weasleyconfused
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Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in the "weasleyconfused" journal:[<< Previous 20 entries]
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11:05 am
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Six months old
Becky is six months old today. It really doesn't seem that long since she was a tiny baby.
She has now had 4 operations on her eyes, the initial two to remove the cataracts and a second operation on each eye to remove subsequent scare tissue. This might be the last operations she needs for the moment but there is a possibility the scare tissue will reform. She has taken all this amazingly well and generally recovers from operations quicker than her parents do. She is definitely using her eyes and looking round at things. She now likes toys that move, especially her toy train, She can push it and Mummy pushes it back :)
She can now roll on to her front and back onto her back again. She particularly like doing this during nappy changes or when being dressed. She isn't sitting up on her own but is needing less and less support to sit up.
She is still breast-feeding well and I have just begun to give her solids. She wasn't very enthusiastic about this at first but is now eating most things I give her. She is sleeping better at night, only waking for one feed on some nights and is generally less tired by bedtime. For the last few weeks we have had a very tired baby by 6pm but she is now happy and playful till 7pm.
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06:12 pm
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Kitchen
We nearly have a completed Kitchen!!
Since the beginning of February the extension roof has been removed, the walls built higher and the roof put back. The old exterior wall was then removed and an rsj put in to support the upstairs. The new units have been fitted and the old ones refitted where necessary so they are all very neat. We also have our new cooker. All we need now are the worktops. These should be fitted next week, in the meantime we are using a mixture of old worktops, chopping boards and a few bits of old kitchen units. All our stuff now fits neatly in the cupboards without any precarious stacking.
Even without worktops the new kitchen is a huge improvement. We can have 3 adults in the room all cooking different parts of a meal without getting in each others way. We also proved it is possible to use 5 woks simultaneously on the cooker with 2 people standing in front of it without any problems.
The whole design has worked even better than we hoped it would.
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03:30 pm
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Contact Lenses
Rebecca had her first pair of contact lenses fitted at the end of February, this was not an experience she particularly enjoyed and she did a very good job of screwing up her eyes and screaming. After one failed attempt, followed by a long walk round Addenbrookes calming her down they went in successfully. Thankfully they stay in for up to 3 months unless she knocks them out or her prescription changes.
She is really beginning to use her eyes now, looking at people and toys and smiling for her favourite cuddly frog. She is also beginning to reach up and hit the toys on her baby gym.
We have no established a good routine at night, bath, feed and bed at 7:30pm. She generally settles quickly and will generally sleep for 6 or 7 hours, feed once in the night and then sleep till 7 or 8 am. This does mean I can cook again in the evening and eat dinner without a baby on my arm. We found this very strange at first as we had got so used to having her with her the entire time.
We are currently on 2 lots of eye drops a day so can go out during the day without having to remember to be home at a specific time. We have had some nice walks along the Cam and through the colleges.
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11:24 am
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Rebecca progress
Rebecca saw the consultant again on Monday, she is continuing to recover well from the operation and we are now on 2 hourly drops 6 times a day. This means we have a much better routine allowing Becky to get more sleep by day and have a better feeding routine again. We do the last drops at 7pm before her bath her overnight oitment after the bath and then she has a break till 8am. We are trying to get her used to being put to sleep upstairs after her bath, we are beginning to have some success with this.
She will get her first pair of contact lenses at the end of the month, these are ones that can stay in for a couple of months so we don't have to take them in and out every day, but if she rubs one out we have to go to the hospital to have it put back. It will be great when her eyes can focus on things close to her.
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05:44 pm
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More House Destruction
Stage 2 of our kitchen modifications began this week. This stage involves raising the roof of the single story extension so the ceiling is at the same height as the current kitchen. Then removing the wall and rearranging the units and fitting the new cooker.
In the first 3 days hey have stripped out the old units, removed the roof and started building the new bits of wall. We also have a hatch in front of the boiler so it can be serviced easily, and a new loft ladder fitted. The new loft ladder means we can safely move the stuff from the box room into the loft and begin to turn it into a nursery.
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05:33 pm
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Rebecca's second operation
Rebecca's second operation was yesterday, this time it was in the afternoon so we didn't have to starve her until noon. This was a lot less stressful as I didn't have to worry about waking her and me up in the night to give her a final feed.
I was a lot less stressed this time which made things a lot easier. The operation was again just under 1.5 hours. While the first one was very easy this one was a lot more tricky but they did manage to get the intra ocular lens inserted. She was slightly more grumpy when she came round this time but was her usual self again within a couple of hours.
Despite it being more tricky her eye looked good this morning but we are going to keep her on the hourly drops for 4 days rather than 2 as there is likely to be more inflammation.
It is really nice to have the 2 operation over and be back home again.
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04:38 pm
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Congenital Cataracts
We knew from the the checks they did on Rebecca when she was born that she had inherited my congenital cataracts. When she was 3 weeks old we saw the paediatric ophthalmology consultant at Addenbrookes who confirmed that the cataracts were dense enough to prevent visual development and would need treating soon to ensure her vision develops as well as possible. The initial treatment is to remove the cataract and if possible insert an intra-ocular lens in the eye. Te lens can only be inserted if the operation goes well and the eye is big enough. The lens will initially make her very long sighted to allow for her eye to grow. By the time she is a teenager she should have a correctly focussed eye. Although she will never have perfect eyesight it should be better than mine.
The first operation was on Thursday 24th January , it was a long day.
We had to starve her from 4am so I had to make sure she had a good feed before then, then be up at 6am to get to the hospital for 7:30. until we got to the hospital Becky coped well with lack of food but once we were there she was hungry, and didn't mind who knew it. If I held her she could smell my breasts which made her worse so Ben had to do all the comforting. Luckily she was first on the list due to her age. There was a slight delay at first as there were no beds available on the ward and they can't start operating until they know there is a bed available. In the end she was put on the day unit at first and then moved to the children's ward in the evening.
We were able to take her down to theatre ourselves and hand her over to the anaesthetist ourselves, this was probably the hardest bit of the day. We were then given a pager so we could be bleeped when she was back in recovery. We spent the next hour and a half having coffee with Ben's mother and walking round the hospital.
When we were paged just after 10:30 we headed straight to the paediatric recovery, there she was snugly wraped up in a blanket with the only visible signs a plastic eye shield and a cannula in her hand. She was still very sleepy but beginning to move her arms and legs.
She was able to return to the ward really quickly where she quickly began to feed again.
We saw the consultant at lunch time who was able to tell us that the operation had gone really well and she had been able to put the intra ocular lens in. We might begin to see a change in the next day.
She was fairly sleepy for the rest of the day and then didn't sleep very well that night as the ward was quite noisy.
She was on hourly eye drops during the day for the first 48 hours then 2 hourly until the next operation on the 5th of February. She doesn't like having these put in but is putting up with it really well.
By the next morning she was beginning to use her eye and look at lights, We really began to notice the changes when we got home, she has suddenly become much more alert and interested in things, and more tolerant of being in her baby bouncy or on the play mat. Her head control has improved dramatically. The other effect of her being more alert during the day is that she has begun ro sleep through the night, 4.5 hours on Saturday and just other 5 hours on Sunday night.
We saw the consultant again today who was very pleased with her progress.
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10:21 pm
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Rebecca
Rebecca is now 11 days old, and is doing well. She is feeding well and we appear to have established breastfeeding with very few problems. The only thing she really doesn't like is having her nappy changed, especially when it is cold at night. She does however appear to really enjoy being bathed.
We have managed a few trips out with her in her pram, initially just to the post box down the road, then to the post office and yesterday we got as far as John Lewis.
We have had visits from both the health visitor and the midwife who are both very happy both of our progress.
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08:09 pm
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New arrival - Rebecca Margaret Jameson
I got up o Friday morning as usual, got breakfast and had a nice leisurely start to the day with Ben before he left for work.
After Ben left I had a shower, and went to get dressed, at this point I fell asleep for the next 2 hours. When I woke up and went to the bathroom my waters broke.
At this point I phoned Ben to warn him and phoned the Rosie to find out what to do. As the water was clear they told me to have lunch and then go in so they could check me and the baby. Fortunately Ben's mother was already in Cambridge having lunch with a friend so was able to have lunch then give us a lift. As a precautionary measure I put all my hospital bags in the car. Good job I finished packing them the day before.
When we got there we spent a lot of time sitting around waiting to be seen, then they put me on monitoring, this showed no sign of the baby being distressed but when they examined the waters there was slight evidence of meconium which can indicate foetal distress. At this point my cervix was still closed. Due to the meconium I was sent up to the delivery unit for more monitoring and a plan to be drawn up. During this time I started having contractions and was 1 or 2 cm dilated when examined, but still needed to be induced. As I was already dilating and my waters broken I didn't need the prostaglandin gel and could be put straight on the syntocin drip. This reduces the time taken by 6 hours. I was put on the drip at 9pm
Once on the drip the contractions really started, at first I could move around and use the birthing ball which really helped ease the pain, after a bit, about 2 hours, I think, they became concerned that the baby's heart rate wasn't returning to normal quickly enough after contractions so wanted me on the bed, luckily I was allowed to lie on my side as labouring on your back is much more painful, At this point I was 3 cm dilated.
By this time I needed the gas and air, which did really help and the contractions continued for the next hour or so, Ben was doing an amazing job with back rubs and a cool flannel over my face, they got a lot stronger towards the end and my memory is slightly hazy so the next section is based on what Ben told me. They became more concerned with babies heart rate not returning to normal between contractions and decided to take a blood sample from babies head to check the oxygen levels. At this point the registrar had o examine me and looked slight surprised and said "Oh my gosh you are 10cm dilated". At this point they decided to get her out as quickly as possible, A combination of me pushing (they had to confiscate the gas and air so gripping Ben's arm was the only option) and a little use of the ventouse cap she was delivered in 20 minutes. Thankfully she cried really quickly which was the most amazing feeling I have ever felt.
Very soon she was swaddled in a blanket and safely in my arms, suddenly the last hour was completely forgotten and Rebecca was safely in my arms.
She fed really well in the delivery room but was then a bit reluctant to the next day, thankfully by the evening she took the breast happily and got several good feeds in, this meant both of us got a bit more sleep and were able to be discharged on Sunday lunchtime. We are now settling down to life at home. Yesterday she slept well during the day and had an unsettled night. The midwife said this was perfectly normal as she had to get used to the more healthy non hospital environment. She was really happy with both of our progress today.
First photos are at http://www.flickr.com/photos/louisejameson, and more will follow!
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05:19 pm
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New Toy :)
My old mobile phone has started to act up and I can't get any reception on Orange when at home, this wasn't really an issue until now but was becoming one as I start maternity leave.
I originally was planning to get a new phone + iPod touch but then realised that that cost the same as an iPhone.
I got the iPhone last week but only got the PAC code from orange today.
Registering it was incredibly easy, as I already have an appleID and iTunes account I hardly had to enter any additional information and the registration took about 10 minutes to do. I will have a temporary number for about a week until my old one is transferred.
Until now I have only really used my phone as a phone and occasionally as an alarm clock. I could never be bothered to sync it with computer but this was a rather different experience. I don't know what it is like syncing with a PC but with my mac it was incredibly quick and easy. Without having to alter any settings it set up my .mac email, all my contacts and calendars then let me select what photos and music I wanted.
It also transferred my other email account settings, so once I connected to the house wifi I could access my email without any problem.
I haven't really used the actual phone much yet but the quick test call I made worked really well, from inside the house :) and the sound quality was really clear.
Although it doesn't have 3G I tried using it for a bit of web surfing in town, and it worked really well.
It is probably a good job I didn't get it setup sooner or I really wouldn't have got any work done this week :)
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09:08 am
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Winding Down
Things are definitely beginning to wind down before the birth now.
Although I am still at work till next Friday, I have been using up holiday so haven't had a 5 day week this month. I have now finished all the work I needed to do and am just doing the extra bits of tidying up that are nice to do, but not essential. I had my maternity presentation this week, that really did make me feel that the end was in sight.
I need to formally resign as a school governor so a replacement can be appointed and have ceased doing any active work as a church warden. I won't formally resign but won't stand for re-election at Easter.
The work on the new utility room is nearly finished. The carpentry will be finished today and the floor tiles laid next week. I just need to confirm a date for the worktops to be templated and that will be finished.
We repainted the breakfast room last weekend so we can hopefully move stuff back downstairs this weekend.
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02:09 pm
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Pregnancy update
I haven't really posted much about the pregnancy lately, this us partly due to having been busy sorting the house out before the builders started.
About a month ago, at 28 weeks pregnant, the routine blood tests showed I had elevated blood glucose levels. This is initially tested by making you drink a set amount of lucasade and taking a blood sample 1 hour later. As this was higher than normal I then had to have glucose tolerance test, this time I had to fast overnight then have my fasting level checked before drinking a glucose solution and having blood samples taken 1 and 2 hours later. This test showed that although my fasting level was normal the later ones were raised meaning I have developed gestational diabetes. This form of diabetes should go away after the baby is born but does indicate I have a higher chance of developing diabetes in later life.
So far I am managing to control this by diet alone. This means avoiding sugar in foods, getting my carbohydrates from wholemeal bread, rice and pasta, and being careful about potion size. The only thing I really miss is fruit juice
I also have to test my blood glucose four times a day, first thing in the morning and then 2 hours after each meal. They also have to keep any eye on the baby's growth, if my blood glucose is high this is passed across the placenta and the baby can grow too fast. We had the 32 week scan today and baby is the correct size for 32 weeks and all other things seem normal.
The scanned images will be added to my flickr account later.
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04:45 pm
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More House stuff
The kitchen work is now not going to be finished before the baby is born so we now have a revised plan.
We now have a new boiler and gas line through the house, the old one turned out to be half the size it should have been. The old boiler had started making loud clanking noises after any period of use. We also have a new thermostat in a more sensible place, the old one was too close to the kitchen so the rest of the house would get cold of the oven was on.
The new utility room work starts next week, and should be finished before the baby is born, the remaining work to the rest of the kitchen will then happen in January. The advantage of this is that we will always have part of the kitchen useable and shouldn't be without a washing machine at any point.
The only downside is I don't get to play with my new cooker till next year.
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07:32 pm
[Link] | The early stages of the work on our kitchen began this week.
Last weekend Ben and I stripped everything (except the boiler) out of the pantry. 2 of the wall in the pantry have now been plastered so they are ready for the new boiler to be installed. This is the last corner of the house that hasn't had any work done to it since we bought the place. It is rather nice to not to have the badly painted white brick in there anymore.
We have also now ordered the new cooker, started getting quotes for new worktops and looking at new sinks and taps.
In preparation for the time when the kitchen is really unusable, and for when the baby arrives we have started trying to fill the freezer with as much reheatable food as we can.
We also managed to take the cameras out for a walk this afternoon and I got some nice photos of Cambridge
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03:06 pm
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Baby Movements
This weekend we noticed that the baby's movements can now be felt outside. The cat might get a surprise next time she tries sitting on the bump :)
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06:51 pm
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A rant about busses
Why do people on crowded busses insists on sitting on the outer seat leaving the inner one inaccessible. The other morning morning I had to walk right to the back of the bus and sit hunched up on on top of the wheel arch. Not fun when you are obviously pregnant.
Tonight I watched an apparently able bodied women sitting in the front seat, the one marked for disabled, elderly etc, move across to the outside seat when her friend got off. This was just as the bus pulled into Adenbrookes, the most likely point on the trip that someone would need that seat.
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10:03 pm
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20 week scan + holiday
The 20 week scan was absolutely fine. Baby appears to be growing normally and no abnormalities were found. As usual they will won't guarantee that they get they sex correct that they were pretty confident that baby is a girl
The scan photo is at http://www.flickr.com/photos/louisejameson/1000273742/in/photostream/
As usual this really doesn't do justice to the much clearer image that we saw during the scan. The setup this time was really impressive, there was a second monitor that the mother could see when lying down, rather than having to look at the same one the sonographer was working at.
I saw the ophthalmologist last week and my eye pressure has stayed stable. This means I can stop one of the eye drops, as planned, for the last 3 months of pregnancy. There is also no problem breastfeeding when using eyedrops.
We spent the rest of last week on holiday with fiends on their narrowboat. We did the Warrickshire ring, through Nuneaton, Rugby, Braunston, Warrick and Birmingham. It was lovely to be on the canals again and my first experience of boating in the summer. We wer lucky with the weather in that it we didn't have too many locks to do on the really hot afternoons. I wasn't doing much work on locks but made plenty cups of tea and bacon sandwiches as well as taking quite a few photos which I will upload to flickr soon.
Back at work this week, the highlight of the week was knocking a pint of water over my desk when trying to answer the phone Otherwise the week was spent on customer support and trying to get hardware test environments working.
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10:58 am
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Growing Bump
The bump has definitely grown quite a bit in the last couple of weeks. I now have no waist line :), and no it is not just due to eating too many pies :)
I have had to start buying some maternity clothes, though my existing dresses all fit fine still.
I tried going shopping in Cambridge yesterday and this reminded me why I buy stuff online so much. Going shopping with a clear idea of what I want is fine, but size 12 appears to be te first size places sell out of. So it is back to ebay and online shopping :)
Having had a nice month with no medical appointments I have another batch of them coming up, 20 week scan and one eye clinic appointment this week and another eye clinic appointment next week. I also need to have a blood test the week after.
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10:50 pm
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Holiday and Cameras
We had a very pleasant week in Norfolk. It began with Ben's nephew's wedding which was great fun. It was a Buddhist ceremony followed by reception. They had hired an entire country house for the weekend and had complete use of it, this meant there was none of the usual finish at midnight business. There was a very pleasant barbecue the next day.
We spent the rest of the week pottering around the area. I particularly enjoyed Holham beach, the boat trip to watch Seals and sea birds and the steam train between Sherringham and Holt. I also found a bookshop selling nothing but cookery books, I did quite well only to buy two new ones.
While in Norfolk I found myself wanting to take a lot of photographs that my nice little Canon Ixus couldn't quite manage. This finally persuaded me to go and buy a digital SLR body. I now have a very nice Canon 400D and can play the fun game of stealing all Ben's lenses. U have had a bit of a chance to play with it this week and am starting to get some really nice results.
Last night we went to a prom concert at Duxford Imperial War Museum, this consisted of music accompanied by air displays and fireworks. I was able to get some rally good shots of the air display which I could never have got with my old camera.
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10:24 pm
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Busy Week
Last week was really busy. As well as trying to deal with a really tricky support case at work we have been trying to finalise the plans for the Kitchen Improvements. The current kitchen units we have are now listed as limited availability by Magnet. In theory this means that our local magnet should be able to provide us with the part numbers and do a search on all Magnet stores to locate the units, in reality they weren't prepared to do this. Magnet's regional office were very helpful and gave me the details of their factory outlet in Bradford, who did have what we needed, only problem is they don't deliver so Ben and Sam have a fun trip to Bradford to collect them this weekend. We have also ordered a replacement downstairs toilet and new basin, a really exciting shopping trip :)
To add to y general stress levels someone managed to clone my bank card and try using it in Italy. This was spotted very quickly and all money has been refunded.
Hopefully this week will be less stressful, I am finally getting somewhere with this support case, the kitchen planning is nearly sorted and we got the 14 week blood test results back that show that the baby is at low risk of having Down's Syndrome or Spina Bifida,
Only 8 more days at work before we are off for a week.
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