3, 2, 1 blast off...

I turned 30 on Thursday. I felt sad on the eve of my birthday and on the day of my birthday, even though Mike took me out to lunch on my birthday - it was great but I just couldn't celebrate - there was nothing to celebrate... I blame it all on my anxiety over our house renovations which the plastering should have been done this week - but the guy we hired to do it has been sick this week and hasn't started! AHHHH!! I am going to give birth in about 10 weeks and we have no home! Our hallway STILL looks like this:
and our bathroom STILL looks like this:...and we need more money from the bank to get the job done! Because everything costs more than what you anticipated! Which is putting alot of stress on Mike and I financially.

Now tell me how you would feel about turning 30, nearly 30 weeks pregnant, having a toddler who hates his Mummy at the moment (everyone else is nicer and more fun), have a house that looks like a bomb has blasted into it and can't go home to, living off the kindness of parents and invading their home for way too long now, begging the bank to lend us a few more K's just so we can afford to put carpet and blinds in the bedrooms, thus bumping up our morgage more, a birthday gift from Mike which is on hold because we can't afford it and feeling FAT and SO helpless because I can't work to contribute to our finances or even help out Mike with the odd jobs that need to be done on the house. Instead I come here and vent it out on blogspot! How productive am I!

For the first time I wished I wasn't pregnant... because we wouldn't be in this situation and I could celebrate my 30th in big style - lots of champagne and soft cheeses!

...how horrible to think that.. I know...how selfish of me...

...but I had a good cry and a talk with dear hubby. (he's just as stressed as I am and he is juggling teaching, painting 2 commissions, painting for his exhibitions next year and entering art prizes and residency's so we have an extra income as well as trying to boost his career. And on top of all that, doing odd jobs on the house on the weekends like laying down the rest of the hallway floorboards, pulling out nails from the studs, pulling off the old doors and door jams, riping off the old cornices in the rooms, picking up our new doors, timber, and being very concerned with not being able to spend his weekends doing fun things with Morri & I.) :(

We came to the conclusion that, hey, what the F*%k can we do about it! - we've just got to hope that the house is finished in time for us to move back in and get Baby's room and Morri's room set up, and eat baked beans for a while!

29 weeks

I have been feeling really hungry lately - I read that in the 3rd trimester the nutritional needs of Baby increase as their brains develop rapidly and need more calcium for their growing bones! No wonder I feel like cheese all of a sudden!

Got the snores!

Oh no, my hubby told me last night that I have been snoring the last couple of nights! I am not a snorer and I am not a fan of others snoring too. Pregnancy does this to me.

I remember going for a lymphatic drainage massage - it was mainly for research purposes for my Remedial Massage course I was doing at the time, but I fell asleep during it as you do when you get a massage. I caught myself giving out a loud snort which woke me up! I felt quite stupid but pretended that I didn't notice I had done it.

I apologised to Mike about my snoring but he told me it didn't bother him, in fact it was quite cute! CUTE? huh? I told him that he is such a better person than me for this - because I hate it whenever he snores or breathes loudly whilst asleep next to me! I nudge him or cover his face - sorry Mike - I am so horrible to you sometimes! Is he tolerant to my snoring because he is a male and those things are frequently done by males? Like for instance farting or weeing on the toilet seat or using your towel to dry themselves rather than theres? (Mike just read this and he thinks I am bagging him out! - am I? see they are in denial again - refusing to accept their flaws! he he he) But on the whole scale of things, my husband tolerates and accepts all my insecurities, obsessions, crazy mood swings and peculiar ways of thinking that sometimes I can't even tolerate these traits myself!

Cats.

The house is quiet but our cat Leo - seems to be dreaming - he just gave out 5 loud meows in his sleep - how weird! He has been missing for 5 days. He turned up early this morning meowing out the front of my parent's bathroom window. Been a weird day today for cats... my childhood cat Pipi passed away in the middle of the night. She lived to a grand age of 23 years - thats 170 years in cat age! The last couple days her body just seemed to shut down. She couldn't manage to take her regular walk to the lawn where she would sit in the sun and do her business and drink out the fountain at the pond. Her legs could no longer carry her fraile old body. We would find her stranded in the middle of the lawn looking like she could not walk back to her bed. We had to keep bringing her back to her bed. We gave her water to drink but she didn't want to eat. We knew it was any day that should would die. She stopped looking after herself along time ago - and her fur began matting and falling out - she looked like death! But she was still strong.
Pipi was one of 3 other kittens in a litter we found trapped under our house when my sister, brother & I were young. My dad rescued them as the mother was nowhere to be found. So we adopted them. We fed them with cow's milk from a suringe and they slept at the base of our fridge as it was warm. The ginger kitten died soon after - as it seemed sick. We revived the long-haired tabby named 'Sugar'. We found her lifeless one morning so we stuck her on the ducted heating and she came back to life! We saved Pipi's life as she was the most strongest kitten out the the 3 from choking on the rubber tubing attached to the suringe while feeding her milk!

On the home stretch now!

Into my final trimester now, I feel like this pregnancy has flown by... Baby has turned itself around and is now head down - I anticipated this as I could feel the baby feeling uncomfortable having is bum pointing down. Anatomically - the space closest to the exit point for this newborn is alot narrower than the top of the uterus - it would make sense to lodge one's head in a smaller space than the rest of the body!! Then again there are the minute unborn bubs who choose keep their bottoms face down!! Knowing that baby is in the head down position puts my mind at ease - I was anxious about this with Morri and I was anxious with this Baby too! phewh! Now my next worry is that Baby's face is facing the right way when its time to birth- facing my anus!!

I remember the time when Morri was still growing inside me I felt him turn into the head down position. It was the middle of the night and I was half asleep and I could feel him 'scampering' with all his might to turn upside down.
The movements of Baby are so strong now - this morning while in the car Baby decided to stretch out one of its limbs into my right side just under my ribcage - WOW it gave me a good jolt! I am very ticklish and I get the giggles whenever this happens - I even catch myself laughing in the middle of the night if Baby starts moving about! Baby is tickling me at this moment while typing this. he he he!

22 weeks

I had my antenatal check up last week. All is going well and smoothly - baby's heart beat is of a good healthy beat!! My blood pressure is good, I feel good, despite feeling a little uncomfortable by the end of the day - achy legs & feet and tummy full of dinner! I wish I could do more exercise though - can only seem to fit in one session a week at the gym at the moment!! It's hard with a toddler and being so busy with our bathroom renovations. You can only fit in so much in a day!

I have been getting waves of Braxtons Hick's contractions lately. Mainly at night or when I do anything strenuous!... :)
I really should get someone else to take the photos!!...

19 weeks - ultrasound scan

This is baby number 2!!


And this is Morri when he was scanned at 19 weeks!!

The 'sonographer' was happy with what he saw; said baby's meaurements are all perfect!
This baby was very very quiet and very very still, the Sonographer had to try and make baby move so he could get better views of everything. He pressed the scanner really firmly on my belly - which made me want to pee and shook the scanner around to wake baby up!! Baby looked so peaceful on the screen!! Mike and I laughed because when we had Morri scanned, the Sonographer had to keep chasing him around as he wouldn't keep still, - and we are STILL chasing him around!!
BOY or a GIRL?

4 out of 6

We had Mother's Group this morning. We 'hung out' at Greensborough Shopping centre. They have a children's play area next to the food court- it's FREE not like those play centre's that cost nearly $10 per child!! So we will return there for next weeks Mother's Group. We are finding it hard to find a playgroup that suits us all so we are trying to come up with venues every week as our homes are getting too small for our busy toddlers!!

It's now safe to say that 4 out of 6 Mothers in our Mothers group are pregnant!! The first mum is due any day now; the next mum is due in June and then I am due in October and the last one - for this year is due in November. So we are all sharing ideas and suggestions on whether to toilet train; take our toddlers out of their cots and teach them the to sleep in a normal bed so we don't have to buy another cot or use a bassinet for the first 3 months for the newborn; considering a double pram or adding toddler seats or boards to their existing ones; purchasing a 2nd car seat and the list goes on!! 3 families including ourselves are renovating or extending their exisiting homes to accomodate the 2nd baby - and we all considered moving but it was going to be too costly for our single income families!!

2nd Trimester

I can feel the baby moving about now - only if I am lying down and quiet! Aparently baby is the size of an advocado. It's about 11.6cm from crown to rump and weighs about 100gms. Baby aparently has also discovered it's umbillical cord and likes to play with it!! In the next 3 weeks Baby should also have a growth spurt which will make my belly suddenly 'pop' out!! Got to start making some adjustments to my wardrobe soon...

I had my 2nd Antenatal appointment today at the Birthing Centre at Mercy Hospital. I took Morri with me. He is always a little scared when the midwifes take my blood pressure and even when I go to lie down on the table to have my uterus measured. He gives me this look of fear as if they were going to hurt me!!

All is good. I have no complaints, aches, pains or nausea! This is the nice part of the pregnancy where I am still not showing, I have energy to go to the gym and do 'other things', my boobs are big and perky again (yeah!), and I can still wear most of my normal clothes!!

13 weeks

I had gastro a few of days ago. I was sick for entire 24 hours. YUK!!

I had gastro when I was about 34 weeks pregnant with Morri. I remember I was still at work and I was throwing up in the ladies toilets all morning. I ended up going to the doctors after lunch and then I just made it to the chemist to get myself some rehydration salts when I threw up again in the car!! Luckily I took a big tupperware container from work with me!! I just hoped no one saw me in the parking lot phewking up my guts that day. Throwing up in the car is hard enough but with a 34 week old pregnant stomach - it was damn hard to bend over!!

Mike has returned from his adventure in Central Australia! And his welcome home present from me was gastro!! Poor thing was so fit and healthy while he was away, and when he returned home I had to give him gastro!! Sorry honey!! Men are much worse at being sick than women!! - Lots of moaning, groaning and cursing!!

12 weeks

This photo was taken at the end of 12 weeks. A slight belly!! (I had to take the photo myself - so it is me - that's as far as my arm would reach, so I couldn't get my head in the shot!)

11 weeks

I am feeling less tired during the day now and the nausea has almost gone - although it comes on in the late afternoon and stays until bedtime. THANK YOU GOD!! I thought it was never going to end...

Mike has been away this week - he's on 'Centre Trip' for work - every year the Year 10 students at his school take a road trip for 3 weeks up to the Northern Territory. Mike won't be back for another couple of weeks. Our plan was for Morri & I to stay with my parents for a bit for some R & R and to also be close while my mum as goes into hospital. But that plan soon ended as Morri has been missing his Daddy like crazy and has been very unsettled at night and really insecure during the day. Which is very unlike him. So we've had to go back home and we just come and play and hangout with my parents during the day. Morri was refusing to sleep in his cot - crying in histerics and even vomiting in result of the stress. He has been sleeping with me in my bed for security - he's afraid I will leave him too. What's worse was that being pregnant I have to take frequent trips to the toilet in the middle of the night. When I wake up to go, Morri wakes up crying thinking I was leaving him so I would have to take him to the toilet with me half asleep - tricky!!...
Mike usually puts Morri to bed at night and he likes to play and cuddle on the couch with his Daddy before he goes to sleep - so Morri is definately missing it. And you know babies, they need their routine and if it is altered in someway - it becomes a nightmare. How do you explain to a 1 year old that his Daddy is away in the middle of Australia and will be back in a couple of weeks? I just tell him that his Daddy is on the BUS! which he is - travelling all around Central Australia. Morri understands that we can talk to Daddy on the phone, so often during the day he asks to use the phone to call Daddy. I have also stuck big A4 size photos of Mike on Morri's bedroom wall - which he loves to look at point. He even gives the photos of his Daddy a kiss goodnight - how sweet.
So this week has been challenging, but last night was the first time he slept in his own room without me having to get up to comfort him in the middle of the night! Yeah! - only I couldn't sleep becuase I think I had too much chinese tea in the evening :( So things are getting better.

10 weeks

I went for my antenatal appointment today at the Family Birthing Centre at Mercy Hospital - it felt like I was there just yesterday!! The Midwife who saw me was very impressed that we mangaged to fall pregnant at the exactly the same time we did with Morri!! I told her we didn't plan for it that way!!
I was very happy with the care I was given throughout my pregnancy, during and after labour the first time round I thought I'd stick to it again this time round. Plus I liked the double bed birthing suites - Mike could stay the night too!! I

9 weeks

...this little one is just sucking all my energy...

8 Weeks

Today has been the first day that I haven't woken up feeling sick!! Yeah!! And for most of the day - I wasn't so nauseas! Still don't have much of an appetite - although I was craving McDonald's hamburgers - but only for a second and talked myself out of wanting it!!

7 Weeks.

By the end of this week, the bubs should be looking like this. How amazing!
...I am still feeling sick & tired...
I have discovered something...if I am horizontal (that is lying down) the nausea goes away!!

Things that make me go.............

Here is a list of the things I can't handle the smell of at the moment; as they all make me gag, choke or feel like I need to throw- up:
- Cooking garlic, onions, or leeks
- Cleaning Morri's pooey nappys
- Feeding Morri his meals
- Fried foods
- Our toilet (that's why I had to get air freshner to mask the smell)
- Mike's studio, especially when he is painting.
- Mike's body odour after he comes back from his run.
- Rubbish bins

Here is a list that helps ease the nausea and stuff that I crave at the moment:
- mineral water, or ginger beer
- sour green apples
- cruskits
- ginger, in tea & in food (I've been cooking stuff with lots of ginger)
- lemons
- sour lollipops
- gerkins
- salt & vinegar chips
- cheese
- toasted cheese & spaghetti sandwiches
- eggs
- crusty white bread with butter

A day free

This morning I went to see my GP for my blood test results. Everything is normal and to my surprise my iron levels are fine. I am not as tired now - thank God!! Although the nausea is still quite bad.

Morri is spending the day with my parents to give me time to do the grocery shopping and rest! I usually take Morri grocery shopping with me as he enjoys sitting in the trolleys! However, I can't take my time deciding which brand of cereal to try next as Morri gets very vocal when we spend too long at the supermarket!! And most of the time I forget a few items - don't you hate that!! So today I strolled down the isles and picked up some museli, checked the ingredients on the box, then put it back on the self and decided to get the new Uncle Toby's crunch oats instead and spent 20 minutes deciding what type of air freshner to get for the bathroom/toilet!! (I have smell issues with the bathroom/toilet at the moment!) And I didn't forget a single thing on my shopping list!! Yeah!!

I came back from shopping and went to put the stuff in the fridge and realised that my fridge was in desperate need of a clean and a clean out!! I thought about it and thought maybe I should have a nap instead but then I thought I should make use of this time where I don't have a toddler hanging on my ankles and pulling things out of cupboards and touching things he's not supposed to. So I pulled everything out of the fridge cleaned it and found some scary things in there!! YUK!! and hour or so later I had a clean and organised fridge. I thought to myself well this doesn't need to be done again until the second baby is at least a year old!! he, he, he!!

I did finally have a nap.
Thank you to my Mummy & Daddy for giving me a day free!

6 Weeks

This past week I have been feeling extremely nausas for pretty much the entire day. I have also been feeling unbearably tired. I would wake up in the morning and feel as though I had not had any sleep and I would nap throughout the day - when I could, poor Morri had to put up with an untidy house and no outings! Thank God for Hi-5!! This second pregnancy is already a lot tougher than when I was pregnant with Morri - I don't remember being this tired or sick. I went to see the doctor on Friday morning - I had already booked in to see my regular GP today, but I couldn't wait as I just felt so strangely tired and I was a bit concerned. I couldn't see my regular GP so I rang some clinics around my area to see if someone could see me. I had several blood samples taken, I think about 7!! The doctor did the usual tests, blood pressure, checked my heart, breathing and abdomen. All were normal, as I was complaining of heart palpatations and breathlessness. I go back to see the GP tomorrow for the blood test results. I suspect low iron levels are the culprit. I took Morri with me and he was so good. He was fascinated with the blood pressure monitor and showed great concern when I had to lie on the Drs. table so he could palpate my abdomen. He wanted to lie next to me. Sweet boy!! I had to take a urine sample of course and the receptionist offered to hold Morri while I went to the toilets. I could hear Morri calling for me from inside the toilets. He didn't cry but jumped into my arms when I came back!!

We finally told our family. We figured that I couldn't hide the fact that I am so sick for too long. They were all shocked but very happy - just like us!!

5 weeks old.

This is what our 5 week old pecking II looks like at the moment!!