arrival dates

Yesterday, I had the "one month 'till my due date" realization. Eek! I don't know if anyone is ever fully "ready" for baby to come, but i can say that right now, we are in a way not ready, but in a way, quite ready.

For example, although we do not have a baby room (it's still an office, while the new office space is being mudded & sanded, hopefully primed & painted in the next week), we have clothes, diapers, wipes, etc. And mom and I are going out tonight to get the rest of the baby toiletries needed (butt cream, baby wash, etc - yay for "seniors day" at Shopper's drug mart - 20% off!). We don't have the crib yet (no place to put it), or any other furniture for the baby room save the rocking chair, but we have blankets, crib bedding, and stuff to put on the walls.

Emotionally & mentally, I think we'd be fine if baby showed up any time now (not that i'm wishing for an early baby). I feel "ready" in that respect.

Work wise, i have a ton of stuff to get done before my last day (scheduled for June 29), but I also know that there are others who could easily take over if I am gone before then. At my current pace, i should be done all the work on my plate here by June 22. And that's the day that Anthony is done classes.

Since the beginning, i've been preparing myself for an overdue baby, whenever I think of the due date, it's always "June 30, but the baby will be out by July 12 for SURE" (10 days over plus a couple days if they induce and it doesn't work or if they induce and the labour takes a long time). But lately i've been feeling as if i won't make it to my due date (mental/emotional feeling, not physical stuff, nothing there that would indicate an early baby). Not hoping or wishing the kid will come early, but just a feeling that it will be a June baby instead of July.

As for dates, there are tons of "meaningful" dates around my due date that would be very cool if the kid showed up on one of them: my dad's 60th birthday is on June 21 (but tony's still in school), Anthony's grandpa, who I never met as he passed away when Anthony was young, had his birthday on June 25. My own grandma who died when I was in grade school had her birthday on July 4, and Anthony's grandmother (still living) has her birthday on July 7. The other neat thing about July 7 is that the kid's birthdate would be 07/07/07 - very easy to remember and never mess up on forms.

Oh, and both my sisters & their spouses & my niece will be in S'toon for dad's birthday and the weekend immediately following, so they all think that it would be swell if their new niece/nephew would come while they were here and they could thus meet him/her right away.

I guess time will tell...

another crazy dream for the books

scene: my kitchen
those present: Anthony, my mom and I (and baby, still in utero).

Something weird was happening with my stomach, the baby's legs were sticking out the top of my uterus just under my skin...it turns out i had a unique condition where there was a hole at the top of my uterus where baby could get in and out. Now this wasn't harmful to baby or me, it was just interesting.

So these feet were sticking out, it was the first time this had happened, but the other weird thing was that my skin was semi-transparent, so we could see the legs very clearly...and we could see that it was a girl. We were trying not to look 'cuz we wanted it to be a surprise, but really, everything was right there.

Baby came out the top even further, to the point where she was completely out of the uterus, just hanging out below my transparent skin. She had beautiful blue eyes that looked like all the Nelson girls' eyes (me, my sisters & my niece have the same shape eyes with variations on the color of blue). And she was very cute. I had to hold her as if she was not inside me, as my skin was not strong enough to support her (but interestingly enough it was stretchy enough that she could move around quite a bit under there).

This was the first time she came out, then we discovered we could coax her out and show her to people, all before she was born. It was the coolest thing (in the dream....).

And i remember thinking that we had to get the girls' name nailed down for sure now that we knew it was a girl, we still had a few weeks left before delivery, but i knew we'd need that girls' name when she came.

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

So now i've had one very distinct/memorable dream that it was a boy (see Dec. 20 post), and one where it was a girl. I guess time will tell....

I am looking for a laundry basket/hamper for the baby's room, i have a picture in my mind of what i'd like, but have not found it anywhere I have looked yet (Home outfitters, michaels, or zellers).

I would like a light colored basket, preferably square or rectangular, and a tall style (as opposed to the shorter wider shape typical of most plastic laundry baskets for carting around laundry). I would love it if it had a linen colored cotton-type removable liner in it. I don't need a lid for it necessarily.

These are the small baskets we got from ikea for storing things in for the change table, shelves, closet, etc. and it would be great if we could kinda "match" the look in the laundry basket.

Has anyone seen something in their travels? Any suggestions on where I should look for such an item?

guinea pigs

This past weekend, i subjected baby and myself to a round of "guinea pig" treatment - we were in a research study examining preeclampsia and sleep apnea in pregnancy. We were in the non-preeclampsia control group.

It was a very interesting experience. I stayed overnight at the sleep lab at RUH, they put electrodes all over my head – 4 glued to my scalp, one on the forehead, one on the chin, one below the chin, one on the neck, one on each temple; one on my upper right chest wall and a corresponding one on the lower left to measure my heartrate, one on the right side ribs/belly, one on the left of the belly, and one on each leg. Then I had a fetal doppler monitor on (it was cool, I could hear baby’s heartbeat in the receiver in the next room all night, tha-thump, tha-thump…and its kicks – whomp!), a blood oxygen sensor on my right index finger, a blood pressure monitor strapped to my left wrist with mini-cuffs around my middle and ring fingers (those were NOT comfortable – they inflated and then slowly deflated like an arm bp band does, but it alternated fingers probably every minute all night long). Then there was a chest band around my upper chest to measure my breathing, and a nose prong apparatus (like an oxygen line) taped to my face with a thingy hanging in front of my mouth that measured my breathing as well.

I slept ok, I still woke up when I had to turn over, but it took me a bit longer to fall back asleep after each turn than usual, just from being in a new place and having the stuff strapped to me. The electrodes were all plugged into this box-thing the size of an old tape walkman, I wore it around my neck when going to the washroom, etc. and it hung on the wall during the night.

I reacted to the tape they used, so I have red patches all over wherever they taped an electrode on…it’s kinda funny. Not itchy at all, just red. The one on my neck is quite conspicuous. And i still have glue stuck to my scalp, i've washed my hair a few times and i still keep finding new patches of it.

They said my baby was very well behaved all night, it stayed in a good position for the fetal monitor to pick it up all night long, most move around and the monitor loses the heartbeat through the nite. So they’ll now contact me if they find I had any breathing problems in the night (but I don’t think I did). And then they’ll mail me my $100. yay!

34 1/2 weeks, again all is well.

Prenatal appointment #7 (if i can count) today was fine, nothing new to report. Weight gain of 1 lb this month for a total of 20. Baby's heartrate was 140, head is down. I go back in 2 weeks.

Now on to some other random things that i've been meaning to blog just for posterity's sake...

- I had my first Braxton hicks on the weekend, i was bending over to get something from a lower cupboard, and when i stood up, my stomach (uterus) did not relax with the rest of the stomach muscles...it was a tight little ball for about 30 seconds, no pain, just tight. I've had a few more since then, usually in the early evening, nothing regular or painful. A friend of mine who is due late August has been having them for a few weeks already, and the "baby progress" emails I've gotten mentioned them a few weeks ago, so i was kinda wondering if/when i'd start getting them.

- After weeks of wearing sandals, i put on shoes again the other day when it was cold and rainy...yeah. My feet must be a tad swollen or just bigger, i swear they used to fit just fine! Now i wonder which of my pre-pregnancy shoes i'll never be able to wear again. I'm not a huge shoe fanatic but there are a few pairs that just fit that i quite like, which will probably be given away if this is my new foot size.

- A couple weeks ago, for some reason i thought to myself "i'm not very big, i wish my belly would get bigger". Yeah. Well, it has. On Sunday, i swear the kid put on at least a pound, my belly was sooooooo heavy i could not stand any more, i had to lay down and even then the pull of the belly towards the bed was incredible! Maybe s/he just changed positions and was sticking out further or something, but something definitely shifted from sunday morning to sunday afternoon. Oh, and my belly is officially bigger than a good-sized watermelon too, my mother-in-law brought one over on the weekend and i could not believe that my belly was bigger until they took pictures to prove it - i'll have to post those. From my vantage point, my belly didnt' seem that big... Oh, and i'm not wishing for bigger any more, i realized with anywhere from 0 to 7 weeks left (if i go overdue), this belly will be growing a lot on its own, i don't need to hope for that.

- I have the baby room color picked out, it's a muted yellow, not bright, but not pale either. We're going to get paint for the baby room and the new office tonight, i'm excited about that. The new office is close to done, then we will move the stuff out of the baby room and paint that, and then we're ready to put things in it.

- I also bought a baby book on the weekend, for recording details of baby's first few years. My parents did one for me when i was a baby, and i love looking at it, so it's something i really wanted to do for our kids. I got it at McNally's - they had about 25 different ones to choose from, so i spent time looking through all of them. I really like the one I picked, it has a couple pages for mommy & daddy’s history – where they were born, what they were like growing up, where they met, how they got engaged, when/where the wedding was, etc., then a family tree back to great grand parents (our grandparents), then goes into the pregnancy – when/how we found out you were coming along, how we felt, what daddy thought you were (boy/girl), what mommy’s guess was, the meaning behind the name we picked & other names we considered, the labour/delivery story, what was happening in the world the day s/he was born, baby’s first home, baby’s room, special visitors & gifts, christening/dedication ceremony, then onto the first smile, first tooth, first steps, first words, etc. This one also has a page for birthdays 1-5 and the last page is the first day of school (that made me cry when I was looking at it)…

Ok, i think that's all for now.

what's in a name?

Lately baby names have been on my mind a lot.

We had some ideas for girls names from last summer when we were naming our dog, actually...there were a couple names we saw that we thought "no, we'd use those for a child, not for a dog". So that was our starting point for girls' names.

Boys names were a bit harder to come by at first, Anthony came up with one that is still high on our list, i found a nice meaningful middle name to go with it, and we both like it. We've 'lived' with it for about 3 or 4 months now, and it has not changed, nor has our love of the name. We also have another boys' name, found through reading the baby name book together while travelling to Moosomin in February, and a good middle name to go with that name too.

However, since the beginning, our like of the original girls names has waxed and waned, we weren't completely sold on any of them. We had two first-middle name combos that worked, but i wasn't in love with either, so the hunt was not yet over. We also had another first name that we were toying with, but no middle name to go with it and no direction for that hunt. So we dug out the baby name book again, and started going through that, a couple ideas came to us but nothing that we loved...just "that could work" type girls' names.

Until today. A first name had been floating in my mind for a bit, i shared it with Anthony last week and he liked it, but again, we had no middle name for it. Until this morning, when a really nice middle name popped into my head, and it goes very nicely with the first name. This is the first time it’s felt like “aha, here’s a girl's name we could live with forever” – I even called tony and he likes it too. So we’ll sit on it a while and try it out in our minds and see how it ‘fits’…but at this point, I think we have both a boys' and girls' name "picked".

(it's been nice to have the boy's name to throw around our head for the past while to get used to and imagine yelling out the back door, etc., so now we'll do the same with this girl's name.)

Now given that we know so many people having babies in the next while, we are aware of the fact that others may choose the same or a similar name. This is why we have decided to not mention our name ideas to anyone, and also why we have other names on the back burner. Plus, I fully believe you have to meet the kid before fully settling on the name, it may or may not suit him/her when s/he arrives.

But here's a summary of my preferences in names...(anthony's pretty much the same).

I dislike common names. I dislike strange names. I DISLIKE trendy names.

I want something that you see and recognize as a name, but that the kid will perhaps not have others in his/her class with the same name.

I want names that you can see and know how to pronounce, that you can hear and pretty much know how to spell.

I like names with good meanings, I like when they have connections to our heritage (swedish/ukranian, german/russian/mennonite/english).

I am not opposed to choosing a name in honour of someone we know, if it's the right name and the right person (though none of our current picks do this...)

And of course, i spend time thinking about the 'flow' of the name, with and without the middle name thrown in there, the initials and what they may spell or suggest, possible nicknames and teasing names that could be derived from the name, etc.

(by the way, does anyone know the location of those websites where you type in a name and it spits out all the possible negative nicknames and derivations that kids may come up with from that name?)

Now we just have to settle on the spelling of the names, i am not a fan of changing spelling just to make it 'unique', but both the boy's and girl's names have a couple different ways they can be spelled in normal usage...

craving

The past couple days, i've been having weird cravings - weird because they're not just for food. Now don't get worried and think that i want to eat non-edible items like laundry soap or dirt (which actually happens to some pregnant ladies - follow the link). I have been craving smells.

The one smell that i really want to experience is the smell of the greenhouse at Dutch Growers (or other garden centres)...that warm moist earthy smell. And I want to smell the inside of the Co-op lumber store too. I may have to go to those places this weekend just to inhale it all.

These smell cravings just come upon me, usually while i'm sitting at work - all of a sudden the memory of a certain smell just pops into my head and i have such a strong urge to go smell that scent right then and there. It's weird.

I also have some food cravings, not terribly strong, just urges for certain things. Like very super cold ice water. I have taken to filing up my water bottle with ice every morning then adding the water, and the ice lasts until about 1pm, so at least i have COLD water for half the workday. I am eagerly anticipating the popsicles and ice chips in the labour & delivery ward.

Last night, i got home after 10 and was craving a fruity slushy drink (non-alcoholic of course). Fortunately, upon opening the freezer, i found frozen blueberries, strawberries, and blackberries (which I had forgotten we had), so i threw those in a blender with some frozen fruit punch concentrate and ice, and made a delectable treat. It was quite potent in taste, i think next time i'd skip the fruit punch and just add a bit more water and maybe some sugar, but it was just what i was desiring.

i guess i must be bigger than i thought...

this morning when I got to work, the elevator going up had just arrived, and a gentleman got in, saw I was coming, and held it for me until I got in. He asked which floor i needed, i said "3", so he punched 3 and said "are you sure you don't need 4?" (4th is where labour & delivery is...)

i thought it was pretty funny, i wasn't offended or anything, but i think as soon as he said it he realized that it wasn't a very "politically correct" thing to say to a complete stranger - as soon as the words left his lips he was like "i'm sorry...." I just laughed and said "still got 7 weeks or so left...but at least my office is only a floor off from 4th!"

poor guy, he looked a bit flustered and awkward after his comment - totally one of those things that just popped out of his mouth without thinking about it.

epiphany (aka why i wouldn't make a good feminist)

given my love of cooking and baking, my love of not having anything on my feet, and my positive experience (thus far) of being pregnant...

i quite enjoy being barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen.

all is still well

I honestly can't complain about anything major in this pregnancy. Yes, i have the aches and pains and stiffness some days, and other days are awful in trying to get comfortable to work, visit, or sleep. But overall, i have had no major discomforts or anything since those first days of fatigue and nausea and heartburn (which seem like a very distant memory). Even now, heartburn is only slight, and only on the occasional day.

I did, however, notice my very first baby-related stretch mark this morning on my tummy. Oh well, i figured i'd get them at some point and was pretty surprised that it took this long for them to show up. But i still really like my belly - i am actually excited for it to get even bigger. Some days I look at it and think "there can't be a 4 pound baby in there, it's not big enough!"

I have to say that swimming has really helped in the aches/pains/general discomfort area. I really notice it when i miss a swimming class - i am way more sore and uncomfortable for those days until i can get back to the pool. It is just so good to stretch everything out so well and to move around in the water, as well as the quick soaks in the hot tub after the class is done (it's quite funny to see 10-15 pregnant ladies head straight to the hot tub after class is over, given that society in general thinks that pregnant ladies are NEVER supposed to go in a hot tub). Last week I extended my leisure card for two more months, so now it expires on July 11, by which time i should most definitely have this baby (that would be 11 days overdue, and the standard in s'toon is to only let you go 10 days overdue). I am looking forward to being able to just go be in the water and even just float (instead of aquacising) as the more cumbersome days come along.

With 7 1/2 (ish) weeks left, i sure hope that i can say that i have no complaints when I get to the end. I know there will be more cause for discomfort as the day grows closer, but at this point i think i should be mostly fine. And the free massages at McKay school help too, i have my second one booked for after the long weekend, which leaves me one more to enjoy in June.

does (or did) anyone out there actually do their kegel exercises?