Mini Eggs, anyone?

I don't know if I'm really having a pregnancy craving per se, but man those Easter treats have been calling to me. Frequently. Even after I've given in. Still want em. Today I saw some scattered on the ground in a parking lot and I thought about holding a moment of silence for the wasted chocolate and for whoever had the misfortune of dropping those precious morsels.

More importantly... we're at 32 weeks now, and today was ultrasound day. Fun surprise: even though this was at the clinic, requested by my doctor, and covered by msp, we got to see some 3D images! Like at a private office, where you spend a decent chunk of cash to do it. Certainly wasn't expecting that! I didn't want to ask too many questions so as not to jinx it, it was such a nice bonus. It would be pretty cool if that got to be the norm. Anyhoo I'm told the baby is 4 pounds 14 ounces now (how do they know that? crazy), the heart rate was 128 bpm, and everything looks right on track. Now for the fun part... photos! Well, one photo. We only got one 3D photo printout, so here it is:

Baby was playing shy, wanted to keep it's face hiding behind it's hand. From this angle, the hand is covering up part of an eye and part of the mouth on the right side of the photo, but you can see the other eye, the nose, and part of the mouth pretty clearly. Or, at least, the parents of this beauty can see it. Maybe it's not so clear to others!

Right after we got home from the ultrasound, I laid down on my side on the bed and starting feeling a new kind of movement. Up until today mostly I was feeling what seemed like rolling around, but not those kicks you hear so much about. This time there was several minutes of kick kick kick over and over again, nice and strong so Ray could both feel it and see it. It was so constant, almost like a tick. But it's cooler to think it was kicking, don't you think?

Going to wrap this up now so I can send it along to those of you who can read from work... I'm excited!

Now why isn't that husband of mine back from his chocolate run yet...

Weighing the Issue

Well, good news and less than good news.

Good news, doc says my weight is back on track now.
Less than good news, doc said not to keep up the same weight gain pace.

Oh, sure.

For the last four weeks I changed my eating habits so as to try to gain some healthy weight. I was successful. Now I need to change my eating habits again, so as to continue a healthy weight gain BUT not as much as the last four weeks. How in the heck is that supposed to work? He's toying with me I think. Don't you think? Because that doesn't sound reasonable to me. Surely it's not considered reasonable to ask a pregnant woman to increase her food intake, then take it back and tell her to decrease it again. That is some form of cruelty. Right up there with tickling. Am I right or am I right?

I hope the preceding rant was perceived with its intended humour :)

Onward and upward: next scheduled cruel joke on this pregnant woman is Feb 22, when I get to drink approximately 42 gallons of water without releasing it until given permission. Hooray!

More Milestones

Last Sunday, at 28 weeks, I had another milestone. Ray very nicely made me a virgin strawberry margarita. No, that wasn't the milestone, he does nice things for me all the time :) It was such a sweet treat, and I sooo enjoyed it. Anyway I was lying in bed when he brought it to me, and I had a bit of it then sat it down absentmindedly. Ray left the room and came back with his own, and caught me laying there with my coffee mug of margarita balanced on my tummy. That was a first! Wonder what I'll balance next... It was a bit of a cheat since I was lying down and the cup was also balancing against my chest too, but then again I never would have done that a few months ago without the belly I've got now.

The next day, I went to the mall for a haircut and a little clothes shopping. The hairdresser was the first stranger to comment on my pregnant belly – that was pretty cool. She said they're told not to comment on that with clients for fear of being wrong, but I was wearing a pretty tight fitting shirt and she said my popped out belly button was a giveaway so she felt pretty safe saying something. Then I went to do a little shopping, still trying to avoid actual maternity clothes by buying larger sizes of regular tops that happened to be designed to flow around the belly. Normally when a store staff person asks if I need help with anything I always say no just out of shyness, even if I actually do need help. But since I'm looking for pretty specific stuff now I went ahead and said yes. The girl right away pointed me to just what I was looking for, saying that about a year ago she was in the shape I'm in now and was still avoiding maternity wear too. She said she managed to get through with zero maternity tops and only one pair of maternity bottoms – she lived in yoga pants and let the waistband sit below her belly. I wish I could get away with that at work – I'm down to wearing the same pair of jeans every day (yes, I wash them frequently) but who knows how long I can milk that for.

I had my test to check for gestational diabetes two weeks ago. If it had bad results I would have been called back already for the longer version, so I'm hoping no news is good news. I'd heard terrible things about the repulsive orange drink you have to chug, but actually it wasn't so bad. The comparison I heard was it was like McDonald's orange drink, but just the syrup without being watered down. Yuck. But actually it was cold and carbonated, and sure it was fairly sweet but really it was just like Orange Crush. Not hard to chug at all for me. More annoying part was sitting in the waiting area for an hour alone so they could make sure I didn't eat or drink anything else before they took my blood. Boring! Next check up with the doctor is this Tuesday, right before the 30 week mark. Yikes, three quarters of the way there! We'll see what doc has to say about my weight this time – I've been trying to work on it, but honestly I can't tell one way or the other what the change has been since early January.

I've said that I've enjoyed my pregnancy so far, I think I've been spoiled with few low points. Ray asked whether I'm actually enjoying being pregnant or I'm just happy that we're going to have a baby. I told him – both! I really have been enjoying being pregnant, and to borrow his term the “wonderment” has been amazing. Every day I think about how amazing this process is, how much is going on inside of me without me consciously doing anything at all. And the physical sensations, all of this baby's movements, I wasn't prepared for how cool that would be, definitely my favourite part of it all. And I do think I have been spoiled with few low points – sure I had some morning sickness, but it was isolated to the first trimester and I never actually threw up at all. And I had that nasty heartburn just after Christmas, but it was only a few bouts of it, over in a week or so and nothing since. I've been having a more difficult time with certain movements that used to be easy and mindless, especially moving around in bed, but so what? It's logical that I'm not able to move quite like I used to, and though I may have a bit of pain in the moment, it doesn't linger. So far, I'm counting my lucky stars that both baby and I have been been healthy so far and all those little symptoms have been just that – little. Here's hoping the rest of the road is this smooth, and hopefully payback doesn't come during childbirth!

PS - here's a photo showing my belly's progress... more on facebook: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=862609&l=d71f8&id=577420408

PPS - woops, thought that would be public, let's try that again for you non-facebookers:

You should see my belly button now. The other night, Ray actually took a video of it because it cracked us up so much. Can't describe it. Can't show you the video either, because then you'd see the icky belly hair. Combination of those damn genes from Dad and those damn hormones. Totally normal, but not exactly something I'd like to show off. Maybe if we can find a way to airbrush it out.

We had another regular appointment with the doctor the other day. Hearing that heartbeat never gets old. The only other notable thing from that appointment... wait for it... I'm UNDERweight. Seriously. I did not expect that. Not that I feel like I've gained a ton, but what pregnant women expects to be told she hasn't gained enough? Of course when I went back to work after the appointment I was very quick to tell my co-workers about this, especially the one who is ruthless with the fat jokes. So there! Needless to say, since that day I have been working very hard at correcting this problem. We'll see if I've overcompensated come the next appointment.

And speaking of appointments, now that the third trimester is fast approaching the appointments are becoming way more frequent. So far, I've been doing the regular 4 week ones plus an ultrasound. But now I have a glucose test in two weeks, a regular doctor visit two weeks after that, another ultrasound 2 1/2 weeks after that, and then another doctor visit less than a week after that, and those regular ones will get more frequent. Plus we'll have the birthing classes before you know it. Up to now everything has felt pretty routine and not too impactful (did I just make up a word?) on my day to day life (except for the constant thoughts of all things baby), but now it's starting to feel like, OK, this is it, this is where my life as I know it starts to fade. The centre of my universe is making it's shift. Bring it on!

I've been reading a book I got for Christmas (thanks sis): Chicken Soup for the Expectant Mother's Soul. I love the Chicken Soup series. Sometimes Ray reads with me. There are some real gems, I totally recommend this book for anyone really, not just moms or expectant moms. So far, the most memorable tidbit: "Sex is like riding a bicycle. It doesn't matter how long it's been, it comes back to you." Not that I can relate. Woops, did I just share too much? Never you mind, just re-read that quote, I bet every one of us can relate to some extent.

And now to get our minds off our our sex lives, new topic! Wardrobe update: still fitting into normal jeans, although they don't fit quite so normally. But I'll milk as much time out of them as I can. Tops are another issue altogether - had to go shopping last week to pick up a couple that will tide me over until the next shift in size. Got a couple on a great end-of-season sale. Tell me, why do they have end-of-season sales when it is barely the middle of the season? In Kelowna we can count on cold snowy days through February and part way through March - we've still got at least 6 weeks of heavy winter coat type weather. Speaking of winter coats - my buttons are starting to pop sometimes. It will kill me if I have to buy a larger size winter coat for only a matter of a few weeks. All of the spending on short term stuff kills me. What? Me? Cheap? Naw. You got me all wrong.

Well off to make dinner. Gotta pack those pounds on. Doctor's orders!

A Christmas Wish Fulfilled!

I had this fantasy that Ray would be able to feel the baby's movements in time for Christmas. Awesome gift idea, right? But not exactly in my control. With previous failed attempts and being a bit early for it, I wasn't expecting the fantasy to be realized. BUT IT WAS! Last night while watching a movie in bed (get your mind out of the gutter, it wasn't that kind of movie) I could feel the baby was pretty active. I was tempted to get Ray to put his hand on my tummy yet again, but I had previously decided that I didn't want to keep trying it over and over only to have him feel nothing - we would just wait until it was more of a sure thing. But when the movie was over I felt a couple of pretty significant movements, so we went ahead and tried. Ray humoured me, but I'm pretty sure he was expecting to feel nothing, again. Then it happened - it was so awesome, both of us being able to feel it at the same time. And the look on Ray's face! The first time we heard the baby's heartbeat, and when Ray was surprised to actually make something out of the images on the ultrasound, and now feeling the baby's movements... his eyes light up at these milestones and I just love it.

I started out the weekend in a pretty kick ass mood. Christmas is almost here, family is almost near, and the gravy is so close I can almost taste it. Who knew the weekend could get so much better? I am so full of warm fuzzies I'm nearly making myself ill. Scrooges beware: I will squash any bah humbugs coming my way with so many shortbread cookies and chocolate truffles you won't know what hit you.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

Belly Button

Ray and I read this week by week article online that gives an overview of the development of the baby that week and what's up with Mom etc etc. We like it because its normal-speak without too much medical mumbo jumbo and with a decent dose of humour. For this past week 22, it mentioned that Mom might be noticing her belly button is getting flatter and may soon pop out. Well I guess I hadn't recently inspected my belly button, because when I checked it out right then and there I was shocked to see it looked different. It's not popped out yet, but normally I'm a total "innie" and I can tell it's starting to look a little more like an "outtie." I just inspected it again. I have a little freckle in there I couldn't really see well before that is now totally obvious. And my surgical scar is easier to see now - wonder how that'll look when the whole belly button has popped out. A bonus to this new change: I was able to clean out a collection of lint with a cumulative size of a cotton ball.

Ray is totally reading this over my shoulder as I'm typing it and was completely grossed out by that last comment. He actually asked me if that was what he found on his chair this morning. Disgusting. I was totally joking. What he found on his chair was probably the collection of hair I pulled out of my hairbrush and rolled up into a little ball for easy disposal. Guess it didn't make it to the garbage can. Oops.

This blog topic has led Ray and I to quite the discussion on hygiene. Have you talked to your significant other about personal grooming habits recently?

Back to baby... still feeling a lot of movement, though I gotta say sometimes I'm not 100% sure whether I'm feeling the baby or various digestive movements. I can't wait for Ray to be able to feel some movement through my tummy, but lately I'm less anxious to get his hand over here because I'm afraid if he feels something it will actually be gas. Don't tell him. Now the first time he feels something and I insist it's the baby he'll insist it's gas and give me a hard time, probably joke about one of us needing to evacuate the premises if I'm rumbling that much.

We had another checkup last week and everything was ticketyboo. One thing that I've been conscious of is my blood pressure since one of my sisters had trouble with it both during pregnancy and since then, but at my checkups I've been told it's right where it should be. Until last week - it was on the low side. Weird, but apparently nothing to worry about. We heard the baby's heartbeat again which never gets old. We'd still like one of those contraptions for home. Anyone not done their Christmas shopping for us yet?

Almost time for bed so I must be going. In case I don't manage to make it on here again before then... Merry Christmas everybody!

A month gone... how'd that happen?

Woops. Looks like it's been a while. I'll try to be better! Wanna hear my great excuse? During Ray's football season I used his practice time as my online time, but since his season ended my habit has been broken. I need to make a new one and make sure I get on here more often. In the meantime I'll spoil you with a long post today - lucky you!


Well, just past 20 weeks along now, we're at the halfway point ladies and gents! We had an ultrasound a little while ago, that was interesting. I'd had one before so I knew what to expect about the general process and of course remembered the bladder issue very well. But it turned out that the baby wasn't cooperating so the technician couldn't get the snapshots needed, so I had some unexpected changes during my visit. First of all, she had me rolling on to one side to try for a better view, then on to the other side, then back on my back again, and over and over again several times. I never considered moving around might help, I just always pictured myself on my back. Wait, let me take that back... that was not good at all. Moving on... baby still wasn't cooperating so I had to go empty only part of my bladder (I was given a cup - fill it, no more, no less... sure thing) and try again. Good times. There's nothing quite like having to pee in a cup, am I right ladies? Anyhow baby still wasn't cooperating but the technician called Ray in to get the fun visual shots for us and said if she still didn't have any luck with the required ones after that we might have to reschedule. Fortunately she did end up getting what she needed, so no second appointment needed. It was very, very cool when she showed us the baby and pointed out all of its adorable yet alien-like parts. The printed snapshots make so much more sense after having seen them in action and with the pointers from the technician. At one point, the baby was "facing us" so you could see the two eye sockets and nose, and its little jaw was moving up and down like it was jabbering away at us (that's the bottom left picture). So cool. At another point one hand went flailing about as though it was waving at us. Hello little baby! We see you!

I've also been feeling some of baby's movements over the last 2 weeks. Surreal. Just like everything I've read and heard, it is unlike anything else I've experienced and I totally misted the first time. Ray was actually in the air on his way to Toronto at the time, so I called Lori right away and got excited with her. I left a voice mail for Ray and he called me that night so I got excited with him all over again. A time or two I thought that Ray might be able to feel it on my tummy, but it's hard to tell if I was actually feeling it with my hand or if I was just feeling it on the inside. He's tried a couple of times patiently waiting with his hand on my belly but no luck yet. Ah well, it's very early for that.


I recently realized that I had totally forgotten about a little goal I had always wanted to do while pregnant and now I'm wondering if I can actually do it. I used to cross stitch a bit and found all sorts of cute babyish patterns, even stitched a few. I thought I could put them together into a quilt for baby. But then I decided I didn't want to do the work ahead of time, I wanted to do it while pregnant, so that I could tell the little one that mama made this blanky just for you while growing you in my tummy (I could say in my uterus but it doesn't have the same ring to it and I think it'd be lost on the child). Now all of a sudden I'm halfway through my pregnancy, very out of practice with the stitching, and I with no sewing or quilting experience I have no idea how I could actually put these things together into a blanket. Hmmm. Well, I'll start by pulling out the old stitching supplies and we'll see how it goes.

On a non-baby note... I feel a song coming on (when don't I?)... It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas! I actually have a love/hate relationship with snow. It's beautiful to look at, and sometimes a blast to play in. But it's also horrible to drive in, especially when you really should have new tires but don't. The first snowfall here was last Monday night. We went out to dinner and when we drove out the roads were bare but when we left there was at least an inch on the ground. Driving down the hills from point A to point B was extremely stressful, especially when at one corner we spotted about 4 vehicles off the road and others slip sliding around. It was among the longest drives of my life, though we were on the road for less than a half hour. Now we're limiting how much we take the truck out, or at least when nervous nelly me is around. But Ray has to drive a fair bit for work so I still worry. Ick. On the plus side, now that December has arrived it is officially acceptable to start decorating. I'm not usually that into the decorating (Mom's gene landed with Lori, me not so much), and we don't have much to put out, but this year I'm excited to. I think it's because Ray's going to be gone for a while this month plus we don't know how much of the family we're going to be able to see over the holidays with plans very much up in the air, so I could use a little cheer. I'll be hauling out the boxes in the next day or two and I'm sure I'll get it all finished up while Ray is away next weekend. Ooooh and another big plus to this time of year: I've loaded up my ipod with Anne Murray, Boney M, Barenaked Ladies, and a little Alvin and the Chipmunks and NKOTB Christmas tunes. OH YEAH!


Well... (I use that term a lot both when typing and verbally, and nearly every time I hear my Dad's voice pointing out what a deep subject that is) next up is my regular apointment on Wed Dec 12. I'll check in again after that, if not sooner. Ray leaves on a 10 day trip shortly after that, so the computer will be mine all mine and I'll have no excuses for forgetting to blog... maybe I shouldn't be saying that now just in case... no, no, I want to be doing this, no more excuses.

Boy this really was long. And a photo too. You are so spoiled.