Keyan's Measurements

Day of Birth:    03 August 2012
Time of Birth:  07h47
Weight:           4.320kg
Length:           53cm
Head:              37cm
Blood Type:     O Positive
xxx

Baby Shower for Keyan

I was very blessed to have the special people in my life arrange a baby shower for me prior to Keyan's arrival. I would like to share some pictures and impressions with you all below. As you might remember, we chose "Button" as the nickname for Keyan in the initial stages before we had decided on a name for him, so the theme was Teddies & Buttons :)

Best of all, it was a total surprise. Günther and I had gone for a relaxed morning out, movie ("What to expect when you are expecting"), lunch, a baby fair and when we got home, I was surprised by everyone waiting for me as I entered my house.

Thank you Kim, Natascha, Inge, my mommy, and my other mom :) Very special xxx

And little did I know that I would be lucky enough to have a second! baby shower at work. Thanks to Michaela, Kim (again) and my team and colleagues :) 

The Save the Date

My sister in law created this invite

And my wishlist

Yummy food prepared by all

Party Decor

Loads and loads of gifts

Fun and games

Kim explaining and hosting

I am showing a rattle, ok?

And more Charades

Inge explaining to the rest

Getting it right

More fun

Thanks Ladies, it was awesome

My gifts - so so many :)

My gifts from all my colleagues :)

My boss baked and decorated for me herself!

  
Blog Photo Attribution (Save the Date, Invite and Wishlist) : By Natascha Olivier

The Birth - Part 2

September 2013 is here, and with it comes Spring and the feeling of promise of something new that is to come. With that picture in mind it feels befitting to continue our story where we left off... D-day arrived and it was time for our little love bundle to make his appearance!

Continuing from the previous blog, we were now in theater. The BIG DAY was finally here, 10 months and 6 days later.

After the epidural, I felt very strange. That's me there on the left looking like I am about to faint. The medication was definitely starting to work, my lower body was feeling numb, and I found it increasingly difficult to breathe. It felt like I had an out of body experience where I had no control over any functions. I needed to shift all my focus to breathing. Perhaps this can be contributed to my constant low blood pressure, or perhaps my nerves and the fact that Günther was not yet in the room with us because I was starting to panic that they might start without bringing him in. Throughout the entire procedure of prepping for the opt, the anesthesiologist stayed with me and assisted to keep me calm and focused on breathing. Finally they sent for Günther who joined at this stage again, and that is all I needed. My soulmate back by my side :) Breathing was still a struggle, but I felt at ease and ready for anything.

We were delayed at this stage, although I had no idea how late it was. I felt tucking and pulling, but no pain whatsoever. The lower part of my body was shielded from me so that I could not see anything. Little did anyone know though, was that I could watch in an almost crystal clear image albeit somewhat lopsided, what was happening in the big round metal light above me. But I concentrated on breathing and staying calm. And there it was, everyone rushing around excitedly around our little (or big as we were soon to learn) bundle of joy. It felt like forever until we heard our angel cry but when he did, both our eyes filled with tears. WELCOME to the world Keyan Adendorff! Günther rushed over to see what the Pediatrician and everyone was doing. And once a little cleaned, they brought him to me and there he finally was, lying on my chest. Really beautiful, a perfect something of everything. Loads of hair, a perfect nose, hands, feet, just everything perfect. I was completely overwhelmed with all my feelings, and exhausted at the same stage.

 




















I had only a little bit of time with our baby before they had to take him away again for all the measurements, and so on, but his dad stayed with him. The unfortunate thing about a C-Section is that one needs to be "closed up" again and since it is a full on operation, the vitals need to be monitored for about an hour afterwards. So while Günther went off with Keyan to bond and "Kangaroo" him, I went to the recovery room. This must have felt like the longest period of the whole birth experience. All I wanted to do was get back to my new little family and make sure my Button is OK! 

Once I was back in my room, Günther came in with Keyan in his arms and once reunited, nothing else mattered. ♥ In that moment, time could go stand still for all I cared! We called the grandparents with the wonderful news and yes, this possibly was the best day of our lives! 

Only a bit later did we realize you were born/landed at 07h47am, in true airline style  :) (Boeing 747) 


Some more photo's and stats around Keyan's weight, height and other numbers in the next post to follow. 

Until then, Cheerio

The Birth - Part 1

I would like to start out by telling you that often I have these fleet moments of clarity and excitement where new topics come up by me and I realize I MUST share this with my bloggers, so I immediately jot it down so that I won't forget it. As I'm noting these down I already start formulating a basic structure by identifying 4-5 main points around this idea that I want to incorporate into my blog. I might as well add that as I officially start to write on the topic, I find I have a million thoughts racing through my mind all at once like an avalanche and I always end up typing away like a mad person trying to catch up to my thoughts. Sometimes I stop and glance back and it seems without structure, so I truly hope it somehow has some rhythm to it and makes sense to some of you. Take for instance the topic around birth...I started out as per normal and planned to write about certain points, but as I started to blog about them I ended up adding more points and finding things that I felt is essential to add for the readers. As I was about halfway with this article, I realized I will not be able to fit all into just one blog. Therefore please find part 1 of 2 or maybe 3 below :)

Our original birth plan was not very original or elaborate. The plan was a straight forward natural birth. We did not want to experiment with water birth, hypnosis, Lamaze breathing or other weird and wonderfuls. We wanted a normal birth where both of us could be present to share the magnificent moment of our baby finally joining our family. We wanted to both be there to share in the moment and the experience of seeing our son the first time and afterwards holding and kissing him and cuddling him as well for the very first time.

Upon our last check up, the gynecologist told us that a natural birth did not seem possible as Keyan still had not "dropped", moved down in the birth channel, and the amniotic fluid/water was now starting to get too little to sustain Keyan. It was becoming too dangerous to wait any longer. She proposed if we really wanted to, we could wait one more day at most, and then if there was still no signs of arrival, we had no choice but to opt for a Cesarean section. OK, so we had one more day we thought, and were hopeful but started to make peace with the idea that natural birth might not be happening. Now as you all know already from past blog articles, I am a serial "planner and researcher" and having only 2 days time to look into this new option of giving birth was a little scary for me. Insane in fact :) {{but I also believe I can do anything I set my mind to}}. At this time, we were 40 weeks and 4 days pregnant, so 4 days overdue and Günther had made a Christmas-bed* in-front of the TV for me to just relax. The Christmas-bed* tradition has become a very popular tradition in the Adendorff house and any opportunity is used to bring out the bed. Whether it is one of us being sick, a short vacation or urgent recuperation needed, it is awesome :) So here, between snoozing, eating and watching some TV, I was looking into the topic in more detail.

What was even more daunting to me, was that I needed to check into the hospital one night before the planned and scheduled C-section the following morning at 07h00. I would have to stay there without Günther or Toffee. The next evening arrived and still no sign of Little Mr so I grabbed my overnight bag with all essentials which had been packed weeks prior and we were on our way to drop off Toffee at Ouma Nellie's house. Big tears followed as we were back in the car. Toffee had been following me EVERYWHERE and "protecting" me and the belly at all times. He was too cute. Always lying on top of my tummy. We call him our furry son because he is really just that. But how Toffee and Pippi were chosen and joined our family is another story for another time ;)

So once at the hospital, that awful, empty feeling was not going away. Günther came with me and helped set everything up in the hospital. Water jug, earphones, Mommy in Pajamas and I was set for the night. I planned to just sleep and get the night over and done with. Günther was on his way home with clear orders {{he is an absolute night owl}} to go sleep and be fresh, ready, on time and back by 06h00 to help calm my nerves. Little did I know that a million and one tests and preparations were still ahead for me, making me even more nervous. Blood pressure, stress test for the baby, forms to fill out, signatures to be given etc etc. Then finally I was left in peace. There was already another mommy with a baby in the room and it was strange to hear that little quivering voice cry in the middle of the night. I was happy to be able to doze off in between my nerves getting the better of me but by 04h00 I just could not sleep anymore. I watched some random movie, a heavy drama and finally, I could hear the nurses starting to make their rounds again. Every now and then, when I thought of what was about to happen, my heart would skip a beat. After what felt like eternity since I had said goodbye the night before, Günther arrived back at the hospital and I instantly became calm and ready again.


We had to prepare and dress in hospital gowns and finally the time was here. We had chosen an epidural (spinal block) and this was the only place Günther was not allowed to accompany me to. By now I not only had butterflies in my stomach, but airplanes were circling and wanting to come in for the landing due to my nerves reaching a climax. I had on purpose not done too much research on this as I am very scared of needles and injections. To my surprise and very welcomed, my gynie came and joined this process and held me as the anesthesiologist did the four step process. 1) You sit on the edge of the bed and someone holds you (in this case someone I knew :) 2) the area where the needle will go in the back is numbed 3) The needle as big as a fire hose gets inserted 4) The line is inserted into the needle, which transports the ongoing medication into your body to numb the lower body. That's it. If you have a very good anesthesiologist, they will walk you through everything and make you feel comfortable. I can confirm I did have a weird feeling when they performed this process, but honestly now in hind sight, do not remember much of that part anymore. 

From here, we were wheeled into theater, a small room with many bright and blinding lights....

to be continued :) 

*Christmas-bed: a Tradition that my husband brought into our family, which originated from his childhood days, where they would carry their bed's mattress to the living room in front of the TV and make a bed there in order to relax in comfort whilst enjoying the entertainment on TV etc.

Pregnancy - The third and final trimester

Me at the end, I wasn't joking when I said HUGE

The last stretch lies ahead. By now I was loving my pregnant belly, and the fact that people would let me go to the front of lines, or would get up to let me have a seat, pick up things I might have accidentally dropped on the ground and just being nicer and friendlier in general was amazing. {{You do not understand, I was HUGE and am sure many people thought there must be more than one in there}} I loved feeling you kick and move all the time, but overall you remained a calm little angel and slept a lot and had many hiccups. I loved to sleep and eat all the time too. Your dad persistently states that I violently started to snore, but I will deny this for life ;) Sweet and hot flavors remained popular. At the end I had very swollen feet, so swollen, that I could no longer wear closed shoes. My boss was so kind and gave me a pair of bigger flip flops she still had from her wedding favors and I received special permission to wear these daily. :) Imagine that! And in winter too! Your were my internal heater as I never got cold.

Your dad was just as excited and it felt like forever until we would finally meet you. We also finally found a birth class that would be held in a single session on a Saturday and not be spread over many weeks. It is very tough for us to attend anything during the week as we spend about 3 hours alone in traffic to a from work each day and only get home around 19:00 in the evening. By this time we are normally exhausted and do not feel like socializing or attending training classes with anybody as it would just require more than we could give. So I was excited to find this workshop and booked us straight away. We had not created our birth plan yet; just knew we would like natural birth at the Panorama Mediclinic. One does not learn breathing during pregnancy classes (Lamaze classes) like one sees in all the movies, in actual fact, if I think back now, I do not think I learned all that much at all and would not recommend any one else attending. I am not sure if this is because I researched a lot of topics at length on my own or whether this class was really created for parents with absolute no knowledge. I did enjoy the time with your dad however and just focusing on the topic for the morning, so I guess each one should decide for themselves. 

The other very exciting thing was that we were eagerly preparing your room for your arrival. Painting, decorating (a colorful jungle theme), buying furniture, bedding, baby monitor, toys, clothes and so on. This is when your daddy stumbled across the famous rabbit aka “Dr. Snuggles” whom you now drag around with you on his ear and cannot sleep without. We worked on your room all the way until the last weekend before your arrival, adding the final touches. I remember sticking your glow in the dark stars to the ceiling right at the end. 

Toffee still being a wee little puppy himself, had integrated very nicely and was protecting me at all costs. He slept on top of my tummy and I am sure could hear you inside of me. The fact that I could not sleep long stretches anymore {{ I firmly believe this is natures way of preparing a mother for what is to come }} helped nicely with potty training Toffee. We were up every 3 hours, learning to pee outside on the grass and not on the carpets inside. And yes, you kept me nice and warm as it is no joke out there in the middle of winter. And after just 3 weeks, little Toffee knew his business belonged outside. 

We were now getting to a stage where you were getting bigger and walking was becoming uncomfortable for me, but I still loved every second. We now had to see the doctor every week for a check up to see whether the amniotic fluid was still sufficient for our little man or whether they would need to schedule emergency C-section. The Dr predicted you would weigh at least 3.8kg, which by most accounts meant HUGE! I planned my last day with my boss and this was 1 day before your due date, 28 July 2012!!! Little did we know that you were enjoying it inside so much that you decided to let us wait another week! Hehe. You also did not "drop" or descend downwards, meaning that we were not able to have your birth naturally. We waited and waited until the last end. In between we did stress tests, to ensure you were doing well while we were going over the full term. On our last visit, our Gynie could now see that the fluid was getting too little and calcification of the placenta was just starting to take place. So intervention was needed and we had to plan the Caesarean section for the 03rd of August. Man o man, all our plans out the window, and we all know how I feel about planning things. We had done all shopping for energy snacks etc for your dad and I to keep going through impossible hours of labor, had our bags packed, Toffee sorted and all was ready to go. And now we had to rethink it all... 
 
But more of that up next. The Birth!

Blog Photo Attribution: By Alex Derr, alex1derr 
Blog Photo 2 Attribution: By itsjustlo


 

Pregnancy - The second trimester Part II

The second trimester was an absolute roller coaster. I felt more energetic again and was ready to take on anything and everything. Since we now had passed the feared first 3 months, we started to become more relaxed and started planning and reading up on everything one needs, the so called "must have's", in order to be ready for your arrival soon. Here you can refer to my previous blog to save you some time. Must have's for newborns and things you do not need 4 things you do not need.

 

One thing was for sure, although our apartment/ flat did have 2 bedrooms, we had started using the second room for storage as we bought more and more things. You will still learn this later on in life, your dad struggles to let go of things and collects goodies and rather keeps all for that “in case situation” where one might need the item again. {{hehe}} To cut a long story short, we decided to sell our place and buy a house…..so that dad could have a garage to store more… Everyone whom we told our plans to sell and buy, thought we had gone crazy. Who sells a flat, buys a house and moves all while already pregnant? Of course WE, as with most things and life, DO what we want and just make work! :)

We started searching the market for houses and very quickly realized that we wanted to move to Pinehurst. This is a much sought after security estate that is manned 24 hours and with the high and ever rising stats on crime around us, thought this would be perfect. It offered space, a garden and security that we were looking for. So very quickly our flat went into the market, and you might not believe it, but also got sold within the same month. The buyer was from Namibia and was looking for a place to buy for his son. The son had come to Cape Town to study. The condition for the sale as set by the buyer, was that we had to move out within 5 days as he wanted to see to his son settling into his new home before returning back to Namibia!!!! {{Yip, here at week 12 all these exciting things were happening and we could not believe our blessings}}

Our household packed into the garage

Our new place and ALL those boxes

Speed packing is no joke I tell you, but we did it all. We took some boxes(most likely half our flats contents) to your Oma Nellie’s house and found a good temporary storage place for the rest since we would only be able to move into our place at the end of April. For the next 3 months, we lived with Oma Nellie. We settled into the new environment quickly and were extremely grateful for the help and place to stay. That being said there’s just no place like home, and as you will also learn one day {{and probably point out to me too -->  I just hope not too soon}}, once one reaches a certain age, you need your own space and privacy and so we were super excited when the time finally came around to move into our own house. At pregnancy week 26 (6.5 months pregnant) the exciting day had finally arrived and we moved into our new home. We took 2 weeks leave to sort everything out, unpack and settle in. 

Our Toffee Baby

But hang on, there was another big and very exciting thing that happened in the second trimester, in week 20 (month 5) to be exact. I felt you bump the surface for the first time with my hand and half an hour later, when your dad was holding my tummy, you moved again thrice, just to show him, yes Dad, this is me you are feeling!! In week 22 (5 ½ months), we found a little puppy for our family. Your dad had been dreaming of adding a furry fella to the family for a very long time and with a house and garden, this could now become a reality. We named him Toffee because of his unique and beautiful brown coat and he was planned to join us just after we moved in. 

The rest of the time was just unpacking of boxes, washing all clothes, and getting our place to look like something we could be proud to bring you home to. xxx

Settled in

Your Dad's drawing at home

 

Blog Photo Attribution: By Kristin Nador
Blog Photo 2 Attribution: By Nicolas Ortecho