can you imagine?

Another reason i'm glad i live in Saskatchewan...

My sister was telling me that in Calgary these days, if you're pregnant and think you may want to go back to work after your year of mat leave, that you put your name down on a waiting list at the childcare facility you'd like your kid to go to NOW, and you start paying a retainer fee - about 1/2 the monthly childcare fee - every month between now and when your kid actually enters childcare there.

Can you imagine paying that every month for about 16 months before you even need it JUST to secure a spot for your kid?

kicks and such

I got an email from the BabyCentre the other day, and the main topic was "can you feel your baby moving?" It listed guidelines for this stage of pregnancy in terms of movement, one of which said "If you are concerned your baby isn't moving very much, try a movement count period. Pick a time that your baby is active, and count the movements. You should be able to feel 10 movements (any combination of kicks, flips, wiggles, etc) within a 2 hour period. If you do not feel 10, see your doctor."

I'm not sure if this kid is just hyperactive or something, but during his/her active times, it is not uncommon for me to feel 10 strong, noticeable movements within about 5 minutes or less. The active times are pretty regular throughout the day too, i've been glancing at the clock when i notice movements lately, and they seem to be on a pretty regular schedule.

The first ones of the day that i notice are around 6 am when Tony gets up, these are pretty light and just last a few minutes. Then there's periodic movements through the morning, with at least one good chunk of activity around 10:30-11am. Next is the 1pm chunk, followed by another around 4, (these afternoon ones sometimes last up to an hour or so). Then one in early evening (7 or 8pm), and one around 11pm or midnight. I have not woken up in the night due to baby moving so far, but i'm sure s/he has another chunk of activity during the night sometime.

I've heard that baby's sleep/wake patterns after birth are often similar to those developed while in utero, if this is the case, this kid should pop out ready for lots of activity during the day at 3 hour intervals, followed by less activity at night. I guess we'll see!

6 months and all is well

wow. 2/3 done.


Had prenatal app't #5? (i've lost track) yesterday, everything is good. I had another med student for this appointment, this time he was a 4th year (3 weeks away from being done and then just his residency left), and he knew what he was doing. He actually ended up doing the whole appointment himself, as the nurse had told him just to get started with me, and the dr. didn't know she had a student shadowing her today, so she was in with another patient.


But "Dr. Luke" (when can we start calling the students dr's?) did very well, asked all the pertinent questions, answered my questions well, knew exactly what tests to order at this stage (glucose test here we come!) When my dr. came in to check on what he had done, it was all good. She got him to explain the WinRo shot thingy to me (I'm - , tony's +), so i'll get that at my next appointment. Too bad he's going into neurosurgery for his residency, he had great bedside manner, excellent communication skills, and would make a great family physician in my opinion. Of course, i'm sure those skills will also come in very handy when explaining the recommended brain surgery to a patient and his/her family...but I digress.


Another 3 pounds gained, which makes my total to date 12 lbs. I'm good with that. No swelling, no spotting, lots of movement, good bp, good heartrate from baby, fundal height is right on....nothing to be concerned about. Other than the sickness at the beginning, and general achiness these days (especially in the hips, and in the round ligaments and pelvic floor area), things have been quite good for me physically during this pregnancy.


Emotionally, i've been doing pretty well also. I've had a couple freak out moments when i've realized a bit of the magnitude of the changes that this will bring to our lives, and realizing that i'll be a parent, responsible for the wellbeing of this child. And of course, the hormonal cries and hyper-sensitivity, which have been even more noticeable in the past week or two. Feeling a bit more tired now as well, but not nearly as tired as the first trimester.

Hoo boy.

I have officially reached that "always too warm" stage of pregnancy. Too bad it couldn't have happened in the first two trimesters instead of continuously being freezing cold through the winter.

At least I have a window in my office so i can have some fresh cool air while working, now i'll just have to buy a bunch of short sleeved and sleeveless mat shirts for the next three months. And thank goodness for a/c at home!

The Belly

It's interesting how one has to adjust to this new appendage out front. I keep bumping into things, pulling my chair up too close to desks/tables (i used to be able to sit that close!), and trying to open doors which end up hitting my mid-section instead of missing me entirely.

And it's an interesting sensation - understand that and at different times in my life, i have carried some extra weight on my stomach area. Not a lot, just some tummy bulge. When that tummy came into contact with things, i wouldn't notice much, it was just gushy and would move out of the way. Now, this new belly is hard and firm and has someone in it, so it's quite a different feeling when it comes into contact with something.

Anthony of course gives the belly tons of attention, he kisses it goodbye every morning when he leaves for work, greets it when i arrive home, and often tries to feel for and poke baby parts (especially when doing so pushes on my full bladder, what fun). I think i've mentioned how sometimes at night I'll wake up because all of a sudden his hand is on my belly, and i have to explain to him that baby isn't moving at that time, so he can let me sleep and wait 'till later. His father was notorious for finding and tickling his sister's feet while they were in utero, to the point where his mother suffered cracked and dislocated ribs from the baby's reactions to this stimulation. Yeah. Not fun. Anthony knows that he will be in BIG TROUBLE if he ever tries that, but he always teases me and sees how far he can push it. I may have to sleep with one eye open in the coming months... But this aside, it is really neat to see him interacting with his unborn child in these ways.

The girls at my youth group (14-17ish) are fascinated by the belly. They talk to it every week, and last week they were asking "Can we feel the baby move?" I said "Well if s/he were moving right now you probably could, but s/he's pretty quiet at the moment." I then proceeded to show them and let them feel where the bum was, and poke at various other baby body parts in there. Most of the girls had never experienced this before, and they thought it was the coolest thing. So then I sat there for 20 mins with six hands on my belly (yes, there was room for all six) waiting to see if this baby would move for them.

I really don't mind people touching my belly (IF THEY ASK FIRST). I'm a pretty open person, and touch is comfortable for me as long as i know the person somewhat. My close friend Candace has felt my kid moving quite early on (after Anthony), and my coworkers have poked and prodded baby parts like the girls did.

I also know that society seems to have this fascination with pregnant bellies, and that at some point, strangers may want to touch the belly, perhaps will do so without asking, etc. I think THIS will bother me, but when it's people I know who have asked first, i really don't mind. I think part of it is that i'm so fascinated by it that it's neat to have others share in it as well.

awwwww

Making it work...

Had our first prenatal breastfeeding class last night, it was pretty good. I went in fully expecting the one-sided view that "breast is best" so it didn't really throw me when that's exactly what we got - a lot of information on "boob-good, formula-bad", the areas in which breastfed kids do better, etc. That stuff i basically knew, and pretty much tuned out for. (the one thing of note that i learned is that powdered formula is not very safe as there is no way to ensure that it's sterile from certain bugs/bacteria - babies have been known to get meningitis due to powdered formula. Concentrate or ready-to-go is safe.)

The interesting part was just hearing about all the options and different things to try if you do end up facing difficulties in breastfeeding, instead of automatically "giving up" and switching to formula. Our current goal is to try to breastfeed exclusively until about 6-8mos (adding the recommended solids around 6 mos, of course), but i have been concerned about "what if things don't go well?", so to hear that there are a number of things to try before making the choice to switch was reassuring. I'm a pretty determined person (to a point), and i am also the type of person who will exhaust all available options before "giving up" on something that i had set my mind to. So the class gave me hope that with this attitude, we should be able to get past the difficulties that do arise, and should be able to make that 6-8mos goal.

Anyone out there want to share their experiences with breastfeeding? Am i being too idealistic/optimistic or are my thoughts pretty reasonable? If you feel comfortable sharing, what challenges have you faced and what things did you try to address them? At what point do you decide that for your own sanity/baby's health that it was time for formula? Or did you choose to not breastfeed at all?

Info. for Moms & Moms to be

I've heard about a couple things happening in the S'toon area for moms/moms to be, so i thought i'd post it here for anyone who may be interested.

First, there's a website at http://members.shaw.ca/saskatoonevents/ about things to do in s'toon and resources for S'toon area regarding babies, prenatal stuff, etc. One thing to check out is her list of local sales (consignment & other) that are happening this spring with baby/maternity stuff - link found here: http://members.shaw.ca/saskatoonevents/sales.html This lady has really done a lot of work pulling this information together in one place, makes it easy to use and become informed about this stuff.

Second, for all you belly buddies, there are a couple research studies happening on campus right now that you may want to check out (i'm a big believer in participating in research if/when i can, depending on the study). First is one on "feelings in pregnancy" - http://www.feelingsinpregnancy.ca/ (oh, i guess it's also happening in Moose Jaw!), the other is a "sleep during pregnancy" study. There's no website for this one, but they're studying sleep patterns of women with preeclampsia during pregnancy compared to those without preeclampsia - so whichever group you fit into, they'll take you. Somewhere around 30 weeks, you get to spend a night in the sleep research lab hooked up to heartrate monitors (you and baby), and stuff like that, and they're also looking at breathing problems during sleep, which can be quite common for pregnant ladies (especially with all the changes to the nose/sinus area due to hormones). If you're interested in getting more info. on this one, you can call Dr. Reid at 966-8287.

It amazes me to think that this child has a (slim) chance at surviving if s/he was born right now.

The Ultrasound

The ultrasound was good. Baby is doing fine, s/he is 1lb 4oz right now, and was moving and squirming and swallowing and stuff. My due date is right on, and they found nothing to be concerned about with baby or with me. I have a good amount of amniotic fluid, and no placenta previa (where the placenta covers the cervix).

The lump on the top right is the bum, head is down, though s/he still has lots of room to move and flip, so it could change many times between now and the end. So it’s the head that’s pushing against my bladder these days, and the hands and knee that are giving me the strong jabs down there too.

I looked at the face and thought “It’s a girl…”. Anthony could see the screen when the technician was doing the femur measurements, and thought “Ok, that looks like boy parts” (but he also said it might have been the umbilical cord”. So we’re divided, and have no real clue what s/he is. But I did go and buy a cute girl hoodie yesterday after the appointment – Robyn had called me to tell me that someone had returned a couple pairs of mat cords in my size, and they were on discount for $7 each, so I went and grabbed those before anyone else could….it’s nice to have more pants that fit, and for such a good price too!

Pictures to come, my scanner is acting up right now.

EDIT: Forgot to mention the heartrate was 156 bpm.