Prayers for our Baby's Birth

Hi Mummy's Blogging Friends,

This is Autumn filling in for Mummy and asking  for your prayers tomorrow as Mummy goes to hospital to have our little brother or sister.

They will start induction at 7am our time Monday morning which is about 8 hours from now.
Prayers for a quick and safe delivery for Mummy and our baby would be much appreciated.

I will keep you up todate with detaails as we get them in the morning

Thank you so much

Autumn and siblings

Patience v's Waiting

Patience is such a wonderful virtue isn't it?

Well I guess it does depend on your perspective.
Sometimes I think I am a very patient person and at other times I KNOW I am not.

Obviously waiting for this new little dumpling to arrive has been a continued effort in patience for me. However I find  that as I am able to overcome the waiting most days the fact some of those those dearest to me, the children are even less patient than I.

After my Dr visit yesterday and the news that we had been expecting (due to a previous Dr on Monday) that we would be meeting our little one on Friday (today if he or she had not arrived) the news of this new date 23rd May was quite unsettling to the children especially.

So my pondering thoughts on this and patience is: that even if we ourselves can be patient it is often harder for those around  us who are anticipating  a much looked forward event that this can then lead to anxiety and impatience. Which in turn can re-alter our own perspective.

Also I think there is a difference between waiting and waiting patiently!!!

Sometimes I also think this is not just the virtue of patience but the value we have placed on the thing we are waiting for.

The more intensly you desire the event/ item to arrive the more store you place upon this. This is where it is harder to have faith that God is control of all situations and that at the right time all will happen.

It is these situations that can be so devestating when it doen't happen when we are expecting it to. Over the last couple of years we have experienced this over and over, and it is hard not to become despondent when a new opportunity arrises and then does not progress to completion.

Patience is an everyday life goal, not daily even sometimes but hourly.

I know that it is the more these event/items that I have more trouble with.

I think over the years I have become more patient with those everyday situations of dealing with children and the life style we have. The little things I can give to God to help me with.

It is the major events in our lives I have trouble handing over, usually because I want them so much, not just for me but for our family as well.

So for the last few days of this pregnancy I will try to leave it in God's hands and be faithful to that, and in my own way help those special anxious brothers and sisters to be  reach that place too.

Blessings to you and your homes,

Preparing for Baby...............

Well what can I say?
Life is all about the new baby arriving soon in our home.
With the arrival of our baby imminent, I have been trying to get the new-born baby clothes washed and ready.

As we don't know if our baby is a boy or girl this actually limits what I can prepare ahead of time.
So all the little items to go to hospital are white, except for the bunny-rugs of which I have a mix of boy and girl ones.

These are the coming home from hospital clothes are the same ones we have always brought our little babies home in, starting with Kynan nearly 22 years ago. He wore the little jacket and bonnet but not the gown which we have had since Braedon.
I know lots of people today dress their little baby boys in very boy clothes, but we always dress them in little nighties at home and special gowns for church on Sunday's until they are older.

These are a couple of my nighties and my dressing gown. I adore these very long and feminine gowns. I am probably the only person in hospital who still wears night wear after the baby is born. Most of the ladies I see wear track pants etc.
But I love the feminine appeal of these and think they are much more lovely to be wearing, especially for  a new mummy and baby.
I nearly always get positive comments from the nursing staff on this which I think is my bid for the 'mummy of many can still be pretty and dress attractively'.
Just in case anyone wonders I don't just wear these in hospital but also at home along with the others I own as well.

This is the little baby's cradle all washed and ready with fresh linen on awaiting the precious bundle to come home. We have also had this since Braedon was born and I made the quilt and skirting just before Eden was born.

This is the area in our bedroom that the baby sleeps in. Right next to the bookcase, just so the baby can lap up the literature there and with a chair for night time feeding or escape from the noise and attention of the other children☺

I just thought I would include this picture of me and my baby tummy for those of us mummy's who like to know how others look at different phases. So this is me at 38+ weeks.

As you may guess we are very excited to be welcoming this special gift into our home soon. Apart from the various discomforts that I am having it is still going well and we are all very impatient to meet a little angel.

Oh and yes I think, yes unless Stephen changes his mind again,that we now have both a boy and a girls name ready.

So I will just plug along with the last few craft projects I am working on to welcome our baby and try to get the rest that helps me, even though I feel very lazy indeed.
Once again the blessings of wonderful and helpful older children.....thank you my darlings, once again I know how much I am blessed at these times.

Blessings to you and your homes,

Pregnancy Update!

I thought I might give those of you who are asking and praying for our little one an update.

As a pre cursor I am actually very well and have only bouts of tiredness (hence the lack of blogging sometimes) and sometimes a bit of nausea. Our older/middle children often help me to have a little rest by playing with the little ones and doing a bit for me than usual. This is a great help and blessing to me and I am very, very grateful to them.

Today I had some blood tests done including a glucose tolerance test. My blood test was not done very well with a resulting cut, rather than a pin prick that resulted from the technician moving the needle around trying to get the blood she needed.

I also had an ultrasound that was  a bit disappointing. First I could not actually see the screen and then the CD I was given with the pictures did not actually work when I got home so I still don't know anything. I need to ring them tomorrow and see about a replacement. I was interested to see the 'new and improved' due date that I am sure will be on the disk.

This is an on going struggle I have with Dr's and radiologist each pregnancy. Even though I KNOW when my due date is I am always told that it is wrong because of the ultrasound dates, which if I have more than one is never the same anyway, which leads to the obvious question, why don't they go with my dates anyway. And of course this leads to more conjecture on what we should do too as the dates become closer!

I just can't see why they insist that every baby is the same weight at a certain age especially when every woman does not have the same size baby. You will never convince me on this one!

I also saw the Doctor at the ante-Natal clinic at our local hospital. All ante-natal is done through the clinic, there is no 'see your own specialist obstetrician' here.
Of course this was to assess if I was able to continue going to the midwife clinic or the registrar clinic or to the Doctor clinic. Guess which one I get to go to?

Yep!! The Doctor clinic because I am , yes I am going to say it, yes 'high risk,' not because of any medical reason but simply I have had 11 babies. Our babies are not huge babies and in fact we have yet to have over an 8lb baby yet. I am well during pregnancy and do not have problems, I also do not have any problems at birth. So why all this fuss over supposed high risk? Oh and for the record I have been high risk since Rogan.

I believe Dr's today just aren't used to seeing women with more than a few babies and so are not sure how to actually care for mothers of larger families. O They are not comfortable with this because our society does not condone large families and we are seen as the 'not normal' rather than, this is obviously a normal family, loving and accepting each and every child.
Or perhaps they are more worried about insurances etc if something does go wrong!
Every so often you have a DR who is not taken aback when you tell him how many children you have, but usually this is a Dr from developing nations or a few from Ireland we have seen, not in an ant- natal case though.. more is the pity.

I had my booking in appointment last week as I tend not to go until I really need to. I just find the constant appointments of routine blood pressure etc a time waster. Of course getting a referral to go to the clinic was a major issue for me. I object going to the GP to get a referral and paying the $80 to get it, to actually be able to go to the hospital, the public hospital as a public patient, and to be allowed the privilege of having your baby at the hospital.
This is one of my 'hot buttons' at the moment too.

However I wish to say I am thankful for the fact that our baby is well, that I do have problem free pregnancies and that we are looking forward to meeting our sweet one relatively soon.

Based on the relative closeness of our baby's arrival I think we really should start looking for names. This is an interesting task for us as we have a few criteria that must be met for our children's names. Of course this makes it more challenging after 11 children (we choose both boy and girl names as we don't find out the sex of our babies) as we have to look at new names, if we can find them, or reconsider some of the old favourites again.

Well I had best get to bed this (early morning) staying up to watch a movie does not give as good a rest as I need. Thank you again for those people who are praying for the health of our baby and me, we are so thankful for your gift of prayer.
Goodnight to you all!

Blessings to you and your homes,