Ketchup

Well I am really no good at this blogging thing am I? It’s been ages since my last post. I have just been so busy. But, being busy is nice so I am not complaining.

I went for my 30 week check up yesterday. Everything is going fine with our bubs. He weighs around 1.6 kilos now. I have just eight weeks until he arrives as my gynae is going to induce me on the 18th of December.

Time is just flying by. I can’t believe how fast it has gone. At the same time, it couldn’t have gone all that quickly because so much has happened since I found out I am pregnant. Strange how time can go so fast and so slowly at the same time. I can’t say it has been a terribly easy time either.
Michael’s dad’s condition has deteriorated so immensely since the start of the year and seems to have progressed at an alarmingly rapid rate since he was first hospitalised in July. Since then, he has been back in hospital twice. The last stint, he was in for three weeks. He is now wheelchair bound and so weak that he can hardly manoeuvre himself in and out of his wheelchair to get into bed or onto the toilet. His upper body is also losing strength and his hands shake.
The doctors are still unsure of what is causing his paralysis and other symptoms. He has been for countless tests. They are treating him for two different things at the moment. The first diagnosis of transverse myelitis (a disease of the spine) has been discarded because he didn’t respond to the treatment and the disease did not follow the typical disease progression. He is due to go for an angiogram tomorrow.
His mom is also not in the best shape. She has literally shrunk to half her size from the stress of it all and she has developed arthritis and chillblanes in her hands which have rendered her unable to do much with them.
It is hard to watch Michael worry so much about his dad, and because neither of his parents can drive, he has to do all their running around – from grocery shopping, to trips to the hospital and pharmacy, and then everything to do with the business. He is also trying to fix up their house to sell – it’s too big for them to cope with in the condition they are in. It is so bizarre how everything has spiralled like it has in such a short space of time. Michael has aptly termed it “a mess”. I wonder when it will start to get better.
One of the highlights of the past month has most certainly been the arrival of my new yorkie baby in my life, Duke. We brought him home on the 24th of September so he’s been with us for almost a month. He is so beautiful and so perky. My heart feels like it could burst when I look at him. Tyson surprised us by accepting him. Yes, there were a few hair-raising moments where Duke was irritating Tyson and he got snapped at, but now things have settled down and Tyson, in spite of himself, has warmed up to Duke and plays so gently with him. They race around the garden and Duke barks with glee.

It reminds me so much of when Gizzy and Tyson were puppies. I can still hear Gizzy’s bark in my mind. Losing him was so devastating for me – nothing like losing a human life I am quite sure. Still, it was very hard for me. Duke makes me feel happy all over again. And, to think that I have a husband who understands how much I loved Gizzy and the great sense of loss I felt when he died that he drove me to Cullinan to find this little guy – just to make me happy. I am truly blessed.


Since I last posted, two of my friends have given birth to their daughters. Congrats to Jana on the arrival of baby Elizabeth and Candice on the arrival of baby Alexis. It seemed like we fell pregnant quite quickly one after the other. Now that their babies are here, I realise I am next in line.

I am looking forward to our little boy arriving. Cameron can’t wait either. He’s always asking me when his baby brother is going to hatch. Still have so much to do before he comes though. I hope time continues to fly and go very slowly at the same time. That way, I will be meeting my baby really soon but I will still have time to get everything done that I need to get done before December.