Hi all

Just wanted to share with you our wonderful news that on 9 July 2009 our beautiful little girl Taylah Louise entered the world. She was 7 pound 1 ounce and 49.5 cms long. I was 6 days over and they induced me. All is well, she is a gorgeous little thing - yes I am biased of course! Such a surprise for me because I swore I was having another boy!

My son is a doting big brother and loves her to bits, we are just finding the middle ground at the moment with mummy having to share her time with both of them. Overall he has been really good but some days are a bit of a power-play struggle!

Ugghh I have to admit I have had enough. I want this baby out, I want the constant nausea and the vomiting to stop and most importantly I want to meet this special gift that has made me spend the last 35 weeks of my life with my head stuck in the toilet!

Unfortunately two weeks ago the maternity ward in Bourke closed indefinitely so I am about 400kms away in Dubbo playing the waiting game with my very active 3 year old while my husband has stayed home to work. The mental preparation for this hasn't been great. I know it is about safely having our baby delivered but I really just wish I was home with my hubby. I am very luck that my mum lives close to Dubbo so I at least I have some support and some where to stay as many others don't have that luxury and have to stick out the final days in a cramped motel room.

So the countdown is well and truly on, See the Dr again on Wednesday and I hope that they will agree to induce me on Friday or Monday if the baby hasn't arrived. I am physically and emotionally exhausted right now and at least by being induced I can make sure my hubby will be here to witness our second child come into the world. :-) Hope you will all hear from me soon!

Firstly let me say I do not know this family or this little girl, nor do I know anyone who knows them. I am simply an Australian Parent who since yesterday morning has been sitting in utter disbelief truly not wanting to believe the news reports that were being beamed around the nation. I honestly just went numb.

Well it is a day later since that horrific tragedy that occurred in Melbourne yesterday morning. I still sit and listen to the news reports in utter disbelief. The heartbreak I feel for this childs mother and brothers is incredible. As a parent I was in tears not knowing why or understanding what could make someone do this to their own daughter let alone any innocent child.

When I got home from work yesterday I just wanted to hold my son so close to me and I felt so grateful for such a wonderful treasure in my life. This poor mother won't have this chance again with her little girl. I can only hope those little boys did not actually see their sister be thrown, for them to deal with such an occurence in their lives is heartbreaking. This poor family has such a long road ahead of them, it will be long, dark, haunting and extremely difficult. They are in so many peoples prayers and thoughts. The torture of asking the question why did this happen, how could someone do this will no doubt be circling around and around as it is in my own head. Sadly I do not believe that a true answer will ever be provided.

I'm sorry to bring up such a sad sad sad thing but I am sure there are those of you on here who are feeling the same as I am. It is so hard to describe the way I am feeling. The innocence of a child, the beauty of a child, the treasure that a child is, I really question why some people become parents....

The following article was in the Daily Telegraph today:

Doctor flies in the face of health bosses Article from:

EXCLUSIVE by Kate Sikora

January 16, 2009 12:00am

A SURGEON flew his own plane to treat patients in a remote outback town yesterday after health officials turned down his offer to work free.

The 3000-strong town of Bourke was treated to a general surgeon for the first time in four years when Neil Meulman spent $1000 of his own money to make the trip.

Despite a newly-built hospital, locals are usually forced to travel 400km to Dubbo - an eight-hour return journey - for minor surgery.

But for the past 18 months, Dr Meulman has been wanting to provide an outreach service in Bourke.

Despite initially accepting his offer, the problem-plagued Greater Western Area Health Service this week refused his offer to fly in once a month for six months, free of charge.

"It's a lose-lose situation," he said. "I am offering my services free of charge and they are obstructing me."

About 30 patients queued outside Bourke's medical practice to see Dr Meulman. He has been denied access to the hospital and instead is filling out admission forms, preparing a waiting list of people who need surgical procedures such as vasectomies, lumpectomies and tumours and varicose veins removed.

Grandmother Christine Campbell, 62, will spend $400 every month for the year travelling to Sydney for follow-up procedures to an operation she had in December.

"If there was a surgeon here or Neil could stay then I wouldn't have to spend that much money and leave my family," she said. "The AHS is cutting its nose off to spite its face."

Before becoming a surgeon 14 years ago, Dr Meulman, who lives in Bathurst with his wife and three children, wanted to do humanitarian work. But he realised there was a greater need in his own backyard.

In a letter to Dr Meulman, area chief executive Claire Blizard said: "As previously advised a separate surgical service is not currently planned for Bourke.

"Until a decision is taken at Bourke, the AHS is unable to consider your offer of a free service."

Source: The Daily Telegraph 

My response was:

Thank you Dr Meulman! Our services in Bourke are declining rapidly. In Bourke we no longer are able to get our ultrasounds done here, our maternity ward is currently closed resulting in mums from Brewarrina, Cobar and Bourke travelling to Dubbo to have babies and pay $160 for an ultrasound that we could get on medicare.

 

BourkeHospital have previously turned down an offer from a local fundraising committee for a dialysis machine DONATED to them, this would not have occurred if we still had a Hospital Board.

 

We have a new hospital which has a theatre that is virtually unused due to lack of staff and now GWAHS' obvious lack of forsight or caring for the locals of the area. Here is an offer from a wonderful man to assist our Community which would surely benefit the hospital in turn but due to bureaucracy from "those who supposedly know best about Communities" like ours or is it just sheer stupidity.

 

Surely it is time for the CEO to actually wake up to herself and take a look beyond the hill leading out of Dubbo. Also the NSW Government - there are places further than the confines of Sydney that require assistance.  This is just the tip of the iceberg.

 

Or the inevitable question of - are you going to find out what it is this time?

Is it just me or does this question seemed to get asked of you more with the second pregnancy or third or fourth? I seem to be getting it all the time. People seem to be more excited when you don't find out what you are having for your first child until the day it is born. Then with the second it appears to be a different story for most. I don't know if people just like to know what is going on or if they think I will be disappointed with the outcome.

If people wish to find out what they are having then that is fabulous but for me the final element of surprise is what I prefer. Yes a "pigeon pair" would be nice but I won't love my baby any less or more if it is another boy or if it is a girl. Nor will I be disappointed, out of all of this all I wish for is a healthy happy bub that my family and I can love unconditionally.

So for me I will continue to play the guessing game of what gender my bub will be, as I did with my first! One day it was a boy the next a girl. At least I can put my money on the fact it will be one or the other!!! :-)

I just wonder what other people's experiences have been? Are they like mine or totally different?

Hi fellow mintiers!

Guess what, I can finally get excited! My hubby and I are expecting bub number 2 on 3 July 2009!! Got the all clear from the Dr on Tuesday so feel I can allow myself to get excited. Am about 13 1/2 weeks, have been as sick as can be and have lost about 8kgs because of the throwing up. Despite all of this I am so happy especially after miscarrying in June.

Bring on 2009 and I hope you all have a wonderful year! :-)

Hello to all of you who had me in your thoughts today. I would like to say thank you however unfortunately I have miscarried. Obviously this baby was not meant to be for us yet however right now I have to say it really sucks. I have settled down a lot from this afternoon. Sitting with the specialist was like a blur. I knew something was wrong as soon as I saw the screen. Heartbreaking but also I am so glad to have got an answer.

So once again thank you for your support, it helped to get me through the day. I am glad I live by the saying that "everything happens for a reason" it makes the unexplainable a little easier to handle.

Hugs and Kisses

Keren

Am feeling rather down right now. Last night I started having some spotting (which did not happen at all during my first pregnancy) and ironically I already had a Dr's appointment booked for this morning. The Dr has said that there is a 50/50 chance that I have miscarried. He has changed my ultra sound appointment from tomorrow morning to this afternoon. SO now I have to wait. My partner is out of town working but at least my mum is travelling here now (she lives 4 hours away) to come in with me.

I guess one of the hardest things is not being able to do anything and knowing that I have no control whatsover over the outcome or the situation.

Well today is Blake's first day back at Childcare for the year. I was unsure how he would react as he has been crying every day for the past two weeks when I have dropped him off at his normal babysitters. The crying only lasts until I am out the driveway then he is as happy and spoilt as can be.

I had been telling him for the past two weeks that he will be going back to "school" (as he calls it) soon and of course we had the dicussion yesterday that he would go to Nanny's today and then school tomorrow, so this morning he got up and was quite happy to go to school. When I dropped him off, he sat at the table with the kids to have a snack and was happy as anything which was wonderful to me. Then he wanted a "kiss mummy" so we did that a few times before I could get out the door and come to work.

It makes it so much easier when kids are happy to go somewhere, he knows that I wll be back. I know that even when he is upset that I am going to work that he will be fine when I am gone it still breaks my heart to leave him and see him crying :-( aaah I guess that is just one of the things that being a mum is about.

Kisses for everyone!

 

Hello all you Mintiers out there!!

It has been a long time since I have really had a chance to just drop in and have a good look around and chat to any of you. I hope all is well with you and your families. My little family is going along great guns. Blake is now just over 19 months old and is growing up so fast. He is picking up new words everyday and is loving the Wiggles. So I now of course now know most of the songs from It's Wiggle Time and Yummy Yummy! He is wonderful to watch and dance with.

The wedding plans are going quite well. Just need to sort out the Celebrant this week and then get away to buy the stuff for the invites. It is all coming together. That is not to say that some days I do consider just running away and eloping!! Mind you I think we would be run out of town if we did that.

Dale has been off work for quite some time now as he injured himself. So that has caused a bit of undue stress due to workers comp and all that garb. However my main concern is for him to get well again and return to a job he loves doing. I did try to convince him to try something else but at this stage he isn't interested unless he definiately cannot shear again. Which I totally understand and he has my support either way.