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 🙂

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.

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?

Nesting, it’s not a myth after all!

So left to my own devices, I’m a bit of a slob. I’m also a bit spoilt (or depending on how you look at it, lucky) in that Rich is amazingly good at tidying. He also washes up. And occasionally folds laundry. Ok I’m quite spoilt.

But the last few weeks of this pregnancy, I’ve felt a need to *gasp* tidy.

I’ve washed all the newborn size clothes and sorted them into new(ish) drawers. Today I was childless (they went to Grandma’s) and rather than slobbing out I pulled out the TV and it’s stand to clean behind it. Ok, so I was prompted by the fact that Sam climbed up the stand and poured around half a litre of juice down the back of it, but still. Side note – everything is fine, though I don’t know how he didn’t electrocute himself or blow up the TV. Some definitely went inside, as after checking the TV still worked for a while, the vents at the top smelt distinctly blackcurrant-y :S

I also pulled out the side ‘table’ next to the couch. Not technically a table, it’s one of these from Ikea-

 

And it was disgusting. The holes  mean that various kinds of detritus find their way inside. And by ‘find their way’ I mean are put there by small boys. I have known for a while that the box itself needs to go (it’s too big for the space really) and that would involve emptying it. Occasionally I lose a pen to it and have to decide whether to go in after it. Today I did. I rescued a few lego bits, some playmobil stuff, a few pens, about £4.50 and then I had to give up. Some crayons and coloured pens were casualties of war. I sacrificed them for the greater good. The greater good in this case being no longer having to shove my hand into the layer of raisins and bits of foil and paper and cheese bites.

And yet, it was oddly satisfying to make my front room really clean in places no one will see. I know right?!

And tomorrow, I get to go to Ikea for a new side table. And a taller TV cabinet. And a new bedside table. These should altogether cost us around £35. I love Ikea! And I get to build it too, which I love. Yes, I’m a little weird. Bring on tomorrow!

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 🙂

Ugh.

Ill. It’s so much fun. We’ve had a full week now of family illness. It started on Friday afternoon when  I was hit with a migraine. I laid on the couch with cushions on my head and begged the boys to play quietly, and Rich hurried home as soon as he could and sent me to bed. All fine, except a few hours later, I woke up to the sound of Rich throwing up. That night was spent pleasantly, with both of us in and out of the bathroom. Like I said, fun.

The next day we were ok, if totally exhausted. Then Saturday night rolled around, I got what he’d had, and I had the added bonus of an already exhausted starting point. At least he got some rest though. Sunday, we skipped church out of exhaustion and not wanting to spread it about. I spent the day on the couch making the sounds of the dying (I’m not good when I’m sick, I tend to go a bit pathetic. I was however proud of myself this time, I managed to be sick without bursting into tears and needing support at the head-in-toilet position.) and Ethan started saying he didn’t feel good either.

He got it next, though luckily it was quite mild for him. He stayed off school on Monday and was much better. I took a couple more days to feel up to scratch again, what with the whole growing another person thing.

Sam, the lucky little monkey, has avoided it altogether, but now has a stinking cold, along with me and Ethan. Do you know what’s especially great about being pregnant with a cold? NOTHING. There is nothing you can take. Paracetamol is the limit. I am fed up, I have been ill for a week now with various germs and ailments. I have decided to self medicate with old episodes of Friends and this:

I think it’s a good choice 🙂

Maternity and baby clothes shopping, or how I got The Rage today.

So, today I wanted to buy a short sleeved white top, and a pair of maternity leggings to wear under a couple of dresses.

I went into town and stopped at 5 shops, 4 of which I know to have maternity ranges and one which I assumed to have. It was not a success.

To start with, I got to the car park and got Sam out of the car, only to realise the pushchair was at home. Sam is a known runner, however he was brilliantly behaved today thank goodness, otherwise I wouldn’t have made it very far! I started in Asda. They had maternity clothes out, hooray! However they only had one side of one aisle, about 8 feet of clothes. There was a white top, huzzah! it was even a 2 pack, with a black top. Only it was such a mess, that none of the tops were attached to each other. And they didn’t have my size. Wonderful.

On to shop number 2 – Sainsbury’s. I assume they have a maternity line but there was nothing there either. (Sainsbury’s website says no matches for maternity, so not their fault I guess!)

Shop number 3 – Next. Again, not a maternity item in sight.

Shop number 4 – H&M. Definitely a maternity line. Not a single item in store.

Shop number 5 – Mothercare. Loads of clothes – well you know, for maternity clothes. They even had some leggings! The catch, only about 5 pairs, and you guessed it, none were my size. They didn’t have any plain white tops, but the tops they did have were £20 each. 20 Bucks! for a top I’ll only be able to wear for 4 or 5 months. No thank you. So, an hour and a half of shopping, and we came up snake eyes.

Now onto baby clothes. All I want is to get some nice brightly coloured babygrows. There are none. I don’t hate baby blue, but there’s only so much pastel I can take! And why do boys clothes all have trucks/planes/monsters on? Though I will concede that much of the monster stuff is cute. I was getting more and more rageful until I went to mothercare and saw this:

And I practically melted. So cute. They also had a superman one! Then I got cross again as it only has poppers in the bottom, not up the front or back, and those suits make me so cross! why make it difficult? I am aware I need to chill out, it’s the combination of frustration and hormones. Although I’ll probably soon have a baby spiderman suit to placate me. I’ll take it out and stroke it when I get cross 🙂