so miserable

ugh. day 4 of being sick. the first day i thought it was just allergies...i couldn't stop sneezing. but on day 2, i came to terms with the stuffiness and snottiness of a cold. sleep is nearly impossible because i can't breathe when i lie down. i'm gonna stock up on vicks vaporub today...i need to get a good night's sleep if i'm gonna make it to work tomorrow. i hate not being able to take medication. it's frustrating because i'm completely stocked up...we have buckley's, advil cold & sinus, and tylenol cold & sinus. i know just a couple days of drugs would have me cured for good! darn baby!

making decisions

decision #1: for the past week, i've been contemplating switching from a doctor to a midwife for our prenatal & labour/delivery care. after many discussions with friends, colleagues, and doulas, we've made the switch. i chose pomegranate midwives since they came highly recommended by the doulas i've interviewed, and they're the closest clinic to our home. our "green team" consist of beth, shannon and amy, so we'll be meeting the 3 of them over the course of our pregnancy. and in case anyone's wondering, i'm definitely doing a hospital birth...there's no way i'd do it at home! i'm very excited about this very big decision, which then led to decision #2...

decision #2: we've chosen our doula. after interviewing 3 doulas, and getting turned down by 2 doulas (due to work/schedule conflicts), we decided to book roxanne waite. we met her on tuesday night, and had an immediate connection with her. i think chris was fascinated by her because she's caucasian and she's working towards her traditional chinese medicine degree (or certificate? whatever it is!). i was impressed with her because she actually knew what sciatica was and she said accupuncture was a great treatment to relieve the pain. if the chiro doesn't work out over the next 4 weeks, i'm taking the plunge to the needles :P another reason for this decision was the referral from mike & sandra. the other 2 doulas i met with, i had chosen randomly from perusing their websites.

decision #3: we've signed up for birthing from within prenatal classes! we had originally signed up for the classes at bc women's, but since we're not delivering there, and we've switched to the midwife/doula route, i thought those classes weren't quite for us anymore.

such a productive week we've had :-)

reminiscing

after chris and i got married in 2005, our photographer had asked if he could use a picture from our wedding for the website. i happily agreed, since i loved some of our pictures. however, i wasn't impressed with the picture they actually used, nor did i provide the "appreciation" comment that went with it. ironically, one of matt's friends who interviewed our photographer contacted me to get my thoughts on this person. i told him straight up what the deal was and my 100% honest opinion. i think everyone looks back on their wedding day and can pick at least one thing that they would have done differently. the photographer was my one thing.

well, after that i went to check all the websites for the vendors we had used. and to this day, i still go back...JUST IN CASE!

i'm pleased to say that rose chair decor used a photo i submitted, because i was so impressed with how the chair covers turned out. even though the terminal city club is gorgeous already, the chair covers just made it THAT much more elegant. elizabeth tse also posted a few pictures of the bouquets that she created, as well as my sincere appreciation that i sent afterwards. and most recently, john porter updated his website, with 2 video shots of my flowers and the room set-up at the terminal city club.

2005 was a great year and i'll never forget my wedding day. now 2008 is presenting new challenges for me and chris as we continue on our pregnant journey. my mom made a comment last night about doulas that i thought tied both events together: at the wedding we had a wedding planner who ensured the smooth flow and stress-freeness of the day. at our baby's birth we're going to have a doula, who is also going to ensure a smooth flow and as much stress-freeness as possible.

it's all about the babies

this past weekend i bombarded chris with babies :-)

on saturday night my cousin invited us over for dinner, so i could see all the hand-me-downs that i'd be inheriting. she has 2 girls, age 5 and 11 months, so we had our hands full that evening with bri's constant chitter-chatter and a crying baby. poor chris! as he was soothing her, little bethany decided to throw up on him :P since she's drinking formula and eating some solids, it definitely left a smell on him. i wasn't able to witness this little incident as i was busy looking at dozens and dozens of onesies and sleepers!

sunday was another busy day. we spent the afternoon in maple ridge visiting our boy, nugget! we got to hang out with him, jazz, the parents and their 3 kids. that was a great afternoon...nugget seems to be very happy with his new life and the fact that the little boy loves him to bits! one night when dawn was at class with jazz, her 2 girls dressed nugget in a skirt...

later that afternoon, we went to visit the b-j's and met little nora. i was determined that chris would hold a newborn before our baby arrived! since she was swaddled it made holding her much easier, but chris still didn't look very comfortable. as soon as she started fussing he handed her back to me. oh well, it was a first step for chris :-)

on monday night i was so pleased that icon was at class! during her off-leash playtime, i swear she made a bee-line for me and wouldn't leave my side :-) yup, she definitely remembers who i am, and i'm glad she still loves me. her new family is going on vacation in june, and they asked if we wanted to puppysit her...we'll see how my sciatica/pregnancy progress by then before committing to anything.

and lastly, i got to meet bal's baby, ava. she was completely alert for my entire visit, so it was great to have a little chat w/her and her big brother, callum. bal and i had a great chat about pregnancy, labour, babies, and midwives vs. doctors. i left her place with a lot on my mind, but it was great to catch up with her again.

and now chris and i have a busy couple of weeks ahead of us. my biggest task that i want complete by the end of may is to remove everything from the 2nd bedroom by consolidating our dressers together into our bedroom and moving the computer into the living space. only then will i be able to determine how much space we have for a crib, change table, dresser, etc. etc. we're also interviewing 3 doulas (hopefully a 4th will be lined up soon), our first ultrasound is next weekend, our 4 month check-up tomorrow, i'm going maternity clothes shopping w/my mom this weekend, my bro's birthday is next weekend...ai-ya! so much stuff going on in april!

i give up

i've decided i'm not enjoying pregnancy at all. hopefully i'll enjoy motherhood a lot more :P for the past 2 weeks, i've had headaches almost everyday to different degrees of pain. it really sucks that i can't take excedrin for my pain...that's always a GREAT drug :-) i went for more bloodwork on wednesday, including the triple-screen marker...i didn't really want that one done in the first place, but since my first doctor didn't get all the tests done at my initial prenatal testing, i had to get blood taken anyways. i can still see where the damn needle was inserted into my arm. stupid. too bad blood can't be taken from my nose...i've had my share of nosebleeds recently. apparently i need to drink more water for the baby :P

i love to sleep on my back...it's the only position i'm 100% comfortable with. but, i've been trying to train my body to sleep on my left side. so far it's not working out well. i have a $10 body pillow that i got from superstore (the snoogle pillow at babies r us costs $60!) but the past 3 nights when i've woken up for my 1:30 a.m. pee-time, i discover i've thrown the pillow off the bed. i might have to snuggle with my former smaller pillow, and use the body pillow to stuff behind me so i can't roll over. good thing we have a queen bed now!

our baby is going to be born with puckered-up lips :P i've determined what my food craving is...anything and everything sour. sour skittles, dill pickles, salt & vinegar chips, balsamic vinegar, sour icebreakers, etc. etc. i'm also hungry 24/7 now. on sunday night, i woke up every 1.5 hours for no reason...so, at 3 a.m. i decided why not have some cheese & crackers?! chris bought pasteurized brie at granville island so i've been enjoying that immensely :-) i recently discovered i shouldn't be eating raw bean spouts. shame i put them on my beef noodle soup a couple weeks ago, and they were in my noodle dish at hon's :P i'm also finding it hard to avoid feta cheese... i can't wait to eat tuna sashimi again! ethical beans is going to be opening a kiosk at the commercial drive skytrain station, and they've been offering free coffee to commuters...i love the smell of coffee and it's been tempting to grab a cup :(

on a happier note, i attended my 2nd prenatal yoga class last night. i didn't push myself as hard as last week, so i wasn't in nearly as much pain this morning when i woke up. i also didn't breathe in-and-out as hard, so i wasn't light-headed when i left the class. i learn from my mistakes :-)

and lastly, i have the babies r us catalogue, so i've been perusing it for ideas for our baby. chris' parents are buying us a crib and my parents are buying us furniture. i've flagged a bunch of things i need to research further (strollers/car seats), things i need/want (playmat, safari bedding collection, highchair), and things that are still quesionmarks (bathtub, bassinette). it's far too overwhelming sometimes...i just want someone else to do all the work for me :-) any takers?! haha!

prenatal yoga

after more discussion with my physiotherapist, and a discussion about prenatal exercising, i signed up for prenatal yoga through trine yoga. i never thought i'd take a yoga class, but this is more about healing myself than "getting in shape".

tonight was my first 75 minute class, and i've come to the realization that i don't like to exercise. i left the class feeling sick...perhaps its because i pushed myself too hard, unsure of whether the pain was a stretching type pain, or if it was actually my sciatica screaming "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?". perhaps it was having to stretch in different positions that i'm not used to. or perhaps i just don't enjoy "exercising" in dark environments lit by candles.

on a positive note, i did benefit in one aspect...i definitely feel like my hips are a lot more relaxed and loose. that's probably a good thing for child-birth :-) the instructor, cielo, is really good. she was aware of my condition and she modified some of the moves for me, and she looks out for all the women to ensure our comfort and safety, not allowing us to move incorrectly or strain our bodies.

anyhoo, the prenatal classes last 8 weeks, so hopefully things will get better. combine that w/my physio and massage therapy, hopefully i can get my sciatica under control. and now, dinner's calling...we're having steak tonight :-)

5 weeks only

after 5 weeks of puppy-love, it was a sad evening for me and chris. we had to let icon go. my sciatica is deteriorating rapidly, and all the physio and massage in the world wasn't helping me. the bending/leaning motion that comes with puppy care and the incessant pulling on the leash was killing my nerve. today was the final straw...as i was at the door putting on my shoes for work, i got stuck and couldn't move. i had to take the day off work to relax :P so frustrating and painful!

today i saw my doctor who told me to definitely take some tylenol to ease some of the pain, i'm wearing a maternity pelvic belt to hopefully keep things in place, along with my massage therapy and physio. after today's massage, i admit i felt a lot better, so hopefully i'm on the right track now. no more bending!

back to icon...she is now living with the family that raised frankie (who we did a puppyswap with back when we had nugget). it's a temporary situation for the weekend, a trial run, but hopefully by monday they'll have fallen so deeply in love with her that we're hoping she stays with them.

so for awhile, chris and i are puppyless so i have a chance to recuperate and get my lower back into shape before i start gaining weight. speaking of weight, i've now lost 4 pounds. who knew that getting pregnant would be my solution to weight-loss!

vacation day!

whoo-hoo! for the first time in many many years, i've taken easter monday as a vacation day! a lot of my peeps are off for spring break still, so i'm taking advantage of the quietness. originally i thought i'd have no plans, and just chill at home with icon. but on friday chris and i decided to grow up. that's right, we're graduating to a queen size bed! we hit sleep country after dim sum and tested a few beds and then bought it right on the spot :P so much for shopping around. the main reason for the purchase is due to chris' back...he's not getting a good night's sleep on the bed we currently have. the second reason for getting a bigger bed is me...once my belly starts growing, there won't be room for chris in the bed :-) haha!

so over the weekend i had to buy new bedding, and today i'm going to shop around for a new duvet filling...ours is kind of tired. and later this afternoon after sleep country delivers our bed, i'll probably take a pre-dinner nap to test it out. i can't wait! we've got new pillows, too!

i was on a roll this weekend...i even checked out the ikea website for new dressers for me and chris. we're gonna have to do some serious consolidating of our stuff so there's room for baby in september. we've already determined some of the stuff we're sending to my parents' storage room, but some of the stuff we'll have to re-org and find a new location for. i got totally research-motivated over the weekend, but actually getting out and doing the work is another story. also, chris has been a star and he won't let me lift heavy items anymore...which is probably good because of my sciatic nerve, plus i get the occasional lower-belly pain. i wish i could say it's nice to let someone else do all the work, but it's just frustrating sometimes.

oh well, maybe i'll take another nap before i go out shopping...

a mini-lok

the secret's out!

as we've been seeing our family and friends this past weekend, we finally let the cat out of the bag. if you've heard through the grapevine, it's true...chris and i are having a baby!

how we told our parents:
about 6-8 months ago, my mom asked me if chris and i planned on having kids. i told her that yes, they were in our future, but not yet. she then said she had a bit of travelling she wanted to do before she and my dad had to "settle down" and babysit for us. so, in anticipation of this, i went to bcaa and picked up some guided tour books for europe and we headed over to my parents house. i put them on the counter and suggested my parents might want to consider a vacation before september 2008 rolled around. after a quizzical look from my mom and utter confusion from my dad, i spelled it out for them...in september they would be grandparents!

well, right after we told my parents, we booted over to tell chris' parents. unfortunately only his mom was home at the time, and chris just give her the news straight-up.

it's a first grandchild for both our parents, and they're all super excited.

how i told my work-mates:
i actually spilled the beans to 2 of my mates fairly early on. they had just announced their july due-dates, and i wanted to share in the pregnancy development with them. so the 3 of us have had hushed conversations for the past 6 weeks around the office...it's been really great to share experiences with them, and to know that hopefully i'll snap out of my eternal sleeping habits :P

i told 2 of my bosses almost 2 weeks ago...i was feeling guilty about all my "appointments" that i had to go to, and i didn't want to get in trouble or rouse any suspicion. they are both mothers of two, and after the initial "oh my god, what are we gonna do with out you!" reaction, they were both very happy. my boss has to keep reminding herself that she's very happy for me, even though my team is up a creek :-) it's really nice to know how valued i am in the organization.

and then came the moment when the news was completely public. a new tradition started this year in our office. one of the consultants bought a mommy and baby penguin set from the vancouver aquarium for a colleague who's due at the end of march. after 2 more pregnancies were announced, he went out and bought more penguins. so a couple weeks ago, he asked me if we needed any more penguins, and i told him to get a few extra, just in case :-) so on thursday, i told him that a penguin was needed...for me! he ran to his desk and got me my penguin (a.k.a. waddles). so waddles sat on my desk on thursday afternoon waiting for some attention. when nothing happened, my boss finally spelled it out for a few of my teammates. and that's how the news started spreading. and now everyone knows to watch out for waddle-appearances!

about the pregnancy:
anyways, back to me! our due date is one of these days: september 23, 24 or 25. we're not really sure, since we've been told all 3 days by 3 different doctors. so, i've chosen to stick with september 24, since it's right in the middle and happens to be 1 week after our 3 year wedding anniversary. on thursday at our doctor appointment, we were fortunate enough to hear our baby's heartbeat for the first time. there really is a baby growing inside of me!

asides from sleeping ALL the time, i've been feeling pretty good. i initially gained 2 pounds, but then i lost 3 pounds, i've had no food cravings, and no morning sickness. i get a little nauseous if i don't eat in awhile...so i try to always have some crackers within arms reach for that little snack i need. i've also quit my coffee habit...no more starbucks for me :( the day we found out we were pregnant, the front page of the vancouver sun screamed "caffeine linked to miscarriage", so to stop the nagging from chris and my parents, i just quit altogether :P harsh. it's also upsetting that i can't eat sashimi...i really miss my tuna. the other day, chris had a tuna sub, and i had a bite of it...i was in heaven!

so now my blog will be taking a new turn, down the baby road. our puppy adventures will be coming to an end this summer because i won't be able to raise a baby and train a dog simultaneously. that's not to say we're ending our relationship with PADS! i'm still keeping my monday night cuddles (evening timeslots are hard to come by!), but it will be a little while before we bring a puppy back into our household. in the meantime, we're going to enjoy our limited time with icon and hope to train her well before we say goodbye puppy, hello baby!

pain, pain go away

i haven't blogged in awhile...no real excuse for my absence. i guess there hasn't been a lot going on since we got icon.

the biggest news is my sciatic nerve has reared its ugly head. i've been in pain for almost a week now, and i finally started my physio treatment this a.m. it was also recommended that i do some massage therapy as well...we'll see how that goes on friday...i'm ridiculously ticklish and i hate pain. i'm not sure what's worse...the pain from my nerve or the pain from someone trying to massage it better :P