It's now been two weeks since we arrived in the Pilbara. What an awesome two weeks it has been.
This week the kids started at school and we have started bing able to get out and about a bit more.
Today was an especially good day so I thought I would share a nice story of the great people you will find in country towns.
Kaitlyn started school on Tuesday and by Wednesday had her first invite to a birthday party. Her new friends mum came up and introduced herself, explaining that her daughter was having a party and being new to the town it would be great for us to come along.
I introduced my son to this lovely lady and we had a giggle about poor Bradley's school pants which are so loose they fall past his hips and I had pinned them tighter for the day. My sewing kit was still MIA since moving house. She offered to sew up his pants and I declined saying I would find my kit and give them a couple stitches.
Today after dropping both big kids at school hubby and I did a massive food shop. We had heard that the Coles in this town was small and often didn't have stock in. Well so far the only thing I haven't found there was strawberries today, and that's only because strawberries are on special!!
Afterwards Isla and I went out by ourselves. We went to our first play group. It was such a nice time to get out, meet new people and socialise.
It was a small group of about 6 mums with bubs.
One of the nice things about being in a town like this is everyone is in the same boat. Everyone is 'away from home' some coming from the other side of the country, others from Perth and all around the state. Most of us don't have family around and our husbands all work in the mines, doing different rosters-but still coming home every night.
I find it funny that most conversations go
"Hi my name is..."
"What company does your hubby work for?"
"What roster is he on?"
"How long have you been in town"
I feel like everyone's in the same situation and it's nice to have lots of similar people and family's around.
After a morning at play group it was time to pick the kids up from school (this whole 8am-2pm thing is really messing with my body clock!!!)
We ran into Georgie-Kaitlyns friends mum, and we had a chat. Bradley was still wearing the pin in his school shorts because I still hadn't found my sewing kit.
"Come on over and I'll sew them on the machine for you right now" Georgie invited us over.
Well I wasn't really in a position to say no, poor Bradley looked ridiculous.
So over we went where we spent a wonderful afternoon socialising and making friends.
Kaitlyn and Bradley got along really well with Indi and hubby and I chatted along easily with Georgie. She filled us in on lots of things about the town, we got to ask lots of questions. And we spent a really nice 3 and a half hours out of the house enjoying ourselves.
Because we are new to town and there is so much to learn about town and the surrounding area we have tonnes of questions.
We learnt which part of Karijini National Park we should go to first, as newbie 4wd owners and with young kids some areas are a bit harder to access than others. I learnt what 'area w' is. Everyone keeps asking if I live in area w and I feel stupid when I can't answer them properly. Wa learnt about snakes and storms.
We also learnt about the funky way this town has numbered it's houses.
We live in number 387-but there are only like 10 houses on our street. Apparently the houses are numbered in the order they were built.
So house 387 is the only 387 in town and it means it was the three hundred and eighty seventh house built in this town. It's kinda cool. It also makes it super easy to tell where people live. If they say they live in a three hundred and something I know it's near us. If they live in the one hundreds I know they live closer to the shops.
We also learnt which roads are the best to take, which gravel tracks sucks and what time of the year the access roads are good to use.
We have lived in country towns before but this town is by far a whole lot friendlier than the last town we were in....not to say the last town was bad. It's just people here are way more welcoming and outgoing and it's nice to have so many people in similar situations.
There are also tonnes of people in this town that own a Thermomix so it's good to swap stories and recipes :-). :-)
Thursday, 24 July 2014
Wednesday, 23 July 2014
Sleep, Precious Sleep
For years everyone has asked me how I get my kids to sleep through the night from such a young age.
Kaitlyn was 9 weeks old and Bradley just 7 weeks old when they slept 12 hours uninterrupted.
They are now 5 and 4 and still sleeping 12 hours uninterrupted.
They also had proper, long, restful day time sleeps-giving me plenty of time to relax, clean, cook etc etc.
It definitely helps keep stress levels lower and happier babies when they (and you) are well rested.
It is also amazing to walk into your child's bedroom put them into their cot while they are wide awake and walk straight out knowing they will fall asleep without any aids.
So how do I do it?
Well I have my mums ex next door neighbour to thank for it all. She had a little boy about 10 months before Kaitlyn and I babysat him a few times. Jo (the mum) told me her secret. A set of books she used. The Babywise series of books. They start at Babywise and go all the way up to Teenwise. The books cost approx $15 per book and are available online or from a bookshop called Word Bookstore (also have an online store)
These books are AMAZING!!! Seriously they are.
They teach you how to have a routine-but a FLEXIBLE routine. Not a super strict, can't deviate from the plan routine but a routine that's flexible and fits in with your life.
So my routine? Well for the first 3-4 months it looks like this:
7am- wake up, breast feed and get dressed ready for the day
7:45-8:30am wake time, play time.
8:30-10am Sleep
10am Wake up and breast feed
10:45-11:30am Wake time, play time
11:30am-1pm Sleep
1pm Wake up and breast feed
1:45-2:30 Wake time, play time
2:30-4pm Sleep
4pm Wake up breast feed.
6pm Bath
6:30 breast feed
7pm Bed time
10pm breast feed (Isla is still asleep but I go in and get her up and she has a 'dream feed'
3/3:30am Isla will wake up, breast feed
After a few weeks (approx6-8) The baby will one night skip the 3am feed. Once they are sleeping from 10-7am for about a week you can start to bring back the 10pm feed.
So for a week keep it at 10pm, then the next week make it 9:30pm if they go ok with that the next week bring it back to 9pm etc etc until the last feed is 6:30pm.
This way from 6-8weeks your baby is sleeping 12 hours with a 10pm 'dream feed'
I've used this for my two older kids who absolutely thrived on it. Isla is only 3 weeks old and doing amazing on the routine.
It's all about making the routine flexible though.
The basics are:
have a start time each day
Have a bed time each night
Fit feed times, sleep times around school pickups etc. keep it roughly 3 hourly but keep it flexible so if you have something on at 10am one day a week move that day forward or backward by half an hour to fit in the feed time to suit.
Put baby to bed when she is awake so she learns to fall asleep by herself.
Controlled crying-if baby cries leave them for 15 mins, if they are still crying go in and comfort them, if they continue to cry leave them for 10 mins before you go in and comfort/resettle them. If they still cry leave for 5 mins and go in and settle them. Continue until they are asleep. It doesn't take them long to learn to self settle.
When you go in at night time to feed or settle baby don't turn the lights on or talk to baby and try not to make too much eye contact as this will wake them up more.
Most importantly mum NOT baby decides when sleep time starts, and mum NOT baby decides when sleep time is over. This will be extra important in the toddler years.
If baby gets sick or is teething etc don't give in to the routine. Still put them to bed, in their own bed. Still use controlled crying, comfort them when comfort is needed. Don't go overboard and lose everything you have worked hard for.
And that is how I stay sane. I feel like these days people don't seem to understand how important sleep is for a child's development and behaviour. Happy well rested baby's mean happy well rested parents. More energy, better attitudes make for better learning and a generally happier environment to be in....why wouldn't you want to do that for your baby?
The routine above lasts roughly 3-4 months and then baby moves into having two sleeps a day and should definitely be sleeping 12 hour nights.
Once Isla reaches that stage I'll share my routine with you all.
I love that people always ask me how I get my children to sleep and have even tried (unsuccessfully) to follow the routine but give up after a couple days, or cheat and rock baby to sleep or let baby sleep straight after a feed, and then they whinge to me that their child doesn't like routines or it doesn't work.
I can promise you, that if your baby is generally healthy and well and you stick to the routine properly you WILL see results.
I couldn't survive without my sleep. I'm the mum that sleeps 9 hour nights. I always say to people I like it so much better when baby is out than being pregnant because I always sleep MORE with a newborn than when I'm pregnant. :-)
Kaitlyn was 9 weeks old and Bradley just 7 weeks old when they slept 12 hours uninterrupted.
They are now 5 and 4 and still sleeping 12 hours uninterrupted.
They also had proper, long, restful day time sleeps-giving me plenty of time to relax, clean, cook etc etc.
It definitely helps keep stress levels lower and happier babies when they (and you) are well rested.
It is also amazing to walk into your child's bedroom put them into their cot while they are wide awake and walk straight out knowing they will fall asleep without any aids.
So how do I do it?
Well I have my mums ex next door neighbour to thank for it all. She had a little boy about 10 months before Kaitlyn and I babysat him a few times. Jo (the mum) told me her secret. A set of books she used. The Babywise series of books. They start at Babywise and go all the way up to Teenwise. The books cost approx $15 per book and are available online or from a bookshop called Word Bookstore (also have an online store)
These books are AMAZING!!! Seriously they are.
They teach you how to have a routine-but a FLEXIBLE routine. Not a super strict, can't deviate from the plan routine but a routine that's flexible and fits in with your life.
So my routine? Well for the first 3-4 months it looks like this:
7am- wake up, breast feed and get dressed ready for the day
7:45-8:30am wake time, play time.
8:30-10am Sleep
10am Wake up and breast feed
10:45-11:30am Wake time, play time
11:30am-1pm Sleep
1pm Wake up and breast feed
1:45-2:30 Wake time, play time
2:30-4pm Sleep
4pm Wake up breast feed.
6pm Bath
6:30 breast feed
7pm Bed time
10pm breast feed (Isla is still asleep but I go in and get her up and she has a 'dream feed'
3/3:30am Isla will wake up, breast feed
After a few weeks (approx6-8) The baby will one night skip the 3am feed. Once they are sleeping from 10-7am for about a week you can start to bring back the 10pm feed.
So for a week keep it at 10pm, then the next week make it 9:30pm if they go ok with that the next week bring it back to 9pm etc etc until the last feed is 6:30pm.
This way from 6-8weeks your baby is sleeping 12 hours with a 10pm 'dream feed'
I've used this for my two older kids who absolutely thrived on it. Isla is only 3 weeks old and doing amazing on the routine.
It's all about making the routine flexible though.
The basics are:
have a start time each day
Have a bed time each night
Fit feed times, sleep times around school pickups etc. keep it roughly 3 hourly but keep it flexible so if you have something on at 10am one day a week move that day forward or backward by half an hour to fit in the feed time to suit.
Put baby to bed when she is awake so she learns to fall asleep by herself.
Controlled crying-if baby cries leave them for 15 mins, if they are still crying go in and comfort them, if they continue to cry leave them for 10 mins before you go in and comfort/resettle them. If they still cry leave for 5 mins and go in and settle them. Continue until they are asleep. It doesn't take them long to learn to self settle.
When you go in at night time to feed or settle baby don't turn the lights on or talk to baby and try not to make too much eye contact as this will wake them up more.
Most importantly mum NOT baby decides when sleep time starts, and mum NOT baby decides when sleep time is over. This will be extra important in the toddler years.
If baby gets sick or is teething etc don't give in to the routine. Still put them to bed, in their own bed. Still use controlled crying, comfort them when comfort is needed. Don't go overboard and lose everything you have worked hard for.
And that is how I stay sane. I feel like these days people don't seem to understand how important sleep is for a child's development and behaviour. Happy well rested baby's mean happy well rested parents. More energy, better attitudes make for better learning and a generally happier environment to be in....why wouldn't you want to do that for your baby?
The routine above lasts roughly 3-4 months and then baby moves into having two sleeps a day and should definitely be sleeping 12 hour nights.
Once Isla reaches that stage I'll share my routine with you all.
I love that people always ask me how I get my children to sleep and have even tried (unsuccessfully) to follow the routine but give up after a couple days, or cheat and rock baby to sleep or let baby sleep straight after a feed, and then they whinge to me that their child doesn't like routines or it doesn't work.
I can promise you, that if your baby is generally healthy and well and you stick to the routine properly you WILL see results.
I couldn't survive without my sleep. I'm the mum that sleeps 9 hour nights. I always say to people I like it so much better when baby is out than being pregnant because I always sleep MORE with a newborn than when I'm pregnant. :-)
Monday, 21 July 2014
For The Last Time. . .
Doesn't time fly so fast?
I can't believe my baby girl is already two and a half weeks old. So much has happened in the past two and a half weeks it almost feels like a lifetime, but then I look at my girl and I feel like time is slipping through my fingers.
As you all know Isla is our third baby, our second daughter. She's also going to be our last baby. I'm retiring from having children.
I'm not usually one of those overly emotional, maternal type people. I'm more of a realistic, semi-tough-love kind of mums.
When my kids fall over (and it looks funny) I laugh. When my kids are being little shits I'm not afraid to discipline them. When people are busy stressing over 'oh I don't know what to do my poor poor baby is getting a tooth it's so sad so I cuddle them all day and let them sleep in my bed' I'm sitting next to them thinking "you're an idiot, kiss them and give them panadol, if needed, and put them in their own bloody bed"
That's just the kind of person I am. Always have been.
But having Isla and knowing she's going to be my last baby has brought about these whole new set of feelings. I feel a lot more protective. I feel a lot more attached to her, I want her to always be with me. I want to always be holding her. To be near her. I find it hard to lay her down in bed some days because I just want to be with her. Don't get me wrong I LOVE spending time with my big kids but I have this overwhelming sense of protectiveness and bond with Isla. I feel like I've bonded really well with all my kids, I've just never felt so attached.
I'm not into attachment parenting. I'm not one to be into baby wearing, or co sleeping. I'm not one to over do the comfort thing-comfort where comfort is needed-is how I've always done it. I've never rocked my kids to sleep, never let them sleep in a pram or bouncer because 'that's where they are comfortable.' I don't even have the kids sleep in our bedroom when they first come home. They have gone straight into the cot. I don't even use a baby monitor-I find them entirely pointless. I don't sterilise baby bottles, I don't sterilise dummy's. I'm a practical, realistic person that doesn't make a fuss about anything. But sometimes with Isla I feel like I would do anything to keep her happy or satisfied.
I want time to stop still. I forgot how much I LOVE newborns. They are so small and fragile and just amazing. But I feel like my time with her as a baby is so limited. I'm scared I'm going to miss a moment. I'm scared I'm going to forget all the little things.
I'm trying to hold on to all the memories and all the little things. It's so easy to forget what having a newborn is like. I haven't had a newborn in 4 yrs and it's amazing the stuff you forget.
Like the way they smell. That newborn smell is amazing. Especially when they are fresh out of the oven. They come out covered in goo and who knows what else but they smell so amazing.
I've also been taking more photos than I ever have done in my life I think.
I don't want to miss a single moment, a single memory. I don't want to forget anything.
As with my other two kids I've kept a baby diary for Isla as well. It's a little notebook I write stories in for the kids. I write funny things they say or do. Stories about how they came to be (not including any gross bits). Developmental milestones reached. All sorts of things about their life.
But for Isla I started the diary while I was pregnant. I wrote my appointments, how I was feeling, the symptoms I was getting, how we were preparing for her arrival etc... I also took a lot more pregnancy photos.
Sometimes when I'm sitting down watching Isla I am so overcome with love and emotion I get tears in my eyes. Sometimes I feel sad that this is going to be my last baby. It just feels so final.
I was the one that wanted to stop at 2 kids. But now that I have Isla and remember how amazing the newborn stage is, and how amazing it is to have a big family I feel like it's so final to say she's my last baby. I sometimes look at her and think 'I could do this 100more times' although I don't think my poor body would love me for it. My back aches, I have arthritis in my hips and I just don't know if I could do another 9 months of hell!
It's only two and a half weeks since I gave birth but I feel like I've already forgotten all about the pain and discomfort from the pregnancy and birth. I feel like I recovered from this labour 100times quicker and better than the last two times.
My stomach muscles are coming together nicely. I had minor stitches that healed super quickly. My uterus seems to have gone down quickly (after having Kaitlyn my uterus contracting was at times so bad I would curl up in a ball and cry) this time the contractions have been light and only lasted a week. My bleeding has also been a lot better, it's gone down heaps quicker and I've been feeling a lot more comfortable in general. In fact this labour and recovery has been so much better I honestly feel like I could do it all over again....but then I remember the dreaded 9 month pregnancy, and the fact that I already have a full on family and life, and that kids are super expensive to raise and I want to be able to live a simple but comfortable life.
The only thing post birth that has sucked worse than the last two times is the constipation. I've had it bad all three times but the first two times once I started I was fine, this time it took a lot more effort to get back to normal-I'm still not quite there yet even now!
Time is flying by. Two and a half weeks feels like only a day. I'm ready to slow things down, to pay more attention to all the little things my kids do. Because one day I'm going to miss having them talk silly. I'm going to miss the way Bradley sits on his knees at the kitchen table to eat dinner. I'm going to miss the way Kaitlyn gets her words muddled up. I'm going to miss breast feeding Isla. I will miss being able to choose clothes for them, reading stories to them, brushing Kaitlyn's hair. I will miss the way they look at me as though I'm so intelligent and some kind of super hero for (almost) always being able to answer their questions. I will miss bath time and bedtime stories, I will miss them needing cuddles for every hurt body part. I will miss spending time to make bottles or baby food, I will miss packing lunch boxes and listening to daily reading. I'm sure I will even miss helping them with their homework, singing nursery rhymes.
I will miss having baby's, I will miss having young kids. I'm sure at some stage I will even miss the teenage years-once we get there.
We are so blessed to have three little miracles. Our family is amazing and every day is an absolute blessing.
I don't want to miss a single thing.
I can't believe my baby girl is already two and a half weeks old. So much has happened in the past two and a half weeks it almost feels like a lifetime, but then I look at my girl and I feel like time is slipping through my fingers.
As you all know Isla is our third baby, our second daughter. She's also going to be our last baby. I'm retiring from having children.
I'm not usually one of those overly emotional, maternal type people. I'm more of a realistic, semi-tough-love kind of mums.
When my kids fall over (and it looks funny) I laugh. When my kids are being little shits I'm not afraid to discipline them. When people are busy stressing over 'oh I don't know what to do my poor poor baby is getting a tooth it's so sad so I cuddle them all day and let them sleep in my bed' I'm sitting next to them thinking "you're an idiot, kiss them and give them panadol, if needed, and put them in their own bloody bed"
That's just the kind of person I am. Always have been.
But having Isla and knowing she's going to be my last baby has brought about these whole new set of feelings. I feel a lot more protective. I feel a lot more attached to her, I want her to always be with me. I want to always be holding her. To be near her. I find it hard to lay her down in bed some days because I just want to be with her. Don't get me wrong I LOVE spending time with my big kids but I have this overwhelming sense of protectiveness and bond with Isla. I feel like I've bonded really well with all my kids, I've just never felt so attached.
I'm not into attachment parenting. I'm not one to be into baby wearing, or co sleeping. I'm not one to over do the comfort thing-comfort where comfort is needed-is how I've always done it. I've never rocked my kids to sleep, never let them sleep in a pram or bouncer because 'that's where they are comfortable.' I don't even have the kids sleep in our bedroom when they first come home. They have gone straight into the cot. I don't even use a baby monitor-I find them entirely pointless. I don't sterilise baby bottles, I don't sterilise dummy's. I'm a practical, realistic person that doesn't make a fuss about anything. But sometimes with Isla I feel like I would do anything to keep her happy or satisfied.
I want time to stop still. I forgot how much I LOVE newborns. They are so small and fragile and just amazing. But I feel like my time with her as a baby is so limited. I'm scared I'm going to miss a moment. I'm scared I'm going to forget all the little things.
I'm trying to hold on to all the memories and all the little things. It's so easy to forget what having a newborn is like. I haven't had a newborn in 4 yrs and it's amazing the stuff you forget.
Like the way they smell. That newborn smell is amazing. Especially when they are fresh out of the oven. They come out covered in goo and who knows what else but they smell so amazing.
The first time I saw my girl I was in love.
The first time our 4 and 5 yr old met their baby sister was an amazing moment. I hope to always remember Bradley walking in and saying "she has fat cheeks" and the smile on Kaitlyn's face when she held her baby sister for the first time.
Having our first family photo was another special moment. Like we got to finally see our whole, complete family together. As though the missing piece of the puzzle was finally put into place.
And then, you get to take home this amazing little person.
I want to remember the feeling I get when Isla is feeding. The way she looks up at me with her big blues eyes. The little sucking and sighing noises she makes. The way she holds on to the middle of my bra while she feeds. That feeling of closeness when you know you are giving your baby the best, most nutritious food in the world. The way she emerges from feeding covered in milk, eyes rolling around in her head, sighing like it's been an amazing but tiring experience. The giant burps that she has no idea about. The milk drunk phase is awesome. I love milk drunk babies. The way she has her mouth wide open and pants like she's out of breath after a big exhausting feed. I love the milky breath newborns have.
Isla totally milk drunk
Sometimes I feel like I missed these moments with my other two kids. Maybe I was too young and clueless to take much notice. Maybe I was too busy with a toddler and newborn when Bradley was born. Maybe these feelings come with age and maturity (not that I'm very mature yet!).
That first night Isla was home with us she slept from 8:30pm-5am. I mean that's pretty amazing.
And since then she's been an excellent sleeper.
I'm a routine person though so since day 1 Isla has been in a routine. At the moment she's on 3 hourly feeds and has 3 sleeps a day with a catnap at 5:30. She goes to bed at 7pm, has a 10pm dream feed and then she wakes about 3-3:30am for her next feed. Then 7am we are all up and ready to start our day. In the next few weeks she will learn to drop that 3:30am feed and we will slowly begin to bring that 10pm feed forward in half an hour increments until she has her last feed at 6:30pm.
So far she's doing really well and thriving on her routine. So are the rest of us. She's fitting in nicely with our family. She's joined a close family, a loving family and I couldn't be happier with how everyone has settled in. Although Kaitlyn and Bradley do tend to smother her with love a bit too much sometimes!!
We had some professional photos taken-as we have with all three kids.
These photos are by Emma Broadway from A Story About Love Photography
I don't want to miss a single moment, a single memory. I don't want to forget anything.
My girl posing for photos for me
Making funny faces when she's had enough of her feed. Isla closes her mouth real tight when she's full!
As with my other two kids I've kept a baby diary for Isla as well. It's a little notebook I write stories in for the kids. I write funny things they say or do. Stories about how they came to be (not including any gross bits). Developmental milestones reached. All sorts of things about their life.
But for Isla I started the diary while I was pregnant. I wrote my appointments, how I was feeling, the symptoms I was getting, how we were preparing for her arrival etc... I also took a lot more pregnancy photos.
Sometimes when I'm sitting down watching Isla I am so overcome with love and emotion I get tears in my eyes. Sometimes I feel sad that this is going to be my last baby. It just feels so final.
I was the one that wanted to stop at 2 kids. But now that I have Isla and remember how amazing the newborn stage is, and how amazing it is to have a big family I feel like it's so final to say she's my last baby. I sometimes look at her and think 'I could do this 100more times' although I don't think my poor body would love me for it. My back aches, I have arthritis in my hips and I just don't know if I could do another 9 months of hell!
It's only two and a half weeks since I gave birth but I feel like I've already forgotten all about the pain and discomfort from the pregnancy and birth. I feel like I recovered from this labour 100times quicker and better than the last two times.
My stomach muscles are coming together nicely. I had minor stitches that healed super quickly. My uterus seems to have gone down quickly (after having Kaitlyn my uterus contracting was at times so bad I would curl up in a ball and cry) this time the contractions have been light and only lasted a week. My bleeding has also been a lot better, it's gone down heaps quicker and I've been feeling a lot more comfortable in general. In fact this labour and recovery has been so much better I honestly feel like I could do it all over again....but then I remember the dreaded 9 month pregnancy, and the fact that I already have a full on family and life, and that kids are super expensive to raise and I want to be able to live a simple but comfortable life.
The only thing post birth that has sucked worse than the last two times is the constipation. I've had it bad all three times but the first two times once I started I was fine, this time it took a lot more effort to get back to normal-I'm still not quite there yet even now!
Time is flying by. Two and a half weeks feels like only a day. I'm ready to slow things down, to pay more attention to all the little things my kids do. Because one day I'm going to miss having them talk silly. I'm going to miss the way Bradley sits on his knees at the kitchen table to eat dinner. I'm going to miss the way Kaitlyn gets her words muddled up. I'm going to miss breast feeding Isla. I will miss being able to choose clothes for them, reading stories to them, brushing Kaitlyn's hair. I will miss the way they look at me as though I'm so intelligent and some kind of super hero for (almost) always being able to answer their questions. I will miss bath time and bedtime stories, I will miss them needing cuddles for every hurt body part. I will miss spending time to make bottles or baby food, I will miss packing lunch boxes and listening to daily reading. I'm sure I will even miss helping them with their homework, singing nursery rhymes.
I will miss having baby's, I will miss having young kids. I'm sure at some stage I will even miss the teenage years-once we get there.
We are so blessed to have three little miracles. Our family is amazing and every day is an absolute blessing.
I don't want to miss a single thing.
Thursday, 17 July 2014
Country Living . . .
We have survived the first week in the Pilbara!!
What an amazing place.
Before we flew here last Thursday I had never been anywhere in the Pilbara. I've been to the Kimberly region, the south west, wheat belt, goldfields, great southern and obviously the metro area.
But the Pilbara was all new to me. Most people think I'm crazy for moving to a place I've never been before. And when they hear I have a newborn, 4 yr old and 5 yr old they think I've completely lost the plot.
But I've done it before. We moved to Corrigin with a 6month old and we had never been there before. And we loved every minute of it.
It's about taking that leap, trusting that as a family you can survive anything and about adventure.
My husband and I always say to each other 'there is so much more to the world, let's live it, explore it and learn from it'
So after Isla was born we began making our preparations to get the rest of our family up here to join hubby.
We planned to leave 4 days later. Miss5 however had been suffering from an earache so we put off the flight to make sure she was better. Then the day after having Isla I was at the dr with an ear infection. Can't fly with an ear infection, so we put off the trip for a couple days more.
I finally booked the flights for exactly one week after Isla was born. Two days before we were due to leave we were again at the Drs, this time with Mr4. He hadn't recovered very well from his ear infection from a couple weeks before and had developed glue ear. Basically he was deaf as a door knob (actually quite hilarious at times!) and the dr advised that if he was to fly up here his ear drum would likely burst. Bugger! We couldn't really put off the trip any longer though so we decided that Mr4 was going to do the two day drive with hubby and Zac the dog. It would be an all boys road trip.
So we did a last minute dash around and got the boys ready to go, trailer hooked up, Thermomix in the front seat, dog in the back and plenty of junk food to occupy them.
They left on Wednesday last week and drove the 1600kms with plenty of fun, plenty of stops and tonnes of junk food. I was actually jealous of what an amazing time they were having. The photos hubby was sending were great. Mr4 is a true country boy at heart and enjoyed the boys time.
What an amazing place.
Before we flew here last Thursday I had never been anywhere in the Pilbara. I've been to the Kimberly region, the south west, wheat belt, goldfields, great southern and obviously the metro area.
But the Pilbara was all new to me. Most people think I'm crazy for moving to a place I've never been before. And when they hear I have a newborn, 4 yr old and 5 yr old they think I've completely lost the plot.
But I've done it before. We moved to Corrigin with a 6month old and we had never been there before. And we loved every minute of it.
It's about taking that leap, trusting that as a family you can survive anything and about adventure.
My husband and I always say to each other 'there is so much more to the world, let's live it, explore it and learn from it'
So after Isla was born we began making our preparations to get the rest of our family up here to join hubby.
We planned to leave 4 days later. Miss5 however had been suffering from an earache so we put off the flight to make sure she was better. Then the day after having Isla I was at the dr with an ear infection. Can't fly with an ear infection, so we put off the trip for a couple days more.
I finally booked the flights for exactly one week after Isla was born. Two days before we were due to leave we were again at the Drs, this time with Mr4. He hadn't recovered very well from his ear infection from a couple weeks before and had developed glue ear. Basically he was deaf as a door knob (actually quite hilarious at times!) and the dr advised that if he was to fly up here his ear drum would likely burst. Bugger! We couldn't really put off the trip any longer though so we decided that Mr4 was going to do the two day drive with hubby and Zac the dog. It would be an all boys road trip.
So we did a last minute dash around and got the boys ready to go, trailer hooked up, Thermomix in the front seat, dog in the back and plenty of junk food to occupy them.
They left on Wednesday last week and drove the 1600kms with plenty of fun, plenty of stops and tonnes of junk food. I was actually jealous of what an amazing time they were having. The photos hubby was sending were great. Mr4 is a true country boy at heart and enjoyed the boys time.
Zac had a massive area to relax in (he hates car rides)
Mr4 and Zac having dinner, Mr4's reaction to seeing horses and a lunch break at the park.
As you can see they had tonnes of fun.
Thursday was the girls turn. We had the suitcases absolutely at breaking point. Mum had poked and prodded and pulled, pushed and squeezed until there was no room left. We thought we had finally remembered everything (we hadn't!). So off to the airport we went.
A quick stop for lunch at one of the crappy airport cafés and we were on the plane. Waving goodbye to mum (who was, of course, crying!).
We sat on the plane and the very first thing Miss5 did was get out the emergency safety procedure booklet and start reading it. Safety first!! Haha. We had packed lolly pops in case Miss5's ears gave her any grief and I had a packet of chewing gum because my ears were still playing up. As we started to take off I got super excited and was leaning over Miss5 trying to look out the window. She didn't like that so I sat back and fed Isla-she didn't have any problems flying though.
As the plane got up and settled into its flight Miss5 turned to me and said "when is the plane going to start flying properly?"
"It is flying, look at the ground you can see we are actually moving"
On the way up my ears were popping like crazy. I was officially deaf in my left ear. I got worried that it would be my ear drum bursting!! Miss5 asked me "when will my ears start popping?" I was so glad her ears were good.
The flight was easy, Miss5 coloured in and read the magazines, Isla slept and I relaxed back and tried to look out the window.
"I'm just closing the blinds because the sun is too bright up here" Miss5 said and blocked my view!
After I bribed her in to opening the blinds again she promptly shut them "it's just a bit cold out there so I'll shut the blinds."
The next time I was able to see out the window it was clear we were in red dirt country. I could see rocks and mountains and lots of red dirt. I was getting excited.
As we began our decent my left ear started getting really painful. Like really REALLY painful. And I was super deaf. I got really worried that my ear wouldn't last.
Finally as we got closer to Paraburdoo airport I got a good look out the window. We were landing on a runway in the middle of the sticks-literally! There was a long bitumen runway with nothing but red dirt and a little shed for the 'departures.' The entire car park was full of cars with orange flags on top, orange flashing lights and company stickers on the sides. And then right at the end our black 4wd with no bull bar, no stickers, no flag and no lights! It looked very out of place!
Hubby and Mr4 were standing at the gate waiting for us! I was so happy to see them.
We drove to our little house in Tom Price-a 45 minute drive to the next town. It was a nice little house but the company had found us a bigger house. So we had an apprentice mechanic living in our house-using our furniture (argh!! A 20 yr old male just does not understand about red dirt, washing machines and general tidiness!!) I was not happy about having someone else in our house, and he was to stay there until we left, as it was to become his house.
I was over living with other people. I had lived with other people for 3 months!! I was looking forward to bringing my newborn home and spending time just the 5 of us. I ended up sitting in our bedroom feeding Isla, changing her nappy in the bedroom and because the apprentice was sleeping in her room we had to move the cot into our room for the night!!
So the next day we moved to the new house, the bigger house! Seriously I had just travelled 1600kms, hubby had spent 2 days driving and now we had to move house. Why?!?
The first night we had just the beds and the fridge in the new house. But at least we were here as a family-no one else! It was like heaven to me after living with others for 3 months.
For the rest of the week we slowly moved everything from the old house to the new house. And began the enormous task of unpacking. The kids thought it was Christmas. They had ALL their toys back, Miss5 was excited to have all her shoes back. I was surprised at how much they had both grown in the 3 months, half their clothes no longer fit. "Why is my pram so short?" Miss5 asked me. She had grown so much it seemed like her pram had shrunk!
Mr4 is happy as a pig in mud. Although he doesn't get the concept of the he whole town being called Tom Price. He called the old house 'small Tom price' and he calls our new house the 'big Tom price.'
All the other houses are called 'all the other Tom prices' I keep trying to explain to him that the whole town is called Tom Price-just like our old suburb. All the shops and houses etc are a part of Tom Price. He still doesn't get it though.
We have driven past the kids new school. Can't wait for them to be back at school next week!!
We have already been to the doctor. Just a post glue ear check up for Mr4. I was surprised to find there are actually 3 doctors in town. The last country town we were in only had 1. I was also pleasantly surprised at how thorough the doctor was. Without meaning to offend anyone I often find country doctors to be pretty average. It was a nice surprise :-)
There are a few things I have found different about the Pilbara compared to the city (or other country towns).
First thing that spun me out was that the schools are two story and all the classes are on the top floor-apparently this has to do with how hot it gets up here.
School goes from 8am-2pm instead of 8:45am-3pm. Wow! I have to be out the house by 7:50am!! Argh!
The 'white' cockatoos are covered in red dirt and look like completely different birds. There is also an awful lot of them up here, and I mean A LOT!
They don't have recycling bins! Seriously there is only one wheelie bin. Rubbish. We used to fill up two bins per week in the city I have no idea how we will survive with only one!
There are LOTS of prickles up here. Big, ouchie prickles. The kids now have 'outside only' thongs so they don't bring prickles into the house.
Everyone up here seems to have matching letter boxes. Seriously they do! You can drive down most streets and at the end of the verge there is a perfect line of white metal letter boxes. It's one of those silly things that most people would never notice but I find hilarious.
Two things that suck a lot so after about our new house-no dishwasher :-( This. Sucks. I got so used to always having a dishwasher that having to wash the dishes sucks.
The other thing, I finally have a good old hills hoist washing line, yay!!! But I can't reach it, no!!!! The thing sits so bloody high up in the sky there is no way I can reach it. So far I've been putting the washing through the machine and then getting hubby to hang it out and bring it in. I have no idea what I'm going to do once he goes back to work.
This week has been spent mostly moving house and settling in.
I'm happy to report that the big kids are sharing a bedroom with very little fuss. No staying up late talking, no 1000trips to the toilet, Miss5 is still completely dry (YAY!!).
My secret to stopping the kids from talking to each other all night-putting the chest of drawers between them.
We had our first little adventure the other day. Not that we went far. We took our 4wd on its first off road adventure and went up Mount Nameless. From our front yard you can see the mountain. It's beautiful, so up we went. The scenery from the top was amazing. It's one of those moments where you stop and think-this is breathtaking. We live in an amazing world. Nature is an incredible thing. It's what makes hubby and I say "there's so much more out there" we love travelling to new places and exploring new things. We hope to see a lot of the national parks while we are up here. We live so close to Karijini national park. We plan to explore as much as we can while here. We have our 4wd so we can go more places. It's quite exciting.
The top of the mountain
On the drive back down
Our 4wd on its first off road adventure
This is the town of Tom Price from the top of the mountain-we live on the edge of town, right hand side of picture.
I hope to be able to share some more amazing adventures and photos for you over the coming weeks and months. And hopefully next time I go somewhere amazing I take my SLR camera and I'll try my hand at getting some decent photos.
It's been a crazy week of moving, unpacking, settling in, sleep training Isla and teaching the big kids to use an 'indoor voice' while their sister sleeps. It's been tonnes of fun but I'm ready to get this adventure going.
Next week is school and play group and hopefully meeting some people in this super friendly town. The week after hubby goes back to work and I hopefully survive being housewife and mum to three kids. The week after that hubby goes away for 3 nights-my first time with three kids by myself. My biggest challenge that I can see will be getting the kids to school by 8am!! That's so early! And I'm definitely not a morning person!
Sunday, 13 July 2014
Isla Rose Currie
I've been a bit quiet lately. And if you follow my Facebook page you will know why!
Baby number 3 finally made her long awaited arrival!! And as always I have a good labour story.
July 2-one day before little miss' due date and I was pretty much losing the plot. By now I had done EVERYTHING to induce labour. Raspberry leaf tea, walking, kerb walking, hot baths, I was hand expressing colostrum (nipple stimulation), eating hot currys etc etc. You name it, I was trying it. But nothing seemed to be working, this little girl did not want to come early.
By the evening before my due date I had picked up the flu from Mr4. Thanks!! I had a runny nose, sore throat and a nasty cough. By dinner time my tummy was hurting. All that coughing was giving me a 6 pack...or so I thought.
Later that night as I was laying in bed hubby came in and asked if I needed to go to hospital.
"Don't be stupid, I've just been coughing too much" I told him.
I had sneakily been keeping track of contractions- 8:09pm, 8:32pm, 8:39pm, 8:49pm, 8:59pm, 9:16pm, 9:43pm, 9:50pm and 9:59pm. They were completely scattered and the pain wasn't getting the slightest bit worse.
But at 10pm I looked to my husband and said "take me to hospital"
10:01pm I called out to mum "call an ambulance I need to get to hospital"
I really don't know what it was. I still wasn't 100% sure I was in labour for real! Mum called the ambos and told the lady on the phone that I had a history of not making it to hospital. The lady told the ambos to come with lights and sirens going.
When they arrived the paramedics didn't seem too phased. It was 2 males (just like last time) and my contractions were 10 minutes apart (sort of, they still weren't very regular). The hospital was a 35 minute drive away but the paramedics thought we had plenty of time.
I begged for pain relief but was told that the green whistle thing was a no go...I had it last time with Mr4 and loved it!! I got up on the bed and was wheeled into the back of the ambulance where I was stabbed with a needle...an IV. I absolutely hate needles, they are my big phobia. For me to have an IV inserted while conscious is a pretty big deal. I told the guy I didn't like him for doing it to me. Oops. And then I said sorry.
I was told to say when I was having a contraction. When it started and when it stopped. So every time I had a pain I told them. The contractions were for real now. They were getting painful and closer together. I could see the look in the mans face. He thought we had plenty of time-but now he was getting nervous about delivering a baby.
When we left mums house my contractions were 10 minutes apart. When we arrived at the hospital they were 2 minutes apart. I had progressed that quickly!
Because of the time of night all the doors into the hospital were locked and people were pretty slow to let us through doors. I could tell NOW that the ambos were getting worried, it was taking a long time to get inside and I was in pretty full on labour.
Finally inside the midwife did an internal "um your about 5-6cms gone" seriously?!? I had only been in labour for an hour-ish.
Now for the nitty gritty details. Look away now if you don't want to read about childbirth
The midwife told me to pee and I swear on my life I peed for like 2hours! I actually said to the midwife "I'm not sure if I'm peeing or if my waters broke" she checked and it was just pee! Seriously
where had this come from?
I had gas for pain relief which I was totally stoked about. I love that gas. It makes labour totally worth it.
I also had a crowded room. The midwives never left my side-they knew that this baby was ready to come out. She told me baby was in the birthing position from the second I walked in. In the room were my midwife, a dr was coming and going quite regularly (I'm guessing this is because if the labour was long [yeah right!] I would need a pile of drugs to help my body cope with the stress, thanks to the steroids I've been on for my arthritis). I also had the lady from Cell Care. She was there to collect my baby's cord blood and tissue as we chose to have it stored. A friend of mine was my student midwife, so she was there as well. And of course hubby was there holding my hand-or more like having his hand crushed by me.
My contractions were getting pretty much on top of each other but this time around I felt like I had more control. Like my head was in the game. I knew when my contraction was at its worst and I was telling myself 'it's going away now, I can do this now' it still hurt like hell though.
After about 45-50minutes in hospital my pain reached this absolutely blinding, can't breathe, can't think, can't function, holy shit I'm going to die stage....baby was coming.
My waters broke, I screamed like hell, I think I pushed and out came my princess.
She was put straight on my belly and I just stared at her. She was perfect. My first thought was 'gosh she looks like Bradley.'
I was so happy my friend the student midwife got to catch my girl which was pretty amazing-we had been friends since we were born and now she was catching my baby!
Hubby cut the cord and my student midwife went off to faint-poor girl, it was a late night and she had missed out on dinner and drove a long way to try and make it to the hospital before baby came.
The midwife tried to get my placenta out but it wasn't happening. Apparently if your bladder is full it won't come out as easily. She asked if I could get up to pee. That wasn't happening. Because of the speed of the labour and those lovely hormones I was shaking like a leaf. Literally.
So how do you pee when you can't get up? Well the midwife got a catheter. Shoved it in me, I peed out like another 10thousand litres ( seriously where was this pee all coming from? I didn't even feel the need to go!!) and then out came my placenta. I don't look at that shit though cos it's gross.
I was still cuddling my little girl but I was DYING to know how much she weighed. I wanted to know if I got my little girl. Finally the midwife out her on the scales and hubby told me she was 3.695kgs. "What's that in pounds, I can only tell if a baby is big or small by the pounds" I made hubby google it to convert kg's to pounds. 8pound 1 ounce. YES!!!!! My smallest baby yet! I was so happy, the midwives thought I was crazy-an 8pound baby isn't usually considered small.
The dr then came in, shoved my legs up in those horrible stirrup type things. It's really an embarrassing thing to lay on your back with your legs at odd angles up in the air with a midwife and nurse looking at your lady bits. At one stage all I could think was 'thank goodness I shaved my legs today!' I had a teeny tiny first degree tear. The dr said usually it wouldn't be stitched because it was coming together so well but where I tore was close to some blood vessels so they decided to put a couple stitches in.
While hubby was playing doting daddy the midwife came and held my hand, I breathed the gas like crazy and the dr sat down to get to work.
After having my first daughter I was stitched up but I was unconscious when it happened. This time I was awake and could feel the pulling sensation. It actually sucked. Like I could feel when she was pulling the stitch through. Yuck!
Finally I was done. I cuddled my beautiful girl again. Then it was time to get cleaned up. Hubby dressed our beautiful girl and we got packed up and off to a room we went.
A couple hours later, about 4am, a dr came in. The first thing he said to me was "I'll check the baby now and then get you ready to go home today"
Woah! Seriously? Apparently public patients who are onto their third baby don't get to hang around for long.
That morning our big kids came to the hospital to visit us. But because it was the second last day of school they both had class parties they wanted to go to, so they visited us quickly and then headed to school. Mr4's first words about his new sister were "she's got fat cheeks" Miss5 was just so overwhelmed. She is so in love with her baby sister.
14 hours after Isla was born I was taking her home...well back to mums place because we were still staying there.
Isla Rose Currie. Our perfect little girl.
That afternoon I went to pick the kids up from school. The teachers and other mums thought I was crazy to be picking the kids up 14 hours after giving birth. But I felt AMAZING.
That night Miss Isla slept from 8:30pm till 5am (with a quick nappy change at 2am). I was pretty happy with that for her first night in the world!
The next day I woke up with a huge earache. Off to the drs we went. Not only did I have a cough, runny nose, headache and earache I had an upper respiratory infection. Seriously I gave birth with a respiratory infection?!? My GP knows me well and had a good giggle about that!
The first few days I had really sore boobs-Isla has an amazingly strong suck. She just about sucked my boobs right off it was so strong. I also had way too much milk, I always do, so my boobs was so big that getting Isla to attach properly was hard.
A few days of using a nipple shield and we were going good. Hubby had to make an emergency run to buy a breast pump (as my old one was up in Tom Price) because I had way too much milk and I was so engorged and so sore. After a couple good expressing sessions I was feeling much better.
Day 8 we left the city. We had a few more dramas. Mr4 had developed glue ear from his ear infection a couple weeks back and was told he couldn't fly. So he had to join my husband and our dog for the two day drive north. They had an awesome boys only road trip. The photos and stories from the trip were amazing, I was jealous!
But my girls and I had a plane to catch. We had some seriously full baggage but we were happy. My girls were amazingly well behaved for the flight. I however was still recovering from my ear infection and my ears were popping and going crazy. As we started to land my left ear was so overcome with pain I thought I had burst my eardrum. It took a good 2 days for me to be able to hear again.
But we have arrived in the Pilbara. Warm sunny days and cool nights are what we are all about right now. We also moved house the day after we arrived here...but that's another story for another day.
I promise I will write that though because we have been having an amazing time here so far. It's only been 4 days but I'm enjoying being out of the city.
Have I put you off having kids now? Or is your story better than mine? I love hearing other peoples labour stories. I think childbirth is one of those things that you can't plan for. I have always refused to write a birth plan. I think it just sets you up for disappointment, as long as baby comes out healthy then I think that's all that matters. Who cares if you didn't have time to play that soothing music, or light those aromatherapy candles? Chances are you will want to punch your husband at some stage and you will scream for more drugs even when you wanted a drug free labour. Just go with the ride. And at the end you will get a little bundle of cuteness to love.
The very first thing I remember after Isla was born was my husband saying "she screamed louder with our first so it can't have been that bad this time." That was my 'I want to punch him' moment.
Isla Rose Currie
Born 3-7-2014 spot on her due date (there is only a 3% chance of that happening)
12:15am
8pound 1ounce
3.695kgs
50cms long
36cm head circumference
My smallest baby to date (which meant we were unprepared and had no clothes that fit her properly!)
My iPad isn't loving me right now, so I can't upload photos today. But on my Facebook I have posted a couple baby pics. Facebook page is The Currie Way Of Life...check it out.
Next time I'll try post some pictures of Isla, the kids, our new place and this beautiful red dirt town we live in.
Baby number 3 finally made her long awaited arrival!! And as always I have a good labour story.
July 2-one day before little miss' due date and I was pretty much losing the plot. By now I had done EVERYTHING to induce labour. Raspberry leaf tea, walking, kerb walking, hot baths, I was hand expressing colostrum (nipple stimulation), eating hot currys etc etc. You name it, I was trying it. But nothing seemed to be working, this little girl did not want to come early.
By the evening before my due date I had picked up the flu from Mr4. Thanks!! I had a runny nose, sore throat and a nasty cough. By dinner time my tummy was hurting. All that coughing was giving me a 6 pack...or so I thought.
Later that night as I was laying in bed hubby came in and asked if I needed to go to hospital.
"Don't be stupid, I've just been coughing too much" I told him.
I had sneakily been keeping track of contractions- 8:09pm, 8:32pm, 8:39pm, 8:49pm, 8:59pm, 9:16pm, 9:43pm, 9:50pm and 9:59pm. They were completely scattered and the pain wasn't getting the slightest bit worse.
But at 10pm I looked to my husband and said "take me to hospital"
10:01pm I called out to mum "call an ambulance I need to get to hospital"
I really don't know what it was. I still wasn't 100% sure I was in labour for real! Mum called the ambos and told the lady on the phone that I had a history of not making it to hospital. The lady told the ambos to come with lights and sirens going.
When they arrived the paramedics didn't seem too phased. It was 2 males (just like last time) and my contractions were 10 minutes apart (sort of, they still weren't very regular). The hospital was a 35 minute drive away but the paramedics thought we had plenty of time.
I begged for pain relief but was told that the green whistle thing was a no go...I had it last time with Mr4 and loved it!! I got up on the bed and was wheeled into the back of the ambulance where I was stabbed with a needle...an IV. I absolutely hate needles, they are my big phobia. For me to have an IV inserted while conscious is a pretty big deal. I told the guy I didn't like him for doing it to me. Oops. And then I said sorry.
I was told to say when I was having a contraction. When it started and when it stopped. So every time I had a pain I told them. The contractions were for real now. They were getting painful and closer together. I could see the look in the mans face. He thought we had plenty of time-but now he was getting nervous about delivering a baby.
When we left mums house my contractions were 10 minutes apart. When we arrived at the hospital they were 2 minutes apart. I had progressed that quickly!
Because of the time of night all the doors into the hospital were locked and people were pretty slow to let us through doors. I could tell NOW that the ambos were getting worried, it was taking a long time to get inside and I was in pretty full on labour.
Finally inside the midwife did an internal "um your about 5-6cms gone" seriously?!? I had only been in labour for an hour-ish.
Now for the nitty gritty details. Look away now if you don't want to read about childbirth
The midwife told me to pee and I swear on my life I peed for like 2hours! I actually said to the midwife "I'm not sure if I'm peeing or if my waters broke" she checked and it was just pee! Seriously
where had this come from?
I had gas for pain relief which I was totally stoked about. I love that gas. It makes labour totally worth it.
I also had a crowded room. The midwives never left my side-they knew that this baby was ready to come out. She told me baby was in the birthing position from the second I walked in. In the room were my midwife, a dr was coming and going quite regularly (I'm guessing this is because if the labour was long [yeah right!] I would need a pile of drugs to help my body cope with the stress, thanks to the steroids I've been on for my arthritis). I also had the lady from Cell Care. She was there to collect my baby's cord blood and tissue as we chose to have it stored. A friend of mine was my student midwife, so she was there as well. And of course hubby was there holding my hand-or more like having his hand crushed by me.
My contractions were getting pretty much on top of each other but this time around I felt like I had more control. Like my head was in the game. I knew when my contraction was at its worst and I was telling myself 'it's going away now, I can do this now' it still hurt like hell though.
After about 45-50minutes in hospital my pain reached this absolutely blinding, can't breathe, can't think, can't function, holy shit I'm going to die stage....baby was coming.
My waters broke, I screamed like hell, I think I pushed and out came my princess.
She was put straight on my belly and I just stared at her. She was perfect. My first thought was 'gosh she looks like Bradley.'
I was so happy my friend the student midwife got to catch my girl which was pretty amazing-we had been friends since we were born and now she was catching my baby!
Hubby cut the cord and my student midwife went off to faint-poor girl, it was a late night and she had missed out on dinner and drove a long way to try and make it to the hospital before baby came.
The midwife tried to get my placenta out but it wasn't happening. Apparently if your bladder is full it won't come out as easily. She asked if I could get up to pee. That wasn't happening. Because of the speed of the labour and those lovely hormones I was shaking like a leaf. Literally.
So how do you pee when you can't get up? Well the midwife got a catheter. Shoved it in me, I peed out like another 10thousand litres ( seriously where was this pee all coming from? I didn't even feel the need to go!!) and then out came my placenta. I don't look at that shit though cos it's gross.
I was still cuddling my little girl but I was DYING to know how much she weighed. I wanted to know if I got my little girl. Finally the midwife out her on the scales and hubby told me she was 3.695kgs. "What's that in pounds, I can only tell if a baby is big or small by the pounds" I made hubby google it to convert kg's to pounds. 8pound 1 ounce. YES!!!!! My smallest baby yet! I was so happy, the midwives thought I was crazy-an 8pound baby isn't usually considered small.
The dr then came in, shoved my legs up in those horrible stirrup type things. It's really an embarrassing thing to lay on your back with your legs at odd angles up in the air with a midwife and nurse looking at your lady bits. At one stage all I could think was 'thank goodness I shaved my legs today!' I had a teeny tiny first degree tear. The dr said usually it wouldn't be stitched because it was coming together so well but where I tore was close to some blood vessels so they decided to put a couple stitches in.
While hubby was playing doting daddy the midwife came and held my hand, I breathed the gas like crazy and the dr sat down to get to work.
After having my first daughter I was stitched up but I was unconscious when it happened. This time I was awake and could feel the pulling sensation. It actually sucked. Like I could feel when she was pulling the stitch through. Yuck!
Finally I was done. I cuddled my beautiful girl again. Then it was time to get cleaned up. Hubby dressed our beautiful girl and we got packed up and off to a room we went.
A couple hours later, about 4am, a dr came in. The first thing he said to me was "I'll check the baby now and then get you ready to go home today"
Woah! Seriously? Apparently public patients who are onto their third baby don't get to hang around for long.
That morning our big kids came to the hospital to visit us. But because it was the second last day of school they both had class parties they wanted to go to, so they visited us quickly and then headed to school. Mr4's first words about his new sister were "she's got fat cheeks" Miss5 was just so overwhelmed. She is so in love with her baby sister.
14 hours after Isla was born I was taking her home...well back to mums place because we were still staying there.
Isla Rose Currie. Our perfect little girl.
That afternoon I went to pick the kids up from school. The teachers and other mums thought I was crazy to be picking the kids up 14 hours after giving birth. But I felt AMAZING.
That night Miss Isla slept from 8:30pm till 5am (with a quick nappy change at 2am). I was pretty happy with that for her first night in the world!
The next day I woke up with a huge earache. Off to the drs we went. Not only did I have a cough, runny nose, headache and earache I had an upper respiratory infection. Seriously I gave birth with a respiratory infection?!? My GP knows me well and had a good giggle about that!
The first few days I had really sore boobs-Isla has an amazingly strong suck. She just about sucked my boobs right off it was so strong. I also had way too much milk, I always do, so my boobs was so big that getting Isla to attach properly was hard.
A few days of using a nipple shield and we were going good. Hubby had to make an emergency run to buy a breast pump (as my old one was up in Tom Price) because I had way too much milk and I was so engorged and so sore. After a couple good expressing sessions I was feeling much better.
Day 8 we left the city. We had a few more dramas. Mr4 had developed glue ear from his ear infection a couple weeks back and was told he couldn't fly. So he had to join my husband and our dog for the two day drive north. They had an awesome boys only road trip. The photos and stories from the trip were amazing, I was jealous!
But my girls and I had a plane to catch. We had some seriously full baggage but we were happy. My girls were amazingly well behaved for the flight. I however was still recovering from my ear infection and my ears were popping and going crazy. As we started to land my left ear was so overcome with pain I thought I had burst my eardrum. It took a good 2 days for me to be able to hear again.
But we have arrived in the Pilbara. Warm sunny days and cool nights are what we are all about right now. We also moved house the day after we arrived here...but that's another story for another day.
I promise I will write that though because we have been having an amazing time here so far. It's only been 4 days but I'm enjoying being out of the city.
Have I put you off having kids now? Or is your story better than mine? I love hearing other peoples labour stories. I think childbirth is one of those things that you can't plan for. I have always refused to write a birth plan. I think it just sets you up for disappointment, as long as baby comes out healthy then I think that's all that matters. Who cares if you didn't have time to play that soothing music, or light those aromatherapy candles? Chances are you will want to punch your husband at some stage and you will scream for more drugs even when you wanted a drug free labour. Just go with the ride. And at the end you will get a little bundle of cuteness to love.
The very first thing I remember after Isla was born was my husband saying "she screamed louder with our first so it can't have been that bad this time." That was my 'I want to punch him' moment.
Isla Rose Currie
Born 3-7-2014 spot on her due date (there is only a 3% chance of that happening)
12:15am
8pound 1ounce
3.695kgs
50cms long
36cm head circumference
My smallest baby to date (which meant we were unprepared and had no clothes that fit her properly!)
My iPad isn't loving me right now, so I can't upload photos today. But on my Facebook I have posted a couple baby pics. Facebook page is The Currie Way Of Life...check it out.
Next time I'll try post some pictures of Isla, the kids, our new place and this beautiful red dirt town we live in.
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