And Then There Were Three!

Posted by matt on February 20, 2011 3 comments

Things moved very fast today to bring Micah George Brown into the world at 3:28pm Sat 19 Feb 2011, weighing 1.5kg.

Kat started having some minor contractions overnight, which progressively got stronger and stronger. By the time I got to the hospital about 11am they were coming every 10 minutes and were clearly not at all pleasant. Just after 2pm we were down to every 5 minutes and the midwife decided to declare Kat “in labour” after a quick examination and they bundled us down the hall to the delivery suite.

The examination seemed to trigger things to move even faster, and about 20 minutes after we’d been in the delivery room, just after Kat had asked for an epidural, they decided that there was no time for that and it was time to just start pushing. So push she did, very nicely, even though we never had a chance for antenatal classes or training and within about another 20 minutes Micah was out. The whole thing seems like a bit of a blur to me now, and of course I was very emotional and tearful all the way through while trying my best to be a good supportive husband…

We have no idea what a normal birth is like, but we had lots of attention – at least 4 doctors, 3 midwives and a couple of other nurses and support people in the room all focussed on Kat and Micah. They cut the cord immediately and whisked him across to a heated table for an initial assessment and then we managed a quick hug with mum and a family photo before he was straight into the incubator and up to the Neonatal ICU.

For nearly 30 weeks he’s doing very well, he’s breathing on his own with just a bit of support from the CPAP machine to help his lungs take it easy. I sat with him for a couple of hours tonight in the ICU while Kat slept and had a great time watching him blow bubbles at me and stretch his tiny little arms and legs.

So, a day of excitement and emotion! We’re very happy and confident that our little boy is going to do great over the next few months as he fights and grows up to his “normal” size so we can bring him home!

We got plenty of photos, which you can see in Micah’s First Hours in Picasa, or use the small slideshow below.

Home again

Posted by kat on February 8, 2011 1 comment

There is nothing like coming home when you’ve been away for ages.
I’m now 28 weeks pregnant, two weeks since pPROM and I was released from the hospital yesterday woop! I’m still taking things very easy, monitoring for any changes and visiting the day clinic twice a week so they can keep track of things… But I’m home which is fantastic!!!

Our scan yesterday showed Baby Brown is currently 2.5 pounds which is the expected amount of growth since the last scan and within the normal ranges for 28 weeks. Although there’s much less fluid around him this is obviously to be expected since the waters have broken. Baby still has some little pockets of fluid and although it continues to leak out the placenta makes more of it each day.

Aiming now to reach the ’30 week’ mark. Every week longer means baby will be better prepared for birth and potentially need less time in the NICU.

pPROM update

Posted by kat on February 3, 2011 Comments Off

This is just a short update to say that there is nothing new to say! This in itself is excellent news :)

I’m still on hospital bed rest at Holles St National Maternity Hospital where I have very little to complain about. I’m in a 4 bed room here which is good and I’m all set up with my laptop, phone, dvds and snacks. There’s a lot of time to fill but I’m incredibly thankful for every uneventful day that passes.

I’m now at 27 weeks + 3 days with no signs of infection or imminent labour. We’re working towards the 28 week mark which is a significant one in terms of development and decreasing risk for bubs. At that point if there’s been no change and baby continues to show healthy movement and weight they will consider sending me home to rest from there.

I’d like to say a huge thanks to all the friends and family who’ve been praying with us for this little baby. It is such an encouragement to us knowing we have your love and support. There are so many things that we could be worried and upset by at this point, risks and potential problems… but I’m not dwelling on these things and instead am just trusting that God is faithful, He is in control, and He will give us everything we need for whatever lies ahead.

We’ll update again if there are any changes but until then if there is no news here you can take it as a good sign!

Pregnancy Ups and Downs

Posted by matt on January 25, 2011 4 comments

It’s been said that pregnancy can be a rollercoaster, and we’ve well and truly experienced that over the past few days. It started with a great weekend – our friends Graeme and Ruth from London were visiting and we had a wonderful time showing them around Dublin and chatting about life, vegan food and babies. After dropping them off at the airport, we made a quick trip past Ikea and spent the evening assembling the cot and changing table, full of excitement to see our baby’s room starting to take shape! The weekend was a high point.

Monday morning also started well, I headed off to the first day of work in the fancy new Google engineering building in Dublin. Around 11am Kat started noticing things weren’t right, and by 2pm it was clear it wasn’t just the baby bouncing around on her bladder, so she came into the Hospital (conveniently located 10 mins down the road from my office). By 4pm she was admitted, diagnosed with Premature Pre-term Rupture of Membrane (PPROM) and we were told that they had notified the newborn ICU and labour could begin at any point in time! Obviously a huge shock to us at 26 weeks and 1 day, we hadn’t even started to read the third-trimester/delivery/labour sections of the books, and our antenatal classes aren’t scheduled until March… Monday evening was a definite low point.

Today (Tue 25th in Dublin) has been a much better day, we received a series of good news:

  • The antibiotics Kat is on are doing their job and warding off infection so far, they also managed to administer two steroid injections over the last 24 hours to help speed up the development of the baby (particularly the lungs) in case there is an early delivery.
  • The baby is positioned perfectly, head down, and remains healthy, active and just the right size and weight for 26 weeks.
  • There are still no actual signs of labour beginning (pain, dilation, etc).

We also met with a wonderful pediatrician to talk through what to expect if we do end up in labour in the next week, slightly intimidating, but still good information to have.

After having some time today to reflect, pray, talk and come to terms with the abrupt change in circumstances, we’re feeling roughly at a mid-point now. There is still a (small) chance that the baby will carry to term, or at least for another couple of weeks but we really just have to take each day at a time and be thankful for every day that passes uneventfully!

We’re also very thankful for our wonderful “family” of friends here in Dublin that have made sure we have all the support we need, our family and friends around the world who we know are praying for us too and the fact that we live in a part of the world where we have excellent health insurance and expert medical care literally just up the road. You can certainly imagine worse scenarios to be in!

We’d appreciate your prayers over the next days/weeks, particularly that Kat and the baby will both remain healthy (e.g. no infection and lots of growth respectively).

We will of course let you know when the next major developments occur… :)

New Arrival

Posted by kat on November 2, 2010 Comments Off

Pregnant!

The last 3 months have been an exciting time for us… On August 27th we learned that I’m pregnant! We were both delighted and a little dazed and overwhelmed (even though it was planned) about the new adventure we had stepped in to. Now, at the end of the first trimester we’re still delighted of course, a little less dazed and very pleased now to be able to share our news with everyone else.

Our new arrival is expected sometime around May 2nd next year and we’re planning to have the baby here in Dublin. Apart from continual exhaustion and occasional morning sickness (bleh!!!) pregnancy has so far been fairly uneventful. These first months have been a time of waiting more that anything else while our happy news was still a secret shared just between us. The next month should be more fun and eventful – we’ll go for our first antenatal appointment, watch my little baby bump start to grow and have our first ultrasound scan so we can see how things are cooking. Watch this space for more baby news over the coming months :)

Traveling in Turkey

Posted by kat on October 14, 2010 Comments Off

Since well before we arrived in Europe, Turkey has been near the top of our “must visit” list. It’s a very interesting country in terms of landscapes, history, food and culture – oh and history, did I mention history? There’s a lot of it there! Turkey is also a huge place and we were faced with difficult decisions choosing which parts of the country to see! In the end we opted for quite a well worn tourist track from Istanbul down the western coast via Gallipoli, Ephesus and Pamukkale before finishing with a relaxing week in a small resort town called Kalkan.

In Istanbul we started our trip with a guided tour of the city. We had a local guide all to ourselves which was great especially in comparison to the dozens of giant cruise ship tour groups we passed by that day! We learned about the history of the city, saw the Blue Mosque, Topkapi Palace, the Hagia Sophia… it was a long day but a good intro to Istanbul and all its history. It was cool to look across the Bosphorus sea from Europe and see Asia right there. I have heard Istanbul described as the city where East meets West but didn’t actually realise that the city literally straddles both continents!
We spent our second day in Istanbul in some self-directed wanderings. We explored the Grand Bazaar (very pushy and unpleasant), the spice market (yum), and the more modern Istanbul around Taksim Square (a nice contrast to the historic parts).

From here we spent a day traveling to Gallipoli and seeing the memorials to both the Anzacs and the Turkish soldiers who bravely fought there in the war. It was interesting to see a piece of NZ history there in Turkey and we were both struck by the graciousness of the Turkish in welcoming the Anzac soldiers as sons and heroes after the war and allowing all the grave sites and memorials there.

Going much further back in history our next visit was to Ephesus. It was amazing to see such old ruins and imagine what the place used to be like. This is the same city that Paul visited and wrote to in the epistle of ‘Ephesians’. That’s really old!

We had a free day in Kusadasi then which was an overwhelmingly touristy coastal town. Unfortunately Matt ate a dodgy cheeseburger here which led to a very unpleasant night and a morning bus journey the next day which we will not speak of. By the time we arrived in Pamukkale we ended up spending our afternoon catching up on sleep and strength rather than touring the ‘Cotton Castle’ – natural white terraces formed by the flowing mineral waters. We still managed to get in a short evening visit to the terraces and it was worth it to see such unusual and pretty formations. Would’ve been quite romantic if we’d both been feeling a bit better! Pamukkale was the end of our touring and from here we headed to our week in Kalkan.

We enjoyed the first week traveling from Istanbul down the coast. We saw much, ate lots of rice and grilled meat, took loads of photos and traveled on a whole lot of buses. By the end of the week though we were both glad for a chance to relax in one place for a while and chill.

Kalkan is a comparatively ‘expensive’ resort town in Turkey, although its still a lot cheaper than dining out here in Dublin. We stayed at the Patara Prince which had an awesome view and beautiful grounds. Unfortunately the staff and services were pretty slack. I’m not sure if they were incapable or just didn’t care?… Not to worry though, we still had a great week. We took a boat cruise round the bay one day but mostly we spent our time in Kalkan sleeping in, reading, swimming in the pool and eating many delicious dinners. Pure, indulgent relaxation :) Perfect end to a holiday!

You can flip through some of our photos from the trip – http://picasaweb.google.com/mattb.net.nz/Turkey or use the slideshow below if you’re in a hurry.

Oslo, Norway

Posted by matt on August 10, 2010 1 comment

Last weekend was a bank holiday here in Dublin, so we took an extra day off and had a 4 day weekend in Norway. Scandinavia has been on our todo list for a while and given that we haven’t managed to visit any new countries yet this year it seemed like a good time to see a new place.

We had an enjoyable weekend in Oslo, although when they say that Norway is one of the more expensive euro countries to travel to they’re not joking! The city was a bit smaller and quieter than I was expecting for a national capital but very tidy and it seems very well equipped with public transport and all the other amenities that make life as a tourist pleasant. One quirk was an over abundance of street mimes, you couldn’t walk 100m in the central city without one of them standing there… weird.

We went to the art gallery and saw some Munch paintings, walked right past The Scream the first time and had to go back and find it just before leaving. Lots of other interesting paintings though. The highlight of the city for both of us however was Vigeland Sculpture Park, a public park – including a public swimming pool – off to one side of the city that is full of hundreds of statues and sculptures all by one Gustav Vigeland who donated the park to the city. Most of the statues are of human figures and are absolutely fantastic in their realism and the sense of animation and life that they portray. Definitely well worth a visit.

Monday dawned bright and clear so we hopped on the ferry for the day and spent some time exploring the islands just out from the Oslo waterfront. The first island we visited seemed to be mostly holiday homes and maybe a few permanent dwellings, very very small houses but very quiet and relaxed only 15mins from the city center by ferry. The second island was pretty much unpopulated, but had the ruins of an old monastery and a fairly popular beach with lots of mothers and families enjoying the sun and the water. We finished off the day with a trip up the hill to see the city from above at the site of a big ski jump they’re rebuilding for the Nordic Ski Championships. The jump is mammoth in size and close to vertical. You would have to be mad to launch yourself off that thing. Definitely an awesome view over Oslo just before you die however.

We took Tuesday pretty slowly, strolling round the city center while Kat did a bit of shopping before heading back to Dublin where we’re continuing to have a surprisingly good summer by Dublin standards!

We’ve got a friends wedding to attend on Wednesday this week and then we’re looking forward to having the Mackenzie’s drop in for a quick visit next week in between the phases of their epic European jaunt, so we’re keeping busy!

PS. We’ve booked flights home to NZ (via Singapore/Malaysia) for the end of the year, so we’re looking forward to seeing everyone again before too long.

Om nom nom

Posted by kat on July 14, 2010 1 comment

For a while now I’ve been playing with the idea of storing my recipes online. I like the idea of having all my recipes at my fingertips wherever I am, easy to search through and safely recorded. Of course for me, living away from NZ, it’s also a handy way to have my favourite recipes here without needing to lug the cookbooks across the globe.
On the big wide web there are of course plenty of sites that already allow you to add recipes but nothing was exactly what I wanted. So, being a web designer I decided it would be a fun project to create my own recipe application! www.omnomrecipes.com is the result of many hours umming and ahhhing and many more hours of hair pulling and stomping. I think in the end it’s quite nice.

Screenshot - Omnom Recipes

How it works:

  • Start a recipe collection simply by logging in and adding your first recipe.
  • Add lots of recipes, all your favourites. And add photos for each recipe to remind yourself how delicious it was and how fabulous you were to make it!
  • Choose to share the recipes with others by making them public, or keep them private for just your own record.
  • Generate a PDF of any recipe so you can print it out nicely.
  • Search for recipes. You can search through your own recipes and also the public recipes of anyone else with an Omnom recipe collection. Search by category, with keywords, or using tags.
  • Plus lots more soon… There are lots of ideas and possibilities kicking around in my head so expect to see added functionality over time.

If you have a foodie inclination like myself, please feel free to check out omnomrecipes.com and even add some recipes of your own.
The application grew purely out of my own need for an online recipe collection but if it can be useful to others that would make it even better!

Omnom is still taking baby steps so if you find anything that doesn’t work as you expected or you think there’s an awesome feature I should add please please please send me a message and let me know. I appreciate the feedback :)

Casa Brown

Posted by kat on June 24, 2010 5 comments

We’ve found a new apartment and we’re loving it. Before we went to Mountain View in April we moved out of our apartment in the city where we’ve been for the last 2 years. The city had been feeling very busy, bleak and unappealing to us so we decided it was time for a move.

Our new place is in Dalkey, a small village / suburb beside the sea south of Dublin. Dalkey is home to some lovely cafes and restaurants, 2 little fishing harbours and a handful of famous names like author Maeve Binchy and “The Edge” from U2.

I feel like we’ve been incredibly blessed to find such a peaceful spot. Our apartment complex is right beside the sea with an uninterrupted view of nothing but grass and sea and sky. We can see yachts, ferries and kayaks going by and a couple of light houses blinking in the distance. BLISS.

The apartment is 2 bedrooms and quite spacious and light. As always, we have a spare room and an open invite to our friends and family to come visit on this side of the globe – we’re looking forward to having the Macs visit August :)

For those who can’t make it quite so far to say hello, here is a brief virtual tour of Casa Brown:

Photos on picasa:
http://picasaweb.google.com/mattb.net.nz/OurApartmentInDalkey

California Sunshine

Posted by kat on May 2, 2010 2 comments

We’ve been in Mountain View for 2 weeks now and I’m enjoying many things about life here, especially the warm sunny days and the wealth of fresh food available at the weekend market and the local Whole Foods store. I’d forgotten what fresh veges should be like after so long shopping from Dublin supermarkets. Everything seems to grow bigger and brighter and tastier here as well as lasting much longer (coz its local and fresh!).

Over the 3 weekends we’ve had here so far we’ve done quite a bit of sightseeing:

1) Our first weekend we took a drive along part of the Pacific Highway. I enjoyed walking through the amusement park on the boardwalk at Santa Cruz, it was bright and noisy like a flashback from the 80′s – haha. Of particular note, one of the rides is a wooden roller coaster built in 1924!!! In contrast, Carmel-by-the-sea was a quiet little town with some nice art galleries and lots of refined, old-style buildings. We stayed awhile there enjoying the sun and white sand and watching the many people out walking their dogs on the beach. Our nice day exploring the coast was only marred by some bad traffic getting back to Mountain View in the evening.

2) Our second weekend we spent a day in San Francisco. This was my favourite trip so far!
We started our day in Chinatown, sampling some dim sum and buying some fortune cookies (these snacks were invented in San Francisco). Chinatown here was bigger than I’d been expecting and quite fun to explore.
Next we went on the cable cars. The old cable cars that run up and down the steep streets of the city are a very popular tourist attraction but I think the experience was only improved by having to squish onto the standing platforms and hang off the side for the ride. Good fun and some great views of the sea and Alcatraz as we zoomed down the hill towards Fisherman’s Wharf.
We strolled Fisherman’s Wharf and watched the dozens and dozens of sealions sunbathing on the pontoons at pier 39 – they looked so lazy and relaxed! Using our day pass we took a bus out to the edge of Golden Gate park next. Unfortunately the beautiful beach was very blustery and a bit cold so we walked in the park a bit and then headed over and up to see the ‘painted ladies’, a row of beautiful old wooden villas lined up gracefully with the city skyline behind them. San Francisco seems to be full of steep streets and charming painted wooden villas. I really loved the styles of architecture. After a quick coffee in Duboce we went back into the city center for another round on the cable cars and then dinner at a great place just under the Bay Bridge called Gordon Biersch.

3) This weekend we took another drive out of Mountain View to see Big Basin which is a State Park containing lots of Redwood trees. It was great to walk along the trails and marvel at the big old Redwood trees. We drove home via the Pacific Highway again this time driving up towards Half Moon Bay. Some nice views along the coast there and pit stops for fresh cherries then cookies and donuts along the way! Tomorrow I think we’ll be taking it easy, visiting the farmers market again in the morning and then relaxing poolside for the afternoon. Ahhh such a tough life huh! ;P

Some photos of our weekend adventures: