without the tube – guest blog

she had the tube pulled out soon after which was great

Tom came to visit her today  - I think he’ll be a great big bro!

Caca – guest blog

Caris Iona Wraight, 5lb 4oz in the old money. Born 00.55 – in NICU but doing well.

Since these pics she has had the tube removed and is pretty settled.

Mum is well too.

“Caca” is Tom’s name for her – I think it may stick.

borrowed camera, new lens – guest blog

Baby update to follow but here are some recent pics of us…

Morv mentioned on a previous blog that I was about to buy a fancy new camera…hmmm. A retraction is now necessary as said purchase has been put off. However I did buy a new 50mm f1.8 lens which was 50% of the reason to buy the camera. It’s essentially a portrait lens as far as I’m concerned and you are about to be bombarded by some of the results. I borrowed Dugald’s SLR which he isn’t using much…at least not now. I went a little mad with it but it’s so easy take nice looking photos so might as well eh? Mostly a Tom-fest but there’s some other stuff.

we’ve got Lewis here for a couple of nights which has been great – there’s been a fair bit of shrieking from TK.

The lens does that great thing called bokeh, the background blurring – a word I learned last week. Also seems to get the colours really well.

Of course it does black and white pretty well too…

and sepia’s not bad…

Moving on – Kris and Dugald are here -

Kris may be nearing the edge of sanity  tho…

Low light, no flash pics work really well too. This next one of the very erudite looking Dugald was in our front room with only a small sidelight on.

Morv also wanted a couple of bump pictures put in…

And a last Tom pic for good measure…

So I am loving this lens as you can tell. Will try not to flood the blog too much with!

diggers

Pancakes for breakfast – a great start to the day! TK would have eaten the whole batch given half a chance!!

Tom and mum then had an outing which involved diggers (Tom really really loves diggers at the moment – he says ‘dig dig dig’ and is just delighted when he sees a real one. He is usually content to watch real diggers at work on youtube though!)

he was allowed up into one they saw today but was a little too shy to actually go into the cab

little diggers at the park

once the water has gone over the top of your wellies you may as well take them off!

Tom then went on an errand with grandma to post a letter

I meanwhile was at the hospital – 11:30am-3pm – all is well I just had various people to see and an hour in the middle with no one to see which meant I could meet up with J – how lovely that he works in the hospital! I made it home in time for a playdate with Jo and Eli though!

PS Tom’s words are really coming on – and it’s not just single words now either! He said ‘more toast’ the other day (just need to work on the ‘please’!) and tonight said ‘ice cube’ and ‘high chair’. LOVING this new speaking phase!!!

fish and horses

Pappa came through yesterday and he and TK had great fun going to the fish shop and then the park

When they returned grandma gave a horsey ride (her horse is not quite as fast or exciting as daddy’s but at least she has a horse – I just refuse!!)

Mum and dad have gone away for the weekend to stay in a 4 star hotel – here’s hoping they have an excellent well earned break!

Meanwhile back here J and TK both have some viral cough thing which is laying them a little low. It’ll be a quiet weekend with us (hopefully!)

I was back at the hospital today and everything is the same – happy baby, no more (but no less) amniotic fluid. Three weeks today it looks like we’ll have a baby (if not before then!)

hearts

Mum and TK had a crafty afternoon making valentines hearts for me and J (and TOm learned a new word – ‘glue’!)

You know that I’m not going on in every post about how wonderful my mum is not because she’s lost any of her wonderfulness but because it may end up getting rather tedious for you all?! Seriously, I don’t know what we’d do without her!!

Back to the hospital today for another check up for me and baby (Tuesdays and Fridays are our days). All looks exactly the same – baby tracing good, all my statistics good, same amount of amniotic fluid. Saw another consultant today (I’ve now seen three of them) but this one is my named consultant and said I won’t get to go past 36 weeks (9th March) – I’m just hoping we make it that far! No sign that anything is going to happen though (although last time Paul and Meg went on holiday when I was due we had Tom two weeks early and they’re going on holiday tomorrow – I’m hoping it’s not a sign!!)

Just in case you didn’t believe me regarding the incredibly tasty birthday breakfast…

PS J did an ED locum shift at the weekend and is using the money to buy a fancy new camera – we’ll be having award winning blog photos soon I reckon!!

birthday fun

Well the baby and I do not share a birthday – yay!!!

J and I had a lovely time away. To be honest we did very little (played scrabble, chatted, read and I watched ‘You’ve Got Mail’ which happened to be on TV – ah to see the UWS in all its glory – Zabar’s, cafe Lalo, 72nd street station)

a quick gettaway (not that TK was remotely in any way upset to be left with grandma and pappa!)

Dad uploaded his photos to our computer and it is clear that being left with two teachers resulted in Tom immediately being put to work

apparently what was actually happening was Tom was teaching mum about the computer

(quite why he’s wearing glasses I’m not sure!)

They also took a trip to the museum – we do so love the museum!

Big thanks to mum and dad for giving TK such a splendid weekend!

PS I have had some memorable breakfasts over the years (Cory Cates’ infamous ones spring to mind as well as Mike Jowsey excelling himself on our honeymoon!) however, the birthday breakfast J and TK made for me on Saturday I think is the best I’ve ever had – delicious pancakes, crispy streaky bacon, proper maple syrup, mango and raspberries – yum yum yum!! Thanks boys!

still pregnant!

So glad this wee baby is still in my tummy! We went for more checks today and everything looks pretty good and the amniotic fluid level has increased slightly which is what we were hoping for. They still won’t let me go past 36 weeks but hopefully I’ll make it that long (I’m 32 weeks today).

Needless to say my mum has been amazing! She arrived on Monday morning as usual expecting to stay until Tuesday afternoon but stayed on until this afternoon. She returned home tonight but is back tomorrow lunchtime (with Pappa in tow – have to give a shout out to Pappa too who has very kindly shared Grandma with us!!) It’s my birthday tomorrow and J and I had booked a night in a hotel not far away. We’ve decided just to go – the hospital is close enough if we need to rush there! Hopefully we’ll have a relaxing, refreshing, chilled out time! Have to also give a shout out to J who has been so supportive and so great! (I never thought through the implications of marrying a doctor but I tell you it has been very useful this last wee while!!!)

Anyway, last weekend (before all the drama) we had some good times with various folks. On Saturday we cycled to visit with some friends in Queensferry (didn’t cycle all the way there – we got the train!) and then on Sunday Dougie and Marianne came for lunch and the afternoon – lovely!

Back home

Well rather more excitement these last few days than I’d hoped for! The consultant today called me an enigma because they aren’t entirely sure what’s going on. There has been no more leaking of amniotic fluid since the first gush early Monday morning which is unusual and absolutely no labour signs but the level of amniotic fluid is on the low end (4.9 for those who understand this kind of thing). They’ve given me steroids to help the baby’s lungs develop sooner and antibiotics to help prevent infection and are saying they won’t let me go past 36 weeks if labour holds off for that long (36 weeks takes me to around March 9th). I nor they can do anything to prevent labour happening though if the baby decides to come. At the moment though baby seems very happy and content and I’m at peace about the whole thing!

I’ve to return on Friday for a scan which will give more information on what’s going on, especially on the lycor level.

We really appreciate all your thoughts, prayers, phone calls and texts – thanks!

Early exit? – guest blog

So the rumour went round yesterday that Morv had wet the bed. Turns out it was actually baby number two trying for an early exit from the home womb.

The incident happened at 2am the night before and so we went en famille to the hospital in the early hours to get checked over.

So the bottom line is that there’s been an early leak of amniotic fluid which makes early labour possible and increases infection risk.

Morv and baby are both absolutely fine but they’re being kept in for a couple of days of monitoring just in case. She’s currently 31 and a half weeks so a little underdone still. Hoping she might make it to 35 or even 36 weeks.

Kids eh?