Tilly

The day you came home

It was supposed to be spring. But the day that we took you home, could not have been more wintery. Everything was packed up, and even though we took a lot of the things you were given home in the previous days, there was still a lot of things to take home with us on the day. Including you of course.

Daddy had the baby capsule ready, sort of. But it was quite a squeeze to get you in. You didn't like it much.

It was overcast and raining, and could not have been a more yucky day to bring you home. Trying to get you into the car without getting you rained upon. Trying to work out how to get the capsule into the base in the backseat of the car. What a rigmarole! Then Daddy proceeded to drive the slowest I have ever seen him drive. What should have taken 10 minutes to get home took double the time! The rain, and the fact that he had you, at 4 days old in the back, just terrified him. He said he had a nightmare that he had an accident right outside the hospital the night before!

The Paediatrician told us that you weren't allowed to go "visiting" until you were 3kgs in weight; you left the hospital weighing less than 2.4kg. Which put us in a bit of a bind, as we had planned to go to the new house, then to Baby Bunting to buy you some more clothes etc. So we had to change the plans, and we decided to sneak you at least to the house, because we had to go and make some decisions.

So I put you in a sling (so you would be snug to my body and I could keep you warm and safe) and we stayed as short a time as possible before coming back home to settle in.

It was hard. The house that was our home, that we were now just renting, was not prepared for your arrival. No cot, no change table, nothing. Lucky for us, your Aunty Irene and Aunty Di came the day before and cleaned the house from top to bottom and they even brought food so we wouldn't have to worry about preparing dinner that first night we had you home. They did us such a favour.

But we can't wait until we get you 'home' home. To our new house that we bought because we knew you were coming into our lives. Can't wait to make your room ready, the one we saw and thought of you immediately. The house that will hopefully be full of happy childhood memories for you and for us.

Things have progressed

Ok, so late on Friday night (technically early Saturday morning) at approximately 2:45am, my water broke while I was falling asleep in bed.

Hubby was sound asleep when I nudged him and told him the news. He was dubious at first, in his sleepiness, but once I showed him the water stain, he was up and getting dressed.

A quick phone call to the hospital and they asked me to come in.

Six and a half hours later at 9:20am on Saturday August 28th, Tilly was born:

Weighing in at just 2.39 kg / 5.5 lbs, 44 cm long and almost 3 weeks premature.

My labour progressed quite quickly and I could only rely on gas to see me through. In the end, she required the vacuum to help deliver Tilly into the world.

Tick tick tick

I think I've been having a few more Braxton Hicks. No pain, no discomfort, just a very tight tummy/uterus for half a minute or so. Its only a few times a day.

Had a small bit of old bloody discharge. Only a miniscule amount, but enough to be noticeable. So I called the OB office just to let them know. I'm not concerned, but I think I'm supposed to report these things, so I did just out of due diligence. If there was a concern, then they would call me back to come in. So there was no phone call. I see him on Tuesday anyway.

The signs are just starting to show... hurry up house, so we can move in before I go into labour!!

10:38pm

Oooh. Slightly more discoloured discharge... Not a whole lot, but noticeable! Been doing some googling and I may have as much as 2 more weeks to a month. I hope so!

Hubby is a little gob smacked. I ummed and ahhed about telling him, because I knew what his reaction would be, but then he'd be upset if I hadn't had told him.

Weight

I weighed myself at the last OB visit and the number was 58kgs (about 11 more than my pre-pregnancy weight).

Here is a weight gain calculator that I found at www.babycenter.com.au

You:

Uterus: 1.1 kgs

Breasts: 0.5 kgs

Blood: 1.4 kgs

Water: 1.9 kgs

Fat: 3.8 kgs

Subtotal: 8.6 kgs

Your baby:

Fetus: 3.4 kgs

Placenta: 0.7 kgs

Amniotic Fluid: 0.9 kgs

Subtotal: 5.0 kgs

Total: 13.6 kgs

Of course, its just an estimate!

36 weeks

I've finally made the watermelon stage!

36 week check up today, my OB wasn't there as he was in delivery, but the midwife was there as always. BP is good, and baby's heartbeat is good. Still all going as expected.

Now we have weekly check ups. The next one will be after our ante-natal class and my breast feeding workshop, so we may or may not have any questions for him specifically.

Bags are packed!

Went and completed my hospital list for what to bring to hospital.

The baby bag has been ready for over a week, but I have been slow on my things: maternity bra/nursing top, decent pjs, slippers (only my granny wears slippers!), comfortable day clothes (trackie daks!) and a robe. Plus a tee shirt for labour.

So now I'm ready in the event of an early arrival. Oh, except for toothpaste, I want to buy one of those mini ones you get for travelling.

I guess there are other things to bring too, like a camera, my iPod etc for the moment of truth. Maybe I should have those on stand by too so its easy to grab at any moment.

Watched this amazing video the other night, and I made Hubby watch it too: Natural Unmedicated Birth (2nd baby)

Warning: its warts and all!