Sleepless Nights

Author: Veronica

  • When your new sibling is actually a duck

    The thing about having a duckling inside, without any of its siblings, is that it doesn’t realise it’s a duckling. Sure, neither of my other children are living in a plastic box with a sawdust floor, but ducklings aren’t great at seeing the big picture.

    Ducklings also have a built in suvival reflex that goes something like “HOLY FUCK I’M LOST AND ALONE, PEEP PEEP PEEP PEEP”. This has enabled me to find many a duckling separated from the mother, all I have to do is follow the peeping.

    Unfortunately, the inside duckling sometimes freaks the fuck out and goes “HOLY FUCK, I’M LONELY, PEEP PEEP PEEP PEEP” which doesn’t help me in the slightest, as I know exactly where the little thing is.

    It has meant that as soon as the frantic peeping starts, my children race for the duckling box, vying to be the first one to reassure the baby that it’s not alone. My children sit around the box chatting and the duckling tones its peeping down to “hey, I’m joining in the conversation as well” and everyone is happy.

    I wasn’t quite sure what I was expecting, but apparently the duckling assumes that my children are its siblings and my children are happy to peep back at it.

    Also, while they’re bothering the duckling, they are not screeching at me.

    Everybody wins!

    Amy is back to school today, which is divine, even though I am now down one duckling silencer. Her ear has improved, thank goodness, and I was delighted to drop her off in her classroom today and then walk away.

    I love my daughter, but I really love her being at school as well.

  • On ear infections and the effectiveness of laxatives

    So Isaac’s laxatives kicked in last night before bedtime, which worried me for what the night would herald. I needn’t have worried, he slept through the night.

    Amy however was awake at 8pm, sobbing because her ear hurt. We knew her ear hurt, she’d been to the doctor earlier and been prescribed antibiotics for the infection that was hanging around in there.

    At 9pm, I took her to bed with me, in the hope that we would get some sleep. By midnight, I realised why Amy is always so tired – the kid doesn’t sleep. No, she just rolls around in bed and pretends to be quiet.

    Another dose of panadol was given, right before she decided to vomit.

    I’m rather pleased that she made it to the kitchen sink before throwing up her dinner and antibiotics. Nathan tucked her into bed and dealt with the vomit, while I tried to sleep through the rib dislocations that have become a nighttime norm.

    I kept her home from school again today, which was wise, as she threw up her breakfast and first dose of antibiotics this morning, right before Isaac’s bottom exploded and I was left shouting at Isaac to just “for the love of freaking god, LAY STILL, while I put this pukey blanket in the wash, LAY STILL DAMMIT.”

    He didn’t lay still, but at least Amy’s doona contained most of the vomit.

    The lump in his stomach is maybe a bit smaller, but still there, so we continue with the laxative until the lump disappears.

    This is what my life has come to.

    In other news, my ducklings hatched and overnight, something made them vanish. Maybe a feral cat, maybe a snake, but I am minus six ducklings this morning and whatever it was, upset the mother enough to abandon two pipping babies. One was dead this morning, the other finished its hatch with the help of a warm box in front of the heater inside and is currently drying out.

    BUT! Really, what I wanted to talk to you about was Saturday.

    On Saturday, the ever lovely Frogpondsrock has her head shorn in order to raise money for research into Leukaemia. If I’m complaining about my children being unwell, at least Amy’s ear infection will clear up and Isaac’s impaction will dissolve. Leukaemia is not that easy.

    I would really really love if you could donate a couple of dollars to her here. She’s being even braver, chopping off all her hair in front of a large audience of Roller Derby Fans.

    I’ll be at the event too, pregnant and unwell, but wielding a camera and likely enjoying the fact that I am there without my children.

  • Ducklings, again. This time, one has a love heart.

    Look what hatched here overnight.

    Love the love heart.

    Current count is seven, with three eggs to go. 70% success rate at this stage is HUGE and I’m pleased.

  • Duckling!

    If ducklings knew anything about the Internet, this one would be shouting “FIRST” in triumph, as the other eggs are only just starting to crack.

    I’ll keep an eye on the nest and make sure she sits long enough, but I’m not terribly worried – last time she sat for four days after the first baby hatched.

  • 16 weeks

    So, sixteen weeks.

    There’s not a lot of anything new to update. The nausea and exhaustion continue, as does the expansion of my uterus.

    My joints have gone to shit and I succeeded in sleeping badly last night, waking up with my left shoulder fully dislocated. I’m sort of glad that I was half asleep relocating it, because I don’t remember much, except that it hurt and all of the muscles around it were spasming.

    The muscles in my neck are swollen this morning and my shoulder blades ache, but that is nothing unusual.

    Still no weight gain, but I seem to have stopped the weight loss, finally. Eating is becoming easier, provided I don’t forget to take the maxalone and my EDS nausea doesn’t flare (which involves remembering to take my PPI medication every morning).

    Apparently the baby this week is the size of an avocado, which merely makes me crave avocado and toast and doesn’t speak to me of a baby kicking around in there.

    Oh! And movement – from the small flutters I’ve been getting, we’ve transitioned upwards to definite pokes, some of which can be felt externally. Amy is very eager to feel the baby kick and I’m hoping I can indulge her in the next few weeks.

    Isaac however just wants to kiss and pat my stomach, which is very cute at lunchtime and not so cute 30 minutes after he’s been put to bed.

    My breasts are huge (you can see me trying to contain them) and starting to leak. This I find incredibly unfair – I didn’t have to deal with randomly leaking breasts until I was 7 months along with both other children, so what the hell body?

    Yet again, I can repeat that despite the nausea, exhaustion and broken joints, this is my least eventful pregnancy.

    It’s a bit bizarre, in a good way.