The Big Move

So, we spent all day Saturday moving in to our new place in Bayshore. I didn't lift anything heavy, heck I wouldn't have even if I *wasn't* pregnant!! :) We had a lot of help: Lee, Dan, Mike and Chris which equaled 2 pickups, a U-Haul trailer and 3 cars worth. There's no way we could have done it without them, we are so thankful for their help. We still didn't finish everything, it started getting too late and too dark and everyone was so tired. Andrea came and kept me company and also helped setting up things in the new place and making those "important" women decisions such as where to place the couch and tv and which cupboard to store glasses or alcohol in. It was also nice to have someone to converse with (she can't lift anything either because of recent surgery) while the guys did all the heavy stuff. We have the other place until Jan 31st so the remainder of the items we will just bring over in the car and clean throughout the rest of the month. It was actually a pretty relaxing move for me (I'm sure Dan would disagree for him) because we have a half a month to move out rather than trying to do it all, including cleaning, in one weekend. I think my cat took the move the hardest and is still trying to figure out what this new place with all our stuff in it is. She spent the better part of last night meowing in our faces while we slept until Dan threw her out of the room and closed the door. Of course then she just sat outside the door meowing, but at least it was easier to sleep. She also refused to use the litter box and instead went in the tub... Well, at least it was easy to clean up. She is also very anxious,antsy and always under foot while unpacking. I feel bad for her because she's so confused and can't wait until she settles down these next few days.

As for the baby, I'm excited to be in the new house and get a baby room set up, we are still planning on going with a dinosaur themed room and have been mulling over ideas for how to decorate it. So far, Dan is going to draw big dinos and plants on the wall and Andrea is going to paint them. If anyone has other ideas, please leave comments so we can add them to our decorating list!!

I am now 26 weeks along and the pregnancy email we get says that the baby's ears are very developed and he can hear not only my voice but those I'm conversing with as well. Dan has found amusement in talking to my belly, especially when the baby isn't moving and trying to "wake him up" so he will move around. He also discovered if he lightly tickles my belly over the top of the baby then the baby will kick his fingers over and over again even when he moves to another spot. I said he's probably irritating the baby! Nevertheless, it's very cute.

Well, I can't go in the sauna or hot tub until after the baby is born, so I'm thinking I may go take a swim in the indoor pool later on. That is if my bathing suit will still fit me! Hope everyone has a wonderful week :)

Pregnancy Confessions?

So, I was reading an blog/article on a baby website and the posting mother was "confessing" all of her pregnancy nono's that she had committed and asking people to reply with things they had done as well. So, I was scrolling down through the confessions that others responded with and some of them were pretty bad: People that smoke while pregnant, mothers who had drank wine/beer while pregnant (that was actually the majority of the comments), others who refused to take prenatal vitamins due to taste, some who fake pregnancy sicknesses to get out of doing work. Ok, so these mothers stuck to the assignment at hand!

However, there were these mothers... who I imagine are these "perfect" housewife, suburb, snobby, rich, anal people with the anal children and the unhappy husbands... you know the women I'm talking about! Anyway, their "confessions" if you want to call them that, were things like how they dyed their hair while pregnant or had a diet coke while pregnant or used Ceaser salad dressing??

Here's some examples copy and pasted directly from the comments:
Mrs. Anal Amy writes: "Since about 18 weeks along, I’ve had Diet Coke a few times a week. Sometimes I forget and have a couple a day on the weekends but I figure it all evens out."

Seriously?? Clearly a horrible example of a mother here!!

Mrs. Good E Two Shoes says: I drink a Pepsi a day, I can’t kick the habit, I eat lunch meat...

Wow... and I thought I was bad

Mrs. Snobby Sandra claims: "I have a cup of tea every day and at least two cups of decaf coffee a day for the taste"

Oh the horror!

And my favorite...

Ms. I Look Down My Nose At You confesses: "Have had lunch meat on several occasions that I didn’t microwave. Have eaten Caesar dressing (on wraps) a few times.
Have had cravings for french fries and hamburgers and answered those cravings!"

Really?? What a horrible person does she not realize that French Fries are the number one cause of birth defects?? Clearly her baby will arrive with French Fry Syndrome (FFS) a common birth defect seen in babies of mothers who eat french fries!

Ok, all I can do is read those comments and laugh, seriously, just because you are pregnant doesn't mean you have to live in a little unhappy bubble for 9 months. As long as you are happy and generally stress free chances are you'll have a healthy baby... even if you mess up occasionally.

I can't imagine what these women say about us "normal" women... Actually, I feel sorry for these women's husbands.

New years adventures and the visit with the doc

Our New Years Eve was fun, we went to a sports bar with Andrea and Mike and it was pretty quiet there. But we watched the Sens and the Junior Hockey games on the big screens there and got (mostly) speedy service because our waitress was probably bored and the bar was probably overstaffed. Going out to bars these days is pretty boring and smelly for me (that overwhelming stale alcohol smell) but Dan has been laying off on the alcohol as well and since it was snowing badly he was driving the 4 of us back to Andrea's and us eventually home.

It was the way home at 3 in the morning that was the adventure. It was very windy and very snowy, and being a holiday, there were no snow plows out and on the way home a gust of wind picked our tiny car up and whipped it in a full circle on the freeway!! It was so scary that I covered my eyes and screamed something about how we are all going to die :) Dan, being the calm and rather skilled snow driver he is (and ignoring me) gracefully danced the car in such a way that we ended up remaining on the freeway and even came to a stop in the correct direction in the empty bus lane!! Anyway, after I calmed down, I was extremely impressed and glad to be alive and the car not in the ditch. Dan just laughed about it and kept on driving, to which of course I replied with "how can you laugh about such things???" (He was most likely laughing at me I'm sure...)

Anyway... we had another doctor appt today, one more 4 week wait and then beginning of February my doctor visits go to every two weeks instead of every four. It was pretty routine, the office asks you to take your boots off at the door because of the amount of water/snow being tracked into the office (not uncommon up in this area), so my socks got soaking wet before I could even get to a waiting room chair. The waiting room was empty and I was called in to the nurses station before I could even sit down. The nurse took my blood pressure which was normal for me 122/80, actually my blood pressure has been lower now that I'm pregnant than when I'm not, I told Dan it's because he keeps me so calm :)

So, after that Dan and I went in the room and met with "Dr. Cool." (Who, of course, walked in right as I was rifling through his cabinet drawers and didn't say a word:) He listened to the baby's heart which was 136 said he sounded like a "good, happy baby" then he measured my belly and said I was a tad big for how far along I was but since I've gained only two pounds the entire pregnancy, he wasn't really concerned.

And that's about it, the baby constantly moves, Andrea was the first person (besides Dan of course) to feel the baby kick! We hope that everyone is having a wonderful New Year wherever you are!! :)

Maybe not hockey, but I definitely see soccor in his future!!

Sorry I didn't write last week. I've been trying to keep up on writing at least once a week but last week was soooo hectic with all the running around. On Saturday we went over to Al and Deb's house (our last outing) and by then I was so exhausted I felt as if I was on some strong sleeping pills and actually fell asleep in the chair! On Sunday, we finally stayed home and did nothing, it was wonderful :) Actually, I had fun this Christmas and everywhere we went was a continuous stream of questions from more distant family and the constant reminder that this time next year Dan and I will have an 8 month old... Crazy.

Now I am 23 weeks along and feeling the baby kicking like crazy. He's so active and almost never stops moving, seriously. I never went through this with Tyler, actually, I made two extra visits to the doctor, while pregnant with Tyler, because I *didn't* feel him moving enough and thought something might be wrong. Not the case here... It's gotten so bad that all of my dreams are about people kicking or punching me in the stomach!! On another note, the baby email says that at this point he can hear all the same sounds I do, just more muffled, he now weighs about 1 pound and would be about 11 inches long, the size of a large mango.

As for my health, I've been feeling awesome, most of my ability to eat a variety of foods has returned (except for spaghetti) and my super smelling ability has calmed down somewhat. My blood pressure has remained unusually normal (something I don't even really see when I'm not pregnant) and long walks... generally the after xmas sales at the mall... cause the muscles in my stomach to tense up and really hurt.

I am almost always hungry and I feel like a bottomless pit, so if I'm not constantly eating and drinking water I feel very sick or these HUGE unbearable hunger pangs until I do eat. Now, I am bigger in the stomach area than I ever was with Tyler, all of my clothing is maternity clothing. If you remember from previous posts, when I was pregnant with Tyler I had only 1 pair of pants and 1 shirt that I wore once in my 8th month. This time though, at the beginning of my pregnancy, I thought I'd be able to get by with only a couple pairs of maternity pants but now even my shirts don't fit me and ride up to my upper stomach. I feel like I'm lugging a bowling ball around and turning from one side to the other in bed is tough too. Don't really want to know what it will be like in a few weeks!! :)

I have my next doctor appt on Monday, so I will post anything new we hear while we are there. I feel very lucky that Dan goes to every single doctor appointment with me, something that most women don't get from their partner.

Dan and I hope that everyone had a wonderful Christmas and time off work and that 2010 will be even greater for you all, we know it will be for us!

21 weeks or 5 months and 1 week!!

21 weeks already, my how the time is flying! I was talking to my sister-in-law, Tress the other day and said 21 weeks to which she replied "don't say it like that? Tell me how many months!!" Then I remembered how much I hate it when people do that to me too, like a mother saying their 1 year and 3 month old child is 15 months!! I mean come on people, don't make me figure out your precious child's age, I don't care enough and I'll just make up my own number!! Besides, really... once they are over a year, shouldn't you just spare us all and say "my kid is 1 yr old." Heck if you really want to be specific, you can say "my kid is 1 yr and 3 months old." Anyway, so now I find myself doing the same thing... However, in my defense, all the baby emails, websites, doctors, nurses, hospital staff and anyone else you deal with refer to it as 21 weeks and get confused if you say 5 months and one week. So, I did get used to saying how far along I was in weeks and actually, I'm the one left figuring out how far along I am in months!

Anyway... 21 weeks, 5 months 1 week, either way, the baby is still developing. The weekly email I get says the baby is now the size of a carrot and eyebrows and eyelids are now present. Also, both Dan and I can feel the baby moving around, which usually happens early evenings and at bed time. Overall, I feel great, my blood pressure has stayed down and not much sickness (other than a couple colds). I am always hungry even though I feel like I eat all day and I can't get enough sour candy and food. None of my clothing, even the maternity stuff, fits. It's too tight, too big, too short, or too loose, getting dressed is a huge chore! That and the fact that I have a heck of a time turning over in bed because my stomach feels so heavy are really my only two complaints. Other than that though, everything is wonderful :)

Dan and I have decided on the name Connor Lucien Rozon and have started collecting some baby things like a crib and a bathtub and also registered at babiesrus.ca which actually made me have an emotional pregnant woman breakdown. I was happily browsing through babies 'r' us online inventory and picking out things, when I noticed that there were some things on my registry that I didn't pick out. So, I deleted them and tried again... same thing! What I found out, that babies 'r' us, in their desire to be "helpful" to the shopping mom, substitutes a "similar" product if the one you chose is out of stock. However, their substitutions are horrible! For example, I picked out some blue baby socks that were out of stock and they substituted it with pink! I mean sheesh, at least stick to the general gender color! And a pair of lion slippers was substituted with an elephant stuffed animal!?? But what really did me in, was trying to register for a bassinet. I selected a brown "jungle spots" one and it won't let you just pick the bassinet, it puts the entire bedroom set in it! So, instead of the $100 bassinet, it has me registered with the near $500 set! I don't want the bedding, crib, highchair, stroller and playpen! So, by this point I'm nearing my breaking point, I delete the set and after trying to select *just* the bassinet, give up and decide that I'll just select a different one. I go to their bassinet section to find that they have 11 choices of bassinets, 1 blue one, 1 jungle spots one and 9 PINK ones!!!!!! I could no longer take it and burst out sobbing then went and took a nap, figured I'd try again later.

I explained to Dan that the first, I'd say, two years of shopping for a baby boy is really hard. Apparently, all the retailers think that everyone either only has baby girls or that only those with baby girls do any shopping. So, for two years you are inundated with pink, pink, pink and an occasional peach-pink. I've been in stores where, if you glance over the racks of the entire baby section the main color is pink and I found the *one* *single* rack of "blue" clothing tucked in a back corner by the bathrooms. ARGH! Anyway... after about two or three years, the boy selection gets really cute and balances out with the girl's sections. But, seriously, if I had the money, I'd open up a boy's only baby clothing store, I'm sure there would be many appreciative baby boy mothers out there!

Half way there!

So, this week I'm 20 weeks along, it's crazy to me how fast the time is flying by. I have only been sick a couple of times and I feel really good, I forget I'm pregnant a lot because I don't *feel* pregnant.

A lot has happened this last week. Dan and I found a really, really nice apt in the Bayshore area, signed the lease, and I am super excited to move, mid Jan. There is everything from indoor and outdoor pools, heated indoor parking, parks, it's very close to an elementary school (right on the other side of the park), in suite storage and even guest suites in the basement so when my mom and dad come to visit this summer, they won't have to stay in a motel.

On Thurs last week I had an ultrasound. It was a very long appointment, running over an hour. The girl doing the ultrasound was obviously in training and had her "mentor" over her shoulder, an older guy, pointing out this and that to her. At the end of the appointment, we asked what the sex of the baby was, to which the trainee looked at the man and said "can you check I can never tell." So, he sat down and started looking around on the computer monitor. He says, repeating what I said earlier, "you have a boy already?" To which I reply "Yes" again. "Oh that's good, looks like a girl this time..." I get all excited on the inside, then he adds "I think..." He is still poking the device all around my stomach and rather roughly! "Yep, I believe it's a girl." I try not to get too excited, these things can be inaccurate... "Probably," he adds again, grr. Still I'm biting my tongue and waiting, not saying a word either way. Another minute. "Oh wait no no... there's the penis and testicles" he says pointing them out to Dan, "yep definitely a boy. See how BIG it is??" Dan laughs and I smile not exactly what I wanted, but there's always next time, "Besides," I tell Dan in the car, "Boys are so easy to raise." We came away with one picture (they are very stingy with the U/S pics up here in Canada) He actually printed us two but the tech didn't give us the other one and we didn't realize it until we left. So, I've included the one we got. In the picture you can see the long spine and the baby's head. And, it looks like I'm having a baby skeleton! :) You can click on the picture to see it bigger.

Anyway, when I get home I start making phone calls, Tyler is very happy because now the room will be "boyish and not all ponies and princesses." My sister's response was "yay, now we can stay even!!" (she has two boys). Dan, Tyler and I all decided on a baby room theme to decorate the room once we move as well. We are going to do a dinosaur themed room and Dan is going to paint big dinosaurs on the walls. This is another reason I'm looking forward to moving, so we can get on with setting up the baby's room.

So, other than that, had another doctors appt yesterday, he said everything seemed fine with the baby. My blood pressure was a little high but he didn't seem concerned at this point. I was really nervous that I'd have to see nurse hulk again, especially since I got a cold again last week and have a mild cough, however it was a different nurse and she was much nicer. I even accidentally coughed right in front of her and she didn't even blink! PHEW!! I have been eating non stop and I haven't gained a single pound, I'm still the same weight as I was pre-pregnancy, but the baby is still growing. It was a longer doctor appointment because we had a lot of paperwork and a birth plan to go over with him this time, but other than that, it was a normal visit. Also, I changed the blog around a bit to be a bit more blue/gray than the previous pink/gray as I felt it was more appropriate :)

Upcoming Ultrasound

So, Tuesday, Dec 1st, is Dan's birthday, he can't take it off work. He took of Wednesday though, which is an even more important day for us, the day I get my ultrasound. Had he had Tues off, he may not have been able to go with me for this!

During the ultrasound, we plan on finding out what the sex of the baby is. I hate waiting until delivery to find out. I'm not much in to the "unisex" baby colors of pastel green and yellow. I want to decorate the room in our new place as well (although I think we are going with a unisex baby theme, teddy bears) Also, I find out that you bond much better with your baby if you know what it will be before hand, then you can refer to my son or my daughter and even call them by their soon to be name. I find it much more personal than referring to the baby as "it" for 9 months!

As many of you know, I'm convinced I'm having a boy, that way, when I find out it's a boy, I'll be happy. Of course, if I find out otherwise then it will be a surprise, but at least I won't be in for this huge "letdown" so many experience when they get their hopes set on one sex or the other.

Well, needless to say, the closer the ultrasound gets to the date the more nervous I am. I am nervous that they won't be able to see the sex of the baby and if they do, what it will be! I am nervous that I will cry when they tell me, the way I did when I found out Tyler was going to be a boy. Which is weird, because I don't mind if it's a boy, trust me, Dan will be a great dad to a little boy, he loves sports, wrestling and "boy" type activities that I couldn't or wouldn't do with a son. Anyway, we'll post or call people if/when we find out.

The conclusion I've come to is, even though people say they dont care what the baby is, they just want it to be healthy, I believe that it's a lie, secretly deep down, they and their family want a certain sex. But, by verbally saying you don't care, it is possible to convince yourself and your family that it really doesn't matter! :)