Hi ya

Wow another week has gone by already! Hmmm what has happened in the last week? Not a lot really - just the same ole shit just different days! LOL

Weight is going in the wrong direction :( And yeap I know only I can do anything about it but right now I just don't have inclination/motivation/enthusiasm to get back on track at the moment! I am currently weighing in at just slightly more than what I was when I was 9mths pregnant! BUGGER! I gotta do something but it's just a matter of me getting my flaming arse back into gear and getting back on track!

Rachel is still developing new skills all the time and continuously keeping Steph and I entertained with her giggles, her stubbornness (god knows where she gets that from) and her determination to get to particular places - nothing stops her these days!

Am looking forward to 12th August when we are heading over to the Waiarapa to catch up with my sister and her family and we are all heading to the Mount Bruce open day for Conservation Week since it is free entry for the day and entertainment for the kids etc... So fingers crossed it will be a nice day as I am already looking forward to the trip :) When I was at DOC last time, I got to spend a day there "behind the scenes" and it was fantastic.

Have put in for a weeks Annual Leave for the week 6-10 August so am hoping when the boss gets back from his break on Thursday that it will be approved as I am really needing some time out. Thought I would spend a couple of days with Rachel (and perhaps organise an antenatal catch up as well) and then have 3 days to myself to do nothing or just to do what I want when I want!

Here a couple of photos before I head off to do a couple of things before going to bed:

Under the coffee table...


Chilling out on my barbie couch...


My new cot quilt that my nana won in a raffle and gave to me


Catch ya all later

Hi ya

Just thought I would do a quick update before heading to bed and while watching NCIS - I am so glad that has come back as it is one of my favourite programmes! I love Outrageous Fortune too but might have to tape it this season as it is not starting till 9.30pm and finishing at 10.30pm which is past my bedtime! I am pretty sure that last season it was on at this time too but it was on a Friday evening which makes a lot of difference!

Well what's been happening - not a lot really - have had 3 great nights of sleeping from Rachel so the steroids have definitely been working though her last dose of that was yesterday morning so am waiting with baited breath as to how tonight goes but upon talking to a lady at work whose friends baby recently had croup - she said that once the steroids break the cough that GENERALLY they are ok afterwards so fingers crossed. She still coughs a bit during the day but no where near as bad as it was a week or so ago.

Rachel is now rolling everywhere and anywhere she can - her favourite place being under the coffee table and under the clothes horse! She is now getting on all fours and going backwards so am sure it is now only a matter of time before she will be going forwards! Really do need to move a few bits and pieces in the lounge real soon and must get the safety gate we have been talking about so she is restricted from the kitchen for the time being - oh her biggest fascination in there is the rubbish bin of course!

Oh I have sussed out how to use the video component on my new cellphone so have been having fun taking videos of Rachel chatting away so now just need to suss out how to download it to the computer then I may try to post one on here if I can...

On to week 2 of my medication and had a real bad day yesterday with the side effects really hitting me hard! But today was a lot better thank goodness as I don't know how well I could have coped had it been that bad again. I must ring the Dr and make my appointment for my follow up with her in the next couple of weeks.

Anyway, time I was moving - hope you are all having a good week.

Hi all

Am at home with Rachel today after a few rough days/nights with her coughing. We ended up at the After Hours on Sunday evening (after talking to Healthline) - waiting room was choker full of sick children! I was quite astonished at how many there were! Anyway, Dr said that Rachel had an inflamed ear drum and yes she was wheezy and prescribed Rachel with a ventolin inhaler for the wheeziness and some Antibiotics for the ear but advised us to hold back starting the ABs for 36/48hrs in case it was just viral in which case it would clear itself (and by the way it has cleared up by itself so am glad we hadn't given her the AB's unnecessarily).

Anyway, Sunday night was one of the better nights she has had for a wee while but then Monday night was a rough one for all of us and I have no idea how I functioned at work and did not expect Rachel to last either Monday or Tuesday at day care but she did - was quite happy there with the occasional cough on the Monday and then yesterday she had more coughing during the day but was still happy! I had booked a Drs appt for her for Wednesday afternoon to be on the safe side - and then we had another unsettled night last night so when the alarm went, I decided that yes I would stay home with her today and boy she was so miserable this morning - I found that really hard to deal with and within an hour of being up she was fast asleep in my arms (VERY UNLIKE HER) so made myself comfy in the chair by the laptop and surfed the net while she slept on me - didn't want to put her in the cot as she coughs more when she is laying down (and yes the cot is raised considerably at the head end) so was quite happy for her to sleep on me if it meant a decent sleep for her. And she ended up sleeping on me for about 1hr 20mins which is a great morning sleep for her. While she was sleeping on me, I rung the Drs to see if I could get an earlier appt for her - my dr was fully booked but we managed to get the last available one (for any of the drs today) at 10.45 with another Dr.

Fastforward to the Dr's appt - Dr says borderline croup for Rachel and that the ventolin that the After Hrs Dr prescribed her wouldn't be doing much (don't you love the different opinions different Drs have) and has prescribed Rachel a short term dose (5 days) of mild steriods to break the cough. And I sure hope it works otherwise I will be back there again next week as I really want to get to the bottom of this coughing as it is driving me around the bend! Especially when I am having a bad day :(

Have started my medication at long last after finally getting the script filled on Friday and then I left it at work in my drawer! So started it on Monday night and so far so good - getting the nausea feeling but that seems to be the only side effect that I have noticed at this stage but I am only on 1/2 tablet for the first week before going up to a full tablet.

Stephan has tomorrow off work so the plumber can install the new hot water cylinder so if Rachel is still a bit off colour in the morning he will be able to look after her :)

Anyway, best I get moving as the place looks like a bomb has hit it... and I need to make a call or two as well before Rachel wakes up again... oh bugger I think she is awake already! Oh dear - the joys of a sick baby... catch ya all later

Hi all

Yeap another weekend almost over and time sure is flying by! So what have we been up to lately...

Firstly - I did end going to see my Dr on Wednesday afternoon and have had it confirmed that I have moderate Post Natal Depression. I feel such a fraud when I know of other friends who are a lot worse off than I am but which is why I had been putting the Drs visit off and putting on a brave face when people asked me how things were going. But as the Dr explained - we are all different and for those women that get PND - it affects us all differently! So after lots of talking and some crying, we agreed that I would trial a period of medication - got the script filled on Friday morning and then promptly left the medication at work! DOH!!!!!! But I have managed this long without anything so we decided that I would be all right till Monday and IF anything had happened we would have done a family trip in to town to collect them. I have 1 months worth initially and then have to go back for a review before getting any more. I sent an email out to my family to let them know what was happening and have had some lovely touching emails back from most of them including an admisson from one family member who confided in me that they too are on anti depressants and have been for about a year! I just wish this family member had told me earlier so we could have helped out but that was their choice. But now I have come "out" so to speak, this family member is considering it as well.

Rachel's ongoing cough is getting really bad so I think we will be heading back to the Dr early this week... when I was at the Dr on Wednesday we got talking about Rachel (of course) and the Dr did mention that if the cough continued that she may look at referring us to get Rachel an xray of her chest and listening to her today I am thinking along the lines of mild asthma but the Dr said that it is quite hard to diagonise asthma when they are under 1 unless there is family history of it (which there isn't for us). But she sure is not well that's one thing! So am bracing myself for another rough night of lots of coughing. She was like that last night though she did sleep through most of the coughing but unfortunately I did not!

We went out yesterday and caught up with some friends of mine at Wholly Bagels in Lower Hutt and Rachel had her first plain baby bagel and loved it! It was great seeing the other bubs (Rachel was the youngest by about 7 weeks) and having a good ole catch up with the mums!

Then today, we had arranged to meet Mum at North City Plaza to check out the K-Mart toy sale - wasn't that impressed with it really! We didn't buy anything (while not Toys anyway) but Mum got Rachel's birthday present. Can't wait to get it so I can have fun playing with it! LOL We had a nice lunch in the food court but unfortunately Rachel was not feeling the best so it was cut short and we came home where she has finally crashed and is sleeping nicely...

Been busy since getting home, am making two batches of meat and veggies for Rachel. One batch of beef mince (premium grade) with parsnip, pumpkin, brocolli and cauli. The 2nd batch which is cooking at the moment is pork mince with pumpkin, kumera, spinach and peas.

Oh the bad news of the weekend - our hot water cylinder is on its last legs and we will be lucky if it sees us through the week!!!! Fuck!!!! Thats all we need - NOT!!! Especially since its gonna cost us about $850 to get a new one plus the plumbers charge for installing etc!!! So there go our plans for installing a heat pump which we had been considering doing... Oh Steph got home on Friday afternoon to find a For Sale sign on our fence!!! So he promptly ripped it off and I rung the agent when I got home and got a half hearted apology and found out it is for next door!

Anyway, time I got moving - need to get some things done before Rachel wakes though I think I hear her stirring as I type this.

Hope you all have a great week.

Hi all

Things still plodding on here... taking things day by day - having some real bad/down days but other days are ok. I just take it one thing at a time and I find I do get through things but am thinking of heading to the Drs this week for myself and to discuss PND as at times it really does seem to be spiraling out of control.

We had a lovely time on Saturday catching up with Helena, Rachel, Janene (and Jorja), Anne and Jenny. We missed you Chris and I do hope you are feeling better real soon. The creamed eggs and spinach were really scrumptious though the Hot Chocolate could definitely have been better! Little Rachel was really well behaved and sat in the high chair at the time like a right young lady and she was full of smiles for everyone. Though admittingly, she was a right real madam for the rest of the day and evening... she has been really funny with her milk intake lately - I know that at about this stage (oh she is 8mths old today) that the milk intake slowly decreases while the solids intake increases... so am not to worried about it though last night I was quite stressed about it when she refused her bedtime bottle totally! So in the end, she went to bed without her bottle so we were both expecting a wake up call during the night - but no she slept right through till 5.30am (her normal wake up time)! So yes our darling is 8mths old today - so hard to believe how fast the time has gone! And we noticed at the weekend that her tooth has cut through now and I think that #2 might be on its way... oh the joys of parenting!

We went to the Warehouse Toy Sale yesterday and managed to get one thing to put away for either her birthday or christmas... apparently K-Mart have a good toy sale at some stage so will keep an eye out for that. We also got her a couple of bits and pieces at the Farmers Red Dot Sale :)

When I dropped her off at Daycare this morning - I so did not want to leave - just wanted to hold her forever! Yet other mornings I drop her off so freely... Am thinking of taking a few days leave some time soon and spend a couple of days with her at home (catching up with friends etc) and then a couple of days for me, myself and I!

Anyway its now almost 9.30pm - so time for me to head to bed.... sorry this has all been about Rachel... will try to say more in the next post.