12th March 2009

I'm copying this here from other places as I want to keep a record of it all and I'm also guessing a few people may not yet have read my story! LOL

Went to bed fairly early last night for us around 10 after I had a shower and washed myself with bedtime bath in the hope it would help me sleep! Same ole crap sleep I've had all week with me waking regularly and getting up and down. Gabriella woke around 3 and just would not resettle so we ended up with her in with us where she had a feed. About 4.30 I had to cut her off as I had a serious contraction and had to rush to the loo! Contractions continued until I walked along the walls and woke Adam at 4.55 telling him it was time to fill the pool and ring my MW. I honestly couldn't have walked back to our room without holding the walls and pretty much fell onto him telling him it was time.

While he started filling the pool I jumped in the shower. In the approximately 10 mins I was in the shower he had started filling the pool and rung MW. He came in to check on me just before ringing her and I told him I'd had 4 contractions but had no idea how far apart they were so this was the info he gave her. By the time he came back again I'd had 8 and was still counting. He rang my student MW

No idea on time because there is no clock in the bathroom but suddenly I felt THE pop and had a gush of waters immediately followed by me yelling out to Adam "waters have broken" and then "NEED to push" Both he and mum appeared in the doorway in seconds. I reached down and could feel her head and stood there just holding it in for a bit and fighting the urge to push. I said "I need to push, I can't stop this" and mum said just to go with it after first offering to grab the cot mattress I'd put ready in the lounge in case I wanted to lay down at any point. Adam knelt beside the shower and had a look and then I pushed out her head. He helped me hold her and her body just slid out as well. He caught her

Adam lifted her into my arms and I quickly yelled at mum to get Ashleigh up. By the time they came back in my MW had arrived so mum went off to usher her in She cracked up laughing as she came through the door and started making comments about not recommending the organic raspberry leaf tea again as it was the second birth she'd missed from that packet Meanwhile, Ashleigh had come in saying "my baby brother" and we told her to have a look. She eventually realised she had another sister and pretty quickly lost interest That said, when we asked her if she wanted to go to kindy she immediately told us yes because she wanted to tell everyone about Stephani Gabriella is totally in love with her and has been giving her random kisses and cuggles every chance she gets. She even runs in when she hears her crying and found a dolly for her before she went out with Adam


Adam and mum took the girls out to the lounge and MW helped me out of the shower and out to the birth pool where I relaxed while waiting for the placenta to detach..... this was probably the longest part of the entire labour! I'm not actually sure of what time the placenta was delivered but oh it was so lovely lazing in that pool


Final stats are a bit estimated for times as it all just happened too fast!

Stephani Bree born at approx 5.30am on Thursday 12th March 2009
Weighed in at 4.150kg or 9lb 2oz
Head circumference 36cm
Length approx 50cm



The reason we spelt her name as we did was/is a bit silly BUT our baby name book has Ashleigh and Gabriella down as variations of Ashley and Gabrielle. We thought we'd stick with the theme and have a variation of Stephanie and that was the spelling Adam liked the most

Mum is joking that we should spell her middle name as Brie as she was covered in cheese when she was born

Onto the back up plan....

Due date number 1 has been and gone so now I'm focussing on due date 2..... That means we aren't overdue at all - we have a few days up our sleeve!

Midwife appt today was again unremarkable. Although, Bub has actually moved up! This is doing my head in. They were supposed to be further engaged today not going the wrong way!

I'm turning my focus now to doing everything I can to ensure Bub feels ready to arrive. I'm encouraging everyone to talk to Bub and tell them that they can come out now and am trying to find some quiet time for myself to do the same. I feel a bit self conscious doing it with other people around but have made the most of every opportunity.

I've just been researching natural induction options and have boiled the kettle to make another pot of raspberry leaf tea - stronger this time! I've eaten pineapple and kiwi fruit and will try to eat some more. We went out for Indian for dinner last night but I'm not very good with spicy food so wimped out a bit! LOL

I do believe very firmly that this baby will arrive whenever it is ready but at the same time I'm seeing my dreams of a home birth being meddled with by external forces. Thankfully my MW is in agreance about babies coming when THEY are ready and we've talked today about this in detail. I'm also seeing a line that we can't cross in that hubby is due to fly back to work on Friday and we really can't afford for him to take much more time off (although he has been working in the city office this week as well as having worked from home)

So come on sweetheart - mummy, daddy, your big sisters and all the family are waiting to meet you as well as all those pesky people who keep wanting updates! ROFL

And just for nostalgic reasons - our last photo as a family of four (I hope) before we went out to dinner last night

You know your baby is due when:

1. You get SMS' asking if there's any news
2. Every phone conversation starts with "have you had that baby yet"
3. People take a wide berth around you when they see you at shops (apart from the arrogant pig in IKEA today who pretty much walked THROUGH me - mustn't have seen me)
4. You get e-mails from people "checking in" :P
5. There are threads in forums dedicated to finding out if you're still around
   

Don't get me wrong, I'm not upset. I find it quite amusing and also a bit of an ego boost that people are watching out for me. Its lovely to be cared about

I just think retaliation might be a lovely thing IF this baby ever arrives (and yes, they do still have at least 3 days until their due date so I'm in no hurry to evict them although their father is VERY impatient!) Who knows when the news might be passed on to the world *giggle*

How to shop to a list

I think someone needs to write a book on this and send me a free copy!

We have just come home from IKEA. We left home at hmmm.... 10.30 this morning and its not much before 2 now! My list for IKEA was some more baskets for our change table and 2 of those big plastic desk mats. By the time we actually started looking for those we had:

A new kiddy step
A baby bath
A toy each for the girls (95c each)
A couple of things for birthday presents
LUNCH!

So over a hundred dollars later we return home wondering how we ended up with so much stuff! Also we're all exhausted from all the walking around but it was fun. I think we should go again some time WITHOUT kids so we can look at things properly. Very hard to discuss bookcase options etc when you have a 4 year old saying "ooooh look at that" and running off and an 18 month old who is happy in the ergo for a little while but wants to help her sister check out bunk beds!

Speaking of bunks. I think we might have found what we will get in a few years time when the girls are ready for them. I love that bunks now aren't as close in space between the beds as they once were. I had a bunk at one point while growing up and they were on those metal spring bases so if I sat up my hair would get caught in the springs and be torn out! There was no chance of sitting up on those beds really!

If I win Lotto tomorrow I know where I'm heading to re-furnish the house ;)

Today's visit

Was much less exciting than last weeks!

Blood pressure back to normal 100/65 and urine tests all great too. Amazing the difference it makes to not eat crap for the 24 hours before a visit!

Feeling very tired but haven't been sleeping a lot or when I have its been a very light sleep. MW even commented on me looking tired.

Have been donated a bag of organic raspberry leaf tea. It was given to my MW by a lady who had a 45 minute labour! She'd been drinking it for a week before delivery.

Thankfully, Bub is currently back in birthing position so I'll be continuing with using the fit ball as much as possible and not lazing around too much. Now that I'm getting used to sitting on the fit ball its much easier to tolerate

Two sleeps until mum is here so I want Bub to wait until then. More than happy to go into labour on Saturday night or Sunday morning

During belly exam today MW managed to get some BH happening which she was pretty happy about. The more she poked and prodded the harder they got and also a bit of cervical pain but nothing serious.

Still long enough until our due date anyway and I'm not in a huge hurry but I think its time to start talking to Bub and telling them they can come whenever they're ready. Will let hubby and Ashleigh get in on that as well *wub*

Also, I weighed myself today and I've gained about 7-8kg this pregnancy so am really pleased with that. I did start out heavier than with both of the girls but have had a much smaller gain. Hopefully it will see me able to get back in shape a bit quicker this time as well

THE belly

As promised earlier this week I have finally got around to uploading photos of my 39 week belly or as my husband keeps calling it "that's a mighty belly" *insert many eye rolls here*


And just for amusements sake... the shape my belly has mostly taken on lately. Bub has decided exactly where they are comfy and generally sticks to that spot resulting in some curious shapes (you can even see it to an extent in my front on photo above)

What not to do....

Before you have a midwife visit

Friday arvo saw me having another MW visit and this would have to be have been the most interesting/exciting/naughty visit to date! Started off as usual with us chatting away and then we get into examination mode.

First up is blood pressure..... high for me this pregnancy at 110/70 so its off to do a wee test. Oh deary me.... rather high sugar reading, trace of protein, trace of blood. My MW looks at the stick and says "what HAVE you been doing?" After a moments thought I realise that I'd baked a beautiful cake that morning and gone a bit heavy handed on the eating of it! OOPS! Something I am trying not to repeat now

The good news being that everything else could just be signs of things starting to happen but its now Monday night and nothing exciting yet.

The final part of the examination was of course the belly.... Good one Bub... you're now posterior which well and truly explains the back pain. Thankfully, the back pain has subsided since some time on Saturday and my feeling of movement is again down my right side (apart from those pesky attempts at the escape hatch!)

We've now got the birth pool inflated and tonight is "take it for a spin" night! Can't wait to get in and try it out. I'm hoping the kids are in bed very soon as I really want to be in there now and I know its going to take a while to fill. Guess I'll just have to go and get the washing off the line while hubby fills it for me

We officially have a week to go and I'm not feeling like anything will happen much before that. To be honest, I'm quite happy to have that time. We're going slowly about getting things done but are definitely making progress. Over the weekend the chest of drawers were moved back into our room and I washed and put away a pile of clothes. Very boring though when they're white, lemon and pale green for the most part! By this time next week we may be able to add some colour to that!

I intend to get hubby to take a belly pic tonight and it will definitely be a headless one as I am exhausted! Its been a tough week for sleep and I'm certainly feeling it - another reason I'm quite happy for Bub to arrive closer to their due date

So we're just back to waiting patiently for something to happen. I see my MW again on Thursday so must remember to eat better between now and then! LOL