Tag: #theSQL

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Our beautiful girl has a name :)

Faith Sigal Jacobson

A few people have asked why we waited to name her so here is the story.

Boys are named at their bris (circumcision) on the 8th day.  Its not forbidden to announce the name before the bris but in a metaphysical sense the child only ‘receives’ his name during the ceremony at his bris.

The naming of a Jewish girl is a very spiritual moment.  The naming ceremony is linked to the public reading of the Torah.  This is usually on a Monday, Thursday or Saturday morning.  The blessing begins with a prayer for the mother’s health. It continues with the giving of the baby’s name and a prayer that this new Jewish daughter should grow to be a wise and understanding Jewish woman of goodness and greatness.

Since Faith was born on Sunday, Paul should have been in shul on the Monday to name her but the service started very early and he wasnt able to make it as he was looking after Aaron.  Today is a public holiday and as such Shul started a bit later and one of the teachers from Aarons school offered to look after him while Paul was at Shul.  So Paul named her today.

Traditionally Ashkenazi Jews name children after a deceased relative, not only to honour the deceased but also to inspire the child to live up to that persons name.  Serphadi Jews name after living relatives as well as deceased relatives.

We are Ashkenazi and as such chose to name Faith after my grandmother who passed away almost a year ago.  Her ‘english’ name was Fanyse and her Hebrew name was Feiga.  Faiths second name is Sigal, it is a hebrew name meaning violet (sigalit is a type of violet in Israel) or meaning treasure.  We chose Sigal to honour my late grandfather Sydney and Pauls late aunt Sandra.

Her hebrew name is Feiga Sigal bat Nachama (Feiga Sigal ‘daughter of’ Nechama – my hebrew name).

So, in a nutshell, Faith received her name today at shul in honour of two great grandparents and a great aunt.

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Pictures!

So I am home, I have my laptop and internet access…

Here are a few pictures I took with my phone, most have been up on Twitter or Facebook already but I thought I would add them here again.

New ones coming shortly 😉

Big brother!
Dad
My family 🙂
With Uncle Cliff
Bobba (Pauls mom)
Nana (my mom)

P.s. theSQL will be named in Shul tomorrow morning.  Its tradition to name a baby girl during a Torah reading and the next one is tomorrow 🙂

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Surprise!!

So Friday 10th was my last day at work. It was also our housekeeper/nanny’s last day of work. It also happened to be my OB’s last day at work.

Anyone seeing a pattern here?

We went to my MIL for shabbos dinner and on Saturday we did some shopping, visited my granny and went home for lunch. We had booked tickets to see the new Harry Potter and my mom agreed to look after Aaron in the afternoon.

When we got back to my mom to fetch Aaron he didn’t want to come home. I jokingly asked him of he wanted to sleep at Nana knowing that the last dozen times we had asked he said no. Well he surprised us and said yes. My mom agreed and Paul and I went home alone.

We made dinner, caught up on a few episodes of CSI New York, closed up the house, settled the dogs and went to bed. Well, Paul went to sleep and I stayed up a bit playing on my laptop. Just before midnight I put the laptop away and turned off the lights. Not 5 minutes later my water broke!

Now I had been having contractions very erratically for a few days and theSQL was definitely head down and in position but I really didn’t expect her to come so soon. Especially because that’s pretty much what happened with Aaron at just over 36 weeks. I mean really, what are the chances of it happening twice?

Pretty darn good it seems…

So I woke Paul up and the darling man got everything together and in the car while I waited in the bathroom. I had called the hospital and they were expecting us. Paul drove us in record time through the rain and we arrived at the hospital shortly after 12:30am Sunday morning.

The lovely sister in charge, who happened to be a midwife too, hooked us up to a monitor and confirmed a strong foetal heartbeat and regular contractions. She did an internal and could feel her head pushing against my cervix.

The OB on call was spoken to and within an hour and a half of arriving at the hospital we were waiting outside theatre ready for theSQL to make her appearance.

The spinal was quick and not so painless but worked like a bomb. Paul was called in and at 2:23am on 12 Dec 2010 our beautiful baby girl was delivered into the world weighing 2.91kg and measuring 48cm long.

She has a full head of dark hair and latched on to the boob straight away. She is already on her own schedule and wakes up every 2 hours or so for a feed.

Aaron is in love with his baby sister and tells us at every opportunity that he NEEDS to hold his baby. I think he will be quite protective of her.

Right now I’m about to try catch up on some sleep since I’ve technically not really slept since Friday night…

***fixed the picture now that I have my laptop 🙂

A few hours old!

 

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Pick n Pay Real Baby

A little while ago Pick n Pay asked me if I would like to review their new range of baby products.

With an active 3 year old and a new baby on the way I jumped at the chance.

This is what arrived for us last week:

  • 1 x pack Junior #5 nappies (46) – R119.99
  • 1x pack Mini #2 nappies (44) – R82.99
  • Cotton Wool Pleats (100g) – R13.99
  • Cotton Puffs (50g) – R13.99
  • Wipes (72) – R27.99
  • Cotton Buds for Baby (50) – R10.99
  • Aqueous Cream (250ml) – R12.99
  • Petroleum Jelly (250ml) – R13.59
  • Baby Soap (100g) – R5.29
  • Nappy Cream (75ml) – R15.99
  • Baby Lotion (200ml) – R18.99
  • Body Wash (400ml) – R23.99
  • Baby Oil (200ml) – R17.29
  • Baby Powder (300g) – R17.69
  • Hygiene Liquid (500ml) – R24.99

*prices taken from the Pick n Pay Online Store.

I was totally blown away by the package that arrived for us.  The best part is that these are not sample sizes but the actual sizes you will find in store.

The eye catching yellow, white and grey packaging is great, and Aaron was all over the bottles and tubs naming the cute animal drawings on each product.  I was excited to see that all the creams, lotions and powders have chamomile extract in them, this soothing extract is wonderful to help put niggly babies at ease (and its smells great too).

I must admit we haven’t tried any of the products yet.  The reason being that we had just opened a new pack of nappies for Aaron and we are waiting to finish those before opening the Pick n Pay ones.  As for the other products, poor Aaron is missing out, Im being selfish and hanging onto those for theSQL.  She should be here in the next 3 weeks and I am so grateful I dont need to buy any toiletries for her now.

I did open almost all the bottles and tubs and they smell divine, the chamomile extract is delish and Im sure its going to be very soothing for the baby.

Watch this space for our review of the Junior nappies in the next few days…

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35 weeks!

HOLY MOLY!!!! 35 WEEKS PEOPLE!

Ok, sorry, had to get that out there…

Yesterday I went for my 35 week appointment.

#theSQL is doing really well.  She now weighs 2.76kg (about 300g bigger than average) and is apparently quite tall.  I blame Paul for all that 😉

She is still moving all the time.  We had one quiet day but she really made up for it the next day 🙂

Dr D was expecting her head to be engaged but its not, she looked at me and said deadpan, “Its because your pelvis is narrow and her head is big, just dont see it happening…”, OMG, seriously, I cant be that small although she can be that big!

She is pretty sure that even if I do go into labour naturally that her head will get stuck and she would rather do the c-section to be safe.  I tend to agree with her.  I asked if I would be allowed to watch her do the c-sec and she said sure.  Im quite excited about that.  We agreed that Paul will just have to turn his back and pray that he doesnt pass out.

The other thing I asked her was about the pain meds afterwards.  Last time they gave me some pretty hectic stuff in my drip and I was out of it (and not in a good way) for most of the first day. She said that this time we can start with the minimum dose of the lightest painkiller and then if I need more we can up the dose and/or the type of painkiller.  So happy she agreed because I really hated feeling so out of it last time.

I also spoke to Dr D about the swelling in my calves, ankles and feet (I even showed her the picture I put on Twitter).  She said that coupled with my low BP made her want to book me off work on modified bed rest.  Unfortunately I still have quite a bit to do at the office including showing the other ladies what they need to do for me while Im away.  So we compromised.  She booked me off today and Monday on modified bed rest so that I can get 4 straight days of relaxation.

So Im not allowed to drive or go do grocery shopping or anything like that.  I am allowed to walk around at home as long as I take it easy and dont do anything hectic like clean out the baby’s room of all the crap that is in there at the moment (I really feel the need to do that though, I hate sitting idle and Im all about the nesting at the moment!)

I did get a tub of Puff Ease Bath Tea from BodyThrills yesterday and let me tell you it works.  And it smells divine.  Almost makes me want to have swollen ankles so I can feel the relief as they go down in my bath tonight 😉

Once again, I cant get the Vimeo video to embed so here is the link 🙂

theSQL 35 week scan

The other thing we discussed was that since my OB is going to be away from the 10 Dec until the 24 Dec, I will need to see her locum in about 10 days time.  She made me an appointment to see her for the 13 Dec.  I completely trust Dr D so I know she would only leave us in good hands and Im glad I get to meet the locum before (please Gd) this baby comes.

Hopefully we will see the locum and the next time we go to Sunninghill will be to deliver theSQL with Dr D when she is back.

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33 week scan…

So last Thursday we had our 33 week appointment.

#theSQL is doing well.  She is a big girl and for the first time was lying still during a scan 🙂

She has chubby cheeks and you can even see that she has some hair!

She is almost 2.3kg and is head down.  Now she just needs to turn to face my back and we are all set.

I really really cant wait to meet her.

6 weeks and counting!!!

Here is the scan for those that are interested (I cant embed the file so please click on the link below)

33 week scan

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People have asked…

Are you having a baby shower?  What can we get you?

The answer is that as Jews we don’t have baby showers.  With a boy, gifts are brought to the Bris and with a girl, gifts are brought when people come and visit baby and mommy at home.

That being said people have asked what they can get us so I have made a list of the things we will need/want when theSQL arrives.  What would really be appreciated is new born nappies 🙂

Things for theSQL

Room

  • Fitted crib sheets
  • Waterproof crib sheet
  • Swaddling blankets

Clothes

  • Summer 0-3 months
  • Autumn/Winter 3-6 months
  • Winter/Spring 6-9 months
  • Summer 9-12 months

Bath

  • Baby lotion
  • Baby shampoo
  • Baby body wash
  • Wash cloths
  • Hooded towels
  • Cotton wool

Changing

  • Waterproof changing pad and cover
  • New born nappies – LOTS! I would be happy if this was all people gave us 🙂

Feeding

  • Bottlebrush with teat attachment
  • Nuk new born dummies
  • Nuk Original new born bottle teats
  • No name brand bottles, that can fit the above teats
  • Breast milk storage containers from Pigeon
  • Bibs from MandiMoo
  • Burp cloths from MandiMoo
  • Bottle warmer

Other

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I think she has turned!

So, in this post my OB mentioned that theSQL will turn into a head down feet up (or vice versa) position soon and that it would hurt like a mother…

I think the last two days has been her turning, my belly was hard and sore constantly and I couldnt even touch it without being in pain.  Now the top of my belly, which was soft before, has gone harder and I am getting kicks/punches right under my ribs which I never had before.

Im not as sore today as I was yesterday, although Im still a little uncomfortable but Im sure I will get used to it 🙂

 

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4D scan

Yesterday Paul, Aaron and I took a drive to Sunninghill hospital to have our 4D scan.

Netcare hospitals have what is called a Maternity Passport.  You pay R300 and for that you get a free 4D scan (worth R600), Netbaby gift pack when you have your baby (a baby bag with lots of sample products in it), the first in hospital vaccinations for free, free birth registration (what a pleasure, we had it done with Aaron) as well as the first Wellbaby Clinic visit at the Storks Nest.  For R300 I think its worth getting!

Back to the 4D scan…

The technician that did the scan couldnt believe how active theSQL is.  She didnt stop moving the entire scan, so much so that we couldnt get a decent shot of her legs or arms and she kept moving her legs in front of her girl bits.  What we did get were some great shots of her face along with her hands.  She kept touching her face and hiding behind her hands and sucking on her fingers.  Too cute.

We took Aaron with us and he was pretty interested, for the first 5 minutes, then he got a bit bored, but wanted to look again at the end.  He kept saying we were going to see his baby… so sweet.

So without further ado, here are some of the clearer shots (with descriptions)

Peek a boo! Hiding behind my hands.
Oy vey... Look how long my fingers are...
Sucking my fingers.
Pinching my own chubby cheeks.
Holding my foot on my nose!
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Panic stations!

I have less than 3 months left of this pregnancy!  The OB says to expect theSQL between Christmas and New Years, that is in 11 to 12 weeks.  I’m aiming for 36 weeks (the time that Aaron arrived) and that is in 9 weeks time!  Every day after that is a bonus day.

And that is where the panic comes in.  All we have done is moved the cot from Aarons room to the baby’s new room, which was our home office.

So, here is a list of everything that still needs to be done.  Im going to send it to Paul and hopefully we will have the motivation to get most of it done in the next little while.

  1. Built in cupboards, there are no cupboards in that room at the moment.
  2. Paint, both theSQL’s room and Aaron’s room.
  3. Buy Aaron a new chest of draws so that the compactum can be moved into theSQL’s room.
  4. Get curtains made for both room.
  5. Linen for theSQL.
  6. Move the Telkom and ADSL lines out of theSQL’s room.
  7. Check the AngelCare monitor we have and if it is no longer working buy a new one.
  8. And so many more little things I can count…

I feel a bit better now that it is in writing and Im sure I will keep adding to this list as we go but for now its here and we can start working at ticking things off the list!