25 weeks

Wow, only 15 weeks to go!  I have less than 2 weeks left in the 2nd trimester.  The 1st trimester seemed to drag by, and the 2nd has gone by so quickly!

We had a wonderful vacation.  We spent some time getting the baby room all set up.  We sorted through all our baby clothes and separated anything that is gender neutral.  So, we're all set for awhile no matter which gender the baby is!  We also did some fun things too like we went to Ikea, I got my hair done, and we took Julie to the zoo and minigolfing.  Her first time mini-golfing and she got 2 hole in ones!

Back to work as of yesterday.  Boo.  But, I am starting the countdown until my mat leave.  Only 11 weeks of work left!

24 weeks

Only 16 weeks to go :)

Hubby and I are on holidays this week and it is glorious.  Really makes me realize even more how stressed I have been lately at work.  With that stress gone, I feel like a whole new woman!  Can't wait until I can say goodbye to work and go on mat leave.  Only 11 weeks left of work - the countdown begins!

Everything has been going well with the baby.  Lots of kicks - last week, hubby felt the baby kick for the first time.  Kicks are getting stronger :)

23 weeks

Every week gets a little closer to baby time! I am thinking my last day of work will be November 2nd, so less than 3 months to go!
We had an appointment with the midwife last week to go over the ultrasound results. Everything is normal and due date according to ultrasound is December 3rd, so very close to what we thought, so our due date won’t change. Midwife says due date is December 5th, but I say the 4th because of the leap year.

The only issue is the low lying placenta, but even then, it is not a real concern at this time. It is close to the threshold of where it wouldn’t even require follow up. But, since it is just below the threshold, I will go for a quick follow up in late September/early October just to check to make sure it has moved. There is a 96% change it will move and everything will be a-ok and it won’t require a C-section.

We had a wonderful long weekend at the cottage. Lots of swimming and time together with my parents. My bro and his wife came for a day and family friends came for a day, so it was a great weekend.

I am so looking forward to my week of holidays next week! Both CT and I need a serious break from work.

22 weeks

We're halfway there from the point we found out we're expecting!  Hard to believe; in some ways, I feel like it has gone by fast.  In other ways, it seems like I've been pregnant forever!

We have our next appointment with the midwife on Thursday and we'll go over the report from the ultrasound together.  So, I am looking forward to that!

21 weeks

Things are progressing!  We are past the half way mark - only 19 weeks to go ;)

I have been experiencing more headaches in the last week or so.  Could be the weather.  Last night, we got a crazy storm with hail the size of golf balls!  Julie and I stayed away from the windows because it sounded like the hail was going to come right through!  It was also incredibly windy, so I was afraid of some patio furniture taking flight and doing some damage too.  Luckily, everything was okay.  Our deck chairs were blown off the deck and into the yard and I had to go on a search and rescue mission for our greenwaste bin which ended up halfway down the street.  I was glad to be safe and sound inside during that storm - it was intense!

I am feeling lots of kicks from the baby now.  I have been feeling movement for the last 3 weeks, but the kicks are getting stronger now.  Still can't be felt from the outside, but hopefully soon!  I can't wait until hubby and J can feel the kicks too!

20 weeks

We had the ultrasound yesterday and it was great!  We got to see baby's head, face, legs, arms, spine, etc.  Doc said all measurements look normal.  We'll get the full report when we see our midwife again in a couple weeks.  He is recommending a follow-up ultrasound around 30 or 32 weeks since the placenta is quite low this time.  He said most of the time, it moves up as the uterus grows, so it will need to be checked to make sure it has moved.  If not, we'd be looking at needing a C-section.  I'm sure the midwife will tell us more about this at our next appointment, but from my research, about 1 in 4 pregnancies have a low-lying placenta at this stage and only about 4% of those end up not moving and require a C-section.  So, we definitely have good odds that it will move.  So, I will try not to worry about it and we'll see what the follow-up ultrasound says!

At one point during the ultrasound, he asked if we wanted to know the gender, but we stuck with what we decided and said we wanted to keep it a surprise.  I'm glad we decided to wait - I like getting the surprise at the birth!

19 weeks

YAY!  Almost half way there!  The baby weighs about 2/3 of a pound now!

Our ultrasound is in 1 week - I can't wait!  We have talked about it some more, and we are now leaning more on the side of not finding out the gender.  We just both really loved the surprise of finding out the gender once the baby was born.  Sure, it would be easier to plan if we knew the gender, but I don't think it would make a huge difference.  All our newborn clothes that we had from J are gender neutral since we didn't know if she was a boy or girl before she was born.  So, if this baby is a boy, we won't have to buy any new clothes right away.  We still have 1 week to make up our minds for sure!

I am having a hard time at work again.  Same issues of them expecting me to complete projects I am not yet competent in.  Luckily, I have my mentor to ask questions of and he has been awesome.  But, he has a full time job elsewhere, so he does have other committments.  I am counting the days until I am outta here.  I am considering maybe starting my mat leave early.  One, it would get me out of this stress sooner (I am concerned about the extra stress and its effect on the baby).  Two, it would mean I'd get to spend some extra time with J before the baby arrives.  Accoring to the EI website, I can start my leave as early as 8 weeks before my due date.  Which means around Thanksgiving.  The latest I would start would be mid-November.  So, I'll have to give that some thought and decide within the next month what I want to do.

18 weeks, 2 days

I had my 3rd appointment with the midwives this morning.  Since CT couldn't get the time off, I asked my mom if she would like to come with J so they could hear the baby's heartbeat.  J had so much fun 'helping' the midwife take my blood pressure and put the gel on the doppler.  Baby's heartbeat was 148 bpm and J said it sounded like galloping horses - too cute!  We go back in another 4 weeks.

Less than 2 weeks now until the ultrasound!  We are leaning more on the side of finding out the gender.  CT would really like to find out.  I don't have strong feelings one way or another.  With J, I was adamant that I wanted to wait until the birth, but this time, I think it might be nice to know at 20 weeks.  We could better prepare J for having a sibling - if she knew brother or sister, that might help her visualize things better.  She is adamant she is having a baby brother, so if she's right, we can tell her that.  If she's wrong, we'd have 4 months to convince her she's getting a sister instead.  We have until the 17th to decide for sure whether we want to find out or not.

In other news, mom and I have a meeting this afternoon with our lawyer.  My uncle sent us a letter a couple of weeks ago with some options for consideration if we want to settle.  All of the options he put forth are completely unreasonable and him not giving one inch.  So, not a compromise in the least, just him getting his own way.  So, we are going to see what our lawyer suggests at this point.  We are certainly not agreeing to any of my uncle's suggestions, but should we come back with a counter offer or just tell my uncle to take his options and shove them and see you in court.

17 weeks!

Baby weighs almost 1/2 a pound now!  We're getting there! 

Our ultrasound is booked for July 17th, so 3 weeks away - I can't wait!

We are on the hunt now for some bedroom furniture for J since the crib (which also converts to a toddler bed) and matching dresser will go in the nursery for the baby.  So, we'll need to get something else for J.  I want to get her a twin size bed, not a toddler bed (since I don't want to buy a second crib mattress, I would rather get her a bed she can have for years to come given how tall she is!)

I had a couple days off last week, which was glorious.  I wish every week could be like that!  I am very much looking forward to the long weekend.  We are spending most of the weekend at the cottage, but coming back to town for Sunday morning/afternoon since we have our annual church picnic, which I don't want to miss!  I love my church; we are a bunch of goofs :)

16 weeks

Wow!  Things are progressing!  I'm starting to wonder when I will feel the baby move for the first time!  "They" say you should be able to feel the baby move earlier with each subsequent pregnancy.  First time moms should feel the baby for the first time sometime between 18 and 22 weeks.  With J, it was 21 weeks.  This time - who knows?  Could be anytime within the next month or so.  Exciting!

I am planning to call the midwife practice tomorrow since we haven't received a call yet with our ultrasound date.  I just want to make sure they are on top of booking that!

Baby is the size of an avocado now and weighs about 1/3 of a pound!

I am very much looking forward to 5pm today because then I am on vacation until Monday!  I needed a mini vacation before our week off in August.  Plus, I have vacation time I need to use up between now and the start my mat leave!

15 week update

I am a couple days late on my 15 week update since I was out of the office all day on Tuesday and yesterday I was just too darn busy on my day off.

Baby is the size of an orange this week!  My bump is getting bigger by the day!  I have now made the transition to maternity clothes.  The only piece I was unable to find on my shopping trip was a maternity bathing suit.  I tried a few on, but I didn't find any that I liked and weren't $50 or more.  So, I didn't get one.  I will make do with what I have for now.  I may have to buy a cheap one from walmart in a plus size once I get bigger since I want to keep swimming all through my pregnancy.

My queasiness has gone away, but what I am getting now is a ton of headaches.  It is very common in pregnancy to get headaches...  Luckily, taking tylenol is considered safe, so if the headache is really bad, I will take one of those rather than suffer through it.

We are trying to decide if we want to find out the gender of the baby at our ultrasound.  The ultrasound is supposed to be between 18 and 22 weeks, which means at some point in July (don't have a date for that yet).  We are on the fence right now as to whether we want to find out.  On one hand, it would be nice to know ahead of time, but we also really enjoyed the surprise with J.  She is adamant that it is a boy, so if it is a girl, it might nice to have the last 4 months of the pregnancy to convince her she's having a sister, not a brother.  Or, she could be right, who knows!  Also, if we have a girl, we won't need to buy anything, whereas if we have a boy, we would need to buy some stuff.  And it would mean we'd only have to decide on 1 baby name, not 1 for each gender.  But, there was something so magical about going through labour not knowing if it was a boy or girl and having that be a surprise after all that hard work!  I can see advantages to both sides!  Hence, we're on the fence!  Decisions, decisions...

14 weeks!

Wow!  Baby is the size of a lemon this week! :)

Yesterday, we finally heard our baby's heartbeat!  It was such a special moment - I think it is going to start to feel more 'real' now; there is an actual baby in there that is growing and doing well!  I am so happy that we got to hear our baby!  Heartbeat was strong and at 150 bpm.

So, time to start spreading the news!  I told my coworkers on Friday last week since we were all together at our annual general meeting, so it was a good opportunity.  I will be telling the rest of my friends this week - starting with playgroup on Wednesday, small group on Friday, and then church on Sunday!  I am also going maternity clothes shopping on Saturday.  I have a lot from when I was pregnant with Julie, but there are definite holes in my wardrobe.

Hello 2nd trimester!

Finally made it!

13 weeks!

We're at the tail end of the 1st trimester - 2nd trimester starts on Friday!!!  Baby is the size of a peach this week :)

I have definitely been feeling better lately - have some energy back, which is nice.  Julie spilled the beans to someone at church on Sunday - I am actually very surprised she kept the secret for so long!

Yesterday, we had a sad day in our house.  We had to put our cat Gino down.  He had a urinary track blockage, so same thing we went through with Smokey 5 years ago.  Because Gino is already a senior cat, we decided we didn't want to put him (or ourselves) through all that stress again.  It was awful when we went through it with Smokey - for weeks, we didn't know if he was going to make it and we had to monitor him very closely.  I was a wreck for weeks.

So, the vet basically told us we had to decide what we wanted to do within a couple of hours since Gino was in obvious pain and distress.  Either we spend the $1,500 to have the blockage cleared (although there is no guarantee that it will work long-term) or we put him down.  So, we talked about it and decided it was time to put him down.  If we was younger, we may have decided to have the procedure, but Gino was already near the end of his days.  So, we decided to put him down.  It was really hard.  Intellectually, I know we did the right thing, but it was hard emotionally.  I had a very teary day.  And now poor Smokey doesn't know what to think.  He keeps wandering around the house looking for his friend.

Glad that's over

This morning, I was feeling really nervous and anxious about telling my boss the news, so I decided to just take a deep breath and do it (I wasn't originally planning to tell him until next week).  It went surprisingly well.  My boss and I have had 'issues' lately where I feel like I have been treated very unfairly over the last year or so, so I was feeling very strongly that I should tell him my news before my annual appraisal meeting, which is supposed to be any day now.

Well, as soon as I told him, his face lit up and he congratulated me.  I am so relieved!  He said we'll figure out over the next few months how to distribute my workload.  He also said he'll leave telling everyone else up to me whenever I feel it is appropriate.  I said I would tell everyone over the next week or 2.  We have our annual general meeting next Friday (June 1st), so I am thinking that would be a good opportunity since everyone will be together, so I won't have to tell everyone separately.  And, that will officially be my first day of the 2nd trimester, so good timing.  I'm a little nervous telling everyone before we've heard the heartbeat, but really, I'm sure everything is fine.  If it wasn't, I'd have symptoms by now.  I'm taking my growing belly as a good sign!

One week left in the first trimester - hard to believe it's been 8 weeks since we found out.  How we've kept it a secret this long is beyond me.  At playgroup yesterday (with my church mommy friends), one of them said to me "so, you think you'll have more kids?" and I responded with the vague "yes, someday" kind of answer.  I can't wait to share the news at the next playdate in a couple weeks (we have them every other Wednesday morning).

12 weeks!

Yay! We are just a couple weeks away from telling the world! I may tell work next week, I'll see how it goes. Our appointment to hear the baby's heartbeat is in less than 2 weeks; I can't wait!!!

I am starting to feel better now. The queasiness isn't nearly as severe and I am starting to get some energy back too. I think I am really starting to show now, so I'm sure people won't be surprised when I share the news. One woman in my small group at church ran into my mom at an event last week and said to her "C is expecting, isn't she" more of a statement, not a question. My mom didn't know what to say, so this lady said "I figured she wasn't telling people yet". My mom said I would be annoucing this at the end of the 1st trimester, so in a couple of weeks. This lady said she could tell that I was pregnant. Now, she is a doula, so her whole career is based on pregnancy, so I'm sure she is very in tune with women's shapes, etc.

I had a wonderful long weekend at the cottage - we were there from Saturday morning until yesterday afternoon and it was glorious! I didn't want the weekend to end!

11 weeks!

Only 29 weeks to go! :)

I'm getting closer and closer the end of the first trimester.  I can't wait until we hear the baby's heartbeat!

On the weekend, I got out all my maternity clothes and tried everything on.  Most things fit, which is good.  Everything except for 3 pairs of pants fit, so I'm happy with that.  I realized that this time, I will need more summer stuff (I didn't have any summer stuff last time really) and a couple more pairs of pants.  And a maternity bathing suit.  I was able to get away without one last time since I wasn't big until the fall and winter, but this time, I swim at the Y and intend to do so all through my pregnancy.  Not to mention, I will be big this summer too, so I will need a bathing suit to swim in at the cottage and my parents pool.  So, I am planning a maternity clothes shopping day in June.

I have been feeling a little better this past week.  The queasiness still comes and goes, but I have slightly more energy and the queasiness has been less severe.  So, I think I am starting to feel back to my old self again.  I still go to bed quite early, but I am able to function at work again, so that's good.  There were a few weeks where I felt like I wanted to crawl under my desk and take a nap every afternoon.

Julie is still asking every day "Is the baby out yet?"  Too cute!  I am really surprised that she hasn't spilled the beans to anyone at church or small groups or anything.  Only a couple more weeks to hang onto the secret and then we can start spreading the good news :)

10 weeks!

I'm at 10 weeks as of today!  YAY!  Only 30 weeks to go ;)  Only a few more weeks until I reach the 2nd trimester - officially, that is at 13 weeks, 3 days, so I will get there on June 1st.

I've had an okay week.  I have really been struggling lately with being extremely tired and queasy.  I told a few people at work on Friday since I was supposed to go to a site on Thursday of this week, and I just can't do it given how awful I have been feeling.  So, I told 3 people in total (started with HR), and they all know it is confidential still.  They were all very happy for me and they said it is no problem that I don't go to that site, they will send someone else.  What a relief!

I am really excited for Friday because in our small groups (sort of like a Bible study, only way more fun than that sounds), we finally get to see our music videos!  Each small group made a music video and we finally get to see them all and vote.  One group did Weird Al's "White and Nerdy" - that is going to be hilarious!  I think they are all going to be funny!  Our church is so much fun; I love that place.  I'm so glad we found a church that we enjoy going to and feels like 'home'.

The drama never ends around here!

Yesterday, my parents' dog Koby was very sick.  He was just laying on the ground all day, wouldn't eat his supper, and wouldn't drink anything.  This is very unlike him.  He had killed a groundhog on the weekend, and had some bites from that, so we were concerned that he caught something.  All Koby's shots were up to date, so at least we weren't too worried about something like rabies.  My mom was up all evening last night worried and was afraid to go to bed because she was so concerned.  But, he wasn't whimpering and his breathing was normal, so she was finally able to go to sleep.

She took him to the vet this morning and sure enough, Koby has an infection from the groundhog bites.  They gave him some antibiotics and said he should bounce back within 24 hours.  So, I'm sure by tomorrow, he'll be back to his old self.  My poor mom though, she has been through an ordeal and barely slept last night!  And of course, you always think the worst in these types of situations.

In other news, I am going to tell HR at my office about the pregnancy tomorrow.  I really have to.  I am being sent to a site on Thursday of next week that used to be contaminated and I am really not sure if it is safe for me to go to.  I really don't want to take a chance.  Not to mention with how queasy I've been feeling, I really can't spend a day out in the field right now.  Maybe in a few weeks, but not now. So, I have to come clean because I really can't go to a site that was formerly contaminated.  It has been remediated, but can they really guarantee that is safe for a pregnant woman in the 1st trimester???  Figures, I haven't been to a site in months, maybe longer, and then of course they want to send me NOW.  So, I'm going to tell HR what's going on and we'll go from there.

9 weeks and counting

The baby is the size of a grape this week!

I’m at the point where this doesn’t seem quite ‘real’.  It has been almost 5 weeks since I had a positive pregnancy test and I still have another almost 5 weeks to wait until we get to hear the heartbeat.  That’s a long time to wait!  I guess I just assume that everything is okay in the meantime?  It’s difficult to wait so long!

And the only people that know at this point are family and close friends.  So, I am excited to be able to tell the world!  We’ll be making this public after we hear the heartbeat, which should be at our appointment on June 4^th.

I have been feeling very queasy lately.  The last 3 days or so have been the worst so far.  My midwife says the sickness usually peaks around 8 or 9 weeks and then starts to get better.  So, anytime now!  I have also been completely exhausted.  I had to nap on both Saturday and Sunday just so I could feel like a human again.  I have been going to bed between 8:30 and 9pm every night and I still find it hard to get up at 6am for work.  I hope I get some energy back soon!  I remember with Julie, I was really tired in the 1^st trimester, but felt great in the 2^nd.

I am also very busy right now at work and with my courses.  I have one large assignment for my current course I need to get done tomorrow.  Then, on the weekend, I will have to do next week’s work since I need to spend next Monday and Wednesday studying for my midterm on Wednesday evening.  I will be relieved when my exam is over!  My next course starts on the 11^th, so I will be taking 2 at once after that.  Needless to say, I won’t be taking another course on until July when my current one is wrapping up.  3 at once would be too much – 2 I can hopefully handle.  We’ll see!