Baby Shower

My wonderful sister in law organised a baby shower for me on Saturday. She did such a lovely job especially since it was all a little last minute.

The food was all fantastic and Tabitha (SIL) organised for Candy Chic to set up a candy bar. 

The shower was held at our house so I disappeared for an hour and a half prior to pamper myself and have a manicure, when I returned I was treated to a delightful afternoon of games, food and gifts.

Tabitha organised games and prizes, we played a game similar to celebrity heads except you had a paper nappy pinned onto your back and written on the nappy was a baby item. When you guessed what your item was then you got to open your nappy and if you were lucky enough to have something in your nappy then you won another prize. 

We played pass the baby (similar to pass the parcel), when the baby laughed she was passed to the person next to you, when she cried you got to remove nappy and either win a prize or answer a trivia question to win a prize.

The ladies all got to guess how big my tummy was by cutting some ribbon to the length they thought would be closest to fitting round my tummy. Very funny and harder to do than you think :-)

I was very very spoilt or should I say our baby boy was very very spoilt and if you look behind me you can catch a glimpse of the bassinet our bub will be sleeping in soon. I slept in this bassinet when I was a baby. It has had a revamp with a new mattress and new bedding but is still in great condition and perfect to use for the first few months. 

We haven't set up the nursery yet as we have always planned for bub to be in the room with us for at least the first three months. Hubby's job now is to convert the garage into his office and include some display shelving for my store, then the spare room will move into the old office and the baby will move into the current spare room. We didn't rush anything prior to Christmas as we knew we'd have a house full of visitors and every room was needed but now that Nick has had a rest after all of his hard work (he rendered the house, replaced the pergola, ran his business to pay the bills, travelled 7 hours return trips on weekends all whilst being a single dad for four weeks while I was in hospital in Sydney) prior to Christmas he can make a start on the garage conversion. I am sure once bub arrives and he starts suffering from lack of sleep he'll move pretty quickly ;-)

As you can see I am feeling pretty loved with all of the lovely attention I had on Saturday and Tabitha even organised lovely thank you gifts for my wonderful friends and family who made the day so special.

Today we have reached 37 weeks and I am still feeling pretty good. Sleeping is not as pleasant as it used to be, my hips and thighs get sore very easily and I need to turn over far more than I would like and I have found that I sleep much better when the nights are cooler but I really can't complain of anything too major.  

Now I just have to be patient and wait for bub to make his arrival. Oh and thank you for all of your advice on turning bub back around. He ended up flipping back over on Tuesday evening and was confirmed via ultrasound on Friday at my appointment, Yay! 

37 weeks

I tried frozen vegies on his head for as long as I could stand as well as kneeling on the lounge, bum up and head down on the floor for as long as I could cope. I did both of these through the day, didn't have any immediate results so I just continued to pray that bub would turn and Praise God, he did!

xx

36 Weeks pregnant and the stitch is out!

I am so pleased to say that the removal of the stitch was over and done with so quickly and painlessly I was shocked. I expected to feel at least some tugging but not a thing. I only felt the speculum going in as it does when you have a pap smear but that was all. Yay!!!

The stitch itself was a surprise, it was just like fishing line but blue. I should have taken a photo but didn't think of it until later. So thank you all for your prayers and best wishes, it all worked so well, no pain relief needed and no bleeding or cramping afterwards. This stitch was removed this morning and nothing has happened, it will be interesting to see how long it takes to go into labour :-)

I also had an ultrasound this afternoon to check on bub, the good news is that he is still growing well and measuring ahead in size at 37 weeks 4 days and 3.088kgs. The not so good news is that he has decided to flip over and is in a breech position. Any suggestions you have for flipping him back around would be great. I would really love to try for a vaginal birth but we can only wait and see.

xx

Happy 2013 and ALMOST 36 weeks pregnant

I am so thankful to say that bub is still inside and all is still going really well. It was such a relief to make it through Christmas and New Year and I must confess that once we were past both I gave up on bed rest. That may sound rather drastic but in reality I have been on bed rest for 3 months and I am now many kilo's heavier so giving up bed rest doesn't mean I  have been running around lots either. Unfortunately my stamina and fitness just isn't what it once was and I still need to sit and put my feet up a lot and truthfully there are just some jobs I really prefer not to do so I continue to let the boys do them ;-)

34 weeks

However the need to nest did kick in and I have spent a few days rearranging the shed with all my stock, washing all the baby clothes my sister dropped off, wiping down the bassinet, change table etc. I have cleared out some books, magazines, clothes etc and taken them to our church in preparation for next weeks op shop sale. I am feeling ready for baby to arrive any time he likes now.

I had a Doctors appointment today in preparation for the removal of the suture on Monday, I am excited about getting the stitch removed, it means a lot of restrictions will be gone and I can have a swim or go for a long walk :-) I am also a little apprehensive, I have read a lot of stories from other women who have had cervical sutures and some of them had a lot of pain when removing the stitch, a few have even said it was worse than labour. I am going to be brave and attempt to have the stitch removed in the labour ward, my doctor assures me that the worst discomfort is caused by the speculum but if we have any problems we will head to theatre and remove the stitch under general anaesthetic.

34 +5 weeks

I will go in to hospital on Monday morning to remove the stitch and should be home by lunchtime, it is not common to go straight into labour (only about 5% of women) once the stitch is removed so I will pack a bag just in case but most likely leave it at home so Nick can grab it if needed and bring it in.

I am starting to get very excited about the arrival of our new little boy, it is all starting to feel real and I am quite happy for him to come any time now. He is still growing well but this week I have started to feel uncomfortable, the heat hasn't helped but even without that my sleep is not as sound as it was. I am starting to get aching thighs and hips so I have to switch sides more often and that isn't as easy as it once was, bub shifts from one side to the other when I do and that can be a little painful. I also have finally started to get up to go to the toilet through the night, I know I am much more fortunate than most and am so thankful I have a big bladder but I can't seem to make it through any more and find I need to get up early in the morning or I am just too uncomfortable to sleep. I figure now that I am not resting as well as I could be than bub may as well come :-)

just for fun on the left 32 weeks pregnant and on the right today at 35 + 4 weeks (today my tummy measured at 37 weeks and I put on a kilo this week, Nick thinks it may have something to do with the 1kg tin of toffees that I have had out each night after dinner)

I hope the start of the New Year has been wonderful for you so far, I really enjoy this time of the year as everything seems to slow down and it is a wonderful time to just relax and enjoy life at a nicer pace.

I just love this handbag so much I have decided to use it as my nappy bag, it is a perfect size and all I did was buy a Isoki Change Mat Clutch that fits easily inside, perfect!

Have a great weekend and if you are in Orange please pop into the Church of Christ on Burrendong Way next week (Mon - Fri, 9am - 5pm) we are having a big Opportunity Shop sale and when I stopped in today I saw lots of fantastic bargains.

xx

32 Weeks Pregnant

I am so excited to have made it this far in the pregnancy. I am still feeling great (probably as a result of all of the bed rest) and I'm sleeping well, I have no discomfort and I'm not huge yet. The great thing about having a big belly is it makes my thighs and arms look smaller ;-)

We had a little set back last week when I went for my routine ultrasound and discovered that my cervix length had reduced from 20mm to 14mm. I was sent straight up to the maternity ward to consult with the Doctors. At one stage it didn't look like I was going back home, it sounded like the only decision to be made was whether I would need to be sent back to Sydney or whether I would be admitted to the hospital here in Orange. I was rather disappointed to hear that :-(

Having a incompetent cervix is rather scary as you don't feel anything happening, the cervix can shorten and dilate without you having any knowledge of it so it makes it very hard to monitor how you are doing, there is often no warning signs reminding you to take it easy and given that I feel so well, bed rest can be very frustrating.

Anyway, while I was kicking back in the hospital bed yet again, the Doctors decided that I would be given steroid shots and they would run some tests. One test that they did was similar to a pap smear and the sample taken indicates whether or not you are likely to go into labour in the next week. The result only takes 10 minutes and fortunately for me it came back negative :-)

In the end I was allowed to come back home with instructions to put my feet up and move even less. I just need to make it another 2 weeks and then bub can be delivered in Orange and I won't need to go to Sydney. 

I had the first steroid shot on Thursday before I left and then went back 24 hours later for the second one. They are not overly pleasant but who administers it and how makes a big difference.

So I tried very hard to behave and move as little as possible over the weekend and this morning when I went in for my ultrasound I had the best news, my cervix length had increased to 21mm :-)

I am so thrilled, bub is doing well too. I didn't get a growth scan done today but they checked his vitals as well as fluid levels. Next week we'll check how big he is getting .

The good news is that with my need to stay put more I finally finished another 2 of my cross stitch kits and hung them on the tree. It is nice to accomplish something and when we get them out each year we can remember this stage of our lives and I'll probably be wishing that I was back on bed rest.

I hope you all a wonderful week and I hope you are enjoying the festive season, we looooove Christmas and even though this year is so much quieter for me than normal I am still enjoying it and one big bonus is that I have none of the stress that can often come with the business of the season :-)

PS. Thank you for all of the wonderful support for my shop, it has been lovely to see sales pick up and nice to be moving some stock so I can have a shopping spree in the New Year xx

28 Weeks Pregnant

I have been in hospital for over two weeks now and life has settled into a routine, rather boring but comforting at the same time.

Each day we have shift change at 6am, breakfast at 8am, doctors rounds at 8.30 - 9.30am, morning tea at 10.30am, obs and fetal hearts or CTG's also get completed at some stage during the morning rounds.

Lunch arrives at 12.30pm, shift change at 2pm, afternoon tea at 3.30pm, dinner at 6pm, shift change at 10pm and then it all starts again in the morning.

I have found that the days are passing by much quicker than expected, I have read lots and have now ordered some cross stitch as well to give me something a little different to do. I have been able to work on my laptop and play games or complete crosswords etc. My sister in law has provided me with a dvd player, some dvds and also a cute snail cushion kit. I am going to start on my cushion today so hopefully I can share my completed cushion with you soon :-)

Today I have reached 28 weeks, yay! another milestone in pregnancy with the risk associated with premature birth reducing and the survival rate increasing to between 80 - 90%

28 weeks 

If bub was born now the average hospital stay for a baby born at 28 weeks gestation in Australia is 10 weeks 4 days. 

26 + 3 weeks

Taking belly shots has proven a little difficult in hospital, first I have to find a mirror that is big enough then try and get an angle that hides the toilet, emergency buttons, urine collection devices etc. Such a glamorous life ;-)

27 + 5 weeks

Each week I get to have a little excursion across the road to the clinic to have my ultrasound and I get to bring back cute little 3D photos of bub. The one below is from my 26 week scan because last week (27 weeks) he was rather uncooperative and kept waving his hands around in front of his face so the pictures are not great :-(

Every second week the ultrasound is a growth scan where they measure bub to check that all is developing as it should be. Last week he weighed 1151 g or 2 pounds 9 ounces and my cervix is still measuring 2 cm closed.

I have a room of my own at the moment that I'm really enjoying. I like having my own space to rest and relax without feeling rude if I don't want to talk to the person next to me. I can close my door and forget that I am in hospital most of the time. My boys came to visit me yesterday and I was allowed out on a gate pass for 4 hours. While we were out hubby bought me some of my favourite flowers, they are now sitting on my table helping create a more homely feel.

At this stage provided all goes well I may go home sometime between 30 - 34 weeks. We're praying that it will be at 32 - 33 weeks so I can be home for Christmas. 

Thank you again for all of the lovely comments, emails, msgs etc. Reading them all really does help boost my mood and encourages me greatly. 

Hope you have a great week.

xx

Yuppy Bubby - Bits & Bobs for Bubs

This is my first purchase for this baby and it is extra special because my bloggy friend Michelle made it.

Michelle is also expecting and is due one day before me, we both found out we were pregnant at the same time and have shared our pregnancy journey together. It has been so wonderful to have a friend pregnant at the same time and so close together. We are both expecting boys too! 

Michelle blogs over at Home, Love & Life As I Live It

Michelle is far more talented than I though and she has put her talent to good use and has been sewing up a storm, I can't sew well at all so I was more than happy to take advantage of her skill and purchase on of the first sets she had for sale.

My package arrive yesterday and my wonderful hubby took some photos and emailed it to me. Unfortunately I haven't seen bub's new set in person but Nick assures me that the bib and hat look great.

I am so excited for Michelle and her new venture, I would love for you to pop over to her blog for more info on the items she can make and then pop over to her etsy store for gorgeous hand made baby goods at great prices. Michelle's goodie's would make great gifts for any new or expectant mums.

Michelle's new etsy store has a great name

Yuppy Bubby 

Bits and Bobs for Bub

As for me I am still taking it easy and hanging out in bed all day at the hospital. I do get to get up and go for some short walks and I can go and sit out in the cafe's courtyard to enjoy some fresh air, so not all my time is in bed.

Yesterday I was granted a gate pass which entitles me to a trip out of the hospital for 4 hours :-)

The Dr has to give permission and the midwives check my obs and bub's heart rate before I go and when I return to make sure all is well.

My sister came to visit and took me out for a while. I didn't venture far and made sure I took it easy so we only went to the local Koorong Book Store. 

It was the perfect outing, I was able to grab some new books and then when I was feeling a little weary we sat down in the cafe (all air conditioned) and chatted over drinks and snacks, just lovely!

Thank you for all of the lovely encouragement you are leaving me, it really makes my day you all all make me feel so special.

xx

PS. 26 + 1 weeks today, yay! 

Hospital Bed Rest

I haven't had a great deal to blog about these last couple of weeks while I was on modified bed rest at home. I spent a lot of time researching incompetent cervix, reading many stories from ladies who have suffered from this condition and not doing much else. Now that I have progressed to hospital bed rest I am not sure that you will be hearing from me much at all over the next few weeks :-) 

 I had my full assessment at the clinic yesterday in Penrith and was admitted to the Nepean Hospital that afternoon. Bub and I are both doing well and my cervix length is holding up at 2cm yesterday so I am here as a precaution. Unfortunately Orange Hospital is not equipped to deal with premature babies born prior to 34 weeks gestation so it is routine to send women here for bed rest at least until past the critical stage of 28 weeks. At 28 weeks a baby is developed a bit more and at a better stage to cope with the travel to the nearest NICU after birth. 

I am by no means the only one here on bed rest and I share my room with 3 other ladies who have been here for varying lengths of time, the longest being 6 weeks already with another 5 to go if her bub stays put.

I am being monitored and will be assessed on a daily/weekly basis. At this stage I am definitely here until I reach 28 weeks (currently 25 + 4). I am not on any medication, I am being monitored for infections will only have antibiotics if required and at this stage I won't have any steroids unless I have signs of labour, contractions, shortening cervix, bleeding etc.

I am actually a really boring patient, I just have my blood pressure, temperature, pulse and baby's heartbeat checked regularly. 

I will have an ultrasound weekly, this will be a little outing for me, I will get wheeled across the road for this one so I am sure I will be looking forward to it, not just so I can see bub but it will be the furthest I get to venture all week :-)

This is my little corner for the next few weeks

and my excitement today consisted of new stockings to wear ALL the time (apart from showering)

a hot lunch

and these gorgeous flowers and yummy chocolates from my wonderful in laws

So no promises that I will blog often, I will try and update regularly but I don't want to bore you all with my exciting life :-) 

However I might surprise you all (as well as myself) and find interesting things to share, you just never know what can happen. 

Have a great weekend

xx

24 weeks pregnant

I am so pleased to be at this stage in pregnancy, the last few weeks have been more than a little exciting and filled with lots and lots of prayer from us as well as many of our friends and family.

This is the second week that I have been on modified bed rest and over the last week and a half that I have been home we have had 5 hospital/doctors visits including 2 ultrasounds and a few calls back and forth to the doctors and midwives.

This week the ultrasound showed that the stitch is still doing it's job and my cervix still has a closed portion of 24mm (26mm last week and 13mm prior to the stitch)

I have what they call funnelling of the cervix as per the diagram below, the funnelling is on the baby's side of the cervix.

This week the funnelling has widened which is not alarming but not great either, so I am putting my feet up as much as possible :-)

We have been very blessed with the team of doctors and specialists that have been working with us throughout this pregnancy and have only praise for all of the staff that we have encountered both through this pregnancy and our previous ones.

Unfortunately our local hospital is not equipped to look after premature babies and therefore it is likely that I will be heading off in the next week or two, to the Nepean Hospital in Sydney to stay there on bed rest until the baby is born as they have a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. 

At this stage it is a matter of when. I have just spoken to the Nepean Clinic and now have an appointment with the Specialist next week for an assessment and I say that we will know more then. 

It really is a waiting game for us now and we are thankful for every extra day that bub stays put and when the days add up to a week we are thrilled, hopefully the weeks will continue to add up so we can give our precious baby the best start possible.

At baby born at 24 weeks is considered viable and has a 40 -50% chance of survival however the average hospital stay for babies this premature seems to be around 23.5 weeks. 

I am feeling great physically which I find slightly ironic since I have to spend most of my time lying around. I have no unpleasant pregnancy symptoms, no heartburn, no continuous aches or pains and I am still sleeping comfortably. 

I have started wearing maternity clothes and I have found new ways to wear my existing clothes, luckily I have a few baby doll tops and dresses as well as stretchy clothes that still work well.

I don't have any bleeding, increased discharge or cramping at this stage but find that I am always looking for any unusual signs and have to keep myself from overreacting.

Thanks for your continued support and prayers, I will aim to keep my pregnancy story updated regularly as I have found reading the stories of other people who have been in this situation really helpful, sometimes sad and other times very encouraging but all of them have been empowering me with knowledge and that is a great thing.

xx

Win - Digital Scrapbooking Software

I have been playing around a bit more with my digital scrapbooking software (now that I have lots of time resting with my feet up).

I thought I would try putting together a wedding album for us and then I decided to export it as a movie. 

I am so impressed with the software you can export to print, have your album professionally printed, export to DVD or as a movie.

If you would like a chance to win your very own copy of My Memories Suite digital scrapbooking software head over here. Give away closes tonight.

On a personal note I am doing well so far. Thank you for all of your lovely wishes and prayers. I had a follow up ultrasound on Monday morning and the stitch looked like it was doing it's job with the closed cervix measuring 26mm (improved from 13mm). Bub looks great and continues to kick around energetically with lots of fluid around him still.

I am making sure I take it easy and have my feet up most of the day.

Thanks again, you are all so lovely

xx

PS:  I saved the movie in a low resolution so I didn't clog up your internet. You can save it in a much higher resolution and it looks fantastic.

A pregnancy update

Thank you for all of your prayers and well wishes it is such a comfort to us knowing that we have so many people surrounding  us in prayer.

The procedure went well yesterday and bub is looking good too. I am going home today and will be monitored closely over the next few weeks to make sure the stitch is doing it's job and the cervix remains closed.

Once again thank you, reading all of your messages really helped keep me positive and at peace throughout the whole thing.

Nellie

xx

Babies & Prams - help needed

I am asking for advice from all of my knowledgeable friends out there.

Now that we are in the second half of this pregnancy we are starting to think about what we will need for bub. At the moment I am really focused on getting a pram/stroller that I am happy with. 

I have a few requirements and I think that in order to get something I am happy with I am willing to invest a bit more in it.

My requirements are:

Lightweight - I found when I had Nicholas (years ago) that even a few kilos makes a big difference and I ditched the bulky pram early on in favour of a better quality stroller that had a lay back options and higher handles.

Ability to add a toddler seat

Suitable from birth to toddler

Compact - I don't want anything too wide or bulky, when we go away I don't want the pram taking up a third of the space we have

All terrain - I want to be able to go for walks easily and not battle with gutters or dirt tracks

I think that's about it, I would love to hear your recommendations and opinions on prams/strollers that you own or have used. Please spill all, the good and the bad I am finding it all a little confusing.

The steelcraft strider seems to be very popular but also very wide and perhaps a little bulky

Steelcraft have just released a compact version of the Strider that sounds better, narrower and lighter

Phil & Ted have a few from their range that seem to fit my requirements

Please help??? What do you think?

Photos from Steelcraft and Phil & Ted's websites

20 Weeks Pregnant

Yay, we've made it half way and I even remembered to take a photo to document this point in the pregnancy!

Who knows, by the end of this my self portraits may even improve :-)

Hope you all had a great weekend. 

We had a fabulous time celebrating the baptism of our friend's baby boy and also celebrating my nephews 5th birthday. It was wonderful catching up with my family, four out of the five sisters and their families were able to make it, unfortunately my youngest sister missed out though  :-( 

Families, gotta love em!

Enjoy your week

xx

Its a .........

Close you eyes if you don't want to know what we're having :-)

It's a baby.....BOY!

Our 19 week scan went very well and I am so thankful that the baby is healthy and well. So far all of the measurements look great and our darling boy was not shy about letting us know he is a he! However he was a little uncooperative and wouldn't move into the right position to get all of the measurements required, so after emptying half my bladder, then all of my bladder then coming back a few hours later he was still being difficult and I will be going back in 4 weeks to have another scan. I'm quite happy about that because it means I get to have another peek at our little boy.

Mean while big boy has gone off to Maths camp for a few days in Sydney, a few kids from years 5,6 7 & 8 were selected to attend. I am just so proud of him and I love that he gets involved in a range of things and love seeing him enjoy what he does. 

So hubby and I have a few nights alone, I guess that will be happening less often soon so we best make sure we enjoy it while we can. I will try extra hard to stay awake past 9 and not fall asleep on the lounge tonight :-)

Thank you for all of your prayers and support, it is so wonderful to be almost half way through this pregnancy and we are just so thankful for the blessing this baby is already.

xx