heads up!

we had our 32 week appointment with our midwife today. baby's ultrasound came back with all the measurements needed, the heartbeat was strong (baby even had the hiccups!), my vitals are good, and i've only gained 16 lbs! whoo-hoo :)

the only downside to today's session was finding out how the baby was positioned. turns out that baby is head up, not down. our baby was extremely active this morning (and hiccuping a lot!), so it was hard to gage exactly where he was positioned. the midwife thinks his head is in the middle of my belly (which could explain the rippling effect i see above my belly button), with his legs on the right side of my belly (where i feel most of the kicking movements). before our next appointment in 3 weeks, chris and i have homework to do...swimming (good exercise for me and baby, plus it'll promote the baby to go head down), chris can talk to my lower belly (to encourage baby towards the sound), and when i'm lying down we can try to push my stomach and turn the baby ourselves. fun.

8 more weeks to go!

farewell to my feet

well, i wondered when it would happen, and it has. i'm having trouble reaching my toes. showering is more difficult (TMI?), bending down to pick stuff up is painful, and just getting out of bed plain-old HURTS! fortunately, i have some gc's to use at absolute spa, so i'll be booking a pedicure as soon as i go on mat leave! or perhaps sooner...

this is an awkward weekend...chris is in vegas, my mom's going to mayne island, and my doula's on vacation for 2 weeks. god forbid anything were to happen, my dad and bro would have to clutch up! fingers crossed, everything seems to be fine :-) except my back...i can't believe the spasms have returned. i thought i said farewell to them months ago, but apparently not. it could be my body reacting to chiro adjustment today so we'll see how tomorrow goes. otherwise, i might be spending the entire weekend at home lying down :P

on a happier note, baby's room hit the jackpot today...my cousin has passed along tons of baby clothes (we removed all the pink items!), as well as receiving blankets, cuddle seats, a carseat for my parents, an exersaucer, and a playmat. apparently there's a 2nd shipment of stuff still to come...can't wait! thanks andy!

yah, babies! and a puppy :-)

so it's july 21. the due date for 4 of my friends...well, technically 3. the 4th is due on july 24, but they pushed her due-date back from the original july 21.


3 babies were welcomed into the world last week...


brendan, born july 15
cassandra, born july 17
trevor, born july 18


i'm so excited for all my friends and their new babies! now i can't wait to meet my (very) active little one :-) in the meantime, i'm all about the ice cream, slurpees, and iced capps!



and here are some pix from our weekend with little miss holly...

musical baby

what a day! when i was getting my haircut this morning, little baby was moving up a storm in my belly! usually i don't feel him until the evening, or when i sit for prolonged periods at my desk. baby was definitely inspired by the music - the bee-gees and abba, no less! it was a combination of rolling around and arm/leg movements. i've started to feel the baby in the middle of my belly above my belly button - up until now it's always been lower belly and my sides.

we went to see mamma mia tonight, and the baby was moving even more. the pop might have been an additional contributor, but baby could sense the music and was moving to it. so crazy! i guess baby's gonna take after his daddy and be a musical lover :-)

now, if only baby could tell us what he'd like his name to be...

conclusive!

phew! after 3 weeks of waiting for our 2nd ultrasound, we finally got the news we've been waiting for. it's definitely a boy (we saw his penis! haha!) and all the measurements and stats that were needed for a "conclusive" ultrasound were gathered! we'll get the official word from our midwife at our next appointment, but the technician at bc womens told us everything looked fine. our 3 lb. bun is growing well and very active...he kept waving at us :-) the pictures we got today weren't very flattering though...it appears he might have my surly personality...i definitely saw a frown on his face. hahaha!

and also on the baby-front, my iron level is low, so now i have to take more pills to keep the 2 of us going strong. darn all these pills i have to take! good thing chris is a butcher...we'll just be eating a lot more steaks over the next 2 months :-) on a happier note, despite all the sugar i've been craving and consuming the past 2 weeks, the gestational diabetes results were normal!

lastly, congrats to jen & family who welcomed their baby boy yesterday! she's the first of four of my friends due on july 21...a very popular date!

chris' girl is growing up!

over the long weekend, we made plans to meet up with icon's puppysitter at the park. it's evident that she still loves chris...whenever she sees him the excitement is ridiculous. she starts "singing"...a combination of barking, howling and crying, and she tries so hard to keep all 4 paws on the floor, but her front paws always get a bit of airtime :-)


here's a couple pix of her (age 6 months)...

inconclusive...what does that mean?!

when we had our first appointment with our midwife, beth, my medical files hadn't been transferred over yet, so they didn't have all my test results. today we had an appointment with our other midwife, shannon, and as she went through our file she noticed a comment on our ultrasound...inconclusive. since it didn't indicate what exactly was inconclusive, we're going to bc womens in mid-july for another ultrasound. bloody hell! it appears as though all the baby's measurements were fine, but not knowing exactly what is "inconclusive" is a bit unnerving.


so since we're having a 2nd medical ultrasound, we've cancelled our 3d ultrasound. hopefully the 2nd ultrasound will still confirm that it's a boy, and we'll go from there. our midwife is sure everything is fine, but we want to have a fully conclusive report :-)



other than today's development, everything's been going fine. i have to take more calcium supplements though...i've been having some bad cramping lately when i walk, so it could be blamed on baby. we're also doing the gestational diabetes test next week and getting some routine pregnancy bloodwork done...the fewer times i have to be pricked with a needle, the better! shannon also suggested a relaxing homeopathic pill to take before my bloodtest to calm my nerves and hopefully prevent the sweat & shakes i get before going to the lab!

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 :-)