Friday, January 29, 2010

Waiting for number three


It's very strange to go from having a full-time job, two small children to care for, a house to run and a husband to (for want of a better word) entertain, to having not much to do but sit around and watch my tummy grow. And so, in a moment of ante-natal selflessness, number three has thought up a way to keep me busy. Not just sorting through and washing the baby clothes that have been passed down from grandchild to grandchild (cue cute photo above), but also regular sessions of crawling around the living room and sitting with my head down and bum in the air. Yes, number three is breech, and despite my best efforts looks like it's thinking of staying that way.

And so I have entered a whole new world: turning breech babies. The above-mentioned exercises so far have given me raw knees and a sore back. According to the midwives and the internet I can also take my pick from the following: ECV, which is basically external manipulation by the obstretrician (30% success rate and we're doing it next week), acupuncture (willing to give it a go), bag of frozen peas on top of baby's head (er, well, ok, why not?), playing music through headphones stuck to my pelvis (getting very sceptical) and burning incense sticks pressed to the outside of my little toes (get real).

My no-nonsense obstetrician has given me the bottom line on what happens if none of that works: "You'll have to have a ceasarian." No discussion of a breech delivery. Truth be told, I don't think I would risk it anyway as the main problem with breech deliveries is that the head has a tendency to get stuck as it hasn't been compressed by engaging in the pelvis and the process of labour. Number three, according to the latest scan, has a slightly larger than average head circumference (in which it takes after number one and Dad) and so I wouldn't want to take a chance. But the thought of a C-section is a bit scary. I know that it's pretty straight-forward and of course there's the advantage of not going though labour, which has never been my favourite bit of motherhood, but still, it does mean someone is going to cut me open and then stitch me back up and I've never had any major surgery. Fortunately for me, I have a friend who has just had one, so I can get the low-down and I'm sure it wouldn't be so bad if it came to it. But, it's OK to be nervous, right?

Meanwhile, where are those peas...?

Friday, January 15, 2010

Slack slack slack - not my tummy!

Never mind New Year's resolutions, all my good intentions back in - when was it now - November - to be more assiduous in posting here went out the window in grand style. To which there is only one solution, which is to post a bunch of festive-season cute photos of the boys and hope that that will make up for it.

I love the concentration on Sebastian's face. Serious business...



Yes, that was our Christmas tree, and yes, it's still weird for me too that we decorate it in the blazing sunshine every year.

Note the dim quality of the next picture. That's because it was all of 4.45am when Sebastian came tearing into our bedroom shouting "Look what Father Christmas brought me!!!" and after the stocking frenzy came present madness, all well before 6am. Yawn.


I am proud to say that I did make it to midnight on New Year's eve, which is the first time in a long while, which we spent with friends in 3 little rented bungalows some 80km outside Pemba. The all-day pool session (followed by dinner, roasted marshmallows, and sparklers ) ensured that the kids were tucked up nice and early and we adults managed a very civilised dinner under the full-moon partial eclipse and brilliant stars of the tropical night sky. Lovely.



I like the way Paulo looks like he's wearing one of my earrings there, do you think they'd suit him?

And then next day it was more pool and more good food and enough nap time for all of us to head home happy and smiling and feeling up to whatever 2010 has to throw at us.


Which in my case, and very shortly now, is of course a new baby. I'm off to England on Wednesday, and so the next you may hear from me may well be some pics of a very new number 3.

Cheerio!

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