All about baby!

I posted these from my mobile while in hospital(accidently to my food blog - oops obviously forgot to change post to settings, haha!) so here is the story so far:

Posted Sat April 24th
Welcoming our own little volcano.......that waited and waited then couldn't wait no more!(a little story of major ironic proportions)

Wed afternoon:Had my 39w1d check up in the morning
Skyped with J in paris who was abt to visit the eifel tower- about 10mins after hanging up he rang bak to say he just had a phone call from ana and would get on a flight that night!!u beauty!

Thurs am(just after midnight): j rings to confirm he is getting on the plane and coming home : yay!(he missed out on sightseeing tho, zannen!)
I spend whole day on couch to avoid jinxing myself or baby in any way. J gets home around 6pm and we head out for celebratory kura sushi(where i have a major pigout)! ge home and J has a bath with kyla and then i have relaxing bath, and put on 2 loads of washing (nothing left in laundry basket). head to bed round 11:30pm but cant sleep so play space invaders type game on keitai.

Fri April 23 (39w3d)
12:25ish - finally fall asleep only to wake up minutes later feeling odd, followed by a small popping sound and the slightest feeling that i had wet myself. freak out that it might be my waters breaking so wake J, call hospital(1250), then begin to doubt self as no running brooke, not even a trickle, but in for check anyway.

130am: check shows faint positive of broken waters, so I am hospitalised. J sent home as no contractions, and still only 3cm so it could take days!

145am:shown to bed in labouring room, put on baby moniter.a bit of tightening tummy but nothing out of norm.

215am: bumped from labouring room as 2 new cases coming in (with real contractions!)get put on drip for gbs.

245am:drip finished, go to loo

300am: start to feel dif, like a wave of period pain. easy to breath lightly thru it. seems to come again in 15mins so start to time it.

400am: tell nurse abt 15min contractions that seem to have mini-contractions at half-way point. go to loo a few more times.

457am: painful contractions(can still breath thru alone tho) start coming what seems every 3mins, wtf? figure must be timing wrong. go to loo again.

515am: back from loo and gripping on to side of bed for dear life during contraction: no more doing this alone!. manage to do a nurse call. she gets narky at me when I have a contraction and tell her I wanna do poo half way thru. she tries to tell me it is a sign baby is coming .

520am: midwife comes to ask how I am - measures me at 5cm and decides to call J to come bak. I wonder how am gonna get thru another 5cm as already the pain is killing- start wishing for drugs.
525am: try to get a quick sms to J to remember camera but can hardly even write 5letters「忘れないで」 in so much pain.

532am: nurse has returned to check me as am writhing like a possesed mad woman but decides we go straight to birthing room (turns out it is the operating room as nowhere else free!)manage to walk the 4m to or before another contraction hits.get up on bed (aka operating table)

5:42am: i am now 8cm dialated but it is decided that the baby is coming so lets push

push thru 3 maybe 4 contractions(this was the easiest part)

548am: baby slipped out.measures 3286g and 49cm.
552am: j arrives at hospital only to be told that his son was born just minutes ago!

so ironic!!!


So in the end our little baby boy was born in quite a rush. We are both doing well & feeling fine, and now trying to come up with a boys name!! I have to keep fending off J's suggestions, like "Ice". Hope we come up with something more suitable soon.

In the meantime I am getting bored in hospital - talk about 暇! and that is even with baby boy rooming in!

I cant believe it is a boy!!!!! wonder what the final score on my poll was? congrats to everyone who voted correct- u get to share in my sleep deprived blog dribble here for, oh the next year or two haha!

Posted Sun April 25th
Baby day 3: and gratuitous baby photo!


Had busy day with visitors yesterday and unsettled baby boy (maybe i have to make up a nickname to refer to him -"vanilla ice" maybe?) from abt 11pm for a few hours- just as my tiredness was peaking!) but after a midnight snack (for him) he slept thru past his 4am feed until 5:30 so I got a bit of rest and am feeling good again (^-^)

Talking abt food....just waiting 4 lunch now- food is average. VERY small portions (or maybe I just still have my piggy appetite. Rice 4 every meal getting boring but I guess at least i dont have to cook it. and i have smuggled in heaps of treats to keep me going .

And here is that gratuitous cute sleeping baby shot to end with:


Coming home
Wed April 28th

Made our escape this morning around 11:15am, (after paying through the nose for a 54minute delivery (they count from when contractions are less than 10mins apart) and 6day stay at the clinic, pure daylight robbery I say!) and got home in time for lunch (toasted cheese and ham s/w, thanks mum!) then a nap with K (thanks mum!!) and a bit of organising the baby stuff that I hadn't yet got ready (cause forgot about it or couldn't find it!) Had a few issues ith b/f and cracked nipples, so have been supplementing with either espressed milk or formula, but didn't have any bottles cleaned or santised, and had to find them first!! Then I couldn't find the teats, so had to make a rush trip to the chemist to buy some, only to remember a couple of hours later where I had put the teats. So now I am over run with teats, lol! Oh well, hoping this time to espress a bit of milk anyway, so that others can feed the boy and give me a break. Am lucky that my milk has come in with no problems this time (volume wise). Now if only I could toughen up these nipples a bit.

Just finished an evening cuppa tea (thanks mum!!!!) and baby sleeping peacefully now. I give him another hour until the "fun" starts! It seems he has issues with the hours around 11am-about3am, which mean no sleep for mummy! So for a while I am gonna sleep in the downstairs room with him to give K and J a break. Also have all his nappies and other stuff set up there so it will be easier until we get into a routine downstairs.

39d1w

10am apt today, had to be there 20mins before hand to have the monitor on to check baby's hearbeat. It was dropping a few times when I had braxton-hicks so they kept me on for another 20mins or so....not very good, but not super-worrying it seems as I am home again and don't have any particular warnings from the docs or anything.

Doc again surprised to see me - when I got up on the chair for the internal, he said "let's shake this baby up a bit" (じゃちょっと刺激しようっか？but I promptly told him to keep his shakin' to himself - as J is still in Paris and we don't need baby to be coming anytime yet....

Doc said I am 3cm, and effacing (not sure what %, they are not so good on telling numerical values, and I always forget to ask again when I get out of THE CHAIR.)
He reckons I will go in the next few days (but, I remind myself that he has told me this AT EVERY SINGLE APT SINCE WEEK 36!!!). Nurse reckons that I will go tomorrow or so, since there is a low pressure system coming (!! I had heard about the full moon bringing all the babies out, but this was the first time to hear about a low pressure system having the same effect, lol). Nothing else to report, really, just had it drummed in to me again to get to the hosp as soon as I get contractions 15mins apart, as it will all move along quickly this time.

So flights have resumed out of Paris, YAY. But now of course we have the secondary (although probably bigger) problem that unless ANA puts on special flights for those stranded, J will have to wait his turn, along with thousands of others, until there is a spare seat on a plane (i.e. they won't bump passengers who are supposed to fly today for e.g. to put waiting passengers on instead) so it may still be several days before he gets home. SIGH. Pissing me off a bit now - I think I have been pretty calm about it until now, all things considered, and yes I know it is not like it is anyone's fault, but I just get pissed off when I see people on tv news who have been waiting for a whole 2 days get on a flight....NOT FAIR! I just want him home!!!!! And it doesn't help either hearing about other people who went via Spain or Portugal or Moscow or Sydney or the fricken moon or whatever to get home. And still J and his bosses sit in their little hotel room in Paris waiting for ANA to contact them and tell them they have a seat on a plane...... It would just be nice for it all to be over.

Otherwise, not much else going on - lovely day today that feels like spring is here, but it is supposed to be raining and 10deg tomorrow so we can't even enjoy it for long. K has just woken from her nap, so might send her and my folks off for a walk now while it is fine - tomorrow looks like another day inside....might be right for doing some baking then.

Oh, and I see it is totally split down the middle for the baby poll: 50-50 boy/girl! LOL.

soooooo.....

I am still here

TJ-baby is still in France

and J is not in labour yet

or is that the other way round?

Obviously, planes still grounded/flights cancelled indefinitely. J mentioned something about possibly taking the Siberian Railway home. I don't think he was 100% joking.....
He had to change hotels (to a cheaper one, work is a bit stingy) but at least the new hotel has a good internet connection and skype actually works this time, so we had a decent conversation tonight, first time since he got to Paris. K misses him and keeps on asking if that is him coming home whenever she hears a noise in the house (like my dad come home from a walk or something and closing the door).

Am taking bets on the sex of TJ-baby: voting on the sidebar.
I figure with all the drama surrounding it (ok, nothing super major, I guess, but it just seems to be something new everytime I freakin' turn around) that it's gotta be a boy, lol. But at the same time I am kinda thinking girl....but that is just me hedging my bets ;-)

No bets on date of arrival, as don't want to jinx myself :-) still hoping J will be here for it....

All I can say is thank goodness for comfort eating, and costcos cookies. And for everyone's comments and cyber-support! THANKS!!

hmph

T - 38 and a half weeks pregnant in Tokyo
J - in Paris on a work trip

and a freakin' volcano erupts in Iceland, grounding all planes in and out of Europe.

J was set to fly out tomorrow evening (France time). Is waiting to see what happens, but currently all flights are grounded or cancelled. I don't hold out much hope for seeing J home over the weekend.

I am starting to wonder just how long TJ-baby is gonna hold out for us....I kinda "felt" that TJ-baby was gonna wait until J got home, but I guess there is only so much TJ-baby can take too.......more leg crossing, I guess.

Oh, and I am now sporting one dooser of a haircut - why I insisted upon going to a new hairdressers at 38weeks pregnant I will never know.... I basically have a boy-cut (something I have never had) - and a bad one at that, as she went a bit rambo on me and cut off a LOT more than I thought I asked for (and than the photo of me in the haircut I wanted seemed to show....) If only TJ-baby holds out in there until my hair grows back now.....

38 weeks

The doctor was, ah, suprised to say the least that I made it for my 38week check up. When I walked in the consultation room he was like "eh?"

Did a quick internal check and I am a bit more dilated, and baby is moving down slightly (no figures given, and I never got around to ask after what happened next)

Then I get up on the bed as always for the tummy ultrasound..... get a look at TJ-baby's face, yaddih, yaddah, then doc moves across my tummy, and his face gets that screwed up "oh-oh" type look to it. He starts pushing the side of my belly like it is jelly on a plate to get it moving. More "hmmmms". He calls the 院長 in, and they get me to turn over. I can tell they are looking for the heartbeat. And they are having trouble. "Perhaps the baby is asleep, let's try to wake it up"....I get told to sit up, then lie down again on my side. They finally get a good signal on the heartbeat, and it sounds ok now. But they *think* that while I was in there, the baby started to squeeze either its own neck, or the umbilical cord. And that was interupting the heartbeat. I get put on the baby monitor for 30mins, but all seems well, so they assume it was just a freak of timing that it happened at that particular time.

Talk about scary.

The last few days I have been giving myself the old jelly-on-a-plate belly push every couple of hours if i can't feel any action. As it is, at this stage of pregnancy, I am NOT feeling much movement, which I put down to big baby in small space, and also being lower down. But now I am paranoid about it, so whenver I lie or sit down, and I don't get any baby kicks after a bit, I give TJ-baby the prod.

Apart from that drama, nothing else to report. No action, per say, except feeling a but crampy at times since last Friday. Several times I thought it might be the start of something, but no notable contractions at regular intervals to record. I have toned everything down though now, since I am half way through the week of J away, I figure if I can do nothing for the next few days and get through it will be worth it. So lots of lying down, napping, TV and not much else. Even sent K out on a big walk this morning with my parents and while I had niggling thoughts to do stuff while they were gone, I gave into my laziness and did NOTHING. While on one hand I feel like a lazy old cow, on the other I figure that if by doing nothing I even have a chance of holding off labour starting until J gets back, then it is my DUTY to do this! So I am going to wait until Sunday and then I will be running around doing all the things I have been thinking about doing for the last few days, lol.

Hanging on for 4 more days, at least......

37weeks

Tues back to the doctors for 37week check up:

2cm dialated

TJ-baby now weighing in at the same as last week, i.e. not the huge bugger they all though it was, but still at about 1week "older" than average sizes.

doctor took lots of ultrasound shots - got to one point where he asked me if I knew the sex, I said "no" he said do you want to know I said "no" lol so he skipped over that part fast. Got a cool foot "photo" as well as some face shots, and one of TJ-baby doing the "peace sign" haha.

overall very quick check up, was told he would see me next week if not before...

I have spent the whole week thinking/praying "this is the day" only to get to Saturday morning at 6:40am where I am dropping my husband off at the bus stop for his week-long business trip to France. Just got the phonecal to say he is boarding the plane now.....am now hoping that everyday until he gets back (next Sunday) is NOT going to be "the day".

Although, I have been feeling a bit "funky" since yesterday morning - feel like baby has dropped (again?) and is putting pressure on my pelvic bone so it hurts when I walk/move...

So I guess the question now is, what can I now do to keep TJ-baby in??

My parents have now taken k off for a walk so I can have a break - what a godsend them being here. Gonna lie on the sofa until they get back - no unecessary movement this week - don't want TJ-baby to be dislodged out, haha (brackets: SIGH!!)

feeling better

It has been a rough week. Although less stressed (both TJ-baby and me) after Tues docs appt, the headcold-allergies really did me over on Wed and Thurs. I thought my head would split in half on Thurs. At one stage I almost felt like I had the flu.... my face was red and swollen and I just felt awful. Also think the meds might have played a part - esp with side effects like shaking, and the headache.

All I can say is THANK GOODNESS my parents arrived early and managed to be here for Thurs - I seriously stayed either horizontal on the sofa, or in bed. I think they may have even thought I was putting it on just to get out of housework (lol) but when I woke up on Fri I was 90% back to normal, and felt like a different person. Which is nice because it was K's 3rd birthday, and we had J, PIL and my parents all here for a full day of celebrations: lunch out at local restaurant, then Dora the explorer birthday cake

and piles and piles of presents from family in Aus that my parents had brought with them, then 手巻きsushi for dinner. K was in her element and really enjoyed being with both sets of grandparents, so it was nice to see. And J was super helpful, well, he basically prepared all the dinner and stuff. I managed to get the cake baked and iced thurs night with mum's help, think it turned out ok. K was happy at least so that is all that matters.

Has been another longish day tho, both K and I missed out on a nap, so i might head to bed early. Since my meds have finished, I am rock^hard belly again.

Also, an interesting thing; I don't know if this happens or not, but I reckon TJ^baby had dropped lower Tues, but is somehow "back" up , riding high again from about yesterday. And more active again. On Thurs there was a stage where I was seriously worried because I hadn't felt any movements for hours. TJ-baby is making up for it today it seems, which is nice.