| Goodbye, Pook |
[15 Jul 2009|05:41am] |
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Pook died yesterday at the vet at the age of 17. She had kidney failure and it would have been cruel to let her live through that any longer. She had such a funny personality. She would love pattings one moment and suddenly she'd bite your hand and bounce off. She also liked water... whenever we hosed the patio where she stayed, she wouldn't get out of the way. I even caught her in the shower recess once, having a drink. Near the end, she tolerated the kids. Tom even did the fur grab without getting scratched to bits. So long Pook, we will miss you.
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| This can't happen this close to me! |
[01 Apr 2009|06:46pm] |
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Sometimes, life can throw some pretty scary curve balls at you. Two nights ago, I was in the middle of putting the kids to bed, when I noticed the sounds of trucks just outside. I managed to have a look out the window and just outside the house there were fire trucks, ambulances, police cars... the whole 000 (or 911 in America) cavalry. Some were parked on our own front lawn. I could tell they were there for the next door neighbour, but between getting the kids to bed and all the noises, I only heard a few tid-bits of conversation. "...she was incoherent..." and "... did you find any opened packets of pills around the house?..." and also "She knew you were coming tonight?"
This might make more sense if I tell you a bit about the neighbours. There lives a woman with her two children. The ex, the children's father, comes around frequently. I am not sure why, but it looks like he helps with some of the chores. They separated some time ago... maybe 2 years now? And he moved out then. She took it pretty hard from what I could tell. We never saw much of her, she kept mostly to herself. The questions above were being asked to the ex.
Now, eventually all the trucks and cars left, only one police car remained behind with the ex. A little later, the detectives arrived. That's all I knew, I didn't want to be too nosey and I didn't ask any questions.
Well, the whole thing made the news on TV. I didn't get to see that report, however I found this article: http://www.news.com.au/story/0,,25273378-421,00.html
Then these were posted later:
http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,,25274562-5001021,00.html
http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,25273346-952,00.html
That totally blew me away. I took those kids trick or treating with mine and other kids in the street last year.
I'm still stunned by the whole thing... what the heck has the world come to? What pushes someone to do something like this?
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| Speech therapy and other news |
[20 Mar 2009|03:21pm] |
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So it has become evident (well for about the last 18 months) that Madeleine is falling behind in her speech. The ladies at daycare said not to worry, wait until about 1 year before school starts and then see if she's OK by then. She wasn't. And so she had a speech assessment done about a week ago. She is having difficulty putting sentences together and she is very difficult to understand (even for me sometimes!). At her age, perfect strangers should understand her very well. This is definitely not the case. Anyway, she starts therapy next week, 1-hour long weekly sessions. The big concern for me was that she would start school come January and she wouldn't be able to keep up because of it. It would be a shame if she got turned off school completely because of it. I'll post updates on how it is all going. There is a small chance the day care centre might get some assistance from the government to have a person in her class for a couple of hours (not sure about frequency) to give her some one-on-one time and help her.
Some of the things we plan on doing at home: - Reduce TV time
- Read more stories together
- Play more 'logical' games (like memory games) for example
- Correct her when she says something wrong (we already do this a lot)
Thomas will be 8 months old in a couple of days. He is developing very well. He crawls, but not the 'typical' way. He goes one-armed commando crawl, with his legs dragging behind. He can get some good speed too, which I find rather funny to watch. He goes from lying to sitting position on his own and tries very hard to pull himself up to stand. With help, he really enjoys standing. Perhaps he'll be an early walker, we'll see! He's always so excited to see Maddie, and she continues to be a very good sister with him.... Though we do get the ocassional "Thomas!!!" when he's being too loud.
Still having issues with my sleep. I have a long-term sleep debt accumulation and I find it difficult to concentrate sometimes. Particularly when I'm driving. Yesterday I fell asleep at the wheel when I was stopped at a red light (twice actually). So I avoid driving as much as possible until I find some way to catch up on my sleep.
Plans for the trip are going a bit slow. I need to make another effort and update our schedule.
That's about it from here!
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| Kids, cookies and work |
[25 Feb 2009|03:44pm] |
Thomas is now able to move from a lying position to sitting on his own. *proud* He is also getting over an ear infection (second lot of antibiotics). This time it is working and hopefully I can start sleeping at night again!
Maddie had a hearing test done today. I didn't believe she had issues with hearing, but I had concerns about her speech development. I went to see the doctor and he wanted to eliminate hearing problems as a possible cause for her speech difficulties. Saturday I return to the doctor to hopefully now get a recommendation to have her properly assessed.
Been baking cookies for a fundraiser. A mother from the daycare Thomas goes to has been diagnosed with Triple Negative Breast cancer. It is one that is practically impossible to treat using the hormone methods (in conjunction with chemo). She needs to use this clinical trial drug that isn't covered by the government... costs up to AU$100 000. So we're all fundraising for her cause. My cookies are selling well.
What else? I still have a job. You might wonder why this is unusual? Well the mining and metals industry has been hit hard with the current economic climate. People are being made redundant. I feel pretty secure with my position, but you never know. I haven't done any project work for the last month and I am 100% overheads.
Oh, they're having dress-up days at daycare next week... don't know what to dress Maddie up as this time around. Any suggestions?
That's it for now!
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| Of fires and surgery |
[13 Feb 2009|01:22pm] |
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I think some people have been wondering if I have been affected by the current bushfires ravaging the State of Victoria. I am not. And I don't know anyone who has experienced them first hand.
Same goes with the floods in the north of Queensland. None of that here.
Changing the topic, I did a bit of snooping on YouTube regarding the surgery I had. This here is very informative without being disgusting: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ECmwbwIrBI8&feature=related. It is an animation rather than actual footage of the operation. You can look up actual videos yourself if you want.
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| Life |
[12 Feb 2009|12:28pm] |
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I started to work full time early January. The transition was good because I have a much more established routine with home life and work life. It is good. I cannot say that I am more rested, but I feel less stressed about life. It might have to do with the current economic climate. I have no project work to do and I spend my days doing some business development, training notes and reading for my current MBA course. Generally, things are well in that sense.
We've decided to shift Madeleine to a new child care centre. It is one that is run by the school we plan on sending her to. There are several reasons for this decision.
1. It allows her to make friends with kids who will also be going to that school
2. Allows her to become familiar with the school itself.
3. Her current centre is having enrollment issues and her group has diminished to the point that she hangs out a lot with the kids in the younger group. That is a step backwards for her and given her speech issues, it is not a good idea.
4. Her favourite carer was moved to a different room (the nursery, so Tom has her now)
5. Her best friends have all left and started school.
I took her there this morning for a visit, so she could see the centre, her room, the playground, etc. She seemed to like it. She played a bit outside, inside, back outside. She then got in line with the other kids when they were told to line-up to go back inside. When I told her "Time to go!", she responded with "Bye mum!". So evidently, she was ready to spend the day there. I'm wondering ... is it really that easy? I thought she'd get clingy and teary, but nothing like it! Monday will be her first day.
Tom is doing well, he now rolls around on the floor to move. He isn't crawling yet, but he wants to! He continues to be laid back. Unlike Maddie at that age, when he wakes up in his cot, he simply plays and makes happy sounds. She used to start crying immediately. He smiles a lot and loves to watch Maddie. Nobody makes him laugh as much as her. It is very cute to see.
Trip to Canada! Tickets have been purchased. Turns out round-the-world was cheaper by a couple of grands (overall). So we fly Brisbane-Vancouver-Montreal-London-Singapore-Brisbane. At each stop we stay 2 nights (3 for Vancouver) and the rest of the time will be spent in Montreal with my family. I can't wait! I'm in the Vancouver planning phase at the moment. Day 1 will probably be whale watching, day 2 will be Stanley park (probably including aquarium). No time to visit the Rockies, that in itself would require a longer stay. I haven't figured out where we'll stay... all the hotels in downtown Vancouver are VERY expensive. So... we'll see.
My life without a gallbladder is pretty much the same as always. I learned more about the purpose of this organ: http://www.hgriggs.com/gall_purpose.html. I have had no bad side effects yet. One of my scars is having issues with healing and is a bit sore, but otherwise everything is good. I am seeing the surgeon on Monday.
That's about it for now! Happy Valentine's Day!
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| Teeth! |
[10 Feb 2009|04:36am] |
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Teething is always fun, in a very sarcastic way. However there are now two little teeth poking slightly out from Tom's gums. He is 6 months old, so his came 4 months earlier than Maddie's. That means nothing of course, but I was surprised to see them so soon!
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| Recovering now |
[23 Jan 2009|01:30pm] |
Now that I am back home, and have a bit more time to write, I can tell you the full story behind this sudden need for surgery.
It started maybe 3 weeks ago, I got 3 small gallstone attacks, and each lasted about 15 minutes and then stopped quite suddenly. I thought at the time it was some bad indigestion, but never really noticed that it never resulted in bad gas or bad bowels. I did notice though that since it started, my abdomen has been getting bigger and bigger, as if bloated - without the feeling of being bloated. Anyway, all these were signs of the impending horrible gallstone attack I got on Jan. 21.
I woke up that morning feeling fine. At about 8:30 in the morning I started getting the same pain I had in previous attacks. I figured it would last the same, but after 30 minutes, I couldn't stand it anymore and went to the doctor. She recognised that the problem was with my gallbladder (not the liver - my liver is perfectly healthy). She kept me there for an hour, to monitor my pain level and to see if it would go away on its own. This was for 2 reasons:
1. Nigel was away
2. I had nobody to look after the kids in such short notice.
If the pain went away on its own, then I'd be able to go home and get a blood test and ultrasound done in the morning. If the pain didn't go away, she would send me to the emergency to get tested sooner.
Pain didn't go away. So off to the emergency I went. By the time I was checked in and put in a bed to wait for a doctor to come and examine me, the pain had gone. BUT at least I was there and they were able to do the necessary checks. It was confirmed that I had indeed gallstones.
Then I spoke to a surgeon about my options and he was very informative. He was able to tell me why I had this in the first place. He explained that there are three main chemicals in the gallbladder that form bile. One of which is cholesterol. The mixture of these three chemicals depends on a few things. If you get the balance of chemicals wrong, the cholesterol can crystallise and form gallstones. Three things seem to cause this the most:
1. Being Caucasian. We have the worst mixture in the gallbladder within human races.
2. being female.
3. Having a recent pregnancy. Hormones can mess up the chemical balance. Some women have gallstones about 6 - 12 months after giving birth. Thomas is exactly 6 months old... surprise!
That said, he told me chances were that I would have a repeat attack within 6 months, and then probably more repeats after that. Some people get better eventually. He recommended that having the gallbladder out altogether was probably the best option. He also explained that the gallbladder was only a moderately useful organ. It is more suited for species who have frequent periods of eating and fasting. Evidently that didn't quite apply to me. He also said that once you get gallstones, the gallbladder was pretty much ‘stuffed’ anyway. So I agreed to have it removed.
I went back home, took care of the kids and was scheduled for surgery the next day (yesterday). Nigel came home then. He will have the next week off work so he can look after me.
The procedure that I had done was Laparoscopic Cholecystectomy and intra-operative Cholangiongram. Feel free to look those up. Basically it was keyhole surgery (4 holes in fact) with an x-ray taken before anything was actually cut out. All went well, no complications. I did not have any bad reactions to the anaesthetic or the morphine. No nausea or anything like that.
What I found funny however was the name of the anaesthetist: Stephen King. That got a chuckle out of me.
So, I'm OK, feeling pretty good. The pain isn't too bad, definitely nothing compared with a caesarean section. Feel free to email me if you got any questions about it all! Always interesting to talk about surgeries.
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| Surgery |
[21 Jan 2009|08:45pm] |
I was going to give news... but instead I just wanted to let you know that I'm going into surgery tomorrow to get my gallbladder removed (Cholecystectomy). I have gallstones. Wish me luck! It is keyhole surgery, but I still have to go under general anaesthetic. Ewww.
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/imagepages/8790.htm
They totally downplay the level of pain involved with getting gallstones stuck in the cystic duct. Here is the wiki page on that.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gallstone
Will try to post when I come out of the hospital, that would be Friday.
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| Happy festivities |
[28 Dec 2008|07:54pm] |
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Still insanely busy right through the festive season. I don't spend more than about 5 minutes per week on the computer, and this is it for this week. I appologise profusely to my family for my silence. I am a non-stop parent from about 4 a.m. to about 8 p.m. every day of the week and after 8 p.m. I do 1 hour of cleaning before collapsing in bed. During the night I usually get woken up about 3 times. I am ridiculously sleep deprived and I tend to be short tempered.
But on the good side of things. We hosted a nice Christmas Eve dinner with some friends as guests. I made a turkey meatloaf that everyone loved and for desert there was the Yule Log. It all came together nicely.
Madeleine got spoiled with loads of toys, including the 3-storey Barbie Dream House... huge. I got a really nice watch, a cool CD/iPOD alarm clock and I am getting some prescription sun glasses. I'd elaborate, but I have to hurry to cram the news into my few online minutes.
In one week I start working full time again... feels like my maternity leave flew by and I got none of the little projects I was planning to do done. I am now 1 year behind in my yearly DVD of home videos, mostly because I have had to redo the 2007 one three times due to file format issues. SIIIIGH.
Well time's up, I hope you all had a Merry Christmas and I wish you all the very best for 2009!
Caroline
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| Another update |
[20 Oct 2008|11:13am] |
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Ah, again, I take too long to write. Needless to say, having two kids under 5 is kicking my butt. But it'll get easier, that's what I have to tell myself.
( Read more... )
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| Citizenship update. |
[01 Oct 2008|02:37pm] |
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Forgot to mention. I am now 66% on my way to becoming an Australian. Step two "Apply for Citizenship" has been completed and has been approved. Now I wait to get a date/place for the pledge...
Stay tuned.
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| Nearly 2 months old |
[18 Sep 2008|08:57am] |
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I hardly have any time to devote to the Internet, or any of my hobbies for that matter. Thomas is a baby that continues to feed like crazy... every 2 hours. So this means that he takes up about 45 minutes to drink his bottle, then another 15 minutes to try and get all the burps out, then the following hour I can try to get him to sleep, but by the time that happens, he's about 10 minutes away from his next feed. And that's if he's feeling good. He's had some colic, and that means a lot of walking around holding him in that colic position (belly down on the forearms). So that's my explanation as to why I don't write to anybody. At least, he sleeps about 8 hours straight at night.
http://www.new.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=1432639&l=8fa6f&id=683781994
Onto other news. ( Read more... )
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| General updates |
[20 Aug 2008|01:03pm] |
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So Thomas is just about 1 month old now. He seems to be finally slowing down with the eating, today. It could be that today is an odd day and he might resume to his demanding eating schedule, but I hope not. He was eating, seriously, 8 times per day, 140 ml, which is a lot of food for a baby that age. Last night he slept 6 hours straight and since waking this morning, he hasn't fed more often than every 3.5 hour. Keeping my fingers crossed!
Nigel is away this week, so I have his mother helping around the place. It is always for me because 1. I appreciate the help and it does make my life easier, but 2. I tend to like my space and my things the way they are. I don't respond well to disturbances, even if they are good disturbances. I guess I'm getting set in my ways!
Anyway, I'm looking forward to his return home. Feels like this week is just dragging on and on.
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| Maddie and Tom |
[06 Aug 2008|01:35pm] |
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Tom continues to be an easy baby. He eats massively and sleeps well too. The only annoying thing is that his favourite awake time is from about Maddie's bedtime to about 10:30 PM. This means trying to put Maddie to bed with Tom being noisy in the background or while he's in my arms... That is the biggest challenge for me each day, and here is why:
Madeleine has regressed quite significantly, the worst being at bedtime. She drags it on forever with every possible small distraction. And when it is time to finally say goodnight, she clings onto me (and Thomas if he's in my arms) and doesn't want to let go. I pretty much have to remove myself semi-forcefully, which results in her crying profusely. She's regressed also with her eating. She isn't a big eater to begin with, so imagine that she eats even less now. She constantly asks for milk, which we have to ration to keep her from filling up on that. I can see she's emulating some baby like behaviours. It will take some time to work through all that, so my plan is to
1. give her more attention, without going overboard
2. not let her take advantage of said increased attention
3. praise/reward her 'big girl' behaviour
4. make sure she doesn't develop ill feelings towards Thomas
Speaking of this last one, she's very protective of him. I think that is a good sign towards sibbling bonding. She doesn't let any of the kids at daycare touch him and with the adults, they have to ask her permission before they can hold him. Even then, after about 30 seconds she announces it is time for Mum to give Thomas a cuddle now. It is very cute!
To make everything that bit more challenging, Nigel has had this cold for over a month now and has little energy to help in the evening after a day's work. He can't take the time off right now because he's training people who have flown in from all over the State.
Anyway, we'll get through it! Patience!
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| Birth announcement |
[01 Aug 2008|11:01am] |
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10 days ago, July 22 at 18:04, Thomas was born by emergency caesarian section, weighing 4.32 kg (9.5 lb). Looking back now at both pregnancies, there were not many things in common...
| Maddie | Tom |
| Morning sickness | Lasted 20 weeks | Minimal |
| Weight gain | ~25 kg | ~25 kg |
| Skin condition | Lots of break outs | Some break outs |
| Fluid retention | Significant in feet, hands and face the last 2 months | Minimal, the last 3 weeks. |
| Mobility | Poor | Much better |
| Delivery | Natural | Emergency C-Section |
| Baby weight | 3.6 kg | 4.3 kg |
There is much more to say about the delivery, Thomas and also Maddie. I'll spread it out over the next few days.
( Read more... )
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| Maddie is sick |
[18 Jul 2008|10:00am] |
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She has a throat infection and is running a temperature. I doubt the doctor gave her a strong enough dose of antibiotics to take. Usually she gets 5 ml 3/day with that kind. This doc decided to go with 3.5 ml, 3/day. I have a feeling I'll return there and they'll have to give her a second lot of the darn thing. And because her throat is sore, she doesn't eat or drink. So I'm worried about dehydration.
Oh - happy birthday ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) wulfestieg! I don't think the arrival of this baby will coincide with your birthday after all!
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| Toilet celebration! |
[17 Jul 2008|01:46pm] |
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No, it is not what it might sound like. The reason I'm celebrating a toilet event is because Maddie actually got up last night and went to the toilet by herself. First time. It has been a couple of weeks since she started getting up in the morning with a dry nappy so I suspected she was transitioning towards dry nights, but her using the toilet surprised me. I was very pleased! Soon, no more nappies!!! Well for her... When baby comes, restart with nappies all over again!
In other news, I'm so very tired. Tomorrow is my last day of working from home. After that I am officially on maternity leave. If Thomas hasn't come yet, I'll use the first couple of days to try and sleep. After that, clean up a bit. At any rate, he won't be later than July 28. That is the scheduled date to induce labour. This means I only have one more obstetrician visit to go to (unless I go into labour over the weekend).
And for more random stuff:
- looking forward to seeing Batman, the Dark Knight
- if you haven't yet seen Iron Man (it might be too late now), make sure you watch to the end of the credits if you see it. I didn't know about that, and now am most annoyed I have to wait for the DVD.
- I can't wait to be able to sleep on my back and on my belly again!
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