Almost 3 weeks on, and while I have had grumpy times, I have not yet completely lost it!!!!  Such a relief after being a mess after the last 4, but having Les home all the time and actually knowing what I am doing is a very big help.

Breastfeeding is going well, though sometimes Aralia only goes an hour or so between feeds, but only during the day.  Night time, she can go upto 6 hours between!!!!!  Yep, this mum is certainly getting plenty of good sleep, even if I have the Puggle snuggled up beside me, she is at least not in my arms.  Poor Les is permanently on heater duty in the loungeroom, but at least the futon (brand new mattress and all) is comfortable and he can actually sleep better there.

Things so far are so easy this time round.  No stress, help on hand when I need it and I am knocking all that washing down again.  About time things got easier, this is after all baby #5!!! lol.

Aralia is the only baby of ours that has accepted her bed from day one, and actually looks for time on her own in it.  Having a toy bar helps as do the bassinet pockets to hold her teddy bears.  All 4 of the others had to be in Les or my arms to sleep, or they screamed the place down.  Hhhhhmmm, Dannii, I know exactly what you are going through, and wish I could tell you that there is a magic word to make it get easier, but there isn't.

We have managed to sort the leaky nappy problem out too, so not going through so many clothes due to that.  The secret?  Well, I could keep that to myself, but I won't.  We got the Mamia brand nappies from Aldi, and because they are bigger than the Huggies and provide greater coverage around the waist, they have caught 99% of the nappy contents.  It also helps if you do them up lower down on the nappy, below the picture pattern.

'Drat' said bubs when she worked out what we had done, 'now how can I create more washing for mummy?'  Um, like I need more Puggle!!!! lol.  Seriously, she now shares her feeds with me.  We have had 2 am bed changes (mine!!!!) and 2 am pj changes (mine!!!!!) and close calls.  It seems that she is such a guts with her feeds, so now I am making her take it more slowly and with regular burp sessions.  2 days without 3 sets of clothes for me is pretty good! lol.

Our 4 oldest babies are still loving her to bits.  I seriously thought that they would be bored with her by now, but no, they want cuddles and kisses more now than ever! lol.

Well, must keep moving.  I could write here all day, but got to save some energy! lol.

Storage bill is no biggie, same amount every month so already have the money for that one. 

The electricity is a bit of a surprise though, we were expecting it to be about $1000 for 3 months, but it isn't even $500!!!!  Yippeeee!!!  Can pay that one on payday too and not have to remember to make regular payments on it!!  We are so pleased with the amount, especailly as we have four heaters going at night (1 in each bedroom and 1 in the loungeroom, house is made from cardboard, or so it would seem!!!!) and often on the highest setting. 

Last year, we paid $1000 for the same 3 months, so are now wondering if Energex managed to bungle it all up.  Now we are with Origin energy, and so far, happy with it all.

Phone bills are still to arrive.  That's ok, same amounts every month.  I know I will be dropping one mobile contract though, as Les never takes his with him so why should I pay for it when I can't call him if I need something?  He can have a prepaid instead!!!

Oh, we had a power failure the other night.  First since being in this house that lasted more than 5 mins.  We survived.  Kids were all in bed, had music thanks to mp3 player and even lots of light thanks to candles (got 1000s of them) and some portable lamps.  Les and I took the time to make Aralia official! lol.  And Aralia had a candle lit dinner for 1!

I'm managing to keep it all together.  First baby where I haven't turned into a quivering mass of emotional jelly, though I did get rather grumpy the other night with Aralia because she  wouldn't settle and I was extremely tired. I was non stop feeding for about 9 hours straight, and in the end (at about 4 am!!!) decided no more boob, she could just go to sleep in my arms.  She did, and then so did I.  Seems she had tummy pains but last night, we fixed that problem before it could get started!

Well, I'm off for a nap now, though the din from the older 4 might make it rather hard.

Let me walk you through my girls.  Firstly, oh, there is me.  Great, how on earth did I manage to make the final cut.  Notice I'm not impressed with Les!!!!!

Second on the top is Ayla, our oldest.  I think she was trying to be cheeky for Les, as usual! lol.

Third on the top, Willow.  Don't let the innocent look fool you!!!!  She is our resident acrobat and certainly knows how to make her presence felt!!!!

On the bottom, firstly is Laurel.  Our little Budgie (thanks Les!!!!) and a real little mother hen.  With Laurel, you get a whole lot of different personalities in one hour!!!!  Now the middle child of the family, but still my baby!

Acacia is next in line.  Wow this little one is full on!!!!!  She might be the second youngest, but she certainly knows how to get bossy with her older sisters!!!!

Lastly, Aralia.  Our newest addition!  Isn't she a real chubby cheeks?  And that was taken when she was about 5 days old.  So far an easy baby to care for, though the last couple of days have been rather hard.

Poor Les (the sly fox) managed to avoid getting his mug shot taken, but I will get him one day!!! lol.

Right, I know that my body handles pregnancy and birth quite well, but some of the things my family come up with have made me quite speechless!!!

Firstly, Ayla.  My oldest little treasure, who is only 5 after all, has got me rethinking who is really the boss in this household.  A few days after Aralia was born, she kept saying to me 'there will soon be another baby in your tummy Mummy'.  Ok, it has been 3 years of me practically being pregnant non -stop, so I can understand she is having a hard time with me not having a big tummy now.  The thing that really had me speechless though was what she said the day before yesterday.  I told her that there were no more babies in Mummy's tummy, and that there were not going to be anymore (my arm can always be twisted though).  Miss Ayla turned around and said 'there had better be a baby in your tummy soon Mummy!'  all stern and serious!  Umm, no thanks Ayla, I need a break!!!!!! lol.

Les, my ever charming husband, came up with something that shocked me too.  He said that he was all for me having Aralia at home, even if it was a medically unsupported birth (apparently highly frowned upon, but wasn't my first baby).  Damn, if only he had actually said that when things did get going, because I wouldn't have resisted the urge to push!!!!!!  Our bath is a perfect size, and comfy as well, and having a hand held shower head would have been great!!!!!!  A home birth is something I have always wanted too, but not having private health insurance or being in an area that supports home birth, have always had to miss out.

Our other 3 girls are all claiming that Aralia is their baby, so you can imagine the wars!!!! lol.  We are so surprised at how well they have taken to their baby sister, especially Acacia who was the previous youngest.  So much love is just flowing from my oldest 4, and the only one I really have any concerns with is Ayla, because she is at school during the week and when at home, gets elbowed out of the way by the others.  I'm going to start getting her to help with things like nappy changes though so that she feels apart of what is going on and also feel even more of a big girl!

7 days home now, and Aralia is pretty much a dream baby.  Breastfeeding is going really well (now I'm over the 'rivaling Dolly Parton' stage) and while Aralia is on about every 90 mins during the day, she is going upto 6 hours over night!!!!!!!!  Things will settle into a better routine during the day before too long, which will make things even easier.  I just wish that the washing did itself though, because Aralia and I have doubled the work load on that side of things! lol.  I leak, and so does she!!!!!

Well, best go, I can hear squeaks in the background.  I have some photos of all of our girls to upload, but time right now isn't allowing, so I will do them when I can.

Yes, Puggle's has finally arrived, as Les, ever the proud dad, has already let you all know.  She is our 5th baby, and the only one to actually be born before her official due date, by 2 days. 

For a couple of weeks, I had been having 'false labours', so when I could feel another one starting on Monday 11 August 2008 at lunch time, I naturally ignored it.  Things never really got intense enough for me to think it could be the real thing, just like the other 10 times!!!!!

There was nothing really to watch on tele, so we settled for the movie, Rush Hour (I love this movie!!!!), and I settled on the couch to watch it.  Things basically stopped, and I thought oh well, that is to be expected.  But....

The movie finished, the credits and bloopers were rolling and I was laughing pretty hard!!!!  Next thing I know, I felt a pop low down, and because no waters followed, I guessed it was my cervix.  Yep, and off to the toilet I went.

This was about 10:50pm and from there, well, let's just say the movie title says it all.  My waters finally broke and there was blood in them, which freaked me out.  From there, things moved very fast!!!!!

Les called an ambulance, because of the blood and I knew a taxi was out of the question (we don't have any one to watch the girls here).  I was ordered to our bed to await my luxury travel (twice in one week!!!) and by now the contractions were hard, heavy and never stopping.  Hhhhmmmm, I'm surprised she didn't arrive right then and there!!!!

The ambulance arrived in about 7 mins with lights and sirens going (what a way to make me feel like a VIP) and they came dashing in.  No time for all the usual obs they do, all they did was get me to strip down my bottom half and then they said we are off!!! 

Down the stairs in my knickers and no shoes, they wanted to keep their record intact (not having to deliver outside of the hospital) and if that was going to happen, we had to move fast!!!!  Loaded into the ambulance, Les only just managed to hand the bags to me before we were off!!!  Again, lights and sirens going, Code 1 all the way!!!

We get to the hospital in like 2 mins!  They jump out ready to unload me and then the central locking on the ambulance started to play up.  Paramedics outside and me inside!!!!!  Not amusing!!!!!

Finally into the hospital where a midwife was already waiting by the main door.  Rushed upto maternity and things really got moving.  I kept asking them to check how dilated I was, but they said if I needed to push, then that was good enough for them.  Heck, I needed to push when Les was on the phone!!!!! That was about 30 mins before hand!!!!

Finally at about 11:40pm, I gave into my body and pushed.  Out came the head in one go, and then I was told to stop as the cord was slightly wrapped.  Help!!!!!  Do you know how hard it is to put the brakes on when you are going high speed?  I managed though, and with the next push, she, little Aralia Dawn, was there and straight into my arms!  1 hour after every thing began (not counting the pains etc I'd had through the day) there was our (hopefully) last little angel in our collection, safe, well and just perfect!!!!

No major damage to me either, just 2 3rd degree grazes, and I can't even feel them now.  Ok, so no damage down there, but my blasted hand!!!!!  The midwife had been trying to canulate me and for some reason, she split the vein!!!!  Now, I have a swollen hand that is super sore and only just starting to get better today.  Never mind, she had to give up so no second attempts were made!

Once cleaned up, and having spoken to Les, I was on the maternity ward, and already planning on going home (only 2 hours after she was born mind you!!!).  In the morning, they did the hearing test and the pedeatrician saw us, all before breakfast!!!!  Only thing we had to wait on was the cord blood tests, and they took forever!!! 

Finally, at 2pm, I was told that we were clear to go home!!! Yay!!  2:30 Les came back to pick us up (he had already brought the girls to visit) and we were going home!!!  I know, I'm mad, but I know I stress too much in hospital and that makes things really bad for me.

Now on day 3, my milk is coming in fast!!!!  I'm tired, sore and struggling to maintain blood pressure (hehehe, feel sooooo drunk! lol) but Les is looking after me, and while I don't get much sleep over night, I am able to sleep during the day when I need to, so not all bad.

Aralia is doing really well.  She was 3.065kg at birth and 49cm long.  Bigger than the ultrasound prediction, so they can just leave me alone about having a small baby.  I'm tiny myself, so is to be expected!!!  Our littlest girl is right on the average of our entire brood, so quite happy with that.

I'm trying to take things easy, helps that I'm forced into it (right, own up, who told Les to get bossy!!!), but sadly, that also means I have to neglect the computer for a while.  Sorry folks, but until I can get back to some sort of normal, I will only be able to drop by when I am upto it.

Thanks to you all for the well wishes.  It really made my day, as this is the first time I have really been able to share a pregnancy and then the arrival of our baby with anyone other than family.

I hope you are all behaving and not giving Les heaps about being the only male in our house.  Ok, give him heaps about it! lol.

Well, I best go.  Need to have a quick rest again before the next feed.  I miss you all and I have been itching to let you know how we are, but I do have to take things easy!!!!

I wish I could say it was all because of Puggle, but no, stubborn little miss has not arrived despite the dramas I've had.

It started in the early ours of Friday 8-8-08, the supposedly luckiest day of the year.  I hadn't been able to breathe properly for a few hours, and was getting quite distressed.  Les and I agreed that I needed to go to hospital, just to be safe and make sure that Puggle was fine.

At least I got a nice paramedic crew!!!!  Though, they were worried that I could go into labour at any time! lol.  Yeah right, I wish!!!!!!  They assessed me and said that I could stay at home or go into hospital, but their advice was to go in and get checked out, which I took.

Several hours of being in a bed so small even I barely fitted, I was finally told I could go home, but with very strict orders to come back if no improvement within a few hours.  Ok, I'd been on oxygen for a while, despite my levels without it being at 98, and had been seen by the ED doctor and the pulmonary specialist.  The end result is that I have an infection of some sort, but they aren't sure it is in my lungs and being this close to having a baby, they wouldn't do a chest xray (is a different form to other x rays and more harmful to bubs).  While my chest sounded clear, there was one thing that did worry them, the fact that the lower lungs were not working properly.  Um, hello!!!  I'd spent 2 hours non stop coughing!!!!!  Geez, I was that sore that breathing hurt, could that be what they were talking about? lol.

Now, I'm on antibiotics, as the blood work did show an infection some where (Puggles doesn't count!!!) and they told me that they wanted to prevent the infection getting to the point where I would require IV antibiotics because I would be transfered to Nambour hospital for that (not good).  Well, I"m not allergic to penacillin, so that's good, and the tablets aren't overly big, if you are a horse! lol.

When I got home, Les went and did some shopping and bought a steam vapouriser.  OMG!  I have had the best nights sleep in about 2 months!!!!  I didn't even need to get up to go the toilet!!!  I was asleep by 11:30pm and while I did stir a few times to roll over, it was 8am this morning before I even registered the fact I had slept all night without coughing once!!!!  Note to self, start using this device as soon as the flu hits any of us!!!!!!

Puggle is fine, was doing better than me and really showing off for the medical staff! lol.  Oh, and everyone was paranoid I'd go into labour on them.  I tried, honest I did, just to give them the experience! lol. 

I'm much better today though.  Still feel strange sitting up at the computer, so will still have to take it easy, but at least I can breathe and I got sleep!!!!!

Actually, we've all been sick with it here, and I can tell you now, I just want this bug gone!  Doesn't help when I have a delightful 2 year old who thinks that it is ok to come up to me, cough in my face and then run off laughing.  Hhhhmmm, not for lack of trying to get her to cover her mouth!!!!!

I'm still going to need a few more days to really be able to get back into the swing of things.  Just sitting here typing this I can feel my nose doing its best to help with the typing.

Puggle is still stuck.  Might be a good thing at the moment with this bug going around, though my nerves don't agree.  Cheeky baby likes to make me jump by moving her head.

I will get better as quickly as I can so that I can be back here a bit more and of course I will let you know when Puggle does make up her mind.

I miss you all and hope that everyone is safe and well.