She's here!

Rosalie Elisabeth Jeanne was brought into the world on Wednesday, November 18, 2009 at 8:15pm. She was 6lbs 15oz, 20 inches long.

I'd waited the mandatory week, then on Tuesday morning went in to be induced. Contractions started around 9:00 that evening, and my water broke at 10:30 or so. I went into the hospital, but through the night my contractions became fewer and farther between. I actually managed to get like, 3 1/2 hours of sleep with few interruptions. Contractions were no stronger the next morning, so they put me on Oxytocin around 1:00pm.

Things got pretty intense, and around 6:00 or later I opted for the epidural. It was great. However, around 7:45 the nurses told me that that Rosa's heartbeat was dipping periodically. They didn't know why that was, but they decided they shouldn't risk anything, and if she was in stress, they had to get her out of the birth canal. I was up for anything that would help me meet my baby. By 8:00 Phil was wearing scrubs and they were wheeling me into the OR for an emergency C-section.

8:15 I heard from behind the curtain "You've got a girl!"

It was worth it.

D Day

Today is November 10th. Which is funny because it feels just like any other morning.... but I've been talking about this day for months. Every time someone asked "When are you due?" which became a very common question, this day was the answer.

The question now is, is this day the answer?

I doubt it.

However, we're going to do our best. Greasy Chinese food, getting my membranes stripped, some Phil and Me time, and a reflexology treatment.

Phil's nervous to be a dad, but he wants to meet the baby so much! I'm feeling pretty good about the whole thing, oddly enough. I thought I'd be more nervous. I do have that nervous tummy feeling that I get before all big events... I woke up like four times last night and just looked at the clock.

Plus I dreamed that when I went in to the doctor's she wanted me to sit over this seat with a big bucket on one end, and she left the door open.... the doctor in the dream wasn't actually mine, so that's nice. I remember thinking it was all very unprofessional.

I suppose D Day is not the most respectful euphemism, but it was what popped into my head. Actually, I think there's some poetry to having my baby right around remembrance day... new life in the wake of so much loss.

We'll see how the day goes.... So hard to believe that when the week is out I'll be a mom, one way or another (they'll induce on the 17th)

Welcome to the world little one... we're all waiting for you.

Welcome to the planet
Welcome to existence
Everyone's here
Everybody's watching you now
Everybody waits for you now
What happens next


I dare you to move
I dare you to lift yourself up off the floor
I dare you to move
Like today never happened before

(Switchfoot)

So CLOSE!

So I'm less than a week away, five days to be exact.

Five is a good number, cuz it's one fifth of twenty-five. :)

My back is a little sore, but I'm doing well, no foot swelling, only a couple crampy feelings here and there. Heartburn happens rarely, although when it does it sucks and keeps me up for hours in the night.

We've run into complications with the baby room floor.... we're going to have to scrape a whole bunch of foam up off if it before we can put down the laminate. Someone glued the stuff down over every inch, and it's all rotted and gross so there's no leaving it in.

by "we" I mean Phil, he's been doing so much! He's such a wonderful man. He painted the walls yellow and we sponged the far wall with our new and improved green. Ma (Lee's mom) made us curtains from a gorgeous material we picked up, and she made a duvet cover for us and a couple blankets from it all.

We have some geckos to climb the walls, and we're thinking of making vines over the playpen so it's like a really huge, cool mobile. That'll be finishing touches for after.

First there's the daunting task of scraping the floor... :( Then we have to install the laminate hardwood. The good news is it's only $10/box at the ReStore, and they've got some pretty nice stuff!

Phil is so ready for this baby to come out, he's talking to it all the time and keeps telling it to hurry. :) The baby seems content, moving a little less, but still active and alert... I'm running out of room though, my belly is stretched tight! I'm definitely ready too.

We're looking forward to Tuesday when the stripping of the membranes will happen, and then I'm going in for a foot massage and my boss is going to do some reflexology pressure points stuff and see if she can help the process along... :D That'll be so great!

I'm putting together a call list for when I go into labour and another for after the baby comes... if you're reading this and you wanna know at either of those points, leave me a quick comment.

I'm getting so excited! Five days to go... at least until the week of waiting begins :)

*sigh* Canadian tire mixed up the wrong shade of green for me, it looked good on the card but was much lighter on the can, and looks much more like peppermint than vines, although I'm wondering if maybe I could use it to accent the leaves or something... that might be nice. Give it some depth.

We're going to have a garden/jungle themed room in yellow and green... I get to use all Phil's frogs and my bugs and spiders, and it'll be so pretty with the green lava lamp...

I'm bone-tired. I feel tired inside, like, my mind and my heart feel tired too. Phil is feeling that way right now too, I can see it. This room is going to be a big project for us.

Lots of prayer :)

thanks for the love, everyone.

Hospital visit

We went to tour the hospital on Monday, it's gorgeous. I'm beginning to look forward to the whole thing.... with the possible exception of the pain of course. I'll be praying for a room with a tub, but even if I don't get one (there are only, like, 2 or 3) I'll be looking forward to taking a few hours in the spare tub...

I've asked for a birthing ball as well, figured there's nothing wrong with having as many different positions available as I can.

I was 35 weeks on Tuesday, and the last 5 weeks alternately feel like they'll be gone in the blink of an eye, and that they'll last forever!! It's strange to think that when I was 5 weeks pregnant I didn't even know yet, and now I've only got 5 weeks left to go...

The baby's pushing around inside. S/he says "hi!"

I went to the Doctor on Tuesday, now it'll be weekly visits until I deliver.

She said that the baby's not really big, but not small either. She guessed it'll probably be tall and lean. lol. She looked at Phil as she said it, makes sense to me!

I'm the right size for my term though, and I've only gained like 20lbs or so (maybe 25?) through this whole thing... pretty cool I think. Everyone says I'm carrying small, but I think it's just proportional, since I'm so tall myself.

The girls at work are looking forward to me bringing the baby into the office... I'm excited about the whole thing too.

We picked the colours for the baby's room, we're going to do banana-yellow walls, and sponge one wall with green. Then we'll do vines and green leaves, etc... on the other walls.

We thought we should paint first, and then do the floor. I'm wondering if we might not end up just replacing the carpet though, since it sounds like putting in the laminate hardwood flooring will be LOTS of work, and I can't bend over. We'll figure that out when we pull it all up after we paint.

Gotta buy those paints this week. Happy happy! Go garden/jungle theme... baby's gonna be so pleased! (actually, the baby won't care a whit, but Phil and I will be pleased, and the room'll look cute as anything. That's what matters.)

34 Weeks

Today I am 34 weeks pregnant.

That means that in approximately 48 days (give or take a week) I will be holding our first baby. The first grandchild on both of our parents' side, the first child to be welcomed into our home, the newest addition to the family.... it's all pretty overwhelming. Sometimes I wonder if I can't ask the baby to wait a little while for me to get more used to the idea.... which is hilarious cuz I've been looking forward to holding my own child since I was 10 years old or so.... actually, probably since I was like 3.

This blog has been sitting on my back burner along with a lot of other things (many of them which should not have been) because work at the Cascade has been so busy these past few weeks. However, I'm looking forward to my workload lightening as we're hiring our new Editor-in-Chief on Friday, and next week I will be training them, and back to being the Managing Editor, second-in-command, rather than doing two jobs in one.

About the baby.

s/he gets the hiccups a lot, I love that cuz it's the only time I'm guaranteed that when I call someone over to feel they'll actually get to feel something.

s/he seems to be awake LOTS at night, so especially between 10:30 and 12:00, although I try not to be awake that late... there's only been one night so far where the baby has kept me up, and I swear it was trying to climb out of me! The pressure s/he was putting on the side of my belly was phenomenal, I haven't felt anything that strong or persistent from the baby since then, so I wonder what that was all about. Maybe just testing his/her strength.

The baby loves music, that much I'm still sure of. Especially bass. We went to Dis-Orientation at my school, which is a rock concert and this year headlined Finger Eleven, and the baby loved it. Moved around a whole lot in those few hours, and finally some of the girls from work got to feel the movement.

We also went to Casting Crowns in Langley, which was a wonderful concert. The baby loved that too, and I spent much of my time watching my belly be nudged from within... that and singing my heart out to God along with thousands of other Christians. It was a great night.

When s/he decides to really move, you can see it from the outside. Not clear shapes or anything, there's too much of me in the way for that, but definitely rising and falling of different parts of my stomach, which I'm still not used to. Alien child. :)

We're finally preparing to fix up the baby room, the carpet should be coming out next week sometime. Eleah's little boy Judah will be two months on Thursday, and he's having a dedication this weekend so there's not a lot of time for us to get work done, but we'll get to it. We have a deadline we have to meet!

Phil's tickled pink cuz he's going to be making Judah's cake, and we finally got his cake decorating stuff in the mail from Pampered Chef. We're all ready to make the cutest cake for the cutest baby....

Judah and his little pseudo-cousin (as we call my little one) have met as much as they can... They nudge and kick each other occasionally, and we're all looking forward to having two babies in the house.

I suppose that's long enough for now, the only other interesting note was that September 25th was our 25 month anniversary, which seems silly, but 25's my favourite number and I thought it noteworthy.

Next week Tuesday will be my last bi-weekly doctor's visit; after that I move to weekly visits until the baby comes.

So strange. So soon... it's all gone by so fast... 1/2 of me is SO SO excited, the other half is shaking in my boots.... well, my flip-flops anyway; I've never been much for boots.

I've promised my mom pictures, so I'll be adding some to this post and putting some up on Facebook.

Counting the weeks...

30 weeks!

I was looking on the calendar, and I've been a week behind in my count for the last couple of weeks, I thought I was 28 weeks on our anniversary last week, but apparently I was 29, and now I'm 30!

It's hard to believe... only 10 weeks to go! I'm looking forward to it... not to the lack of sleep of course, but to having my body back.

I love the baby right now though! It loves to be sung to and so Phil and I took out the guitar and we've been making sounds that I'm sure everyone else in the house cringes at, but it's been great fun! Nice to sit with him and worship as well, plus the baby always gets involved by dancing in my tummy... I think we have a music lover coming along. His/her Oma (my mum) will be proud.

I've decided I kinda hope it's a girl too, more because everyone I know practically is having boys, although I need to wait to find out with Rachel and Maggie, but at least three of my pregnant friends and my cousin all had boys... you know me, I hate following the crowd!

I'm already in love with the baby no matter what though...

It's getting so big it's starting to kick me in the side when I'm laying down, and in the front at the same time... my balance is all off, and my muscles always feel tired and get sore really easily... Phil has found me a website of exercises I can do with one of those ball things, so I think I'll get one of those. Try to keep myself feeling like something other than the blob! It's a vicious cycle, the less strength I have the less I do, and the less I do the less strength I have. I've never felt like this before! I'm a farmgirl! :S

Luckily breastfeeding is supposed to burn 500 calories a day, so I'll be well on my way to sexy slimness in about six months... *crosses fingers*

We have so many things already... an exersaucer, a jolly jumper on the way from Neolle, TONNES of girly baby clothes from Noelle, a baby carseat, a couple of tummy-time play mats... People keep asking me what I need, but since Phil's mom is getting us a playpen, I don't know if there is really anything else big, Aunty Joan said she'd take care of the buggy.... I love toys! lol. I'm gonna make a list of stuff.... ooh, and bottles I suppose, those'll be important for Phil. We have a baby bath and everything.

I'll come up with a list.

I'm so excited! 2 years married and 30 weeks pregnant, congratulations to us!

Vacation

I've been in Ontario for over a week now, and I have to say I love the weather! It feels like I've come home. I keep telling people they need to give it back to us, and they are agreeing. There's been days of sunny periods mixed with rain, and other than the humidity it feels just like home should be.

They want our heat, crazy people.

Last week was basically swallowed with preparing for Will and April's upcoming nuptuals. They were married on Saturday, Phil was the best man. I was the chauffer, music director for the ceremony, photographer, MC, last-minute detail person, and general consultant. It was a busy day. However, everything went really well, and while I was completely exhausted and aching yesterday, Phil stepped up and took such amazing care of me! :D

My baby belly us suitably prominant, and I've been getting lots of happy attention from the whole family, Tania got to feel her little "niecphew" (her word) kick. Mom's knitting us an adorable baby blanket, our baby is going to be quite warm this winter! So many great blankets.

We've chosen our playpen, it's from Sears. The family over here wanted us to make a gift registry, so we've done that at Sears. I didn't even look at buggies, as Aunty Joan seems to have that all sewn up. My biggest concern is that people will double-buy for us and be unhappy.... I wish I could organize it all and make sure no one is spending too much or double-buying!

It was great to dance with Phil at the wedding... I miss dancing with him! I want to go out dancing more, esp. now that the baby's hearing is strong enough to pick up conversations outside of the womb. I need to flood those ears with some serious music!

The baby is practically dancing inside of me now for more and more time each day. The pitter-patter of little feet has a completely different meaning when you're carrying them inside of you!I'm 27 weeks tomorrow, and the baby is officially big enough to kick me in the stomach and the bladder at the same time, and it's quite strong! :s

Phil's dad is a big, santa-clause looking, gruff-seeming, sarcastic guy... and when I told him that we're planning on naming the baby Rosalie Elizabeth Jean (the middle names are Phil's grandmothers names, and to our surprise are his sister Martine's middle names) he teared up. It was cute, I haven't seen him cry since Tania's wedding.... he's totally a softie though.

He keeps muttering things about his grandbaby, and making sure that I'm comfortable. It's so sweet!

I miss my daddy.

Anyway, things are going very well, we have a week of visiting and enjoying the mild weather ahead of us. I'm still working out all the details of getting home, so I'll post that when I know more.

I miss everyone I'm away from!

Out of the frying pan....

We've officially moved into our new place, cuz I got the computer set up last night. lol.

Phil and I also brought our garden over from the old place, so now I have to bring it to the back yard, there's a lot of plants. It took us two hours to dig them up. We waited till after sundown. I'm pretty sore... but it's all gotta be done, we're leaving on Friday.

The baby's been kicking up a storm, and Phil's loving feeling it. The heat still totally saps my energy, and it's getting awkward moving sometimes and getting up... mostly cuz I'm tired. There's just so much to do still! Lee should be going into labour anytime now.... although she's not due for another week almost. Still, she SHOULD be going into labour cuz she needs to have this baby before Friday so I can see him before I go! I'm going to come back and he'll know everyone but me :(

oh well, I suppose babies can't be rushed, and we'll have plenty of time to get to know each other.

Phil's going to start looking for a new job when we get back, his job is plodding along and he's getting very bored, and it looks like it'll be slowing down drastically in the fall. Since he's only going to be taking two classes he's planning on working almost full time throughout the fall, it's not till January that he'll be stopping, and if we can get enough hours in he might get to take parental leave, which would be great. So a new job would be good. We'll be praying for the right one.

anyway, I'm going to go and organize the kitchen now, before upstairs becomes unbearable.

Things to do

So we're officially moving on Sunday. I'm not ready yet... but that's nothing new. We'll get there, even if it means staying up all night Saturday. I doubt we'll have a problem though, cuz Phil has Saturday off so he and I will spend the day getting ready, and I'm sure it'll all come together in a wonderful way. It always does.

The heat has been brutal for me, but today is nice and cool so I'm hoping to get some stuff done. I have a doctor's appointment at 1:30, so I'm gonna take a shower and everything... I did an hour of putting up painter's tape in our room this morning. I was going to do another hour, but when I got home from taking Phil to work I realized I'm tired and I need to shower before my doctor's appointment, and I'll have to eat lunch, so there's no use cutting things close. I'd rather be early than late this afternoon.

I'll do another hour of work on the room before I go and get Phil from work this evening, and then I think I'll get Phil to help me put a coat of primer on tonight after supper. It should go well, I'll just plan supper in advance so we've got time.

I've found that the days are too hot, but if I get up early I can do some stuff before I get tired/hot/sick, so I've been doing that. I also have more determination in the morning. I've never been a morning person, but apparently pregnancy changes things.

Anyway, that's my quick update. Baby is kicking and moving a lot, which is a happy thing :) and I got myself two extra pillows from Liquidation World, so I'm now surrounded by pillows when I sleep, which serves a dual purpose propping me up and protecting me from Phil's bruising elbows and knees. Not so bad.

getting back on the horse....

Well, I haven't posted a lot lately. One of my best friends went through a really hard time recently, and I wasn't really in the mood to sit down and philosophize about or even just comment on stuff.

Also, we've been pretty busy lately. The new house is very exciting, and we've started moving our stuff in, little by little. Phil and I are going to paint this coming week, but we're only doing our room. The baby's room'll keep till the fall I think.

I found a green lava lamp for the baby's room, and we've decided that if we have our little Rosalie then we'll turn her room into a rose garden theme with cats, and if it's instead an Asher or a Micah we'll make it a jungle with frogs. That way we can paint the walls a base coat that'll go well with green, and use the furniture that we stenciled with leaves already for our room last year.

I have lots of cat stuff, since cats are my favourite animal, and we also have lots of frog stuff, tho that's kind of a funny story.

When Phil and I were dating I asked him what his favourite animal was, and he actually didn't have one. He thought that was weird though, so he made one up on the spot, he said that frogs were his favourite. Well, after that he got frog-themed gifts and packages in the mail with little oragami frogs, and my friends got him frog stuff.... He finally broke down and told me a few months before we got married that he hadn't been into frogs at all, but he kinda liked them now. lol.

So we're going to put all of that to use. We also have an ivy paint roller to do trim in green... it's going to be very nice and tranquil.

We've been babysitting for my Aunt and Uncle this week, we've had a little 2yr old boy and a 7 month old boy. It's been fun, and Phil's getting all confident with kids again, which is great. He's so good at it when he puts his mind to it! :D although, the baby's had some trouble adjusting to him cuz Phil's not exactly skilled in the art of smiling, especially for babies. When he forces it, it's really more of a grimace, and I can see why the baby gets scared. lol.

Long enough for now, I suppose. I have my last prenatal appointment in Langley next week, and we need to be all moved in and ready to go in the next two weeks cuz Jon's taking us to the airport on the 31st to sleep there and catch our 6:00 flight out on the first. Toronto, here we come.

ch-ch-ch-changes....

We got our house! :D

It's got a beautiful deck and plenty of space and we are so looking forward to it. There's work to do, but it's all being planned or worked on as we speak.

We will be moving in officially on July 31, but we'll be moving stuff there little by little throughout the month.

Baby's kicking up a storm now, things are going great. Totally excited for the space!!

Changes in the wind...

I finally decided that i really want to give birth in Abbotsford.... it's closer by and the rooms are truly excellent. I'm going to be meeting my new doctor(s) at Abby Maternity Group in August, so I have one more visit to Langley Maternity at the end of July, then I'm switching.

Another change, we're finding a new place. All of us together, so we're praying for the most awesome 5-6 bedroom house EVER and looking forward to new digs.

We've found one house we love, but we have three more to look at this week before we make our final decision. We're going to see one tonight as a matter of fact.

Lots of prayer for the right place is totally appreciated. Most of the ones we're finding are within 5-10 minutes of where we live now, so it's pretty happy altogether. I will miss our neighbours though. :( And our cherry tree.

Plus, it's a little strange to be leaving the house that we came to right after the wedding... I suppose I'm all excited now, but I'll get all emotional and take a billion pictures while we're moving. Then spend a night or more crying, because I'm just that sentimental.

*sigh*

Changes are good things though, and the house we want has a great deck for the kids... totally fenced and safe.

Happy.

Doctor's OK

The Doctor's appointment went great, the baby's perfectly healthy and just as big as it should be, I'm healthy, everything is normal, and I'm 0+ blood type, which I'd been trying to remember for the longest time.... I'm going to wait at least 6 months after giving birth to give blood though.... I need all the iron I have for the baby, and breastfeeding too.

so... yeah, everything is fine, I'm healthy as a horse (and getting as big as one) and it's Lee's baby shower this weekend, she's due in 40 days! wow.

20 Weeks

I can't believe I'm 20 weeks today. That's 5 months... it seems like such a long time.

The baby's been going through a growth spurt, so I've been stretching (at times painfully) and getting a bit of nausea off and on... nothing bad though and it's really exciting to see my belly grow. Soon I'll look pregnant, not just big. :S

I already look kinda pregnant, I got Steph to take a picture of my tummy for the blog, so there it is. Keeping the shirt down to hide the stretch marks though!

I have a doctor's appointment on Thursday, she'll interpret the ultrasound and tell us how wonderfully everything is going, and send me on my way :) it'll be epic.

Nothing else but work and school, my final exam is Thursday, and I've been assured that my full-time TA position in January will be there for me! :D I'm going to start filling out the paperwork today and get all that set so I don't have to worry. I'll be getting benefits within 10 weeks of starting. Woohoo!

Alien!

So this ultrasound didn't go as well as the last one....

To start things off I had a sick day and I almost couldn't keep down the water. Then Phil and I had an adventure with his navigating and got turned around three or four times in New West because there was a detour...... that was fun though. New West has some of the cutest gardens and most adorable houses!

Anyway, after I was still dizzy from going in circles and sick from going up all the San-Francisco-esque hills in New West, we arrived at the clinic. There was no parking.

We parked on the street down the block, and that was OK because the clinic parking only takes loonies, while parking meters take quarters, and all we had were quarters.

As we locked the car I realized I'd forgotten my purse at home. Now, let's just ignore the fact that I'd driven from Abbotsford to New West without my license on me, and concentrate instead on the important things. My requisition form for the ultrasound for instance, and my Care Card, both of which were in my purse.

At home.

So we walked into the clinic. Poor Phil was probably just trying to stay out of my way, since by that point I was muttering some incoherent mix of praying for help and cursing my forgetfulness, definitely in full panic mode.

The lady at the counter told me that I couldn't have the ultrasound without the requisition form, unless she could call my doctor. I triumphantly tore my doctor's last name from my reluctant memory, but then she asked me the first name. "Um... she's a woman?" was my hopeful reply. The lady just looked at me. Ooookay. Time to try something else.

I made a desperate call to Canada 411, watching the clock move past 9:25.... I WOULD have been on time for my 9:30 appointment. *sigh*

I got through to Langley Hospital and then the maternity clinic, and the lady there told me that, while my Dr. isn't in today, she could have another doctor quickly fill out a requisition for me and fax it in. YES! PLEASE! She didn't sound all that happy with me.... but who can blame her? Neither was I.

I told the lady at the counter the form was on its way, so she said she could enter me into the system. YES! Name... I knew that. Birthday... that's easy. Care card.... um... well, you see, when I left my purse at home, that was in it.

"you don't have a care card? you'll have to pay $185 cash. No, we have no credit. Just cash."

OK, not happening. I tried to explain to her that I do have a care card, that I've even been in here before and USED my care card, I just don't have it with me. She just looked at me.

OK, another call to the clinic, no answer of course, she's probably faxing my stuff. 9:35. Drat.

The lady calls me back to the desk. Name again? and birthday? Oh, we do have you here. Your care card is in the system.

K, who told you so? ME! *smile politely and thank her effusively*

Fax arrives, abrupt technician comes out and tells me to quickly lie down. I get it, I'm late.

Basically from there she poked and prodded something awful because the baby was sleeping facedown and there weren't good angles for her picture.... I swear she pressed her hardest trying to get a good picture of the baby's head, which was (not so) conveniently located directly above my bladder..

She rushed me out to use the bathroom and get Phil for the last part, and we got 2 pictures. Because baby was facedown, we have two beautifully clear pictures of the spinal column, with just a little bit of misty, creepy skull thrown in. Thanks baby. lol. I'm carrying an alien!!

After that things started looking up. Phil's mom had sent $100 for maternity clothes, so i went out and spent some of it on a new bathing suit. Summer is the time for swimming, and our university is getting a U-Pass in September that gives free admission to the local rec. centres. I'm totally going to be floating like the whale I will resemble.... I love swimming!

I also got a cute shirt and visited Jess... and re-discovered that no maternity store anywhere makes women's pants with a long enough leg for me. Except Tall Girl, and they stock exactly three styles of maternity pants. Not worth the drive.

I'll be sticking to stretchy, cheap wal-mart pants, by the looks of it. Oh well, I'll survive :) and maybe I'll start wearing more skirts..... I'm getting motherly, I might as well get girly.

anyway, long enough post I'd say. I've been feeling more kicks, but nothing really strong or definite, just flutters. It's definitely exciting though. Phil's been reading the baby Dr. Suess every night, and s/he seems to like it, lots of moving while he reads.

It's so exciting :D

A Kick!

Last night I was reading to the baby from the Lord of the Rings (I know, I'm a nerd) and I was laying on my stomach (I'm still small enough that that's comfy on a soft bed) and the baby kicked me! I assume it was a kick of approval. Who could not love the Lord of the Rings?

I was reading The Walking Song.

The Road goes ever on and on
Down from the door where it began.
Now far ahead the Road has gone,
And I must follow, if I can,
Pursuing it with eager feet,
Until it joins some larger way
Where many paths and errands meet.
And whither then? I cannot say.

It's my favorite of Tolkien's verses, so far.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to feeling many more, and being sure of them.... because part of me wonders if this was just wishful thinking on my part and I didn't feel anything at all.

Oh well, ultrasound on Tuesday! :D

My dream diaper bag

If anyone is thinking of putting in with someone else and getting me a gift, this would be it!!!!

http://www.babyearth.com/baby-sherpa-diaper-backpack.html

official site (ships to Canada) www.babysherpa.com

Quick..?.. update

I suppose a really quick update just on pregnancy stuff would be great. I tend to ramble.

My belly has grown quite a bit. I was 17 weeks on Tuesday, you can check out what 17 weeks looks like....... CLICK HERE .........

My next ultrasound is on the 16th of June, so there will be more pictures. I heard the heartbeat again last Thursday, and I could hear thumps on the microphone that were apparently kicks, but I can't feel anything yet. Should be soon though, anywhere between now and 20 weeks.

We're still happy not knowing the sex, sorry for the inconvenience, but we're perfectly fine dressing girls in boyish clothes, we'll just get a big bow for her head :) and we love greens and yellows anyway, and anything with french writing on it is awesome...

We got a diaper genie from my cousin, so that's taken care of, but I've decided I want a nice diaper backpack with a fold-out change pad and all like my mom got... I'll find some examples online. Other than that, second-hand everything is great with me, I love saving money on stuff like strollers, and I already have an infant carseat coming my way from a friend.

well, there's me rambling again. I tried to be short! :S

summertime and the weather is *not* fine

Pregnancy hates heat!

I'd love to be a Mayan princess like dad used to call me so I could just loll under shade the whole day with slaves fanning me and feeding me delicious berries and carrying cold water from mountain streams to wash my feet....

Sorry, I escaped to another world for a minute there. :) it was awesome though!

I am enjoying my life right now despite the heat (Take that summer! YOU WILL NOT DEFEAT ME!) *ahem* sorry again.

I'm acting Editor In Chief at the Cascade Newspaper at UFV, and that's going well, I think? Hopefully someone will tell me if it's not! Either way, I'm enjoying it.

I'm working with three boys, all of whom I really have fun with, and I feel like I've come into my own in dealing with one of them who has always been quite a challenge, despite my raging hormones at the moment.

I feel like I look pregnant! I'm going to have to pose for pictures soon I suppose, so people can see, but either way it's pretty neat to feel less fat and more preggo.

My brother's happy in Africa with smiling children.... I'm looking forward to seeing him all tanned and relaxed when he gets back.

Phil has a job that he really fits, and it's going well.

My yellow roses are beginning to bloom outside the kitchen window, and while it makes me cry because I'm reminded of my dad (making me cry is not hard these days) it brings me so much joy just looking at them, for that exact same reason. If we do end up moving from this place, I'm going to grow myself a cutting of that rose bush and bring it with me, so I have yellow roses wherever I go.

I still can't feel the baby yet, but it's supposed to be any week now (I was 17 weeks this Tuesday) My official due date is November 10, which is my friend's birthday.... it's all good!

Except for the heat.

Update... finally

So I'm finally getting around to updating. Sorry for taking so long!

Phil and I had a wonderful visit with Tamara and Taylor up north in Fort St. John, and surprisingly the 16 hour drive wasn't so bad. It helped a lot that we cut it in half and stayed with my cousin Terry in Prince George.

Cyarra (our cat) made the drive pretty well, although she punctured Terry and Lyle's air mattress.... Phil and I woke up around 3am to pump it up, and the sound of the pump awoke the two little dogs in the house, and they proceeded to bark and wake everyone else up. The joys of bringing our cat. Oh, and on the second day of driving she decided she didn't want to be in the car anymore and proceeded to cry for probably 3 hours.

Nevertheless, we loved having her with us. It's endlessly entertaining to see the looks we get when we take a break and hook her harness up to the leash... people stare in wonder as we nonchalantly walk our cat. It's almost reminiscent of me wearning my cloak on Granville Island.

During the course of our visit, my morning sickness changed! :D Instead of throwing up constantly, I found that extreme nausea has become a signal that I'm hungry, and if I eat it lessens!

The morning after we returned (last Thursday) I had my first appointment at the Maternity Clinic. FINALLY! :D I was so excited! We got to hear the baby's heartbeat and it's steady and strong. Fast though, it beats 150 times a minute, the doctor told me. The doctor was shocked that I'd not had a dating ultrasound yet, and told me to schedule one ASAP so that we could solidify a due date.

I got one in New Westminster yesterday, so Phil and I went for a drive and got to see our baby!!

s/he was moving around a lot, and we got to see little fingers and toes... the technician was wonderful and gave us three pictures to take home.

We don't know the due date yet, I need to be told by my doctor (that'll be next Thursday) but in the meantime the technician told us that the baby's around 4 inches right now, which means I'm at about 16 weeks, right around where we thought I was. No surprises then.

Phil and I went out and bought me an outfit from Thyme maternity after that, and we had a great time just spending the afternoon together. Seeing the baby left us on a high. Phil is so anxious for me to start showing more. We can both see changes in my belly, but it honestly feels more like I'm just getting fat, because there's no defined baby bump, everything is just getting bigger. lol.

I really feel pregnant though, bending over and leaning forward are uncomfortable, and the other day I got heat stroke after mowing the lawn and was throwing up all night, and I'd only been in the sun for like, an hour. I'm learning new things about what I can and can't do, I'm just lucky that Phil is so sweet, and looks after me when I mess up.

strange days

so I'm 11 weeks now, which means that in 1-2 weeks this whole nausea thing is supposed to let up. At the moment I'm rather confused.... I spent yesterday feeling like crap, but I only threw up once in the morning and I managed to eat 2 apple pairs, a bowl of cheerios, and a package of noodles with little problem.

Today on the other hand I feel fine! (well, I suppose that's comparatively, since the nausea never really leaves) but I can't keep anything down. Lost the apple pear, the ice cubes, and the ginger ale and juice.

I still feel better than I usually do.... except for right this second actually... I may need to run to the bathroom.

Nope. It's so strange, this pregnancy thing. my clothes aren't fitting me anymore but maternity clothes are too big.... my maternity pants almost fell down while I was presenting a mini-lesson to my teacher and some classmates on Thursday.... that would have been terrible, and I was being filmed too!

Luckily there have been no such mishaps. I'm going to do some gardening today I think, as being outside generally makes me feel better, and I suppose I'll go finish cleaning the kitchen.

I'm totallly telling this kid how crazy s/he made me! :D Poor thing. Phil and I are so excited to meet herm though....

ooh, check out 11 weeks Click Here!

Coming along

Things are coming along, I think. Nothing very new to report, but I can feel a firmness in my lower belly that definitely wasn't there before! It's very exciting, and Phil was so pleased when I showed him!

Oma and I are having a girls' dinner together tonight, so I'm going to get back to it... but I just wanted to say that.... firmness! That means baby :D

Looking for care

Well, things are going about the same.... declectin seems to help me less and less, however... I wonder if I'm building up an immunity to it. Or I'm thinking how much more horrible would I be feeling if I wasn't on it? I'm so tired of feeling nauseous every day all day, but those are boring complaints..... no fun at all!

What is fun is that my mom sent me some more baby stuff from second hand stores around CR, and there's some great receiving blankets and a little towel with the head pocket that I love so much.... those are awesome.

Phil's birthday went well, we went glow bowling and drew on each other with highlighters.... Aunty Nora sent me some wheat germ oil for my tummy, and Phil got a pregnancy massage video from the library.

Cyarra's been freaking out today, running around and meowing restlessly, she punctured my side with a claw climbing up me, and she keeps running full speed into the bedroom, knocking something down, then running full speed back up the stairs again. Little devil, I wonder how she'll be with the baby...

I've been thinking of getting a midwife. I spoke to someone at church and she told me they were covered in BC, and it sounds like that would be cool. I guess I'm just anxious to have someone with medical or birthing knowledge pay attention to me. My Doctor's kinda short and distant, and the Langley Mat Centre took 2 weeks to call me back and I don't have an appointment till May 14, which means I probably won't get my ultrasound until like, two weeks later, and I'm still in limbo about exactly how far along I am cuz my Dr. and I didn't really know.... if I go by her figuring I'll be 10 weeks on Thursday, but I think I'm about a week shorter than that, only 9 weeks or so. I'm supposed to be able to get an ultrasound to figure it out, but no one seems to be able to or interested in seeing me.

sucks.

maybe a midwife can help.... I'm on the waiting list at one clinic, and the others are only open Tuesday and Thursday.

Phi'ls getting worried, he keeps fretting that if there's something wrong with the baby we'll have no way of knowing until like June, and that sucks..... I think he'd be easier with it all if I wasn't so sick. Poor guy, it's not easy living with me right now. I sometimes can't kiss him because I'm so nauseous....

wait, I wasn't going to complain.

K, I need to go and do some wonderful homework, which I'm behind with as usual. Much love to everyone!

Finally

so I began a post a while ago, and lost it... so here goes.

Phil and I found out we were pregnant on March 6, 2009 at 10:00pm. I'd come home from class and was musing about my constant mild nausea and Lee told me I should just go ahead and take the test she gave me, so I did.

It was positive.

Phil and I were so thrilled! We wanted to call his family right away, but figured that 1am wasn't the most pleasant time for that kind of discussion. I called my mom though, and figured I'd tell more people when I'd been to the doctor for confirmation.

That night we prayed for the baby and wrote h/h our first letter.

My doctor's visit obviously confirmed our baby's existence, and we've been jumping for joy ever since! Except of course that moving at all was almost impossible for me after the middle of March. I've never been motion sick, but I threw up the other night after going to the wave pool. I returned to the doctor and she prescribed Declectin for my nausea, which has become a rather unwelcome 24-hour companion. The declectin helps, I can walk and be in a car without extreme discomfort, but my companion hasn't left yet. I'm crossing my fingers for the next few weeks, it's supposed to get better in second trimester.

I'm trying to eat at least twice a day, but it's not easy. I'm keeping up with vitamins though, and drinking milk. Phil helps as much as he can, trying to make me appetising food and getting me things when I crave them.

I've gotta to drive Phil to his bus stop. :) hanging in there.