Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it’s Supermum!

NOT! Since finding out I was pregnant, I’ve had to give up the notion that I am superwoman, and succumb to the “normal” afflictions of pregnancy.

Wanting and needing sleep seems to be the major thing that occupies my mind lately, and my 9 month old is not helping matters by waking at 2.30am each morning for “play time”. Doesn’t he understand that mummy is very fragile right now! And no, mummy does not want to play peek-a-boo and have her hair pulled. But as grumpy as I may be, I have to suck it up and I should be so lucky that I have a happy child who wants to play in the first place.

No longer do I have the energy to rush around trying to keep the house “pristine” or at least keep the idea in my head that the house should be “pristine” – who cares if the floors and bathrooms aren’t done for a week or (shock horror) two? Or that I don’t do washing every single night? At least the kids have clean clothes, food in their bellies and a roof over their heads. Right?

To get an idea of why I don’t care anymore whether someone sees dishes on the sink, here is an example of my daily routine:

• 6.00am: woken by kids (unless woken at 2.30am as is the norm this week)
• 6.15am: get up, make morning bottles for both kids, have mouthfuls of cereal
• 6.30am: deal with whinging from 2 year old to watch kids tv programs, more cereal
• 6.45am: have shower, keeping an ear open for kids getting into any trouble while trying to wash hair or share shower with 2 year old who has decided to join in the watery fun
• 7.00am: change nappies, dress kids, stop 9 month old from playing with the tv volume for the 20th time
• 7.15am: get dressed, attempt makeup and hair, apply makeup to whinging 2 year old who apparently “wants to be like mummy”
• 7.30am: pack nappies and clothing changes, make lunches, make daily bottles
• 7.45am: give dog/birds water/food
• 7.50am: change 9 month old’s nappy again (usually of the stinking kind)
• 8.00am: clean up 2 years olds “soiled mess” from not telling mummy she needs to go to the toilet, change clothes again for 2 year old
• 8.10am: load bags, kids in car
• 8.15am: arrive day care: unload bags, kids from car
• 8.25am: arrive work (thank god again that I don’t work in the city at the moment)
• 8.30am: aaaaaah, work.
• 5.15pm: arrive day care: load bags, kids in car
• 5.30pm: arrive home: unload bags, kids in car
• 5.45pm: put load of washing on (this does NOT happen on a nightly basis!)
• 6.00pm: prepare and cook dinner
• 6.30pm: drag kids to have bath, run back and forth to check on dinner, get night clothes etc…
• 6.45pm: washing in dryer (who has the time to hang washing?)
• 7.00pm: eat dinner, make night bottle for 9mth old
• 7.30pm: get 9mth old to sleep (by putting in cot and allowing to scream)
• 7.45pm: give up getting 9mth old to sleep in cot, and hold in aching arms, rock to sleep (then place in cot)
• 8.00pm: clean up after dinner, feed assorted animals
• 8.15pm: get washing out of dryer
• 8.30pm: get 2yr old to sleep
• 8.45pm: spend 15 minutes with “just as tired” partner
• 9.00pm: fall asleep in front of TV
• 11.30pm: awake to teething 9mth old crying in cot, soothe with dummy back to sleep in aching arms
• 2.30am: awake to teething 9mth old crying in cot, try to soothe with dummy back to sleep in aching arms
• 3.30am: 9mth old fully awake and wanting to play – finally get to sleep with dummy in aching arms
• 6.00am: start the whole thing over again!!

Now, this is only an example, and some nights I do have more than 15 minutes to spend with my partner, and other nights have absolutely NO time to ourselves depending on the moods of our children on any given day.

The best present a girl could get? Forget the diamonds, try a full nights sleep! Well ok, diamonds would help too

Waaaah, why do I feel so bad?

Isn’t morning sickness supposed to mean morning only?  Then why do I feel nauseous at various times throughout the day?  This apparently is a common misperception – that morning sickness only occurs in the morning, or more strangely, if you work nightshift, you only get it at night because your whole system is upside-down (not sure who thought of that one!).

It is unknown the actual cause of morning sickness but it can be attributed to the changing hormones racing in the body and the body’s attempt to adjust to the rapid changes it’s going through.

Of course, every woman who has had a baby has a piece of advice to share when dealing with morning sickness.  A few things that have been suggested to me are:

• Ginger Ale, Ginger Tea, straight ginger (sounds disgusting to me) or anything with ginger in it.
• Dry Crackers when you first wake up in the morning
• Eating many small meals during the day
• Take naps during the day
• Avoid warmish places
• Avoid greasy/spicy foods
• Avoid caffeine
• Breathe through a hanky soaked in an oil that is non-offensive
• Stand on your head with your tongue out, and one eye closed

Ok, so that last one I made up but hey, who knows, it might work!  If you’re a working mum like myself, most of these cures are not a practical solution unless the boss will let me lie under the desk for a nap whenever I feel like it.

So I’ve tried to work out what it is that makes me feel sick in the first place and then avoid it like the plague!  I find that if I eat constantly it actually makes me feel better, and yes, caffeine does make me feel worse as do banana’s for some reason – which is probably a blessing in disguise given the price of banana’s right now!

I didn’t actually feel too bad with the first two pregnancies, but this time around, even the smell of food cooking can send me to the straight to my knees, saying my prayers to the porcelain preacher.

As they say, each person is different and so is each pregnancy, so find what’s best for you and stick with it, even if it is standing on your head

Aaah the memories…

One thing about your 3rd pregnancy, is having time to reminisce about your previous pregnancies and what you did/didn’t enjoy and what you would/wouldn’t do again – so many decisions!

I really wasn’t a fan of the heartburn, constipation, morning sickness, nose bleeds and back pain and I’m not sure why I’m expecting this pregnancy to be any different, so all I can do is be prepared!! Check out the Ails & Cures category for ways I’ve dealt with these issues and be reminded – it is only my opinion!

One thing I totally wasn’t prepared for the first time around, apart from the obvious labour pains, was having to have a caesarian. After 19 hours of good hard labour, slogging it out, it was decided that a caesarian had to happen because I “wasn’t progressing”. What that means is that my cervix was only dilated to 6cm instead of 10cm and wasn’t going to dilate any time soon and the baby was under alot of stress.

You would think that having a caesarian would be great as there is no pain due to having an anaesthetic but strangely enough, I wanted to feel the pain of having labour and giving birth naturally to feel like I’ve done my job properly. So I kind of felt short-changed! But in saying that, we ended up with a healthy baby, so no matter how it happens, that’s all that matters

How many weeks am I really?

Ok, the first really confusing part when talking to your doctor is how many weeks are you pregnant?

Believe it or not, the weeks start counting from your Last Menstrual Period (LMP) ie. the last time you had a period. Forget that you conceived approximately 2 weeks after that, that doesn’t matter. So in actual fact, you get an extra 2 weeks of pregnancy for free!

So take that LMP date, add 40 weeks and voila! You have a due date. But I’m not actually going to be 40 weeks pregnant at due date, I’m only “really” 38 weeks. So do you take gestation as being “40 weeks” or “9 months”? Does 40 weeks sound like 10 months to you? Either way, it’s better than being an elephant!

In the beginning…

After initial feelings of shock have subsided and some lengthy discussion over the past 2 weeks, we are now at a place where we are very happy to announce the pending arrival of our third child.

Why the 2 week hesitancy you ask? There are many factors to consider when deciding to have a child, and obviously this one wasn’t planned!, so I’ll let you in on the first thoughts that run through the head at that crucial moment when you think you may be pregnant:

“Hmmm, I think my period is due this week sometime, or was it last week? Oh crap, I can’t remember.”

“My period hasn’t come yet, and I think it was due last week. Oh crap.”

“I think I should do a pregnancy test just in case. Crap”

“If this test comes back negative, I won’t be disappointed but on the other hand…..”

“Does two lines mean negative or positive <looks at included leaflet>: POSITIVE”

I guess the main shock is having three children so close together but is that necessarily a bad thing? I’m not getting any younger, if 33 can be classed as “getting older”. I certainly don’t want to have any more kids after turning 35 so it’s now or never. Our two other children are 2yrs&3mths, and 8mths so you might understand my anxiousness.

Having more children was an open ended notion that was never really discussed or decided upon as we thought we had more time to think about it (obviously not!). So my advice is to make definitely sure what each of you want before closing that door as one person’s opinion can severely differ from the other’s. This is where “communication” becomes important. I’ve heard of it before but never knew the true meaning until having to make a huge life decision!