The journey begins

On 14 September Cooper was baptised at St Marks Lutheran Church in Melton, where I was one of the first people baptised. Cooper was also the first second-generation child to be baptised into our congregation, and was also the third person baptised in my family for 2008.

My brother Jamie and his wife Rebecca (Beccy) agreed to be Cooper’s godparents, and Cooper was a little angel during the service. I just hope that my brother and sister didn’t annoy the congregation too much with the actions that they were doing to the songs (so, how does the action to the torrent of water go again?!)

It was a very special day for our families, and we were blessed with some extra special guests in the form of Cooper’s great-grandparents Ma Bet and Pa Bob, and Aunty Ale (late Uncle Jeff’s wife), who we hadn’t seen in nearly a year. Grandpa also made a special FaithChest for Cooper to store some of the mementos from his faith journey.

Cooper's Baptism Sept 2008

There were at least 15 people who had said they would come that didn’t actually make it due to illness and other reasons, so we had heaps of food. So much so that my sister-in-law and mum were encouraging everyone to take a plate of left-overs with them, which they successfully did. It was so nice to have a relatively clear fridge after lunch rather than having to eat left-overs for the next week.

May God bless you now and always as you start your journey of faith little man. As I say to you when I give you a kiss and cross your forehead every night before you go to sleep - Cooper, God loves you, and I love you. Amen

Running on air

Not long after my last entry, Cooper seemed to discover his feet. Whenever I laid him down he started to kick non-stop, almost as if he was marching on the spot, or peddling a bicycle.

During September Nanny babysat Cooper for the first time while Adam and I went to the annual Scotia Ball for the pipe band that I play in. Apparently Cooper was pretty boring for Nanny and slept for most of the time, but he did leave his wet (pee) mark on their carpet, as he has done with everyone else’s floors when we have changed him there!

We had our six-week check-up with the doctor and everything is on track. I also took Cooper back for his first needles a couple of weeks later, and I didn’t like having to hold him down while the doctor stuck the needle in, because it felt like he kept there for such a long time (about 5 seconds). Poor Cooper was asleep when the doctor came in with the serum, then he screamed after the needles (I don’t think I’ve seen him go so red before), but then was asleep again within a minute. Nice!

Towards the end of the month Cooper started to sleep consistently from his last night-time feed at 10.30pm until 7am when we start the day. Most times he’d cry at around 5.30am when he heard Adam get up, but he’d go back to sleep again.

Cooper - September 2008

Cooper is a very smiley and happy baby. He coos and makes noises at us a lot, and sticks his tongue out is response to people talking to him. He doesn’t cry very much and I am getting better at working by the different types of cry what the problem is. The first time I blew a ‘raspberry’ on his belly he cried, and the next time he peed on me (I was just about to give him a bath). Whenever we do something different it is awesome just watching his reaction, as he frowns in concentration, and doesn’t seem to know if he should laugh or cry until I smile at him first, after which he gives a huge grin.

I could easily spend all day just holding Cooper and talking to him, but then I'd get nothing done. I am loving watching the changes that we see in him daily and am making the most of it, because he's gonna be big before I know it.

One month of motherhood

I’m not entirely sure what I expected motherhood to be like, but I don’t think I imagined it to be like this. So much washing (how can one baby dirty so many clothes?) and so much time spent feeding (which is the thing I find most restrictive, as I am used to being able to multi-task more than I can now). There are also so many precious times, such as holding your little baby as he snuggles sleepily into you or searches for a non-existent nipple on your shoulder, or having a nap with him. Sometimes I feel that I don’t ever want to put him down.

Cooper and I have spent a lot of time at home during his first month, but we’ve also been out and about doing our shopping, visiting friends and family, going for walks, and going on trips to Melbourne and Ballarat (each one nearly an hour away from us, one east and one west). We’re using the routines in the Contented Little Baby book, and apart from one night when he had a snuffly nose, Cooper has only woken once a night since coming home from the hospital, and has even slept right through from 11.15pm to 7am a couple of times. Despite that, I still feel pretty tired most of the time since Adam needs to be in bed by 9.30 each night before he works, which means that I get about 6 hours sleep most nights. Napping when Cooper naps has helped, but I am constantly tempted to do chores around the house when he’s asleep, which eats into my nap time.

As with most babies, Cooper sometimes ends up in a number of different outfits in any one day. For the most part, he does not like getting changed, and constantly rewards me by peeing on the outfit I have just changed him into. He also rewarded Adam the other night with number ones AND twos whilst he was being changed. I was worried that Adam was going to scare Cooper with the loud outbursts that I could hear coming from the bedroom

August 2008

I love watching the joy on Adam’s face as he holds his little boy and talks to him. At Cooper’s 2-week health check-up we received a bookmark about communicating with babies, and it mentioned that you should use different tones of voice. It makes me laugh whenever I overhear Adam repeating Cooper’s name, first in a deep, gruff voice, then in a high pitched voice, trying to get Cooper’s attention. It doesn’t matter how many times I explain to Adam that he should talk normally to Cooper, he still keeps doing it.

Over the last week Cooper has started to hit the mobile toys under the play gym. He doesn’t look at them, but knows that if he lifts his hands they will hit something that makes a noise. He likes to lay with his head predominantly facing the right, and we are working on getting him to lay the other way, to reduce the flat spot on his head from laying the one way.

Cooper is such a good baby, and when he was having an unsettled night the other night and wouldn’t sleep properly from 7pm – 10.30pm, my Mum commented that he is turning into a ‘real’ baby. The people at church adore him. When he is not asleep there he is very content and everyone comes up to say hello to him after the service. He’ll be baptized into the congregation there on 14 September.

Hope you enjoy the photos for this month. Cooper is changing so fast!

Aren’t first babies meant to be late?

From what I have observed, first babies often arrive after their due date. Not so with our little man. After spending two-and-a-half weeks at home in preparation for the birth, I decided to weed part of the garden on Tuesday 22 July, with the intention of finishing it when the weather was forecast to be clear again, on Thursday or Friday. I think it was the weeding that helped Cooper make his early entrance into the world.

Adam and I had been planning to see The Dark Knight on Adam’s day off on Thursday, and spent Wednesday night watching Batman Begins. When I went to the loo before bed, I felt an extra gush of fluid, and realized that my water had broken. A trip to the hospital confirmed this, but because I was only having Braxton Hicks contractions we were sent home again.

During the night I started to feel a bit of discomfort with the contractions, and consequently didn’t get much sleep. By mid-morning, the contractions started to get painful, so we say that labour really started at around 11am. By mid-afternoon the contractions were starting to get more regular, and I had trouble talking to my friend on the phone during contractions whilst trying not to let on what was happening, because Adam and I had decided not to tell anyone until we were on our way to the hospital.

By 4pm I needed pain relief and Adam took me on the 45 minute trip to the hospital whilst I counted the length and time between contractions. They were 4 minutes apart lasting for 50-70 seconds. After being assessed in the emergency department for an hour, they found that I was 6cm dilated, and finally took me to a birthing suite where I could get some pain relief.

I felt that the gas didn’t help much, but after a little more than an hour in the birthing suite, I felt the need to push, and was horrified when they told me that I couldn’t use the gas any more when I was pushing. After 45 minutes, baby Cooper was placed on my belly, and my first thought was how warm he was, and then, whether it was a boy or girl. When I lifted the cover and saw his ‘bits’ I happily told everyone that it was a boy. He was born at 8.15pm on 24 July.

So, all in all it was a 9 hour labour, and we stayed in hospital for two days. On our way home we took Cooper to meet his Poppy at the nearby Epworth hospital, where he had been after having neurosurgery the prior week. We found out that Poppy Peter’s dad’s mother’s (Cooper's great-grandmother's) maiden name was Cooper, which we hadn’t known about. Pretty amazing.

Baby Cooper

Little Cooper Peter Watson has brought us so much happiness in the short time since we first saw him, and we love him to bits. Stay tuned for more updates on our gorgeous little boy.

To be or not to be a boy or a girl, that is the question.........

I am amazed that nearly every person I have spoken to about being pregnant has asked me whether Adam and I know what we are having. We know that we are having a baby, but we do not know whether it is a boy or girl.

We made the decision fairly early not to find out, although I gave Adam the option so that he could take more time to get used to it, but he said that if he found out that I would be able to tell what it is just by his reaction. Adam is hoping for a girl, so that when it gets old enough to go to public toilets and give the birds and bees talk, that I will have to do it! He seems to think that it is a boy though, seeing that most people in our direct families seem have a boy first.

A lot of people have opinions on what we are having, from doing tricks with wedding rings, to whether I am carrying in front or to to back or side, to whether my skin is oily or dry or whether I have gotten more hairy since falling pregnant. Some people are a bit frustrated that we haven't found out, or they think that we know and just don't want to tell them. They want to buy a gift for the baby before it is born, but don't know what colour to buy. I laugh when I see how frustrated they get, because we want it to be a surprise for everyone.

I've known people that have found out what they are having a long time before the baby is born, and give the baby a name and almost a 'personality' long before the baby makes its debut. I don't want to celebrate this child's life prematurely, and have made the decision not to have a baby shower so that that everyone can celebrate with us even more when we meet the baby for the first time. For now I am just enjoying being pregnant and feeling this life growing within me.

For those of you who are a little impatient, you don't have to wait long now. The baby is due to make its grand entrance in less than three weeks now.

Six weeks and counting...

Wow, time sure goes quickly. I can hardly believe that there are only around six weeks to go until Adam and I become proud parents, and that so much time has passed since I last updated my blog!

I’ve been in my contract job for five months already, and am in the process of passing on all of my tasks to others in the team. I’ve been offered a role there when I am ready to return to work yet, but I’m not sure what I’ll be doing yet. The plan is for me to take off three or four months after the baby is born, but we still need to work out if I will go back part-time or full-time and all of the other finer details.

For those who I don’t get to see all the time, you are probably wondering how the pregnancy has been going. Well, I can honestly say that I have been blessed with a good pregnancy experience. I am really glad about, because if I'd had a really bad time of it I know there would be absolutely no chance at all of convincing that sweet husband of mine to go back for a second time (Hi Adam!) as it is Adam doesn’t like the idea of having more than one child.

What has made the pregnancy so good? Well, I have not had any weird or wonderful food cravings, and there is not really any food that makes me ill. I enjoy all the food that I have been eating and make sure I get a real variety. Basically, if it has been a while since I have had something I might say to Adam “I really feel like…..”, but given that I don’t repeatedly ask for the same food, I wouldn’t call that a craving. I’ve been eating a lot more, but mostly healthy snacks like fruit, nuts and cheese sticks. Aside from sore hips which has diminished since the doctor gave me tips on how best to position myself at night, I’ve been as active as ever, but I try not to run for the train now (Tracey – it’s not running that you see me do – it’s just walking fast!). I sleep well at night and have managed to avoid heartburn and reflux that hits some people. That’s not to say that I might not have some of that to deal with in the coming weeks.

Growing bubby

The last time I went for a baby check-up the doctor didn’t know what to say to me. “You’re so healthy. Not that I want to wish you otherwise, but there’s not much more that I can tell you”. That was nice. Since then I have come down with a cold, which I’ve been fighting for more than a week. I admit that it’s been a real challenge not being able to relieve any of the symptoms with nasal decongestants or things to stop me coughing, but I am slowly getting better day-by-day.

I feel that Adam and I have gotten a lot closer during the past six months in particular, mainly due to the fact that we talk a lot more. We might see how parents are relating to their kids and then later on talk about what approach we felt did or didn’t work. Basically, we are learning heaps about each other’s values. The baby seems to hiccup a lot, and I’m sure Adam is getting annoyed with the number of times I grab his hand and whack it on my belly telling him that he has just “got to feel this…”. I think even he is surprised at how violently the baby moves at times.

My favourite time of day is at night when I have just hopped into bed and have rubbed moisturizer into my belly. The baby usually starts to kick a little more and I love poking it and prodding it and making it react to my touch. By the time I turn onto my side to sleep it seems to stretch out and kick me for a few more minutes before settling down again, but it doesn’t keep me awake. I think that I wake it when I turn over, but it usually goes back to sleep pretty quickly.

I only have eight work days left, and I am looking forward to having a break where I don’t have work constantly in the back of my mind, as I have done every other time that I’ve taken annual leave. By then, I’ll have only about four weeks to go, and will hopefully have more time to keep you updated on our progress.

Until next time.

A new start

As mentioned in my last entry, I have a new job. I am now working as a Senior Corporate Accountant with the Over Fifty Group, located just one block from where I worked at Treasury Group (TRG).

I made the decision to leave TRG in October last year. I had been hesitant to leave whilst trying to fall pregnant, because I thought that it would not make a very good impression on a new employer if I was to start a new job then have to ask for maternity leave if I fell pregnant straight away. I made the decision after a friend of a friend pointed out that even if I was to start a new job and fall pregnant straight away, that the new company would be so happy to have me working for them that they would definitely grant me maternity leave, because good accountants are pretty hard to come by at the moment.

I didn’t resign from work straight away because I was waiting to find out the outcome of some things that had been going on there, and I didn’t realize how stressed out I had been until after I got back to work after our holiday in late November. It was within two weeks of that initial decision that I actually fell pregnant, but I didn’t find that out until mid-December.

After Christmas I was feeling stressed again as soon as I returned to work. Now that I knew I was pregnant, and that stress wouldn’t be good for the baby, I finally started my search for a job, rather than just talking about it as I had done for so long. I decided not to tell my boss or other senior colleagues that I am pregnant, as I didn’t want to be stereotyped like “oh, so THAT’s the real reason you are leaving”. And it’s true, it wasn’t just that fact.

If everything goes well, I am planning to return to work when the baby is around three or four month’s old. My ideal job will be a full time role as a combined Financial Controller and Company Secretary, and over the past two years I have not done a lot of accounting work. As a stepping stone to that ideal job, I have decided to work in a full time accounting role, a contract role that we take me up until the end of June, so that I will be better placed for my idea role after having the baby. As a result, I told my boss and other colleagues that I was leaving for career reasons, but I also know that deep down my boss knew that I was also leaving because I simply could not work with one particular colleague any longer, an issue that I had raised with him a number of times over the past two years. I will call my old boss in a month or so to let him know my news, but he is still upset about the fact that I did what my contract said and only gave two weeks notice, when they wanted me stay longer after handing in my resignation.

One of my close colleagues has moved to Sydney with her husband and is still working with TRG. Initially, the boss gave the Financial Controller in Melbourne permission to hire two new accountants, but after the other two colleagues also resigned within a week of my resignation, the Melbourne office will now be closed, and the accounting function moved permanently to Sydney.

I will miss working with Su-Ann, Susan and Sherly, as we had a lot of good times working together at TRG and they have become close friends of mine. I just wish that I could’ve done more to help them out with some of the issues that they were facing there. We’ve all learnt a lot from our time at TRG, and I’m hoping that maybe one day we’ll have the opportunity to work together again.