Babyhood Abroad

Unfortunately I haven't the time to post pics but he's here! Pieter Sabin was born at 1 am GMT Saturday the 18th of April, 2009, weighing in at 8lbs and 9oz and measuring 20 inches in length. He's currently in the NICU though with an infection of undetermined origins but he's responding well to antibiotics. I'm doing fine, a lot less sore than I thought I would be. Everyone pray!

So we’re getting settled into our new place. It’s quite nice although it creaks a lot and the pipes ping when the heating goes on lol. When we first moved it, we got the feeling that it had been left vacant for a while because there was just a light layer of dust and grime over everything. So  I’ve been attacking windowsills and doors (with spatters on them) and counter tops, etc. Getting my nesting groove on. I’ve also bought us a sofa, coffee table, dining table and chairs, bookshelves (yes, plural because we have THAT many books!), a chest of drawers and a desk. It helped that the Hubs’ company actually ended their business year with a profit, so everyone got their annual bonus. Thank you, God!

We’ve had to quit our church because the commute was too horrendous. But we’ve joined the same church that Julie and Gav attend so we’ll get to see them a lot more and the kiddos too. We went with the Hubs’ parents on Mother’s Day (in March over here, not May) for the first time and had a lovely time and then back to he Urq’s home for a braai! And the weather was awesome too! But now it’s cooled (yet) again and it looks like Easter will be wet. Sigh. I can’t wait for summer. Literally. I can’t. I won’t. I demand summer to appear AND stick around for a decent interval this year!

I look at my belly pics and think I look quite pregnant but the other day I went to the Dr because I had an ear infection and when double checking that the meds she gave me were okay to take while pregnant, she just looked at me and asked “You’re pregnant?” Um, hello! And then she asked “How far along, 20 weeks?” Yeah, try 37. As in FULL TERM. As in I could technically pop at any moment.

But I also don’t feel super pregnant. There is a pregnancy forum I am a member of and all the ladies due this month are complaining how they are just about OVER the novelty of pregnancy and just want it over with already and can-someone-please-explain-just-what-the-heck-is-going-on-with-my-ankles?! But I’m still doing fine with very little heartburn and I have to admit, I don’t wake up at all during the night to pee (but I know I am drinking enough) while they’re complaining of 7-8 trips a night.

But the baby is squirming like crazy all the time now since he’s running out of room in there. It’s weird. It’s no longer like bumps and kicks, he’s clearly shifting around and I’ll get a little swell and it’ll roll from one side of my stomach to the other. FREAKY O.o And he seems to prefer my left side. Probably because there isn’t a liver to get in his way of playing.

My parents arrive tomorrow (with one week left till my due date) and they’ll stay for 2 weeks. So if baby decides to play ball right, they’ll be here a week before to help me prepare and then a week after to help me stay sane. BECAUSE OH MY GOD, I’M HAVING MYSELF A FRIGGEN BABY! Like, a REAL one. Not a baby DOLL. This is for real. And it’s soon. Real soon. Real baby, really soon.

As crazy as that is to get my brain wrapped around, I’m still not feeling very nervous about going into labor since I have no clue what to expect. Even hearing other people’s experiences doesn’t help because everyone experiences it differently and so I’m pretty much guaranteed to not have a labor like theirs. We’re just praying for quick and not too painful. I don’t think that’s asking too much, right? Well, I guess we’ll just have to wait and see how it goes.

Sorry if my last entry ended rather abruptly but we are visiting the Hub's folks and we were quickly leaving to go somewhere.

But anyways...

I have to admit that I've been really blessed over this pregnancy. I've have virtually no bad symptoms throughout, I've thrown upa totalof 2 times when others are so sick they;re losing weight rather than gaining it, people complain of severe heartburn every night when IF I get it, it's minimal and I don't have to pee in the middle ofthe night nearly as much as I thought I would. Of course, this leads me to think that my next pregnancy (...) will be an absolute nightmare AND I'll be watching our son who could be a hyperactive little crazy man if the activity in my womb is any indication. I'm not yet at the point where I am tired of being pregnant and I must confess that I'm almost sad to see that I really only have roughly 4 weeks left. I am eager to have and hold our son but I'm also apprehensive about having another life completely and wholy dependent on me, which is completely normal. Plus the Hubs and I chose each other when we got married, knowing who each other was and this is bringing into that marriage a third person who we have no idea what he'll be like. He's a complete unknown right now.
I also wonder about post partum depression, I think it could be quite likely for me just bcz of other factors such as having just moved away from friends and into a completely new area, finding it more difficult to get around on top of a baby causing sleep deprivation. I am going to have to really work hard at not letting myself get isolated in my own little home.
We are living closer to Julie and the cousins now and she said to give her a call whenever I even just need a break but I know myself too well in that I would view calling her as admitting defeat somehow. I don't like admitting to others that I am incapable of handling something, I loathe it in fact. I enjoy and take pride in people finding me able and unflappable in situations that I don't want to shine a light on the fact that "hey, I'm only human too!"
Pride will be my downfall.

As I was saying before, there are still things we need to get for home and baby. We desperately need a chest of drawers for our bedroom bcz right now all that is in there is a bed and then luggage bags filled with clothes (we are such clothes horses!!!) We also need to get a cot/crib for the baby but that's not as desperate bcz for the first 1-3 months the baby will be sleeping in a moses basket/basinette. One thing I am worried about is that our home can get quite cold at night and I don't know how to warm it up without constantly keeping the heating on and running up the bill.
We need to get a sofa and a bookshelf (my God, we have SO many books!!! and that's after gutting the shelves before moving!) and all our floors are wood so a rug for the lounge and the hall would be great too but again, not as much a priority as other things. I think my nesting phase is kicking in lol. My parents will be coming at the beginning of April (baby's due the 8th so hopefully they'll be here a week before and then a week after the big day) and they'll be helping me get everything organized and situated which is good. I so want to be organized but I really lack the knack for it. I have such lovely ideas of how things should be but they never turn out right. Ah well...

So those are the major points for the next few weeks. I don't know when next I'll be online since we no longer have it at the house, I'm going to check on some deals to see if we can afford hooking it up but if not, I'll try the library's PC connections... Until then!

So we have officially moved as of last Saturday. We're in our new little maisonette (an apartment built purposefully as an apartment rather than a house converted into one/two) and it's awesomely close to the hospital, NHS Walk-In Centre AND our general practitioner's offices. Like walking distance. Which is great bcz the bus system is nowhere near as well oiled as London's buses. I will never complain about London buses again!

But on the Friday before, I ended up getting a rather nasty throat infection (I am amazed that it hasn't turned to Strep throat bcz it FEELS exactly like it) and haven't quite gotten over it a week later. In fact, my voice is only just coming back since losing it on Sunday evening. So that sucks. That and not having the energy to go to the town centre to buy things we still need for the place like a cheap sofa and a chest of drawers (we got an unfurnished place and have no furniture lol) Luckily, the place had a futon sofa/bed that is surprisingly comfortable to sleep on so we'll be using that for the forseeable future.

There is still so much to get for the baby. We've yet to buy a pushchair (which we need immediately) or a cot (which can wait a little since he'll be sleeping in a moses basket for the first month or 3. And it would be great to get a little kid's chest of drawers or wardrobe for his stuff. And does he have stuff! Our cup certainly runneth over with baby items! 

So I kidnapped and took Pieter to Portsmouth for the weekend for his birthday. It was actually really cool.

We stayed here at the Duke of Buckingham (a pub/ b&b) and it had divine food! I really love the pub culture in this country. In the States, you've mainly got bars which are not necessarily family friendly but pubs a lot of time have awesome food and welcome families before 9pm.

We visited the Spinneker Tower which is a main attraction for Portsmouth and then checked out the famous ships HMS Victory and HMS Warrior. Spinneker Tower boasts the largest glass floor in Europe. Sounds impressive, doesn't it? Well, here it is:

LargestGlassFloorInEurope

Yeah, that's it. BORING! 

The HMS Warrior was the first ship to be made of metal rather than wood. Once all the testing came back that the metal ship worked just fine, every other ship in the world became instantly obsolete bcz it was lighter and faster in the water.

The HMS Victory was Lord Nelson's flagship in the Battle of Trafalgar and is the only ship still in existance that fought in the American War of Independence, the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars.  

And us having fun around the harbor.

I Just Really Love This Shot

How awesome is this stuff?! I WANT *drool*

Mug/Cup Heat Press Transfer

1" Badge/Pin Machine

And of course, once I make oodles of cash with a little side business, I'll be needing this!

Cash Counter Bank Machine

LOL

So Lisa, a dear coworker of mine, pointed out to me that tomorrow is actually the last day I get to work with her. Ever. Bcz she's taken next week as holiday. SADNESS! And this is just ramming home how quickly the days are passing. I remember thinking a few months ago how this seemed to drag on but now, I just want it all to slow down.
My last day at Waterstone's is the 31st. How appropriate to finish on a Saturday when I started on a Saturday. I do think that it's time to leave, at this stage in the pregnancy. I'm finding it pretty difficult to keep my energy up, get things from the bottom shelves and understocks, pick things up from the floor, load trollies. I'll enjoy being able to sleep in a bit and take it easy (not that it's not like I'll just be lounging around. There's our stuff to pack up and a flat to find!) I've been so exhausted at the end of the day lately. And sleep isn't coming so soundly these days either.

This Monday is the Hub's 26th birthday so I am kidnapping him for the weekend and taking him away. And he has no idea where we're going. Heeheehee. I love keeping him in the dark on things like this LOL.

TO DO LIST (Probably not to be completed until I am on maternity leave):

Mail Mom and Dad's Christmas stuff (how pathetic!)
Finish family cards
Mail James and Sarah J's Christmas stuff
Mail baby book to Simone

Basically just a lot of posting things.... sigh

What's your favorite TV commercial?
Submitted by MexicanRobot.

So this was Pieter's and my last Christmas as just a married couple. Next year, we'll be Parents. I have to admit, I still have moments where I look at myself in the mirror and say to myself "You're gonna be someone's mommy." And then I promptly freak out.
What are they doing letting people my age have babies?! Don't they know how fragile they are? How small? They get sick, they get skin rashes, they cry, they poop, they spit up, they can't regulate their body temperature all that well, they can't feed themselves, they are wholy dependant on the Parents. And that's gonna be Pieter and me. YIKES!

But other than that, things are going well. I survived Christmas Eve at Waterstone's (which was manic!) and after we went off to the In Laws by train (so much nicer than the coach). Christmas with them is so different to what I'm used to. It was just Pieter, me, FIL and MIL. That's it. I'm used to about 15-20 people over for Christmas lunch and it was just so quiet with the four of us. Not that it was bad. Pieter and I had a wonderful time and always love seeing them. I hear horror stories from other people about their in laws and I feel so blessed to have the ones I do. But Christmas was always one of my favorite times of year BCZ it was noisy and filled with family, and now it's not. I suppose that it's bcz this Christmas had me thinking a lot of the traditions I grew up with and what I want to pass down to my child so it really hit me this year.