Latest Update

So on Friday we had another KEMH appointment. The last two weeks flew by! This time our specialist was back from holidays so we were able to see her. However, not everything went according to plan. We were one of three couples waiting in the waiting room. Finally one of the couples asked if they were in next and we then found out we were the last of the 3 couples. Strangely, the couple who were second got called in. That opened up the door to talk with the other couple (a mum and daughter). We asked if they were seeing Prof Dickinson and they said yes. So we asked what was wrong with their baby (the Prof only sees high risk pregnancies) and found out their baby also has CDH!! It was an amazing coincidence. Now our appointment was for 1130 and at 1215 one of the midwives came out and said the specialist was in an emergency procedure and would be another hour. So us and the other couple headed to the cafe for a coffee and some lunch. We spent the next hour and a half talking and making friends. It was great to speak with someone in person, who is also going through the same experiences. They are further along in their pregnancy, so will have their baby before us. But we may still be in PMH at the same time, depending how their baby goes after birth.

Anyway, when we went in to see the specialist she announced that they had a new ultrasound machine and would we mind if she tried it out on us. Of course we said that was fine. So after the usual weigh in and blood pressure check, we headed into the rooms. There ended up being 5 people in the room - us 2, the specialist and 2 technicians who were instructing the Prof on how to use the machine. Then the most awesome thing happened - within seconds of getting the machine up and running in 4D, all 5 of us saw our baby SMILE :) It was very cute. Unfortunately, since the Prof was unfamiliar with the machine she was unable to take a photo and print it for us!! But it was still awesome nevertheless.

After having a good play around, the specialist took us into her waiting room and we had a good chat about everything. Once again there appears to be no more organs that have moved into the chest cavity. We also asked questions about the labour and delivery of the baby and other minor, health related things. It was a good day, but a very long day. We are very grateful to our babysitter who ended up looking after Lucas for 7 hours!! By the time we left KEMH we hit the traffic on the way home :(

So I am now 31 weeks pregnant and will have our next appointment in 2 weeks time. It definitely makes the time go faster when you have appointments that are closer together :)

Lucas 1 Mum 0

Last night Chris was out playing volleyball, so it was up to me to put Lucas to bed on my own. He was playing with his toys whenIi asked him to come to Mum so we could sing his prayers. He just smiled and shook his head. So I told him I would count to three and that he needed to come to Mum.

Well...lets just say that teaching him the actions to the song "Baa Baa Black Sheep" meant that when I said "1" he tried to hold up 1 finger and when I said "2" he tried to hold up  2 fingers :)

This morning I attempted to take photos of him doing these actions. My apologies for the poor qualty - Master Lucas is at an age where he doesnt sit still and doesnt like to pose for the camera!!


"One for the master"

"One for the dame"

more cheeky antics

Today i have 2 cheeky antics to share - one by Lucas and one by my niece Amelia who is almost 4.

LUCAS
I was visiting my sister in law who has 3 children, 5, 3 and 20months. The 20month old went somewhere he shouldn't and wouldn't come when he was called. So my SIL went to get him and Lucas walked after her. I could hear my SIL explaining to her son that he was being naughty, and I could see her leading him to the toy room by his ear...followed by my son who was laughing his head off that his cousin was being told off:)

AMELIA
Conversation with her dad during dinner, one night after our family weekend away:

A - "I am going to get a big tummy like Aunty Tamala"
Tim - "I don't think so, Aunty Tamala is pregnant"
A - "Yep, She ate too much food"
Tim - "Oh, so that's how it happened hey?"
A - "Yep".

Busselton Weekend

Wow what a weekend :) All 16 (9 adults, 7 kids) in the Vander Linden family headed down to Busselton for the weekend to celebrate Dad and Mum's 30th wedding anniversary. We all stayed in the Guest House in Busselton Village Caravan Park. This guest house has 8 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms, plus a huge kitchen and dining area and three other living areas!! The outside area was all fenced off, had a barbecue and outdoor sitting area, plus our own designated parking areas. Perfect to accommodate all of us :)

FRIDAY
We all travelled down at various times on the Friday. Dad and Mum took Lucas in the car with them so we could go to our KEMH appt and travelled down in the morning with Frank and Rachel and kiddies. Katie took her girls down and drove down from Bunbury with them, while Tim travelled after school with Bryce. We left straight after our appointment at King Edward and got there in time for dinner. Kyle left after work and arrived after we had all eaten.

For us, it was certainly strange travelling a long distance without Lucas in the car. But the drive was nice and quiet :) And we were told he was good in Opa and Oma's car and even slept part of the way.

As each family arrived, they unpacked their cars and got settled in. For those who arrived earlier in the day, they all went outside to explore and play games.

Rachel, Amelia, Katie, Sierra, Bryce, Lucas, Maddi (half hidden), Casey & Oma

Not sure how Lucas ended up wearing a pink jumper :P

For dinner we had fajitas. Starting and finishing each meal definitely took a lot longer than normal, especially with 7 kids to say "lord bless/thank you" prayers!! Poor Lucas was the last to say it usually, as it went in age order. But w all survived. After dinner the adults did the clean up and put the kids to bed. Then the boys headed into the lounge to watch a movie, my FIL and Tim went to take photos of the jetty and the girls played a game. It was a nice and relaxing evening after a very busy day.

Photo credit goes to Jake Vander Linden


SATURDAY
We started the day off with a BIG BREAKFAST of toast, cereal, eggs, bacon, sausages, mushrooms, tomatoes, pancakes and hash browns. It took a little while to prepare everything but was well worth it. Everyone ate too much, and we still had left overs!! These left overs went into other meals over the weekend.

Next we piled into the car and travelled down to Dunsborough to visit the Country Life Farm. Here the kids were all given a bucket of carrots and allowed to feed the animals. These animals included guinea pigs, rabbits, chooks, kangaroos, sheep, horses, donkeys and more. All the kids had so much fun :) Lucas especially loved feeding the horses through the fence.

The kids were also allowed to ride on a merry-go-round. After a few false starts and the manager realising they needed more fuel, the kids (and big kids) had a blast riding around. Meanwhile, Tim and myself stood on the outside taking photos.

Next we went to the outside playground where there were play gyms and ride on toys. Naturally this meant more photo opportunities for Opa and Tim :)

Our last stop at the Country Life Farm was  the indoor playground with slides, ball pits and toys. Again, small kids and big kids alike had fun. And it was fun just sitting back, watching and listening to them.

After the Country Life Farm, we drove the short distance to Simmo's ice creamery and were treated to whatever we wanted to eat. Lucas tried a mandarin sorbet (dairy free) and absolutely loved it. He also loved walking around after the other kids :)

The afternoon was spent relaxing, either by sleeping or by watching the football game on TV or by playing games. We elected to have an early dinner, as the men and older kids planned to go to the Jetty and do some fishing. Our dinner that night consisted of jacket potatoes, a bacon and tomato topping, cauliflower, corn on the cob, chicken and porterhouse steak with garlic sauce. And to top it off we had garlic bread too! It was a juggle trying to make that much hot food, with limited utensils and crockery, but we managed!! The meal went down a treat and was enjoyed by all (i think).

While the men and older kids went fishing, the ladies bathed the three younger children, got them ready for bed and then prepared an apple crumble for dessert. We figured the men would be cold after fishing and would enjoy this warm dessert. Surprisingly, they were all back after about an hour, as there were no fish biting and the kids were getting cold. So after putting all the kids down for the night, we adults enjoyed the apple crumble and then sat around the dinner table and played games for the evening.

SUNDAY
I was a little apprehensive about how Sunday morning would go. Getting 16 people up, dressed, eat breakfast and ready for church at 930 would be a big effort. Yet it went surprisingly smoothly. There were no arguments about bathrooms etc and we were all ready to go by 9am.

Before breakfast i went to have a shower. Finding the bathroom occupied and knowing that Chris and Lucas were still sleeping, i thought I would head into the girls bedroom and spend some time with Amelia and Maddie. I crawled into one of their beds and had one girl on either side of me. Then i had this funny conversation with Amelia:

A: i cant see your eyes
Me: oh no (opened my eyes up wide and put my face close to hers)
A: i still cant see them!! go put your glasses on!

Breakfast was a help yourself to toast, cereal and home-made raisin bread. Lucas decided that he wanted to have fruit loops for breakfast instead of his usual weetbix, and he decided that it would be better if he fed himself...so our poor child ended up very sticky!! Luckily he was still in his pj's so it didn't matter too much :)

After church we headed back to the guest house for morning coffee of lemon tart and caramel slice, courtesy of Chris who had made them at home before the weekend. While we ate our cakes, the younger kids had their lunch and then it was off to bed. The adults and older kids then prepared for a yummy hot lunch of soup (tomato veggie/meatball or pumpkin) and rolls. Then the usual afternoon pursuits of games, TV, sleeps before most of the adults and the older kids went to afternoon church.

During this time, Frank prepared the wood fired pizza oven while Katie and I made the dough and prepared each pizza base. We had a variety of toppings including bacon, chicken, steak, sausage, pineapple, pepperoni, tomato, capsicum etc. We made a mixture of pizzas, so that everyone would have something they liked. And they went down a treat!! The only negative was that we could only cook 4 pizzas at once, and they took 20mins to cook, so it took a while...it was a bit like a progressive dinner :)

Then after dinner, we packed the car and prepared to head back home again. Only Chris, Lucas and I were leaving that night, as the others all had days off for the Monday. However, we needed those days off for when the baby arrives, and therefore elected to come back early. Thankfully Lucas slept pretty much the whole way back and we made it home in just over 2 hours!

Overall we had a FANTASTIC weekend with the whole family. The house was the perfect size and layout. The kids were generally well behaved and we all got along well. And its definitely a place we would consider in the future. And especially for us, it was nice to get away one more time before this baby is due to be born.

29th Week

Time for an update on the progress of our baby :)

A few weeks ago i was sent to do the glucose blood test that tests mainly for gestational diabetes. I was sent to do the 2 hour test which involves a blood test on arrival, drink the glucose drink, sit for an hour, another blood test, sit for another hour and a third and final test. I was doing some reading and found out that women are often sent for the bigger 2 hour test (as opposed to the 1hr and one needle test) when doctors are concerned that the baby is bigger than average. And since we already know that ours is, I had to do the longer test. Regardless of the fact that Lucas was a big baby and I never had GD.

Since there are 3 actual blood tests, it meant that one arm would be pricked twice. I was quite nervous about this. At a previous blood test i came away with a bruise and that was just one needle!! Anyway, the lady that did my tests was fantastic and i ended up with no bruising and no pain :) I was also distracted in the waiting room by Chris and Lucas for half an hour, and then my sister for the rest of the time. She also kindly drove me home, as I was without a car.

Since it would be a few weeks before seeing our specialist, i rang the hospital to get the results over the phone...and found out that i did not have GD which I am very thankful for :)

Last Friday (June 10th) we had another specialist visit. Again, not much new to report, except that baby is growing well and tracking on the same percentile line :) No more organs have moved...YAY :) The baby is also VERY active and the sonographer had a difficult time getting decent photos.

Profile image and 3D image

We also got a chance to speak with a paediatrician who told us more details about what will happen to the baby post birth, in the delivery room, in the NICU at KEMH, the ambulance transfer to PMH and a bit about the NICU in PMH. It was good to talk with her and get some questions answered. So much about this baby is unknown until they are born...so to have some details is reassuring. Again we continue to realise that we are under the best medical care in the state!

So with just under 11 weeks until the baby's due date we have a busy few weeks ahead...finish shopping for the baby, a labour ward/delivery room tour of KEMH, a tour of PMH NICU etc. The time should go fast and before we know it, he/she will be born and the real work will begin :) We are both getting excited about the baby, even though we know it will be very difficult and very different from when we had Lucas.

Productive weekend

Seeing as the last weekend was a public holiday here in WA, Chris and I decided to get Lucas's new room partially ready. We had made plans to do this a while back, but ended up only being able to spend an afternoon doing just this. The Saturday we had a wedding to attend and Chris had to line for soccer. And Monday we had a birthday party to go to in the morning. But we are pretty pleased with what we accomplished on Monday afternoon :)

Lucas's "new" bedroom is our current junk room/study/guest room, and is quite full of furniture and "stuff" such as bookshelves, books, university files and books, bunk beds, desks, chairs, vacuum cleaner, spare highchair etc. In order to get the room conversion going, we needed to involve 2 additional rooms, the lounge and our room.

Firstly, we packed away 4 years of university "stuff" into storage boxes to be put into the shed. If I'm really honest with myself, I have never gone through them since finishing my degree in September 2009...but the plan is to one day sort out everything i collected over 4 years of studying and organise it all...a daunting job!! which is why it hasn't been done yet :P

Next, we shifted 2 bookshelves, one from the living room and one from the study into our room. Then began the big job of sorting ALL of my reading books, our commentaries etc and other stuff that goes on the bookshelves. Naturally, I took care of organising my novels, as i like them to be arranged in alphabetical order by author's surname (what can i say other than the fact that I'm a firstborn and like order?). I didn't realise i had quite so many books!! But somehow they all fit, with even a bit of room for future novel purchases :)

We also changed our lounge room around a little, moving toys in the corner where the bookshelf used to be and adding in a small, white laminate bookshelf to house Lucas's books. His collection is getting quite big too!!

Our study now looks a lot neater and a lot more organised. Our next jobs include buying Lucas a new wardrobe and moving that into the room, as well as decide (aka: argue) on paint colors, do the painting and pick up the new cot. We decided to keep Lucas in a cot, convertible toddler bed, until we are more settled in with the new baby. The next 6 months will be unsettled already and we don't want to make it worse for Lucas by introducing too many new changes!

There are no photos of the new rooms as I am too house proud to "show off" my before and after study! But i have included photos of Chris getting Lucas ready for the wedding.

One hair style

"What is that stuff dad?"

Trying to help



love the cheeky grin



Stay tuned for the next blog post(s), which could include a baby update and our upcoming weekend holiday to Busselton with the whole Vdl clan :)