Teeming with #2: Week 40+ update!

OK c'mon little man - I no longer have accurate stickers for you!

I got the real scoop from my midwife on why the date they're going with is different (5 days earlier, in fact) than my own. Simple. It's not their "wheel thingy" (as I was ever so articulately going with on previous updates) - it's the projected date from my initial dating ultrasound. I'm not sure why I evidently never clued into this. After all, it's called a "dating ultrasound" for a reason. So based on this, I'm now a full week overdue and you can tack an extra 5 days onto all my previous belly pics. :)

So now all the fun post-dates stuff begins! Ultrasound tomorrow, follow-up midwife appt (definitely with a stretch & sweep this time) either tomorrow afternoon or Tuesday, and if baby's still hanging on for dear life, induction scheduled for Friday. (12 days post-dates; normally they'd schedule for 10 but I said I'd prefer the extra 2-day buffer provided there are no concerns.) In the meantime, doing lots of yoga ball bouncin' and otherwise staying pretty active, and had some of this with brunch today. Yum! Still haven't tried evening primrose oil (suggestion from a few people) so perhaps something to pick up and start on tomorrow. Also, Chris' cousin told me about an acupuncture spot on the ankle which can help with dilation, so will have to get hubs on that. :) Oooh on a related note, just googled and found this - more fun stuff to try!

Baby's movement isn't quite as crazy this past week, but he's still going pretty strong. A li'l slowdown is expected at the end anyway. (No more room!) I kinda tortured the kid yesterday as I inhaled a HUGE amount of food at my husband's extended family Christmas - turkey, stuffing, sides and way too much dessert. ('Tis the season to be gluttonous?) I have no idea how I'm still able to do this and where it all goes as everything is super-tight in there. And, amazingly, little to no heart burn at all recently (though, I'm proud to say, the ever-so-sexy pillow drooling continues with gusto!)

Going overdue has actually been awesome for our house progress. Basement's almost finished (just needs a 2nd coat of paint, floorboards and cleanup, then it's ready to furnish), S' big girl room is painted and mostly cleared out, and her new furniture is built and ready to move in. I'm also THISCLOSE to finishing our Christmas shopping and have been Kijiji-ing like a fiend - acquired s'more potty gear for S, a hand-made wool cover and HUGE stash of socks, hats and bibs for the little guy and two nearly-new fitted crib sheets. Everyone tells me I should be napping when I can, but I just can't pass up the opportunity to be productive while I have all this extra time!

So yeah. Ducks are much more in a row than they were 2-3 weeks ago, so little dude is welcome and encouraged to come any day!! Let's DO THIS! :)

Teeming with #2: Week 38 update!

During my last update, I thought I might be fast-tracking toward an early-ish labour, but here I am a week and a half later, still "with child". According to my midwife - 38 wks 5 days. According to my own calcs, exactly 38 wks.

And, oddly, my belly looks higher as though the baby has moved back up a bit. Is that even possible?

My heartburn's particularly bad tonight, which corroborates the inexplicable "move up" theory.

Weight-wise, just clocked in at 144.4 lbs so basically no change here since the last update.

Given the uterine artery "notching" noticed on my week 35 ultrasound, my midwife ordered a follow-up for earlier this week. As I mentioned on my FB update, everything looked fantastic! Little man scored 8/8, weight estimate was 3200g / 7 lb 1 oz (44th percentile), fluid was 132 (normal b/w 73 and 239), head was "presenting" (i.e. locked & loaded), notching no longer present and cervix approximately 50% effaced. I'm not a fan of excessive ultrasounds, but it *is* nice to have one which results in such a bundle of good news! ...

....plus a cute pic of our li'l sleepyhead! :)

Almost forgot to mention the other nice tidbit - Group B Strep came back negative. w00t!

Still feeling pretty good all in all. I'm actually enjoying a bit more energy than I had a couple weeks ago, probably because my iron's back up closer to normal range. Noticing more minor aches and pains when I get out of bed, drive longer distances, etc. but all the usual "getting close now!" stuff I'm sure. And my appetite continues to be more than healthy. For example, today at lunch I scarfed down a 12-inch sub and half a bowl of soup. Where exactly the room exists for this volume of food is certainly perplexing, though (come to think of it) the fact that I now have heartburn isn't so much. :)

During the last few days, Little Man's been following in S' late preggo footsteps, seemingly on a quest to "dig" his way out. Lots of less-than-pleasant (but interesting!) jabbing sensations all over but especially, y'know, in the direction that he's headed. Fun stuff!

In other planning/logistical news, the basement is coming along fabulously. Framing, electrical, drywall, mudding, sanding and primer are all complete; now we just need paint, flooring and a whackload of cleaning to get rid of all that pesky drywall dust and it's DONE! This'll be SUCH a relief as we'll finally get to move the office and a bunch of other stuff downstairs, allowing us to start on S' long overdue big girl room so that li'l man can have the nursery.

Regarding the "necessary basics" for his arrival, we've been in "lazy prep" mode. :) We still need to get the bassinet up beside our bed, however I did at least clear space for it. (An important first step, right?) And I washed a bunch of sleepers and onesies. AND MY HOSPITAL BAG'S NOW PACKED, OK?!?! Y'all kicked me into gear with this one! ;)

Chris is convinced this kid's gonna arrive tomorrow (on S' birthday!!) because all three grandkids in his family were born on the 24th day of some month. I do have that in the back of my mind a bit but am more inclined to believe he's gonna dawdle like his sister. And then be HUGE when it all goes down. Let's keep things under 9 lbs, OK bud? Please and TY! :)

So whaddya think's up next - another Tw#2 update or a birth story? (!!!)

Teeming with #2: Week 37 update!

Full term. (How the heck did that happen?!)

Well, full term according to my midwives, anyway. Using their "wheely thing", they determined that my due date is Dec 2nd. By my own "first day of my last period" calcs, it's Dec 7th. So I'm either a couple days past 37 weeks or a couple days shy of it. I'm going with the former because I have the suspicion I'm going to pop pretty soon. Little Man has definitely dropped, and I've been experiencing some interesting "Braxton Hicks but Different" sensations. All in all, I feel like I'm "ripening" if you know whadda mean.

In any case, I'm officially huge now. :)

Current weight: 145 lbs so still on a 1 lb/week gaining schedule. I was measuring a bit small at my 35th week appointment so my midwife ordered me a biophysical profile / growth ultrasound which turned up "mostly normal" results - baby scored 8/8 with lots of fluid and measured at about 40th percentile in weight (estimate was 2.5 kg or 5.5 lbs). However the more in-depth report (which takes longer to come in) cited there is "notching" on my uterine artery.  My midwife said this is almost certainly nothing to be concerned about in my situation (full term, low blood pressure), but to play it safe and ensure baby continues to grow well, she's booking me for another ultrasound at 38 weeks. If I make it that long, of course! :)

Other health-related stuff - hemoglobin's up a bit more to 107 (good) and Group B Strep swab's been sent in but no results yet. Bathroom trips are now required once or twice / hour (yay) though thankfully the bleedy nose problem has taken a hike. I do have minor heartburn from time to time but nothing like my last pregnancy, and I've also managed to remain totally unbloated which has enabled me to keep my wedding ring on! (Had to remove it at 32 weeks last time around.)

I'm definitely feeling increasingly tired as these late-preggo weeks pass, and the last few days have brought on some emotional spells as well. Crying for no reason, snappishness, that sort of thing. Pregnancy, as a whole, keeps me quite level so these spells are unusual and add to my inkling that Babe #2 will be coming early. Of course, there are also 2348203432 things going on in our lives right now - finishing up work (3 more days!), numerous home renos, loose planning around S' 2nd birthday (keeping things simple this year), regular activities (swimming, kinder music, curling, yoga), early Christmas planning/shopping, attempting to keep things somewhat manageable around the home front and, of course, blogging when I can grab a spare moment or two. Juggling it all has become fairly overwhelming, not to mention that we remain totally unprepared for our little guy's  arrival. We're almost certainly not going to have S' "big girl room" ready in time (it's still a semi-hoarded office, where I sit typing now) which means she'll need to remain in the nursery for awhile. Not a huge deal since the little man will hang out in our room for a couple months anyway, but it would be nice to have all our ducks in a row here. Following my first bout of BHbD sensations the other night, hubs DID get the car seat ready so we can check that one off at the very least. :) (Now, someone kick me into gear to get that hospital bag together!)

As per my recent FB post/question, I'm still not doing a heck of a lot to prepare (physically, mentally, emotionally) for labour and birth. :-/ Still doing a weekly yoga class which is SUPER awesome, and I bounce around on my exercise ball when I think about it, but that's about it. I do have a little evening ritual of slathering Belly Jelly all over my bump, which is somewhat meditative in of itself and hey - if it manages to reduce the severity of impending stretch marks, even better. (Yup the little rascals are beginning to make an appearance, but they're not terrible just yet.)

As for S, she TOTALLY appears to "get it", giving my belly lots of kisses and telling people that her little brother's coming soon. She loves reading It's Quacking Time and on the last page points out the members of the duck family as Mommy, Daddy, S and [insert brother's name here]. (Nope, still not telling! :)

So let's play a guessing game - when (date/time) is our Little Man going to arrive? Is there gonna be another T w/ #2 update?

Teeming with #2: Week 29 update!

Hellooooooo 3rd trimester!

I must say, I'm beginning to feel quite rotund. (And look it too, evidently!)

I'm up to 136 pounds, for a total of 28 since getting knockered. That's almost as much as I gained during my entire pregnancy last time around. But y'know what? That's not really a bad thing since I started out way too thin this time around. My guess is I'll gain about 40-45 in the end.

Apparently the little guy's now about 2.5 pounds himself, and his testacles are beginning to descend. So there y'go on that.

My latest midwife appointment (on August 30th @ 26 1/2 weeks) was gloriously uneventful compared to the previous one. ("How are you feeling?" "Good!" "Lots of movement?" "Yup!") My blood pressure continued to be nice & low (110/66) and baby's heart rate clocked in at 142 bpm. Only thing was a slight amount of protein in my urine, but nothing to write home about.

I had my glucose tolerance test last week, and I "passed" that one as well! That was a relief, as I flunked it last time and had to go back for the more intensive 3 hour follow-up which was a pain in the arse, and I loathe drinking those McDonalds-esque orange flavoured liquid sugar drinks. Apparently each one contains 50 grams of glucose *shudder*. But I digress. The GTT did turn up low hemoglobin (102; they want to see at least 110) so I'm back on my Ferrasorb to help bring things back up.

So yeah! Feeling good all in all, still enjoying a healthy appetite and my mood continues to be nice & level. Pregnancy's definitely good for my mental & emotional state! Still dealing with the crusty nose thing but it seems to be getting better, and nasal strips have helped overnight when it tends to be the worst. And yup, coughing and sneezing continue to be "risky business" if you catch my drift. I think things are improving a bit here though too - thanks prenatal yoga!  Li'l man is starting to do something funny that S always did in my 3rd trimey with her - "bunching up" on the right side of my belly. I'll have to get a pic at some point because it looks quite bizarre. Speaking of my belly, I've been slathering on the belly jelly I won in a giveaway last year, and it's awesome stuff. Next to no appreciable stretch marks so far (knock on wood), plus the scent is lurvley and it just feels good to give the ol' belly a rub! S helps out too (though one time she sank her whole hand in right to the bottom, the goofy goo.)

That's about it for now. Seeya in a few!

Teeming with #2: Week 25 update!

Definitely in "no question" territory now!

Out for a dinner/drinks date with hubs last night and no fewer than three people asked me when I was due! (Though, to be fair, the ordering of virgin cocktails was a pretty good clue in itself, not to mention that I was even huger due to the generous helping of gnocchi and slice of boca negra I'd just inhaled.)

Weight-wise, I'm up to 131 pounds for a gain of 19 total so far. Given I was so underweight before getting pregnant, I think a final gain of 30-40 total should be about right for me

Following my wonderful news two weeks prior, I had Yet Another Ultrasound last week to confirm that things continued to look good. And indeed, they did! My fluid levels clocked in at 130 according to the particular flavour of the "four quadrant test" performed (normal is between 95 and 200, IIRC) and my placenta was waaay up, evidently at an "interesting" location (sort of a combination of fundal and lateral).

Of course we got some pics - here's your prototypical spooky alien face shot and a cute li'l foot! 

Now hopefully no more ultrasounds! Li'l man's been exposed to enough sound waves already! *nods*

All in all, I've been feeling quite good the last few weeks! I'm enjoying high energy levels and emotionally, I've been happy, relaxed and level like I was last time around. I've started prenatal yoga with another preggy friend (and blogger!) to help loosen and strengthen all those "important areas" in preparation for late pregnancy, birth and postpartum recovery. It feels great to work all those tight muscles! Now that I have the green light for exercise (whew, would've sucked to be confined to a sedentary lifestyle!), I'm also planning to start back on my birth ball and Active Birth exercises.

I am definitely starting to feel bigger, however. I can't just flop around every which way in bed anymore, and getting up from a sitting or crouching position is a bit more of a process, especially when holding our daughter. A few nuisances have cropped up as well. The inside of my nose has become extra crusty and prone to minor bleeding (apparently normal - weird) and, yes I'll admit, I've had some issues with incontinence. I'd been thinking I needed to get serious about kegels, but then another mama friend pointed me to this intriguing article which takes a different, but compelling stance. Her stance? "Tighter does not equal stronger. It's just tighter." Makes sense, really, as there's a lot going on together in a woman's pelvic region keeping things aligned & working smoothly! Based on this, I'm even more eager to dedicate myself to the exercises I mentioned above.

Not so much a nuisance but an observation - my appetite is RIDICULOUSLY HUGE these days! I continuously surprise myself by how much I've been able to eat. I do maintain a generally healthy diet and (like I mentioned earlier) I was quite underweight to begin with when I got pregnant, so I just listen to my body and go with it. I eat until I'm full and don't worry about the occasional totally indulgent treat.

And finally, I've been realizing that my current maternity wardrobe leaves something to be desired (I'd borrowed quite a few clothes from my cousin's wife last time around and returned them when she was expecting again) so I spent an hour this morning browsing Kijiji - lots of great stuff out there for just a few bucks per item! Maternity shopping's like kid clothes shopping, IMO. Most 2nd hand stuff's in great condition because it's worn for such a short period of time! So why not go this route?

Well that's about it for now! Hope all you other mamas-to-be out there are enjoying healthy, happy pregnancies as well! xxoo

Teeming with #2: Some WONDERFUL news!

During my last preggo update, I mentioned a couple concerns which turned up on my 21-week ultrasound: low-lying placenta and low amniotic fluid.

Well guess what?? I had my follow-up ultrasound today at McMaster University Medical Centre and not one, but BOTH issues have managed to resolve themselves! The fluid is back up within normal levels (as per the maximum vertical pocket method - I was measured at 40mm) and my placenta has managed to, somewhat miraculously, move itself way up to the fundal position (way at the top of my uterus) within two short weeks.

The nurse who debriefed us commented that I was "boringly healthy" as she looked through my history & the results - lolz! I think she was wondering what we were doing there. :)

My midwife will be booking me in for one more "sanity check" ultrasound in two weeks, which will hopefully show that things continue down this super-positive path. In the meantime, what a weight off the shoulders!

Many thanks to everyone for all the positive vibes & well wishes! xxoo

Oh, and one more thing - I should point out that this isn't my first pregnancy during which "complications" turned up which later resolved themselves. While pregnant with S, some less-than-stellar findings were reported on my 31-week ultrasound suggesting there was a reasonable chance I wouldn't go full-term. Thankfully, I was back on track a week later and ended up delivering 10 days over due. :) Clearly our maternal care system errs on the side of caution, which I'm totally on board with, however it can also result in undue stress & anxiety on parents-to-be! So if any of you expectant mamas out there happen to receive some less-than-stellar results yourselves, try not to worry too much until you have further confirmation. While yes, there are certainly real issues that can crop up during pregnancy, it would appear that the system turns up a lot of "false positives" as well. So if you're in this scenario, focus on taking care of yourself and thinking positive. There's a good chance you and your precious li'l monkey will be just fine! :)

Question for my readers - have you ever received some scary news while pregnant and then went on to have a normal, full-term pregnancy and deliver a healthy baby?

Teeming with #2: Week 22 update!

Lots to share with y'all since the last time I updated. Some good, some unfortunately not-so-awesome.

First, a few basics. I started feeling movement at around 16-17 weeks, and Chris felt baby kick for the first time a couple weeks after that. I've gained about 13 pounds so far and now sit at 125 pounds.

Here's the latest belly update pic from 2 weeks ago (at 20 weeks). I don't really look any bigger than I did in the 16-week pic, but I looked HUGE in that one so I was probably just bloated that day. :)

I had my mid-pregnancy ultrasound on July 25th. We planned to find out the gender during the appointment, however for logistical reasons Hubs wasn't able to join me that morning, so I asked the technician to record it so we could follow up with our midwife at our next appointment.

Based on this, the technician was careful not to show me any "evidence", however I did get a few cute pics of our li'l "hopper"!

A week later, we had our midwife appointment. First bit of news......It's a boy!!!! I was convinced it was a girl so that was a surprise (though not an unpleasant one!)

The next two bits of news - not so pleasant.

First of all, I have a low-lying placenta. Apparently a placenta is considered low-lying if it's within 2 cm from the cervix. Mine is within 1 cm. If the placenta remains low-lying at the time of delivery, a c-section is generally required (or at least strongly recommended). That said, in the majority of cases, the condition resolves itself by early in the 3rd trimester, so it's not really cause for alarm at this point. I do need to refrain from significant exercise and sexual activity (booooo) while it's still present, however. A follow-up ultrasound at about 32 weeks is scheduled to check for changes here.

Second, the more alarming news. The ultrasound also showed low amniotic fluid (a condition called "Oligohydramnius"). My level was measuring at 66 when normal is (if I recall correctly) 95 to 200. At this early stage in the pregancy, this can commonly be a sign of a malfunctioning placenta or a health problem with baby. :(

The good news? Despite the issues, the baby and placenta both look really good based on what the technician provided on the report.

Katie sent me for a follow-up ultrasound the next day (Thursday) to re-check levels. Fluids were up to 78 which made me cautiously optimistic, however this is still considered low so Katie decided we should follow up with a "Level 2" ultrasound at McMaster University Medical Centre. They have more advanced equipment which should (hopefully) be able to detect any health problems present which didn't register themselves on the two local ultrasounds. Appointment's been scheduled for next Wednesday (Aug 8).

So....that's about that. In the meantime, there isn't anything I can really do except relax, drink lots of fluids and try not to stress. (The Olympics are providing a nice distraction, though Canada's had a couple rough days so time to turn that around! :)

I'll post another update after my next appointment. Wish us luck!

Oh yeah - one more pic before I sign off for now. A little "proof" that baby is a "Mr. Hopper" - tee hee!

Teeming with #2 - Week 16 update!

As you might have seen on my FB page the other day, this mama's been busy "cooking up another one"! Little Bean #2 is due on December 2nd, 2012!

Here's a nice closeup of the kiddo from our dating ultrasound on June 5th (13 1/2 weeks along):

And here are a couple belly shots - 13 weeks:

(...yup, I know the sticker says 12, but early on I had my dates wrong! Ooops!)

And 16 weeks.:

(I look HUGE here! Must've been extra bloated that morning as it's now a week later and I'm not nearly as big!)

I have to say the first trimey of this pregnancy hit me a li'l harder than when I was expecting with S. For several weeks there I was SUPER tired, and had a lot of weird food-related symptoms. Huge cravings for certain foods combined with totally feeling turned off other foods - including those I usually love! For example, I got really grossed out by the idea of one of my favourite salads - spinach with chopped almonds, feta and balsamic vinagrette. Cravings were generally for carbs and rich, fatty foods like dim sum. (MMMMmmMMM!) Probably makes sense; I weighed about 10 pounds less at the beginning of this pregnancy than last time, so my body's been telling me to gain some damn weight! Once into about week 13-14, cravings began to ease but not my overall appetite! I'm still eating like a horse and have put on about 10 pounds overall.

The tiredness thing really sucked. All of my available energy was going to caring for Starryn and work, so when the evening rolled around I'd basically be useless, either crashing super-early or couching out infront of the TV. Blogging? Out of the question on most days! Managing to post once every two weeks was about all I could muster. I'm very appreciative of my review/giveaway sponsors who have been very patient and understanding through all this! Now that I have some of my energy back, I should be able to get back to more regular blogging. *fingers crossed*!

(On a related note, if you're wondering how I managed to review The DivaCup so recently, well, let's just say the testing period wasn't so recent! I used it during my final period back in March, and then boom - positive preggo test! It just took my exhausted self 2 months to do the writeup, lol. :)

Another sucky thing? Hubby ended up selling our Chili Peppers tickets because I felt too crappy to go myself, and he couldn't find someone else to go with at the last minute. Boooo! (But we did see Dave Matthews earlier this month, w00t!)

Other physical symptoms from the first trimey - overactive bladder, super-vivid dreams and some general nausea (but thankfully just a few appointments with Johnny himself). Oh yeah, and a few awful headaches. Strangely, my boobs didn't start getting big & sore until the last few weeks. I spotted just a tad during weeks 5-7, but it didn't really concern me as it happened last time around as well.

All in all, though it was challenging at times, I'm sure my 1st trim symptoms were nothing to write home about compared to the stories I've heard from many other women!

Emotionally, I've been pretty level so far in general, though I have had a few completely out-of-the-blue crying spells. Good ol' hormones!

In terms of prenatal care, I'm going with the St. Jacobs Midwives this time around. I've been hearing Amazing Things about them, and so far I haven't been disappointed. I was initially assigned to Stephanie Gingerich who is AWESOME, but then a few weeks back (when I realized I'd miscalculated the first day of my last period by a week), they reassigned me to Katie, a new midwife who I will be meeting at my next appt, since Steph will be on vacation on my revised estimated due date.

I'm sooooo happy to be taking the midwife route for this pregnancy! Don't get me wrong - I did have a generally positive experience with my OBGYN last time, but the philosophy and standard of care offered by midwives just resonates so much more soundly with me. Midwives place greater emphasis on birth being a natural, healthy event (as opposed to a "medical situation") and foster informed choice for the mother, which I *heart*! For example, I was 9 days overdue with S. Thankfully I went into labour on my own, otherwise I was scheduled for an induction the very next day - something I really wanted to avoid, but I felt powerless against going the OBGYN route. I asked my midwife specifically about this, and she reassured me that while induction might be recommended at a certain point, it certainly wouldn't be forced, and more gentle methods would be suggested first prior to resorting to the more aggressive approaches (cervidil & pitocin, specifically) that the hospital regularly administers. We're also considering a home birth; I pretty much burst into tears every time I watch a video or read a story of a home birth as it's such a gentle, loving way to bring a new life into the world!

So what else? Well, next midwife appointment is on July 12th, then we're off for a week of cottage-y g00dness, then back to find out whether S will have a brother or sister on July 25th! (Yup, I'll share. ;)

How many of my readers are pregnant right now? How far along? How are things going for you?

Early labour beginning???

I'm now 9 days overdue (or 12 if we go by the estimate during my first ultrasound) and still no bebe. BUT:

• I've been having mad Braxton Hicks over the last 2-3 days in particular
• Had a stretch & sweep at the hospital yesterday (which wasn't as bad as anticipated) and Dr. Schnarr said my cervix has thinned further and is very "ripe"
• Following the S&S, started having some substantial cramping which came in waves along with my BHs. I thought I might go into full labour last night, but then managed to get basically a full night's sleep and woke up feeling like things were no longer happening. But then when I started moving about, the periodic cramping / BHs started up again. I'm now experiencing them every 10-20 minutes.

Not sure if this is early labour or what! Some people on FB are suggesting it is, but the "cramps" are very manageable (and I wouldn't even call them painful) and others have told me that I'll definitely know it when I'm in labour. So hard to say for sure! But it does seem pretty clear that shit's going down soon - almost certainly before I'll need to be induced on Thursday. Yay!!! :)

Bought more cloth diapers today

I couldn't resist. :)

A couple weeks back I found myself researching cheaper options for one-size pocket diapers as I currently have only two of these (my AMP one size duos) and would like some more for convenience, variation and Daddy (and other caretaker) friendliness. However, I've found it hard to rationalize spending $20+ per diaper which is what the popular, mainstream brands cost (BumGenius, FuzziBunz, etc.) Several hours of Googling around reading reviews, forum discussion topics, etc. led me to a brand that is both extremely economical AND highly esteemed - Kawaii Diapers. They are manufactured in China but under strict specifications, and are sold by a Canadian distributor at http://theluvyourbaby.com as well as on eBay. The prices on her website are quite reasonable already ($7 to $10.50 per pocket diaper, depending on the specific type), but the bulk deals on eBay are even better. This was all very exciting, but I decided not to pull the trigger at the time and instead wait until Little One was here in order to gain some early experience with CDing and determine the best way to extend our "stash".

Well that was then and this is now. :)

I found myself back on eBay tonight and couldn't resist putting in a min bid of $69 US for a package deal of 13 "Snazzy Minky" one size pocket diapers. Look how cute they are!







And they also score well in the areas of softness, leak-resistancy and durability, according to numerous user reviews. Finally at this bulk price, they're just $5.30 a pop compared to $8.95 from her website. My min bid held up and I'll be receiving these awesome new diapers within a few weeks!!!

The only concern I have with buying one type in bulk like this pre-baby is that there's some chance they won't fit her particular size and shape ideally. That said, if this does happen I can probably sell them on Kijiji or Diaper Swappers at little to no loss (or possibly even make a small profit)! I could look at selling all of them or keep several back to try when she gets a little bigger and/or with future babies :) So really there's little to no risk here the way I see it.

In other news, tomorrow I'll be 3 days overdue. We have an OB appointment in the morning during which there'll inevitably be another offer for the illustrious stretch & sweep. At the time of my last post, we thought we'd go for it during this week's appointment in the interest of avoiding chemical induction, however we've done some more reading and thinking since then and have changed our minds. What it comes down to is that I feel pretty good physically, and in the interest of following the most natural, gentle path toward labour and birth, we're content to let baby arrive when she darn well feels like it, assuming there are no SOLID contraindications to doing this. And in most cases when a pregnancy advances post-date to 42 weeks or so, there aren't any. So tomorrow I'll be turning down the S&S offer once more and reviewing our desires with my doctor. She's been quite understanding and flexible so far so hopefully we don't run up against undue resistance on this one...

She's still happy in there!

We're right in the middle of my set of projected due dates (which ranged from Nov 11th to Nov 14th) and little one is still nestled in there. During yesterday's appointment, Dr. Schnarr checked me and said I'm about 3 cm, my cervix is nice and thin and baby has dropped even lower. She said she was happy with my progress but she did offer the stretch & sweep again which I turned down. Chris and I decided that if we go one more week, we'll take her up on the offer as we'll be significantly overdue by then and would prefer to start things this way (if possible) rather than via chemical induction. In the meantime, we'll see if the "natural prostaglandin" approach bears fruit. :)

I hear a lot of women say that time grinds to a halt during the last few weeks of pregnancy, however the days have passed super-quickly for us. Chris has been busy at work training our newest Knowledge Base Analyst, and I've been running (well OK - waddling) around doing errands, enjoying some final pre-baby lunches and dinners out, etc. Now that I'm about to pop, I find the questions and comments from strangers have escalated. Most continue to be standard fare ("When are you due?", "Do you know what you're having?", etc.) but a few recently have been interesting/amusing. For example:

• An older gentleman held the door open for me at Tim Horton's quipping that I was in "enough trouble already".
• An Aboriginal man at Service Canada told me that I'm having a boy. When I told him it's a girl, he repeated himself and said that "Indians know". Despite the alleged viewing of labia during my latest ultrasound, this still had me vaguelly concerned about all the pink clothes. :)

In related news, Tj (one of the gals we attended pre-birth classes with who had the same due date as me) had her beautiful little girl early yesterday morning. Her final pre-baby FB update mentioned she was making cookies, so I thought I might have similar results if I busied myself in the kitchen with some Croatian cabbage rolls. No such luck, though dinner was delicious and we've added to the assortment of frozen home-made dinners in our deep freeze! :)

The great date debate

Ange and I got together on Wednesday for a lovely "date night" consisting of pedicures and dinner at Springrolls in Conestoga Mall. She's due two weeks after me, however she's been having all kinds of Braxton Hicks as well as actual, painful contractions, plus it's her second pregnancy so we agreed it's somewhat likely she will be the first of us to pop. :) On this note, we made tentative plans for a Christmas shopping trip on Monday, November 15th (in the event I'm overdue, heh). We kinda felt like celebrities all night as well, as people kept telling us how adorable we were. Which I have to agree with, if I do say so myself!



















Yesterday I had my latest appointment with Dr. Schnarr. She checked me and proclaimed that I'm 2-3 cms dilated! Wow - wouldn't have suspected that. Very few Braxton Hicks and although I do feel that baby has moved lower, I wouldn't say I have the sensation that I'm going to sit on her head or that she's going to drop out any moment or anything like that. The doctor offered to perform a stretch and sweep to move things along even more quickly, but I declined as a) it appears things are moving along nicely on their own and b) I've heard they can feel quite invasive and painful. If I haven't progressed further by next week's appointment (2 days before due date) I may take her up on this as I *really* don't want to be chemically induced, however I now suspect this will be unlikely and I'll go into labour by or before my due date (so much for the Christmas shopping day!)

In other news, baby's first bed is now all set! Chris and I bought a Jolly Jumper moses basket stand (in cherry) from the Baby Depot. He assembled it right away and put it together with the UPPABaby bassinet. It looks great! Perfect for baby's first month or two, right beside our bed. :)

Today should be fun! Chris' family is coming over for a nursery decoration craft day! He found this idea which looks super-easy to do (something that his 2 1/2 and 5 year old nieces can help with) and results in some great looking, personalized art! Results & pics to come...

Back to Triage...

We found ourselves back in Grand River Triage on Tuesday night as I'd been having some signs and symptoms somewhat suggestive of gestational hypertension which Telehealth advised me to get checked out:

• Blood pressure rising steadily for 3-4 weeks now (from a nice, low 90/58ish a month back to an average of 135/86 on Tuesday night when I tested 3x using a home device)
• Swelling fingers - had to use olive oil to wrench off my wedding band over the weekend!
• A weird, brief but fairly intense "headrush" feeling the other day when I was simply sitting at the table using my laptop

Thankfully, the triage visit ended up being relatively short (less than 2 hours) and they sent us home after a few quick tests. My blood pressure tested lower than it did on the home test (126/84), and my urine had just trace amounts of protein, so no real concern here either. Baby's heart beat was nice and steady, usually at about 150-160 bpm. Finally, when the doctor read the monitoring strip, she asked me if I'd been feeling the contractions. What contractions? Apparently I'd had a good 6-7+ braxton hicks while lying there and didn't even realize it! Here's hoping this means the Real Deal will be entirely manageable as well. :)

In other news, the nursery is essentially all set. Bassinet is ready to go (except for the stand which we still need to purchase), cloth diapers and remaining clothing have been laundered and organized, toys have been cleaned and stored and I've found a kitchen cupboard for baby's meal-related accessories. Due to the progress, I rewarded myself with an ENTIRE day of slack yesterday, filled primarily with video game-age and TV. It was quite enjoyable, though today I feel the need to get back on the horse as there are still quite a few errands and tasks to tick off ideally before baby arrives (though at just under 39 weeks, that could happen any day now!!)

Miscellany

• It's my birthday! Turned "dirty poo" today - how appropriate! :) On a related note, looks like I'm probably not going to be sharing my birthday with our little one. I'm getting a "divisible by 5" vibe around the date - perhaps Nov 5, 10 or 15?
  
• Group B strep results - negatory!
• Blood pressure up to 118 / 80. Nothing to be concerned with yet but something to monitor. In the meantime, going to try cutting down on sodium. No more TV dinners!!!
  
• Awesome "alien foot" action earlier today, but then when I grabbed my camera to make a video she got all coy.
• Getting super-big and just about ready to pop - up almost 30 pounds now.
• Also getting quite tired. It's becoming increasing difficult to work a full 8-hour day. Taking 1 vacation day per week recently has definitely been the way to go!! Can't believe I have a mere 3 days of work left - last couple months have whizzed by!
  

Milestone & Exercise

By all estimates, I have reached full term (37+ weeks) today! I am mostly elated but also a wee bit daunted by this fact. On the one hand, a month and a half ago I felt it might be challenging to make it to 34 weeks, let alone full term. On the other, despite the fact that we WERE granted this time, it still feels like there are remaining baby items to buy/prep, more books to read and labour preparation exercises to go through! Guess one never feels 100% prepared - but I'd like to get to about 99.3% *nods*.

In terms of labour prep, one of the challenges is that I wasn't really able to exercise for a good 3-4+ weeks back when preterm labour was a real possibility. Once I got to about the 35 week mark, however, my OB had become quite optimistic and reassuring and I decided that the benefits of getting back into exercise outweighed any remaining risks at that point. On that note, Chris and I bought a "birth ball" and I've started doing some strengthening exercises on it. There are lots of good youtube vids demonstrating the different techniques, so I've been following some of these. I'm also working my way through Active Birth and it's terrific - very practical information on which exercises & positions are beneficial during pregnancy and each stage of labour, and why. The more I read, the further I'm convinced that a) (assuming we reach our goal of an unmedicated birth) I'm not about to be strapped down on my back to deliver our child and b) (related to the previous point) I would very much wish to forego the standard pitocin drip administered to help deliver the placenta. A quote from AB on the latter point:

"Administering pitocin to induce contractions of the uterus is rarely necessary if the mother has given birth in an upright position and her baby has not been separated from her. Pitocin may be needed to reduce the risk of postpartum hemorrhage when the morther has been lying down during labor, when she has had an anesthetic or other drug that reduces the ability of the uerus to contract spontaneously, or when she and the baby are separated at birth and the normal hormonal secretion is thus disturbed. When postpartum hemorrhage occurs, Pitocin is very useful in stopping it, but giving birth actively diminishes the chance of such an occurrence." ¹

When I brought up this item on my birth plan several weeks back, my OB was quite adament about adhering to this particular standard (due to the risk of postpartum hemorhage), so I'm going to revisit it with her next week in conjunction with the above information to see if she's willing to reconsider.

1. Balaskas, Janet. Active Birth: The New Approach to Giving Birth Naturally. Boston: Harvard Common Press, 1992.

New haircut and updated belly pic!

Just over 36 weeks - taken the other day:

Hospital tour & goodies!!!

Yesterday we had our tour of the birthing wing at Grand River Hospital along with about 6 other couples. It was a relatively uneventful evening - heard a couple babies crying but no mamas screaming their way through active labour (fine by me - we had our fill of that several weeks back during our Triage visit.) The birthing rooms aren't bad, but I'm definitely not a fan of the position they generally require women to deliver in. Seriously, who came up with the idea of laying a woman on her back with her feet raised UP in stirrups for the delivery? The last time I checked, gravity causes things to fall downward, not parallel to the earth. I'm in the middle of Active Birth right now, and it's really convincing me that there are much better birthing positions. I just hope the medical staff are receptive to some of these alternatives, as I believe this choice should be made by the labouring woman and her birth partner(s) based on what is working best for her (as long as it isn't dangerous and doesn't prevent access to receive the baby) as opposed to what is the most convenient for the staff. But I digress.

Here are a few things we learned during the tour:
- Every birthing room is equipped with a shower and a nice, deep bath tub. Cool!
- Yes, you can wear your own clothes during labour & delivery though gowns are available if desired. (Not sure who would prefer a gown, but anyway.)
- Bringing other stuff to help with labour such as your own birthing ball, extra pillows, etc. is supported and encouraged.
- Grand River's Caesarean rate is 25%. Yikes. Apparently that's up from 16% several years back since more and more women are choosing to schedule c-sections now. (Apparently they will support VBACs, but it's not the standard or the preferred approach.)
- The labouring woman is only allowed to have clear fluids. Eff that. Chris is gonna sneak me in some tasty stuff ;) (shhhhhh)
- On a related note, that's NOT an ice *cream* machine in the kitchenette. Dammit.

All in all, we're feeling pretty good about having our little one at Grand River. Generally speaking, the staff are super nice, our experiences have been positive there so far and it seems we won't have trouble with the vast majority of items on our birth plan. Just a couple sticklers left to work through. :)

In other news, two packages were waiting for us when we got back home last night! First of all, our Bummis cloth diapering kit! Yay! Check out all the goodies and look how cute the covers are!


















(Note - the diapers on the left are the AMP duo pockets I bought previously, but everything else here came in the kit!)

Also received our NoseFrida! Found this sucker (pun very much intended) a few weeks back when I was looking for a good aspirator to add to our registry. Evidently so many people have issues with the bulb aspirators either not working or being uncomfortable for their babies that I looked for an alternative. This thing has rave reviews (despite its grossness) and appears to work like a charm, so I thought we'd give it a whirl! Is it wrong to say I'm looking forward to our little one getting a bit snotty so we can try it out? :)

Shower weekend & nest-tivities

This past weekend was both fun & productive! We were lucky enough to be thrown two showers - the first with work folks on Friday and the second with friends and family on Saturday. Chris was involved in the planning for the work shower but it was a complete surprise for me. He managed to pull the wool over my eyes by setting the pretext that we were going to the local police station to get the car seat inspected and then meeting his mom for brunch at The Waterlot. Prior to the inspection, however, he wanted to drop in and "check out the brunch menu". Thinking nothing of it, I trudged in there after him and the hostess led us to a private room where everyone was waiting - surprise!! It took me a moment to process everything and then I got all teary - ahhhh, hormones :) Lunch was delicious, and Pat was awesome enough to not only make the drive from Toronto but create a beautiful and delectable baby-themed cake for us! We got some great gifts, including the hamper and other items we registered for, and a plethora of cute outfits. Pics here.

Saturday was shower #2 hosted by my bestest gal Maryana! Lots of folks made it from both my side and Chris' side of the family as well as close friends. 7 li'l kiddies as well - our generation is becoming quite prolific! :) As usual, Maryana outdid herself with a cornucopia of tasty food and amusing shower games, from "guess the baby food" to "pin the soother on 'baby' Chris"! Mom contributed some delicious nibbles too. Following the shower, I joined Yang, Rajib and Logan for dinner and catching up at the Lotus Tea House, and then spent more time shootin' the crap with the rest of my girls (Maryana, Ange and Kelly) . Didn't get back home until after 1 AM.

On Sunday I began to go through the wonderful array of gifts and nesting kicked in full force! Unpackaging, sorting, laundry, assembling, organizing - oh my! :) Last night I put together an inventory of the main things we still needed and today I made a trip to Babies R Us and picked up some of these remaining "essentials" - change pad cover, ultimate crib sheet, Halo sleep sack, nursing pads and bassinet fitted sheet. Following some more nesting-esque preparation, the nursery is now just about ready from a functional standpoint; next comes the fun part where we give it some personality! Chris found a funky baby art project idea online that is cheap (in terms of materials), results in some great decorative pieces for the nursery and is something young children can help out with. We're going to "recruit" Hailey and Avery to take part if we decide to do the project :)

In other news, my sleeping patterns continue to be wonky. Take right now - it's 1:25 AM and I'm just starting to get tired (though blogging has helped). On the flip side, I go through periods of sleepiness during the day - usually in the late afternoon. The bod's definitely getting ready!

Finally, my "fundal height" has now increased to the point where my belly is literally chafing against my boobs, and the area in between has gotten kinda itchy and irritated. Any other moms out there experience this?? Methinks it's just about time to ditch the underwire and switch to my new nursing bra. *nods*

Dreams

Been having some weird/bad dreams recently. Themes have been baby-related (e.g. a few days ago I had one where baby came early and was super-small, then didn't want to be close to me at all, preferring her Dad instead), work-related and general rejection-related. They're reminiscent of dreams I've had during "dark" periods in the past when I've in all likelihood been suffering from a mild to moderate depression. My skin has also been breaking out a bit more over the last little while and I've been bitchier than normal, so I suspect that hormonal fluctuations may be playing a role here as my body gets ready to inject baby into the world. I'd felt so emotionally strong and even during the vast majority of my pregnancy and it was GREAT, however now I'm starting to wonder how I'll feel during the postpartum period. No use worrying about it per se at this point - all I can do is treat my body well, think positive thoughts and do positive things - which is what I'm doing! :)

Time to make a turkey soup from all the wonderful leftovers from two delicious Thanksgiving dinners. LOOOOVE soup days!!!

Belly pics

Since every mom-to-be loves looking at dozens and dozens of these. (Right?) :)

16 weeks - starting to show a tad (or else I just ate a lot that day!)




















19 weeks - a li'l bump happening!




















20 weeks - I popped overnight!




















26 weeks - "no question" territory - strangers beginning to ask me when I'm due & such :)




















29 weeks - Baby must've been in a weird position as my belly looks very pointy here!




















31 weeks - This dress makes me look HUGE! (And Chris appears to agree with this!)




















31 weeks - First-person belly view! Toes slowly but surely disappearing :)




















(Just under) 33 weeks - Continuing to expand...




















More to come...