Say Cheese!
Hah, you didn’t really think I’d go a full week without a camera did you? I picked up a Fujifilm Finepix J15fd for an awesome price (particularly considering it was only released 11 days ago!) and grabbed the underwater casing as part of a deal, not because I’m planning on going scuba diving any time soon but to make summer time photos near the paddling pool* slightly less hairy!
Unfortunately I haven’t been able to play with it much as it arrived late in the day and my subject was in a less than cheery mood. It seems dinner wasn’t up to his highness’s standards, resulting in a full blown meltdown, but not before he’d smeared it all over his forehead and thrown it at the wall. If any one is interested there will be a listing for him on eBay by tomorrow morning with no reserve, get it quick and grab a bargain! If it goes over $100 I’ll even throw in Connor!
So far the camera seems great, not a huge upgrade from my previous one, but I wanted to grab a point and shoot as soon as possible, particularly as Connor is growing so quickly, and save up for a DSLR. I’ll play about with it a bit more tomorrow, particularly with a lightbox and some macroshots and give you my full review when I get a chance to write it up.
*The paddling pool that caused Sydney to go into a cold spell, after a week of boiling hot temperatures I bought the boys a little paddling pool to splash in and cool down, cue two weeks of Sydney’s coldest October ever.
This Is… My Favourite Quote
“Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep.“ - Scott Adams
I am self taught in all of my creative pursuits and although it took me a few years to get there, this is now the rule that I create by. It takes more unpicking, more fresh sheets of paper and more frogged pieces of crochet than doing everything perfectly first time would, but when something fab arrives by pure mistake, it makes all of that extra effort worth it 
More “This is” at Three Buttons.
Helicopters have been buzzing around the house for about ten minutes now, Dan and I walked out to see what was going on and one of them flew by only a few foot above the roof. There’s been a fairly big accident about a hundred yards down the road, interestingly enough, the first one that I’ve seen since we moved in here, fairly impressive considering we live on a main road with six lanes of traffic outside our front door. There’s a mass migration of residents making their way down the road to go and gawk at what’s going on, desperately hoping to see some gore, the human species is very odd.
ETA: The crash made the news, apparently it was started by a “race brawl” at the local maccas that led to a police chase both passengers survived, but not much left of the car, article here.
Goodbye My Friend
The observant types may have noticed NaBloPoMo on NN coming to an abrupt end, unfortunately on Thursday we had a death in the family… my lovely little Konika Minolta 
Every picture I take is now covered in scanlines making it completely unusable, as far as I can tell it’s a CCD issue which is going to cost more to repair than it will to buy a new camera. That little compact has been awesome, it was just over four years old and had been used almost every day, so it had a good run, I’m just bummed that now I have to research which camera to get (and I can’t spend a year doing it like I did with my new sewing machine!) and of course save up for one and then learn how to use it how it reacts to certain things.
So, no new pictures of my world and my boys up for a while, boo to that. If you want to help towards the saving up for a new camera, maybe an early Christmas present, then feel free to make the most of the button below, I accept all major credit cards! 
NaBloPoMo Day Five
Today I have a banging headache. Boo
Another Great Debate In The Treacy Household
VH1 is a constant source of arguments in our house, this morning’s debate is as follows…
Discuss.
The Lights Are On, But No One’s Home!
I am alive, I promise!
I’ve been MIA lately, my time is being monopolised by two small beings, and my brain doesn’t seem to be able to function enough to type complete sentences - I’ve only barely been keeping CraftBlog alive and that’s more because I don’t want to lose the audience that I’ve put in all that hard work to develop.
Connor is a sweetie, he’s had a few restless nights, but overall he’s a happy little thing, he’s just starting to coo and is thinking about smiling, or at least frowning less. Declan is still being a lovely big brother, although he’s been sick for about a week now so that’s been a bit of a battle, tantrums that would have been manageable previously have turned into complete meltdowns. He’s recently become obsessed with drawing, cars and, after I showed him how he can get cartoons on demand via YouTube, computers, I can’t even go near my laptop without him grabbing the mouse and demanding “ROARY!!!!”.
I’m feeling a lot better physically this time around, I’ve already lost 20lbs and I’m only another couple away from my pre-pregnancy weight, unfortunately my brain doesn’t seem to be coping quite so well. I’m fairly certain that about half my brain cells went along with my placenta into the medical waste bin! I am in a constant state of dippyness, with all essential knowledge pushed out of my head to make way for the Thomas & Friends theme tune and instant recognition of every Sesame Street character ever.
For everyone that’s been nagging me about updating, I will be doing NaBloPoMo once again this year so things will pick up around here, although I can’t promise enlightening content every day, I will make sure to at least put up a photo as a snapshot into my day to day life
Day Eighteen Of Confinement
Now with pictures! Although they’re fairly poor quality, this place really needs to improve its lighting!
Last ever belly shot! 36 weeks 6 days, babe is engaged, to the point that the midwife who checked me this morning commented that he’s so low that limbs will start falling out soon. He’s also a big boofer, during a check a few days ago they commented that size wise he feels more like a 40-weeker than a 36. I have big babies!
I’m really not feeling the love for tomorrow, with Declan I was so excited about giving birth, this time I know what’s coming, and I’m just dreading it! I’m trying to think positive and think that it may not necessarily be plagued with the same issues as D’s birth, but the fear is still very much there.
Card from the March Moms group who have been awesome in keeping my spirits up and keeping me entertained over the last few weeks. The flowers were from the flower lady who comes round every morning to spray the flowers and remove any dead ones, every morning she’d come into our room and we’d tell her that we have no flowers. She felt sorry for us and so brought these in before my cellmate left yesterday!
I had a new cellmate within a couple of hours, another girl with ruptured membranes, although she’s term. She’s nice enough but doesn’t embrace trashy television like my old roomie, I don’t have anyone to watch Dr Phil with!
I’ve been embroidering a lot since being in here, I’m sure it’s some form of irony that I started cross-stitching a couple of months back because my Doctor told me I needed to spend more time sitting still and relaxing because the way I was going before put me at a high risk for pre-term labour. I did some at home, but I’ve only really got sucked into it since I’ve been stuck in hospital for exactly what he was warning me about.
I’ve been doing some freehand embroidery as well, but no photos of that as I’ve been sending it home so I don’t have lots of little pieces of fabric laying around here with designs on.
Now I’m just waiting for my in-laws, my Mum, Dan and the boy to arrive to visit me, I figured with that many people I’d even make an effort to get out of pyjamas and put on some make up! I almost feel human.
Day Ten Of Confinement
I’ve hit boredom now, I’m not particularly frustrated or even upset about being in here any more, just bored out of my skull and counting down the days. Oddly enough the days seem to pass fairly quickly, I’m up at 7:30 for breakfast, have my obs taken, watch some morning telly, get my CTG done, have coffee and cake, jump in the shower and before I know it it’s lunchtime already.
My doctor came around this morning to speak to Dan and I about the delivery, I’ve pretty much decided that getting an epidural as soon as the induction begins is the way I’m going to go. For a long time I was really affected by Declan’s birth, and the amount of trauma involved and I think a lot of it was caused by my insistence that I could go without an epi and not being prepared to have one, and by the time I did finally decide on it then it was too late PLUS the morphine had worn off and I was taking in so much gas I was completely delirious and remember nothing of his birth or the first few hours afterwards. I will fully admit this time round that I have a very low pain threshold and a natural birth is not for me! As soon as they shove a needle in my hand I want one in my spine as well, my Doctor has said that it will be a walking epidural so I won’t be confined to bed and will hopefully still feel the need to push. I just hope I swear less than last time!
It sounds so crazy to say that in nine days we will be a family of four. I think Declan is going to deal with it far better than I previously thought, he seems to have taken all the recent changes completely in his stride, one of the few things I will say I did right is getting him into such a set routine, so long as that isn’t messed with too much he’s a wonderful child, and although he’s going to have to learn to develop his patience a bit more once the new baby is here, I think so long as his routine doesn’t get played with too much then he’ll cope fine with it all.
I have another 24 hour gate pass this weekend so I have one weekend to do all the last minute things and get everything sorted, I must say, it’s very convenient knowing exactly when I’m going to have a baby, it makes all this planning much easier!
Day Nine Of Confinement
I heart my Doctor, this guy is so laid back it’s insane, although as he’s a high risk specialist and I’m not overly high risk I guess I’m old hat to him, but considering it was sheer luck that we ended up with him as opposed to a referral or anything I am so chuffed. He’s come to see me almost every day since I’ve been in just to say hello and check up on me, he’s just lovely and I really think his relaxed attitude is going to make a world of difference to my labour and birthing experience. In fact (almost) all of the staff in here are lovely, the midwives are (generally) superb, even the catering staff doing the crappy jobs are so friendly and Declan’s paediatrician has come to see me several times to say hello and make sure I was still growing the bub. There’s just such a friendly atmosphere that is making my stay so much easier.
Before all this happened Dan and I were thinking of cutting back on our health insurance and going public again if we decided to have another child, the care just didn’t feel like it was worth the $40 a week, but since coming in, and particularly knowing that I’m going to be in here for a total of 25 days it completely feels worth it. I’d be scared to get rid of the insurance now just in case we do have another babe and the same thing happens, there’s no way they would let me sit around for almost four weeks in a hospital bed in a public hospital to just make sure the baby wouldn’t spend any time in special care. Plus, although there was nothing wrong with the majority of the care staff in Auburn, it was very obvious that they were over stretched and didn’t have the time to do their jobs as well as they would have probably liked.
I’m hoping and praying and crossing every bit of me that this babe is a girl. I know if it is then there’s no way I would even consider getting pregnant again, although there’s no health risk to me, and only a small health risk to the bub, I am struggling enough being away from just Declan and being in hospital for this length of time, I couldn’t imagine doing it with two children to look after. Plus it’s very much in my mind that with Declan this happened at 37 weeks, with #2 this happened at 34 weeks, what if my membranes rupture at 30 weeks with #3? Although my chances of going into labour are very low, there is still a risk that I will, and even if I don’t go into labour, then there’s 5-6 weeks that I will be in hospital and away from my other two children. My mum (who is doing an awesome job taking care of Declan) has of course said that if we do decide to have a third (and last - no matter what gender!) child then she will come out in the final months to help and to cover me if I do end up in hospital long term again, so that will help, but even knowing that, it’s still not something I’m going to even consider until #2 has hit three, just to make it easier on everyone.
I was talking to my cellmate yesterday about it all and she said that it just makes you so jealous of the women whose primary concern is getting a single room in the hospital. I wouldn’t wish anything onto anyone, but the last week has really brought things into perspective for me, right now my focus is 100% on hitting full term and having a healthy baby, no matter the gender, how it gets here and what pain relief I take.
I Can Has Interwebz?
Dan gave me the internet!!! Yaaaaaaaaaaay.
Okay, so now I have a connection I can update the world on everything that’s going on.
Monday I got out of the shower, sat on the bed and discovered it drenched with fluid and blood, I went straight to the birth centre at Westmead Private and the best guess is that my waters broke in the shower and as I was washing black hair dye out of my hair I didn’t noticed the blood going down the plug hole. Once again I have PPROM (pre-term premature rupture of the membranes) combined with an unresponsive cervix. Part of my body has gone “right, lets have a baby” and another part has pulled a silly face and asked how on earth it’s supposed to do that. I have intermittent contractions but nothing significant and they’re fairly useless as they don’t actually do their job in dilating or even thinning my cervix. The main concern right now is infection as the baby is basically now exposed to the outside world without its membranes to protect it. I’ve had 48 hours of antibiotics via drip and canular and two days ago they switched me onto oral - much better because that’s only every eight hours and so I don’t get waken up through the night.
I’m being monitored every few hours through the day, as well as last thing at night and first thing in the morning, my temperature, blood pressure, pulse and the baby’s heartbeat to check for any signs of infection. I also have a CTG every morning for half an hour which monitors baby’s heart rate, movements and my contractions, this checks to see if he’s in any distress or if I’m having enough contractions to be concerned about. If they pick up any sign of infection or a high stress rate for babe then I’ll be straight in for an emergency caesarean, but so far it all looks good and neither the midwives or my doctor have any concerns. I stopped bleeding a day or so ago so they’re also very happy about that.
On Wednesday (48 hours after my waters broke) my Doctor came to see me to discuss my options. I could either stay in the hospital and continue to wait for either labour or the 37 week mark at which point they would induce me, or I could enter a trial that he was currently taking part in where I would get a 50/50 chance as to whether to be induced or to wait it out and babe would then be monitored as part of a control group to see whether there are benefits between waiting and inducing in women with cases like mine. I was convinced on entering the trial just so there was a chance of induction ASAP, I was missing Declan like crazy - I don’t think before this I’ve ever been away from him for more than ten hours at the very most and the thought of staying in hospital for three weeks was not a tempting one. Fortunately, Dan, my Mum and Declan’s paediatrician convinced me otherwise. Although we’re past the point of any lung or breathing issues the main concern at this stage of gestation is the sucking reflex forming and feeding issues, I know that if #2 was sick just because I couldn’t stick out sitting in a hospital bed for two weeks then I would have massive guilt issues, and I also know that my mental state would take a brutal kicking if I couldn’t breastfeed. As much as I miss Declan, I know he’s in safe hands with my Mum and Daniel, and as much as it sucks, he doesn’t seem to be missing me in the slightest! So I chose the “sit it out and wait” option. I think my OB/GYN is a bit pissed that I didn’t enter the trial, this is something that affects less than 0.5% of all pregnancies so I think he was fairly excited about having another guinea pig.
Ack, I just bahleeted half my damn post when my hand brushed the touchpad, damnit.
Anyway, I’m in here for the long haul. I’ve been embroidering and crochetting and I get on well with my cellmate, she’s been in here five weeks now for a shortened cervix, the food isn’t too terrible and I’m starting to learn which midwives are awesome and which ones are completely incompetent. I’m not on bedrest so I’m allowed to walk around and go to the cafe downstairs. Dan is coming to see me everyday, and Mum brings Declan in every other day although he’s more interested in showing off for the nurses than spending any time with me. I have a 24 hour pass this weekend, I’m allowed to go home on Saturday morning and return on Sunday afternoon so long as I take it easy, keep up with my meds and take my temperature, and I have the CTG right before I leave and as soon as I return. I’m very excited about seeing Declan, spending a night in my own bed and doing some last minute preparations for the new babe.
My Doctor came to see me this morning and he’s pencilled my induction in for Friday the 19th of September, spot on 37 weeks gestation and exactly nineteen months after Declan’s birth. I’m hoping I go naturally a few days before then as I now know just how horrible it is to be induced, but I don’t really see it happening that way! At least with that there then there’s an end in sight.
So, nothing to be overly concerned about at all, I’m healthy, #2 is healthy and as soon as anything is picked up wrong with either of us then at least we’re already in the right place. Right now we’re just focusing on growing and relaxing and trying not to think about just how much I miss Declan.
I'm a twenty something WAHM, originally from England and now living in a land downunder.
