welcome!

Just wanted to say hi to those of you who are coming to check out this blog for the first time via my blog.

Enjoy looking around, and feel free to leave comments!

And for those of you who have been reading babyepp and want to see how i told the blog world the news, check it out here!

Prenatal appointment #2

Anthony and I met at the doctor this morning for our second prenatal appointment.

I really like my doctor, she always takes the time to see how you're doing, asks if you have any questions/concerns to discuss with you, and generally chats about life while doing routine procedures (bp, etc).

We got to hear the baby's heartbeat with the fetal doppler machine, Anthony was able to detect it before i did, it was a lot of swishing and sounded like a pulsating swish. We heard my heartbeat too, of the main artery carrying blood to the uterus, i can TOTALLY understand now how the baby would get really used to that and find it very comforting.

Dr. was explaining that baby's heart is only a few millimetres big - how amazing is that! So of course it was quite faint, especially compared to my throbbing artery.

She had one of those teeny baby feet pins on her lapel, and was showing us that our baby's feet are just slightly bigger than those ones right now (the pin is 10 weeks, we're at 12.5).

But other than that, everything is fine.....weight gain was good, i thought it would be more than it was, so that was a nice surprise. I asked her about the drive to Montana, and i'm supposed to get out for a few minutes and walk around the car every hour to hour and a half. So that will prolong the 10 hour drive probably by about an hour...sigh. But well worth it to keep my circulation up and avoid blood clots, etc.

Oh, and she said not to worry about trying to sleep on my left side (i know it's early for needing to do that yet...) i have a bad left shoulder that makes lying on that side quite painful and achey when i wake up.

Overall, all is well, next appointment: Jan 22. I will be able to fully enjoy the three (plus) turkey dinners we're having next week, the family steak dinner (for my parent's retirement), and the wedding feast, and then will have three weeks to walk it off so i don't gain "too much" over this next month!

Oh, almost forgot - going for the standard bloodwork this afternoon, i'm off early so i'll just pop over to the RUH clinic and get it done before i forget in the bustle of the season - no need for fasting or stuff for this round of bloodwork. And no ultrasound referral yet, i'm sure that will come at the next appointment at 16 weeks, i think they aim to do it sometime between 16 and 20 if all is going well.

Glad it's not me....

Birth as easy as 1-2-3: one woman, two wombs, three babies
(http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/afp/061221/oddities/britain_health_pregnancy)


Hannah Kersey, 23, gave birth to the rare triplets -- identical twins Ruby and Tilly, and singleton Gracie -- by Caesarean section seven weeks prematurely in September.

She was born with a condition called uterus didelphys, which means she developed two wombs, but doctors had warned her that she was unlikely to become pregnant in both.

After their early birth the triplets had to stay in hospital for nine weeks, but are now doing fine at home with Hanna and her partner Mick Faulkner, 23, in Devon in southwest England.
"We are just over the moon at how healthy and happy the girls are," she said. "They are three lovely and incredible children, all with very different personalities.

"Gracie seems to be the ringleader -- maybe because she grew up in her own womb. She is very determined and independent, always wanting her food before the others and to do things first," she said.

Doctors say there are only 70 women in the world known to have become pregnant in two wombs, and this is the first reported case of triplets.

"This is so rare you cannot put odds on it," said Ellis Downes, consultant obstetrician at Chase Farm Hospital in London. "I have never heard of this happening anywhere ever before - it is quite amazing.

"Women with two wombs have conceived a baby in each womb before but never twins in one and a singleton in the other. It is extremely unusual."

crazy dream

(Note: As of Thurs am, this post has been edited - i missed the most awkward part of the dream, Anthony reminded me of it last night, so i have now included it in this revised post)

It was late spring, 2007. Anthony & I were at RUH doing the pre-baby hospital tour that is offered to all pregnant couples....For some reason, our friend Glen (yes, as in Glen & Jackie) was the 'receptionist' at the hospital - he was providing great hospitality to us - getting us cold drinks, etc.

We went up to 4th, and were in a waiting room, and that's when i remember going into labour. It was sudden enough that we had to be admitted right away.

The next thing i remember was waking up in a hospital bed with Anthony looking over me with concern. I asked what happened, and he said "we had our baby!" We were very excited....but i was slightly confused, as I did not remember any of the labour and delivery process at ALL. I asked him about it, and he said "Oh, you were in labour for two days" - we had gone to the hospital on a tuesday afternoon for the tour, and it was now Thursday afternoon.

I did not remember a single thing about the past two days - my last memory had been in the waiting room when they brought a wheelchair for me to take me to admitting. I asked Anthony for details, and I guess the labour had been incredibly brutal, there was a great deal of tearing involved and of course, 48 hours of it had been very hard on me and on him. But i was still blissfully blank in my memory of any of the events. I told him he would have to give me all the details he could remember later, as i was a bit disappointed to have missed the whole process (but relieved at the same time). I remember thinking "Well, i guess i can do this again for sure, seeing as i'll have no negative memories of the first time through!"

I really wanted to see our baby, so we persuaded Glen (who was now the ward clerk) to let us go see the baby - for some reason, this was against protocol, but because Glen knew us he made special allowances for us. The baby was in a hospital bassinet and was so very beautiful. I looked at it and knew it was a boy, but had to check under the diaper just to confirm - yup, a boy!

After one look at this baby (who i had immediately snatched from the bassinet and was now cuddling and cooing at), he had my heart. I remember the feeling of the instant bond that i had to this precious child, and was just amazed at the strength of the emotions welling up inside me.
He was already cute and chubby - a 9 pounder! - and had quite a large head with huge green eyes - not the darkish color that babies are normally born with. I couldn't figure out where the green eyes had come from, but i just brushed it off.

We knew immediately that the names that we had thought of as possibilities for a boy (which were consistent with the names we have actually talked about to this point) would not fit this little guy, and that he would have to remain nameless until we found the perfect name for him. I remember not being able to immediately recall the names we had thought of, and instead the names of friends' babies (like Clive) popped into my head first, and i had to say "no, that was Ruth's baby, that's not the name we had thought of" but then "our" names came to mind. Nope, they didn't fit.

EDIT:

While we were holding our boy and cooing over him, Leyton (the lead pastor at our church) came by, and i was like "Did you see our new baby!!!???" all excited to show him off and such. Leyton was like "Um, yeah, i did already - remember? I was with you guys in delivery for 10 hours helping you push! ANthony had one leg, and i had the other to give you resistance!!" It was at that point that i had my first and only memory of the whole labour/delivery process, and in it, there's tony on one leg, Leyton on the other as i'm pushing as hard as i can....i recall another person there too, a female, i know it was one of my friends, but i cannot remember now who it was. (yeah, can you imagine how awkward it would be for your pastor to help deliver your baby?)

(Back to the original....)

It was at this point that i remembered that we did not have ANY of our belongings with us that we had wanted to have in the hospital - no camera, no baby name book, no clothes for me. I was pretty distressed about the name book, I knew that i would have to spend hours poring over it to find the perfect name, regardless of how exhausted i was, and was upset that it was at home and i wouldn't be able to find the name until we could go get the book.

We were also pretty bummed that the camera was at home, because really, who doesn't want pictures of their precious newborn? Glen (who is a photographer on the side) found some other couple's digital camera laying around and suggested we just use it, and then he would download the pics onto his work computer right away and email them to us and delete the pictures from the camera and noone would be the wiser. But for some reason, he could NOT figure out how to operate the camera, so we were disappointed yet again.

The only other thing i remember is being relatively amazed that i was feeling so well after what people were telling me was a pretty traumatic labour/delivery. I remember not feeling any pain from the tearing (yeah right) and that there was no 'discharge' (again, yeah right). I was feeling pretty much normal, overall, even when i was walking around with the baby.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The funny thing with this dream is that i can place exactly where each aspect of the dream came from based on my day yesterday.

I had a conversation with a coworker yesterday where we were talking about a job opportunity that I applied for - it's at RUH and i was discussing how convenient that would be, i could work right to the end of my term (if everything goes well) and if i went into labour at work, they could just bring a wheelchair down for me.

We got Glen & Jackie's christmas letter yesterday (and he was doing some photography at the youth banquet on last Friday) - Jackie is actually a nurse, and she talked about that in the letter.

I had looked at the paper with the dates for hospital tours last night before bed, and i was also reading my new favorite pregnancy book (The girlfriend's guide to pregnancy) before turning out the light - i read the chapter on "what to take to the hospital" and a bit about the labour/delivery stuff.

So yeah, funny how my brain combined each of these snippets into a cohesive story. I have to say i did wake up feeling pretty relaxed about the whole labour/delivery process...tho i haven't been worried about that (yet) anyways.

Last night i had been a bit anxious....it's becoming more real every day (and now especially since we're telling more and more people and the 'whole world' is on the verge of hearing the news), it has just been hitting home a lot more lately, and last night the magnitude of the change (as much as i understand and experience it now) hit me, along with the fact that my job is done in 3 days, and i have not found anything to replace it yet - all this combined made for quite an anxious mommy-to-be, but after some prayer and reading and cuddles from Tony and this crazy dream, i'm feeling a lot better today. How could a dream like that not make me smile and feel warm and fuzzy inside all day?

I'm officially* part of a cluster

When it rains, it pours. Seems like i'm not the only one in/around S'toon having a baby around June/July 2007...

Ang (Anthony's sister) - d.d. June 10
Shelen (Nevada's friend) - d.d. June 13
Janie (from our old church, got married the same summer as we did - they're on #2) - d.d. June 17

me - d.d. June 30
Jen (the wife of Anthony's coworker who i've gotten to know a bit over the years) - d.d. July 1
Chris (Allison's cousin-in-law) -d.d. July 4
Nicole (old friends who used to attend Ebby) - d.d July 4 (#3 already!)

I'm sure there will be more that i hear about in the next bit too. But it seems like there's a pretty good chance i'll be in the hospital at the same time as at least one other person i know.

I also know of a few others (like Dixie) who are due earlier in spring. I have to say, it's fun to have so many blogs of pregnant women to read, especially those slightly ahead of me so i can see what i (may) have to look forward to.

* note: any judgment of "officiality" is purely subjective and at the discretion of the author.

EDIT:

Like i said, i knew there would probably be others....Chris & Sue are also expecting in June - friends of my sister's....Chris works at ITS here at the U and has helped me out on numerous occasions.

new symptom

So, another first this week - i had read somewhere about how your abdomen muscles stretch and "grow" (i know that's not the right term) in order to support the baby as s/he grows, but i didn't realize it would feel like THIS.

It feels like i did a few hundred sit-ups, or that i was up all night coughing, or that sore-ab feeling you get after puking and heaving when you have a super bad flu.

Walking hurts, sitting is starting to hurt, and let me tell you, having Jessa pulling on her leash during her morning walk this morning did NOT feel pleasant at all, as it caused my torso to twist.

For any of you experienced people out there, did you ever experience this? How long did it last?

This (among other new bodily experiences) have really made me realize exactly how much your entire body is affected by a pregnancy. For some reason, i never ever thought about the whole-body aspect of pregnancy and childbearing before. I basically knew that your boobs and belly would grow huge, and that it would probably affect your back and sense of balance from the extra weight, and that you'd possibly have nausea and weird foodaversions/cravings. But sore abs? Never heard of it before now. I'm sure there will be much more to come as well in terms of new body discoveries.

why wednesdays?

So, i have begun to realize that i am more likely to throw up on Wednesdays than any other day of the week. I think it's 3 weeks running now where my Wednesday morning breakfast has not stayed down.

At least that's usually my only date with the porcelain god during the week, i can handle that frequency.

but why Wednesdays?

sigh

i think i'm beginning to feel better.

i have had a bit more energy as of late, and i realized yesterday that food is appetizing again. I no longer feel super sick if i don't take my meds on time, i even skipped last night's pill to see how i'd feel, and i didn't feel any worse than i normally do when i take it. And walking to work is pretty much back on pace with my pre-pregnancy time.

11 weeks and 3 days today...they say everything changes at 12 weeks, so maybe this is a preview of what's to come. I'd be super happy to feel 'normal' again (or at least a new version of normal).

On another note, mom was in Calgary and bought me a pair of maternity jeans from Old Navy...they are great! They have a low rise waistband thingy (the stretchy band of material all the way around type), it sits right under my belly. If i wear a longer shirt, you can't even tell they're maternity jeans. I was modelling the new pants for the guys at home, and Leon said "those look like your other jeans you always wear" (this is before he knew they were mat jeans, so woo hoo!). I love the cut, the color, the fit....i think they will quickly become my new favorite jeans. But for right now, my normal pants all still fit (though the waistbands are getting tighter), so i'll stick with them for a while longer.

Larissa also sent me a ton of baby stuff to use - sleepers, onesies, cute teeny socks, a baby bjorn, and a whole bunch of books - my favorite so far is the girlfriend's guide to pregnancy...much more casual and conversational than the "traditional" pregnancy books, and has info in it that is not in the other books.

Feeling good, physically and emotionally :)

It's a boy?

Well, accoring to the "Chinese Gender Prediction Calendar" it will be....

Telling the Families

I keep forgetting to write this post...so here it is, finally (long overdue).

Telling our families the news was a very fun thing to do. We tried to think of a unique way to tell each person, so here are the stories.

Mom & Dad Epp - we told them on Phil's birthday, we gave him a card that said "Happy Birthday Grandpa" and he was like "Yup, i'm going to be a grandpa!" (for those of you who don't know, Anthony's sister Ang & her husband Russ are expecting their first child on June 10, just 3 weeks before us). But then inside the card we said something about 2 grandkids...he gave me this look when he read that part, and said "really?" Lots of hugs resulted, and they were pretty surprised to learn our due date was so close to Ang & Russ's.

Mom & Dad Nelson - another birthday surprise, this time on mom's 60th (so convenient that these parents of ours have birthdays close together!) We were over at their place after having birthday lunch, and we gave mom a card...inside, it said something like "we wanted to get you something special for your 60th, something to keep you busy now that you're retired and all. Unfortunately, he or she won't arrive until sometime after Dad's birthday, so you'll have to wait a bit". Again, lots of surprise and hugs. (my dad's birthday is June 21).

It should be noted that both mothers were suspicious by the time we had told them....mom Nelson was like "I promised i wasn't going to ask you, so i didn't, but i kinda figured when you were so sick for so long". Mom Epp said "Last weekend, i told Phil, either you're super super stressed, or you're pregnant" Must be mothers' intuition....

Lana & Larissa found out when they came down for mom's birthday. Ever since Larissa had Liv, she's been teasing us that Liv needs Nelson cousins soon...so i was just casually playing with Liv on the floor, and asked her if she wanted a baby cousin to play with.....my sisters were pretty excited, they called their husbands right away to share the news.

Arleen was over for supper one night with Mom & Dad epp....i told her i had a confession to make, that the weekend i was at her house and was 'sick with the flu'....that Jim (the camp manager who suggested i may be pregnant) was right..... Once she figured it out, she probably had the best reaction of anyone ... she JUMPED off the couch and did a happy dance.

Ang & Russ had us over for games n snacks one evening... now, when they told us in October that they were expecting, they too had teased us that it would be really nice to have cousins close in age to their kids, that we should get on it..... Well, little did we know at the time they told us about their baby that we were already pregnant... So when we told them, we said "Um, remember when you guys said you wanted cousins close in age to your kids? Well, is 3 weeks close enough?" I think they were pretty surprised, especially since the due dates are so close. It will be fun to have Ang to go through this experience with...we already spent the rest of that evening comparing notes and experiences and she showed us all the stuff they already have for their kid....

Poor Amy, she just found out when we told mom & dad Epp, as she lives in the same house and we didn't think it would be easy for mom and dad if Amy didn't know and they couldn't even talk about it at home. But she got to find out first for the epp sisters, so hopefully that made up for it.

Over the next few weeks, a few more people will find out - close friends (some of whom already know and are reading this blog as it grows), and then at Christmastime, i'll be 13 weeks along and the whole world can know!

our bodies at 11 weeks

So, nothing really new on the body front....i have a bit of a tummy bulge, but nothing that others would notice yet. My hair is driving me nuts, but my fingernails are beautiful! They are growing so quickly, and are so strong and straight and white. :)

We have done a few belly shots - at 8 weeks (which is pretty much the 'before' picture), and more at 10 weeks, where you can definitely see a difference. I will try to post them in the next bit. We hope to do some every couple weeks to have a record of the changes.

So far, even though i'm getting towards that 'thick in the waist' stage, i'm still feeling pretty good about my body.

As for junior, s/he is about 1 1/2 inches long, has most of the organs, etc. formed..... I found a pic online of an 11 week fetus, it is pretty cool to see.....

What a little miracle!

good days and bad days

So, i'm still feeling pretty sick, but most days it's manageable. Some days it's not. Yesterday was one of those days where it was not.

Woke up feeling pretty crappy, ate my orange as regular....that didn't stay down too long. Had to get to work for an early appointment, and just couldn't get my stomach settled all day long. Then in the afternoon, got quite the headache. That went away after a bit, but still felt nauseous all afternoon and evening, it was very hard to eat anything. And it didn't help that i didn't sleep well at all the night before, so i was extremely tired.

Thankfully, the bad days are physical in nature, my spirits have still been pretty good (except for the grumpiness) - haven't felt depressed, hopeless, or too worried. And it's also good that each day is new, what happens one day rarely predicts how the next day will be.

first inklings

retrospectively, there were a few things that kinda twigged me off to the fact that i was pregnant, even as early as 4 weeks along....

For one, i was very very tired. On the mother/daughter retreat (Oct 20-22), i basically slept or rested the entire time - even though they were doing activities that i was SOOO excited about participating in (such as Amazing Race), i just could not bring myself to get up off the bed to go do them. And that weekend, i was also very hungry - we had brunch Sunday morning, and about 9am, i just knew that i HAD to eat something RIGHT THEN, i would not make it until 10:30 when the meal was supposed to start.

At the time, i just dismissed it as nothing, as i did not really want to get my hopes up and then have them dashed (as we had for a few months prior). That month, i was just not going to think about it, not going to suspect every little thing.

I was quite successful at that. So much so, that when i came to the point when i ran up the stairs one day and the movement of "the girls" caused me to wince in pain, and when i started noticing other signs, Anthony was very skeptical. Rightfully so, as I had, in previous months, kept him very well informed of every little thing that i thought just might be a 'sign' of baby-hood. So once that blue + showed up, THAT's when he realized I wasn't just speculating. As i mentioned before, by then i KNEW already (especially after that dream), but for him, that was a necessary thing.

Marc mentioned on his blog that their forthcoming children do not become real to him until after he sees the ultrasound...i imagine it's like that for quite a few men. Lord willing, Anthony and I will get to hear the heartbeat of our child at my next prenatal appointment (Dec 22), i think it will be even more real for Anthony at that point.

As for me, my pants are already starting to get tight around the midriff, and i can sure feel a firmness under my belly that wasn't there before - especially noticeable when i lay on my stomach (man, am i ever going to miss laying on my stomach!), so it's quite real for me already.