Birthdays and Antenatal Classes

I know it's been a little while since I've updated this but we have been a bit busy. We went away for a few days to Mooloolaba just before my birthday and it was so beautiful. The weather was great and our room was gorgeous. We had a king size bed and a corner spa in our room. We also had our own rooftop courtyard which had another spa/jacuzi thing. It was really difficult sitting up there in the sun relaxing...NOT! We also went to see a couple of movies and did a bit of shopping at Sunshine Plaza. All in all, a wonderful few days away together.

As most of you know it was my birthday on Friday 19th and I would like to take this opportunity to say a huge thank you to everybody who sent me their best wishes. I was very spoilt this year and received lots of lovely gifts and phone calls. I worked at Chermside that day and the girls had gone to a special effort and decorated the back room with balloons and gotten me a card and cake for morning tea. My wonderful husband sent me flowers to work and I got lots of comments throughout the day about how beautiful they were. Of course I left them at the counter so everyone could see! That night we went to dinner with Matt and Kirsten and rellies of mine that were up from Hobart. We had a wonderful Chinese banquet in Toowong and it was really lovely to have family there too.

As Daniel's birthday is only 2 weeks after mine we decided to have a BBQ on the weekend that fell in the middle so we could celebrate both with some family and friends. There were 10 of us altogether and Daniel had made some wonderful goodies to go on the barbie. Adrian also brought some great chicken wings and drumsticks and our other friends all pitched in as well with salads and nibbles and the like. We were all out on the veranda huddled near the brazier and having a great time until dinner was being served. Then I go and do something really stupid and crash into the glass sliding door and shatter the glass with my knee! And bloody hell did it hurt! I was quite shaken up (I'm not good with glass breaking - stems from a childhood trauma!) and had a bit of a cry in my bedroom. Thanks to Katie and Daniel for looking after me and giving me cuddles. I recovered enough to go out and enjoy some of the wonderful food Daniel had cooked and tried not to think about it, and the rest of the night went off without a hitch. Luckily the glass just cracked and stayed in the frame, it didn't shatter all over the floor.

The worst thing about this whole incident was that the glass was only a week old! We'd been broken into while we were away (see Daniel's blog for more details on this) and they had gotten in by breaking that same glass door! So O'Briens glass knew exactly where to go when I rang them about a replacement again. The last time before the break-in that I put a claim in on my insurance was my birthday 2 years ago when I accidentally broke a glass window. It was actually out of its frame leaning on the couch out the back being cleaned while we replaced the flyscreen wire, when I knocked the couch and it fell over and smashed! I have a habit now of breaking glass on my birthday! So O'Briens came out here again on Monday to replace it and it's all better now.

In other news, we've started going to our antenatal classes. We've had 2 so far and they have been really interesting. We've got the same midwife, Barbara, as we had for our last appointment taking the class and she's so great. Very funny as well as to the point. We've seen a few videos of births which both Daniel and I have found interesting, but I think a lot of the class get a bit squeamish watching any gory bits. We watched a Caesarean section being done last night and as I glanced around the room half of the class had looked away or were cringing. There was a bit of groaning every now and then too - and not from the video! We saw the needle they put in you for an epidural as well - that was much scarier to me than the videos. At this stage I would like to think I could do it without an epidural but I'm not going to rule anything out. Next week is all about breastfeeding which I'm really interested in as I know so many Mums who have had real trouble with this.

Bits and Pieces

I was chatting online to Matty and he said he was updating his blog today. I said to him I should blog if I could think of anything to write. Then I just made a few notes about stuff that has been happening and came up with six topics! Might not be as short a blog as I first thought.

Firstly, Daniel and I had an appointment at the hospital last Wednesday with a midwife. This was one of the most informative appts so far for both of us. We went through my birth plan and the midwife was really lovely. She went through everything, from what to do when I first started getting contractions to after the birth and going home. Both of us learnt a lot of stuff and feel a bit more prepared than we were.

We've also finally got notification about my antenatal classes. They start next week, although I'm going to miss the first one as we'll be away (keep reading for more info on that later in this blog) which is actually a physio class. However, there are then 4 weeks of antenatal classes and another physio one on the 6th week. Then on the 23rd September I get a tour of the labour ward and the birth suite. It's all pretty exciting stuff!

Last night I finally got Daniel to start thinking about names again. He's been really slack about this particular thing. He had really only come up with one name that he liked (apart from Daniel Junior) and I was starting to think he would never come up with anything else. I have suggested several names over the past few months and he's turned his nose up at all of them. He has very specific criteria that they have to fit in to so sometimes that is a bit limiting. Anyway, we came up with a couple more last night and I have written them down today so we won't forget them. I would really like to have a choice on the day baby is born so that we can see what they look more like. We're getting there.

I got a bit organised today also and booked to have our baby capsule fitted in the car. We're hiring one for six months from the Ambulance Service. They actually install it in the car and then, if it is not removed, they are liable for any injury that may be caused by an accident. We have to have it installed two weeks before the due date in case it comes early. At least that's another thing I can tick off the list.

I was talking to my Mum and Dad during the week and they have booked their passage over from Tassie on the ferry. They are catching it from Devonport all the way to Sydney and then driving from Sydney. They should get to Brisbane about the 10th October, a week before the baby's due. That gives Dad just enough time for him to fix anything else I need him to do around the house that he didn't get done last time! (Love you Daddy!)

As mentioned, I'm not going to my first class next week because Daniel and I are taking a little trip up the Sunshine Coast. Daniel's Mum and Dad gave us a voucher last Christmas to put towards accommodation which expires in October. We had really not had the opportunity to use it until now and we thought we better get in before the baby is born. Next Wednesday is Ekka Show Day public holiday so we thought we'd make the most of Daniel having a day off and use our voucher. It's also my birthday on Friday next week. I'm working Saturday, but we're going up straight after I finish and staying until Wednesday. It will be a really peaceful break I think and we don't plan to do much. Maybe see a movie or two and relax. We've got a self-contained unit so hopefully we'll be able to save money by cooking most meals ourselves rather than eating our every night. We're both really looking forward to it.

Week 29 Photo

Time for another photo of me... showing a bit now!

Beautiful Day

Daniel and I had such a wonderful day yesterday I thought I would tell everyone about it.

It started out with a little bit of a lie-in and some brekkie before getting ready and heading out the door about 9.45am - pretty early for us on a Sunday! Our first stop for the day was at one of Daniel's friends from work, Margie's house, as she had told Daniel during the week that she had some baby stuff she thought we might like. Margie's son, Ryan, is about 4 I think and has grown out of a lot of toys which she has given us and she also found some clothes she still had from when Ryan was a baby. There was also a baby gym which is great and a baby monitor! We are *so* grateful to Margie and her husband Phil for giving us this stuff. Thank you guys from the bottom of our hearts!

From Margie's house we then drove over to the south side of the city to visit another of Daniel's workmates (although they don't actually work together anymore), Sven and his wife Veronica and their new baby Holly. Holly is about 9 weeks old and absolutely gorgeous! Daniel and I got lots of cuddles and smiles. Daniel also got to experience that lovely warm feeling of sick running all over his hand when Holly had a bit of a post-feed spit while sitting on his knee. I'm sure he'll get plenty more experience in a couple of months with his own little one doing the same thing. It's all good practice. It was really wonderful chatting to Sven and Veronica about their experiences and what challenges they have faced so far and how they have coped. We got a lot of good tips from them and we're really looking forward to catching up with them again soon.

From there we headed to Carindale for a quick lunch and to check out prams in Target. We have had a pram on raincheck at Chermside for a couple of months but got a phone call a few weeks ago saying they weren't sure when they were getting anymore and that if we wanted to chose another one they would discount it for us. We saw a couple at Carindale which looked good but they were at least $50 or $100 more than the one we had on raincheck. Next time I'm at Chermside I'm going to ask whether we can just keep that one on raincheck for a while longer as we still don't need it for a couple of months. They might get some in the meantime - you never know.

After lunch we then headed to Cashmere, about 15 mins west of our house in the hills. It is so beautiful up there and I didn't even know it existed! A bunch of guys that Daniel sings with were getting together at one of the guy's houses for a screening of our friend John's performance at the barbershop competition his quartet just won. The whole event was broadcast as a webcast from the US but you had to pay for it. Instead of all the guys paying for it individually one of them paid for it and recorded it then sent each of the guys copies at a small cost. They thought it would be a great idea to get the guys and their wives together for a social event too so that we could all watch together. It was such a lovely afternoon. It was great seeing John's quartet perform and you could really see why they won - they were so tight and just a cut above all the other competitors we saw. It was also really great just catching up with friends I hadn't seen in ages. All the barbershop guys are so warm and genuine and it was terrific catching up on all their news.

All in all it was just a really beautiful day!