my 2nd positive test result

in pregnancy, the only time you want a positive test result is the actual pregnancy test (assuming you want kids!). i've been fortunate until now that all of my test results have come back negative...gestational diabetes, std's, triplescreen marker, urine analysis, blah blah blah. today i found out that i'm group b strep (gbs) positive.

"Between 10 and 30 percent of pregnant women carry GBS bacteria in the vagina or rectal area, where they may pass it to their babies during labor or birth. With proper prenatal testing and treatment during labor, though, the risk is small.Without treatment, one or two out of every 200 babies born to "GBS positive" mothers would become infected with the bacteria and develop what's called early-onset GBS disease. The consequences can be very serious.GBS disease can cause sepsis (an infection in the blood), pneumonia, and meningitis in newborns. Some of these babies, particularly those with meningitis, will have long-term health problems such as hearing or vision loss, cerebral palsy, or developmental disabilities, and about 5 percent won't survive.

While this sounds really scary, the good news is that getting screened when you're between 35 and 37 weeks of pregnancy and receiving antibiotic treatment during labor if you test positive will greatly reduce your baby's risk of becoming infected. "

so once my water breaks or i go into active labour, i have to go to the hospital and get an injection of antiobiotics to protect the baby during the birth. ugh. and depending how long labour goes, i'll need to get a dose every 8 hours, so that means i'll have a tube-thing stuck in my arm :P I AM SCARED SH*TLESS OF NEEDLES AND EVERYTHING ASSOCIATED WITH THEM! you'd think after all the tests i've had done, i'd be used to it by now. go figure :P

on slightly happier note, my belly's growing nicely, ironically enough i've lost 2 pounds this week, and baby still hasn't dropped completely, so there's minimal chance of going into labour before p&g's wedding :-) yahoo!

contractions? really?!

ok, so we all know i'm not necessarily the smartest cookie in the jar. and now i have another tidbit that proves it. we're down to weekly check-ups with our midwives, and all along i've been thinking we've had an active baby recently who sometimes knocks the wind outta me. not true. turns out i've actually been experiencing braxton hicks contractions. i only discovered it because the midwife was trying to measure my belly today, and she stepped back and said she'd wait till the contraction ended. i was like, "what contraction?" she explained to me what was going on i was like"whoah!" if only the real contractions were like the bh ones...then i'd get through labour no problem! ha!

so all is well with baby...he hasn't dropped yet, so i'm not going into labour anytime soon. which is good, because i still feel like there's a lot to do before he arrives. however, my anxiety over the impending birth has been keeping me up at night. so i'm going to take calm fortes to see if that'll help me sleep. i've started drinking raspberry leaf tea for labour preparation (who knew your uterus needed prepping?)...i don't know if it'll work, but heck, right now i'll try anything. i also have to eat a banana before bedtime...the potassium will help with the leg cramps i've been getting in the middle of the night. unfortunately if that doesn't work, i'll need to increase my calcium supplements. good times ahead :P

all finished!

i can't believe it. where did the past 9 months go? it feels like just yesterday that chris and i announced our pregnancy, and now all of a sudden i'm finished work! this past week has especially flown by...we've been so busy - puppysitting caber, attending the PADS fundraising walk, and creating our birth plan.

on tuesday, my workmates threw a surprise baby shower for me. i was truly overwhelmed by all the gifts we received! baby boy is going to be dressed in style :-)

and now i have another equally busy weekend ahead...hotpot dinner, manicure, bridal shower for pauline, `dinner tasting` for baby`s one month party, my baby shower, and a 1-day puppysitting stint with jolie. plus hopefully chris will set up the crib, and we`ll be bringing home the basinette soon, too! only 3 more weeks to go...holy shit :P

finally...happy news!

after 3 weeks of swimming and chiropractic adjustments, our baby boy has found his way! yup, that's right...he's now head-down! whoo-hoo :-) thank goodness...i started to get worried that i wasn't going to have a birthing option!

tonight we also had our hospital tour at burnaby general. the birthing suite was pretty impressive...bigger than i thought it would be, complete with shower facilities (no tubs though). once baby arrives, he never has to leave my side...the incubator for him is right beside the bed, along with all the medical technology necessary for a healthy birth. then we'll get sent down to the maternity ward where i'm hoping for a private room. unfortunately we were informed that september is a very busy month for births...something about a lot of xmas celebrations :P

we also peeked in at the nicu, but since we're at the 35 week mark, it's pretty much guaranteed that our baby won't be spending any time in there. we did peek at a baby who was born at 33 weeks gestation, and had just turned 3 weeks old...as we looked at her, we realized our baby was currently around that size in my belly...so little still!

it's been a busy week of blogging, and there's still so much more to come this weekend! we're getting rid of our old computer desk, and making room for the crib to be set-up...ready or not...it's almost september!

cloth & disposable diapers

after much deliberation we've finally decided on our diapering solution...we're going to use cloth diapers! it's definitely a more labour intensive route than disposable diapers, but we're gonna do our little part for the environment, our wallets, and our baby's health. after attending the cloth diapering session held by new & green baby co. we were very excited about the variety of diapers available and what appears to be a very easy process. the only thing left to determine is how many diapers we'll be needing and which types to buy.

this was the cost breakdown (for 3 years) given at our session:

disposable diapers = $2,679
diaper delivery service = $3,059
cloth diapers = $1,019 plus $534 for laundry
gdiapers = $3,069

of course this would be subject to potty-training or EC (elimination communication). we're hoping to save on some of the laundry money by hang-drying the diapers. we figure since we'll have at least 30 diapers (for a minimum 2-day period), we'll have more than enough to go around. and depending on which diapers we buy, they could last us from 8-35 lbs!

we've also decided that we want to start off with disposable diapers. in the beginning few weeks it might be easier, and when baby poops out the miconium, there won't be any messy clean-up to fight with on a cloth diaper. also, assuming we'll have some sleepless nights at first, the last thing we want to do is fiddle with a 2-step diapering system. so we went shopping and bought our costco-size box of disposable diapers and baby wipes! fun times.

what a klutz

i've read in my pregnancy books that as pregnancy progresses, one can get very clumsy. well, i started noticing it when i would drop my keys for no reason. but i brushed it off as general clumsiness. then i noticed i kept closing the fridge door on my belly. a few weeks ago, as i avoided colliding with our dresser, i ended up walking into the doorframe. and over a 2-day period last week, every time i walked into the spare room i would scrape my arms on the cd rack as i passed it :P

but today was the real whopper...chris had set up our new computer table, and i hipchecked into it and ricocheted right into the bar stool where i managed to crush my baby toe. at first i thought it was just a stubbed toe that hurt really bad. when the swelling and pain hadn't subsided by the end of the work day, i went to the walk-in clinic for a medical assessment. fortunately my toe's not broken or dislocated...just badly injured, and quite possibly could be sore for another week while it recovers :P so now i have a make-shift bandage splint for my baby toe and i'll be wearing flipflops for a few days.

just ONCE i wish i could say i had a pain-free pregnancy day. well, i have to ice my back and baby toe now. good night.

there was a bit of everything!

on one of the hottest days of the year, chris and i had a wedding to attend. it was a cambodian/vietnamese celebration at a chinese restaurant. we showed up 10 minutes late. turns out we could have shown up 1.5 hours late and still been on time :P i should've known better...i was absolutely starving by the time the reception started...i would've gone to dairy queen for a snack, but my poor ass/back was killing me!

anyways, it was definitely one of the more interesting weddings we've attended. the couple had hired a vietnamese band to perform, there was a dance crew (think america's best dance crew, but on a lesser scale), the bride AND the bridesmaids all changed 1/2-way through the reception, when the head table went around to "cheers" at each table, they left a bundle of cigarettes at each table, and after cutting the cake the couple actually threw it at each other. oh yes, and the speeches...unfortunately the ppl at the back tables were rowdy so no one could hear the speeches, and the poor groom was so shy and embarrassed, he couldn't even speak.

oh well, at least i got one wear out of my maternity dress :-) 1 wedding down, 2 more to go for 2008.

PADS - Me? MC? Really?!

wow, so i must've been experiencing a moment of weakness when i agreed to be the MC for the PADS Walk & Roll 2008! more info is available on the website if anyone is interested in signing up :-) chris and i will both be there on august 24, and we plan on puppysitting for the weekend.

as much as i hate speaking in front of a crowd, it'll be lots of fun because it's such a casual and fun event. i've also worn different hats at the event: a general volunteer, a puppysitter (we had cary last year), and now as MC this year. i was approached by jennifer a few weeks ago, and since i've been a puppycuddler, a puppysitter, a puppyraiser, and now i'm the volunteer puppysitting coordinator, i have lots of PADS knowledge! it'll also be great to get out and meet more of the PADS volunteer family.

even though everything will be pretty much scripted for me, i'm still nervous. i've been promised that no one will throw darts at a pregnant lady :-) wish me luck!

new wheels

sigh...we've continued our journey towards familyhood. tonight, i said goodbye to my 2002 2-door civic couple, and said hello to a 2002 4-door accord. nice. we finally did the car swap with my family, and now my bro is tickled pink that he has a car of his own. as for me...i already miss my little car...but i know in the long-run a 4-door will be much easier to maneuver a baby in-and-out of.

we've also made an appointment in september for our carseat check at bcaa. we've been told it's easy to install the carseat if you just follow the directions. but, for my own peace of mind (and since it's free!) we're going to have a "professional" check our work. also, a few weeks ago i heard in the news about a car being in a serious rollover accident, and the only reason the baby survived was because he/she was in a properly installed carseat. it's amazing how many people don't actually install them correctly or secure their child!

also on the very near horizon...the diaper dilemna! we're going to a cloth diaper infosession to learn more and hopefully decide which direction...disposable, cloth, or gdiaper (or a combination of any of them).

only 12 more days of work, and 6 more weeks till our due date!

a year off work

i finally determined my last day of work before mat leave...august 29, 2008. it feels so weird to know that in 3 weeks, i'll be off work for 13 months. well, it'll be a different kind of work :-) even though we're not due till sometime between september 23-26, i've got some PTO to use before the end of the year. and after the disaster last night i'm more determined to stop working.

it seems as though my hips now have a mind of their own. i know my body's probably getting ready for the birthing experience (whoop-de-doo), but it's very crippling. in the middle of the night, chris is snoring away, and i've got to pee. well, it takes me practically 5 minutes to get out of bed and make the 10 foot trip to the bathroom. on a positive note, the breathing techniques i've experienced will probably get me through labour :-) in the morning when we got up, chris tried the hip-squeeze technique to ease the pain as i walked. we probably didn't do it right, so we'll have to get some tips from the midwife and doula. i just hope that once the baby arrives, all the pain i've suffered the past 6 months goes away once and for all!

in the meantime, it's finally the weekend, and i've got 3 trips to the swimming pool to look forward to.