Thursday, March 5, 2009

Thankful Thursday

After reading about a girl who photographed one thing she was grateful for every day for a year, I have decided to introduce Thankful Thursday. Every Thursday (or Wednesday or Friday, we're flexible here at the Accidental House) I'll let you all know something that makes me happy, reminding myself in the process.

So, drum roll please, for the inaugural Thankful Thursday....

Today I am so thankful for my sleeping baby. Last night she slept for 7 hours straight (I didn't though, I became worried and got up to check on her very few hours. She was fine!) In the end my dodgy 4am judgement kicked in and I just woke her up for a feed. Next time I won't be such a rookie, and hopefully I'll be confident enough to just leave her be.

She also catnapped long enough this morning for me to have a decent length shower. This was particularly nice as I spent most of Tuesday with shampoo in my hair, because she started hard core fussing halfway through the shower and I couldn't bear it and got straight out to console her. She didn't have another quiet time for hours, but my hair is super clean this week.

Which leads me onto her baby rocker. With one foot I can keep her happily rocking, distracting her for up to five full minutes of hands free time. I can eat, type, sew, or read for up to 5 minutes. It's fantastic! I never knew how much I could accomplish in such a short time.


And that leads me onto anthology books. I visited the library and borrowed two chunky books full of short stories that fit into my 5 minutes of free time. Bliss!

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

One Month of Living

She's been in the world on her own for a month today.

It's been a month of baths with Daddy,


reading with Mummy,


and naps dreaming of being superman

She has gained 1365 grams (that's 3 pounds) and has grown 4 cm taller. She has learnt to hold her head up and has strong, kicking little legs. She curls up like a turtle when you unwrap her for a feed, and pulls a surprised, lemon-sucky face when she poops. She smiles when it's time for a feed, and sometimes afterwards too, when she's content and snuggling.
She loves baths, but has already outgrown the bathroom sink. She has learnt to focus her eyes, and likes to stare at light and patterns with start contrasts. This includes the pattern of the ridiculously ugly orange and brown tiles in the parents room at the local shopping centre.
She is blessed with excellent sleeping patterns, waking only once or twice during the night and then just for a feed. She self-settles. The fog of pregnancy has lifted considerably in the last week, and I am starting to feel like myself again.
Every day I have a shower before midday I feel a sense of achievement similar to that of brokering world peace. I don't think Mr Accident quite gets that, but he tries. I am obsessed, but still exhausted, and every time I return to the hospital for baby clinic the thought of giving her back briefly crosses my mind. But only very briefly.
I am still convinced she is perfect.

Welcome Princess!


My beautiful little princess has finally arrived! One afternoon, a month ago today, I was making a CD at home, a compilation of daddy-daughter songs to give to Mr Accidental as a becoming-a-dad present. The first attempt at burning the CD didn't work, and as I went to get a fresh disk, I had a sudden rushing, wet sensation and I thought I had peed myself - gross! I threw my clothes in the wash and got changed, but it kept on coming, and coming.... I rang Mr Accident with the news that my waters had finally broken , and told him that he might as well keep on heading to the gym, nothing would probably happen for hours. Thankfully he ignored me and came straight home.

The trip to the hospital was a little fraught. The hospital is on the other side of the river, and there had been two cyclones and a fair bit of flooding in our region over the previous few weeks. The bridge across the river had been underwater that very morning, and I had been strictly instructed to cross my legs and wait - I failed! Lucky the water had subsided enough for us to be able to cross the river, but there was still a lot of water on the road and Mr Accident had to drive very carefully. And on the verge. Sorry council gardeners, I'm sure the ruts in the grass will come out soon!

At the hospital I was put straight onto the fetal heart rate and contraction monitors, and even though I couldn't feel them, I was very excited to see some contractions were actually occurring! As the afternoon and evening progressed, the contractions sure got strong enough for me to feel them myself. At bed time, Mr Accident had curled up onto the teeny tiny couch in the delivery room and was sleeping. the contractions were about 5 minutes apart and strong enough to completely rule out sleep for me, but I did catch some 4 minute naps in between. Each time the pain was too intense and I let out a moan, Mr Accident would pop up awake from the couch and say "are you ok?" It took a LOT of diplomacy for me to kindly tell him, after what seemed about the 500th time, that I was actually Not OK, I was Hurting and to STOP ASKING ME THAT. He changed his half asleep, mumbled mantra to "You're doing a good job". Every 5 minutes. Thanks darling.

At around 7 the next morning not much had changed, and the midwife and OB decided to induce. The next 4 hours were a blur - once the drugs kicked in the pain hit like a freight train, waves and waves of rippingly strong contractions. The midwife gave me some mild gas, and then when the time came to offer an epidural or pethidine I kind of missed my chance, and just asked for more gas. It was great when she turned it up, it worked really well, but I became so wasted that she turned it off completely. I spent the next hour begging for more drugs, I Really Wanted That Epidural NOW Please. No joy, however.

Long story short, the relief I felt when my little one was finally born is indescribable. She was tiny, and purple and white, and the seconds between her being born and that first little squeak were the longest of my life.

At this point I have to give massive credit to Mr Accident. He really was fantastic. He was totally encouraging the whole time, helped hold the gas nozzle for me when I was too tired, and miraculously thought to get a cool towel for my forehead when that was literally all I wanted and I was too exhausted and confused to ask for one. He cut the cord, saw the head crown, and didn't (visibly) flinch at the placenta. And most importantly, he fell head over heels for our bub as soon as she was born. I could not have asked for anything more. But I still haven't burnt him that CD yet!