Eviction notice posted!

"Only two more weeks to go and I get to meet my baby brother aye Aunty!" says Holly.
Yup that's right, well now it's less than two weeks....only 11 more days, at the most!

The majority of women who are heavily pregnant and near their due date come to a point when they just want baby out! Yesterday I hit 37 weeks 2 days along and that was my eviction notice day! I am so physically exhausted and by the time 11am hits I'm ready for bed again,  even though sleeping is impossible and not to mention painful on my pelvic and fufu bones! It literally feels like there is a bowling bowl trying to squeeze itself out every time I walk...well who am I kidding!? there is a bowling bowl trying to squeeze itself out every time I walk! I spent the majority of yesterday snapping grumpily, drifting off to sleep and being tearful and hormonal. Sleep deprivation is always a huge piece of straw that breaks the camels back and I am just really looking forward to being able to sleep a good night's sleep and being able to put on my undies without it being a 10 minute effort that strains the brain like a rubix cube, when you get to this stage it really is a huge physical struggle to do anything from the waist down. You feel like a T-Rex!

Good news is it's Monday and that means this eviction notice I've slapped on my belly is quite welcome to take affect at any time as my obstetrician is back from whatever tropical island he was sipping pina colada's on, I am more than happy to begin my hospital stay now! Let's bring on the newborn cuddles!

37 weeks along!

One thing I always find rather amusing and if I'm honest - annoying; is how hyped up people get in the last couple of weeks before baby is due to make an appearance....If I post one little status on facebook that has the words 'hospital' or 'baby' in it people go into a frenzy like a poorly made zombie movie....they are trying to read between the lines where there is actually no reading to be found and my phone starts going nuts with people wondering if I'm in labour or at the hospital huffing on gas and getting poked with pethidine shots.....the answer is always the same - NO I AM NOT.

I'm pretty sure I have made it clear in the past that if I did go into labour spontaneously I will not be documenting my every move on facebook, you will see no status updates, photo's, comments...nothing, until Squirt has made it into this world and Sara and Lance are ready to let everyone know and have announced it first themselves, after all this is their baby and their news to announce, no-one else's and that no-one else also includes myself. And while we are on the subject of facebook and the wonderful world of phone communication, I also will not give you the time of day my c-section is booked in for, you all know the date is April 5th but the time is secret so in the nicest possible way... stop asking :-P I'm honestly not trying to go out of my way to be a grumpy grump grump biatch, it's just that I feel I deserve a bit of privacy before all the announcements are made and the mayhem begins with newborn excitement, this of course doesn't apply to immediate family or my utmost bestie bestie but don't panic people! It's not like we would not tell you for a week or so then suddenly say "oh by the way...last week we had a baby..." lol.

Anyways......there is actually not much more to post about this week, it is literally a sit and wait time and a countdown of the the 11 days! Bring it on!!

 

Some niggly niggles!

It's been a very interesting few days, I'm beginning to think this nephew of mine will be excelling in drama classes and will be the next big thing on Broadway!
I had my massage late on Friday afternoon and ..................................






Oh Sorry! I drifted off just thinking of the heavenly relaxing bliss of it all! As a result I have spent the last couple of days pain free in my back, I've been having terrible sciatic nerve pain which had me in tears all last week, not to mention my fufu feels like it's been hit with a sledge hammer! I forgot how it all felt in the last few weeks with a bowling ball resting on your nether region, so the massage was a welcome delight! Thanks so much to Dianne and Natasha (Squirts Nana and Aunty) for getting the massage for me!!
Now the next day was not so relaxing, I woke up at 7am feeling braxton hicks which just got stronger and closer together, by noon it had gotten to a point where these were not just some niggles, these were feeling like the real thing with a few deep breaths needed on my part so the obstetrician was called, much to my despair my beloved Dereck was not on call that weekend and he has gone away until next Monday but I still struck it lucky and got the other obstetrician who was not Mr. Desert Man with the oh so dried up sense of humour. So if these contractions did not settle or got worse within a couple of hours it was going to be another hospital trip for me, I was ordered on bedrest and shortly after putting my feet up and having hubby come home to take care of hurricane Hunter they eased off.
Think that was the end of it? ....nope they were back again last night, barely a couple of minutes apart with me waddling even more awkwardly like I had a bowling ball sitting on my cervix trying to see some daylight so just when I was about to phone the obstetrician again they stopped. Hmmmm what is this cheeky baby upto? I'm highly doubting I am going to make it to 39 weeks. I'm not too fussed if he does come a little earlier but he cannot come this week as I want my obstetrician doing all the work and not a fill in.....here's hoping you don't see a birth announcement in next weeks blog!

36 weeks along!

The last few days has seen an even bigger awareness in my boy Hunter, all he wants to do is try and detach this baby hanging off the front of me, he covers Squirt like a starfish and looks up at me with a big cheesy grin, you can see the little twinkle in his eye suggesting "you're all mine mummy!!!! no-one else is to get your attention!!" ....He's reminding me a lot of Smeagol guarding his precious. It's cute of course but gosh does it create a lot more work for me trying to meet all of his attention hungry pursuits!

Sara is getting a lot more anxious and impatient, she's not too sure how she will wait less than 3 more weeks but she may be having her eyes hanging out of their sockets with sleep deprivation sooner than later with the rate of all these little tricks Squirt is playing!!
The big day is fast approaching! only 18 more days to go!

18 more days!

25 days to go.....

So what number are we up to on the glorious baby countdown? well that number will be 25! yup only 25 days to go!!!! It's very exciting and surreal at the same time to think there will be a brand new baby born into the family in just over 3 weeks time.
A lot of people are asking if I am looking forward to "having my body back"...well yes I am because I really want to sleep on my tummy again and it would be rather lovely being able to get out of bed without the need of a heavy duty crane to pull me out! But the other part of me will really miss being pregnant and I have a long wait until we will be ready to have another baby, not for sanity reasons (well actually that's a lie lol) but more for safety & health reasons. I still get many remarks from people saying once Squirt is born we can get straight back onto completing our family....jez! give me a break and give my body a break, there's only so much human growing I can do at any given time and at the end of the day I have to be sensible and give my scar site time to heal, I'm birthing sun roof babies not exhaust pipe babies afterall!

Big sister Holly is starting to get very excited about the arrival of her baby brother, she really senses it's coming up soon and loves to talk about all the things she will do with her brother.
I saw her yesterday and she ran straight up to my belly waving hello to Squirt, she also got very excited when she saw a "fairy" floating in the wind and I asked her if she made a wish, to which she replied "I wish that Squirt will come out and then he will grow!"
I will miss her first reaction to seeing her baby brother since I will most likely still be in surgery getting stitched up and I'm kinda disappointed in that but there will be a camera there to capture these moments and that's just as good as the real thing in these situations!

So I got my pre-admission appointment confirmed for April 2nd and highlighted on the form it says "this is the appointment before the birth of your baby"....gosh it makes it all so real that this really is happening in a matter of 3+ weeks time! I also have another OB appointment this Wednesday and we are doing the birth plan, well yeah it will be pretty straight forward being that it's an elective c-section but it will also be fun being able to plan skin to skin for Sara etc, I can't wait to see how a "different" birth scenario all unfolds on the day with the new mummy being a completely different woman to the one that just had the baby lol!
My OB will be away the week before Squirt is due to be born *insert major freak out here!*. I have been having some stern words to Squirt saying he must not surprise me and come that week!! I would be gutted to have his fill in "Mr Desert Man", argh can't crack a smile out of that dry personality!

I will make sure to flaunt in my next blog update about the pregnancy massage I am getting on Friday, what bliss!!!! I'll be bang on 36 weeks and yes I am in desperate need of some pampering!! aaahhhhhh I can just imagine all the aches and pains melting away...ok I'll stop rubbing it in....until Monday.
That Friday also has another exciting element added into it, Sara will be getting her head shaved for Shave for a cure. No more hair! Her goal was to raise $750 but she ended up racking in a whopping $1,415!
Only $85 needed to hit the $1500 mark, If you would like to make a donation before Friday please click on this link:
Sara's shave for a cure page.

So that's really about it from me this week, I know, nothing too thrilling to read about but that's all that's really happened in the last week.
So until next week keep well!

Squirt decided to check out hospital early...

What an eventful week it's been! I had another obstetrician appointment on Wednesday and the one baby that I haven't planned on delivering out of my fufu decides to spin around and lie nice and perfectly anterior, head down, all perfect and ready to go like a rocket ship on standby...but it did pose a bit of a hurdle for measurements as anterior facing babies can sometimes have "clouded" measurements due to the spine view etc shadowing other bits and pieces so the figures on the graph then showed Squirt actually hadn't grown at all in the last two weeks, It was concerning so I was sent off for an urgent growth scan to see what was going on, It was all booked in for 4pm Thursday afternoon and we were gearing up to see Squirt again but I didn't quite make it that far.....
2:30pm ticked onto the clock and after changing Hunter's nappy I felt what I thought was a typical infamous pregnant weak bladder moment so I waddled off to the toilet and once I peered down my eyes sprung open in surprise to see blood all over my pretty blue undies so the phone was instantly grabbed and my obstetrician was rung. I was ordered straight to the hospital where he would meet me so it was a mad dash to pack Hunter's bag and mine (because I knew I wouldn't be leaving hospital that night), the husbands were rung and off to the hospital we all headed.
I had to do all the urine & blood samples etc, was stuck on the ECG machine to monitor Squirts heartbeat and movements, also to record any contractions I was having, had an internal to check dilation hadn't started as I also lost my mucus plug during the bleed, and also had an ultrasound to check that my placenta wasn't tearing away; all checked out fine and it was quite a mystery as to why I had the bleed. In fact the worst part in all of it was actually getting an IV line stuck in, Dereck (my obstetrician) needed to stick a larger than usual needle in and at first it was a sharp prick and then as it scraped up into my arm I started swearing the F-bomb, one time so loud Sara quickly diverted her eyes away from me lol
I was then given a steroid injection which would mature Squirt's lungs incase he did decide to come along...more pain there! But a necessary to ensure Squirt's health would be in the best tip top shape it could be if he came along!

I was then told I had to stay in for two nights minimum, no surprises there, and was then transferred over to the maternity ward where luckily I had the double room all to myself as another couple was just leaving.
I was served some mystery meat with rice and settled down for the night....argh that hospital bed was like a concrete slab with two matching pillows so I was constantly tossing and turning or getting up to pee!
6am hit and I was woken up with some contractions that were quite regular and strong at times so I was stuck on the ECG machine, had another visit from Dereck and sent off for a more clear ultrasound and also to check growth since I didn't quite get that far the day before lol
Again, everything checked out fine and Squirt's growth actually wasn't an issue afterall, still a nice big chubba bubba and estimated to be about 5lb 7oz's at 34 weeks, sitting in the 74th percentile.
The contractions finally stopped around noon, the bleeding had stopped and I just had one more night to stay. The one thing I missed sorely was my boy and he also didn't cope well at home without me so it was the highlight of my day when he came in with Daddy for a visit and ran straight up to me for cuddles, it just warmed my heart...best medicine ever. And in hubby's hand was a delicious glorious cup of real cafe coffee...ahhhh another warmth to my heart! lol

A couple of my favourite things in life, my boy and real coffee!

Word spread quickly & I had lots of staff come in asking if I was "the surrogate" and they just loved asking all sorts of curious questions as I was a first for a lot of them, I was treated like a rock star and was then moved so I could have a view for my last night....yes I was milking it for everything it was worth and all I needed was a crown and an ermine cape to complete the picture!

View from my room, some of Auckland city and the Sky Tower.

Another quiet night with the double room to myself, another steroid injection (the last one) and a slightly better sleep on the concrete slab...the sun wakes up for the day, so do I and it's more ECG monitoring, another visit from Dereck and the all clear is given for me to go home yay!!!!

All hooked up to the ECG machine.

So Squirt seemed very eager to check out the place he would be taking in his first sights but he can wait a bit longer! Only 32 more days to wait, that's not asking too much....I hope!

39 days to go!

Only a couple more days until March hits, it will be my very last full month of being pregnant!
At times, especially since the last 1/4 hit it feels like the time is dragging but that's probably because I'm having to drag myself around with this big chubba bubba resting on my bladder all day long and it's definitely feeling like an extreme effort, especially in this heat...ok I know I keep mentioning how much I'm suffering in this heat but it's true, I'm beginning to think that prison's who have repeat escapee convicts should ditch the handcuff's and 4x6 cells and just strap a pregnancy suit on them and stick them under a couple of heat lamps and they'll soon see that they won't be running anywhere, they'll be beaching themselves on the floor begging for their baby to be taken off them and swearing good behaviour for all eternity!

33 weeks along.

One thing I've noticed over the past week is how much more clingy my boy is becoming towards me, he was already a mama's boy to begin with so the extra effort I'm sticking in is sucking my fuel tanks dry...but no-one said motherhood was easy, it's all about self sacrifice and even though I'm heavily pregnant it's still no excuse to be selfish and put my own wants and needs before his, and this won't be lasting forever....less than 6 weeks to go and my body will be all mine again! I will miss being pregnant but I also look forward to handing the reins over with Squirt's upbringing and once I'm fully healed from my c-section I'll be running around searching out polka dotted elephants to kiss in my backyard with Hunter!

Miss Holly is especially looking forward to meeting her baby brother and loves telling everyone all the things she will be doing to help mummy out, she is particularly determined to fold the washing (which I know neat freak mummy will end up refolding anyway lol) and is fascinated with mummy's efforts to bring milk in for breast feeding, I ended up in a very in depth and factual conversation with her last week (all the facts coming from her of course). I was told about the differences between cow's milk and mummy's milk among other things and it was very entertaining listening to a 3 year old's perspective on it all, they really are a lot more observant than what we think, they take in everything!

Miss Holly giving her baby brother a tummy cuddle

So speaking of milk, Sara has now begun pumping, last week in fact, and was doing it 3 hourly even through the night, this week she has been ordered to increase it to every 2 hours, she pumps (using a hospital grade electronic pump) to hopefully bring in her milk supply after all the drugs she's been on to create it and so far it's working, it's tiring time consuming work and at times she get's discouraged but I just keep reminding her that it won't be forever, even though it feels like it will be at 4am while you watch your husband snore away blissfully while you have a mini milking machine tugging on your boobs! It's great practice for a newborn and all this pumping will give her a head start with adjusting to the sleep deprivation, you always have to look on the bright side and this is definitely a bonus to all the effort and time put into it. So if you find yourself talking to Sara make sure you offer her lots of encouragement to keep up the hard work, she needs lots of cheerleaders in her corner at the moment!

So the countdown is on...39 days to go, or less, depending if this little dude decides to make an early appearance! That's not very long at all, soon these belly shots will be replaced with newborn photo's!

A few tid bits here and there...

Only a couple more days until I'm 33 weeks along, 6....did I just say that right!? yes only 6 more weeks until we meet Squirt, there will soon be another baby in the Smith household and in the Dibley household we'll be sweet dreaming away while my sister and brother-in-law grow saddlebags under their eyes hehehe ...speaking of such things; I finally got to check out Squirts nursery yesterday with my own eyes, I must say it looks really awesome, very colourful and my favourite part is the super awesome name plaque on the wall, the name is.....oh wait sorry I can't tell you that part! oh well, only 6 more weeks to wait!

So we've had a few very interesting and entertaining few days, on Saturday we had Sara's mama shower, was a twist on the traditional baby shower but seeing as Sara was fully set up for Squirt and didn't want any more clutter in the house we decided on a mama shower instead which was a girls night only and in lieu of baby gifts people contributed money towards a baby/toddler photo shoot.
I would post photo's of this night but it's not really appropriate to do so as we had a lingerie party with some x-rated themed games, that sure brought out the giggles from all the girls and the next morning I woke up with such a raw throat from laughing so much! There were a few people we would've loved to have shared the night with but a few had weddings to attend and family commitments or they decided to spend the night on facebook instead, but hey you win some, you lose some and it was still a really good night!

I have been utterly spoilt lately! I received a pregnancy massage voucher from Dianne and Natasha (Squirts Nana and Aunty) and a shopping voucher from a family friend who said to treat myself after Squirt is born, I was not expecting any of this and it just really makes me feel loved and cared for so a huge thank you for these wonderful presents! I am so immensely excited about getting my pregnancy massage - pure bliss!!!!
I have also been spoilt in my home life too, there are no words that can really describe how appreciative I am towards my hubby, he has been working some long hours and weekends these past few weeks and still comes home and helps out with all the housework and cooking, he's getting better at hanging out washing without stretching the clothes and is a master towel folder, he even manages to work the oven with an acceptable outcome, he showers Hunter and puts Hunter to bed. Even when I try to get these things done myself he'll grab the vacuum cleaner out of my hand or texts me throughout the day saying "make sure you are resting! I'll do such and such when I get home". I still sneak all my household chores though because I just feel bad that he does so much while I'm being a hormonal monster! Even my 18 month old Hunter senses mama is not so flexible or as fast as she once was and is actually lying down without squirming to get his nappy changed...yes it's the simple things like this that makes my day a lot less stressful!

90% of this pregnancy has obviously centred around myself and Sara tends to get a bit overshadowed like a Dad is during the 9 months but I think it's time she had a bit of spot light put upon her. On March 8th she is shaving her hair off for "Shave for a cure". She is dedicating the shave to her baby Bella as it's made her aware that life is too short and is aiming to raise $750 for the Leukaemia and Blood Cancer sufferers. So far she has reached just over half way to her goal but we need more supporters to reach that target so if you would like to donate then please click on this link:
Sara's shave for a cure event!

A short blog entry this week but that's all that's happened over the past week! So keep well and will check in in another week, get clicking on that link to donate!! It's a huge thing for a woman to shave her hair off, I know I certainly don't have the guts to do it!

Big love with a big baby!

31 weeks 3 days! tick tock tick tock, the time is ticking closer! It's all getting very exciting and all the preparations are being made for the arrival of this little dude!
The nursery is all set up and my attention to detail perfectionist sister has done a brilliant job with all of that! She has opted for a Dr. Seuss theme for Squirts nursery, isn't that just a spot on theme for a baby who has had a slightly different quirky way of just getting into this world!?

Dr. Seuss nursery. His name is still denied to your eyes! lol

The clothes and nappies are washed, the hospital bags are in the process of being packed, the talk of the big day is becoming more frequent, eeeekkk it's all getting so very real now!
Not long now....well it sometimes seems ages to me as I'm sitting on the couch with sausage toes and stripped down to my undies suffering in this intense dry hot kiwi summer (yes, I pray no-one comes to the door while I'm in that state!) but the reality is April is just around the corner, we're already nearly half way through February, wasn't it just Christmas yesterday!? ....yeah that's how fast these days seem to be zooming by!

So I had another obstetrician appointment this morning...hmmm lets just say my "lady bits" have officially gone on strike, have shut up shop, packed it's bags and gone into hiding!! why? because I'm carrying a big Smith baby! I'm crossing my legs extra tight and determined to make it to my c-section date....baby Squirt is measuring just under 3 weeks ahead, and has been estimated at about 4.7lbs at the moment, that puts him in the 95th percentile, slow down Squirt because you've still got 8 weeks of growing to do!!!
I'm definitely feeling the difference between my two successful pregnancies, Hunter was not this difficult to lug around and my poor little petite body is feeling the effects, there's always something on me aching away and at least a few moans a day for my husband to endure...it would probably seem odd to all that I then say I will miss being pregnant though once Squirt comes out lol, it's just such a special limited time in a woman's life and once it's over it's over, I only have one more pregnancy to look forward to before my baby making days are over *sigh* 

me at 31 weeks pregnant!

I've noticed I've done a lot of talking over these past few months only about myself and about the expecting mum and dad but I haven't really taken any time out to talk about all the other people that have been so amazing through this whole journey. It's near impossible to get through such an adventure without the help and guidance of others and I have been overly blessed with having so much support from existing friends and family and I've also met so many new friends over the past few months that have been so accepting and who I've also been lucky enough to also share in their journey's to motherhood or expanding motherhood!
There are two people in particular that I really couldn't have done without, those two people have been there when no-one else knew my pee had made two lines appear on that test and were the first I told; my best friend and kindred spirit Sarah, she may live hours away down south in Christchurch but she is only a text or phone call away when I have needed her, gosh has she listened to an immense amount of hormonal ranting and still keeps coming back for more! She is one of those rare people you meet in life that joins in on your crazy jokes and laughter instead of running a mile thinking you're some weirdo with a slight crazy facial twitch lol
My other rock has been my sister-in-law Sandy, she will always put aside time to listen to any problems I have had even though she juggles three gorgeous kids, whom I love to pieces, work and study! Talk about supermum and supersister! She always expresses how proud she is of me and we all should admit it's nice to have a head boosting moment like that from time to time! When you receive unconditional love like that it's the most special feeling!

There is no way I could possibly mention everyone who has meant so much to me through this journey, the fact of the matter is if you have been there for me at any given point it has not gone unnoticed! The love and support is what powers this baby train! And of course there is a handful of people that I, well...expected more from considering the connection I have to them...... that also hasn't gone unnoticed (lol) and will be stored away in my little memory files!

But all in all this blog entry is about showing my love and how much I appreciate the time, effort and support that has been given to me so a huge thank you to those who deserve it, pat yourself on the back and feel the lurv!! xoxo