Grandad H

So here we are, trying to get ourselves back to normal, along with a new family member.  

I dropped my Dad off at the airport on Saturday evening, as he headed home to my Mum in Australia (*sob sob*) The three weeks he was here seemed to fly and we very much appreciated he being here when we needed someone (mainly to occupy Monet).  

Lyndon proved what a great son-in-law he is by showing my Dad the sites and keeping him company when I couldn't.  They also enjoyed a few bevvies together, as you do.  

At least now we have someone who can go 'home' and reassure people that Abu Dhabi isn't the scary place I think half of them think it is, just how fast cars do go, that we do have huge, clean supermarkets, how cheap/expensive stuff is, how happy we are, what good neighbours we have, that Muslims aren't scary etc., as we know people don't believe it when we tell them ourselves.

My day finally found the confidence too, towards the end of his stay to cuddle his new grandaughter.  Even when I felt crap last Thursday with a case of mastitis, he walked around holding a crying Lily whilst I napped.

Monet spent practically all day on Saturday at her friend's place, a few doors down.  Even though it was her Grandad's last day with us in Ab Dabs, she kinda avoided him like the plague, and I knew why.  She was already distancing herself from him - she always did that in Cairns too; acted all 'weird' on the last day of a visiting relative.  It is her way of coping.  I did question her on Saturday night and my suspicions were correct.  She wasn't keen on him leaving... Breaks your heart right?

Sunday morning I coped quite well, getting Monet to school on time with both girls dressed and fed by 7:30,  the helping hand Grandad gave getting Monet organized for me. (Monet's school is a good 15 minutes drive from our place) 

So here we are, just the four of us trying to find our feet in our new family.  We miss Grandad but we all know that life goes on and with a bit of luck, we'll be in Oz for a visit around Christmas time.  (We are in the process of getting Lily's passport and residency visa and once that all arrives we'll be booking our tickets.)

Thanks Grandad H for everything.  xx

By the way, this is post #504.  How could I miss my 500th post? Oh that's right, I had other things on my mind...

Fitting Into The Family Unit

Our Lily will be three weeks old this Sunday.  Hard to believe.  It feels like she has always been here.  She is slotting into our family unit quite well.

We're going along okay.  Besides me having mastitis this week, I'm doing fine.  On Wednesday night I felt like I was dying, I was shivering beyond control, rugged up in bed.  My bones ached, I had a headache from hell.  I knew I had the symptoms of mastitis and saw a Doctor yesterday afternoon who confirmed this.  I'm now on a course of antibiotics and am still feeding the little one well.  

Grandad and I took Lily on her first shopping expedition to Marina Mall during the week and she quite liked being pushed around in her pram, all bright eyed and looking cute.  She fell asleep and I forgot what it was like to 'browse' without a child who likes to look at everything and states what she likes, dropping hints on telling me she'd 'like' this, that etc.,  Give Lily a few years and she'll be just like Monet I presume.  

Today Lily experienced her first luncheon outing, at the German Restaurant at the Beach Rotana Hotel.  She slept for a while until she decided it was time for a wail but we coped.  

So we are trying to carry on with family life as if Lily was always here, and we're all doing a mighty fine job if you ask me.  

Just don't come knocking on our front door anytime soon, our villa looks like a bomb has hit it, but we'll get around to cleaning it up one day...  

The Labour Story

How come people are so interested in labour?  You all know that it HURTS. LIKE. HELL and one thing for sure, I'm not going back.  Sorry Grandparents, Aunts and Uncles, friends, fellow bloggers, this girl is shutting up pregnancy shop.  There, I've said it.  No more asking if I'm having another or 'trying for a boy' (sheesh!).  No.  I'm (very) happy with what I have.

Lyndon and I had known for a week that I was going to give birth to a daughter (yes, we knew) on Sunday the 6th of September.  Did it make a difference in knowing we were getting a newbie on this day? No it did not; it made us more organised.  Did it make a difference too that we knew we were having a daughter? In my opinion no, it did not; it made us more organised.  At the end of the day, all we cared about was having a healthy baby.  And that's what we got.

We had picked up my father from the Airport early that Sunday morning and he asked about the previous day's Doctor's appointment and how it went etc.,  He could have fallen over when we announced that we were dropping him home, Monet was being driven to school by a neighbour and we were off to the city hospital to have a baby.  

We were there by 9am and I was induced by my Obstetrician less than an hour later.  He informed me that I was already 2cm dilated, which made me think that this baby was going to be born either the following day (Monet's birthday) or on Lily's actual due date, the 8th.  

The reason for us being induced is that we are currently living in a country which produces small babies.  Tiny little Emiraties.  I had been cooking a big Aussie one.   Being Ramadan too, the city traffic in Abu Dhabi is atrocious.  You have no idea.  People here park where they want to park, they drive at ridiculous speeds and no one seems to care for other cars when on the roads.  We live a good 25 minutes from the hospital (without stupid traffic) and poor Lyndon had been worried for weeks about getting me to the hospital, in labour, in time.  When my Doc suggested an inducement, we thought about it and agreed.  It worked for us and it worked for my Doctor.  We don't need to justify to anyone else.

I was on the Fetal heartbeat Monitor (don't have proper terminology there) for a good 2-3 hours.  I was uncomfortable, my legs were killing me (I had to stay on my left-hand side) and I was tired of hearing that fetal heart beat noise.  (Sorry Lily, but I was!)  After I was taken off the machine and offered my room it was when I began to feel contractions - not that they were too regular but I can tell you that they were beginning to hurt.  This was at about 1pm.  I had a little nap and was woken by a midwife who checked how far I was dilated.  2 cm.  I could have cried.  4 hours of being uncomfortable and having at least an hour of contractions (of the mildish kind) and I hadn't got anywhere.  

As my contractions grew closer together they took Lyndon and I up to the 'Delivery Room Suite'.  I was now 4cm dilated.  *phew* My contractions really began to hurt.  I was given a shot of pethidine to 'take the edge off' (it didn't) and also a drip where it would help increase the contractions and dilate me quicker.  Well, didn't that work?  Oh the pain! The pain!  Where did that noise come from?  Was that me?  And where did that grunting and (mild) screaming come from?  Oh! Was that me too?  I was given an oxygen mask to help assist me from panicking (I felt so bloody scared for some reason!) I didn't let Lyndon unlock eyes with me.  (He later said I looked like a Bunny Rabbit in the headlights of a car - I bloody well felt like that too!) 

I was told I was 6cm dilated and then I felt the sudden urge to push.  I don't know how long it was between the 6cm reading and the pushing (Lyndon said it was roughly about 15 mins) but I knew it was darn quick.  Nurses came from everywhere (apparently, according again to Lyndon, there were abut 8 people, all of a sudden in the room) to have a look at the big Aussie baby being born.  I could have had the whole Australian Cricket team down there watching and I would not have cared.  

I only pushed 4 times and our Lily was born.  It was just gone 5pm.  With her umbilical cord wrapped around her neck 3 times.  I remember seeing my Doc walking in and saying "has she had it already?" and seeing our baby, not a healthy red colour like I remember Monet was like when she was born, but a blue baby being rushed behind a curtain.  I told Lyndon to "GO!" I heard the newborn cries and I cried myself.  Lyndon came over and said (very proudly and reassuringly) "She's fine, she's healthy, she's normal."  You have no idea what those words meant to me.  Of months of uncertainty I knew we had ourselves a little beauty.  Lyndon bought her over all wrapped up and all I could think was "Wow. Wow. Oh! Wow.  We did it.  She's here.  Lily is here."

So that is my labour story.  A nice short 4 hours all up and a brilliant result.  I still can't believe she's here, our Lily Venice, for us to love and hold and enjoy.  It took her a long time to get here (obviously I'm not talking labour wise) and I feel truly blessed and happy that Lily has joined our little family.  

Oh my goodness she's cute.  Excuse me whilst I leave this post for another cuddle....

Ten Days On...

I'm still shaking my head in realisation that Lyndon and I are very lucky, to have two beautiful, healthy daughters.  

We are 'getting there' in terms of being organised in the morning, with getting both girls up, dressed and fed before we get in the car and take Monet to school.  For a baby who is 10 days old, Lily is coping with this routine much better than I had of thought.

This may change next week when Ramadan finishes (yee-har!) but it means that school begins at 8am (rather than 8:30am) and ends for KG2 at 1pm (rather than 12:45).  We will have to adjust our body clocks and be super organised for us to leave and arrive at school on time.  Lucky for me, two other families in our little street also have children attending the same school.  We are going to organise ourselves a car-pooling roster which will be great.  I may only have to do a couple of these early morning runs! 

Lily is sleeping  and feeding well.  I took her for a check up on Monday morning, where the Pediatrician announced that he thought I should have more children (umm, let me think about that one.....NO! He said this because he thought Lily was lovely and big and healthy) and that her birth weight was up by 700 grams.  I swear now, she would be a kilo heavier than when she was born 10 days ago.  

Myself, on the other hand, can happily announce that I have lost 12 kilos of the 15 I put on when pregnant.  I'm still in maternity dacks and my old tops are a little tight in the boob region (*grin*) but I am feeling really good.  My only complaint is a bit of a sore back and arm and that is put down to holding a 4.6 (or maybe 4.9 now) kilo baby in my arms.  

Lyndon and my dad have been a great helping hand.  Lyndon returned to work on Sunday and my dad has been getting Monet's breakfast in the morning, stacking the dishwasher and cleaning the kitchen at night, besides other things, (like keeping Monet occupied).  Lyndon has been cooking dinner - I have once myself but Lily thinks it is her tea time when we decide it is ours, so preparing and cooking dinner isn't on the cards yet... I need to get into the routine of preparing dinner way in advance...  All in due time of course...

A couple of you have picked up on the Monet and the Lily connection.  I do like to think of Lily as one of Claude Monet's Water Lillies.  *smirk*  (Thanks to Google Images)

And of course Lily's middle name, Venice, is after the awesome city that is Venice Italy, which I remember stating after visiting last year, that the city does steal a piece of your heart.  

My Venice does the same thing.

Five

You all know we've had a rather hectic week all with my dad arriving from Oz, me having Lily and we must not forget that my oldest daughter, Monet turned five.  FIVE!  When did that happen?

I was scared that Monet might actually have to share a birth day with a sibling but alas no, September 7th will still be Monet's special day.  I'm not 100% sure how happy Monet was having her birthday without her Mum being there all day to share with her, but she had her Dad and her Grandad around to try and make it a memorable one.   

I do know that she loved the present we gave her;

I *so* recommend these IKEA chairs to anyone with children - Monet adores her.  When she's happy she can sit and spin and watch telly and colour (or whatever) or if she's grumpy and needs 'me' time, down comes the 'hood' and she can disappear from the world.  I have never seen her use a present so much as she does with this special chair.  (And I'm guessing she annoys Grandad somewhat with her game of 'where's Monet?' using that chair!)

Yesterday, late morning, we had a party for her.  All Five-year-olds need to have a birthday party with friends.  With six other children, she celebrated with a table full of food and party games and generally having a nice time.  And I even made her a big Number 5 cake which she was rapt with. 

It has been a little of a rough week for our Monet, I can't blame her.  It is a lot to take in, now having a role of being a big sister, who has spent the past 5 years being an only child.  Having to share Mum has been a bit tough but we are getting there.  

She is an adoring big sister who likes to help out (she's doing a fine job) and she tells me that the best birthday present she got was her little sister Lily.  

Love you Monzie. You've made me proud, you 5 year-old you!  xx

We Can't Believe She's Finally Here...

Welcome to the world (and many blog posts about) Lily Venice...

Born Sunday September 6th, 17:09, 3.98 kilos, 55cm long.  And absolutely beautiful.

Spitting image of her big sister when she was born, practically 5 years to the day.  Scary stuff.

Not Long Now

Still here folks.  Baby not due for a couple of days yet so we are sitting pretty and we're all feeling a little anxious, a little scared, a little excited.  The Neighbours are all in preparation too...

I had my Doctor appointment today - all is well and now we sit and wait.  Woot!

My dad arrives from Melbourne, early tomorrow morning, in time to see Monet before she goes to school and lands in time for Father's Day.  Planned that well didn't he?  I'm actually sitting on a dark coloured leather chair that arrived today which I told Lyndon is his Father's Day present.  Funny that I bought two so it is a present we can share.  You have no idea how comfortable they are and how perfect they are for sitting with a laptop on your lap!

Lyndon spent early yesterday afternoon putting some bamboo sheeting up against our back picket fence to offer a little more privacy for us.  Monet spent a bit of time outdoors late yesterday enjoying the sprinkler...

Monet turns 5 on Monday.  FIVE!  Can you believe it?  Makes you wonder what happened to those years in between her birth and her 5th birthday, but then I look at her and talk to her and notice that she's turned into an intelligent, well-travelled, little school girl.  Unreal.   

We've discussed with her the possibility that she may gain a sibling on her birthday; she wasn't too keen at first but she's okay with the fact now.  She told me she actually would like to have a new brother or sister born on her birthday...well, she says that now...  

Hope all is well with you.

An Anniversary I Wish We Didn't Have To Remember

September Third is one of those dates that is etched in Lyndon and my minds forever.  For different reasons at the time but now in union.  

Five years ago today I began the early signs of labour with Monet.  It was an exciting time, living in a lovely (rented) house in Rye, on Melbourne's Mornington Peninsular.  Lyndon had started a new job only a couple of weeks before in Melbourne's inner-city in the construction industry.  We were happy, our goals were being achieved and life was good.  

I was home alone when my first 'sign' of labour was going to happen.  I rang Lyndon excitedly and told him.  "I'll come home" he said.  (He worked over an hour drive away.)  "No, it's okay, I'm okay, you stay" was my response.  I wish instead I told him to "hell yeah, get your butt home!"  But I didn't.  

Less than sixty minutes later I received a phone call from Lyndon.  He spoke in a stuttery voice.  There were tears in that voice...I knew something was wrong.  Really wrong.  

"He's dead.  He's dead.  I'm coming home...I'm on my way home."

Dial tone.

My phone rang again.  

"I'm okay. I'm okay. But he's dead.  He died right next to me.  I'm on my way home."

Everyone's worst nightmare.  A workplace death.

He shouldn't have been allowed to drive home in such an upset state.  But I know Lyndon and he would have insisted he was okay.  

I had a call from Lyndon's dad who wanted to know if I was okay and had I spoken to Lyndon.  Lyndon had called him and Lyndon's dad had heard a news flash on the radio.

Lyndon and a fellow (apprentice) carpenter, were both working on a Construction site in Albert Park.  A new high rise apartment complex that was being built upon a famous Melbourne landmark.  As concrete was being poured a beam underneath was becoming unstable and both boys were sent down a level to re fix the beam.  Whilst concrete was still being poured above them.  Still.  Being.  Poured.  

As they were trying to fix the beam, the beam broke, concrete flowed through and the young man, not one meter away from my Lyndon, was instantly killed.  

You can read about the story here and here.

Today we remember forever young Nathan and his family.  

I'm glad it is not them remembering us, five years on.