Another good appointment

I just got back from another appointment with the midwife. Everything is good, baby is in a good position, so now it's just a waiting game. We did discuss the protocols for what happens if I go overdue, so it was good to know about that. Of course, I'm hoping this baby comes sooner rather than later! My next appointment is on February 6th, unless I have the baby before then, of course.

Here's a cute picture of Smokey taking a nap yesterday in the bassinette that my aunt and godmother bought when I was a baby - I love how he's using a stuffed bear as a pillow! He thinks all this great stuff we've been bringing home lately is for him. Poor guy doesn't know what's coming!

Just waiting... patiently ;)

I've been having some nice, relaxing days at home. Haven't done much in the way of housework, but oh well. I have been keeping up with washing the dishes, so at least that's something. And I did clean out some of the fridge, I just haven't gotten around to cleaning the rest.

Still no sign of baby making the big entrance into the world. Tomorrow is the day my massage therapist predicted I'd give birth, so who knows. I have a feeling it will be next week, not this week. Given how "textbook" this pregnancy has been, I wouldn't be surprised if I give birth close to my due date or a few days after.

I'm trying my best to be patient!

Another appointment gone well

I just got back from an appointment with the midwife. Everything is going well. Baby's heartbeat is strong at 128 bpm, my blood pressure was still great at 104/78. She did note that the baby's head is quite low in my pelvis, which is has been for about a month now, I think. Which explains why I have to pee every 5 minutes it seems!

Our next appointment is on Thursday the 29th (as long as we don't have the baby before then!).

I can't believe we're only 10 days away from the due date! "They" say that for a first baby, it is most common to give birth 4 or 5 days after your due date, but who knows. It really could happen at any time now. I haven't gotten up in the middle of the night to scrub floors or to do any other crazy cleaning though, which I have heard is a sign that labour is coming. All this waiting and anticipation is quite exciting!

My brother and his fiance left for Florida today. They get back on Feb 1st, so who knows, they may come back and have a new niece or nephew!

Enjoying some lazy days

The last couple of days have been very relaxing. Yesterday, I went into work for a party for one of my coworkers, so that was nice. After that, I came home and had a nap in the afternoon.

This morning, I spent some time with a friend and then had another afternoon nap. I'm heading out in a bit to meet the girls from work for dinner and then we're going to see Paul Blart: Mall Cop, which looks really funny!

I am also happy to report that the carseat is in and we are satisfied with the little amount of movement now. And my hospital bags are packed!

Well, that's all folks

My last day of work yesterday went quite well. I only had to pass off one task that I didn't have time to get to, so that wasn't bad. I got all the major stuff done that I needed to and cleaned out my office. What a strange feeling. I am really looking forward to the next stage in my life, it was just very surreal to walk out of there for a year. Sure, I'll be back to visit lots, but won't have to go to work for a whole year!

In fact, I am going back to the office on Monday for lunch since it is one of my coworkers 40th birthday and we're giving him a surprise lunch. And then on Tuesday evening, I am going out for dinner and a movie with the girls at work, so on my first 2 days of mat leave, I will be seeing my coworkers, so that's neat.

My wonderful hubby took me out for dinner last night to celebrate this next phase in our lives. Probably one of our last opportunities to go out on a date before we become parents!

And of course, as soon as we got home from dinner, I completed and submitted my application for EI online, so that I can start getting my payments as soon as possible. My employer was able to submit my Record of Employment electronically, so now it's just a matter of waiting for Service Canada to approve my application. Hopefully it won't take too long; probably a couple weeks I would guess.

Tomorrow, we are planning to get some final baby related tasks done. We're going to give the car seat another go. We've talked to some recent parents, and they seemed to be in the same situation as us. The way the bases are installed, they are only belted in close to the back of the vehicle seat using the seat belt, so the whole front edge where the baby's head would be is free to move up and down. I guess they are designed on purpose that way to have some movement in that direction. We can basically take the whole seat and tip it up. As long as it is secure where the belt is fastened, we're good. Hopefully we can get it nice and tight tomorrow. And if we are still unsure, I will take it somewhere next week to have it checked.

My other tasks for the next couple of days is to get the hospital bags packed (one for me, one for baby). I have been slowly gathering things, but I need to make sure everything is in there and it's all ready to go.

Our neighbour was selling a highchair she had used for her granddaughter who has since outgrown it, so we went over this afternoon to have a look at it. Fisher Price, 2 years old, great condition. She paid $120 for it, and will sell it to us for $50. I checked the reviews for this one online and it seems like a great highchair, so we decided to take it. Score! She is going to wash it and bring it over next week.

It’s the final countdown…

Only 3 days of work left including today! I really can’t believe it! I know my back will certainly appreciate not having to sit at a desk all day! I hope I have a little time on mat leave before the baby comes, but not too much… about a week or so would be nice ;)

I am in the midst of trying to get all my outstanding tasks completed this week. It’s looking promising that I’ll be able to get it all done, so that’s good. I had a meeting yesterday with a couple co-workers who will be taking over my projects just to give them an update on the current status of each project so there will be a smooth transition. And today I have a meeting with our office administrator to discuss my upcoming leave and make sure I have all the paperwork I need to fill out. Exciting stuff!

Well, I guess I should hop to it since I have a lot to get done in the next 3 days!

Land of confusion…

Carlos and I tried to install the infant carseat yesterday… you’d think it would be simple – not so! I read the manual for both the carseat and my vehicle, and it really seemed like it was going to be simple. Well, after an hour, we gave up. It’s in there, it just has way more ‘give’ than it should. We tried it in the middle seat, side seat, with the base, without the base, and all configurations have more movement than you’re supposed to have. I just don’t see how this is supposed to be secure when you only put the seatbelt close to the back of the seat, so the whole front section is free to move about. We have another appointment with the midwife later this morning, so I will ask her if there are any resources in town where we can go for help. And thanks for the suggestion Mrs. JB, we do have a St. Johns Ambulance office in town, so they will be the first place I call for help, unless my midwife has other suggestions.

I can’t believe I’m at 37 weeks now – holy smokes! Baby is officially considered full term now, so baby could be born at any point in the next 5 weeks. I think it is more common for first time moms to deliver close to their due date or after, so it will likely still be at least a couple weeks before baby is born, but it is exciting to know that it could happen anytime now!

And this is my last week of work, so I know I will be busy trying to tie up loose ends before I am on mat leave.

EDIT 12:01pm

The appointment today went well. As usual, baby is right on track and heartbeat is strong. I was negative for Group B Strep, which is great. One less thing to worry about on the big day. As for the carseat dilemma, she suggested a few places to contact. I also remembered that we received some info on carseat safety at the prenatal health fair in town we went to back in September, so I will dig that info out since I'm sure there is a "where to go for help" section. If not, I will make some calls to places in town. Someone will help us I'm sure since we can't be the first set of to-be parents that want to make sure they get this right!

How’s this for crazy

On my drive into work this morning, I saw a guy running and he was wearing running shorts and a long-sleeve T-shirt… and it’s -20 with the windchill today! I thought that was absolutely nuts!

The countdown is at 6 days left of work including today. I really can’t wait to be done. This is a big change for me. After working here for almost 5 years, my longest break so far was the 3 weeks I took off surrounding my wedding. Multiply that by 17 and you get to how long my break will be now – 52 weeks. That is assuming I decide to take the full 52 weeks… it’s sort of a wait and see thing. I really won’t know how I feel until I get there, so we’re leaving my “return to work” date open-ended and I’ll see how I feel in the Fall. But, as far as my employer is concerned right now, I am planning to take the full 52 weeks.

I’m wondering how my transition from engineer to full time mommy is going to go… will I miss the intellectual stimulation? I know I will definitely miss the people I work with; they are absolutely wonderful. I don’t think I’ll miss the spending 40 hours a week at my desk though ;) And there is this project that I have been working on since I started this job, I definitely won’t miss that. Although it does feel really strange to pass it off to someone else since it has been my project for almost 5 years. It has caused me lots of frustration and made me want to scream and pull my hair out lately though, so perhaps it’s a good thing it can be someone else’s problem for awhile ;)

I’m really looking forward to seeing nej and lj tomorrow!

Home visit went well

At the home visit, we basically discussed the difference between early labour and active labour, when to page the midwife, stages of labour, any wishes we have for the labour, hospital stay, etc. They also checked the baby's position, heartbeat, height of the top of the uterus, my blood pressure, etc. and everything is great. I also was tested for Group B Strep, so I should get those results by the end of this week. They test all pregnant women for that late in pregnancy since about 30% of women have that bacteria in their bodies (no harm to mom), but it can be passed to the baby during the birth, which can be harmful to the baby. If it does come back positive, that just means I would need a dose of anti-biotics every 4 hours during the active phase of labour.

So, our next appointment is next Monday as our appointments are now weekly until the baby is born. And as of midnight on Sunday, baby is considered full term (37 weeks). I can’t believe it’s getting so close!!! Although, baby could be born at any point between now and 42 weeks, so it could be as late as mid-February… I hope it will be sooner than that though!

Happy New Year

Here we are at 2009. I didn't really make any new years resolutions this year, but I am really looking forward to this year since I'm going to be a mommy! So, I'm sure much of my year will be spent looking after baby and watching baby learn and grow.

The rest of my holidays were pretty good. We got quite a bit of de-cluttering done around the house, which was great. Still more to do, but we made a really good dent.

So now it’s back to work. Today is a short day in the office for me though since I am leaving at 10am to go home. We have our midwife coming at 10:45am for our home visit. Since I’ll already be at home, I will work from home for the afternoon, so that will be nice.

I’m at 36 weeks along now, so we’re on the home stretch – literally! Baby is getting so big now that the kicks are getting so strong that sometimes it feels like baby is going to kick its way through my belly! My belly is getting really big now, which is making finding a comfortable position to sleep in difficult. But, only a few weeks to go until we finally get to meet our little one!!!