Four Weeks On

I can’t believe it’s been four weeks!

In all honesty there’s not a huge amount to be said, we’ve not done very much! We had two lovely weeks with Rich at home, which was absolutely brilliant. He did the school runs, and the cooking, and basically all the big boys’ stuff while I fed and fed and fed the mega-Hen. Then he had to go back to work which was not fun, but his team did buy Henry this brilliant vest, and his team manager arranged for him to have an extra 2 days holiday time as he’d done some work while at home, so not too hideous.

 Bazinga!

We then had my lovely mum up for a week who washed and ironed and cleaned all the things and also did morning school runs and most of the afternoons too, cooked our dinners and entertained small boys. Then she too had to leave and I was ALONE. Unless of course you count (and I do!) 2 weeks of meals from lovely church friends – score – and uncle David (Rich’s brother) offering to take Ethan to school in the morning for the rest of the term. They live on the same road as us and still have one son at the same school, so it works out pretty great. I am incredibly grateful to be surrounded by lovely friends and family.

So now I am back to by myself in the daytime, and it’s not bad. I am coping ok, though it is harder to protect things from Sam when I’ve got Henry seemingly permanently attached.

This Thursday I had my lovely friend Harriet come to visit, bringing delicious food, clothes for Henry, and 2 baby wraps. One as a gift for me and one to borrow. Here’s mine:

 And oh my goodness, it’s so comfortable. Henry likes it all squishy and warm, I have my hands free and my back and shoulders pain free. Harriet also brought William, her 9 month old, who is so cute and lovely, and quite frankly, his eyelashes turn me green with envy. It was lovely as we’ve not seen each other for far too long considering we live 30 minutes apart!

Henry is doing pretty well, he wakes 2 or 3 times a night and the last few nights, touch wood, he has gone right back to sleep as well.

And at 2am, this is a really welcome sight.

Henry George Brown

He’s here 🙂 After SO much waiting and what felt like the longest pregnancy in the world, he finally arrived on Saturday 8th June at 14:53, weighing 9lbs 2oz, only one day after his due date. Though he is quite dry and flaky so I think my dates might have been a bit wrong. Plus the fact that he was BIG!

 If you’re not into labour tales, feel free to skip this bit and just look at the gorgeous pictures 😉

I started with contractions at about 8:30 in the morning and they were already 5 minutes apart, so after a couple of hours we went to get checked over, though I wasn’t getting too hopeful after having had 8 hours of contractions on bank holiday Monday resulting in a big fat nothing! At 11 o’clock I got examined (fun.) but was only 2cms along. There was a bit of a pow wow between the midwives as Ethan and Sam came fairly quickly so they were trying to decide whether to send me home or not, which they did with instructions to have a nice bath and ring back if it continued.

Things seemed to be easing off so I went home and hopped in the bath where things calmed down for a bit, then really picked back up again when I got back out! Rich was downstairs watching the women’s tennis and suddenly realised there were similar noises coming from upstairs where I was attempting to get dressed in between lots of heavy breathing and the occasional groan/moo-like sound! We rang back and headed back in at around 1:30 and I asked to get in the pool, so I was examined again, declared 5cms and in we got. Let me tell you, that pool was absolute HEAVEN. It was so comfortable, all warm and floaty. I just hung over the side of it clutching at the gas and air which was hilarious as I lost control of my face and kept giggling my head off.

Not long after I got in I had some meptid (like pethidine but not as strong) but within about 10 minutes I was ready to push and Henry was born under the water, and the midwives didn’t even touch him, I picked him up and brought him out of the water. I even cut his cord in a last minute decision as Rich didn’t want to.

The difference in the births was amazing, it just did not compare at all to being on my back strapped to an epidural. Also I won’t go into detail, but there was less, er, physical trauma, this way. I can’t recommend it enough. You know, as a birth option, not just for funsies. Although that great big tub would be amazing for a bath. As long as you get the super fast taps that they have, because otherwise it would take an age to fill. I digress.

We wanted to get home right away, but Henry was breathing a little fast and so they wanted to keep us in. I really did not want to stay, when I stayed overnight with Sam I was edgy and stressed, and I didn’t want a repeat. Unfortunately we had to, and it was pretty much the same, and it definitely didn’t help when a student midwife came in and woke me at 3am (having only moved onto the ward at just after midnight) and wheeled him off to be measured. Only I’m not sure that’s exactly what she said as I was still coming around from exhausted sleep and then they were gone. She came back with him within 5 or 10 minutes but it made me very antsy for the rest of the night.

Luckily we were given a quick discharge in the morning by a lovely paediatrician and we got out of there.

Next came the meeting of the brothers 🙂

 They absolutely adore him. He gets hugged and kissed a LOT and when he cries they get very worried. Sam runs over saying “oh Henry, it’s ok, please don’t cry” which just melts my heart. Ethan asks if he’s ok with a very concerned face. These boys slay me!

 Sam took a while to get to calling him Henry rather than baby, but now insists that he is Henry Hugglemonster – a tv cartoon character. We don’t mind, we’re happy to huggle him! A week on and he’s slotting in pretty well, the boy aren’t too unsettled by him and he’s just delicious 🙂

Ethan is Five!

 To be fair, his birthday was a while ago now, oops. Unfortunately I have been absolutely wrecked since and so have not been in the blogging mood. He had a lovely day, and as it fell on a Thursday Daddy was also working from home. Extra bonus – school finished for half term the day before, so we had a lovely calm day. We started the morning with presents, and he got a main present from us, two small presents and a small one from Sam. He was chuffed to bits as he got the Ben 10 game for the Xbox, some spiderman megablocks figures and 2 more characters for his batcave – the Joker and Harley Quinn.

 He’s also insane 😉 I didn’t realise before how much his face matches his shirt! In the afternoon we went to see his cousins and play, then home again to go out for dinner. Ethan picked Silkwood Farm which is his favourite, due to the fact that they have a large play area which includes a couple of computer games. We all like it though as the food is good and the boys can escape to play once they’ve had enough sitting still.

 Last Saturday it was party time, and so being 38 weeks and roughly the size of a barge (name that Disney movie) we decided to go with a soft play centre party, and a rather simple cake design! It was held at The Playstation in Ossett, and they were fab. Great food, good party bags and lots of fun. Ethan was very lucky to have several friends come and spoil him with presents.

I love his face here, the little mad man. He’s growing up so fast and turning into a really lovely little boy (when he wants to be of course!) and very kind. He’s much better at sharing and dictated a lovely letter to Daddy for me yesterday.

He’s very excited for the baby to come and is convinced he’s coming this week. Not that I’d object to that!

We’ve had a lovely fairly relaxed half term, Ethan has been having great fun with his new toys, and we had a couple of nice days with a really lovely sunny day on Friday, where we went to the park (though not for long as there’s no shade there and the boys got a bit overheated) and popped into the shop on the way home for ice lollies. It speaks volumes about these two that this was the most ‘normal’ looking photo of them, and I took four! They spent the rest of the afternoon playing in the garden and making puddles when I got the hose out for them.

Yesterday was another lovely day, where Ethan insisted that they wait for me to get up before going shopping (something usually reserved for just boys while I slowly regain consciousness) as he didn’t want me to miss the animals at the farm shop. Sam was in his element, and almost exploded with joy when a horse snuffled his head. We also saw a peacock with his tail out, and fed the horses carrots, at which point I think Sam could have died happy!

As for me, I am 39 weeks and 2 days. Due on Friday. I am tired of being enormous now, though I must say I’m not exactly looking forward to evicting him! Still though, it’s almost done, and I absolutely cannot wait to snuggle him 🙂

37 weeks, more nesting, and potty training.

 These are last weeks pictures, so technically 36 weeks, but let’s not split hairs. Any pictures taken this week would have been in my mismatched pyjamas, so you’re welcome 😉 Also no matter how many times I say there’s no need to have my head in the picture, there’s atleast one chin too many there!

 I added this one too because it makes my legs look longer and a lot less tree-trunky!

Last week we happened upon a free face painting stall in town, and Ethan chose the superman design. I was a little unimpressed by the woman doing it, she seemed a bit grumpy, but she had already been there for 2 and a half hours, so I gave her the benefit of the doubt, seeing as it was free and all.

 This week the facepainter was in town again and Ethan chose spiderman. She seemed a bit less grumpy this time, which was nice 😉 It was extremely helpful too that many of her designs left the mouth clear, as we went off to get lunch after, and it stopped him getting upset at his smudged face.

More nesting has occurred. If this continues post baby (highly doubtful) I’ll have to drop the ‘Un’ from my blog title! This time it was completely illogical too. I’ve been ironing muslins and burp cloths. Things that are actually DESIGNED to be thrown up on. I spent far too long standing at the ironing board and it made my back hurt, but they looked so nice and neat!

It won’t last, they’ll end up shoved in the nappy bag (I’ve got the free Pampers one as a temporary measure as I can’t find one that I like and is not ridiculously priced) wrinkled and not even folded, to be grabbed out for feeding and absorbing of baby sick. ah, the fun bits to look forward to!

I also have some plans to shift a few bits in the bedroom today, including a couple of small dumbbells. Those will be rolled as I have previous experience with them a while ago. Rich left them in the storage box in the living room without my knowledge, and I went to move it so the boys had more room to play. It did not move. My shoulder hurt for a LONG time!

Sam is potty training. It was foolish to start now, but he got a bit of a chance to try on holiday and did really well, so we thought we’d continue. The difficulty is that we don’t really have time to stay in the house for a week and really crack it, as Ethan has to still go to school and stuff! He’s doing ok, and is almost 100%, if he’s bare from the waist down. Add pants, and it drops to maybe 75%. Add trousers and it drops drastically. One day.

Almost no one wants to see pictures of potty training in progress (those of you who actively do, this is not the place for you, sorry. Only I’m not sorry.) so I’ll show you this one of him:

There’s the (clean I assure you) potty, so it’s relevant. The fact that he looks like Gollum with his donut is not.

3 Weeks to go til D-Day. Baby boy is now considered full term, and I am getting nervous. I spent 2 hours awake last night between 2:30 and 4:30 after a particularly horrible dream where Sam fell out of the boys’ bedroom window (he was caught by a friend luckily, and it was you know, a dream). I then worried about all sorts. The biggest worry is that I won’t get to the hospital in time. They get more irrational after that, ending in me being stuck at home in labour while Rich is stuck in traffic trying to get home from work with only Ethan and Sam for company. Ridiculous as I’ve got a vast network of people to take them at the very least, so worst case scenario I’ll be birthing at home alone, but with no little observers at least 😉

In seriousness though I did have a little worry about Rich missing it. Probably because the last thing I read before bed was a comment on facebook by my lovely friend Catherine, who said that her third was 1 hour 45 minutes from first pain to first cuddle. The boys were fairly quick, Ethan was less that 10 hours from first inkling to birth, which I’m told is quick for a first baby. Sam was about 4 and a half hours. If I’m going with that kind of pattern, this one will be a couple of hours. I’m going to put my scientist head on though and say that there isn’t enough data to show any kind of pattern or correlation, so it’ll be fine. I’m also going to put my fingers in my ears and say “lalalala” just for good measure. Yeah, that’ll fix it.

Bank Holiday, and an update on me

Bank holiday Monday was a hit! We used a surprise treat as an incentive for good behaviour for Ethan as he’s been a bit of a snot recently, and it worked! The surprise was a trip to the Royal Armouries in Leeds for Superhero Day. He loved it, and got to meet lots of characters. He also got to shoot a crossbow, a real one this time, and thought that was the best.

With Boba Fett

A star wars Trooper

A Jedi

Ironman!

They also had a craft activity, a musical instrument area, an artist from the Judge Dredd comic book doing a talk and helping kids draw heroes, and a talk about superhero weapons. The downside of the day was that they didn’t put any kind of timetable on the website, so we assumed that the characters (including Ethan’s favourite, Batman) would be in and out most of the day. We went fairly early to avoid crowds, and as a result missed Batman, as he wasn’t coming until 3:30 for a demonstration of how he uses ninja skills. We also missed the talk about superhero weapons, because we spent half an hour wandering around the third floor trying to find the ‘Observation room’ which turned out to be a tiny room tucked away in a corner, that wasn’t very well signposted. We arrived just as they were packing up and rushing off to the next thing, which was a real shame (for me!) as I saw the weapons on the trolley as they pushed it out, and they included the Portal gun 😦 Never mind.

Ethan and Rich spent the afternoon clearing the garden and washing the car in the sunshine. It was lovely to watch Ethan muck in and help Daddy. Sam attempted to help too, with mixed results.

Rich also managed to cut through the power cord with the hedge trimmers…twice. I managed to fix it both times, the benefits of having a dad who taught me handy stuff! 

We had good weather on Tuesday too, and Ethan was very excited to wear shorts to school 🙂

Look at those milky legs! inherited from his mother, unfortunately. He did however also inherit his father’s ability to go brown at the slightest hint of sun, whereas I either burn, or in the case of my legs, just somehow magically stay whiter than paper.

Today is a bit grey and damp, but he insisted on shorts again. Even though he also insisted on taking his coat because it might rain.

I’ve been very productive this morning, demolished 2 side tables and an old tv stand and took them to the dump, hooray for a bit more space! I can now put the crib next to my side of the bed which is you know, helpful. Isn’t the dump cathartic? You get to chuck stuff into massive skips and hear crashes and things breaking and all sorts, and clear your house at the same time!

Less than a month to go til due date, a month yesterday to be precise. I literally cannot wait. I might have overdone it a little at the dump, as I am very very tired right now, and it’s only lunchtime :S

I had a fun pregnancy dream the other night too. I went into labour at home and ran out of time. My sister Becky delivered it (super likely, seeing as she’s only in New Zealand!) and though it was totally painless, the baby had an extra head. It was slightly miniature, but a head it was. Only when I looked again it was a weird hand thing on it’s shoulder. Then when I looked again it was gone, but the baby’s hand (in the regular place) was all webbed. My mum appeared and said “Oh don’t worry, it’s too much cortizone” and wiped his hand with a wipe til the fingers were fine. Then I woke up. Like I said, fun, and not at all creepy :S

Update: I was even more productive this afternoon. I hoovered upstairs, moved the crib, and emptied it of clothes. Then I emptied out and tidied the airing cupboard. The airing cupboard for goodness sake! Then I had two bags of clothes and towels and linens that were spare (we had LOADS in there, it was like a flippin’ TARDIS) to take to the clothing donation bin thingy. I also found in there a bag of handed down clothes for Ethan that we got aaaaages ago but were massive, and now he has plenty of shorts for summer! I am now thoroughly pooped, and Sam is going to have french toast for tea (Ethan is at a friends house) then we’ll start the pick up run (Ethan, and Rich from the train station) showers for the boys as it’ll be late for a bath, bed for them, and a collapse on the couch for me!

I didn’t do nesting with the boys. It’s hit me this time though. It’s oddly unsettling! Still, it can only be a good thing when I actively feel the need to tidy!

35 weeks

Some progress on last week. We have the crib, put together and everything, all ready for baby, kindly brought back oop north for us by my sister Amy. We ordered the bargainous car seat, with almost £70 off! It arrived on Wednesday and I love it, very cute and nice and light. We ordered it from kiddicare on Monday at 4ish and it was here around 8am Wednesday, so really not bad service at all. It was free delivery over £30, so Rich ordered nappies to make it up as with the big discount it was only £22.50!

We also had a practise run putting it in the car (Rich’s idea, in my opinion once you’ve managed to fit one car seat they’re pretty much the same) and it’s now waiting it the boot of the car.

 The box provided much entertainment for the boys who played rockets to the moon with it all day on Wednesday, then on Thursday Daddy tasked them with smushing it for recycling, so naturally they loved that, it now has several holes in it where they took to poking pencils through it when drawing on it became boring.

This morning the new mattress for the crib arrived, another bargain, this time from eBay with a new in package mattress in the right size for only £10. The mattress with the family crib didn’t have holes or anything, but I caught a glimpse of the tag and it is 17 years old, obviously bought new for my oldest nephew! So I had a look online and thought for £10 it was worth getting a new one.

Of course, when it arrived I was in the shower and had literally just foamed up the shampoo when knock knock! Cue panic. I got shampoo in my eye, so while squinting grabbed a towel and rushed to the top of the stairs, where I realised I had grabbed a smallish towel. Ordinarily, that would be awkward but not offensive, but seeing as I now resemble the shape and size of a blimp, it was NOT good. Luckily Ethan came to the rescue and opened the door while I stood out of view but in earshot. The postman seemed a little taken aback (though not nearly as much as if I’d opened the door) and asked him to give it to his Mummy. Hideous viewing of almost nudity averted.

Yesterday, being Thursday, Rich was working at home, and we also had to go to the bank at lunch time, so we nipped into Sainsbury’s for a few essentials and found these:

 So cute! And on offer. Finally, FINALLY, the shops are bringing out  a bit of colour in the baby clothes! I guess because it’s going to be summer they think it’s ok now. I’ll even forgive them for not having front or back poppers and thus meaning they;ll have to be put on like a t-shirt, which is sooo easy with a newborn 😉 I also spotted a cute set in Morrison’s while shopping which had little elephants on, but I didn’t get them because if I bought all the cute things I see we’d be bankrupt by ooh, 5 minutes ago.

35 weeks. My app says that means 35 days to go. Obviously this is tosh, and it’ll probably be more like 42-49 days, as I went over with the boys. Still, at most, 7 weeks to go! Exciting!

The time, it flies.

This is Ethan at 4 days old. Today Rich told him the story of the night before this photo.

It was about midnight and he’d woken, and fed, and would. not. settle. I was exhausted in the way that only day three (especially with your first) can make you. Plus the hormone crash was happening, so after checking he wasn’t still hungry, I handed him over to Daddy to wind and sort out… and promptly fell right to sleep. Rich tried to put him down, but he squawked, so he hurriedly scooped him back up, in the way you do with your first, and held him upright on his chest til he fell asleep. Too terrified of the possibility for squawking, Rich didn’t know what to do next, so he came up with the brilliant plan of sitting up in bed all night with Ethan sleeping on his chest. I woke up for the next feed refreshed and poor Rich grabbed a couple of hours before the sun properly emerged.

This all feels like it happened last month. how has it been almost 5 years? Yesterday he lost his first tooth. He was incredibly brave and it was a lovely thing to see a little of myself in him again as he fiddled with his wobbly tooth in the morning. That’s definitely a me-trait. I thought he’d be fine at school as it didn’t seem like the falling out was imminent, but turned out it worked loose at playtime and he came out with it in a little envelope. Baby teeth are really teeny. He nearly burst with excitement putting it under his pillow for the tooth fairy and has developed a little lisp. And oh, is that the most adorable thing I’ve ever heard or what. I really cannot believe he’ll be 5 in a month. He’s growing into such a kind hearted boy though. Today we needed to go looking at baby car seats and he patiently ran about ‘looking after’ Sam in the early learning centre bit of Mothercare. And he did it very kindly too, not a bit of grabbing or shoving. I do love those boys, especially when they play nicely together 🙂

In other news, I am now 34 weeks. I am the size of a house, though I don’t feel it, so I keep getting a shock when I catch myself in a reflective surface. We don’t have a car seat, and therefore no way of getting the baby home from the hospital. The family crib is at Mum and Dad’s, with no plans to see them pre-sprogging. I don’t have a moses basket. In fairness I’ve never used a moses basket before, but without a crib it might be a bit more essential this time! We do have a cot (2 in fact. No I don’t know why.) but it’s enormous for a newborn.

Still, only 6 weeks til D-day, so probably about 8 weeks til any actual birthing, but I bet that time will fly too. Hopefully.

Pregnancy, a haiku

Pregnant lady walks all day

Sits down to rest

Where are my ankles?

Goodbye Toes

My view this morning. 

 

I might as well be a weeble wobble! Good job I know where everything is below the hips, as I won’t be seeing any of it for about 3 months! Sock and boots are a bit of fun now, so the snow has been just great for me! Most of my shoes slip on though so I’m hoping to avoid a perched on a seat, crying over my attempts to get them on situation this time!

We spent Easter weekend in Reading with my mum and dad, and amongst other things, went into town. SO nice to be in a town with big shops, and shops that actually had maternity ranges in. I got some new tops and I bought the spiderbaby suit 🙂

 I also got this one that comes with a spotty vest and a stripey hat, which might be his first outfit 🙂

 I am now 30 weeks (and 5 days, very important!) and the size of a house. The baby is a squirmy little wiggler, which is lovely, but sticks his feet in my ribs, which is not so much. Not too much longer to go, though it doesn’t feel that way as it has crawled by, so I don’t expect it to start flying now!

Oh, I can’t wait. I’m so excited to hold this new baby, and feed him, and smell his little new baby breath and head – after he’s had a wash that is, no one wants to smell that. Oh and little baby baths! mine have both loved them from the start and it’s so cute to see their little legs kicking away. 

65 days to due date 🙂

10 things they don’t always tell you about pregnancy

Here’s a small list of things you may or may not know about pregnancy. I was going to find some pictures to go with the list, but lets face it, the text is enough 🙂

1. In the beginning, there was morning sickness. The name is a LIE. You could be a right lucky cow like I was the first two times and barely be affected, or you could be like most normal people (and me this time) and feel absolutely rubbish for about 12 weeks. If you’re unlucky it lasts longer. If you’re REALLY unlucky, like my sister, you’ll throw up around once a day or more, every day until you spawn that sprog.

2. Dog nose. For some reason, mother nature decided the best time to increase your sense of smell to that of a beagle is while you’re spending a lot of time hunched over a toilet. Thanks for that. Also not fun, public transport, and sometimes, smells you used to love will turn on you too.

3. If you get a minor illness, like a cough or a cold, there is NOTHING you can take. And then someone suggest paracetamol. *hollow laugh*

4. Relaxin. It’s a hormone that relaxes your muscles and stuff in your body. It’s to help prepare you for labour and birth, but it also relaxes your digestive muscles, slowing all that down. Hurrah! Constipation! Gas! Bloating!

5. Stomach pains. I have only got these this time around, and was reassured by a friend with 6 children that yes, that’s normal. Apparently from baby 3 onwards, round ligament pain (ie a really sore bump) gets much worse. I can attest to this.

6. Sometimes you get hairier. Fortunately I have avoided this one, since my hair is fairly dark and I’m a bit hairy already, I did NOT need this one. Although my sister told me that when she was pregnant with her girls, she felt less hairy.

7. Varicose veins and thread veins. So far I’ve avoided varicose veins, but have a few thread veins. Nice. And they don’t just appear in your legs. They are what can cause hemorrhoids and I was recently told you can also get them in er… other non-public places :S What a fun thought.

8. Kicks and movements are wonderful…most of the time. Then there are the ones where you are literally being kicked in the guts. Or ribs, or cervix and bum. quite yeouchy!

9. You might get SPD. When basically your pelvis starts to get a bit too loose and very very painful. I have avoided this one too so far, thank goodness, but I have had friends on crutches and one in a wheelchair with it.

10.  Skin irritation and itches. This one has not avoided me, but has actually resulted in a funny story.

Apparently, I get to this point of pregnancy (27 weeks woohoo!) and I start shunning clothes. Rich assures me it happened with both Sam and Ethan too, but I have no real recollection of it until much later, like, pre-labour later. So during the day this is fine, my conscious mind is rational enough to remind me that it’s not ok to be naked. And it’s cold. So while I’m spending more time in loose jammies than is really acceptable, it’s not that big of a deal. Night time is a different story. I go to bed in pyjamas. I wake up… less in pyjamas. Again, no big deal. No one’s going to see who’s not married to me. Except unconscious brain is not so good at the undressing. The last few nights have been funny at the 3am wake up to pee (number 11! though everyone knows that one). One night, I woke up with my top wrapped around my neck. Another night, my top was still on, but my bottoms were round my knees. Not helpful when you jump up to to go to the loo!

And now, a small update on this pregnancy. So as I said, 27 weeks! Boy Brown III is kicking away merrily. He’s apparently about 37cm long, and can open and close his eyes. Physically I am approaching ok, though I still have a hideous cold and cough (number 3, joy) Mentally I am feeling shattered, but luckily not too tired physically. I am getting a bit tired of being pregnant though. Not too much longer to go I guess, and we’ve got Easter and a weekend away to look forward to in between now and the fun that will be actually having the baby. Only 13-15 weeks to go though 🙂