The first week of Jessica...

Wednesday - Jessica snoozing in my hospital room...


Thursday - Jessica is two days old. Today we found out that she has jaundice and has to go into the incubator. We followed her to the nursery where they put goggles on her and put her onto "Palm Beach". Blue florescent lights. She screamed and screamed and there was nothing that we could do. I buried my face in Adam's shoulder and cried. It was a rough night.



Friday - Chris, the paediatrician, said that we could take Jessica home today. Hooray! What a long, long day it was, broken by a visit from Craig and Chrissie which was so welcome. Their son Gary is just over a year and they've been through the same experience...

Adam and I decided to give Jessica as much time as possible under the lights, so we spent the afternoon and early evening in the room. When we headed for the nursery, they insisted on more tests and we found out that Jessica's jaundice had got worse. The staff called Chris to get permission to release her. Thankfully he said that we could take her, so at 9pm we set the gears in motion for discharging, and grabbed Jessica and ran (well, I was wheeled out to the car as I could not really walk far yet). These pics were taken just before we dressed her in her own clothes and left...



Saturday - Home safe and a sleepless night with Jessica-dreams. She actually slept really well, waking at 4am then 8am to feed. We were unused to the sounds. But it was wonderful to cuddle with her in the morning, and my folks came round in the afternoon to babysit while I napped and Adam worked in the garden.

Learning to change a wriggly little person (still a bit yellow)...

Sunday - daylight was beautiful. Breakfast and farewell to Mum and Dad, a quiet day, and friends popping in for afternoon tea/drinks. Great to meet up with the Great Uncle again (Adam's unc Stephen) and Maria, his wife. Adrienne popped in too, so it was a real Nomico reunion with lots of laughter - not recommended for stitched tummies!

Monday - my first day alone. Jessica slept very well through the night (fed at 10, 3am then 7am). Louise dropped off supper and stayed for a good chat. I'm holed up in our bedroom with the heater on as South African houses are not made to handle cooler weather. It was wonderful to have Adam home and enjoy our champagne dinner picnic together. And Jessica slept through again... what a wonderful daughter we have!

Tuesday - learning new rhythms. This is a wonderful time with big learning curves... and I think she smiled today! Amongst the other funny faces...

PS: I may be offline for a while as work need the laptop back. Will make a plan!

Jessica - Birth day

First glimpse of the world... 13.50, Tuesday 17th July 2007

And here's your daughter - Caro Nel holding up Jessica, Marion (midwife) smiling on the right.

40 weeks + 10 days

"Monday 10am - Meet Dr Caro Nel for checkup"

It was time to decide what to do. Adam and I found out that there were no signs of Bump emerging anytime soon and my cervix had not started dilating yet. My amniotic fluid was getting less and the placenta was starting to age – the options were limited and Caro booked me in for an induction at 10pm. Dad drove me home via the nursery (to buy potting soil for my tomato plants - not the other kind of nursery) and I had a quiet day home, packing bags and wandering through the house. It was quite surreal. Adam finished work early and we packed a flask, tea, lemon meringue and the camera and headed to Llandudno. Our last "couple" sunset...

The rock that we sat on was sheltered, but the wind whipped white horses off the waves that threw themselves towards the beach recklessly. Three boogie boarders braved the icy water and spun off the crests of the breakers. Adam and I enjoyed our tea from a warmer location (!) and the sun sank leaving red bubbles on the sands.

We left the beach when it was dark and the crescent moon had appeared, and drove down through the forests to the Mackies who had invited us for supper. We opened a bottle of champagne to celebrate Bump's coming.

All too soon it was time to head home, pack the final bits and pieces and head for the hospital. All the labour rooms were full and we were ushered to a private room where a midwife applied some gel and we climbed together onto the narrow bed and tried to sleep. At 3am on Tuesday I woke to a sore tummy - for the first time, I found out what a contraction felt like. Ow. By 4am I was pacing the room, and woke Adam up. We migrated to the corridor and tramped up and down, Adam timing the contractions at one every two minutes. At 5am Adam ran me a hot bath so I could soak for a while while he read to me (we're enjoying The Wintersmith). The distraction worked until 6am, then we moved to a labour room and I bounced on a pilates ball for a while before getting hooked onto a monitor (shows baby heartbeat and strength of my contractions) and discovering the joys of entonox/laughing gas. You suck it through a regulator which looks just the same as a diving one, with the exception of a small mask on the front. Adam cued me when to start: it takes about 20 seconds to work so you have to start breathing it before a contraction gets going. Entonox gives you a great "woo" feeling, but the contractions got so sore that I buried my face in the pillow on the bed and bit the linen at each peak. Adam rubbed my back and used the monitor to tell me when the contractions were starting and ending.

Caro arrived at about 7am, checked me out and found that I was 4cm dilated. With 6cm to go at an average of 1cm per hour, I asked for an epidural (begged actually!). Martin put it in between contractions while I tried to finish all the gas supply to the hospital... 10 minutes later I could smile and in 20 minutes, I felt MUCH better and Adam looked very relieved. We read during the morning, listened to music, chatted to Marion the midwife and had a visit from Mum and Dad at 11. My legs and lower tum were totally numb with a "pins and needles" feeling. Adam tried to tickle my feet which are horrendously sensitive: I could only feel a bit of pressure. Very wierd!

Caro was back just before 12 and announced that I was 10cm dilated and that Bump was starting to move down. Quite casually, she said "So, are you ready to have a baby?" With that, the epidural was turned down so I had a little more sensation, I was positioned, Adam grabbed the camera and the pushing started. After several pushes, Bump had not moved and Caro could feel a little wedge on the baby's head which meant that Bump had been squashed on my pelvic girdle. She pulled out a vacuum and we tried another three pulls with me pushing down and Carol pulling Bump. "If this was my baby, I'd be unhappy. Let's do a Caesar." and the op site was shaved, my bed sped down the corridor, Adam thrown some scrubs and I found myself in the operating theatre in the middle of bustling people. A screen was put up so I couldn't see all the action, the epidural turned onto high and Adam sat down at my head. Martin (the anaethetist) grabbed the camera, and by the time I asked Caro when she was going to start cutting, she was already through all the muscle and into my uterus. All I could feel was some bumping. Then Caro frowned, started fishing around and tugged hard at something, pulled some more and out came... Jessica Katherine Feldman!

Her first cry made my heart skip a beat. I found out afterwards that Adam was close to tears as he followed Jessica to the table where Chris the paediatrician checked her out before giving me a thumbs up and a grin while I lay on the table. Jessica was cleaned, weighed, swaddled and put on my chest while Adam held us both. Blue alert eyes, gingerish hair, a cute bottom lip. We marvelled and gave thanks to God. Jessica…

We had a quiet hour together in a recovery room from which we phoned all the parents while Jessica yelled obligingly. Then Adam escorted Jessica to the nursery where she was to stay for observation, and I was wheeled to my room on an exhausted high.

The afternoon whirled past in a happy haze of sms's, phone calls and pain meds. Adam ate my lunch and dinner while I sucked ice cubes and Energade (all I was allowed). We both took turns dozing in between visits from the florist… Lovely flowers everywhere! Jessica came for a visit and a feed, then was taken back to the nursery before visiting hours started at 7pm. Our first visitor was Cherelle, followed by a beaming Dad and Mum. Jessica waved at them all from the nursery, held by a very proud Adam. After a late feed, Adam headed home and I slid into sleep with the help of some morphine for the cut. Jessica stayed in the nursery till about 2am, and I hung onto my morphine line as the op site throbbed. Hooray for drugs! It was still a very long night…

Wednesday: Morning brought a breastfeeding expert who showed me how to feed Jessica, and breakfast which I shared with Adam. Feeling terrible and all doped up, the doctors told me to pass Jessica to the staff and sleep. Luckily Adam arrived, so he took Jessica and I passed out for an hour. I woke to two very happy grandparents – Mum holding Jessica carefully – and a much brighter world. The drips were taken out before lunch and I graduated to oral pain killers. Jessica suddenly caught onto the breastfeeding idea at the 2pm feed (little piranha) and we changed our first disgusting nappy using lots of team work and wet wipes. Eugh!

Els sneaked in during the afternoon, Claire and Karen came at 3pm, Jessica was inoculated at about 4.30, supper arrived at 5 and that was our first day over. Lots of visitors at 7pm which was lovely. I handed Jessica to the nurses around 11pm, popped in some ear plugs and slept like a dream till 4am when Jessica came back for a feed and a cuddle.

Thursday morning: Jessica's now learnt to use her dummy (courtesy of the sisters who watched her last night), docs have just been round, and Jessica is being tested for slight jaundice. I have some ultra-violet therapy scheduled for lunch time to help with the feeding, and breakfast was great. I still can't quite believe that she's here, or that we are parents. Wow!

Adam keeps wandering over to Jessica and murmuring "too cute". I have to agree unreservedly! This is a great adventure…

40 weeks + 9 days

Well, this baby has decided that in is better than out, and so it is now nine days late. I am off to the doctor today to find out what she wants to do next, and to check on the baby which I think is still doing well (judging by the kicking and the little movements that seem to go on inside all the time).

Mum and Dad flew down on Saturday and we enjoyed some good relaxing time out with them. On the way home from the airport we stopped at Hout Bay harbour for fish and chips at Fish on the Rocks, a cafe at the end of the pier where you get the scrummiest fresh fish and chips, accompanied by the raucous cries of flocks of hopeful swooping seagulls. Then it was home for tea and lemon meringue pie (I had the urge to do some baking), and then on to movies in the evening.

Shrek 3 was most enjoyable - I noticed Adam chuckling at Shrek's reaction to Fiona's announcement that she was pregnant :).

Of course, my friends at church all made comments when we walked in on Sunday morning with no baby in tow. Adam reckons it's on Feldman time but I don't think Feldman time is meant to be THAT LATE! However, we were treated to lunch at the Olympia Cafe after church, which is something that probably would not have happened if Bump was out already... delectable food as always. It's been so good to have Mum and Dad here, and to feel like we are on holiday too.

Adam and I ended the weekend with a walk up through Bergvliet and discovered Dreyersdal farm, a typical Cape Dutch layout and beautiful white buildings in the softening twilight, ringed by the Constantia valley. Mmm, what a lovely place to live!

PS: Hmm - perhaps I should start considering the castor oil later this week. Long walks and curry don't work for hurrying babies along, and aromatherapy oils gave me a headache on Wednesday! Even some red wine on Thursday didn't get anything going. On the other hand, I could get used to this rather luxurious lifestyle of being home :)

40 weeks + 5 days

Sitting here in my dressing gown at 8.30am on a Thursday is definitely not normal, neither is the Bump that is still my tummy. However, this week has been a really lovely added bonus and not too uncomfortable aside from the odd foot in the ribs, and some added stretching to what I thought was a VERY stretched tum :) Perhaps I should start advertising BioOil as it really does seem to help!

What's been up? Monday was quite quiet... can't remember?? Shops and chores. Tuesday I sorted out blocked drains and our ADSL connection (still have not managed to get wireless working -argh). Els (my special paediatrician friend) was on call at ConstantiaBerg Medi-Clinic on Tuesday and even investigated the labour wards after calling me and not getting a reply... we went to movies and saw Oceans 13. Yawn. Definitely not as good as the first one. The bonus was popcorn and having time with Adam, as this is a definite lifestyle change to not see him during the day. It does make 6pm a special time of the day though when he comes home.

On Wednesday I stopped in at work after my first moms and tots group yesterday. That was an experience - zillions of crawlers and quite a few shrimps, and lines of baby seats! Some definite baggy eyes on new moms and lots to be learnt. Having listened in to various conversations, I count myself blessed not to have had any strange preggy symptoms like swollen hands and feet, desperate heartburn, low amniotic fluid, sore bits etc. while I tried to keep those darn preggy jeans up and my large preggy shirt down, small stuff in comparison. Bump got patted in approval when I left and headed for Korbitec where it was so nice to catch up with friends briefly and find out how the teams are getting on and what's been happening. A couple of raised eyebrows at my much larger tum made my day as did the Korbitecker smiles and warm welcome.

So - plan for today? Definitely a walk/jog, perhaps coffee at the Olympia, picking up our toddler carseat (thanks to Korbitec and a wonderful baby shower). Of all the things you can do to get labour going, I think we just have hot curry and jogging still to try on the list. I've scratched off castor oil as it sounds disgusting.

BTW: Mum was horrified to hear that we went walking on Sunday in Silvermine (only about 2.5km) - hee hee! The waterfall was a great place for sarmies and lunch, especially as the fynbos was glimmering with diamond drops of rain from the early morning, and the waterfall was in full gusty gush down the valley.

40 weeks - on Maternity Leave

It's late on Saturday night (due date 07/07/07), and Bump is not here yet. I thought that some pictures of the week might say more than I can... along with grateful thanks to God for the glorious weather that I've been blessed with. The rest and the fun of being on leave has been wonderful. And the many calls from friends and family both far and near :)





Adam and I have also made the most of our "last" week together - special dinners and quiet times at home with just the two of us.

And so the wait continues!

39 weeks and The Waiting Game

Your baby continues to gain weight, even up to the last week or two of pregnancy. It doesn't have much room to move inside your uterus. At this point, all the organ systems are developed and in place. The last organ to mature is the lungs.

I'm doing well, just feeling rather large and finding it difficult to bend over. There's too much tum in the way nowadays. Bump is very active which is good, but rather startling at times when a stray knee boxes my ribs. My last checkup was on Thursday last week and my placenta is still doing it's thing, there's lots of amniotic fluid and Bump had put on 3.2kg in total. Bump had not engaged yet, but with a growth spurt of 200g per week, there's definitely increasing pressure in my nether regions :)

I laid out Bump's clothes in the compactum last week, and have discovered that Bump's carpet needs cleaning, so we have everything shoved in the spare room until I can get the carpets done. Luckily there is not lots to do now: just make up the cot, move the spare bed and the rocking chair in. The curtains are up, the cupboards neatly stacked, and several packets of nappies are waiting. I'm sure there is something I've forgotten...

I had an interesting start to the morning today, when I woke up to a very sore lower tum. Rolling over in bed was aina. It seems to have worn off though, so I'm guessing that this was an arbitrary moment of pregnancy side effects, and not the start of labour (which I was wondering about with Adam sneezing beside me).

My cool hubbie has flu, and is working despite feeling grim, just so that he can take time off when Bump is home. I've loaded him with naartjes, Sinutab, Viral Choice, vitamins and whatever else I can think of. We've both had words with Bump about arriving after Adam is better.

>> Adam in action helping to sew curtains