Being Momma G: Day 9

Very unsettled Sean = sleepless night for Mummy. As Daddy had already done 2 night shifts, it was only fair that I took on the overnight feeding. Plus Jonathan was so tired, he was more zombie than human.

After a great feed at 9.30pm last night, Sean woke at 1am screaming for a feed. We fed him the amount he should be receiving, and hoped he'd go back to sleep, but he had other ideas. Such a little wriggle puss. By 2.15am, it was clear Sean was still hungry, so we fed him another bottle, which basically meant that he had 2 meals in the space of just over an hour. That's 2 hours of hard work down the hatch.

Jonathan was still slightly awake at 2.15am, so he fed Sean and changed his nappy while I sat down for yet another pump. After Sean finally settled down, I sent Jonathan off to bed - he could barely keep his eyes opened, yet he wanted to stay up with me to keep me company. Bless my darling man. After an hour, I could manage 2/3 of the usual quota. I was just too tired and too stressed to do much more, plus I was falling asleep on the couch, so I gave up and went to bed.

Sean woke again at 5.30am. This time, Jonathan didn't even stir. It took me a few seconds to register that there was a baby in the room, but then I got up and got Sean's bottle ready. Thankfully, he was satisfied after the feed and went straight back to sleep.

I have no idea what time Jonathan woke up this morning, but he was gone when I stirred at around 8am - he'd left to go and collect Mina for her weekly visit. Sean was still fast asleep, so I rolled over and got some more shut eye. I have no idea what time Jonathan and Mina came home either - they crept in quietly so as to not wake either me or Sean, and finally, just before 9.30am, Sean and I emerged from the bedroom for his breakfast.

After a fairly good stretch of sleep (about 3 hours worth), I was able to express a record amount of milk. This made me feel a bit better about being chained to the Swing.

Mina had been looking forward to seeing Sean all week, but at nearly 6, she is learning (just like me) that newborn babies are really very boring little things that sleep, eat, poop, cry and sleep all day long. Mina had hoped that now we were home, she would be able to play with Sean a lot more than when he was only 2 days old when she last saw him. Mina's disappointment at being able to cuddle Sean for about 15 minutes in total was palpable, but we have assured her that as Sean gets bigger, he will be much more fun.

Around lunch time, I sent Jonathan out with a big shopping list, and asked him to have lunch with Mina at the shopping centre while they were out. This gave me a couple of hours to finish yet another milking, get some dishes done, put the laundry on the drying rack, heat up some lunch for myself, and prepare for the next Swing session.

Jonathan and Mina were quite quick with their chores and returned sooner than I expected. Poor Mina - she had hoped Sean would be awake and ready for play time when she returned, but Sean was fast asleep. As there really wasn't a lot to do at home and we needed to keep the house on the quiet side to ensure Sean slept, Mina was becoming very bored and a little frustrated that babies are not as much fun as she had envisioned.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Sean woke for his afternoon feed. Mina helped with the feeding and took great delight in seeing Sean gulp down the milk from his bottle. There was even enough time for a few cuddles before Jonathan drove Mina home. Here's hoping she will have a better understanding of how newborn babies work by next week and is prepared to be stuck in the house with not a lot to do.

Leftovers were on the menu for dinner. Not that it mattered much to me - I was too tired to want anything fancy, but knew I had to eat for the sake of putting food into my stomach and keeping my energy levels up. We were both dead on our feet and thought it would be best to head to bed after the 9.30pm feed and express, which we've just finished. So, good night, and here's hoping Sean will be a bit more settled tonight.

Being Momma G: Day 8

1:00am: me on one end of the couch expressing milk, Jonathan on the other end feeding Sean both expressed milk and formula. I simply didn't pump enough mid afternoon yesterday for a full feed right now, thus requiring a top up with formula. I was starting to feel useless.

4:30am: Jonathan fed Sean a portion of formula. I slept through this.

8:00am: Jonathan fed Sean again while I expressed. Record amount of milk after some much needed sleep. Woot!

11:15am: Feed and express time. I was producing a good amount of milk. Yay me.

2:20pm: Sean wasn't wake, so I expressed and tried to be one up on him. Still producing a great amount.

3:30pm: Emily and Pamela dropped by for a visit. Neither had seen the new house, and Pamela had yet to meet Sean, so it was lovely to have them both over for a short period of time. Both the girls oohed and ahhed over the new house, and Pamela got all clucky over Sean. The girls and Penny, Lissy, Michelle and Maddie chipped in to give me the most thoughtful gift - a pamper session at a salon Paddington that has a crèche. No guarantees, but I will try my very best to get over to Paddington before the end of June this year!

Sean woke just as Emily and Pamela were getting ready to leave. The girls both had a cuddle with Sean before he got grizzly and wanted a feed, and after the girls left, Jonathan gave Sean his bottle.

The rest of the afternoon and evening went by uneventfully. I continued to express milk every 3 hours, and Jonathan continued to feed Sean when he woke.

We are both dead tired, and I'm just getting ready to express again. We have no idea what the little man is going to be like overnight, but we are hopeful he will be more settled than last night.

Being Momma G: Day 7

See Sean eat.
See Sean sleep.
See Sean kick.
See Sean wriggle.
See Sean cry.
See Sean look straight into your eyes and turn you into a great big puddle of mush.
Rinse and repeat, all day long.

Add to the above:
See Mummy being "milked" every 3 hours.
See Mummy keep meticulous records of milk production.

Day 2 at home. We're settling in. Sort of.

Penny alerted us to the story that was run by the North Shore Times, for which we had our photos taken a couple of days ago. The photos turned out really well, but alas, the idiot who wrote the story screwed up Jonathan's name. Somehow, in all the printed versions of the paper, Sean was born to Gloria and Anthony!!! This is despite the fact that we spelled Jonathan's name to the reporter, twice to make sure she had the correct spelling. Twat.

A scathing email was dispatched to the editor, and I received an email from the reporter, stating more or less that she was "busy and mistakes happen - whoopsies, we got your husband's name wrong - what do you want me to do about it". The editor eventually got back to me, offering to reprint a few copies of the paper for us to keep as well as offering to give us the high resolution photos from the day for our personal use, to make up for the fact that they got Jonathan's name so wrong. As there really wasn't anything anyone could do about it, I accepted her offer, as well as demanded that the online version be altered so that Jonathan's name appeared as Sean's father.

The online article (post correction) appears below.

* * *

BUNDLES OF JOY MAKE HAPPIEST NEW YEAR OF THEM ALL

6 JAN 11 @ 01:14PM | North Shore Times

Six sets of parents welcomed the new decade in the best possible way - with a bouncing bundle of joy.

Two girls and four boys made their entry into the world on New Year's Day 2011 at North Shore Private Hospital. The first baby born in the new year at the St Leonards hospital was Dilan, to his proud parents Denisha and Colin Anbu.

He made his appearance at 1.35am after a natural birth, weighing 3.42kg and measuring 52.5cm.

Dilan’s elder brother, Caden, 2, was born on Mother’s Day.

"There’s something about having our boys on special dates," Mrs Anbu, 31, of Epping, said.

"We joked about having him on New Year's Day and then it happened after I went into labour at 9.30pm on New Year's Eve."

Her husband Colin, 38, joked: "Now we have to have a girl so I’m already planning."

But Mrs Anbu said she wasn't so sure now that she had two sons to juggle. "It's a great start to the new year, but we'll just have to wait and see," she said.

The hospital's maternity manager, Nicki Bergin, said it was lovely to spend such a special time with new families.

Ms Bergin said the hospital welcomed about 2600 babies a year, averaging one to 18 every day.

"To have six New Year babies is about normal," she said.

"It's such a beautiful unit to work in."

The smallest baby born on the day was little Bridie at 2.84kg to parents Jodie and Mark Gordon, of Gladesville.

She wasn't due until January 16, but arrived early due to her breach position.

"She just wouldn't wait," Mrs Gordon, 29, said. "And she was born in the 11 hour on the 1/1/2011 at 11.33pm.

"She's our first baby so at least I'll always remember her birthday."

Mr Gordon, 31, who works for the navy is working onshore this year. "I’m trying not to go away as much so I can spend time with Bridie," he said.

Other babies born at North Shore Private were Adlan Sigit to parents Eridani Saleh and Bimo Sigit, Riley Quin to parents Amber and Anthony, Quinn Brown to parents Georgiana and Andy, and Sean Hill to parents Gloria and Jonathan.

Royal North Shore Hospital welcomed four New Year babies, the first baby born at 2.42am.

* * *

As we had been home for a couple of days, we really didn't have a lot of food in the house for dinner. My parents wanted to make sure were eating properly, so they invited us over to their house for dinner. Georgianna and Tim and their boys were also going to be there for dinner, so we readily agreed to head over after our 5.30pm pump and feed.

Sean was the perfect angel - he fell asleep after the feed and stayed asleep the whole way through dinner. Dad, who has never been great around newborn babies, was very impressed with Sean and made many comments about what a good settled baby Sean was. If only he knew what Sean gets up in the middle of the night!

Speaking of the milk monster, he's just gulped down a portion of expressed breast milk, followed by a portion of formula. I'm just about done with expressing, so I should get ready for bed. I'll need to be up again in 3 hours to express again!

Being Momma G: Day 6

Homeward bound.

After spending the past 6 days and 6 nights in hospital, I was ready to go home to my own bed. But I couldn't help feeling sad that I was leaving the hospital and the round-the-clock care I'd received over the past week.

As Sean stayed in the nursery overnight, I managed to get some much needed sleep. The phone rang at 5.45am to let me know the nursery was closing and I needed to go and collect the little man. I fed Sean after we returned to our room, before I sat down to express one last time using the hospital's pump. I never thought I would get so excited to see 70mL of breast milk in a little bottle at the end of the pumping session!

Plenty of people needed to see us before we were discharged from the hospital. Dr Baber was the first visitor at 6.30am. He had checked on me on a daily basis, and today, I felt a bit teary when he stopped by. Dr Baber asked if everything was OK, and I mentioned that I was a bit apprehensive about going home and not having the help I've enjoyed on tap. Dr Baber reassured me that there was help out there, and that I wasn't being spat out into the world with no one to help and nowhere to turn. It didn't really help to alleviate how scared I was feeling.

Jonathan arrived just after breakfast, and we set about packing up all my bits and pieces in our room while the little man slept. Next person who came by was Dr Arnold, Sean's paediatrician, who performed a thorough check on Sean before signing off on Sean's discharge. Once Dr Arnold finished examining Sean, we dressed him in his going home outfit and put him back to bed.

Margaret came by next, and talked at length with me about the plan of attack for expressing milk and feeding Sean. Until I was ready to breast feed again, I was to express milk every 3 hours, to keep up my milk supply and to try and be at least 2 bottles ahead of Sean's feeding pattern. When I was ready to try breast feeding again, Margaret suggested that I pay a visit to our local Early Childhood Health Centre and ask the nurses to help, or visit one of 5 drop in breast feeding clinics on the north shore. Margaret also said that I should try breast feeding again under supervision, as she didn't want me to damage myself again. Margaret then wrote everything we'd discussed on a page for me, so that I could refer to it when I got home. Bless Margaret. I felt teary again - what was I going to do without Margaret's gentle guidance?

Ros the midwife also came to see us. She was one of the first midwives to look after me when we first walked through the hospital doors on New Year's Eve to start our journey. In fact, Ros was the midwife who broke my waters on New Year's Day, a couple of hours before Sean was born. Ros was keen to get some feedback on our stay at the hospital, and both Jonathan and I were very honest in our feedback. We loved all the midwives and nurses who had looked after us - we just wish there were more of them, especially at night when I've waited nearly 30 minutes to be seen to after I rang the bell. We enjoyed the food and we were very comfortable during our stay. We gave special mention to Margaret, without whom I would not have recovered from the trauma associated with the first attempts at breast feeding a newborn. We also told Ros that the celebration dinner was an utter disgrace, and that we highly recommend her telling her future patients to skip the celebration dinner. After a long chat, Ros gave me a final check up, and checked Sean as well, before giving us our discharge papers and medication and wishing us well.

We picked up all our bags, and with Sean strapped into his capsule, Jonathan and I left the hospital hand in hand with our little man. It was hard to believe that only a week ago, we walked into the same building, hand in hand, just the 2 of us, preparing to meet our little man.

Sean was great in the car - he slept the whole way home, and Jonathan drove with extra care so as to not wake Sean, and also because I was still very sore from the birth. Once home, we put Sean into his bassinet and watched him sleep. So gorgeous.

At 11.30am, we began our ritual of expressing milk every 3 hours. Jonathan had set up my "milking station" with all the bits and pieces, so I went to work making food for Sean. Meanwhile, the little man woke up just as I was finishing, so Jonathan fed Sean while I tidied up and put the new bottle into the fridge.

The rest of the day was spent with both Sean and I dozing on and off, feeding, pumping, and dozing on and off. I started keeping a record of how much milk I was expressing and how much we were feeding Sean, as well as how many wet and/or poopy nappies Sean was producing. Yes, this is what my life has become.

We've now just finished feeding Sean and are going to try and put him to sleep ourselves. Our first night home, which means there will not be a nursery for us to leave the screaming baby to be cared for overnight. Hope we will manage!

Being Momma G: Day 5

Today was suppose to be Sean's birthday. Instead, our little man is 5 days old!

Today was also our last full day in hospital. We are due to go home tomorrow, and while I was pretty sure we would be fine, I couldn't help but feel apprehensive about leaving the hospital, where Sean and I had round the clock care and the midwives and the nurses were a button away.

With both nipples cracked, there was no other way to extract the milk from my body other than to use the breast pump. Lucky for me, the pump was extra easy to use, so much so that I could do it in my sleep, which was just as well as I needed to pump every 3 hours to get the milk supply going.

After using the pump on the left breast, I gingerly put the pump on the right. Using a more gentle setting, I managed to get a good yield, and was able to feed Sean when I brought him back to the room. Sean didn't seem to mind that he was getting the milk via a bottle. All good.

Sometime yesterday morning, the hospital's PR / Media lady came to ask us if we would like to participate in a photo shoot for the North Shore Times, who were doing a feel good piece on New Year's Day babies. Without hesitation, we agreed to be part of the story. The photo shoot was scheduled for 9am today in the nursery, and we tried our very best to get there on time. Alas, Master Sean held us up a little and by the time we arrived, the others were all waiting for us to complete the picture.

There were 6 babies in total born on New Year's Day at North Shore Private Hospital; 4 boys and 2 girls. Sean was one of those precious boys, and during the photo shoot, he was perhaps the most well behaved. The babies had a shot by themselves, then the photographer took a photo of all the mothers holding their babies, and then a photo of all the fathers standing behind the mothers holding their babies. It was all over and done with quite quickly, and for our troubles, we received a free bottle each of Mustela baby wash and baby lotion. Woot!

Today was going to be a busy day, for I still had not been to a physiotherapy class yet. Straight after the photo shoot, we went in search of the room where the physiotherapy class was to be held - at the other end of the building. Jonathan and Sean accompanied me to the room, and for a short time, I was the only person who had shown up for the class. The physiotherapist told Jonathan that if other mothers were to arrive, that he would have to leave as there would be a lot of discussion about pelvic floor muscles and some ladies may be uncomfortable having these discussions in front of a male. Just before the class was due to start, other mothers arrived, so Jonathan and Sean retreated back to our room for some male bonding time.

The physiotherapist was very lovely, and talked us through the trauma that our bodies had faced during birth, and are likely to face in the coming weeks. We were given some exercises to do, in particular exercises to strength our pelvic floor muscles. We were also told to avoid certain exercises, as this may cause more harm than good. The physiotherapist also talked about abdominal muscle separation and she examined each of us to assess our "gaps". If there was a competition for the biggest "gap", I won hands down. Everyone else in the room were about 1 or 2 fingers. Mine was at 5 finger widths. Yay. No wonder I was so sore.

The physiotherapist banned me from doing any heavy lifting for the next 6 weeks. Anything over 5kg would be considered heavy lifting. I was also restricted from doing too many exercises, and I have to wear a huge belly bandage 24/7 for 6 weeks to aid the rebinding of my abdominal muscle. The joys of having a big baby!

At the end of the class, I took advantage of the massage therapist who was onsite today, and asked for her number to book in a session in the afternoon. I'd not had a back massage since I found out I was pregnant, back in April last year, so just the idea of a back massage was enough to make me salivate.

The walk back to our room was a slow and long journey, and the physiotherapist was kind enough to accompany me all the way. By the time we arrived back, it was time to see Margaret again.

We again spoke about the breast feeding and the milk expressing. I told Margaret that I was now damaged on both sides, and she inspected my poor cracked nipples to see how bad they were. Margaret was keen for me to rest my nipples as much as I could so they could heal properly, and to continue expressing with a pump. Margaret recommended that we purchase the Medela Swing Breast Pump, because it was compact and easy to use. The nearest stockist was at Crows Nest, so armed with the information, Jonathan started doing some research on the internet to see if it was worth our while to get the Swing, or to go with another product.

After lunch, the massage therapist arrived and worked her magic. Sean was fast asleep, and I was going to enjoy my pampering as best as I could. The massage therapist was awesome; before I knew it, I was fast asleep, which was the whole point of the massage. I continued to nap for another hour or so after the massage was finished.

When I woke, Jonathan had completed his research and decided we should purchase the Swing. I was feeling rejuvenated from the massage and nap, so he left me and Sean to head up to Crows Nest. It didn't take him long to return, and shortly thereafter, Mum and Georgianna arrived for cuddles and photos.

Sean was adorable for Mum and Georgianna, and Georgianna managed to get some really good photos of Sean before we went to give him a bath. As Jonathan had already bathed Sean earlier in the week, it was my turn to wash the little man. We were also keeping an eye on the clock, as we were due to have our "celebration dinner" at 6pm in the hospital cafeteria.

Sean didn't enjoy getting his hair washed or his head wet, but he did seem to enjoy floating in the water. With Jonathan hovering over me, keenly watching what I was doing, I ended up letting him finish the job.

Mum and Georgianna left after the bath, so Jonathan and I could get ready to head to our "celebration dinner". We left Sean in the nursery and headed downstairs. The hospital cafeteria was decorated with a string of Christmas lights, and the tables were set just as you would expect from a cheap 90s pub bistro. We were offered a sparkling wine upon arrival - not the best, but this was a hospital after all. Our entree arrived - a rocket salad with cherry tomatoes and a balsamic vinaigrette dressing. It wasn't too bad. We looked around to see what the others were having for their mains - some kind of beef dish and some kind of chicken dish - and thought they didn't look so bad. Imagine our surprise when our dinners arrived and looked nothing like all the other mains.

We received two claggy plates of pasta that looked like it had seen better days. The what looked like a cream sauce was dried in clumps on the pasta, and the pasta looked overcooked. There were a few tired prawns on the pasta. None of it looked very appetising. The plate was stone cold, and while Jonathan bravely started de-tailing and cutting up one of the prawns to eat with his first mouthful of pasta, I openly prayed that the pasta was at least hot in temperature.

It wasn't. The pasta was cold. As were the prawns. Yuck.

I ate one mouthful of pasta and told Jonathan to not eat any at all. This dish was one big pile of salmonella waiting to happen. We asked the lady who served us to take the pasta back to the kitchen to be reheated - there was just no way we were going to risk getting food poisoning from eating a lukewarm prawn pasta dish. After taking our dishes to the kitchen, she returned to tell us that the Chef was unimpressed with our request, and that the dish should be eaten cold, just as it was served. Jonathan and I joked that the hospital was trying to drum up business - serve food that makes you sick, so the doctors can look after you and charge you for your stay.

When the pasta dishes returned, they looked even less appetising than before. We asked the server why we were served the pasta and not the same dishes as everyone else, and she said it was because the pasta dishes were a "special order" for us, due to our "special requests". When we were asked whether we wanted to be part of the celebration dinner, we told the lady that I was allergic to coriander and neither of us wanted to eat onions. Hence the "special request". At this point, we both decided to leave the pasta uneaten and returned to our room to work out what we should get for dinner.

As we were so close to St Leonards, we decided to have noodles from Ace Noodles at the bottom of The Forum Building. Ace Noodles was pretty much all we ate in the couple of weeks leading up to us moving house, and we had missed having noodles from Ace Noodles, so while Jonathan went out to get the noodles, I went to collect Sean from nursery so we could all have dinner together.

Over noodles, Jonathan and I lamented that we would have gotten better food had we stuck with the hospital menu. Instead, we enjoyed the lovely noodles that we had missed since moving to Denistone. The servings either got bigger since the last time we bought food from Ace Noodles, or we were eating more controlled portions of food - either way, neither of us could finish our order.

After dinner, Jonathan went home to prepare for our return tomorrow, and Sean and I tried to sleep. Sean was having another unsettled night, and the midwife who was looking after me suggested that I leave the little man in the nursery overnight, with instructions to the nursery staff to feed him formula when he woke up, so I could get a good night sleep. I desperately needed sleep, so I agreed.

We go home tomorrow, and we can't wait! The start of a new chapter of our lives awaits!

Being Momma G: Day 4

Today, I'm the proud owner of 2 sore nipples. One of which is cracked and damaged. The other is just plain sore.

We decided to pay another visit to the lactation consultant again, and this time, we met the very gorgeous Margaret. Margaret assessed the left nipple, and advised that I should use the breast pump to express from the left side, whilst continuing to feed on the right side. The right side was sore, but I was still able to manage the breast feeding. Under Margaret's gentle encouragement, I breast fed Sean and hoped I was doing it correctly. Margaret made a note to see us again tomorrow, to see how we were going with the continued routine.

A little later, Margaret came into our room to show me how to use the breast pump. It was all easy enough - attach a funnel to my breast, push the "On" button, push the "Milking" button, increase the pressure, and hold the funnel in place for 30 minutes. Repeat every 3 hours.

There were a number of tests that Sean needed to have today, and we were asked by the hearing test lady Ali to bring a settled and sleeping baby to the room where she was set up. We watched as Ali put a few things on Sean's head, and put on a pair of headphones on his ears - he looked so cute! Just as Ali started to explain what the test was all about, the machine recorded all the tests were passed! Well done, honey! Sean passed the hearing test with flying colours! Even Ali was surprised by the speed with which Sean passed the hearing test.

After the hearing test, we returned to our room to wait for the midwife to come and complete the heel prick test. While we waited, Sean slept, and so did Jonathan. My two most favourite boys in the world slept side by side - such a gorgeous and precious moment.

Our gorgeous friends Clayton and Imbi came by for a flying visit. They live in Scone and were in Sydney for a few days, and thought to pay us a visit while they were in town. They both had a cuddle with Sean and gave Sean a beautiful blue wrap. It was great to see them and catch up with them - Clayton and Imbi visit Sydney infrequently, so we always try to catch up when they do come down.

After Clayton and Imbi left, we looked online to see if Jonathan's parents were on Skype. We'd tried to arrange for a live Skype chat yesterday, but alas, when Mum and Dad were online, we weren't, and when we were online, they weren't. We'd sent them a message to try and tee up a video chat today, and it worked. Mum and Dad saw Sean for the first time, and we think they appreciated being able to meet their grandson, albeit via Skype.

After a long chat, it was time for Sean to have the heel prick test. Sean was very brave - he was awake throughout the entire ordeal, but he didn't even cry! In fact, Sean was so totally nonchalant about the whole thing, he didn't even bat an eyelid when the midwife came to do the test. Mummy on the other hand was wincing at the sight of 9 drops of blood being squeezed out of her little man's heel.

Before long, it was time for yet another milk expression. The left side was handling the pump just fine - we were getting a good enough supply from the left, even if it was taking around 20 minutes to the small amount that was coming out. The right side felt quite firm, so I thought I'd put use the pump to express some of the milk and to make the area softer for the little man's small mouth. Within seconds of the pump being switched on, I noticed blood in the funnel and freaked out.

My right nipple had also suffered some damage. Yay. Two cracked nipples. And God only gave me 2 nipples to feed Sean with.

After working so hard to get the small quantity of milk from the left breast, I panicked when I saw the blood in the funnel and thought all sorts of crazy thoughts. I didn't want the blood to contaminate the breast milk that was already in the bottle, and I didn't want to think that I could have put Sean on to my right breast and have him drink the blood either. I started crying, almost hysterically, and Jonathan jumped into action. He carefully extracted the pump from my hand, brought me a towel to soak up the blood that was trickling out of my right nipple, and called the midwives to come and review / assist. Unfortunately, there was a queue of other requests ahead of us, and around 30 minutes later, someone finally came to see what we were calling about. And yes, I had spent the whole time crying on and off, just thinking over and over again about tainting the milk and putting a bloody nipple into Sean's mouth.

So it was back to hand expressing on the right side, and more pump expressing on the left. The midwives had asked me to call them when I was hand expressing, so that they could help me with the awful task. I made sure to call well in advance, so that I wasn't waiting for 30 minutes to see someone. However, when a midwife finally joined me, she gave me a look of disdain and told me that I should have started without her, before leaving me to my own devices.

I'd taken Sean to the nursery earlier, so that I could express without stress, but the hand expressing was really hard work, and the milk wasn't quite up to the quantity needed to satisfy the milk monster. Within 15 minutes of the midwife seeing me, she charged back into our room and told me sternly that Sean wasn't getting enough to eat, and that I have no choice but to give permission for the nursery staff to feed him a top up of formula. It was such a huge shock to the system to be spoken to like that - all the midwives and nurses had been wonderful and gentle thus far, and this particular midwife had already looked after me earlier in the week and was terrific, but then to have her almost snap at me and have me feel like I was an incompetent mother was the final straw. Like a deer in headlights, I blindly agreed to formula being fed to Sean, before bursting into more tears.

I was in such a state that I called Jonathan. It was just after 11.30pm, and when Jonathan finally answered the phone, I could tell he'd been fast asleep for some time. I choked down the phone what had happened, and Jonathan did his best to calm me down, while reasoning that the formula was the best solution for now. Sean was still getting breast milk, but if he needed a top up, and my supply was short, then he should get some formula. I felt a little bit better afterwards, but wished he was on hand to give me proper cuddles.

Right now, I am feeling slightly braver, and am going to see if I can express some milk from the right side using the pump. I'll try and get gentle, and hope that I don't open my wounds and start bleeding again. Fingers crossed.

Being Momma G: Day 3

Last night, after Jonathan left, I tried to leave Sean in the nursery overnight. It wasn't that I didn't want to look after him - just that I wanted to try and get some more sleep, so that I could be even more on top of things today. However, when Sean woke just after midnight, the nurse called and asked me to collect him for a feed. I had been asleep for a couple of hours, so it took some time to register where I was and what I needed to do.

After collecting Sean, I attempted breast feeding again, but as my milk hadn't come in, there was only colostrum for the little man. Thankfully, he was happy with the little he got, and I chose to keep him in our room overnight as the walk to and from the nursery caused me a lot of pain.

During daylight, we did try breast feeding again, but the pain was starting to become quite unbearable on the left nipple. We went to see the lactation consultant, and sure enough, there was some damage, and we were told to rest the nipple for now and to hand express the colostrum with the help of the midwives and nurses, and to continue feeding on the right side.

My folks came by with more soup while we were in with the lactation consultant, and they returned just after lunch to make sure we were fine and I'd had the soup. Mum got her first cuddle today - she'd had had conjunctivitis for a couple of days and didn't want to pass it on any of us. The eye drops had finally worked, and with the conjunctivitis all cleared up, she had her first cuddle with Sean. Dad on the other hand chose to skip the cuddle for now - he has always been scared of holding a brand new baby because they are too floppy. Dad never held any of his other grandchildren until they were much studier, so Sean wasn't to be the exception to the rule.

It had been an exhausting day, so when Sean was asleep in the afternoon, I too took the opportunity to have a nap. Not good news for Georgianna - she had hoped to drop by for more cuddles with Sean, but when she arrived at the hospital and texted ahead to let us know she was downstairs, Jonathan told her we were asleep. With impeccable timing, I woke just after Jonathan had sent the message, and I tried to tell Georgianna to come back for a visit, however, she'd already called Tim to pick her up, and he'd literally just pulled up outside the hospital when I called. Georgianna missed out on her cuddles after all.

Late in the afternoon, we had more visitors. Emily, Penny and Anna paid us a visit and they cooed and oohed and ahhed over Sean and each had a brief cuddle. It was great to see the girls, but the visit was all too brief. When dinner arrived, the girls left us to it, with promises to return for another visit during our stay in hospital if time permitted.

After dinner, Jonathan and I took Sean to have a bath. Jonathan gave Sean the bath while I stood and watched and took photos. I was still too sore to bend down, and giving Sean a bath was beyond my pain threshold. Sean smelled so nice and clean after the bath!

Jonathan left for home shortly after the bath, and I did the best I could to hand express for Sean. I still needed help, but help was scarce as the rooms were full of mothers and newborns and there were only 2 midwives on duty. Poor Hazel who was looking after me was looking very frazzled by the time she was ready to help me with the hand expressing. We had a long chat while she was doing her thing, if nothing else but to keep me awake, keep my mind off the pain, and to keep both of us amused through this horrendous task.

And so we struggle to express some more milk for the little milk monster. I wonder how long I can keep this up.

Being Momma G: Day 2

A brand new day, and everyone was feeling a little more refreshed after some sleep. Well, at least I was - I had had a fairly decent night of sleep, after the nurses dosed me up with a bunch of pain relief, and Sean spent his first night in the nursery being cared for by professionals. I would have happily taken care of him myself, but as I was still hooked up to various tubes and lines, which made it difficult for me to get out of bed when one of those tubes was a catheter.

As it was a Sunday, Jonathan went to collect Mina for her first visit with her little brother. We'd arranged with Mina's mother to pick Mina up a little later than usual, and to drop her home a little earlier than usual, as this was a very extraordinary occasion for us. Thankfully, Mina's mother was understanding and permitted these special arrangements. By the time Jonathan and Mina arrived at the hospital, Sean had returned to our room and everyone was ready for cuddles.

We took plenty of photos of Mina and Sean sharing cuddles, before Jonathan and Mina left to wander around Chatswood Westfield and to grab some lunch. Meanwhile, I unsuccessfully attempted to breastfeed Sean, who wasn't quite ready for the feeding and only wanted to cuddle.

Thankfully, all my tubes and lines were removed today, so I was able to get up and move around and feel human again. My parents came by to drop off more nourishing soup, and before long, Jonathan and Mina also returned for more cuddles, before Jonathan took Mina home.

I had planned ahead and chosen a few extra things for dinner, so that Jonathan didn't have to worry about feeding himself when he got home. Jonathan arrived back at the hospital just after dinner was brought to our room, and we ate as fast as we could before we headed to the bathing class.

Jonathan went ahead with Sean so as to not miss the beginning of the class while I was trying to finish dinner. By the time I arrived, I saw that Sean was being used as the "sample" baby, so we didn't get a chance to bathe him. Sean seemed to enjoy his first bath though!

After the bath, Sean enjoyed some Daddy cuddle time. At around 9pm, Jonathan left the hospital with a promise to return bright and early the next day.

All in all, today has been pretty good. Looking forward to going to some of the classes they have on offer for new mums tomorrow, especially the physiotherapy class. My body is aching all over!

Being Momma G: Day 1

Everyone tells you that giving birth is one of life's miracles. People tell you that when you are faced with labour pains, you find that you are much stronger than you can ever imagine yourself to be. Ladies who have been through child birth tell you that nothing matters when you are holding that precious bundle of joy in your arms.

I can only tell you what I know - that it was a miracle to see my son, all bloody and wrinkly as he's been held up for me to see, backlit by the operating theatre lights; that labour pains are awful and nothing compares to that kind of pain; and that nothing - and I mean absolutely nothing - matters when they put that gorgeous little bundle of bloody wrinkly mess in your arms.

On New Year's Day 2011, our darling son Sean made his entrance into the world. After 14 hours of labour, the only option to have Sean complete our family was via an emergency C section. Some time around 4pm on New Year's Eve, I felt the first contraction - it was a mild cramp, much like a mild period cramp. There were other symptoms too, which I won't share with you as they are a bit gross. Just know that we were worried enough that we called the hospital, and they asked us to go in and have a check up. By the time we left the hospital, the midwife who examined me told us that we should have a baby within 24 hours.

By the 9pm fireworks, the cramping was becoming more intense, and they were also becoming quite regular - they were happening every 8 minutes or so, alternating between a grabby short cramp to a grabby longer cramp. By 11pm, it was obvious even to a novice like me that what I was feeling were contractions - they were much stronger and were happening every 5 minutes. We picked up the "hospital bag" and set off to face the newest challenge of our lives.

We saw in 2011 from Birthing Suite 4 at the North Shore Private Hospital, watching the fireworks display on the little TV in the room. We were advised by the midwife - lovely Sheila - to try and rest up and sleep as much as we could while we still could. We unfurled the sofa bed and tried to catch some shut eye, but the pains were bothering me too much to stay in the sofa bed, so I headed back to the hospital bed and tried to manage through the pains by myself. Jonathan tried to sleep - I tried to not disturb him - but in the end, sleep eluded both of us and we gave up.

Our thoughts turned to the number of pain management ideas that had been presented to us through the parenting classes we had been attending. One of them was for me to sit in a warm bath to relieve labour pains. Somehow, I managed to get a little bit of sleep between contractions while I was in the bath, with Jonathan watching over me to ensure I didn't slip below the water line at any time.

When the bath stopped relieving the pain effectively, we moved to the next idea - the gas. Sweet sweet nitrous oxide. We were told to only use the gas when I was having a contraction, advice that I followed, even though the new midwife Irene thought I was "overdoing" my contractions and using more gas than I needed.

Another midwife, Ros had to break my waters for me - something that was not pleasant, but it had to be done. Soon after this, we had to step up a notch in our pain management - it was another involving water, this time in the shower with the power jets aimed straight at the belly and the back, where the pains were most intense, all the while aided by the gas. By now, Jonathan was also massaging my back with the plastic octopus massage tool to help ease the pain.

The pains were much much much more intense, and Dr Baber finally arrived to visit us around 9am. He examined me and wanted to monitor my progress for another hour before deciding on the best course of action. That hour felt like 2 hours, as the pains progressively got more intense. When Dr Baber next examined me, the baby had not progressed any further towards the exit sign - in fact, he had backed away from the exit all together! The look on Dr Baber's face said it all, and we agreed straight away to an emergency C section.

Between when we consented to the surgery to when someone came to collect me from the Birthing Suite was only 45 minutes, but it felt like a lifetime to me. By this stage, the contractions were 3 minutes apart, but were lasting about 2 minutes each. The shower / gas / massage combination was not relieving the pain, and I was a wailing mess. By the time the orderly arrived with the bed to take me to the operating theatre, I had to be carried out to the bed from the shower. Jonathan did his best to dry me off and dress me while I sucked hard on the gas, before noticing the orderly had disappeared. 4 contractions later, the orderly returned and we tried to leave the birthing suite without the gas. Yeah, not bloody likely!

By this time, Dr Baber also appeared, concerned that we were nowhere near the operating theatre to find that we were still in the birthing suite. Very quickly, the team shuffled around and put me on the bed, and grabbed the portable gas tank for me to continue using during the short trip to the operating theatre. Jonathan and I were separated for a short time, but only because he had to sign forms on the run. I continued to have contractions throughout the short trip, and everyone had a hard time pulling the gas mouth piece away from me to put me on to the operating bed!

Jonathan wasn't allowed to join me while the doctors did the sterilised part of the procedure, which caused me some distress as I was still having contractions. I was really not very nice to deal with, but once the anaesthetist gave me the spinal anaesthesia, I was so much nicer!

Finally, I was reunited with Jonathan, and within a few minutes, our darling son Sean was born. What a set of lungs our darling little man has! Jonathan took some photos, and I started crying. Jonathan then danced around the room to follow Sean to the various stations so the team could weigh him and measure him and assess him in general.

I cried and cried and cried. I had wanted a baby for so long, and here I was, finally a mother, having made a perfect little human with the most wonderful man in the world, and I felt my life was complete. My heart felt so full of love the first time I heard Sean cry, that the love spilled over into tears. Apologies for sounding corny, but that's the only way I can describe how I felt.

Jonathan came back to me to give me a kiss, and to tell me that Sean was perfect. He too was crying, and it all just felt so right. We were now finally a family. A perfect little family.

Later, Jonathan told me that I entered the operating theatre at 11.11am, and our little man was born at 11.43am. Exactly 12 hours after we were admitted, we two became three.

The doctors continued doing what they had to do, and Jonathan brought Sean over to me for my first cuddles. The most perfect little man was wrapped in a tight bundle of blankets and he and I shared cuddles and kisses for about 5 minutes. Jonathan took photos before joining us for family cuddles. It was magical.

I had to stay in the operating theatre for recovery, so Jonathan and Sean went ahead without me. Jonathan told me later that he and Sean went back to the delivery suite for the next 40 or so minutes, having cuddles on the sofa bed before they were led to the hospital room that would become Hill HQ for the next 5 days. Meanwhile, the nurses were having all sorts of issues warming me up and raising my low blood pressure - the spinal anaesthesia was the cause of my low blood pressure, and I had to stay quite a while before they were happy to send me up to the room. My oxygen saturation levels were also quite low, so I was given oxygen and was told to stay on it for the next little while.

Eventually, I was taken back to my room, where I found my two most gorgeous boys sitting in the armchair, waiting patiently for me. What a sight!

My core temperature was still low, so I was wrapped in heated blankets and unable to hold Sean for a while. Jonathan didn't mind - he was loving his cuddles!

Jonathan had contacted his parents in NZ with the good news, so as I was warming up, I called my folks to let them know that their brand new grandson had arrived safely. Everyone was so pleased.

We received a few visitors later that night. My parents came by bearing food, as did my sister Georgianna and her family with the traditional KFC dinner. The tradition started with Grace and the birth of Renée, and has been a continued "in joke" for all the births of the kids. All agreed that Jonathan and I did an awesome job of making such a perfect little baby.

At around 6pm, Jonathan was having a hard time keeping his eyes opened. My poor darling man had had no sleep at all during my labour, and after all the excitement of the day, Jonathan was fading fast. Jonathan gave both me and Sean kisses before taking himself home, with a promise to return bright and early the next day.

The nursing staff came in and took Sean to the nursery for the evening, as I was still incapacitated from the waist down from the spinal anaesthesia and I was still hooked up with various tubes for various purposes. I was instructed to rest for the evening, which I did.

What a day! What a way to start a new year and a brand new decade, with the arrival of our precious magical son. This is one New Year's Eve and New Year's Day we will always remember and cherish!

Introducing Sean Wing Shing Hill!

Introducing Sean Wing Shing Hill!
Born: 01.01.2011 at 11.43am
At: North Shore Private Hospital
Birth Weight: 3.83kg (8lb 6oz)
Length: 53cm
Head Circumference: 34.5cm

After 14 hours of labour and an emergency Caesarean section, Sean finally joined us in the real world on New Year's Day 2011. What a way to start a new year and a brand new decade!

Sean means "God is gracious". Wing Shing (永誠) means "Forever and Always Honest and Sincere".

A HUGE thank you to everyone for all the well wishes. We feel so loved and blessed to have our son finally in our arms.

More photos to come. Stay tuned!

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!