Friday, July 18, 2008

Pregnancy #2

Hi All
My first recollection of this pregnancy is being on my hands and knees next to the loo, yelling and Tony between purges. "When I said I wanted another baby why didn't you just beat me about the head with a baseball bat!!". It amazed me how quickly I forgot! The morning sickness was no-where near as bad as it was with Mickalee but like 99% of people on this planet I hate being sick. Also I also didn't have the luxury of sleeping when I wanted like I had the first time, so I found that hard. I was one of the lucky ones though. Mickalee was sleeping through the night, so I did get good sleep then. Keep in mind though she did have bad night, when teething etc but I was very lucky as this was rare. Everyone pointed out that my next baby would be a bad sleeper as surely I couldn't get that lucky twice.

About a week after I discovered I was pregnant, Mickalee was christened at "Gregory Station", we had nice little gathering on the banks of the "Gregory River", and Aiden Munchinerg was christened with her. Father Jerry had travelled out to the station for the double event and made it a great day. Mickalee looked very cute in the O'Brien Christening gown and slept nearly all day. Heidi and Matt Bruce are her God parents along with Kevin Anderson, and Jo who insists she is not a godparent but a "fairy god mother". Shona Huggard took some lovely pics for us and I will put some on here as soon as I get organised and retrieve them from the laptop.

I had a reasonable smooth pregnancy, I was making trips into Mt Isa for my ultrasounds, and got a bit scared with my first one, as I saw two heads, so there was about 2 seconds of "Oh shit I am having twins". It appeared like there was two heads for a split second as the image appeared double and UN-clear as she had not pushed hard enough and it made a double vision effect. WOW was that scary!! Everything was fine though and I calmed when she reinforced the fact there was only one baby in there.

I was in my second trimester 4Th of September 06' Mickalee and I travelled over to Tarzali. I remember the date because it was the day Steve Irwin died. I had just driven through Georgetown, when I heard it on the radio. We left Gregory about 8.30am and arrived in Milla Milla at Judith and Lindsay's about 8.30pm. I surprised them, they had no idea I was stopping there. The girls were very excited to see Mickalee and were also glad that we were staying in the area for 3 weeks. They got to spend some quality time with their new little cousin. Tony's mum Betty had a knee replacement and this was the purpose for my visit, I had planned to stay with her for 3 weeks to give her a hand, while she partly recovered. Mickalee travelled very well for a 6 month old baby I am sure she slept for 8 hours out of the 12 hour trip. I also found it easier for me to drive and not get tired as I was stopping at every town for little walks around the car, as well as stopping to feed and change her to keep her comfortable.

The three weeks dragged on as I was missing Tony and he was also missing us, Mickalee more than me I felt at times : ). However we did have a lot of fun at Betty's, I don't think I really did much while I was there that was extraordinary however it was just the small things she couldn't do yet. I helped with the chooks, the dogs, cat and birds. I would go into Atherton and get her shopping for her and I would cook tea at night. While I was feeding and watering the animals Betty would feed Mickalee, so I was not doing anything extra than I would do at home, however it was a huge help to Betty. Tony came over at the end of the three weeks and took me on a belated dinner date for my birthday. He took me to "Nicks restaurant" in "Yungaburra" while Judith and Lindsay looked after Mickalee. We didn't leave Mickalee with Betty as she couldn't bend her knees enough to lift her in and out of the porta-cot. The food was great, however a little on the expensive side. Tony had crocodile I think and I stuck to plain old ordinary steak. We had a great night.
General everyday things continued when I got home, Mickalee started crawling not long after we had returned from the tablelands and she was now on three feeds of solids a day. Like any kid once they start crawling she was into everything and to protect her from falling down the veranda steps Tony made some gates. These were great as it meant she could play outside, but still be reasonably protected from the elements. It also meant I could shut Bonnie down stairs so she couldn't lick Mickalee's face. I have had no trouble with Bonnie ever showing aggression towards the kids, and if she ever did I would find her a more appropriate home, however her size at times did pose a problem. She would want to play with the kids and knock them over when she walked passed. I also never leave the kids UN attended around the dogs, at times Mickalee has pulled tails and tried to climb on Bonnie, so I always tell myself kids will be kids and dogs will always be dogs, so their instinctive nature at times can take over. If I was a dog and someone tried to pull my tail I think I would snap. I think it is also important to educate my kids on how to treat and behave around animals.

Tony and I were supposed to spend Christmas that year with Tony's family in Tarzali, however we had discussed it between our selves and decided that having bub number 2 in S.A at Roxby Downs with my mum and step dad, would be our best option. So we put off our Christmas trip to save our money for our trip in March. We decided to do it this way because we had no-one to look after Mickalee when I went into labour in Mt Isa. All our friends had full time jobs, and it wasn't fair to ask them to take UN paid leave. Also the cost of living in Mt Isa for 4 weeks before and often 2 weeks after the birth was expensive. I know you are probably thinking, It would have been more expensive to drive across the country and yes it probably was but essentially we were killing two birds with one stone as Tony had not been to S.A before. Also accommodation at mums was free :) .
Tony drove me and Mickalee to Alice Springs when I was 36 weeks and Mum and Dean met us there and picked us up, as he did when I had Mickalee, Tony went back to Gregory and worked for two more weeks before he came down to S.A. It was good to have a mini break in Alice Springs we went to the truck museum and also did some sight seeing. The same day Tony went back to Gregory, we headed to Roxby Downs. I was so uncomfortable by about the 3rd hour as I was feeling really huge and didn't want to be in the car anymore. Mickaleee travelled very well and I am sure like the rest of us she was glad when all the travelling was over. When we actually left Gregory Mickalee was almost walking but was as the stage where she would take 4 or 5 steps then give up and crawl because it was faster. When we took her out of the car at Alice Springs she just never crawled again. I think being in the car for 12 hours was enough to help her find her feet, she was 11.5 months old. We all arrived in Roxby very tired, but glad we were there. We still had four weeks to go before bub number two was due and I was so over being pregnant. Something I had not realised in all my trip planning was the fact that Roxby was a bit like Gregory with the rules. They had no birthing facilities in Roxby and you had to be out of there by 36 weeks also. So we had to organise regular trips to Port Augusta and I would have to give birth there. Port Augusta was 2 hours on a slow day from Roxby and I decided I would be safe if I went early because I knew mum would get me to the hospital in time. I was planning to stay in Port Augusta for my last week, when Tony got down here. Mum and I went to Port Augusta once a week for check ups and the midwife tried to convince me to go to Port Augusta sooner than I had planned but I told her it was not an option as I couldn't look after a one year old while I was in labour. Mum and Dean had spoken to there boss's and had arranged time off to look after Mickalee for me while I was in labour and in hospital however it was a bit of a financial ask for them to take two or three weeks off to look after her. I assured the midwife if I t did happen the two hour trip to Port Augusta would be executed quite quickly.

Tony arrived in Roxby in one piece and was very tired, and the first thing we did was hold a late 1st birthday party for Mickalee. She actually turned one on the 19Th of March however we figured as she was only one she wouldn't know the difference if we waited a week till Tony arrived for us to celebrate her birthday, he didn't want to miss it. Uncle Josh's mates even enjoyed the festivities.
As I was with Mickalee I was a lot more relaxed once Tony had arrived, it didn't matter now when I went into labour. The day before we left to go to Port Augusta I mowed the lawn again, as I had done with Mickalee, I just wanted the baby out. All in all pregnancy number two was a lot easier, as I was not so sick, but it was harder because I had a baby to look after. In both pregnancy's I lost weight and actually weighed less on my last day of the pregnancy than I did when I fell pregnant. I said I never did things by the book and the only time in my life I loose weight is when I am pregnant, how backwards.
I will tell you all about my second birth and our stay in Port Augusta next time.

Bye for now and happy Blogging.
Bec

3 comments:

Missy said...

Oh I am waiting for the birth now :)
You are such a cute family! I love that pic of Mickalee standing on the drivers seat of that car. She is so adorable.
I know what you mean about it being harder with a baby. It was for me also. This time it's easier though because they are older and I have naps during the day while they watch telly :)

Missy said...

OK I will tell you what to do but I am not good at explaining lol so I hope you can follow

Go to dashboard, then click on the settings tab. Click on the comments tab. Down the bottom it has Comment Notification Email and you put your email address in there then click save :) While your at it you should click on all the tabs and have a play to familiarize yourself :) That's what I did and I found lots of things I could change and do! If you have msn add me
miss.missy.moo.84@hotmail.com

Missy said...

For some silly reason I can't comment on your birth#2 :( WHAT HAVE YOU DONE BEC!!?!?!

Anyways I actually had an image of you squatting in the middle of Rundle Mall saying "when I need to pee I NEED TO PEE!!" lol
Glad number 2 was easier than number 1. It was for me too but I think that was because I knew what to expect.
It is very exhausting when they are close together but it does get easier. They start to amuse eachother and you will find that you have more 'me' time during the day while they play together. I remember the first 2 years and they were tough but now the boys are so easy it is like having one :)
Keep blogging Bec I love reading them!