This may end up becoming a theme of future posts but I do want to apologise for the infrequency with which I manage to get round to updating you – this may have something to do with the fact that most of my time is now taken up with making bottles (2 different types), changing nappies (2 different types, both equally disgusting in their own special way!) and generally meeting the requirements of our little Angels (though I may not always think of them in exactly that way!) ….and if I’m not doing that, then I’m probably asleep!

Continue reading A moments peace means time to write a post! →

For those that haven’t already noticed, Kate has added some more pictures into a gallery. Click the photo below to go to there. Enjoy!

Isabel21/DSCF0471.jpg

Yes indeed folks, the C-Section date is set…….. although, in the words of the Doctor, we are merely “pencilled in” for the 16th January which isn’t quite as concrete like as you might hope but works for me for the time being!

So, yesterday’s appointment was a whole host of unnecessary palavers – I’m sure that the Doctor is a lovely person, but she proved to be completely unable to read patient notes and totally lacking in the tact department!

She started by trying to persuade me that I actually wanted to give birth naturally – given that right from the word go I have been totally upfront with everyone about my desire to have a 2nd c-section and have had nothing but reassurance that that would be fine from the medical persons I have spoken to up to this point, I was slightly surprised by this u-turn and also felt that this was something that should have been broached about 6 months ago and not when you only have 5 weeks remaining till your due date!

Having reluctantly “pencilled us in”, she then wanted to have a listen to Baby and have a good feel of my middle. This involved 5 minutes of trying to locate the heartbeat whilst muttering about it being “hard to find” and me getting slightly more panicked each time she moved the machine to a new location and still didn’t pick it up – what I hadn’t realised was that she hadn’t taken the time to read the midwifes notes from my Friday appointment that made reference to the fact that she felt that Baby was currently in a Breech position, and therefore she was trying to find it’s heartbeat in it’s bottom! Having poked at me a bit more she said “I think this Baby may be breech” and with that, located the heartbeat just under my ribs! Easy Peasy!

Another bout of poking and a whipping out of the tape measure revealed my oversized bump, another thing that had come to light at Friday’s appointment – having said that, the midwife’s measurements had me at 37 weeks instead of 34 and a half and the Doctor’s had me at 42! I can assure people that I had not eaten that much cake over the weekend and, if she had taken her note reading pills that morning, a little red warning flag would have been waving in her head and suggesting that she might want to re-measure me just to be on the safe side!??

As it stands, I now have to go and have a GTT (that being a Glucose Tolerance Test not a Gin and double Tonic!) on 2nd of January, her thought being that Baby’s large size is due to my having Gestational Diabetes regardless of the fact that I have NEVER displayed any symptoms nor has there ever been any Glucose in my urine samples in either of my pregnancies (and that includes that sample on Friday, Sunday and the one I did 10 minutes before seeing the Doctor on Monday!) followed by a scan on 3rd January to check whether we are still the wrong way up and to check kidney function – perhaps I should have mentioned at this point that my Grandma had 5 children, all naturally and the lightest was my Mum at 9 and 1/2lbs and the heaviest was my Uncle Ted who weighed a minimum of 14 lbs.…………that was as far as the scales went, so it was most likely more!

I’m sorry if all of that comes across as a bit of a rant, and it may well have been made worse by my being somewhat hyper sensitive at the moment, but I did come away in tears wondering what you have to do to get people to actually listen to what you are telling them……..or to at least read your notes before embarking on an examination!?

Asides from that, we haven’t been up to an awful lot recently. Isabel had her first immunisations this morning (delayed because of clashes with Cleft Palate surgery) which she wasn’t overly thrilled about but cheered up with the help of some stickers that the nurse gave her!

The end of the week will see us heading off on our Christmas Tour and then it will be back home to gear up for returns to work and the last bits of preparation before Baby makes his or her appearance a couple of weeks later!

Can you believe it???? Two weeks today is Christmas Day – thank goodness I have finally managed to be the organised shopper I hope to be every year and have done my shopping! I’ve even managed to send things to New Zealand – admittedly, it was on the last posting day (according to Royal Mail!) but I did it so feel very proud of myself……..but I am sorry if those of you on the other side of the world don’t receieve things in time for Xmas itself!

The whizzing by of time also means that we only have, very roughly, a month to go until “Bob” joins the Winchurst Clan – and again, I have amazed myself by being well organised in that department as well!!! The Double Pushchair has been mulled over, chosen, ordered and arrived and, thanks to Aunty Catherine, the tiddly Baby clothes have been rooted out and sorted through……….that also allowed us to get on and pack the Baby Hospital Bag – one down and one to go!! All we have to do now is hope that Isabel doesn’t unpack it too many times – and if she does, hope that she doesn’t move them too far from the source so that it can be easily packed up again! At least this time no little furry creatures will be able to wee in it (in case you didn’t know, it did happen last time and was very smelly and very annoying!) so it should be safe until we need it!

So now all we have to do is finish the last couple of Baby related jobs (like buying the stand for the Moses Basket!) and we can sit back and relax over the festive period – not that I had any intention of doing anything else………….in my current beached whale like state, even getting into bed can be slightly problematic at times so an excuse to be waited on hand and foot is not something you have to think about too much!

Just so you know, the requests for pictures have not fallen on deaf ears – it’s just that I have become increasingly bad at remembering to charge up the camera batteries (it’s this pregnancy lark you know, it does stuff to your brain! Though, now I think about it, I wasn’t that good at remembering before either…..) which is slightly vital to being able to transfer the pictures onto the computer! Panic not though, I am endeavouring (even as I type!) to charge up at least one set so hopefully some pictures will emerge in the not too distant future!

This weekend, we headed down to Devon to stay at Hotel Winchurst and to watch the Holsworthy Carnival – we could tell that Isabel was riveted by the Children’s Carnival in the afternoon by the loud snoring coming from her pushchair! Luckily, she saw fit to stay awake long enough to watch the Adult Carnival in the evening and seemed to quite enjoy watching (and waving at!) the floats as they trundled past!

Our weekends between now and Christmas are going to be a little bit full-up I realised this morning. Next week we are combining a visit to Hotel Radcliffe with a catch up with Ian & Pip and Baby James – having not yet met James in person, we are very much looking forward to seeing them and to seeing how Isabel reacts to there being a small Baby in the vicinity!
After that, we are expecting a visit from Uncle Ken followed by a visit from Aunty Catherine – and by the time those are over, we will have one more weekend until Christmas……..rather a scary thought if you think about it too much!

Anyway, keep those eyes peeled for pictures – I don’t think there are that many but some pictures are always better than no pictures at all!

Things have been ticking over pretty much as normal here in the Winchurst household – lots of washing, lots of cleaning and yet still finding a laundry pile the size of Everest and wondering if you just dreamt the last 2 hours you thought you had spent with the hoover and damp cloth!

Unfortunately, we are a bit of a plague pit at the minute. Dan has been working too hard and his immune system has finally over loaded and landed him with a cold – Isabel also has a cold but I’m not sure if this has come from Daddy or another source……..so far (and not for much longer I suspect), I have not succumbed to the evil germs but I’m sure my turn will inevitably come!

Last week, Isabel and I spent a few days at Hotel Radcliffe whilst Dan was away at Center Parcs in Brussels on a course – it was nice to have a few days away from home (but this may yet prove to be the culprit of the cold!) and to be able enjoy the delights of Grandpa Jeff’s cooking! Isabel even had the chance to get up close and personal with a cat – Biba wasn’t too thrilled (the pinned back ears were a bit of a give-away!), but tolerated Isabels attempt at gentle stroking and placing her head on her whilst she said “Ahhhhhh!”!

Next week, Dan is hopefully getting some time off and we plan to spend it with family (just in case of emergencies that would cause Dan to need to zoom back here!). First we’ll be back at Hotel Radcliffe where we are looking forward to seeing Good Old Uncle Ted, who is making a flying visit from the U S of A – given that he has never met Isabel and the last time we saw him was the week before I discovered I was pregnant with Isabel, it’ll be good to catch up!
After that we will be heading to Devon to stay at Hotel Winchurst until the end of the week – yet more furry creatures for Isabel to torment and a good chance to show off all her new skills to a new and willing audience….she’ll be in her element! (And I’ll apologise in advance in case we bring our stinky germs with us!)

Saturday will see us back here in time for a fancy dress Halloween party – look out for pictures from this as Isabel has a Spider costume, especially brought back for her from the “Best Costume shop on Broadway, New York”……….many thanks to Aunty Catherine for going above and beyond the call of duty (as usual!) – and giving Mummy a good excuse not to feel guilty about her lack of dressing up!

So, things have been a little quiet in the Winchurst household of late (by “quiet” I mean there hasn’t been much interesting going on – it’s very difficult for things to be “quiet” when there’s a 17mth old, who does a very good Heffalump impression, running around like a loon!) – the only things to have reported would’ve been things like doing the washing and clearing up after Isabel for the 400th time in one day, none of which would make for thrilling reading!

This last weekend saw Dan disappearing off to Munich to sample the delights of Oktoberfest. He arrived home yesterday armed with a wealth of goodies – a “Miaow” for Isabel (only of the stuffed variety!), Chocolate for Mummy and a variety of Beer festival items, one of which is a “Stein”(at least, I think that’s how you spell it!) that weighs an absolute tonne when full! (It holds 2 pints of liquid!) Apparently, someone was seen carrying 14 of these at once – I was very impressed given I thought I might go into premature labour just carrying one with nothing more toxic than squash in it!

Not wishing to be outdone, Isabel and I went to London on Saturday to stay with Aunty Catherine as an early birthday celebration – Catherine’s birthday was in fact on Monday, but she was inconveniently going to New York so we had to bring forward the partying! Isabel had a lovely time entertaining Catherine’s flatmates and decided, therefore, she had no need of sleep and it was 11.30pm before I persuaded her otherwise! I had also chosen to gloss over just how wriggly she is whilst asleep and opted to share a bed with her – needless to say, I am in no hurry to repeat this event and will probably vote to sleep just about anywhere else in the future! (especially as she then chose to get up at 7.10am on Sunday – about and hour and a half earlier than normal!)

Today, Isabel has been continuing her new found joy of embarrassing Mummy in the supermarket by fondling peoples bottoms whilst queuing up to pay! So far, people are generally very forgiving when they turn round to see a curly haired scrap beaming innocently up at them – some are also quite disappointed, but only momentarily!
We were also interested by an item on the local Chinese Restaurants menu – I was pondering it as an option for dinner tomorrow (given it is our Wedding Anniversary!) but am less inclined to go now given that one of their delicacies is “Szechwan Dick”! I’m quite adventurous in the gastronomic department, but even I would draw the line there! We’ll keep you posted as to whether we venture in there!

Well, the good news is that we’ve had our scan and can confirm that Bob does exist and has one head, two arms, two legs and a heart beat. The bad news is the due date has changed AGAIN to two days after our original due date. Apparently Bob didn’t measure up as a 20-week old and was nearer to 16-weeks. Hence the sonographer didn’t do any of the normal 20-week checks. The silver lining in that particular cloud, though. is that we get to have another scan in 4 weeks’ time.

So, that means a Christmas of lying on the sofa doing nothing, barely able to move, being waited on hand and foot … and Kate will be pretty tired by then as well. Still, at least it will give us something to look forward to at the end of January (23rd to be precise).

It has shown us the difference between the New Zealand and UK health care services though. In NZ Kate had a brilliant midwife (hope you’re reading this, Zoe!) whom she saw at least every four weeks initially. We really felt that Zoe was sharing the pregnancy with us and Kate looked forward to her visits. Apparently she would try to book Kate in last thing in the afternoon so she could stop for a cup of tea and a natter as well as doing the check-up and didn’t need to worry about getting to another appointment. Each visit was fun as, among other things, we would play the “guess what sex slug is by the heart rate” game.

Unfortunately over here things aren’t quite the same. We realise it’s different having a second baby rather than a first, but we get the impression over here that everyone is simply doing a job and we are just A N Other Couple. Don’t get me wrong – everyone has been pleasant to us, and we’re not saying anyone is doing a bad job. It’s just that (probably because of all the work to do and such limited resources available) it’s a question of do the checks you need and move on. This week, for example, when the SHO checked Bob’s heart rate, she didn’t even tell us what the rate was. So much for the guessing game we had last time.

We have contemplated contacting Zoe to see if she would be willing to relocate to the UK to be our midwife again but I still don’t think she’s forgiven us for having a baby over here in the first place, so I’m not sure that’s feasible. Kate has also been watching a series on TV about the Portland Hospital in London but I (and our Bank Manager) have been explaining to her that that’s not feasible either (more’s the pity!). So it looks like we’re stuck with the good old NHS.

Having had a midwife visit this week (ie 16 weeks) we were initially told she wouldn’t plan to see us again until 28 weeks – another 12 weeks from now. Luckily she picked up on our “we’re not really happy about that” vibes and has arranged another appointment for a mere six weeks from now. We were told by a couple of the people we’ve seen that “we’ll see how the pregnancy progresses”, in terms of re-reviewing the due date, and they’ve also picked up on the brief blood pressure rise Kate experienced just before Isabel was born, and want to keep an eye on that. Quite how they expect to do so if no-one is going to see us, we’re not quite sure!!

As promised, if a little belatedly, is news on when “Bob the Bump” will make his or her entrance into the world……..

It would seem that my initial wonderings were in fact correct and I was further ahead than first suspected – that meant a revision in due dates and brought it forward to………. CHRISTMAS EVE!!!! Excellent timing on our part we feel, and it has been suggested to us that we could have considered this a little better in the planning stages but hey, who are we to mess with Mother Nature!!?? In truth, it won’t be Christmas Eve as I intend to have an elective C-Section this time round to avoid all the palava that we went through in order to get Isabel – my darling sister says that it’s not that I am too posh to push, I am just too lazy!!!

This coming Monday is turning into a veritable Baby-fest day – I have my long awaited 20 week scan at 10.30am (which means we have made it to half way!), an appointment with the Consultant (whose name I can’t pronounce!) at 10.45am and then a visit to the Midwife at 3pm………..it seems this baby lark is fast becoming like the proverbial buses!!

Not much to report other than that – we’d like to say a huge Congratulations to Uncle Paul and Aunty Rachel who got engaged last week at the bottom of the Grand Canyon…….it was lovely to see them at the weekend at Rachel’s birthday – Isabel was particularly pleased to be able to play with her Uncle Paul after so many weeks of being so cruelly separated from him!! I think she might already be saving her pocket money to pay for a possible trip to New Zealand for a wedding!!??