Protein

So this is how I spent a few hours on Friday afternoon/evening......

Under that sheet are two straps around my belly attached to this.....

And this is how Darren spent the time -

.....except for the 10 minutes when the monitor moved off the heartbeat & the reading went to zero & Darren literally had a heart attack & rushed from the room to get help. I in the meantime moved the monitor around as it had only stopped reading cause the baby had moved position.

My day started great - Jess came & picked me up & took me to her place for a mostly relaxing massage - I've had really sore, restless legs at night & I was hoping she could fix them. She then dropped me at Sutherland Hospital to meet Darren for an ultrasound. I love ultrasounds, I could lie there all day looking at that baby! Anyway the scan showed baby with head down & facing my back, I immediately knew that baby got into that position over Easter weekend because that's when my pelvic area & the top of my legs started to get really, really sore & painful.

After the scan we had some lunch & headed to St George for my normal clinic visit & everything was fine until the midwife took my blood pressure, she said it was up a little bit so decided to also take a pee sample to test for protein, that came back with a little bit of protein so she rang the registrar who decided that I should be checked out further. By this time it is 4pm. Darren goes to move the car & I walk to the main entrance of the hospital & wait for him there, we go up to labour & delivery & they take me into a delivery room & take my blood pressure again - I'm thinking it will be up now because I'm a little bit worried - but it was perfectly normal - then she says she'll be checking it every hour! And I say "oh - how long am I going to be here?" And she says could be 4 hours!

She then says for me to lie on the bed & that's when I notice the straps for the monitor, I have really noticed that staff aren't too forthcoming with explaining what is going to happen - they just do it - so I stopped & said "what's happening?" then she said they were just going to monitor babies heartbeat & movement for a while. So I lay down & got strapped in.

I rang Mum & Dad's mobiles & the home number - but got no answer - so just played a game on my phone while Darren napped - though he didn't nap much, cause he couldn't stop watching the monitor - I actually couldn't see the read out from where I was lying so it wasn't bothering me!

Then Dad rang me back & I told him what was going on. He said for me to ring mum at work - but I asked him to do it as I thought (even though I was mostly OK) that if I spoke with her I might get upset - & at this point there really wasn't anything to be upset about. Needless to say once Dad spoke to her she rang me anyway - & I was fine.

All up I had an excellent monitor read out & 6 more blood pressure tests that came back completely normal. At one point we got moved to another room. And then we just spent the time waiting to get the results for another protein test & for the doctor to let us go.

We had organised to take Mum & Dad to dinner at 8pm at Cronulla - I rang the restaurant & changed the booking to 8.30. As it was getting closer to 7.30 we were deciding to cancel dinner altogether or not when the doctor came back & said the protein result was fine, took a blood test & let us go - so we still made dinner. I did try to take some photo's at dinner but it was too dark in the restaurant. It was a Brazilian BBQ spit roast place where they bring around 14 different types of roasted meats & some cheese & pineapple. And sorry Michael - I checked & it ain't halal. It's good though!

On Saturday we went heater shopping & also ended up with a new camera - we had one from the folks that took a good photo - but the battery life was terrible & it took AA batteries - so you had to always have a bag of batteries with you. Anyway I got advice from Louise & Adam & we got a canon ixus 130 & a Selphy photo bucket - so we can do immediate printouts without needing a full size printer.

The cats also got their cat door put in - so now we are trying to show them how to use it.

Jess, Adam & Xakk came for a BBQ dinner & we watched the TropFest short film DVD.

When they let us leave the hospital on Friday night they gave me an appointment at the Antenatal Assessment Unit for Monday at 11am. I already had an appointment for the endocrinologist at 10.30 anyway so now I'll just be there longer. I don't expect there to be any issues though.

Six

Woohoo - only 6 more working days to go. I'm so looking forward to turning off that alarm. I know that soon I'll have an alarm that needs feeding & changing but at least I won't have to get dressed & leave the house for that one!

Since my last entry we've been pretty busy. I had a clinic visit on the 30/3 with a doctor. Mum came with me & got to hear the heartbeat again - very strong. I get teary every time I hear it. And just now typing this I got a big swell of excitement at meeting this baby soon - instead of dread at what's to come during labour. I'll just have to focus on the outcome more than the pain!

We've had 3 antenatal classes now & have 3 to go. I'm so glad we did them. And even though Darren was not sure about them in the beginning he now says he's glad too. We've both learnt a lot. Although now Darren is adamant that I not have the forceps or ventouse (vacuum) - like he's got a choice! And like I want to anyway!

We had our annual Easter camping trip, & as usual it rained, but it was bearable & no one suffered any leaking or issues.

Darren in his TARP NAZI pose... he is so funny - meddling with the tarp set up for 4 days only to take it all down again!

Isabella & Sandra, enjoying the sun, before it disappeared.

Tyson in his bike gear.

On Easter Monday Mum, Dad & Jaydan came down - so Mum & Jay could take over the site for 5 days. We then all went to see the Conellan's (cousins) who live close by. It was nice to catch up.

When we got home Darren & I spent the next day sorting out the linen press, getting rid of old stuff & sorting everything into matching sets & sizes. It looks much better now. And I've just realised I should have taken a before shot.

We also tackled Darren's side of the wardrobe - he tried everything on & got to know how it feels when things just don't fit anymore! And I managed to get rid of some of his daggy stuff.

On Thursday we went & saw the 3D Alice in Wonderland - I really liked it & Darren says he did too.

Then on Friday night we went to dinner at a Seafood place called BayBlu - we took Darren's parents as a thank you for the baby stuff they've been doing - & for future babysitting services. We had the seafood platter as you can see below - way too much food for my belly with way too much baby in it!

And this is how my fur kids spent most of the week - the temperature drops a few degrees & they act like it's the middle of a nuclear winter - funny things!