Not So Speedy: Baby Watch Day 4

Baby's coming.
Contractions started around 4pm.
Went to hospital to see what was going on.
Told the baby should be born by tomorrow.
Contractions are currently 8 minutes apart.
Will be heading to the hospital again soon.
Stay tuned.

Not So Speedy: Baby Watch Day 3

As we enter Day 3 of Baby Watch, we are left wondering if Speedy will in fact ever join us in the real world.

As it turns out, we have now booked a date to meet him.

On the Twelfth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me ... a bouncing baby boy!

Yes, we are booked in for an elective Caesarean section on 5 January 2011.

We went to see Dr Baber today for our weekly check up, and while everything is still coming along nicely - my blood pressure is holding steady at 120/80, and the baby's heartbeat is at a very healthy 142bpm, the worrying factor is that he is still in my belly. After careful examination, Dr Baber presented us with one option - an elective C-section.

There are many reasons behind this option, the first being that Speedy is currently sitting in a posterior position, which would make a natural birth very difficult. Dr Baber reluctantly mentioned trying to induce labour for us - we say reluctantly, because he clearly stated that he thought the baby would get stuck if we were to try the natural birth option. In that case, then no, please let's not induce the birth.

The second factor is that theoretically, Speedy is going to be a big baby, who is likely to weigh in at around 3.8kg. Yes, you read that correctly. 3.8kg. That's 8lbs 6oz in the old scale. That would make him the biggest baby on the Chan side of the family! And it's all Jonathan's fault!!!

To be honest, I'm a little bit disappointed that Speedy won't be delivered naturally. I had been looking forward to facing the pain and pushing through the pain barrier, and seeing how strong I really am, etc. More the case though is the fact that I'm scared of going under the knife, even though Dr Baber has done hundreds and thousands of C-sections before and I'm in good hands.

But, at the end of the day, we are at least going with our birth plan - being that we wanted to give birth to our baby in the safest possible way at North Shore Private with Dr Baber. And if the safest possible way is via a C-section, then so be it.

The family is all aware of the situation. We called my parents and told them about the impending surgery, and sent text messages to my sisters informing them of the same. We jumped on Skype and told Jonathan's folks, who told me that an 8lb 6oz baby is not that big of a deal - Jonathan's brother Dave was 9lb 12oz, and his daughter Tammi was 9lb 13oz when she was born earlier this year. That's around 4.4kg. And to top it off, Jonathan's paternal grandfather was a whopping 13lbs - nearly 6kg!!! Why didn't anyone tell me these stats before I got pregnant with a Hill baby???

So we keep watching and waiting now, to see if there are any movements, because if I do go into labour, then we will be looking at an emergency C-section. Unless, of course, the baby moves into a better position for a natural birth between now and next Wednesday. Who knows what's going to happen. All we want is a healthy baby, so Speedy, you do what you need to, and we'll see you very soon.

Not So Speedy: Baby Watch Day 2

Baby Watch Day 2, and still no sign the baby has packed his bags.

Jonathan went back to work today, so I was left to my own devices. I'd arranged with our friend Dan to come by for a visit - Dan was in Sydney (from Brisbane) for the Christmas break to visit his family and he was due to leave tonight, and as we had not seen him during this visit, I thought he might like to drop by and see the new place and have a quick catch up.

Whilst waiting for Dan to arrive, I popped in to see our next door neighbour Rita to leave her with our cheque for the Strata Levies (Rita is the treasurer for our Strata Plan). Rita wanted to have a chat, so I sat down and we caught up on the past few days. Rita has been very busy - she'd spent Christmas with her niece, and then they took a trip to the Kangaroo Valley to see friends where they stayed for a couple of days, before heading back for more gatherings and feasting. Rita said that by the time she arrived home last night, she was about ready to have a holiday from her holiday!

Although it was only meant to be a quick catch up, by the time I left Rita's, I'd been in there for 15 minutes. As I walked out the front door, I saw Mari (our other next door neighbour) and I wandered over to have a chat. Mari wanted to know how I was feeling, and mentioned that I was now 2 days overdue to have the baby. Just as I was thanking her for her concerns, Dan popped out of our front door and shouted "Jeepers, Gee, who in the heck leaves their front door unlocked and wide opened and wanders away?" Dan had arrived while I was at Rita's and he freaked out that while our front door was unlocked, no one seemed to be home. Dan later mentioned that he thought about calling Penny for Jonathan's number because he thought something bad had happened to me, as he failed to find me after wandering through our house looking for me!

It's always good to see Dan, and we had a super quick catch up as he was heading off to meet friends for lunch in Manly.

Left to my own devices again after Dan left, I had some lunch and settled in for some afternoon television. I have to tell you - I got so bored, I developed a headache!

At around 2.30pm, Jonathan called and told me he was going to spend the rest of the day working from home, and that if it all went well, he would spend the rest of the week working from home. He arrived at around 3pm, and it was nice to have some company.

Earlier in the day, I had already decided to cook a curry for dinner - a really yummy Massaman Beef Curry with a side of Madras Lentils and plenty of rice. Needless to say, dinner turned out perfectly!

We're going to be seeing Dr Baber tomorrow, so we hope to find out more about Speedy's impending arrival then. Stay tuned!

Not So Speedy: Baby Watch Day 1

Today marks the first day of Baby Watch, as we patiently await the safe and happy arrival of our son.

I'm not all together surprised that the baby did not arrive on time. After all, I am known for my "fashionably late entrances" at all parties, functions and events, and although always on time (or early) to parties, functions and events, Jonathan was 10 days overdue when he was born. So we now play the waiting game and see when Speedy will make his appearance.

As we had made plans for our friends Abby and Rich and their darling little girl Ayla to come over for lunch, it would have been very inconvenient for me to be going into labour. So instead, Speedy let us have a wonderful afternoon of catching up with our lovely guests, whose stay in Sydney was quickly coming to an end. Abby and Rich flew over from NZ to visit Rich's family over the Christmas break, and to introduce Ayla to Rich's side of the family. But as with everything, all good things must come to an end - they were due to leave on Thursday, so we were very lucky they were able to squeeze in an afternoon at our house.

There was plenty to eat, and loads of chatting and laughs, but the afternoon flew by all too quickly. Ayla was so gorgeous - we got plenty of cuddles before they left for the afternoon.

So that brings us to the end of Baby Watch Day 1. No further developments just yet. The twinges I'd been feeling in the week leading up to today have all but disappeared, which could mean anything. It matters not when Speedy arrives, but it would be nice to have a 2011 baby. So Speedy, join us when you're ready - Daddy and Mummy are both ready!

Speedy @ 40 Weeks

To our darling Speedy,

Today is your due date. Today is also Daddy's birthday. And we had so hoped to meet you today.

We know things can't be rushed - you just take your time, our darling boy. When you're ready, we'll be eagerly waiting to meet you.

Daddy really wanted to share his birthday with you. But as a lot of people have said, it might be nice for you to have your very own special day, so you can be a belated birthday present for Daddy.

Mummy is quite ready to meet you now. She is starting to feel extra tired from carrying you in her belly - not that she minds; it's just that you're getting bigger and bigger and bigger, and walking is getting quite hard for Mummy. In fact, doing lots of other things is getting quite hard for Mummy - she's been busy getting Daddy to do lots of things for her, and fortunately, you have a wonderful Daddy who doesn't mind doing lots of things for Mummy.

Daddy thinks you're going to be meeting us very very very soon, because today, Mummy wanted lots of things either washed and / or put away. Daddy told Mummy that she was nesting, and spent most of today teasing her, asking her if she wanted branches and twigs every time she asked him to move a box or put away clothes. Mummy isn't sure if she's nesting, or just wanting the house to be more neat and tidy, because we're expecting Aunty Abby, Uncle Rich and Ayla for lunch tomorrow.

So, our darling boy, we're ready to meet you any day now. When you're ready, just let Mummy know! We really can't wait to hold you in our arms and give you proper cuddles and kisses!

All our love,
Daddy & Mummy
xxx

Jonathan's 36th Birthday

Happy birthday to the best husband and father in the whole wide world!

As Jonathan's birthday was also Speedy's due date, it was decided long ago that we wouldn't be doing anything too taxing on the day. Mina had been with us since early on Christmas Day and was due to go home before dinner tonight, so Mina and I decided to bake a delicious chocolate cake for Jonathan.

As for Jonathan's present, I'd already bought him a "combined" Father's Day and birthday present earlier this year (which was presented to him on Father's Day. This left Mina with a dilemma of what to do for a present for Daddy.

We did have to go out earlier in the day to buy a few things from the shops, so off to Top Ryde City we went. It was Mina's first visit to this shopping centre, so she stayed close to us and didn't wander too far away. Mina was quite insistent on buying a gift for Jonathan, but everything she picked up was cheap and / or inappropriate. It took some time, but we did manage to convince Mina that she should make something for Jonathan to hang in his cubicle at work. In the end, Mina was happy with that solution.

Most of the afternoon was spent with Mina running back and forth between Jonathan and I as we completed various tasks set down by Mina for Jonathan's birthday party. The cake was baked, but needed frosting, which Mina insisted on spreading on the cake, with supervision from Jonathan. Mina also wanted to create a "tapestry" for Jonathan, picking various items from her arts and crafts stash to be sewn on to a piece of white felt by me. In the meantime, Mina was also making a birthday card for Jonathan, so she was a rather busy little bee for most of the afternoon.

We received a lovely surprise phone call from Mum and Dad in New Zealand, who called us on Skype to wish Jonathan a happy birthday. It was so lovely to chat with them!

Before long, it was time to light the candles and share some cake with the birthday boy. Jonathan was very chuffed with the handmade card and the tapestry, and we enjoyed the very scrumptious cake decorated with M&Ms.

The only person missing from the day was Speedy, who decided that he didn't really want to share a birthday with Daddy after all. Never mind. We know Speedy will arrive when he's good and ready.

Happy birthday, my darling man. I hope you had a wonderful wonderful day!

Christmas 2010

Merry Christmas from the Hills!
Wishing you all a very special day with your loved ones.
Hope Santa is good to you!

Speedy @ 38 Weeks

To our darling Speedy,

We are now eagerly awaiting your arrival in 11 days, give or take a few days.

We know you'll make your entrance when you're ready, but so you're aware, Daddy is especially keen to share his birthday with you, which means we'd love to finally meet you on 27 December. But there's no rush; no pressure. Take your time, and arrive when you are ready.

We've had a busy few weeks since we last wrote to you. Daddy and Mummy are now well and truly settled in our new house. Your sister Mina has had a couple of sleepovers, and she loves her room. Our living room is looking very festive with our first family Christmas Tree, lovingly decorated by Daddy and Mina. We have started a new family tradition this year, where every year, we get to buy one new special ornament to put on the tree. Daddy, Mummy and Mina have all got our special ornaments, and Mina picked one for you this year - a gold stocking. We're sure you'll love it!

Daddy and Mummy are going to finish putting your room together this weekend. We need to put together your change table, which will become a bookshelf in years to come, and we also need to put together your cot, which your cousins Thomas and Lucas slept in when they were babies. In the meantime, we got a lovely bassinet for you to sleep in our room, for the first few months of your life anyway, which is already up and ready for you. There is still so much stuff in your room that needs to be tidied up and put away, but Daddy and Mummy will make sure that's all fixed up very soon.

You are still very much an active little man, wriggling and moving with vigour, much to our delight. You were moving around a lot on Tuesday night, and Mummy wants to apologise for upsetting you with a cracked tooth that required yet another root canal treatment. Dr Marcel was very good and made sure the drugs he gave Mummy were safe for you, and Mummy really hopes she will not upset you like that ever again.

You are such a lucky little man, who is getting so many gifts from people who adore you! Grandma has been busy knitting, and we received a gorgeous blanket from her and Grandpa in the mail over the weekend. In the same package, Great Gran Pat sent a set of Buzzy Bee clothes, which is so so so cute. Aunty Penny came to visit Daddy and Mummy last night and brought a gorgeous little onesie for you.

And there are so many others too - from Aunty Grace and Uncle Vinay: an activity gym with hanging toys, from Aunty Geors and Uncle Tim: a whole bunch of clothes and assorted goodies to help Daddy and Mummy look after you, from Aunty Joy: some delectable gold shoes, from Aunty Emily: some farm animals decals for your bedroom walls (well, she was a farm girl after all!), from Aunty Emma: some gorgeous outfits, from Uncle David and Aunty Kirsty: more clothes and your very own set of baubles for the Christmas tree, from Aunty Belinda and Uncle Pete: your entire winter wardrobe handknitted by Aunty Be, from Aunty Fifi: a Bonds baby outfit, from Aunty Megan: a cuter than cute bib, from Aunty Cathie: more cute clothes, and from all the uncles and aunties from Mummy's work: a very generous gift voucher to buy something nice from any shop in any Westfield Shopping Centre. You are such a lucky lucky lucky little man!

The doctor has been very happy with your progress, and it certainly looks like you will definitely exceed the last day that Mummy has to work. What a good little man you are! Keep being well, little man. Daddy and Mummy and Mina are all very excited and very much looking forward to meeting you soon!

All our love,
Daddy & Mummy
xxx

Gloria's 38th Birthday

I had a birthday yesterday. And it was a lovely lovely lovely day.

The day started off early for both of us, with Jonathan working the "morning support shift" that commenced at 7am (but with an early finish of 3pm). After dropping him off at the train station just after 6am, I went home and had a shower, and decided that I'd catch the earlier bus to work to see if traffic was better earlier in the day. It was. I am now convinced that I will be catching the 7.15am bus every day that I have left before my maternity leave.

The bus pulled into my destination a lot earlier than expected - I'd arrived into the city by 8.05am, so I decided to treat myself to a yummy bacon and scrambled eggs roll. The shop decided to surprise me with a free can of iced coffee with my purchase - which was really yum!

I got into my office at 8.15am with plenty of time to savour my bacon and egg roll. Just as I was about to finish my breakfast, Jesse, one of the lovely ladies at work, stopped by my desk and gave me 2 gorgeous outfits for Speedy! Both outfits had long sleeves, and oh so gorgeous, and they should fit Speedy by the time winter rolls around. Perfect!

Message after message came through on the phone and on Facebook, wishing me a happy day. Dad and Mum called me, and the sisters both texted and called me with birthday wishes. I felt very loved and very blessed all day long!

The crew at work surprised me with a gorgeous cheesecake, which I enjoyed greatly. It was lovely to have all of them sing Happy Birthday to me!

The day then got busy, and before I knew it, it was lunch time, so I stopped for a quick bite while trying to decide what to do for dinner. Jonathan was still asking what I wanted to do, and in the end, I had to ask him to make a decision as I was simply too busy to think.

So busy was I that I didn't leave the office until 6pm, before hopping on any bus that took me to Top Ryde Shopping Centre. Once there, I called Jonathan and he drove the short distance to pick me up. It was then that he suggested we explore the restaurant options in Eastwood, and I agreed.

It had been a while since I'd eaten in Eastwood, so after we parked the car, we wandered around to see what took our fancy. First stop was the Szechwan restaurant, which didn't appeal to me - according to Mum, I need to stay away from spicy foods in these last days as spicy foods can induce early labour. Next stop was a Chinese BBQ shop, much like Chatswood BBQ Kitchen which we use to frequent on a Thursday night - this also didn't appeal to me, and Jonathan said that we should look for a "proper restaurant experience".

On our way to the next restaurant, we stopped by Breadtop, an awesome Asian bakery chain that sold the most delectable Chiffon Cup Cakes. So Jonathan and I stopped in to grab the cupcakes for dessert, plus we picked up a few bits for snacks as well.

By this point, I'd decided that I had a hankering for Peking Duck and Sang Choi Bow, so we wandered to the final restaurant that we wanted to check out, the Eastwood Garden Peking Restaurant. As soon as we rounded the corner, we saw a huge poster in the restaurant's window advertising their Peking Duck 2 Course Meal, so we took a peak inside. The restaurant was amazingly full for a Tuesday night, but we thought we'd try our luck, and were glad that we walked in when we did, as we got a table straight away, and those who entered in the few minutes behind us had to wait for a table.

Jonathan made the observation that the patronage was mainly Chinese, with very few white folk present in the dining room. We were quite pleased with that, and ordered the 2 Course Peking Duck without much further ado. About 10 minutes later, the waiter carried a shiny glistening roast duck towards our table, but took a turn away from us to show another table what they would be feasting on. Jonathan and I joked that we would be shown the same duck - the sample duck - and what we will end up receiving won't be as shiny or pretty as the sample duck. Sure enough, a few minutes later, we were shown our duck, which looked suspiciously similar to the first duck!

Not that we cared. The duck was then taken away to be sliced, and returned to us nicely laid out on a plate, along with a stack of pancakes and the accompaniments. All in all, there was enough meat and pancakes and accompaniments to make 12 portions - yes, greedy guts here had 6 pancakes!!!

We took our time to savour the yummy parcels. The duck skin was crispy, and not too fat, which suited both of us just fine. We were nearly full by the time we started on our 6th pancake, but we were far from done - we still had another 2 Sang Choi Bows each to follow!

Thankfully, the kitchen took a few minutes to prepare these, so by the time they arrived, we were just ready to tuck in. The filling was tasty and the lettuce was crisp, and it was a lovely way to finish dinner. We so could have done with some wet wipes or wet napkins though - the Sang Choi Bows were a bit messy!

We both enjoyed our dinner, and I was pretty sure Speedy did too, as he settled into a deep slumber as we walked back to the car. On our way down to the car, we stopped by the Chinese BBQ shop to pick up a takeaway menu. We saw that they too had Peking Duck - a 3 course version, for slightly less than Eastwood Garden Peking Restaurant. We decided we will have to return to try it out, but with more people in tow - we didn't think we could brave another half dozen pancakes each again!

We got home around 9pm, and Jonathan had one last surprise for me. He presented me with the most beautiful box of purple oriental orchids! For a man who thinks buying cut flowers is a waste of money, I was beyond surprised that he would buy me such a gorgeous but expensive gift! I love my darling man!

I am such a lucky girl, to have such so many wonderful people in my life. I'm feeling so loved and blessed and thankful. Thanks to everyone who made my day so special!

Project New Home: 2 Weeks Later...

We have moved!

After 2 full weeks of living in our new home, we have to say we love it!

The big move on Friday 19 November went better than expected. Admittedly, Jonathan and I were still finishing the packing at around 1.30am the day of the move. By the time we finally fell into bed, we could manage about 3 hours of shut eye before the alarm sounded to start the day. We were so careful with the packing and the labelling during our early stages of packing, but by Thursday night / early Friday morning, we were just keen to chuck everything into boxes and get them over to the new house!

The company we hired was fantastic - we were so pleased with the way Darren and his boys from Hills Professional Removals & Storage handled the move, with utmost professionalism, courtesy and friendliness, and took great care of all of our belongings, and even took out the garbage for us! We filled a medium sized truck, and half of the big truck, and it took 4 guys nearly 6 hours to move our stuff from the apartment to the new house, including dismantling and reassembling a few pieces of furniture along the way. We were so pleased with them that we ended up giving them the only 6 pack of beer we had on hand!

Within an hour of Darren and his boys leaving, our brand new fridge and washing machine / dryer combo was delivered. This delivery has been quite painful, after suffering 2 setbacks with the scheduled deliveries. In the end, it was worth the wait, and we were the proud new owners of a sparkling new fridge and a wizz bang washing machine / dryer.

Surrounded by boxes, and with most of our Ikea furniture in place (after Jonathan spent Tuesday with men who specialised in putting together Ikea furniture), we took ourselves to lunch before we tackled the mammoth task of unpacking. It proved to be a good move!

The first room that received attention was the kitchen. We managed to unpack most of the kitchen stuff on the Friday, with the rest completed on the Saturday morning. Bit by bit, we unpacked a lot more other boxes, putting everything away in spaces that we now have, and standing back and admiring our work. There were still quite a few boxes by the time Grace and her kids arrived for morning tea on Saturday morning, and less boxes by the time Mina arrived on Sunday morning, but we were pleased with our progress.

By Monday evening, we only had books to unpack and load into our brand new bookshelves. We really wanted to finish all the unpacking before Mina came for the weekend, as it was a sleepover weekend, so Jonathan put in the hard yards and emptied the remaining boxes, hoping that Darren would swing by and pick up the boxes as soon as they were ready. Unfortunately, 2 weeks later, our garage is still the proud storage facility for Darren's boxes. Hopefully, we will be rid of them by Wednesday or Thursday next week.

Today, looking around the house, we still have a few boxes, which we'll get around to emptying soon. The boxes contain our brand new dining chairs, and cables, and a lot of other bits and bobs. Jonathan has sorted through the books and he's happily arranged his books on one bookshelf. I need to get around to sorting through my books and working out which ones to keep and which ones are to be donated to charity. I also need to sort through my cooking magazines, which I'm sure I'll get around to doing one day soon.

We are loving our new house, and are now well and truly settled in. The last room to configure is the baby's room, and we still have a little bit of time to do that, so we'll get around to that next week. We have now bought a bassinet for Speedy to sleep in our room, so at least that has been put together and is ready to go. Everything else can wait.

We've had our first visitor in the house - my cousin Joy has spent the last few days with us, and we hope she's enjoyed staying in our new home as much as we have enjoyed her company!

We have plenty of photos - see for yourself. We can't wait to show our new home off to everyone - once Speedy's here and we've settled in, please feel free to drop by!