hot off the press

Antoinette is not in labour anymore! Aria Charlotte, born an hour ago - yay!

And then there was one...

Over the past 2mths there has been a wee group of family and friends all having babies. I will be the last in a line of 6 to give birth. First off the mark was friend Kylie who had a little boy - Asher - then my sister in law Marilyn who also had a boy - Issac - then a friend Amy who had another boy - Ethan - then Kristen (whose birth I was at) who had a girl - Raegan - and today my good friend Antoinette (who is currently in labour) will be having a girl who I believe they are going to name Aria.

And that leaves me. 38.5 wks pregnant and feeling quite ready to be done with being pregnant. I am holding on though I think for our wardrobe to be completed so that the clothes and wardrobe stuff currently taking up residence in our lounge and babies room can be put away. And then the chest of drawers can be exited from our bedroom to make way for the bassinet. All a bit last minute I know but it will be great once its done! And big ups to Josh our American import across the road who has been such a trouper lending his building skills!

Hopefully will get some preggy shots and might post them if they look okay.

Midwife visit again in two days and hopefully she will encourage labour along for me! maybe baby shots will be appearing soon??

x

counting down

As of today, I am 36wks and 3 days pregnant. My belly is far bigger than what it ever was with either Isabella or Hannah - in fact someone said to me questioningly on Saturday just been "Twins?" - I replied, "No." He then said, "A boy then?" I replied, "maybe?". Of course if you remember back to a post at the beginning of this pregnancy you may remember that I had a dream I was carrying twins (and also a dream that it was a boy). I actually asked Rhonda our midwife at our appointment last week whether she was sure there weren't two in there. She was fairly certain there's just one - although she did comment that there isn't much room left in there (my belly), that she could see me coming 2wks early (who can really predict these things though), and that she thinks this baby will be a biggy (in the 9 - 10lb range). I say thats okay - as long as it doesn't have a big head!

Since thurday both me and reuben think that I have dropped (that is Coco has snuggled right down into my pelvis). I'm not choking to breathe so much when I sit down now, I certainly need to pee all the time, and I feel like I have a watermelon between my legs! Saturday night also heralded my first what you could call false labour - regular contractions that amounted to nothing after 90mins.

I have been meaning to pack my bags for my "hotel" birthcare experience for the last 4 days. Reuben got out the suitcase from under the bed tonight, and Coco's clothes are out and I have at least written a list of what to take. It all feels a bit foreign having to pack a bag to give birth given the girls were both born at home. However, if the labour is a fast one this time, Rhonda will come to us at home. Next visit is on Thurday where will do the "birthplan" yay!

Anyway, this was only intended as a quick update so i will now say goodnight and head off to brush my teeth - hopefully I will beat my husband to bed!

x

Can you believe it...

In the past two weeks New Zealanders have been sickened to hear the abuse and torture endured by 3yr old Nia Glassie. Used as a wrestling toy, tied to the clothesline and spun till she flew off, placed in a tumble drier and other awful things at the hands of her extended family. My own tears streamed as I watched and listened to the news reports. Her broken body gave up on Friday just gone when she died in Aucklands Starship hospital.

Lobby groups For the Sake of Our Children and Family First organised a 3min silent protest today at 12:12pm (read about it here...) Family First spokesman Bob McCoskrie said the three minutes represented "the three short years" of Nia's life, and the time mirrored the 12 children who died from child abuse each year in New Zealand.

...But Awa said engaging in korero (talk) and singing songs was a more appropriate approach. "The silence proposed by a coalition of non-Maori organisations is counter-productive," Mr Tautoko said. Awa is advocating "whanau-based solutions" to violence in Maori communities and said people who made noise would send a clearer message of support to those communities. "We have had many non-Maori broadcasting what they think is wrong with Maori people and whanau in the last week," Mr Tautoko said.

"While we appreciate their concern, non-Maori need to recognise the following fundamentals: this is not a Maori problem, so much as it is a colonisation problem, and Maori communities must lead the development of solutions."

quote taken from NZ Herald (same article as above link) 8/8/07

I shook my head and rolled my eyes at Awa's response. Get it together - your both trying to highlight the same issue! Silence or noise - be united! Its not a fight of Maori vs non-Maori anti abuse groups - Its a fight against child abuse in the interests of saving more of our children from suffering such abuse as Nia endured. Its not only Maori children who suffer child abuse.

Sigh