Just give me some drugs!

Flying solo this week as Dave has a cold and was forced to miss class (not a very good thing to sneeze and blow your nose with a roomful of pregnant women). In this class we learned about pain relief during labour – drug and non-drug options.

Although I’m aiming to go drug free, it’s good to know about the options.

Gas
Combination of nitrous oxide and oxygen, commonly known as ‘happy gas’. It’s actually quite effective and fast acting but it also leaves the body immediately. So you need to keep sucking it which could tire you out easily.

Pethidine
Not the most effective pain relief but it acts as a relaxant – so if your labour is really long, it can help you relax and drift off between contractions. Although it can make some people feel sick.

Epidural
This is the one everyone talks about because after all it is a giant needle going into your spine (or specifically, your epidural space). Epidural is actually not the name of the drug, but the name of the procedure. Once you gain access to your epidural space, a local anaesthetic can be injected directly into your body and it blocks all pain from the waist down. As it takes a while for everything to be set up (including getting a 20 minute drip before hand to counter balance a drop in blood pressure), so if the midwife thinks you will give birth within the hour, you won’t get your epidural.

Non-Drug Options

Heat
Heat, especially wet heat (from shower/bath) is very effective for pain relief. So the water birth option is looking more and more appealing to me.

Massage
This includes massage of your acupuncture pressure points. Will definitely give this a try.

TENS (transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation)
This is an interesting one as it sends small electrical pulses up your spine to block the pain signals from reaching your brain. But you need to hire the unit beforehand if you want to start using it at home.

As well as learning about pain relief, we also watched a second video, this time from the dad’s point of view. Too bad Dave had a cold and missed this class. There were lots of funny comments from all the different dads and it also showed a vacuum assisted birth. Much more graphic than the last video but still a beautiful birth! I'll spare you all the 'juicy' details :)

Next class – Caesarean births! Good stuff!

I'll leave you with this intriguing video - a new exercise chair that'll make your back ache just by watching this infomercial! ENJOY!



Bye bye for now, from Viv and baby.

Now PUUUUUUUUUUUUSSSHHHHHHHHH

In our second birthing class, we learned more about the second stage of labour – the pushing. Although it should be one of the most painful things a woman would ever go through in her life, the fact that the baby is within minutes of arriving will make it easier to deal with.

After hours of contractions, the woman is understandably tired and giving those last pushes is not on the top of her ‘to-do’ list. One of the ways the midwife can incentivise this is by placing her hand on the top of the baby’s head (if it’s already ‘crowning’). The theory is that once she feels the baby, she’ll be able to muscle up that extra bit of energy for the big finale.

As usual, Taryn was full of practical tips that most books will not give you. For example, remember to empty your bladder every 2 hours. The intense pain of contractions will often distract you from the relatively minor discomfort of a full bladder. And having a full bladder can actually slow down labour as the womb is pushed upwards by all the liquid. Another great tip is: watch a long movie on dvd to kill the time. If you just sit around and only focus on the contractions, it can make the hours seem even longer. So I think we’ll have the Lord of the Rings box set ready for the big day.

We were also shown a video – before you cringe, it was nothing like one of those typical graphic medical videos. It was a part of a parenting show on Foxtel, hosted by Antonia Kidman (Nicole’s sister, who has had all 4 children at our hospital). One of the couples was actually in Taryn’s class last year. It followed all the action of their big day (not their wedding of course) and it really put me at ease. They were an average couple, similar in age to us, and going through their first pregnancy as well. After 19 hours of contractions (which started at 2am and yes they watched a dvd to kill time), they decided to head into hospital and within 2 hours, she gave birth. She chose to have a water birth without drugs and even though there was quite a bit of screaming towards the end, it wasn’t all that bad. And it really got me teary when the baby girl arrived and was placed on her chest. If I could choose how my own labour will go down, I think I’ll be more than happy to go through the same.

As we get closer and closer to the finish line, things are becoming more and more real. I’ve now finally encountered my first hurdle in the pregnancy – lack of sleep. Having to always sleep on my side has proven to be a real challenge – you have to do this because sleeping on your back puts pressure on blood-flow to the womb. Being used to sleeping on my back, this is quite an adjustment (and baby kicks whenever I try to get a little rest on my back). This is on top of getting sore legs and hips (from all the hormones released to get my body ready for labour), having to go to the bathroom once or twice during the night and getting extremely painful leg cramps from stretching. My only comfort is that this hasn’t disrupted David’s sleep, although I think matters will only get worse from here on.

In the meantime, I’m really happy with all the progress our baby is making. Kicks are getting stronger and it’s following a very steady sleeping pattern. I’m also starting to suspect that there’s more baby than water in my womb (similar to what Simone said about David when he was born). With my increasingly growing cravings for sweets, we’re well on our way to having a little giant! Both David and I are seeing our baby in our dreams, although the face is always fuzzy. We can’t wait to meet our little one and when it does arrive, it’s got a whole heap of cute baby clothes waiting! :)

Check out video below created by David. This time lapse of the Opera House was taken from the Overseas Passenger Terminal at Circular Quay, on June 13th and 14th, the final 2 nights of the Smart Light Walk which is part of the Vivid Sydney Festival. The movie is a combination of 3 sequences containing 850 images - they were 2 cold nights, he now has a cold :(

If it doesn't stop you from walking and talking, it's not ACTUAL labour

Last Wednesday night, we attended the first of 6 birthing classes at the hospital. Each class is 2.5 hours and we couldn't begin to think how they'd fill all those hours!

Well, to our surprise, the class flew by. We had one of the most experienced birthing coach in the state, Taryn, who has taught over 4500 couples! She was animated, informative and very knowledgeable about anything and everything baby related. Our first topics were 'what is labour' and 'signs of labour'. After reading our Baby Bible, we thought we had a good idea about what labour was but the books never describe things the way Taryn did.

If you divide a typical first time labour of 30 hours into 2 stages, the first 90% is the cramping and stretching of the uterus in preparation for the birth, and the last 10% is the actual pushing of the baby. That means for the first 27 hours, your uterus is vigourously pulling upwards to create a dilation of at least 10 cm in your cervix, so that the baby will actually fit through.

And what do those infamous contractions feel like? Ever had a cramp in your leg from stretching a little too hard while asleep? The sharp pain and helplessness you feel when that happens is what the labour will feel like, every few minutes or so. And the cramp will last from 30 seconds in the beginning (occurring every 10 minutes) to 90 seconds towards birth (occurring every 90 seconds). Wow! How I look forward to the pain!

We were also taught to look out for signs of actual labour (your body will have practice runs leading up to the big day) and Taryn did a very animated imitation of how someone will react to a real contraction – it will take your breath away and stop you from talking and walking. We also learned that only around 25% of women break their waters leading up to labour, and if the liquid is green or brown, your baby is in distress and has done a poo (nice one!). Mostly, one of the first signs of labour is a 'show'. I won't go into details here, you can Google it if you really want to know what that involves (probably not immediate before or after having a meal).

We also had a tour of the delivery suite. 4 weeks ago I wrote about how wonderful the birthing centre rooms were, well, the delivery suite was no different. You have the room to yourself. Besides the few monitoring equipment and the 3-part adjustable bed, it looks like a normal room. Stocked with distractions (one of the dads asked where the plasma TV was – oh, how all the dads laughed to that joke!) like Swiss ball, floor mat, cd player etc to cater to mum's comfort. My favourite was of course the en-suite bathroom, complete with bath and a 2 headed shower (so you can aim at 2 painful areas simultaneously). Dads are encouraged to join in the shower, provided that they wear swim wear (David would rather like to think that the nurses would enjoy seeing him without!).

Overall it was a great night, and we both look forward to the next 5 weeks of classes. Our group of 10 couples all seem very agreeable and I hope to make some friends so we can hang out after our babies are born.

We also had our appointment with midwife Alex. Everything is going really well. I'm growing at about 1 cm a week so that's well on track. And baby's heart was beating beautifully – a sound that always brings a huge smile to our faces.

Well, that's it for another week - week 24. If my labour is on the early side, we can expect a new baby is less than 13 weeks! Now isn't that an exciting thought!?

Love,

Viv

Life's like a petri dish - you never know what you're gonna get

In my last year in high school, we did an experiment in Biology class one Friday afternoon; growing bacteria in a petri dish. Each individual in the class (of about 8) was given a dish, and was given the simple task to grow bacteria from different sources. Then, the dishes would go into a incubator during the weekend, and the results would be shown on Monday.

Unfortunately, it wasn't a free-for-all, and we had to pick one specific 'source' for the bacteria. Air, tap water, a finger on a thoroughly washed hand, and I was tasked to use my non-washed hand to start my own colony of bacteria. One person was asked to simply breathe onto the dish, but was specifically warned by the teacher: do not cough on it! Apparently, doing this had the potential of creating a biohazard of epic proportions. Now that caught my attention! I quietly scraped my throat in preparation, and when the teacher wasn't paying attention, I opened the lid on my dish to do a big nasty whooping cough straight onto it.

When the results were presented to us on Monday the result was beautiful. My dish was filled with all the colours of the rainbow, representing all sorts of bacteria, and looked spectacular next to all the other dishes. And the disturbed look on the teachers face was priceless when she realised that this was supposedly from my unwashed hand.

That was the last time I was this excited over a biological experiment I was involved in. What also excites me is that I'm probably the first person in the history of the world to compare the conception of his first child with coughing into a petri dish.

I fully understand the concept of genetics, and the 50/50 split that occurs, but if the child was 100% like yourself (i.e. a clone, a mini-me), that would be totally creepy, so 50% means half of totally creepy, which is still pretty creepy. But then again, I can get used to the idea quite quickly. We sometimes try to picture what a baby that's half me, half Vivian will look like, and we can't help but get a bit worried. In particular its forehead. If ours is anything to go by, the baby will end up with a forehead 50 centimetres tall. And then its teeth! It will most probably have double rows, top and bottom, of big wonky teeth, like a great white shark. Possibly born with them as well. Come to think of it, perhaps we should have adopted after all!

Note about the photo: As part of the Opera House Luminous Festival and Vivid Sydney Festival, landmarks around the CBD are lit up at night with beautiful projections, as well as many night sculptures. This was taken across from the Opera House, in front of the Park Hyatt hotel. By chance there was a massive sailing boat docked for the night. We hope you like it :)

David.

The sweet life

Answering Gerard's request from last week, here's a photo of me at around 2 (click on photo to enlarge). Yep, I looked like a leg ham with all those layers of clothes.

And so much has changed since 1985... My current hourly income is more than what mum used to make in a month; I would not own my first CD for another 10 years; and I wouldn't have travelled outside of my province for another 5 years.

This week, I'd like to write about some of my most treasured childhood memories that I'll be sure to share with my children and even grandchildren for the many years to come.

Wontons or no wontons

From the age of around 8, I started walking to school by myself. On my way there, I'd always visit my favourite noodle house to get my daily breakfast. Eating out is such a common practice in Guangzhou (my home town) so it wasn't such an extravagance for a little kid to do the same. The most important decision was always 'wontons or no wontons'. Wontons are little dumplings stuffed with pork, prawns and mushrooms, and are usually part of your noodle soup. The dilemma for any 8 year old was whether to spend 1.50 yuan (around 25 cents) to include wontons with your noodles or just go with plain noodles, a thrifty 1 yuan. The saving would mean the difference of an ice-block later that day or no arvo snack. Decisions decisions. If only adult life was so simple!

Snails and swallows

For reasons unknown, I was fascinated by snails as a child. The way they move and leave what looks like snot trails, the way their tentacles shrink when you touch them, and not to mention the way they can fit their whole body into their shell. The apartment we used to live in was behind the main block of street facing buildings and could be reached via many alley ways from all different directions. There was a garden bed on one of the less direct alley ways that seemed to house snails en masse, especially after some rain. I'd always make sure to take that way home on rainy days so I could collect a new selection of snails, big and small. But for the life of me, I can't remember now what I ever did with them once I took them home. Another upside of taking the long way home was a swallows nest sitting on the wooden beam of an old fashion sliding door of one of the houses on that alley way. Even though it was quite high up and hard to see, hearing those little baby swallows chirp was just the best.

Summer holidays

When you're a kid, summer holidays always seemed to last a century. I'd always look forward to having my cousin, Cathy, over to play. We'd spend hours sitting in the plastic bath tub, scooping water in and out of our little pots, pretending to cook up a feast, until our skin would wrinkle up like prunes. Another favourite game was teachers and students. We gave all our dolls names of kids from our school – the naughty kids' names were always given to the boy dolls and the most well behaved dolls were always named after our best friends. We'd get really creative with what little classroom 'facilities' we had – a thin sheet of paper placed in front of the lamp would become the overhead projector, a knitting needle would become our blackboard pointer. Long days of play always ended with a nap on the bamboo weave mat placed on the tiled floor of the living room. I still love my naps till this day.

I know that our baby will have a very different life to mine. But I hope that one day, he/she will look back on their childhood and remember those simple things and moments which sums up 'la dolce vita'.

What's in a name?

It's been a while since my last entry. I cannot match Viv's prolific output; you know, busy busy busy, people to meet, places to visit.

Last time I talked about nicknames, this time I'll talk about names. Real names. You see, as most of you are probably aware, there will come a time when your baby will have to be given a name. Something that will haunt them for the rest of their lives. This is serious stuff. Viv and I discussed potential baby names years and years ago. It won't surprise you to hear it was always Vivian who started that discussion, but I'm always happy to go along with. Besides, I wouldn't know what else to talk to, and you gotta do something to avoid those awkward silent moments sitting side by side on the couch during ad breaks in Biggest Loser.

We collectively changed our minds a couple times (I'm easy with things like that), but for the past 3 years we settled on two names; X and Y. These names were going to be secret until the day the baby was born, but unfortunately that day I forgot to send Vivian a memo advising her of that decision. By week -10 (that's right, negative ten), all of Viv's colleagues with the names X and Y had been informed that that's what our children were going to be named, and that they themselves had nothing to do with that decision, because these names were picked way before we even knew these people. I guess it's still somewhat of an honour, because had those people been annoying or disagreeable in any way, that name would have probably been scrapped.

By week 12 Viv informed my brother via email simply because he mentioned names somewhere in the email. The cat was well and truly out of the bag now, but still I asked if we could keep it a surprise to at least a few people (the ones living under rocks). Reluctant to oblige she tried brushing it aside saying, 'It might not even look like an X or Y'. Now, I've heard that one before. In fact, I heard that one so often I lost count. I can't wait to finally understand what that means, because right now, I can't imagine what it's like to look at your newborn, and decide it definitely does/doesn't look like an X or Y. How on earth do you decide whether or not a baby looks like a particular name? Did I look like a David when I was born? Do I look like one now? Personally, I always thought I looked a bit like a Norbert (see photo – aged 6), but hey, what can you do; nobody asked me at the time. If I was to take a hot bath for the next 9 months, fully submerged, will I still look like a Norbert? Probably even more so, and the thought definitely sounds appealing.

As long as it doesn't come out looking like a Benjamin Button I don't care, because I will do a runner to the nearest canal; I can't wait for another 40 years before it looks like a Brad Pitt!

Ultrasound & Birth Centre

On Tuesday we went to have our second ultrasound to check that everything’s developing well with the baby. Again, I didn’t drink enough water (a large bladder pushes the womb upwards so it’s easier for the technician to make all the measurements) so the lady decided to tilt the bed backwards. It was…..interesting………to say the least and a couple of times I felt like I was going to slide off the bed!

Since there is less room this time, our baby wasn’t moving as much as last time. And since it’s bigger, you can't see the whole body in the one shot so it wasn’t as exciting as the last ultrasound. But we did get to see the baby’s hands and feet in great detail, as well as the heart pumping the blood at 153 beats a minute! Look at attached photo of our baby waving to the world.

From head to butt the baby is now a little over 15 centimetres long. And the technician should be able to tell the sex. Although we told her as soon as we walked in that we didn’t want to find out, we couldn’t help but notice when she made a gender specific comment! Even though it was just the once, it did put ideas in our heads.

After the ultrasound we also met our midwife, Alex, for the first time. She was very nice and understanding and I think it’ll be great to have her at the birth. She gave us the option to give birth at the birth centre or the delivery clinic. “What’s the difference?!” I hear you ask. We asked the same question too. Basically, the birth centre offers a setting similar to a home birth. They don’t perform continuous monitoring and provides little intervention. They also don’t offer any hard drugs (e.g. epidural) but will give me a little happy gas to ease the pain. The delivery clinic, just around the corridor, has a more clinical setting. You’ll be hooked up to all the machines monitoring everything and they will intervene and offer drugs when needed. When Alex showed us a room in the birth centre, our minds were easily made up. It looked like a normal bedroom, with a double bed (so dad can also get in) and a huge bathroom with an enormous bath tub (if you want to give water birth a go) and an equally big shower. You also get to have the room by yourself and if you need intervention or drugs at any stage, just say the word and they’ll walk you right into the delivery clinic. So it’s the best of both worlds! I hope I will be strong enough and that the birth will be smooth enough for us to stay in the birth centre the whole time.

Again, the hospital is impressing us with its endless good service and first class facilities. I don't think anyone has been as excited to go stay in a hospital as me! In a few weeks we'll be doing some classes on the birth and breast-feeding, plus a hospital tour. I'm sure there'll be more impressive hospital updates to come.

Bye bye for now......*baby waves good-bye to everyone*

Love,

Viv