Woohoohoo!!!!!

Today was my first day, officially, medication free!!!!!! I'm not counting the days when I forgot to take it... Oops. 

I'm sure you're all wondering "who, what, where, when, how?" Last you all heard, the 'big chief' dr said no way!! Well, after my super emotional day on Sunday I was on a long day at work yesterday (14hr, double shift). The other Dr (also a consultant), who I tend to see more often, came on the ward. When she asked me how I was & what my BP was doing, my eyes filled up (again) & I explained what happened on Thursday. Because my BP is too low at the moment she stopped my medication there & then (exactly like last time when I was pregnant with Rebekah).

I was so thankful!! I'd been praying about it that morning, telling God exactly how mad, upset & disappointed I was & within hours He'd answered my prayer/rant. He is soooo good!!! Yet again, He has answered prayer & brought my BP down when it should be going up! 

I'm gonna have to to go, I'm shattered & I won't be able to write soon. Just wanted to share the good news!

Not me monday!!!!!

 

It's that time again. Weekly confession time. If you're new to all this then just read this post, check out the things I did not do this week then click on the button above & head over to MckMamas blog to join the carnival & check out what other people did not do too!

This week, when I was at the Science Museum with Rebekah I certainly did not get too busy chatting to my friend to realise that our daughters were each slowly emptying the contents of a salt shaker into the middle of the floor in the restaurant. I also did not, actually, find it quite funny when I saw their excitement as the salt ran out even though the waitress was clearly VERY unimpressed.

On the same outing, in the same restaurant I definitely did not ask the manager to search through the bins for the dirty cloth nappy (in a nappy sack I might add) that Rebekah had left somewhere. I'm pretty sure he thought I was crazy but what's a girl to do? That particular nappy does not come cheap!! I did not do this because that would mean I took my eyes off my daughter AGAIN & that I let her play with nappy sacks containing dirty nappies. That would be gross so I never let her do that no matter how much she loves bags ;)

We've had a tough week this week. Rebekah has been struggling with teething this week & has been off her food so Tom & I did not try to bribe her to eat breakfast at the weekend by offering her 'daddy's cheerios' (actually 'Wheetos' -chocolate flavoured cereal hoops). Chocolate flavoured cereal is not healthy for a toddler so we wouldn't dream of starting her day with unhealthy food.

I love being pregnant & as this pregnancy progresses I am not developing a bad case of 'baby brain'!! I did not get a phone call from work last Saturday wondering where I was because I thought I was working Sunday instead!!! I had not got my days all mixed up & I did not totally blame it on hormones instead of my own disorganisation!!!

That's it for this week! Let me know what you did not do this week... It's surprisingly liberating!

Hormonal & emotional.. again!!

I started writing out Rebekah's birth story yesterday but she wasn't letting have much computer time so I'll finish it another day. I would do it today but as the title suggests I'm way too emotional & hormonal.

I don't know why I feel like this today. I guess as girls we all get like this from time to time & being pregnant doesn't help. For those of you who haven't got kids, it's like PMT, for 9months. Mostly you're fine but then the smallest thing can set you off crying, yelling or just plain irritated!

Today it's tears for me. No particular reason. I started crying during the worship at church this morning (by the way, church is a GREAT place to cry!!) & just couldn't stop!!! I was feeling pretty crappy after taking my Nifedipine (tired, weak, light-headed & out of breath), Tom was playing drums so I had to hold Rebekah who was not in a good mood this morning & kept yelling & screaming, so the tears just started to fall.  I got thinking about the fact I'm still on the medication. I didn't take it the last 2 days (before you say anything, big chief said I could skip it here & there instead of stopping it)I got mad all over again & just couldn't stop crying. I was sooooo frustrated!!!! I could get on another rant but I don't want to bore you. 

Anyway, I'd managed to pull myself together by the end of church but then when I got home I was catching up on my favourite blogs & one of them set me off all over again!!!! Angie (from, bring the rain) has posted a beautiful video of her daughter Audrey (who passed away) & it just broke my heart. Maybe I should've waited til another day to watch it huh?

Anyway, I'm feeling better now & I think I'm going to take advantage of the rest of 'nap time', go upstairs, snuggle in bed, watch Dawson's Creek & eat some yummy chocolates that my friend Shona bought me. Oh... Maybe not. Rebekah's shouting "Daddy! Daddy!" from upstairs! Never mind ;)

Grrrrrrr!! Doctors!!!!

Bad news! I'm still on Nifedipine (my blood pressure medication)!!!

I went to the hospital today & even though my bp has been dropping for the last few weeks my Dr is making me continue on the medication. Why? Who knows!! I'm not at all impressed, in fact I'm pretty frustrated too. For the last few weeks I've been seeing a different Dr (also a consultant but not the big chief) and I was pretty sure that she'd let me stop it. Especially in the light of my recent bp readings & the fact I had to come off it last time too.  No such luck. In walked the big chief as he wanted to catch up with how I was doing. When I explained things & showed him my readings his response was "that's great". WHAT??? Last time it was a big deal that my bp was that low & I had to stop taking Nifedipine. I asked him if I should stop taking it but he said he didn't think it was a good idea because... I obviously need it, I'm on the lowest dose anyway, my bp's too unstable without it & finally, I'll have to re-start it at some point anyway. I reminded him that I came off it for 10wks in my last pregnancy but he was having none of it. 

If you've read my previous posts on this topic, you may remember that last time this same Dr was rather confused when my bp started dropping from being 20wks pregnant instead of going up (as would be expected). To try to explain matters, I told him people were praying, but he just ignored that statement like I hadn't spoken... Hee hee!  Anyway, he's not accepting it for a 2nd time so, for now, I'll keep going with the Nifedipine. He did say I could miss a day if I was feeling ill (from my bp being too low) but I usually feel fine 'til I take it! Oh well.

I have a lot of questions about why I still need it & why they won't let me come off it so I'm hoping I get to see the other Dr next time (and the specialist midwife).  It's not that I don't like him. He's very nice & one of the best specialists in the country, I just find the other Dr more approachable & less scary. I think she'll explain things better too rather than just dismiss the idea. We'll see. If you pray... Please keep praying for this pregnancy, my health, Bub's growth & health & that he/she won't be affected negatively by this situation.

Sorry this has been a bit of a rant (and now rather long). On a positive note... What do you think of my 'blog makeover'? I love it & I think Danielle did a great job! Thank you Danielle!

Snow & Science Museum

Yesterday we had a lovely day! In spite of tiredness! We woke up to lots of snow! Well, by English standards anyway. I can't remember when this much snow settled. Usually it falls, becomes slushy & ends up just looking dirty.  I spent a year in Canada '97-98 & I'll never forget the 1st snowfall that year... It started snowing in the evening, We'd just had a big family meal for Stevens birthday & we were watching a movie, when the movie was finished I went & looked out the front door. I had never seen so much snow in my life!!!! EVERYTHING was white. I started screaming for my friend Jay to come and look. At that point Eliz (one of the ladies I lived with & Jays Aunt) came flying downstairs asking "what's happened?!?!?!" "It's snowing!!" I yelled, "look how much there is!!" She looked at me & said "Eleanor, there will be snow til April (it was October), it's 2am, go to bed!!"

It still makes me laugh when I remember that night. Anyway, back to yesterday. When we left the house, we were greeted by lots of beautiful snow so I took some pictures.  We were on our way to meet some friends at the Science Museum. Once a month they do something called experitots for under-5s. It was lots of fun & I've posted a couple of pictures to show you. 

The view up our street

Rebekah outside our house

On our way to the bus stop. 

This is actually the church where Tom & I got married. 

I walked to the church on our wedding day... Followed by my car!!

Making a cup of tea at the Museum

Fun at the Museum

Hope you like these pictures! We had fun! Oh, by the way... The snow is all gone this morning!!! I've got a hospital appointment this afternoon... I'm praying I'll be off my medication this evening. Watch this space...

Tired, tired tired!!!

As the title suggests, I am sooooo tired. I am sleeping really badly at the moment. Maybe my body's preparing me for what's to come when Bub arrives. I wasn't like this when I was pregnant with Rebekah because I remember reading about it & thinking, "at least I don't suffer with that!"

I keep waking up, either for the loo or Rebekah (think she's teething again) & then I just can't get back to sleep!!!! It's awful! I lie there for about 2hrs just tossing & turning, wishing I could be asleep & thinking about how tired I'll be the next day. My mind goes into overdrive.

I've been worrying about all sorts... Whether I forgot to do anything at work, whether this baby will struggle to breastfeed like Rebekah did, how I'll manage with both kids if it does struggle etc. Oh, and labour & childbirth!!!

I don't know why I'm worrying about those things, especially breastfeeding & the birth. I know things always seem worse at night & I'm not generally a worrier so I can only assume it's the hormones (when in doubt...). For a start, I had a fairly easy labour with Rebekah. It was quick & I managed without any pain relief (I'll have to blog the full story another time) so there's no reason why it'll be worse this time. If anything, it'll probably be quicker! Unless... it was quick last time because I had pre-eclampsia. Maybe this is what I'm worried about.  As for breastfeeding, I REALLY, REALLY want to be able do it again!! I know it'll probably be fine, but sometimes it's not possible.  My friend Liz recently had a baby who was tongue-tied so couldn't latch onto the breast. She was amazing & gave him expressed breast-milk in a bottle. That just isn't viable with a toddler.  Rebekah breastfed for 20months & we had various problems along the way but overall it was a wonderful experience for both of us. She really struggled at first. Maybe because she was prem so her sucking reflex was under-developed but I dread that happening again. I'm scared I won't have the determination to battle through for 6wks again.  Ha ha ha... Even as I write that I feel sheer determination bubbling up inside so I think everything will be fine!!! I can be quite stubborn when I want to be!

Well now that I've poured my heart out (and you probably all think I'm crazy) I better go. 

Thanks for reading!!! I love getting your comments. It always makes me very excited! I know I'm sad but I do appreciate all of you even if I don't 'know' you.

I'm back... & 23wks pregnant!!

WOW!!!!!

Time really flies!! I can't believe I haven't blogged in soooooo long. There's no real reason other than the fact I haven't been on the computer so much & I've just been busy.

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas & new year. We had a great holiday! Tom was off work for nearly 2wks so we had some great family time. I was still working but as it's only 2 days a week it wasn't too bad. Unfortunately I had to work Christmas day but we just celebrated on Boxing day instead. What with me being a midwife & my brother-in-law being a fireman we have to be pretty flexible about the day we celebrate Christmas. It's inevitable one of us will be working the year we're all with my Mum!!

Anyway we had a lovely time. My Mum, sister & brother-in-law came to stay for a couple of days then we celebrated with Toms family a few days later. New year was fairly low key but lovely. Tom & I have a tradition of doing something just the 2 of us on new years eve & this year we got a take-away, chatted & I was asleep for 10.30!!! Wild, I know!! We were going to go away with Tom's older brother Sam & his wife Nicci but Sam was ill so we couldn't. Instead we all had a little adventure on new years day & went to see where the boys grew up. It was a lovely day & Rebekah did really well as we spent most of the day in the car. We love spending time with Sam & Nic. They're great friends as well as family.

I've gotta go now as Rebekah & I need to get ready for our Mum's prayer meeting this morning. I just wanted to update quickly!

Oh, by the way... Great news.  Over the last couple of weeks, my blood pressure has been getting lower & lower!!!! It's great, but I am feeling it... light-headed etc. So... I am hoping I will be able to stop the medication this week!!!!! I'm seeing the consultant on Thursday so watch this space!