Baby makes three...

Hmmm... my ticker seems to be counting backwards now! At least the one that say "x days" to go. (It changes when you click on it). But I'm still hanging in here!

Posted by hilary at 11:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Sorry to report that I am still pregnant! Hopefully things will get moving, but right now there is nothing going on. I am afraid I am following in my family's tradition of late babies. I am quite impatient now, and when I see women walking with small babies all I can think is "That should be me!"

So in the meantime, I am just waiting around.

Posted by hilary at 06:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Okay, I am now ready to have a baby. I still have a week, or possibly even more, but am hoping that this baby doesn't go too much past its due date. I was warned in my last appointment that most first time mothers don't go until their 41st week, but I am running low on energy and on things to do, so I am hoping that the baby decides to cut me a little slack and pop out by Monday. However, I know that the whole due date thing is a bit of a myth - in fact the average pregnancy for a first-time Caucasian mother is 288 days, not the 280 represented by the due date. Still, it's very boring to be on maternity leave when you don't yet have a baby!

I have started telling him or her every day that we are ready for him or her. The "nursery" is finally complete and we have all the gear that we need - at least everything we think we need. I'm sure we'll think of a few more things once the baby is born. So right now I am just sipping my raspberry leaf tea and trying to encourage this baby to be part of the world. I am also rolling around on my exercise ball in an effort to make sure she or he keeps moving down. Still, if it needs to bake a little longer I guess that's a good thing. At my last appointment I was measuring a little behind, so maybe s/he needs to get a little more meat on her or his bones before leaving the womb.

I have had some pretty intense Braxton-Hicks contractions that made me think that perhaps things were starting, but they all tapered off after only a couple of them. I also had some pretty intense back pains, so I am really hoping this baby is not in a back labour position. I will be asking that at my appointment tomorrow.

Posted by hilary at 06:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Wow - the numbers on that ticker get lower every day - funny how that works. I am now on maternity leave. The first few days were spent doing a lot of nesting. I cleaned out our kitchen cupboards and threw away cosmetics dating back to the year 2000. We have a very small bathroom and kitchen and have moved more than five times (well, Julian has moved five and I've moved seven times!) so I am amazed at how much we had been able to hoard! It's gone now and that feels good.

I also applied for EI, which was extraordinarily difficult. Because I've worked so many casual jobs, it was extremely onerous to fill out all the details. They wanted to know how much I had made in individual weeks, Sunday to Sunday, but no one pays in Sunday to Sunday increments, so it required me combing over my timetables for the past year to try and recall what days I worked and for how long. Extremely frustrating. I think it's problematic how difficult they make it for workers who have been doing casual employment - I detect an adverse effects section 15 Charter challenge in there somewhere!

We had our last prenatal class this week, which was very sad! We have both enjoyed those classes so much. Last week we covered lots of post-birth topics, like breastfeeding, bathing, playtime, when to call the doctor and so on. The breastfeeding stuff was particularly useful and it was great to have Julian there to hear everything, as I think it helps to have two people there to absorb all the information. This week we got to hear the birth story of a couple who had their baby 10 weeks ago. I was amazed at how big their 10-week old was - he looked like a real little person, and not just a tiny newborn. It was great to hear their story, and also really reinforced to us that hiring a doula was the right choice, because it definitely sounded like there were times when it would have been great to have some help.

Other than that, not much new on the pregnancy front. I have started to have bad insomnia, waking at four and lying awake for an hour or two or longer. The other night I couldn't fall asleep until 3, which was terrible. Apparently it's quite common in these later weeks, and people keep telling me that I'm just getting used to what's ahead. But I think it would be better to prepare for what's ahead by being well-rested!

Statistically speaking, most first time mothers have their baby in the 41st week, so I am guessing I have some waiting to do. The baby is still in the head down position and apparently its hands are up near its face. The heart rate was 130, which was great. I am trying to keep myself busy with various activities, so tomorrow I am having a pedicure. Fun.

Posted by hilary at 09:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

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)

Must be a combination of bar exam stress and pregnancy hormones, but this story about Naomi Watts and Liev Schreiber's baby shower deeply annoyed me. Why are their paparazzi at a baby shower? Seriously, what are these people famous for? Has Liev Schreiber done anything memorable since being the creepy dude in Scream? Is Naomi Watts famous for anything more than being Nicole Kidman's friend; I mean that Ring movie was really cool, but it wasn't exactly Top 100 Movies of All Time. How do reporters even find out about baby showers? Do you think B-list parents tip them off?

It's like the photos in People Magazine of Tori Spelling and Dean Whatsisname leaving an ultrasound clinic... do the paparazzi routinely frequent ultrasound clinics? Seems a little fishy to me.

It's a bit weird that the media is so fascinated by the upcoming birth of someone who in the future will be less recognisable than Danny Bonaduce. (And being less recognisable than Danny Bonaduce isn't necessarily a bad thing.)

All I'm sayin' is, I'm pretty sure my kid is going to be 10 times cuter and more interesting than the Watts-Schrieber or Spelling-McSleazy offspring, and you don't see me putting in a call to Star Magazine.

Posted by hilary at 11:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

I read awhile ago that babies practice their breathing in the womb and get hiccups when they do so. Being a bit of a worrier, I was a little concerned that I hadn't felt any yet. Anyway, I finally realised today that those little pulsing ticks I get are hiccups! I thought the kid was just kicking repeatedly.

I have started to be able to figure out a little better where the baby is. I can feel its back anyway. The hiccuping is down low, so I am assuming baby is head down, as it has been at my last two appointments. That's a good thing, since if it stops being head down, that may preclude plans for home birth. I am reading a lot about different positions to help the baby into the best position. So now when I read in bed for a half hour I get into a real awkward kind of position - sort of a modified yoga "child pose". It seems to help as baby definitely moved more front and centre today instead of nestling over to the side. I think being on the side is fine, but it's always on one side in particular, so I thought it might be fun to mix it up.

My neighbour, who is also pregnant and six weeks ahead of me, gave me some great tips for sleeping and hip pain. So I tried a pillow between the legs last night. It did stop the hip pain, but my knees hurt instead! Still, I will experiment with it a bit. Just need to remind myself that all these tendons are loosening to make birth easier!

Julian and I had a great weekend in Montreal. I had to fly there, naturally. It was kind of funny because although WestJet made a big fuss about me needing a note to fly, no airline personnel acknowledged my pregnancy the whole time. I am not exactly at the "ready-to-pop" stage, but it's pretty apparent, so that was a little weird.

There was a lot of belly rubbing from old friends, which was nice, though baby is a little stubborn and stops kicking whenever someone puts a hand on the belly. I also did lots of dancing - I think some of the great-aunts thought that I was going to go in labour right then and there! But so far so good.

Posted by hilary at 02:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

No question that we're in the third trimester now. Am still feeling good, am unmistakably large. Am noticing weight gain in areas I never suspected, like my back. Sounds charming doesn't it? But I am reminded that all this is necessary in order to have enough sustenance to feed the baby. I have also started to get "are they twins?" questions from people, which is kind of funny since at my last appointment I was measuring just a wee bit behind. I don't think most people realise how big babies (and bellies!) get. "If there aren't two, must be a big one!" said the man at the post office.

Baby is definitely more active and responsive to touch, voices and so on. I can see my whole stomach move and shift shapes, which is kind of cool. Even Julian can see it from across the room. I'll feel one kick on in my lower left quadrant and another under my right rib. It's definitely one active little person, though I still cannot tell what position it is in - hopefully the midwife will help me figure that out tomorrow at our appointment.

My hips have started aching when I sleep on them, so I have now resigned myself to pregnancy wedge pillows, but that is the only real discomfort these days other than the stretching feeling in my belly. Other than that I am feeling well and trying to walk for 20 minutes or half an hour every night - sometimes much longer.

Posted by hilary at 04:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

From the front: Not pregnant

From the side: Whoa belly!!

Please excuse the smirk on my face in the first photo as I was mid-chip!

Well - we are now in the third trimester! We had a midwife appointment this week and the baby's heartbeat was a steady 140. I think s/he was sleeping at the time as it didn't change at all. The midwife guessed the baby was in the head-down position although it's still a little hard to tell. But that's good - I want baby to get comfy with its head down, not its feet or any other part of its anatomy. I try to visualise it being head-down a lot.

The midwife also said it felt like a relatively small baby. I'm hoping it takes after me size-wise (six and a half pounds even though I was two weeks late), and not after Julian (I came across his birth certificate recently and noted that he was well over eight pounds even though he was two weeks early!) A happy medium would be alright as well. Then again, some people say it's not the size of the baby, but just the size of its head that matters.

The past few weeks have been the best so far of my pregnancy - I get lots of little kicks and jumps throughout the day, but I'm feeling pretty good energy-wise. My only new symptom is a bit of insomnia - very strange for me as I am a heavy sleeper. The only person who falls asleep more quickly than I do is my husband! My midwife recommended calcium/magnesium and/or hot milk before bed as it is apparently a relaxant. That treatment does seem to have helped.

I haven't really had any strange food cravings since my first trimester, though I do indulge a little more in ice cream. I decided not to do the gestational diabetes test, since the research that I came across shows that the test is highly inaccurate (one study showed 50-70% of women who "fail" the first time pass the second time) and since the benefits of treatment are unproven (as well, there may be disadvantages in being treated as higher-risk). (Yay for my UBC library card continuing to work during the summer - I can access all the medical databases/journals.) However, I am still trying to keep to healthy diet and to avoid lots of high sugar foods (other than ice cream!) I got a good info sheet on it and it was surprising what foods raise glucose levels - things like old potatoes and carrots do. But cherries are fine - which is awesome because there are lots of delicious BC cherries in the stores. I also try to exercise every day, although my exercise these days is usually just a 15-minute walk around the neighbourhood.

Anyway seems like the baby is awake right now as I am getting some serious punches... but I'd better get back to my studies.

Posted by hilary at 03:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)