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!

Goodbye second trimester!

Today is the last day of my second trimester. As of tomorrow, I am on to the third and final trimester – yay! As I find my due date getting closer, I am finding I am getting really excited to meet my little pumpkin. I am also finding that I am getting really nervous about the whole birth process. I’m sure it will be fine, I just have all sorts of questions running through my mind… What if something goes wrong? What if I can’t handle the pain? Those are the main ones, but there are many more. I just keep telling myself it can’t be that bad because most people who have kids have more than 1 so if labour was THAT awful, people would stop at 1 child! And, if my mom could do it 3 times, and she’s a total wimp when it comes to pain, I should be fine. It’s just scary since it’s all new to me.

I will also be glad when tomorrow rolls around because it will mean October is over. The end of October is a really bad time of year in my family. My ex-fiance and I broke up at the end of October 2001, my brother Al and his ex broke up at the end of October in 2004, and now my brother Thom and his girlfriend broke up on Wednesday. Mom and I were just talking last week about how we just want to get to November unscathed, and then Thom and his girlfriend broke up. Sheesh! I’m not a superstitious person, but I do find it strange that so many bad things happen in our family (particularly relationships dissolving) during that 10-day span.

This weekend will consist of more work on the renovation. I’m hoping that the men will get some more progress done on the portico. And I’m hoping they get the nursery to a point where it is ready to be painted. It’s almost there, so I think it will only take another hour or so of work and then it should be all ready to be primed and painted – yay!

Appointment went well

I had another appointment with my midwife this morning. We got to see the report from our follow-up ultrasound and as we suspected, the cyst was smaller. It was 4.8mm at our first ultrasound at 20 weeks and 2-3mm at our follow-up ultrasound at 24 weeks. The doctor indicated in his report that no further ultrasounds are necessary since everything else was normal and it would be expected that this cyst would disappear completely by around 28 weeks.

Our appointments go to every 2 weeks now, so the next appointment is in the afternoon on November 12th. I’ll be at 28 weeks then, which is when they normally recommend doing the gestational diabetes screen. It is an optional test, but I decided to have it done. I just have to eat a box of smarties an hour before my appointment and then the midwife will take my blood. I could also have had the test done in a lab where I would have to drink glucose syrup, but smarties sounded way more enjoyable!

Renos are going well!

I enjoyed my time off last week. The Who concert was good! I think it wasn’t quite as good as when I saw them 2 years ago though; they seemed to lack some “Umph” this time. Which I guess is understandable since Roger and Pete are in their mid-60’s! It was still amazing though and I’m really glad I went. We got home around 1:30am on Wednesday night and we were up and ready to start on the renovation by 8am on Thursday morning.

The renovation progress pictures are on Carlos’ Facebook page. We made quite a bit of progress in 2 days! Thursday afternoon was interrupted by a visit from the building inspector telling us we needed to stop what we were doing immediately until we had a building permit. I had no idea we’d need a permit for tearing down our old portico because it was rotten and unsafe and replacing it with something similar. If it was free-standing, there would be no problem. But because it is attached to the house, we needed a permit. So, I got on the computer right away and printed off the application form while Carlos did up some drawings on the computer of the design. We rushed down to City Hall since we wanted to get the application in before they closed since when we talked to them on the phone, they said we would get the permit the following day. So, we wanted to get it in on Thursday so we could have it on Friday. We got there about a half hour before they closed to submit our application. At 8:50am on Friday morning they called saying our permit was ready, so we went down and paid for it and were able to keep working by 9am. So, all in all, that whole stress of all of a sudden needing a permit that we didn’t think we needed didn’t slow down our progress at all. Just an added expense.

By the end of the day on Friday, we had the window in and bricked below it on the outside, drywall on the inside, and the framing up for the portico. Saturday, was pouring rain, so the men did some inside work of drywall mudding/sanding and putting the trim up around the window. I bailed on them to go visit a friend that was in town with her 11-week old baby. So, I couldn’t pass up that opportunity since I hadn’t seen her since my wedding! On Saturday afternoon, my mom hosted a “Stampin Up” party (card making with rubber stamps), so that was fun.

So, over the course of 4 days, I think I went to Home Depot 5 times and the Landfill twice. We got a lot accomplished though! I think the plan is to finish the portico this weekend and also get the nursery all ready to paint. Our dresser and change table arrived, so I can’t wait to set them up once we have the nursery all painted! The crib will likely take another month or so before it comes in, but that’s okay. We’ve got lots of time.

I am at 26 weeks now. Yay! We have our next appointment with the midwife on Wednesday morning, so I am looking forward to that.

Crazy!

Our first snow storm of the season is happening right now - crazy! It started out just as flurries, then turned to big, fluffy flakes and they are currently sticking around! I thought they would melt as soon as they hit the ground, but there is some accumulation as of right now. I'm sure it will melt shortly. Some people who have been out and about have said the roads are actually quite nasty. Probably typical first snow syndrome where people forget how to drive in snow.

Here's hoping the rest of the week is snow free with the trip to Hamilton tomorrow and then the renos on Thursday to Saturday!

Wow, 25 weeks!

Today, I’m at 25 weeks along in my pregnancy! When I turn that around and say I only have 15 weeks left, that sounds like it’s getting pretty close!

I had a very productive weekend. On Saturday, I headed to Pickering and Whitby shopping with mom and Oma. We went to a maternity clothes store in Pickering, and got some great clothes for the Fall/Winter. And I got my entire order for half price because of some awesome coupons I got last time I was there – so yay! I ended up getting 2 pairs of pants, 2 cozy button up sweaters for layering, 4 long-sleeve t-shirts, and 2 other long-sleeve shirts all for half price! I love saving money! So, I think I’m all set now in terms of maternity clothes for the rest of my pregnancy. And when I was trying things on, mom and Oma were sitting in the area outside the changeroom and I was trying to make decisions about which clothes to get (since I tried on practically the whole store) and Oma said “you get whatever you want since I am paying”. Wow! She certainly spoiled me! I am so thankful!

We then went to Babies R Us to get the stroller/car seat combo. When we first announced we were expecting, Oma said she wanted to get us a stroller/car seat. We had looked at strollers all over the place over the last couple of months and had ours chosen a couple weeks ago after we “test drove” our top few choices, so when we went on Saturday, we already knew which one we were getting, which made things easy. We also got some other items for the nursery/baby (lamp and window valence that matches our crib bedding, extra crib sheet, hooded towel, 2 sleepers that are essentially a sleeping bag that the baby wears to keep warm while sleeping, books, etc.) and once again, Oma wouldn’t let me pay for anything. She kept saying it was a pleasure and honour for her to buy things for her first great-grandchild. I think she would have bought the whole store if I had let her! So, there were many times when I had to say “we don’t need to get everything today, we can come back another day”. I think she had spoiled us plenty! I was only expecting her to pay for the stroller/car seat since that's what she said all along she wanted to buy, but she paid for everything! Needless to say, I told her she doesn’t need to get me a birthday or Christmas present, she has both of those covered with all the items she bought!

Yesterday, my parents got a bassinet out of the attic for us and got it dusted off and the sheets washed. My aunt bought it for my parents when I was a baby, so me and my brothers all slept in it when we were babies. So, mom wanted us to use it as well. We’ll put it in our bedroom since the baby will likely sleep in our bedroom with us for the first couple of months.

This week is a short work week for me since I’m only in the office for today and tomorrow. I have Wednesday through Friday off for our nursery renovation and I can’t wait! Wednesday, we are tearing down our old ‘portico’ (i.e. roof over our front door) and then my dad, me and Carlos, and my 2 brothers and their significant others are all heading to Hamilton for The Who concert on Wednesday evening. Yay! Should be an amazing show! Then Thursday, let the reno begin! We’ll be replacing the “door to nowhere” in the nursery with a window. Friday, we’ll be building a new portico with brick pillars. Carlos’ dad is doing all the brick work and my dad is doing all the carpentry, so we’ve got it made! Mom has this week off since it’s reading week, so mom and I are the “Diane and Daughter Demolition and Departure to the Dump Divo Duo”. Essentially, we’ll be the clean-up crew and take things to the landfill and make sure the men are happy and well-fed ;) I can’t do any of the hard labour, but I can help out where ever I can. The front entrance is going to look amazing when it’s all done! And then we’ll have a nice window in the nursery so that we can paint the nursery sometime in November! And yes, we’ll take before, during, and after pictures ;)

Ultrasound went great!

Our appointment was at 8:45am, so we arrived a few minutes early. So early in fact that the office was still locked up! Within a few minutes, the doctor and receptionist showed up, so we got in right away and we were the first patients to be seen today. Which I was happy about because I had heard from a few people that sometimes the doctor will get called away to a birth and he’ll make his office full of patients wait. So, we lucked out ;) We were out of there by 9:15am, so not shabby at all!

Since apparently my chart hadn’t made it to him yet, I told him the 2 issues that the last ultrasound a month prior had found. So, we had a look. First, we looked at the baby’s brain, which was really neat! The last ultrasound had noted a cyst on the brain, and today’s ultrasound still showed a cyst, but the doctor said it was so small that he normally wouldn’t even tell a patient about it since it is so insignificant at that size and will likely go away on its own. Of course, he didn’t have the report from the last ultrasound, but if he did, it is likely that the cyst today is smaller than it was. We will confirm that at our next appointment with the midwife because she’ll have both reports, so we will be able to tell if the cyst is getting smaller. The doctor said it is not a cause for concern and it is likely that it will disappear completely within a few weeks.

The other issue that we had from our previous ultrasound was a dilated renal pelvis, which is part of the urinary tract, it drains the fluid from the kidneys. So, the doctor had a look and he said the kidneys were completely normal today, so that is no longer an issue – yay!

We also got a really good look at the baby’s heart. We could see all 4 chambers – man, was that ever cool! Totally amazing to see the little heart beating away!

The doctor took all the measurements, and the baby is measuring right when it is supposed to be (24 weeks, 3 days). And the baby weighs 1 pound, 10 ounces, so he said that is just perfect for this stage. He said that everything is normal and there is nothing to be concerned about.

I am so relieved that everything is progressing normally! Our baby had its arm up to its face, so the doctor said getting a 3D image of the face would have been impossible. He did get us a 2D picture of the other side of the head (profile), but it’s not the best image. You can see the nose and mouth though, which is neat. Just before he snapped this picture, we got to see our baby open and close its mouth. Too cute! Here’s the pic we got (side profile of head and you can see a fist above the head):

We are very happy and relieved! And excited to meet our little one!

In other news, my littlest bro Thom is leaving for Edmonton today. He’s actually going to Fort McMurray to visit a friend who is picking him up in Edmonton. My mom was a little worried about sending her 19-year old son on a trip on his own, but then she remembered she was backpacking through Europe at that age! Now, if it was my brother Al going, I’d be more worried. Even though Al is 4 years older than Thom, Thom is WAY more organized and responsible.

Good Thanksgiving!

My thanksgiving weekend was a good one. Saturday, we spent the day running errands and cleaning up a bit at home. I got the rest of my closet and dresser cleared out so all my clothes that no longer fit me are in storage in the attic and my maternity clothes have lots of room now. I am planning another trip for maternity clothes shopping this weekend since I will be in need of a couple more items for fall. We also cleaned out the nursery a bit in preparation of our renovation next week. We want to have the room all cleared out by the end of next weekend.

Sunday, we went to my aunt and uncles cottage for thanksgiving dinner, which was really nice. Amazingly enough, both my brothers were able to be there. They both work shift work and both of them having the same evening off is rare. Yesterday, we went to my inlaws for dinner. Of course, my mother in law cooked WAY too much food, so I was completed stuffed. Then, when we were getting ready to leave, she said “You can’t leave yet, I have crab legs in the oven!”. I was just too full to even think about eating anything else, so she sent some home with me.

Now it’s back to work. I am finding it more difficult to sit through a day at work because I’m finding that I only last a few hours before my lower back gets sore. I have tried taking breaks and walking around the office and doing some stretches, which seems to help minimally, but then the pain comes back. The pain is not severe at this point, so as long as it doesn’t get any worse, I can probably deal with this. Luckily, I am going to the chiropractor tomorrow morning.

I’m also glad that it’s a short work week this week! And next week will be a 2-day work week for me since I have the 22nd to 24th off (going to The Who concert on the 22nd and then our nursery renovation will take place on the 23rd to 25th).

I am now 24 weeks along; only 16 weeks to go! Or, if you count in months, I am 5.5 months along, with 3.5 months left to go. I am only a couple weeks away from the 3rd trimester – we’re getting there! We have our follow-up ultrasound on Thursday morning, so we are really looking forward to that. I’m sure the ‘issues’ that came up in our 20-week ultrasound have cleared up by now… at least I hope so!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Somewhat surprisingly, this week has seemed to go by quickly so far. It’s already Thursday! I’m really looking forward to this weekend because Thanksgiving is one of my favourite holidays! Probably second only to Christmas.

This weekend, we are planning to do some errands and cleaning up around the house on Saturday. Sunday, I have to bake some pumpkin pies and then we’re going to my aunt and uncles cottage for Thanksgiving dinner in the late afternoon. Monday, we’re going to Carlos’ parents house for Thanksgiving dinner with them. So, it will be a delicious turkey-filled weekend with family. I can’t wait!

One week from today is our follow-up ultrasound. I am actually feeling pretty calm about the whole situation right now. Google scared me since apparently these two abnormalities can be ‘soft markers’ for chromosomal defects such as Down Syndrome and Trisomy 18, but I’m sure if the baby did have a problem like that, there would have been other things come up on the ultrasound (i.e. heart defects, structural abnormalities, etc.). And they are only ‘soft markers’ which means they are not a strong indication of an increased risk. I am really thankful that we are going to a doctor for this ultrasound since then we can ask him any questions we have and he can tell us exactly what he sees. He’s been around a long time, so I’m sure he’s seen this a lot, so even if the issues are still there, we can find out exactly what that means in terms of long-term effects. So, I think either way, I will feel much better after the ultrasound since at least then we’ll know what we’re dealing with.

Carlos and I both have friends who have recently had babies. My friend had a baby boy on Saturday, and Carlos’ friend had a baby boy on Tuesday. Very exciting! It seems that of all the friends we’ve known to have babies in the last year or so, almost all of them have had boys (I think the ratio is about 8:3). Which I thought was very interesting. Makes me curious as to whether we’ll go with the trend of having a boy or if we’ll be one of the few to have a girl. I guess we’ll find out in a little less than 4 months!

Oh, and here's something exciting: we now have a Costco Wholesale in town! Yay! And it's only 5 minutes from my work! Very convenient! It opened on Thursday, and we decided to pop in on Sunday afternoon and it was quite busy. I'm sure the craziness will die down a bit once it has been open for awhile. I'm excited!

Hope everyone has a fabulous Thanksgiving!

Lj's wedding = beautiful!

Friday, I left work early to meet up with nej to head down to lj’s wedding rehearsal. It went well and then for the rehearsal dinner, we had an amazing dinner of Persian food that A’s mother had prepared. Yummm! We then headed back to my place to spend the night.

Saturday morning, nej, my mom, and I headed to the spa to get some pampering in before the wedding. We also did a little shopping and went for lunch. Then it was time to get dolled up for the wedding and we drove down to the wedding location and checked into our hotel. Before long, it was time to head to the wedding – exciting! The weather held up, it was a little on the chilly side, but no rain! The wedding was absolutely beautiful!!! Wow! Lj was such a stunning bride! And the flower girls and ring bearer were absolutely adorable. We had a lot of fun reconnecting with some people from university we hadn’t seen in awhile and dancing the night away. Brought back memories of old times, that’s for sure. I requested Livin’ On A Prayer, and we were definitely thinking of you Mrs. JB!

Sunday, we went out for breakie with nej and then started making our way back. We stopped a few places to look at baby stuff (Babies R Us, Sears, Walmart) before we left town since those 3 places were all within 2 minutes of our hotel. We now have our stroller picked out at Babies R Us. I had 2 in mind, and once I ‘test drove’ them both, it became very clear which one was better. It just felt WAY more secure and sturdy, so it was pretty much a no brainer at that point! We’ll be going to Babies R Us later this month with Oma since she is purchasing the stroller for us. At Sears, it was the last day of Sears Days, and they had the Fisher Price Rainforest Open Top Swing on sale for $50 off (reg $179 on for $129). I remember that was the one that Mrs. JB recommended, and I asked the sales lady if it was a good one, and we decided to go for it since it was such a good price.

We put it on our registry so that when we bought it, it would count towards our ‘waiting game’ total. That’s something they have at Sears. You sign up and then any purchases made at Sears from your registry are totaled up. You pick a date that you think your baby will be born and if you’re right, you get the total amount spent in gift certificates. Of course, it’s a long shot, but you never know! I had a friend that won and she got over $1,000 in free items! So, we picked February 4th as our date since we are hoping that’s the day the baby is born because that will mark exactly 3 years after Carlos and I had our first date.

Yesterday, we ordered our crib, dresser, and change table as well. The dresser and change table are supposed to arrive Oct 24 and the crib on Nov 22. So, here’s hoping those dates stick! So, it was a very expensive weekend, but we are starting to get things in order for the nursery. And my parents are paying for the crib, so that’s awesome!

As of yesterday, I am 23 weeks along! Only 17 more weeks to go ;)

EDIT: 10:58am

I forgot to mention something very exciting that happened last night: Carlos felt the baby kick for the first time. Yay!

Ultrasound Report Results

I just got back from my appointment. It went well. We got to meet our 3rd midwife and she is very nice. Reminds of my family doctor since she's soft-spoken and kind. We got to hear the baby's heartbeat again and this time, the midwife found it in about 10 seconds! It was much less stressful than our last appointment! Still strong at around 150 bpm.

We did get to see our ultrasound report and while everything is normal, there are a couple of things they found that the radiologist recommended a follow-up ultrasound on. The midwife said it's our choice, we don't have to have another ultrasound, but it would likely give us peace of mind since both things found will likely disappear during pregnancy. One is a cyst on the baby's brain, (which sounds scary!), but is very common and usually disappears on its own before the baby is born. She said it is absolutely nothing to worry about, that she's seen many cases of that and they usually disappear on their own or if they remain, they don't cause any problems.

The second thing was a dilation of the renal pelvis (which is part of the urinary tract). It was still within the "normal range", but nearing the upper limit of the normal range. Again, this usually clears up as the pregnancy progresses. Worst case scenario, if it continues, then the baby will need to have an ultrasound when baby is a month old and if it persists, baby may be more prone to UTIs. So again, the midwife said it's nothing to really worry about at this stage. The majority of these cases fix themselves before the baby is born.

She said it was up to us as to whether we want the follow-up ultrasound. We decided to go for it to give us some peace of mind and if it does persist, we can get more info on exactly what it means. She's sending us to a doctor for that since he has the best equipment in town and since he's a doctor vs an ultrasound technician, he can tell us exactly what he's seeing during the exam so we don't have to wait for the report.

So, nothing major. Of course we were a little caught off-guard and are concerned over these 2 things they found, but the midwife was very reassuring that they are not serious, so I am trying not to worry! I am glad in the fact that no major problems or issues were found!

EDIT 2:36pm

My midwife just called and they have scheduled my follow-up ultrasound for October 16th. I'm sure we'll enjoy that ultrasound because we'll get to see our baby again (in better detail this time since this doctor has better equipment). And I'm sure these issues will have cleared up, so this will give us some peace of mind! And if not, we will at least be able to get some more info to know exactly what we're dealing with. But I'm sure everything is fine.

Geepers!

I had an appointment with my midwife scheduled for Friday afternoon. Then they called me on Monday to let me know it would need to be rescheduled. So, I called yesterday and rescheduled for today at lunch. Before all appointments, you’re supposed to call your midwife’s pager to check to make sure they weren’t called away to a birth. Well, I just called her pager and sure enough, all her appointments today are cancelled. So, I just called the clinic, and I will be going tomorrow morning instead. My appointment will now be with my 3rd midwife, whom I have not yet met. They want you to meet a total of 3 midwives over the course of your pregnancy so that you get to know them and they get to know you and then it’s guaranteed that 2 of those 3 will be at the birth. Here’s hoping my appointment tomorrow sticks! I do like the fact that you can check a couple hours ahead of time whether your appointment is still on instead of going all the way there and then finding out it has been cancelled. So, it is a pretty good system they have. This is the first time I’ve had to reschedule my appointment so far, so I guess that’s not too bad!

We have given a lot of thought lately to which crib we would like to get. We narrowed it down to 2 at babies r us, and I went on the sears website, and they have one of those 2 for even cheaper than at babies r us! My parents are getting us the crib as an early Christmas present, so now it’s just a matter of picking it out. So, I think I’m going to have to have a look at sears to see if they have a display model of the one we’re thinking of. Hopefully we can get our crib (and matching dresser) chosen and ordered in the next month or so since I have no idea how long it would take for them to come in.

Carlos went to go pick up our rocker recliner this morning, so that’s exciting! Things are starting to come together. If we can have the nursery all done and furnished by Christmas, I’d be happy!