Some cute photos

New toy! Graeme bought her a little pram, which she loves! Her favourite activity, apart from swimming, was to push it around. At Willow Point (the family holiday house near where the Phil and Brenda's wedding was held, has oodles of space, all of which she made good use of! Swimming was another favourite activity. The little sun-suit she's wearing is labelled as being for kids up to 6 months old... well, at 15 months, it fits her perfectly! Either the sizing is WAY off, or she's a really tiny 15 months.
There's no bath at the house, so the next best thing is the outside sink. (There is an indoor one, but it's tiny!) Here she is wearing her classic face,
... and, unusually, performing for the camera!More swimming! This time with Uncle Rob and Tata.

They're back

Graeme and Nellie are safely back home at last! Their flight was further delayed meaning that they only landed at 11pm last night, so we only got home after 1am. Needless to say, Nellie was VERY tired and kept waking up crying.

However, today she has slept well (although not eaten well). She and I even had a nice cuddle for an hour while she slept on my chest! We haven't done that since she was a baby!! It was so good, I completely forgot I had a medical appointment... oh well! To be honest, I'd rather have 100 cuddles with her than worry about going to yet another appointment!

As soon as we've unpacked properly I'll upload a few photos of her time away for everyone. It's incredible how much she has grown in just 2 weeks - at least, it feels that way to me.

Prayer needed

For those who pray, please do! Yesterday I had a big scare as I went into labour in the early afternoon, at 33 weeks. The contractions were never more than 30 minutes apart, but it was still a big shock! Fortunately, and all the glory goes to God for answering our prayers!, after getting some friends to pray the contractions stopped during the night without anything further happening.

Given that Janel survived being born at 33 weeks with no long-term side effects, I was sufficiently confident that everything would be ok, even if I did give birth. So I didn't go into hospital as I didn't want to be hooked up to a monitor until I was convinced that something was wrong or that this was the real deal. I spent the night at a friends' (Graeme and Nellie only get back tonight after their flight was delayed by over 12 hours!), who made sure I was able to rest properly and someone on hand in case I did need to go to hospital.

However, I would still really value your prayers that this baby is only born at the moment God has ordained for the birth - not a moment sooner or later! If that happens, then I have faith that everything will be fine with both the baby and me, irrespective of when that might be.

At the moment mother and baby are doing fine - baby is kicking merrily and mother is feeling fine. Needless to say, I'm going to make sure I do as little as possible over the next few weeks to try to ensure that this little one doesn't arrive too early. I need to get to 37 weeks if I want a water birth....

... and I'd love some time at home with Nellie (I'm officially on maternity leave now) before the new baby arrives...

Thanks!

Cousins

Here are most of the cousins... from left to right: Jemma (horse-mad and currently looking to replace her beloved horse Guy that she had to put down just before Christmas), Rebekah with her little sister Hannah on her lap, Gabi (can't believe she stopped hurtling around long enough for a photo to be taken!), Julia, Sarah, and Shae (recently moved from USA to SA to live with the grandparents so she can study drama - or was it dance?). Missing are: Bethany (who claims that Nellie is her favourite cousin!), Dana and Adam, Annaka (who's expecting a little brother in a few months - thank God for another boy in the family!!), and Denver (who's living in the UK with his dad).
Despite my worst fears, Madam was as happy as a pig in mud when she met her cousins, aunts and uncles (granted, not for the first time, but she was only a babe in arms the first time, so there's no way she would remember any of them!). I guess the family resemblance helps, and I guess she really loves being the centre of attention. Wonder how she will cope when the new little one comes along in a few short weeks???

Who needs parents?

Well, apparently not Nellie darling! After a little bit of crying when he left at the airport this morning, she's been having a ball without either of us!

After playing games at home for a bit, my mom took her to a local garden centre that has a petting zoo. They also wandered around the garden centre for a bit. Then it was back home to wander around the garden, and then off to sleep with minimal fuss. So far, so good!

She even put her arms up to my step-dad for him to pick her up this morning. That's a first!

I hope the rest of their day is as good as this morning was, but in any event it seems that our fears were totally unwarranted and she's content and settled. Thank God!

They've arrived

Thank God - Nellie and G arrived safely in SA after a rather bumpy flight. Neither they nor Aunty Cath (God bless her for flying with them!!) got much sleep, so they've had a bit of a fraught day today as a result.

However, Nellie seems to be settling in OK and is coping with the heat, new surroundings, new people and DOGS!!

I'm doing ok - don't miss them too much yet, although night-times will no doubt be the worst. There's plenty to do during the day to keep me occupied, but going to sleep alone in a silent house is not quite so easy.

For those who pray, please continue to do so for them and my mom and step-dad (who will be looking after Nellie while G flies to Durban for a wedding this weekend). Thanks!

I went to the physio again today for my SPD thing (the only thing so far that has actually been sucessfully been diagnosed as a problem!) and have been temporarily discharged until after the birth because I've made such progress. I still have some pain, but by comparison it's more than halved. I have been told though that under no circumstances am I to give birth on my back. No problems there as that's the LAST thing I want anyway!! At least now I have a medical opinion to help 'make it so'.

The final specialist medical appointment I still have to have is with the water birth co-ordinator, to get permission to have one. Apparently I'm high risk because of my asthma, so I have to get permission before I go to hospital; I can't go into labour and then say I want a water birth! Whatever! Once that's out the way that will (please God!) be the end of all the hassles and I can just get on with the few final weeks in relative calm, I hope. (Although how many weeks I actually have left is a bit of an unknown... if this baby is as early as Nellie it's only another 2...!!)

Anyway, I'm going to make the most of the rest available to me and head off for bed now.

Good and bad news

Well, the good news is that the consultant says I'm fine. This after many, many, many tests. I've had blood and urine tests for possible thyroid problems, pregnancy diabetes and infections (all clear!), and yet another scan to check on the size of the baby (small, but still within normal range). So as a result, I've been discharged from the consultant's monitoring. Hurray! Here's hoping for a normal term delivery.

The bad news is that the infection which caused Nellie to be born prem would not necessarily have been picked up by either a blood or urine test at this same stage of pregnancy... so there's every reason to think that I might be in the same position as last time and that it simply hasn't been picked up. In which case, I may only have about 3 weeks to go.

The good news is that I've been ordered to have extra midwifery check ups to monitor the baby's health, which should be an indicator of anything going wrong and I've been warned to go to the hospital at the first signs of any pain, even if it means daily trips.

The bad news is that I can't book the necessary midwifery appointments because the appointment book is locked away in a cupboard that no-one seems to have a key for.... (or at least, won't have a key for at least another week... so let's hope that by then there will still be an appointment free for me to have).

The good news is that, apparently, even if my waters break I can go for several weeks without needing to deliver (obviously with the help of drugs) with no significant adverse effect to the baby...

The bad news is that that will only happen if it's caught in time.... hmm... not sure exactly what 'in time' means in this case. I hope I don't have to find out.

More bad news is that I've just had another bout of food poisoning... thanks to Tesco's Chicken Fajita Wraps...

The good news is that there was apparently no risk to the baby at all, and I'm recovering nicely (albeit in pain - do you KNOW how many muscles are used, and with what violence, to throw up while SIMULTANEOUSLY having diarrhoea?!?!?!?) (OK, sorry - maybe too much information, but really - do you have ANY idea?!?!) (LOTS, is the answer, in case you weren't sure of it, and in places you wouldn't even begin to imagine could be involved....) (moving on now...)

The other good news is that I'm about to enter a period of increased rest (which should be good for helping to ensure baby is delivered on time.

The bad news is that the reason for this is that my hero husband is taking my darling daughter to South Africa for 2 weeks on Tuesday... Boo hoo!

More good news is that I only have 2 weeks to go till I'm on maternity leave! WOO HOO!! No bad news to accompany this piece of news (unless you count the fact that I still have to get through 2 weeks...)

So on balance, lots of good news all round.

Oh yes, and for those who couldn't see the videos - sorry! That was entirely my fault for not clicking the right button when I loaded them, so making them only visible to Graeme and I.... DUH! That problem is now rectified and you (along with the rest of the unknown world) can enjoy our little treasure at your leisure.