Thursday, October 27, 2011

Overdue update

With home decor being the primary goings-on in our lives at the moment, our computer was unplugged and moved to a new location.  It has taken some time, but we are now reconnected and I am able to do a quick update on how things are going in the Aufrichtig household.

The sleep training worked like a dream!  It was the best money I have spent in a very long time and Lily was back to being an angel sleeper within 5 days.  It wasn't as difficult as I had imagined - I just stuck to the rules that Lynn Woods had given me without faltering once.  I literally followed her instructions to the minute and didn't let Lily's cries deter my determination to succeed.  It has been 2 weeks since we started with the sleep training and you would never say that we ever experienced any issues.  Lily now happily goes down to have both her midday and evening naps without as much as a "boo".  I don't hear a thing unless she decides she would like to have a little chat to herself which is just too precious to hear.

Lily now goes to sleep at 7:30pm and usually wakes up just after 7am without any night time wakings.  PERFECT!  This pregnant mommy can recuperate after her hectic days running after an extremely busy toddler.  I no longer feel exhausted and in need of sleep - we are all very happy in our space right now.  Holding thumbs it lasts as I have no doubt it was all due to teething.  Lily finally, at the age of 17 months, sprouted her 3rd and 4th teeth and I can see another 3 teeth about to make their appearance.  That is 5 teeth trying to come through at one time.  No wonder my poor baby was suffering!

Lily is learning new words at an incredible rate.  She now counts to 5, says "bicik" for biscuit, "sausage", "milk", "bunny", "see you" when she waves goodbye, "Bella" or "Chi Chi" for the dogs, "bubbles", "ball", "I la" for I love you... And the list is growing.  It is quite amazing how the two of us now communicate - I can understand so much more of what she wants and needs which assists with the levels of frustration for the both of us!

On a pregnancy note, I'm now 15 weeks pregnant and still sporting a relatively flat stomach.  I haven't yet felt any movement although you are supposed to be able to feel it earlier 2nd time round.  So I'm just waiting for those amazing first flutters to make themselves known.  My jeans, although still loose, are definitely not AS loose as they were prior to falling pregnant so I have a feeling I'm going to carry the same way I carried with Lily - ALL in my behind and not much in my stomach.  I suppose time will tell when this bump will make itself known but with Lily, it was only around the 24 week mark if I remember correctly.

My next scan is in a week's time and I can't wait to see our little baba.  I am also very excited to hear whether my gynae is going to confirm the fetal assessment's sighting that we are in fact having a little boy.  Once I've heard from him, I will be 100% convinced.  Looking forward to it!

So all is well and happy in our little home :)

Thursday, October 13, 2011

It's a boy!

On Tuesday we had our Fetal Assessment Scan at the Fetal Assessment Center in Claremont.  I was both anxious and excited to see our little "bean".  I have been feeling great once again as the nausea and exhaustion subsided around week 11 so obviously I no longer had any "pregnancy" symptoms and wanted confirmation that all was still okay with the pregnancy.  Besides confirmation that all was still going well, we had decided to find out the sex of our new baby.  We didn't find out the sex when we were pregnant with Lily, but this time around, I just knew I wanted to find out.

My reasons for finding out were simple.  I come from a family of girls, I have a daughter and felt 100% certain that this baby was going to be yet another girl.  I only "know" girls and needed to know if I was in fact carrying a boy as I needed time to get my head around the notion.  I would need a whole mind shift in fact!  Not that I didn't want a boy, it is just so unknown to me...

The scan, as expected, was amazing.  The intricate detail and in-depth view of our baby who is essentially only the size of half a banana, is truly astounding.  The woman conducting the scan confirmed that there is very little risk of our baby having any developmental abnormalities and all looked perfect as far as she could see.  She then asked whether we would like to know the sex of the baby and we both said yes...

She went to the groin area and as soon as she focused on it, she said with 100% certainty that our baby is in fact a boy!  My heart skipped a beat... I couldn't believe it!  I was so certain that Lily would be getting a sister, how could I be so incredibly wrong?  I almost didn't hear what was being said next as I lay there in disbelief.  I was smiling and excited, but truly shocked.  But there was no denying that a winky was visible!

So I now need to get my head around the idea of our new little baby being a boy!  I'm excited and nervous of the unknown, but know that this little person is going to complete our family perfectly.  I have no doubt he is going to have me wrapped around his teeny tiny finger in no time.  I'm looking forward to seeing him again at the end of the month for our 16 week scan.  Again, it is truly amazing how blessed we are and I cannot wait for Lily to have a little brother.

A trying time

My precious little angel went from a relatively great sleeper who self soothed herself to sleep when I put her down for her midday and evening sleeps, to a feisty, determined little person who for some reason feared sleep and didn't want to be left alone in her cot.  This started exactly two weeks ago and it truly has been a physically and emotionally draining and exhausting 14 days.

Initially we thought her reluctance to go to sleep was due to the fact that her granny and great granny were visiting and she didn't want to miss out on anything happening downstairs while she was being made to go to sleep.  She definitely suffers from FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) at times!  However, after noticing how incredibly swollen her little gums were and then a few days later, the appearance of 2 pearly whites, made me realise that it must be that she is teething which is causing the upsets.  She is so incredibly busy during the day I don't think she has time to register that she is uncomfortable, but perhaps when she is a little more quiet and subdued, the pressure, discomfort and pain, probably sets it.

Thankfully, our doctor confirmed that Lily wasn't ill so there was nothing to worry about medically.  Unfortunately, he didn't hear my subtle pleas for drugs to help with her sleeping!  However, our family GP in East London showed a little more sympathy and gave us a script for a miracle medicine which isn't habit forming and doesn't metabolise in the body so is completely safe.  It has made a world of difference these last 5 nights enabling Lily (and us) to sleep through (touch wood it lasts!).  Unfortunately it wasn't helping with the settling of her though prior to falling asleep so I decided to bite the bullet and consult a Baby Routine Specialist which I did this morning.

I left the specialist with 2 pages of notes on her diet and how to start sleep training.  I decided that this was the perfect time to start (today is a Thursday) as my husband is away on a long weekend fishing trip and his reluctance to hear his child crying wouldn't affect my efforts.  When I put Lily down for her midday nap, she cried as expected.  I let her cry for 5 minutes, went inside, comforted her for about 10 seconds and then walked out.  I then waited for another 10 minutes while she screamed and then went into her room again to comfort her.  I was instructed to increase the length of time I was out of her bedroom for 5 minutes every time.  Luckily I didn't have to go in a 3rd time as she fell asleep just before her next 15 minutes were up.  So she essentially cried for just under 25 minutes in total - a very long and draining 25 minutes where I just sat staring at the clock on my phone and listening to her screams.

Luckily tonight was different.  I gave her her miracle medicine at 18h30, she had her bath at 18h45 and got ready for bed at 19h10.  We read 3 short stories and then I said goodnight, I love you and put her peacefully in her bed.  I thought that she was rather docile and could possibly not protest, but as I closed her door she let out her signature scream and cried, however, this time I was pleasantly surprised that her crying only lasted 3 minutes and then silence!  I'm not getting my hopes up for tomorrow's naps, but it could have been a lot worse.

Here's hoping that the sleep training works by the end of the weekend as the specialist suggested it would.  I am going to be tough and stick to the rules and guidelines and if the specialist is as good as people say she is, Lily should be back to the angel sleeper she used to be by Sunday!