Goodbye little one

When I got pregnant with Fiona, it was such an amazing surprise.  After going through extensive fertility treatments, I felt so thankful to have gotten pregnant, and stayed pregnant, and have a healthy little girl.  I am still so thankful for her!

We knew after we had her, that we would not be going through any more cycles of IVF.  We were spent, both physically and emotionally from the ups and downs of what it entails.  We did however, have one little frozen embryo left.  We knew that we wouldn't wait too long to transfer it, as we were longing to either have another baby fairly close in age with Fiona, or just move on from this chapter of our lives.

Earlier this month we transferred our beautiful little embryo.  I was a lot more calm this time around after having Fiona.  I knew not to read too much into the 'symptoms' I was feeling because most of them could be explained away by the progesterone supplementation the doctor uses for these types of procedures.  However, about 2 days before my blood test, I was hit with the same crazy fatigue that I was hit with when I got pregnant with Fiona.  I was pretty sure our little embryo had stuck!  Sure enough, two days later my blood test came back positive, and 3 days after that the 2nd blood test indicated that the hormone levels were rising appropriately.

Since then I have felt pretty good.  I have been really tired and occasionally nauseous, but that was pretty average for being 5 or 6 weeks pregnant.  Yesterday I had a bit of spotting.  I was not too concerned, as it was pretty light, and I had had a couple of bouts of spotting when I was pregnant with Fiona.  Then this morning when we were out grocery shopping, I started to feel crampy.  When we got home I found that I was bleeding, but nothing too heavy.  I decided to phone the doctor on call for our fertility clinic.  She said unless it gets really heavy, sit tight until tomorrow and call the clinic in the morning and they will get me in for an ultrasound.

Since then the bleeding has gotten a lot heavier and the cramps have gotten quite a bit worse.  It still isn't much worse than a bad period.....but I would be really surprised if that little one is still in there.  Sigh.  After all this....all the thoughts that you have when you find out you are pregnant (what we will name him/her, is it a boy or a girl, I will have to give up my massage practice because my office is the only spare room we have left, I will need to get a double stroller, how will I manage to sleep with a toddler and a newborn, how will I look after Fiona and a newborn while recovering from a csection, how will Fiona interact with a baby, etc etc etc), I am pretty sure that Fiona will be our only child.

I feel sad for her that she won't have siblings....and her cousins are 8 and 10 years older than her....but I hope that she will have good friends who will be like sisters/brothers to her, and maybe she will marry into a family with siblings.  I know there are no guarantees about siblings being close.....but I am sure parents hope that they will be.  I know being an only child has its advantages (as Jason can attest to), but I think there are disadvantages too.

Update: This morning I went to the clinic for an ultrasound and our baby is gone.  I know we will be okay, but it will definitely take some time.  You really do get attatched to these little ones, or the idea of them.....and then they are gone.  I am SO SO SO thankful we have Fiona, and will be giving her extra hugs and kisses in the next while because I can't imagine how much harder this would be if we didn't have her.

Almost ONE!

Man, I sure have dropped the ball on blogging about Fiona!

Life has been busy, and I suppose there are just different priorities.  I am quite active on Facebook and Instagram with updated information about my little girl....so I guess the blog has been neglected.

I don't know how in the world Fiona is going to be ONE this week.  The last year has been quite the whirlwind of a rollercoaster.  So many good things, and with that some challenges as well.  Becoming a mom has been such an adventure.

I feel so blessed that Fiona is such a content and easy going girl.  She went through a period between 7 and 9 months where she was teething and her sleep was not the best.  But for the last couple of months her sleep has been AMAZING!  She typically sleeps about 12-13.5 hours a night and then usually has 2 naps, but some days only one, and between her naps she usually sleeps another 3-4 hours a day.  I am not sure how long this will continue, or if it is part of a growth spurt that she is going through.  She is currently wearing mostly 12 month, and some 18 month clothing.  She has even been wearing a pair of jeans that are 18-24 month size.  She is a very tall, skinny girl, and I am curious to see how tall she is at her next checkup at the end of this month.  When I weigh her on our bathroom scale, it says she is about 22lbs.

Her appetite has been up and down in the last few months.  It seems that when she is actively teething, all she wants to eat is fruit, bready things (toast, cheerios, crackers, etc) and cheese.  But when she isn't she is quite open to trying vegetables and meat as well.  I think her favorite foods right now are grapes, strawberries, blueberries, peaches, bananas, watermelon, steak, chili, beans, Cheerios, cheddar cheese and yogurt.

She is very active.  She started crawling right around 8 months old.  By 9 months she was starting to pull herself up to standing and just after 10 months she started walking along furniture and walking behind anything that she could push.  I still think it will be a while before she is walking independantly.  She doesn't even really like to stand without support yet, so she has a ways to go, and I am okay with that.

Her favorite toys are things that aren't really toys.  She loves to play with Kiwi's toys and loves to pull things out of the couple of drawers that I have given her to play with.  She loves the flashlight that Jason keeps in the pouch of his wheelchair.  She is starting to enjoy being read to, as long as they are short without too many words.  Right now her favorites are Goodnight Moon, Snuggle Puppy and Mommy Hugs. 

She is quite chatty.  She doesn't really have any real words, but does say dada, mama, nana, papa, nonono, tookatooka, dootdoot...and more.  I just love listening to her babble, and I look forward to hearing what she has to say when she has real words.  She has the sweetest little voice.  She also has quite the belly laugh.

 

She got her bottom middle teeth when she was between six and seven months old.  Then she got her top ones next to the middle ones when she was between seven and eight months old.  Then she teethed off and on for the last four months and FINALLY a week or so ago she cut tooth number five (top middle) and is working on the other top middle one but it hasn't quite come through yet.  It looks like there are some getting close to the surface on the bottom as well.  I hope the rest of her teeth don't take four months of teething for each tooth!

I have enjoyed the summer with Fiona.  We have made a few trips to the park and she has enjoyed swinging on the swings.  We have gone for plenty of walks with Kiwi and just enjoyed some time out on the back deck and lawn.  I am not looking forward to winter, as Fiona becomes more mobile, but I am sure we will have some fun times playing in the snow and will maybe find some indoor play options to check out if we get too much cabin fever.

I have spent the last few weeks working on a digital photo book for Fiona's first year.  Once we have her birthday party next weekend, I will add a spread for her birthday and will get it printed.  It has been fun to do, and I can see making more photo books in the future.  In the photo book I have included each of the monthly photos we have done of Fiona over the last year.  When we started doing those photos for her first month, I assumed that we would just do as most people do, and photograph her in the same spot each month so we could see the growth that she had each month.  However, as time passed we ended up doing a unique photo each month that sometimes was related to a specific skill she had mastered that month, or sometimes just something Jason or I had envisioned for the photos.  I am pretty excited to do her twelve month photo this week.  It is going to be a lot of fun, and be quite meaningful to us. 

Seven Months Old

Fiona is seven months old!  I am not sure where the last few months have gone.  It has been quite amazing to watch her grow and change.  Some days I still can't quite wrap my head around the fact that I am a mom.

At seven months, Fiona is sitting up quite well.  She is rolling with purpose.  She is trying to crawl, but hasn't quite gotten the coordination to get on her hands and knees at the same time.

After a few weeks of crankiness and poor sleep, she has two little teeth that have come through the gums and are growing.  I hope it is a couple more months or so until she starts working on some more teeth.  It is nice to have my happy girl back!

She is full of babbles.  I love to hear her little 'ba ba ba'.  I look forward to hearing mama and dada from her.  I am sure it will be a little while before that happens.  She has also gotten quite proficient at blowing raspberries and smacking her lips.  I am glad that she does not seem to be as shrieky.  That was a difficult period.  A lot of evening headaches after listening to those ear piercing shrieks all day long.

She has decided that spoon feeding is not so bad, so we have done a combination of spoon feeding and baby led weaning.  She does really well with soft cooked chunks of veggies, fruit and meat.  I think she prefers soft chunks to chew over purees.  I hope in the next month or so that she will figure out her pincer grasp then she can start enoying more finger foods.

She enjoys her bath time and loves to splash in the tub.  She sometimes even tries to drink the bath water, haha.  We have registered for swimming lessons during the months of April and May and I think she will enjoy time in the pool.

She has started to 'make strange' a bit and has been a bit more clingy to me.  It is sad to see her cry, but I know that when she is well looked after, it probably isn't the worst thing for her to cry a bit.  I just feel bad for the people who are looking after her. 

It has been so fun to see bits of her personality start to come through.  I look forward to seeing more and more of it as time goes on.

We've been busy!

I had kind of hoped to keep up on this blog a bit.  But life with a newborn has been so busy!  When baby is sleeping I am trying to get something productive done, or sleeping myself.

I can't believe Fiona is a few days away from 4 months old!  What a whirlwind these last few months have been.  I would say that after the first month passed, that I finally felt like my head resurfaced and I could breathe a little bit again.

Fiona started sleeping through the night fairly consistently around 2 months old.  That has made all the difference, getting good sleep.  I also have slept so much better since we got the baby monitor and I moved back upstairs.  There have still been a couple of times when I have stayed downstairs after getting up to feed Fiona during the night...but those feedings are becoming fewer and further between.

She is such a content, sweet baby.  My heart just swells with love when I think about her.  So full of smiles and giggles and coos.  I am loving the more interactive side of her, and I imagine she will only get more and more interactive as time passes.  She is rolling over quite well from back to front and front to back.  She hasn't really figured out that she can use rolling to get places...but once she does, I am sure I will have to watch her like a hawk!

I decided this week that is time to try and get her on a bit of a schedule.  Her bedtime was varying anywhere from 930-1130pm.  I really wanted some evening time to myself, and to spend with Jay!  I had been feeding her 5 times per day, and decided to try 4 feeds per day and she seems to be doing well with that.  So, for the last couple of days she has eating at 8am, 12pm, 4pm and 8pm then to bed.  It usually takes her a while to settle to sleep.  Some days I almost wish she took a soother, because I think it would be easier to settle her back down by plugging her cry hole, haha...but once she settles in, she sleeps really well.  I just feel like I pick her up to settle her more than I would like, but it seems to work. 

She has been doing really well in the Woombie, but with all of her rolling, I feel like it is probably getting to be time to get rid of it.  I am thinking I will wait until after Christmas to start working on putting her to bed without it.  I am sure it won't be the disaster that I am picturing, but she has just been sleeping so well in it, I am a little scared to see what she will do without it.  I will probably start with putting her down for naps without it....then move to night times.  Maybe she will be able to self soothe better if she can suck her fingers at night....I guess we will see!

I am getting excited for Christmas!  I know that Fiona won't have the first clue about what is going on, but I think it will be a fun day.  I am thankful that we get to spend the day with Jay's family and my family.  I am sure Fiona will enjoy the excitement, and hopefully we can get a good nap or two in, so she isn't too fussy!

Merry Christmas from our little family! :)

Three weeks?!

Is that all.  It feels like it has been months since Fiona was born.  Well maybe not months, but certainly more than three weeks.  I feel like I am living in a time warp these days.  I feel like maybe I am starting to have a bit of a grasp on what day of the week it is, but I usually have to think about it, and remind myself if I am to remember.  I think that is the sleep deprivation.

I feel that we are slowly starting to find a rhythm of life.  Eat, play, sleep.  Life exists in 3-4 hour increments both day and night.  Nights have been going okay.  Some shorter than others.  I would say I have had from 4-7 hours of sleep each night, usually broken into 2-3 chunks.  I look forward to her dropping a night time feed.  It wouldn't be bad if she ate once in the night, but for now it seems like it is usually twice.  And the feeds aren't so bad, it is when she won't go back to sleep afterward that makes for a loooong night.  I do think she is sleeping better since her and I moved into the basement for night time.  I miss our nice comfy bed, but honestly, I think my sleep is better, and I feel more relaxed knowing that Jay can't hear every little squawk.

I have found new parenthood to be really overwhelming.  I feel like maybe it is getting less so, as we start to find our rhythm.  I think as long as things go fairly well, I do okay.  But last week Fiona had one evening where she screamed her head off for an hour or so, and we couldn't figure out what the problem was (maybe gas?) but she did eventually settle and slept.  That was a short night, and the next day I felt really overwhelmed again.

I have had my mom come and spend a couple of nights to look after Fiona so I could sleep.  Though there is part of me that feels guilty for struggling, I know that there is no shame in asking for help.  And honestly, I think grandma enjoys spending the night with her newest grandbaby.  I find it so much easier and more enjoyable to look after Fiona after I have had a good night sleep.

My recovery from the c-section seems to be going well.  They say it takes about six weeks before everything should be healed and back to normal.  I expect that some of my fatigue is due to healing from surgery.  Though I expect more of it has to do with the loss of quality sleep.  I am trying to not do too much lifting, so we haven't gotten out of the house a whole lot....but have been making an effort to get out every few days.  So far we have been to Superstore, City Perks and tomorrow we are going to try to go to Costco.

I know every stage of parenthood will have its challenges, but as everyone keeps telling us, it gets better.  I am trying to savor moments with our beautiful daughter, but I do look forward to not feeling like a zombie.   

Fiona Lily

Our amazing, beautiful daughter was born on August 20th at 10:53am.  Though her birth was not exactly what we envisioned, we are so glad she is here, and that she is healthy.

We arrived at the hospital on Wednesday the 20th at 8am and checked in.  Then we got to wait and wait and wait.  Basically before 9:30 all that happened was someone took my blood pressure, listened to the baby's heart beat and felt my tummy and let me know that it felt like my baby had 2 bums (thanks lady :P).  We finally got moved into an OR holding room where I changed into a gown, and they gave me a quick ultrasound to make sure baby had not flipped head down since our previous ultrasound.  I was a bit relieved that she hadn't moved at this point, as I was mentally prepared for the c-section by now.  We met the surgical team and I was taken to the OR to get my spinal anesthesia and get set up.  Jason had to wait in the holding room until I was all ready to go.  He was told it would be 15 minutes and said after half an hour he was getting a bit worried, but everything was okay.

It was kind of an odd feeling to walk into the OR.  Everyone was really kind and friendly, and helped me to feel at ease as much as I could.  The spinal was an interesting experience.  Once it had been injected I would say that almost immediately my left leg started to feel warm and tingly.  It didn't take too long before my right leg caught up, and they got me up onto the operating table while I still had some control over my legs.  I felt like I was doing well, then suddenly I started to feel very nauseous and light headed.  Apparently my blood pressure had dropped so they gave me a shot of something in my IV and it brought my blood pressure back up and I felt a lot better, even though my heart was racing a bit as a result of whatever they had given me.  Once they knew that I was well numbed, the nurse inserted a catheter into my bladder, which I didn't feel, and I think it was shortly after this that Jason was allowed to join me.

With the spinal anesthesia, you can feel touch and pressure but not pain.  There was part of me that was anxious that once they started cutting that I might feel something.  But it was soon aparent with all the pulling and tugging and pressure that they had begun and I couldn't feel it.  It was really strange that all of a sudden I knew that they had the baby out...just a really odd sensation.  Then I heard her cry for the first time.  Everyone in the operating room commented how big she was.  But no one actually said 'she' or 'girl' or 'her'.  So eventually I asked, is it a girl or a boy.  So after all those months of not fully believing that it is a girl, we got our girl :)

I got to hold her as they stitched me back up, and then when they moved me to the recovery room.  Still hard to believe that I am suddenly a mom, and this sweet little baby is mine.

I don't have any photos uploaded right now, so if you would like to see some top notch photos of Fiona, head over to Jay Scott Photography!

40 weeks!

Today is my due date.  I would say that so far there are not any signs that this baby will be on time. 

At my appointment on Tuesday the doctor checked me and found that I was 1cm dilated and so offered to strip my membranes.  I figured why not, so I let her.  It was not pleasant, and I may have screamed a little.  It does not seem to have done anything.  Other than a bit of cramping, it was a wasted effort.  I found out at my appointment that my doctor will be away this coming week, so I have an appointment with one of her partners on Monday (if the baby doesn't come by then....) and I imagine I will let her strip my membranes again.  I really would prefer to not have to be induced....but I don't think that would come up until at least the following week (maybe around the 19th or 20th).

It is a strange place to be....knowing that this baby could arrive today, or possibly not for a week or so yet.  We are really trying to just keep living life (though I do spend a lot of time with my feet up, or napping these days) instead of waiting around twidding our thumbs.

My biggest complaints these days would be deteriorating sleep quality (get used to it, right?!), fatigue, sore/stiff hands, some swelling in my feet and hands, growing belly (I can tell this baby is growing and getting stronger), frequent and urgent needs to pee (I am usually up 3-5 times each night).

I really do hope that I have this baby within the next week....but I know that she knows when the right time is.  So I will try to be patient :)

38.5 weeks

I am just a little more than 1.5 weeks away from my due date.  I still think I will end up going over due.  I don't really feel like my body is making leaps and bounds toward labour.  I feel like I have had more contractions, but nothing painful.  And I do feel like the baby has dropped down and I am making more frequent trips to the bathroom.

I was at the doctor this morning and she offered to strip my membranes, which sometimes helps labour start for some women.  I told her that I would rather wait another week and see what happens, but gave her permission to do an internal exam and see if I had progressed at all.  Apparently I have not.  And it was not a very pleasant exam.  I don't think those exams are ever pleasant, but this one seemed extra uncomfortable.  I guess everything is just extra sensitive down there.  So, since everything is still closed up tight, she couldn't have stripped my membranes anyway.

I have been making an effort to spend time with Jason and with other friends and get out and enjoy life these days.  It has been nice to spend some time with friends that I haven't seen in a while.  I have been seriously slacking on the housework, but it is getting more difficult, especially to do the things I would like to....like wash the floor.  Maybe crawling around the floor for an hour would get this labour going, ha!     

36.5 weeks!

It is already the middle of July.....that means, at the ABSOLUTE most, this baby will be here in 5 weeks!  Hopefully, a bit sooner though.

I do really feel like my body has tolerated being pregnant well.  I keep expecting things to take a really bad turn for the worse, pain wise, or fatigue wise, etc.  I am definitely feeling more pregnant, and uncomfortable, but I am not ready to say 'get this baby out of here!' just yet. 

As of this coming Saturday, I will be 37 weeks, which is considered full term.  If the baby comes any time after that, the likelihood that she would would have to spend time in the NICU is very slim.  That is encouraging.

I feel like I have what I will need to look after the baby for the first while at home.  I picked up a few things today to round out the packing of my hospital bag.  I will still have a few things to put in there at the last minute, but I have most everything I will need ready to go.

At 36 weeks, my biggest complaints are still sore feet, poor sleep, numerous urgent trips to the bathroom, hemorrhoids (ugh), and feet in my ribs.  It is fun to feel the baby roll and move in my belly.  I am glad that Jay has gotten to feel it, and see my belly roll now that the baby is bigger.  But for the most part her feet are consistently parked somewhere near my ribs on my right side.  It isn't usually painful, but just uncomfortable.

I had a doctor's appointment this morning.  The baby is still doing well.  Heartbeat was 165, my blood pressure was 124/64, my weight was...uh, well maybe I will keep that to myself, ha, but I feel like my weight gain has slowed down (thank goodness) and I seem to be in the 0.5-1lb gain/week now.  If I keep up this pace, I imagine by the time the baby comes I will have gained pretty close to 35lbs, which is the high end of normal for my starting weight.  The doctor did an internal exam and found that my cervix has thinned out but is still closed and that the baby's head is down and low in my pelvis.  That doesn't really surprise me, as I don't really feel like my body is close to going into labour.  However, it is definitely progressing in that direction and now I will see my doctor every week until this baby decides to show up.

Six weeks to go?!

Time continues to fly by.  I think before we know it this baby will be here.  I don't expect to necessarily have the baby early but the next few weeks will disappear before we know it.

I am officially done work.  I am not feeling too bad, but work was getting more difficult.  I could, and maybe will still do an occasional treatment in the next couple of weeks (if anyone calls), but it will be a very casual, client by client decision.

I have been busy working on getting clothes washed and organized.  I have been whittling away at the shopping list of things to get before the baby arrives and the list is getting shorter and shorter.  However, it seems that every time I leave the house I come home with $60 or $70 worth of stuff.

We had maternity photos taken last week, and after a week of rain we did have a lovely sunny day to do some outdoor shots.  Unfortunately, one of our locations, the Zoo, was really muddy with lots of puddles, so we were a bit limited in our selection of spots to shoot.  We got to see one of the photos as a sneak peek, and it looks great.  I can't wait to see the rest.  I am also looking forward to some newborn photos once our little one arrives. 

At 34 weeks pregnant, I think my biggest complaints are decreasing sleep quality and foot pain.  I really expected to have more back pain by this point, but I feel like my foot pain usually causes me to rest before my back does.  I am feeling like most of my shoes are getting snug and I am wondering if it would be worth investing in a good pair of supportive sandals.  I feel like my running shoes still fit pretty well, and allow me to be on my feet longer, but it's getting trickier to get down to tie them....and who wants to be stuck wearing runners in the summer.

I had a prenatal appointment this morning and as usual everything is looking good.  The doctor is pleased with my blood pressure, weight gain (I have gained around 30lbs!  eek), and the measurement of my tummy.  At my last few appointments, the doctor has figured the baby's head is down, and with all the hiccups I feel down in my lower tummy, I would agree.  I also have been getting a lot of pushing/pressure/stretching in my right side, that I am pretty sure is caused by little feet.  I wouldn't call it painful, but there are times it startles me, and occasionally it catches a rib which is not very nice.  My next appointment is in two weeks then after that I will see her every week until the baby decides to make an appearance!

30 Weeks!

I can't believe there are only 10 weeks left until my due date!  I don't feel terribly overwhelmed with things to do....as there is still lots of time, and I don't feel that we have a ton of stuff left to prepare.  Once I am done work, and have a better grasp on what we need to get, I will do some shopping, wash some clothes, make some meals to freeze and take lots of nice naps. 

If our baby was to be born now, there is a very high likelihood that she would survive, and probably not have long term health issues, so 30 weeks feels like a pretty exciting milestone!  I have been feeling lots of kicks and rolls and flops (sometimes I wish I could see inside there and know what baby is up to!).  In the last week I started to feel hiccups.  I wasn't sure when a person might start feeling them, and wondered maybe if I just didn't have a hiccuppy baby.  I was wrong!  Today I have felt hiccups three times, haha. 

Jason and I are about 99% settled on a girl's name and middle name, as well as a boy's name (just in case!).  We really didn't have a tough time finding a name we liked.  But, there is part of me that wonders if I stopped looking prematurely.  However, I did read at least two baby name books from cover to cover and read through a lot of name lists online.  I seemed to keep coming back to the same names, so I feel pretty comfortable with our choices.  They are names that suit a child and will grow up well to be good adult names as well.

Jay has been keeping up on my biweekly belly photos and put together another composite to compare the progress.  It is definitely eye opening when you see yourself every day, and people keep telling me how small my belly is....to see a photo like this.  Baby is definitely growing! :)

 

29 weeks!

I can't believe I am 29 weeks.  I have a feeling the next couple of months are going to fly by.  Summer in Saskatchewan usually goes by quickly, and I doubt this year will be any exception.  We have been enjoying the warmer weather this week, but I am looking forward to the more seasonal forecast for the coming week.  I think I enjoy temperatures between about 18-25C the best.

I think I have reached the point in my pregnancy where I am starting to get uncomfortable.  I am finding that I am not sleeping as well at night.  I was quite comfortable until very recently sleeping on my back, but now when I sleep on my back, my back and my stomach hurt.  If I sleep on my side my shoulder hurts, and my back hurts, but not as bad as if I sleep on my back.  So far, the back pain doesn't seem to bother me too much during the day, unless I am on my feet a lot.  I have noticed recently that my feet ache a lot.  I haven't had much swelling yet but I find, especially when I am barefoot in the house even for a fairly short period of time, my feet ache like I have been standing on them for hours.  I think it is a combination of the looseness in my ligaments caused by the hormones, and carrying around extra weight, and a different center of gravity/balance probably contributes as well.  I am definitely starting to feel more tired.  I seem to tire out more quickly, but I am also noticing that sometimes my belly feels heavy to carry around.  And it's not even THAT big yet.   

This past week I am pretty sure I felt that the baby had hiccups a couple of times!  At first I just thought I was being kicked again and again and again, very gently.  But then I realized that it was way too rhythmic to be kicks/movements.  It almost felt like a little heartbeat, but too slow for me or the baby.  The other morning, Jay even got to feel it a little bit.  So fun :)

I am not complaining, I am still kind of in awe of what is going on my body right now.  Amazed to be growing a little person who is half Angie and half Jason.  So curious about what she will look like, and what her personality will be like.  Eleven more weeks to go!

Are we there yet?

I am by no means ready for the baby to arrive, but I am starting to feel slightly anxious to meet this little person that seems to enjoy using my bladder as a punching bag :)  Of course I want the baby to stay put until much closer to the estimated due date and I have a feeling that I will probably go overdue anyway.  I think I read somewhere that it is pretty common for a first time parent to deliver around 41 weeks.  I guess we will see!

Things seem to be coming together in the baby's room.  We have a few projects that we would like to work on to decorate the room a bit.  I ordered a crib mattress from Costco.ca and it arrived on Friday.  I was a bit nervous about ordering a crib from Ikea as I had heard that they are an off size, and that you need to buy a mattress from them.  I had read on a lot of online forums, and it seems that years ago that was the case, but in recent years they had changed their cribs that are sold in North America to be the standard size, and fit a standard size crib mattress.  The mattress that I ordered from Costco fits perfectly!

I have still been feeling pretty good.  I know that the most growth has yet to come, but there are a few things I expected to be a problem, which haven't been.  I expected to have more back pain and to be constipated.  Thankfully, neither of those have been much of a problem.  My back is usually achy when I wake up in the morning, but usually resolves once I am up and moving around.  I have had more heartburn than I expected, but it is still not awful.  Usually one or two Tums takes care of it.  I have had some food cravings, but nothing so urgent that I had to send Jason out at 10pm to get it for me.  I also haven't really had any food aversions.

(Me at 28 weeks pregnant)

We will start our prenatal classes through the health region in a couple of weeks.  I am not entirely sure what to expect, but I hope that they are interesting and relavent.  We also have our first official meeting the our doula next week.  We have 3 meetings booked with her, over the next couple of months, and I am also not entirely sure what they will entail.  I think sort of figuring out a birth 'plan' (I say 'plan' because I know that no matter what you plan for, birth is completely unpredictable....so it is good to be educated on your options, and know what you would like, if things go smoothly, but I am also prepared to throw it all out the window and do what needs to be done to ensure a healthy baby and healthy mom) so she knows how to best support us.  I also imagine she will go over some pain management techniques with us.

 

My work has been a bit slow in the last few weeks.  I am not sure if people are not calling because they don't want to make the pregnant lady work....or what.  But hopefully things will pick up a bit before I am ready to go off work because it is good to make money!  I am planning for my last day to be either June 27 or July 11.  I will decide once it gets a bit closer and I get a feel for how I am feeling, and how well I am able to cope with giving treatments.  Hard to believe that is only 6-8 weeks away!!   

My How Time Flies

I knew that April was going to be a busy month.  But, I can't believe how quickly it disappeared!

We had planned months ago to have Easter dinner at our house, with my family.  It is usually just easiest for us to host family dinners.  Then Jason has access to a good bathroom, and doesn't have to worry about being hauled up and down stairs.  We also thought it might be nice to have Jason's parents up for the weekend, as we hadn't seen them since we shared our big news at Christmas time.  We did have a nice visit, but the weekend was full of work projects and cooking/tidying and hosting 18 people for Easter dinner on Saturday.  But we did get to enjoy a nice Easter brunch at the German Cultural Centre on Sunday morning before they headed for home.

The biggest project of the weekend was getting the baby's room set up.  Dale and I spent probably 4-5 hours on Saturday assembling a dresser and crib from Ikea.  I am really pleased with how they look, and I am sure the dresser will be used for many years to come.  Because of the setup in our house, the baby's room will be in our spare bedroom, so we had to move the guest bed out of there and into the rumpus room area of our basement.  Then I had the great idea of moving our old leather reclining couch into the baby's room, as place to lay/sit/feed the baby.  I don't know if I had done any measuring, but for some reason, I assumed that we would be able to get this behmoth of a couch around a 90 degree corner in a hallway.  I was starting to doubt that it would be able to be moved into there.  But my ingenious father-in-law and father made it work, and the couch is now in that room.  We did figure that by the time we are ready to move the couch out of that room, that it may need to come out in pieces.  We will see, haha.

Also, months ago, we decided, that since we will be sticking close to home this summer, that we would like to get away for a weekend to Calgary while I am still feeling good enough to go.  We chose the weekend after Easter, expecting that we would have some nicer weather, considering it was the end of April (haha, right!).  We did have fine weather for traveling, but the Saturday that we were in Calgary it rained/snowed for the better part of the day, and just was cool and not all that nice.  Thankfully on Sunday the sun came out and we were able to get outside a bit and enjoy some fresh air.  We did a lot of shopping on Saturday, which is always hectic and tiring, so I was glad on Sunday that we had a much more relaxed day.  We went and hung out at a small farmer's market just north of Calgary, that I stumbled upon after Jason Chadney recommended a coffee shop to us.  The coffee shop's first location was at this little market, and now they have 3 or 4 other locations in the city.  It was nice to browse and talk to the vendors and try a lot of generous samples. 

In the afternoon we ventured in to downtown Calgary.  We had always avoided downtown, as it seemed kind of intimidating, but after our trip to Vancouver and Seattle last summer, we felt pretty invincible, and Jason did a great job getting us around the city.  We spent the afternoon checking out the Core Shopping Centre and walking down Stephen Avenue to the Olympic Plaza.  It was a much more relaxed day.  (Except for the fact that the only bathrooms in that mall are on the 4th floor (in the food court area) and there was only ONE freakin' elevator that EVERYONE wanted to take.  So usually it was at least a 5-10 minute wait to get on the elevator and it was always packed like sardines in there.  Seems like a pretty big design flaw :P

I also decided a couple of months ago that I should tackle some of the continuing education credits that I need to get before the end of next year.  Since I will likely be tied pretty closely to home until at least next spring, I started looking closely at any of the course offerings that were coming up.  There was one, that was kind of expensive, but was three days long, and would give me just over half of my required credits.  So, I believe I will now only need about 10 more credits in the next year and a half, which seems much less daunting.  There are even online courses that I can take for free to get one or two credits, so that is probably what I will do next year to fill the rest of the requirement.

My course was this weekend, and was really good.  It sounded somewhat interesting, so that is why I was willing to jump in and pay the money for it.  It was called Ligamentous Articular Strain Technique for the upper body and extremities.  I am not sure that I will incorporate every technique I learned into practice, but will definitely be using my clients as guinea pigs in the next little while to try out some of the things I learned.  The guy who taught the course was really engaging and down to earth, and I think I would be willing to take more courses from him in the future.

So, now that those three very busy weekends are behind me, I feel like I have some time to breathe, and relax and prepare for baby.  There is not THAT much that we need to do or prepare.  I need to pick up a few things in the next couple of months, but I feel better now that baby's room is painted and furniture is set up.  We are taking prenatal classes through the health region starting at the beginning of June.  They run for one evening/week for three weeks.  I hope that they are interesting and informative.  Time is really flying by....and I think this baby is going to be here before we know it!  And life will change....but that's okay :)

It's growing!

Sometimes when you look at yourself in the mirror every day, it is difficult to see the growth that is taking place.  However, this composite deffinitely shows that the baby is growing!  The first photo was taken on my birthday January 4th, and the last was this past Saturday, April 5th.  Lots of change in three months.  However, I imagine the next three months will be much more dramatic!

Baby things!

I ordered a crib and a dresser from Ikea for the baby's room last Tuesday, and they arrived today!  I would take a picture, but for those who are unfamiliar with Ikea, their products come in a million pieces, in big flat boxes, and have to be assembled piece by piece.  So all you would get is a photo of some boxes.  I will definitely take a photo once they are put together though!  I was fully expecting to have those boxes sitting in our living room for the next week and a half until Easter weekend when my father-in-law and I plan to assemble them.  However, the delivery guy today was willing to haul them downstairs when Jay asked if he could.  So that was nice :)

I also bought a stroller today!  Eeek!  I have been doing a lot of research on strollers, and from what I have read and been told, it seems that a lot of people end up buying a few strollers and selling them, before they find one that they really like.  I don't know if I will like this one, but it seems like a really nice stroller for the price, and it is compact and light weight, which I think is ideal for us.  I got the stroller from a lady on Kijiji who bought it a couple of years ago, and other than a bit of wear the on the wheels, it looks like it is in excellent shape.  It is a Baby Jogger City Mini.  From what I have read, I should be able to get the universal car seat adapter and should be able to use it to hold the infant bucket seat until the baby is big enough to sit in the stroller.  I feel like I am not sure how much we will get out to places that it would be convenient to use a stroller, when the baby is really little, so I will probably hold off on getting the adapter until I feel like it is something that would be worth the money.

Last night, as we were going to sleep, baby girl was bouncing around in my belly, so I quickly told Jay to give me his hand, and for the first time he got to feel a kick from the outside :)  Pretty awesome!

22 weeks!

I had an appointment with  my thyroid specialist this week, and after my most recent bloodwork results, she has told me I can discontinue my thyroid medication for now!!  This was the hope/plan all along.  With Graves disease, in pregnancy, usually by the second trimester, the body's need for thyroid hormone increases, so I don't need to be on medication.  She said that about 4-6 weeks after the baby is born that my thyroid could flare up, and I will probably need to back on medication then.  I am happy to have one less thing to worry about.  I will still go for monthly bloodwork, and my doctor will call/text me with results, but things have seemed pretty 'textbook' so far, and I don't see any reason to believe they won't continue to be.

After spending a week or so looking at paint swatches, I decided on a paint colour and decided to paint last weekend.  It wasn't too bad, but I was really tired after spending a few hours painting.  I did the second coat on Monday, and I have to say I like the colour.  I think it will look nice with the white crib and dresser that I ordered from Ikea the other day.  They should get here before Easter, and I am looking forward to assembling them and starting to get the baby's room put together.

Jason and I are planning a little road trip to Calgary for the weekend after Easter.  We decided it should be a good time to get away, before I am feeling too tired/etc and we hope to do some shopping and enjoy some good food and maybe check out some good coffee shops.  We had always shied away from downtown Calgary, but after tackling Vancouver and Seattle last summer, we are feeling pretty confident in our navigation skills and will venture down to see what we have been missing :)

The weekend after our trip to Calgary I am taking a continuing education course.  I need to get a certain number of credits every three years to maintain my membership in the massage therapist association, so I figured I had better take something this year, as I didn't do anything other than first aid last year, and once the baby comes I will probably not be wanting to take any courses for at least the rest of this year.  The course I am taking is a three day course and will get me about half of my required credits.  I hope that my energy reserves are still okay by that point.  I will be 26 weeks pregnant....hopefully I will make it through three days of course.

I am sure after three very busy weekends in a row, I will be really happy to do absolutely nothing the weekend after!  Then the weekend after that is May long weekend already!  Man, time is just flying by :)

It's a...

baby!

Haha ;)

We went to RUH for my ultrasound this morning.  I was booked in at the hospital because they thought that they might need some extra time to check the baby's thryoid, as it can be tricky if the baby isn't in the right position.  I was told when the appointment was booked to empty my bladder an hour before the appointment and then drink three glasses of water and arrive for the appointment half an hour before the scheduled time.  I didn't drink that much because I knew it would be more than my bladder could handle.  I drank a bit of orange juice (I have heard having some sugar before an ultrasound makes the baby a little more active), and maybe a glass and a half of water.  We arrived and checked in and sat and waited, and waited and waited.  After about 40 minutes my bladder was bursting at the seams so I said nuts to this and went to the bathroom.  I sipped a bit more water and when they called us in about 10-15 minutes later my bladder was feeling pretty full again.

I managed okay until near the end of the scan.  It was getting painful, and she was digging in right around my bladder.  When she was done, I asked if I could go pee yet.  She was like, oh sorry, we have to wait until your doctor sees the pictures and make sure we don't need any other angles.  So she left and I waited 5 minutes before I couldn't handle it any longer and I went.  Thankfully the doctor came a couple of minutes later and said that they got everything they need.  She said the baby is measuring perfectly for the estimated due date and that all the organs look good.  She said that they can't really specifically see the thyroid gland, but that they look for any enlargements of the gland, or abnormal growth of the baby, which could indicate thyroid problems, but everything was good today!

I feel like this ultrasound today was very clinical.  I was glad at the beginning that the technician said that she would be very quiet during the scan because she was concentrating and looking for specific things, but that just because she was quiet didn't mean that anything was wrong.  I laid there and couldn't see the screen for the better part of the scan.  Jay could see it, but said all he could make out was an occasional bone.  Then at the very end, once she had all her measuring done, she did turn the screen so I could see it and pointed out the baby's head, spine, legs, arm (the other one was tucked on the other side).  She tried to show us the baby's face or profile, but apparently the baby is shy and was hiding it from us.  We did see the legs kicking away :)

Before the technician started the ultrasound I asked if it was possible to find out the sex of our baby.  She said that we would have to ask the doctor when she came in.  So when the doctor came in and told us everything looks good, I asked if she could tell us what we are having.  She said she didn't even look at that pictures with that in mind, so she quickly scanned back through them.  She said, "those look like girl parts to me."  I was absolutely shocked!  I am still not quite sure if I believe her.  I had myself so convinced that it would be a boy.  I guess you can't put much faith in the old wives tales.  I think that is part of what had me convinced it was a boy....anyway.  We are thrilled that the baby is healthy first and foremost, but also happy to find out that we will have a baby girl.

18 Weeks!

After I felt the little taps the other night I didn't feel anything for a while.  I started to wonder if maybe I had just imagined it.  However, in the last few days at least once or twice per day I have felt little movements in there.  I can't wait until they are stronger and Jay can feel them from the outside!

I feel like my belly has popped out a bit this week.  It is still pretty small, but growing!  I have gained about 5lbs now, which seems reasonable to me.

We go tomorrow morning to RUH for my ultrasound!  I expect to also see my OB tomorrow as well.  I am more excited than nervous for the ultrasound.  I am kind of nervous about having to have a full bladder, as I find it a hard balance to have a full, but not painfully full bladder.  Plus, they are gonig to probably be putting some pressure on my lower tummy, so that could be interesting.  Hopefully the excitement of it all will just outweigh the discomfort :)

We are hoping to find out the sex of the baby.  It won't be the end of the world if we can't find out, but I feel like it will help us to bond a little more with the baby before s/he is born, and will make it easier to prepare a room/clothes/etc.  I am still thinking it's a boy, but I suppose I have about a 50% chance of being right, ha!

We have started to throw a few names around.  I don't think we will have a hard time agreeing on a name as we tend to have similar ideas of what we like.  But there are a lot of names, and I want to make sure we look at a lot of names before we settle for a couple that we might choose.  We are not planning to share our name choices with anyone until after the baby is born.  I am pretty sure that most people we know would be supportive, but I have heard of people sharing their name choice when they are still pregnant, and someone making some awful comment about the name.  I figure once the kid already has the name, it's easier for people to accept it, because who wants to insult a baby, haha.

Also this week, my friend Karen had her baby boy!!  It was so great to go to the hospital for a visit on Friday evening and share some birthday cake to celebrate little Felix's long awaited arrival.  I am pretty excited that we will have children who are only a few months apart in age.  I never thought that would happen! 

Tappa-tappa-tappa

I am pretty sure I felt the baby last night!  Until now, I was never sure if it was gas bubbles or the baby, but last night I felt 3 or 4 pretty distinct little taps a couple of inches below my belly button.  I poked back, to see if the baby would tap back, but s/he didn't.  I look forward to feeling more little taps :)