Fully Qualified Big Sister

Cassie graduated today from the Big Sister Course at the Birth Centre! Her first step in formal education is complete, with a certificate to prove it! So, Cassie will be ready...it's a shame about the rest of us.

Highlights of the course included:

• Drawing a picture of "Mummy with the baby in the tummy". Cassie has produced a lovely piece of abstract artwork which I can't share due to us not having a scanner. She is starting to get the hang of sharing textas and other toys with other kids too, which is nice!
• Close up look at a real placenta, from a baby born at 9am today. Cassie's reaction was "Mmm...eat" [loudly]. This was a bit worrying. I guess it looks like liver but we don't eat a lot of that in our household. By the way, I didn't eat Cassie's placenta and I'm not planning to eat the placenta from this baby either. Still, it would be more nourishing than the 10 pieces of toast I ate last time seeing as I was 10 minutes too slow giving birth to get the proper breakfast. (How slack of me). This time, I am taking a container of my Mum's delicious spaghetti bolognaise. Complete with wheat and tomatoes (sorry Geoff). Mmm, a lot more apertising than placenta.
• Seeing a 4 day old baby being bathed. For Cassie, this was the best bit. Unfortunately, it was all happening at a very ergonomic height for the adults, which meant that I had to lift Cassie up for 15 minutes so she could watch. Very exhausting. This baby was tiny but he weighed 5.2 kg when born. I really really hope ours isn't that big!!
• Seeing a birthing video. As soon as she could see the baby's head coming out Cassie said "Needs bath". I tried to convice her that they could probably wait until the baby was fully born before they worried about that. Anyway, Cassie didn't seem at all distressed (or amazed) by the graphic video, but 2-year-olds can take a lot in their stride. Still, I'm not planning to have her at our birth. I found the video a bit hard to watch as it's so intense. And I will be experiencing something like that in about 3 weeks.
  

On the downside, I drove around TCH for 20 minutes without actually finding a park so we were quite late to the course. Cassie and I ended up running across Garran oval together. Probably this was very valuable experience...if I need to travel to the birth centre in labour during the daytime I think we will take a taxi. Although Canberra Cabs is pretty bad too...

In other news, I have yet another cold (I've had several mild colds in the last couple of months). Everytime I get a sore throat I am completely paranoid about swine flu, but it's definitely just a cold this time...Hopefully it will be mild again so that I'll be completely recovered before going into labour.

Great books for a big-sister-in-training

I know it is a bit strange to post two blogs in one day, but I have to pay a quick homage to two library books which must be returned tomorrow. Cassie has requested both of these books almost daily since we've borrowed them (acutally, sometimes, about 3 or 4 times in per day). And I'm still not sick of them!:

• "Hi new baby", by Robie Harris, illustrated by Michael Emberley. This one is about the first few days an ambivalent big sister (pre-school age) spends with her little baby brother. It's told from her father's perspective. The illustrations are particularly beautiful, with lots of emotional, realistic close ups of the girl and her family. The language is a bit American ("Mommy", "diapers" etc), but that's a pretty minor gripe. (It also features a slightly unrealistic episode in which Grandpa changes the new baby's nappy. Ha ha!! As if that would ever happen. In 2 years neither of Cassie's grandfathers has ever been anywhere near a nappy that needed changing!!)
  

• "There's a house inside my Mummy" by Giles Andreae, illustrated by Vanessa Cabban. This one is my favourite. It explains pregnancy from the perspective of a two year old big-brother-to-be, and begins with "There's a house inside my Mummy, Where my little brother grows, Or maybe it's my little sister, No-one really knows". The funniest page has got to be: "I just can't wait to meet him, I hope that he's alright, My Daddy says be patient, As his door is rather tight."!!! Seems funny now, I'm not sure if I will think like that when I'm in labour. Anyway, I like this book so much I think I'll buy a copy. I just hope it doesn't encourage the little brother/sister in our family to demand another baby.
  

Cassie will also be doing the "Big Sister Course" at the Birth Centre in a few weeks. I'm not quite sure what the curriculum is, but I've got to say some of the kid's drawings of "Mummy having a baby" that were posted on the wall at the Birth Centre featured Mummies with disturbingly realistic facial expressions!

Father's Day 2009

Today is Father's Day and I'm feeling guilty about making Geoff work so hard. We gave him a picture Cassie made at playgroup with her painted footprints and a slogan saying "Put your feet up Dad". We didn't actually mean it though!

He's out in the rumpus room right now painting the final coat on Cassie's new wardrobe. He's also been busy this afternoon helping me with my chook house, although I've actually been doing most of it myself. Here is the plan. Even though the total extent of my construction experience is a "C-" in Year 7 woodwork and metal work, it's really not that hard. And if things don't quite line up then I just repeat this reassuring mantra: "It's not precision joinery. It's only a chook house.". So far I've only done the top and bottom of the frame, but that's a start and I feel really encouraged. Actually, I feel proud every time I look at it! Builders must have great job satisfaction.

We are planning to get 3 isa-brown chooks. This should produce about 14 eggs per week which is great as Cassie absolutely loves eggs. I really hope the new baby likes them too (after 6 months of exclusive breastfeeding, of course). This is all inspired by my friend Lena who has 3 chooks, which are a great source of interest to her 2-year-old son. Cassie loves them too. When we visit, she stands near the chook house saying "Hello cooks [sic]", feeding them grass, and trying to pat them. So far she hasn't been nipped...but I'm sure that's only a matter over time.

Anyway, hopefully it will be finished by the time the baby comes. It's due in 6 weeks, although Cassie came a week early so I'm working on the assumption that could happen again. Thank goodness it's only 6 weeks to go, as I already weigh more than I did when Cassie was born, and I don't think my stomach can stretch too much further. I keep on bumping into people and things when I forget that I can't go through narrow spaces anymore.

Otherwise, I'm feeling ok though. Thankfully, the indigestion doesn't seem to be nearly as bad as it was with Cassie - I haven't even emptied my first packet of Rennies yet. Not working full time is a big help too: I think that sitting down at a desk is just about the most uncomfortable position you can be in during the last trimester of pregnancy. Feet in the ribs in particular is something that I always notice when I'm sitting typing.

My next midwife appointment is tomorrow, but at the last one four weeks ago I found out the baby was in the head down position. Very reassuring. I don't think it's rotated but I guess I'll find out for sure tomorrow. Certainly the regime of 4-weekly midwife appointments is a bit different than the fortnightly (or maybe it was weekly by this stage) obstetrician visits last time.

Anyway, Happy Father's Day to Geoff and all other Dads. I'm lucky that Cassie and her "bro/sis" have such a great Dad! I'm sure that I don't express my appreciation enough (probably like many busy Mums!). But everytime I feel so happy everytime I hear Cassie squealing with joy when she's playing a silly game with Daddy, or when she's getting a nice "kissy-cuddle" with him, or when he goes to lift her out of the cot when she wakes up at 5am (happy that Daddy's fetching her, not happy about the time, that is!), or when I see them reading or drawing or playing at the park together.