Welcome to the World, S!

Well indeed I *was* going through early labour at the time of my last post, as less than 24 hours later we welcomed our beautiful new daughter into our lives!

We are proud and overjoyed to introduce our precious little "S" - born on November 24th, 2010 at 8:19 AM, weighing 8 lbs 8 oz and measuring 20 1/2 inches long. She arrived naturally after less than 5 hours of active labour.























 It's been an exciting but challenging first week for S, Chris and me, learning the ropes as a family of three, however we're starting to get the hang of things and S is doing very well!

I'll be posting some more updates over the next few days about the labour & delivery, S's first week and other topics, time and energy permitting! :)

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!!)