Category: Photos

New stuff on the blog & Day 1

/ Renae / 2 Comments

Today is day 1 of my 101 in 1001 days challenge – go and check out my list! I’m so excited to start this challenge, that I want to get everything done NOW! But clearly, that’s not the point. I really don’t know which one I’ll be crossing off first, or last for that matter, but I’m super keen to jump right in.

The other new thing is a “Who is Wifey” link. This is something I was saving for  the launch of my “new blog” (one of the things on my list!) but I realise that could still be a little ways off, so if I can’t be with the blog I love, why not love the blog I’m with. Ha! Girl’s on fire!

One of the things on today’s “to do” list is to vacuum and mop the floors, and since I just spent the last hour with my friend who just “popped in” for a visit (I LOVE a good pop-in!!) I’d really better get started.

And since it’s been a little while, here’s a fix for you all:

Breastfeeding makes me feel sad

/ Renae / Leave a comment

After Quinn was born, I went through a pretty rough patch, trying to settle in to my new life. We had just moved, Hubs had just started full time work, Chanbe was taking some time adjusting, and I had some initial problems with breastfeeding. Life was just hard and I often felt waves of utter sadness and hopelessness. I was a little worried about post natal depression, so I just made sure I got help when I needed it.

Things got better after a few weeks, but every time I feed Quinn, the sadness comes back. Just under the surface; almost unnoticeable, but there. I never really thought much of it as it would pass almost as quickly as it came on.

So I did what any person in this day and age would do. I googled it. And it turns out I am experiencing Dysphoric Milk Ejection Reflex or D-MER. As the website states,

“D-MER has been linked to an inappropriate drop in dopamine that occurs whenever milk is released. In a mother with D-MER at the time of letdown dopamine falls inappropriately, causing negative feelings.”

I’ve read quite a bit about it and it’s very interesting, and nice to know that there is a reason for my fleeting sadness during feeds. It’s not really something I feel the need to have treated, but it sure is nice to have an answer!

Look at this face. You can understand why I was so confused that feeding my little girl makes me feel sad!!??

 

My kids love John Farnham

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Here is Chanbe getting his groove on to Sadie the Cleaning Lady, just after we moved in to our house up here, hence the mess. (He was “helping Mama unpack” at the time!)

And here’s little Quinn, getting super excited about taking the Pressure Down. One of my all time favourites! (You can hear Chanbe and I playing Duplo as I record this!)

I’ve got nothing

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Well this is embarrassing! I wrote this post over a week ago and thought I’d published it. Turns out I forgot to press “publish”. It’s a bit out of date, but you get the idea!

I’ve started writing this post 4 times now. The first time I began with how Quinn is sleeping soundly after throwing up all over me and our bed. And how I didn’t mind being covered in vomit one bit; nor did I mind having to strip our bed and wash our sheets, even though I only just did that on Monday.

The second false start was about how I’m enjoying cups of tea in the morning again, as the weather has cooled down enough that I don’t start sweating as soon as I start drinking a hot beverage. Riveting stuff, I know.

The third attempt began with the fact that I have lots of photos to share, but due to technological (and “Wifey”) issues, I can’t work out how to upload them to my blog. It was working the other day, but not now. Hmph.

And this is the 4th try. Should I have just closed the laptop lid and walked away? Probably. Instead, I’ll share some random photos and promise that one day soon, I’ll have a new, spunky looking blog and something slightly more interesting to say 🙂 Maybe….

Now if I can just get a photo of the 4 of us together!!

Call the Waaaambulance

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The last year, as I have documented frequently on this blog, has been tough for me. This time last year I broke my foot, and that pretty much set the tone for the following 12 months. Well, I let it set the tone. I have been quite caught up in how hard my life is, except that it’s not. Not really. I think when your (well-meaning) family and friends (and strangers!) tell you how hard it must be to move around so much, especially when 36 weeks pregnant; to start again in a new town; for Hubs to be starting a new job etc etc etc, it’s hard not to accept the sympathy and empathy and get caught up in the drama of it all.

Hubs and I make choices, and sometimes those choices come with extra challenges, but the pay-off is worth it. We have had such wonderful experiences with each move we have made, and I can quite confidently predict that the same will be said of this move. We have already made some friends through the hospital, and  have plans for more social events coming up.

I don’t want to make light of feeling overwhelmed with a new baby, but if I really think about it, I can feel those feelings and work through them and come out the other side much quicker than in the last year. I will accept help when it is offered, and I will let myself feel whatever I’m feeling, but I am also committing to focusing on the positives; to taking each day (and sometimes each hour) as it comes, and to know that, when it has taken me an hour and a half of trying to get Chanbe to go to sleep during the day, and he is still awake, that it’s okay if he skips a sleep that day, and that “this too shall pass.” I’m committing to less “whining” and more “beering” and “spiriting”.

Onwards and upwards.

This is the story, of a lovely lady

/ Renae / 6 Comments

Quinn’s birth story. (G Rated. Mostly 🙂 )
It all started Friday lunch time, when I wasn’t feeling so great, so I took myself off to the hospital to get checked out. Before I knew it, they were telling me I was having the baby that night. They wanted to induce me asap because of suspect blood results (that turned out to be probably nothing!) It was 2pm by this stage, and everything was happening very quickly. Frith, who was due to finish work that day around 4pm, came over to the birth suite and we realised that this was “it”. Funnily enough, even though I was over 40 weeks, I didn’t feel prepared! 
The doctors tried to break my waters, and even though they weren’t entirely successful, it was enough to get me started. I was having contractions without the syntocinon drip (the fake hormone stuff they give you to induce labour) but it wasn’t good enough for the doctors to be happy, so once Frith arrived after 4, they started the drip. Because I was induced with Chance as well, I knew what was coming, so by 5pm I asked for the eipdural and the anaesthetist arrived around 6pm. At 6:30pm, with Colin Hay’s song “Overkill” playing in the background, the epidural was put in and relief was on the way. Or so I thought. Although it took away a lot of the pain, it wasn’t a full block, and I still felt every contraction in a certain spot, so I just kept sucking on the gas. Man that’s good stuff! 🙂
I laboured this way for another couple of hours, and when they examined me around 9pm, I was told I was fully dilated and it was time to push. I had topped up my own epidural a couple of times, so I was quite numb, but very happy to push! About 20 minutes and 7 pushes later, our little baby girl sprung into the world. She was completely perfect and fed within 45 minutes of being born. And she hasn’t stopped since!!
I was immediately in love. Because we had picked out the name “Quinn Maria” (this was the inspiration for her first name, and this for her middle name) for Chance if he was a girl, I have had the last 2 years to get used to the name and have looked forward to the possibility that one day I might have a daughter named Quinn. 
I have had “the weepies” a bit more than expected, but my hormones and moods are starting to balance out a bit now, except of course at 5am when my newborn is fast asleep and my toddler is wanting “bekfest”. But as I said, we’re getting there.