Just Nicky

Winning and Grinning March 31, 2007

I feel almost embarrassed about how well I have been doing since Leila was born. I don’t remember all that much about this point after Finn’s birth, but I do remember uncontrollable sobbing, bone crushing fatigue and gut wrenching anxiety. There’s none of that this time (touch wood).

That’s not to say that I’m not tired. I am. Although the nights are going well, I’m very tired. Leila wakes twice between 10pm & 6am for feeds. I generally manage to get around 6 hours sleep through the night and another couple of hours during the day, which is very good. But that sleep occurs in 2 or 3 hour blocks so that I never get the long, deep sleep needed to feel really rested. This is the reality of having a small baby in the house and it will pass, so it’s nothing to complain about.

There is nothing else to complain about either. Everyone tells me I’m looking really well and, false modesty aside, I have to agree with them. Bizarrely, because it’s the last thing I expected, I’m back to my pre-pregnancy weight. I don’t know how this has happened. I’ve done nothing to make it occur. Although I’m making a general effort not to eat too much rubbish, I’m eating what I want to eat, when I want to eat it and as much of it as I like. For the first time in years I’m drinking milk - flavoured milk, even. I eat a huge breakfast. I hoe into whatever visitors bring with them (gotta love visitors who bring food ). I rarely feel full so I figure it’s all getting used.

The superstitious little voice in my head keeps telling me that it won’t last. That the law of averages says that something will have to go wrong soon to balance things up. And maybe it’s right. Whatever. While things are going well, I’m going to enjoy it and deal with the negative when it hits us in the face.

My Big Sister March 28, 2007

One of my sisters, Rhonda, was here for the last 3 days helping out around the place. She cooked meals, washed dishes, hung washing, drove me places and generally wrangled Finn. This morning, in particular, she looked after both Finn and Leila while Mark went to work and I slept off a less than remarkable night. She took 3 days annual leave to do this and tonight has flown off to Adelaide to attend a meat processing conference where she’s doing a presentation on training. She’s taking more annual leave in a couple of weeks, in part so that she can be on call to help out if I need it.

While I don’t doubt that we could have survived the last few days without her help, I’m certain that Mark, Finn, Leila and I would have been worse off for it and there may well have some shouting and quite a few tears. Instead, things have been relatively calm and, although Mark & I are tired and Finn is generally a bit discombobulated, we are travelling well.

As Mark has said, Hoorah for Rhonda. Hoorah for big sisters in general.

Weighty Matters March 26, 2007

During my pregnancy with Finn I gained about 14 or 15 kilos, which was OK. After he was born about 10 kilos disappeared immediately. The rest took nearly 18 months to shift, which was frustrating.

I was expecting much the same experience with Leila and preparing myself not to get too concerned about carrying the extra weight for a while. At the same time I promised myself that, as soon as I was through the recovery from the c section, there would be lots of walking and exercising and, maybe, a gym membership in a few months. I didn’t want to be obsessed with my weight, but I didn’t want to be slack about it either.

Everyone has been complimenting me on how good I look since Leila was born. It’s very nice, but I still feel kind of blobby so I didn’t quite believe it. Out of curiosity I hopped on the scales this morning to see just how much weight was left. I am apparently only 2 kilos over my pre-pregnancy weight. This is amazing.

I don’t know exactly how much weight I put on while I was pregnant because I stayed away from the scales as much as possible, but I think it was probably about 13 kilos. I suspect if I’d gone to 40 weeks it would have been the same as with Finn because the weight gain does accelerate towards the end of the pregnancy. To have only 2 kilos left 2 weeks after the birth is astonishing and very encouraging. I still intend to get moving as soon as possible, but it’s more about improving my fitness than losing weight now.

While I was in hospital the midwives were astonished by how low my heart rate was - around 50 beats per minute. One of them even asked if I was an athlete … me! I assured her I was not and that my sister would say that my low heart rate was just an indication of how generally lazy I was. My heart can’t even be bothered to beat at a decent rate. I figure it might be time I did some exercise to deserve it.

There’s No Place Like Home March 17, 2007

We’re here, back home where we belong. And it’s lovely.

Things in hospital went really well. There were the usual annoyances you expect in a shared ward in a busy hospital - the woman in the next bed who left her TV on all night, other people’s visitors crowding my space and talking loudly - but, in general, things went swimmingly. Midwives, nurses in general, are amongst my favourite people in the world. They make what would otherwise be really difficult experience almost pleasurable.

I am tired and a little sore, but otherwise in really great shape. As Mark said on either podcast or blog, it’s so much easier the second time around and it’s just as exciting as the first time.

There is, of course, a lot more to say, but for now I’m just going to catch up on blogs and stuff while I wait for Leila to wake for her next feed.

Happy Family March 14, 2007

Funny Kid by MarkOMeara

This is Mark here which you might not expect on Just Nicky. While she is in hospital for a few more days I wanted to share the news that she is going really well.

The delivery went like clockwork and both Nicky and Leila are getting in some good rest and bonding time. Oh, and of course Finn helps when he can.

Leila is Here March 13, 2007

Of course all the best news and photos will be on her blog.

Greyness March 10, 2007

I’ve been colouring my hair continuously for 20 years now. Ever since I went to Queensland for a holiday a brunette and, thanks to a pre-existing perm, hard Queensland water and constant sun exposure, came back a redhead. I’ve never allowed my hair to return completely to that original brown, although I’ve largely given up the red dye in recent years, so it’s not surprising that most people who know me wouldn’t know what my natural hair colour is, nor just how grey my hair is these days.

The truth is that I am quite grey. I have more grey hair than my sister who is nine years older than me. Being a brunette, the grey hairs are quite obvious when I’ve been lax about keeping up the colouring and it’s staggering to see just how many there are. The grey population increased dramatically after Finn was born (and, no, I don’t blame him for it).

During pregnancy and while breastfeeding the normal lifecycle of hair is suspended for most women. New hair grows, but the existing hair doesn’t die and fall out as it normally would. This is why a lot of pregnant women have very lush, thick heads of hair. Once the woman stops breastfeeding and hormone levels return to what they were pre-pregnancy all the hair that should have died and fallen out over the preceding months (or years for some I suppose) dies and falls out at once.

This is what happened to me when Finn was about 3 months old, just as I was returning to work. I went from having too much hair to looking (to me at least) like I was going bald. It’s not good to have a layered hairstyle at this time because you end up with big gaps between the layers, which look really weird. I had to get my hair cut into quite a short bob to hide the gaps. And you don’t want to know how odd it looks when the hair starts to grow back and there’s spiky patches appearing out of nowhere. This time I’m letting my hair grow in longer layers until I stop breastfeeding. When it falls out I’ll get it cut really short and keep it that way until the regrowth gets to a reasonable length.

The new hair that grew back as the normal lifecycle re-established itself last time was all grey. All the hair along the edge of my hairline at the front is grey. The hair at my temples is grey. Take my word for it, I am very, very grey.

I really have no problem with going grey. I’m actually looking forward to the point where my hair is a lovely soft grey colour all over. But I’m not there yet. While I have a lot of grey in my hair now, it’s not the dominant colour yet - it is still mostly brown. Grey peppered through dark hair can look very harsh and aging and I don’t want that. Lots of women deal with this by going blonde and then allowing the grey to make it’s way through gradually. I’m not a blonde…

So my plan is to keep colouring my hair until I reach one of three points: either the coloured hair looks out of place around my face, or the ratio of grey to brown looks right to me, or I just get sick of doing it.

Making sure my hair is freshly coloured for Leila’s birth is not about some issue I have with being an older mum, it’s about my personal vanity and photos. People have this propensity for taking photos of mums with new babies. I hate having my photo taken at the best of times, but I particularly hate it when I’m not happy with my appearance. Post-birth no one looks particularly great, but making sure my hair is the right colour is one little thing I can do to salve my vanity …

Today March 8, 2007

Today I:

Went back to bed. Mark very kindly (particularly considering he had to be at work on time today) offered to take Finn to childcare and Finn very obligingly got up early and behaved cooperatively while getting ready, so I was able to hop back into bed by 7.30 and sleep for another couple of hours.

Coloured my hair. I have a bit of thing about the thought of being in the maternity ward with grey hair (echoes of the trauma I experienced in primary school because I had an older mum than everyone else …)so I figured today was a good day to deal with that.

Will pack my bag for hospital. I think it’s probably time I got my head around that…

And there was something else I was going to do … It’ll come to me …

Check these out

New Secondhand Campers - side view by Nicky P

These are my new secondhand Campers - my second last Ebay purchase pre- Leila. They arrived in the post this morning and I love them.

They’re a men’s style, half a size bigger than I would normally wear (but I’m wondering if my feet might actually be half a size bigger than I think they are) and they cost me about 50 bucks.

This is just the sort of shoe I want and need for winter this year. They take my orthotics easily and are deliciously comfortable. After a good Dubbining the colour will deepen nicely and they’ll be perfect.

Odd

The first thing the dogs do when they come inside is drink the cats’ water.

The first thing the cats do when they go outside is drink the dogs’ water.