Someone is going to keep us on our toes!

So I have been talking about being quite nonchalant and blase about preparing for the arrival of version 2.  No pregnancy photos taken until my third trimester and not getting our act together until we got a massive kick in the a*se on April 1.

Most people would know that I was scheduled for an elective c-section for the first week of May (that will be this week). I was a bit vague about giving the specific date of May 2 (that will be TODAY!) since I thought that there was a good chance that the hospital might not be able to accomodate us for some reason and we would be shafted to another date - the perils of giving birth in the public system.

Little did we know that one of the biggest star in this story had something else in mind!

April 18, 2012 - the day started like any other Wednesday. Tim and I dropped Noah off at daycare. I then proceeded to drop Tim off at work as it was raining hard and I was on my way to meet up with some girlfriends for a catch up. So off I went....

Since I stopped working, I have been very practical about trying to make the most of my "days out". I try and organise catch ups on the same days I may have my doctor and hospital appointments. That Wednesday was no different. I even managed to squeeze in a lunch date with Tim in between appointments. Little did I know that my Vegetable Thai Laksa was going to be the catalyst for what lied ahead...or it was going to be the nicest meal I would have for the next few days.

It was roughly just after 1pm when Tim and I finished our lunch date. He was walking me back to our car as I was on my way to the hospital for my 37 week appointment and to meet up with the anaethetist to discuss May 2. I distinctly remember the black clouds opening wildly to pellet rain as we crossed the street. It was the same time that I felt a gush of fluid flow through my pants. 

As we ran into a friend on the other side of the street, all I could think about was how wet my pants were and how desperate I was to tell Tim to find me a toilet. We ran to the nearest public toilet and true enough I had soaked. Now I didn't labor with Noah so I had no idea what contractions were like, let alone what waters breaking would be. However, based on my reading of expert materials regarding birthing aka Dr. Google, I thought that waters breaking equated to full on gushing on somewhat greenish fluid. I seriously thought that my bladder had just leaked!

So off I went to my 2pm appointment, wet pants and all!

Now, with these hospital appointments, I usually arm myself with a stash of reading materials as I normally expect to wait for over an hour before a doctor sees me. However, when I handed in my appointment card, I asked to see a midwife as I had a to ask my question. Luckily there was one standing at the counter so bashfully, I said, "I am 37 weeks right now, is it normal for my bladders to leak?". The midwife looked at me with concern.

The midwife ordered me to put on a pad that she gave and quickly whisked me to see the doctor. Good grief, talk about first class service. I did not even get the chance to open up my goodie bag full of tricks to keep me occupied while waiting. I watched the other pregnant ladies in the waiting room stare at me, probably wondering why I was getting special treatment.

So in I went to see the lovely doctor on duty. After a few minutes of general questions, she asked to examine me. Without any hesitation, she said "Yes, your membranes have ruptured, you are not going anywhere else". That's when my mind went blank.

I was immediately sent to the birthing unit. On my way there, I had no idea how to feel. All I could think of was that we were not ready and that I wanted to have my baby in May (which happens to be Tim's birth month so I thought it would be a nice present for them to share the same month). Once there, I rang Tim to let him know what was going on. I was in tears. I felt almost helpless. I had no idea what we were going to do with Noah, who was still in daycare and we still had a lot of Eliza's things that needed to be washed, and I still need to clean the house!

I was informed that once your waters break, labor can either start within 24 hours or take longer. Since I tested positive for Group B strep, it was important for the baby to be delivered within 24 hours. The doctors offered me the choice once again of trying to deliver normally or going ahead with the planned c-sect. I chose the later.

Thankfully Tim's work is not too far from the hospital so he was with me within half an hour. It was so calming and soothing to have him with me. I knew that my rock, the person who was going to hold my hand through this had arrived.

The midwives told us that the doctors were busy and that it would take a while before they can get me in the theatre. We had some time up our sleeve so we decided that Tim would go home, pack up my things for my hospital stay, get Noah from daycare and sort him out, meet my parents at our place who came to our rescue by agreeing to spend the night with Noah at home. Tim would then drive back to the hospital for the birth. We were told that we had at least 3hrs up our sleeve.

However, our little star of attraction continued with her own plans. While waiting, I started to labor!

It was not too long after Tim left that the doctors started to become concerned. I was told that "the baby is definitely on its way and if we don't get to the theatre soon, you will be giving birth naturally".

So I rang Tim and asked him to get back to the hospital as soon as he can.

Around 6pm, the doctors asked me whether Tim was on his way back. I rang Tim once again. The poor man frantically told me that he cannot find a park as all the emergency parks have been taken and that he is trying to make his way to the hospital multi storey car park but is not being successful given all the road blocks and the heavy rain. My poor poor husband!

Tim eventually turned up not long after, welcomed by all the doctors and midwives, cheering him on for finally finding a park. Seeing Tim arrive in disarray but wearing his favourite restaurant shirt (the one he always wears when we are going out) made me laugh. It gave me the comfort that I was seeking - Tim was letting me know that today is worth celebrating.

I was then whisked to the theatre to be "prepped" while Tim was asked to change to his theatre outfit and wait until I was ready.

Since this was my 2nd c-sect, I somewhat knew what to expect. Despite believing that everything would be alright, I was still silently praying for guidance and grace, positive thoughts and that my baby and I will be okay.

The surgery itself did not last very long. At 6.54pm, my baby was pulled out from the depths of my pelvis (yes,  totally ready to come out)  and whisked above the curtain to be presented to us. It was the umbilical cord which immediately caught my eye but they quickly moved to the lower region. A beautiful little girl...with lots of hair! Wooohooo, the sonographer did get it right!

Tim finally let go of my hand to watch our little girl get cleaned. Her little cries continued to fill the silence in the room as I got stitched up. Such strong lungs for a wee lil one.  I asked Tim whether she had 10 little fingers and 10 little toes. "Perfect" he said.

As soon as she was bundled, Tim presented out little star to me. That's when I finally met my daughter, Eliza Anne Stentiford.

The rest, as they say...is history!

Someday, you are going to grow up....

and will no longer want to hold my hand like this...

This is me and Noah sitting together watching tele this afternoon. He is sat on my lap with his hand on top of mine, fingers locked into mine. I am inhaling the smell of his hair, hoping to keep it in my memory forever.

Noah seems to be at his cuddliest right now. Not only has he learned to give wonderful cuddles but he has also learned to ask us for cuddles, quite succintly too.

He is so cuddly right now that I am soaking up every chance I can get with him, despite feeling extra heavy and uncomfortable. A couple of times during the week, he has woken up during the night and have snuggled in our bed. As long as I can still breathe and I know that he is not on top of the baby, I let him snuggle up to me and find his most comfortable position to sleep. I know that this is not going to be forever.

Seriously, if someone can bottle this feeling and sell it, they would make a fortune.

Can life get any better than this?

Reality check!

Isn't it amazing how unexpected events can be such catalysts to get our butts moving when we procastinate. Events that put us out of comfort zone can be exactly what we need to get our act together.

It definitely happened for Tim and myself this weekend.

Funny how much weekends have changed since having a child. Tim and I used to have weekends almost to ourselves before Noah was born. Breakfast at our local coffee shop, then maybe going for a walk in the afternoon, with Tim and I always looking for something to do. These days, our weekends are almost always filled before we even get to the week before the weekend. Swimming lessons in the morning, then usually a birthday party or 2 in the afternoon. Last weekend was no different. A 2nd birthday party on the Saturday and a combined 2nd birthday party/baptism/40th birthday on the Sunday.

Anyhow, so we were at our friends place on Sunday afternoon, feasting and enjoying watching Noah take advantage of the mini playland that they have in their backyard! Little did we know how much excitement the rest of our afternoon was going to bring forth.....

When I went for a loo break, I spotted something unusual and I started to panic. It was something that I had not experienced with Noah at this late of my pregnancy with him so I was totally baffled. My first instinct was to find Tim (who was still in the backyard chilling). I told him what I had found. I told him that I was going to ring the hospital and ask for their advice. Luckily I had brought my ante natal card with me which has my hospital records and the phone number of the delivery suite. It was only that weekend that I started to become vigilant about carrying the card with me. If someone had asked me where the card was several weeks ago, I honestly could not tell you (bad bad bad patient!).

So I spoke to a lovely midwife on the phone. She asked a ton of questions and deduced that the best thing was for me to come in and be checked. She said that there may be a chance of me being kept overnight for observation....at least the thought of delivering that night was not even broached.

Unfortunately, we had to leave the festivities earlier than we had planned. Such a party pooper!

We drove straight to the hospital. Funny how neither Tim nor I brought up the possibility of having a baby that night but later on discussed how much we thought of it during the drive. I think that the thought of having a child born 4 weeks earlier than expected was just too much for us to discuss!

The lovely midwife that I spoke with ushered us into a room. She took my blood pressure, temperature and hooked me onto a machine to monitor the baby's heartbeat and movements. She said that I would have to wait for the doctor for further examination to see what is going on.

After 2 hours of waiting, with Noah in the room entertaining himself with a hospital curtain, my phone (thank you Bananas in Pyjamas and photos!), the chairs, dinner, the hospital bed and a latex glove, the doctors finally came to see me.

Once they had done what they needed to do, they concluded that the issues were mild enough to allow me to go home for the evening. I was under strict instructions though to keep an eye out and return straight to hospital if anything else happened. I was elated. The possibility of going home with a new baby was not even discussed! Besides when they asked me if we were expecting a boy or a girl and said girl, one of the doctors said that it was a boy day for them. Yahooo! We will come back another day then!

We are so not ready to welcome our new baby right now!

We drove home, relieved, frantically discussing what we needed to do to prepare ourselves. I think that if this is not a reality check that the wee one will soon be joining our family, I don't know what is.

You can only imagine we are doing right now and what is on the agenda for our Easter long weekend.
- Book capsule
- Sort out her clothes
- Wash her clothes
- Build cot and sort out her beddings
- Make space in our wardrobes for her things

If we are lucky, we might have until the 2nd of May to get ourselves sorted....but at least we have started!

33 weeks and 3 days!

I reminded Tim yesterday that we have not yet taken any photos of me in all my pregnancy glory. Our poor 2nd child. Not even born yet and we are already depriving her of photos. It's a common joke amongst most families I know (including mine) that 2nd children hardly have baby photos whilst the first child has every single milestone (and more!) captured on camera.

I have been feeling mighty big with this pregnancy. I actually feel so much healthier (thank you iron and calcium supplements as well as pre-natal vitamins) than my first one but I just feel BIG this time. I know it since I can no longer wear clothes that I used to be able to when I was at the same week. Maybe its true that women carry girls differently from boys. With Noah, most of the weight I carried was on my tummy. With this pregnancy, I am carrying the weight both on my tummy and on my sides (yikes!). Maybe its because its my 2nd pregnancy and my expanded body is just finding more space to expand. Maybe its because I cannot stop eating chocolate ice cream with m&m's topping.

Anyhow, so I am finally sharing these photos (with Tim's consent of course!)...we took the same ones when I was pregnant with Noah. I am not sure whether we will have another pregnancy, so I will brave it out and let my inner Demi Moore come out and share with you.

Dear Noah

Last Friday, 5th March, you turned 2 years old. I cannot believe how quickly it has taken for you to be a toddler! One minute you were placed in my arms, all 2.62kgs of you.....730 days later, with lots of sleepless nights, lots of feeds and nappy changes and endless surprises, you are now almost 14kgs, talking in phrases and running around and calling me Mummy and mimicking me when I call your Dada Babe! Seriously!

Today I am writing to you so that one day you can celebrate who you are when you turned 2.








Your Dada and I count ourselves so lucky that for the most part, you are a wonderful baby/child. More often that not, you sleep through the night, giving your Dad and I our much needed time together and sleep. Although on some occasions, you still wake up during the night, screaming Dada or Mumma. Usually, it is your Dada who runs to rescue you from your nightmares. Mummy, although half awake will always try to wait it out to see whether you can put yourself back to sleep. Mean Mummy!

At 2, there are so many things that you are obsessed with. Not sure whether these are indicators of what you will continue to love when you grow up but here are some things that make you our Noah/N/ Noey/NoNo/Noahlish right now:

Music 

First keyboard and guitar

Watching live music

Amazing how at this age, you cannot say the word fish but you know the word guitar! Your Dada and I so love watching you explore your musical interests. Not only playing with your instruments but also watching musicians play. It can be a bit loud sometimes when you are banging on your drums, while playing 2 guitars and getting your Dada to play on the keyboard but oh how proud we were when you starting playing the harmonica!!!

Dancing

Okay, your current obsession with The Wiggles is ridiculous. Well, not really The Wiggles but with only 2 of their songs. Every day for the last couple of weeks, we have listened to Here Comes the Camel and Shimmy Shake about 5 million times. If The Wiggles made a cent for every time I had to hear these songs, the millions they have already made would be at infinity-millions. However, it is quite heartwarming to see you watch it as now, you are copying their actions. You have started clapping your hands above your head, pointing your finger while moving your right arm and doing the salute move on your forehead! Hilarious! I better make sure to keep those Line Dancing videos away from you my love.

Mermaid

It does not matter if she is older, bigger and taller. She is pretty!

Watching his mermaid in action

One day when you are a bit older and know the concept of boyfriend/girlfriend, I will remind you how your first love (aside from me, your Mummy of course!) is the mermaid at Manly Oceanworld. Our regular trips to the aquarium have you running to find the mermaid and asking me to have your photo taken with her. Well, she is quite pretty so you definitely have great taste!

Ate (Ah-te)

Enjoying the ice cream that Ate bought for you

Going for a ride with Ate

Playing with Ate

There is no denying how much you love and adore your Ate Isabel. When Isabel stayed with us for a couple of nights during the school holidays, you could not contain your excitement. It was Ate, Ate, Ate. To date, you look forward to seeing Ate and playing with Ate. When you don't get to see your Ate for a while,  you are watching videos of the 2 of you or looking at photos with Ate in it.



Animals

Enjoying seeing a butterfly land on Daddy's hand

I am holding a shark's egg everyone!

This stems from your Dad...definitely! Your love for the zoo, aquarium, wildlife world is incredible.

These days, we currently average going to Taronga Zoo and Manly Oceanworld about 1x a fortnight. Thank goodness that you have very generous grandparents (from both sides) who are happy enough to give Mumma and Dada passes for gifts (who would have ever thought I would ask for a zoo pass as a present???). It makes feeding your hunger to see your mates regularly so easy.

Cars/Trains/Horses (especially the ones you can ride on at the shops)

Riding on Neigh

Riding on Choo Choo

Need I say more? Your Dada and I are fast learning how to maneuver through the shops without having you see the rides (not being successful as you have such fast eyes!) and fast learning to just let you sit on the ride until a good samaritan who is unable to say no to their child comes.

The above are just a snippet of the things you currently love. Like most 2 year olds, you are a captured market for all things commercial. Thomas, Cars, In the Night Garden are just some of the characters that have already invaded our home. At school, you are a congenial child who loves to partake in all activities (especially music and dancing!). You love your artwork (we still cannot believe that word is part of your vocabulary) and you LOVE the sandpit...so much that you often come home covered with it.

Of course, we cannot fool ourselves to think that all is always easy and rosy. We do have our daily battles with you, Noah Timothy Stentiford (yes that's when the full name come out!). Changing nappies is HARD, not because of the smell, but because you hate lying still. You hate putting dot, dot, dot (suncream) and having your nails cut. Mummy and Dada have to bribe you to get you in the bath....and tooth cleaning is definitely OH&S hazard that parenting books never divulged. I have had my finger bitten so hard a couple of times that it has become blue.

I have started calling you Destructo as oftentimes it seems you enjoy tipping out boxes of toys that I have just packed. You also have zero patience (although it seems as if you are finally learning what "Noah wait" means) and God help us when we try to get the ipad or the iphone off you.

However, all in all, I think we will keep you! You have changed me so much (for the better I hope given that I am now decorating a child's birthday cake!) and if the last 2 years indicate how much love and happiness you will continue to bring into our lives, then your Dada and I look forward to what is ahead of us (including the HARD work!).

Your 2nd Birthday Cake! Dada baked it and Mummy decorated

That's our boy!

Once again, Happy Happy 2nd Birthday our darling Noah.
Mumma and Dada are very blessed to have you. 

Lots of love forever,

Mumma and Dada
XXX

A morning at Taronga Zoo

Our beautiful boy Noah turned 2 last Friday. Tim had organised to take the day off from work so that we could take Noah to Taronga Zoo for his special day. Unfortunately, the weather did not cooperate. However, since Tim had taken the day off and has been looking forward to be going to the zoo for days, he was adamant that we were going to spend at least part of the morning there.

Since it was "just raining" and not exactly monsoon weather, I agreed!

We were lucky enough to have received zoo passes as Christmas presents from Tim's parents (Thanks Mum and Phil). It means that I have been taking Noah to the zoo almost on a weekly (or at least fortnightly basis). By now, Noah knows exactly the animals he wants to see. A routine repertoire of the reptiles - frogs, lizards, cane toads, snakes, turtles. Then we stop at the turtle wishing well to put "money for turtle".

We then move on to the chimpanzees which Noah is enamoured with. When we first got there, the chimps were all inside having quiet time. I guess wet weather is no fun for climbing and swinging.

Since the rain had gotten harder when we got to the chimps, we decided to have our morning tea in the shelter there. Luckily, we did as soon after, the chimps were being given their lunch. Apples, oranges, bananas and capsicums were being thrown outside for the chimps to "come and get it". This woke them up, or at least it gave them the incentive to get out.

Noah was so excited to be watching his lovely chimps get fed. "Apple for hoohoo outside" is now a phrase in his vocabulary.  He watched "bubba hoohoo" swing with his "mumma hoohoo" as he tried to latch on to the capsicum mumma was chomping on.

Next stop, the elephants, or E's as Noah calls them. Once again, lady luck was on our side. Despite the rain, at least 3 of the elephants were outside and 2 of them were actually in the water playing! Noah loved watching "E having a bath" and "E blowing bubbles".

Since it was raining, we had to keep our animal viewing to where we could seek shelter too. Next stop, lions and tigers. We didn't get much action from the lions as they were all asleep - "nigh nigh roar" says Noah, but we definitely did with the tigers. Right in front of us was a beautiful tiger just lazing about. The tiger cubs were seeking shelter from under the table but mumma tiger had definitely displayed herself for us.

By this time, we all decided that we have had an eventful morning at the zoo and that it was time to call it a day! Of course, no trip to the zoo would be complete without us riding the Sky Safari or the "zoo car" as Noah likes to call it.  So last stop, Sky Safari to take us back to the top.

So all in all, everyone was pleased with the morning. Tim got his wish of spending Noah's birthday at the zoo. Noah, as per usual, got to pay his mates a visit and in return they gave him memories which he will hopefully remember and of course, I was just pleased to be spending the morning with both of my boys.

Paper!

Today, 5th March 2012, Tim and I are celebrating our 1st wedding anniversary. Cliche but time does really fly when you are having fun!

Now the symbol for 1st wedding anniversary is paper. I have been thinking of what paper symbolises for me. Ever since, I was a little girl, I have always loved paper. The smell of new books, writing on pretty stationery, sending cards and letters the old fashion way were and continue to be some of my favourite things. Paper means writing and reading stories.

The 1st year of marriage for me is definitely the beginning of a new story - a new chapter in the Beautiful Life of Jo. Tim and I stood before God, and our intimate family and friends and promised ourselves and the rest of our lives to each other. No one knows what is in store for our marriage. No one knows what stories will come out of our marriage that we hope to tell our grandchildren one day. We can only create them through participating in our marriage to the best of our ability. Tim and I can only hope to be lucky enough that our love, laughter and respect for each other will see us through many many chapters that our Author has in store for us.

Paper also symbolises communication. How appropriate! Communicating meaning knowing when to say what you have to say and when to keep your mouth shut - a vital organ in marriage, or in any relationship for that matter. As Tim and I continue to embark on our marriage journey, I hope that communication will never be lost between us. Through our spoken words or body language, may we continue to show each other how much of a gift we are to each other.

On a lighter note, Tim and I celebrated our special day last week. We chose to celebrate on the 29th February (just because!) by going back to Pilu at Freshwater (our reception venue) for lunch. Here are some photos of our very special lunch.

Tim Stentiford and his 30 week pregnant wife (gee, I'm looking big!)

With compliments from the chef, Polenta chips (these were so good!)

 Tim's first course - Calamari two ways!

 Can you tell my first course is making me happy?

What we came back for (and will continue to come back for) - Suckling pig. Pork crackling were still crackling even the following day. YUM!

Needless to say we had no room for dessert but I had enough room for a lovely Italian hot chocolate and Tim had an Afogatto.  The chef was nice enough to send us a platter of mini sweets to complement our beverages.

*Sigh*

Ahhhhhh, Pilu, continue to deliver food as lovely as what we had last week and we will continue to keep a part of you in our marriage.

Anyhow, so as I finish up this blog, I want to thank my darling husband for a wonderful first year of marriage. You are truly God's gift to me. You are so much better than what I had hoped for. You are my rock. You are my best friend. You are my number 1 cheerleader. Thank you for your unconditional love. Thank you for your energy and zest for life. Thank you for being such a great husband to me and an even better father to Noah.

I love you Timmy. Happy Anniversary!
XXX