at home with the flemings: October 2007

Monday, 29 October 2007

Week 5- Suz and Phils Wedding and see my SMILE

Well have I got a SMILE for you!"

Bridesmaid's Flowers at Suz and Phils Wedding

Suzanne

Dad and Maddi in her favourite sleeping position

Thanks Kerryn for my best dress... it fits me even though it's a 6-12month size!"

Week 4 Visiting Great Nana and my first trip up north

Granny came to rescue mummy for a while and I fell fast asleep!

This is my Great Nana

Having a sqwak in her hands

4 Generations of Flemings: Poppa, Nana, Daddy and Me

"Love that tummy time still"

Saturday, 20 October 2007

Week 3- Off to the Dr

Mini Me

Loving the tummy time...most of the time... Started to roll from my tummy to my back 2 weeks and 1 day old!

All wrapped up like a bug in a rug... Thanks Grandma (Greg's mum) for my stripey rug.

Well we had to visit the paediatrician this week to see why our model baby was less than model...

She has had a rough week with the occasional projectile vomit, lots of green watery stools and loads of crying!

The verdict: she has suspected reflux and already after 2 doses of the "losec" she seems to have improved remarkably... back to the happy girl we brought home from hospital. The green stuff is apparently undigested milk a sign of an upset tummy and while to losec doesn't stop her from spilling after a feed it does reduce the acidity and obviously has stopped her from hurting so much because she is much calmer during and after a feed and consequently is letting us sleep a bit better at night. YAY! We are all for extra sleep.

So this weekend (labour weekend) we're up north at Greg's parents place for Grandma's birthday. Madeline has met her first cat, worried Grace the dog, snuggled with her Grandparents, her Ouma and Oupa and visited her Great Aunts and Uncles. She's also had her first sleep in her portacot and i think it was a great success.

Sarah

Madeline Week 2- Head lifting and rolling over!

We're both tired

Thanks for knitting for me Aunty Shell

See i can lift my head and i'm only little!

HI

Madeline's Second week... she started to focus more intently on faces and things with sharp edges like our square dark wooden wedding photoframe and on Monday (15days) she started to roll over from her tummy to her back. We have been giving her "tummy time" for about 2-6mins each day and she loves to hold up her head up for a few seconds at a time. She likes to arch her back and push off with her feet and has worked out that if she does both at the same time she can roll over. It gave her a bit of a fright the first time but when Greg came home from work and we showed him it was her latest and greatest trick!

So the Stork didn't really bring Madeline home...

Well most of you would already have heard the story of Madeline's delivery but just to fill in the blanks...

She was born at 12:57pm on Sunday 23 September after 13 hours of "official" labour but 40hours of contractions! She had to be delivered by Ventouse which is the plumber-like suction cup on the scull and thankfully she has no cone head symptoms usually associated with a ventouse delivery. I was transferred to Auckland Hospital from Birthcare at about 2:30am on Sunday morning (via Greg's expert driving slowly over the speed bumps in George St) and was hooked up to an epidural the minute i arrived. Maddi was distressed in the womb and had mecomium in the waters when they broke the waters at Birthcare and she was also posterior which means she was head down face up rather than head down face down and this meant her spine was against mine... and also meant that i had loads of lower back pain. She turned around once i started to push at about 11am though so that helped the delivery. People have asked how come they let it all drag out so long... well despite the complications and the obvious mecomium Madeline's heart rate remained very constant and up round 150bpm mark so there was no reason to think that she would not be able to be born naturally.

Looking back on the event I have to say that i don't know how women deliver their babies without drugs- Lyds you're my hero... and i don't know how women all over the world cope in terms of stress and fatigue having to deliver in birthing huts or in the absence of any midwifery assistance in the back blocks of deepest Africa.... or wherever they are ....

God was good to us that day and i breathed a huge sigh of relief when she was born... and then burst into tears- just so happy to hold this beautiful and very purple looking bundle of hot slippery wetness. She is so so so amazing and so beautifully created it is just awesome to have her as a part of our family.

Anyway enough of the dramas... needless to say we are settling in to life as a family well and have had huge support from our parents and friends with meals and "time out" for sleep and gifts galore... we are feeling pretty blessed and pretty special actually!

Tuesday, 16 October 2007

1 week old and needing to say hello to the world

HI

These are all photos from my first week of life... my first bath and my newly born photos... also photos of me with my grandparents and GREAT grandad too.

love Maddi

ps i'm doing GREAT.. have a bit of an upset tummy so i'm off to the Dr (week 3) but other than keeping dad pacing the hall at night it's a great life!

my first cuddle from Mummy and exercising my lungs

the traditional baby in hospital cot shot

Yeah cuddles from Daddy