Jul 2, 2015

Letters to Clover - Month Two

Dear Clover,

Today you turned two months old and this month was definitely your most eventful month so far! I can say that right, even though you have just two months to your name? ;)

We started this month off with a bang and when you were just five weeks old I came down with mastitis. A really bad case of mastitis that left me a hot sweaty mess that could hardly get up off the couch except to feed you and then fall back down again. Seriously it was so bad and the constant sweat, I don't think I have ever sweated THAT much in my life! I had constant wet patches on my clothes and left the bedsheets wet each night (poor Daddy decided to sleep on the couch after awhile!) It must have had something to do with those 39.5 degree temperatures! It was so bad that I ended up having to take two different antibiotics as the first prescription wasn't doing anything! I was also thankful that cousin Larissa had given me her breast pump as that thing got quite a work out that week and I started to fill up our freezer with lots of stored milk! I even took it with us to your weekly Westmead appointment and sat in the HALLWAY pumping away under my nursing cover as it was the only power point I could find! Daddy had to stay home from work a couple of days to look after me and Mar Mar and Aunty Paige came to help as well (Grandma and Grandpa were traveling in the UK). One night Aunty Katty and Uncle Luke came and bought us food and Aunty Katty changed your nappy and rocked you to sleep just so I could sleep and poor Daddy could have a rest. Then,  just as I was recovering, Daddy came down with a middle ear infection and his ear was so blocked and swollen you couldn't see down his ear canal at all! He also couldn't hear anything on that side and sometimes I thought he was just ignoring me until I realized I was talking on his 'bad' side. It got so bad that one night at 1am we packed you up and went to the Hospital where we were told he just needed panadol and neurofen for pain relief till the infection passed! This was just as my wisdom tooth was causing me so much pain. So Daddy had more days off work and then he ended up with an infected wisdom tooth too! And then to finish off the week we had the worst storm that had hit the coast in years. There were trees down everywhere and flooding and many suburbs were without power for a whole week! We had two trees fall down and block off both entrances to the main rd so everyone in our neighbourhood was trapped in! Daddy and Aunty Paige went out one night to see the fallen trees and by the time they turned around and headed home a giant tree had fallen and blocked the road! They had to leave the Forrester in someone else's driveway and run home in the rain. Daddy spent the next morning helping the neighbors chainsaw a path through Leetes Lane and also went out with the fire brigade helping in the flooded areas. Mar Mar and Pa came over shortly after with their generator so we could run our fridges and keep our food from going off (luckily we only lost power for just over 24 hours) It was an exhausting week and a bit to say the least!

And then we closed this month with your very first operation. At only 8 weeks old you had your tenotomy (Achilles heel surgery) at Westmead Children's Hospital and you were amazing! Seriously we were so very proud! It was a long day and a very emotional one for this Mumma (especially the lead up to it) and even though it was a small procedure, I was nervous about how you would go. Would you cry and be upset the whole time, would it hurt you after and "DRAMA!!" would this create some deep emotional scar in you? I was nervous as you would be awake through the procedure in a room with people you didn't know and they wanted you to have a bottle, which you had never tried before. It seems silly in hindsight but the bottle and milk thing stressed me out quite a bit as you had only been exclusively breastfed before then. Luckily I had all that milk that I pumped when I had mastitis stored in the freezer (Tender mercies from Jesus?!) So Aunty Katty came over with two brand new bottles and showed me how to sterilize them and heat the milk up and we tried you with one. At first you just played with it, rolling it around your mouth and smiling up at me like it was some kind of new game. But as soon as I squirted a little bit into your mouth and you realized what it was you went to town on that bottle and polished it off in seconds. It kinda showed me how much you must get when you're nursing and I'm proud of us both. Me that I can make that much (!) and you for being such a good little eater. You love mumma's milk!


The morning of your operation was a little stressful. We left in the dark with you all wide eyed and bundled up in your car seat (probably wondering what in the world your crazy parents were up to!) You were first up for surgery, which meant they wanted us there at 6:45am for an 8:30am surgery. They also wanted me to feed you at 5:00am and we live over an hr away from the hospital and had to travel through early morning Sydney peak hour to get there. Which if you do the math didn't really work time wise. Needless to say we were quite late and after a phone call to the hospital they were possibly going to bump us to second on the list, which Mumma was worried about as it would mean even longer between your feeds.

Luckily, when we got there we were quickly admitted and you were soon ready for surgery with no casts and numbing cream on your tiny heels. I had asked the day before if there were facilities to bath you after your casts come off as we love doing that each week and was told there were but when we got there found out there wasn't. So our lovely nurse (who's name was also Katie) found a tiny little round dish for us to bath you in. So we bathed you on the hospital bed and even tiny you were a little too big for the dish and not at all impressed by our efforts to give you a nice relaxing warm bath before you went into surgery!


Then Dr Tony came to us all dressed in his hospital scrubs and Daddy passed you to him. You were so beautifully calm and content like this kinda thing just happened every day and we watched as he carried you down the hall and off to theatre. You in one hand, your bottle in the other and your dummy hooked around his pinkie. It was such a weird experience and I must admit I teared up right there and then watching you being taken from me and you bravely taking it all in your stride. Luckily it was such a short surgery and Daddy and I barely had time to grab a hot drink and something to eat before it was over. Then when you came out you were wrapped up in one of those warmed hospital blankets and asleep. Like really REALLY asleep. That deep sleep I adore, where your little body just melts into mine because you are so relaxed! And I kiss you a thousand times over and hold you super close to me cause you don't try and squirm away and need to look at everything that is going on around you - my little inquisitive baby! Apparently sleep was all you wanted to do in theater and you didn't even touch the bottle of milk - after all that agonizing and pumping mummy did ;)!

You did so well that we didn't have to stay at the hospital for long and we went home and had a big family nap for hours. We gave you a couple of doses of baby panadol after but you seemed just fine and the procedure hasn't seemed to bother you at all. You even kick your legs on the ground and into your change table and don't even flinch or look like it hurts you!


We started Mother's Group this month and this was also the month you also started fighting day sleeps. You like to wake up every half an hour to forty minutes and it's so hard to settle you back down. So poor Mumma is not getting much house work done at all! We are working hard on teaching you to self soothe but I must admit sometimes I get a little frustrated. But then you wake up and are your happy smiley little self that all is soon forgiven. But please, this Mumma would love if you would sleep during the day soon!


As well as drama this month also had some truly lovely and wonderful moments. You are smiling more and more each day at anyone who will look your way and sometimes even to yourself as you lay on the ground kicking and 'talking' away (you crazy girl!) You are also 'talking' more and we love to have family chats where we all sit and you coo at us and we coo back. You think it's so funny to hear mummy and daddy talking like you and you give us a big cheesy grin and then coo back again. I'm pretty sure one day the three of us spent at least half an hour just cooing at each other! You're such a little character already and having you in our lives is just so much fun!

This month Daddy and I celebrated being together for ten whole years! I just think that is so crazy! So much has happened since we first got together back in high school and you, my dear, are the icing on our cake of things we have experienced together! To celebrate Daddy took 'his girls' out on a date and we both dressed up all cute (you put on a sweet headband and I wore heels) and we went to GPK for pizza and then we took you to your first movie. We saw Pitch Perfect 2 and you slept in my arms the whole time (after I paced the tunnel with you during the ads to get you to sleep!) It was so lovely snuggling in the theater with you in my arms, a cup of tea, popcorn and your handsome Daddy next to me and the movie was so funny. I hope when you grow up you think we are cool and not lame for taking you to see that movie, because we think it is acca-mazing!

You are such a beautiful little girl Clover and we are not the only ones who think so. Whenever we take you out anywhere people seriously stop us to tell us how pretty and beautiful you are. You have lovely little features and are so petite and sweet that you draw people in. You must enjoy the compliments too as you often thank the compliment-er with one of your big cheesy gummy grins. You are the sweetest little baby.

Gosh I love you!

Love Mummy
xx

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