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Showing posts from March, 2011

A little bit of fat,,,

I don't know if I mentioned it before, my my only sister is getting married on the 25th of June 2011.  That is 42 days after the latest possible date that Luka will be born, lovely, just lovely. Of course I am absolutely overjoyed at the thought of Tanja and Jaco finally tying the knot after years of being engaged, its just that I will simply not lose all the weight that I picked up in pregnancy in 42 days.  As I am planning on breastfeeding, I cannot live on love and water, not an option, you have to consume a fair amount of calories to provide sufficient milk for a baby.  Not as if I will be able to hit the gym hard a day after Luka is born, bear in mind that she might still arrive via c-section, this means that I will be avoiding the gym for 6 weeks. With Liam, Gerhard and I both picked up about 10 kilo's before conceiving due to us quitting smoking, so I was a tad on the heavy side already, and then I picked up a good 15 kilograms, so all in all about 25 to lose, which

Liam and a bit of insecurity

We have been trying to prepare Liam for the arrival of Luka to the best of our ability, and I am now stepping this up a gear as I really think his little world is about to change in ways that he simply cannot understand.  So typical examples would be me telling Liam that this is the pram and he will absolutely have to help me as there is just no way that I will be able to push Luka around all the time, or look Liam, here is a bottle, Luka will be so small that you will have to help me give her milk in bottles, bath her etc, you catch my drift.  For the most part he seems really excited, but every now and then some insecurities do creep in and he tells me Luka must come out of my tummy now, Liam wants to get back in (no ways kid, it was rough enough when you came out of there weighing 3 kilograms).  So this morning I take out one of Liam's photo albums and show him pictures of him starting off with his scan pics, 4D scan and an array of newborn pics.  He loved it, you could s

So when do you have the talk with your kids

I am sure that you are not supposed to have a birds and bees type talk with your kids when they are a mere two years old...Am I wrong?  The thing is with Liam being so clever, he has a very enquiring mind and asks questions that most two year old will not ask.  We told Liam that he was getting a sister and a brother a while back, he first was convinced that he wanted a brother and then gradually made peace with the fact that he will be getting a little sister.  He is constantly telling my tummy that Luks must come out now, he has bottles and nappies and a pram for her.  He also gives my tummy a kiss and a cuddle almost daily. Then about a week ago, he starts asking me to see the door where Luks will come out!  In a bit of a panic I told him that I will go to the hospital and the doctor will find the door.  Seriously, the boy is only two, trying to explain the concept of giving birth to him is quite scary, so maybe a c-section will not be as bad as I thought, then I can tell him wit

34 Weeks and Luka refuses to turn :(

Ok, so despite my episode with the voltaren emulgel, Luka is fine.  My gynea actually laughed at me and spent some extra time showing me that Luka's heart is fine, her kidneys are working, she has loads of amniotic fluid, so I am so relived.  Luka now weights 2.5 kilograms but she seems as stubborn as her mother (do not tell Gerhard that I admitted to this at all) and refuses to turn, so if she remains in the breech position, it will have to be a c-section.  I have a scan on the 12th of April, and if she has not turned by that time, she will make her arrival into the world on the 13th of April 2011.  Scary.  I find the idea of knowing the exact time and place that she will be born quite scary.  More scary, the thought of poor Gerhard with his hate of all things guts and gore in a theater even worse.  Poor man, should probably get him on some calmettes right away.  At least I now have a new googling matter, all about c-sections, hey, I like to be prepared!

Liam and losing a best buddy

No, nobody died, although it actually feels as if someone is about to die.  See, Liam is the kind of kid that bonds with a select group of individuals.  He has a best friend, he has always had this best friend, since baby class.  The friend is called Conner and the two of them are inseparable! Conner is a couple of months younger than Liam, yet a proper head taller than Liam, yet Liam refers to Conner as "My Connertjie".  And Liam refuses to go to school if Conner is not already there.  Every day when I ask Liam what he did at school, its Conner this and Conner that.  And when I ask who his other friends are, I get lectured that so and so tried to play with me and Conner, and then we said no.  So imagine the shock of finding out that Conner will be moving to Cape Town with his mother at the end of the month.  My heart is breaking into a thousand pieces for Liam, he is so young and he will miss Conner dearly.  Add to that the fact that his life is about to change forever

Liam and growing up

It struck me about five minutes ago how fast Liam has grown up since I fell pregnant with Luka.  Let me use an example, Gerhard had to leave the house really early this morning to go and play golf.  Liam is still a bit phlegmy, so he is still nebulised morning and evening - Gerhard's job.  Refer to previous posts about pregnancy paranoia and you will clearly understand that there is just no way in hell that I can nebulise Liam. So this morning the two of us eat our breakfast and then its time to nebulize, and I tell Liam he will just have to do this on his own, poor thing.  So there is my two year old boy sitting on the couch nebulising himself, my heart actually broke into pieces. He also got his very first set of golf clubs yesterday, not the plastic variety but mini golf clubs in a proper bag.  He is just so chuffed with himself!  He actually called his Oupa Hansie yesterday to show him his golf clubs (over the phone yes).  He could not contain his excitement!  And this morn

Enough already! Voltaren and other poisons

I know I have complained about my pregnancy paranoia before, but it reached new levels yesterday.  But let me start at the start... Saturdays are days filled with fun in our house, so it started out like any other normal Saturday, had breakfast, off to the chemist to get Gerhard some (more) pills, went to the golf shop and bought Liam his first little set of real golf clubs, Kindermusik, lunch at a tea garden, and then, as Gerhard puts Liam in the car and Liam insists on his new golf clubs (still in the box) being placed next to him on the seat, Gerhard pulls a muscle in his back.  Its so bad that I end up driving home and Gerhard is bent over backwards in the passenger seat. I then later on pop into Woollies for some groceries for the week, and decide to pop into the chemist again to get poor Gerhard (who just happens to have a golf date today) some voltaren emulgel.  Up to now, you must admit, all noble principles, I am the dutiful wife heavily pregnant, still taking care of my l

Sleep, who needs it ...

I know I have been complaining about my ill and sickly boys for some time now, but I must admit, it is fairly ridiculous to know that Gerhard has been to the doctor 3 times and Liam twice in the space of two months. Last night was my fourth consecutive night without sleep, poor Liam was up coughing from 11:00.  I am exhausted and if this is mother nature's way of preparing me for pajama drill, its seriously not funny! So today, I really have nothing to say, zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Getting on my moral high horse today

I do not normally get this upset, but I have now had enough...I am no longer going to defend my decision to have a natural birth vs a c-section against all the SA mommies who decide to opt for elective c-sections.  OK, I am done. "A c-section (or Caesarean section) is commonly performed when a natural birth is considered to be too risky and the mother’s or baby’s health is deemed to be at risk. Today, however, private South African hospitals are performing far more c-sections than vaginal births and a c-section is becoming an elective procedure rather than a necessity.  Mothers may be under the impression that a c-section is an easy way out of labour, or they may feel that a scheduled operation is far more convenient than trying to work around an unplanned 2am hospital visit (after their water breaks). The increase in c-sections is not only in South Africa, but in reality the procedure is being performed far more often in many other countries around the world such as in China, L

32 Weeks and Luka is HUGE

Just returned from a visit to the gynea and the good news is that there are still lots of amniotic fluid, the placenta is working well, and Luka is HUGE...Babies at 32 weeks normally weigh around 1.8 kilograms, Luka weighs in at an impressive 2.2 kilograms, she weighs as much as a baby of 36 weeks.  The good news, should Luka make an early arrival, she will most probably be fine.  The bad news from a work perspective, Luka could be here as early as within the next 4 weeks.   Now, that means that I need to pack my bags, I am anxiously awaiting a stork tea that will give me a good indication of what I need, and then I need to pack.  I also need to start considering what I commit to, as an example I am going on a site visit with my board of directors on the 17th of March, in a bus, to a different province...I am not entirely convinced that going into labour in front of the board is such a great idea, so I convinced my boss that we need to go in a separate car so that if need be he ca