Difficult weeks / difficult decision

Last two weeks were very difficult.

On Monday two weeks ago Alex didn't sleep at night. She was screaming her lungs out. She had very bad runny nose. We originally thought it's just a cold. Hubby was looking after her until 3:30am then I took over, because he was so exhausted. So that night I got like 3-4 hours sleep all together and went to work at 7am. Nearly falling asleep there, I had to ask to leave early as Alex stopped eating and got even worse. 

We went to the doctor who found out what's wrong. Ear infection! That was the reason for her runny nose. We got antibiotics and the following night was a bit better. We had to give Alex some baby painkillers to calm her down as well, but she didn't need them that often. She still didn't want to eat, but our doctor said the most important think is to get her drink, anything to drink, that the appetite will come back as soon as she starts feeling a bit better. 

She did start feeling better, and after a few days even started to eat a little bit, but me and hubby got worse.

Doc said we could caught a viral infection, but nothing else. Well we both had sore throat and bit of sniffles, but in my case it was even worse.

With the low amount of iron, tiredness caused by the lack of sleep from Monday and the low iron levels and the viral infection, I was very weak. Thursday morning I didn't feel good at all, went to work, still OK, but after about an hour there I fainted. As I know when it is going to happen and how it feels, I was able to sit down on a chair before I collapsed. My colleagues called the company nurse and she took me to the office. On a wheelchair!!!! Oh, how embarrassed I felt, but I wasn't able to walk. Everyone was looking at me. That was something I didn't like.

Spent nearly an hour in the nurse room, lying down with cold compresses, then we agreed I'll rather go home to sleep. My colleague had to drive me home. When I came, my hubby dropped her back to work and I went to bed. Slept for two hours, but felt still lightheaded and weak.

I couldn't go to work on Friday either, so I had longer weekend even though it was no fun. Monday morning at work I wasn't well again, but it got better by lunch time, so I thought it might be over.

Tuesday, I had to go home again after two hours there. It was a day of my regular maternity appointment with my doctor. 

As soon as she saw me, she said she can see I'm struggling. I had low blood pressure, the cold was over, but still felt very bad. There was a decision to be made. Do I go back to work, do I go part time, or not at all?

As I spoke to one of our company nurses just that morning, she said, my body is probably telling me to take it easy. She used to work as midwife, so she explained to me that the following two weeks will be very difficult for me as the baby has a growth spur and the placenta must work even harder now. Using all my blood supply for the baby and with the low iron level, there is not much left for me. My maternity leave was supposed to start in 2.5 weeks.

So after consultation with my hubby, the doctor and after getting all the information I needed, I decided to stay home. 

No more work for me before the baby comes. The health of both of us is more important and I wouldn't risk driving around in a car with the possibility of getting dizzy or even worse. So that's it. 

I'm actually very happy I decided to stay home because today I felt pretty bad again. Had to go for afternoon nap and woke up feeling very weak again. Now I'm trying to sort out my diet to get more energetic food for me and the baby and I hope it will help. Of course I'm taking my iron supplements as recommended, two per day, so we'll see if this gets me back into good shape.

BTW as Alex is completely fine now, she sleeps through the night! So our sleep training worked :)

Sleep trainig course

Sleep training course

as I already wrote a few posts before, I took a course to teach babies/kids sleep through night. Seams to be working pretty well with our Alex. 

I already managed to prepare my questioner and weekly diary in case my friends will need a little help with their kids. And sent it to one of them who asked me a few weeks ago.

Today I received the result from my final assessment. I passed with 94%.

I'm really happy about that. Bought another book which was recommended to me during the course and will study some more.

But as the time for our second little one is coming closer, I have to practice my hypnobirthing exercises too, so will start to read that book probably next week.

I hope to help other struggling parents in the future as well. 

I already completed a few other courses like child nutritionist course, child psychology etc. Looks like I'll never stop studying :)

BTW never was that study type during my school years :p

Birth Plan

Birth Plan

You can see below copy of my birth plan. This is what I used the last time with a small updates for this time. ;)

Mother's name:                                                               Husband:

Obstetrician's name:

Both my husband and I are looking forward to having our baby at M......... Hospital. We have the following requests regarding the birth of our baby. We have faith in your ability and truly appreciate your willingness to help us achieve a relaxed, natural birth.

We will be using HypnoBirthing in order to have the birth as natural, drug free and relaxing as possible using self-hypnosis, breathing and relaxation techniques. We therefore kindly request your patience and understanding to refrain (in the absence of a medical emergency) from any practise or procedure that could unnecessarily stand in the way of having the most natural birth possible.

Please discuss any concerns with my husband discreetly before disturbing me.




Atmosphere

We would like to have an environment of peace and calm, subdued lighting in the room if possible and we would like to use CD player or MP3 and have soft music or hypnobirthing cd’s in the background. We shall bring this form our home.

As the language we hear impacts on how we feel we would like to ask that you refrain from references to “pain, hurt, etc.” Instead could you please use words such as “tightening, sensation, or pressure”.  Also I will refer to contractions as “surges”.

Equipment

I would like to move around as much as possible. I would like the opportunity to have a warm bath, with added aromatherapy oils during the early stages of labour, if possible.

Monitoring and Intervention

Please keep vaginal examination as infrequent and minimal as possible.

Monitoring only if it is believed that baby or me need to be monitored or examined for our safety.

Intermittent FHR monitoring with as little disruption to my relaxation techniques as possible.

No artificial breaking of water unless absolutely necessary for medical reasons. Please discuss this discreetly with my husband first before disturbing me.

No induction of labour unless absolutely necessary for medical reasons. Please discuss this discreetly with my husband first before disturbing me, we would like to try alternative means of labour augmentation like walking or nipple stimulation instead of artificial means (pitocin) to help release oxytocin and would appreciate uninterrupted privacy to do so.

Labour

We expect that Dr/midwifes and the hospital staff will discuss all procedures with us before they are performed - including risk, benefit, necessity, alternatives.

Please do not offer me an epidural or IV pain medications; we are aware of the options for pain relief & will ask for it if needed.

My husband and I have learned breathing techniques and we agree that we would like to try these exercises as first-line in pain relief.

I intend to use “mother directed pushing” rather than the nurse counting to 10 and telling me when to push. I will ask for help as it is needed.

I would prefer not to have an episiotomy and welcome help in preventing this during labour and delivery.

After Birth

We prefer that the umbilical cord stop pulsating before being clamped.

I would like to hold my baby as soon as possible after the birth and would like to breast-feed as early as I can.

Cesarean

If it is necessary for me to have a Cesarean section, I would like my husband to remain with me.

Second pregnancy so far

I am nearly 32 weeks through my second pregnancy.

The beginning was grand. Everything was perfect. Nearly no symptoms. Just the last trimester is getting more and more difficult.

My bump is growing faster and I am more tired. The reason is probably the time after work. I don't have that much quiet time when I came home. Alex wants to play with me, as she doesn't see me whole day and when I go to the sofa to relax she loves climbing up and sometimes jumping at me.

So I rather sit on the floor with her.

But on Sunday something happened. Not sure what started it, but Alex went to sit on sofa with me. I wanted to rest a little. She cuddled my bump for the first time, placed her head on it like she was listening what is going on in there, she stroked it as well and when I said her to knock on her brother she did with her whole palm :)

It was so sweet. She found a book in her bedroom "I'm a new big sister" and she started to play with it. There is a button which makes baby giggle sound. She loves the button and she even checked on the pages and pictures. I read her a little from it but she was faster turning the pages ;)

Now I need to wake up during the night more often to use the bathroom. It's difficult to get up as I am already big and have odd pains here and there. 

Sometimes I feel really different than when I was pregnant with Alex. I'm struggling more already and I'm happy that I have only 5 weeks of work left.

I look like a teenager again. Spots everywhere. And my hormones are all over the place.

Had a few difficult days at work last week and cried a lot. Well not every day is perfect.

Hospital bags are now ready, pack and set in the living room just in case they will be needed earlier. The only thing I'm missing is my birth plan. I will have the same one as last time, just will update some small details, I know I either don't need or won't get. This I have ready by Wednesday as it's my hospital appointment and I want to take it with me. I might actually publish a copy here as well.

Good news is that I didn't have heartburn for a few days now. I hope it will last a little longer.

Bad news is that I sometimes get so wrecked that if I go to sleep in the afternoon I can't open my eyes even though my brain is already (or still) working.

I finished a few little crocheting projects and started one for the little one. Baby blanket; a blue one! All other baby blankets are either white or pink, so I wanted to make something for the baby in blue as well.

The baby is very active, moving a lot, I don't need to sit down and do the counting as everyone is talking about, because when he starts he makes the 10 necessary moves within a few minutes :)

And do you know what is getting nearly impossible? Doing my pedicure or put shoes with shoe laces on xi xi. 

My hubby had to help me last time I wanted to put my runners on. I managed one with really heavy breathing like a steam engine, but wasn't able to do the other.

Also all jackets are too small to close them. I'm normally UK size 8, my biggest water-proof jacket is size 14. Even this one is too small. I tried my hubby's one, that didn't work either. Bump is really growing fast.

Alex is walking

Alex is walking already

We started to train her during her playtime. I usually sat down in front of her, put her up standing and told her to walk to me. She did two steps before falling to my arm. She loved that, I always made a big deal from it, when she reached me. Laughing with her, cheering her etc. Then we put her a little bit further away from us or ask her to walk between me and hubby. 

She managed 4-6 steps before we had her in our arms again. This went like that for a few days and suddenly last weekend she just turned from one sofa by herself and walked to the other one without holding a thing. It was just 3 steps away, but she did it all by herself and it was also her decision to let go. From that moment it went fast. 

While preparing dinner for her, I handed her plastic bowl where she usually has her food. She walked with that towards me. 5 steps this time.

She was very cautious, didn't want to let go if she wasn't sure she has something else to grasp on the other side, but she was trying more and more.

Yesterday she walked across her bedroom in the morning from bed to the changing table. I haven't seen it, my hubby was there alone, but I can just imagine how many steps did she have to take. 

She made it up for me. When I came to the living room, she walked from a kitchen to living room. That's even further away and she continued for the rest of the morning like that. 

So we decided to get her first outside walking shoes, so she's not limited to walk only on flat surface of our floors in her socks.

The shopping for the shoes was a little nightmare. We couldn't find the shop first, then nobody was in, so we had to call the phone number on the door. As I spoke to some lady a gentleman came back to the shop. 

Wow, so many kids shoes!

First baby shoes shouldn't have the sole too hard, they should be high, towards the ankles, so they keep the foot in a safe place. If you go to a proper shop they should be able to help you choose the right one and will not recommend anything that can hurt you baby's feet. They still need to develop.

We decided to try to get her first leather shoes as it's quite wet here. She was screaming, didn't want to try them on, not even let the man measure her foot size. I know in some shops, they won't let you buy shoes for baby if you don't show them, that they can make at least 5 steps alone. Alex didn't want to even sit alone. 

When she put the shoes one she was scared. When we put her down on the floor to try them, she became a sculpture. Didn't move an inch. Well it took a while and she tried to do some steps while holding hubby's hands.

We gave her 4 more pairs of house shoes on the floor to choose one. She did and actually wasn't that scared to put them on. We still want her to walk in the house barefoot, but we need her to get used to wearing the shoes, so we will give them to her a few times a day for a few minutes to try it.

Yesterday when we arrived home, we changed her and put them on. She tried to walk, but the rubber sole got stuck to the lino and she felt a few times. She needs to get use to lifting her legs a bit more, but so far it looks very good :)

I'm very happy with our purchase and I believe Alex will be in a few days too.

BTW her sleep improved a lot. She's waking only once a night or sleeps through, it depends probably on her excitement from the day before, but it's much better and easier now than before.