Sisters doing it for themselves

Two bumps 5 months apart. This is us yesterday. I went to get my haircut and, remarkably, another customer was talking to me and later commented "I didn't even notice you were pregnant". Hard to believe even after I had the big black cape put over me!

My days are strangely characterised by lazy and intense. It is true I'm sleeping as much as I want into the morning and napping in the afternoon. Luxurious. I've not got anything demanding my time. On the flipside, Cam is in hospital with pneumonia and Libs has become quite sick with the flu - which means she really shouldn't see him. Everyday there seems to be some news which is really positive and encouraging about Cam's health and everyday there seems to be something that tips us over the edge. Most of the time it's just a little something that can become overwhelmingly upsetting...and then within a day it seems insignificant.

You can see on his blog that the specialists (and us!) are really happy with how the treatment is progressing. Maybe he'll be home for the weekend but he's better off in hospital while he's still feverish and with low immunity. I think I got a taste yesterday what it must feel like for a mum to be watching a sick child. Cam had to have a bronchoscopy and when he came back to his room he was sedated. I was totally unsure what was considered 'normal' for his recovery state - breathing too heavy or not enough?
coughing too much or coughing was helpful?
heartrate too high or any heartrate considered good?

Fortunately this morning he remembered nothing of the procedure or of any of the family that spent the evening with him! So, I'm conscious that this week is full of emotion and challenge. Our baby, as well as our brother, needs a lot of consideration at this time and I'm conscious of my own heartrate and breathing rates. I see the obstetrician tomorrow (1 May) which is also the due date. He said he'll let me go 7 days before talking about induction. I'm happy with that. Whatever happens I really want to watch the Logies on Sunday night! It's the 'night of nights' you know.

I'm having trouble with blogger this arvo so here's an arrangement of photos to give you more of an idea.

The Nursery

The Nursery cushions

The Study

Home Sweet Home

A few shots of our house. We love it.

Baby Shower

Good ol' Josie organised a few games to play at my baby shower last weekend. Seven nappies were full of substances resembling baby poo and it was a guessing game as to what the condiment was. Nutella is no longer a favourite.

Floating Island

Sea Saw

You always hear of chicks losing their dignity during childbirth. Well, at 38 weeks, it's already started for me. Went to City Beach today for a swim with Cam'n'Libs at it was fantastic. I'm feeling a little bit heavy but that is easily compensated by long sleeps, spontaneous frolics in the ocean and no agendas.

Some stranger in the shops today told me that the onset of labour is all psychological. When you are ready, it will come. Well, I'm not ready yet because MB has to go to Sydney for an overnight trip tomorrow night. There'll be no raspberry leaf tea drunk tomorrow.

A biggie

The next month is going to be a biggie in our family. Cam starts his high-dose Chemo on Tuesday and we are unsure what to expect on that front. The specialist says that this will make you "as sick as we can humanly make you" in preparation for the stem cell infusion a few days later. The next few months usually involve an incessant level of sickness and lethargy although some people seem to power through it with less discomfort.

There’s a lot to say about the miracle of healing and for every person who offers their support to us at this time has a different slant on it. As Cam talks about in his blog today http://www.thewalkbeside.com/ we had another opportunity this week to pray specifically for his cancer. Apart from the comment I made on his blog, there is something else that has been prominent in our thinking for a year.

About this time last year Michael was out looking at a potential development site in Sydney. It was an old, derelict hospital that was no longer being used. As he walked through the corridors he noticed a phrase painted on the wall above the main entry doors. It said “And He healed them”. It stuck with him even though it was before the time of Cam’s diagnosis. It seems such a faithful way for a hospital to approach healing.

We went on a creative retreat weekend in May last year where there were many art studios for creativity to be set free. M did a great job in cutting out this phrase from a piece of ply. Since that time we’ve always had it arranged above our bedroom door. Every day we are reminded that …

16kgs heavier than 8 months ago!

And I had to bend forward to take this photo!

Well, I certainly feel more settled and emotionally stable since the last post. There were numerous times I had to channel Erin Brockovich in my dealings with big companies that seemed to want to punish me for being aligned to them. I had one good outcome where a bank had treated me so appallingly over the last 2 months they wrote off a $250 fee I was officially entitled to pay. The other win came in the mail today from Opt*s who noticed our phone connection was not established within the limits of their promised deadline (no-kidding) and so $14.52 is going to hit our bank account sometime soon. Whoo hoo.

On the positive side of things, I put on 4kgs last week! As part of Cam's pre-chemo diet he is best to eat as many carbs, fats, calories and alcohol he can manage before the 15th April. Since we're seeing a bit of eachother lately, chocolate banana bread seems like the most obvious thing to form 3 square meals a day. The whole family spent the weekend in York and we ate up big the whole time. It was our last family hoorah before we introduce a new kid to the equation.

We had a visit to the Paediatric Urologist this morning. You have to have a certain beside manner if you are a Paediatric Surgeon so we were really pleased to get an explanation of Lil' Bebe's kidney condition in language for 3 year olds. The news is all good;

• The condition was not pronounced at 20 weeks so it's most likely the kidney's function is retrievable.
• Immediately after birth the Lil' thing will need antibiotics to see if that reduces the inflamation.
• They'll do a dye test and ultrasound on Day 3 of life in the outside world. This will determine where there is a blockage or malfunction.
• Depending on this result, we may be having a hospital stay at 6 months for an operation to correct it.

I was elated that the surgeon spoke to me with hand-drawn pictures and Michael was completely satisfied with statistics and numbers in the diagnosis. All in all there is a 98% chance the Lil' thing will be as good as gold at the end of the intervention. We are very grateful although I can imagine watching your baby have a general anaesthetic and a few pipes going into their body is not an easy experience.

We're off the the Ikea megastore tonight to get the last of the absolute baby essentials. If I go into labour tomorrow, I'm sorted. Got the bag packed with juice and chocolates and new PJs and a birth plan that says "1. Breath 2. Breath 3.Breath". I'm hoping to go as natural as I can. When the obstetrician scanned me on Monday I noticed the small print on the ultrasound that gestimated 7lb5oz already. He confirmed that this is going to be a big baby and so I came home and started reading about caesareans!! We'll take it as it comes but it probably means we won't be waiting too much longer after the 1st May to give the baby some more space to play in!