sharing a story {my story} in cosmo pregnancy

every mum-to-be has a tale to tell of her nine-month journey. in the newest issue of cosmo pregnancy, autumn 2012, i share some of the emotions i experienced while having a low-lying placenta during my second pregnancy.

i was excited and nervous about sharing my little pregnancy story with the world. pregnancy and motherhood can be very touchy subjects, and some of us have very strong opinions on certain issues and procedures. and so we should. i like to share. i like to help. if someone wants my thoughts on a subject, i love talking about my own experiences, and on the flipside of that, i love listening to other parents and parents-to-be tell me their own experiences - the good, the fabulous, the not-so-good, and the really crappy parts - it all helps me grow into the person and mother that i am.

so a big thanks to the girls at cosmo for sharing my story with their readers. and big love photo credits to our favourite photographer, naomi v photography for our maternity photo's used in the article x

my mother's day gift

frankie mae {14 days new}

it started at 11.30pm on a saturday night when i was tucked up in bed trying to get to sleep. i was 39 weeks and 2 days pregnant. i had been struggling with my sleep for quite a few weeks by this stage, i just could not get comfortable, i couldn't fall asleep, and if i did i would wake up after an hour with a massive pain right up under my ribs. yes, little feet were tucked up in there, stretching as long and straight as they possibly could! i was up and down for the past hour going back and forth to the toilet, more than a normal night, and each time i wondered if this is when my waters were going break. laying back in bed, i heard a pop and within a split second they had broken. finally, it was game on!

i didn't have any pains, no contractions yet. i rang the hospital. i rang my mum. my mum lives an hour away and the plan was for mum to come to our house and stay there with our 3 year old while i was in labour. so by the time i had made the phone calls and started getting organised, the pains and contractions had come to say hello. big hurty hello's! there wasn't going to be any time to wait for my mum to arrive and watch our daughter! "scott... pack the car and get summer up... we need to go to the hospital now!"

so off we go. it was about midnight by this stage, the 3 of us are in the car. contractions in the car don't make for a nice car trip do they?! my daughter was saying to me "don't worry mummy, we'll be at hopstable soon". god love her little soul. a contraction starts, i look at the clock and it's 12.18am. i breathe big and slow. i work through the pain and the contraction stops. next contraction starts, i look at the clock and it's 12.21am. farout, they're only 3 minutes apart and we are still driving to the hopstable. we finally pull up out the front and work our way through the emergency section to get into the hospital. i stop for another contraction and as i look around i see some pretty rare sights sitting in the outpatients room. considering the fact that i look like i have just wet myself and am holding on to the wall for support, i look rather normal in comparison to what's around me {don't forget, it's a saturday night}!

we make our way to the lift and up to the delivery suite. the ladies show me my room and i tell them i desparately need to go to the toilet. except it was no toilet visit i needed. it was my baby, ready to rock and roll it's way into this world. i struggle to make it to the bed, but i get there. the midwife gives me a check over and officially announces that the baby is almost here. seems we made it to the hospital in the knick of time! my mum was still on the road, the change of plans ment she would need to meet us at the hospital. one of the student nurses takes our daughter up to the tea room for a cup of milk and a biscuit while they wait for my mum to arrive. back in the delivery room, it was push time! i had only 2 midwives and my partner in the room with me. the midwives were amazing. so calm, so helpful. within the next half an hour they helped me deliver my baby with no drugs and no tears. dare i say it, i had a wonderful and almost enjoyable birth. don't get me wrong, it bloody hurt, and scott had a few pinch marks on him afterwards, but i was focused and somewhat in control of what was happening. it was all in the breathing.

at 1.04am we were blessed with a 7 pound 10 beautiful baby girl who we named frankie mae. a little sister for summer leonie. a daughter for scott and i. it was now mother's day and my mum comes in with summer and we all look at and admire our newest family member. summer is absolutely smitten with the new baby. she just watches the baby's every breath and move. i take a few minutes to look around me. scott was smiling at me. my mum and summer were smiling at the new baby. and i lay there and let a few tears of happiness roll down my face. i feel like the luckiest woman there is.

and just like that, my pregnancy is over and within an hour and a half after laying in bed on that saturday night, i give birth to my precious frankie mae. i am now a mum of 2 beautiful little girls!

love it or hate it. it's monday.

and i seem to have officially lost my feet. if memory serves me correct, which it may not, last time i looked they had red toenails. if you see them, be sure to let me know!

pregnancy diary :: 2 lines

june last year we decided to try for a second baby. must be something about the month of june, as this was the same month, 3 years ago, that we decided we'd start trying for our first. we were lucky enough to fall on the third month with our first, and wouldn't you know it, we again fell on the third month trying for our second. so it seems we will be having a little crew of two may babies. yep, mumma bear is up the duff!

i can't help but compare both of the pregnancies i have experienced, after all it's only natural to do this! my pregnancy with summer was somewhat of a breeze; i had about 2-3 weeks of light morning sickness and the usual tiredness in the first trimester. back then i was working my full time office job and only had myself to look after. i covered my nausea by eating. i craved fresh and cold raw vegies {i'm very much a raw vegies lover}; celery sticks, cherry tomatoes and v8 vegetable juice. i ate salt & vinegar chips and a can of soft drink for morning tea most mornings. before i knew it, it was over and done with and i was loving the fact i had my first little baby inside my tummy. it amazed and awed me every single day. i was proud and loving it.

this pregnancy, however, started off ever so differently... 7 weeks pregnant and oh my goodness i got hit by the nausea truck big time. what the hell. i felt sick {no, no, you're not hearing me, i felt really really really sick}, every day, all day. i'm not a spewer, have never been one to easily vomit, even after drinking, but brushing my teeth every morning brought me undone. i started wearing travel bands to ease the nausea, they worked well, until i lost one of them in dj's one day. one band just didn't cut it. i drank dry ginger ale, i ate dry toast and crackers at 4 in the morning and i exercised {which was actually a great distraction, but only while in the midst of a workout}.

12 weeks in and i was still feeling crappy, the house is out of order, my daughter has started wetting her pants again because of the lack of attention she was getting from me and i've got a back log of emails and website work to catch up on. i wanted to cry, in fact, i did cry, quite a few times. i wanted to move the 1300 odd km's back home so i had family around me, family who could take summer off my hands for a few hours while i layed on the couch and felt sorry for myself. but this wasn't going to happen, so i sucked it up and did what i could. i had a house that looked like a bomb hit it for a few months, clothes were getting washed but left in a massive pile that you had to get a pitch fork out to dig through to find something to wear, but whatever.

it wasn't like it was going to be like this for the whole 9 months. or was it...?