Learning To Fit In

Or, I should say, learning hot to fit HER in. Her as in Tully - she's 11 days old today and we've been home from hospital for just over a week. Its been 8 days of Mick, Flynn and I working out how Tully fits into our little family, of the when's and where's of how she needs to do things, and of teaching Flynn how to treat her and how to cope when he can't be put first all the time.

Chilling out in her swing....

So far, things are going pretty well. Yes, we're still in the throes of learning how to breastfeed together, so there are long periods of cluster feeding, or that point  in the early hours of the morning where I wish Mick had boobs, but that's OK. Tully is proving to already be a much better day sleeper than her brother ever was ( and fingers crossed it stays that way!) and on the days Flynn is at home he is proving to be a very handy 'big boy helper '. He's still very much besotted with his sister and loves kissing her or touching her hair every chance he gets, or getting right up close and chatting to her when she's having awake time.

Hey Mum!

Mick and I are also working on how to best share the load. Its tricky because I know, being a professional driver, he really needs his sleep for work so I try not to disturb him during the night, but he has  started getting up with Flynn in the mornings and getting him ready, and letting me catch an extra hour of sleep before he leaves for work. 

This whole new baby thing is a but if a process, but we'll make it in the end! 

Forget The Minuses - She's Here!

OK... so she's been here for almost 5 days but I've been too busy soaking up her gorgeousness ( and trying to rest! ) to fill you guys in. Ahem. so, very pleased to introduce you all to my beautiful daughter Tully Maree Freshfield....

That's her, straight after her not so straightforward birth. I'll no doubt elaborate later, but long story short I started having contractions on noon Friday which just failed to progress, so I was induced Saturday night and Miss Tully there arrived Sunday afternoon! Suffice to say I was just a bit exhausted but totally in love - and so were Daddy ( who cried when he came in to see her ) and her big brother Flynn....

.... and how could you not be when this is what she looked like when she was all clean and ready to come home from hospital!

So, there you go and here she is! Once we've settled in a bit more look out for more adventures with me and Miss Tully Moo!

DD Minus 13 - Bloody Hell!

Bloody hell because its been another few days without a post - I should never have set myself a goal because I'm failing miserably at it! - and bloody hell because one of the kids at Flynn's daycare has shopping cough and he has been exposed to it. Now he's been coughing for 2 days so we're off to he doctor for a check.

Hopefully its a false alarm but if not - what he hell am I going to do? How am I going to keep a very excited new little brother away from a teeny, tiny, defenceless newborn? I have to admit, even though we know nothing either way at the moment, I had a bit of a cry last night.... it would just be so heartbreakingly unfair if Flynn can't meet his new sister for 6 weeks or so.

And also - it takes 4 days for test results to come back. So if i go into labour in the next day or two, what do I do? Does Flynn get to CME visit or do I wait for he results just to be sure?

Ah well, we'll see what the doctor says today. But bloody hell - as if I wasn't anxious enough already!

DD Minus 18 - Ranty Pants

I'm not ashamed to admit it.... today I broke down and had a little cry. At 37w3d you would think I would still be relatively happy to have bub in there, but today I found myself incredibly frustrated and anxious that Miss Jelly hasn't arrived yet.

I'm incredibly keen to met her of course, to see what she looks like and discover what type of little personality she has.... but its more than that. I hurt, high up near my ribs, during the day (thanks to being short in the torso ) and at night it feels like I'm sleeping with a rock stuck under my side. It hurts so much some nights I have a little cry while Mick sleeps comfily next to me. And, seeing as this is my second bub its very unlikely that she'll engage and drop down until I'm in labour.... so the only relief will come in getting her out!

So sorry for the dampener and my ranty little whinge. I promise I'll try not to do it again.... its just as a lady in her last 18 days of pregnacy I reserve the right to change my mind!

DD Minus 19 - My Little Helper

I've found myself with. New little helper around the house the last few weeks. I don't know if it everybody telling him he needs to help me, or whether all the talk about him helping when Little Jelly finally comes out has gotten to him but Flynn has turned into a great little apprentice lately!

 He's always enjoyed helping Daddy out with mechanical things ( like washing the van and the truck every weekend ) or helping Poppy out with things in the yard, but never really took much to helping me. Until about a fortnight ago - now you can't keep him away! And, most pleasing to me, the thing he likes helping most with is the cooking. I wish I had a photo to share of my apprentice chef in action, but truth be told I'm just enjoying our cooking sessions together too much to bother grabbing the camera. ( That, plus the camera is already packed in my hospital bag for labour!)

I hope his enthusiasm for helping, and for cooking in particular, doesn't wan too much once his sister arrives. I'd love to have a little dude in the kitchen who like to cook!
Sea, mummies of more than one - is this usual? Did your first born then into a little handy man or lady shortly before the arrival of their sibling, or is it just Flynn?

DD Minus 20 - Bumpity Bump

Yea yea, I missed yesterday. I really have no excuse other than it was a loooong day. Doing what you ask? Having maternity photos taken! My photographer friend did them for me and was keen to to try some different types of shots she hasn't used before.... so of course, I get got to be guinea pig!

I won't get the full portfolio of photos til next week, but for now please enjoy this sneak peek of what turns out is a very curvaceous belly!

DD Minus 22 - Its Getting Real!

So yes, I missed DD m us days 24 and 23. To be fair it was the weekend' and on the Saturday at least I was super busy and completely stuffed by bedtime so just didn't have the time to blog. However, let's consider this me getting back in track! And perhaps just in time too....

See today I got all excited and thought that perhaps my waters had broken. You would think seeing as this is my second child I would KNOW when my waters had broken but they never did break with Flynn, so don't actually know what waters breaking is like,e! Long story short, my waters haven't broken but the doctor that I saw in the labour ward seems to think that I could probably go sometime in the next week.

I have to admit hearing that made me a little bit excited.... perhaps less than a week and my little lady could be here! We also know how even the experts can't always predict what babies are and aren't going to do so I could end up overdue. All I know is that at  37 weeks tomorrow.... this shit is getting real!

DD Minus 25 - This Tickled My Funny Bone

DD Minus 26 - Big vs Small

I wonder why it is as soon a pregnant woman starts showing, that everyone is the universe feels its ok to comment on the size of her bump? Checkout chicks, delivery men, people in line at the bank.... it seems like everyone loves a pregnant belly, and there is nothing better than getting to throw their two cents worth in on its size and/or shape. I'll admit, i've never copped the " Oh my God - you're the size of a house! " comments - it seems, even though i'm relatively short in the torso, that i carry " small " and produce small children ( although Miss Jelly here may yet prove that theory wrong ). Even so, i've had my fair share of " Wow - you're so little! " or " You're barely showing! " or comment made about how neat and tidy my bump is.

Image from here

Like i have any say in it of course - its not like i've done anything in particular to keep my bump relatively small, nor could i even if i had wanted to. Luckily, i'm a " water off a ducks back " kind of gal, and comments on my bump dont really bother me so much. However, i think i may feel differently if random strangers kept telling me how huge i was, instead of how small. Just like me, those gorgeous pregnant women who end up with massive preggy bellies, akin to having to carry a whopping great big watermelon around with you all day... well, they havent done anything out of the ordinary to end up " big " either. Some of them may have gestional diabetes or some other pregnancy complication that has increased the size of their bumps, but thats hardly their fault. Even if it were their fault - why do people feel its ok to make comment on it? Its not like when they see a massively obese person in the supermarket that they go " Woah, holy moly - you're gigantic arent you? "

No, no they dont. You know why? Because that would be rude! So on behalf of pregnant ladies everywhere - big, small, super curvy or tear dropped shaped bumps, carrying high or carrying low - please think about what you're saying before you open your mouth. By all means, ask when our due date is, or how we're feeling, or if we've picked a name yet ( those are all far less controversial ).... just keep comments about body shape/size to yourself ( unless you're going to tell me how gorgeous my bump is ). If you wouldnt like me telling you that you're the size of a barge, or inferring that how small you are is akin to being unhealthy, then dont say it to me!

DD Minus 27 - Last Fortnight We Had A Sleepover

I know posting around here has been a bit erratic, but i've tried to post at least once a week. And then, last week - nada. So where was I ? I would love to be able to say that i was off on some exotic babymoon, or too busy doing interesting things but no... sadly, my gorgeous little Flynny had picked up a bout of gastro and we spent the majority of the week hanging around at the hospital.

See, my BIL and SIL visited us on a Friday night with their three children. They live 3 hrs away so we dont see them all that often, but when they are in town or on their way through, they stop in for a cuppa and a play. Their middle boy, who is notoriously sooky, was alternately lying all over my lounge and then getting up to play with all of Flynns toys ( which he didnt pack up when he left! ). After an hour, as they were leaving, BIL thinks to say " Oh, by the way, Middle Child has been vomiting all day "..... well bloody thanks! I know we dont see you often but why would you bring a child you has been throwing up all day into a house with a toddler AND a pregnant lady?! Morons...

Saturday and Sunday passed ok, Monday Flynn seemed a little lethargic then bam! Midnight Monday poor little fella starts throwing up. He tried eating a little and drinking, but he couldnt keep anything down and had very dry nappies so Tuesday afternoon up we went to the local emergency ward. After some hydralite, an anti-nausea tablet, and being monitored for 3 hrs we were allowed to go home, with strict instructions that if he started vomiting again or his nappies were still excessively dry, to come back. Which is exactly what we did Wednesday lunchtime, after another morning of " bomits " and dry nappies.

This time he had a canula inserted and was put on a drip, to be admitted to the Paed ward for the night. My poor little man - it took 4 of us to hold him down so the doctor could insert the canula, and after that he was terrified of sitting on his little bed in the ER, waiting to go down to the ward. He wouldnt sit anywhere except on someones lap - luckily my mum and dad had both come to see him and decided they would stay til he was moved from ER to Paeds. Once we were down there he calmed a bit - the lovely nurses gave him some stickers and offered him some custard, which he managed to eat and keep down - and after a quick trip home to get us some PJs he and i settled in for the night.

I tried to make it sound exciting by telling him it was a " sleep over " at the hospital. Even though there was nothing remotely exciting about it, it seemed to work - he only woke once during the night, when his drip ran out and the machine started beeping. I, however, had the fold out bed from hell and was incredibly uncomfortable, what with the squeaky springs, and pregnancy aches. Its an experience i hope not to repeat ever again! Thankfully in the morning his appetite had started to come back, his nappies were wet and he seemed much more like himself, so were sent home on gate leave at lunch time ( and officially discharged the next day ).

And that, my friends, is what kept me from posting last week. Even on the Friday, when we were home and totally vomit free for 2 days, i was still exhausted from all the stress of having my little man sick, and the lack of sleep. I dont think my brain would have functioned for me well enough to post, even if i had had the motivation! But now, with the official countdown on, my motivation is back. Question remains - what do i post tomorrow?