Dear Friday 13th,
Do you have anything to do with the disappearance of my 2 (!) blogposts I published yesterday? You see, this mommy doesn't exactly have all the time of the world to post... let alone twice!
Friday, 13 May 2011
Thursday, 12 May 2011
Heartwarming
big smiles from tiny people
6 weeks today!
You are such a sweet little girl.
We see you grow and we are loving every minute of it...
On the other side of the wall
My daughter, looking for Easter eggs... Apparently our yard wasn't big enough for her so she had to take a peek into that of our neighbours.
Sorry honey, no eggs hidden there :-)
Wednesday, 20 April 2011
Sunday, 17 April 2011
Reminds me a bit of The Lion King, no? Friday, 8 April 2011
Happy Birth-day: the birthstory of Amy-Jo
On Wednesday March 30, 2011 we arrived at the hospital at 7 am for a scheduled induction after a - well, for me anyway - mostly sleepless night. The doctor had already warned us that I was in for (another) long labour since I had been dilated 1 cm for three weeks already. Since I had a C-section with my son they could not use a "drip", so we had to wait and see what the day would bring. 
A gel was applied bringing on a few contractions which I puffed away on this: 
Kenneth could sit behind me and apply pressure to my back when the contractions came. We had brought some of our own cd's this time and that really helped: I could focus on the music throughout the contractions. At around 11.30 am the nurse tried to break my water for a first time but it didn't work. At 12.30 she tried again with more success. The contractions came regularly and the intensity was strong but I was only dilated 3 cm by this time. Yes, long labour indeed... 
I tried walking around, performing endless circles inside the room, but to no avail. There was no progress. I decided to try the tub: it took a while to fill up but it was definitely worth the wait: I spent about 45 minutes or maybe an hour in there. 
I finally moved up to 4 cm. But now it was already 4 pm and the contractions were getting harder to deal with. Since things weren't moving along I opted for an epidural. By 4.45 the epidural was applied and I was finally able to get some rest. I was even allowed something to eat! Well, Kenneth ate most of it, but I had a chocoladekoek. 
Around 5 pm I was finally at 5 cm. Great you would think, things are finally moving along... But no, at 10 pm I was still at 5 cm... We were already thinking that it would end in another C-section but the doctor had faith and said that - as long as the baby's heartrate was fine - we could wait a while longer. By that time I was getting really tired so I didn't have high hopes when the nurse checked me again at 11.15 pm. But, patience is a virtue: I had finally moved up to 8 cm! By 11.55 they had set up everything so I could start some practice pushes and then, on Thursday, March 31 at 00.32 am, Amy-Jo arrived into the world after less than 10 pushes.
Tiny feet with tiny toes
Tiny fingers and a little flattened nose
A beautiful start...
A gel was applied bringing on a few contractions which I puffed away on this: Kenneth could sit behind me and apply pressure to my back when the contractions came. We had brought some of our own cd's this time and that really helped: I could focus on the music throughout the contractions. At around 11.30 am the nurse tried to break my water for a first time but it didn't work. At 12.30 she tried again with more success. The contractions came regularly and the intensity was strong but I was only dilated 3 cm by this time. Yes, long labour indeed... I tried walking around, performing endless circles inside the room, but to no avail. There was no progress. I decided to try the tub: it took a while to fill up but it was definitely worth the wait: I spent about 45 minutes or maybe an hour in there. I finally moved up to 4 cm. But now it was already 4 pm and the contractions were getting harder to deal with. Since things weren't moving along I opted for an epidural. By 4.45 the epidural was applied and I was finally able to get some rest. I was even allowed something to eat! Well, Kenneth ate most of it, but I had a chocoladekoek. 
Around 5 pm I was finally at 5 cm. Great you would think, things are finally moving along... But no, at 10 pm I was still at 5 cm... We were already thinking that it would end in another C-section but the doctor had faith and said that - as long as the baby's heartrate was fine - we could wait a while longer. By that time I was getting really tired so I didn't have high hopes when the nurse checked me again at 11.15 pm. But, patience is a virtue: I had finally moved up to 8 cm! By 11.55 they had set up everything so I could start some practice pushes and then, on Thursday, March 31 at 00.32 am, Amy-Jo arrived into the world after less than 10 pushes. 
Tiny feet with tiny toes
Tiny fingers and a little flattened nose
The hospital now follows the skin-to-skin guidelines which allows the mother to keep her baby on her chest for the first hour! This was so wonderful. I was even the one to check the gender of the baby. I double-checked just to be sure ;-), but yes, she was a girl!!! At first Amy-Jo was covered by a green blanket: since we didn't know the gender, the nurse didn't want to use the pink one just in case it would be a boy. But after finding out she brought out the pink!
Gone was all the tiredness and we only had eyes for Amy-Jo.
First encounter with siblings
A beautiful start... So intensely happy...
Monday, 4 April 2011
If you could look into my heart
this is what you'd see:
It's a G I R L !
31.03.2011 - 00.32 am
2,900 Kg - 51 cm
Amy-Jo
Will post more later...
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