cathy @ Mon, 2006-11-13 18:44
Yes it's true. Kev has been fantastic this last year. We came out here to have an adventure but didn't expect the one that we got. In the beginning it was all new and exciting and we got caught up in everything then I got two pink lines! For the first few months everything was great, we were really excited but nervous and I couldn't wait to tell my Mam and Dad the news. About 4 months into the pregnancy I started to feel unwell and put it down to being pregnant. Kev was great.
Early on when I had morning sickness and the smell of the fridge would send me running Kev would cook me 3 square meals a day. While I was in the shower he was making my breakfast, while I ate my breakfast he was making my packed lunch for work and I was to tell him when I left work as it gave him an hour to cook my dinner before I had walked home. I was craving roast dinners so he learnt how to cook one and wow, his roast potatos are great!
As time went on I got progressively more ill and Kev took me to ER twice for what they determined was indigestion. Still he didn't complain. A lot of ppl would probably think I was being a wimp and an inconvenience, well if Kev thought that he nover said it. The third time was serious and Kev called an ambulance. We then found out that I had gall stones and couldn't eat fat. What a nightmare. So Kev once again comes to my rescue and trails around the aisles of the supermarket reading all the labels on the food to help me to learn how to stick to a low (under 5g) fat diet. Believe me it was a steep learning curve. Kev even ate some of the stuff with me!
Of course over the last few months I got much worse as the pressure of an increasingly large Meggie on my stomach and gall bladder prevented me from eating and in the end even drinking water. Kev came to the hospital with me everytime and stayed whenever he could. I was being rehydrated at the hospital and eventually Kev (not me, as I was running to the bathroom) convinced the doctor that I needed to be induced. When I got back the decision was pretty much made.
When it came to the birth I turned into another person and had to appologise to the nurse later. Kev was by my side the entire time. I don't think he even went to the bathroom! What amazed me was that Kev helped during the birth by holding my leg still for me to push back against. I couldn't stop my legs from jumping around and they needed an extra pair of hands. This of course meant that Kev (who is squeemish) saw everything and he tells me literally everything! He saw Meg being born and followed by, as he descibes it, a waterfall of birth, yet he stayed strong and refused to faint! He even held Meg after the doctor had checked her over. After his ordeal he very slowly walked backwards and fell into the chair in the corner. I don't think I had ever loved him as much as at that point in time. He was amazingly strong and did it all for me.
Of course things didn't just stop there as I was very ill when Meg was born after not eating for nearly 2 weeks and I still needed to have my gall bladder removed. The first 4 weeks of Meg's life where really hard for all of us. Meg was ill, I was ill and Kev was exhausted. I'm grateful that Kev wasn't too proud to ask for help from his parents and I'm grateful that they flew over at such short notice to help us. Kev even took more unpaid leave from work after my op.
Today is his first day back to work and so far it seems to be going well. I'm in the living room with Meg (who is having a colicky episode) and we're leaving Kev to get on with his job. I'm now able to cope with Meg (including picking her up again) and I can get through most if not all the night time feeds without Kev so he can sleep.
After all that has happened and the number of times that I have told Kev how wonderful he has been, I still don't think he gets it. I could not have done this without him. He held everything together when I fell apart. So many men would have just not bothered thinking of this as women's work. I'm sure he got annoyed by the situation nearly as much as I did but he never took it out on me and that takes a strong person. I'm sure that we both feel the same though when I say it was all worth it. We now have the lovely Megan who is actually a very good baby who just has a little problem with gas, but then again she is a cross between the Powells and the Glass!