Olivia Jades Birthday

Short and Sweet!!

I had just hit 38 weeks, and was trying to not expect to go into labour within the next couple of days, as I went into labour with Kaylee at 38.1 and had her at 38.2, so I was thinking, yeah, right, NOONE goes into labour at exactly the same time, they are always either earlier or later! But I just knew something was going to happen very soon, my midwife (Jo) had even said to me at our last appointment when she was making my next appointment, “knowing you, this will be a postnatal visit, not and antenatal one!” I was happy with that statement! She also said that she thought I wouldn’t last the week, again, I was happy with that! But trying SO hard not to expect it, as I still could of gone another 4 weeks!

I woke up the next day (38.1 weeks) and at around 10am I felt her definitely drop down, and it did take my breath away! I had some minor pains afterwards and carried on having regular minor contractions for the rest of the evening.

We had a Mortgage Broker arrive at our house (pre arranged appointment) at around 6pm and went about doing a bit of talking and paperwork, we were just tying up the loose ends and doing a bit of photocopying (about 7pm) when I was standing talking to the guy and I felt my waters break, EW! GUSH! I had to quickly excuse myself and go and get cleaned up! The contractions were getting a bit stronger, so I called Kate, and she came over, but unfortunately by the time she got here the contractions stopped altogether! Kate went back home and we went to bed, (10pm)

I woke again at around 1am with definite strong regular contractions, whoa! Now I remember this pain! I managed to hold off until about 2.30am when I woke Darryl as I wanted him to make me wheatbags and get me panadol! We rang Jo at around 3-3.30am-ish, I was ready to pack up and go to hospital, like hell was I going to do another several hours of this! Give me the drugs!!!

Darryl was getting a bit worried as the contractions were coming a lot faster and I was in serious agony, I found it really hard to breathe through the contractions by now and started to feel myself lose control and my body take over, that was difficult for me because I hate losing control. Darryl ran me a bath and the midwife arrived just as I hopped in, Darryl said to the midwife, “shall we go to hospital, im really worried about how long this will go for” the midwife told him that judging by how I was acting, there was NO time!

I was in the bath for around 15-20 minutes and had definitely lost control by then, Darryl was pumping the rescue remedy into me and then I said “I have to push” the midwife said “no you don’t, not yet, don’t push” then she put her hand between my legs and was like “hmm ok if you want to push you either have to stay right under the water or get out of the bath” I wanted out of the bath and onto the bed by then, I was helped out of the bath and walked into my bedroom, I made it to the end corner of my bed, and I said I have to push NOW!” so things went down on the floor under where I was standing, to protect it, (Kate arrived at this time, and she thought I was just getting internals done, she had no idea I was ready to go! She was in the lounge with Kaylee - who had woken up at 3am and was on the couch watching cartoons… we were not arguing with her!)

I could definitely feel the head moving down and out, I was pushing but not too hard really, gravity kind of did its thing for me and really helped, the head come out, and straight away she started crying, it was such a relief that this was nearly over, I had to push the shoulders out, and Olivia Jade was born, 4.22am on Friday 27 October 2006. She was passed up between my legs; I remember the cord rubbing a bit on my fanny, ohhh such agony! Kate came in and took some photos, (no I will not be sharing them!) and I made it back onto my bed holding my new baby girl and delivered the placenta with a couple of pushes, its such a relief once that is out, its finally all over, you just feel so free again!

I stayed holding Olivia for a long time afterwards, Darryl cut the cord once it stopped pulsing and Kaylee came in to meet her new sister, was a very sweet moment.

Jo checked Olivia over and she was weighed at 7pds 6oz, 50cm long, Apgar score of 10, i finally got up off the bed and had a shower, was an amazing shower, I tell you! It just felt so good to have a hot shower after so much intense pain. Then I was dressed and was sitting in the lounge by 6.30am with Darryl, Kaylee, Olivia, Kate, Natalia and Jo and ready to start my day as a mum of 2 now! I felt so good, and so happy, and apart from being a bit sore and tender, perfectly normal, able to walk and talk, it was just so nice to stay home, be in my own surroundings and have my own bathroom! I don’t regret it for a minute and im pretty sure I had the perfect homebirth, I just found it so calm and relaxed and peaceful.

Olivia has been a dream, she is feeding well, sleeping well, hardly cries (only when its feed time!) and its just been so wonderful to add her into our family, Kaylee is a fantastic big sister, has lots of kisses and cuddles for Olivia, and is so sweet and gentle, although does need a bit of reminding now and again! It will take us a bit of adjusting and a lot of time management, but we will just enjoy the ride for now.

a few pics

SHE IS HERE!!

Olivia Jade was born this morning at 4.22am weighing 7pds 6oz, she is beautiful and we are all doing fine! 3 hour labour!!!

more details and pics to follow

ohhhhh owwwww!!!!!

nothing much happened last night, so Kate went back home and put Natalia to bed (and hopefully she is getting some sleep now too!) i woke up about 1am with noticable contractions and now they are OWWWWWW

Its Time BABY!!!!

yup, im definatly in labour, my waters broke haha just as we were about 5 min from saying goodbye to the Mortgage guy! poor man, i had to rush out of the room! Im not having full on contractions yet, still mild, but Kate is on her way over soon and the midwife is well informed!

HOW FREAKY! 38 weeks, 1 day, just like when i went into labour with Kaylee!!!!!!

when things start getting too full on, Kate will update for me, theres another BLOGGER BABY on the way!!! yippeeeee!!!!!!

Fingers crossed for me please everyone!!! have been having pains since this morning, but they are getting more regular, and more ouchy!

CMON BABY!

haha i was this far along exactly (38.1) when i went into labour with Kaylee, so wouldnt it be nice to do that 2 in a row! ive been tidying the house, and am wishing Darryl home soon so he can vacuum for me! i want a spotless house for this bubba to enter the world in!

we have a Mortgage manager coming at 6, lmao, i KNEW if i made an appt with someone something would happen!

i just hope its not a false alarm and all this is for NOTHING!! but owwwwwwww!!! :D

We will keep you posted!!

38 Weeks!

Pics

Kitchen Before:

Kitchen after:

A bit of coloured glass makes a huge difference doesnt it!!

and just because... :P

38 weeks today, will try and get Darryl to take some proper shots later this evening, i feel HUGE! scary to think that in 2 days time i will be the same time along as what i was giving birth to Kaylee!!

Tuesday

While im sitting on my ass on the computer, i thought i would do a wee update!

Had my midwife over this morning, baby has descended RIGHT down, hence the bowling ball between the legs feeling, and also the little gushes i was having, she thinks as the head was moving down it was pushing extra bits of fluid out. She thinks its highly probable that she will hear from me by the end of the week, but then she also wishes she was psycic so she could tell exactly when things will start happening! LOL then i said to her, 'yeah but i could still go overdue'... she said, 'you could, but you wont!' haha, only baby knows when baby wants to come out really! I guess im a little scared of going full term, or even overdue, Kaylee was 8pd 7oz 2 weeks early, add on 2 weeks for full term, or even 4 weeks going overdue, and that makes a damn big baby!

I have a man coming over this afternoon to install the new glass splashback in the kitchen, so i have been busy today stripping the kitchen benches back to nothing (must say, looks nice! i have a lot of bench clutter!) and giving the walls a good scrub, i cannot wait for it to go in though, will make cleaning SO much easier! will try to get a pic up later to show you what it looks like.

Just when you need good turnover (being selfemployed) and great moneyflo coming in because of an extra addition to the family coming soon, work drops off, whats with that?!?!?! its SO dead right now, there are signs it will pick up very soon, but things are getting tight! not nice to have extra money stress at the moment, the last thing we need! doesnt help that Darryl rung me today saying his ute is having brake probs, will cost $600+ for the part! holy crap!!!! damn stupid cars! we were looking at trading in my car and getting a new one, as mine is starting to have a few probs, but what we have decided to do is when it comes up for refinance very shortly, refinance it adding on a bit extra and use that bit extra to fix it up so its as good as new, sure beats adding on a whole new car! not the brainiest thing to do!

another not the brainiest thing to do, but something we are doing anyway (:P) is getting a Mortgage Broker out, hes coming out on Thursday night (unless we are having a baby of course!) and we will be applying for a mortgage, we dont have any house in mind, we dont have any price in mind, we want to just start the ball rolling a little to see WHAT we can get, HOW much repayments will be, WHETHER its justifiable doing it now or waiting till later (the amount we pay in rent is nearly equivalent to a mortgage) and how it works being self-employed first home buyers! he seemed to have a lot of ideas and a lot of knowledge, and the worst they can say is no, we cant find anyone that will take you on. Then at least we know and we can go from there, if they say yes, we can find someone who will give you such amount, then we can go from there too. Not something we will do lightly, not something we will do without talking to a lot of other people first. but i think something we do have to do. if we dont start now, what are Auckland house prices going to be in another few years OUCH! Our big plan is to buy cheap and crap, but with potential, fix it up quickly, flick it off with a profit, and wahla, we have a larger deposit for the next house, and keep doing this a couple of times until we make a bit of capital gain and start our personal financial portfolio... i have NO idea if my big plan will work, lmao, i know nothing about buying houses, nothing about DIY, but hey, gotta start somewhere!

Also business wise, a lot of ideas are running around in peoples brains at the moment, so heaps of potential there too, heaps of things starting to happen, cant say too much more, and things are still a wee while away yet, but its nice to know that things ARE happening! even though its a bit slow at the moment, it doesnt phase us too much, just have to be a bit strict with the old budget!

Not too much else going on in the life of Carla right now, Kaylee is being brillient, which is nice! it helps a lot that she is starting to talk a lot clearer so can tell me what she wants, makes communication so much easier, she learnt how to peddle her tricycle the other evening, that was a big accomplishment for all of us really! was very exciting! she still has a bit of getting used to it to do, but it was very cool seeing that happen! tantrums have been few and far between the last few days as well which has been a huge relief!

Im having an indecisive day today when it comes to what to eat... so far today i have drunk a lot of water, and had a slice of cheese and a yoghurt! lmao, not much! im thinking of making myself some toast... but then i have to decide what to have on it! Darryl has cooked dinner the last 4 or so nights, which has been great for me, i get to late afternoon and cant move at the moment, so sore! but im thinking i may cook for him tonight, chicken fettucine... yummm (not the healthiest i know, but the boy deserves a treat!) the warmer lighter weather has been nice too, we have been having lots of bbq steak and salad, love it! i havent weighed myself for several weeks, and to be honest, i dont want to, i really dont see a point at the moment when there isnt anything i can do about it, once baby comes out, we will go from there!

Moving along

Not too much has been going on the last few days, but just thought i would give an update, just in case anyone was worried! (haha! :p)

Still having very regular BH contractions, some dont bother me, some i really have to stop what im doing and breathe a bit! I noticed from about yesterday arvo some of my mucus plug is starting to come away, and (ew probably tmi, sorry, but this is my diary so i have to say to keep record!) looser bowel motions too. so things are definatly happening, but then things could still be a few weeks away yet, you just never know when it comes to having a baby, they usually start arriving when you least expect it! My midwife however is back from today YAHHOOOO!! and i see her again on Tuesday morning first thing, which im looking foward to.

ive had a cruisy day today, i went out this morning, leaving Darryl and Kaylee at home (doing housework, washing, cleaning! yay!) and popped into the Baby Factory to get a couple of car window blinds, a sleeping wedge and bassinett mattress protector, then popped into Pumpkin Patch to get a couple of things for Kaylee who is growing so fast out of all her clothing! (and shoes!) and got baby a cute little all-in-one which was on special (half price) so will add that to her collection of clothing, most of which has come from Trademe, god i love Trademe! lol what was my life without it!!

Then i stopped into the Bakery on the way home and got some fresh bread and a couple of slices for lunch, and Darryls parents popped in for lunch, so that was nice, entertained Kaylee quite well!

Darryl has just cleaned out the garage (well as much as you can with the amount of crap we have!) and has just gone to the clothing bins with bags and bags of my old clothes, which ROCKS because it means that i have NOTHING but maternity clothing now, lmao, no frumpy clothing, no blackblackblack and once baby is born, i will NEED to go clothes shopping and find clothes that fit nice and SUIT me! so im looking foward to that, i cant just go back to the frumpys and make-do!

i would LOVE to hire a wardrobe consultant... its on my list of things to do, but hmmm they are pretty expensive!! Xmas pressie from Darryl and the girls maybe?? we shall see!! one thing i will be definatly doing though is getting a makeup consult done where they will show me how to apply and hopefully i will be rid of my mask face once and for all! (yes i do know its there, no, i have NO idea what im doing wrong! haha)

anyway, its nana nap time, lol i might as well make the most of it now!!!

have a lovely long weekend if your having one, Darryl is back to work on Monday, but as he has had today and tomorrow off, its still a nice weekend! No idea what we are up to tomorrow, more relaxing? god i hope so!!!

37 weeks! YEEEHHAAAA!!!

Firstly, yesterday i hit the magical 37 week mark, means that baby can come at any time now, she is classed as "full term" so any time between NOW and 5 weeks time (god i hope not!) she will be in this world with us!

Blogger dinner on Tuesday night was lovely! was SO nice to meet everyone, a few people i didnt get to talk to as much as i would of liked, but im sure i will see them again some time! my photos didnt turn out too well at all, i have a nasty red eye habit and everything was just a little too dark... lmao, ahhh well budding photographer i am NOT! but have a look at Kates blog for pics. very friendly bunch of people, absolutly genuine beautiful woman, love it! and Thanks Lee-Anne for the LLB! you know what a preggy girl likes! haha! Also huge thanks to Emily for organising it, hopefully her, Phil and Jonny are having a fab time!! im sure they are!

Yesterday got a bit interesting, as ive nicely informed you all, ive been a bit leaky and achey the last 5 days or so, i rang the backup MW yesterday for a bit of a chat (my midwife is in Bali until about Sunday i think) and she was a bit worried that it may have been my waters leaking, so we dropped Kaylee off at Darryls sisters, and we toddled (or waddled!) into North Shore hospital, we hadnt as yet done a hospital tour, we werent intending to as we are planning on a home birth, but it was nice to have a look around (not with a tour though!) and see that the staff were lovely and friendly, the place was so clean and modern and didnt smell! (i have this thing with hospitals... i tend to get sick WHEN i go to them rather than going to them BECAUSE im sick.. its a smell thing, lmao...) so i had a lovely lie down for an hour or so, hooked up to a contraction moniter and a heartrate moniter, measuring my contractions (about every 5 minutes at the moment, just braxton hicks, lots i feel, lots i dont at the moment) and babys heartbeat, i also had a couple of tests done, but it looks like everything is A OK and we just wait it out now, was nice to meet the backup midwife too though because it looks like she will be the midwife my midwife calls for the homebirth (they have two in attendance for the birth)

Soooo lmao my hospital bag is packed and in the car just in case, the carseat is installed, just in case, Kaylees bags ive had packed for a couple of days (for if she stays away from home) and all we need now is a BABY! lmao you can come OUT now!!! :D

Tuesday

hi de hi campers!

Not too much going on here, just trying to take it easy, however im having a huge nesting spell at the moment, lmao you should of seen me bossing Darryl around last night, "put these here, NO HERE! ok no not there.... yeah where you had them..." hahaha a LOT of rolled eyes going on from him i tell you! i have this NEED to get things sorted and tidyed and washed and cleaned, my job for the next few days is to wash the inside of all the windows in the house, and clean the sills, seems like ive only just done them and i need to do them again, one of these constant jobs i guess!

i have been having little niggly pains on and off for the past few days, no painfree Braxton Hicks anymore, but just SOOOO different than with Kaylee, i never had any pains UNTIL i was in labor! now every little pain i get i have to stop getting excited, yesterday arvo and last night was pretty painful though, took panadol and went to sleep with my wheatbag, only (yeah ONLY!) woke 3 times to pee last night, has to be a record! so i really felt like i got some sleep, the night before was awful, couldnt get to sleep until 11.30pm and woke again about 1am and clock watched until 6am where i finally fell asleep until about 9. so last nights sleep was very much needed!

im very much looking foward to going out tonight to dinner with the Auckland bloggers, very cool, i cant wait to meet you all! ill be the one with the huge belly btw! haha! (and sober as a mule and drinking only LLBs! haha!)

anyway better go back to doing the mummy thing! i have my neice here at the moment too, so better feed them!

will see some of you tonight!!!

Niggles and leakage

haha can hear you all now, "ewwwwwwww" and yep it SO is! but its a good thing too, means my body is getting all ready and preparing for childbirth. YAY! All sorts of pains and niggles going on, heaps of leakage in more places than one (thats ALL im going to say!) movement slowing down a lot, and im soooooo tired! hardly slept at all last night, back and forth to the loo countless times, but i did get to rest in bed this morning until around 10.30am, Darryl brought me honey toast and water for breakfast and him and Kaylee have gone out to run errands, so i have a wonderfully quiet house.

Should really do some housework... but i wont! i have been ordered (by Darryl) not to do anything! He even cooked dinner last night, yummy BBQ steak and salad, was JUST what i felt like, YUM!

Darryl and I have decided on a new project. Our Grandparents, we will start with them and here is what we are going to do (starting with Darryls Gparents as they are the oldest).

with a recorder of some sort (dictaphone) we are going to get basically their life story, where they were born, their family tree, their early memories, kindergarten, primary school, high school, first jobs etc, then each perspective on how they met, what they first thought of each other (love at first sight? etc) when they were married, how old they were, when the children came along, where they have lived, what they have done, what they still want to do with the rest of their lives. etcetcetc. we will go through and scan all their photos so that we have copies, we will type out their life stories (to have a hard copy) and i will do a scrapbook on them. We thought this is a cool way of preserving something for our children, giving me something to do, helping Darryl learn more about his Grandparents now, and the family something to refer to when the time comes and they are no longer with us.

Then once this is done we will do my Grandparents (a fair bit younger than Darryls) then Darryls parents, and then my parents. so that hopefully we will have our whole family history in scrapbook form (with written documents) sitting in our book cabinet.

Im getting quite excited about it, i have done a mini project about my Grandmother when i was a lot younger and learnt so much then, i cannot wait to get more indepth with everyone and have a good idea of who we are, and who our children are. Im doing a lot of browsing for papers, embellishments etc that i will be able to use, and i know im nuts starting something now, so close to when baby comes, but i feel it is SO important to have some kind of family documentation somewhere, when our Grandparents depart, how will we know their stories then?

We got a lot of loose ends tied up yesterday, i went and got fitted for Maternity Bras, hows this for cool, im 2 SIZES smaller than i thought i was (from an 18 to a 14!) and 1 cup bigger (holy crap F cup!) than i thought i was last week! haha! feels nice to have a bra that fits well! and i love having SOMETHING in my wardrobe that is a size 14! even if its an undergarment! We picked up the carrycot for my buggy yesterday and so thats all put together and made up ready for baby, we also tried installing the new baby capsule in the car, hmmm, it doesnt farkin fit! so im off to the Manufacturers on Monday (hopefully) to get them to fit it and get their thoughts, for me baby is sitting wayyy too upright, and i dont like that at all. But its a big possibility that i may have to take it back (thats if they will take it back, ive had it for a few months before trying it, dammit!) and just use the convertible carseat that i already have here. ahhhh well, never mind!

i got a DAMN BLUE FACE on trademe yesterday, my own stupid fault, i sold an item last week and thought it would cost a certain amount for postage, but it didnt, and as Darryl posted it, the first i heard of it was when a blue face was posted on me (Neutral - bascically unhappy with me) waaaaaah! i wanted to cry! i ALWAYS ask Darryl what the items got posted for just in case things like this happen, but ive had so much on my mind this time that i didnt, soo im a bit pissed at myself! but i sent the buyer an email apologising, and telling her for future reference its always nicer to email the seller first to see if they can rectify the situation before placing feedback, and asking for her bank details so that i can refund her $3.10 overcharge on postage, which is what i would always do anyway if something went for less than i thought! but ohhhh in my hormonal state it was just what i didnt need!

my latest page

i had some scrapping goodies arrive today, and i couldnt wait to have a play!!

Reflection.....

oooookkkkkkkk! :)

Little vent over, child in bed (still grizzling but out of my hair for a minute!) rice cooked and cooling for me to make some home made sushi for my lunch (tuna, carrot and cucumber, yummm) and my LLBs in the fridge nicely chilled to have with my home made sushi that i will make once the rice has cooled!

More stuff....

im a little bit addicted to Cluedo online, can only play once a week and the last week (i think) is next week, but its been fun!

I have all the ingrediants out to make chocolate crackles, just waiting for the kremelta to thaw... yep horridly bad for you, but i just feel like them!

Im have also got terribly addicted to scrapbooking again, finding HEAPS of websites with lots of ideas and things i never thought to use or try, i may copy for a while until i find my own style, but im having fun trying!

i think i may have an addiction problem.... lmao just so easy to find things i LOVE to do at the moment, i may have trouble letting go when baby comes!!

i did get my crockpot a few weeks ago... however ive lost all enthusiasm for it and it hasnt been used yet! it may do once baby comes, we will see! otherwise a wee sale on TM may just happen! haha

im trying to decide whether or not to just bite the bullet and get a new car, my car has a problem, that is going to cost the earth to fix, but i love my car, have had it longer than i have had any other car before in my life (im a one year wonder when it comes to cars!) and if i get a new car it will be the same kind as mine, just newer, BUT i still want to try to get my car fixed first, (Darryl has one last thing to try). *sigh* i just love my car so much! but i know id love the newer model more! ;)

its PISSING down, thunder, no lightening yet, but its absolutly hosing down, just started in the last hour or so. the wind has really come up too, but i love it, nice and warm inside, watching the weather, very cool!

There is no sound in my house right now, apart from me on the keyboard typing, no tv, no radio, no dvd, nothing, its lovely!

Pregnancy is going well, im sure im now getting bigger by the day, but baby seems happy, i think i have everything i need now, breastpump and sterilizer are now paid off, so should arrive any day, carrycot has arrived (for my buggy) so i will pick that up early next week, i need to go maternity bra shopping, so will do that early next week, gunna miss my underwires thats for sure! when your an E-F cup (YEP!) you need that support!

Things ARE good, but sometimes when you have a constantly grizzling child, you just cant hear yourself think! hence my wee vent before, life isnt that bad! honest!!

Just Stuff....

Im clogged up with Hayfever and it sux!

im SICK of the spam coming through my Xtra Email, spam filters MY ASS!

im not keeping up with my housework, its a damn embaressment when i have guests, i "hired" a friend to clean my house, but she only came twice....

Kaylees constant grizzling is REALLY getting on my nerves, i try SO hard to keep her occupied, but its just not enough, im not sure what else to do.

Kaylees eating habits just SUCK at the moment, she refuses fruit, very rarely eats veggies, im not sure how else to get her eating properly other than stick a damn feeding tube down her throat, its driving me mental!

Getting up to pee several times a night is getting terribly tiring

im farking exhausted

i have broken out all spotty AGAIN

i was apparently going to have visitors today, they havent turned up, no phone call, nothing

i feel fat, frumpy and damn horrible

AND I WISH THE DAMN NEIGHBOURS WOULD TAKE THEIR BACKPACK OFF THEIR WASHING LINE!

hmmmpppffff!!

i may be happier later... have lots to talk about, just needed a VENT!

testing

i wrote a huge post, blogger didnt publish, then i wrote a post explaining a wrote a huge post that blogger didnt publish and that didnt publish either! GRR!!! will this one post???????????????

All is well here, im not writing out that damn huge post again though!

xxx

35 week pics

Get ready to see me in all my glory, love marks (stretchmarks) and all!! the stretchmarks are actually from Kaylee, i havent had any new ones from this bubba, but im very proud of my beautiful bump :)

Scrapping pics

Just thought i would share what i have been up to lately, im having a bit of fun with it, but STILL need to think outside the square more, but i have found a lot of inspiration out there, loving it! pics taken off my mobile though, so not the best quality, but you get the idea!

Wednesday - 35 weeks along....

Typing the word WEDNESDAY, have you ever looked at how its spelt? its a bit of a fugly word really, doesnt sound how its spelt at all! (just had to mention!)

Have kept away for a few days (especially yesterday, holy hell you didnt want to know me then!) as ive been terribly up and down emotionally, all sorts of things are going through my head, about the labour and birth, about my weight, about depression, about being a mother to Kaylee and a new baby, about how prepared am i really? and ive really had to sit down and work through some things with myself and with Darryl, i could put it down to my hormones (god knows i have the zits at the moment to show it, holy crap where did they come from!), i could put it down to tiredness, i could put it down to the unknown, and yes, all are factors, but ultimately its still ME its still something that i CAN and SHOULD be able to control. I think im getting there!

ive been really trying lately with food, im feeling terribly blah and frumpy and yuck these last few days, but ive been trying really hard with whats on offer, eliminating of course what im not allowed, and then if you take away whats unhealthy too, well, your not really left with much! but ive always found something quite nice!

At the moment at home my addiction is Honey on Toast (have switched from white bread to Molenberg, not sure if its any better, makes me feel healthier though!) and smoothies, im LOVING my Magic Bullet (the blender kind! mind OUT of the gutter!) and have been having smoothies daily (at lunch) made from banana, milk, strawberry yoghurt and a few frozen berries, VERY nice indeed! ive been trying to make a habit out of having a smoothie daily, to get my calcium up and with the fruit, bananas especially, all those good vitamins and minerals, and as i get closer to giving birth and once ive had baby, add a few more things into them to help my milk supply should i need it.

My midwife came for a visit today, had a good chat to her, she made me feel alot better about heaps of things, so that was good and helpful! ive basically decided that we are now planning a home birth, ive still booked into the hospital, but i would very much prefer to stay home, the further on with this pregnancy i get the more i feel comfortable with my own body and the way it can handle what is upcoming. there will not be a lot of us here when baby is born, havent decided yet what will happen to Kaylee, whether she will go to my SILs or just stay with us, but Darryl will be here, my midwife and a wonderful support person. We will call my mother and i guess depending on her work she may or may not make it, but i feel its more important to have her here after baby is born to help with Kaylee. anyway im measuring 35 cms, which at 35 weeks is just perfect apparently, she still doesnt think its going to be a big baby, just average, hey, im fine with average, you seen the hole its got to come out of??? haha

im having little painful (not too painful, just cramping) braxton hicks quite often now, baby is head right down into the pelvis and what may happen is (fingers crossed!) the painful BHs are helping to start dialate the cervix, so by the time i go into labour i may end up dilated already, lol wishful thinking? hey you never know! The cramps are just like the early labour pains were with Kaylee, but nobody panic! haha everything is just fine! baby is just preparing herself to make her grand (quick!) entrance! your body does some weird shit when your pregnant!

Midwife is back next week for a visit, then i wont see her the week after as shes going overseas, for a week, then i will see her weekly until baby comes.

I am really looking fowards to the birth and labour, i dont know why, of course i know its going to hurt like hell, but i dunno, im just really looking foward to being in labour my way this time, doing what i want to do, in my own home, and of course knowing that all that hard work wont be for nothing, i just cannot wait to meet my new wee girl! and i cant wait until Kaylee meets her sister! i think that would be just too special to miss! (my support person is going to be armed with a camera, so you guys may be able to see some of the less gory shots! - sorry im not gunna put my vagina out there for all to see! ew!)

ive been working on my blog a wee bit too, although you wont see anything yet, im trying to find a new template that suits me more, and wow, there are a LOT of templates out there in google land! ive downloaded a few, but am still a bit iffy about some of them, but once i have found the perfect one, that suits me, right now, your sure to see it!!!!

Still taking it easy!!!!!

Ive had my family here since Friday afternoon, they go home tomorrow, its been nice not having to entertain Kaylee, im losing energy pretty fast! there is a lot I could say, and a lot I could moan about, just feeling very sore and very bruised and VERY waddly, but hey, lets concentrate on the good stuff huh???

The weekend was lovely, Saturday night was ok, the restaurant we went to at Sky City is pretty overrated really! But it was a pleasant evening and the food was pretty good, I made good choices (ok except for dessert!) I got a calamari entree (see a trend? haha!) which had a rocket salad with it and minimal dressing, a roast chicken breast for my main I didn't eat the side things that came with the chicken (a potato and onion thing and a capsicum thing... Just not me) but I had a side salad with it, and it was lovely, and for dessert I had a Lemon Square with a meringue on the top with dark chocolate slices, yummm. oh and of course a couple of Lemon, Lime and bitters drinks too! :)

Today has been a pretty cruisy day, although it did exhaust me and i ended up asleep this arvo from around 5pm-7.30ish! We just cruised around home this morning and then went up to Darryls parents for lunch with my Mum, 2 sisters, Darryls Aunty and Uncle, Nana & Granddad and Mum and Dad, was pleasant, we took along one of my favourite cakes ever - a Strawberry Fields Gatau from the Cheesecake Shop, YUM! but for lunch was cold meats (chicken and ham and NO i didnt have any!) and lots of salads and fresh bread and rolls, was lovely. Then my Mum and one of my sisters took off to get my Granddad (hes staying here tonight too, full house!) and Darryls Aunty and Uncle continued on their way up to Whangarei, and Darryl, myself, Kaylee and my other sister carried on to the Supermarket, i said to Darryl this will definatly be the last time i go supermarket shopping, i could hardly walk! we didnt get much but it definatly took ages! So Darryl will be getting lists from now on and doing it himself!!!

i was exhausted by the end of the day, hence the nap! i needed it! then once i was woken up, dinner was cooked and ready and the dishes done! nice!! a lovely lasagne with salad was made, very nice, and even though the weather has been total crap (we had a powercut today even!) im loving having salads all the time, so fresh and easy and yummmm!

Talking a lot about food today aye!! to be honest im really trying to make the best decisions out of what im offered, as from now i have to start thinking about preparing my body for giving birth and Breastfeeding (#s 1 & 2 on my 101 list dont ya know!) trying to eat food that will not only help build my energy, sustain nutrience and also keep me and baby as healthy as possible, im really happy with how i have been this whole pregnancy actually, sure ive had my junky moments, who doesnt, even when not pregnant! but ive totally increased my fruit intake, upped my red meat intake and now that summer is just around the corner, salads are just so damn easy!

im working on other things out of my 101 list too, its quite fun actually working towards a goal! all week i havent worn total black (#6) (my pants are always black, not much i can do about that right now!) actually i lie, im wearing total black now, only because my white top is in the washing machine... i got lasagne on it!! (murpheys law really!). however all of my clothes that i have worn lately have fitted nicely (#7), also working quite substantially towards #s 10 & 11, #10 will probably happen before Christmas, with #16 i have just finished a book and am about to start a new one tonight, but i dont want to cross it off the list until i have read a few and am back into a regular pattern of reading BOOKS again, not just piles of mags that i seem to accumulate! Working hard on #18 too, with being told to not do anything ive had a bit of spare time on my hands! so ive been doing a bit of scrapbooking, ive put my wedding album on hold for a bit, i need new supplies for that, but ive started on a new Kaylee album and have done several pages for that. lots of fun and definatly ME time! and also helping with #98 too, although i have a bit to go before i start thinking outside the square i think!! ive also been making enquiries into #71 and getting costs etc done.

Looking through my list, i can cross my first thing off! #81, buy Tara a new collar, this was done yesterday! lol the reason behind this one is we have been putting it off for SO long, she has had the same collar since a very young puppy, it was pink, but over the years (she is 4 now) it has faded and gone a bit icky, no amount of washing would get it back to new, so now she is the proud owner of a nice red one!!!! no i just have to work out how to put a ---------- through on the list! any ideas??? haha

Have a nice week ahead, hopefully, depending on the weather, Kate and the girls will pop out for lunch tomorrow, then on Tuesday i have another friend and her son and daughter coming over for a visit, midwife on Wednesday, but the rest of the week is pretty quiet, heres hoping that nothing too dramatic happens!!!!

I havent been reading or commenting on many blogs lately im sorry, ive been on the computer quite minimally, as the couch is more comfy! but i am thinking of you all heaps, and will try to get around to you all more very soon and say hi!!!

xxx