Thursday 18 October 2012

Multi-Tasking!!

This week i have been mostly multi-tasking so it's been very busy. Sophie has been at work which has meant that i've had my gorgeous granddaughter to look after which has been fun and has felt very much like i've had twins to look after! Monday morning was fun because Max goes to nursery all day so it meant having to be organised and out of the door for 8.45 and with 5 children under 4 to get ready but we did it i had Daisy and Oscar in the double buggy and Max and Tillie walking then Casper was in his sling. Tillie did so well walking bless her and she's only 2 and a half she held onto the pram all the way there and back but it did take us quite a while to walk home then when we did get home Daisy woke up and wanted feeding so i just managed to get her fed before Casper woke up and wanted feeding. Max has been so funny because i'm feeding Casper myself he just can't get that Casper is getting milk from mummy he keeps saying no mummy thats boobies not milk it's so funny Oscar has been so good with him and will give him a cuddle but at the same time wants to poke him in his eyes so we have to be careful with him. yesterday the health visitor came out to do Caspers first visit and Oscars one year development assessment and i had Daisy crying to be fed then casper wanted feeding then Oscar wanted my attention and Max was being silly and showing off he was jumping off the sofa onto the bouncy chair and shouting  and Tillie bless her was just sat watching Peppa pig. The health visitor said to me if you want me to do anything then just tell me so i was sat feeding Daisy in her chair while i was feeding Casper and Oscar was sat on my knee multi tasking at it's very best, then hubby has had man flu so he's been ill for 3 days so i've literally been doing everything  and i really can't wait for the weekend to not have to be constantly running around but on the plus side at least Casper is sleeping well and only wakes up once during the night i really can't believe how good he is, he's settled in so well we're so very lucky i'm loving being a mummy to 16 gorgeous children how blessed are we.
Photo: Still fast asleep in mummy and daddy's bed pitty I've got to get up he looks so snuggly x
Casper chilling out in our bed x
Photo: Two happy full up babies with Tillie talking to them both lol x
Daisy Tillie and Casper x
Photo: Good morning world x
Daisy and Casper x

Saturday 13 October 2012

Our first week with 16 kids!

Well our first week with 16 kids has gone really well, Casper has settled in like a dream he's so good and such a placid baby he only cries when he's hungry or when he's been changed which he absolutely hates and screams the house down! He got weighed on Monday and had lost quite a bit of weight he went down to 8lb so i was told to keep waking him every few hours but in my experience i've found that if they're not hungry then trying to get them to feed is a challenge so it was hard work but he got weighed again on Friday and he is now back up to his birth weight so i'm feeling very chuffed that my milk is obviously filling him up.
The first night we brought him home we didn't get much sleep he just fed constantly but the last few days he has been doing really well and if i feed him at 10 then he will usually go till about 3 so i can cope with that but last night he actually slept all night so i'm feeling great though i doubt very much that he will do that again for us.
All of his brothers and sisters love him so much and are constantly asking to cuddle him so he's definitely not short of cuddles. I was a bit worried before I had him about how Oscar would cope with him but he's been really good which I think is partly because he's always getting cuddles and attention from everyone so he's adjusted really well  so that's been a big relief.  I can't believe Oscar is going to be 1 on the 22nd of this month! It  has gone so fast I can't wait to celebrate his birthday it's going to be such an amazing day for him and we now have 4 birthdays in October i definitely didn't plan that one very well lol.
Daisy is doing really well too, she's going to be 7 weeks on monday and now weighs 9lb 11oz she had a hip scan on tuesday because of our family history with hip problems and it found that she has to wear a hip harness and bless her she hasn't been bothered with wearing it at all we've found that if Daisy is awake then Casper will wake up and if Casper is awake then Daisy will wake up its as if they're in tune with each other its so sweet but the size difference between them is quite a lot. Daisy looks so big compared to Casper i'm sure that they're going to be so close when they're older.
Also this week we've been plagued with tummy bugs and that is definitely the downside of having a big family because once one gets it then they all get it so it's been constant backwards and forwards to school to pick up poorly children but touch wood we seem to be all clear for the time being so hopefully no more will come down with it.
This coming week we have a photo shoot planned at a big studio so that should be interesting, it's always quite a challenge to get them all to behave for long enough to have photo's taken last time we had a photoshoot done at home we had all finished and the photographer had put his camera away and there was a bang upstairs and sure enough it was Josh he had been up there the whole time so we had to start all over again!
So that's what's been going on this week in the Radford house.



Daisy chilling in her hip harness

Daisy and Casper he wasn't very impressed


And i love this photo of the 3 little ones in there cloth nappies xx


Big eyes this is the only time he has taken a dummy he now just spits it out in disgust.
.

Friday 5 October 2012

My birth story for #16 Casper Theo born 3rd October @ 14.05

So here goes... on Monday the 1st October we were woken up by the tv crew at 6.30 they had arrived early because i was due to go in for my induction of labour. I had to ring the unit at 7.30 to see if they were able to take me in or if they were too busy but we tried to get through for about an hour and a half but it was just constantly busy so we decided to just make our way in so we said goodbye to the children and left for the hospital. When we got to the labour ward she said to us to go up onto the ward which we thought a bit strange because i was just going to be having my waters broke. Anyway, we got up to the ward and the midwife told us that they were very busy on delivery so couldn't induce me that morning but if it got quieter then they would take me down so we waited all day and it just didn't get any quieter so thought we would be able to go home and come back in the morning but my consultant wasn't happy to let me go home because of my labours being very quick and she thought that it would be the case with this one so i stopped in over night and hated leaving the children at home and not being able to see them.
So tuesday morning came and i was feeling hopeful that i would have him that day but when it got to dinner time and the woman in the next room was labouring up on the ward we realised that it probably wasn't going to happen again. I got very emotional and just wanted to go home to see the children so the consultant came in to see me and explained that she was going to do her best to get me taken down during  the night or early in the morning so Noel went home and was told to take his mobile and house phone up to bed with him just in case i did go down but morning came and i was still waiting. The midwife came in to see me and said that they had got very busy again so hadn't been able to take me down but would get the consultant to come and see me which she did very soon after she told me that she would go and find out what was happening on labour ward so off she went and an hour passed and we still hadn't heard anything so thought oh no its going to be another day of waiting and being away from the children but shortly after the midwife came in and said to me "right im going down to find out what's happening" and within 10 minutes she popped her head round the door and said to me "right are you ready to go have a baby" well the relief was amazing i never thought i would be so relieved to be going to be in alot of pain so Noel came in to the hospital and we went down to the delivery room. It was about 10.30 i had to go on the monitor for about 45 minutes because he was being very lazy and they wanted to see some movement from him before they went ahead and broke the waters. Eventually i was taken off the monitor and the doctor came in to put my cannular in and i really hate those things going in, they're so painful and the first attempt didn't work and it really made my hand swell up so she went on to try it in my other hand and that didn't work either so she decided to put it in half way up my arm, by this point i was just praying it would work so when she said yep its all done what a relief that was so we were all ready to have my waters broke so the consultant came in to do it and said his head was still floating around so they would have to do a controlled breaking of the waters so i had one person pushing down on my bump while another held his head in place to try and stop the cord from coming out first it was so uncomfortable but they broke the waters and there was so much of it but he still kept pressing down on my bump to try and get his head to come down so when he was happy that everything was ok they put me back on the monitor for another 30 minutes just to monitor that he was nice and happy after they had broke the waters which he was, he wouldn't stop moving around! So after i got taken off the monitor i was allowed to get up and move around to try and get his head to come down and start the contractions off i did feel a bit crampy but nothing much happened for a good hour then i had a really big contraction and thought right if the next one is like that one i'm starting on the gas and air well the next one was far worse so i grabbed the gas and air and got on the bed.
Well that was it! they just started coming one after the other till i said to the midwife i can't cope i need something else i think she had realised that he was coming she said do you feel pushy and i thought no i don't think so well with the next contraction i could just feel this overwhelming urge to push i think he took us all by surprise and before the midwife had chance to call a second midwife in his head was out and just one more push and he was out it was that fast i think Noel was in shock just how fast he was born he said all he can remember was the midwife saying just pant and him thinking no way is he here already it was such a lovely birth experience he is just absolutely gorgeous. He weighed in at a very healthy 8lb 8oz which is pretty much what i thought he was going to weigh so all in all, my labour is recorded as 16 minutes but i was actually only really in alot of pain for about 5 minutes. We brought him home yesterday and introduced him to all of his brothers and sisters. What a special time that was they all love him so much we feel so incredibly lucky and blessed to have what we have and it really makes me feel very emotional when i see them all together and see what we have created over the years and who knows maybe we will be lucky enough to have more in the future!!!!