I lie. My day did get worse.

I got my hair cut and it's horrid. It looks like an old lady cut and I'm really pissed off. All I wanted was for all my layers to be cut as they had grown way too long and I couldn't wear my hair out anymore. Now I've basically got a bloody fringe after taking ages to grow it out. Grrrr...really pisses me off that hairdressers think they know your hair better than you do.

Move over baby boy, a little man has emerged

2008-04-16T21:05:00.003+10:00

Finally after 3.5 years I bit the bullet.
Jack's hair has not been this short since he was a baby

This is the song that never ends

2008-04-16T08:43:00.001+10:00

And now Liam has croup as well

I just want to cry

2008-04-15T17:26:00.002+10:00

I'm having a really crappy day.

I've still got the same bloody cough that I've had for almost 6 weeks now. I really don't think it's going to go until this baby is out.

Overnight Jack came down with croup again. The last time he had it was only 6 weeks ago as well. Ever since then he hasn't been able to shake the cough but hasn't been sick. We took him back to the doctors this morning and his ears are inflamed (but not quite infected yet). So he's on antibiotics for that as he gets ear infections very frequently. He's been put back on Redipred for the next 3 days and he's been put on an asthma preventative. We were hoping that it wouldn't come to that, but I was warned about 12 months ago that it was likely he would be asthmatic since he has croup so often. He has to be on the preventer for 6 weeks and then we'll see how we go.

So one visit to the doctors just cost me $72 in medication today.

Then I had my physio appointment today. I haven't seen her for a while as she's been away and I had to cancel my last 2 appointments.

As soon as I walked in she looked at me really funny and was watching my stomach while I was walking. She had a bit of a chat with me about how things were going and then got me to get up on the bed so she could show me some relaxation techniques. So while I was laying on my side, she was feeling my diaphragm and teaching me to breathe. She was asking me about my stomach and if it felt sore or anything. I told her that for about 3 weeks I've had this pain like I had a pulled muscle, but it wasn't too bad. So she got me to lie on my back and she was doing some serious stomach feeling then making me lift my head up and down (which I might add was bloody hard to do).

She asked me to come and sit back down and told me that I've got a severe abdominal muscle separation. She said that she was already pretty certain before she felt my stomach just by looking at me because of the shape of my stomach (she called it dome shaped). I guess that's why everyone still thinks I'm carrying really high - it's not the baby - it's my stomach not being compressed by the muscles. So now I've got a new belly band to wear. This one is like a huge elasticised tube that goes around my stomach and supports it. My original support belt that went around my waist is meant to be worn over the top of it.

So now I'm on full-on strict rest. I'm not allowed to do ANYTHING. I can't lift a single thing, I'm not allowed to do grocery shopping, I'm not allowed to put washing on the line, basically I have to sit on my rear all day.

Then we talked about birth. This is the part that made me really upset. She has put in my file that she recommends that I have a caesar. Her exact words to me were "Your ability to push out a large baby would be extremely compromised with the condition your stomach muscles are in". She was then nice enough to go through birth and labour positions with me incase I have decided to go ahead with a vaginal birth. She said she'd give me the best chance possible of achieving a vaginal birth but she wanted me to have a really good think about it and have a big talk to my OB about it tomorrow.

So all in all I'm pretty upset about it. I know a caesar isn't the end of the world, but it's not what I had planned at all. I had accepted to go with the flow and if an emergency caesar eventuated, then so be it. But this is different.

I'll let you all know what the OB says tomorrow.

Having fun at Joshua's party

2008-04-14T19:36:00.010+10:00

Before we received the invitation, I'd never even heard of the Altona Miniature Railway so I wasn't sure what it would be like or if the boys would be scared of the train. As you can see from below, I need not have worried. The train rides were a huge hit.

Apart from the train rides, there was also pony rides to be had. Since both the boys are scared of animals I honestly thought that there was no way in hell that they'd even go near them. Wrong again...

Oh and the boys were also the coolest kids around (well they thought so) due to the fact they were sporting coloured hairspray and temporary tatts.

So all in all the boys had a fantastic day.

Joshua, we hope you enjoyed your birthday party as well :)

38 week OB appointment

2008-04-10T08:45:00.002+10:00

For the first time I saw someone different today.

I can't believe I got this far just seeing the one person going public through the hospital.

Anyway, the guy today was lovely.

Nothing exciting to report.

He checked fundal height LMAO 49cms now.

He agreed that it looks like another 10lber.

Sooooo...with that in mind he has agreed that I'll be induced at 40 weeks rather than letting me go over. So a big YAY to that!!

So I've got another appointment next Wednesday, hopefully it's a Clayton's one and I'll have this baby first.

I'm getting game with my 38 week monster shot

2008-04-09T09:32:00.003+10:00

38 weeks & 2 days

Well since I'm really hoping that this will be my last weekly pic, I thought I'd be game to show what my belly really looks like.

I apologise to anyone offended by my nakedness and granny undies.

The things to do on a lazy Saturday

2008-04-06T11:54:00.031+10:00

Step One: Steal Mummy's camera two days prior and hide it from her until the time is right for picture taking unsupervised.

Step Two: Wait until Daddy goes out and Mummy is resting to take some great random pics.

Step Three: Make a mental note to learn how to turn off the flash. That way next time we steal the camera Mummy won't bust us by seeing the flash from her room.

Step Four: Unzip our sleeping bags into blankets. That way they make an excellent roof and walls for cubby houses. Then rearrange all the dining room furniture for said cubby house.

Step Five: Be very, very proud of our achievement. Proud enough to ask Daddy to take pics of us.

Step Six: Get someone to teach Daddy how to take photos without stuffing them up.

Step Seven: Make homemade meatballs with Daddy.

Step Eight: After a full on day, fall asleep in the standing position.

At what point does quirkiness become a phobia?

2008-04-05T11:04:00.002+11:00

A phobia is an intense, unrealistic fear, which can interfere with the ability
to socialize, work, or go about everyday life, that is brought on by an object,
event or situation.
Ok so now we all know what it is, is this what my hair issues are? I guess most of my family and friends know that I have issues with hair - especially wet hair, much to everyones amusement. Especially Brian's - who refers to it as my "hair fetish".
I was actually starting to think that things were on the improve until this mornings little "incident".
Now I know it's a fact of life that everyone has to deal with hair getting snagged in the shower drain - but I just can't. It's for this reason that keeping the bathrooms clean is "Brian's job". It was only recently that he'd cleaned it so really there was hardly any visible hair. But unbeknownst to me, hair and icebergs have one thing is common - what's visible to the eye is only the tip.
So here I was, happily having a shower, minding my own business when purely by accident I stepped backwards and dragged my foot across the drain. To my horror I snagged some hair and while quickly jumping back not only did the hair that I could see come flying out at me, but attached to it was a whole mass of knotted hair that had been hiding inside the drain.
Before I could gather any semblance of control I let loose an involuntary squeal which was enough to make Brian start freaking out wondering what the hell was going on. He kept asking me what was wrong, but I couldn't even answer him - I was too busy jumping up and down like a maniac trying to wash the hair back towards the drain. It was at this point the gagging and retching started. By this stage Brian had pretty much figured what was going on and had started pissing himself laughing. I couldn't even tell him exactly what had happened because every time I tried to I would start gagging and retching again - which in turn would make him laugh even harder.
So for those of you reading this, you're probably laughing yourselves now. Here's something to make you laugh even more - even trying to type this started some coughing and gagging.
Hmmm, so now that everyone knows how much of a freak I am - do you think this is a phobia and how the hell can I get over it.

Just stealing more cute twin pics

2008-04-03T08:58:00.003+11:00

I've been raiding myspace again and here are the pics I've "stolen"

The proud new family

37 week OB appointment

2008-04-03T08:41:00.002+11:00

After all the complaining I do about this OB he was great today even though he wouldn't give me and induction date (where is a pouting smiley when you need one?).

His reasons being that being induced raises the likelihood of intervention and the chances of an emergency caesar are just so much higher. In his words - since both myself and the baby are doing so well, he can't see the point.

I do understand his reasoning, but my stomach is crazily huge and it's so difficult to do anything now.

Enough whinging, anyway as for the rest of my visit:

He looked at my ultrasound results and said that if I do go full term he would expect that the baby will be around a 10lber.
He offered me a caesar, to which I explained I want to avoid. He was fine with that.
He has agreed to clamp my tubes at the same time should I end up having a caesar.
Due to how big and hard my stomach is he couldn't even tell if the baby is still head down, so I was lucky enough to have a quick squiz at her on the portable ultrasound.
I got my internal (well 2 actually since he had a trainee Dr with him and he asked if I minded if he had a feel as well). I'm 1cm dilated, cervix is 3cms long and soft, and I'm 2/5 engaged.
He doesn't think I'll go over my due date and thinks that the baby will be born within the next 2 weeks.

So in a nutshell that's it. Surprisingly I'm not anywhere near as disappointed at not getting the induction that I thought I'd be.

So tonight I figure I might as well try as many natural induction methods as I can if my cervix is already favourable. I've been doing some research on all the different methods and I try them all (well all except castor oil) if need be.

The moster belly again

2008-04-01T22:03:00.002+11:00

37 weeks & 1 day

I'll be back sometime tomorrow night with an update from my OB's appointment.

Just for Sharon

2008-03-29T16:51:00.005+11:00

Here you go Shaz, now the world can see where my true inner bogan came from.

This is one of my Kindergarten pics, so I would have been around 4 years old.

Do we look like our Daddy??

2008-03-28T17:08:00.006+11:00

While I was doing some tidying (yes, yes ha ha I know Kylee tidying up is funny) I happened to come across a photo of Brian from when he was really little. At a guess I'd say he is 3ish so I thought I'd compare it to some current pics of our boys.

Liam at 4.5 years

Jack at 3.5 years

Funny thing is, everyone has always said that Liam looks so much like Brian and Jack so much like me, but in these pictures I think Jack looks like a clone of Brian.

What does everyone else think?

More pics of the twins

2008-03-28T15:31:00.005+11:00

Well since I'm sick I'm still not able to get into the hospital to see them, I've resorted to hijacking Scott's myspace and stealing the pics (not that he minds).

Please don't ask me who is who on the individual pics because I have no idea as Scott hasn't labelled the photos, but in the pics of them in the crib together Seth is on the left and Noah is on the right.

The 36 week ultrasound

2008-03-26T21:19:00.001+11:00

I had my scan today and baby is measuring an estimated 3.4kgs or 7lb 8oz right now.

The good news is that the baby is head down and must be really low because the senographer was struggling to get my cervix length cause the baby's head was down so low.

Is it really bad that I was disappointed that my cervix length is normal? I was hoping for some movement, but no. Damn I was hoping that it was a bit shorter than it should be - meaning that I was getting closer to labour. But no.

So now I wait until next week and see if that size is enough to get me my induction. I can't even imagine going to 40 weeks since the boys were born at 37 & 38 weeks.

I'm an Aunty - again and again

2008-03-26T15:37:00.006+11:00

I wanted to yell from the rooftops (but I can't since I've practically lost my voice) so instead I'm blogging so the world can read about the arrival of my two nephews in the early hours of this morning.

At 2.14am Seth Damon Ernest (sorry not too sure on the spelling) arrived weighing in at a great 3.155kgs (or for the old schoolers 6lb15oz).

At 2.16am Noah (still undecided middle names) arrived weighing in at a great 3.065kgs (or again for the old schoolers 6lb 12oz).

So a huge congratulations to Scott and Bec on the birth of their little men.

From left: Seth Damon Ernest, Noah (aparently still arguing) Robinson

Battle of the bellies

2008-03-24T20:22:00.006+11:00

Today I caught up with Bec (my bothers girlfriend) who I haven't seen for a fair few weeks. She's 38 weeks pregnant with twin boys and is actually being induced tomorrow. YAY!!!

We thought it'd be cute to get a pic of our bellies together.

Now that I've seen the pic, I'm officially scared of how humungous this baby will be.

I normally hide my face, so for those who don't know me, I'm on the left.

What have I done????

2008-03-22T22:06:00.010+11:00

My singlets, my beautiful singlets!

After all the work that everyone put in at my baby shower I killed them. They are now just plain white singlets.

I followed the correct manufacturers instructions for washing them but when I went to take them out of the machine all I found was a washing machine full of glitter and some singlets with blobs of paint on them.

I'm devastated to say the least.

So incase I kill the nappies, I just went and took photos of all of them.
Enjoy:

The Easter Spectacular

2008-03-20T17:03:00.004+11:00

Liam had his first Easter Bonnet Parade today. Unfortunately due to the set up of his room and where he was sitting you can only see him from behind.

Look how excited he was though:

Another monster belly shot

2008-03-20T08:07:00.003+11:00

35 Weeks & 3 days

Update on 35 week OB visit

2008-03-20T07:58:00.002+11:00

Well I'm going to start by saying that I need to rehash some old stuff that's happened so that this makes some sort of sense.

After my OB appointment today I left feeling really confused, upset and not really having much faith in my OB.

Admittedly I was pretty hormonal today and stressed after having to take the boys to the appointment with me and having to try to control a 3 & 4 y/o for almost 2 hours. So maybe I am over-reacting.

Since I'm a patient through a public hosptial so I don't have a choice of who I see. That said though, I'm in the high risk group and end up seeing the same OB each visit. From what I've been told this guy is the head of Obstetrics at the hospital.

This is some of the things that have happened in the past with him:
- Asks the same questions over in the one visit (as in like he's forgotten he's already asked)
- Can't find the stethoscope which is bright red and hanging in his face
- Starts a conversation then drifts off into something completely different
- Unwilling to answer questions unless pressed
- Wrote in my book that he heard babies heart rate when he didn't (when using a stethoscope couldn't find it, so asked me if I was happy that the baby was still moving around)
- Seems unconcerned that I'm measuring so many weeks ahead

I have in the past rang and spoken to a midwife the next day as I was a little upset with some of these things. This is when I found out he is the head of Obstetrics.

So today this is what happens:
- When I get there he goes to me, I'm not sure if I've seen you before (ummm this is my 6th visit with him and my file is sitting in front of him)
- I told him that since my last visit I'd had to come in 2 days in a row for monitoring (the results are in both my VMR (which is a record book that the patient carries) and my file - but he just goes "Well I guess everything is ok since you're here now" without even looking at either)
- My fundal height is measuring 42 weeks (I'm 35 weeks) and he just goes "Hmmm the baby is big"
- After feeling around he can't tell if the baby is head down. I told him that when I was getting monitored last week both the OB and midwife had said the baby was head down. He basically ignored that and said that he might send me downstairs for an ultrasound. I told him that in a previous visit he'd requested one at 36 weeks anyway. He asked if I knew why??? So I told him that he'd done so because he wanted to get a sizing scan done. (Which I assume would have been in my notes)
- He told me to book my next visit in 2 weeks. I was surprised and said "Oh I thought I would have been on weekly visits now" He said that I wouldn't be on weekly visits until closer to the end of the pregnancy. Well since my last two were born at 37 & 38 weeks (which again is something we've spoken about before and is again in my file), how much closer to the end can I get????

So now I don't even know how to describe how I'm feeling. I had a huge cry to Brian and he wants me to complain, but as I said to him the OB is covering all the basics I guess, so I don't really know what more I want or what else really should be going on.

After crying for about 2 hours about this whole thing yesterday I feel much better today. Hopefully this baby comes sooner rather than later and I don't have to keep seeing this guy.

Wishful thinking I presume???

2008-03-17T19:26:00.002+11:00

All day today I've been getting lots of little niggly pains and cramps and they're gradually getting more painful.

It doesn't feel like braxton hicks, but doesn't feel like labour either.
Damn this is annoying.

Even though this is the third time I've done this, it still feels like uncharted waters. Every single pain and cramp makes me second guess myself.

I guess it's just because I've never actually gone into labour before, I've always been induced.

Anway 35 weeks today, so only 5 weeks maximum to go.

Counting down to my child free day tomorrow

2008-03-16T16:09:00.003+11:00

Anyone want and 3 & 4 y/o - free to a good (no actually any) home.

Seriously I'm ready to shoot either myself or them. Because of this heat, they can only play outside either early in the morning, or just before bedtime - so they are driving me nuts and doing REALLY naughty stuff.

I went to the loo before and no word of a lie, I was in the bathroom for a maximum of 5 minutes. Before I went I'd given them a slice of chocolate cake each that a girlfriend had brought over. By the time I came out they had crumbled it up and seriously thrown it all over the lounge room floor. I just don't understand why they'd do something like that. (apart from throwing it, it's chocolate mud cake - what's wrong with them??)

So now they've been sent to their room for some quiet time and are lying on their beds watching a DVD.

Lets just see how long the peace lasts.

You know it's going to be a great day when....

2008-03-15T09:36:00.007+11:00

I got up and got the kids their cereal at about 6am this morning and I climbed back into bed secure in the knowledge that Dora & Diego were on so the kids were going to happily eat and watch tv.

By this stage Brian was already in the shower so I knew he'd be getting ready for work soon so the kids couldn't really get into anything. *Sigh* If only I knew.

Brian woke me at 7am telling me that he's got to go to work and he doesn't have time to clean up and something about eggs. I was still pretty out of it so I didn't really pay too much attention. As he walked out the door the kids came and jumped into bed with me and watched TV while I dozed off and on for another hour or so.

When I finally got up the kids ran down to the lounge and I went to the loo. Liam comes into the ensuite tellling me he's got egg on his hands. Egg? What do you mean egg? I look at his hands and sure enough they're covered in egg white.

So I head down to the lounge only to find this huge monstrosity:

Apparently the excuse for breaking up the eggs everywhere:

"We were making you breakfast."

How can I be angry at that?

Time to come clean

2008-03-13T20:27:00.002+11:00

Rather than stress my poor grandmother out, I thought I should come clean about what was going on over the last weekend and few days after.

I was going to keep quiet rather than worry anyone, but it seems my grandmother's intuition is a force not to be reckoned with (she called me on Monday night and again on Tuesday as she was very worried about me).

Last Friday afternoon I was having what I'm pretty sure were contractions for 5 hours. They definitely were not Braxton Hicks since I have been getting them for ages, these were painful and started at the top of my stomach and went into a band around my back. They were erratic and not progressing at all so I didn't even bother calling the hospital. They eventually died off and I went to bed.

On Saturday I had no contractions but a feeling like that constant dull ache you get on the first day of your period. I just passed it off as being residual pain from the contractions the day before. Come Saturday night though I realised that I hadn't really felt the baby move much. Normally at night she's a party animal but she was still really quiet. So I went to bed to see if she would start jumping around (as she usually does when I try to sleep).

Sunday morning still the same pain and baby still really quiet. So I called the hospital around lunch time and they told me to come in and be monitored. That afternoon I had my baby shower and I really didn't want to cancel it (I know, I know - it was stupid), so I told a little white lie to the midwife. I told her that Brian was working and I would be in at about 7pm and she was happy with that.

So we got there just before 7pm. The OB I saw was really nice and not dismissive at all. She was very thorough - Had a CTG, an ultrasound and an internal. She said everything seemed to be ok, but I had to go back on Monday for another CTG and she wanted me to bring in my results from my last ultrasound.

So on the Monday I ended up being hooked up to a CTG for 3 hours. While I was having the CTG I had some contractions and the baby's heartrate would drop every time I had one. By the end of the 3 hours they were happy that it was just another false alarm.

Now I've been told that if I feel anything at all, I have to go straight back in.

I'm really hoping this baby gets a little more comfortable and stays inside a little big longer.

Today is now Thursday and everything has been going along fine since then. No more contractions and the baby is back to being a party animal. Lets hope it stays this way for a few more weeks at least.

You gotta love, love, love IKEA- well sometimes

2008-03-12T19:28:00.008+11:00

When are men going to learn that the woman is ALWAYS right??

This morning I announced that I'd love to go to Ikea to have a look at some storage ideas for the kids rooms. Now my plan was since Brian wanted to get his hair cut and Liam was at Kinder in the morning, that the best thing to do would be to go tomorrow. That was Liam was in Kinder in the afternoon and we'd only have to manage one child there. But noooooooo, Brian was insistent that the boys would be fine. Even after I reminded him about our last nightmare trip there, he still was convinced that the boys could be controlled.

FAMOUS LAST WORDS

So we picked up Liam at 12.30 and headed off planning to have lunch as soon as we got there. Of course the whole 35min drive all we heard was "I'm hungry, I'm hungry, I'm thirsty, I'm thirsty".

Then we get to the car park and before Liam even gets out of the car he starts throwing the tantrum from hell as one of his shoes is hurting his foot so he wants to wear his shoes on the wrong feet. After 5 minutes of arguing just so I can look at his foot, I found he had a cut on there. So instead we went to K-mart first to buy him some more comfortable shoes (all the while looking like Westy ferals due to Liam not wearing shoes at all). I have to say that K-mart was a bargain though - we got him some Spiderman light up sandals that for some reason were marked Clearance $1. LOL What a bargain.

So we finally make it to Ikea and head straight for the restaurant. Kids food was great. For $3.95 they got chicken strips, chips, peas, carrots, an apple and a soft drink. How cheap is that??? But since my kids have strange eating habits they picked at a few chips then both ate the apples only.

Then the real nightmare begins. All the boys wanted to do was run, roll on the floor, touch everything within (and sometimes not within) reach, punch each other, trip each other over, and push each other into furniture. Seriously it was probably the naughtiest that I have ever seen them. Brian was gobsmacked at how naughty they were.

It got to the point where we were just hurrying to get the hell out of there and get back to the car.

But all in all, I did get some good stuff:
Fitted cot sheets on clearance - 2 sheets for $5
Storage containers with lids that have a hinge on them and are angled so the kids can get stuff out without taking the whole lid off
Hanging basket type things for the boys walls
Little step thingy so the boys can reach to wash their hands in the bathroom

So moral of this story - MEN LISTEN TO YOUR WIFE (or make sure the child minding area at Ikea is not booked)

A tinkle, a sprinkle...

2008-03-10T21:32:00.020+11:00

When is a shower not a shower? When you want to do something a little different.

Yesterday I had my baby shower (for want of a different word). I sent out my invitations letting people know that since this was my 3rd baby I didn't want presents, all I wanted was a great afternoon catching up with friends and family before this baby came along.

I'm not a fan of the traditional showers with all the baby games, so instead I did something a little different.

I organised a heap of fabric paints and I bought some white baby singlets in all different sizes and I got everyone to design a singlet for me. They all turned out fantastic. I really love them and I can't wait to use them.

The other thing I did was grab a box of newborn nappies and buy a box of different coloured Sharpie textas. I gave everyone 3 nappies and told them that they have to write a message on the nappies.

I've restrained myself and I didn't read them. I'm going to try to wait until the baby is born and I need to use them so it's more of a surprise. My best friend read most of them and she said that some are really funny. I can't wait to see them.

All in all the day was great, although I was exhausted by the end.

I do have a few special people that I need to thank though:

Number one being Brian for putting up with me during the lead up to this. The poor bloke has never done so much cleaning in his life

Number two being Sharn for arranging and organising not just my house, but organising me

Number three being Jacqui - well just for being Jacqui and helping me every step of they way.

Check out this monstrosity

2008-03-08T09:38:00.001+11:00

Seriously, how the heck is this thing going to grow for another six weeks?

The things that Daddy does to amuse himself

2008-03-07T09:06:00.007+11:00

It seems that Brian needs to find a new hobby apart from antagonising our children.

The picture doesn't really do Liam's outfit justice, but for those that can't see:
Mum's straw hat - check
Mums beaded handbag - check
Socks up t-shirt fashioned to make breasts - check
Daddy with waaaayyyy too much time on his hands - check

And as an afterthought, check out the crazy brother in the background. This is currently his preferred method of watching TV.

Finally Brian gets his dream garden

2008-02-24T15:22:00.004+11:00

After years of begging, pleading and annoying I finally relented and told Brian he could do what ever he wanted with his garden. Well almost - I stipulated that there had to be at least some grass for the kids and room for their trampoline and sandpit.

Here is his result so far:

Not exactly what I would call my ideal garden, but it's drought tolerant and I guess that's all that really matters right now.

So for his finishing touches he still needs to line his paths with river rocks and put in some ground cover type plants.

I'll be grateful when it's finished.