Baby makes three...

Well, I am officially at term as of today, which means that the baby could be born at any time and it would not be considered premature. Of course, it might not be born for another five or more weeks, so I am trying not to get too excited just yet. But my mother took me out this weekend to several places and I got all the supplies that I needed for the birth, and I have put everything in a little box so it is all ready. I also got a few last minute things for the baby, such as a change pad. I had also ordered a few things online and they turned up on Sunday. I had no idea that Canada Post delivered on Sunday, but apparently they got the memo that I am anxious to have everything ready!

I am now up at weekly appointments with our midwives, so that's great. Today the baby's heart rate was 150, which was nice and strong.

I guess our big news this week is that we decided to hire a doula. We had been thinking that we wouldn't, because we knew that there would be two midwives here, and that seemed like a lot. But after our birth planning visit, and talking to the midwife, we realised just how useful a doula can be. For one thing, the midwife will only arrive once we are into active labour, with contractions being four minutes apart. However, the lead-up to that could be kind of stressful. The second midwife will only be there for the actual birth, so she is not really here for a long time at all. I think it will be reassuring to have someone here who's just dedicated to making sure that we're doing okay. Also, the doula will be able to give Julian a break so that he can go and have a nap, or grab a bite to eat if we have a long labour. Anyway, we really had left it to the absolute last minute, so we were very lucky that we were able to find a wonderful doula who is assisting with the instruction in our aforementioned prenatal classes.

Posted by hilary at 06:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

One month today until the due date! I started to have lots of Braxton Hicks contractions last night, which sent me into a bit of a frenzy as I realised how unprepared we are to have the baby! So I have been washing all the little clothes and everything to get things somewhat ready if there is an early arrival.

I am also boiling all my cloth diaper accessories, of which I have bought quite a few! Julian has made me promise not to purchase any more diapers. I'm still expecting a few that I ordered a few weeks ago though - they were custom prints so they take a little while to show up. Shhhh... don't tell him.

Last weekend we were busy rearranging our place as we moved lots of furniture out in order to make way for the baby's room. Unfortunately we are still awaiting some furniture which means there are books and CDs all over the floor - which is highly offensive to my current nesting instinct. Luckily I found out this week that I passed my bar exam, which means I can pack up all those law books for the time being!

This weekend will be about setting up the "nursery" and the new furniture. We have the crib and we (read: Julian) just have to put it together. I ordered a natural latex mattress for it, which I'm pretty psyched about, especially with all the concerns about vinyl and foam these days. So that was a bit of a splurge, but I am looking at it as a long-term investment. We also have a little basinette for early days.

Our prenatal classes are going very well. This week we did some role-playing around birth, like arriving at the hospital, what would happen if we had an unplanned cesarean etc. It sounds really hoaky, but it actually helped kind of picture what those frantic moments might be like, and hopefully means they will be less scary should they arise. It I also think it was useful for the partners, since they will probably be the ones dealing with the nurses and doctors once the mother is in labour and having a tough time communicating her needs. So it helped us think about what decisions we need to make beforehand about our preferences around some routine procedures. And of course it was great to see Julian (who volunteered to role play right at the start) as he comforted his "wife" (another class participant) in labour. He looked like he would be a very calming presence, (not that I had any doubts)! So far I am loving that class, which is at this place in case anyone is interested.

Ooh, and we got our first baby gift, which was one of these gorgeous sleepsacks for baby. The office had a little shower for me today and presented it to me. It feels so soft, you have no idea.

Posted by hilary at 05:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Once again, running a little late on the weekly update. It's already almost 34 weeks! How did that happen? Oh yeah, bar exams, starting new job, taking small vacation. It'll do that to you.

We had a great weekend at Whistler. I swam in the pool and lounged in the hot tub. I wore a bikini, which got a few strange looks, but hey, none of my other swimsuits fit me, so why not?

My newest symptom are enormous feet... one has swollen so much that I can barely get it in my shoe. I had a dent in my leg today from sitting on it. I need to start getting a little more exercise as that may help the issue - I was doing great with the walking, but it all fell apart the week before bar exams. So my goal this weekend is to swim and go for nice walks.

Julian and I took our second prenatal class this week too, which was lots of fun. This week we covered more labour and delivery options. They explained all the different stages, and how to recognise them, so that was useful.

Anyway, perhaps most exciting was my maternity photo shoot. The photos below were all taken by Three Birds Photography who were very awesome.

There are lots more photos than the ones I posted here, so to see the rest of them, go here. It was very fun to go play model for a while, and I love the way they turned out!

Posted by hilary at 09:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)