Baby Felicia was born on Friday 17th March at 3.10am! She was 8 days past due date, arrived at home, and is perfect. She is now 9 days old, and so adored. We had the perfect birthing experience. :)
After several false starts, including one on the Tuesday before she was born, when I started getting surges on the Thursday evening, I didn't think much of it, I assumed it was another false labour, and decided to go to bed. For some reason, I decided that it would be a nice idea to have some couple time with J that evening, thinking well, it couldn't hurt, and it might well be the last time for several weeks/months ;) after, we went to sleep, and at around 12.50am I woke to go to the toilet. As I sat up, I realised the bed felt quite damp. I didn't think too much of it, until I walked to the bathroom, and realised I was leaking fluid, and it was trickling along the floor as I walked. I also noticed that my surges had picked back up again, and knew this was it, my waters had gone and were trickling. So I called my mum (who was 2 hours drive away) to let her know this was it. She was in A&E with my step-dad, who, she had told me on Tuesday, had had a heart attack the week before. He was back there again with chest pain but had been seen and they were sure he was ok, and the pain wasn't anything serious. She said she'd get here ASAP, and she could leave A&E soon. After I got off the phone with mum, I called the labour ward, and told them my waters had gone, and they said they'd get a midwife to call me back.
A short while later, I got a call back from the midwife. As soon as I heard the midwife's voice, I was so pleased, because it was the same one that came out to me a week before to talk about my home birth, due to a call I'd received about possibly not being a candidate for home birth due to one of my previous births. I found out it had been Robert's birth that was the cause for concern, and so I talked to her about why I felt this birth would be fine, that I was not going to give birth in water this time, that my positioning would be better, and I was less naïve, and more experienced this time. The midwife, Sheelagh, was lovely and said they would absolutely support me in home birth, and that she could see no reason why home birth would not be ok. So when I heard her voice on the other end of the phone, I was so pleased it would be someone I'd met and got on well with attending the birth. I told her that the contractions weren't incredibly strong or regular yet but they were stronger than the false labour ones I'd been having. I also told her I didn't want any cervical checks, so I would be happy to wait til they were stronger and more regular and call her back. She told me I could call her mobile directly, so I made sure I could redial easily, and hung up, sure it wouldn't be long until we called her back.
Due to leaking, I put a pad and knickers on, and a towel on the bed, and went back to bed again, to try and get some more rest. About an hour later, at 2am, I felt the baby move, and immediately a huge gush of liquid came out in bed. I leapt up, grabbed the towel between my legs, and woke Jonathan back up again. The surges were back, and much stronger again, and definitely labourish, so I called Sheelagh back to tell her what happened, and that it was definitely happening now, and could she please come now? I went down to unlock the front door, and then went to the toilet in the cloakroom. Sure enough, my knickers and pad was soaked through, and I just put the towel between my legs again and went to find something to wear that would be modest and warm enough but allow me to birth easily. Jonathan was getting dressed too, and we went over what we'd need, made sure we had enough towels and waterproof sheets.
At around 2.30, Sheelagh arrived and sat and we chatted a bit, she started filling in forms, and taking observations, my blood pressure, listened to the baby, took my temperature and so on. The surges continued to come, and were getting strong enough that I'd have to breathe through them. Jonathan started to play the Steven Halpern hypnobirthing music on the TV, and for some reason it really bugged me, it sounded cheesy, so I looked through the music and finally found some calm atmospheric music that was just right. We went over my birth plan, which was fairly simple, and Sheelagh seemed happy enough. I sat on the sofa, resting between surges, and breathing through them. Then pretty soon I felt rather pushy, Sheelagh was saying she needed to try and guess when the second midwife should attend, to be here in time for the birth. I had another surge where again I felt pushy, but tried not to, instead breathing through it, but I told Sheelagh I was feeling a lot of pressure, and she called for the second midwife, Sonia, who was 20 minutes away in Kettering. The next surge I again felt the need to push but again I didn't, because I was still sitting and I knew I needed to move to kneel for delivering. Jonathan had been busy during this time setting up the beanbag, waterproof sheet, and towels in front of the opposite sofa.
By the next surge, which was around 3am, I had moved to kneel on the beanbag, and I allowed my body to bear down once I was in position. Sheelagh told me that I should ideally be more upright, so I shifted my position slightly so my elbows were closer to the edge of the sofa. Jonathan however had started up the stairs to go and get another beanbag to help position me more upright. I didn't know why he was going upstairs, but I remember thinking he'd better not be long because his baby was coming, and she wasn't going to hang around! I couldn't tell him this though, but luckily, Sheelagh did, basically saying that he should get back down NOW if he didn't want to miss the birth! And sure enough, on the next surge, her head emerged. Sheelagh constantly encouraging me to breathe, not push (I wasn't pushing, I was just bearing down with my body! I could not stop it at all!), and then when the head came, she suddenly changed tactic, and told me that her hand was by her head, and to push to get the head out. One more big push to get her head out! Then what seemed like 10 seconds later, Sheelagh was telling me to push again for her body. Out she came, with a big gush of the rest of the amniotic fluid, and immediately a gurgly cry! Sheelagh told me to lift my leg so we could pass the baby up, and I just held her for a while. Before I lifted her up, I remember glancing briefly between her legs and seeing that she was a girl, but in that moment, it did not matter at all! I lifted her to me, with a huge sense of relief that she was finally here, and that the birth was done! We moved over to the sofa where I had been resting and breathing through surges before delivery, and was just holding her, when a knock on the door was heard, followed by it opening, hearing my mum call out. Jonathan went to meet her, and said to her "you're too late! You can go back home now!" in a jokey manner. :) mum came in to see my baby girl in my arms!
I started to nurse her, and then about 5 minutes after that, Sonia, the second midwife arrived. Jonathan gave her the same quip, cups of tea made, and while I nursed, Sheelagh set about taking our temperatures again, and other observations while we waited for the placenta. About 10 minutes after delivery, the placenta came away naturally. As I nursed, I consented for the vitamin k injection to be administered. Felicia barely even opened her eyes, and didn't even make a noise! I was checked for tearing, and was amazed to find out I didn't tear AT ALL! Sheelagh and Sonia started filling in paperwork, mum started knitting, and it was such a relaxed post birth atmosphere. After Felicia finally finished nursing, we went to get her weighed in the kitchen. There was some speculation over her weight, and I thought maybe 8lbs, the midwives we're guessing 9.5lbs or so. But nope, Felicia amazed us all again when we found out she weighed a massive 10lb 12oz! Sheelagh and Sonia finally left around 4.30am, and we were all just too amazed and in awe to consider sleeping! I did have a sudden gush of blood after the midwife left, which panicked us all a bit. It soaked my knickers and the maternity pad, and was dripping out onto the sheet pad I was sitting on. I was worried it might be a hemorrage, so phoned Sheelagh back, who asked if it was still gushing or if it was slowing down. After I calmed down a bit it was evident it was slowing down so felt more able to relax. I got a couple more pads on a fresh pair of knickers, and all seemed OK. The three of us stayed awake until the boys got up for the morning.
It was so surreal sitting there, seeing the sky turn from completely dark, then getting lighter and lighter! Eventually the boys woke up and came down. Robert came first, and stopped on the stairs, looking groggy and confused, as he spotted his nanna sitting on the sofa and his daddy standing recording him on the phone! Robert then saw me, and the baby in my arms, and he just stopped dead still, open mouthed, and then to our amazement, his lip quivered, his eyes filled with tears, as he stood staring at his baby sister. He burst into tears, completely overwhelmed with joy! When I finally felt able to say something, I got him to sit down next to us, and he just sat and sobbed! Christopher and Daniel followed soon after, and grinned when they saw Felicia, and then both asked to go and have breakfast, while Robert was still sitting next to me. :)
It was all just completely perfect. We could not have wished for a better birth experience for our fourth and final baby. :)
Showing posts with label Baby#4. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Baby#4. Show all posts
Monday, 27 March 2017
Friday, 11 November 2016
23 weeks! And oops, long time since update!
All is progressing well with the pregnancy. I had a bad fall at the beginning of October which saw me go to A&E instead of a wedding reception, as I badly hurt my right foot/ankle and had nasty cuts to my left knee and big toe. I was in agony with my foot and could barely walk, but as I'm pregnant they didn't want to X-ray me, especially as my foot didn't hurt in the right places that would indicate a fracture. Luckily it has healed up ok with just a bandage, although the first night I was crying with the pain and I couldn't even walk 2 metres to the toilet! Changing the pressure on the bandage and back to back paracetamol helped, then the next day it was much better.
Baby has been by far the most active little bean I remember having. I had my anomaly scan at almost 21 weeks, and I was curious to find out if the placenta was at the front of my uterus, or, as I suspected, at the back. Sure enough, it was at the back, so I'm feeling every little kick and wriggle!
The sonographer checked everything out, and could see everything present and correct as far as she could tell which was a relief, and as she did the measurements, I stared to see if I could see a telltale sign as to whether Pipkin was a boy or a girl. As she got the thigh measurement, I was pretty sure I could see what gender our sweet baby was... But wanted confirmation, so at the end when she asked if we had any questions, I begged her to find out if we were expecting a boy or a girl. I held my breath the entire time, as she positioned the device to look, and she said to us "well... It looks like you're having a baby girl!" Which was what I thought I had seen earlier but didn't dare to believe until she said it too. As I got down from the table/bench afterwards, having wiped all the jelly off my abdomen, I must have looked like the Cheshire Cat! Yes, I cried a little in the room. A baby girl!!! 2 weeks on now, and another scan later (to confirm the kidneys) at which she also double checked the gender again, and I think I might be starting to actually believe that after 3 lovely cheeky boys, I get to raise a DAUGHTER.
She is such (SUCH) an active baby. I'm feeling at LEAST 6 bouts of strong kicks a day, even though I am sometimes very busy, and she's still so little, only about 1lb in weight (although that seems very big too, as it doesn't seem that long ago she was the size of a poppyseed and weighed less than a gram in weight!). Time seems to be flying so so fast, and the older two boys are absolutely over the moon that they're getting a sister! D, is only 3.5 years old so he's not all that aware of what it means, although he had been maintaining for a while before we found out that "it not a baby boy, it a baby GIRL". Whereas R and C were hugging themselves in anticipation saying "ooooooh I hope it's a girl, I really REALLY hope it's a girl!" So when we brought home a box with multicolour stripes in, hiding a "it's a girl!" balloon, and opened it up to show the boys (and grandma and grandad) what was inside, there was lots of whooping and joyful leaping around! :) and Christopher coming up to me, giving me a hug and saying "I'm so HAPPY it's a girl!" It really really made my heart sing!
Other news, is that we have just bought some triple bunks for the boys, which will be set up tomorrow and they (and I) am very excited to get them up and built :) a nice Saturday morning job. :)
Baby has been by far the most active little bean I remember having. I had my anomaly scan at almost 21 weeks, and I was curious to find out if the placenta was at the front of my uterus, or, as I suspected, at the back. Sure enough, it was at the back, so I'm feeling every little kick and wriggle!
The sonographer checked everything out, and could see everything present and correct as far as she could tell which was a relief, and as she did the measurements, I stared to see if I could see a telltale sign as to whether Pipkin was a boy or a girl. As she got the thigh measurement, I was pretty sure I could see what gender our sweet baby was... But wanted confirmation, so at the end when she asked if we had any questions, I begged her to find out if we were expecting a boy or a girl. I held my breath the entire time, as she positioned the device to look, and she said to us "well... It looks like you're having a baby girl!" Which was what I thought I had seen earlier but didn't dare to believe until she said it too. As I got down from the table/bench afterwards, having wiped all the jelly off my abdomen, I must have looked like the Cheshire Cat! Yes, I cried a little in the room. A baby girl!!! 2 weeks on now, and another scan later (to confirm the kidneys) at which she also double checked the gender again, and I think I might be starting to actually believe that after 3 lovely cheeky boys, I get to raise a DAUGHTER.
She is such (SUCH) an active baby. I'm feeling at LEAST 6 bouts of strong kicks a day, even though I am sometimes very busy, and she's still so little, only about 1lb in weight (although that seems very big too, as it doesn't seem that long ago she was the size of a poppyseed and weighed less than a gram in weight!). Time seems to be flying so so fast, and the older two boys are absolutely over the moon that they're getting a sister! D, is only 3.5 years old so he's not all that aware of what it means, although he had been maintaining for a while before we found out that "it not a baby boy, it a baby GIRL". Whereas R and C were hugging themselves in anticipation saying "ooooooh I hope it's a girl, I really REALLY hope it's a girl!" So when we brought home a box with multicolour stripes in, hiding a "it's a girl!" balloon, and opened it up to show the boys (and grandma and grandad) what was inside, there was lots of whooping and joyful leaping around! :) and Christopher coming up to me, giving me a hug and saying "I'm so HAPPY it's a girl!" It really really made my heart sing!
Other news, is that we have just bought some triple bunks for the boys, which will be set up tomorrow and they (and I) am very excited to get them up and built :) a nice Saturday morning job. :)
Friday, 30 September 2016
17 weeks, feeling good!
So I met with my new midwife this week. The one who I had throughout the entirety of all my other pregnancies is ill, and won't be returning as the surgery midwife. The new one seems ok. She seems initially friendlier than the old one (who warmed up after a short while in any case). She has seemed to move my due date to match the scan date, which I'm not pleased about, as it gives me 5 fewer days to go into labour naturally before the whole induction stuff comes into play again. Everything seems ok with me and baby. Heartbeat was found eventually, which was a big relief for me, as I haven't felt the baby move all that much. I have a bit, but it's often been with a bit of a question mark. As time goes on it is becoming more obvious, but still very much little pops. It seems crazy that in a few months they will be strong enough to take my breath away!
Emotionally, so far I've been pretty good!! I'm actually surprised, but unlike with particularly babies 2 and 3, where I had feelings of "oh my god what am I doing? Who was I kidding? I can't have another baby, I can't deal with the ones I have!" This time I'm feeling very positive... So far! The boys are still very excited about baby. Robert has said that he hopes it's a girl "so that she can boss my brothers around when she's older"!!! What makes him think she wouldn't boss HIM about too I don't know! 😜 Christopher is hoping it's a girl too. He wants to call her Daisy or Amelia. Neither of which I would put on the short list because the boys have a cousin Amelia and I don't particularly like Daisy. Maisy I like though. But this is all moot because baby will be another boy 😝. We might well find out towards the end of next month. I think I am feeling the most neutral over the gender of this baby than any after the first to be honest. I would be thrilled with a girl, but would be happy with a boy too because I am a boy mum. And I honestly don't see myself with a girl anymore. I thought Daniel was my last for a while, so instead of being a mum of all (three) boys, I'd be a mum of all (four) boys. And that's okay. Would I actually be missing out on all that much?
Emotionally, so far I've been pretty good!! I'm actually surprised, but unlike with particularly babies 2 and 3, where I had feelings of "oh my god what am I doing? Who was I kidding? I can't have another baby, I can't deal with the ones I have!" This time I'm feeling very positive... So far! The boys are still very excited about baby. Robert has said that he hopes it's a girl "so that she can boss my brothers around when she's older"!!! What makes him think she wouldn't boss HIM about too I don't know! 😜 Christopher is hoping it's a girl too. He wants to call her Daisy or Amelia. Neither of which I would put on the short list because the boys have a cousin Amelia and I don't particularly like Daisy. Maisy I like though. But this is all moot because baby will be another boy 😝. We might well find out towards the end of next month. I think I am feeling the most neutral over the gender of this baby than any after the first to be honest. I would be thrilled with a girl, but would be happy with a boy too because I am a boy mum. And I honestly don't see myself with a girl anymore. I thought Daniel was my last for a while, so instead of being a mum of all (three) boys, I'd be a mum of all (four) boys. And that's okay. Would I actually be missing out on all that much?
Thursday, 15 September 2016
Around 14-15 weeks
So I'm beginning to lose track of how far along in this pregnancy I am already. It's slipping past quite quickly. But also since there's a 5 day discrepancy between lmp and scan dates, I'm not quite sure how to refer myself as being. Having read "LMP date confirmed" on the ultrasound write up, I'm sort of thinking that maybe I might still be classed as due on the 14th,which I've decided is good as I'm more likely to go over dates than deliver early, so it would give me an extra 5 days.
I've booked my 16 week appointment for a couple of weeks time. I'll be 16 weeks by LMP or 16+5 by scan then. I had barely got off the phone with the receptionist when I got a text message confirming my appointment (I love these, makes sure I've not written down the wrong time!) and the name of the midwife was one I didn't recognise. I wonder what's happened to Beverley? She was supposed to book me in but apparently didn't show up to work that day (ill?) and now it's a different midwife who's due to see me this time. I will also have to do my glucose tolerance test that week, due to previous gestational diabetes, family history, previous big baby etc. I might try and get it done in the morning of that day seeing as C and D will be at school and nursery, and R will probably be with his grandparents.
Another thing with the pregnancy is that I *think* I felt the baby kick, but I've not really felt anything since so I'm not so sure anymore. I hope they check for the heartbeat at the antenatal appointment so I know it's all still OK. They usually do at 16 weeks. Also, I'm really showing massively now. It's partly junk food, partly baby, but I think it's pretty obvious now as a school run mum was trying to fish for my reaction by suggesting I have another baby. I might have just crossed the "is she fat or pregnant?" stage and gone into the "I'm *pretty sure* she's pregnant but I might still be wrong so I'd best not say anything.." stage. Hah. Well anyway I'm still looking forward to the rest of the pregnancy and what is in store for me as a mum of 4! The question is, will it be a mum of 4 boys or a mum of 3 boys and a girl? Time will tell! (and yes, I'm eagerly awaiting my next scan appointment which should be late October time!)
I've booked my 16 week appointment for a couple of weeks time. I'll be 16 weeks by LMP or 16+5 by scan then. I had barely got off the phone with the receptionist when I got a text message confirming my appointment (I love these, makes sure I've not written down the wrong time!) and the name of the midwife was one I didn't recognise. I wonder what's happened to Beverley? She was supposed to book me in but apparently didn't show up to work that day (ill?) and now it's a different midwife who's due to see me this time. I will also have to do my glucose tolerance test that week, due to previous gestational diabetes, family history, previous big baby etc. I might try and get it done in the morning of that day seeing as C and D will be at school and nursery, and R will probably be with his grandparents.
Another thing with the pregnancy is that I *think* I felt the baby kick, but I've not really felt anything since so I'm not so sure anymore. I hope they check for the heartbeat at the antenatal appointment so I know it's all still OK. They usually do at 16 weeks. Also, I'm really showing massively now. It's partly junk food, partly baby, but I think it's pretty obvious now as a school run mum was trying to fish for my reaction by suggesting I have another baby. I might have just crossed the "is she fat or pregnant?" stage and gone into the "I'm *pretty sure* she's pregnant but I might still be wrong so I'd best not say anything.." stage. Hah. Well anyway I'm still looking forward to the rest of the pregnancy and what is in store for me as a mum of 4! The question is, will it be a mum of 4 boys or a mum of 3 boys and a girl? Time will tell! (and yes, I'm eagerly awaiting my next scan appointment which should be late October time!)
Tuesday, 6 September 2016
A jump to 13 weeks 5 days!
So today I had my dating scan. My original appointment was last Friday, however I had to change it because we were coming back from Devon that day and it would cut it close to get there on time. Good job we changed it, as we were still almost 2 hours away by the time we should have been parking up at the hospital. I thought I'd be around 13 weeks 1 day, but the ultrasound technician put me at 13 weeks 5 days. Pipkin was happy as Larry in there, waving and kicking. I was blown away by how clearly we could see the hands. It was so cute. And though I was concerned by the feel of my uterus and how much I'm showing already that maybe it was twins or triplets even, it is just the one healthy happy baby (for as much as they can see this early on). One heart beating away merrily, two hands, two feet, one head. :)
Unfortunately the scan wasn't really clear enough to see the nub, I really have no idea which is a shame as I am in the zone where if it was identifiable, it would be more or less 100% accurate at this stage. But here are little Pipkin's first photos anyway...
Unfortunately the scan wasn't really clear enough to see the nub, I really have no idea which is a shame as I am in the zone where if it was identifiable, it would be more or less 100% accurate at this stage. But here are little Pipkin's first photos anyway...
Tuesday, 23 August 2016
11 weeks along with baby number 4, little Pipkin
All the grandparents now know they are expecting another precious grandchild come March next year. We've not told siblings yet but will do once we have the scan no doubt. The scan is at the moment set for 2nd September late afternoon,which isn't very convenient due to the fact that we are on holiday from this Friday til next Friday (2nd September). I've tried phoning up three or four times to rearrange it but no luck getting through or getting a callback (I've left 2 messages so far). It might be possible just to get to the appointment on time but it will be close and will rob our chance to break the journey with a few hours at a park or something else.
We will be going with my inlaws this time. We don't usually holiday with our parents, but we have decided to this year because my father-in-law got a poor prognosis diagnosis of prostate cancer earlier in the year. He has just finished his last session of chemotherapy last Thursday so he should be feeling fine on the holiday. It'll be lovely for us all to create some lovely memories together!
Changing the subject, at the weekend we told my dad and step-mum about Pipkin. How we announced it was we signed a birthday card with Pipkin's name along with our own. I wrote something along the lines of how I hoped he didn't spent the entire birthday party the day before under an umbrella, which he answered, but completely missed Pipkin's mention underneath! 😂 He turned to talk to one of the boys while my step-mum picked up the card, read it, and we watched her reactions carefully. Her eyes widened, she turned to us, mouth open slightly and said "is this an announcement?" When we nodded, she said with amusement "he didn't notice did he?" *head shake* "um, love, I think you should read your card again!" Haha! Reactions have greatly been positive/neutral which I'm grateful for. I haven't been expecting hugely excited reactions like you tend to get for number one (and maybe number two) but as long as they're not negative that's great.
Other news, the morning sickness has returned, I'm generally feeling pretty pants. It's a bit worse too as I've actually retched a few times before I made myself take a sip of water or lie down. Still grateful that I have it mildly compared to some, but it is definitely hampering my ability to function in day to day stuff. Making meals is difficult. Staying upright is difficult. The list of jobs I want to get done before our week away is not getting any shorter which isn't good. I felt sick all day yesterday. I managed to set the washing machine going, make meals for the boys, and sweep the floor. That's about it. I need to hang up yesterday's washing, get another load on, clear and clean the inside of the car (although just clearing it will be better than nothing), and make a start packing the suitcases. I woke this morning feeling better, but the sickness is descending again, but I am determined to power through. If I get at least one job ticked off the list I will be happy. I will do this!
Thanks for your private congratulations, and your comments. I know I'm not a frequent poster anymore. Xx
We will be going with my inlaws this time. We don't usually holiday with our parents, but we have decided to this year because my father-in-law got a poor prognosis diagnosis of prostate cancer earlier in the year. He has just finished his last session of chemotherapy last Thursday so he should be feeling fine on the holiday. It'll be lovely for us all to create some lovely memories together!
Changing the subject, at the weekend we told my dad and step-mum about Pipkin. How we announced it was we signed a birthday card with Pipkin's name along with our own. I wrote something along the lines of how I hoped he didn't spent the entire birthday party the day before under an umbrella, which he answered, but completely missed Pipkin's mention underneath! 😂 He turned to talk to one of the boys while my step-mum picked up the card, read it, and we watched her reactions carefully. Her eyes widened, she turned to us, mouth open slightly and said "is this an announcement?" When we nodded, she said with amusement "he didn't notice did he?" *head shake* "um, love, I think you should read your card again!" Haha! Reactions have greatly been positive/neutral which I'm grateful for. I haven't been expecting hugely excited reactions like you tend to get for number one (and maybe number two) but as long as they're not negative that's great.
Other news, the morning sickness has returned, I'm generally feeling pretty pants. It's a bit worse too as I've actually retched a few times before I made myself take a sip of water or lie down. Still grateful that I have it mildly compared to some, but it is definitely hampering my ability to function in day to day stuff. Making meals is difficult. Staying upright is difficult. The list of jobs I want to get done before our week away is not getting any shorter which isn't good. I felt sick all day yesterday. I managed to set the washing machine going, make meals for the boys, and sweep the floor. That's about it. I need to hang up yesterday's washing, get another load on, clear and clean the inside of the car (although just clearing it will be better than nothing), and make a start packing the suitcases. I woke this morning feeling better, but the sickness is descending again, but I am determined to power through. If I get at least one job ticked off the list I will be happy. I will do this!
Thanks for your private congratulations, and your comments. I know I'm not a frequent poster anymore. Xx
Monday, 15 August 2016
10 weeks. TEN!
So already we appear to be a quarter of the way through our last pregnancy. Morning sickness has reduced to practically nothing although I do occasionally feel it creeping up a bit. Not enough to bother me like it did from 6-8 weeks, and I appreciate how lucky I was to get it for only two weeks, and milder than a lot of people do. Even if it has been my worst case!
For a while I've been thinking how I'd like to give this little baby a nickname in utero. Robert was Sausage, Christopher was Squidge, Daniel didn't really have one. And I was thinking about it and every now and then a nickname would pop into my head. Twinkle was one. There were a few others I don't remember. But today, out of nowhere, the name Pipkin came to mind. My little Pipkin. :) It's all still so surreal to me at the moment. No movements, no scan photo, symptoms have abated, although I'm still needing to wee loads, and I've started getting round ligament pain. I sort of still can't believe we have a tiny baby on the way. So I think maybe naming him, even in this temporary capacity, might help make things more real.
The boys ask questions on nearly a daily basis about the baby. When will the baby be born? How big is the baby now? Is it a boy or a girl? What shall we call the baby? They are so excited about the baby which is absolutely lovely and heart warming. Even Daniel, who clearly does not have a great understanding about it all just yet, keeps saying, as he holds his finger and thumb an inch or two apart, "is vis your baby, mummy?". Today, the older two boys passed some of their time by writing down their ideas for baby names on paper. Robert's ideas were Stephen, Ryan, Lauren and Hayden. Christopher's ideas were Daisie, Amelia, Lola, Florence and Jack. :) we put them up on the fridge so they could add to their lists if they wanted! What a lovely bunch of big brothers our little Pipkin has already! 😍
For a while I've been thinking how I'd like to give this little baby a nickname in utero. Robert was Sausage, Christopher was Squidge, Daniel didn't really have one. And I was thinking about it and every now and then a nickname would pop into my head. Twinkle was one. There were a few others I don't remember. But today, out of nowhere, the name Pipkin came to mind. My little Pipkin. :) It's all still so surreal to me at the moment. No movements, no scan photo, symptoms have abated, although I'm still needing to wee loads, and I've started getting round ligament pain. I sort of still can't believe we have a tiny baby on the way. So I think maybe naming him, even in this temporary capacity, might help make things more real.
The boys ask questions on nearly a daily basis about the baby. When will the baby be born? How big is the baby now? Is it a boy or a girl? What shall we call the baby? They are so excited about the baby which is absolutely lovely and heart warming. Even Daniel, who clearly does not have a great understanding about it all just yet, keeps saying, as he holds his finger and thumb an inch or two apart, "is vis your baby, mummy?". Today, the older two boys passed some of their time by writing down their ideas for baby names on paper. Robert's ideas were Stephen, Ryan, Lauren and Hayden. Christopher's ideas were Daisie, Amelia, Lola, Florence and Jack. :) we put them up on the fridge so they could add to their lists if they wanted! What a lovely bunch of big brothers our little Pipkin has already! 😍
Thursday, 11 August 2016
Baby 4- 9 weeks 3 days update
I had my booking in midwife appointment on Tuesday (at 9 week 1 day). It went well and despite being kept waiting in the waiting room for 20 minutes, I was out 10 minutes early from the appointment! The midwife who booked me in wasn't my usual one, but she said she recognised me. I didn't at first but on my way back home it suddenly occurred to me that it might have been one of the midwives who came out for a postnatal checkup after Daniel was born. The checks all went OK. Blood pressure, and wee fine. They checked my height and weight, I was in the normal range which is good because I've gained 2 stone since last year. Doh. Got the usual talks about what to avoid eating/drinking. Got my blood test forms. First one being the booking bloods, the other one being the GTT I have to take at 16 weeks due to prior gestational diabetes and close family history of type 2.
I went to get my bloods done this morning with the boys. I talked them through how I expected them to behave in the waiting room while we were in the car, got them to choose a book from the house before we left. They were as good as GOLD. They sat beautifully and looked at their books. I read Daniel's one to him, the other two sat and read to themselves. I was so proud! It was lovely to get smiles from the other people waiting room rather than frowns. When it was our turn to go in, the boys stood and watched and asked questions to the woman taking my blood. Daniel kept saying to the woman "you a doctor?" and she kept saying she wasn't but Daniel wasn't having any of it! Haha! "you doctor!" "no no I'm not a doctor." "you are!" Robert and Christopher were fascinated watching the blood come out of my arm and we're concerned it was going to hurt. I said a little bit, but they could help me be brave. After the blood was taken, they wanted to hold the tubes, which the lady was happy to let them do. Robert marvelled that they were warm, and then said matter of factly, that it is because we are warm blooded. ;) I was very pleased with their behaviour and the questions they asked about the process. Robert also asked why they put the band on my upper arm. I love it when learning opportunities present themselves like this. The only thing is that the woman said, "oh, three boys? I bet you hope this one is a girl!" which I am sure I will be sick of hearing by the time I'm half way through my pregnancy let alone near the end. Any good comebacks to this? Apart from repeating over and over "I'll be happy whatever as long as the baby is healthy" the truth is that while I would love a girl, I feel like I am a mum of boys now. It will be odd if I do end up with a girl. :) what will be will be! We will end up finding out around the end of October or the beginning of November. Seems a long way off yet but I'm sure it will go so fast!
I went to get my bloods done this morning with the boys. I talked them through how I expected them to behave in the waiting room while we were in the car, got them to choose a book from the house before we left. They were as good as GOLD. They sat beautifully and looked at their books. I read Daniel's one to him, the other two sat and read to themselves. I was so proud! It was lovely to get smiles from the other people waiting room rather than frowns. When it was our turn to go in, the boys stood and watched and asked questions to the woman taking my blood. Daniel kept saying to the woman "you a doctor?" and she kept saying she wasn't but Daniel wasn't having any of it! Haha! "you doctor!" "no no I'm not a doctor." "you are!" Robert and Christopher were fascinated watching the blood come out of my arm and we're concerned it was going to hurt. I said a little bit, but they could help me be brave. After the blood was taken, they wanted to hold the tubes, which the lady was happy to let them do. Robert marvelled that they were warm, and then said matter of factly, that it is because we are warm blooded. ;) I was very pleased with their behaviour and the questions they asked about the process. Robert also asked why they put the band on my upper arm. I love it when learning opportunities present themselves like this. The only thing is that the woman said, "oh, three boys? I bet you hope this one is a girl!" which I am sure I will be sick of hearing by the time I'm half way through my pregnancy let alone near the end. Any good comebacks to this? Apart from repeating over and over "I'll be happy whatever as long as the baby is healthy" the truth is that while I would love a girl, I feel like I am a mum of boys now. It will be odd if I do end up with a girl. :) what will be will be! We will end up finding out around the end of October or the beginning of November. Seems a long way off yet but I'm sure it will go so fast!
Thursday, 4 August 2016
Baby 4 - 8 weeks 3 days
Feeling very glad I have this blog to offload in. During my last pregnancy, I offloaded in a group on Facebook and in statuses on my page, and I ended up getting the feeling that people were getting frustrated with my attitude to certain aspects of my pregnancy. I had one fairly kindly worded comment, once when I was a week overdue and counting, about my frustration at going over, which underneath the kind wording basically said "stop moaning, some people can't actually gestate babies to full term and they would give anything to be in your situation, and they have a lot more problems with their babies than you do, so stfu." since then I have felt somewhat like I can't offload in places like that, especially with stuff that is probably trivial compared to others' situations. At least here, readership is limited, but it gives me that place where I can actually say stuff that I don't want to keep bottled inside.
I haven't even told that group about my pregnancy yet. I've not told many people about it to be fair. Only my mum, husband (obviously), the boys (more on that shortly), Alice, a few Facebook friends, the ones that I stayed in contact with from my first pregnancy forum foray, and you guys. Not necessarily in that order. :) but yeah that's basically the reason why I am considering keeping it off Facebook for the most part, because once it's public knowledge, I feel like I will have a licence to moan. And I DO NOT WANT to moan with this little one. There are some aspects of pregnancy that are not pleasant of course, but on the whole I am so thrilled to be carrying this life inside me. It's all a little surreal at the moment, as I always find it in the early weeks, when all you get to go on is the second pink line, and the early symptoms, and the lack of period. This being my last pregnancy, I really want to savour it! I want to really notice everything, record it all and feel good about it.
I'm feeling like the positivity is a little hard to come by at the moment, because my morning sickness this time round is much worse than with the others. I'm still not actually vomiting, but with all my other babies, I had just the mildest nausea on waking, which went away within an hour. The norm for this pregnancy seems to be: wake up, feel mostly OK. Get up. Feel nauseous. Try to eat breakfast. Eat some. Feel a bit better. Nausea stays to some degree until 3-4pm which puts me off eating somewhat. Feel fairly normal in the evening. Repeat on waking the next day. The day before yesterday I felt fine on getting up. Hooray I thought. Prematurely! I then started feeling sick around 10am,and felt nauseous for the rest of the day, much worse than normal. Luckily yesterday was a normal day, but this morning I feel OK again which has left me with a foreboding feeling for what may await me the rest of the day! I'm now gone 8 weeks, which means I've now missed two periods. Thankfully bleeding is the same as with my other babies, that is, non existent. I was worried in the early days as I had spotting AFTER my BFP. Which I'd never had before, always in the days before my period was due. But after two small spotting instances at around 4.5 weeks I've seen nothing since.
Last night I was sitting watching TV, and my tummy was popping like crazy. I KNOW it's way too early to feel movements yet but I did wonder for a while. But nope, more than likely just wind. :) I can't wait to start feeling the baby. Neither can the boys, Robert in particular, which leads me to what I was going to talk more about.
We told the boys about the baby on Sunday. They (the older two at least) looked at me incredulously when I told them, then they asked "what? There's a baby in there? Right NOW?" They looked so happy! :) Daniel doesn't really understand. He's only just turned 3 a few months ago so it's all a bit surreal for him, and I don't blame him, because he can't SEE the baby, and I don't have a bump yet or anything. Robert is by far the most interested. He knows about how a baby is made, since he asked one day, and we answered very basically, but he kept asking for more and more detail so we answered him honestly. Anyway, when he found out about the baby, he asked me "did you and daddy breed then?" (breed! Haha!) and when I answered him affirmatively, he then asked "did you breed at night?" when I answered yes, he then looked all downcast and said "awwww! I wanted to see it!" to which my eyes probably popped out of their sockets and I thought "ummmmm.. I'm pretty glad you didn't, and I'm pretty sure you'd be glad too!" Robert has since asked me lots of questions about the baby, about the baby's milk (and has begged me to let him try some from a cup when the baby is born, something I have no problem with), about how big the baby is, whether it will be a boy or a girl, where the baby will sleep, and so on. Christopher is slightly less interested but I know he will become more interested as the pregnancy progresses and he sees the scan pictures, sees the bump and feels the baby kick. :) Robert will LOVE it all, and seeing as he is home educated, he will more than likely be attending all my antenatal appointments with me so will see the midwife check my blood pressure, see them take my blood for the blood tests, hear the heartbeat, see her feeling my abdomen and measuring it. What lovely learning experiences for him! My first appointment is in 5 days (counting down!!) which he won't be attending as it is an hour and a half long and mostly filling in forms that I am aware of.
In a few weeks time we will be going away on holiday with my in laws. We don't usually holiday with the boys' grandparents, but since we learned in February that my father in law has stage 4 prostate cancer, we have come to realise that they will not be around forever, and this is a wonderful opportunity for them and the boys to make memories with each other. We are thinking that we will go away with the other grandparents over the coming years as well. I'm hoping that by then my sickness will have abated, or lessened, as I will be 11-12 weeks by then. Of course it still may be going on, but I will have to see. I am guessing that the in-laws will find out they are expecting their 5th grandchild while we are on holiday together! I've been looking at mugs where they are plain on the outside and on the bottom on the inside they have a secret message. I so want to buy one of those! :) also I've got a cute picture for announcing the pregnancy on Facebook if I choose to. :)
Well that post ended up longer than I thought! Well done if you got to the end!
I haven't even told that group about my pregnancy yet. I've not told many people about it to be fair. Only my mum, husband (obviously), the boys (more on that shortly), Alice, a few Facebook friends, the ones that I stayed in contact with from my first pregnancy forum foray, and you guys. Not necessarily in that order. :) but yeah that's basically the reason why I am considering keeping it off Facebook for the most part, because once it's public knowledge, I feel like I will have a licence to moan. And I DO NOT WANT to moan with this little one. There are some aspects of pregnancy that are not pleasant of course, but on the whole I am so thrilled to be carrying this life inside me. It's all a little surreal at the moment, as I always find it in the early weeks, when all you get to go on is the second pink line, and the early symptoms, and the lack of period. This being my last pregnancy, I really want to savour it! I want to really notice everything, record it all and feel good about it.
I'm feeling like the positivity is a little hard to come by at the moment, because my morning sickness this time round is much worse than with the others. I'm still not actually vomiting, but with all my other babies, I had just the mildest nausea on waking, which went away within an hour. The norm for this pregnancy seems to be: wake up, feel mostly OK. Get up. Feel nauseous. Try to eat breakfast. Eat some. Feel a bit better. Nausea stays to some degree until 3-4pm which puts me off eating somewhat. Feel fairly normal in the evening. Repeat on waking the next day. The day before yesterday I felt fine on getting up. Hooray I thought. Prematurely! I then started feeling sick around 10am,and felt nauseous for the rest of the day, much worse than normal. Luckily yesterday was a normal day, but this morning I feel OK again which has left me with a foreboding feeling for what may await me the rest of the day! I'm now gone 8 weeks, which means I've now missed two periods. Thankfully bleeding is the same as with my other babies, that is, non existent. I was worried in the early days as I had spotting AFTER my BFP. Which I'd never had before, always in the days before my period was due. But after two small spotting instances at around 4.5 weeks I've seen nothing since.
Last night I was sitting watching TV, and my tummy was popping like crazy. I KNOW it's way too early to feel movements yet but I did wonder for a while. But nope, more than likely just wind. :) I can't wait to start feeling the baby. Neither can the boys, Robert in particular, which leads me to what I was going to talk more about.
We told the boys about the baby on Sunday. They (the older two at least) looked at me incredulously when I told them, then they asked "what? There's a baby in there? Right NOW?" They looked so happy! :) Daniel doesn't really understand. He's only just turned 3 a few months ago so it's all a bit surreal for him, and I don't blame him, because he can't SEE the baby, and I don't have a bump yet or anything. Robert is by far the most interested. He knows about how a baby is made, since he asked one day, and we answered very basically, but he kept asking for more and more detail so we answered him honestly. Anyway, when he found out about the baby, he asked me "did you and daddy breed then?" (breed! Haha!) and when I answered him affirmatively, he then asked "did you breed at night?" when I answered yes, he then looked all downcast and said "awwww! I wanted to see it!" to which my eyes probably popped out of their sockets and I thought "ummmmm.. I'm pretty glad you didn't, and I'm pretty sure you'd be glad too!" Robert has since asked me lots of questions about the baby, about the baby's milk (and has begged me to let him try some from a cup when the baby is born, something I have no problem with), about how big the baby is, whether it will be a boy or a girl, where the baby will sleep, and so on. Christopher is slightly less interested but I know he will become more interested as the pregnancy progresses and he sees the scan pictures, sees the bump and feels the baby kick. :) Robert will LOVE it all, and seeing as he is home educated, he will more than likely be attending all my antenatal appointments with me so will see the midwife check my blood pressure, see them take my blood for the blood tests, hear the heartbeat, see her feeling my abdomen and measuring it. What lovely learning experiences for him! My first appointment is in 5 days (counting down!!) which he won't be attending as it is an hour and a half long and mostly filling in forms that I am aware of.
In a few weeks time we will be going away on holiday with my in laws. We don't usually holiday with the boys' grandparents, but since we learned in February that my father in law has stage 4 prostate cancer, we have come to realise that they will not be around forever, and this is a wonderful opportunity for them and the boys to make memories with each other. We are thinking that we will go away with the other grandparents over the coming years as well. I'm hoping that by then my sickness will have abated, or lessened, as I will be 11-12 weeks by then. Of course it still may be going on, but I will have to see. I am guessing that the in-laws will find out they are expecting their 5th grandchild while we are on holiday together! I've been looking at mugs where they are plain on the outside and on the bottom on the inside they have a secret message. I so want to buy one of those! :) also I've got a cute picture for announcing the pregnancy on Facebook if I choose to. :)
Well that post ended up longer than I thought! Well done if you got to the end!
Friday, 29 July 2016
Baby 4 - 7 weeks 4 days gestation
So, at the beginning of the week I turned 7 weeks pregnant. Previously I'd been feeling somewhat non-pregnant, but these last few days the morning sickness has ramped up and the baby is definitely making its presence felt! As this will be my last pregnancy (planned one anyway), I am determined to make the most of it though, so right now I am thankful that I am not actually vomiting although I feel really rough a lot of the time. Straight out of bed is pretty bad. I feel like I could throw up at that time, but it helps to have a drink of water before lying back down again for a while. I find myself forcing myself to eat food, even though I don't always feel up to it, because I know that not eating will make it worse. That time around 11-12 noon is pretty bad because I've been up a few hours, and I'm starting to get hungry again. I had to cut a play at the park short earlier so we could get back and eat. If I had to compare, based on what I can remember, my morning sickness is worse this time round, but I can't really say it's hugely worse, and I am just mainly thankful that it's not as bad as it could be. I'm confident that it will dissipate within a few weeks and I will be able to enjoy the rest of pregnancy.
I am getting to the stage where I think about telling the parents that they have a new grandchild on the way. I know it's all still early days and there's no rush to tell them, but I am kind of dreading it. I'm sure it will be fine, we will probably get shocked "really? Another one?" reactions but they'll get over it soon enough. Part of me thinks we should just wait til they notice the bump, then they can speculate between themselves, and get the negativity over with in private, before it gets really obvious and they're just looking for confirmation.
The kids still don't know either. We get the occasional comment from the boys about "if we have another baby". This morning, Daniel said to me "you have a baby in your beh-yee." and I replied "do I? There's a baby in there?" and he shook his head no. Hah! And a few weeks ago, Christopher said wistfully "I wish I had a baby sister." I asked him if he did have one, what would he call her? And he said "Daisy. Or Amelia." :) unfortunately if it is a girl we can't call her Amelia because he already has a cousin called that, and Daisy isn't really a name I'm too keen on (plus, we have a D name already!) Maisy might be nice though ;) Robert hasn't said anything about maybe being a brother again but it's just not on his mind at the moment I think. When the pregnancy progresses I think he will enjoy coming to antenatal appointments with me and hearing the heartbeat etc. He was 4 during my last pregnancy so I think he will be much more fascinated, as will Christopher who is coming up for 6 in 2 months time!
I am getting to the stage where I think about telling the parents that they have a new grandchild on the way. I know it's all still early days and there's no rush to tell them, but I am kind of dreading it. I'm sure it will be fine, we will probably get shocked "really? Another one?" reactions but they'll get over it soon enough. Part of me thinks we should just wait til they notice the bump, then they can speculate between themselves, and get the negativity over with in private, before it gets really obvious and they're just looking for confirmation.
The kids still don't know either. We get the occasional comment from the boys about "if we have another baby". This morning, Daniel said to me "you have a baby in your beh-yee." and I replied "do I? There's a baby in there?" and he shook his head no. Hah! And a few weeks ago, Christopher said wistfully "I wish I had a baby sister." I asked him if he did have one, what would he call her? And he said "Daisy. Or Amelia." :) unfortunately if it is a girl we can't call her Amelia because he already has a cousin called that, and Daisy isn't really a name I'm too keen on (plus, we have a D name already!) Maisy might be nice though ;) Robert hasn't said anything about maybe being a brother again but it's just not on his mind at the moment I think. When the pregnancy progresses I think he will enjoy coming to antenatal appointments with me and hearing the heartbeat etc. He was 4 during my last pregnancy so I think he will be much more fascinated, as will Christopher who is coming up for 6 in 2 months time!
Saturday, 23 July 2016
So.. Some news....
So I'm just going to jump right in here and post this...
Yep, baby number 4 is on it's way! I'm almost 7 weeks pregnant now. Not many symptoms at the moment, I had a few days before I had the positive test where I was SO tired (I'm pretty much always tired, but this was on another level). Peeing slightly more maybe. And in the days following the positive test, I had a rather full uterus feeling, and some brown spotting.
Now, the full feeling has diminished, the tiredness is back roughly to the same level as normal (maybe slightly more?). I think I'm now getting morning sickness symptoms. I say I think, because this time last week, I was feeling queasy, then threw up in the night, a few days after C (now 5) and D (now 3) were both sick in the night. Basically a bug worked its way through everyone. So now, a week later, I should be 100%, but I've been feeling funny for a lot of the day for several days running, which has worked it's way into a pattern. I wake up feeling fine. As soon as I'm up, I start feeling odd within half an hour. I feel like I don't want to eat, but in the way that I know if I do I'll feel better. So I eat breakfast, which doesn't really help, but also doesn't make me feel worse. The slightly queasy/off feeling lasts until mid to late afternoon, then I feel better and up for eating more, and I don't feel put off by sweet or rich foods like I do prior to that.
Basically I think the bug has morphed into morning sickness, without really getting a break from the bug first.
Another thing I've noticed is that I'm incredibly spotty this time. I'm getting spots on my chest and face. But also I'm getting patches where it's red, dry and sore, with lots of little raised spots, like blackheads but white. Ive never had anything like it to my recollection, maybe as a teen but who knows, that was forever ago! They feel horrible. I've tried cocoa butter on them which might be helping I just need to persevere.
All in all though, not much happening so far, in fact I often forget I'm pregnant. We're not sure when we are going to tell the boys, or the family. As of yet, only a few people know I'm pregnant. I am considering keeping it off facebook completely, as I know I am seen as a complainer... And if I know I'm not going to talk about it on there, it might help that front.
So that's about it for now.... Thanks for reading.
Yep, baby number 4 is on it's way! I'm almost 7 weeks pregnant now. Not many symptoms at the moment, I had a few days before I had the positive test where I was SO tired (I'm pretty much always tired, but this was on another level). Peeing slightly more maybe. And in the days following the positive test, I had a rather full uterus feeling, and some brown spotting.
Now, the full feeling has diminished, the tiredness is back roughly to the same level as normal (maybe slightly more?). I think I'm now getting morning sickness symptoms. I say I think, because this time last week, I was feeling queasy, then threw up in the night, a few days after C (now 5) and D (now 3) were both sick in the night. Basically a bug worked its way through everyone. So now, a week later, I should be 100%, but I've been feeling funny for a lot of the day for several days running, which has worked it's way into a pattern. I wake up feeling fine. As soon as I'm up, I start feeling odd within half an hour. I feel like I don't want to eat, but in the way that I know if I do I'll feel better. So I eat breakfast, which doesn't really help, but also doesn't make me feel worse. The slightly queasy/off feeling lasts until mid to late afternoon, then I feel better and up for eating more, and I don't feel put off by sweet or rich foods like I do prior to that.
Basically I think the bug has morphed into morning sickness, without really getting a break from the bug first.
Another thing I've noticed is that I'm incredibly spotty this time. I'm getting spots on my chest and face. But also I'm getting patches where it's red, dry and sore, with lots of little raised spots, like blackheads but white. Ive never had anything like it to my recollection, maybe as a teen but who knows, that was forever ago! They feel horrible. I've tried cocoa butter on them which might be helping I just need to persevere.
All in all though, not much happening so far, in fact I often forget I'm pregnant. We're not sure when we are going to tell the boys, or the family. As of yet, only a few people know I'm pregnant. I am considering keeping it off facebook completely, as I know I am seen as a complainer... And if I know I'm not going to talk about it on there, it might help that front.
So that's about it for now.... Thanks for reading.
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