where's tres?!

wow, what a long hiatus from my blog!

work has been crazy busy for the past month, over the past 2 weeks i've had to place almost 3 dozen PADS puppies in homes, we've attended 2 of our birthing from within prenatal classes, celebrated father's day with both sets of parents, bought new dressers for our bedroom, and we puppysat beau. phew!

another typical family bbq

our friend, beau

our prenatal classes have been interesting. we've worked through 2 different "pain-coping" techniques, and i'm still not convinced. i'm not sure if it's me, or chris, or if this class is too "out there" for me. before the classes started, i thought i would enjoy them and that i might actually try and get through labour/delivery without any drugs. i don't think that's going to happen anymore. whatever chris tries to do to help through the "ice contractions" is not working. all i can focus on is the cold ice in my hands and how much it hurts. now i'm definitely glad we hired a doula! i think chris' role will be to stay by my side and be a silent supporter; roxanne will be the one talking me through the pain and comforting me. we still have 3 more classes to get through, so we'll see how it goes.

our new martha stewart dressers are arriving this weekend. we found a great deal from scan designs on a line that's being discontinued. we're making baby steps towards getting our 2nd bedroom baby-ready. hopefully after this weekend, the only thing left to move out is the computer workstation and some boxes! on the electronics-side, we've picked a digi-cam that we're interested in, and we're starting our research on videocameras. i'm feeling really good about our progress and we still have 13.5 weeks to go!

after all the craziness of the past few weeks, i'm looking forward to a very quiet weekend at home, just to chillax.

healthier momma-to-be!

chris and i met with our midwife today for our first check-up appointment. what a difference a midwife is compared to a doctor! we were with beth for a full 45 minutes today going over our family medical history, my sciatica issues, and overall pregnancy healthcare. it was definitely a more thorough discussion than we had with our last doctor (the whole 10 minutes it lasted). i'm glad we've made the switch :-) i guess one big difference right off the bat is tests. with the doctor, i basically didn't have a choice about the triple-screen marker...we were just sent off for the test (which i hadn't really wanted to get done in the first place). the next test that's coming up is the gestational diabetes. since i don't meet any of the risk factors for it, the choice is ultimately up to me. even though there's no diabetes in my family line, chris' dad does have it. i know that has no direct link to me or the baby, but for chris' peace of mind, we'll probably have it done anyways.

i was pleased that chris was comfortable with beth and even spoke up about some questions and concerns he had. after discussing my nutrition intake (or lack of nutrition), beth has suggested alternatives to my apple fritter breakfasts :P and chris, being the supportive husband he is, has committed to preparing breakfasts for the 2 of us! this way he'll know that i'm eating healthier in the morning, plus it'll be nice to have a meal together before we go our separate ways. now the trick is to keep our fridge stocked up with lots of fruits and vegetables, as well as finding grain-y foods that i'll actually eat! hopefully i can learn some better eating habits for the sake of our baby.

last night chris assembled our uno stroller and went through it step-by-step. since we bought it 2nd hand on craigslist, he was very thorough and ensured all the parts were present and in working order :-) i'm very pleased with all the features on the stroller, and even more pleased that the blue colour was much deeper than the bright blue displayed on the website! next step...ordering the carseat!

the return of nunu!

aw, what a weekend! chris and i got to spend an entire weekend with our boy, nugget :-) his family was supposed to go to whistler for the weekend so we volunteered to dog-sit, but they changed their minds last minute but we took him anyways. it was great to have a dog in the house again...we've definitely missed our 4-legged friends. i was worried that nugget might push me around a bit given his enormous size and strength, but he was really good, no pulling at all! chris thinks he remembered us...when we got off the elevator he remembered which way to go :-) he's still up to his old habits of picking up shoes at the doorway, and he still growls at the tv when he sees a dog :P i guess some things just don't change :-)

november 21, 2008

oh-oh-oh-oh-oh
oh-oh-oh-oh
oh-oh-oh-oh-oh
the right stuff!

yah, baby! the new kids on the block have finally announced their reunion tour and i can't wait! after 2 frantic calls with priscilla, we've hooked ourselves up with my company's club seats, and now all we can do is wait for november 21! thank goodness the concert doesn't overlap with my due date :-)

clean, clean, clean!

wow. after a referral from ang, we hired "the maids" cleaning service to come and clean our condo from top to bottom. that was definitely money well spent...everything was dusted, vacuumed, cleaned, and polished. the team of 4 took over the condo and did a great job. it was a bit awkward for me since i was just standing/sitting around watching them work. at least for future visits, i'll make sure i'm out of the house...the vacuum was giving me a headache :P

i think we'll have them come in every 2 weeks to maintain our cleanliness. we might push it back to 3 weeks, but we'll see how it goes. i think even after baby arrives, i'd hire them for an occasional cleaning...they do a far better job than i've ever done!

making progress!

with chris having both sunday and monday off for a change, we (well, chris did the heavy work, i just directed him around) actually got a lot of work done this weekend in the 2nd bedroom! we managed to clear out one bookshelf and 2 closets of "stuff" and sent it over to my parents' storage unit. there's still a lot of work to be done in the condo, but we've finally taken a step in the right direction. yah! unfortunately, because we practically tore the bedroom apart, we've created a mess in our living space, so i have some tidying up to do tomorrow night before the cleaners come on wednesday morning :P

i also came to a final decision on our baby stroller...the 2008 peg perego uno. we did one more test-drive at tj's kids and i'm very pleased with this stroller. it's got great features, of which my favourite is the reversible handle...so i can see baby from front or back regardless of whether he's in the carseat or lying flat in the stroller. we're not in a rush to get it, so we'll order it a little later along with the carseat.

on this beautiful weekend, our friends geoff & sunny were in town, so i semi-hosted a baby shower for them :-) as always, lots of great gifts were given to the parents-to-be...i can't wait for us all to become parents and for our boys to grow up together! it sounds like geoff already has plans for him, chris and their boys :-) speaking of the boy, he's been moving around a lot lately...it's kind of weird and creepy to feel the movements...sometimes it feels like a little punch, but a couple times it's felt like a worm moving around and flipping over. so strange! he's definitely more active when i've been lying down and i roll around in bed...i guess we're both trying to get comfie.

also this weekend, we celebrated my cousin's kids birthdays...brianna turned 5 and bethany turned 1. i love to watch kids as they squish into their 1st birthday cake. it's a classic event, and i get a real kick out of it. at least i don't have to clean up after them...yet!

and lastly, i've taken on a new volunteer role at PADS! since my puppyraising/sitting days are over until after the pregnancy, i've offered my organizational services to help coordinate weekend puppysitters for my 4-legged friends :-) recently chris and i have both fallen in love with a 5 month old yellow lab. chris handled beau in class one day, and i've gotten to spend some time in the kennel with him...he's a lovely yellow lab with a great temperament who just wants to please people. such a lovely little man! if we could raise him, he would've been our next choice. in the meantime, chris will keep attending classes as an observer and get his puppy fix :-)

a gift for me!

what a day! so afer 20 weeks of pregnancy, i still hadn't felt any movement from the baby. maybe i felt stuff, but it was confused w/gas :P but today i felt something i couldn't quite explain. we were en route to mother's day dinner, and i felt something in my lower belly. since i wasn't hungry and i hadn't eaten in a couple hours i was pretty sure it was baby moving, and not just gas/digestion :-) and then after dinner on our way home, i felt something move again! baby likes the car ride! my first mother's day gift from my baby...movement!

unfortunately it's nothing that chris could feel, since it only happened twice today, and it was only for a second. for a while i was convinced we had a lazy baby, since so many ppl had asked if we could feel the baby yet. i guess our baby just likes to take his time :-) speaking of "him", it seems as though we're going for the 3d ultrasound at some point in the near future. chris' dad wants to know for certain it's a boy...apparently when chris' youngest sister was born, the chinese fortune teller told them it would be a boy...so he was completely taken aback when a girl popped out :P

also on the baby-front, chris and i test drove some strollers today. going to babies world, i told him which stroller i was leaning towards, since we can get it free w/points he's collected. however, after pushing 4 different strollers around, we're kind of stuck. all strollers have unique features and have different "handling" capabilities. out of the 4, we narrowed it down to 2 different peg perego strollers...since we're getting the primo viaggo sip carseat for free :-) it's still so hard to choose, since they're both quite different and they have 2 different price tags attached...free or $500. thank goodness we have lots of time to decide still!

all this baby stuff can be so confusing!

20 weeks...1/2-way there!

as we celebrate the 1/2-way point through our pregnancy, i'm conflicted. on one hand, yah! i've made it this far! on the other hand, crap! how much more can go wrong w/me?!

we had our ultrasound last weekend and we have the results...it's a boy. needless to say, chris and his family are pretty tickled blue over this development. i, on the other hand, need some time to adjust. i had really hoped for a little girl...someone i could dress up :-) but, i have heard that boys are easier (and probably cheaper in the long run!) to raise. when they gave the results of the ultrasound, they added a little disclaimer saying it could be wrong, but ppl have told me it's usually the other way around...incorrectly calling it a girl when it's a boy. we were thinking of getting a 3d ultrasound just to confirm, but that's an additional cost i'm not sure i want to incur. no biggie at this point.

my fellow hewies aren't surprised that it's a boy, considering everyone on the 19th floor of our building reproduces boys...ironic for a woman-dominated environment :P also, the upcoming generation on both sides of our families are pretty boy-heavy. i didn't stand a chance of having a girl! besides, i guess only a man can cause me THIS much pain! haha :-)

and speaking of the pain, and what else can possibly go wrong...on this 20-week celebration, i bear bad news. i have to cut back my work hours. the torture of sitting at a desk 40 hours a week has come to an end...i'm now down to 20 hour work-weeks effective today (salary continuance workplan), potentially until the baby arrives. i saw my chiropractor today, and the latest complication is numbness and tingling in my tushy...a precursor of a herniated disc. unfortunately it can't be confirmed because i can't get any x-rays done. so now 1/2 of my work days will be spent cooped up at home in my bed in the hopes that the sciatica won't get any worse. this is NOT fun!

now chris and i have our work cut out for us...we need to get our condo tidied up a bit so we can hire a crew to do our cleaning on a regular basis. once we get the 2nd bedroom organized better, we'll be well on our way to having a room for the baby! all that's left now is creating a baby registry, ordering our carseat and stroller, prenatal classes, creating a birthplan with our doula, researching our diaper options....hmmm, seems i have my work cut out for me!

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 :-)