greetings from "down under"....
I had hoped to get back on and blog a bit the last few weeks - but I just haven't found the time. I still have so much I want to write about our experience here so far. My mom arrived on March 2nd and that was a very fun day! Will and I went to the Melbourne Airport to pick her up and we were all thrilled that she made it safely and came a couple of weeks before our baby girl was due to arrive. Mom has been a tremendous help since she has been here! It has also been wonderful to have her company and to get to see her and spend time with her everyday. She has been a huge blessing here with us these last few weeks and she is here until April 21st.
The kids have continued to thrive at school. Claire loves her teacher and has made many friends in her class. She gets to do alot of wonderful activities through school - dance lessons, running club, Japanese, swimming class and she's learning to play the recorder. She hasn't missed a beat and seems to just love going to school! Will is enjoying his pre-k class too. He has 2 wonderful teachers and he has really turned a corner in the last couple of weeks as far as being completely comfortable at school. He's made some friends in his class and he likes all of his special activities as well. He really likes going to the library and bringing home a book each week - just like the big kids! And his class takes swimming once a week too, which he really looks forward too. He has "siesta" every afternoon at school, which is the only downside to his day - in his mind. Both kids have "morning tea" at school everyday - where they bring a snack (fruit) from home. The kids' school has alot of family activities as well and we have enjoyed getting to meet other parents and families. It has been a true blessing for us to have found such a great school that both children attend together. The kids go to school in terms here - their first term began on February 2nd and will end on March 30th. They'll have 2 weeks off and then start Term 2 April 16th. I think we are going to like this somewhat "year round" schooling!
Aside from Bryan's job and the kids' school, the other big thing in our lives is the anticipation of the arrival of our baby girl. We have been preparing what we can to get ready for her. Our sea shipment of furniture and all of our household goods has been delayed numerous times. It sailed out in early January and was set to arrive in Melbourne on February 21st. It has been one delay after another - and somehow changed boats in all places - Taiwan? (In our minds it should have just made a straight trip from LA to Australia, wouldn't that have been easier?). It finally arrived into the port on March 20th and now is undergoing quarantine and customs checks. We are crossing our fingers it goes through smoothly - but we have heard things such as seeds, pinecones, peacock feathers are all prohibited. And as you can guess - we have all of those things in some way or another packed into our sea shipment. With this being over a month late in delivery, nothing would suprise me at this point. But we are really hoping to have it deliverd in the next week or so. Bryan has 3 days off of work for Easter (Good Friday, Easter Monday and Easter Tuesday - must be an Australian-made holiday?) so it would be nice if everything arrived before the Easter weekend so we could all be at home to work on the chaos that is about to arrive. Luckily we do have the bare essentials for our baby girl - bassinet, pack.n.play, clothes for 0-3 months, blankets, etc. Thankfully, she won't have to sleep in our dresser drawer! It will be so nice once everything is here from the sea shipment. Claire and Will ask about it almost everyday - they remember a toy or something from back home and say "is that coming in the sea shipment?" It will be a very happy day around here once we have our things. We have been living pretty simply the last couple of months without our stuff.
Baby update ~ Anna arrives!
My doctor visits have gone well and my hospital stay has been booked since December. I have been to the hospital for a tour and for a childbirth refresher class, so I could get used to where to go, what to do, and what things would be like here in Australia. There are some differences with giving birth in Australia, compared to my experiences back in The Woodlands. I have been more worried this 3rd time around about going into labor, getting to the hospital, etc. More nervous than I was with the first 2 babies - obviously because everything is new to me here. I was told in the childbirth class here that a midwife might deliver my baby, especially if it is the middle of the night, b/c the OB won't come until the morning. Of course I was not thrilled with hearing that and I confronted my OB on that one at my following appointment. He assured me that he would show up (or whomever was on call if a weekend) and that he would have a police escort to ensure he made it to the delivery room. :) I was more relieved when I spoke to him about it. I was also worried about the traffic and distance to get to the hospital, as it can be unpredictable here and we are farther away. Luckily when the time came to have Anna, we were heading to the hospital on a Saturday morning at 5:30 a.m. - so my prayers were answered there! Things tend to be more natural here and less invasive. I feel like I need a t-shirt: "I survived an Australian birth!" I'm only kidding. But I think the worry and anticipation of it all was weighing heavily on my mind the last few weeks. I was told early on by my OB that epidurals are few and far between here - hardly anyone has one and anesthesiologists are more reserved for major surgeries than to just give epidurals. So we opted to go all-natural! And look at me, I am here to blog about it - ha! Luckily I had a pretty short labor - left for the hospital at 5:30 a.m., got checked into the delivery suite at 6:15 a.m. and little Anna was born at 8:17 a.m. When she was born, they put her straight into my arms! Then they just towel dry her off - no bath, no warmer, no suctioning. It seemed to all work out well for her - seemed like a calm and peaceful welcome into the world for Anna. After a couple of hours we were moved to the maternity suite - where we were told that Anna and I would spend at least 4 nights. 4 NIGHTS!!! what? I wasn't planning on this....with Claire I spent 2 nights in the hospital and with Will I was in for 1 night and just barely 24 hours. Also they have an option if me and the baby are doing ok, then we can move to the Park Hyatt hotel where the hospital has midwives to care for us there. That doesn't sound like a bad option - better than a hospital! Soon after we moved to the maternity floor one of the nurses put my name on the list to move to the hotel. Unfortunately though, with the Formula 1 Grand Prix in Melbourne for the weekend, the hotel was fully booked. I did talk to the OB that delivered Anna and he said after 2 nights he would let us go home. :) Key point being that an OB did come to my delivery and bring Anna into this world. It was one of the partners of my OB, as it was a Saturday. We were very pleased with him, having not met him before. We had wonderful nurses (they call them midwives here) that watched over us. Overall the whole experience was a positive one and everything went very well. We are so happy and blessed Anna is here with us now!
Anna is such a sweet, calm and precious baby! I have been reminded JUST how much I love newborns ~ their smell, their facial expressions, their noises, their sweet cries. She has been more alert each day and it has been amazing to watch her take in the world around her. It has been fun to see Will and Claire with her - they both love holding her and checking on her. It is very sweet to watch them with a baby.
Anna, my mom and I are at home waiting for the Maternal and Child nurse to come to our house for a visit. This is a service that is provided to all newborns. The nurse will weigh her and answer any questions we have. I am looking forward to finding out more about how we handle Anna's care in the coming months/year. I was able to have a Pediatrician see Anna in the hospital to look her over, but that is not very common. We will go back to the Pediatrician for her 6 week appt., but that is likely all we will see of one. In Australia, Pediatricians are specialists that see children with chronic illness or disease. We will instead see the nurse and go to a GP doctor that our whole family will see.
That's about all for now.....
hugs from Australia,
Chrissy :)
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