News for the week

A couple more photos for the new week.



Mitch went for his first bushwalk on Saturday. We walked from near Clifton Gardens down to Bradley's Head. Not a long or strenuous walk (about 30 minutes each way) but as you can see, the weather was beautiful and the views were very picturesque.

Mitch slept most of the walk in pouch on Mummys front, so he missed most of the sights, but he was awake when mummy took him to look at the rocks and sea. It is a little bit weird to think this was the first time he had seen the sand or the water. He wont remember it but we will, which is special.

Mitch is growing more attentive all the time, he's smiling more frequently and likes to poke his tongue out. He is just starting to "get" what his arms are for. He still waves them around wildly which you can see in the photo at the top. The unintended consequence is that he hits himself, his mum, his dad, the chair, and anything else in the process. This morning he was bringing them together in front of him which looked very cute.

Smiley boy photos

Finally we were able to get some photos of Mitch smiling. Admittedly we cheated a bit and videoed him andthen took the photos from the video, but he's still soooooo cute!




In other news Mitch weighed in at a hefty 6.1 kg in clothes today at the mother's group. We were a bit concerned about him losing weight, because he hasn't been too into his food the last few days. Obviously he knew he was over weight and was trying to cut back, mummy and daddy don't know anything!

Mitch had his rotavirus vaccine today. It's a new vaccine that has only just come out. It isn't covered by the PBS yet, but after hearing from various people how sick little people can get with rotavirus we decided to bear the expense and get him vaccinated. Hopefully it save him the distress and us the worry of him getting it later.

Smiley boy x3

Mitch was smiling again this morning. We tried valiantly to take a picture but couldn't get the timing right. Then we tried the video camera and he became more interested in that and forgot to smile. Give it a few more days. He'll get there!

He slept really well last night. He fed at 7pm and then after a big play went to sleep at about 8:30 and stayed asleep until about 2am, then he fed and watched the soccer with Daddy (woe unto the socceroos - okay I've seen softer penalties given and I've seen harsher ones denied) and went back to bed about 3:30 (after Daddy had to clean him up when a poo escaped the nappy). Then he slept until about 7:30 this morning. Mummy didn't know herself after getting most of 10 hours sleep.

New toys

After a few dramas the Dishwasher and hotwater heater were put in and connected yesterday.

The dishwasher needs some carpentry done to make the cupboard fit it properly. I hope my skills are up to it! I just have to reattach the door on the left and put in a little shelf thing. I think I can manage that. It's kind of sad to be so excited about a dishwasher, but after 2 years of washing dishes, we were both pretty sick of it. Especially if you're entertaining. You get to the end of the night and think, "Oh no! Now I have an hour of washing up to do!" either that or you leave it until the morning ... no one wants to wake up to that!

The hotwater heater is super. Apparently they delivered the wrong one, it was bigger than the one we wanted. So anyway, now we're never going to run out of hotwater! It was so nice in the shower this morning having full pressure hotwater, old one used to dribble out. Add to that it has a temperature throttling valve thing which means it never gets hot enough to scald. This is great news with Mitch.

The other toy is my new backpack which I got for my birthday. It's a Booq laptop bag. The idea being that next year when Meeks goes back to work, I will be working from home one day a week and transporting my laptop will be easier. Add to that my brief case was falling apart anyway. The backpack is very cool. Here is a link to the web site. They take their backpacks very seriously!

Smiley Boy x2

At about 5:30 on Sunday morning Mitch smiled at me. I had just finished feeding him and was watching the World Cup and Mitchy gave me this little smile. It was so cute. I cried. It was a beautiful moment :) He did it a couple more times which made his Daddy very happy (and cry some more). We haven't managed to catch him smiling on camera yet, but when we do I'll post it. It is by far the cutest thing he has done. He's been becoming more and more alert and attentive to the world around him. He tracks things that move past him and he looks at some of his toys when they make noise and things, so he's gradually learning to interact with things.

On Friday night he slept from about 8:30pm until 4:30am his longest sleep ever. Meeks and I both woke up about 4am and said, "What's the time? Did you get up and feed him?". It's horrible, but our first thought was, "Is he alright? Has he stopped breathing?". Obviously he hadn't and soon woke up needing a feed. Saturday night he slept for about 6 hours which was great too. Last night he only had about a 5 hours sleep. Hopefully the long sleep wasn't a "fluke" and he'll start sleeping a bit longer in the night.

Meeks is putting together an album of photos of Mitch. Obviously it will be a work in progress as he grows. It looks pretty good so far though.

In other news, I went back to the eye doctor today and was given the all clear on my retina which is great news.

Also today we are getting dishwasher installed, finally, to our great relief. When we bought the house 2 years ago, a dishwasher was one of the top things on our list of things to do. Unfortunately the kitchen has very narrow benches so fitting a dishwasher was going to be difficult. Added to that we'd have to sacrifice a cupboard which were also a precious commodity. Then there was the cost factor. We'll we solved a one problem by getting a new hotwater system which meant removing the indoor one and getting an outdoor one. That meant more cupboard space in the laundry where the old one was. Also we decided we'd just have to live with a dishwasher poking out too far. Hopefully, It will all be finished by the time I get home this evening. If not, maybe the next day. It looks like a big job. There's rerouting of pipes and installing of new pipes and all that sort of stuff.

Anyway, that's all the news for now. Thanks for reading!

Smiley boy

Mitch smiled at Meeks this morning. Daddy wasn't there to see it, but Meeks was very happy. Mitch has developed a liking to sleeping on the couch, which is not great for his sleeping habits, but it's pretty cute anyway!

Mitch has his shots

Mitch had his first round of immunization shots today. The poor little guy. Meeks took him up to the doctor who did the unenviable task. Meeks came home probably more traumatised than Mitch. Poor Meekie! Needless to say we're expecting an "unsettled" night.

Before going to the doctor, Meeks and Mitch went to mother's group and Mitch had a weigh in. He's up over 5kg now in clothes. He'll have an official weigh in at the paediatrician on Thursday before he gets to catch his first train. Meeks and Mitch are coming in to town to have lunch with me because it's my birthday. Yes indeed I will be an old man on Thursday ... well older anyway.

On a different note, how good was Australia winning the soccer last night! It's not often you find me wide awake at 1am in the morning on a work night ... even more unusual was Meeks watching too. Mitch would have been watching but he was asleep ... at least he was until one of us got a little excited at the events unfolding in Germany.

A new name

So I have been a bit lazy in adding Mitch to the name of this blog. So now the blog is Dave&Meeks&Mitch@Home. Same address, just a new name. We still haven't updated our answering machine message, only because we've forgotten how to. I'm sure the instructions are somewhere ...

Sleepy feet

Mitch was having a little nap on the couch

and his little feet were exposed and they were so cute we thought we had to take a photo.

The little man is doing really well. He's growing nicely and this week we are trying him in the sleeping bag rather than all bound up and we are also trying to get him to put himself to sleep. He's doing really well at both ... well so far today anyway. The sleeping bag is good because when he was swaddled he'd get his arms free and either whack himself in the face or get cold arms or both and it would wake him up. He should be old enough now to put himself to sleep and as much as we like cuddling him, and as hard as it is to hear him cry, we know it is better for all of us if he learns to put himself to sleep. Today it's been okay and he cries on and off for 20 minutes and then goes to sleep.

Tomorrow mum is much busier with parent's group and a visit to the Smart's to see Aly and Maddie and Andrew and then we're going to hear a guest speaker at the church in the night. Hopefully all that wont make him over-tired, although mum and dad probably will be.

Black and white

I was just playing around with black and white filters on the computer and made these two cute photos.

It's funny how this photo in black and white makes it look like the water is cold. Mitch doesn't look thrilled by the whole experience, but he really does love his bath!

In the one below he's thinking about something else - maybe he's contemplating the meaning of life (which is pretty limited for a 5 week old) or maybe he's trying to solve one of the mathematical mysteries like the Poincare conjecture - most likely he's just wondering where he left his dummy.

It will be good when he can smile. At the moment he just looks cute and thoughtful.

Mitch meets more of the family

Mitch got to meet more of his extended family over the weekend.

Great Auntie Marion got a cuddle ...

and so did Great Uncle John.

Mitch loves a bath

One of Mitch's favourite times is in the bath. After a hard day of sleeping and eating (and occasionally crying), he kicks back and relaxes.

Older photo

Now that I am back at work I have access to a scanner, so I decided to scan in a nice photo from just after Mitch was born. This is the three of us in the operating suite. He had been checked out by the doctor and wrapped by the nurse and ew took some photos. As you can see, the screen stopped us from seeing any of the actual operation. Behind the screen the doctors are stitching Meeks up etc.

Celebratory brunch

We had a brunch yesterday morning to celebrate Mitch's arrival. It was Michael's idea and a good one. Great Auntie Marion and Great Uncle Tony were up from Melbourne and Great Uncle John was down from the Gold Coast and most of my immediate family came along as well (those in the country anyway). Mitch slept most of the time, but got some cuddle time in with almost everybody.

Here is a photo of the three of us at the brunch, a rare commodity at the moment:


Unfortunately Mitch has picked up some sort of a sniffle, so he isn't too happy at the moment. Lots of mucus in his nose and throat which makes feeding and sleeping difficult. Hopefully it will clear up soon so he can settle down again.

I have to go back to work tomorrow which just sucks. I've loved being at home with Meeks and Mitchell. Going back to work will be very hard, but I'm so glad I got to have a big block of time off to be with them and to get to see Mitch grow a little bit and share some of the early dramas of being a parent. It has given me a much better understanding of what Meeks will have to go through and a much better understanding of what mother's generally go through without people to help them.

Weighing in at a hefty 4.00 kg ...

Today marks Mitch's original due date. He was born a full month early! He was weighed today by the community nurse and he was 4.00kg which is a 220g weight increase from his birth weight which means he has more than regained his birth weight which is great news.

We are beginning to notice him being more attentive and able to interact with people, which is apparently what we should expect. Because he was premature, he will be behind in his milestones (i.e. smiling, etc) but will catch up rapidly.

We got some more photos developed today which the old fashioned film camera so I'll get some scans of those when I get back to work next week. That's right I have to go back to work next week. That is very sucky indeed, it's going to be hard leaving Meeks and Mitch each day, I'm going to really miss them both.

Now back to Mitch!

Here are some more photos of little Mitch.

Firstly here he is wearing the little top his Auntie Krissy gave him while he looks at Raffy who was given to him by Auntie Anna.


Next having a little nap in Daddy's arms.


Next is Grannie Annie (her choice of name!) having a little cuddle.


Mitch is doing well and is growing all the time. He wore the outfit he wore home from the hospital to a Mother's Day lunch yesterday and instead of drowning in it, it kind of fit him. He is starting to grow out of some of his 0000 and 000 clothes and he certainly feels heavier.

Meeks had her first Mother's Day yesterday which was special.

No laser

Just a very quick post to day I didn't require laser at the eye doctor this morning. This was obviously good news. Yay!

When bad luck is good luck, but still bad luck

More eye ball news. Dave went to see the Retina specialist today. The good news is that the squash ball doesn't appear to have done any specific damage to his retina. The bad news is that while looking at the right retina the doctor found some areas which appear to have been damaged in the past and could present a problem in the future. The result of this is that he has another appointment next Monday and the doctor will have a look to see if there has been any change. If there is still a problem Dave will undergo some laser surgery on his right retina to correct the problem. Obvious this is a nasty shock to us both, but without the accident the existing retinal damage would not have been noticed and if it had gone unchecked could have resulted in much more serious damage to his eyesight including substantial tearing of the retina and resulting vision loss.

Aside from that things are well, we weighed Mitch today at the support group and he appears to have put on a good amount of weight this week and may even have regained his birth weight. It's a bit hard to know exactly as he had clothes on and had just fed etc. He certainly looks a lot chubbier and has regained the chubby cheeks he had when he was first born. The only bad news is that he has decided it is fun to wee when he gets his nappy taken off. He did a wee all over daddy's arm the other day. Not fun for daddy, but fortunately, daddy is stil on holidays.

A spotty boy and a shot in the eye

Sorry I have been a bit slow in posting news and photos recently. Mitch is going through a bit of a spotty teenage phase (a hormones and breastmilk thing - apparently it will go away soon) so isn't terribly photogenic anyway. He is still very cute, you just have to look past the acne.

He was weighed last week and had put on 120g since leaving hospital which is good, but not good enough so now he is getting a normal feed until he gets tired plus a top up from the bottle afterwards. Hopefully that will fatten the little fellow up and keep the community nurse happy. He is still sleeping mostly well, especially with the new feeding system. He is just so full of milk after a feed, he can't do much except sleep.

In other news I got hit in the eye playing squash last night which was no good at all. The fact that I am here typing today says that I'm mostly okay, but I went to the hospital and was diagnosed with a hyphema (google it if you want to know what it is - fortunately it wasn't a bad one and there was no pooling of blood which can cause problems), which is basically a broken blood vessel in the eye. I went and saw Mum's cousin Kathy who is an ophthalmic Surgeon (a very good one). As a result I'm on rest for a week and shouldn't really be driving and have to see a retinal specialist later in the week and go back and see Kathy again next Monday. If it is still all okay then I'll be fine. Very scary though, it could have been so much worse, thanks to God that it wasn't. Meeks has enough to do without taking care of another dependant male! Aside from the eyeball, the socket is sore and swollen and I'll have a bit of a shiner in the next few days. The culprit was Judy, Sharon's mum, if you know Phil and Shaz. She was terribly apologetic and drove me to the hospital, the strange thing is she was already winning the game, she didn't need to take me out!

That's all the news for today.

A day in the park

It was nice and sunny today and Meeks and I were beginning to get a bit of cabin fever after being at home, so we decided to go to the park with our little man. It was a great idea!
Mitch slept in the pram while mummy and daddy had lunch (by the way he was strapped in while he was asleep and mummy and daddy were eating lunch all you safety conscious folk out there)


Then there was cuddles on the picnic rug first with mummy ...


... then with daddy.


Mitch has been such a good baby so far. He has been sleeping lots and feeding well. We have switched to having the breast all day and bottles of expressed milk and formula at night. This has been working well. Meeks and I are thankfully still getting enough sleep which is great. Please continue praying for us and our little boy we greatly appreciate it. Thanks also to Phil and Shaz, Jung, Catriona and Andrew and Cam and Briony who cooked us dinners last week and to Amanda who has cooked us dinner for tonight (and it will probably last to tomorrow as well) - they have been delicious and a huge help to us.

Little boy, big bed

Here is a picture of our little boy in his big cot - plenty of room to grow!


Last Thursday we went to a parents support group in Hornsby. It was really good and a chance to meet some other parents of 0-12 week old babies and to weigh Mitch. Meeks actually knew a couple of the other women through various work contacts. Dave was the only guy there which felt a bit weird at times. He had to be careful where he looked as everyone sat in a big circle and there were boobs being whipped out for feeding at various times! Most of the babies were 3+ weeks so people were surprised we were able to make it with Mitch only being 8 days old. He slept the whole time pretty much. He weighed 3.54kg with some clothes on so we think he has put on a bit of weight since we left the hospital on Monday which is a relief. We were worried about his feeding because he is still minus 3 weeks old when you think about it!

Coming Home

He had a feed just before coming home. All that drinking fair tuckers out a little guy!


And here is Mitch in his car seat on the way home.


We're thrilled to be home. Mitch had a big cry this morning at the hospital, but that was just a stuff up with feeding times. He has been perfect all afternoon and evening and hopefully will continue to be throughout his first night at home. Please pray that Meeks and I can get enough sleep and juggle feeding duties amongst ourselves so that we aren't too tired. Thanks to Charlotte who made our dinner tonight.

Our perfect little boy ... well almost!

Hello again everyone!

After a bath his hair is all spiky. Very cute!


We're still doing one feed on the breast, one on bottle and it's working really well. It means I get to feed him and mum gets a rest. Good times all round. Here's mum feeding him though just before he came home.


He might have drunk a little quickly though because, what went down, didn't quite stay there. This picture is one for his 21st!

Drunk on milk

Our little boy is so lovely.

Today he had a really good day. Meeks is alternating feeds - one the breast and one on the bottle, with the bottle feed having as much expressed breat milk as possible and topping up with formula if required.

Today he was either feeding or asleep or having a little bit of play time or tummy time. He hardly cried all day! If the next two weeks are like that it will be awesome ... somehow I doubt it, but it's nice to dream.

I got to feed him his afternoon bottle feed today. It was just the loveliest thing. Our little boy, lying in my arms drinking from the bottle looking up at me. After he feeds he tired and full of milk, he can't hold his head up, it's like he's drunk on milk. It is so cute!

Meeks will come home tomorrow afternoon. She was going to be coming home in the morning but they wanted to check her feeding just a bit longer. Mitch had a really good feed tonight sucking for almost an hour. Hard work for a little boy, he's only been around 4 and half days and he's already being asked to do hour long work outs!

Please continue to pray for feeding and the changes as we go home and don't have the wonderful midwives and nurses and Lactation Consultants and nursery to check him into at night.

Feeding news

Great news! Meeks' milk has "come in", as they say, so Mitch is feeding properly. No more need for contraptions with tubes yay! (It was called a "supply line" - I didn't remember that at midnight last night.

More photos

Mitch looking with his open eyes


Mitch's first test ... a hearing test which he passed with flying colours.


A couple of Mitch and his mum



Here he is lying on Dad's lap and checking out the world ... isn't he just the cutest!


Day three.
Mitch continues to amaze us, we love him so much. He is becoming a bit more attentive and opens his eyes and there has been a bit of looking at mummy and daddy. He had his first bath today which didn't go so well. Daddy was a bit stressed and he cried almost the whole time, except when he was floating on his tummy. Or perhaps he cried because Daddy was stressed or perhaps Daddy was stressed so he cried. I dunno, hopefully next time will be better.
He had a couple of good feeds today which is great. The Lactation Consultant (very helpful lady names Gabrielle) rigged up this device with a formula bottle aroudn meeks' neck and tiny tubes and sticky tape and all sorts of other things, kind of hard to explain. Hopefully Meeks' milk witll come through tomorrow and she wont need it too much longer. Speaking of Meeks she is doing much better again. She is moving around much better although she still has some nasty pain and needs medication every few hours. She will get better and better as the days go by.

Tomorrow we have a settling class which we will need in the days ahead. We haven't needed it too much yet, he's been pretty sleepy so far, but as his hunger grows, he will be more restless.

Thanks again for your prayers, keep praying for Mitch for feeding, and Meeks for feeding and pain and Dave as he drives back and forth.

Our son, Mitchell Lachlan!

Mitchell Lachlan just after he was born - having a good old scream at this point we knew his lungs were fully developed.


Meeks and Mitch just after Meeks had arrived back from recovery.


Our little boy, isn't he just the cutest! Look at those chubby cheeks!


Here's little Mitch with Nana


Meeks was feeling much better today, the effects of the morphine reaction had worn off by this morning and so she wasn't feeling nauseous any more and ate her first meal this morning. She has some pain from the site of the caesarian and has difficulty getting out of bed, but is getting better all the time. Mitch is still not feeding, but he is getting better. He takes about three or four sucks and then gives up. He sucks your finger like a champion though, so he just needs to realise that fingers don't have any milk and boobies do. He'll get there though!

A boy!

Mitchell Lachlan Clark was delivered by elective caesarian this morning at 8:36. He was 3.78kg or 8 pounds 5 ounces. He is a month early, but you'd never guess from his size. He's a beautiful little boy we are thrilled. He's nice and pink and has a nice amount of dark hair on his little head. He was 50.5 cm long.

Because he's one month premature he's having a few problems feeding, but we'll get over that. Meeks had a bad reaction to the morphine which was administered and she has spent the day feeling very groggy and nauseous and very tired. As a result she didn't really get her first proper cuddle until tonight. We're both hoping she feels better tomorrow.

No photos just yet unfortunately, but should be tomorrow hopefully as I get the technology together.

Thank you for your ongoing prayers,

Dave and Meeks

It's all happening tomorrow

Meeks is booked in for a caesarian tomorrow morning 19th April. God willing we will have a little baby by tomorrow afternoon. As always your prayers are appreciated. We're very excited, but nervous of course.

Home again, home again

Meeks' is home again after a couple of days in the hospital. Her blood pressure readings have stabilised so the doctor discharged her from hospital this morning. We are both relieved that she is home. She will still have to rest, but it is nicer to do it at home than in the hospital. We have another appointment at the obstetrician on Tuesday some time, but it looks like Meeks will be carrying the baby for another week or two which will be great for it.

Our thanks to everyone who has visited or rung and also those who have prayed for us.

Good news

Meeks had a number of blood tests yesterday which all came back with really good results. Her blood pressure has stabilised and now the doctor is talking about the possibility of her coming home. Obviously that is great news. We will know more tomorrow, but at this stage there is no pressing need to deliver the baby, so hopefully she will be able to come home in the next couple of days and have the baby delivered in a week or so.

Meeks in hospital

We went to see the obstetrician today and because Meeks' blood pressure was up a bit again and because she is having trouble controlling her blood sugars, he decided that she should be admitted to hospital. She is fine and the baby is fine too, but he wants to keep a close eye on her and the best place to do that is in hospital. So we left the doctor, went home, packed a bag, and drove back to hospital. She has a really nice, big single room with a sofa and Foxtel. If you'd like to visit (and you'd be welcome), visiting hours are 3pm til 8pm, just ring us before you come to check.

Meeks will remain in hospital until the baby is induced or they perform an elective caesarian which may be in the next couple of days or it may be up to a week and then the usual 5 days after the baby is born. The doctor wants to try and last a week because by then the baby's lungs will have fully developed and the sucking reflex will be ready. If it comes earlier it might have some difficulty breathing and may need to be tube fed for a while. The baby will be okay, but it will have a harder time if it comes early.

Obviously this is a pretty tough time for us. We have not been separated for more than one night since we got married almost six years ago. The idea of Meeks being in the hospital for almost two weeks is very hard. I'm not stressed because I know that God is in control and Meeks is okay and the baby is okay and this is the best thing for them, but it's still tough.

Please pray for us at this time. Pray that Meeks condition is stable and that the baby gets the extra time to develop. Pray for us as we miss each other. Pray for me as if drive back and forth that I am safe.

No size 0000 for us!

We had another appointment with the Obstetrician on Friday. The good news is that Meeks' condition has stabilised and that she and the baby are healthy. We got told the baby is already a very healthy 3kg (about 6 pounds 6 ounces) which puts it in the 97% percentile for size. If the baby went to full term the doctor estimates it would reach about 11 pounds! The head size is in the normal range, it's just a bit big around the belly and shoulders. The doctor said even if the baby was born now it would be fine, but he hopes to keep it in until the 37 weeks but will be happy with 36 weeks. So we will be seeing our little one in 2 to 3 weeks all things going well. That is a late April birthday. Meeks is going along well although she does have some discomfort from time to time, just associated with carrying the baby. The itching has pretty much gone away which is great.

A womb with a view

Here are some pictures of our little one from the 34 week ultrasound.

In a couple of places there is some distortion from various things getting in the way, like an arm or the umbilical cord, but it's still pretty cool. You can see the little eyes and the little mouth and nose and those chubby cheeks. He or she definitely has Meeks' nose if you compare that to Meeks baby pictures. The baby is having a little nap in these pictures which is a habit he or she has caught from mum and hopefully one that is repeated a lot :)

More news

We had another ultrasound this morning and all is good. The baby is a little large around the middle (aren't we all) but apart from that everything is good. We got to see a 4D picture of the baby's face. He or she has the cutest little nose. I'll try and scan in the picture and post it this week some time.

For Meeks, the itchiness is not so much of a problem now. Thanks to those who were praying for her - she has been sleeping much better aside from the frequent trips to the bathroom which are common for all woman in late pregnancy. She has been taking the medication for teh liver condition since Saturday and will have another blood test on Wednesday to see if it is having an effect. She is generally quite uncomfortable though, just due to lugging around the baby. She was going to have a massage today which will hopefully be nice.

We should know more on Friday when we see the obstetrician again. We may even come out with a date, depending on what the tests show.

We've had a bit more time to digest the news that we will be parents in 2 or 3 weeks instead of 6 or 7. It is very exciting!

They say the last couple of months rush by ... they're right

We had an appointment at the obstetrician this morning for Meeks' regular check up and to get the results from the liver tests from Wednesday. Apparently Meeks' liver function is down slightly and her bile slats are slightly above normal (only very slightly) which is where the itchiness is coming from. Apparently there is an increased likelihood of the condition in South American people and also Scandinavian people. The doctor has prescribed a medicine called Ursofalk which should help with that. The doctor said that in his experience the condition is unlikely to cause the baby distress which is good news. The internet very helpfully gave us some fairly dire statistics about it. He said a lot of the tests are based on incidences in South American where there are a bunch of other factors involved.

The other news is that it means that we are looking at the increased likelihood of an early delivery, even as early as 36 weeks. This is caused by the above problem and also Meeks diabetes. We have another set of liver tests and an ultrasound next week and that decision will probably be made next Friday when we have another appointment.

What that all means is that we could be parents in as little as 3 weeks. That freaked us out a little to say the least. It looks like we could be having an April baby instead of a May baby!

Itchy, itchy, itchy!

Meeks is going through a bit of a nightmare at the moment with itchiness on her belly and palms and feet. She thought she was going mad but then found out it's quite common, there's even a web site!

www.itchymoms.com

Apparently it can be quite normal and could be caused by the body not handling the extra oestrogen in the blood. Alternatively it can be something quite nasty called Obstetric Choleostasis but that only occurs in 2% of pregnancies. It has something to do with pooling of bile salts in the liver (mmmm ... tasty) and can be quite serious for both the mum and the baby and will likely mean having the baby delivered early if it gets serious. Meeks had a blood test today to see if it is the nasty variety or just the common one. She should know by Friday. Either way, it is causing a lot of trouble especially at night and Meeks finds it very, very hard to sleep.

Last night we tried Phenergan (an antihistamine) but that didn't really work so about 11pm last night we were driving around trying to find a 24 hour chemist to buy some calamine lotion. You would think there would be one in Hornsby (or Pennant Hills or Epping). Not a chance! So we went home and Meeks suffered through the night only getting a couple of hours sleep. Not the way she would have wanted to spend her birthday!

Tonight, we're going to try an upped dose of Phenergan and calamine lotion.

Please pray that it's not the nasty one and that we can find a solution for the itchiness.

The Nursery Part 2

Ok so I have been a little tardy, but here goes!

First up, Meeks' new favourite chair in the world.

Next a picture of the cot and the change table near the window. Meeks' old Big Ted is just minding the cot until the baby comes.
A closer look at the change table. It's in the "chest of drawers" mode at the moment. The top folds down to become a change table. When the baby doesn't need a change table anymore the top becomes a little shelf. Isn't Ikea clever! It's all stocked up with nappies and ready to go. You can also see the pram folded up on the left of the change table - nice and flat! Ellie the Lime Green elephant is hanging out with the Johnsons baby powder.

This is a little book/toy shelf and a little toy chest down on the floor. Raffy the Giraffe is sitting on the toy box. He is a gift from Anna.

And a closer look at the shelf. Meeks' mum has been extremely generous in giving little toys so the baby has lots to play with. With Ducky and Teddy and Paddington and Lamby and Monkey Boy and Sheepy (and Ellie and Raffy and Big Ted) to play with, the baby will have more than enough of little friends. There are a couple of books for story time too.

Nursery

Still not quite there with nursery shots, been lazy and busy! Here is one that was in my phone. Not bad quality for a shot with a mobile phone. I was not trying to be arty, just trying to fit in as much as possible!
You can see the cot and the wardrobe and just part of the arm of the arm chair. More to follow!

Finishing work, and U2 postponed!

After finding it harder and harder at work the past few weeks, Meeks has decided she's had enough so she will be finishing work at the end of next week (17th March) which is two weeks ahead of schedule. She's looking forward to doing a number of little things around the house and resting. I guess that means we don't have to compete for the shower in the mornings any more :)

In other BIG news, if you don't already know, U2 has postponed the Australian leg of their tour. This could potentially be a disaster as depending on when they postpone it to, we might not be able to go! There were tears I can tell you! Hopefully it is either a short (less than a month) or long postponement (more than 3 months) because otherwise it is going to be very tough to go. There are rumours floating around about the concert being postponed to a November timeframe which would be great, but they're only rumours at this stage. Thanks to those who have already generously offered to baby sit when we go to see U2!

That's all the news for now, I promise I will get those nursery photos online soon (sorry Mum - although she could just come and visit. We don't live THAT far away!).

30 Week Ultrasound

We had our 30 week ultrasound this morning. All looks well and the baby appears normal. The baby looks like it has chubby cheeks, and it had it's leg up near it's head - very flexible! The lady doing the ultrasound said the baby was larger than average (which Meeks was obviously thrilled about - not!) but aside from that all was well.

In other news, Meeks is having some back pain and some stomach pain and occasionally difficulty sleeping which is all no good, but it seems this is part of being pregnant. She has cut down to 4 days a week at work and is currently due to finish on the 30th March (only 14 "work" days to go!). She may get told by the obstetrician to stop earlier if the back pain etc keep up which she'll be terribly disappointed about (again ... not) if that happens! Fortunately, she has some sick leave stored up so that should be okay.

We have a pram

After a very extended period of looking and being confused and frustrated by lots of choice we finally found ourselves a pram. Hurray! It is a Mountain Buggy Urban, which we found to be a bit more expensive than some of the others, but after having some practice getting heavier ones in and out of the car, we decided it was the go. It is mostly black, but has a couple of bits of detail so it's not alllll black. It was apparently No. 1 in a Choice magazine test of three wheelers. It folds nice and flat and fits in the back of the car nicely.

In other news we've sort of decided on a car seat as well. The Safe and Sound Compact in "Kindergarten", which is kind of a dark grey/charcoal colour because Kindergarten doesn't really mean anything in a colour sense ... well at least to me it doesn't. We decided on the compact after seeing how big the more "normal" sized ones are. We might just have to confirm that they handle the same age children as bigger ones before we finalise our decision. Unfortunately they didn'thave one is stock today so we'll have to go back later on on get it.

The Entrance and other news

Sorry I haven't added much in the way of news lately. What can I say, we have been busy! A couple of weekends ago we had a weekend away up at The Entrance. Just a time to relax and hang out together before the baby comes along and takes away all our free time. They have pelican feeding everyday up there, here's an action shot.


The Pre-Natal classes are almost finished. We have our last one this week. The last couple have been on parenting, which has so far been looking at breast feeding and last week we got to see a real baby being bathed and settled. Fortunately it was a good baby so did all the right things, we can only hope our baby turns out like that!

We've finally got all the bits for the nursery which is a relief. I just have to put up a shelf and it's all done. Next time it's sunny I'll take some pictures and post them here. Getting the stuff on Sunday was a bit of a nightmare, to summarize it's 2:30 we're at Homebush, I have to be at music rehearsal at 3:30 and we've just discovered the arm chair doesn't fit in the back of the 4 wheel drive we have borrowed. Fortunately after some brief panic, a few occy straps and a bit of good ol' fashioned Aussie ingenuity, we managed to get the arm chair home and me to practice on time, not the best preparation for leading a church service - I don't recommend doing it that way to anyone. Thanks to Michael for his patience and help.

More nursery news

We managed to get the rest of the nursery furniture together without making too many mistakes or resorting to swearing and violence. Now we just have to figure out how to arrange it all. We made a cardboard cut out of the shape of the wardrobe and arm chair and put them in the room to try and get a feel for how it will all fit. After that there was an extended period of mentally moving things around so:
a) they all fit
b) they provide some sort of functionality; and
c) it doesn't look like the baby feeding-changing-sleeping production line that it is.

We both think it is all very cute and are really looking forward to when there is actually a baby to live in it. I think if it was a bit bigger I'd come home from work and find Meeks asleep in the cot.

So only a few things still to do and the nursery will be ready for the little one. Hurray!

The Nursery

We went shopping last night for nursery things. We had already decided to get the cot and a few other things from Ikea, so that wasn't too hard. It's really exciting and fun putting the little things together and thinking about how our little baby is going to sleeping in them, or storing their toys in them, or putting their little clothes in them etc. The only thing we wanted but wasn't in stock was a little wardrobe which is part of the Diktad antique stain collection. We have to go back later to get an arm chair (it wasn't going to fit in our car) so we'll pick up the arm chair in a couple of weeks when the wardrobe is back in stock.

Here is a link to the stuff.

We only had time last night to put together the little toy chest we bought for the babies toys. You would think it would be pretty simple. There were only about 6 pieces and some legs. Unfortunately we got the back and the front upside down and didn't realise until too late so we had to pull the whole thing apart again to put them right. Eventually we got it done :) It's very cute. It has all the little toys that the baby has already accumulated - quite a few given he or she is still a few months away!

So now we have a nursery with a bunch of cardboard boxes and a toy chest in it. I'll post photos when we have assembled the rest - I fear how we will go with the more difficult bits considering how badly we did with the simplest!

Meeks' belly

When we got pregnant we had this plan to take pictures of Meeks belly all the way along so we could see it growing, etc. Obviously that hasn't happened, however, we did take a photo today, so here it is!

We're 25 weeks on Monday, so only 15 weeks to go yay!

Ante-Natal Classes and other news

We started our ante-natal classes last night at the hospital. First up was a brief discourse on the phases of labour or "The Mechanisms of Labour" as it is more correctly called. No videos yet, but apparently we have 3 further weeks of classes on labour, so there is plenty of time for that yet. The more I learn about the process, the more I'm glad I'm not a woman and the more guilty I feel for putting Meeks through it all! I hope the little baby realises what mum has to go through to bring him or her into the world ... I realise that of course that is not likely for a number of years ... probably until it is an adult itself.

After the labour classes there is a few more on parenting. So washing, feeding, nursing, etc.

For me, the classes are valuable because they are opportunity an to learn what is going to go on during labour. I think knowing a bit of what is going on will help me not to freak out when the time comes and not stress about it in the lead up.

In other news, Meeks has had some discomfort while sleeping and occasional cramps which is no good, but the baby is doing well and kicking around more frequently. She is 23 and a bit weeks now.

We have to buy curtains for the nursery and Spotlight was having a sale. We worked out it takes less time to get to Spotlight West Gosford (35 minutes) than it does to get to Dee Why (40 minutes) so we had a bit of a drive up the coast Sunday morning. Unfortunately Spotlight Gosford didn't have much in the way of the curtains we were looking for. We'll try Ikea when we go and get the cot etc which we are buying from there.

Meeks' Mum and Michael get back from several weeks overseas today. They have been to London, Prague, Austria, New York and skiing somewhere in Utah (from memory). It will be good to see them again.

Great mysteries of the world

Why is that when the baby is giving Mum's insides a working over by doing the Riverdance, as soon as Dad puts his hand on the "dancefloor" he or she stops?