The naked truth

Last Thursday when Geir came home and greeted Elyas in the living room, he started to laugh hysterically. I was nursing Alisha in the bedroom so I had no idea what it was that made him laugh out loud. Still laughing, he *stumbled* into the bedroom and tried to tell me what it was that made him laughed. This was how it went...

*Laughing*....I can't believe what I just saw....*laughing*....Elyas....*laughing*....is totally....*laughing*....NAKED!!! *laughing hysterically*

At this point I was done nursing Alisha. I didn't believe what Geir had just told me so I went into the living room to have a look myself. True enough, my boy was standing in the middle of the room, naked and dancing to his favourite program, Mickey Mouse.

I burst into fits of laughter!!

I seriously do not know how he managed to undress himself completely. When I left him in the living room 10 minutes earlier to nurse Alisha, he had his t-shirt, jeans and diaper on. Ok, it's probably easy to take his t-shirt off but his jeans?? He must have been REALLY warm lol!! I checked on him in between nursing Alisha but I didn't notice anything out of the ordinary...except that he was sitting on the floor in front of the coffee table. Of course, the coffee table blocked my view of him from the shoulders downwards so I suppose he was already naked by then.

The whole situation was just hilarious, especially when he did the "naked dance"! Now the "hotdog" song from the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse will NEVER be the same for me!!! Lol!

The arrival of....

ALISHA HANNA REIERSEN!!

Date: 13 May 2007
Time: 1309 hrs
Weight: 3784 grams
Length: 49 cm

Birth Story
************
May 13

Around 0200 hrs

Elyas woke up screaming so I went to comfort him back to sleep. He has slept throughout the night for a long time now so it was weird for him to suddenly get up in the middle of the night. Anyway as I was comforting him, I suddenly felt a strong contraction in my lower back. I tried to breathe in and out as quietly as I could until the contraction passed. It lasted for about a minute plus. I didn't really give it much thought because I figured it was just a false alarm. After all I was already a week overdue, what's a week more right? *sarcasm*

Since I was already up, I decided to go to the bathroom to pee. I was excited when I saw fresh blood and what looked like my mucus plug in the bowl (sorry TMI). The baby's finally coming woo-hoo! I thought I'd go back to sleep in hope to build up my energy before the big event. That was futile. The contractions came hard and strong every 7 minutes and boy did it hurt! I knew it wasn't good news when the contractions were just in the lower back (as it was with Elyas)...it meant that the baby was in the posterior position...again!

Around 0700 hrs

By this time, the contractions were about 4-5 minutes apart so I woke Geir and told him that it was time to drive to the hospital. Luckily my MIL was already there with us so we didn't have to wait for her to make the 2 hour drive to take care of Elyas. Despite the pain, I told Geir to have his breakfast first (what a considerate wife I am lol!). We drove to the hospital right after that.

At the hospital, I was seen by a midwife and she wired me up to chart the baby's heartbeat and the contractions. When that was done, she gave me an enema and it took me about 40 minutes to clear my system! It's hard to poop when you're having back contractions! Anyhoo after all that's done, I walked (yes, my midwife actually made me walk!) to the labour and delivery department where I was wired up to the monitor again. She gave me a quick check and I was 5cm dilated *yay*

Around 0930 hrs

By this time, I couldn't take the back pain any longer and requested for an epidural. Initially I wanted to try for water birth but the pain was so intense, I decided to skip it. Two anesthetics came in 10 minutes later to give me the epidural. I could have sworn I saw halo's above their head! Yes, I was THAT glad to see them ;) However, my excitement didn't last very long because one of them couldn't get the needle into my spine and had to try several times. Finally after what felt like an eternity, she managed to get it in and soon I was hooked up to the pain reliever....or so I thought. 20 minutes later, I was still in much pain. Not as severe but it still hurt a lot. Seems like the epidural didn't work properly! I remembered when I had an epidural with Elyas, it was an instant relief and I felt no pain at all. I told the midwife and she said that she could call them back and see if they could re-do the whole thing. I declined because I figured that they were probably rookies and was afraid of them poking me the wrong way and injuring my spine. Yes I was that paranoid....

Around 1100 hrs

My midwife checked me and I was 7cm dilated. Nothing much happened between this period except that I was sweating a lot from the pain....

Almost 1200

I was 10cm dilated. The midwife then broke my water to speed up the process. There was meconium but she didn't seem too worried about it and I was in too much pain to worry so we didn't really discuss the issue :P

Anyway, things progressed soon after and by 12 plus, I was pushing. After about 10 minutes of pushing, the midwife called for the doctor. They usually don't call the doctor unless it's an emergency or that they needed to vacuum the baby out etc. When the doctor arrived, I was utterly disappointed. I didn't want this baby to be vacuumed out (as it was with Elyas) because that caused a lot of problems with the lining of his spine and he developed colic soon after. I was determined to push this baby out on my own. With the next contraction, I gave my all and the midwife was actually impressed. She said, "Finally, something good is happening". What a word of encouragement eh? :P Upon seeing this, the doctor decided to walk away from the bed and stood by the door, ready to exit. I was relieved....

With every contraction, I pushed harder and finally her head popped out (I forgot how much that hurt!!). She was looking upwards so she was indeed in the posterior position. Then came the drama...with the next push, she wouldn't budge. Apparently her shoulders got wedged and she was stuck. The midwife then shouted for the doctor, who was still standing by the doorway and she came running to the bedside. She then pressed onto my belly and pushed it in a downward movement - in the effort to push the baby out. Finally, she came out! She was covered in a lot of meconium so she must have pooped even more when she was stuck. She was then placed onto my chest immediately. After about 5 minutes or so, I cut the umbilical cord, pushed the placenta out and was sewn up (it was just a tiny tear). I did all this while I still had Alisha on my chest, who was crying non-stop.

Waaaaaaah, somebody please put me back in!!!!! (Just seconds after she popped out)

All in all it took me 45 minutes to push Alisha out and the labour lasted 11 hours from the first contraction. A far cry from over an hour of pushing with Elyas and 22 plus hours of labour. Everything was well at first until the doctor told us that because she was stuck, they needed to take her upstairs for an x-ray to make sure that she has not dislocated her shoulders. So off they went with my little girl. 10 minutes later they came back with Alisha and the result.....her shoulders were not dislocated BUT she broke her collar bone. There's nothing they could do about it accept to let the bone heal on its own which should take about 4-6 weeks. They told me that it's common for babies to break their collar bone when they get stuck halfway. However as a mother, no matter how common such incidents are, it's not a pleasant thing to hear. I was sad for my girl although still glad that apart from the broken bone, she's healthy and safe in my arms.

So that's pretty much the birth story. We could not check into the hospital's hotel (as we initially planned) because of the broken bone. They wanted to keep her closeby so they could examine her every now and then. So we stayed at the hospital's recovery section. Initially I had to share a room with another lady but the midwives accomadated us and gave us a room all to ourselves so that Geir could spend the nights with me too. They even wheeled in an extra bed for him lol! It's the policy here to leave babies with their moms. They don't have a nursery and they don't watch the babies for you BUT because Alisha was contantly crying, probably from the pain and needed to be held all the time, they told me that I could leave her to them during the night for a few hours while I catch up on my sleep. I'm very pleased by the generosity and kindness of the hospital staffs. They were sincerely concerned for our well being. Maybe they were afraid that we would sue them for the broken bone?? After all, we recorded the birth so we have evidence. Hmmm.....

Here's a video of Alisha just seconds after she was born :)

The grass is greener for the other belly?

So we've all heard of the phrase, "The grass is greener on the other side". This is true to some, like me for instance...and this coming from someone who's not prone to jealousy or envy. Really, not all of us are green eyed monsters ;)

Recently I got to know a lady from Cameroon and she's pregnant too, about 3 weeks behind me. I figured that it'll do me good to finally be able to talk about pregnancy woes with another pregnant women who can actually empathize. Plus, she's also new in Stavanger. Things can't get any better or so I thought....

We decided to meet two Saturdays ago over hot cocoa and I must say that I was excited about finally being able to have adult conversations. Yes, I do love chatting with Elyas but you have to admit, the vocabs are limited and so are the topics hehe! Anyway we met, did our formal introductions and quickly dived into the infamous topic - pregnancy! It started out pretty well but 5 minutes into the chat, I was beginning to think that apart from the bump that she was showing, she's probably not pregnant after all! Ok, I'm being a little dramatic but seriously, there I was sitting on the most uncomfortable chair at the local cafe, shifting my weight from one butt cheek to the other trying to avoid my butt from falling asleep, wishing I had pillows to lean on because my lower back was killing me while I listened to this lady talked about how GREAT and WONDERFUL she's feeling despite being 33 weeks pregnant!! This was how our conversation went.

Me: So how are you feeling?

C: Oh I feel great! I can't believe it's this easy.

Me: The pregnancy you mean? (Shifting to another butt cheek)

C: Yea! I was told that it was going to get uncomfortable in the last trimester but I feel great...more then GREAT!

Me: Uh-huh, well good for you! Not many women are this lucky. How was the first trimester? Any morning sickness? *Trying to fish out some "normalcy"*

C: Not at all!!! I could eat just fine and I didn't even feel nauseas. I was beginning to think that I was not pregnant and was really wishing to get morning sickness.

Me: Oh trust me, you don't want to wish for morning sickness. It's dreadful and....

C: *Interupting* Oh but I really do! I want to feel all the awful symptoms that everyone's been complaining about.

Me: *Frowning* Seriously, you should be thanking your lucky stars that you felt good during the first trimester...not wishing for something that's obviously hard on most pregnant women. That's why they call it "sickness" *weak chuckle*

C: Yes I suppose so. But still, I want to feel it all you know?

Me: *Thinking to myself* No I don't know!

So basically that was how the conversation went. Me "complained" about being tired and achy while she complained about feeling the lack of it. Trust me hunny, I would trade my aches for your sense of well being anytime!

Anyway, she called me last evening to ask how I was feeling. Not having learnt anything from our previous meeting, I started to complain about the lack of sleep due to the pain in my hips and also the swelling of my hands and feet...to which she replied, "Oh swelling and hip pains? How come I don't have any of those and you do? Perhaps you're not exercising enough?" To which I almost replied, "Not exercising enough? Would you like to try and take care of my son for a day? I bet you won't last an hour!"...but I managed to bite my tongue. So I allowed her to go on fretting about not being able to experience such things while I calmly reminded her that she should thank her lucky stars for feeling good at this stage and that every pregnancy's different from one person to another.

Seriously, after we ended the conversation, I was beginning to doubt myself and wondered if I was becoming a wuss, a whinner - you know? Perhaps I was complaining too much about my aches and pains when it isn't that bad after all. Nah, who am I kidding? It IS bad and there's no denying the fat hands and feet! Lol!

To be fair, apart from the pregnancy talk, she's really a nice person and I am glad to have met her. I just wished she'd be more subtle in rubbing her smooth pregnancy in my face, if you get me. It just makes me envious. I don't envy her in an evil kind of way. Just in a "I wish I could trade my aches with her non existence aches for a day" kind a way. Really, I'm NOT a bad person nor do I have any jealousy streak in my vein :) Maybe it's just the hormones talking but if I were to hear another beep of, "Oh I feel on top of the world, why aren't you?" line from her....I just might have to tell her to SOD it! Ehehe!

Elyas to belly, Elyas to belly!!

Hello, is anyone in there??? Well, it seems that's what Elyas is asking everytime he pulls my top up and screams at my belly. It's such a cute sight! He loves to talk to my belly and kiss it endlessly.


Hello! Are you awake in there?


Come out, come out where ever you are!

I doubt he fully understands what's going on or what's coming in a couple of months but maybe he gets the gist of it? So far he hasn't had the opportunity to feel the baby's movements because she's usually active in the evenings and by that time, EJ's already in bed. It makes me wonder how he's going to react the first time he sees me cuddling this small bundle that looks like a miniature him. I suppose he'll not react strongly the first couple of days, but as time goes on and when he sees his Mamma constantly fussing over this tiny being, he just might.

I'm getting more excited and less nervous to see the little one. A small part of me will always be nervous about embracing my new life of having two small children at such a close age. But hey, if other moms can do it, why can't I right? I'm sure I'm just worrying myself silly. I know it's going to be hard at first and there'll be days when I'll probably go insane (ha-ha!) but it's all part and parcel of being a mom. Nobody said that it's easy being parents. It's a full time job and you're not getting paid for it. But let's face it...the benefits of having little ones outweighs all the cons. One look into their eyes and you know, you're born for this job. At least that's how I feel :)



I've always wanted to be a mom for as long as I could remember - although I used to skip the marrying part lol! I love being a mom and I wouldn't trade my life for the life I had in the past, those carefree days, even if it means being sleep deprived and not being able to just go out for a movie without having to worry about hiring babysitters.

Ahh the joys of motherhood! Just take a look at their sweet little faces and innocent eyes. How can you NOT love being a mom? :)



P.S: I've added some music selections at the bottom of this blog. Please feel free to have a listen. They're some of my personal favourites.

Baby Munchkin

Just felt for sharing an ultrasound picture of my baby munchkin. This u/s was taken at around 22 weeks. Isn't she just beautiful? :) I can't believe that I'll be in week 33 tomorrow. Just 7 weeks left - plus, minus! Where does the time go????

Two peas in a pod

No, it's not about similarities but my boy's addiction to eating peas. Yes, he LOVES his steamed veggies especially peas. The cutest part...with every pea that he picks up, he'll say "ball" before putting it into his mouth :) I suppose I'm one of the lucky moms who do not have to force or trick their children into eating their greens *yay*

Speaking of balls, the other day EJ was playing by my side while Geir (my hubby) was watching a soccer match on tv. Then suddenly, I heard a lot of commotion from the commentator, I suppose it was because someone was about to score a goal? Upon hearing this commotion, EJ suddenly put both hands up to his head and said, "Oh no, no!!" while he held his gaze onto the tv screen. Yes, apparently the other team managed to score a goal.

Geir and I burst into laughing fits because never would we have guessed that an 18 1/2 month old boy would react so strongly about a game of soccer! Initially EJ could not understand why we were laughing and simply stared at us for a second or so before he decided to join in the fun as well. We all had a really good family laugh.

Obviously, EJ's been observing Geir closely and has clearly learnt the way to show "disappointment" when the team's trailing during a match. It's just too cute! It's funny though because from my past observation, Geir had only reacted by saying "Nei" (it means "No" in Norwegian) to show discontentment if his fav team's trailing. So for EJ to actually use 3 words to form a sentence, including the dramatic action of putting both hands on his head, clearly proves that he has his OWN way of expressing himself. Don't they all? :)

A New Beginning

So, I'm a virgin when it comes to having a blog and like all virgins, it feels intimidating to expose myself for the very first time. I mean seriously, I am exposing myself by letting others read my inner thoughts and reflections. I suppose it's just a matter of getting over the initial exposure before I get used to it huh? Heck, I may even enjoy blogging and would crave it on a daily basis ha-ha!

Anyway, the sole purpose of creating this blog is to not bore you with details about ME (well, maybe a little hehe) but to enlighten you with details about the miracles in my life....my children. Yes, this blog is to jot down their milestones and developments so do check in on us occasionally to see what we're up to.

I can't promise that this blog will be updated frequently but I will try.....