Our Children

Here you will meet our children. Anyone that has a child will know the intense feelings that arise from nowhere once the child is born. One's life changes completely, and one also realises (it's quite a shock) just how great a responsibility it is to raise a child. They bring you much joy even though at times they drive you up the wall. I can't even imagine what my life was like before I had children. What on earth did I do with all that time?

Mike and I got married in December 1985 and our first child was due at the beginning of June 1987. I went to antenatal classes, only to discover that this child was lying breech. As much as the doctor tried to turn her, he couldn't. So I was booked for a caesar, but I wanted to be awake through it all and opted for an epidural caesar. I didn't want to be the last to know what I had produced! On Wednesday morning, 20th May 1987 at 0752 Joanne gave her first cry!

Joanne weighed in at 3.1kg and had a mind of her own from the word go. I remember when Mike and I got home with her on the Saturday, we both stood in the house, looked at Joanne and said: Now what? The first three months of her life she slept in our room, and more often than not in our bed. Now Joanne is eleven years old and turning into a young lady. This picture was taken in January 1998.

When we were ready for a second child we had all kinds of problems. Things just didn't work the way they should have, and after lots of trauma we went onto the fertility program. After the third attempt I was pregnant - and we nervously sat and waited to "see" just how many little ones were growing in my tummy, as they had put six eggs back with this procedure. The first scan revealed two, the next only one, so we were disappointed but relieved at the same time. Then I had to have another scan and lo and behold - two heartbeats on the screen! So we had to re-adjust again! This pregnancy was troublesome, seeing me in hospital on a number of occasions. The last three weeks before their birth I was in hospital again, this time on a drip. The date was finally set for Tuesday March 5th 1991. Again I had an epidural caesar and at 0752 twin A was born, followed by twin B four minutes later. Two boys, and here I was convinced that I was going to have a boy and a girl. Twin A we named Allan George and twin B Gavin Paul.

Allan

Gavin

Allan weighed in at 2.8kg and Gavin at 2.44kg. What a difference those few grams made in size! Allan was quite fat whereas Gavin had a lot of loose skin on his arms and legs. We came home on the Saturday and the rush started - from feeding to bathing to changing. When Mike arrived home in the evenings he helped me with the boys and also at night time. This year the boys started school, hard to believe. They are still a handfull, and their personalities are very different. Here is Allan.

On the first day of school, in the class room.

Here is Gavin

On the first day of school, in the class room.

Allan in front of the aviary. If you look closely you can see one of the sun conures in the background.

Gavin in his room.

To my total surprise I found out in April 93 that I was pregnant! I couldn't believe it, after all that we had been through, where did this one come from? It was the easiest pregnancy of the lot and I was booked for a caesar for the 18th December. On the 11th December I felt a little odd and my doctor decided to check me out, so off to hospital I went. There I was promptly informed that he would perform the caesar within the hour! Panic stations - my bag wasn't packed and Mike dashed home to bring me the necessary items as well as fetch the video camera. He made it back in good time, and Amy made her appearance at 1608 on 11th December 1993.

Amy weighed in at 2.85kg and was the easiest baby of them all. Apparently when Mike returned home the other children looked in the video bag wanting to know where the baby was! We arrived home on the following Thursday and the excitement was great. When Amy woke up for a feed at 0100 in the morning, I had all the other kids watching! This carried on for a few nights, but eventually the others settled and didn't wake up in the middle of the night. Amy slept through from six weeks of age, and was an absolute dream - by far the easiest of them all.


This picture was taken in January 1998.	Amy has to stand up for herself, and has quite a temperament.Here you can see the "naughty" eyes.	Amy with her "Orphan Annie" look!

Now Amy is in pre-school already and will go to primary school in 2000. The children grow up so fast and yes time does fly and the older one gets the faster time seems to zoom by. There is quite a strong bond between the children, although they are like all children and have their fights and disagreements.


Allan at his graduation in December 97.	Gavin at his graduation in December 97.

Gavin brushing Amy's teeth. Our lives are kept busy, as you can imagine, and not a week goes by where there is not some excitement to give us a few more gray hair! Here is a picture of Plum (my almost sister) with "the sproggies", as she likes to refer to them.

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