We were watching a promo for Better Homes and Gardens, the episode where Dr Harry releases a sea turtle on a beach.
Jemima "Would the shell of a turtle knock you out? You know, if you swam into it or hit your head on it?"
Me "Yes, it would....if someone threw the turtle at your head or you dove into it!!!!!!"
Who the hell would think of that!
Wednesday 2 May 2012
Sunday 29 April 2012
My Little Hockeyroo
I hope she really enjoys this sport, it suits her walking around with a stick!
Friday 23 March 2012
Lambs to the Slaughter
Last year our ovine ladies enjoyed the company of Cecil the ugly ram for a few weeks. He was on loan from the Millards. He seemed happy enough escorting our ladies around.....until he decided the grass was greener on the other side of the fence, literally. He managed to get out, cross the highway and go courting the neighbour's ewes. Needless to say the neighbour was NOT happy and Cecil had to return to his owner. I didn't think he had been successful with our ladies, three were maidens and the other four were getting on in years.
The sheep got fat. As they do every winter with plentiful green feed. So I still couldn't tell for certain if they were pregnant.....until I finally got to see one of the udders, it was larger than normal. Alan Millard came over in June and confirmed that all the ladies were expecting!
It was the end of July when I was doing a head count and noticed Lulu was not with the others. I went for a walk to the top of the paddock and saw her there. "Watcha doin', Lul... omygodohmygodohmygod! We have TWINS!!!!"
It was extremely exciting! I was then checking on the others three times a day to see if they were birthing....but nothing. For two weeks.
Then bam, bam, bam! One after another they all started lambing.
Emma had twin boys, Ethel had a boy and a girl, Blacky I had twin stillborns, Blacky II had a boy and girl, Whitey I had two stillborns and Whitey II had a single stillborn. It was a stressful week! First there were Blacky I's stillborns, she didn't want to leave them lying under the tree. Then Blacky II's little boy wasn't thriving, I sat outside in the freezing weather for an hour one night, nursing him and trying to get him to take some milk. He was dead by morning though, which was upsetting for someone who was pregnant! But the most stressful was Whitey I.
I went outside early one morning and saw a white blob in the paddock. Whitey had lain down and couldn't get up. Upon closer inspection, she had a lamb's head and legs hanging out of her ass. Michael yelled up at me, "you are going to have to pull it out!" It was a slippery sucker, and very dead. Then Michael yells "you are going to have to put your hand in and see if there's a twin!" I WHAT!!! So I did. And there was a hoof. Ewwwwwwww! I wasn't able to pull the lamb out so I had to call my knight in shining...flanno. Alan Millard arrived in a flash, he was able to get the lamb out but had to push it back up the birth canal first. It couldn't be birthed because the head was lying backwards, not along the front legs so it was stuck. Obviously, it was dead.
So our flock grew very quickly from seven to fourteen, but then down to thirteen. Whitey I didn't cope too well with people's hands up her clacker, she had difficulty in walking over the following week so we made the decision to send her to the great paddock in the sky. My KISF (knight in shining flanno) came over and collected her and gave her a feed of metal, quick and sweet. He also marked all the lambs and vaccinated them. Love seeing how the professionals do it!
We decided that the female lambs would be replacement stock and the (ex) male lambs would be slaughtered.
It wasn't until March that we finally got two of the lambs slaughtered, Rammy (one of Lulu's) and another male. Alan dropped them off at the butcher's in Casterton, who took them to abbatoir in Edenhope. A week later I picked up two heavy plastic bags from the butchers for the grand sum of $66!
Monday 6 February 2012
Special Moments
Had a special moment with Louisa this morning. Thought we could both use a nana nap, so curled up on the bed with her in my arms, under the covers. Instead of fighting sleep, like usual, she lay staring at me sucking on her dummy and murmering sweet nothings. Even when the eyelids drooped and closed, she was still murmering away. It's moments like these that I savour.
Tuesday 31 January 2012
Last day of leave...
Tomorrow I'm off to work again. I view it with mixed feelings, I can't wait to get back to the people and work.....but I'm sad to be leaving Louisa, even though it's only for 6 hours a day, two days a week AND I get to visit her during my lunch break.
Saturday 14 January 2012
Hello Louisa
The most important, and most positive, thing that has happened to our family over the last year is the introduction of another member.
Louisa Susannah Kay was born on 14 September last year. She is now exactly 4 months old. I love her dearly!
Her conception was unplanned, the pregnancy had a few (non-health related) issues and the birth was not quite what I had anticipated but that's Louisa for you!
By five months gestation, Louisa had the nickname Ellis (LS, short for Little Shit). I'd gone for my 20 week ultrasound but they couldn't get a clear view of the heart because baby was lying on its stomach. I had four attempts at the ultrasound, each time LS was lying facedown so they had to send me to Melbourne to the RCH to do the fifth attempt to see that the heart was formed correctly. The Hamilton Hospital was concerned, because of Caitlin's malformation, that if LS was similar they wouldn't have the ability to deal with it in Hamilton and I've have to go to Melbourne for the birth/treatment. I had no doubts that there was nothing wrong with LS. The sonographer (and two cardiac specialists) were able to have a look at LS and see that all was perfectly normal.... before LS flipped onto her stomach AGAIN.
Then, around the 32 week check up, LS decided to lie breech. The next check up she was fine. Then she was breech again. Then back to head down. Then breech again. I referred to her as my 'chicken in a rotisserie' baby! So the doctor wasn't sure whether I needed to be booked in for a caesar or not, as they don't do breech births in Hamilton. Luckily, at 39 weeks she was head down again... but not engaged. Then at 40 weeks she still wasn't engaged. Dr Robey Joyce was concerned that my waters could break whilst she was still sitting high and there was the possibility of a cord prolapse, so he arranged for an induction on Wednesday 14 Sept.
(this was late August)
We arranged for Mim to be dropped off at a friend's place early on Wednesday morning and the rest of us drove into town (well I drove as I wouldn't go in Michael's Pug). I got dropped at the hospital and then Caitlin got dropped at school.
Whilst Michael was out, I had a catheter put into my arm. The first attempt by Sarah (the midwife) failed badly and I ended up puking up the one piece of toast I'd had for breakfast. So they called in the surgical registrar. Not a good sign when he took one look at the catheter and his eyes went round (bit of a feat for an Asian) and said 'you are trying to put that into her?! Don't you use anything smaller??' But he managed to get the horse needle into my elbow (the only place left) without any incident, he had the magical touch!
Then I had the relaxing and wonderful experience of an attempt to push baby down into the pelvis and break the waters. NOT. Picture this. I'm lying on the bed with two midwives helping to keep me still, whilst the obstetrician/asshole Cloete has both hands and an amnihook (oversized crochet hook) up me and Dr Joyce pushing down on my stomach to push the baby into the pelvis. Didn't work. Cloete had started the procedure by saying "I'm sorry, but you are going to hate me by the end of this". Didn't have the heart to tell him that I hated him already, arrogant prick. I just hated him more by the end. And he didn't even have the courtesy of doing a bit of foreplay first to get me in the mood! After what felt like hours of this pain, he thought he had nicked the waters and hoped that would bring on labour. I was hooked up to a drip of Sintocin which was quickly bumped up to the maximum levels and had fetal monitors attached around my belly. Contractions started, slowly and lightly, and didn't progress any further. Neither did any waters leaking. So around 11am, we tried the procedure again. NOT my idea!!! This time around I used the copulatory expletive a few times.
Michael had been in and out a few times, doing stuff up at the school but he'd managed to miss all the 'fun' times. By midday, I pretty much knew that baby was not going to play nicely and come out naturally so I wasn't surprised when Dr Joyce voiced the dreaded "C" word at his next check up half an hour later. He said he'd call Cloete and get his opinion but it looked like theatre was the go.
The midwives gave me the day spa treatment: I got lovely lingerie (paper knickers, open back gown and anti-embolism stockings), had a bikini wax (surgical spot shaved), relaxing massage (urinary catheter inserted) and cleansing fast (no lunch or food of any description). I was ready for theatre by 2.30pm, just waiting on Cloete to call Dr Joyce back and authorise theatre. Just waiting. Just waiting. Just waiting.........
Theatre staff had gone home. Cloete wasn't answering his phone, nor was his girlfriend. Poor Dr Joyce had to wait until 5.30pm and then call the Warnambool obstetrician to get authorisation to call back the theatre staff and do the caesarean! He was not happy. I was not happy. The midwives were not happy.
I could not fault the theatre staff. Dr Perry was the anaethetist, he talked me through the procedure...not that I wanted to know the details. I figured the less I knew the less I'd freak out. When he started talking about the sensations I would feel during the caesar I said that I'd heard I would feel a tugging sensation as the baby was pulled out. He looked at me calmly and said "It's more like someone is doing dirty dishes inside your abdomen." Gee, thanks! So he has me sitting in the prep room hunched over and breathing deeply so he can insert the epidural. One theatre nurse has hold of my shoulders to keep me still. I felt the local anaesthetic and then much pressure from the other needle. Finally it finished and I breathed a sigh of relief.....until Dr Perry said drily "I'll have to have another attempt at that, your ligaments are so tight they bent the needle". Oh, god, this day was getting better and better!
The epidural took effect quite quickly, that lovely warm tingly feeling in my legs and then nothing. When I mentioned to the nurse that Michael wanted to stand at the business end and watch what was happening (which i really didn't want), she looked at me and said "he'll be standing next to you where he belongs!" It didn't take them long to set up the theatre, the curtain, the bright lights, then Michael was there in his attractive garb, sitting at my head where he belonged...... Not sure exactly when they started cutting, I could feel the swabbing down of the skin and then some sensations but no pain. And Dr Perry was right, it was like someone was doing dishes inside me. At one point I felt extremely nauseous but Dr Perry was right onto it and adjusted the anaesthetic so that passed. I can't remember if I threw up or not, but had nothing to throw up! Then I felt like I couldn't breathe, that someone was lying on my ribs! It was just Dr Joyce, pushing the baby down into the pelvis so Mr Tung could pull it out. I felt the baby being removed and it was like a large physical weight had been lifted from me. Then I heard the crying and I started sobbing. With joy of course. She had lots of dark hair and was very vocal. She got to be with Michael and I whilst they did the removal of the placenta and then stitched me up. There was a lot of suctioning going on....I was going to ask if they were giving me liposuction as well :) I would have been happy if they had!
I didn't spend long in recovery, was back onto the ward within half an hour of the operation finishing. I loved the conversation that occured about my pain relief, I was on self administered morphine drip for the night and the midwives wanted me to have a Voltaren pessary. But two theatre nurses and Dr Perry refused. "She can take the tablets, there's nothing wrong with her mouth! Why would you shove something up an ass when you don't need to!" God I loved them right then!!!
Michael didn't stay long when I was moved to the ward, he took off pretty quickly (and spent the night in the company of a bottle of scotch)!
And I finally got fed about 9pm!!!!!!!!!!
So, Louisa Susannah Kay, that is the story of your birth.
(smarmy bastard)
(you know you've finally become a local when the local pub displays this)
(this was late August)We arranged for Mim to be dropped off at a friend's place early on Wednesday morning and the rest of us drove into town (well I drove as I wouldn't go in Michael's Pug). I got dropped at the hospital and then Caitlin got dropped at school.
Whilst Michael was out, I had a catheter put into my arm. The first attempt by Sarah (the midwife) failed badly and I ended up puking up the one piece of toast I'd had for breakfast. So they called in the surgical registrar. Not a good sign when he took one look at the catheter and his eyes went round (bit of a feat for an Asian) and said 'you are trying to put that into her?! Don't you use anything smaller??' But he managed to get the horse needle into my elbow (the only place left) without any incident, he had the magical touch!
Then I had the relaxing and wonderful experience of an attempt to push baby down into the pelvis and break the waters. NOT. Picture this. I'm lying on the bed with two midwives helping to keep me still, whilst the obstetrician/asshole Cloete has both hands and an amnihook (oversized crochet hook) up me and Dr Joyce pushing down on my stomach to push the baby into the pelvis. Didn't work. Cloete had started the procedure by saying "I'm sorry, but you are going to hate me by the end of this". Didn't have the heart to tell him that I hated him already, arrogant prick. I just hated him more by the end. And he didn't even have the courtesy of doing a bit of foreplay first to get me in the mood! After what felt like hours of this pain, he thought he had nicked the waters and hoped that would bring on labour. I was hooked up to a drip of Sintocin which was quickly bumped up to the maximum levels and had fetal monitors attached around my belly. Contractions started, slowly and lightly, and didn't progress any further. Neither did any waters leaking. So around 11am, we tried the procedure again. NOT my idea!!! This time around I used the copulatory expletive a few times.
Michael had been in and out a few times, doing stuff up at the school but he'd managed to miss all the 'fun' times. By midday, I pretty much knew that baby was not going to play nicely and come out naturally so I wasn't surprised when Dr Joyce voiced the dreaded "C" word at his next check up half an hour later. He said he'd call Cloete and get his opinion but it looked like theatre was the go.
The midwives gave me the day spa treatment: I got lovely lingerie (paper knickers, open back gown and anti-embolism stockings), had a bikini wax (surgical spot shaved), relaxing massage (urinary catheter inserted) and cleansing fast (no lunch or food of any description). I was ready for theatre by 2.30pm, just waiting on Cloete to call Dr Joyce back and authorise theatre. Just waiting. Just waiting. Just waiting.........
Theatre staff had gone home. Cloete wasn't answering his phone, nor was his girlfriend. Poor Dr Joyce had to wait until 5.30pm and then call the Warnambool obstetrician to get authorisation to call back the theatre staff and do the caesarean! He was not happy. I was not happy. The midwives were not happy.
I could not fault the theatre staff. Dr Perry was the anaethetist, he talked me through the procedure...not that I wanted to know the details. I figured the less I knew the less I'd freak out. When he started talking about the sensations I would feel during the caesar I said that I'd heard I would feel a tugging sensation as the baby was pulled out. He looked at me calmly and said "It's more like someone is doing dirty dishes inside your abdomen." Gee, thanks! So he has me sitting in the prep room hunched over and breathing deeply so he can insert the epidural. One theatre nurse has hold of my shoulders to keep me still. I felt the local anaesthetic and then much pressure from the other needle. Finally it finished and I breathed a sigh of relief.....until Dr Perry said drily "I'll have to have another attempt at that, your ligaments are so tight they bent the needle". Oh, god, this day was getting better and better!
The epidural took effect quite quickly, that lovely warm tingly feeling in my legs and then nothing. When I mentioned to the nurse that Michael wanted to stand at the business end and watch what was happening (which i really didn't want), she looked at me and said "he'll be standing next to you where he belongs!" It didn't take them long to set up the theatre, the curtain, the bright lights, then Michael was there in his attractive garb, sitting at my head where he belonged...... Not sure exactly when they started cutting, I could feel the swabbing down of the skin and then some sensations but no pain. And Dr Perry was right, it was like someone was doing dishes inside me. At one point I felt extremely nauseous but Dr Perry was right onto it and adjusted the anaesthetic so that passed. I can't remember if I threw up or not, but had nothing to throw up! Then I felt like I couldn't breathe, that someone was lying on my ribs! It was just Dr Joyce, pushing the baby down into the pelvis so Mr Tung could pull it out. I felt the baby being removed and it was like a large physical weight had been lifted from me. Then I heard the crying and I started sobbing. With joy of course. She had lots of dark hair and was very vocal. She got to be with Michael and I whilst they did the removal of the placenta and then stitched me up. There was a lot of suctioning going on....I was going to ask if they were giving me liposuction as well :) I would have been happy if they had!
I didn't spend long in recovery, was back onto the ward within half an hour of the operation finishing. I loved the conversation that occured about my pain relief, I was on self administered morphine drip for the night and the midwives wanted me to have a Voltaren pessary. But two theatre nurses and Dr Perry refused. "She can take the tablets, there's nothing wrong with her mouth! Why would you shove something up an ass when you don't need to!" God I loved them right then!!!
Michael didn't stay long when I was moved to the ward, he took off pretty quickly (and spent the night in the company of a bottle of scotch)!
And I finally got fed about 9pm!!!!!!!!!!
So, Louisa Susannah Kay, that is the story of your birth.
(smarmy bastard)
(you know you've finally become a local when the local pub displays this)Back to Blogging
You may have noticed that I haven't blogged for a while..... for over a year now.
A lot has happened in those months, a lot of bad and some good. I will try not to focus on the bad, try to put it behind me (as difficult as it is) and only refer to the good things that happened over that time.
It may take a while, but I will get things going again on this site...........
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