Whitbourn.net

Due in early November. We are all very excited and the girls are full of ideas for baby names!

gah! I really didnt want this day to come, but it arrived and departed quicker than I expected. Its all over and done now – and yes, I am now 30 – which is harder to say than 29, but I figure that I have purchased 3 houses, had 3 children in 3 years and will have to move again this year for about the 333 time (well..) so I can be out and proud about being the big 3.0.

So, the weekend was a wash out – due to the NON STOP rain in Sydney, but we had a nice time hanging out together and although we couldnt take many more photos because of the NON STOP rain, here are a few…

nats foot and shoe.

QVB

QVB

Cade checking out our room

QVB

this is what we were looking at all weekend!

Today I sat in my bible study group and listened to our Growth Works DVD about idle moments that we have every day that we could be doing so much more with.

Spending the day thinking about it further, I realised I do have many idle moments throughout the day that I could be using better – like reading, writing, talking and just being with God.

Changes need to be made, I know it wont happen overnight, but it will happen.

He will order my days from now on.

When you have started packing the boxes, remember to number each of them and have a master list of what each box contains. This is very helpful when you are unpacking and you need the kids cups and not the high school year books.

Always start packing as soon as you know you have to move. The craft stuff, extra linen, anything in the back cupboards – the sooner you start the better it will be! This also works after you have moved. Try and unpack everything into its own place as soon as possible, its a rush and very tiring, but worth it when you know where everything is.

(Maisie and Talia put the candles in the cake!)

(Alice was asleep at this stage)

I spent New Years day in bed quite ill and by late afternoon when I still could not drag myself out of bed I decided it was time to call some people to get some info on what I should do. The outcome was to head over to the emergancy dept to get a script and get to the chemist to get some medication.

In my head I was just going to die by spending the rest of my life in bed in pain. I felt like I would never ever be well enough to remove myself from my room. The night before was bad – I was hot and cold and didnt sleep well. I could hear Cade and the girls playing and having breakfast in the morning but it was all blurry and weird. I sent them off to Grandma and Grandpas house so they could hang out with their cousins for a bit whilst I slept the morning away.

Today is a much better day, the medication has started to work and I have been up for most of the day and feel a lot better. It has made me very thankful for all of the doctors and nurses and chemists and other health care professionals that work on public holidays to help look after those who are sick and are in hospitals and nursing homes.

that I am 39 weeks today and cannot do some of the things that I would like to be doing like sweeping the floor or cleaning our bathrooms.

So,  I have a list written and its now on the fridge and if people feel like helping in any way whilst I lay on the couch, its there full of things that I am not able to do at the moment.

Other than that – I saw the dr today and he said everything is looking good with heartbeats and blood pressure etc etc, so expect a baby sometime in the next 3 weeks!

has been the question that I have asked myself on a number of occasions about topics regarding personal issues and things that the kids do or my wonderings about certain things. What will people say or think about what is written is the first thing that comes to my mind – which after 28 years, I really shouldnt worry about. So, this is a part of what has been going on with us over the past few months..

After our 20 week ultrasound that sounded and looked fine, we were told that #3 had “delayed growth of the femur and humerus bones”. I learnt this as I was leaving a clinic appointment by the midwife announcing in front of a full waiting room of people that “there is a problem with the scan”. I, naturally being dramatic, went straight home and “googled” what she had told me. Every single listing came up with reference to Down Syndrome with the short bones being a soft marker. To say I was shocked is an understatement. I sat on the floor and cried for my baby and more selfishly cried for myself.

The hospital said that we needed to see a specialist, which we drove to Canberra for. They confirmed the growth was delayed – it was measuring 4 weeks behind the rest of the measurements of the baby. The professor told us that it could be 1 of 6 different things – some bone problems, it would just resolve itself, down syndrome or it could just be a short baby. They offered for us to have an amnio test done, which would determine if the baby had down syndrome or not – but we declined. There was no other testing that they could do to figure out what the problem might be, so we began a waiting game that has seen some days become a lot longer than other days.

It has taken me almost 20 weeks to try and get my head around what will happen if the baby is born with anything “different” from all the other babies born every day. The pressure that society puts on babies being “healthy & perfect” is unfair and this is really the first time I have ever thought about it. I always just assumed that everything would be fine. The unknown stuff is the hardest stuff to try and get your head around – because we feel that we have the right and the power to be able to “know” everything and try and correct it if it seems like its not “normal”.

I have always found it hard to leave things in Gods perfect hands – but this last 20 weeks has really taught me that there is nothing that I can do and whatever the outcome, it doesnt matter. Everyone is born differently, raised differently, taught differently and loved differently. All that we can do is pray for the strength to be the best parents that we can be and pray for and love all of our children unconditionally.

Our baby will be born in a few weeks time and will be a precious gift from God no matter what.