Mirena

Well I've decided to try this as contraception. After years of using the pill I thought maybe time for a change. And not to mention I keep forgetting to take the pill so that's a pretty useless contraception! Anyway that left me with 2 choices, an implanon or a Mirena. I went for the Mirena.

Why the Mirena?
Well it lasts for 5 years, it gives the dose of hormone intrauterine so it's a pretty small amount. Keeps the endometrium thin so that eggs can't implant and also thickens cervical mucus and apparently decreases sperm motility.
Though the thought of having something in my uterus was a bit scary (risk of PID, ectopics, foreign body, infection!) the convenience of it sold me on it. I was worried it would be expensive (like 5 years worth of pill) but it was only $36 or so! How cheap! And if I'm lucky I might not get any periods either. Now that's always a plus. And if I get super light periods I might be able to get away with just panty liners for the 5 years - which means I can use my cloth pads yay! Which are all panty liner types anyway. Apparently the guy can feel the threads if the ends are cut too short (because then it's like a prickle) but I think they're quite long at the moment. I haven't been game to feel the threads yet, maybe I'll do that tomorrow.

Birth Story

Gosh talk about totally different to the first time around!

I had my beautiful weeks off all planned. Thursday 15 October was my last day at work, had a party at work, it was great! I was naughty and ate lots of food and didn't check my sugars much, had cake and sushi and all sorts of yum stuff. Finished late though so that was annoying but since it was my last day.. who cares right? Went to a friend's house after that and stayed out late!

On Friday went and visited those same friends when they were sober, did some shopping and then I came home to wait for my daughter and my parents to come back. They arrived just after lunch and I spent the day playing with her and fussing over her and it was a nice day.

On Saturday, woke up and had some uncomfortable Braxton Hicks pains. Ignored them for a bit, thought it was because I jumped out of bed too quickly, and I went and did laundry and had some breakfast. I had to sit on the floor to do the laundry because it was so uncomfortable, the pains were giving me back pain as well. My parents were leaving to go back to Canberra and they wanted to go shopping first so off they went quite early. I decided to ring the hospital because I wasn't feeling particularly great, and the pains were coming quite regularly almost 6-10 minutely sometimes but lasting less than a minute. It was bad enough to make me stop what I was doing. The hospital told me if the pains hadn't settled down in 1 hour to call again, so at 915 i called again because now I was getting pains down my legs as well (which I remember from last time when I was in pre-labour) and so I called my parents to come back and look after Erika and went to hospital. I put my wallet, yellow card, phone and a book to read in my bag, and then quickly made up a hospital bag "just in case" which had my laptop, charger, wireless 3G, some pads, PJs, undies and maternity bras/singlets.

Got to hospital and went to the assessment room and got hooked up.. and typical no contractions. The midwife said to me that I looked too well to be in labour. I did get one contraction and then she gave me a drink of iced water and then I got more pains. She took one look at me and said "I think you're having a baby today, in the next hour or so" and I was in shock! OMG I can't be having a baby today! She examined me and i was 3cm and thin. So off she went to call my obstetrician. We had no camera, no clothes, nothing! So hubby called his brother to bring in a camera for us, called my parents to say we're having a baby today, and all the time I was like.. no my nice 2 week holiday... GONE!

Anyway they let me use the gas which was NICE! Didn't get off my face like last time, but it helped and it was grrrreeeaaaat! The anaesthetist was in Balmain and we had to wait for him to arrive and then off we went. I was sad to see the nitrous go...

Round to the anaesthetic bay and I got to meet my anaesthetist who was someone of some distinction (in my opinion) and was very good.. but the poor bloke couldn't get my spinal in! I tried my best to get in the position that would be best but it wasn't what they wanted, they seemed to want more flexion at the hips than what I would have done! So after 2 failed attempts at spinal he went to CSE but he got a dry tap with the spinal needle and put the epidural in instead. Went in nicely and was all good. Worked well and I needed some aramine later for headaches and what not, but baby was out soon enough and we got our cuddles and hubby went off to get him weighed... this time i got a scales picture!

Love that epidural morphine! Had no pain for 2 days and then started to get some discomfort which was covered by voltaren and panadol.

What people say when I tell them I have GDM

It's amazing what people say when I tell them I have gestational diabetes.

• Oh no! Well, it's only for another 9 weeks so it's not really that bad.
• This could be a good thing! Motivation to eat well and exercise! You could lose all your pregnancy weight so quickly and you're lucky you're married to an endocrinologist! Expert care 24/7!
• It must be all those lollies and chocolates you've been eating.
• I don't think you really have diabetes.
• You know you just have to eat healthily and exercise more, exercise will improve your insulin sensitivity. That's what I do!
• Wow does this mean that you're going to get diabetes later when you're not pregnant?

I've been thinking a lot about why me? Granted, I am older (30+), and I am not very fit and do hardly any exercise but I do try and do a lot of incidental exercise (stairs, walking long distances to my car). And I am of Asian background and apparently that's a risk factor.

MY GDM Food diary and sugars

I thought I'd start a food diary so I know what I have been eating and what's been good for my sugars and what hasn't!

Wednesday 26 August
Lunch - 7 pieces of Sushi and water
BSL 6.6
Dinner - Rice with Curry and chicken nuggets (6)
BSL 6.6

Thursday 27 August
Fasting 4.8
Breakfast - 1/3 cup of rolled oats with 6 teaspoons of D'lite Cheesecake yoghurt + 1 cup of Reg soy milk
BSL 5.8

Morning Tea - Regular Decaf Flat white with 1 sugar
Lunch - Salad (beetroot, capsicum, tomato, ham)
Didn't check BSL coz no carbs
Afternoon tea - half a piece of banana bread + Decaf latte with 1 sugar
Dinner - Rice with Curry, 1 pear
BSL - 6.0

Friday 28 August
Fasting 3.9
Breakfast - 1/3 cup of rolled oats with 5 teaspoons of D'lite Cheesecake yoghurt + 1 cup of Reg soy milk

BSL - 5.9

Morning tea - Decaf Latte no sugar

Lunch (1320)- 2 pieces of Helga's Wholemeal bread + 95g Tuna (Spicy Chilli)

BSL - 7.0

Afternoon tea - 1/2 serve of Just right breakfast cereal (1600)
Dinner - Rice with mushrooms and chinese cabbage + fish, 3/4 banana
BSL - 6.2

Saturday 29 August
Fasting 4.7
Breakfast - 1/3 cup of rolled oats with 5 teaspoons of D'lite Cheesecake yoghurt + 1 cup Regular soy milk
(BSL didn't check coz I knew it would be ok based on previous results)
Lunch (1130) - rice with cabbage, beef, capsicum, carrots + pork chop
BSL - 5.5
Afternoon tea (1545) - 1.5cm cube of cake, 1/2 avocado, 1/2 longan, 3 teaspoons of D'lite Cheesecake yoghurt
Dinner - (1930) rice noodles with beef, chinese vegetable, 1/4 apple
BSL - 6.9

Sunday 30 August
Breakfast (0630) - 1 cup of processed bran + 3/4 cup of lite soy milk
BSL - 6.2
Lunch (1200) - Yum cha with lots of bad food like dumplings, noodles, porridge, glutinous rice, tofufa, salt and pepper squid
BSL - 5.5
Dinner - small portion of rice, chicken + capsicum, fish, vegies + 1/2 banana, 1/2 avocado and 1 teaspoon of icecream
BSL - 5.1
Supper - Daikon soup

Monday 31 August

Fasting - 4.2

Breakfast (0700) - 1/3 cup of oats + 6 teaspoons of D'lite Cheesecake yoghurt + 1 cup of soy milk

Lunch (1130) - Rice + chicken + capsicum, egg/tomato soup, 1/2 mandarin

BSL - 6.4

Dinner (1855) - Rice + chicken and capsicum, omelette, edamame, cucumber
BSL - 5.9 (30 mins late)
Dessert - 7 strawberries, popcorn

Tuesday 1 September

Fasting - 4.7

Breakfast - The usual!

Morning tea - small decaf latte + 1/2 serve of Just right

Lunch (1230) - 1/4 sandwich with chicken, 1/4 sandwich with sweet potato?, 2 pieces of rockmelon, half a kiwi fruit, 1/2 strawberry
BSL - 5.6
Dinner (1940) - noodles with fungus, squid, chicken
BSL - 7.4
Dessert - 8 strawberries

Wednesday 2 September
Fasting - 5.2
Breakfast - 1/4 cup of oats + 2 Tablespoons of bran + 6 teaspoons D'lite Cheesecake yoghurt + 1 cup of soy milk
Lunch - Kebab plate with beef, tabouli, salad, tomatoes + normal Boost berry lite smoothie
Dinner (1905) - microwaved chicken (almost half) and 7 strawberries
BSL - 5.6
Supper - 1 slice of bread with smoked salmon spread

Thursday 3 September
Fasting - 5.7 (ZOMG!)
Breakfast (0645) - 1/3 cup of oats + 6 teaspoons D'lite Cheesecake yoghurt + 1 cup of soy milk
BSL - 7.0 on my machine, 4.4 on work machine (!!)
Morning tea (1015) - Regular Hot chocolate
BSL - 4.8
Lunch (1300) - Burger from cafeteria + diet coke (didn't eat much of the bun though)
BSL - 5.9
Dinner - (1815) Basmati rice + Beef vindaloo and butter chicken + Chicken pasta
BSL - 6.9

Friday 4 September
Fasting - 5.1

Breakfast (0640) - 1/3 cup of oats + 6 tsp yoghurt + 1 cup of lite soy milk
Morning tea - 1 water cracker biscuit + water

Lunch (1230) - 20 pieces of sushi, 2 octopus balls green tea... oops

BSL - 10.1 (!!) and 7.9 (OT BSL machine) - OK NO MORE EATING SO MUCH SUSHI!
Afternoon tea - Pepsi max
Dinner (1915) - 1/2 grilled chicken + water

Saturday 5 September
Fasting - 5.7
Breakfast (0530) - 1/3 cup of oats + 6 tsp D'lite Cheesecake yoghurt + 1 cup of soy milk
BSL - 7.9
Morning tea - cup of tea
Lunch (1100) - Ha Mein (45g) noodles
BSL - 6.3
Afternoon tea - 6 strawberries
Dinner (1830) - tiny serve of rice + fish curry + green curry cauliflower + roast pork + 1 apple
BSL (late by 30mins) - 6.0

Sunday 6 September
Fasting - 5.1
Breakfast (0700) - 1/4 cup of oats (30g) + 1 cup of soy milk + 1 tsp sugar
BSL - 7.8
Lunch (1130) - basmati rice + fish + chinese vegies + green curry cauliflower + roast pork
BSL - 5.4
Dinner (1800) - rice + broccoli + chilli chicken
BSL - 5.6

Monday 7 September
Fasting - 5.2
Breakfast (0700) - 1/4 cup of oats (30g) + 6 tsp of D'lite Cheesecake yoghurt
BSL - 6.0
Morning tea - 1 cup of soy milk
Lunch (1140) - kebab plate + hommus + salad
BSL - 5.3
Afternoon tea - apple
Dinner - abalone (big one) + mushrooms
BSL - 5.6

Tuesday 8 September
Fasting - 5.2
Breakfast (0710) - 30g oats + 6 teaspoons of D'lite Mango yoghurt + 1 cup of soy milk
BSL - 6.4
Morning tea - 1 piece of celery + salmon/cheese dip
Lunch (1315) - 1 piece of wholemeal bread + 3/4 piece of cheese + water
BSL - 5.3
Afternoon tea - 1 piece of wholemeal bread + 3/4 piece of cheese + regular latte
Dinner (1930) - small amount of rice + green curry + cup of water
BSL - 5.8
Supper - 1 piece of celery + salmon/cheese dip and 10 strawberries

Wednesday 9 September
Fasting - 5.2
Breakfast (0645) - 30g oats + 6 teaspoons of D'lite Cheesecake yoghurt + 1 cup of soy milk
BSL - 6.7 (15 mins late)
Morning tea - 1/4 piece of banana bread + coffee
Lunch (1230) - 1 piece of wholemeal bread + 1 cheese
BSL - 6.3
Afternoon tea - 1 piece of wholemeal bread + 1 cheese
Dinner (1915) - microwave chicken + 1 potato + curry cauliflower/pork
BSL - 5.3 (15 mins late)

Thursday 10 September
Fasting - 4.5
Breakfast (0700) - 30g oats + 6 teaspoons of D'lite Cheesecake yoghurt + 1 cup of soy milk
BSL - 6.4
Lunch (1115) - Chicken Laksa + Coke zero
BSL - 6.4
Dinner (1800) - Rice + curry cauliflower/pork

Friday 11 September
Fasting - 5.3
Breakfast (0645) - 30g oats + 6 teaspoons of D'Lite Mango Yoghurt + 1 cup of soy milk
BSL - 5.8
Morning tea - Decaf latte
Lunch (1330) - Red Rooster 1/4 Lemon Pepper chicken and some chips
BSL - 5.7 (20 mins late)
Dinner - Rice with curry cauliflower/pork and Roast duck
Dessert - 150mL D'Lite Cheesecake Yoghurt
Late night snack - 1 Reese Peanut butter cup

Saturday 12 September
Fasting - 5.5
Breakfast (0730) - McDonald's Yoghurt Muesli
BSL - 5.5
Lunch (1130) - Small bowl of Gei Si Mien, Bak Ku Teh
BSL - 6.1
Dinner (1815) - Rice + Soft shell crab + Beef skewers + melon soup
BSL - 6.1
late night snack - 1 piece of chocolate

Sunday 13 September
Fasting - 5.7
Breakfast (0700) - Bak Ku Teh, banana
BSL - 5.2
Morning snack - Kiwi fruit
Lunch (1130) - rice + pork curry + asparagus
BSL - 5.9
Dinner (1740) - McDonalds Mighty Angus burger + Diet coke
BSL - 7.2

Monday 14 September
Fasting - 5.6
Breakfast (0700) - 30g oats + 6 teaspoons of D'Lite Mango Yoghurt
BSL -
Lunch (1320) - Quarter chicken + lemon pepper sauce + 10 potato chips + coke zero

BSL - 7.0

Dinner - rice + curry vegetables

BSL - 5.9

Tuesday 15 September

Fasting - 4.6

Breakfast (0700) - 30g oats + 6 teaspoons of D'Lite Mango Yoghurt + 1 cup of soy milk

BSL - 4.2

Lunch (1100) - 1 piece of chocolate + 1 decaf latte + piece of wholemeal bread + salmon/cheese spread + 2 strawberries

BSL - 5.7

Lunch snack (1300) - 1 piece of baklava, 2cm cubed of chocolate cake + 6 strawberries

BSL -

Wednesday 16 September
Fasting - 5.6
Breakfast (0645) - 30g oats + 6 teaspoons of D'lite Mango yoghurt + 1 cup of soymilk
BSL - 5.8
Lunch (1240) - Kebab plate
BSL - 6.1
Dinner - Rice and Thai food
BSL - forgot to do

Thursday 17 September
Fasting - 5.6
Breakfast (0630) - 30g oats + 6 teaspoons of D'Lite mango Yoghurt
BSL - 5.3
Lunch (1200) - Burger patty + lettuce + tomato + onion (2 bites of bread) + piece of cake + Decaf latte
BSL - 6.3
Dinner (1905) - Rice + Beef and vegetable curry
BSL - 6.1

Friday 18 September
Fasting - 5.6 (and 5.8!)
Breakfast (0630) - 30g oats + 6 teaspoons of D'Lite mango yoghurt + 1 cup of soy milk
BSL - 8.1 (!!) ? vitamin C tablet
Lunch (1250) - 1/4 chicken + 5 chips + coke zero
BSL - 5.7
Dinner - Rice + vegetable curry

Saturday 19 September
Fasting - 5.9 (!!)
Breakfast (0630) - 30g oats + 6 teaspoons of D'Lite mango yoghurt
BSL - 6.2
Morning tea - one bite of blueberry muffin, strawberries, rockmelon, kiwi fruit, one cup of tea
Lunch (1230) - tuna roll + salad + lots of fruit
BSL - 5.6
Afternoon tea - half a biscuit, coffee
Before dinner snack - cheese, celery + dip
Dinner - Scallops + noodles, sweet and sour pork, shantung chicken, tempura vegetable, peking duck pancake
BSL - didn't check

Sunday 20 September
Fasting - 5.3
Breakfast (0630) - 30g rolled oats + 3 teaspoons of D'Lite mango yoghurt + 1/2 cup of soy milk
BSL - 5.2
Morning tea - 1 pastry + coffee + strawberries + custard
Lunch (1330) - Peking duck roll + tomatoes + salad
BSL - 7.0
Dinner (1900) - Rice and curry
BSL - 6.0

Monday 21 September
Fasting - 5.4
Breakfast (0630) - 30g rolled oats + 1/2 cup of soy milk
BSL - 6.6
Morning tea - 1 tub of D'lite Cheesecake yoghurt
Lunch (1240) - Chicken avocado wrap + diet coke
Coffee 1 hour after lunch
BSL - 7.1
Dinner (1830) - rice + beef stew thing
BSL - forgot to check but before bedtime 5.5

Tuesday 22 September
Fasting - 5.6
Breakfast (0615) - 30g rolled oats + 4 strawberries + 1/2 cup of soy milk
BSL - 5.4
Lunch (1130) - Raisin toast + mandarin + hot chocolate + potato/okra thing
BSL - 5.9
Dinner (1800) - rice + beef stew thing + potatoes
BSL - 6.7
Dessert - 1 tub of D'lite Cheesecake yoghurt

Wednesday 23 September
Fasting - 5.6
Breakfast (0650) - 30g oats + 1/2 cup of soy milk
BSL - 5.6
Lunch (1355) - Thai Beef curry + rice
BSL - 7.7
Dinner (1845) - 2 tacos (beef mince, onions, tomatoes, salsa, lettuce)

BSL - 5.8

Thursday 24 September

Fasting - 5.3

Breakfast (0640) - 30g oats + 1/2 cup of soy milk

BSL - 6.4

Morning Tea - 1 slice of cheese + banana smoothie + raisin toast
BSL - 6.9
Lunch snack - salad + ham + hot chocolate
Dinner - lamb chop + vegetables
BSL - 5.6

Friday 25 September
Fasting - 5.0
Breaskfast (0615) - 30g oats + 1/2 cup of soy milk
BSL - 5.9
Morning tea - Hot chocolate
Lunch - 2 slices of bread + cheese
BSL - 6.9
Dinner - vietnamese vermicelli + bbq beef (1/2 serve)
BSL - 6.8
Supper - more vermicelli!

Saturday 26 September
Fasting - 5.5
Morning tea - yoghurt
Lunch - Biryani
BSL - 6.3
Dinner - Fish soup, asparagus + salmon, indian chicken grill
BSL - 5.5

Sunday 27 September
Fasting - 4.2
Breakfast - 2 weetbix + yoghurt
BSL - 6.2
Lunch - Sang Choy Bao and Siu Mai
BSL - 5.2
Dinner - Lamb chop and cauliflower stir fry
BSL - 5.6

Monday 28 September
Fasting - 5.1
Breakfast (0700) - 30g oats + 1/4 cup of soy milk
BSL - 5.3
Morning tea - 2 slices of raisin toast + 2 teaspoons yoghurt
Lunch (1330) - 2 slices of raisin toast + piece of cheese
BSL - 5.8
Dinner (1845) - rice + vegetable curry
BSL - 6.8
Supper - Skinny cow icecream

Tuesday 29 September
Fasting - 5.3
Breakfast (0630) - 30g oats + 6 teaspoons of Vaalia Low fat yoghurt
BSL - 5.7
Lunch (1110) - 2 slices of Helga seed bread + cheese
BSL - 7.2
Snacks - celery and strawberries + muesli
Dinner (1945) - Oyster omelette (yum!)
BSL - 6.1
Supper - small slice of apple pie

Wednesday 30 September
Fasting - 5.4
Breakfast (0615) - 30g oats + 6 teaspoons of Vaalia Low fat yoghurt
BSL - 4.7

Morning snack - 4 strawberries + celery
Lunch - 2 slices of Helga's seed bread + cheese + water
BSL - 5.7
Afternoon tea - fruit
Dinner - lamb chop + bean sprouts
BSL - 5.6

Thursday 1 October
Fasting - 5.3
Breakfast - 30g oats + 6 teaspoons of Vaalia Low fat yoghurt
BSL - 6.7
Morning tea - small banana smoothie + 1/2 carrot cake cupcake
BSL - 5.6
Lunch - 1/2 chicken avocado panini + coke zero
BSL - 6.4
Afternoon tea - 1/2 carrot cake cupcake
Dinner - pasta with pork and tomato
BSL - 5.8
Dessert - Skinny cow icecream

Friday 2 October
Fasting - 5.4
Breakfast - 30g oats + 6 teaspoons of Vaalia Low Fat Yoghurt
BSL - 5.2
Lunch - chicken pasta + strawberries + rockmelon + 1 piece of cheese
BSL - 6.2
Dinner - pasta with pork and tomato
BSL - 5.6
Dessert - Apple Pie

Saturday 3 October (sick with gastro)
Fasting - 5.9

Sunday4 October (sick with gastro)
Random BSL (1330) - 4.9

Monday 5 October
Breakfast -2 weetbix + 6 teaspoons of Vaalia low fat yoghurt
BSL - 5.3
Lunch - very little!
BSL - 5.9
Dinner - Baked beans + 1 piece of Helga's bread with seeds
BSL - 5.4
Supper - Nashi pear + Skinny cow icecream

Tuesday 6 October
Fasting - 4.3
Breakfast - 30g oats + half cup of soymilk
BSL - 5.7
Lunch (1130) - 2 slices of Helga's bread with seeds + cheese
BSL - 7.3
Afternoon snack - 1 piece of raisin toast
Dinner (1755) - Pasta + sauce + pork + vegie soup
BSL - 5.9

Wednesday 7 October
Fasting - 4.3
Breakfast - 30g oats + soy milk + strawberries
Morning tea - carrot cake
BSL - 4.9
Lunch - 1 slice of bread + cheese + carrot cake
Afternoon tea - slice of cheese
Dinner - Tonkatsu
BSL - 6.6

Thursday 8 October
Fasting - 5.1
Breakfast - 30g oats + 1/2 cup of soy milk
BSL - 7.3
Lunch - Mee Goreng
Dinner - Rice + stir fry black pepper beef + mushroom/chicken clear soup
BSL - 6.0

Friday 9 October
Fasting - 4.7
Breakfast - 30g oats + 1/2 cup of soy milk
BSL 5.8
Lunch (1345)
BSL 4.7

Saturday 10 October
Fasting - 5.1
Breakfast - 2 oatbrits + 1/2 cup of soymilk
BSL - 8.3 (!!)
Lunch - Lemon chicken + some Gang chao niu he
BSL 4.6

Sunday 11 October
Fasting 4.9
Breakfast - 30g oats + 1/2 cup of soymilk
BSL 6.8
Lunch - lots of things! (Connie's house)
Dinner - steak

Monday 12 October
Fasting 4.9
Breakfast - 30g oats + 1/2 cup of soy milk
BSL 5.7
Morning tea - piece of raisin toast
Lunch - Lebanese mixed grill
Dinner - Piece of steak + celery + some duck noodle
Dessert - Skinny cow ice cream

Tuesday 13 October
Fasting - 4.5
Breakfast - 30g oats + 1 cup of soy milk
BSL

Gestational diabetes

Ugh! Yesterday I got my results back from my formal 75g glucose tolerance test and I have gestational diabetes! That made me one sad puppy.

My fastings were good, it was my 2 hour ones which made me look bad

So I got on the internet and started looking up what I can and cannot eat. And when does it mean I have to take insulin?

Here is the fact sheet from Diabetes Australia for healty eating:
http://www.diabetesnsw.com.au/PDFs/About_Diabetes_PDFs/HEALTHY_EATING_GESTATIONAL.pdf

Anyway I just realised I eat more than that for breakfast, but I don't eat that much for the rest of the day. So yesterday I checked my sugar 2 hours after lunch and it was 6.6. If it is above 7 then I have to take insulin. So that was ok yesterday, because yesterday I ate sushi for lunch.

So for dinner last night, I had rice and curry and chicken nuggets and my post prandial was 6.6 as well. That was good.

This morning I got up and did a fasting and it was 4.6. Now I am eating my half cup of oats with 5 teaspoons of low fat yoghurt.. and then a glass of soy milk. Wonder what my post prandial will be.

OK looking at some websites here are some good foods that I can eat

MCNs and newborns

A lot of people find nappying a newborn rather daunting, and think maybe they should wait till they're older. With my daughter, who was born weighing only 2.7kg, I found that MCNs were fine with her. Here is my guide to nappies I used for a newborn, for anyone who would like some advice on what to use.

Personally I liked fitteds and covers as the best leak protection, but AIOs were not bad either. Pictures courtesy of Darlings Down Under, The Weewuns, Cherubs Kiss, Babybeehinds, Cute Tooshies and Bubblebubs.


Kissaluvs Contours

You can get these from $14 at DDU
Not very absorbent but good enough for a newborn and quite cheap. You can use them as pocket stuffers later! I used snappis on mine but you can just lay them inside a cover.

Kissaluvs Size 0

These are fantastic nappies! They fit well, my daughter wore them till she was almost 6 months old (needed boosting then). They have a snapdown bit for the umbilical cord at birth too. I bought mine from ebay but you can get them at DDU for $22.50.


Swaddlebees OV Newborn

Great nappies and fit really well but my daughter outgrew them at about 6 weeks. Also have an umblical snap down bit. You can get these from Weewuns for $25.95. I bought mine from ebay, and I resold them on Buyforbaby so I got most of my money back from these! Great resale value.

Bubblebubs AIO

Don't need a cover so great for carers! I bought a couple from Ebay but also got some new. I used smalls and they lasted well until 8 months. I don't think I used them until she was about 2 weeks though. New ones are $27.95. Heaps of different colours and tab designs!


CK Raphaels

My husband's favourite fitted nappies. You can get a pack of 3 for $33. Used from newborn until she was about 5 months. I even managed to sell them afterwards! The velcro makes changing quick and easy.



SHP Lushies and Daysies

Haven't used these yet on a newborn but I love SHP stuff! I have a few of their night nappies and some of these. My daughter could wear them at 13 months still (and they're supposed to fit newborns!). I got mine as a bargain at $10 each but you can get bamboo ones from $16 each, discounted if you buy more.


Cute Tooshies OSFM

These side snapping nappies are so lush and soft! I bought a starter pack of these and then I got some on super special (seconds) so I have heaps! Don't have a stay dry layer so might need a fleecy liner. Buy new for $25.95 with discounts for bulk buys. They'd probably fit up to TT (and start at 1 month)


Baby beehinds Bamboo OSFM

One of the most popular fitted nappies in the Autralian market. These fit my daughter from about 1 month and will probably fit until she's toilet trained! Great value for money. Retail for $25 each but you can get bulk discounts (and you can always find heaps on ebay too!)

PUL covers

I used Bummis and Baby beehinds covers. And smalls last for ages! I did have 2 NB sizes which lasted about 2-3 months, and then smalls I used until she was almost 1.

Solar Eclipse Chasing

Ever since my husband and I went to see the Solar Eclipse in South Australia in 2002, we thought it would have been cool to go eclipse chasing to see Solar Eclipses every couple of years. We went to Turkey in 2006 to see the Solar Eclipse and that was a great holiday. The next one which we would have liked to have seen was the 2009 India/China solar eclipse which was the longest solar eclipse of the century.

.
This video is from Woomera, SA in 2002 (in fast forward) that I took (and had a blooper! Forgot to take the solar filter off when there was totality). Totality was short, a bit less than 30 seconds but it was low on the horizon and being in the desert, we had a fantastic cloudless sky.

This photo was taken on a beach near Side in Turkey 2006. A bit blurry but it you can get the feel of what it was like to be there! Weather was fantastic, we were very lucky that time! Side itself was packed with NASA people and lots of buses, as there was a huge party planned there. There was a temple of Apollo in Side which would have made it a really cool place to take a picture of a solar eclipse... but the crowds were unbelievable!

The beach we were at had hardly any people though everyone there was eclipse chasing, with their telescopes, cameras and Solar shades!







Our next Eclipse that we plan to go to will be in Australia again! On November 13 2012, at about 6:39am there will be totality over Northern Queensland for about 2 minutes and 4 seconds. This picture is from Hermit Eclipse.
Unfortunately it will be the wet season, with the average rainy days in Cairns for November at 10, and average cloudy days at 7.5, so we might get lucky, or we might not.

Now where should we stay? Port Douglas or Cairns? Fortunately there are a multitude of places to stay at those places, so I've put a couple down here so I can remind myself closer in the future.

Port Douglas

Sheraton Mirage Resort

My husband stayed here at a conference. They have villas for apartment style living with lots of luxury features. Prices start from $330 per night for 2 double bed in one room.



Mantra Heritage Apartments
A 2 bedroom suite goes for about $320, and looks nice and comfy with all the usual resort style features. Located on 16 Warner Street. A little pricey in my opinion though.





Cayman Villas Apartments
This looks like a more affordable place. 2 bedroom apartments go for $240 a night and they have discounts for longer stays. Located at 35 Mowbray Street.




Cairns

Cairns Queenslander Apartments
Cute and tidy looking, these 2 bedroom apartments are $168 per night. Located at 268 Lake Street.

Antarctica trip

Well getting pregnant again has totally stuffed up my plans for Antarctica trip this year. I was going to go in December but since baby is due in November... I don't think so!

Guess I'll have to go next year, though I did notice on the website that this year's journey (Heritage Expeditions) is cancelled. So maybe that's a good thing for me!

I'm mainly concerned with Emperor penguins and birding, so I really like the Heritage one. Though there are some that have flights to a Emperor penguin rookery which I think is really cool, perhaps I'll make 2 trips, one to the Antarctic for Emperor penguins, and maybe one to the Subantarctic islands to see other penguins and pelagic species.

The trip I had planned was with Heritage Expeditions, a NZ company.
http://http//www.heritage-expeditions.com/travel/main/

Overview of "In the Footsteps of Sir Douglas Mawson":

Encouraged by the success of the 1908/09 Nimrod Expedition, and in particular his successful trip to the South Magnetic Pole, Douglas Mawson planned to lead his own expedition to explore the Antarctic coastline directly south of Australia. The Australasian Antarctic Expedition sailed from Hobart on 2nd December 1911.
The Expedition made a brief stop at Macquarie Island to establish a radio base and then continued south making landfall at Cape Denison in Commonwealth Bay. Unbeknown to Mawson and his men they had discovered the windiest place on the planet, renowned as the ‘home of the blizzard’. Tragedy struck the expedition when Ninnis and Mertz died. Mawson cheated death on more than one occasion and had to spend another winter because he arrived back after their relief ship had sailed. We hope for weather that will allow us to land at Cape Dennison to visit and photograph Mawson’s Hut and enjoy the beauty of this seldom visited part of Antarctica.
The French maintain a base west of Commonwealth Bay near the spot where the French Explorer Dumont d’Urville landed in January 1840.

Quark expeditions also has one that goes from Argentina to NZ, which also goes to Hobart in the future!
http://http//www.quarkexpeditions.com/

Here is the map of their journey:
Epic Antarctica: via the Phantom coast and Ross Sea
Expedition Summary
Day 1 Overnight Argentina
Day 2 Embarkation Day
Day 3-5 Drake Passage and South Shetland Islands.
Day 6-8 The Antarctic Peninsula
Day 9-10 The Phantom Coast.
Day 11-16 The Amundsen Sea
Day 17-18 Ross Ice Shelf.
Day 19-21 Ross Island and McMurdo Sound
Day 22-24 The Ross Sea and Cape Royds.
Day 25-28 Southern Ocean and Campbell Island
Day 29-31 Enderby Island to Lyttelton, New Zealand.




There are Quark expeditions for just Emperor penguins:

Emperor penguins: Snow Hill Island Safari

Expedition Summary
Day 1 Ushuaia
Day 2 Embarkation
Day 3-4 The Drake Passage
Day 5-7 Wildlife Viewing
Day 8-11 Antarctic Peninsula
Day 12-14 Drake Passage

You get to spend 3 days at the rookery! And hopefully get to see some Gentoo, Adelie and Chinstraps as well.

Emperors and Kings: Snow Hill and South Georgia

Expedition Summary
Day 1 Ushuaia
Day 2 Embarkation
Day 3-4 The Drake Passage
Day 5 South Shetland Islands
Day 6-8 Emperor Penguin rookery
Day 9-11 South Orkney Islands and Southern Ocean
Day 12-16 South Georgia
Day 17-18 At sea
Day 19-20 Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas)
Day 21 Fly to Santiago to spend the night
Day 22 Home




Of course, one needs LOTS of money for these sorts of trips! We're talking minimum US$15k per person here! Can you imagine blowing the cost of a car on a holiday?

How I wish I could be more Green

In this age of eco friendly, carbon neutral, recycle and reuse, there are so many things I wish I could be doing. Unfortunately though, when you're married your partner has to be in on them too!

Electricity
I would love to install solar panels. The cost of it doesn't really worry me, but my husband refuses to buy them because they're not value for money. Sometimes I think, shouldn't we all be doing our bit for the environment? Despite the cost? Before June 2009, you could get $8000 back in rebates for installing a solar energy system under the SHCP (Solar home and communities plan). But the government dumped that and is in the process of replacing it with solar credits. Which is good because that is not means tested (the original one was). So I would love to get a 1.5kW system on my roof - but that would cost me about $16-17K. That's not including rebates. Or any money I would get from putting energy back into the grid.

At the moment this is a very energy inefficient household. We use about 21-27kWh per day, and the average house uses 16kWh. There are a number of things which contribute to this!

• Computers - our computers are on A LOT. I love my computer. I do run 2 LCD monitors off mine and my husband has his one as well.
• Ducted air conditioning - though we did our best to buy what we thought to be the most energy efficient on the market (Advantage Air) it still uses a lot of energy. And we spend a lot of time warming/cooling the house because of the baby, so she doesn't get too hot or cold.
• Halogens - this house is FULL of halogen lights. They're in the bathrooms, kitchen, hallways.

Composting
I don't know much about gardening and things. I should invest in a worm farm or a compost bin, but getting my husband to put food scraps into it may be a bit of an issue! This is one area I'll be looking into later when I have more time. These are the things I'm going to investigate at a later stage:







Recycling
Gee we generate lots of rubbish. I do try and recycle as much as I can, but I'm sure I could do more. I threw out a chocolate box yesterday because it didn't have the recycling symbol on it and my husband scolded me, saying "You want to be environmentally friendly? You don't even recycle!" I don't want to try to recycle things which aren't recyclable, that makes more work for the people at the recycling place!

Water recycling
It would be nice to get laundry and other grey water back into the garden. But I hardly water my garden and the raintank outside takes care of that anyway so I don't think that it's really needed at this stage. Perhaps when I get a bigger house. We already have water efficient things all through the house - shower heads, toilets, front loading washing machine.

Growing your own vegetables
Now this would probably make a tiny difference in my carbon footprint! Think of all the transport of produce I would save... and not to mention home grown stuff! At the moment I only have herb type things such as coriander, chilli, lemongrass, kaffir lime, chives. But other things I would love to plant would include basil, lemons, tomatoes and sugar snap peas!

Cloth Nappies

People often wonder why I use cloth nappies. The funny thing is people still think that cloth nappies are terry squares that you fold and pin and need lots and lots of work...

But that's not the case at all!

I can't remember how I started, but when I was pregnant with my first child, I came across reusable nappies and thought I think I'd like to give that a try. I did lots of research and read lots of articles and lots of posts in forums such as Nappycino and BubHub, and talked to my husband about it and he seemed happy to give them a try. I swore that I would do all the work for them, because I knew deep down that if it was hard work then he wouldn't be interested in it at all and go to disposables.

Why don't I want to use disposables?
Disposables are convenient, inexpensive (per nappy), and make cleanups a breeze. Why don't I want to use them? The reason that I don't want to use disposables is because I abhor the amount of rubbish that it creates. All that plastic... just thrown into landfill, sitting there for years and years. True they probably keep you drier than cloth nappies, which may help with nappy rash, but do we go around all day wearing disposable undies? Eeew NO! I love the feel of cotton undies thank you! And I'm sure babies like to wear woven material against their skin too.

What a waste of water!
I get this comment ALL the time from people! They tell me how bad I am for the environment and so on, wasting water, polluting the waterways blah blah blah! But, I look at my water bill and my family uses less than 250L a day, and that's with a small house and garden, with me and my husband and daughter and our cloth nappies! I challenge anyone to try and beat that when they do a load of nappies every second day! And I use Earth Choice laundry powder in my front loader.

Here are some facts about disposables I bet people didn't know!

• Between USA, Australia, and the UK, we dispose of 60 million Disposable nappies a day. That’s a huge amount of wasted plastic and human excrement entering our landfills and possibly water tables. Human waste is best dealt with using sewerage systems which are built to deal with this sort of pollution.
• Landbank Consultancy concluded that disposable diapers create 2.3 times as much water waste, use 3.5 times as much energy, use 8.3 times the non-regenerable raw materials, use 90 times the renewable raw materials and 4 to 30 times as much land for growing raw materials.
• 1 billion trees per year are destroyed to make disposable diapers---approximately 4.5 for each baby who uses them.
• It takes 1 cup of crude oil to make the plastic for 1 disposable diaper.
• Disposable diapers contain chemicals that were banned in the 1980s in women's tampons, but continue to be used today to improve absorbency in children's diapers.
• 18 billion disposable diapers are used in the U.S. each year - enough to stretch to the moon and back 9 times

Information taken from: http://www.whatcanonepersondo.com/blog/index.php?/archives/29-Disposable-Nappies-1-billion-trees-per-year-are-destroyed-to-make-em,-and-thats-just-the-start!.html

Here is a link to Sydney Water's water efficient households page:
http://www.sydneywater.com.au/SavingWater/InYourHome/WaterEfficientTargets/HouseholdTargets.cfm

You mean cloth nappies aren't white squares?? What are they then?
Well! Where do I start!
Modern cloth nappies are what savvy cloth nappy users are using these days. These nappies are made of materials such as bamboo and hemp, which are more absorbent than cotton, and claim to have some antibacterial properties as well. And to keep baby's bot bot dry, you can line them with microfleece or suedecloth to keep a stay dry layer against their skin to avoid nappy rash and sogginess.
But of course cloth leaks through to the other side, so you can also buy special covers in pretty patterns to cover your nappies with so you don't get wet clothes OR you can get special nappies which have a PUL liner against the outside so that wetness doesnt seep through.
And to make them nice on the OUTSIDE, you can have fancy quilting cottons on the outside of the nappy, or you can have minky or fancy fleece, or you can have them embroidered with patterns or your babies' name!

Still confused? Here are some pictures of MCNs so you can see what I mean!


This was a custom order made by Kristy from Bundles of Buns for my daughter. Embroidered minky YUM! Unfortunately she doesn't do customs anymore I feel lucky I managed to nab some!
http://bundlesofbuns.blogspot.com/



These are made by Michelle at Sustainable Hemp Products - newborn size! I have a few (not of this print but it's a gorgeous print nappy!) of her newborn ones for my next baby.
http://www.sustainablehempproducts.com.au/




Blueberry one size pocket nappies are my favourite nappy!



For all that you could ever want to know about modern cloth nappies these links are great:
http://www.ozclothnappies.org/info.html
http://www.modernclothnappies.org/glossary.htm