By popular demand here is a picture of Rob in full moustached glory
Noah obviously finds it quite funny
Tuesday, 2 December 2008
Camping Photos
Starting to unload the car - it was absolutely full to the brim. We camped next to this hikers hut but no cheating - we were all in the tent!!
Noah relaxing while Mummy and Daddy do all the work
Up goes the tent
Noah in his winter woolies - it was really cold at night
Noah on the port-a-cot change table in the tent - looking up loving the view of the trees
Noah's view
The first night we huddled under the shelter due to the rain
Under an enourmous Tingle tree - how cool is the hollowed out base of the trunk
On the treetop walk - it wobbled a bit much for my liking but I made it around even with my knees shaking
Lunch at a lookout over Mandalay Beach
Noah in a happy moment on the step of the lookout
Day two heading out of camp for a walk to the nearby falls
The real shot of how Noah spent most of the weekend
Stunning Fernhook Falls - the noise and volume of water was amazing
Monday, 1 December 2008
Disturbing the Peace
A weekend away camping - peace? quiet? relaxation? NO!
Let me start by saying that we had an absolutely gorgeous weekend at Fernhook Falls just out of Walpole and we're really glad we braved it with Noah and got away. That said there were many moments when we were wondering whose crazy idea it was to go camping so far south with a grumpy 4 month old baby (just for the record it was Rob's)
The whole weekend got off to a bad start when Rob's 'movember' lunch turned into an all afternoon affair and he returned home hours later than expected in a state not quite fit for packing up the car to head off early the next morning. We got past that and got on the road Saturday morning only a couple of hours later than planned.
The drive down was really pretty through Bridgetown and Balingup and Noah was so well behaved in the car sleeping most of the way.
We had deliberately planned to camp in a secluded spot so as not to bother any other campers with Noah's crying. No matter what, we knew there would be crying and usually quite a lot. However we had to go to plan B when a huge fallen tree was blocking the track to the camping area. Eventually after quite a bit of grumbling (me this time not Noah) we found Fernhook Falls and decided to risk it amongst the couple of other groups.
Now we don't really know if Noah was crying more than normal (he did seem to be in one of his more unsettled phases) or if it was just the sound of it in that completely silent environment - either way it was pretty stressful and we really felt bad for the people around us.
Even with the stress of a crying baby and having to get up for night feeds in the freezing cold it was worth it. Noah seemed to really enjoy the different environment and loved watching the trees and the fire. We had a fantastic day driving around exploring and doing the tree top walk. I don't think we'll do it again in a hurry but in the end we felt it was a nice weekend.
Let me start by saying that we had an absolutely gorgeous weekend at Fernhook Falls just out of Walpole and we're really glad we braved it with Noah and got away. That said there were many moments when we were wondering whose crazy idea it was to go camping so far south with a grumpy 4 month old baby (just for the record it was Rob's)
The whole weekend got off to a bad start when Rob's 'movember' lunch turned into an all afternoon affair and he returned home hours later than expected in a state not quite fit for packing up the car to head off early the next morning. We got past that and got on the road Saturday morning only a couple of hours later than planned.
The drive down was really pretty through Bridgetown and Balingup and Noah was so well behaved in the car sleeping most of the way.
We had deliberately planned to camp in a secluded spot so as not to bother any other campers with Noah's crying. No matter what, we knew there would be crying and usually quite a lot. However we had to go to plan B when a huge fallen tree was blocking the track to the camping area. Eventually after quite a bit of grumbling (me this time not Noah) we found Fernhook Falls and decided to risk it amongst the couple of other groups.
Now we don't really know if Noah was crying more than normal (he did seem to be in one of his more unsettled phases) or if it was just the sound of it in that completely silent environment - either way it was pretty stressful and we really felt bad for the people around us.
Even with the stress of a crying baby and having to get up for night feeds in the freezing cold it was worth it. Noah seemed to really enjoy the different environment and loved watching the trees and the fire. We had a fantastic day driving around exploring and doing the tree top walk. I don't think we'll do it again in a hurry but in the end we felt it was a nice weekend.
Wednesday, 26 November 2008
More Whinging
I forgot to mention also that after we lost Banjo one of the possibilities was that the GBS bacteria crossed the placenta which is a rarity. The only way to attempt to avoid a recurrence of this was to abstain from sex leading up to and during my pregnancy as well as no tampons and no internal exams or internal ultrasounds.
So obviously it wasn't hard for Rob and I to commit to abstaining if it meant we could have a safe pregnancy however it was for 3 months before I got pregnant 35 weeks of pregnancy and now I'm still bleeding 18 weeks post pregnancy - you do the maths!!!!
My husband is a saint.
So obviously it wasn't hard for Rob and I to commit to abstaining if it meant we could have a safe pregnancy however it was for 3 months before I got pregnant 35 weeks of pregnancy and now I'm still bleeding 18 weeks post pregnancy - you do the maths!!!!
My husband is a saint.
Welcome to my pity party
I usually try not to complain too much. I'll state the facts for better or worse but try not to get to caught up with the cries of poor me. (At home with Rob I'm probably inclined to whinge a bit more but to the rest of the world I try and put on a brave face). Anyway I'm about to have a big poor me moment so you may want to look away.
I"M SICK OF DOCTORS, HOSPITALS, MEDICATION AND APPOINTMENTS.
I feel like for two and a half years my life has been consumed by Doctors and I thought once I had Noah it would all be over for a while but here we are 4 months in and now it's double because there's 2 of us.
July 2006 - the serious fertility hunt started - blood tests, ultrasounds my first surgery
July to December 2006 - monthly sub-cutaneous implants of a menopause drug to help with the Endometriosis - hot flushes, mood swings, nausea
September 2006 - my second and far more invasive surgery (3 days in hospital)
December/January 2006/2007 - IVF - daily injections and blood tests.
January - July 2007- pregnant YIPPEE
July 2007 we lost our little Banjo
July - November 2007 - more blood tests and Dr's appointments than I can count trying to figure out how we lost Banjo - lots of theories no real answers
Nov/Dec 2007 - Another successful round of IVF (what a blessing we were successful first try both times)
December - July 2007 Pregnant - daily injections, 3 months of pessaries, thrice weekly appointments to monitor this very volatile pregnancy
July 23rd - The dramatic arrival of Noah - my greatest reward
July 23rd - a blood transfusion for me and a trip to PMH for Noah
(home 1 week later that should be the end of Doctors for a while - right? WRONG)
In four months Noah has been to PMH twice (not including the 3 days after his birth) had 5 Chiropractic & 1 Physio Appointment, 3 GP Visits and seen 3 different paediatricians a total of 6 times plus seen a naturopath. He's taken 5 rounds of reflux medication - administered twice daily - plus god knows how many colic remedies - infacol, gripe water, marina infant formula, brauers stomach calm. He's had suppositories to make him poo and he's now got his second cold.
Now for me - I'M STILL BLEEDING. Noah is 18 weeks today!! Imagine - a year and a half's worth of periods back to back!! I've had a D & C plus taken 3 rounds of 2 different contraceptive pills to try and stem the bleeding. Today I have to get blood taken (from my arm) for a list of about 10 things my Dr is testing to see what the hell is going on. I'm exhausted.
Just to top it off all the stress has made my psoriasis flare up so I'm going for treatment 3 times a week for that plus my knee is full of fluid which I'm having aspirated tomorrow.
AIN'T LIFE GRAND
I"M SICK OF DOCTORS, HOSPITALS, MEDICATION AND APPOINTMENTS.
I feel like for two and a half years my life has been consumed by Doctors and I thought once I had Noah it would all be over for a while but here we are 4 months in and now it's double because there's 2 of us.
July 2006 - the serious fertility hunt started - blood tests, ultrasounds my first surgery
July to December 2006 - monthly sub-cutaneous implants of a menopause drug to help with the Endometriosis - hot flushes, mood swings, nausea
September 2006 - my second and far more invasive surgery (3 days in hospital)
December/January 2006/2007 - IVF - daily injections and blood tests.
January - July 2007- pregnant YIPPEE
July 2007 we lost our little Banjo
July - November 2007 - more blood tests and Dr's appointments than I can count trying to figure out how we lost Banjo - lots of theories no real answers
Nov/Dec 2007 - Another successful round of IVF (what a blessing we were successful first try both times)
December - July 2007 Pregnant - daily injections, 3 months of pessaries, thrice weekly appointments to monitor this very volatile pregnancy
July 23rd - The dramatic arrival of Noah - my greatest reward
July 23rd - a blood transfusion for me and a trip to PMH for Noah
(home 1 week later that should be the end of Doctors for a while - right? WRONG)
In four months Noah has been to PMH twice (not including the 3 days after his birth) had 5 Chiropractic & 1 Physio Appointment, 3 GP Visits and seen 3 different paediatricians a total of 6 times plus seen a naturopath. He's taken 5 rounds of reflux medication - administered twice daily - plus god knows how many colic remedies - infacol, gripe water, marina infant formula, brauers stomach calm. He's had suppositories to make him poo and he's now got his second cold.
Now for me - I'M STILL BLEEDING. Noah is 18 weeks today!! Imagine - a year and a half's worth of periods back to back!! I've had a D & C plus taken 3 rounds of 2 different contraceptive pills to try and stem the bleeding. Today I have to get blood taken (from my arm) for a list of about 10 things my Dr is testing to see what the hell is going on. I'm exhausted.
Just to top it off all the stress has made my psoriasis flare up so I'm going for treatment 3 times a week for that plus my knee is full of fluid which I'm having aspirated tomorrow.
AIN'T LIFE GRAND
Friday, 21 November 2008
Learning to Sleep
What a strange concept - learning to sleep. Or even stranger - not going to sleep even though you are really tired. You've got a free schedule - no laundry to do, no dinner to cook, no house to clean - all you have to do is eat and sleep - I mean what a dream existence - yet our boy screams and screams when it's time to sleep.
He just doesn't know how to put himself to sleep without someone nursing him and rocking him - which has been fine for 17 weeks and 2 days but now we want to be able to put him in his cot and for him to at least try and wind himself down and nod off. Especially during the day which is really our biggest problem he simply will not go to sleep.
So Noah, Mum and I headed off to sleep school - The Hush Baby program is run through the community health clinic is 2 sessions of 3 hours and costs nothing.
Everything the nurse had to say made so much sense and I really already knew (I guess I was hoping for some amazing new insight) but in my head I knew it was going to be difficult to apply to Noah. She told us how babies thrive on routine and like to know what to expect. They need to feel secure that we will come when they need us - secure enough to know that if they just go to sleep we are still near by for them.
Noah has been cuddled and loved as much as, if not more than a lot of babies but when he's so obviously tired and in need of sleep and you try and put him down he just screams. The only method that works is to get him fast asleep in your arms and then gently put him in his cot (and even then there is often several failed attempts before he's down for the night or if it's daytime he's awake again in 15 minutes).
The key to training your baby to self settle is that they must be put in their cot awake so they are aware of going to sleep by themselves - then if they wake themselves up after a sleep cycle (babies sleep in cycles of 45 minutes) they can re-settle themselves instead of crying out for mummy and daddy.
After the class on Wednesday I was pretty fired up and thought Rob and I could give it a red hot go. So Rob offered to do the first session on Wednesday night. He put Noah down in his cot awake and kept his hands on him and gently soothed him - Noah started OK then the crying escalated and he had to be picked up to be calmed back down (all part of the anticipated process). The catch however was that after that first attempt every time Rob put him back down he started crying/screaming straight back at his top register (he should in theory start off calm again and possibly escalate to needing calming again). After about 30 minutes we had to abort the mission and go back to the old method - which worked in about 15 minutes flat and he slept through to 6am with his one night feed as per normal.
I guess we'll try again next month!!!!!!!!!
He just doesn't know how to put himself to sleep without someone nursing him and rocking him - which has been fine for 17 weeks and 2 days but now we want to be able to put him in his cot and for him to at least try and wind himself down and nod off. Especially during the day which is really our biggest problem he simply will not go to sleep.
So Noah, Mum and I headed off to sleep school - The Hush Baby program is run through the community health clinic is 2 sessions of 3 hours and costs nothing.
Everything the nurse had to say made so much sense and I really already knew (I guess I was hoping for some amazing new insight) but in my head I knew it was going to be difficult to apply to Noah. She told us how babies thrive on routine and like to know what to expect. They need to feel secure that we will come when they need us - secure enough to know that if they just go to sleep we are still near by for them.
Noah has been cuddled and loved as much as, if not more than a lot of babies but when he's so obviously tired and in need of sleep and you try and put him down he just screams. The only method that works is to get him fast asleep in your arms and then gently put him in his cot (and even then there is often several failed attempts before he's down for the night or if it's daytime he's awake again in 15 minutes).
The key to training your baby to self settle is that they must be put in their cot awake so they are aware of going to sleep by themselves - then if they wake themselves up after a sleep cycle (babies sleep in cycles of 45 minutes) they can re-settle themselves instead of crying out for mummy and daddy.
After the class on Wednesday I was pretty fired up and thought Rob and I could give it a red hot go. So Rob offered to do the first session on Wednesday night. He put Noah down in his cot awake and kept his hands on him and gently soothed him - Noah started OK then the crying escalated and he had to be picked up to be calmed back down (all part of the anticipated process). The catch however was that after that first attempt every time Rob put him back down he started crying/screaming straight back at his top register (he should in theory start off calm again and possibly escalate to needing calming again). After about 30 minutes we had to abort the mission and go back to the old method - which worked in about 15 minutes flat and he slept through to 6am with his one night feed as per normal.
I guess we'll try again next month!!!!!!!!!
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