This is the story, of a lovely lady

Saturday, February 16, 2013

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Quinn's birth story. (G Rated. Mostly :-) )

It all started Friday lunch time, when I wasn't feeling so great, so I took myself off to the hospital to get checked out. Before I knew it, they were telling me I was having the baby that night. They wanted to induce me asap because of suspect blood results (that turned out to be probably nothing!) It was 2pm by this stage, and everything was happening very quickly. Frith, who was due to finish work that day around 4pm, came over to the birth suite and we realised that this was "it". Funnily enough, even though I was over 40 weeks, I didn't feel prepared! 

The doctors tried to break my waters, and even though they weren't entirely successful, it was enough to get me started. I was having contractions without the syntocinon drip (the fake hormone stuff they give you to induce labour) but it wasn't good enough for the doctors to be happy, so once Frith arrived after 4, they started the drip. Because I was induced with Chance as well, I knew what was coming, so by 5pm I asked for the eipdural and the anaesthetist arrived around 6pm. At 6:30pm, with Colin Hay's song "Overkill" playing in the background, the epidural was put in and relief was on the way. Or so I thought. Although it took away a lot of the pain, it wasn't a full block, and I still felt every contraction in a certain spot, so I just kept sucking on the gas. Man that's good stuff! :-)


I laboured this way for another couple of hours, and when they examined me around 9pm, I was told I was fully dilated and it was time to push. I had topped up my own epidural a couple of times, so I was quite numb, but very happy to push! About 20 minutes and 7 pushes later, our little baby girl sprung into the world. She was completely perfect and fed within 45 minutes of being born. And she hasn't stopped since!!


I was immediately in love. Because we had picked out the name "Quinn Maria" (this was the inspiration for her first name, and this for her middle name) for Chance if he was a girl, I have had the last 2 years to get used to the name and have looked forward to the possibility that one day I might have a daughter named Quinn. 

I have had "the weepies" a bit more than expected, but my hormones and moods are starting to balance out a bit now, except of course at 5am when my newborn is fast asleep and my toddler is wanting "bekfest". But as I said, we're getting there. 


Posted by Renae at 7:04 PM Comments

Week 1

Saturday, February 9, 2013

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I have spent a longer-than-usual time in tears in the last week, but if you asked me how things are going with our new baby, I would tell you things are great! Because they are. The tears were due to a combination of hormones - the 4 day blues were quite brutal and lasted a few days - extreme pain from my milk coming in, and exhaustion from dealing with Chanbe's response to Quinn's arrival.

Now, not much can be done about the hormones, so I just went with it and let myself bawl my eyes out for hours on end if I needed it. It was therapeutic. I wasn't crying over anything in particular, and I wasn't actually particularly sad, but I was in pain.

When my milk comes in, my milk. comes. in. (You don't mind me talking about this, do you? Good. :-) ) I had the same problem with feeding Chanbe. My milk came in and it had nowhere to go. It was painful for a couple of days and I got some excellent help and advice from the lactation clinic in Wang, and all was well very quickly. Not so much this time around. My milk came in Sunday night, and it wasn't until yesterday that things started to regulate. By Tuesday night I was fully engorged (yes, that's as bad as it sounds) with a rack that would rival Pamela Anderson. I can't remember the last time I was in that much pain, and I had just given birth a few days before!! That was until Wednesday, which was even worse. All I could do was take pain killers, lie on the couch with ice packs and cry. It was truly painful. The thing is, it's a blessing to have such a great milk supply, so it's not a bad problem to have, except for in those first few days. But with some help from lactation consultants up here, (and the pain killers) I'm feeling much more human now.

And then there's Chanbe. My beautiful boy whose world has been turned upside-down. Not only is he dealing with another house move, moving into his "big boy bed", and being introduced (very very slowly) to the "big boy toilet", he now has to share his Mama and Dadda, as well as his Gran, Grumpy, Ouma and Poppy with this tiny little squirmy baby that can't even play with him. 90% of the time, he is brilliant with her. He loves to give her cuddles, he knows not to touch her when she is feeding, and he knows to be gentle with her. Then there's the rest of the time. The time that all the textbooks warned me of. This, combined with him not wanting to go to sleep without me in his bedroom has made for a tough week.

We have a few strategies in place for when he gets a little, um, shall we say "over excited" with Quinn, but we don't yet have a plan to get his going to sleep habits back in check. But we've done it before, and we'll do it again. In the mean time, we'll be enjoying a lot of this:


And this:


And definitely this:


Posted by Renae at 3:36 PM Comments

It's a girl

Monday, February 4, 2013

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Quinn Maria was welcomed into the family Friday 1st February at 9:21pm weighing 4.05 kg (8lb15) and 52.5 cm long. She is absolutely gorgeous - she looks very much like Chance did when he was born!
She's feeding really well and Chance is already completely in love with his little sister. Thank you for your thoughts and wishes.



Posted by Renae at 9:30 PM Comments

Come fly with me

Tuesday, January 29, 2013

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There is so much I want to tell you about Chanbe's "big boy bed", but first of all, let me show you:


Oooooooh yeeeaaaahhhhhhh. When Hubs and Uncle Ben told me they wanted to make Chanbe a "big boy bed" 3 days after we arrived in Towsnville, I was skeptically supportive, wondering when it might be finished, and how much of a "big boy" he would be once he actually got in to it. Well, I was proven wonderfully wrong. Just over a week ago, the bed was flown in from the work area, and it has been an absolute hit. Chanbe has slept in it almost every night and day, with a few exceptions, but we are very proud of this milestone.

There are dozens of "in progress" photos that I hope to one day share with you, or better yet, let Hubs (finally) do a guest post about!!

And hopefully we'll have some baby news for you soon. I'm officially 40 weeks now (well, depending on who you ask) so, literally, any day now!

Posted by Renae at 9:53 PM Comments

Happy birthday to me!

Friday, January 18, 2013

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Today is my 30 + gst birthday. Nothing much is really going on - we had a rough night with Chanbe for some reason, so my plans to do more unpacking (no I still haven't finished!!!) have not come to fruition. I am treating myself to daytime air con which I normally don't do at home. It's making sitting on the couch somewhat more comfortable.

I am 38 weeks + 2 days pregnant, so really, any day now something could happen, although after my appointment on Wednesday, and if Chanbe is anything to go by, this baby ain't budging until absolutely necessary. And even though I'm still surrounded by damn boxes that I can't shift, I feel quite settled and at home. We still have a couple of big ticket items to purchase (mainly a dining table and chairs, and a desk for the office) but otherwise we are mainly set. I've done the ooohing and aaahing over the teeny tiny baby clothes and nappies; my hospital bag is packed, I've made extra meals that I've put in the freezer, and I feel ready for this baby.

I actually feel quite zen about the whole thing. Sure, I could focus on the messy house, the incessant itching of my arms possibly caused by cholestasis, the continuous pregnancy-related heartburn that keeps me up at night, my big fat fingers and toes, and the fact that gravity fights me every time I want to stand up, but who wants to hear all that? They are all temporary glitches that will be a thing of the past in a matter if weeks.

Right now, it's all about the air con, breakfast for lunch, ice cold water (the only drink that doesn't give me heartburn) and time with my boys. Happy birthday to me :-)

Posted by Renae at 5:28 PM Comments

First Day

Monday, January 14, 2013

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Remember this post? Remember this photo?


Here's what 4 and half years of studying medicine will do to a man:


Hubba hubba! The Doctor is IN! Today is Hubs' first day on the job. Well, actually he has a week of orientation first, but this time next week, he will be elbow deep in some kind of surgical rotation. This also means it is my first day of solo parenting in a very long time. I would have taken a photo of myself as well, but it's just too scary! Okay okay, Here's one from the other day: (Excuse the bathroom scene; up until a couple of days ago, it was the only mirror in the house!)



Woah nelly! Ha ha. Anyway, we have had a great day - we headed down to The Strand (fenced-off playground! WOO!!) and met up with one of my friends who lives up here. We haven't seen each other in about 6 years, so it was so lovely to catch up. Then Chanbe went down for a sleep at 1, as did I, and while I only woke up 20 minutes ago, he's still asleep! I can really get behind this sleeping til 4pm thing. It makes the afternoon very enjoyable indeed!

So here we are, back on line, still with boxes to empty, but getting there. It's my birthday on Friday, and Hubs is taking me to some fancy-shmancy Interns dinner. Ah, such a romantic! We also have our dear friends popping in on their way home from Brisbane to Cairns, so I'll have enough to keep me occupied. And Baloo seems like he/she is staying put for now. But what do I know! I hope to resume some type of regular blogging soon, but let's just see how we go :-)


Posted by Renae at 4:59 PM Comments

a 7 minute post

Tuesday, January 8, 2013

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I'm sitting in a shopping centre, using one of those internet stations. It reminds me of being overseas when I'd pay for a certain amount of time and have a certain number of things to do and the last few minutes would be a frantic rush to get those last few emails etc out.

We turned up to my 37 week antenatal appointment this morning, only to realise that it's actually tomorrow morning. But we already asked my Mum's cousin to baby sit Chance for the day so we could go shopping afterwards, so we thought we might as well take advantage of the child-free time. Well, the outside child-free time. The inside baby is kicking away nicely and sapping all of my energy, but we are all doing well.

We really do love the house. It's exciting to imagine what it will be like once we've finished unpacking. The flat-pack fairies visited for a bit last week and only left 1 set of drawers for us to put together which was nice.

This isn't a very exciting post, sorry. This is Hubs' last week off before he starts full time work. And he won't have holidays again until  the end of July. That is a very long time! But I'm sure it will fly by. I have given Hubs his 10 day heads up of my approaching birthday. I actually had forgotten about it!

Well I have a couple of minutes to go and need to check a few other things so I'll leave it there! Hubs is currently sorting out internet so I'm hoping my next post will be from home and will contain photos!

Posted by Renae at 10:30 AM Comments

They were right!

Thursday, January 3, 2013

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Who'da thunk it? All those people, upon hearing about our move to Townsville, who told us that it's hot up here, were right on the money! Incredible! Although it has been over 30 degrees every day, and not much under each night, we've only cranked the aircon twice, to cool Chanbe's room down - a fact that makes me feel just a little self-righteous!

So yes we are here. Chanbe and I flew in last Saturday morning, Hubs and Uncle Benny arrived late Sunday night, and we all rendezvoused at the house Monday morning. After a solid 4 days of working on the kombi, (actually, 2 kombis), the boys took off with the 2 cars on Saturday afternoon, but the kombi only made it to Gympie before it, for want of a better phrase, shat itself. It is a very long, drawn out story that I just can't go in to at the moment, but the bottom line is, it will arrive on the back of a tow truck around the 16th of Jan. And after that? Well, who knows!?

On a brighter note, the house is great - nice and big, enough room for everything, a great cross breeze, good outdoor areas, and a nice kitchen. The only downsides are that it doesn't have a bath or a dishwasher. But we have decided the dishwasher can live in the laundry which is just off the kitchen. (Hubs' response to that: "honey, you don't have to live in the laundry!" Har har.)

We are in flat-pack avoidance at the moment - there are 5 things to put together and we're all just hoping the flat-pack fairy visits one night this week. As well as the unpack fairy. Oh, and the "better get ready to have a baby" fairy. And a meal preparation fairy would be welcomed too...

So in short, all is well. It's hot, there is a lot of unpacking to do, and I'm not exactly full of energy, but somewhere deep down, somehow, I know it will all work out - it always does :-)

Posted by Renae at 12:36 PM Comments

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