Hiya Peeps!
Being a mummy is so crazy.. I am sooo busy. Back at work this week after nearly 5 months off.. it went so quickly! So now I'm a working mum.. I have set up my own small business and will hopefully build it up over the next year or so, but for now, Ive got a lovely 20 hr a week contract, working 2 days in the office and some random hours around the boys schedules at home. It's perfect :)
Lapband Update
I booked in for a fill on 18th October.. but I never went. Truth is, I'm adequately filled.. I'm just not eating the way I should be. My portions are way too big (I blame breastfeeding hunger mostly!) and I eat way too fast, with too big bites. My lapband is working the way it should. I do not need to get more fill. I need to be able to eat well to be able to continue breastfeeding. However, I don't need to be eating alot of the crap that I was.What I have been doing is eating differently over the past month. I have basically cut out all things made with flour, potato, rice, corn and sugar. It's sort of low carb, except that most of my carbs are coming from all my veges salads and nuts and I'm not skimping on them! I'm eating alot more protien and a lot more fat now and it is doing wonders for my breast milk supply.
Here is my typical day:
Breakfast
2 boiled eggs mashed with a TBS whole egg mayo or a protein shake
Coffee (always coffee!!) with 1 sweetener and heavy cream
Morning Tea
Nuts or a boiled egg or cream cheese and deli meats (sometimes I don't even eat morning tea cos I'm not hungry)
Lunch
Salad with Protein (deli ham, tinned tuna) or leftovers from the night before.
Afternoon Tea
Strawberries and Cream
Dinner
Steamed Veg/Salad and some form of protein. Salad dressing has olive oil and lemon juice mostly, the protein part is cooked in butter or coconut oil.
Or I could make myself a gorgeous omelette.. Mmmmmmmm Loving eggs at the moment.. omelettes are my favourite.. loads of herbs, onion, bacon, mushrooms, cheese and roasted pine nuts. Nom nom.
Supper
Low Joule Jelly and heavy cream
I've lost 3kg in the last 4 weeks, and that's with no exercise at all. I'm pretty happy with that. I do plan on starting exercising very soon, but, being a gym girl, i need to wait until we have more $$ before splashing out on a gym membership, so the plan is to go walking and swimming when the weather warms up a bit and when baby boy is sleeping through, because at the moment, I'm still nursing at least twice overnight.
So that's where I'm at. I've pretty much resigned myself to the fact that my body responds better to less carbohydrates - especially those that come from simple sugars and flour. I may even be gluten intolerant. Eating like this for a month and I'm not bloated, i have regular good poops and as I mentioned before, My breastmilk supply has IMPROVED!
Will check back in again but in the meantime, I'm very active on twitter so if you're on twitter, come find me! I'm @lapbandgirl... drop me a message and let me know you're following me. I post a lot of food pics about what I'm eating in case you are interested.
Thanks for reading!
LBG xx
Monday, October 22, 2012
Friday, September 14, 2012
It's time to get back on the wagon..
My second little boy turned 3 months old this week... where is the time going? He is absolutely gorgeous, such a smiley happy baby. I love him to absolute bits!
What I am becoming more acutely aware of is the fact that I am not losing weight anymore. I thought I'd just be able to breastfeed myself down to my goal weight. Ummm.. No. Breastfeeding hunger is serious... I MUST EAT ALL THE THINGS! Seriously, I am hungry ALL. THE. TIME. And thirsty.. so goddamn thirsty! Now that the breastfeeding is well established and I'm having absolutely NO problems at all (so freaking lucky!), it's time to address my weight loss.. it's time for a fill.
This morning I rang the clinic and booked in for a fill. 11:30am on October 18th 2012 is my appointment with my wonderful lapband surgeon and fill doctor. I'm a bit excited about getting a fill, part of me is dreading it too. I know I'm going to have to retrain myself to eat smaller portions again. But I need to do this. I'm not happy at this weight. I mean, I'm happy.. deleriously happy that I have such a beautiful family, my life is wonderful, but truthfully I'm not happy with how I feel with my body. Maybe its a post pregnancy thing (I did only give birth 3 months ago).. who knows, but either way, it's starting to get me down. None of my clothes fit me. I feel so unfit and tired. Exercise will play a big role in my weight loss as well, this I know. I'm looking forward to getting back to the gym, but this is something I can't do until I start working again. Because 1) we don't have the extra money for a gym membership and 2) I can exercise during my lunch break while the boys are in daycare.
So what will I do for the next month? I'm going to start reading up again on the lapband diet, prepare my pantry for my fill by getting rid of (aka.. eating) all the stuff I won't be able to eat when my lapband is filled. I am going to start making menu plans for dinners too.
I will also be "Starting Over" on the blog. I'm going to remove all my previous weight loss information and post my STARTING WEIGHT as of 18th October. I will become accountable again, and I will post my progress on my blog. I hope you'll follow my journey, this time with 2 kids in tow!!
Thanks for reading!!
LBG xx
What I am becoming more acutely aware of is the fact that I am not losing weight anymore. I thought I'd just be able to breastfeed myself down to my goal weight. Ummm.. No. Breastfeeding hunger is serious... I MUST EAT ALL THE THINGS! Seriously, I am hungry ALL. THE. TIME. And thirsty.. so goddamn thirsty! Now that the breastfeeding is well established and I'm having absolutely NO problems at all (so freaking lucky!), it's time to address my weight loss.. it's time for a fill.
This morning I rang the clinic and booked in for a fill. 11:30am on October 18th 2012 is my appointment with my wonderful lapband surgeon and fill doctor. I'm a bit excited about getting a fill, part of me is dreading it too. I know I'm going to have to retrain myself to eat smaller portions again. But I need to do this. I'm not happy at this weight. I mean, I'm happy.. deleriously happy that I have such a beautiful family, my life is wonderful, but truthfully I'm not happy with how I feel with my body. Maybe its a post pregnancy thing (I did only give birth 3 months ago).. who knows, but either way, it's starting to get me down. None of my clothes fit me. I feel so unfit and tired. Exercise will play a big role in my weight loss as well, this I know. I'm looking forward to getting back to the gym, but this is something I can't do until I start working again. Because 1) we don't have the extra money for a gym membership and 2) I can exercise during my lunch break while the boys are in daycare.
So what will I do for the next month? I'm going to start reading up again on the lapband diet, prepare my pantry for my fill by getting rid of (aka.. eating) all the stuff I won't be able to eat when my lapband is filled. I am going to start making menu plans for dinners too.
I will also be "Starting Over" on the blog. I'm going to remove all my previous weight loss information and post my STARTING WEIGHT as of 18th October. I will become accountable again, and I will post my progress on my blog. I hope you'll follow my journey, this time with 2 kids in tow!!
Thanks for reading!!
LBG xx
Sunday, August 26, 2012
PostPregnacy Lapband Update
I had my gall bladder out on 29th August 2011. For that surgery I needed to have some fill taken out. After a month, I visited my GI surgeon and had that fill put back in. Funnily enough, it was on that day I got my BFP and found out I was pregnant with #2. I was in two minds about getting fill put back in, but knew that I really did need to because I had gained a few pounds since having the fill out for my surgery.
Fast forward to 1 year later, and here I am. The pregnancy is over, I'm 11 weeks post partum and now I need to seriously start looking at my diet and lifestyle and how my lapband will play a part in that. I know, from 5.5 years of having this band, that it is no longer going to be the only thing that will help me lose the weight. I managed to lose 30kg for my wedding in 2008, and since then, with 2 pregnancies within 2 years, I have slowly gained back 20kg of those 30kg. In saying that, I feel wonderful. I love being a mum, I'm happy. Deleriously happy with my two boys and husband. I wouldn't never have thought in a million years my life would be this awesome. I feel complete... well, almost.
While I am comfortable with being fat, I am not happy with the way I feel. The main reason is because I am not exercising... at all. Nothing, zip, nada. I feel so sluggish and slow. I miss that amazing adrenaline rush I got when I moved my body, especially when I was at my peak level a few years ago. I want to get back to that.. and the weight will sort itself out.
See, funnily enough, despite the fact that I have not had any fill in a year, my lapband is still doing it's job.. I still can't eat breakfast. I still vomit if I eat too fast. I still can't eat bread or pasta. But I enjoy my food, good food... I will not eat low fat stuff. I enjoy cooking with cream and butter. My portions are WAY WAY smaller than normal although usually I can just eat everything and anything and it's like I don't even have a lapband.
I'm also a big believer in a primal, unprocessed, whole food diet, and this is how I am trying to eat at the moment. I believe in full fat cream, nuts, lots of meat, eggs, heaps and heaps of veges and fruit. Unfortunately, my husband still brings food home that shouldn't be in our household and yes I do eat it. This is where exercise will play a huge part in controlling my weight.
So then plan? Join the gym, when I start back at work in October. We cant affort it at the moment. In the mean time, work on the diet and go for walks (even though I really don't like walking). When #2 is older (6 months +) I will be able to leave both kids with DH and get back to the gym. At the moment, it's not fair to leave him with the two kids, especially when I'm breastfeeding.
Sorry, that was a bit of a ramble.. but I just wanted to get that out on "paper".
Thanks for reading!
LBG xx
P.S. Are you on Twitter??? Follow Me!!! @LapBandGirl
P.P.S here is a photo of my two beautiful boys. I heart them so much!
Fast forward to 1 year later, and here I am. The pregnancy is over, I'm 11 weeks post partum and now I need to seriously start looking at my diet and lifestyle and how my lapband will play a part in that. I know, from 5.5 years of having this band, that it is no longer going to be the only thing that will help me lose the weight. I managed to lose 30kg for my wedding in 2008, and since then, with 2 pregnancies within 2 years, I have slowly gained back 20kg of those 30kg. In saying that, I feel wonderful. I love being a mum, I'm happy. Deleriously happy with my two boys and husband. I wouldn't never have thought in a million years my life would be this awesome. I feel complete... well, almost.
While I am comfortable with being fat, I am not happy with the way I feel. The main reason is because I am not exercising... at all. Nothing, zip, nada. I feel so sluggish and slow. I miss that amazing adrenaline rush I got when I moved my body, especially when I was at my peak level a few years ago. I want to get back to that.. and the weight will sort itself out.
See, funnily enough, despite the fact that I have not had any fill in a year, my lapband is still doing it's job.. I still can't eat breakfast. I still vomit if I eat too fast. I still can't eat bread or pasta. But I enjoy my food, good food... I will not eat low fat stuff. I enjoy cooking with cream and butter. My portions are WAY WAY smaller than normal although usually I can just eat everything and anything and it's like I don't even have a lapband.
I'm also a big believer in a primal, unprocessed, whole food diet, and this is how I am trying to eat at the moment. I believe in full fat cream, nuts, lots of meat, eggs, heaps and heaps of veges and fruit. Unfortunately, my husband still brings food home that shouldn't be in our household and yes I do eat it. This is where exercise will play a huge part in controlling my weight.
So then plan? Join the gym, when I start back at work in October. We cant affort it at the moment. In the mean time, work on the diet and go for walks (even though I really don't like walking). When #2 is older (6 months +) I will be able to leave both kids with DH and get back to the gym. At the moment, it's not fair to leave him with the two kids, especially when I'm breastfeeding.
Sorry, that was a bit of a ramble.. but I just wanted to get that out on "paper".
Thanks for reading!
LBG xx
P.S. Are you on Twitter??? Follow Me!!! @LapBandGirl
P.P.S here is a photo of my two beautiful boys. I heart them so much!
Thursday, July 26, 2012
6 weeks old!
My second baby boy is now 6 weeks old. Umm what? Where the hell did 6 weeks just go?
We've settled into a bit of a "routine" now, not that we can really call it that. L1 goes to kindy Monday, Wednesday and Thursday which gives me a chance to be home with L2 and spend one on one time with him which is really hard to do when L1 is around. When I have both boys with me during the day, I have found that I need to stick to L1's nap time schedule, rather than try and fit around L2. So, we usually are out and about in the morning, home by 1pm for his nap, then it's home based activities or a trip to the local park in the afternoon. I've found a great enclosed park near us which we can visit. L1 runs around for a couple of hours and I can baby wear L2 and watch L1 play. Either that or I'm trying to organise lots of play dates with my mummy friends on a Tuesday. Friday is when we have play group from 10am-12noon at the local community centre. My mummy group friends go to that so I get to catch up with them and L1 can play with his friends for a couple of hours..
During the days I just have L2, we are generally home bodies. I'm just trying to get a sleep schedule sorted (hard to do at such a young age I know!), enjoying the newborn snuggles (I know these won't last forever!) and catching up on all the home stuff (Washing, cooking, cleaning, vacuuming etc). I've found that our local cinema does a "babes in arms" session at 10:30am on a wednesday morning, so I've started going to that once every couple of weeks. Also, I have a lot of friends having babies in the next few months, so I'll be out and about visiting them and their new bubs too.
L2 is a great night time sleeper. He's usually asleep by 7pm and won't wake til 1-2am to nurse. Then he'll be up again around 5-6am to nurse again, then back asleep til 8am. So I usually try to get to bed by 8:30-9pm so that I can get at least 4 hours sleep. I'm managing to get 6-7hours broken sleep/night, but I know that will get better. L1 didn't sleep through the night til 3 months old, so we're expecting the same with L2.
Breastfeeding is going AMAZINGLY well this time round. I know exactly what to do, what feels right, what doesn't and I know how lucky I am. L2 is a champion sucker.. like WOAH.. much to his detriment as he swallows alot of air and then struggles to burp. Now that he's over a month old we have started giving him wind drops which has helped A LOT! I forgot how much I missed breastfeeding. I love hearing him gulp and guzzle and make these cute little noises when he gets all milk-drunk. I'm expressing around 100-120mL of milk/day for L1 to have in his night time bottle. Already I've noticed that L1 is less constipated (Breast Milk is a mild laxative!) and he goes to bed quickly after the milk (Breastmilk is a mild sedative).. Hopefully it will help get him through the rest of winter without any more colds/flu! Really hoping I can continue breastfeeding for at least a year with L2, hopefully longer and continuing to express for L1 as well.
L1 is 25 months now (just over 2 years old) and ZOMG the tantrums! His favourite thing to do at the moment is scream to get attention if he's not getting his own way. He'll scream an ear piercing scream, look at us, wait for us to react, and then do it again if we do. So hubs and I are trying to ignore him when he screams, which is hard to do, but L1 is slowly working out that screaming isn't getting him anywhere. He has slowly accepted that there is a new member of the family now, and he is just gorgeous with L2. He wants to give his kisses and cuddles all the time, melts my heart. He's such a great big brother, and already L2 focuses on L1 intently and knows who he is and smiles at him. They are going to be such great mates when they are older!
Me? I'm doing OK.. I'll update you on how I'm going now that I have 2 kids.. but that's for another blog post!
Thanks for reading!
LBG
We've settled into a bit of a "routine" now, not that we can really call it that. L1 goes to kindy Monday, Wednesday and Thursday which gives me a chance to be home with L2 and spend one on one time with him which is really hard to do when L1 is around. When I have both boys with me during the day, I have found that I need to stick to L1's nap time schedule, rather than try and fit around L2. So, we usually are out and about in the morning, home by 1pm for his nap, then it's home based activities or a trip to the local park in the afternoon. I've found a great enclosed park near us which we can visit. L1 runs around for a couple of hours and I can baby wear L2 and watch L1 play. Either that or I'm trying to organise lots of play dates with my mummy friends on a Tuesday. Friday is when we have play group from 10am-12noon at the local community centre. My mummy group friends go to that so I get to catch up with them and L1 can play with his friends for a couple of hours..
During the days I just have L2, we are generally home bodies. I'm just trying to get a sleep schedule sorted (hard to do at such a young age I know!), enjoying the newborn snuggles (I know these won't last forever!) and catching up on all the home stuff (Washing, cooking, cleaning, vacuuming etc). I've found that our local cinema does a "babes in arms" session at 10:30am on a wednesday morning, so I've started going to that once every couple of weeks. Also, I have a lot of friends having babies in the next few months, so I'll be out and about visiting them and their new bubs too.
L2 is a great night time sleeper. He's usually asleep by 7pm and won't wake til 1-2am to nurse. Then he'll be up again around 5-6am to nurse again, then back asleep til 8am. So I usually try to get to bed by 8:30-9pm so that I can get at least 4 hours sleep. I'm managing to get 6-7hours broken sleep/night, but I know that will get better. L1 didn't sleep through the night til 3 months old, so we're expecting the same with L2.
Breastfeeding is going AMAZINGLY well this time round. I know exactly what to do, what feels right, what doesn't and I know how lucky I am. L2 is a champion sucker.. like WOAH.. much to his detriment as he swallows alot of air and then struggles to burp. Now that he's over a month old we have started giving him wind drops which has helped A LOT! I forgot how much I missed breastfeeding. I love hearing him gulp and guzzle and make these cute little noises when he gets all milk-drunk. I'm expressing around 100-120mL of milk/day for L1 to have in his night time bottle. Already I've noticed that L1 is less constipated (Breast Milk is a mild laxative!) and he goes to bed quickly after the milk (Breastmilk is a mild sedative).. Hopefully it will help get him through the rest of winter without any more colds/flu! Really hoping I can continue breastfeeding for at least a year with L2, hopefully longer and continuing to express for L1 as well.
L1 is 25 months now (just over 2 years old) and ZOMG the tantrums! His favourite thing to do at the moment is scream to get attention if he's not getting his own way. He'll scream an ear piercing scream, look at us, wait for us to react, and then do it again if we do. So hubs and I are trying to ignore him when he screams, which is hard to do, but L1 is slowly working out that screaming isn't getting him anywhere. He has slowly accepted that there is a new member of the family now, and he is just gorgeous with L2. He wants to give his kisses and cuddles all the time, melts my heart. He's such a great big brother, and already L2 focuses on L1 intently and knows who he is and smiles at him. They are going to be such great mates when they are older!
Me? I'm doing OK.. I'll update you on how I'm going now that I have 2 kids.. but that's for another blog post!
Thanks for reading!
LBG
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
The Birth of JuneBug!
I am so excited to be able to share this wonderful positive induction
birth story with you. So make yourself comfortable, grab a
coffee/tea/wine, sit back and enjoy!
A bit of background: I already have a DS1, spontaneous labour at 39+2, 16 hours labour, ending in an epidural and a 2nd degree tear, DS1 stayed a couple days in the SCN due to low blood sugar levels, but other than that, was a healthy bouncing baby boy! A pretty good birth by all means! You can find that birth story here. My first pregnancy was easy. I loved being pregnant. Other than a touch of Gestational Diabetes I felt pretty amazing. I went into labour after 1 day of false labour with him. I had a cervical check done the day before and I was already 3cm dilated, the next morning, I felt regular contractions and by 8pm that evening he arrived.
This time round: From around 34 weeks pregnant I was starting to get over it. Things were different. I had my DS who was a crazy full-of-energy toddler, I was working full time, travelling around Australia, and this pregnancy gave me alot more grief with aching pelvis, not being able to walk, BH contractions earlier on. Still, not a bad pregnancy by any stretch of the imagination, but I was still ready to be over it and have my JuneBug in my arms. Come 38 weeks pregnant and I slipped and fell, went to hospital to get bubs monitored. All was OK. 2 days later, just before I hit 39 weeks pregnant I contracted a REALLY REALLY BAD bout of gastro. I almost rocked up at the hospital due to dehydration and cramping but managed to get fluids into me eventually and avoided a trip to hospital. During that time I hadn't felt bubs move so I was a little nervous, but once I started getting sugar into me I felt him again. Of course, with all the dry wretching my stomach and abdomen was so sore, combined with the BH contractions and the false labour I was really starting to fail mentally and emotionally. I think the worse part was having to rely on my parents (who are also still working) to help take care of DS1 when I did go into labour and the logistics of trying to organise him while having contractions. It was doing my head in. At my 39+4 week appointment I was 1cm dilated and asked my OB if I could be induced. He agreed that he would induce me at 40.5 weeks, but was confident that I would have the baby before then. I was booked in for the day after the public holiday monday. During the long weekend I was having false labour contractions between 10-20minutes apart. They were really crunchy, but never got any closer together. I was constantly on edge, wondering... "is it, isn't it??" I even rang the hospital a couple of times to discuss what was going on, and of course they always said, come in if the contractions get to 5 mins apart. So, for 3 days I continued to have regular contractions that didn't go anywhere. My poor parents and DH were on edge as well, wondering if it would all happen. I was worried I would go into labour in the middle of the night, have to wake DS up and take him to my parents, or have my parents come to my house, how long that would all take, how long a 2nd labour would take.. it was doing my head in!!
Tuesday 12th June: at 40 weeks 4 days pregnant, DH and I dropped off my DS to my parents at 6:30am. It was cold and raining, a day exactly like when my DS1 was born. We rocked up to the hospital at 7am and checked in to the birthing suite. I got my gear off and changed into some hospital garment. Hung out for a bit until the OB came to see me. He checked my cervix, 3cm dilated and soft/stretchy. Hooray! Then he ruptured my membranes, clear fluid came out, another Hooray! The monitors were put on my belly, one for baby and one for my belly. He set up the syntocin drip at 15ml/min to start, the lowest that it will go. The midwife assured me that it would not be turned up unless I was comfortable with the change, which was reassuring. So around 8:45am the drip started. Before the OB left the room he said, "you'll have this baby by lunchtime". Another Hooray I thought and then quickly followed by, "hang on, there is only a few hours til lunch!".
I had already been having some contractions since my waters broke. DH sat on the couch and read his magazine and I chilled out on the bed, breathing calmly through each contraction. I liked looking at the monitor when I had a contraction. I would watch the numbers go up when my belly hardened. The higher the number, the more intense the contraction. It was like I was validating the pain when the number reached above a certain amount. Also, reassuring hearing my baby's heartbeat, which helped me focus on the task at hand, getting him safely earthside! Every time I had a contraction fluid would leak out of me, it felt so bizzare!
The syntocin drip was turned up a number of times, each time by 15ml/hr. I liked knowing when the drip was turned up because mentally it helped me prepare for the change in intensity of the contractions. I also knew that I had a number of pain relief options still available to me before I would have needed the epidural which made me feel more confident about having the drip put up and the contractions get stronger. At around 10am I got off the bed and got on the swiss ball and leant on the bed. I remember listening to the Azaria Chamberlain verdict on TV, concentrating on the Judges voice during contractions. I also went to the loo every so often, I had some major diarrhoea, not sure if it was the syntocin drip or just me needing to have a good clear out before baby arrived. After a while, the contractions were coming every 3-4 mins and I needed another distraction and I asked my DH to get my ipod. I had a Michael Jackson remix set to go, the same remix I listened to when I laboured during DS1's birth! Every time I had a contraction, the earphones would go in and I'd rock my hips to the music on the swiss ball and zoned out. It also helped that I couldn't hear myself moaning and groaning, I felt less inhibited if I didn't know what I sounded like! My DH sat behind me and pressed a vibrating massager into my lower back as counter pressure every time I had a contraction. By the time the synto drip was at it's highest the contractions were coming every 2 minutes for around a minute at a time. Unfortunately, because of my position the monitors weren't picking up the contraction strength or the baby's heart rate so the poor midwife had to squat next to me and hold the monitors on my belly each time I had a contraction. Luckily, baby was tolerating them nicely. By this stage I hadn't had any pain relief. The contractions were coming in waves, sometimes a double one would hit me. I asked for the gas/air. I sucked on that mouthpiece like nobodies buisiness! But it helped, A LOT! I floated around during contractions, groaning and moaning, totally uninhibited and spacey. It was great!
I started becoming a bit more "grunty" when I was going through the contractions - low growly groans. Also, I started to feel pressure and pain in my lower back/bum and the massager started to become annoying so I asked DH to stop. The midwife said to me that she had noticed a change in my vocalisations and that she thought that it would be a good idea to have a check done to see how far I had progressed. She also asked if I had more pain in my lower back which I did. She thought that I might be close. I was thinking, yeah right, it's only been 3 hours, and half of that time I was watching/listening to TV!! At this stage, I think if I had been less than 8cm dilated I would have asked for the epidural because the contractions were really tough to get through and coming thick and fast.
I did not want to get on my back, so I climbed up on the bed on all fours and hung my upper body over the bed head. The time was 12:00 noon. It took a while because I had a couple of contractions along the way. The OB popped in and did an internal cervix check. His words: "looks like you're ready to have a baby!". I almost cried in delight! I had done it! I had gotten to 10cm without an epidural!! I think I replied with "that's Fucking awesome!!" I was just so so thrilled I had managed to give birth with nothing more than gas/air. OB said with the next contraction I was to try pushing. There was a bit of cervix lip over the baby's head which the OB pushed out of the way, lordy, that hurt more than anything else I reckon!
The pushing part of the birth I never felt with DS1 because of the epidural. I thought I did, because I could feel something, but it was nothing like this. Once that lip was out of the way I would take a big suck of the gas and push like my life depended on it! My OB would push my lower back/bottom down onto the bed during each push to open up my pelvis. I felt JuneBug move through me with each contraction. It felt AMAZING, I had no control, my body just knew what to do. Then, the burning, I knew JuneBug was crowning. I was thinking to myself "I"m doing it!! I'm giving birth...". Yes, the crowning hurt, but it was totally bearable because I knew I was at the end, and he moved through this part quite quickly, only a few seconds of crowning before the burning died down and I felt his head come out. While I really wanted the whole "touch the baby's head and look at a mirror as the baby is being born", I was happy to be on all fours, because it was the most natural and comfortable position for me to be in. I could feel the OB manouvering the shoulders through, telling me to pant as he did. I was breathing deeply and slowly, I was in this amazing headspace. The next contraction I didn't even have to push with, and his little body slid out of me. I cried, and said over and over "I did it, I did it". DH was up at my head, kissing my head and giving me water. The midwife gave me the needle to birth the placenta, holy moly that hurt too!! I couldn't move for a while as my legs were a bit shakey and I felt like my hamstrings would cramp. The OB cut the cord and the midwife brought JuneBug up to my head where I gave him a quick kiss before she took him to be measured. Then, another contraction, although completely painless, and the placenta slipped out of me. My mum, who wanted to be at the birth (she was at the birth of DS1), walked in as the baby was coming out, so missed the entire thing. I didn't think we expected it to go this quickly. JuneBug arrived at 12:15pm - 15 minutes of pushing!
I eventually turned over and was given 2 external stitches for some minor grazing, DH held JuneBug and I marvelled at how awesome the whole experience was. The midwife commented "you made that look easy". My mum said I was glowing.. I felt incredible. Half an hour later, JuneBug was on the boob like he'd been doing it his whole life (all 30 mintes of it!! hehe).. best little boobie monster, helped by the fact that I'd BFed once already. Mum asked me why I had given birth on all fours, as I was on my back with my last birth. I said that this was the position that was most comfortable.
The OB said goodbye and the midwife was completing the final paperwork. DH and mum went home and I was left with my DS2. The midwife got me up and I went and had a shower. She kept on checking on me, asking if I was OK, I was absolutely fine, standing up showering, not feeling dizzy at all. She then walked with me and DS2 to the anti-natal ward where a room was waiting for me.
Later that afternoon DS1 met his little brother. Not the greatest first meetings so we decided not to bring DS1 back to the hospital for the rest of my stay. I was in hospital for the 4 days, which was just lovely. Having meals brought to me, sending DS2 to the nursery when I needed a few hours sleep, lactation consultant on hand, bathing classes and some wonderful special unexpected visitors this time round.
Thanks for reading!
LBG xx
A bit of background: I already have a DS1, spontaneous labour at 39+2, 16 hours labour, ending in an epidural and a 2nd degree tear, DS1 stayed a couple days in the SCN due to low blood sugar levels, but other than that, was a healthy bouncing baby boy! A pretty good birth by all means! You can find that birth story here. My first pregnancy was easy. I loved being pregnant. Other than a touch of Gestational Diabetes I felt pretty amazing. I went into labour after 1 day of false labour with him. I had a cervical check done the day before and I was already 3cm dilated, the next morning, I felt regular contractions and by 8pm that evening he arrived.
This time round: From around 34 weeks pregnant I was starting to get over it. Things were different. I had my DS who was a crazy full-of-energy toddler, I was working full time, travelling around Australia, and this pregnancy gave me alot more grief with aching pelvis, not being able to walk, BH contractions earlier on. Still, not a bad pregnancy by any stretch of the imagination, but I was still ready to be over it and have my JuneBug in my arms. Come 38 weeks pregnant and I slipped and fell, went to hospital to get bubs monitored. All was OK. 2 days later, just before I hit 39 weeks pregnant I contracted a REALLY REALLY BAD bout of gastro. I almost rocked up at the hospital due to dehydration and cramping but managed to get fluids into me eventually and avoided a trip to hospital. During that time I hadn't felt bubs move so I was a little nervous, but once I started getting sugar into me I felt him again. Of course, with all the dry wretching my stomach and abdomen was so sore, combined with the BH contractions and the false labour I was really starting to fail mentally and emotionally. I think the worse part was having to rely on my parents (who are also still working) to help take care of DS1 when I did go into labour and the logistics of trying to organise him while having contractions. It was doing my head in. At my 39+4 week appointment I was 1cm dilated and asked my OB if I could be induced. He agreed that he would induce me at 40.5 weeks, but was confident that I would have the baby before then. I was booked in for the day after the public holiday monday. During the long weekend I was having false labour contractions between 10-20minutes apart. They were really crunchy, but never got any closer together. I was constantly on edge, wondering... "is it, isn't it??" I even rang the hospital a couple of times to discuss what was going on, and of course they always said, come in if the contractions get to 5 mins apart. So, for 3 days I continued to have regular contractions that didn't go anywhere. My poor parents and DH were on edge as well, wondering if it would all happen. I was worried I would go into labour in the middle of the night, have to wake DS up and take him to my parents, or have my parents come to my house, how long that would all take, how long a 2nd labour would take.. it was doing my head in!!
Tuesday 12th June: at 40 weeks 4 days pregnant, DH and I dropped off my DS to my parents at 6:30am. It was cold and raining, a day exactly like when my DS1 was born. We rocked up to the hospital at 7am and checked in to the birthing suite. I got my gear off and changed into some hospital garment. Hung out for a bit until the OB came to see me. He checked my cervix, 3cm dilated and soft/stretchy. Hooray! Then he ruptured my membranes, clear fluid came out, another Hooray! The monitors were put on my belly, one for baby and one for my belly. He set up the syntocin drip at 15ml/min to start, the lowest that it will go. The midwife assured me that it would not be turned up unless I was comfortable with the change, which was reassuring. So around 8:45am the drip started. Before the OB left the room he said, "you'll have this baby by lunchtime". Another Hooray I thought and then quickly followed by, "hang on, there is only a few hours til lunch!".
I had already been having some contractions since my waters broke. DH sat on the couch and read his magazine and I chilled out on the bed, breathing calmly through each contraction. I liked looking at the monitor when I had a contraction. I would watch the numbers go up when my belly hardened. The higher the number, the more intense the contraction. It was like I was validating the pain when the number reached above a certain amount. Also, reassuring hearing my baby's heartbeat, which helped me focus on the task at hand, getting him safely earthside! Every time I had a contraction fluid would leak out of me, it felt so bizzare!
The syntocin drip was turned up a number of times, each time by 15ml/hr. I liked knowing when the drip was turned up because mentally it helped me prepare for the change in intensity of the contractions. I also knew that I had a number of pain relief options still available to me before I would have needed the epidural which made me feel more confident about having the drip put up and the contractions get stronger. At around 10am I got off the bed and got on the swiss ball and leant on the bed. I remember listening to the Azaria Chamberlain verdict on TV, concentrating on the Judges voice during contractions. I also went to the loo every so often, I had some major diarrhoea, not sure if it was the syntocin drip or just me needing to have a good clear out before baby arrived. After a while, the contractions were coming every 3-4 mins and I needed another distraction and I asked my DH to get my ipod. I had a Michael Jackson remix set to go, the same remix I listened to when I laboured during DS1's birth! Every time I had a contraction, the earphones would go in and I'd rock my hips to the music on the swiss ball and zoned out. It also helped that I couldn't hear myself moaning and groaning, I felt less inhibited if I didn't know what I sounded like! My DH sat behind me and pressed a vibrating massager into my lower back as counter pressure every time I had a contraction. By the time the synto drip was at it's highest the contractions were coming every 2 minutes for around a minute at a time. Unfortunately, because of my position the monitors weren't picking up the contraction strength or the baby's heart rate so the poor midwife had to squat next to me and hold the monitors on my belly each time I had a contraction. Luckily, baby was tolerating them nicely. By this stage I hadn't had any pain relief. The contractions were coming in waves, sometimes a double one would hit me. I asked for the gas/air. I sucked on that mouthpiece like nobodies buisiness! But it helped, A LOT! I floated around during contractions, groaning and moaning, totally uninhibited and spacey. It was great!
I started becoming a bit more "grunty" when I was going through the contractions - low growly groans. Also, I started to feel pressure and pain in my lower back/bum and the massager started to become annoying so I asked DH to stop. The midwife said to me that she had noticed a change in my vocalisations and that she thought that it would be a good idea to have a check done to see how far I had progressed. She also asked if I had more pain in my lower back which I did. She thought that I might be close. I was thinking, yeah right, it's only been 3 hours, and half of that time I was watching/listening to TV!! At this stage, I think if I had been less than 8cm dilated I would have asked for the epidural because the contractions were really tough to get through and coming thick and fast.
I did not want to get on my back, so I climbed up on the bed on all fours and hung my upper body over the bed head. The time was 12:00 noon. It took a while because I had a couple of contractions along the way. The OB popped in and did an internal cervix check. His words: "looks like you're ready to have a baby!". I almost cried in delight! I had done it! I had gotten to 10cm without an epidural!! I think I replied with "that's Fucking awesome!!" I was just so so thrilled I had managed to give birth with nothing more than gas/air. OB said with the next contraction I was to try pushing. There was a bit of cervix lip over the baby's head which the OB pushed out of the way, lordy, that hurt more than anything else I reckon!
The pushing part of the birth I never felt with DS1 because of the epidural. I thought I did, because I could feel something, but it was nothing like this. Once that lip was out of the way I would take a big suck of the gas and push like my life depended on it! My OB would push my lower back/bottom down onto the bed during each push to open up my pelvis. I felt JuneBug move through me with each contraction. It felt AMAZING, I had no control, my body just knew what to do. Then, the burning, I knew JuneBug was crowning. I was thinking to myself "I"m doing it!! I'm giving birth...". Yes, the crowning hurt, but it was totally bearable because I knew I was at the end, and he moved through this part quite quickly, only a few seconds of crowning before the burning died down and I felt his head come out. While I really wanted the whole "touch the baby's head and look at a mirror as the baby is being born", I was happy to be on all fours, because it was the most natural and comfortable position for me to be in. I could feel the OB manouvering the shoulders through, telling me to pant as he did. I was breathing deeply and slowly, I was in this amazing headspace. The next contraction I didn't even have to push with, and his little body slid out of me. I cried, and said over and over "I did it, I did it". DH was up at my head, kissing my head and giving me water. The midwife gave me the needle to birth the placenta, holy moly that hurt too!! I couldn't move for a while as my legs were a bit shakey and I felt like my hamstrings would cramp. The OB cut the cord and the midwife brought JuneBug up to my head where I gave him a quick kiss before she took him to be measured. Then, another contraction, although completely painless, and the placenta slipped out of me. My mum, who wanted to be at the birth (she was at the birth of DS1), walked in as the baby was coming out, so missed the entire thing. I didn't think we expected it to go this quickly. JuneBug arrived at 12:15pm - 15 minutes of pushing!
I eventually turned over and was given 2 external stitches for some minor grazing, DH held JuneBug and I marvelled at how awesome the whole experience was. The midwife commented "you made that look easy". My mum said I was glowing.. I felt incredible. Half an hour later, JuneBug was on the boob like he'd been doing it his whole life (all 30 mintes of it!! hehe).. best little boobie monster, helped by the fact that I'd BFed once already. Mum asked me why I had given birth on all fours, as I was on my back with my last birth. I said that this was the position that was most comfortable.
The OB said goodbye and the midwife was completing the final paperwork. DH and mum went home and I was left with my DS2. The midwife got me up and I went and had a shower. She kept on checking on me, asking if I was OK, I was absolutely fine, standing up showering, not feeling dizzy at all. She then walked with me and DS2 to the anti-natal ward where a room was waiting for me.
Later that afternoon DS1 met his little brother. Not the greatest first meetings so we decided not to bring DS1 back to the hospital for the rest of my stay. I was in hospital for the 4 days, which was just lovely. Having meals brought to me, sending DS2 to the nursery when I needed a few hours sleep, lactation consultant on hand, bathing classes and some wonderful special unexpected visitors this time round.
Thanks for reading!
LBG xx
Sunday, June 24, 2012
Welcome Earthside JuneBug!
He arrived at 12:15pm weighing 8lb 3oz and 52cm tall. Can't believe he's almost 2 weeks old now!
My family is now complete. My lapband played a massive part in me being able to fall and stay pregnant after losing weight. I have gained alot of it back, but I'm not too fussed at the moment. Plan is to wait 6 weeks and then revisit my weight loss goals. At the moment, I'm just enjoying my babies..
For now, I'm all about norishing my body with good foods to help with breastfeeding (which is going AWESOME by the way!).. I gained 13kg this pregnancy and have already lost 8kg of that weight in 12 days. Hope that downwards trend continues for a while longer yet!
My lapband, while it has a little less fill than normal, is still working.. and I still struggle alot with breakfast foods.. I really only eat one meal a day (dinner) mostly because I'm just so darn busy with my kids now I don't have alot of time to eat a "proper" meal. I usually just eat what my 2 year old eats... my problem is that I snack throughout the day and don't track any calories. Also, my carb intake is more than it should be and I really want to get back to the more paleo primal way of eating.
I have all these thoughts going on in my head about posts and really want to get back into blogging. Not sure how much time I'll have, but I do plan to blog more often!
Anyway, thanks for reading!
LBG xx
Sunday, March 25, 2012
Swimming lessons with a 21 month old!
I love my weekends, especially now that I've gone back to work full time to earn more money for when #2 comes along. Sunday's are particularly crazy for us as we start the day off early with a 9am swimming lesson with L. One parent has to be in the pool and I've been volunteering because it's been an easy way for me to get 30mins of exercise in and I just love spending time with L in the pool.
L just loves swimming. Every Sunday we say 'would you like to go swimming with mummy?' to which he nods his head vigorously and runs off to find his swimming trunks which he hands to us and claps his hands his delight. When he's at the pool he wants to get in straight away and we have to make sure we hold in to him super tight until the class before finishes so we can get it the water. So hard trying to distract an almost 2 year old when they don't understand why they can't get in the water straight away. So we cuddle in the shower at the pool for a few minutes which is getting harder and harder with my 29 week bump trying to carry him!
When L is in the pool it's nothing but squeals of pure delight, splashing and hand clapping. He kicks with such enthusiasm which has resulted in a few kicks to the belly (not so fun). He has learnt to hold his breath, swim under water and reach out to me. He can monkey walk across the side of the pool (whilst making monkey sounds!) and can turn around and swim to me if he is holding on to the edge. Super super cool.
He is no where near swimming by himself yet but he has improved so much since we started back in November. I am so proud of him :)
And we get to do this all over again when #2 comes along! There will probably be a time when both hubs and I are in the pool with both kids for swimming lessons! Hope that doesn't last too long.
Thanks for reading!
LBG xx
L just loves swimming. Every Sunday we say 'would you like to go swimming with mummy?' to which he nods his head vigorously and runs off to find his swimming trunks which he hands to us and claps his hands his delight. When he's at the pool he wants to get in straight away and we have to make sure we hold in to him super tight until the class before finishes so we can get it the water. So hard trying to distract an almost 2 year old when they don't understand why they can't get in the water straight away. So we cuddle in the shower at the pool for a few minutes which is getting harder and harder with my 29 week bump trying to carry him!
When L is in the pool it's nothing but squeals of pure delight, splashing and hand clapping. He kicks with such enthusiasm which has resulted in a few kicks to the belly (not so fun). He has learnt to hold his breath, swim under water and reach out to me. He can monkey walk across the side of the pool (whilst making monkey sounds!) and can turn around and swim to me if he is holding on to the edge. Super super cool.
He is no where near swimming by himself yet but he has improved so much since we started back in November. I am so proud of him :)
And we get to do this all over again when #2 comes along! There will probably be a time when both hubs and I are in the pool with both kids for swimming lessons! Hope that doesn't last too long.
Thanks for reading!
LBG xx
Thursday, March 22, 2012
My son's birth day story
I wrote this down just after my little man was born. I wanted to get it down so that I didn't forget it.. it's the story of the arrival of my son. I hope you enjoy it!
I'd woken up with contractions on 22nd June 2010 but then went back to sleep around 4:30am so they had obviously stopped. I had a 39 week OB appointment on 22nd June where he did an internal and told me I was already 3cm dialated. Said I wouldn't make it to the weekend (Baby was due on Monday 28th June)... so I was excited. Because of the internal exam, I had alot of bleeding/mucus plug stuff during the afternoon and lost my mucus plug (or what was left of it).. and just felt out of sorts in the evening. Had a lovely relaxing bath and went to bed early.
4:30am on 23rd June I woke up with contractions, kinda like the morning before, except that I couldn't go back to sleep. Got my iPhone out with a contraction timer application I had downloaded and started timing the contractions. 5 mins apart and about 3/10. Woke DH up and told him that I thought I was in learly abour. Told him to go back to bed... and I got up and had a long hot shower. Phone the hossy at around 6:30am and told them what was going on. They encouraged me to stay at home until things got a little more intense. DH ran a bath and I hopped in around 7am... every contraction was still 5 mins apart but getting more ouch. Every time I had a contraction I would roll over in the bath so that my belly was downwards, and DH would massage my back... this happened for 4.5hours!! DH kept on refilling the bath with hot water and brought me powerades and lollies! What a champ!
Got out of the bath at 11:30am and thought that I probably should go to the hossy now. Jumped in the car, had two contractions on the way (now they were 8 mins apart)... got to the hossy around midday.. MW put the monitors on me and could only get a contraction once every 10 mins!! Said that I might have to go home which I was not happy about because I was in a little more pain now. She did an internal check and I was 5cm dialated... waters hadn't broken, but I wasn't going home. She asked me what I wanted to do for pain relief. I said I wanted a pethidine shot. Got the shot, felt like I had drunk 4 G&Ts! Felt awesome! Really calm and relaxed. Still felt the contracts but didn't really care too much about the pain. hehehe
Got back in the bath again and rocked out to Michael Jackson and the like for another 4 hours... DH continuing to massage my back for each contraction (what a trooper!).
At around 4:30pm the pethidine had well and truely worn off.. I'd been contracting every 4-5mins for 12 hours and I was TIRED. The contractions were very ouchy at this stage and I asked for the epi. Got back on the bed to have an internal check again, was at 9cm! YAY! Waters still hadn't broken and was bulging. MW said that I could still have the epi OR I could have my waters broken and his head would help me dialate completely and then I would have to push straight away. I opted for the epi because I was SO TIRED by this stage.. I just wanted a break. had the epi and rested for around an hour. Could still feel the contractions through the epi but it was no where near as painful (they must have been ripper contractions at this stage!).
Mum also arrived by this stage.. giving my DH a much needed break. She held my hand and helped me through the contractions while I was getting the epi... My mum is a midwife as well so I felt in good hands.
Epi wore off around 6:30pm and I started sucking back on the gas. I also felt so nauseous. I kept on saying "I need to vomit" and they had a kidney dish available just in case. 10cm dialated by this stage so MW went ahead and broke my water. Whammo... I needed to push.
7pm I started pushing. Mum was holding one leg, MW at the other side, OB down the business end and DH giving me the gas, water bottle and wiping my brow. The pushing felt GREAT! So much better than those pesky contractions.
1hr 5 mins of pushing and our son arrived! No tearing with the crowning, but a nice shoulder charge on that second push that resulted in 2nd degree tearing.. OUCH! Instead of panting through the contractions after the head was out, I just pushed again.. He was placed directly on my chest for a cuddle and he automatically went for the boobie! I asked to see the placenta when it came out. What an amazing organ.
DH got a cuddle afterwards and I have AMAZING video of L and Daddy meeting for the first time. So precious.
I got up after an hour or so and (very shakily) had a shower. A nurse had to be in there helping me because I was so light headed. Felt good to be in the shower. I couldn't walk because my legs were so shaky, so I was wheeled in to the maternity ward with DH wheeling our little guy along. So surreal!
DH stayed until 11:00pm, he was dog tired.. and there I was.. just left in a room with me and my son. I was so tired, but I was afraid to go to sleep. Because I had GD the nurses had to take him for a heel prick test to test his blood sugars around 12:30pm. I fell asleep when they took him, but the next time I woke up I had this scary old man looking over me! It was L's paediatrician and he was telling me that L had really low BSLs to had to be formula fed through a tube going from his nose into his belly. When I went to see my little man I nearly cried cos he looked poorly (even though the nurses kept assuring me that he was OK). I would still continue to BF every 3 hours or so, but in addition he would have around 20-30mL formula in his belly to help keep his BSLs up. He had his naso-gastric tube removed after 2 days but my milk hadn't come in.
So on the evening of the 2nd night he basically latched on to me and wouldn't stop sucking. But I didn't realise that he was hungry (being used to having a full tummy) so I didn't know why he was so fussy and wanting to nurse all the time. By around 3am, I was so exhausted, my nipples felt like razor blades had sliced them open, I called the nurses and asked if they had a pacifier or something because I couldn't take him nursing any more.
I was in tears and the nurses couldn't give me a paci cos it was hospital policy. I managed to side nurse and "sleep" for a couple of hours in the wee hours of the early morning. My mum came in to visit the next day and I told her about my horrible night. She said that he was probably hungry from having a full tummy the past couple of days and my milk hadn't come in. Why didn't I think of that?? Well, by this stage, from the CONSTANT suckling, my milk had come in with vengence... OMG! He had a nice full tummy from then on.
Still waddling about in the hospital we did a few "parenting classes" We tried to bath L for the first time but he screamed his little head off so that wasn't very successful. My va-jay-jay was very swollen after birth. I wore the maxiest of maxi pads they had available and was changing them every 2-3 hours. I was also peeing a hell of alot. The best thing at the hospital was the ice bricks shaped like mini iceblocks that you could put down your undies to provide some cooling relief down there. It was HEAVEN. I even took some home and froze them to use for the first few days at home.
The nurse would check L and me every morning. Me, they would check my uterus to make sure it was going down, the stitches to make sure all was good down there. I felt like I looked like I had a baboons bottom down there it felt so swollen! The paediatrician visited L every day, his poor little heels looked so terrible with all the prick marks but he didn't cry when he had them done! I found also that when I BF for the first few days that I would get these aweful contractions like labour pain and I would have to breath through them.. nobody told me about THOSE!
On the evening before we left hospital we were able to leave L with the nurses and go out for a meal. They put on a lovely candlelit dinner for two at the downstairs hosptail cafeteria... I was dead tired, but we went down anyway and just enjoyed some time the two of us, talking about our experiences over the past few days. There were a few other couples there... all of who looked tired and all the new mamas were waddling just as I was. We all looked like we had nappies on cos we were all wearing such bulky pads in our knickers! haha
On the morning we left, L had his circumcision. We opted not to watch, so he was given some panadol and taken away for an hour or so and then brought back to me. Then, we were given our marching orders and I couldn't wait to bring our new baby home! We went to mum and dad's first on the way home so we could show him off to some more family and neighbours. We had dinner there and got home around 8pm.
Stats:
Birth Date: 23rd June 2010,
BirthTime: 8:05pm
Time in Labour: 15.5hours
Weight: 8pd 4oz or 3.72kg
Length: 20.5 inches
Head Circ: 35.5cm
APGAR: 10/10 at 1 and 5 mins
It was an AMAZING WONDERFUL JOYOUS birth experience... my husband was FANTASTIC, having my mum there helping me was TERRIFIC. I would do it all over again in a heart beat...
Thanks for reading!
I'd woken up with contractions on 22nd June 2010 but then went back to sleep around 4:30am so they had obviously stopped. I had a 39 week OB appointment on 22nd June where he did an internal and told me I was already 3cm dialated. Said I wouldn't make it to the weekend (Baby was due on Monday 28th June)... so I was excited. Because of the internal exam, I had alot of bleeding/mucus plug stuff during the afternoon and lost my mucus plug (or what was left of it).. and just felt out of sorts in the evening. Had a lovely relaxing bath and went to bed early.
4:30am on 23rd June I woke up with contractions, kinda like the morning before, except that I couldn't go back to sleep. Got my iPhone out with a contraction timer application I had downloaded and started timing the contractions. 5 mins apart and about 3/10. Woke DH up and told him that I thought I was in learly abour. Told him to go back to bed... and I got up and had a long hot shower. Phone the hossy at around 6:30am and told them what was going on. They encouraged me to stay at home until things got a little more intense. DH ran a bath and I hopped in around 7am... every contraction was still 5 mins apart but getting more ouch. Every time I had a contraction I would roll over in the bath so that my belly was downwards, and DH would massage my back... this happened for 4.5hours!! DH kept on refilling the bath with hot water and brought me powerades and lollies! What a champ!
Got out of the bath at 11:30am and thought that I probably should go to the hossy now. Jumped in the car, had two contractions on the way (now they were 8 mins apart)... got to the hossy around midday.. MW put the monitors on me and could only get a contraction once every 10 mins!! Said that I might have to go home which I was not happy about because I was in a little more pain now. She did an internal check and I was 5cm dialated... waters hadn't broken, but I wasn't going home. She asked me what I wanted to do for pain relief. I said I wanted a pethidine shot. Got the shot, felt like I had drunk 4 G&Ts! Felt awesome! Really calm and relaxed. Still felt the contracts but didn't really care too much about the pain. hehehe
Got back in the bath again and rocked out to Michael Jackson and the like for another 4 hours... DH continuing to massage my back for each contraction (what a trooper!).
At around 4:30pm the pethidine had well and truely worn off.. I'd been contracting every 4-5mins for 12 hours and I was TIRED. The contractions were very ouchy at this stage and I asked for the epi. Got back on the bed to have an internal check again, was at 9cm! YAY! Waters still hadn't broken and was bulging. MW said that I could still have the epi OR I could have my waters broken and his head would help me dialate completely and then I would have to push straight away. I opted for the epi because I was SO TIRED by this stage.. I just wanted a break. had the epi and rested for around an hour. Could still feel the contractions through the epi but it was no where near as painful (they must have been ripper contractions at this stage!).
Mum also arrived by this stage.. giving my DH a much needed break. She held my hand and helped me through the contractions while I was getting the epi... My mum is a midwife as well so I felt in good hands.
Epi wore off around 6:30pm and I started sucking back on the gas. I also felt so nauseous. I kept on saying "I need to vomit" and they had a kidney dish available just in case. 10cm dialated by this stage so MW went ahead and broke my water. Whammo... I needed to push.
7pm I started pushing. Mum was holding one leg, MW at the other side, OB down the business end and DH giving me the gas, water bottle and wiping my brow. The pushing felt GREAT! So much better than those pesky contractions.
1hr 5 mins of pushing and our son arrived! No tearing with the crowning, but a nice shoulder charge on that second push that resulted in 2nd degree tearing.. OUCH! Instead of panting through the contractions after the head was out, I just pushed again.. He was placed directly on my chest for a cuddle and he automatically went for the boobie! I asked to see the placenta when it came out. What an amazing organ.
DH got a cuddle afterwards and I have AMAZING video of L and Daddy meeting for the first time. So precious.
I got up after an hour or so and (very shakily) had a shower. A nurse had to be in there helping me because I was so light headed. Felt good to be in the shower. I couldn't walk because my legs were so shaky, so I was wheeled in to the maternity ward with DH wheeling our little guy along. So surreal!
DH stayed until 11:00pm, he was dog tired.. and there I was.. just left in a room with me and my son. I was so tired, but I was afraid to go to sleep. Because I had GD the nurses had to take him for a heel prick test to test his blood sugars around 12:30pm. I fell asleep when they took him, but the next time I woke up I had this scary old man looking over me! It was L's paediatrician and he was telling me that L had really low BSLs to had to be formula fed through a tube going from his nose into his belly. When I went to see my little man I nearly cried cos he looked poorly (even though the nurses kept assuring me that he was OK). I would still continue to BF every 3 hours or so, but in addition he would have around 20-30mL formula in his belly to help keep his BSLs up. He had his naso-gastric tube removed after 2 days but my milk hadn't come in.
So on the evening of the 2nd night he basically latched on to me and wouldn't stop sucking. But I didn't realise that he was hungry (being used to having a full tummy) so I didn't know why he was so fussy and wanting to nurse all the time. By around 3am, I was so exhausted, my nipples felt like razor blades had sliced them open, I called the nurses and asked if they had a pacifier or something because I couldn't take him nursing any more.
I was in tears and the nurses couldn't give me a paci cos it was hospital policy. I managed to side nurse and "sleep" for a couple of hours in the wee hours of the early morning. My mum came in to visit the next day and I told her about my horrible night. She said that he was probably hungry from having a full tummy the past couple of days and my milk hadn't come in. Why didn't I think of that?? Well, by this stage, from the CONSTANT suckling, my milk had come in with vengence... OMG! He had a nice full tummy from then on.
Still waddling about in the hospital we did a few "parenting classes" We tried to bath L for the first time but he screamed his little head off so that wasn't very successful. My va-jay-jay was very swollen after birth. I wore the maxiest of maxi pads they had available and was changing them every 2-3 hours. I was also peeing a hell of alot. The best thing at the hospital was the ice bricks shaped like mini iceblocks that you could put down your undies to provide some cooling relief down there. It was HEAVEN. I even took some home and froze them to use for the first few days at home.
The nurse would check L and me every morning. Me, they would check my uterus to make sure it was going down, the stitches to make sure all was good down there. I felt like I looked like I had a baboons bottom down there it felt so swollen! The paediatrician visited L every day, his poor little heels looked so terrible with all the prick marks but he didn't cry when he had them done! I found also that when I BF for the first few days that I would get these aweful contractions like labour pain and I would have to breath through them.. nobody told me about THOSE!
On the evening before we left hospital we were able to leave L with the nurses and go out for a meal. They put on a lovely candlelit dinner for two at the downstairs hosptail cafeteria... I was dead tired, but we went down anyway and just enjoyed some time the two of us, talking about our experiences over the past few days. There were a few other couples there... all of who looked tired and all the new mamas were waddling just as I was. We all looked like we had nappies on cos we were all wearing such bulky pads in our knickers! haha
On the morning we left, L had his circumcision. We opted not to watch, so he was given some panadol and taken away for an hour or so and then brought back to me. Then, we were given our marching orders and I couldn't wait to bring our new baby home! We went to mum and dad's first on the way home so we could show him off to some more family and neighbours. We had dinner there and got home around 8pm.
Stats:
Birth Date: 23rd June 2010,
BirthTime: 8:05pm
Time in Labour: 15.5hours
Weight: 8pd 4oz or 3.72kg
Length: 20.5 inches
Head Circ: 35.5cm
APGAR: 10/10 at 1 and 5 mins
It was an AMAZING WONDERFUL JOYOUS birth experience... my husband was FANTASTIC, having my mum there helping me was TERRIFIC. I would do it all over again in a heart beat...
Thanks for reading!
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
I'm Baaaaaaaaaaaack!
Hello Blogland!
It has been a while.. Things got busy.. Life, ya know, gets in the way sometimes. I've been meaning to blog for a while.
So here I am, I have a 21 month old boy who is just a-freaking-dorable and the apple of my eye.... I can't believe how lucky I have been as a mother to this kid. He is just the coolest little guy on the face of the planet. He is running everywhere.. has as much energy as a nuclear power plant, he can count to 10 (with help), knows shapes and is starting to sound out letters of the alphabet. He sleeps 12 hours a night, a fucking BRILLIANT sleeper, and gives me the bestest kisses and cuddles. He says "mama" and "dada", knows the actions to "heads, shoulders, knees and toes", loves being tickled by the "tickle monster" and is just an all round cool little boy.
PCOS update
Since I last posted, I went on metformin to help regulate my cycles and give me a better chance of falling pregnant. I started the Metformin and started having regular cycles. Well, regular for me.. 31-46 day cycles is NORMAL compared to the 100 day cycle it took for me to conceive my son. I had my gall bladder out August 29th 2011.. it needed to be done, I was getting intermittent pain and I didn't want to be pregnant and have my gall bladder flare up and have surgery... so out it came. An overnight visit to hospital and was back at work the next week. Easy peasy! For the operation I had to have fill taken out... I had been tracking at around 90kg for a while.. which is comfortable for me. But, with the fill taken out, I noticed the weight gain and was getting a bit down about it...
But the weight gain was for a different reason... a month after my gall bladder op I started to feel sick, in the mornings, and so very very tired... so I decided to pee on a Home Pregnancy test (I had some internet cheapies left over from my first pregnancy, out of date I am sure!).
Well much to my surprise... I saw two lines..
PREGNANT!
We had fallen pregnant, naturally (with the help of Metformin), AGAIN.
Shocked.. yep. Excited... hell yes! I wasn't expecting it to happen this quickly, but 3 cycles after I started the metformin and with less BD than I would have liked, we managed to catch the egg and are now expecting another baby, due early June 2012.
So here I am, 28 weeks and 5 days pregnant today. I sailed through the 1st trimester with very few complaints. The morning sickness and overwhelming tireness was incredible, but alot of it was due to the fact that I couldn't rest when I wanted to because of my active little boy. The 2nd trimester passed with the blink of an eye... I only remembered I was pregnant when, at the end of a long day, I would be sitting on the couch and feeling the baby move and kick I would remember that I was indeed pregnant.
Now, as I've started the third trimester, I've started not sleeping properly, I'm breathless, the heartburn is back and my back is started to get sore. I've gained 8kg since falling pregnant, normal but so not cool for a person with a lapband!
The gender remains a mystery to us. We will find out on the day of JuneBug's birth. Mama's intuition thinks it's another boy. The pregnancy has been exactly the same. We shall see.
Also, this time round I DIDN'T develop Gestational Diabetes like I did for my first pregnancy. WooHoo!!
OK, that's about it from me for now. I'll promise to post more often.
It has been a while.. Things got busy.. Life, ya know, gets in the way sometimes. I've been meaning to blog for a while.
So here I am, I have a 21 month old boy who is just a-freaking-dorable and the apple of my eye.... I can't believe how lucky I have been as a mother to this kid. He is just the coolest little guy on the face of the planet. He is running everywhere.. has as much energy as a nuclear power plant, he can count to 10 (with help), knows shapes and is starting to sound out letters of the alphabet. He sleeps 12 hours a night, a fucking BRILLIANT sleeper, and gives me the bestest kisses and cuddles. He says "mama" and "dada", knows the actions to "heads, shoulders, knees and toes", loves being tickled by the "tickle monster" and is just an all round cool little boy.
PCOS update
Since I last posted, I went on metformin to help regulate my cycles and give me a better chance of falling pregnant. I started the Metformin and started having regular cycles. Well, regular for me.. 31-46 day cycles is NORMAL compared to the 100 day cycle it took for me to conceive my son. I had my gall bladder out August 29th 2011.. it needed to be done, I was getting intermittent pain and I didn't want to be pregnant and have my gall bladder flare up and have surgery... so out it came. An overnight visit to hospital and was back at work the next week. Easy peasy! For the operation I had to have fill taken out... I had been tracking at around 90kg for a while.. which is comfortable for me. But, with the fill taken out, I noticed the weight gain and was getting a bit down about it...
But the weight gain was for a different reason... a month after my gall bladder op I started to feel sick, in the mornings, and so very very tired... so I decided to pee on a Home Pregnancy test (I had some internet cheapies left over from my first pregnancy, out of date I am sure!).
Well much to my surprise... I saw two lines..
PREGNANT!
We had fallen pregnant, naturally (with the help of Metformin), AGAIN.
Shocked.. yep. Excited... hell yes! I wasn't expecting it to happen this quickly, but 3 cycles after I started the metformin and with less BD than I would have liked, we managed to catch the egg and are now expecting another baby, due early June 2012.
So here I am, 28 weeks and 5 days pregnant today. I sailed through the 1st trimester with very few complaints. The morning sickness and overwhelming tireness was incredible, but alot of it was due to the fact that I couldn't rest when I wanted to because of my active little boy. The 2nd trimester passed with the blink of an eye... I only remembered I was pregnant when, at the end of a long day, I would be sitting on the couch and feeling the baby move and kick I would remember that I was indeed pregnant.
Now, as I've started the third trimester, I've started not sleeping properly, I'm breathless, the heartburn is back and my back is started to get sore. I've gained 8kg since falling pregnant, normal but so not cool for a person with a lapband!
The gender remains a mystery to us. We will find out on the day of JuneBug's birth. Mama's intuition thinks it's another boy. The pregnancy has been exactly the same. We shall see.
Also, this time round I DIDN'T develop Gestational Diabetes like I did for my first pregnancy. WooHoo!!
OK, that's about it from me for now. I'll promise to post more often.
Thanks for Reading!!
LBG x
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
PCOS Update
Hey all,
Lots has happened since the last time I posted.
My baby turned 1... OMG, he's getting so big. He is WALKING now, says simple words and is just a joy and a delightful little boy. I love being his mama! :)
I went to my doctor to discuss my options with my PCOS. He put me on metformin 1000mg. 2 days after my last post, Aunt Flo arrived.. So that cycle was 47 days long. I started another cycle on 17th June and started temperature charting. Very very interesting! I ovulated on CD 23 and my cycle shortened by 11 days to CD 36! Hooray!
Here is a link to my fertility friend chart if you're interested - here.
Most likely means the metformin is working. Also, I have lost 3kg, without doing anything different other than taking the metformin. WooHoo! My hunch was right, I am insulin resistant and the metformin is what I need to get my ovaries working again!
So, currently on CD3 of my next cycle. If my cycle is the same as last month, I should be ovulating mid-August. I reaaaaaaaaaally hope I do ovulate mid August (and fall PG) cos I would LOVE to surprise DH for father's day this year (4th September)... it would be perfect.
Other than that, my lapband is giving me the shits... big time. I REALLY don't want to go and get fill out, but I can't physically eat til after lunch and drinking is a struggle until lunchtime. Dinner time seems to be OK... but if I've had a bad day with food and lots of PB'ing then I'm stuffed for dinner. I don't know if it's TTOM but it's been particularly bad over the past couple of days. So bad that I PB'd in my sleep last night! (and I had soup for dinner... like.. WTF??). 4.5 years on and I am still struggling.
Anyhoo, thanks for reading. Sorry I don't post as often as I would like. I'm just so busy being a mummy and working and having a life that I neglet this little blog..
LBG xx
Lots has happened since the last time I posted.
My baby turned 1... OMG, he's getting so big. He is WALKING now, says simple words and is just a joy and a delightful little boy. I love being his mama! :)
I went to my doctor to discuss my options with my PCOS. He put me on metformin 1000mg. 2 days after my last post, Aunt Flo arrived.. So that cycle was 47 days long. I started another cycle on 17th June and started temperature charting. Very very interesting! I ovulated on CD 23 and my cycle shortened by 11 days to CD 36! Hooray!
Here is a link to my fertility friend chart if you're interested - here.
Most likely means the metformin is working. Also, I have lost 3kg, without doing anything different other than taking the metformin. WooHoo! My hunch was right, I am insulin resistant and the metformin is what I need to get my ovaries working again!
So, currently on CD3 of my next cycle. If my cycle is the same as last month, I should be ovulating mid-August. I reaaaaaaaaaally hope I do ovulate mid August (and fall PG) cos I would LOVE to surprise DH for father's day this year (4th September)... it would be perfect.
Other than that, my lapband is giving me the shits... big time. I REALLY don't want to go and get fill out, but I can't physically eat til after lunch and drinking is a struggle until lunchtime. Dinner time seems to be OK... but if I've had a bad day with food and lots of PB'ing then I'm stuffed for dinner. I don't know if it's TTOM but it's been particularly bad over the past couple of days. So bad that I PB'd in my sleep last night! (and I had soup for dinner... like.. WTF??). 4.5 years on and I am still struggling.
Anyhoo, thanks for reading. Sorry I don't post as often as I would like. I'm just so busy being a mummy and working and having a life that I neglet this little blog..
LBG xx
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