The Trifecta

Today is a great day for many reasons: it’s Friday, my birthday, and my first baby shower. Yay! Lots of reasons to celebrate today! I still don’t know any details about my shower, they are keeping it somewhat of a secret. They’ll have to tell me when and where to be at some point today!

Last night’s prenatal class was good. The topic was labour, so we went through the different stages of labour and what can be expected during each stage. I have some fears about giving birth, so learning about the different stages was very useful since now I have somewhat of an idea of what to expect. Next week, we are talking about pain management options and preparing for the unexpected.

This weekend should be a good one. Of course tonight I have my baby shower with my coworkers. Tomorrow, Carlos is taking me out for lunch in honour if my birthday and then we are going to check out the festival of trees. Then tomorrow evening is Carlos’ company Christmas party. Sunday, we don’t have too much planned at this point, which is a good thing since tonight and tomorrow are already full. So, I want Sunday to rest.

Loooooong day yesterday

I ended up working a 17-hour day yesterday. The weather was pretty bad, so we spent more time on the road travelling than we expected, which meant I didn’t get home until 1:30am last night. But, the meeting went very well, much better than I was expecting. So that was good. This morning, I slept in until around 9:30am and then had an appointment with the midwife at 11:30am and came to work after that. So, today will be a nice, short 4-hour work day.

Our appointment with the midwife this morning went well. There is a 4th year midwifery student ‘shadowing’ our primary midwife, so she asked us if it would be okay if the student did our appointment today. Totally up to us, but if we liked the student, then it would be her and our primary midwfie present at our birth instead of our primary and secondary midwives (and we’re not too keen on our secondary midwife anyway). And, the other benefit of the student is she and our primary midwife would be there the whole time, whereas usually you only have one midwife until you are actually pushing and then the second midwife arrives. So, we decided to meet the student and see what we thought. We were very impressed! I think I like her the best out of everyone! So, needless to say, we will definitely let her be involved in our care! I feel very good about this.

My gestational diabetes screen came back normal, so that’s good. Baby is measuring right on track, all my stats are right where they should be. Our next appointment is on December 11th.

Tonight is my free evening for this week, so I am looking forward to that!

Another busy week ahead

This week is another busy one. Seems to be the trend as of late. Tomorrow, I have another meeting out of town to attend in the evening, which means I’ll be working a 16 or 17 hour day tomorrow. Yikes! Luckily, this is my last out of town evening meeting, so I will be so glad when it is over with! This is one where we are expecting 100+ people to show up and 95% of them are opposed to the project, so there will be some angry and unreasonable people to deal with – fun. Since I’m working such a long day tomorrow, I am taking Wednesday morning off. I have an appointment with the midwife at 11:30am on Wednesday, so I’ll just go to work after that for the afternoon. So, Wednesday will be a nice, short workday to counteract the really long day tomorrow.

And Friday is not only my birthday, but also my first baby shower, so that will be fun. I don’t know any of the details yet, just that it is put on by my coworkers, it will be after work, and my parents and Carlos are supposed to come as well. That’s all I know. I’m sure it will be a great time!

This past weekend was a good one. My visit with my friend on Saturday was nice. I hadn’t seen her in maybe 2 years, so we got to catch up on things. She has a 3.5 month old daughter, so I got to meet her as well. It was nice to hear about how pleased she was with the midwives through the birth and the weeks afterwards.

We also picked up our crib on Saturday morning and then put it together Saturday after I got home from visiting with my friend. I absolutely LOVE the crib we picked! Now we are just waiting on the mattress, which should be in on the weekend. We could have bought it in-store, but it was 10% off through the Sears website, so we ordered it through there. We decided to get an organic mattress since that was something that was really important to me – to get a mattress with no PVC, especially since the baby will be spending so much time in the crib.

My birthday celebration with my family yesterday was great. Carlos’ parents came for a bit as well. It was funny, they called us just before noon on Sunday saying they wanted to come early to come to our place (they would bring lunch) and to see the nursery. So, as soon as we found that out, we were running around like chickens with our heads cut off trying to get the house a little tidied. My mother-in-law is a cleaning lady and she is one of those European women who always has their house spotless. So, I wanted our house to be at least somewhat presentable. It’s amazing what a difference we made in just a half hour!

As of today, I’m 30 weeks along! Only 10 weeks to go! Now that we have all the nursery furniture set up, I am finding that I am having a really strong urge to get all the supplies we need. I am trying to hold off though since I’m sure we’ll be getting some stuff at the shower on Friday and more at Christmas.

TGIF!!!

I am so looking forward to the weekend; it has been a long week! I’ve been so busy in the evenings that the last few nights I’ve gone to bed about an hour later than I normally do, so I woke up feeling really tired this morning. Luckily, I get to sleep in tomorrow morning and Sunday morning – yay!

I got approved for my 4 days off in December, so I am stoked about that! I’m taking Wed, Dec 3rd off as a relaxing/do nothing day for me. I am also taking Dec 29th to 31st off, which means my last day of work before Christmas is December 23rd and then I won’t be back until January 5th (our office is closed on Dec 24th and Jan 2nd in addition to the stat holidays). I am so looking forward to the time off between Christmas and New Years because I want to get my house in order! It needs some serious cleaning and de-cluttering. So, I will break it down into some manageable chunks and tackle one task her day. I have been feeling the ‘nesting’ instinct lately, so I am really looking forward to getting my house clean. I need to do things like clean the inside of my fridge and cupboards and things like that which always seem to be forgotten. And I am saving my banked overtime to use in my last 2 weeks (Jan 5 to 16) if I need an afternoon off here and there. I will be within a month of my due date by then, so I figure I may need a couple hours off here and there to make myself more comfortable since sitting at my desk for 40 hours a week has been a bit difficult lately.

Last night, the topic of our prenatal class was breastfeeding and we got LOTS of good info. I really want to breastfeed because of all the amazing benefits, so I am glad I have the support of my midwives. They will come to me on days 1, 2, 3, 5, and between 7 and 10 to help with any issues I have and to check on me and the baby. I have heard from other people that breastfeeding can be difficult/frustrating in the beginning, so I am so lucky to have the amazing support of my midwives! I got lots of good tips at my class last night, so I think I am well equipped to give it a try! I am determined to breastfeed for as long as I can (Canadian Pediatric Society recommends 1 year).

My plans for the weekend include lots of fun stuff! Tonight, I am having dinner with friends. Tomorrow afternoon, I am getting together with an old friend who just had a baby in August. She also used the midwives, so I want to get the inside scoop on what the birth experience and the weeks after were like with the midwives. On Sunday, I am having my birthday celebration with my family. My mom is flying out to Alberta early in the morning on the 29th, so we are having my birthday dinner on Sunday. Which is fine by me; more time to celebrate!

EDIT 2:50pm

I just got the email from Sears saying that our crib is in and ready to be picked up - yay! We'll be picking it up tomorrow!!!

Blast from the past

I met up with my friend from highschool last night. We were best friends in grades 9 and 10, so it was nice to catch up with her. The funny thing was, when I walked into the café where we met, 2 other former friends from our highschool were also there – it was somewhat of a reunion! Anyways, I had a very nice visit and it was great to catch up.

Tonight is my only free evening this week, so I am really looking forward to the time to just relax.

I still have a few vacation days and some banked OT for 2008, so I am trying to decide what to do with that. I have enough for 5 days off. I spoke with our office administrator yesterday and I have a few options. Option 1 would be to use the time before I start my mat leave. Option 2 would be to tack that time on right after I leave (so I would work until the 16th, but get paid until the 23rd, which would delay the start of my mat leave by a week). Option 3 would be to keep the time and have it when I return in January 2010. Option 4 would be to get paid out on the time, but apparently this causes some difficulties when applying for EI since my last paycheck would be so much larger than typical.

I am leaning towards Option 1. My back has been feeling a bit better in the last couple weeks, but I think a few days off here and there would really help my last few weeks at work be more comfortable. I am thinking about taking the days off between Christmas and New Years. Because of the way the holidays fall and our other office closures, I already get the 24th, 25th, 26th, Jan 1st, and Jan 2nd off. So, if I use 3 vacation days for the other days between Christmas and New Years, then my last day of work before Christmas would be December 23rd and then I wouldn’t be back until January 5th, at which point I’d only have 2 weeks left since my last day of work will be January 16th. As for the other 2 vacation days, I am thinking about taking 2 Wednesdays in December off to break up the week a bit and make it a little more comfortable. So, I’m thinking about taking December 3rd and 17th off as well; just as relaxing days. So, that’s the plan! Here’s hoping I get approved for those days off! I will submit my request today, so I’ll likely hear back within a few days.

Oh, and I also found out that my company will be providing some type of top-up while I am on leave. I don’t know yet how much or for how long. Apparently the official policy is being created this week and I will probably find out more details within the next week or so. I wasn’t expecting my company to provide any type of top-up, so I will consider anything I receive as gravy!

How do you solve a problem like Maria?

That could have many meanings for me since my mother-in-law and sister-in-law are both named Maria, but I meant it as in the song from Sound of Music of course, since I certainly don’t consider my in-laws as problems ;) The musical was amazing! I think I have convinced a couple of my coworkers to go and see it since I gave it such a good review ;)

My weekend was fabulous. Time with the girls is always a good time! I got home just before 9:30pm on Saturday evening. It took a bit longer than normal to get home because of the congestion getting from Yorkdale to the 401 express, and then because of the very heavy rain, which made for poor visibility. But, mom and I made it home safe and sound!

So I got home on Saturday night and Carlos had finished the painting in the nursery. He worked hard while I was off having fun with the girls! I think he finished mid-afternoon on Saturday, what a man! I am so pleased with how it turned out! Yesterday, we went to get the blinds we had picked out and we spent the afternoon putting our furniture together. In a total of 4 hours, we put the dresser and change table together and hung the blinds and window valence. So, I think we did pretty well! It looks fabulous! Now all we’re missing is the crib, which is supposed to arrive on the weekend. Here’s hoping it arrives on time!

This will be another busy week for me! But I do have one evening free this week (Wednesday), so it’s slightly less busy than last week where I was busy every evening. Tomorrow evening, I am meeting up with an old friend of mine from high school. We recently reconnected through Facebook, so I am excited to see her again and catch up on the last 10 years! We are meeting for coffee, but the earliest she could meet is 8pm. So, I will likely only be able to stay until 9:30pm or so since that has been my bedtime as of late! But, I’m sure we’ll have a nice visit even if it is a short one.

As of today, I am 29 weeks along! Only 11 weeks to go!!!!!

Prenatal Class last night was good!

I really enjoyed our first prenatal class last night. It is all very well organized and the instructor is amazing. Last night we talked about caring for your newborn. So we learned about the different states of consciousness, which senses are most developed when the baby is born, bathing your baby, sleep, swaddling, etc. Next week’s topic is breastfeeding, then labour, then preparing for the unexpected, then more info on newborns, and then the 6th class is the hospital tour. So, I think we’re going to learn lots! We got some really good tips last night.

There were a total of 11 couples in our class (there were supposed to be 12, but one couple was a no-show). They all seem to be couples in their early 20’s to early 30’s and we are somewhere in the middle in terms of due date (they range in the class from late December to mid-March). I think we’re going to get a lot out of this class! Carlos and I both came home feeling very excited since it seems like our due date is getting closer now that we are taking prenatal classes. Very exciting!

Carlos has made amazing progress on the nursery. He has the walls all painted, and has started on the trim (see his Facebook for a couple pics). Things are coming along nicely!

So now I just have to get through the work day today and then it’s the weekend. It has been a very busy week for me (I’ve been busy every evening), but it’s been a good week. And I am really looking forward to this weekend since I get to spend it with lj and nej!!!

Baby had a growth spurt!

At every appointment after 20 weeks, they measure the height of the top of my uterus (measured from your pubic bone). Normal growth is about 1 cm per week. At my 22 week appointment, it measured at 20 cm. At my 26 week appointment, it measured at 24cm. At my 28 week appointment yesterday, it measured at 28 cm! So that’s 4 cm in 2 weeks!!! Baby must have done a lot of growing in the last 2 weeks. The midwife said that sometimes the growth is in spurts, so we might find little change if any at our next appointment on the 26th. Heartbeat was strong at 148 bpm. The midwife was also able to feel the baby’s position, which was really neat. I guess baby is getting big enough now to feel from the outside! So, the appointment yesterday afternoon went very well. I had my blood drawn for the gestational diabetes screen, so I should get those results in a few days, by early next week at the latest.

It was funny, I had to leave the office yesterday at 3pm since my appointment was at 3:30pm. My boss called a meeting from 2:30 until 3 with me and another coworker to talk about an upcoming public meeting. Well, I had to eat my precise number of smarties at exactly 2:45pm, so I had to take them to the meeting with me and explain why halfway through the meeting, they were going to see me eat a mountain of smarties in a short period of time. Figures! It was funny.

Carlos spent yesterday morning getting the first coat of paint on the nursery walls – it looks great! He’s doing the second coat this morning. Then it’s on to the trim! I’m sure he’ll have it all done by the time I get home on Saturday evening from my weekend in Toronto. Then on Sunday, we are planning to put the change table and dresser together and do some of the finishing touches (blinds, window valence, etc.). I think that by the end of the weekend, we should have everything ready except the crib, which should arrive in about a week and a half. Exciting!

Tomorrow evening, I am headed to nej’s place for a girls night and birthday celebration for lj and me. Should be good times! Then on Saturday, we are headed downtown to meet up with my mom and see The Sound of Music musical. I am really excited for this ladies weekend!!!

Oh, when I was at my massage last night (which was HEAVEN!), my massage therapist told me she still thinks I’m having a girl and she thinks the baby will be born a little early, around January 28th or so. I guess we’ll have to wait and see if she’s right!

Another busy week ahead

Actually, the next 3 weeks are crazy busy for me. This week, I have something on every evening. I don’t like being so busy, but all the events I have this week are fun, so I’m not complaining! Tonight, I am having my friend Liz over who I haven’t seen since August, so it will be nice to catch up with her. Tomorrow afternoon, I have another appointment with my midwife at 3:30pm and then a massage in the evening. I have been really looking forward to the massage since my back has been sore in the last week or so. Thursday evening, Carlos and I have our first prenatal class! The class runs 6 weeks total (5 classes and then the 6th week is a tour of the maternity ward of our brand new hospital). I haven’t even been inside the new hospital (it only opened in June), so I am looking forward to seeing the place I’ll be giving birth! I’m sure we will really enjoy the classes and getting to meet other expectant couples.

So, that makes for a busy week. But I think it will be an enjoyable one!

My coworkers are planning a baby shower for me, which is really nice. It was funny; one of my coworkers came into my office last week and said something along the lines of “Do you live by your day planner?” And I of course said yes! She then asked me to look and see if I had the evening of November 28th free, and I replied “well I don’t need to look at that date; it’s my birthday! But, I have no real plans that evening”. So, they are planning a baby shower for me and my parents and Carlos are invited as well. That’s all I know about it so far. So, that should be fun; my first baby shower! I have a feeling my family will be planning another baby shower for me with family and friends, but I think that won’t be until after the baby is born, so sometime in March I’m thinking.

Carlos’ friend and his wife had a baby girl on Saturday evening. So, we are now officially the next ones in our group of friends to have a baby – very exciting! Our time is getting closer!

Yay for new work hours

This morning in our weekly company meeting, my boss announced that we are changing our hours, effective today. We will be working 8am until 4:30pm with a half hour lunch (as opposed to 8am to 5pm with an hour lunch). We are still welcome to work the old hours any day that we need an hour for lunch. On Mondays for the next 6 weeks, I am going to stay with the old hours since I have my prenatal pilates class at 5:15pm, so there is no point in me going home first. But, this means that on most days, I’ll be home by 5pm, which makes me really happy! That will also mean a half hour less per day I need to sit at my desk, which is good news for my aching back!

AC/DC put on an awesome show on Friday night!!! It was great! Saturday, the men worked hard on the renovation. The portico is almost done now. Probably as far as it’s going to get before winter. All that is left to be done is put some crown moulding around the inside to cover the gap between the ceiling and the beams, paint it, and brick around the front pillars (which Carlos’ dad is going to do). So, the painting and bricks will likely wait until the spring. But, everything else is done and it looks great! Check out Carlos’ blog for pictures.

The nursery is almost ready to be painted. Just needs a little more primer in a couple spots and then the painting can begin! I think Carlos will work on that some mornings this week and I have a sneaking suspicion he is going to try to get all the painting done by the time I get home on Saturday night from my weekend with nej and lj. Carlos won’t let me help with the painting because of the fumes, so he’s doing it all himself. What a guy! I can’t wait to see what it looks like when it’s all painted! Then we can start putting the furniture together. The only item that we are still waiting to arrive is the crib, and it’s supposed to get to our local Sears in about 2 weeks.

Saturday morning, I got myself all worked up. I hadn’t been feeling the baby move as much as I normally do, which had me worried. I was still feeling movements, they just weren’t nearly as frequent or intense as they had been. So, I googled “reduced fetal movements” and that was probably the worst thing I could have done because all these websites for stillbirth came up basically saying that usually before a baby dies, the mothers experience reduced fetal movements and to call your doctor if you are experiencing this right away, do not wait. So, I immediately burst into tears and was totally freaked out that something was wrong. Once I had calmed down a bit, I paged my midwife (they are available 24/7 for any major concerns). She called me back within 5 minutes and I explained what I had been feeling (or not feeling in this case). She asked me to drink a glass of cold water (to wake the baby up) and then lie down in a quiet room and count the movements. She said any movement counted, didn’t matter if it wasn’t as intense as normal, it could be that the baby is facing my back or something and I’m just not feeling them as intense as if the baby was kicking towards the front. She also said that later in pregnancy, the quality of movements usually changes since the baby has less room to move, so the kicks won’t be as intense. So, she asked me to count and then she’d call back to see how I was doing. She said 4 movements in a hour when the baby is awake is considered adequate. She did say that if we weren’t satisfied, we could go to the hospital for a non-stress test where I would be hooked up to a machine that measures the baby’s heart rate and movements.

So, when she called back, it had been about 40 minutes and I had felt 6 movements. So, she said that was lots and no reason to be concerned. The movements were very subtle, so I think what happened was I was just so busy on Friday that I didn’t notice the movements as much. But, lying down in a quiet room made me notice them much more. I felt very relieved after I had talked to the midwife. Since then, I have been noticing the kicks more, they are back to the ‘regular’ frequency and intensity. So, I think the baby just had a lazy couple of days or maybe the baby was in a different position for awhile. I am so thankful to have a midwife that takes such good care of me, even when I call her all panicked on a Saturday morning!

Yay for AC/DC Friday!

My long day yesterday went pretty well actually. We spent a total of 5 hours in the car, but we were in my boss’ car, so he has really comfy seats. So, I was much more comfortable than I would have been sitting at my desk. I ended up working a 15-hour day yesterday, which was okay since I’m only working a 4-hour day today to compensate a bit ;) The meeting last night went well, and now I only have 1 more of these evening meetings to attend before I go on mat leave. So, I am relieved about that.

Tonight I am off to see AC/DC with Carlos and nej – yay!!!! The rest of the weekend will be spent working on the reno, I’m sure. Carlos has been working on it in the last few days and he has the nursery almost completely primed! Only need to do a little more work (installing a piece of baseboard where the door used to be and do a little more mudding) and then it will be ready to be painted! I can’t wait! I’m hoping the weather will be okay tomorrow and the men can get some more work done on the portico… we’ll see!

Party last night was a success!

I picked up my parents after work to take them to the mystery location for their 30th anniversary party. I even blindfolded them. Along the way, they were trying to keep track of where we were, and they were too good, so I had to take some major detours and driving around in circles to get them sufficiently lost ;) So, once we arrived, almost all the other guests were there, which was good. My parents were very touched that we planned this for them. My mom thought that maybe we were having a family dinner, but she didn’t know I expanded the guest list to also include her closest friends! It was great! And my brothers came through on the balloons, which I was very pleased about. So, the evening was a complete success! Most of the friends we invited hadn’t seen me since I became pregnant, but they all knew I was expecting. They all made such a fuss saying how radiant I look, and how it looks like ‘I’m all baby’, which is always nice to hear ;)

So now I am trying to get prepared for my meeting tomorrow, so it will be a busy couple of days! Tomorrow will likely be a close to 16-hour day for me… yikes! At least 5 of those hours are driving time. Needless to say, I will be very relieved when Friday rolls around!

Hello Third Trimester!

I am officially into my third trimester now, yay! I am 27 weeks along, so only 13 weeks to go!

This week is going to be a very busy one. Wednesday is my only evening free this week, so I’m sure I’ll be exhausted by the time the weekend rolls around. Tomorrow is my parents’ 30th wedding anniversary, so I am planning a party for them. I was considering hosting it at my house, but to save some hassle, I booked a private room at a restaurant instead. I have invited family and my parents’ closest friends, so I hope they are surprised! I am a little miffed at my brother Al though. I told him months ago that he was in charge of planning their 30th wedding anniversary party since I planned a huge party for their 25th. So, I figured it was his turn. Well, he’s about as useless as tits on a bull, so in the end, I ended up having to plan it anyways. I told him and Thom that they needed to bring balloons though! In reality, it will be Thom bringing balloons since he’s the responsible one. Sheesh. At least Al is marrying an organized woman, anything I need him to do, I will just ask her!

Speaking of my brothers, I feel badly for Thom. I mentioned that he got dumped last week. Well, he just found out yesterday that the reason his gf broke up with him was so that she could have casual sex with someone else. And she did this within days of them breaking up and apparently she has this whole attitude like it was no big deal since she was single at the time. She has no concept that this might be hurtful to Thom. What’s with 16 year old girls these days?!?!? So, he has now realized that there is no way he would ever want her back, so now he can be hurt, mad, and disappointed for awhile and then move on. I feel badly for him! He deserves so much better!

Thursday of this week, I have another meeting to attend out of town, so I will be working a super long day (8am until between 11pm and midnight). The good news is that will make for a very short day on Friday since I will come into the office late and I have to leave early to head to Toronto to see AC/DC with my hubby and nej! Which I am really looking forward to!

This past weekend was a good one. Saturday, we spent more money at Home Depot getting more supplies for the portico renovation. I am always surprised at how expensive lumber is. We are lucky that my dad had some left over wood that he used for all the framing, but we still had to buy the shingles, and all the wood for the gable, ceiling, and other finishing touches. Dad and Carlos finished the shingling, so now it’s just a matter of installing the wood to box in the beams and on the ceiling and gable. So, I’m hoping the weather will be decent on Saturday and they could finish this up. We will likely have to wait until next year to paint it and have the pillars at the front bricked up, but it will already look worlds better! The nursery is at the point where it is almost ready to be primed, just a little more sanding/mudding to do. I can’t wait to get this all done!