Aussie's in Scotland

Please don't read if extended breastfeeding offends you

Angus gave up breastfeeding some time last year, but he has remained somewhat attached (obsessed?) to them since.

Yesterday I was propped up on the couch feeding Hugh.  Angus came into the lounge room, saw what I was doing and said "Boo boo please" . I've been taking the don't offer, don't refuse, approach with him (just like I did with Iain) so not to create jealousy and friction, and I fully expect the novelty to wear off in another week or so.

So today, just as he has done every other time since Hugh was born, he latched on, had about six sucks, and then stopped. But this time he put his hand on his belly, did a huge loud fake burp (do all boys do this???) which frightened Hugh making him screech. He then said 'pardon me' before walking off.

I laughed and laughed and laughed...then had to change my pants.

On a less happy note. Today I am 30. Yes, no longer in my 20's. It hasn't been an awful day, but considering we ran out of coffee beans for the coffee machine, and I have had all three boys home with me alone for the first time today thanks to the school holidays, it has been an 'interesting' day to say the least. I can say I managed to get the bigs boys's hair cut, and we even managed a relatively civil morning tea at our local cafe too.

The Wrap

Both Hugh and I are fans of our Loveyduds wrap, can you tell?

The Homebirth of Hugh

To read more about what a homebirth is, and why it's our preferred way to have a baby, please read here.

For this pregnancy, my antenatal care was with the midwives at the small local midwifery unit in our town, in regional Scotland. It would be these midwives that would attend our home birth, although there was no guarantee which midwives would be on call when I went into labour.

Because we were home birthing, we hired a doula (a birth companion) who would would be my birth partner/support when Stuart had to tend to the older boys.  For a fee, the doula visits with us multiple times before labour, remains with us from the time I call her for the duration of the labour, and several hours after birth. A doula is an incredibly useful tool to have during a hospital birth as well, as they are familiar with your wishes for labour and delivery and can help insure your needs are met.

My contractions began ten minutes apart on Saturday, 14th of March,  at about 9pm. They were very uncomfortable, a little bit painful, but I wasn't certain whether it was the real thing or braxton hicks. I went to bet at about 10pm, but had a very restless night sleep.

When I woke at 8 am on Sunday I thought I'd jump in the bath and see if the contractions  disappeared. They didn't, so I figured it was time to get up and stay active.  Mostly I wandered around the house doing random stuff and housework. I had to stop and breathe through the contractions them, but was happy making my way on my own.  I sent Stuart and Iain off to Rugby at 10am, and they got home at about 11:45am.

At about 10:30am the contractions were  coming a bit closer together (7 mins?) and I felt I needed to start to focus a bit more so I went upstairs and listened to my relaxation CD. Afterwards I was back downstairs still wandering and moving, but I was having to call Stuart to come for every contraction to put pressure on my lower back.

At 1pm I texted Karen, our doula, asking her to come, as contractions were  2 mins apart, and Stuart was having difficulty reaching me to help due to having to cater to my demands (like fill the birth pool) and also supervise and take care of the kids, and I felt I needed someone with me with every contraction at that point.  We tried to call the midwives at this time too, simply to let them know I was in labour and to be on stand-by to come when we called. However, there was a fault with the phone line, so we had to call Karen back and get her to stop by the clinic and let them know I was in labour and to try and get another phone number for them.

Also at this time, I felt the need to get away from the kids and their noise, and enter my own space so I went upstairs to our bedroom where we were intending to have the baby. While I was waiting for the birth pool to be ready, I laboured kneeling on a mattress on the floor, leaning over the bed.  At that point I vomited for the first time, which past labours had shown was normal for me .

As soon as the pool was ready I stripped off and jumped in. I had been in the pool about 5 mins when Karen our doula arrived at 2:15 pm. At that point Stuart went downstairs to focus on the kids, and Karen stayed with me. Stuart continued to pop up and see how I was going, and Iain and Angus did the same occasionally.

The pool was heaven. It gave me so much more freedom of movement and the pain relief it provided was absolutely wonderful. Initially I relaxed back and rubbed my own back while floating during contractions, as at that point leaning forward was very painful.  We were in no doubt that the little man was coping well with the labour, as he was extremely active between contractions so much so that my moving belly gave Karen and I a giggle.

At about 3pm (from Karen's notes)  the reclined position became uncomfortable so I rested between contractions sitting on the pool floor, but was leaning forward or kneeling up during them.

Contractions were getting even closer together and I was having difficulty finding any relief during them, and I asked Karen to put counter-pressure on my back during the contractions. At that point I decided to give myself a quick internal to see if I could feel anything of interest. Baby's head had descended somewhat but I still had a way to dilate I thought.

I was finding no relief even between contractions now, and I grappled with the idea whether to call the midwives so I could use the gas, or continue as I was. My heart was saying call them, but my head was saying no. My past labours had been so long (60 and 18 hours) that I felt there was no way I could be near to birthing my baby, so I continued in silent conflict for a while.  By this point the pain was such that I was pretty much non-communicative.

At 3:30pm (Karen's notes) I felt I couldn't continue without more pain relief. So internally I made the choice to either be ready to push and get the baby out, or call the midwives.  I checked myself again, and felt the baby's head had really descended, and the waters were bulging. They broke when I poked them, and were nice and clear. At this point Karen asked if she thought we should call the midwives. Again, I thought I had a while to go, but after a quick think I agreed so Karen gave them a call, and she was told they'd be here in 20-30 minutes.

Then although I had no physical urge to actually push, I decided I wanted to give it a go for a few  of contractions and see if I felt any movement. I felt good descent and burning with about the third contraction.

Although I hadn't told Karen I was already pushing, she realised the birth was close, so ran down stairs to get Stuart.  When he was in the room, Karen said "Let's see if baby get's here before the midwives", and that was an idea that made us all smile. We were very comfortable with that idea.

I continued to push through contractions while kneeling on the pool and leaning over the side. At that point Stuart was at my head holding my hands and Karen was at my side pushing my back. With the next push felt him crown, kept pushing, and I spoke for the first time in ages to say "His head's out". The time was 3:50pm (Karen's notes).  Stuart went scrambling around the back to watch and help if need be.

I waited for the next contraction, and with the next push his shoulders were born into water. Stuart lifted him up, I did some gymnastics with the umbilical cord, and then I was holding our new little baby. He  a little slow to move and breathe but as he was still attached to his umbilical cord this didn't worry me. I rubbed his back, and talked to him to encourage his breathing. 

By the time Karen ran downstairs to get Iain and Angus, they came back up to hear him let out his first small cry, before he fell asleep breathing quite well.

Karen then called the midwives to tell them the baby had arrived, and they arrived about 10 mins later. I was actually really glad they came because I found the contractions to birth the placenta excruciating and it was nice to have them there for reassurance. As soon as the cord stopped pulsing we cut it so I could hand him off and concentrate of expelling the placenta . It was almost as bad as labour. The midwives checked the baby, checked me, and dealt with the placenta etc. cleaning as they went. 

I had a quick hot shower to warm myself up, before dressing and climbing into bed at 4:38pm to give baby Hugh his first feed.

By the time the midwives left, the only 'evidence' that a birth had taken place was a pile of wet towels to be washed.

With Karen's help, Stuart went to the supermarket, and we had the kids fed and in bed by 8:00pm. The three of us, and baby Hugh, then sat down to a beautiful bowl of pasta that Stuart cooked for us. By 9' ish, Karen had left, and Stuart and I (and baby Hugh) had some quiet time to ourselves before heading to bed to the night.

All in all it was a perfect day, and a perfect birth, made all the more so because we shared it with our children, and were able to have the birth exactly the way we wanted it.

Why we chose to homebirth

There are three reasons I would rather birth at home than in a hospital. First I don't like hospitals, and I don't feel comfortable in one so I don't see it as the best place to have a baby.  Secondly I don't see pregnancy, labour and birth as an illness so don't feel the need to be 'treated' by a Doctor.

Third but most importantly, statistics and research shows that if you are normal low risk pregnancy, then birthing at home is just as safe, if not safer, than birthing at a hospital because every little intervention in hospital (from an internal exam, to continuous fetal monitoring, to the use of drugs) increases the likelihood of further interventions and therefore decreases the likelihood of the best possible outcome for mother and baby.

It's important to know that I didn't enter this third pregnancy having had fast easy labours before.

Iain's was a 60 hour marathon after my waters broke involving 12 hours on the syntocin drip, gas, a failed epidural, vacuum extraction and second degree tear needing seven stitches. Had I been better informed at the time, I believe we could have avoided most of those interventions.

Angus' was a much shorter 18 hour labour, but he was posterior and it was incredibly painful start to finish. He was born in a midwife run birth centre. I used gas for pain relief, but he was eventually peacefully born weighing 4.4kg (over 1kg larger than Iain!), easily with no tearing

There are a lot of misconceptions about home birth. Here is a run-down of what a home birth is and isn't.

- Home births are attended by at least one highly experienced midwife. You do not birth alone without medical care.

- Your antenatal checkups usually occur within your own home, and are done by the same midwife throughout your pregnancy.

- You still have all blood tests, ultrasounds, etc. throughout your pregnancy (if you want to), so if something is actually not 'normal' you could then see an Obstetrician.

- A home birth midwife carries suction and  resuscitation equipment, drugs for dealing with post-partum hemorrhage,  and can stitch you if you tear.

- Some midwives carry pain relieving drugs.

- If there are problems during labour, you are not bound to staying at home, instead you transfer to hospital for additional care. Home birth midwives are highly experienced at picking up problems

- During labour, your midwife will be with you from the time you phone her to come, until several hours after the birth. She will clean up the 'mess' (not that there is much), and then visit you in your home daily.

The toothless chef

Here is Iain helping with dinner. He's wearing his paper apron and paper chef's hat which he made at school, and he's missing three, soon to be four teeth!

Iain has almost finished a half a year of schooling, and to be honest it's been a bumpy journey.  He is excelling with his school work, because to date he is yet to learn anything that he didn't already know before starting school. Because of this, and the fact that he is bored, his behaviour has not been fantastic. We've been working with the the teachers on it, but I'm not sure if I see it drastically improving. While there are provisions made for students who are struggling to learn, academically advanced students are expected to work at the same rate as the rest of the class. I think if he were in a school elsewhere we wouldn't be having such a problem, but unfortunately we don't have any other options. 

Apart from school, Iain is enjoying Rugby, and like his Lego and Meccano at the moment.  We have bought him a digital camera for Christmas which I think he will love, and will mean he (hopefully) stops stealing mine! 

Slackest blogger in the history of the universe

I think I win that award hands down. I think it's been over two months since I last wrote here, and it's not as if I have nothing to say.

As I sit here at 10:30 am in the morning, I am looking out the window watching snow fall and settle on the ground. Quite a rare thing for Montrose at this time of year I think.

   

Today Iain and Stuart are off to Aberdeen to watch Scotland play Canada in Rugby, while Gus and I will hang out at home. Hopefully the boys won't get too cold with all this snow.

Our family is off on a one month holiday home in exactly three weeks time. We're spending two weeks with Stuart's family, and two weeks with mine.  I'm dreading the 30 hour journey, but due to fact that I am going to be very uncomfortable jammed into one of those airplane seats, and not the fact that I am anticipating the worst with the kids.  We still have a few things I need to organise before we go, like Christmas presents, some summer maternity clothes, etc.

Believe it or not I am nearly fully ready for our baby to arrive! I jumped in early seeing as we'll be away for a month, and once we get back I'm not going to feel like doing much. We painted what will be the babies room, I re-purchased a lot of stuff I used to have but sold, and, my personal favourite bit, I got to go and buy lots of clothes. We had our 20 weeks ultrasound a few weeks back, and we discovered that after two perfect little boys, we're having just what we always wanted....but everyone else will have to wait until March to discover what that is! I'm 24 weeks pregnant today, and to be quite honest, I am rather large.

In October we took a 4 day trip to Euro Disney, and we all had an absolutely wonderful time. The way the kids face's lit up, and the joy in their smiles was enough to make the trip worth while. We stayed at the Disney Cheyenne Hotel, and we're lucky that the park was pretty empty while we were there so we got to have heaps and heaps of rides. Iain enjoyed Peter Pan, and Pirates if the Caribbean the most, while Gus enjoyed Dumbo.  Here are some pictures from the trip.

 

 

 

 

Back to normal

We've had such a busy couple of weeks, Ijust can't wait for things to get back to normal and find our routine again. Today my cousin Shannon and her friend left for Edinburgh after spending four nights with us. They were great house guests and it was wonderful to see family and hear a familar accent.

Last night poor Gussy vomited in his bed four times. Stuart and I had obviously had a restless night. Both boys are really very good when they're sick though, so we can't complain. Angus woke absolutely fine this morning though, like nothing had been amiss overnight.

On Wednesday mornings I usually help in Iain's class at school, along with another mother. But this week, I was asked to help in one of the other classes as they didn't have a parent helper. I have to say I am very glad Iain isn't in that class, as there are a couple of quite naughty boys in the class and I can just see Iain thinking they are hilarious and tagging along with them. Iain was quite devistated though that I wasn't helpingin his class, ans there were tears on and off. Feeling guilty, and in an attempt to chear him up, after school and swimming lessons we ducked into Woolworths and bought him a Lego set, which he absolutely loves.

Stuart has finally scheduled some holidays in October, and originally we were thinking of a short trip to Euro Disney, but I am not sure whether we'll have time to organise it now or not.  I might duck to the travel agento today and see what they can organise.

There's been a lot going on

I'm going to back track into August to list all of the things that we've been up to in the last month.

On the 15th of August, Iain started Primary School. His teachers are Mrs Herd and Mrs Suiter and he is settling in well considering very few of his nursery friends are in his class.  Iain already claims to be a little bored during clas which is not surprising given that he can read and write and as a class so far they have learned seven letters in total.  He is enjoying taking his packed lunch, and likes to choose what goes in his lunch box each day.

The first weekend after starting school, Iain also began his first season of Rugby. Stuart did a coaching course and is helping to coach the little ones as well. Iain is pleased as punch to wear his Rugby clothes, and his new footlball boots, which are just like his Daddy's. Iain is enjoying it so far, and the game seems to be mich better suited to him as opposed to Soccer where at Mini Kickers he kept takling players and pickign up the ball and running with it.

This weekend just gone, Iain played his first 'match' at Brechin and very loudly exclaimed "I won" when he crossed the line for his first try. However he was less than impressed with the head high tackle and facial massage he received from one of his own team mates.

Our other big family news is that Stuart and I were silly enough to think that a third child would be a good idea. So, ready or not, we are expecting a third addition to the family in mid March next year. We had a dating scan a couple of weeks ago, showing everything to be fine and on track.  So far, this pregnancy seems to be very much like Angus' was, where I was no so bad in the beginning but it looks like I'll be having a morning vomit for many weeks to come.

On Saturday night we were lucky enough to ahve our friends from Australia Doug and Janelle, and their children Jake and Charlie stay with us for a night while they are visiting Doug's family in Scotland. It was nice to see them again, and the kids had a great time running amock.

Having them stay meant I got a head start on cleaning out the third bedroom for my cousin Shannon's visit this week.  She's arriving tonight on the late train. 

That's it for now.

The smell

Strange title for a blog post I guess. But just this minute I smelled a smell. A happy smell, you know the ones?

Today I've been largely hiding away in our tiny little box room which is our office and craft room combined. To be honest I've done next to no craft stuff since moving itno our new house, as this room is so cramped that it's hard to move in. It makes it even harder that I have stuff piled everywhere.

Today I've been dividing my time between slowly cleaning out the room, and working on my second blog book using Blurb. Under a pile of stuff I chanded upon a happy smell. What is that smell you might be thinking? Strangely  it's new book smell. I love the smell of new books, it makes me happy thinking of what exciting things I might discover inside. I had forgotten that I had bought this book, titled China Road, but I am now looking forward to reading it.

He loves cars and boobs

Gussy that is.  One of the common consequences of extended breastfeeding is that the child tends to develop a bit of an attachment (or obsession) with the breasts in question that carries on even after they have stopped breastfeeding. Angus is no exception. As soon as he is tired, one or more hands find their way down the top of of my shirt for a bit of a squeeze.

Angus' other love is cars. Matchbox and Hot-wheels and as many as he can get. He spends a significant amount of time moving his collection of over twenty cars around the house in either the plastic shopping trolley, the bike trailer, the golf caddy, or any other appropriate container. He lines them up, rearranges them, and then moves them on to the next location.

This evening at about 8:30 pm I was sitting on the couch watching some TV. Gus rode up on his bike with his cars in a plastic bag, in the bike trailer. He tipped them from the bag onto the couch, then sat himself between them and myself. Without words he somehow managed to command me to open my hands flat so he could line cars up on them. He lined four cars up on each hand, then became a bit perplexed when he realised there was no room for any more. Then genius struck, and he began placing the rest of the cars down the front of my shirt. In the end I ended up with about thirty down there, including the ones that had been on my hands.

The little guy was then in seventh heaven, and he chatted away in Gussy talk, that no one can understand. It was blatantly obvious that he was pretty damn excited to have his two favourite things in such close proximity and settled in for a nice snuggle before bed.