Well I have done my usual trick and not kept up with any journal entry for months. It is usually years so I guess I haven't done too bad this time. Btw- in the pics, Seraya is 15 weeks old (just taken) and India is 2 years old. She does not suck on a dummy, just happened to pick Seraya's up and put in for the photo! She is trying to wake a very tired Daddy up.

Seraya is now around 3 months old. She is teething right now which is to say the least painful for her. Thank the heavens for panadol for babies. She is such a delight. She giggles and smiles all the time. She sings with me and it is just the most gorgeous thing I have ever seen. She especially lights up when she sees India, her older sister. They are pure magic.

Over the last couple of months, nothing exciting enough to publish in my ever boring blog has really happened. The little girls are growing nicely. India is talking so much now. She sings and never stops talking really. She has since had a couple of nasty allergic reactions and asthma attacks. We only picked her up from hospital a couple of days ago actually. All of us got sick with a cold and of course, it hit her as asthma. Yet another trip to the emergency centre of the Wesley hospital. She has become quite the favourite there. All the nurses remember how much she chats and mimics everyone like a little parrot. She can barely get a breath out but it doesn't stop her from talking. I think she would rather suffocate then be quiet. :p

Right now we are in the process of getting our Paddington investment property all prettied up to try and get it on the market and sold ASAP. We are giving it a mini make over in the hope of getting more money for it. I will post before and after pics when we are finished. We are repainting it, with the addition of a feature wall (my idea of course.), changing the cupboard door handles to more modern ones, kitchen light fitting- more modern, possibly a new oven, stove and dishwasher, buff the floor boards, fix the garden, and then we are going to put some furniture and flower arrangement in. Hopefully that will make all the difference. It would be nice if we can spend a small amount maybe no more then $5-10k Fixing it up and getting at least double that back. Fingers crossed.

As for me, I will be busy Mama Reenie come two weeks. I have orientation at Uni starting on the 18th of July, and then Uni starts on the 21st. I am excited but also a little stressed as to how I will handle the work load, with the two little girls in tow. Not to mention, having very little time with Stu. If it gets too much, I will drop down to part time. I only have to suffer a semester out at Ipswich and can then move to St Lucia, which will be much easier to get too. We have decided to wait a couple more months, no more though, to move house. We just want to get Paddington sold, and wait for me to get into a groove with Uni before we have to worry about packing up and moving. That will just be too much stress!

Well that is the update for me. Nothing too exciting happening yet. I will post again after Paddington is complete with a pretty new face and I have started Uni. Enjoy the updated pics of the girls. :D

She's here!! The birth story of Seraya Rahima Ruth Clarke

I went to my obs appointment on Monday 17th and she checked me out. She confirmed that bubbas head was still high and cervix was no where near ready for labour. She said that Baby would be another 2-3 weeks away. I could have cried. She could see the mental damage the pain I was in was causing me. I was sleep deprived, bruised and depressed. Not to mention utterly useless and fat!!
She scanned me and said she could see that there was a lot of cord near bubba's head and neck. She said that it could have been wrapped around her neck and that it was preventing her from dropping. Also this posed a major risk if she broke my waters. I later found out (as I thought) that she had a patient lose a baby girl from cord prolapse after ARM (Breaking her waters). She was not prepared to put me in the same position and I was not willing to put us at that risk. I knew I could not wait 2 or 3 weeks without going completely mad and I was also going to take a huge risk if I went into labour naturally. Against every fibre of my being, I opted for the cesearean and tried not to think too much about it. She booked us straight in. We went to the hospital. I got prepped at 7pm and got sh!t scared as I walked into the OT. I used some relaxtion techniques I planned to use in labour, and it worked! I was probably only 20% nervous and scared. Plus the drugs had me feeling pretty sick and woozy which took my mind off the whole event.
I had the spinal block administered, which was probably the most uncomfortable of the experience. I felt like a pin cusion. It took a few attempts to get a good block without pain. But after I was blocked I was dead from the nipples down. The aneathetist and one of his nurses talked to me to try and distract me while my Obs made the cut. Then he said "You are doing really well, she has just cut through your belly, so we know you can't feel anything." Argh. I didn't want to hear that. Then I heard my obs say, "Well she's not a blonde, daddy." Then I heard her say "And look the cord IS wrapped around her neck. Come on darling!" My heart skipped a beat. Five seconds later she was telling me to "Look look look" and there was my beautiful baby girl being held up on display. There was a whisk of scrubs and a green sugical blur as the nurses handed her to our peadiatrican. He checked her out and DH went straight over to greet our new addition. She had two scores of 9 on her APGARS. She weighed in at 3370 gms and measured 50cm. A little fatter then India was and almost 2 cm shorter. She was covered in vernix, confirming that she could have happily stayed in there for another 2 weeks. I looked over at her smiling, and overcome with relief that she was happy and healthy. She cried only a little and was quiet and content straight away. I got sewed up, and my obs. thought it would be funny to show my how flexible I could be when my legs are dead. She stretched my right leg up beside my ear. In my groggy state It looked like I was sitting on a rubber dummy and its legs were being flung past my face. Freaky! But funny for everyone else Crazy Irish woman...which is funny because she delivered our St Patty Day baby.
The most painful moment was getting up for my first walk and shower. I was dying to get up though. It was so strange staring down at my feet flailing around at the end of the bed. I was willing them to move and they were, but I could not feel it. It took about 4 hours to get full feeling back in my legs. I got up at 4:45am for a VERY early shower. So about 8-9 hours after surgery I was venturing out of bed. The nurses helped me up and the pain was excruiciating. I had two strong pain killers about 20 mins before so it would help with the whole ordeal. I would have hated to see how I went without them! I shuffled very slowly to the bathroom and every where screamed with pain. It was a very achey bruised feeling everywhere, especially in my belly. I sat down in the shower and soaped myself up. I couldn't stop shaking from the residual effects from the spinal block and meds. Each time I ventured out of bed, it hurt but got easier with every time. It really wasn't as bad as I thought it would be except for that initial trip to the bathroom. My first loo experience was quite painful but all part of the healing process.
I stayed in hospital for 4 days and we got home on Good Friday. And boy was it good!! I couldn't wait to get home and have India home too. She is still working out what's going on. Everytime she sees the baby, she says "Seraya!" Although I doubt she knows that she is here permanently and not just mummy's new dolly.
Although the recovery will be much slower then that of a normal delivery (I know I was up and feeling great the next day with India) it was worth it for the safe arrival of our beautiful little Seraya. I know I changed her name at the last minute!! Stuart got over his dislike for that name considering that I had to go through hell to get her here safely. I am very sore, but can walk around okay. It's not really as bad as I thought and you can't even tell I have been cut open. My Obs did such a good job. You really can't even see a line. Getting in and out of bed is getting easier with each day. I am hoping to be back to normal by week 6! It is very frustration not being able to tackle the housework or pick India up. But I wouldn't have been able to do those things being heavily and painfully pregnant as I was. My ribs have mild residual soreness but NOTHING compared to the pain I was experiencing before. I am happy our little bundle made it here safely and nothing compares to that!

END OF MY TETHERRRRRRRR

Well, I am so over it. I have been over it for weeks now as every pregnant woman is at this stage in pregnancy. I went for an induction on Wednesday night (12th of March). Had two doses of prostin gel, but nothing happened!! :( Well I am a little dilated from it and cervix has effaced. Which is good news but no BABY!! I was in the pain of early labour but nothing really happened for me. BUT on Friday morning, I did have my bloody show. YAY. That is some good news. It means that hopefully I am dilating and that bubs is not far away. Right now I am having some contractions but that could be from the nipple stimulation I have been doing.

My butt is so bruised from that nasty midwife who gave me a pethidine and anti histamine injection. She felt the need to press very hard with an alcohol swab AFTER I had the injection. OUCH. My ribs hurt so much right now. I feel like I can't take this much longer. Of course my obstetrician is off this weekend. So if I did go into labour, I will have a complete stranger delivering my baby. I rang the hospital before and asked if I could try another go at induction as I am on the edge of insanity. Of course the response was "It is unprofessional to interfere with another doctors work. You will have to suffer until Monday when you see your own doctor." ARGH. What work?? I am doing all the work here!! I love my obstetrician but all she has done is give me some meds to bring on labour that didn't work and send me home. I was the one yelping in pain. MEhhh. Anyways. Lets just hope that this baby decides to come before I lose the plot!!

Obstetrician Visit

Well I went for my weekly check up today. The official 36 week visit. My obs. checked my cervix and as she put it "This kid's way up the gabba." Roughly translated (although I didn't know at the time) is that her head is floating quite high up. Which means she is content to stay in there a while longer. All I can do is have serious talks with her and tell her how miserable she is making mummy all cooped up in her warm eggshell. I need her head to drop further so I can at the very least be induced or have my obstetrican try and kick start labour for me. I don't mind holding on for another week because at the very least I will be full term and won't have to worry about her being a premature bub. But it is however testing my sanity. I am still getting the constant contractions, which are not only uncomfortable but painful as well. I am so big everything is becoming increasingly difficult. The rib pain I am experiencing now is depriving me of sleep. And of course there is absolutley zilcho I can do about it.
Not to mention I still have a 21 month old little girl to waddle after. Although most days its her that keeps me sane. She at least, is a joy to be around, with her constant chatter and cute little antics. I am thankful that although a little toddler bundle of energy, she is not a difficult child to deal with. She is such a happy and obedient child. I am making the most of it while it lasts!! I am hoping that she will still be the same when number 2 comes along. Even more so am I hoping that her good behaviour will rub off on this baby.

Well I am once again having regular painful contractions, probably residual irratibility from the obstetrician checking my cervix, which is no less comfortable then sitting on a very sharp fence post. I guess I wouldn't mind holding out another 2 or 3 weeks if I knew these contractions were at least helping me to dilate. It seems I have a very stubborn cervix. I know I should be thankful considering there are women out there who have incompetent cervix's and lose babies as a result. They usually have to get those awful sutures in place to hold the cervix shut. I seem to have to opposite. I remember with DD it took forever to get my cervix to come down and efface. I just know by 38 weeks I will be begging for something to happen. I am so scared that I will have to push out a 9lb baby and have a fourth degree tear, or worse a c-section because I won't be able to push her out at all! Every one keeps telling me, it's amazing what we can survive. I know of people that have survived far more amazing feats then a painful and difficult birth. Such as the man who fell 11 stories and lived to tell the tale, or the women that was brutally beaten and raped, and then left for dead. But don't you think, as character building as the whole experience was, they would've rather NOT have gone through it all????? I am not saying I don't want to go trough birth, I know I have to, but I DO want to make it as easy as I possibly can thank you very much.

Pregnancy #2 @36 weeks

This is when my baby girl India was in hospital. She has Impetigo on her face. Poor baby. But you gotta love that smile.
24 weeks pregnant. What a practical sized bump!!
32 Weeks above. OMG and I still have another 8 weeks???? Yeah I know Huuuugeee
Well this is my first blog attempt. Way late in the stage of pregnancy but I will, copy and paste some of my entries from my online pregnancy diary in here. The picture above was taken at 32 weeks. Yeah I know...huuuuge....
So far I have had a fairly good pregnacy without complications. Have had some really bad sacro-iliac pain related to mild Symphasis Pubis Dysfunction. That seems to be bearable at this stage in pregnancy. I am not in a wheel chair as I thought I would be. Although walking around shopping centres is now just a pipe dream for me. After 10 minutes of it, I am extremly tired and sore. But I mostly attribute that to carrying around a very large bump. I wouldn't mind one of those funky old people motorised scooters. I could totally pimp it out with mini mags and a fully sick sub woofer. I could put a toddler seat on it and blast the wiggles from the speakers. Haha.

Anyways back to pregnancy. Since that is what is happening right now in Reenie's corner. I am now huuuuge and just want this baby out. I am 36 weeks tomorrow (3rd March 08) but am convinced she (yes a she) is at least the size of a nice full termer. India was born at 37 weeks weighing in at around 7lbs (3120gms). I am already much bigger then I was when I had India so I am convinced I will be giving birth to a teenager.
Up until about 2 weeks ago everything was going well. I started to get very regular and painful contractions. Needless to say at 33 weeks, it was too early for baby to come out. So off to hospital we went. At about 3 am of course. I was monitored for about an hour and was given the all clear to go home after things dissapated. Then a week later, we trekked back again to hospital as I was having much more stronger contractions. My obstetrician (who is wonderful) came in after I was admitted and had me on Nifedipine and Valium to slow things down. She of course wants me to keep the baby in until at least 37 weeks. She checked my cervix (which was a LOVELY experience) and confirmed that the contractions at least had not softened or opened it up. Good news. So all that pain and discomfort for nothing. It was confirmed that I have what is known as an irritable uterus (IU). Sounds like nothing more then the equivalent to the occasional fart or belching attack, but it is quite significant. Why? I hear you ask. (If you are actually bored enough to read this far). IU quite often leads to pre term labour. Which is what my OBSGYN was concerned about. She ordered me to rest as much as I could with toddler in tow. Which is what I am trying to do. My DH (dear husband) has been very good and looking after DD (dear daughter) when he can and cooking yummy dinner despite his busy work schedule. I have also got my brother and girlfriend living just behind us in the same townhouse complex, so they are on call when I need them. Plus I have MIL (mother in law) and FIL living just a few minutes around the corner.
At the moment I am still having regular painful contractions but I feel now a trip to the hospital isn't worth my time and energy. When they start getting too much to bear, I will go back. I have been to hospital 3 times now. And I now know enough to know that if baby is moving around and I can still talk through a contraction then everyting is okay. I am hoping labour will start by itself once I am 37 weeks. But knowing my luck, I will end up carrying her to term!! I will however be begging my Obsgyn to get her out at 38 weeks at the very most because this is driving me spare!!
I can't sleep well either because the pressure on my ribs is the most horrible burning pain. Plus now carpal tunnel has started. I am just tired of every night wondering if, tonight will be the night. I guess all pregnant women at my stage of pregnancy wonder that, but they don't get the pains and niggles to go with it. That is why women in my condition end up at the L&D rooms to and froing from home. It feels like the real thing. Then all of a sudden it stops. At least if I am gonna be in pain I want it to be worth the effort!! I would like some energy conserved for the real event and the recovery with a newborn and toddler!