Zing

We'd been playing the waiting game for a week or two. You know.... when you know someone is ready to pop, you have that "any day now feeling" our family had been there with MB for a few weeks leading up to last Friday.

I was woken to a loud moan from our en suite, I lept out of bed and found MB singing her way through a contraction. When it resided I asked if we were in business, she said we were.

It was GAME ON.

Between contractions MB gradually made herself a little nest beside our bed that I had moved aside allowing more room.

Miss H was soon awoken by the sounds of birth song coming from our bathroom, I raced downstairs and woke Mr B gave him a USB key full of movies and told home to sit in the lounge with Miss H.
MB asked me to call her mother to come over and watch the children, up until this date she wasn't sure who she wanted to have in her birth space apart from yours truly. The children have all been present at the past three home birth but for this our final MB had been feeling more like it would just be the two of us. I set her up with plenty of towls and a glass of ice for her to crunch on between contractions.

A few more contractions had passed and from outside the en-suite I heard her waters broke, I knew by her sounds deepening that it wasn't far away. There isn't a lot for me to do while MB births her giant babies. I speak only when spoken to I don't touch her I just wait, she becomes almost hypnotised and her eyes glaze over, totally in the zone focusing only on what she has to do.

As the pains got closer and her sounds deepened to open roars she moved to beside the bed and got on all fours. I say beside her having the occasional peak downstairs in search of any action.


What seemed like perhaps not even 3 of four contractions later I could see something crowning, it looked wrinkled and at first I panicked thinking it was the placenta but kept quite and watched in awe.

As the head began to crown I could see the squished face, black hair and quite a bit of vernix.

Once the head was out there was a pause that seemed to last ages, MB calmed herself regained composure and as I watched bubs turned for the final push I held my hand out carefully making sure I didn't touch MB or the baby.

Out plopped the messiest baby I had ever seen, vernix everywhere, both eyes were plugged solid with it, it was thick down my forearms. I glanced down to see the sex just as MB asked "Is it a boy or a girl" I began to cry and laugh at the same time and replied "Its a GIRL!!!!"

Within minutes I helped pass bubs through to MB so she could rest on the floor, we both stared in awe at this beautiful mess that had just came into the world.

Within minutes Mr B came in to tell us MB's mum had arrived so I told him to tell her she had another grand daughter and to wake his brothers and sisters. We announced Miss M to her siblings.

All the children gathered round in semi-shock at this strange looking thing that their parents were crying with joy over. MB passed the placenta so I handled it into a bowl and gave it & the ball of vernix to MB's mum so I could help MB onto the bed and get some rest.
Weighing the squishy bub
Back to mamma bare
My queen
Nanna cut the cord, not something most mums get to do, she was stoked to be part of this special day.

It was all too much for miss H who was the first child to rise and the first to crash, she doesn't have day time naps, on this day she had 2 2.5 hour snoozes, too much hard work I think.
I can't recall all the measurements but she was a 5 kilo bub, 11 pounds in the old speak. She was hands down the filthiest (in a good way) baby I have ever seen. within a few hours nskin to skin with mum all the vernix was soaked in to reveal beautiful olive skin.

While they all look the same to me at birth MB thinks she is very similar to Mr B our eldest in looks and feeding.

I have more pics of the whole fam having a hold, stay tuned for those

Update (Belated)

(Typed the Other Day - Posting now)

Its now Wednesday 11:36am. A week plus almost a day since I had the snip here is a bit of an update.

Again I apologise for a little TMI but hey, I'm pretty open and you decided to read this.

I think spending last Tue-Fri in bed only prolonged the inevitable. Saturday was my first semi-active day since the op with the children's swimming and basketball games taking up the majority of the day. By Saturday night I could hardly move and was forced to spend the evening on the chase with a bag of frozen corn down my pants. After looking at copious amounts of images of vasectomy recovery I noticed that the majority of incisions on the front of the scrotum caused bruising where as incisions on the side caused swelling. By far the right was the more painful and considerably larger in size. The left was more bruised and didn't cause much discomfort at all.

Sunday I tried to take it easy but in a house with so many people there is always something that needs picking up or a load of washing etc so again by afternoon I was kicking back with frozen vegetables getting to know me in the pants.

Monday I got up with my alarm for work and although the train ride was fine getting in and out of le boos as well as a fair amount of walking and assisting some people with desk moves had me feeling really uncomfortable by late afternoon. I hit the couch the moment I walked in the door and remained there with frozen peas tucked in for the whole evening.

I awoke Tuesday morning after a terrible night of uncomfortableness combined with an unwell wife, 1 & 3 year old all Sharing my bed. I called my boss and worked from home again keeping the meat and veg on ice as often as possible. I spent the majority of the evening on the chase again.

This morning I felt much better, I was awake at 5 so I could give the ol' rightey a chill with peas before I got up. MB and the children gave me a lift to the station, the train ride in and walk to the office were much better than yesterday.

Its interesting the discussions one has with others when they know you have recently been vasectomised. For the most part I have been surprised by the number of guys I work with saying "Yeah I got done XX years ago". Also the reactions to me getting done by others are of shock and disbelief, not sure if this stems from their own issues with commitment or not knowing they're done. I for one knew I was done the moment MB held the pregnancy test stick in front of me.

I Hoping I've turned the corner and things get more tolerable from here on

Vasectomy Holiday - Slightly TMI

Vasectomy Holiday (It should be a reggae song)

I'm starting this post today, Thursday @ 2:36 Pm. I had my vasectomy performed at 1PM on Tuesday this week & this is a bit of a dump of how it went down.

MB's parents dropped me off at the specialists rooms a little early as I planned on having to fill out some forms and the like, after the surgeon had seen his first appointments I was up. We had a brief chat in his office, my GPs referral outlined that we had baby #7 on the way it was pretty obvious that my mind was made up. He explained that a small number of patients cannot be done under local on the day for a number of reasons (he didn't elaborate but I assumed this would be due to anatomical issues, couldn't locate the Vas etc etc) He discussed the procedure to me, there are several, he uses steel clips to clamp the Vas and stitches you up afterwards, some do it with a stitches on the Vas and no external sutures). His method meant I could shower the same day which made me glad. He also explained the risks of infection, and that this could sometime be in the form of inflammation and swelling 6 weeks later. He also explained that sometimes additional bleeding inside the scrotum could result in a hard lump that would dissolve over time. I signed my consent as he elaborated on the time it could potentially take before I could be considered infertile. It was then time to move to the procedure room.

We headed down the corridor, I thought I would have butterflies and feel a bit anxious but I was pretty collected (despite it being on my mind steady for the two weeks leading up to it. I removed my jeans and trunks and hopped up on the table/bed and laid back as he examined me. Lying on my back with him standing to my right he quickly located the right side Vas and then the left. This was slightly unnerving as it involved quite a bit of paddling round in my scrotum. He then explained that he had no issues locating each vas and confirmed he would be able to complete the procedure then and there. He then shaved me, (which was also a unique feeling), washed me with antiseptic (freakin cold it was) then gloved up and got ready to begin. He showed me the tiny steel clips he would be using and assured me no patients had ever reported setting off a metal detector. I looked out the window at the clear blue sky as he once again located the right vas, this was quite awkward, it didn't hurt just really made me squirm, once he had it located he injected the local anaesthetic which aside from an ever so slight pinch was hardly noticeable at all. He started to make the incision, which judging on the need from what I could tell was on the right side bout midway from front to back. I felt a twinge of the scalpel so he stopped then injected more locate and proceeded. I talked constantly through the first side, more so to take my mind of what I knew was going on. In this regard it was probably a bad move to watch the video on you tube as I could mentally picture everything he was doing. I yacked about MB, the children, Mr C's nevus, moving building straw bales and before I knew it I saw his hand go up as he completed a stitch. "All done" he said with a smile, "time for the left".

He went to locate the left vas which he did from the front as he remained standing on my right, this was extremely unsettling, I jumped and immediately broke out into a sweat as he located and vas. I was relieved to feel the needle go in as it knew I'd soon feel less uncomfortable, it really is a strange feeling having someone did around in your balls. He made quick work of the left side as I chatted more and more and before I knew it there was the familiar site of him completing a stitch and I knew I was home free.

I sat up, dripping with perspiration (from the heat of the room more so than anything else) I looked at my balls, which after 32 years of good service looked foreign too me, shaved & discolored from the antiseptic wash. I asked where the stitches were so the doc showed me a stitch on the right side of my scrotum and one on the front side. I went to wing my leg over the the side of the table and felt something touch my leg which came as a shock until I realised it was my scrotum, which was till numb.

The doc explained that I could shower and wash off the antiseptic that day and that within a few hours i'd feel pretty sore and more so the next day or two. he instructed me to to get home, take some panadene and have a glass of whisky. My only question was naturally "Is Red Wine OK"?

I made an appointment for the next week to have the stitches out and do a check up and walked out the door. I immediately texted MB to tell her all was done but I was a bit shakey. I then called her to elaborate on how I felt, told her all was well and then called her Mum & Dad to come and pick me up. I had planned for to spend a few days at my in-laws after the procedure so we headed home via a chemist for some panadene.

That night I wasn't really as sore as I expected to me, more slow on my feet and hesitant to move quickly, sitting was a little uncomfortable but all in all I was feeling pretty good. MB's mother cooked me a delicious lamb roast which we washed down with a nice bottle of red before MB/s father and I retreated to their upstairs big screen TV to watch tron. I didn't feel like sleeping or lying down and after some Facebook messaging with Jo decided to break out the paracord and attempt a two tone bracelet. this killed an hour (as it didn't work the first time and I had to unravel it and start again. and by about midnight I was ready to lie down. Unfortunately I had trouble getting comfy in bed and opted for several pillows between my knees, setup my laptop chatted to MB on MSN (which was sooooo good) then put on an American hot rod playlist and watched several episode before finally falling asleep some time after 3am.

I woke at 7:30 and went to the toilet and had a fair amount of discomfort walking so I decided to hop back in bed and watch some more movies and TV eps of American Hotrod on my laptop. I chatted to MB with video chat at about 11am then again at 3pm, at this point I thought it best I get up, shower and have breaky, which was really a late lunch. I cooked a chicken fillet for a roll and watched some TV for about an hour before getting back in bed around 4:30PM. I then watched more TV on my laptop and when I heard MB's parents arrive from work headed down to say hello. MB's mother cooked another great feed of veggies and a t-bone for me with hot jam roll and ice cream for dessert, I was feeling truly spoilt.

After dinner I watched "The Departed" on the big screen before hitting the hay around midnight, I fell asleep almost instantly but woke at 3am feeling pretty wired so I watched more American Hot Rod til about 5am before sleeping til 9:30.

Today I wanted to get some work done so I connected and caught up on all my meetings, emails and documents for review. I love technology, I have my phone setup as a 3G wireless access pouint and am connected on my laptop from bed. which brings us to about now.

It hasn't been anywhere near as painful as I expected, There is considerable discomfort but pain wise it is very tolerable. My balls went from tomato to beetroot over a few hours but now look semi-normal (albeit shaved). I'll probably submit this then have a shower I think. While the quietness here (read silence) is very relaxing and who would complained about the spoiling i'm getting I am very much missing MB and the children with the exception of a family holiday in the first year or two of going out we haven't spent this much time apart in 17 years and I'm really missing her. Tech is great though with IM and video chat making it bearable. I know its been a stretch for her with all the children solo whilst still feeling ill 24/7. A friend of ours was kind enough to take Miss L overnight and then miss P for an afternoon with her girls which i'm sure made things a little easier at home as those two generate the most noise, mess & washing I was due to go to work for an important meeting tomorrow arvo but don't really feel like making the drive or the train ride or sitting in an office chair all day so My boss has setup a conference for me to dial in. I'm hoping to grab a bite with a mate of mine tonight because MB's parents will be out at a wake. This will also allow me to get them a new DVD player as theirs has issues and doesn't play divx.

Until next time.....

Finding the right number

• Our lifestyle isn't for everyone.
• Sometimes the journey you learn most from is a difficult one.
• 6 children is a lot of work.
• Simple logistics of Saturday morning swimming lessons and basket ball games can required 4 trips and 2 vehicles.
• Its usually always noisy at our house as voices are raised in a futile effort to be heard.
• Usually a simple meal is frought with challenge between MB & I simply trying to compare stories from each others day.

The shock from other people when they hear I have 6 children starts to wane over time. You can really only be enthusiastic when someone exclaims "O H M Y G O D I C A N T B E L I E V E Y O U H A V E S I X C H I L D R E N" for the thousandth time. Its usually followed up with rather jovial "So....any more?" expecting my response to be "no way" instead I always get additional shock value when I answer "We'll probably go back for one more".

For some reason in the last few years (more so since Miss H arrived in late 09) we've felt that 7 was the "number". In part because we thrive in chaos and discord and 4 males and 4 females in the family seems a little too much like harmony.

We never planned on 7 from the get go, we were lucky to go back for a second after MB's horrible experience with Mr B. After that the only time I felt uneasy was the approaching arrival of baby #4. When he joined us Mr C had no room in our sedan, we upgraded to a 7 seater days after his birth Then again to our current 12 seater when miss H arrived. I think somewhere around baby #4 I looked into get a vasectomy however MB didn't feel "done" and looking back I wasn't sure either way.

My point of this post is part reflection and part-announcement.
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We are currently expecting, MB is up the duff, she has a bun in the oven etc etc

I have to say this came as a little surprise to us. We have been happily using the billings method for over 16 years using contraception during ovulation. Every pregnancy was planned and while we were planning for a 7th it was intended to be after we build our new house.

Well this little bean had other plans.

In hindsight MB suspects she actually ovulated twice as we used precautions during, before & after ovulation. One night of unprotected passion after being well clear of the "Danger Zone" was all it took.

This doesn't change priorities overly, we still intend to get cracking on the new house. Where we had intended to continue using billings method I now know that its drawing nearer to vasectomy o'clock. (In fact I have the referral in my wallet).

Quietly I'm hoping for a boy (Giving me enough players in the family for a mens basketball team) but will take anything (girl or panther).

We told MB's parents last Tuesday night then told the children on the way home in le boos. It led to a lengthy discussion on potential names some of those that I recall were:
Ben 10
James Tiberias
Wolverine
Narcissa
Harry
Hagrid
Salizar
Rowena
Hermoine (Seeing a trend here?)

As with the other children we will keep the short list to ourselves and because I don't post names on this here blog you'll have to get to know me better outside the webisphere if you want to find out.

Untill next time.........