Rory's Birth Story

Preparing for birth the second time around was a lot easier. After the drama of Shae's arrival it was clear that this birth was going to be really different: either a straightforward and reasonably fast natural delivery, or a decision early on in the labour to have a caesarian. My preference was the natural delivery but I honestly wasn't too worried either way, I knew that once the baby was here the details of his arrival wouldn't matter.

Girl or Boy?

First time around I was happy keeping the baby's gender a surprise, but this time? As soon as I realised I was pregnant I wanted to know yesterday.

Once I convinced Owen that we should find out, we spent awhile trying to figure out a fun way to reveal the gender. I was keen for a cake (mainly because once the surprise was over we still got to eat cake) but Owen wanted something more exciting.

The winning idea was fireworks - red for a girl or blue for a boy. We packaged up two Roman Candles (so we couldn't tell which was which) and asked our friend Anna to put aside the right one. So the other night we rugged up and took a little trip to the beach for some fireworks.

From the start of the pregnancy I thought the baby was definitely a girl, Owen was leaning more towards girl, and whenever I asked Shae he said the baby was a girl (apart from one time when he said it was a dog...)

We had a few extra fireworks before the main event (Shae kept asking for "more, more" after each one), and then it was time to find out...

We're having another boy!

Some Exciting News

A quick post on my much-neglected blog to share the news of our upcoming adventure...

Our second baby is due to make an appearance next April!

I'm really looking forward to meeting our new family member, but also glad that there's still a few months to get everything sorted (like finishing the house renovations, weaning, and trying to work out how to wrangle a toddler and baby at the same time). Wish me luck!

Our Latest Game

He's learning new skills so quickly at the moment, this is the latest (and one of my favourites!)

Family Photos

When we were in Kaikoura last weekend with Owen's family we (finally!) had some family photos done. These are my favourites of just the three of us:

All photos taken by Andrew Spencer Photography (thanks Andrew!)

The Two of Us

Here are some of the things we get up to during the day when it's just the two of us:

Not pictured: napping, lots of feeding, and both of us having to change clothes after a diaper malfunction!

Shae's Birth Story: Part Two

[Read Part One]

After about fifteen hours of active labour I was thinking that I could handle a couple more hours, but with no progress and potentially many more hours of labour ahead I knew I was done. Just after 9am we decided it was time to transfer to hospital, have an epidural, and get that baby out! I was disappointed that the birth was going to be radically different from what we'd hoped, but I knew this was the right decision.

Shae's Birth Story: Part One

I woke up around 5am Monday morning with what I hoped were contractions. At nine days past the baby's due date I'd been hoping that any twinge was the start of labour, and after lying in bed for a couple of hours listening to a hypnobirthing track and timing the contractions, I decided that this was finally it!

Third Trimester Reflections

We're now entering the home stretch! With the official due date fast approaching the baby could be making an appearance anytime (though as I mentioned I'm expecting it to be a little late, so there's probably a few more days to wait).

Developments
The baby is still very active and seems to spend a lot of time poking me in the side with elbows and feet. It's in a really good position (head down, engaged, ready to go!) and my midwife is happy with how things are progressing. I've been noticing practice contractions quite strongly in the last week or so, which is hopefully a sign that it won't be too much longer.

I'm still feeling really comfortable and every now and then it's easy to forget I'm pregnant (except when I have to get up from a low seat or turn over in bed - then it's impossible to ignore!). It's crazy to think that it's almost over and we're going to meet our baby so soon. I'm mostly excited but a little nervous too when I think about how much our lives are going to change!


Baby Shower
A couple of weeks before Xmas some of my friends organised a surprise baby shower. We were already meeting for book swap club, so they took the opportunity to have a little celebration for the baby. I almost ruined the surprise part by being uncharacteristically early, but they managed to distract me long enough to get everything sorted without me realising what was happening! It was very sweet and unexpected, the only problem was that I didn't have my camera so unfortunately I don't have any pictures to share.


Getting Organised
Everything feels pretty much sorted. I finished work just before Xmas so I've had plenty of time to organise the last few things, and now I've started on a few projects that aren't that important but would be nice to get done while I have the chance (like cleaning out the pantry and framing some artwork). We even have a well stocked freezer full of slow cooker meals and freezer burritos, mainly thanks to Mum who came to stay for a couple of days this week and helped me get everything done.


So in other words, we're ready when you are baby!

Second Trimester Reflections

Now that I've entered the third trimester (!) I thought I'd share some of my experience during the last three months.

28 weeks, the start of the third trimester

Movement
Feeling the baby move has been my favourite part of pregnancy so far. At about seventeen weeks I noticed movements for the first time - it felt a bit like lemonade bubbles. Over the next couple of weeks that progressed to feeling small nudges and bumps.

It was probably another week before Owen could feel anything when he had his hand on my belly, we started to joke that the baby was like the dancing frog because it would stop moving as soon as he tried to feel anything!

Now the movements are really strong, sometimes you can even see them!


Eating
During the first trimester there were about four weeks where I hated food. I didn't want to think about it, and even seeing pictures made me feel sick (I had to avoid Pinterest for a while!). Since that time I haven't had any problems, though I still don't like the thought of eating lamb or fish. My appetite has definitely increased too.

I haven't experienced any cravings (well no more than I normally do!) which I think might be due to all the vitamins I've been taking meaning I've been getting enough of everything I need. My diet is generally pretty balanced as well, although there's always room for improvement - especially when people keep giving me chocolate all the time!


Sleeping
I'd usually sleep on my belly, and as it grew I thought it was probably better to transition to sleeping on my side (with a pillow between my knees to stop me from rolling over). This turned out to be really uncomfortable, I think I must spend all night trying to roll back onto my belly and end up with a sore back.

Lately I've been sleeping much better after deciding to go back to my favourite sleeping position, but using a pillow to make things more comfortable. Now my sleep is only broken my a couple of trips to the bathroom, or when the cat knocks over my glass of water, or when she somehow gets tangled up in the sheets at the bottom of the bed and needs to be rescued.


Exercise
Before getting pregnant I was really focussed on getting healthy and was doing a lot of exercise. This dropped off significantly at the end of the first trimester, mostly due to my low motivation caused by less energy and cold winter mornings! So I've been taking it easy during the second trimester, with a few walks with the dog being the only real exercise I've been doing. I want to make exercise more of a focus again, starting with regular walks and some prenatal yoga.


Work
I'm going to keep working at my office job until the end of the year. Lately it's been going through a quieter period which I've appreciated. I'm taking maternity leave for all of next year, and I have to admit I'm in countdown mode already!

I've also been busy with piano lessons, and actually have more students at the moment than I normally would. This means some long work days but since I enjoy it so much I don't mind! I'm taking a break from lessons at the start of next year but I'm hoping to start back towards the middle of the year. We'll see how that goes closer to the time...


Overall I've been feeling really good during my pregnancy and so far it's been a really positive experience. It feels like time is going by quickly, but when I think back to first finding out about the baby it seems like so long ago.

I can't believe that in only three months our little one will be here!

Boy or Girl?

We had our second (and probably final) ultrasound yesterday. This is the one where you can find out the gender of the baby, and...

...we decided to keep it a surprise!

Although we don't know whether we'll be having a boy or a girl, we did find out a little more about the baby. It's developing well, has the right number of limbs, everything seems to be growing in the right places, and it may also be a cyborg from the future.

Notice a resemblance?

The baby now has a new nickname: T-800

First Trimester Reflections

Now that I'm officially into the second trimester, I thought I'd have a look back at the last few months and my experience so far:

Feathers in My Cap

• The reactions when telling family and friends (almost everyone found out by watching the video!)
• Our midwife, who is easy going, reassuring and very experienced
• Seeing the baby at our first ultrasound appointment. It was nice to know that everything was progressing as it should be, and so awesome/weird/exciting to see a little person moving around in there!
• Hearing the baby's heartbeat at our latest appointment with the midwife
• Overall feeling pretty good for the first trimester (having only mild nausea and plenty of naps helped a lot)
• Planning and dreaming about what's in store for January

Black Eyes

• Although nausea was never terrible, most of it happened during our trip which wasn't the best timing!
• Worrying about a possible miscarriage at about eight weeks (luckily everything worked out OK)
• Feeling a lot more tired and lacking energy, resulting in a lot of early nights
• Food aversions (often this included all food), which at least meant I wasn't bothered by the huge list of food restrictions since I didn't want to eat anything anyway!

I'm really looking forward to what the second trimester has in store - especially feeling the baby move and getting a bona fide pregnant belly!

So We're Having a Baby!

A couple of days before we left for our trip I had a sneaking suspicion that I might be pregnant. I decided to wait until we arrived in Brussels before taking a test though, since it was Owen's birthday and if I was right I thought it would be a pretty good present!

It was easy enough to find a chemist and buy a pregnancy test, but when we got back to our hotel room I came across a little problem: the instructions for the test were in German, Dutch and French (no English)! I just assumed that the directions for use would be the same as usual but because it was a digital test interpreting the results was a little more tricky.

Instead of only two results (negative or positive) there were four. Looking at the diagrams  the negative symbol was pretty obvious, but the positive symbol was accompanied by either 1, 2 or 3. I wasn't sure what the number meant, I decided it was either something to do with the number of days or possibly the number of babies...

Even though I was half expecting a positive test, it still took my breath away when the results first appeared. Owen was pretty excited when I told him, and we spent the rest of the day celebrating and trying to believe that this was really happening.

We can't wait til January!

Our Recent Adventures

We made this short video to save everyone from having to sit through hundreds of holiday photos from our trip:



Everyone we've shown it to has liked the ending the best!