Friday, December 30, 2005

Barbie or Ken Doll



It's been a pretty busy past week. It's hard to know where to start. I guess the first baby news is from the 22nd when I had my monthly prenatal check-up with Dr. Wong. All went well. She said I am gaining weight at a healthy rate. The baby's heart beat sounded a lot stronger and we could hear it much better. Although it was difficult for the Dr. to calculate his heart rate since he moves away from the doppler device. She said it sounds loud to him. My uterus was measuring 20 cm which is average for this point. Although we did get sent for another ultrasound as we expected since John Jr. wasn't too co-operative the last time and they couldn't get a proper picture of his heart.

Then on the 23rd, John surprised me with a proposal and a beautiful diamond ring. Although I was starting to get a little suspicious toward the end of our walk to see the lights at the Parliament Building, as it was really starting to drizzle. In any case we don't have a date set yet. My brain is preoccupied with thoughts of baby these days.

On the 28th it was off for another ultrasound. Which is really a quite enjoyable experience, if you can forget about the 32 oz of liquid in your bladder. Jr. was much more happy and willing to co-operate. It's pretty amazing to watch the heart beat and see the little hands and feet move. And I guess it's safe to buy blue to your heart's delight as the technician once again confirmed that it's a boy. We were even able to see his little "bird" ourselves this time, leaving little doubt that it's a boy.

Above are two pictures from the ultrasounds. The first (right side up) is from the 28th. John thinks his nose looks like mine :-) The second (upside down) is from December 8th, so about 3 weeks ago.

Apart from that I have been busy thinking about the nursery. I think we've settled on a very light blue for the wall colour. Apparently bumper pads or comforters aren't safe for infants - who knew. So, I'm looking for a fabric with monkeys, elephants and giraffes to make a curtain and maybe a crib skirt. I also went to Sears and registered for some of our wants and needs. I know that some of you "from away" have been asking what we need. Thanks to the generosity of Alex, Nicole and a very rapidly growing Samuel, we don't need any clothes from 0-6 months. I have the spare bed filled with sleepers, onesies, socks and little outfits. Here is the link to our registry at Sears. If the item is available in both the catalog and in store (retail) the item could be ordered from the catalog and sent to the catalog store nearest here.

Sears Gift Registry

And since I've been having so much fun looking for baby stuff, I also registered for an on-line baby wish list.

Wishlist

I am just finishing my 22nd week. Which means only 18 more weeks to go. Holy cow!! Apparently this week the baby is about the size of a Barbie doll or I guess in our case a Ken doll. I am feeling the baby more and more all the time. And I definitely think my nesting instinct has kicked in. I have pretty well cleaned out every nook and cranny in the house over the past week. Although I am keeping pretty busy with my new cooking tools. I'm loving my new slow cooker and Kitchen Aid mixer. I have a feeling John is soon going to be longing for anything not cooked in a slow cooker. Although he seems to be enjoying the fresh bread that's to the mixer.

So, that's it for now. I wish you all a very Happy New Year. It's sure to be a life changing one for John and I.

Monday, December 19, 2005

5 Months



First of all, I just like to say a big Congratulations to Bob and Deanna and big sister Annika on the arrival of baby Nicholas. This picture was so cute I just had to post it here for everyone to see. Those are just the cutest chubby cheeks ever.

I can't believe it's less than a week to Christmas. Fortunately all that second trimester energy everyone has been telling me about seems to have kicked in. We got our Christmas tree up yesterday. Received our new beer/extra space fridge on Saturday and I'm ready to start filling it up with dips and other such goodies. John has banned me from the top shelf, but says I can use anything else.

I hit the 20 week mark on Friday, which makes me 5 months along. So, I'm halfway there. For anyone to whom that may seem confusing this whole gig actually lasts 40 weeks not 36 weeks. I really don't know why they say it's 9 months.

Physically, I feel really good, but I am starting to panic about little things like not being able to decide on a name, not having any baby stuff, or having a nursery. I'm hoping that over Christmas we'll at least decide on colours for the nursery and maybe hit some Boxing day sales. If what everyone says is true, I figure I only have another couple of good months before I want to sleep all the time.

The baby has been pretty active. I'm feeling him a lot these days. Especially in the evening. He hasn't been kicking hard enough yet for John to feel, but I'm sure very soon that will happen.

Still no names picked. Although not for lack of trying. Every name we come up with reminds us of someone we would not want to name our kid the same name as. John shot down my latest suggestion as it reminded him of a song about a "poor little wodden Indian boy". Don't ask ...

I have my monthly appointment with Dr. Wong on Thursday afternoon. Basically just peeing in a cup, standing on the scale and listening to the baby's heartbeat.

Don't forget you're all invited to our place on Christmas Eve to share in some Christmas cheer. Looking forward to seeing everyone.

I'll post some more belly shots soon ...

Monday, December 12, 2005

It's a Boy!!

So, it looks like it's finally time to start thinking of boy names. We went for our ultrasound on last Thursday and turns out it's a boy. Well, I'm sure it's not 100% - but it's sure enough that we won't be painting the room pink. The ultrasound technician was pretty confident she was able to see a little pecker.

The ultrasound was a pretty amazing experience. When John finally got there anyway. My appointment was for 1:40 and John showed up at 1:40. Of course I got called to go in at 1:35. The first and only time in history anyone has ever gotten in early for an appointment. So, after trying to get my blood pressure to return to normal, I asked if I could wait for my "other half". Note to everyone: Don't keep a pregnant lady with an extremely full bladder waiting for anything. 5 minutes seems like a lifetime.

It was pretty amazing to see the little heart beating and the little hands and feet. The ultrasound technician pointed out all the organs, which looked like black dots to us, but I guess that's what she gets paid the big bucks for. In any case, John Jr. (don't panic - we're really not calling him that) was having a little afternoon siesta, and was lying in a breech position (bum down) and the ultrasound technician was not able to get some of the shots she needed to get of the top of the heart. Although, thankfully, I did get to empty my bladder to see if he would move to another position. Apart from one swift kick to Mommy - as if to say, please don't drink that much water again and he was back in the fetal position. Although, she was able to count the 4 heart chambers from another angle. She said not to panic if the dr.'s office called to request I go for another ultrasound, as the doctor may want to try to view the top of the heart. The baby's heart rate was normal - 140 this time.

I am definitely starting to feel lots of movement now. We went to John's Christmas dinner on Friday night, and he was practically dancing the conga by the time I finished my dessert. It's a very neat feeling, but it still takes me by surprise every time.

That's about all the news for now. We're busy getting ready for Christmas. Maybe we'll start thinking of doing the nursery over the holidays. My next appointment is with my family doctor on the 22nd of December, so I'll keep you posted then.