My Inner World

Baby's Here!

2007-08-06T15:27:16+01:00

Our Little Honey was born August 1st at 14.42 hrs. She is just perfect! The labour was very different from our first one, but it was wonderfull. (Once I was given the Entonox that is, not so much fun before that! )

I will do my very best to write a proper update/birth story soon. Untill then, let me introduce, our Little Honey:

Still pregnant

2007-07-30T19:25:53+01:00

Desired result of membrane sweep: The Onset of labour
Actual Result of the membrane sweep: 1 very sore and dissapointed Mieneke

40 weeks tomorrow..... Fingers crossed!

Membrane Sweep

2007-07-26T19:17:43+01:00

Had another check up today. The registrar was the same man that I had seen last week and that I hadn't really gelled well with. When the "Head Doctor" came in I was delighted to see her and she suggested a membrane sweep to see if that would help get things moving. I gladly accepted and then it turned out that HE would be doing the procedure. In hindsight I feel like I should have requested someone else. Not because he was male, but because I didn't feel comfortable with him.
My regular doctor has a very exotic name and is from Egypt, I believe. He then made a rather derogatory remark about Egyptians. Completely uncalled for!
Seeing as allot of his colleagues seem to be from the middle east/Africa (Just a guess, mind you. They wear headscarves and those beautifully coloured all covering tunics) and he himself seems African (or Carribean), I have to wonder how popular he is with his colleagues if he thinks remarks like that are funny...

When I asked about the level of discomfort this sweep would have, he said it was different for everyone but that he would be able to handle it if it were to be done to him. To which I asked him how many people HE had expelled from his body. Started off on the wrong foot there.
Now, I have had internal examinations before and this man had no sense of decorum at all.

The ladies that did it before, were all very respectful and talked me through it. This guy just said "now." and went for it. To say it was painfull and degrading would be an understatement. I felt like a flaming farm-animal.
He told me that if things had'nt started moving by next week's check up he would do it again.... Over my dead body... If I have him again, I will request one of the other doctors. If he doesn't like it, tough. It's my body and I decide who touches it.

On a more pleasant note. The Midwife that did the pre-check up pronounced my name perfectly when she called me. My name is very hard to pronounce so I was rather surprised. Turns out the lady lived in the Netherlands for 12 years and we were able to converse in Dutch. My first pregnancy hospital visit where I could speak in my native tongue. Was a very pleasant thing to be able to do. Hopefully she will be on duty in the delivery ward when I go in!

Right, I will be sure to let ye know if the sweep worked! (Fingers and toes crossed!)

Jammie Day

2007-07-23T13:02:39+01:00

For a few weeks now, I have been getting these shooting, debilitating pains down my spine. They run from the base of my skull down to my tailbone and all I can do is sit completely still and wait for them to pass.
This morning, I sneezed.... My spine seized up and now I am walking like a 95 year old lady carrying 3 bags of heavy shopping in each hand!

But the Munchkin requested a "Jammie Day" during the week and thankfully I had agreed that that could be today. This means we stay in our pyjama's all day long. We have an extra treat in the afternoon ( I am thinking Ice-pop today) while we paint/do Playdoh and she gets to choose what we have for dinner today. (Chicken in the Pot). I will not have to drive anywhere, lift anyone up the climbing frame or carry a shopping basket through a crowded shop whilst trying to remember what the heck it was I went in there for in the first place anyway!
God Bless Jammy Day.

Update

2007-07-22T16:08:41+01:00

Right, as we..ehm.. type, I am 38 weeks and 5 days pregnant. But who's counting? Well, that would be ME!
This pregnancy has proven allot more demanding both physically and emotionally than my first one and as far as I am concerned this is definitly our last one.
I have something called SPD and boy is it no fun at all.
I have so much respect for women who happily go through several pregnancies even with the most severe of discomfort but I'm sorry to say. I am not one of them. I keep telling myself that it couldn't be for a better cause and that it's not going to last forever. But the thing that keeps me the most sane is that after this, I won't have to do this ever again!
Even with the moodswings ("Poor Paddy" is all I can say), the pain and fatigue though, I still feel enormously blessed to be allowed to experience pregnancy and that everything is going so well with this baby. I WANT this baby, I have wanted it for a long time and I can't wait to meet it. I can't wait to hold my baby, to feel it in my arms, to smell it's head and to hear it's first cries. I would rather have it be sooner than later! ;)

We (and by "we" I mean Paddy, as I physically can't do much at all!) are in the midst of last minute baby preparations. I just made up the Moses basket and we have all the clothes washed and put in the drawers. My hospital and labour bags are packed and are in the hall awaiting our departure for the hospital.

Munchkin is very excited about becoming a big sister and sings "Twinkle Twinkle, little star" to the baby frequently.
For some reason, she keeps thinking the baby is in my bossom rather than my tummy. I have had some strange looks when she strokes my breast saying "I love our Baby Mamma!" and puts her cheek against it!
Bless her, we have tried to explain it to her several times but the idea won't budge! I would love to know where the idea came from. Now, I am fairly large up top, so maybe she thinks the baby would have more space up there? :-)

Ok, this is about as much "behind the computer time" as my back can handle at the moment. Going to put my footsies up with a nice cold drink and read a few more pages of the new Harry Potter before going back to the baby preps.

Love and light,

Mieneke

We are Back Online!

2007-07-21T18:13:51+01:00

As of approximately 45 minutes ago, we are back Online! Due to complications with the pregnancy (All is well now!) I had to leave work earlier than intended, and in that same week, the Internet at home died..... So I was without the WWW for a good number of weeks. Talk about feeling like you lost a limb! But, we are back now! Thank Heavens!

I am looking forward to reading up on your respective blogs after I get this new PC secured, I HAVE MISSED YOU GUYS!

Love and light,

Mieneke

Out of the mouths of babes

2007-02-13T21:31:11+00:00

Munchkin and I were playing "I spy"

I said I spied something Yellow.

Munchkin's first guess: "Your teeth?"

Ehhm, Thanks Honey!

This. Is. Not. Cool.

2007-02-13T21:29:23+00:00

Yesterday afternoon, we received an e-mail to all be present in the largest meeting room at 16:00 hrs. They were shutting down the lines to facilitate this meeting... This set off my alarmbells straight away. The lines are holy, Service Level does not get compromised unless it's something BIG.

And, it was.

We all gathered there to see the general manager walk in with a very solemn face. He proceeded to read from an earlier prepared statement.
I work for an outsourcing company and we take care of the customer service for a VERY large software company. (Yes, that one) and this company decided to pull their business and give it to another company with a larger presence globally.

This means that as per the end of June, Mieneke is out of a job.
This is two weeks before my maternity leave is to start. Going job-hunting when you are very much pregnant? Somehow I don't see myself being all that successfull. Finding a part-time job that pays as well as this one did after my maternity leave? Snowball's chance in Hell.

Most of the people in my job are only in Ireland for a year or two anyway. They don't have families here and can pretty much do what they want in regards to finding a job. As my sanity was starting to cave, the faces around me were not too worried. The average age is about 22.... they all went to the pub afterwards to have a "redundancy piss up" (Only in Ireland.)

One very sweet colleague, who knows about the baby was very concerned and even offered to drive me home. I got the feeling that the rest of them thought I was overreacting. Yeah, 4 months pregnant, a three year old at home and just lost a job of 5.5 years that provided a steady income.... Overreacting is right...

On top of that, there was talk of Paddy's job cutting over 70 jobs, too. Can you imagine what it would have been like if that had happened? And it's still not certain that it won't.

Stress and pregnancy do not go well together, so I am forcing myself to chill. Things will go as they are meant to. The Universe decides...

I know that everything happens for a reason, but at the moment I am having a very hard time thinking of what the reason for this could be. It will all reveal it's self though....

Tourists

2007-02-10T16:33:20+00:00

When my friend was over last week and we went out and about, I once again noticed the amount of tourists that flock to Ireland. I love this, it makes me realize how lucky I am to be living in a country that many people pay good money for to visit.
However, what get's me sometimes is the sheer sillyness of some people.

I have had German people start asking me something IN GERMAN. Now, I happen to speak German. But I was sitting on a train, had not spoken a word when they asked me where the stop for such and such a town was. How were they to know I could understand them?

I was standing in a pharmacy on Henry Street once, looking at eye make-up when two Dutch "ladies" starting talking about me in Dutch. Saying that no amount of make-up was going to fix that mug.
I told them they were being ignorant and that that kind of stupidity would get them in trouble some day, in Dutch. They apologized but I knew they were sorry for being caught, not for what they said. And told them that, too.

When I lived in my MiL's village, I heard a story of an American lady asking a cab driver if he knew if a lady called Mrs Murphy (can't recall the exact name used) had lived there at the beginning of the 1900's! Like the cabbie was going to know!

When we were in Glendalouch, we met a group of American ladies who stood in a ruin, holding hands in a circle. (which is fine, I am all for connecting the the surroundings, centering yourself) expressing their gratitude of being back in the land of their ancestors and then proceeding to sing a SCOTTISH song together....

It makes me laugh sometimes... So go on, tell me, what's the silliest thing you have ever seen/heard a tourist do?
Do your fellow countrymen/women ever make you cringe?

Ted 2

2007-02-10T15:59:31+00:00

There is a show called "Father Ted". It's of a certain comedic calliber that is very much appreciated by Paddy's bunch of mates. (Including his brother) and they tend to refer to each other as "Ted". "Ted, going for a smoke?"
"Going for a pint tonight, Ted?"
Then I got pregnant on the Munchkin and somewhere in the proceedings, the baby started to be called: "Little Ted". And it stuck!
Although I am not so sure whether I like my babies being referred to in a context of a show that has "Drrrrrrrrrink, arse Feck!" as a key frase, but some things are just the way they are!

For those not familiar with Father Ted:

It's worth having a look at the other Father Ted clips on You Tube, too!