Belly shots: Week 29

Here we are at 29 weeks. I’m mostly feeling full now, still feeling her move around every day, every hour just about. Her violent kicks seem to have stopped in favour of more rhythmic bladder prodding instead.

The SPD has calmed down quite a lot in this past week now, and I think it has a lot to do with my having to bend/crouch down alot with Desi. I’ve also not picked up Kira very much this week either, which may have something to do with it.

It seems I’ve gone off coffee, and now tea. This was a gradual process that began roughly a week and a half ago; the coffee was foul tasting (tasted like the milk was sour but it wasn’t) and no matter which brand or flavour I tried, it all tasted the same. So yesterday I made the big decision to stop drinking it (I’d been forcing it down, ugh) and then tried switching to tea. Same effect, same taste. Thank god I have a tin of Milo in the pantry else I’d be totally screwed, especially now that the cold weather seems to have finally hit.

Barely none of my clothes fit now, which is really aggravating. I still have a few weeks to go but I’m absolutely refusing to buy more clothes (wow does this sound familiar!!) and no more underwear either. I’m fed up with having to keep changing it all the time. I bought my last two bras a couple of weeks ago (non maternity because apparently BigW, Kmart and Target don’t stock MATERNITY bras, only nursing ones) and despite the fact that they hurt like a bitch and cut into the skin under my arm, I am NOT changing them again. I’ve bought heaps of undies and 3 sports bras (2 of which are too small now ffs) and I’m done.

What I just don’t get is that I was a size 10-12 pre-pregnancy for the most part. And um, I’m back up to a size 14-16? Sigh, whatever. So annoying. Can’t wait to have the baby and get back into my workouts.

Note to baby: No shredding Mumma on your way out, mmk? No nail scratching, no clawing, no tearing, nothing.

There is no swelling anywhere this time around, and no signs of the “Cholestasis” they thought I might have had with Kira. I passed my glucose test with flying colours, and have my first antenatal book-in at the hospital next month. I’ve already decided that it’s not necessary to continue going back every two weeks, so the plan is to do the initial appointment, and not return until around Week 36 or so. They can check me again, if bubs is breech I’ll continue going to weekly appointments; if she’s fine, I won’t be back thereafter until I’m in labour. It’s just so not necessary and I have no interest in sitting in their overcrowded waiting room for an hour or more just to speak to some doctor who doesn’t speak English as a first language. Oh, how I wish I’d have gotten into a private hospital!!

So I guess that’s about it really, not much else to report. Everything’s going well and I can’t wait to have this baby - so tired of this pregnancy thanks largely to the SPD I’ve been suffering through; it just makes everything so unbearable. And I’m ultra cranky too with this latest surge in hormones. Bugger this hey, not going through this again on purpose.

More photos are up in the photo albums linked in the sidebar.

Keep getting up on the wrong side of the bed

First let me say that my coffee, for the past week, has been tasting like utter shite. At first I thought the milk was off thereby making my coffee taste the way it does, but after eating some cereal, I deduced the milk was normal and quite fine.

Think I’m going off coffee. Fine time to go off it - with Kira, I was off it within the first trimester, and drinking tea instead. I even have five kinds of coffee in the house and not one do I like. (Though it must be said that I am still drinking it) And I bought “Tetley” tea bags the other week while shopping, thinking I might want a change in teas from the Bushell’s I usually buy - stupid, stupid mistake. Tetley tea tastes like crap and is piss weak, no matter how long I let it soak in the cup.

Can you tell I woke up in a fine mood this morning? Kira’s fault and I don’t mind stating she’s pissing me off to NO end. Anyone want her? (Seriously, make an offer) The past couple of nights she’s been waking around 230am because of “monsters” and this has made me really, truly, honest-to-christ want to KILL THE MOFO who introduced monsters to her world. She doesn’t describe what they look like, only tells us where they’re currently hiding - you’d be chagrined to know they’re practically everywhere in our house, by the way. I did try telling her that there are no monsters in the house (”But… WHY Mumma?”) because they’re scared of me and refuse to come into the house, but she didn’t quite grasp that and proceeded to whine about the ones under her writing table.

Grumble.

On top of that, we have been in this “selective-hearing” phase now for like ever, and I’m ready to pack my bags and leave. Between her and her Father, I’m like thisclose to BEGGING for a divorce and gleefully handing the children over to him: Here, YOU take them! ENJOY!!! (Then laugh myself silly all the way to the nuthouse for some nice, calming relaxtion)

She USED to be such a well mannered, well behaved child I was so proud to call my offspring. Now I walk 6-12 feet behind her and her father in the Mall (though the SPD has a lot to do with that) in complete bliss, thinking to myself, ha ha she’s not mine, ha ha she’s not mine when she starts acting up and her father has to deal with her. At home though, there’s not much I can do with her when she starts misbehaving and probably oh, three times so far I’ve been thisclose to losing absolute control that I’ve had to lock myself in the bedroom and go into the bathroom and silently scream (or scream into the pillow) until my chest hurts.

She’s also doing these, “I WANT!” sentences as well. “I WANT XYZ!” “KIWA WANT XYZ!” over and over and over and over. Normally I completely ignore her until she says please, because she KNOWS to always say please and thank you (as her Father and I do it to one another, and others) but hasn’t been for quite some time now, without prompting. So as a result, she’s been going without quite a lot through the day (be that food, water or toys) until she says it. You’d think having food withheld from her would make her say it that much more quickly (especially when her “I WANT!” is followed by, “MY tummy is bumbawee!” [bumbly = rumbly = hungry]), but you’d be mistaken. To that I always say, “Well, Kira can ask for it properly.” It’s a bit of a circle as this can go on for hours if I let it though usually I just revert back to ignoring her and by some awesome miracle I hear a tiny “Pwease” squeak out of her head. See child? IT’S NOT SO HARD TO DO.

* * * * * * * * * * *

In non-related Kira news, I’ve started feeding Desi and Diesel together at meal times. Yesterday I was blown away when Deez actually ATE food that he did not previously turn his nose up at, though he did not eat very much of it. Like three or four bites and then was done. Desi, on the other hand, ate like she hadn’t eaten in a week while Diesel sat and watched her. And then once she was done, started to play with her.

He didn’t really eat again until she was back in her safe room for a few hours, and even then he only nibbled. He did manage to finish off everything in both his and Desi’s bowls last night before I fed them dinner, which he promptly turned his nose up at and walked away from. He didn’t eat at all last night, and was meowing loudly this morning, winding his body through my legs because he was so hungry this morning after his stupid hunger strike last night… but, turned his nose up at breakfast this morning so he’s going to be pretty hungry by the time he decides to eat again - whenever that’s going to be.

I cooked up some lamb and chicken for them the other night, along with a little bit of heart and kidney - Desi got stuck straight into it, but Deez took one smell and walked away. Little bastard. It smelled so damn good (minus the organs) and I won’t even eat lamb for gods sake. Think I might cook up some more of that for them today actually, for lunch.

ps: New photos will be posted a bit later today. Woo.

Things accomplished

1. Bought 2 cat dishes
2. Found and purchased chicken hearts! (albeit frozen)
3. Found and purchased chicken carcass!
4. Have cut up 250g of chicken hearts
5. Have cut up 250g of chicken livers
6. Am in the process of making my chicken stock
7. Have cut up 3 chicken necks
8. Have cut up one piece of beef steak
9. Have cleaned out my freezer to accomodate all this cat food
10. Have just realized I do not have enough freezer space for chicken stock. Shit.
11. Did not gag on any of the cutting up of raw meats and organs.

I am tired, again. My feet hurt from being on them for hours, doing all this cutting and arranging. Things like this probably should not be undertaken by a nearly 8mth pregnant woman. Bit late for the whole note-to-self thing.

I want to strangle Diesel, the picky little shit. He’s not eating what I cooked up last night (still) but is quite ravenous because he also refused to eat breakfast this morning (what I was giving him previously) and is winding his body around my legs every moment I get, meowing loudly. Desi, on the other hand, is not so picky and is happily eating what I put down for her.

I will try him on the beef/chicken/sardine combo tonight, and see if he eats that. Have no idea what he’s going to do if he turns his nose up at it, but he could still be feeling a little off from yesterday. Sort of makes it hard that he can’t speak Human.

Back is hurting today, but I have a monster of a project tomorrow: cleaning out the laundry from top to bottom, and moving his litter box in there. This was a project D said he would do for me, oh three months ago I suppose, but since he’s showing zero effort in doing it, it’s fallen onto me to do. I suppose tomorrow I will be hurting just as much, and wishing I had someone to do these things for me, when I need them to be done. After I clean out the laundry, I will then have to clean out the main bathroom from top to bottom as well. Joy.

A very busy Saturday = early bedtime.

Today I am exhausted and in quite a bit of pain.

Firstly I woke up with searing SPD pain which caused me to pant like a freakin’ dog, and grip the bed as though my life depended on it. Jolted awake to Kira letting Desi out of her safe room, and went to sit up, forgetting that I can’t actually do that as quickly and lithely as I once was able to, and didn’t even make it to full upright position - I was sort of sitting on one thigh, unable to put my full weight down when the pain struck. It took about five minutes (no exaggeration) to be able to get past the pain enough to sit up properly. And then it took another 2.5 hours or so before I could walk without stooping over or grimacing in pain.

After my morning coffees and breakfast, I set about cleaning out the bedroom, vacuuming and then cleaned out the bathroom - a task that would normally have taken me maximum 2 hours, took me damn near 4 because our vacuum is broken and I had to use the handle nozzle on the floor, scooching around as best I could. Lots of crouching and kneeling and bending which I am sure only exacerbated the SPD problem. My own fault, really.

After having Desi locked away and out of sight from Diesel for a day and a half, I thought he might have been a little bit nicer to her, but that proved not to be the case; though in his defense, after Kira let her out, he only watched her with great curiosity for about 10 minutes before trying to go after her. In the beginning he was simply biting the scruff of her neck, as she was sort of hiding under Kira’s play piano, and she was taking jabs back at him, but he realized he could actually still get to her and that’s when he started flipping her over and biting/snapping at her belly again. So, back into the safe room she went for the remainder of the day, the poor little girl.

She is slowly gaining weight though, you can feel she’s heavier than she once was, and I’m so proud to announce that her coat is starting to soften up beautifully. Her eyes don’t seem quite as watery either, which I’m taking to be a good sign, although I still think she has worms. Unfortunately because I do not know her age, we can’t give her any worming medicine and I can’t get to the Vet before next Saturday. Kittens are not supposed to be wormed before they are six weeks old. Maybe by Saturday she will be six weeks, and we can start giving her the meds then, as well as her first round of shots - she gets three total. I think around the third lot of shots, she can be spayed and chipped but will need to make sure with the Vet when we see them on Saturday.

After lunch, we headed up to the Mall as I had sooo many things to buy for the cats, as well as a grocery shop for us.

I had searched the ‘net and found some really delicious (I would guess) raw meat meals for the kitties, which I think I’ve briefly mentioned I’d need chicken livers, hearts & fresh pilchards for, so I set about trying to find those particular items in addition to everything else. It seems chicken hearts are quite difficult to find, because even the chicken butchers don’t keep them and I have no idea why. Might need to spend some time with Google on that, and see if I can find out. I also don’t know anyone in the chicken slaughtering business either. And I didn’t get any pilchards. Also didn’t get the 2 food dishes and 1 water dish I wanted to pick up.

But, I did make up a quite delicious meal for them last night, which Desi just got stuck right into. Diesel was sick yesterday (I think he’d eaten something not so kosher) so he didn’t eat any of it last night, and so far hasn’t touched his breakfast. He’d best start eating soon or he’s going to be one hungry kitty! Can’t believe he turned his nose up at what I made last night though, it smelled really very good! And it has tuna in it, which he loves.

Tomorrow morning we are going back into town as there are two more butchers that I know of in the area, and I am hoping at least one of them will have chicken hearts, and hopefully even a chicken carcass that’s already been minced. I have chicken necks already, just now need the carcass to boil up and make my own chicken stock with, so I can set about making up their food for the coming week. The only problem I am now facing, is the lack of freezer space. There isn’t an inch that’s not taken up by other crap, so later on I have to go through it all and see if there’s anything old I can throw away. I think we have fish in there from last year that D caught and never bothered cooking, so that can go; and I think there is turkey in there too which can also be thrown.

I really need to find a freezer drawer from somewhere, maybe BigW sells them, for all the kitty food I’ll be making up and freezing. This is mostly going to be experimental because I don’t know if they’re going to like it, let alone eat it. I don’t see why they wouldn’t though, it’s loaded with lots of meats that I know they’ll both enjoy and what cat doesn’t like liver??

I do think Diesel is way more picky than Desi though; she loves cheese (and in small amounts, is very good for them) but he doesn’t. Grr.

Can’t wait ’til Wednesday and I get to weigh her again. I’m so positive she’s put on some weight and I hope in the next couple of days, she’ll be considerably heavier than she is now. Can definitely feel some fat on her bones now when you pet her which is AWESOME. Think Mum will spit when she next comes up and actually sees Desi… she has already grown a bit, not that you can tell from photos. She doesn’t seem nearly as wobbly on her feet now, and is more actively playing with items (including fingers and toes which I am in the process of discouraging) and chasing things around. I am so, so pleased with her progress.

Our Destiny

Well we put her in our room last night, litterbox in the ensuite and even though I made up a bed for her on the floor beside me, she put up quite a racket that seemed like it was going to last forever, so up onto the bed she came. She was asleep within minutes, curled up on D’s pillow next to his head.

Some interesting developments were found last night, however: she still wants to suckle. I’d let my hair down last night so Kira could brush it, and after she had gone to bed and we put Diesel in our room for a little while, we let Destiny out to roam around; I was on the floor with D and she came right over, started nuzzling her way through my hair to my neck and assumed the typical kneading/suckling action on my neck. After I made sure that was exactly what she was doing, I removed her from my neck and placed her next to D, whereupon she immediately started doing the same thing to his hand, his fingers, his wrist, and the inside of his knee.

Oh dear.

So, I jumped onto Google (I love you Google) and found an emergency kitten formula, of course none of which I had the ingredients for. D’s going to pick them up tonight for me so I can make it up for her and we can use it a supplement. As a side note, it’s really interesting that alot of sites say to use jarred baby meat puree in with the food you prepare, but it’s just so NOT good for them, particularly since so many of them have onion and/or garlic flavouring… or tomato flavouring, all of which can be toxic to cats.

Weighed her last night, she (surprisingly) weighs 1.4lbs (or 645g) which is almost where she should be for a 6wk old kitty. Apparently they should weigh 1lb for every month they are old (I haven’t weighed Diesel, but I should - it would be interesting to see how much he weighs now). I would still guestimate her to be around 5wks old rather than 6wks though, based on most of her behaviours.

I am starting to feel the teeniest bit of fat on her bones today, which I’m just so super pleased about. I can still feel all of our protruding bones of course, but now in addition there is just the tiniest layer of fat there as well; not bad for two days of real food versus that canned shit they feed them. (Seriously, Whiskas? Don’t do it people. Just don’t.)

I also have a couple of recipes that I want to make up this weekend for both her and Deez, as I know they are just going to ho right into it. It’s so diverse though, and some days I’ll be chopping up raw liver and hearts… and pilchards so I really truly hope the stench doesn’t overwhelm me and make me gag. :\

I hate leaving her locked away in the spare room for the majority of the day, it’s really upsetting. So far Diesel doesn’t have his nose out of joint, but after much deliberation we’ve come to the conclusion that because she is just so tiny and so light, he was treating her like a play toy rather than another actual cat so it’ll be interesting to see how he treats her once she gets some more meat on her bones, and starts to put on some really good weight. Going to make an appointment with the vet today to see if I can get her in for a check up tomorrow, and get her aged if possible. Both of them need to be defleaed again, and Desi needs all her shots. (Poor girl )

We did end up having a potty accident on the bed last night, since was trying desperately to wake D up but he pretty well ignored her. He woke up as soon as he felt her pee on him though! I would have LOL’d except she also pooped (if you can even call it that) and today I’m stuck washing all the bed covers and the doona! His fault though, and he owned up to it. I woke up once to take her to the litter box where she peed - quite a long pee really - and this morning as D and I were talking, he kept remarking that he was sure Diesel would meow when he had to go. I corrected him, reminding him that Deez didn’t use his litter for nearly three days after we got him, and I was so super paranoid that he was going to explode or something. LOL. He did remember that after I brought it up, but it’s not something I’d expect him to remember anyway.

I left the spare room opened up last night so that Diesel could go in and check it all out, smell that Desi was in there, and get more used to her scent. Oddly enough this morning when we put her back in the room, he glanced up with very curious eyes but really didn’t make any attempt to go get at her, which I’m taking as a great sign. Of course, he was probably too damned hungry to care about anything other than breakfast which is also fine because it will help take his mind off her anyway. I’m trying to limit his physical view of her as much as possible until tomorrow, when I can try and reintroduce them again and see how they go.

He has been smelling around her door though, but otherwise shows no interest that she’s even here.

He did want lots of love and pats this morning though, which is probably due to her scent being everywhere in the spare room and now his need for assurance is going to come through. He also did not pee on anything in the spare room either, for which I am eternally grateful, but I am so not taking that chance in our bedroom, which has already been Febreezed to death.

Much as I love little Desi, tonight she’s staying in the spare room and I’ll give her a small amount of food before we go to bed. Also need to pick her up some toys as she doesn’t have any, and is trying to eat my toes by way of playing with them.