Traumatic Experiences, Braxton Hicks Contractions and counting down...

The weather has cooled down and while I'm gleefully cheerful about everyone around me is ruing a summer break with out sunshine and high temperatures. Probably only the fire-fighters and pregnant women enjoy it as much as I have been.

Yesterday it was raining for most of the day and I took my son out to the shops to meet up with a friend who's been out of town for a week. It got us out of the house, and both of us the opportunity to get some exercise, though I was significantly slower than he was... But unfortunately even the walking wasn't enough to keep my blood sugar at the levels it's expected to be - up until this point I've been doing really well controlling the gestational diabetes with diet and exercise but the closer it gets to the end the harder it's getting. And it's not 'cause I'm eating any differently.

Anyway, we came home and the rain had slowed somewhat but the roads and my steep driveway were still slippery. I started driving up the driveway and my car started sliding to the side of the driveway... I was petrified - 9 months pregnant the last thing I needed was to be stuck in a car that fell off the edge of my driveway. I put my foot on the brakes, into gear and to my great relief the car felt like it was steady and wasn't going anywhere. I opened the drivers door and realised that there was no way in the world I was going to be able to get out the drivers door. I, with my 9 months pregnant belly clambered over the shopping in the passenger seat and got out of the car. I was shaking and scared and needed to get Master 2 out of the car as well. He had almost been asleep when we got home - not any more. Though he did try and tell me he wanted "Daddy get me out" of the car. I had images of the car falling off the side of the driveway with him sitting in it and was quite cranky with him as I ordered him to just get out of the car. Finally we were safely out and we clambered up the wet slippery driveway to wake up hubby and see if he could get the car back down the driveway safely. At this point our neighbours arrived home (we share this part of the slippery driveway) and were kind enough to give hubby a hand to get the car down safely.

Adrenaline rushing all I wanted was something strong and alcoholic.

Which wasn't the best idea so I settled for thinking about it.

Braxton Hicks Contractions


I can't remember when the Braxton Hicks Contractions started with my first pregnancy but I'm getting them everyday this time. They are incredibly uncomfortable and are starting to make the people who are around me nervous. Hubby keeps asking me if I'm in labour. Moving around and changing my position seems to help. Sitting up and leaning over are the worst positions and lying down on my side seems to be the best. I'm well and truly ready now - though Master 2 isn't quite so sure about it all. Not much longer now though. I'm scheduled for a c-section on Monday which is only 6 days from now. I'm a civil marriage celebrant and have a wedding booked in to officiate at on Saturday - so I'm hoping that nothing happens until after the wedding. Though I do have another celebrant booked in to officiate for me if things happen earlier than expected!

Euphemisms for Pain...

Tickle.

Since when is "tickle" an adequate euphemism for pain?

Why is this relevant you may ask...

Well, I have had numerous friends and acquaintances recommend to me over the past few months that prior to the birth of baby 2 I get a "Brazilian wax" - for those of you not in the know see this wikipedia entry http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brazilian_wax that explains it.

Now I've never had a Brazilian Wax before though I've been waxing my legs for years and I have to admit that was a little concerned about the pain that might be involved. I spoke to one of my friends about it and she reassured me that rather than be painful it does tend to "tickle a bit".

TICKLE A BIT!

SHE MUST BE FRIGGING KIDDING ME!

It's been 2 and half years since I was in so much pain - and 2 and half years ago I was able to get an epidural - this was pure mind over... tickling!

To make matters worse my beautician was a lovely young woman doing her *first* Brazilian. It was 45 minutes of endurance - although to be fair the really bad bits didn't take that long.

I finally got home and had to shower to get the excess wax off - imagine when you get your legs waxed and your trousers stick to the little bits of wax that don't quite get removed. Well - multiple that discomfort by 100! Then you might be getting close.

Well it's now been a couple of hours and a warm shower since my trauma - I won't need to be shaved (one hopes) prior to my c-section but I'm not sure this is something that I'm willing to go through again any time soon (or at all for that matter!).

A little TICKLE - I think I've heard it all!

What not to serve a diabetic pregnant woman!

This is the cake my sister made for my father for Hanukkah (Jewish festival of lights). Certainly *not* diabetic friendly. Fortunately I'm not much for this sort of cake anyway, so I was in no way offended. The apple crumble my mother made was much more suitable for me and I totally enjoyed it!

Hanukkah has moved into the final day and we lit the candles for the last time this evening. One of the great joys of parenthood for me has been watching my son enjoy the ritual of lighting the candles each night. His face lights up with joy as he helps light the candles and he's sad when they go out each night. This is the first time he's really been able to enjoy Hanukkah and the last time he'll enjoy it as an only child.


For the first time in years I didn't indulge in the Hanukkah tradition of eating donuts, though I was able to enjoy a few of my sister's latkes that were just great. I have to say that I've been enjoying the odd piece of chocolate money (low GI) that I've managed to fit into my strict diet.

It's really final days now. I'm booked in to have my baby via c-section on 4th January (if I don't go into labour earlier) and it's nice to know that there's an end date in sight. While I don't really want to go into the details of my birth story with my son it is enough to say that the 3rd degree tear and fractured coccyx that a I suffered as a result of a forceps birth is what has led to the need for a c-section this time. I have the usual fear of going in for major abdominal surgery but I figure that it can't be any worse that the recovery from the birth of my son. In a few weeks I'll know for sure.

We've had some scorching hot days here in Sydney and yesterday was horrible. It was still 30 degrees Celsius in the house when I tried to get to sleep last night and it was difficult to come by. Eventually I nodded off - probably about the same time the cool change arrived and brought the temperature down. It was lovely and cool today and I'm hoping that there aren't too many more really hot days between now and when our son is born.

I'm going to enjoy a relaxing weekend (I hope) and then get the last few things I can get done next week when I have 2 days of child care to make the most of :).

Living with Gestational Diabetes... and counting down

Me and my boy at the park - Dec 09 - counting down....

So, it's been AGES since my last post.

What can I say?

I've been busy.

Tired.

Sore.

All of the above in varying combinations. I still have to say that I *hate* being pregnant. At least now I'm counting down and the end is in sight.

I've been good at managing to control the gestational diabetes (GD) with just diet and exercise. And on the up side I don't think I've put on any weight at all since my last post because I've had to be very careful about my diet and very good at exercising to keep the diabetes under control. On the negative side I'm developing calluses on my fingertips from poking them with a needle 4 times a day to measure my blood sugar.

It's funny, reading back on previous posts how much I had to say, but that now, 6 weeks after my last post I'm struggling. So I think I'll just write about a few things that have happened in the past 6 weeks and see how we go.

A Very Hot Day and a Wedding
A few weeks ago one of my colleagues got married. There were a bunch of us at work who had been invited to the ceremony and we'd arranged to leave work at lunch time and make the journey to the outskirts of Sydney to see the wedding ceremony. This particular colleague has been counting down to the wedding from the time she got engaged, at one point there was a number well over 500 on the countdown board - so for many of us it's something we'd been looking forward to for some time.

Unfortunately the day of the wedding also happened to be a day where the weather forecast was for an incredibly hot 42 degrees Celsius. Yes, you read correctly 42 degrees. Hubby suggested to me the night before that I just decide not to go and that people would understand, I am very pregnant and it is going to be very hot. I didn't like this idea as it was something that I had been very much looking forward to so instead I put my thinking cap on and tried to come up with some solutions that would get me through the day. I came up with:

1. Soaking some hankies in water and then freezing them so I could drape them around my neck and wrists
2. Filling a water bottle with water and freezing it so I had a source of cold water
3. buying an "instant cold pack". This is one that you buy from a chemist and when it's ready to use you just snap something inside and shake until it's cold.
4. Wear a dress that would keep me cool and tie up my hair off my neck
   

Here is a picture of the result - hankie on neck and water bottle in hand!

The goods was that I survived, despite the pastor going on and on and on and on.... after the ceremony was complete. It was beautiful and my colleague is (so far) loving married life!


One of the other things that I've been quite pleased with is that so far (touch wood) I've been managing to keep my fluids at levels that mean I've still free of "cankles" - this is a technical term that describes when your ankles disappear and instead you just have calves and then feet. One of my friends was so impressed with my ankles that she took this picture of my ankles at 33 weeks pregnant and posted it on facebook.

A Trip to the Train Shed with our Boy

Another highlight of the past 6 weeks was a very special morning out with our son. He is a bit fond of "Thomas the Tank Engine" and so we wanted to go and do something special with him before he's overcome with the craziness of a new baby brother. So we took him to The Train Shed. The Train Shed is located at Vicary's Winery which is about 20 mins from Penrith in Sydney, about an hours drive from home. It is home to a miniature train track complete with trains from the "Thomas the tank Engine" series. It was a bit overcast the day we went (which kept the temperature down, and we were joined by my parents for the day out. Our boy had the time of his life - unlimited rides on the trains and a hot dog for lunch. It was definitely worth the trip and I'd highly recommend it for any parents of toddlers who are fans of "Thomas". Beware that it tends to get crowded the closer you get to lunchtime, but because it was a morning trip for us it wasn't too bad at all.
The rest of the past 6 weeks has been devoted to trying to finish up all the stuff at work and ensure that we hired someone to do my relief for the next 13 months who is (or will become after some learning) competent so that I come back to a job that hasn't turned pear shaped. It's also been filled with appointments at the hospital. Unfortunately due to the GD I wasn't able to continue with the shared care with my GP and am now back at the hospital for all my appointments.

We had our son through the public hospital system and I couldn't have been more impressed, and I have to say that even now that I'm not using my preferred choice of care (due to the GD) I have still been nothing but impressed with the standard of care - and I do wonder why people spend thousands upon thousands of dollars using the private system when our public system is so good.... oh well. Each to their own.

Anyway, during the past 6 weeks I've seen:

• Midwives
• Obstetricians
• An Endocrinologist
• A dietitian

and a diabetes educator.

I've also had just a phone call away both the dietitian and the diabetes educator who have been invaluable in helping me manage the GD. I even got to go out and enjoy a high tea with my friends and manage it (sort of) without the help of insulin.

The high tea with friends was a wonderful way to come to the end of my pregnancy. We had an indulgent afternoon tea at the Swissotel in Sydney and I think them all (you know who you are), particularly my good friend Kylie who pulled it all together for me.

I'm pleased to say that on this, my first day of leave I managed to sleep in, update my blog, and now I'm just about ready to head to the hospital for another round of appointments. Hope to update more often now that that pesky thing called work is over with for a good 13 months!