So, one of the things you’re really getting into at the moment is exploring the wild places in life. Like our back garden.
exploring the garden
Which is all great fun. You’ve mostly stopped putting absolutely everything into your mouth all the time (now it is just most things about 20% of the time), so I feel more (more…)
Today I’ve
my bike set-up and your rocker... We're feeding as I take this..
you and me. you're getting your fill
Gee its busy being a mum
love your attempting to get back into regular exercise mum
ps. oh, and I wrote this post at the end of the feed and its now only 9:06 am.
Hello Little Speckle,
Well, doctors, doctors, doctors. Have spent the majority of yesterday and some of today around hospitals and doctors.
We (you and I) had a fun (not) morning yesterday in the oncology ward at the hospital, watching all sorts of people get needles and drips and what not. Lots of waiting, waiting. I was a bit stressed and then just got used to it. You were pretty content with it all. Not the funnest place on the planet to be, but not as bad as I expected it to be.
Then today we went to the specialist for my ankle, remember I sprained it back when you really were only a little Speck? Well, as they suspected, the orthopedic surgeon confirmed that my ankle needs surgery to repair it so I can walk, run and use it properly again. They are going to have to tighten up my ligaments, reattach / move the reticulum around the ankle tendons, and then hopefully my tendons haven’t torn and all they need to do is strengthen them out and carve a deeper groove for them in my bone. If I’ve torn them all to shreds they are going to have to take some tendon from somewhere else in my leg and then use it to repair the ankle. Bone-grinding goodness. Yay. But as we knew, I have to wait until you’ve popped out before any of this can occur. And once that happens, I am going to be unable to move around so much for a while, so basically I need to be able to pick a time when I can then afford to be on crutches for six weeks post-op to recover. Yay yay yay lucky me. So more fun stuff to look forward to.
Otherwise all is well. You’re kicking around like normal and I’m feeling like a whale. You and I are off to Sydney for the rest of the week tomorrow morning. It should be our last plane trip on the way back, as I’m getting up to the no-fly time for pregnant people. Its going to be busy, but hopefully we’ll get some time to chill out a bit too – not coming back until Saturday afternoon, so a little bit of hang-out and do non-work-stuff time in there too. Anything special you feel like doing? Well, you let me know…
love you
mum
Good morning Speckle,
It’s cold! I actually got under the duvet last night for the whole night. First time this year – I’ve been so hot that usually I let your dad have it all (a treat which he is enjoying as I am traditionally a duvet stealer but since I’ve been pregnant I’ve been hot and haven’t wanted it). Bbbbrr. Going to the bathroom five times in the freezing cold is tough. So I stayed in bed until 7:30. Lie-in. Mmm.
I’ve been a busy fat waddler this week. Running about to my yoga and exercise classes. I’m getting quite proficient at rolling my hips around on a fit ball. You generally just seem to sleep through it all, so who knows if you even realise that I’m exercising. I ordered a new fitball for us at home but it hasn’t arrived yet. My favourite exercise is squats against the wall with the fitball – the rolling motion of the ball on my back feels a bit like a massage and helps relieve the pressure that has built-up. I’m not convinced by the “Yogababy” pregnancy classes yet though. Too many people in the class and just a bit of a mish mash of movements like rolling your hips, with maybe warrior pose thrown in for good measure. I think the normal yoga classes with some modified poses are better.
You are very much awake this morning and rolling around down there. You aren’t too bad though – earlier this week I think you managed to get your foot wedged in the space between two of my ribs and just jammed it back and forth for at least 20 minutes. I apologise slightly, but after attempting to get you to move gently I resorted to some relatively strong pushes to get you to move (read – you jab me and I jabbed you back when it got intolerable). At the moment you seem to be active first thing in the morning, and then usually again around 3pm and then again around 6pm. Either I’m sleeping better as I’m going through another really tired phase, or you’re also sleeping through most of the night too. Hope you keep that up! I’m sure you won’t.
Your dad started building the new decking path from the front gate to the front verandah yesterday. He dug a big hole in the middle of the front garden for some support posts, moved the massive piece of rock under the deck that acts as a step, and sledgehammered the step from the footpath right away. The wood and stuff arrived on a big truck (which incidentally took out a large branch on the black bean tree – very unfortunate as it was a branch that gave the front of the house a lot of shade in summer), and he has done some priming on the joists (or whatever they are called) so that today it should all be ready to start laying the structure from the path. The plan is a ramp that goes right from the footpath down to the level of our front deck, so we can just roll you on in your pram. Also, it will be easier for people to walk – less tree roots, and general compost material to trudge through. I think the decking we bought matches the front deck, so hopefully it will look ok. We’re not planning on putting any handrails on it though – so I’m sure as you get bigger you’ll stack it off the side many times – to a 30cm max drop. We’re planning on mulching up around the sides and putting some more garden bed in, so it should at least be a soft landing.
Hope you’re well.
love mum
Hello there speck,
Hope you’re sleeping well…. I certainly didn’t. My maternity pillow certainly helped, but all in all it was a horrible night. I tossed and turned (albeit not with the speed and ease I’m used to) all night, kept awake by a plethora of exciting things: back pain, the nightly possum migration from the neighbours to our house and visa versa via the window awning directly beside our bed, pubic symphysis pain, and a rowdy and recurring bat fight presumably in a fruit tree nearby. Yippee!
Your dad and I walked up to the first of six antenatal classes at the hospital last night. It was a manageable walk, we were both thinking that when the time comes it might be easier to walk to the hospital than drive. That said, I’m glad we have five more antenatal sessions to get to: your dad is directionally challenged at the best of times, and I can forsee him getting me to the oncology ward instead of the mother’s hospital unless he gets to practice how to get there at least a few more times…
The class itself was kinda funny. It would be really hard to pitch a class like that to such a mixed audience – it was the “changes in your body” or something like that class, run by a phsyio. Essentially we talked about some of the obvious changes that can happen to your body, and did some exercises to stretch our pelvises and relax and stuff like that. All pretty straight-forward, and if you hadn’t worked it out by this point in the pregnancy you’d have to have had your head under a blanket pretending you weren’t pregnant. There were about eight couples in the class, ranging from 25 to 31 weeks pregnant. We practiced getting in and out of bed and picking a baby from the floor and putting it on a bed and picking it up again. You were played by a big white hospital pillow. Well acted. While it was ok, I’m looking forward to the bit run by the midwives where we get to see the birthing suites and talk through more about baby stuff and less about pubis bones. I think that will be more relevant to me.
Had another appointment at the obstetrician today. I’ve hit a new milestone in the weight department. Yippee again. Still walking / cycling / yoga or something nearly everyday, but I guess I’m eating more than normal too. Oh well. Have a glucose test and a bunch more blood things scheduled for Monday, so hopefully that will prove that I’m all ok and just a bit fat (i.e. not diabetic or anything). Not much to report from the obstetrician, all he did was ask if I was ok, at which point I burst into tears, and then he hustled me in to take blood pressure and hear your heartbeat. My blood pressure is all good. And your heartbeat was a bit irregular but we poked you and it went back to fast again. Apparently its normal for your heartbeat to change speed a lot, often as I change position etc. He also palpitated my uterus and your head is pointing down where it should be. Which I knew already as your kicking my ribs on the bus on the way in indicated where you were quite clearly.
Otherwise. Starting to think more seriously about the fact that you’ll need a name. Your dad and I have a few options that we’ve come up with, and one or two we even like. I guess though we need to ponder some more. And see you.
Keep safe.
love mum
p.s. last night in between anxiety attacks and nightmares consisting of work and family-related melodramas, I dreamt that you were born, but that somehow there were four of you. I was trying to leave the hospital and having difficulty working out how to get four babies home. My dad (your grandad) and my mum (your grandma K) were both there. I remember I just kept saying over and over to your grandad, “I don’t understand. There was only ever one when they did the scans. Where did the other ones come from?”. He just shrugged and continued to try to help collect you all…
You are either really excited or just a bit antsy like me. You have been kicking, turning and generally pummelling my innards non-stop for three days. Perhaps you know I haven’t written in a while and are worried that I’m not paying you enough thought attention. Aerobics workout. Rest up, you’ll get a chance to tax your dad and I when you come out.
Love you
Mum
Dear Speck, Nothing new to report. I think I am going to be thoroughly ready for you to come out when the time comes – now it’s just you getting bigger and me being perpetually hungry day after day. Some days you kick a bit more than others, but that is the main difference. Yesterday was a big all-out kicking day. I took that as a sign that perhaps I wasn’t tiring you out enough so on the way home I walked down to Milson’s Point, caught the ferry to Balmain East and then trekked my way home through Balmain for some exercise.
View from Milson's Point across the Harbour
Luna Park at Milson's Point
Pram Assembly - Mark 1
Pram Assembly - Mark 2
Hello Speck!
We made it! We are finished and eating muffin and hot chocolate in a cafe. Mmmmmm.
You will thus be spared any more bumpy days. You’re 22 weeks today, and according to Kaz there are some who say that you begin to think this week. I wonder what you have been thinking?? Bump, ouch, ohh, mmm? I’m hungry I wish she would eat more.. Mmm sugar rush. Bump.
Also I guess maybe you’ll feel a little less constricted without a pair of too tight bike pants holding you in.
Looking forward to the wedding tomorrow and just chilling out for the rest of the day. You’re moving around down in there, I can feel it, enjoy.
Love mum
Hello Speck!
My bum is sore. The ‘comfort’ seat on my rental bike is a misnomer. It is the opposite. While the trail is beautiful the sore ass is affecting my enjoyment slightly. Also, you seem to be growing at an alarmingly fast rate. So my protruding belly is not quite fitting so well into the bike pants.
All otherwise though is good. You are happily (I assume) kicking away down there and I’m eating lots of good food along the trail. And we are staying in a huge luxurious apartment tonight in Ranfurly with a massive big spa. Good for you too: some floating.
Love you
Mum
Hello Speck!
You’re very quiet down there this afternoon, I expect you’re taking it easy after a rather energetic day of cycling…
We left Dunedin this morning and caught the Taieri Gorge Train up to Pukerangi. It was a lovely trip, you could hang out in the space between the old train carriages and while cold, it was beautiful. I took a photo of you about 7km out of Pukerangi.
We got picked up by a slightly crazy but lovely local woman who gave us a tour and took us to Middlemarch, where we picked up our bikes and headed off down the trail. Today isn’t so far, just 30km, so after putting my heart rate monitor on so that I can make sure I don’t overheat or stress you out, we rode along at about 15kmh. A good pace, nice for chatting with the South African guy your dad and I met on the train and was keen to accompany us for some company part of the way (he was going a bit further than us).
So, we cycled along and had a nice time.. I didn’t notice you until I started to get a little tired and slightly saddle sore, when I really noticed the extra weight and bulk around my tummy. The slight tightness of my worn-low bike pants also added to the effect. I feel the bumps, all varieties, a lot more. Overall, a good ride but I was tired at the end and VERY glad to find a well-appointed room with a big claw-foot bath when we arrived.
I had a big long soak.
Love you
Mum
Ps. I’m famished and am going to eat a lot for dinner.
