31 August 2006

Goo! nnnngh! gggggggurgle!...... waaaaa!

From that title you might deduce I'm lacking adult company a bit. That my vocabulary is shrinking... That I'm finding it hard to string adult sentences together. Well I think you're right.

Not that I'm not totally into being a parent. Not that E-chan doesn't deserve my complete attention. But, I am finding that these four walls, the internet and television (ie source of most of my inward flow of information at present) a little bit stale. Am loving reading other blogs, but conversation via blog is either unidirectional or depends when people log in.

Time to broaden horizons a bit. Time to get to know the mother's I've met recently on a one to one level, not just because we have babies a similar age. Time to get out and talk to people in the real world. And get E-chan accustomed to being out and about, so that he isn't freaked out by pigeons in the park, or overstimulated by the leaves rustling in the sun... Time to start making time for those hobbies I had in mind... sewing stuff (now I have a sewing machine!), painting stuff (now I have some acrylic paints!)...

Which leads me to contemplate going back to work next May seriously for the first time since E-chan came into this world*. I now understand why so many other women enjoy going back to work for some "adult time". It's not that I'm missing my job... I'm actually thinking that my work is a bit too... urm how would you say it? It's not important enough. It's not life changing enough. It is important in a baby step kind of way. It's just that actual real life baby steps are more exciting!! Probably not a good idea to have a rivetting job when you have a little 'un, as you wouldn't want your job to become a higher priority.

Who's for a visit some time in the coming weeks? Who's for (shock, horror) a girls night out** at the pub?

*Which I'm bound to do unless my contract isn't renewed.
**And I think C-chan could do with a blokes night out to celebrate both finishing his degree and becoming a Super-duper Dad. (Love you honey!)

29 August 2006

Just as I was getting the hang of things...

...E-chan is changing. Haven't quite worked out how to manage his new feed/play/settle cycle. Result: more crying. Had paranoid dreams last night, where people in our block of units were pointing at our flat saying "that's the unit where the crying baby lives..."

Am still b-feeding him a bit, and that is probably the unknown component, as we don't really know how much food he is getting. He has reduced the number of feeds he's having in a 24 hour period, and eating less in the mornings. I don't think I'm reading the cues wrong. Will weigh him today and see how much he has grown this past week. Last week, he had apparently grown quite a lot, so if there is a similar pattern this week, I'll stop worrying and know we are doing just fine.

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E-chan's little cousin, Tommy, has been having episodes of aponea (ie he stops breathing). He is still in hospital although his mum has been discharged. They are yet to find the cause, but can eliminate any heart or brain abnormalities.

25 August 2006

Welcome to the house of fun!

We are slowly going through our music collection and playing E-chan things to see what he responds to. Hard to tell what he actually likes... I think at his stage of life, it's all about people's faces... ie if I sing to him and look happy, he'll make happy faces and noises back at me. If you go by his response only, you'd conclude that he has exactly the same tastes as us. Might have to try putting on something that I can't stand but C-chan likes and see how E-chan really reacts.

Yesterday, a cheesy Stevie Wonder song came on, and I started moonwalking to it (as you do), and E-chan was delighted and entertained! So last night during the Witching Hour, C-chan and I put on Divine Madness (ie the best of Madness), and danced away to Baggy Trousers, House of Fun, It Must Be Love and the like. Our best fake braces wearing (as in the keeping your pants up kind), cockney-style stomp*. Result: One mesmerised baby!


Oh well it works for us... "Flood" by They Might Be Giants is another good one.

* I know accents don't translate to dancing styles, but you know what I mean? Madness, Dexy's Midnight Runners etc

23 August 2006

"pets" make good conversation starters















Today I wandered about with bub in the baby carrier - it is a lovely sunny day. Here are some snaps we took on the weekend. Went to my favourite cafe this morning (that we used to frequent for breakfast, but haven't made it there since bub was born). Bought a coffee, and the staff remembered me! I've never had a pet, but babies are equally good conversation starters. I've had more conversations with strangers lately than in a long while.

I walked home, and encountered an old man standing outside his terrace.
Old Man: nice afternoon!
Meririsa: is it? I think it's still morning (thinking: how nice to not wear a watch every day)
O M: How old is your baby?
M: 10 weeks!
O M: Babies are a gift to mankind!
M: Yes, true!
O M: And totally defenseless.

Not quite sure how his mind leapt from his first observation to the second, but both statements are true. Babies are uttlerly defenseless and reliant on you for everything. Last night, E-chan woke an hour or so after his feed and change, and wailed his eyes out. After a quick cuddle, everything was OK again, and he was virtually asleep on my shoulder. Perhaps 10-week-olds have nightmares? Dreaming of being born, or his immunisation jabs? Who knows?

Another funny thing is playing "Which baby belongs to which mother" (a bit like guessing which dog belongs to which owner!). It's startling how much like their parents some babies look. I honestly thought all babies looked similar only a few months ago, but they are so different. Some have defined noses, sticking out ears, big or small mouths, so many different hair colours, skin colours, blue eyes, dark eyes, small, large, cute, ugly. And their cries are so different. I swear a baby in the maternity ward in hospital sounded like a cat mewing!!

17 August 2006

Witching hour...

For those of you not familiar with newborns, many babies are unsettled for no apparent reason in the early evening (and some at more unsociable hours like late at night or early morning...). It's called the Witching Hour.

For most of the day, babies eat, play and then sleep for a bit. Or they eat then play, then eat then sleep. Then you hit the witching hours, and nothing seems to make bub contented. You feed, play, cuddle, change nappies, put them down in bed because they look tired. But instead they cry. Get them out of bed, check nappy, see if the want to play. They cry the minute you aren't carrying them, or giving them your full attention, which is exhausting when you've done that pretty much all day. Try putting them in the bouncer while you start on dinner, but little bub's bottom lip quivers and sobs and you know if you don't pick him up pretty soon, he'll be wailing.

E-chan is an average little baby, and has his fair share of unsettled evenings. We have recently decided to give up trying to put him to bed between 4pm and 7:30pm, because he just cries. Last night, I had a bath and E-chan came in with me. Not only does it save getting the baby bath set up, but he seems to like it. It's absolutely lovely feeling baby skin in the water. He may just be a little water baby, and already has an accomplished breaststroke kick! He has learned to close his eyes when water trickles over them. He's had a few showers with his Dad also, and that works well. Also last night, we put on music we like to dance to, and one of us dances holding E-chan while the other gets on with whatever needs doing.

These seem like manageable strategies for the timebeing. With luck he'll grow out of this phase before too long, anyway... Well "they say" it usually stops after about 3 months.

15 August 2006

Two little boys...

My brother's second little boy was born yesterday at 5pm their time!
Welcome to the world, Tomiko!! (Thomas Richard)

"Two little boys had two little toys
Each had a wooden horse
Gaily they played each summer's day
Warriors both of course
One little chap then had a mishap
Broke off his horse's head
Wept for his toy then cried with joy
As his young playmate said

Did you think I would leave you crying
When there's room on my horse for two
Climb up here Jack and don't be crying
I can go just as fast with two
When we grow up we'll both be soldiers
And our horses will not be toys
And I wonder if we'll remember
When we were two little boys"

(Morse - Madden arr. Braden H. Darewski Music / EMI / Redwood Music (P) 1969; made famous by the version sung by Rolf Harris)

Everything is fine apparently, which is a relief!

12 August 2006

Give me some kind of sign, babe...

My brother's partner taught her first baby how to sign key-words before he could speak, so he could tell her what he wanted - babies find it easier to use their hands for a while before they get their talking ability sorted out. Here are a couple of sites with some info:
- ABC radio article
- Signing with your baby
Am going to try this with E-chan.

11 August 2006

wiki wiki wild wild west

Have just discovered you tube. Someone sent me this link of a comedian doing a skit about wikipedia, everyone's favourite unverifiable free online encyclopedia! (You probably need broadband to be able to view this).

10 August 2006

2 months trial period up - "yes we'll keep the baby thanks!"


What a lovely little fellow!
This morning, he woke up at 4:30ish, but wasn't crying for food or a nappy change... instead, he was making happy playing noises in his bed! It was funny in the fog of the early morning. I guess he hasn't got night and day sorted out yet....

05 August 2006

Immunisation

E-chan had his 2 month check-up and immunisation shots yesterday. His response:
Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!
(at a horrendous number of decibels). Poor little thing :(

As the day went on, he wasn't quite himself, skipping playtime between feeds and wanting to go straight to sleep. In the evening, he developed a slight fever, which was a bit worrying for us, but the doctor had warned us this might happen and provided us with baby paracetamol. E-chan slept in our room again last night, just to make sure (he's been out in the lounge room for a few weeks - we're not quite ready to put him in his own room just yet).

But today he is all smiles and normal temperatures :) making his standard cute goo gooo noises at play time, and waving his arms and legs about.

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Re the weaning: wow, that was the right decision. It has taken ALL of the stress out of feeding times. We are all much happier, and I'm sure I'll stop being upset about it before too long. Got all the crying out of my system yesterday. I'm still feeding him on the breast when I feel I can, or if he's too hungry to wait for his bottle to warm.

04 August 2006

Teeny weaning E-chan

Well the decision has been made. To wean or not to wean is no longer the question.
We will wean.

Eight weeks of trying has been a champion effort, we think. Many mothers with similar problems give up before now, and I have explored every single avenue possible. I've tried positioning, resting lots, eating lots, expressing, herbal teas and drugs to get my supply up and provide enough milk; and I've tried positioning in umpteen ways, lactation consultant visits and osteopaths to try to get little E-chan to attach properly, which is the key to everything when it comes to breastfeeding (correct attachment does not hurt the mother, and ensures efficient feeding and that the mother's supply meets the demand of the growing bub).

It seems that E-chan's difficult deliverly led to some jaw problems which set us down the path of not being able to feed - I'm not sure that anything could have been done better except for perhaps an earlier detection of his jaw problem, but it seems that none of the midwives at the hospital had the experience to pick that up, and treatment hasn't really helped for longer than a day or two anyway. I still get sore because he still doesn't attach properly - I think it is that he can't rather than he won't.

Weaning probably won't take too long, given I was producing at most half of his daily food intake on both sides. Will have an appointment with a midwife on Monday to ensure I'm going about it the right way and won't get mastitis, lumps or any other complications. So from now on we can plan to be more mobile and active, which is nice. I can start going for longer walks with the pram so long as I have packed enough bottles and nappies!

I thought a weight would lift off my shoulders once this decision had been made. I know it's the right decision for us, and there are many positives, but apparently there is still some self-imposed guilt to feel, and even grief as the midwife I spoke to today told me. Didn't think you could grieve for not being able to breasfeed, but there you go. It's an emotional thing, letting go of breastfeeding, and apparently even mothers who are giving it up after a good year or two can feel a bit emotional about it. For me it's probably a bit of grieving for what E-chan and I never really managed to get right.

Just an hour or two ago, I fed him a bottle, and afterwards, his little arms clumsily groped towards my breast as if to say "give me some of this too". I suppose this is where the guilt will come in. I was touched, however - I never knew he liked being breastfed, because he was frequently crying as I put him on, or when I had to detach him because his little jaw was hurting me too much, or he whimpered because he probably couldn't get comfortable or he wasn't getting enough milk. I'll need to find something else to replace the physical closeness of breastfeeding I suppose - I don't want to deprive him of that. Luckily I'm very inclined to want frequent cuddles.

So today is an appropriately miserable grey day here in Sydnonee... I plan to cry as much as I have to, to get this out of my system, so I don't keep bursting into tears when I talk to midwives, doctors, other mothers, my mother, C-chan, and most importantly, E-chan, for days to come...

ABC style self promotion; and freaky evangelicals

Here is an interesting article. What do we think of this, folks? Notice how everyone always skims over the small problem of nuclear waste? When someone starts talking seriously about dealing with the problem, I may listen to such champions. But noone ever seems to want to answer the hard questions (where to put the power plants, how to make them secure, and how to dispose of the waste so that many generations ahead will not get radioactive poisoning).

Someone once asked me can I imagine earth in 10,000 years time, humans stumbling across a yellow container buried under the ground with "Danger! Radioactive" written on it, but not having a frigging clue what it says because English as a language has long mutated into something else? That's right - English has changed very much in the last 1000 years despite people writing it down. It will most certainly be unintelligible in 10,000 years. We may not even have hard or electronic copy archives with the language recorded. Language may be then to todays script what today's script is to heiroglyphics. Interesting thought.

In addition, the SMH seems to be writing infomercials for it's weekend edition (go to end of article). Strange, huh? Haven't seen this before, but not at all suprising (call me cynical). I think it's only in the online edition, but still...

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Also was watching the midday news, and Evangelical Christians in the US are apparently drawing parallels between prophetic chapters of the Bible and the fighting in Lebanon and Israel. Freaks.

I shouldn't be so harsh though... once a certain 15 year old was freaking out in a similar manner when the Gulf War was happening in 1991. But then I was only 15, and only partially educated at the time, and didn't go on television stating my beliefs.*

*[That period in my life was right before I realised that Revelations wasn't describing word for word what was happening in Iraq at the time, followed rapidly by "not being sure at all that I believe in this religion stuff", and stopping going to church/youth group entirely. It was probably a 3 month process from go to woe].

03 August 2006

Stretchmarks and new statistics

Having been up late more than a few times lately, I've experienced first hand the absolute banality of late night telly. The telemarketing shows on in the wee hours of the morning are abolutely dreadful. And during the day. Sometimes I have the telly on for background noise or so that I don't feel rotten about having to be up at 3am (I really should revert to radio listening again...).

Just heard a dreadful add for this product for "reducing the appearance of stretchmarks and skin uneveness". Ad features sob story of a poor lass who had to spend ages agonising about what to wear when sunbaking at the poolside lest her stretchmarks be visible. My heart nearly broke, poor critter (I feel sorry for her because of her totally warped attitude to life, but then, she's probably just an actor paid to say that she's upset about her stretchmarks)!!

I have a lovely new set of 4 stretchmarks on my lower abdomen. Really obvious, red things. I like them. It's like getting a set of markings that signify I have been through childbirth. I have carried a bub for 9 1/2 months, my belly has stretched and changed my centre of gravity. Then I had a baby, and it shrunk back to how it was* in about 1/6 of the time it took to grow out. I've been through that life changing event, and have something to signify it on my body. What's the big deal? My partner loves my body, I'm comfortable in it, and I couldn't give a toss what someone else might think should they see my stretchmarks at the beach or pool.

And none of the other recent mums I've met give a toss either. There are far more important things to be thinking of when you have a newborn... (minor things like keeping it warm, fed and secure).

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We got our census forms last night - a new member of the household to add! Such a novelty that I read through the form and smiled at all the additional items that would have to be filled out this time around! We are no longer a couple household, we're a family with 1 dependent child! Cool!

*(well almost...)