The journey progresses...

I’m referring to the cravings… never before during this pregnancy have I had such a strong craving and it’s driving me nuts to the point where I’d rather have it and risk running to the (broken) loo how many times a night than not have it and wake up dreaming about it…

Ice water. Not just cold water, ICE WATER. Hubby got up during the night to go get me a fat glass full of ice water so I could just shut up! I told him he must really love me. He chuckles and says “Ja I do, but actually I’m just trying to stop your moaning.” Hahaha. Chop. And this morning I thought to look in the freezer at work, to see if maybe there’s ice… and there it was, a whole fat bag of it. I now have a 500 ml beermug of ice water sitting on my desk. I’m wolfing down my cornflakes as fast as I can to just get to that water… drooooool.

Cravings are crazy… seriaaaaas!!

Brother Dear is dropping off SIL at about 09:00 here so that we can go to Life’s Miracle UIF Services to hand in our UIF paperwork. Hopefully everthing is in order and there will be no hiccups.  I sent Brother Dear some reading material on the birth centre that he can print and take home to SIL; let’s hope he did!

Urgh the toilet is completely f*cked. Hubby put down a bucket full of water and told me that if I need to pee during the night, I must just then pour water down the toilet, it will create a flush mechanism. It’s a miracle that I remembered to do it, but I asked him to please fix the damn toilet this afternoon, before he disappears tomorrow for the bachelors and I only see him on Sunday. The toilet stinks already of urine, and for me to struggle down the stairs in the middle of the night still highly deur die kak is just gonna spell trouble. I’ve been known to donner down stairs while still half asleep.

It was so hot last night and sure enough, as we’re lying in the dark complaining about the heat, the wind picks up and we see lightning flashes and hear thunder… Oh boy, oh boy!! Rain!!! And sadly… all those few sprinkles did AGAIN was make my car look like it’s never been washed in its life… I was so disgusted. When is it going to rain???? And the neighbour’s dog’s yapping seems to be activated by thunder and wind, cos he was yapping all the way until Neighbour yanked open a window at 00:41 this morning and shouted at the dogs to shut up… didn’t help, it just aggravated the situation. I could hear him jumping out of bed and stomping down the stairs, flinging open the gate and slide door and all of a sudden all was quiet. Think he let them in…

My feet were so horrendously swollen last night that my toes didn’t touch ground. So Hubby shoved extra couch cushions under them and eventually it began to have an effect. But once I had to put my feet them back down on the ground, it started up again. Drat.

Anyhoo, it’s Friday! Yay! Y’all have a great day and a lovely weekend!

Tourmaline

The antenatal class was beyond hilarious… my stomach muscles ache this morning. The woman is one of those loud, straightforward midwives with a wicked sense of humour. She speaks to you like she’s known you forever and she sugar-coats nothing. She immediately took a liking to Hubby and his Stormers rugby shirt and proclaimed herself ‘anti-Blue-Bull’ much to the chagrin of the other two gents – LOL. And of course Hubby spent the rest of the evening making wise-cracks along with her.

And last night’s topic was … breastfeeding. They skipped class last week due to more confinements and she needed sleep. So there we were, demonstrating what we think we know with a white teddy-bear. ROFL. She asked us each to show her how we think the baby should be held, how to support your breasts, how to break the suction and how to get rid of wind. We, of course, failed in the demonstrations but she was patient, spontaneous and not shy to share her expertise. We got samples of Bepanthem (or however the heck you spell it!!) to try out on our nipples and also a couple of sachets of a pregnancy shakes. She explained the pro’s of dummies and gave us tips on which dummies are the best. She also explained SIDS. In the end, after everything, it resulted in lots of laughter, swiss rolls and feeling like we’ve known each other for years.Hubby said as we got into bed that it’s actually crazy that how much she said during the evening is common sense. I think he enjoyed it.

The other two couples were rather… uppity. The one guy kept asking technical mumbo-jumbo like ”how much milk does a baby get during one feed?” She told him approximately 35 ml. He asked for a definite, accurate answer. ???? Really, dude? He also got rather stroppy when she explained that stuff like Green Mamba for colic contains a narcotic and should rather not be used. “Why not??” he demands. Um dude… cos you’re doping your child and inducing sleep?? Won’t you then stop your child from getting into a naturaly sleep routine by himself??

But at least they also caught the jokes and laughed just as much as we did. And apparently the medical aid covers the classes, so we can claim it back!! Whoop!

We found out last night that Femina has a seperate birth unit for those who prefer to have water births etc. And Midwife encourages each of us to at least try to go natural and she also told us to consider birthing with them rather in the hospital itself. My gynae is apparently their back-up surgeon in case of c-sections. This caught my attention for SIL’s sake. I let my mother know when we left that this unit exists and that they charge those without medical aid a mere R6500 for a normal birth, and obviously a bit more for a c-section. My mom was out of her skin, and she’ll let SIL know today. They’ve booked her bed but haven’t paid anything yet, so she can still change if they should find this option better. The unit also doesn’t keep you there and ring up costs. If you’re fine after the birth and your baby is well after all the routine checks and tests they do, they send you home! This is what SIL wants, I know that for a fact. She doesn’t want to stay in a hospital for days without my brother.

But ja, to take Hubby’s advice – let them be. Don’t interfere. And they still need to find out if Jordan has turned tomorrow from posterior to anterior, cos if she didn’t, or doesn’t very soon, the doctor is scheduling her for a c-section I REALLY hope that Jordan has turned…

My dreams are making me sooo tired. When does it end? Hubby said this morning that each time I turned over, I grunted like a mammoth. And this happened because I was dreaming I was sleeping uncomfortably and grunting as I turn. I also dreamt that I’m thirsty and everyone is drinking water from bottles and no one will give me any!! Kak dream to have…

Hubby broke the effing toilet last night. Which resulted in a huge pool of Loo Blue on the bathroom floor this morning. And there’s no time so we just shut the tap, threw down old towels and will deal with it this afternoon.

Today in 8 weeks time it’s my due date… <chills down my spine> I was told to stop reading birth stories as I’m torturing my mind, but I don’t do it to torture myself. It’s interesting to read other women’s accounts of how this miracle in their lives came to be, and I do also see it was mental preparation. Knowing what lies ahead. I think I know the sequence by heart, by now. LOL if that’s possible?? I doubt it. Every woman is different, but what doesn’t change (according to Midwife – they hear it every single day) is the women’s screaming and exact words they use to cuss out their husbands: “You did this to me you motherf*****!!” Among other horrifying words that women normally don’t use

Caleb has found a new spot to kick… my hip bone. Or it feels like it…

Anyhoo ladies, y’all have a lovely day, it’s Thursday which means only today and tomorrow, and it’s weekend!

Tourmaline

I am random today.

First off (this is about the only un-random thing I can post today) is that Hubby is currently on his way to Brits, for an interview with his old company. His old boss phoned him last week and said that a very good QC post opened up and that he wants Hubby for the job. He sent Hubby all the paraphernalia to prepare for the interview and said that he’ll see to it that Hubby’s salary is up to par, should he get it. It kind of seems like a shoo-in for Hubby, as Old Boss gets to choose who he wants, and he’s just following procedure. So waiting on tenterhooks today… the only thing is, they want Hubby to start end of October. If he goes over now, we have no medical aid and that is very important right now. I asked Hubby to please see if he can negotiate to only start in January 2012, to give us time. I severely doubt that Afrox Medical Society will cover my confinement after only being back on them for barely a month.

Hubby is very keen to go back; his chances of growth is much better. He can go from QC to Product Specialist, whereas now the highest he can go is foreman. He’s looking at this from all angles; good Hubby! Smart and practical!

In other confinement news, SIL’s fund has risen to R 14 000-00. And ALL of it is going to be needed for her confinement, cos the doctor said that Jordan is in posterior position and that a c-section will be necessary. If she turns now, it won’t be necessary but we have to wait until Friday again to see what happens. SIL is 38 weeks today and every day is a countdown.

I’m soooo tired. No amount of sleep seems like it’s enough. I clutched out on the couch again yesterday afternoon watching ‘Space Chimps’ and didn’t even hear my phone ring when my mom phoned to find out about Hubby’s interview today. I look like I haven’t gotten any sleep during the night, but in truth I sleep so deeply that Hubby says its like I’m in a coma.

Not looking forward to this weekend. He’s got his friend’s bachelors on Saturday and he’s planning on staying over (rather than drink and drive) and I HATE sleeping alone. I hate showering if he’s not there. I feel so… alone and creeped out. Every noise makes me jump. But I guess I have to suck it up! Nothing can harm me there and he’ll have his phone on him at all times.

Hopefully there will be an antenatal class tonight… I’ve joined up on an online course which is very interesting but I think a little bit of hands-on advice and experience will be good! Moppet-like-dog-teddy will probaby stay home…

One last thing – this is an advice question – my urine is extremely dark but I’m drinking water like it’s going out of fashion. Taking my vits too and really not drinking much else during the day. What can it mean?? As far as I know, my urine checked out fine last week at the Gynae’s and my blood pressure was fine as well. I think I should ask MIL to test my urine this weekend. Maybe I have a bladder infection that I’m unaware about??

Oi vey… all the questions…

You ladies have a lovely day, thanks for reading my randomzzzzzz.

Tourmaline

Warning – this post includes a bit of a rant and can get quite long – please excuse the novel…

How awesome was Survivor?? I think JT deserved to win. He was open and honest and admitted that each and every blind side and vote was hard for him, while Stephen was treading water with no good results! Hubby said that Stephen is a snake… speaking of which, Mr. Dragon Slayer with his damn walking stick coming in to tribal council… I almost broke the TV!! And later during the reunion show, he went to his own lie-detector test person… and I swear that test is fake!! LOL I don’t believe his Amazon story, his face doesn’t look like the living @#$%^&* was beaten out of it. But the best man won, and I was so proud of Sierra when she spoke of her experience, and about beating Coach when he thought he was winning. You go girl! Hubby is a big fan of your cute smile and brown eyes!

Saw on Facebook last night that a guy in my cousin’s complex assaulted the ”opsigter” lady. She’s somewhere in her 70′s and reprimanded this douche about his parking on other people’s spots. He jumped out of his car and violently swore at her and insulting her, and then beat her! Cracked her arm in two places! My cousin took her to the hospital when he got home; there was police everywhere and the bliksem fled when he heard them approaching. The poor lady made a case against the asshole and he is still MIA. Can you believe that??

Urgh, had an almost fight with my brother again last week… which resulted in neither of us speaking to each other; which also means that I have no idea how my SIL is doing. And it’s always about money for my Brother Dear. A lot of people have been contributing to their funds for SIL’s confinement… and he’s bargaining on her having a normal birth so that he can use the rest of the funds for his studies. Okay… not the problem. The key-people wanted to raise as much as they could so that Brother Dear can maybe just put down the deposit for his studies. But he told me he’s ‘waiting  for more cash so that he can finally go study’. Waiting??? WAITING??? Like people are going to pay your ass through IT school with their hard-earned money when you should be doing this yourself?? To you this might sound trite, or petty, but my dear brother has a way of thinking that the world owes him. I’ve posted about this before. So he’s ‘waiting’ for other people to bail him out into riches and glory, and THAT I have a problem with. But I didn’t say anything. When he told me this, I said ‘no comment’. And he immediately jumped on his high horse saying “What, you have a problem with me studying?” Case in point – no I don’t. I have a problem with him expecting other people to pay his ass through IT school. But I still didn’t say anything like that. I just said of course not, I just have nothing to say on the matter. And then he got personal. Said that he’s not like Hubby who earns a good salary and can buy and brag about anything he wants; he also wants to be able to provide for his family. And that’s where I nearly popped a vein but instead of reacting, I just said I gotta go, I’m not gonna fight about this.

A few minutes later he came back on. Sorry, he says, I’m a bit over-sensitive. And then I let him have it. All I said was what Hubby and I earn and buy has absolutely jack-shit to do with him and he dare not ever say again that we rub our stuff in his nose. I also told him not to take out his kak on me, seeing as though I’m also pregnant and he’s the one who’s always telling me to chill out. I got another half-hearted sorry and then I signed off, not wanting to talk to him anymore.

Then the next day my mom skypes me… what’s up with  me and Brother Dear… he went crying at SIL, she went blabbing to my mom and now she’s involved… How mature. And Brother refuses to speak to either of us regarding this. Even more mature. He knows he’s wrong but now I’m being completely ignored; not kept in the loop about Jordan’s progress at all. I probably won’t even get a call when SIL goes into labor. So now, do I extend the olive branch even though I don’t need to? Or do I leave it and be totally kept out of my best friend’s life? I love her and Jordan just as much. I love my brother too but when he expects the world to solve his problems, I lose all my respect. Never mind the fact that Hubby and I have helped them so much during the last few months, diving into our savings to help them cope, but we never get a thank you. We don’t expect accolades, we do it because we can but my brother takes us for granted and gets jealous over petty shit like TV’s, blue ray dvd players and fucking furniture, for pete’s sake. I can’t take it anymore. Are we not entitled??? No. We have to always walk on egg-shells around him because he’s so seriously disadvantaged, due to his own stupid fucking choices.

<Panting>

In other funnier, light-hearted news… had another hysterical fart-incident yesterday. I swear it’s becoming bad now. Sorry if you don’t find it as funny as I do (I honestly don’t know why I do!!) but as Hubby picked me up yesterday afternoon and I got into the car, another trumpet-like fart made its way out just as I got into the car. Hubby gave me a very incredulous look and said “Geez your bum misses me more than you do because it greets me first!!” This resulted in hysterical laughter for me. I laughed until we were half-way home. Hubby just chuckled as I tried to regain control of myself.

So that’s today’s post… sorry about all the drama, I just get so sick and tired of my brother’s shit. We both grew up the same way, both of us got hurt by our parents’ divorce and had an absent father and both went through the same rejection… and I didnt’ turn out like this. I got over it for pete’s sake. And I, for one, will not hold a grudge against my dad (who I’ve finally got a relationship with) just because they couldn’t pay the WHOLE amount for the confinement as they ‘hinted’ they would… When in actual fact, my dad and stepmom wants to give a donation to the fund to help… they can’t pay everything, for #$%^& sakes!! That’s how things go. My brother now has that grudge against my dad and especially my stepmother.

I shake my head in sadness.

Anyway, have a good day! Thanks for reading my drama post…

Tourmaline

Weeeell here we are again… back to work on a brisk Monday morning. Hope y’all had a great weekend! I know Mrs. C had to work to submit assignments, that’s no fun on a Saturday

Mom and I went shopping for my hospital stuffies and we left the shop (as expected) with a few more things than planned I bought two Carriwell lace feeding bra’s (dreamy on the boobies, which are getting BIG now), a preggie support bell (think we bought it too small, it’s kinda squeezing the life out of me but offers great back support, which is also starting to ache now) and some other stuffs that I can’t remember LOL.

We went to the Kolonnade yesterday to hand in the vacuum cleaner – damn expensive Verimark Hydrovac Turbo-thingie bombed out the other day (WTF! It’s not even a year old!) so we’re using the warranty to get it fixed. I exchanged one of the pairs of pajamas and feeding bras that my MIL bought me and were on our way to Game when I suddenly realized that my fingers were feeling… uncomfortable. I looked down at my hands and feet and I was suddenly so swollen that I sommer became irritable. As we drove out of the parking area, I looked in the mirror and … the horror… my face was swelling too… (cue shower-scene horror music from Psycho)

We also started unpacking Caleb’s room and putting the teddies in his cot. We were supposed to move our room around to see if we can make space for his cot but we didn’t get round to that (Hubby’s going to have to do it all by himself ) And we also determined that we need more drawer space, so we’re going to start looking for a nice cabinet with drawers for his clothes. Which I realized we have very little of We also have a baby bath on a plastic stand but the thing is kinda rickety – my mom made a good point though; that Caleb isn’t going to be heavy enough to make it topple and you never ever leave your child alone in it anyway (good point!) so we’re sorted with a baby bath.

My baby-shower invite went out on Friday (and the only reason I know this is because Manager Lady said that she got her invitation) I don’t want to know anything that’s happening, it’s supposed to be a surprise and unlike SIL who did everything she could to snuffle out the surprise, I want to be surprised. It’s part of the fun! So I have to compile the list of gifts TODAY and send it to my mother, other SIL and MIL so that people can know what to buy. Mostly we need clothes. How sad is that?? We have to go sit with our budget and work out how on earth we’re going to do this; cope each month with everything we need to buy. Clothes, diapers etc. It’s all a little overwhelming and I’m not the world’s best financial planner

Anyway, I’m rambling… ooh and as promised, here are some pics of my kitties – although it’s from when they were babies! Still working on getting the adult pics of them off my phone. Mona died last year after getting hit by a car

Mika!! Butch kitty, small voice!

Squeaky in front; Mona just behind her

Squeaky all grown up… Tiger kitty!

Mona in sleepy-kitty mode

The three musketeers… Mike, Mona and Squeaky

Mona was our little ‘model’ she just loved posing for pics

ENJOY!!

Today’s post will start with a rant

To the producers of Titanic II… Your piece of shit movie made me want to gag with disgust! You’ve done the first movie such an injustice! I actually enjoyed the first movie VERY much, so much that I STILL know the dialogue by heart!! That movie was made in 1997 and the graphics and special effects were 100 000 times better than the piece of crap you’ve made in 2010!! Shame on you! Recycling the dialogue too… and mixing a little bit of Poseidon and The day after tomorrow in there too… In short, your Titanic II sucked @#$%^&*!!!!

There, now I feel better On to happy things!

Caleb weighs 1.7 kg (he picked up 400grams in 2 weeks!) and actually measured as 32 weeks, instead of 31! The Doc says that my placenta and afterbirth is plentiful and all in the right place so I’m cleared for a vaginal birth (with the lovely epidural of course). We couldn’t believe it when we got to the hospital – it was quiet! The last 4 appointments have been so hectic that it seemed like the entire Pretoria was at the hospital, and at the gynae’s rooms. I wondered often how the gynae managed to see them all before midnight each time. But yesterday we went in half an hour late, instead of an hour and a half late and the Gynae actually took his time and made jokes and chatted a bit. He filled in the UIF forms and sent us on our way LOL a Facebook friend commented on my status update last night and said that her second child was 2.5 kg’s on 31 weeks… holy crap!!!

Mika has a shoe fetish! Whenever we kick off our sandals or plakkies in the living room, she comes in, flirts for a vryfie and then slams down onto the shoes, rubbing her cheeks against them and clenching them in her paws. And there she will stay unless you scare her or try to touch her. Then she’ll jump up and streak for the door, all playful. She’s really turning into such a lovely cat. And Squeaky is just her sweet self. She’ll flop down on the carpet, and stretch herself out to maximum capacity and look at you upside down with a very cute imploring expression on her little face. One can’t help but love them and stroke them until the carpet is full of tufts of fur (oh the joys of summer shedding).

Of course I get moments that I want to strangle them… there was another unfortunate victim waiting for us when we got home last night after the doc’s visit… feathers everywhere but no remains! What the heck did they do with it? Did they actually eat everything??? Paws and all? Bleeeeeeeeaaaargh…

I’ve been choking in my sleep lately… it’s happened every night this week! I have no idea why but it’s always a sudden spluttering and coughing while I’m not even fully awake yet, and it’s so nauseating! Yuck… Normally Hubby sleeps through it but last night he was having nightmares about heaven-only-knows-what… he mentioned something of a foam party with a big slimy green monster (???) and jumped up for every sound he heard. Once he touched my foot with his and flew up, cursing all the way and asking “What the f*ck was that??” Had to placate him each time and tell him that everything’s fine. Shame, poor man had a rough night.

But to make his day, I woke up full of giggles this morning. (Warning – TMI!!) Bent down to stroke Mika and somehow the bending and Caleb’s pressure on certain parts of my anatomy resulted in a very loud fart I was laughing hysterically by the time Hubby got upstairs, but I was laughing because of the cat’s expression when this exploded out of me! And Hubby didn’t exactly help the situation by peeking in the room and asking ”are you laughing or dying?”

Here I go again… the stupid things I laugh at… anyhoo, it’s Friday and my pay is in, so I’m going shopping this weekend baby! LOL ironically for some baby stuffs and a few things I need. I’m not used to having my own account, this is something to get used to. Hubby said last night that we must decide and sit with our budget and decide what I’m going to be paying from my account. I told him I’ll pay the rent and the electricity (it’s my whole salary all in all – not very big ) but he said no, he wants me to at least enjoy a bit of my own money. Wow, that seemed really nice to me!

Y’all have a wonderful Friday and a great weekend!

Tourmaline

I’m bored so…

1.  What’s your favourite type of music?

 Rock music – the artistry put into the lyrics and composition of guitars, bass and drums (+the occassional piano) really does it for me! Not fond of metal at all, the growling and screaming is completely pointless…

 2.  Name the song that you put on full volume when you’re seriously peeved off

Hero of the day – Metallica (it must be the S&M version)

 3.  What’s your happy song?

 Burn it to the ground – Nickelback (gives me shivers down my spine and makes me feel alive)

 4.  What music do you listen to that you wouldn’t want the other parents at you kid’s school to know about?

 Hmmm this one doesn’t really apply to me yet…

 5.  What music do you try sharing with all your friends in the hope that they’ll love it too?

 Gospel – particularly NewSong – erm… as beautiful as it is to me, not everyone else appreciates it

 6.  Name 5 of your favourite artists or songs

Metallica

Nickelback

Seether

Robbie Wessels

Johnny Cash

Fav Songs:

Angel – Aerosmith

Beautiful dangerous – Slash ft Fergie

Everything – Lifehouse

Country song – Seether

Hero of the day – Metallica

7.  What song do you sing in the shower?

 Don’t really sing in the shower (I can but I don’t) but I do sing to Caleb while bathing… just hum softly or sing my favorite gospel songs to him

8.  If you’ve got kids, do you know the Barney song?

 Don’t even have kids yet and I know this damn song… and Caleb will not learn it in our house! Any Barney dvd’s will be burnt… Any gifts of Barney stuff will be banished!!

I have horrible pain in my right ear; it hurts when I chew and it feels like there’s some kind of liquid filling my ear cavity. Can’t exactly go to my doc today because Hubby and I carpooled this morning for our gynae appointment this afternoon, so I’ll ask Manager Lady if she can take me to her doc just up the road. All I know is that Flusin and ACC200 aren’t clearing up the sinus-buildup and this is not going to get better until it friggin rains!!! PROPERLY!!! CAN IT JUST BLOODY RAIN ALREADY???

Also at odds with Hubby… again?? I don’t know, I feel like I’m back in the 1st trimester, hormonal and angry at everyone just for breathing. And the inspiration to my irritation with Hubby is the fact that he NEVER replaces the cats’ water; ‘he doesn’t see the point’. WTF??? I asked him if he’d enjoy drinking stagnant water with dust and food particles in it every day, and his answer was no. There you have it, dumbass, then don’t expect the cats to do it either. I always replaced their water, it was kind of my task, but now that it’s getting hard to bend over with ease, I’ve asked him to please do it. And every morning is the same story. One of these days I’m going to snap and he’s going to regret it. Idiot.

Ja I know. I’m being unreasonable.

Sorry, I’m really annoyed I wonder how I’m going to get through this day. Add on to it that my brother dear was trying his best to pick a fight with me yesterday, which I point-blankly refused to take part in. It resulted in me having to take Rescue drops, but let’s just say I’m not talking to him right now. The next time I want to hear from him is when he lets us know that SIL has gone into labour.

On the upside, before I got so ornery (my ear was aching from yesterday but not this bad!!) Hubby sat behind me last night and just held us, and Caleb started kicking so vigorously that Hubby chuckled out loud in surprise a couple of times. I asked him if he now understands why I randomly grunt and gasp sometimes. Glad he finally got THAT through his thick skull.

And Cats 101 is my favorite new show, on Animal Planet. It’s amazing how many different, beautiful types of cats there are out there, and I want them all I wouldn’t trade mine for the world, but I wish I could have a HUGE property and lots of money so that I can have as many cats as I want! LOL crazy cat lady, maybe? Ja, I think I might be bordering on that.

Anyways, going to the doctor at 08:00 so let me quickly get a few things done before we go. Have a great day, y’all!

Tourmaline

Sorry guys… no funny pics of MLDT being ‘breastfed’ tonight… the woman called and said that she’s been busy with two confinements since last night and hasn’t had any sleep since night before last, so class is cancelled. We would have gone tomorrow night but we’ve got a gynae appointment for my 31 week check-up… so we’ll have to fall in next week only!

I don’t blame the woman at all, shame she must be exhausted! And she’s brought two babies into the world during the last 24 hours so good for her!

So my consolation prize is a yummy lime milkshake and a rustige evening at home…

Just thought I’d bring you up to speed… just so no one is disappointed by the lack of extremely hilarious pics tomorrow!!

Cheers…

T