Creative Songwriting – 3 Year Old Freestylin’ ;) January 20, 2012
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Our Evie is 3.5 and it seems nearly every day she does something clever I hadn’t expected. This last couple of days she’s been singing Marry You by Bruno Mars (it’s so damn catchy). Today she sat at the kitchen table, armed with her Disney Princess ruler and colouring books singing nonchalantly….
“it’s a beautiful day,
I’ve got nothing to do,
Hey baby,
I think I want to measure you.
Don’t say no no no no no,
Just say yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah,
I’m really gonna measure you!”
So funny. I love her little creative mind. Even when she’s not trying it’s funny!
Sol’s 6 Week Check October 26, 2011
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Sol is still doing really well. Here’s his latest stats.
Weight 5.380kg
Length 57cm
Head circumference 40cm
He’s pretty much growing along his lines on the growth charts. He still feeds every 2hrs and loves his milk -little piglet!! He passed all the other checks and had to go back on Fri for his first set of immunisations.
Off to the Library Again October 17, 2011
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Another 3 weeks have flown by (wow Sol is already 1 month old). We got these books from the library…
1. Muddled-Up Farm by Mike Dumbleton
2. Crazy Hair by Neil Gaiman
3. Shoe Baby by Joyce Dunbar
4. Slinky Malinki’s Christmas Crackers by Lynley Dodd
5. Don’t Tell Lies, Lucy!” a cautionary tale by Phil Roxbee Cox
So Unfit & Sol’s Latest Stats October 12, 2011
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Ventured up to Hurstville for the first time since hubby went back to work. Put Evie in her stroller and carried Sol in the baby Papoose thing. It wasn’t too bad a walk (gd exercise as so unfit now) took me 12 mins to end of my road (all uphill and no shade) then 20mins from there to playgroup. We have a Tommee Tippee Papoose that we bought from UK for Evie – not designed for warm climate use as it’s heavily padded and I was v hot n sweaty after the walk. Best saved for shopping in the Mall me thinks.
In other news I took Sol to the weighing clinic and he is doing outrageously well. He’s putting on almost 300g a week!!! Little hungry hippo. He’s 4 weeks old today and now weighs 4.790kg. Length 54cm, HC 38cm
Ouchy – Trip to Dentist September 30, 2011
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Well, after avoiding having my teeth done for over a year (well, I’ve had check ups but avoided having any serious work done due to pregnancy) I have succumbed, bit the bullet (not literally or I really would need more dentistry) and started the treatment for a crown. I have the misfortune (or may fortunate) to come from a family of dentists (my dad, both of my brothers, an uncle, and 2 cousins and an aunt are all dentists or orthodontist). I also have these peculiar Leong’s Premolars (or dens evaginatus) where there is a small tubicle of tooth that grows out from the grinding surface of the tooth – unfortunately all 4 of my premolars are like that. At some point between 7 and 10 years of age my lower 2 tubicles broke off and within a year of each other became abscessed and required root canals. Around the same time the top tubicles were filled down and some composite filling material placed over it. Anyway after…ahem … um 20 years or so it seems that one of my RCT’d premolars has some decay on it and requires a crown. Apparently RCTs are really not meant to last decades, so mine have served me well. The most painful part was the numbing injection and the sucky thing (that’s my “technical term” for the aspirator) kept sucking in a bit of the underside of my tongue. All the actual drilling and gum cutting was totally painless. I’ve got a new pin in my tooth and a temporary tooth for the moment until I get the crown fitted in a couple of weeks. Feels bizarre to have something foreign in my mouth, and it has this strange porous texture.
Sol’s Birth Story September 15, 2011
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OK – Sol’s birth ended up being fairly traumatic. For posterity I am recording my memories of his birth so that I don’t forget.
WATERS BREAKING
Woke up 14/09/11 and still had no twinges or inklings of labour starting anytime soon (even though we were 41w+4). Around lunchtime I went to the toilet and lost my mucus plug (bleurgh it was really gross). Now the mucus plug can come days or hours before labour so wasn’t expecting much to happen imminently. Had a lie down then around 3.30pm I heard this familiar click/pop sound and knew my waters had gone. I got up quickly and went to the toilet and the waters gushed straight out (thankfully not all over the carpet). Rang hubby to come home from work and my brother to come babysit Evie. Didn’t really feel any contractions starting, so rang the hospital to ask when I needed to come in. Because I was VBAC they said to come in when we could for assessment.
LABOUR
We arrived at the hospital around 5pm and I was hooked up to the monitor. During that 1/2 hour contractions started coming every 3 mins – they were uncomfortable but manageable and hubby was trying various techniques to distract me. At 5.30pm they decided that I was in labour and was 3cm dilated so transferred me to a delivery suite. They put the monitor on bub’s head so that I could move around. At 6pm I asked for the gas and air as the contractions were killing! As soon as I got out of the bed it felt like bub had suddenly pushed down 3 inches and the pain was double instantly! I tried the gym ball and that was excruciating. My body felt like it was bearing down and the midwife was telling me not to push. I was trying not to but my body had different ideas and it eased the pain a little. Unfortunately my cervix was only 5cm dilated so nowhere near ready yet and there were chunks and clots coming out after each contraction. I got back on the bed and lay on my side, but the contractions were now one on top of the other. Around 7pm or so I asked for pethidine (or anything really) and remember thinking why is the midwife not getting it!! I didn’t want to get an epidural as I knew this would probably mess up my contractions (as it had with my labour with Evie). By 7.15pm I was screaming for an epidural … and I distinctly remember saying that I wanted to go to bed and had had enough please!! At 7.30pm the midwife and doctors were worried because I couldn’t stop pushing and they were paging the anaesthetist to administer an epidural to stop me having that urge to push. Then I remember them asking about the pain and I was saying that the contractions were all in my bum, but they could see that I was clutching my abdomen in between contractions – I realised that actually the front of my stomach had this dull ache that didn’t go away. After each contraction, bub’s heart rate was slowing and not recovering as quickly. They then decided that I was going for an emergency caesar. I signed the forms and was whisked off.
BIRTH
One second hubby was running along holding my foot as they pushed the trolley and he was carrying his scrubs, next second he was gone. I had a caesar with Evie with a spinal block so had an idea of what would happen and was feeling secretly relieved that at least we’d see our baby boy soon. It was all really surreal as I was screaming in constant pain yet I have some recollections -if I think about it, it was almost like an out of body experience as I was so zoned out. Along the way to theatre they had decided that there wasn’t time to administer a spinal block and that my uterus might be rupturing so they were going to put me under a general anaesthetic. It felt like forever being prepped and the pain was awful. Then I was OUT!!
RECOVERY
Was roused in the recovery room and I just remember feeling really sore and in pain. They were saying something to me but I can’t remember what they said. There were pipes and wires and allsorts of things on me. Suddenly I remembered and asked where my husband and baby were. Thankfully I was told that they were both fine and on their way to see me. I remember hubby bringing Baby Sol in and thinking he was really really big (he was 1/2oz off 9lb). Hubby looked stressed but relieved. The doctor came in and told me that as they had opened my abdomen up my uterus had ruptured in front of their eyes and they’d had to get Sol out pronto. I’d lost over a litre of blood and they’d had to give me two blood transfusions. My memory goes hazy now as I don’t remember much else (I don’t even remember giving Sol his first breastfeed boo hoo, but hubby said I did).
HIGH DEPENDENCY UNIT
The next thing I remember was being in my bed but in HDU instead (I don’t remember how I got there). The nurse was busy hooking up all the monitors and drips and things. My mouth was so very dry and I kept asking for water all night.I had a self administered morphein drip (which I didn’t actually use that much I think once every couple of hrs), a fluid drip, antibiotic drip and plasma drip. I drifted in and out of sleep every hour or so as various alarms kept going off. I remember finally waking up in the morning and thinking that the baby was still inside – that was until I felt the pain and saw all the canulas in my arms and remembered!! I wondered where my baby was and when I would get to see him. The new shift started and the nurse took me for a shower (bleurgh so much blood and stuff all over me) which was really hard as I could barely move. After I got out of the shower they asked if I would like to see my baby which of course I did! I remember feeling really teary as I thought this was the first time we were going to meet (I had forgotten that I’d seen him the night before in recovery).
So yes although it was a traumatic way to enter the world, we are so thankful to God that we both made it out OK. It could have been so much worse. The doctor said 20 mins more and I’d have ruptured in delivery and we would both have been goners.
Introducing… Solomon John K September 14, 2011
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Baby Solomon John finally arrived today. Thank you God for your many blessings and giving us this wonderful baby boy!
Date of Birth: 14th September 2011 (41w 4d)
Time of Birth: 20:18
Weight: 4.060kg (8lb 15.5oz)
Length: 52.5cm
Head Circumference: 36cm
Midwife: Linda Watt
Born by emergency c-section due to uterine rupture (will update with my full birth story in the next few days)
Latest Library Books September 6, 2011
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Evie’s latest selection of library books….
1. Parsley Rabbit’s Book about Books by Frances Watts & David Legge – this is a great book as it is about how to read books!! It also has lots of interactivity with all the flaps and things to lift
2. The Great Rescue Race by Raymond McGrath – a book about a little boy who has left his favourite toy on the bus and the adventures to return it to him
3. Jasper McFlea Will Not Eat His Tea by Lee Fox & Mitch Vane – I was hoping this would help us in our quest to get Evie to eat her dinners better… naughty Jasper won’t eat his meals and gets sick.
4. Wibbly Wobbly Street by Trudie Trewin & Cheryl Orsini – the town planners want to straighten out Wibbly Wobbly Street as it doesn’t conform (and neither do its inhabitants)
5. The Peace Book by Todd Parr – Evie thinks this is the Mummy Book (I think because it has the same illustrator). This book is very bright and eye catching, and also blissfully short for a quick bedtime story 
Next Trip To Library August 17, 2011
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Time for another set of books for little miss Evie. Here’s what she picked this time.
1. Little Brothers Are by Beth Norling – Evie picked this one as she said Joey is her little brother.
2. Ribbit Rabbit by Candace Ryan – A story about a bunny and a frog that are good friends who fall out, then make up again. It’s not really in sentences, but more rhyming onomatopoeia words.
3. Schnitzel von Krumm’s Basketwork by Lynley Dodd – Eagle eyed kids will remember Schnitzel von Krumm (with his very low tum), the daschund friend of Hairy Maclairy. This is his story, and what happens when he gets a new dog basket. It never ceases to amaze me just how many Hairy Maclairy/Slinky Malinky sequels there are – and how we love them in our house. The rhythm of the poetry is spot on and they are a joy to read.
4. Hey Hippopotamus, Do Babies Eat Cake Too? by Hazel Edwards – This must be a series of books about hippopotami (is that the correct plural?) that live on the roof and eat cake. This one is all about the new baby in the house.
5. The Deep End by Rebecca Patterson – Just what happens to the kids that can swim to the deep end? Written from the perspective of a beginner’s level swimmer. It’s funny to think that maybe there is a secret portal just hiding away for the best swimmers to find.
Who Pressed the Red Button? August 7, 2011
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I totally and utterly lost my rag this morning at Evie. I don’t know if it’s just her being trying and in her “3s” or whether it’s the pregnancy hormones, or being the size of a whale, or the throat infection and coughing every 20mins all night long…. but lately I have had an extremely short fuse.
Hubby went to church and left Evie at home with me. I didn’t go to church because I was coughing everywhere and if I passed it on to the rest of the congregation that’d prob be the final nail in their coffins!! On Friday afternoon/evening hubby was looking after Evie and he realised that if he let Evie into the spare bedroom she would sit and watch the TV in there…. aka he then just got on with whatever it was he was doing before whilst claiming Evie is OK. I fell asleep (finally) just before hubby went to church and he didn’t wake me. Cue 15 mins later… I wake up and can hear the TV on in the spare room. She’s not usually allowed to go in there as we have various bags and boxes of all sorts of stuff stored in there (and my hospital bag ready for when I go into labour in the next 4 weeks). I get up and everything… EVERYTHING has been emptied out all over the room. She has found a black ink pen from somewhere to tattoo everything in sight and also (bizarrely) a roll of sellotape which is sticking to everything too. I asked her numerous times to switch off the TV – her response is to empty out the bin in there, turn it upside down to reach the TV but then open and tip out a whole load more bags that were on the drawers!!! I went absolutely ape!!! I was so upset I had to put her in her bedroom and go cry in my own bedroom (not before noticing the nursery door is also open and that has been ransacked too). I’m so stressed I can feel my heart pounding away and my ears begin to ring!! It’s so hard sometimes to remember that even if she’s acting like a child – I have to remember to be the adult, when all I want to do is lie on the floor bawling having a tantrum too. In the end after having a little paddy/time out of my own I got up and tidied up. There’s nothing Evie hates more in the world than being ignored. So I tidied up all the things whilst ignoring her taunts from her bedroom. Finally when I’d finished tidying I went to her bedroom gate and she said sorry (rather than “no, you go to your bedroom” or “no more TV for you” – yes she is a proper little madam that gives you backchat).
Here’s a bit of helpful reading I’ve gleaned off the internet about 5 ways to handle parent anger. Reading it afterwards I can see that so many things are right. I’m more angry at myself for letting her get to me. I totally flipped out over somethings that were really quite small and weren’t hurting anyone. No-one has gained anything from the outburst but a bitter taste!! I think there’s probably 1 more way and that is to pray for God to help me to control my anger and learn to forgive quicker.
