Anniversary

This Monday will be Robert's and my 7th wedding anniversary and the 9th anniversary of the day we first met in person.

I'm still trying to figure out what to get him. It's traditionally supposed to be copper or wool for this year.

What I really wish is that I could find his missing wedding ring for him to give him. I know he misses it, and it has sentmental value. Sady, it might very well have been lost outdoors somewhere. *sigh*

Wii Bit Of Fun!

Gabby was playing with our Wii today - the boxing game. It was so funny to watch! Little kids really make the Wii into an exercise art! Robert used his new Flip MinoHD to video her. Please watch this if you want a bit of a laugh (he put it to music and added it to his blog): Champion Boxer (Oh, and comment if you find it funny. His blog needs some comments in it.) Too bad uploading video to YouTube lowers the quality. The Flip creates beautiful videos! Dh is really pleased with it.

Merry Christmas 2008!

Merry Christmas!

The kids loved all of their presents, and it was a lot of fun today. We got a Wii and Wii Fit, so the kids and Robert played some games, and then Robert and I bowled against each other. I won the first game, and he won the second. We haven't used the Wii Fit yet, but I'm pretty sure we will all be trying it out tomorrow.

Angelica and Kayla both got new mini notebook laptops (powerful ones) that Robert got at a huge discount through his work. He got me a massive laptop. It's powerful and sleek and lovely, but I think it might just be a bit too big for me. It's too heavy to be very portable for me, but I'm not sure if I just need to get used to it or whether I would be better off with something smaller. I adore the gift though, and have been wanting a laptop of my own for ages. It's a terrific gift! It's the AMILO Notebook X1 3650.

Gabby, Bella and Connor got lots of new toys and things and Gabby even got a semi-indestructable digital camera. She spent most of the day photographing things. Isabella got to play with her new princess castle among other things and Connor was thrilled with all of the car and other vehicle-themed toys he got.

Robert got a new watch from me, along with some Arsenal themed gifts and a new digital camera from one of our shops. I bought him this one here: Flip MinoHD The printing on it came out beautifully! I also got him this travel mug: Travel Mug Again, the printing came out perfectly!

Robert cooked our Christmas dinner and it was fabulous and way too filling. Everyone ate more than they needed too and enjoyed every bite.

But it's not the toys and gifts that made the day so much fun. It was spending the day together. No one argued today. We played Wii games together and we played some new board games together. We all spent the day together and it was really enjoyable. I hope we have a lot more days where we can all do things as a family and spend the time in harmony with one another.

Our Christmas tree, complete with gifts under and around it:


Christmas stockings:


Pictures of the kids with their stockings:





Angelica on Christmas Day:


Kayla on Christmas Day:


Gabriella on Christmas Day:




Isabella on Christmas Day:




Connor on Christmas Day:


Pictures of Cameron on Christmas Day:




Gabby & Bella on Christmas Day:


For Christmas gifts for their daddy, Gabby painted a picture on canvas and I got Gabby, Bella, Connor and Cameron's handprints and footprints onto another canvas.


Robert with his Flip MinoHD (still in the box):

Christmas Eve

A friend of mine sent me a couple of t-shirts for Cameron (I have terrific friends)and one of them was Christmas themed, so I put it on him to wear for Christmas Eve. It was a little big, but still cute, and he has worn it several times.

Here are a couple of photos of him in the shirt:

Santa's Grotto

We took the kids to see Santa at his grotto today. We were told over the phone that it opened at 11:00am. We got there a few minutes early and after waiting a while, we were told that it didn't open until noon. Since it was a 2-mile walk, there was no point in going home and then walking back, so we waited.

Pictures of the kids waiting for Santa's Grotto to open:





While we waited, Gabby lost her second tooth.

The baby was sleeping when we got there, but by the time Santa saw us, he was awake and hungry. This meant that he was crying when Santa held him.




After visiting with Santa, we took the bus into town to meet up with Robert and do a little bit of shopping. There was a carousel ride in town, so Gabby, Bella and Connor got to have ride.



(Just click on the photos to see them fully.)

Mommy, Daddy & Cameron

When Cameron was a week old (December 5th), Robert and I had Kayla take a picture of us together with him.

Cameron's Weight

The health visitor came by on Tuesday (Dec. 16th) and weighed Cameron. He weighed 6 pounds 15 1/2 oz. When Isabella and Connor were born, they both weighed 6 pounds 15 oz, so Cameron is now at their birth weight.

Blanket From Brandy

When I got home from the hospital after giving birth to Cameron, a package arrived from my friend Brandy. In it, among other things, was an odorable hand-sewn blanket for Cameron. Brandy had embroidered teddy bears and Cameron's name on the blanket. It's absolutely beautiful and will be cherished.

I took a picture of Cameron on it when he was only four days old.

So Far So Good & Gabby's 1st Lost Tooth!

As of today, Connor and Cameron have not developed chicken pox. And the girls spots have not spread any more than they started out either. They also haven't scabbed over yet though. *sigh* At least, so far, it looks like it will just be a mild case for the two of them. But as of now, Gabby has missed her school paly because of it and Bella has missed both Christmas parties. If the spots don't scab over by Sunday, they'll both be missing the church Christmas play too.

Gabby lost her first tooth yesterday! It's one of the bottom two center ones. The two bottom front teeth have been really loose for about a month! I've never seen teeth take so long to fall out once they became loose! She was very excited that the tooth fairy left her a £ coin last night! She gave me some really goofy looking smiles to show off her tooth:



I forgot to mention that the midwife came and weighed Cameron again last Monday (the 8th), and he weighed 6 lbs. 3 oz.

No Christmas Portraits This Year

With Gabby and Bella having chicken pox now, it looks like I will have to cancel having our family portrait done. Which means I won't be sending out our family portrait with Christmas cards this year. I guess it will have to be the card I send out for Valentine's instead. *pout* (I hate it when my plans get derailed.)

Bella missed her preschool portraits. She was at school that day, but they needed a signed form from us which we never got. They sent them out on the day I was in the hospital giving birth, so Bella was not at school that day. And even though Isabella was at school the day before the portraits were done, and Robert dropped her off in the morning the portraits were taken and the school had plenty of opportunity to tell him about the portraits and get him to sign the form, they did not. So she missed out on them. *sigh*

I was going to go and have them done somewhere else and I was annoyed because it will cost me a lot more than if the school had done them, but now it will have to wait too.

The chicken pox spots are not showing on their faces yet, and hopefully they never will, but it's a waiting game to see how bad it will get.

And we found out where they caught chicken pox. When I informed Gabby's school about her having chicken pox, they told me they have had no other cases of it this year. (They will now!) But when I informed Isabella's preschool about her having chicken pox, I was told that a couple of children had been out with it two weeks ago. *sigh*

The girls have been great today, despite Gabby having had to miss out on her school play. We told them they had to stay upstairs today and we set up the laptop in their room to play DVDs for them. When they got bored with that, they pulled out the Twister game and played with it for a while.

Robert went out for a little bit today to fix a friend's computer, and now that he is home, they have coerced him upstairs to play Twister with them. I'm debating sneaking up with the video camera and filming it. It ought to be really funny to watch!

Chicken Pox Strikes Us Again!

My older three children were immunized against chicken pox when they were younger and we lived in the US. As a result, they have never caught it.

A little over a year ago, Connor and Gabby both caught chicken pox. Isabella never did catch it from them. Connor had a really severe case of it.

Well, it's hit us again! Gabby came home from school and went to change out of her school uniform. She then came to show us that she was covered in a rash on her abdomen. A few minutes later, Isabella needed help pulling her tights back up after going potty, and I discovered the same rash all over her hip and upper leg.

Robert took them to the doctor and he confirmed that it did, indeed, look like chicken pox. *sigh*

This means that Gabby will miss being in her school Christmas play which is tomorrow. Isabella (and Connor because there will be no one who can take him) will miss going to the Seedlings (our mother and toddler group) Christmas party on Friday and she will also miss her preschool's Christmas party that is right after it. And both Bella and Gabby will miss being in the church Christmas play this Sunday.

And now I have to be really careful and pray that 11 day old Cameron will not catch the chicken pox too.

I feel like crying.

Six Day Old Cameron With Victoria

Here are a couple of photos of Cameron at six days old with his big sister Victoria:

More Cameron Photos

My daughter Kayla took a photo of me holding Cameron a couple of days ago (December 1st). Cameron was only a few days old.


And yesterday (December 2nd), when Cameron was only 4 days old, the midwife came to weigh him. He only weighed 5 lbs. 11oz. I took a picture of him on the scale. It was showing his weight in grams. His wieght loss was within the normal range. (Click on the photo to see the full image.)

Decorating the Christmas Tree 2008

Last Sunday (November 30th), the kids decorated the Christmas tree. Our tree is full of ornaments that were homemade by the kids over the years. We try and make new ones each year to add to it. The only store bought ones on the tree are ones that were given to us as gifts. I also have one for each of the kids that I made in my shop.

I took some video of the kids decorating the tree. They all love the tradition, and I like looking back at the video or photos and remembering. Robert put some of the video clips together with music so we could share it with you. Our new little baby Cameron even makes a brief appearance in the video, although he was too young (two days old) to take part in the actual tree decorating.

And yes, we realized that the "Merry Christmas" sign in the window was facing the wrong way and have since corrected it. :)

Cameron's Birth Story

Cameron was due on November 21st. My doctor scheduled me to be induced on November 27th, which was Thanksgiving Day. So, instead of celebrating Thanksgiving on the 27th, we celebrated on the 26th and went out for a meal. I took photos at the meal and will post them later.

When the morning of the 27th arrived, we got to the hospital bright and early. I had forgotten my "notes" and they said they could not induce me until they had them, so Robert went back home to get them. In the meantime, I had to wait, knowing that, at any moment, they could get too busy and decide to send me home. Fortunately, it stayed quiet at the hospital.

The midwife mentioned something about all the 2s and 7s in my birthdate, and I pointed out to her that I was also having my 7th son who was the 2nd boy (and the date was the 27th).

There were two ladies in the hospital room with me. Both of them had already had their waters break the night before and had come in and were waiting for their labour to start. One of them was having her 8th baby, and the other was having her first baby (conceived through IVF after 3 years of trying). The woman who was having her 8th was annoyed that the doctors would not induce her and get her labour started, and she was really annoyed that I was going to be induced before her. She tried to talk them into taking her to the delivery suite first.

Apparently, since my doctor was the chief of obstetrics, it had already been decided that I would be induced. The midwife there at the time stated pretty much that, "If Mr. Majumdar says you are to be induced today, then you are to be induced today." I was really glad to hear that.

It still took them until almost 10:30am before they took me to the delivery suite and they administered 1mg Prostin gel to me at about ten minutes to 11:00am. It was hours before anything started happening, and even then, my labour pains were minimal. I started at about 2 centimeters dilated and 50 to 60% effaced. When they checked me hours later, I had not progressed past the 2 to 3 centimeters I started at.

They broke my water at 5:45pm. They were going to give me another dose of the Prostin gel, but decided to give me the IV drip of Syntocinon instead. My labour pains slowly began to become more and more painful and prolonged as the drip amount was increased.

We had asked earlier to have our 6 year old daughter Gabby and our 15 year old daughter Angelica there with us, and we had been told it was okay, but at around 6:00pm, the midwife changed shifts with another one and the new one was not as positive about it. She came back later and told us that Social Services had informed them that it was illegal for us to leave our 14 year old and our 15 year old home alone with the other two children (even though they were already in bed and we had neighbours who were aware of the situation and available if the girls needed them) and that meant that Gabby and Angelica couldn't come to the birth and that we had to get someone older home with the kids.

Robert called his parents and had them take a taxi over to our house, which we paid for. Our teenagers are better able to take care of their siblings than his parents, but although we were annoyed and pretty certain that we were being lied to about the issue, we still called and had his parents go over to our house. By this time, my labour pains were getting stronger and seeing Robert get stressed and annoyed about the situation didn't help my mood.

My blood pressure had already begun a slow rise earlier. I'd kept it down through diet, exercise and weight loss throughout my pregnancy and so I was surprised to see it creeping up just over borderline. The midwife had a blood pressure cuff on my right arm that was automatically checking my blood pressure every 15 minutes. After hours of it, she switched it to checking every 30 minutes.

After the midwife was certain that we had someone else going to our house, she said the Angelica and Gabby could come to the labour, so we called them and had them take a taxi out to the hospital. Robert met them outside.

I asked for an epidural, but the anesthetist who came in was unsuccessful. He kept hitting nerves and causing lots of pain, though on his third or fourth try, he seemed to be successful. Then he told me that he had inserted the needle into a vein and had to remove it because it couldn't be left there. At that point, I gave up and told him "no" to having the epidural.

It was getting late, and after having said "no" to the epidural, we decided that Gabby shouldn't be there. We had no idea how much longer my labour would take, and without pain relief, things could get ugly. I was already struggling to put on a smile for her through my pain. So Angelica took another taxi home with Gabby. Having been there for part of my labour seemed to satisfy Gabby's need to be a part of Cameron's birth anyway, so she was happy.

They brought me "gas and air" (Entenox) to breathe in for the pain during contractions. My contractions were getting closer together and lasting longer and hitting that really ugly high edge. The only thing the Entenox did was make me feel a little light-headed through it (made my head spin). I didn't use it for every contraction until the very end because I didn't like feeling like the room was spinning.

At one point, I was told they could give me Pethidine for the pain. It would just make me sleepy. They put the shot in my leg. I couldn't believe I actually felt it was painful after the other pain I was experiencing!

After that, I started having strange little mini-dreams in the seconds I had between contractions. Once I dreamed I was further along in my labour than I was, and another time I started dreaming some sort of rap song to the sound of the blood rushing in my ears. I started focusing all of my concentration during contractions on squeezing Robert's hand and breathing in the Entenox keeping my breathing slow. The only way I could bare the pain was to focus my mind as much as I could elsewhere.

At sometime during the night, the doctor came in and checked how much I had dilated and found it was at 5 centimeters. I think things went quickly from then on. Our midwife tried to put a monitor clip on the baby's head but was having trouble getting it to stick. The next time they checked me, I was fully dilated.

I couldn't believe I was actually dripping with sweat from the work of this labour! They told me to push and I really had to work at it. Cameron was born at 12:28am on the 28th. He was delivered with his left hand on his head and his umbilical cord hooked through his elbow. He was covered in vernix and he was absolutely gorgeous!

My back is bruised from the failed epidural and it still hurts a lot, and I've even got pain in my leg from the Pethidine shot. But I'm so glad it's all over and I now have my wonderful baby boy. He weighed 6 pounds 1/2 oz. and he was 20 inches long. He is the smallest baby of all seven I have given birth to.

In my doctor notes, it says that my labour started at 10:45pm, and that I was at full dilation at 12:15am, and the baby was delivered at 12:28am. 1st stage (labour) - 1 hour 30 minutes; 2nd stage (delivery) - 13 minutes; 3rd stage (placenta) - 8 minutes.

By morning, after not being able to sleep all night because of all of the hospital noises, I was so ready to go home, but it was taking the midwives and doctors ages to get to me. It got to the point where I was having to nag them a bit to get things going so they could let me go home, and eventually, I got to the point where I just told them I would be going home regardless of whether they were ready for me to leave. My blood pressure was still borderline, so they wanted to make sure it came down (it did).

Finally, at almost noon, I finally got out of there and got to go home!

Oh, and Robert and I have since checked and it was not illegal at all for our teenagers to have been the ones home with the younger children, so that had been a lie to us as we had suspected it was. But everything worked out in the end.

All of this is pretty much from memory, and Robert has posted his version of the birth story in his family blog at http://diaperblues.blogspot.com if you'd like to go and read his version of events. I'm sure he'd love to read your comments!

Pictures Of Our New Little Man

First, a video of Cameron's first moments after birth when he had just begun to open his eyes to the bright flourescent glare of the hospital lights:

And photos of his first moments outside the womb: (You'll need to click each photo to see it in full.)









With Mommy & Daddy just after birth:



Being weighed (he's a tiny little baby):


With the midwife who delivered him:


Later the same morning while still at the hospital:



Tiny hands:



At home by noon the same day and with his siblings:
Bella:


Connor:


Gabby:


Kayla:


Angelica:



Hope you enjoyed the pictures and video of our baby boy! I will post the birth story tomorrow.