A spare minute over for mummy to blog!

It's been a week since the last post... The week has been really busy, especially since Noah has been really clingy lately. The chiropractor has done wonders to bub's (and our) sleep at night but it seems that his colic symptoms persists during the day and Noah wants to be skin to skin all day long.

We have learnt from the chiro that when babies are born posterior, or with forceps or suction cup their nerv endings in neck and back can get jammed which causes colic symptoms and stomach crampings. Chiro treatments for these babies have a success rate of 94% so we are hoping that Noah will be one of those... Since Noah was born with all three (posterior, with forceps AND suction), the poor little fella has a real tight neck and lower back pain. We have enrolled him in a colic program that involves 6-8 visits to the chiro where he adjusts the back as well as gives him massage and acupressure. So far we have been twice and the next appointment is this arvo.

At the first visit, Noah had cramping when we came in and he was quite upset and screamed through out the whole treatment. About a minute after the chiro finished his work, Noah just suddenly stopped crying, opened his eyes and and stared with a stunned face at us for a second and then fell asleep! The chiro instructed us to rush home and go to bed, as after the first treatment the babies can sleep for up to six (!) hours. He also said that the real results from the treatment show after a week or two and we will probably feel like it's a completely different baby :-).

After the treatments with the chiro the feeding seems to come along better as well- I guess that the feeding hasn't been too pleasant for Noah if he has had such bad neckpain... I've told him several times "no monkey business on the boob- please eat don't sleep". And now it seems that he is finally grasping what he is supposed to do, and we are actually enjoying it!

The pictures above are from this morning. Again of poor quality since they are taken with a mobilephone...

Busy week

This week the calendar is filled with appointments- meeting up with the lactation specialists, child health nurses, the physio and a chiropractor, all to get things on track!

Met up with the nurse yesterday and she had excellent news. Even though Noah and I are struggling a little with the feeding he has managed to put on nearly 300 grams since last Friday.

This morning we also met with the lactation specialist who saw improvements in our technique of feeding- thank God Noah's lip has healed properly!

Also had a chat to the physio today about my sore wrists. It has been a hassle through the late pregnancy and has continued after birth as well. She confirmed that I have carpal tunnel syndrome and some 'bony' build up in the wrists. I must therefore wear thumb bandage on both hands 24/7 and eat anti inflammatory tablets for as long as needed. Apparently this can mean months in bandage and on tablets! Preferably I should minimise household duties, lifting Noah, changing him and even bath him. Since breastfeeding is a duty that requires lots of movement in the hands and wrists, she also pointed out that I shouldn't feel bad if I decide not to give the baby the breast. To get any better, I must rest the wrists. But hey, that is easier said than done!

Tomorrow we are seeing a chiropractor that specialises in newborns and babies that were posterior at birth. When the baby lays 'wrong' in the womb, it may cause some pain in the baby's back and when born it may struggle to sleep on its back and even get tummy aches. Since Noah was in a posterior position and get stomach aches and prefers sleeping on his side, we have decided to pay the chiro a visit. Hopefully we'll see an improvement after tomorrow :-)!

Drive faster Daddy! Zzzzz......

More pics from the hospital

After a hard labour, it was all smiles :-)

A Very Proud Daddy

Noah and Pappa at our good friend Oliver's birthday BBQ last Saturday night. Noah was on his best behaviour and charmed all the girls at the party.

8 days old...

Noah's first week

Our digital camera broke down the day before Noah was born- the following pictures have been taken with our mobilephones, hence the poor resolution....

To the left: Noah 13 Jan, only 1 day old, snuggling in the cot at the hospital.

His lip has healed up here but nose and forehead are still pretty bad- bloody foreceps...

Noah and Pappa at home in the sofa

So good to be home...

Back at home!

I'm taking the opportunity to write a little something since Noah is asleep, there is not much time between the feeding.
We are back home, got discharged on Tuesday, late evening. We were welcome to stay another night or two but as the milk hadn't come yet and I was so tired, I thought the best was to be at home in a relaxing environment to await the arrival of milk. Due to my excessive blood loss (1.6 litres) and fever spikes I was told that the milk may be slightly delayed. I suspected that after having a total of only 4 hours since Thursday night also contributed to the delay. So we checked out!
We came home at 11 pm. What a lovely feeling to carry Noah over the doorstep and to introduce him to our home. Shawn and Noah cuddled up, I had a long shower and then we hit the sack. At 2 am my breast were like ballons and there was no stop to the flow- Noah was in heaven! And personally I felt quite pleased that I had trusted my instinct, that sometimes you just need your loved ones around you to get things working...

I took the time to read Shawn's posts on our blog, and I don't have much to add really. Both of us were 'a bit' stunned by the whole experience, what a thrill to become a parent! That we had planned to have a labour in a friendly Birth Centre and ended up in a Intensive Care Unit is not really that bad after all. We had great care at the hospital and everyone was very lovely and I don't feel upset about not having a 'drug free' birth. If all goes well, a drug free birth is of course the optimal, however, you need to keep an open mind in case things go wrong...Drugs or not, in the end, Noah was born and he is snoozing away in our sofa right now, and that's all that matters. How lovely to have a healthy little child snuggling up with us here at home! I look at him and can't believe that he is ours!! I can't understand that he was in my belly up to just a few days ago...

We have of course taken more photos of Noah, but our digital camera broke down the other days, so we have to develop photos from another camera which holds regular film before we can post any on the blog.

Noah is healing quickly and the damage that was done by the blades of the forceps will heal up and there will be no scarring. He is still a bit taken by the birth and also has some swelling on the back of his head that causes headache but he seems to be more alert now, especially after the milk supply began. He has started to put on weight which is excellent news and the nurses that did the home visit today said he is looking very well.

Quickly regarding my health- I'm recovering well. The reason for the blood loss was a bleed in the uterus that suddenly occured directly after Noah was delivered. I'm still a bit weak but am eating iron tablets so in a few weeks I shouldn't feel as dizzy and tired. No more fever but still on antibiotics and anti inflammatory tablets. The cut is healing fine and in a week I should be able to get around as usual. I'm feeling very happy and can't wait to learn more about motherhood!

Little Noah sleeping after a traumatising labour.

Left: Maria after the Epidural, big smiles!!!
Below: Noah only minutes old!!

Two Have Become Three

At 11:57am on Saturday the 12th of January, our world changed for ever. Little Noah Winston was born into this world. It took almost 24 hours from the first signs of labour for Maria to push the little boy out but she did it and I was so proud of her.
At around 3pm Friday we thought she was in labour because the contractions had become consistent. At 6:30pm they were 5 min apart and getting stronger. After a few phone calls, the midwife and Liza were already to meet us at the Family Birth Centre (FBC). As the contractions grew stronger we could not believe we were about to have a baby, the feeling was indescribable. A mixer of nerves, fear and excitement about meeting this person who had been curled up in Maria's tummy for 9 months was running through us both.
10pm we arrived at FBC with Maria having another contraction. Finding the best position to 'take the pain' was proving difficult. Standing up worked for a while when we were at home, but now the contractions were too strong. Laying over the fitball or the bean bag was the best bet for the next couple of hours. The contractions got closer and closer and went very quickly from 5 minutes apart to 1 min with a couple of contractions, thats when 'shit hit the fan'!
We asked for the morphine after we moved from the bath to the shower. The bath was really good for the pain but it when it got too much we had to move. The morphine took time to come and by the time Maria got the injection I think only an epidural could numb the pain. After 30 min of waiting for the Morphine to kick in, and then a check to see how dilated Maria's cervix was we opted for the Epidural. Being only 4 cm apart and having contraction every minute for a minute was not ideal, especially as it was so sudden.
Everything was packed and Maria put in a wheel chair and we started the long walk through the tunnel to the Hospital. Once in the hospital and somewhat settled we had to wait for the epidural. Luckily a doctor was available! The midwife had previously told us that the other doctor was in surgery and we had to wait over an hour, so we were lucky another doctor was around.
During the procedure Maria had to sit still for 3 contractions. I told her to look at me and breath, I've never seen her eyes like that before. She was in so much pain and all I could do was tell her to breath. It took a couple of contraction to take away the pain but when it did, it was a welcome relief.
Unfortunately it slowed down the labour. She had the epidural at 3:30am and she was 8cm dilated at 4:30am. After that we managed to rest up a little bit, with the daddy to be taking a good nap. :-)
Little Noah did not want to come out. The forceps didn't work and only managed to scratch his little face, so they had to bring out the bid guns. The suction cup was brought in and with the help of a little snip Noah came out screaming.

IT"S ON THE WAY!!!!!!

Maria has had contractions for most of the day but at about 630pm they became constant. At 5 min apart and lasting for 1 min we started to realise this was the real thing.
Stay posted as details and photos will follow soon.
SO EXCITING!!!

No baby in sight

Just a quick update to let you know that yet we haven't seen any baby. It seems happy to stay inside in the tummy for a while longer. And who can really blaim him/her? It is hot, hot weather here whereas the tummy offers a nice environment with a perfectly regulated temperature :-).
So, there went my theory that the baby would arrive early! However, there are still 3 days to go til the estimated delivery date so who knows....keep an eye out for new posts!

Highlights

Here comes a list of our highlights in 2007 :

January

~Maria attended Moa's labour and witnessed when beautiful Ava was born.

February

~Annelie & Tony came for a visit and we had 3 awesome weeks together in Perth.
March

~Maria graduated from the University of Western Australia with a Bachelor of Economics. April

~We travelled to Sweden and celebrated Easter in Stockholm.

~Shawn's 26th birthday was spent on a cruise to Finland.

~Shawn departed to Brisbane to attend the Australian Cricket Academy.

~We found out that we were expecting a little baby!

May

~Shawn started this blog.

~Maria was super nautious and spent most time laying down, but managed a trip to beautiful Gothenburg to visit Annelie and Tony.

~Shawn was sharing an apartment with blokes, training hard at the Academy in Brisbane. Being apart was agony...

June

~Maria flew back to Australia and Shawn came home to Perth for the weekend- we had our first ultrasound and got to see the first images of the bub.

July

~Maria took a part time job at the University of Western Australia until Christmas, which turned out to be a fun job with great colleagues.

August

~ We moved house, leaving buzzing Subiaco for a bigger place in Glendalough.

~Shawn went on tour to India with the Cricket Academy, and later returned home for good (yeah)!

September

~We spent a relaxing weekend in the Margaret River wine region. Only winetastings for Shawn though!

October

~Maria turned 29.

~We booked a holiday to Sweden for April 2008 and decided to have a stop over in Thailand for 2 weeks before heading to the cold parts of the world.

November

~Celebrated the very soon arrival of bub with a babyshower combined with housewarming, in our backyard. Had a lovely arvo with lovely people!

December

~Celebrated our 4 year anniversary with the Lionel Richie concert.

~Maria wrapped up work- weird feeling...

~Spent our last x-mas and NYE without kids :-).

Pictures below are from NYE- picnic in Kings Park...