Moving to India

Our latest news is that we are going to be heading to India to live. I have started a new blog about how we have come to go. Its been over the last 14 years that we have thought about moving there and it is finally going to happen, probably next year. I have just started the blog and am back dating at this stage so I have a record of what has lead us there. Anyone interested can go to Yatra to India. This means Journey to India. I will be adding more over the next while.

No.6 on the way

It's been a very long time since I visited my own site and I noticed that there are still a few people visiting despite the fact that I have not added any info for almost 2 years. Levi is now 2.5years and is a huge bundle of joy and energy. He sure has learn't that a no.5 he needs to project his voice. He has it down to a fine art.

Anyway, I am now expecting no.6 baby and am 22 weeks pregnant. All has been going very well. You can check out my blog of this pregnancy by going to Mumofsix blog.

I have added a section called the things no one tells you. It's not scary stuff just things that surprised me with pregnancy and birth. Check it out.

smiley Luffy

smiley Luffy
Originally uploaded by jodicze.

It has been months since writing this blog and thought it was time to do a wee update.

Levi is now 8 months old. He is just the most loveable, social and smiley baby ever created. He honestly cannot help but smile. All my babes have been smiley but he totally tops the charts. Even if he hurts himself he will stop to smile at you before carrying on crying. He doesn't even cry much. This kid has just entered this world and fitted in. I love him sooooo much. The other kids love him too.

Caleb thinks Levi is great, infact it is a little worrying to see the two of them laughing together. It looks like the start of mischeif already. The good thing is that Levi is taking his time with crawling and I am not in a hurry for him to up and go. He is very close so I think he will be away soon. All his little friends of the same age are on the move and it is the beginning of the discipline stage when they are moving. Gone are the days of knowing where they are when you put them down. It's the beginning of the "no" era. The tumble down the stairs stage and black eyes on the edge of the tables that make it look like you are abusing your child. So all in all I am quite happy for him to sit and smile.

The girls are great with him. They love to give him a bottle that he started taking about a month ago. He self weened. They are also great at taking him to play for a while. It is so much easier with more children. People often look at me with jaw dropped when they find I have 5 kids but it is honestly easy now than it ever was. I love my kids to bits.

Levi has become known as Luffy as Caleb could not say his name properly when he was first born, it seems to have stuck.

Dino our Chinese boarder is also great with him. He has learn't to change a nappy and is enjoying seeing all the developmental stages.

David has continued his current job and has also stated writing for a web site call applematters.com He does a weekly artical. It's amazing how quickly a week goes by and you realise that you need to have another artical written.

Levi just makes me smile to think about him. I really hope that his personality remains jovial and fun.

Maybe I should start posting here again to keep a record of our family even though it's not about baby no.5 anymore.

4 weeks old

4 weeks old
Originally uploaded by jodicze.

It's been soooo long since I last blogged. Its not that I have not had time but I just didn't feel like sitting down and writing.

Levi is now 4 weeks old, where has the time gone? I remember with my first baby everything went in slow motion and I thought I would never sleep again.This time it is just flying by. I wont complain though if I get a few more straight hours of sleep. Levi is doing well at night and waking twice for a feed and going straight down again. He was a bit unsettled last night and also Caleb was unwell so between the two of them and having to tell our dog to be quiet I did not feel like I had been to bed. I am hoping for a better sleep tonight!!! I can't complain though as all has gone very well so far.

Levi has been packing on the pounds and is becoming far more alert. We are getting the odd smile from him now. His whole face lights up when he grins.
He is still feeding every 3 hrs or there abouts.

I think I will post this now as I am feeling the effects of lack of sleep in my ability to think and write coherently.

See you after a descent sleep.

Family Shot

Family Shot #3
Originally uploaded by jodicze.

Here's the whole gosh darn family.

Daya has a migraine today so has been vomiting and very unhappy. I think too much excitment and not much sleep on the night Levi was born proved too much for her.

Levi is doing well. He is feeding about every 3hrs and sleeps in between. My milk has not come in yet but he seems happy with the colostrum.

2 weeks early

2 weeks early
Originally uploaded by jodicze.

As you can see, our little man arrived into this world this morning 7/08/05 at 1am after a 2 hour active labor.

Here's how things went:

We had a great week leading up to this birth and I thought every day would be a perfect day to go into labor.

On the 7th August the day started out just like any other Saturday. We had our usual bacon and eggs for breakfast. I then took the kids up to the supermarket to get a few things. David wanted to spray the weeds so I got him some weed killer.

We then had a bit of a lazy day. I made some musli bars and just pottered around tidying up the odd thing around the house.

We then went to Youth band practice. Daya is in the band and David is helping out. I went along for something to do. I had no contractions at this stage.

We got home about 5:30pm and I started to warm up some dinner I had prepared the day before in the crock pot. While I was doing this I kept getting cramp in my hip, not contractions just severe pinching. We all sat down to dinner and to be honest the food was yuck and I just did not feel very hungry. I had some icecream though and enjoyed that.
I started to notice some mild tightenings begin they were very regular but not intense. It did make me wonder if these would progress into labor.

After getting the kids into bed at 7:30pm the contractions were coming about every 3-4 mins but were not very painful so I dismissed it as braxton hicks contractions. I had had a night with these a few night previous.

David and I sat down to watch a movie. It was at this point I told him that things may be happening but I was not sure yet. I mentioned that we may need to move a heater up to our room just in case. I was still in denial that this may turn into true labour, but decided to get a little prepared in case.

At about 10pm I decided I should go to bed and get some sleep as the contractions were regular but not intense. I could still speak fine through them. I lay in bed for a while but did notice they were more painful when I lay down. At 10:30 David ran me a bath. If it was a false labor things should slow down in the bath but if it was the real thing it should get things going. It was lovely getting in the bath but it did not slow anything down. The contractions started coming every 2 mins but I could still cope fine and talk through them. We decided to call the midwife and let her know that things may be happening. She said to phone back in 15 mins and give her an update after I had been in the bath for a bit longer. As I could speak to her through contractions she wanted to be sure things were progressing before she made a trip out. Once I got off the phone things began heating up. We ended up ringing her back 5 mins later to say that contractions were 1 min apart and I now had to breath through them. She decided she had better come on over. This call was made at 11pm. By the time she arrived I needed no convincing that we would see our baby that night. My midwife Debbie was wonderful. She started to set her stuff up. My Mum arrived not long after and Daya had woken up and was with me in the bathroom. I had two red candles burning and they were the only light we had, it was just perfect.

I continued to labor in the bath on hands and knees until my legs and arms felt too shaky to hold me up. I then turned over to a semi reclined position and lent back on the back of the bath. My Mum put some towels behind so I could lean my head back.

I began to feel pushy. My midwife checked me and said I was almost fully dilated and she rang another midwife to come for the birth. I then had an overwhelming urge to push so told David to get the other girls up. They all arrived up in time to see Levi born into my own hands at 1pm. I pulled him up and onto my tummy straight away and he let out an almighty cry. It was the most wonderful thing to have almost the whole family there. We left Caleb sleeping but he loved seeing baby this morning when he awoke.

The other midwife turned up shortly after and commented on how we needed some photos of Levi and myself in the bath with the candles flickering behind.

I'm glad it is over now but it could not have been better. He is nursing well and sleeping in between. He is now 11 hrs old. I feel great!!!

He weighed 7lbs 7oz so would have been a big baby if he had gone full term.

We love him to bits and are so grateful to God for such a lovely birth and healthy baby.

Is it an early sign????

Last night I awoke at about 1:30am after dreaming that was in labor. I woke to the biggest contraction I have had so far in this pregnancy. It was the type that was uncomfortable but not enough to make me think baby was coming but my back was sore and I had that feeling in my gut like just before you get you period. It was enough to get me wondering if things were beginning.I then continued to have these every 5 minutes for the next hour or so but they did not increase in strength or get closer together. I contemplated getting up and putting the chicken in the crock pot ready for dinner the next day but decided that I should really get the rest and try to go back to sleep and ignor these contractions. I am glad I did as I eventually dozed off again and nothing came of it.

This morning I feel a few niggles but nothing like last night. I think I would be dreaming to expect baby to come early as none of the others have come this early before. I'll just wait and see what the day holds.