Out and about....

Yesterday afernoon at about 4pm I restrained my huge boobs and managed to get out the door after finishing feeding charlie. She has been a little unsettled this past few days so Dad put her in the pram and walked with me and then watched me do my 2km run around the soccor fields. It felt easier today and I managed to run a little quicker without realising. I stopped at the 2km mark....still feels like enough at the moment. I might start running around Old park near home....it is a 1.2km loop and has a few little hills to make it interesting and a lot more people around.

Chalrlie just cruised along with Dad in the pram and enjoyed the outdoors. I think Clairie mentioned that exercse causes extra breast milk.....which I discovered for my self when I got home :-) It was really quite warm outside, but there is nothing like having to fit things in around feeds to get you dressed and out the door without so much as a complaint of the warmth!

Charlie was quite unsettled yesterday and I battled to get her to have sleep during the day....she then crashed and slept for a long time which was lovely.....except she then got up every 2 hours to feed through the night! Groan....I was a bit of a zombie this morning! Again after her 5am feed she was not wanting to go back to sleep, so instead of trying to get her off and failing I just put her in the pram and went for a walk....we were up any way and no one was going back to bed! Dad went for his run and us two girls cruised the neighbourhood. It was much nicer than listening to her cry as we tried unsuccessfully to settle her down like yesterday!!
If this is going to be the pattern I will just get up and go for a walk at this time and make use of morning....at least it was cooler! I found the crying stressful yesterday....not the noise, rather not knowing what was wrong or what to do to make her feel better. My wonderful sister reassured me that she was ok and that this was just what they do! I also spoke to a baby nurse who reassured me that from about 3 weeks they get quite unsettled as they are trying to get used to being out in the world. She said to just comfort her and that she will be less and less unsettled as time progresses. As a mum you feel like you should automatically know what to do and how to make your baby feel better....but they are there own little person and can not explain what is happening- she might have been just having a bad hair day!

The days are ticking by and she will be 4 weeks soon! I will upload some more pictures and post some more soon. She is growing each day and starting to get some little fat rolls around her arms and legs....so cute!!!!

3 weeks old....

Well I am pleased to report that Ray and I have survived the first three weeks!! We are getting used to being new parents but still feel like the worked has been tipped upside down!! Charlie has been such a good baby this first few weeks and has just eaten and slept the whole time. She is starting to wake up this past few days and is much more interactive and making a lot more noise. Ray goes back to work in one more week and I am going to miss him so much! I have loved spending so much tome together in these early days getting to know bub and finding our feet. He has been a brilliant support! We are up most nights every 3 hrs but touch wood she seems to go back to sleep without too much drama. We have had a few mornings where she has been awake since 4am and will not settle again, but I am assuming this is all part of the fun :-) I am amazed at how you just keep going despite any consistant sleep.

I can not wait for Charlie to start smiling and recognising us a bit more. You can tell she knows our voices but it will be so exciting to watch her little personality emerge.

We had a lovely Christmas with the family...they have all been so supportive and wonderful! I also love that they are so smitten with her....she will be well loved and looked after as she grows.

I am looking forward to 2008....I love a new year. It always feels like a new start. We had such a wonderful 2007 and I am hoping for more of the same!

I have been doing a fair bit of walking with Charlie and letting my body rest. BUT I will admit to going for my first two runs this week. My body was feeling really good and I was needing to feel a little normal so I decided to go for a 1km walk 2km run and a 1km walk to cool down. It felt fantastic! It was very slow and I made sure I ran on grass and kept it very slow. I then had a few days rest and did it again yesterday. It will be a long slow road back to pre pregnancy fitness, but I am in no hurry and am happy to be just out and about doing somthing. I need to take it very slowly as my abs are much weaker than they were previously and I do no want to hurt myself! I am pleased to report that the pelvic floor held up perfectly :-) Phew!! So hopefully inbetween feeds and changing nappies I can fit a few more in. My plan is to keep it at 2km until it feels easy and comfortable.

The big bang......

Well after seeing Dr Opperman on the Monday and being told to expect the baby to be late and aim at the 17th December we went into labour the next day and gave birth to a perfect little girl Charlie Ann Rowell. She was born on the 5th of December at 1:53pm and weighed 7pounds and 12 ounces or about 3.5kg and was 50 cms long.

On the Tuesday I woke up feeling not quite right and a bit uncomfortable. We decided to go to the movies to see Elizabeth and make the most of the time we had together alone. The movie was great but I was feeling more and more achy and uncomfortable. I spoke with my sister and she said it sounded like I was in early labour. I laughed and said No way, the doctor said bub would be late. We went to Trivia with Bernie and by 8pm I was starting to not just feel uncomfortable but I was getting painful cramps. I was now starting to think that this may have been early contractions, but my waters had not broken and I was still thinking that baby was going to be late. The baby was not even engaged yet!!! When we got home I noted the time between each "cramp" and they were about 12 mins apart. I decided to go to bed and just see what happens. I woke at 1am and was in a lot more pain and they were about 5mins apart. I called the hospital and I must have sounded very confused...I said " I am not sure if I am in labour, my waters have not broken yet but I have some pain about 5 mins apart". She told me to take a panadol and see how I go. I was convinced I was imagining the whole thing and how embarrassing would it be to turn up to hospital if it was nothing! So I went back to bed and managed to fall asleep and awoke at 3:30 am with a lot more pain and they were about 3 mins apart. I was still dithering about what to do....I did not want to panic Ray if this was not labout but it was starting to really hurt. Ray then appeared from the bed room and asked why I was out of bed....."I think I am in labour!". So he called the hospital and they said to come in. I was still not convinced and asked Ray not to call any one until the nurse confirmed that it was labour. When we arrived they told me I was 3 cm dialated and that it was not uncommon for my waters to have not broken.....I wish I had known that!

Well I will not go into gory details, lets just say we were there from 6am and bub was born at 1:53pm. The contractions were the most intense pain I have ever experienced!!! I wanted to have a natural birth.....mainly I did not like the idea of needles in my spine and other medications make me sick. So I thought I would try and manage on my own. I had read a great book about using different skills to manage the pain- which was brilliant. I used the shower and stomped around the room when the pain was bad. But in the end it was using a mantra that got me through. I just picked a light fitting to stare at and repeated over and over " cerivx open" and " I am ok" when I had a contraction. Now I was prepared for the pain, but not the nausea and prjectile vommiting! The nores said that as the pain gets really intense at 8-10cms it is not uncommon to vommit. Well lets just say it was a scene from the exocist! Poor Ray....I am not sure he knew what to do! He was fantastic and just kept telling me I was doing really well and I was ok....I had asked him not to say too much to me as I needed to concentrate to block the pain. My mum and sister also were brilliant...taking turns in supporting Ray and rubbing my back.

The actual pushing part was only about 45mins and I felt so relieved that I was finally oushing and doing something practical. I then decided that I had been up all night and day and felt too tired.... "find another way" I announced! My ob was brilliant and being a fellow runner and having done 6ft he was great! He told me that I had crossed the cox's river and now just had to get up Pluvi. hahaha I told him that this shitted all over 6ft track, but it gave me a boost and two more contractions little Charlies head was out and the doctore got Ray to catch her as she popped out and hander her too me!

I can not describe how amazing the whole experience was! It was exhausting and the most painful thing I have been through BUT also the most spectacular thing I have ever done! I know it sounds corny but wow I felt so strong and euphoric! As soon as she popped out I had a rush of adrenelin or something and I felt on top of the world. Ray and I were both blubbering and staring at this little person we had created!!!

So this is day 10 and I am still spinning! The last 10 days has been such a rollercoaster! I am in awe of this little person and can not believe you can waste so much time staring at her. Ray and I are slowlu getting more confident with things. It is also incredibly overwhelming how dependent this little person is on you and the responsibilty is scary!

We have been out for a few walks and headed to the shops. It now takes twice as long to get things done and we are on a new time schedule. I have found the complete lack of structure and little daunting but I am amazed at how relaxed I feel. I just remind myself that this is how it will be for the next little while and we will eventually feel more confident and in a routine. Thankfully she is a really realaxed baby and is not crying all the time so we are not pulling our hair out yet!

The body has recovered really well. I am back into a lot of my pre baby clothes and am only a kg heavier than my pre pregnant weight. but I still feel tired and a 40min walk is more than enough for me at this stage! I can not imagine running yet, but I am not in a hurry..... I have waited this long, a few more weeks will not kill me! Hahaha I also am not sure how I will manage to get out of the door! I am sure it will be a few more weeks before I get game and try a run. So that will be my new year goal :-) At the moment I am just doing my ab exercises and pelvic floor stuff, short walks. I will slowly add in other exercises that I was doing before bub was born.

So I will aim to update the blog when I can, but I am still getting used to the logistics and juggling act!

Here are some photos of our little munchkin!!!!

Are we there yet??

With 6 days to go until our due date I am starting to feel a little impatient. It is amazing how patient you can be for 39 weeks and then as the big day gets really close I feel like I can't wait any longer!! I have a feeling that I am about to get a lesson in patience. We saw Dr Opperman this morning and he is of the view that our little one will not be making an entrance this weekend and is more likely to be the following weekend. The baby has not made any moves to engaging fully and there is no indication that he/she is in any hurry. It obviously take after Raymond is very relaxed and laid back....which is a good thing :-) I am feeling really good, just big and round and uncomfortable.....but not really anything unexpected at almost 9 months pregnant. I am still going for walks most days and getting to the gym 4 or 5 times a week. The exercise is helping to keep me sane....I think I would feel like such a lump otherwise. So I am very thankful and lucky that my body is holding up and not giving me any grief. Ray is on holidays now for a month so the plan for the next week and a bit is to enjoy some time together before baby arrives and turns things upside down! I think we might head to the movies tommorow.
So watch this space :-)