Bump Date: 22 Weeks

A lot of things don't really change week to week so I thought I would switch up the format to make it a bit more interesting!

• Next midwife appointment is November 20
• The midwife finally called on Tuesday with the results of our anatomy scans (my appointment was Thursday so they only saved me a couple days of stress).  Baby looks great with no apparent abnormalities!  My placenta is fairly close to my cervix, which can cause problems during labour, but they say it usually moves.  So back for ultrasound #6 at 28 weeks to check on it
•  Still feeling good besides the reflux
• Although I'm over the half way mark, I officially feel like I'm halfway now.  You don't actually know you're pregnant for the first 4 weeks, so that's the easy part.  So I have known that I am pregnant for 18 weeks and I have 18 weeks left.  
•  People still don’t think I look pregnant, I still think I look huge
• People might think I'm not pregnant because unfortunately I'm not really all bump like I had hoped.  I don't think my butt or legs are much bigger, but I've definitely grown a bit sideways as well as growing out.
•  Baby is moving frequently now
•  I’m up 15 pounds…I’m thinking that sticking to 25 pounds isn’t going to happen for me
•  The nursery is partially set up.  The room is teeny tiny so it was a bit stressful.  We don’t have the glider yet so I’m just hoping that everything fits when we get that (if we get it as Babies R Us doesn’t have it in stock)

Bump Date: 21 Weeks

On Friday I will actually be 22 weeks, but due to some extenuating circumstances (aka internet issues) this one is a bit late!

What Fruit are you?  This week baby is the length of a banana. 

Next appointment:  Midwife appointment this Thursday.

Exercise: Maintaining my regular level of working out and doing the usual, a mixture of weights, cardio and prenatal yoga.

Stretch marks: Nothing that I’ve found.

Swelling: None.

Maternity clothes:  Still all maternity pants (unless I’m at home in yoga pants), some maternity shirts.  

Sleep:  Blech.  That’s the sound I make when I realize that I’m not getting a good nights sleep anymore.  Between the peeing, the vivid dreams and the just waking up throughout the night I don’t feel well rested in the morning.  And I’m not even uncomfortable yet!  There is a lot of discomfort when I lie flat though from the acid reflux, so if it’s bothering me I have to sleep propped up and that helps.

Food cravings:  Still nothing specific. 

Symptoms:  Acid reflux…. It’s getting worse and another 19 weeks of it does not sound fun!  And why are stairs so difficult for us pregnant folk?  I’m in decent shape, I work out, but give me a flight of stairs and I feel like I ran a marathon.

Movement:  Still just little movements, usually down really low.  A couple of times I have thought I could feel it from outside, but baby never stays moving long enough for me to figure it out.

What I miss:  People not thinking it’s ok to basically call me fat.  Hint to the non-preggos, telling a pregnant girl that she’s not even showing and it just looks like she’s been eating pizza is not a compliment! (Yes I actually heard that this week, along with multiple other people telling me that I’m not showing at all.  I remember that my stomach used to be fairly flat, but apparently they don’t.) I would rather look pregnant and show than just be fat. 

What I'm loving:  That we are more than half way.  And yet that’s also scary.

What I'm looking forward to:  Setting up the nursery.  Hearing from the midwife about the anatomy scan, hopefully everything is good, but I’m getting kind of anxious about it.

Best moment this week:  Baby co-operating at the ultrasound.  I was afraid that it would still be in the exact same position as last week and I would need to go back again!  But I’m pretty sure they got all the pictures they wanted this week.

#OttawaStrong

I have a lot of emotions going through my head right now.  Today was a frightening and devastating day for Canada.  What we know as a peaceful and safe country, all of a sudden became a pretty scary place.

In case you don't know, today a gunman walked up to our National War Memorial in Ottawa and shot a soldier point blank.  He killed a young, 24 year old man, left a small child without a father, and left a country in fear.  And I guess that's what he wanted, and I hate that he succeeded.  

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A gunman also entered our parliament buildings and shot a security guard, walked through the halls right past where our members of parliament were meeting before he was shot and killed.

The scary thing is how little we know about the situation.  We don't know if it was the same gunman, they don't know if there were 2 or 3 of them and how many may still be out there.  We don't know why they did this, if they were working as individuals or as part of a larger group.  

Things like this just don't happen in Canada.  People with guns don't walk up to our most treasured Canadian monuments and kill people.  When watching TV today and seeing all the cops walking around Ottawa with rifles and driving these big SWOT vehicles, I was surprised that they actually even had access to those things.  (I know I shouldn't be surprised by this, but how often do they really need to use those.)  We have Mounties, not FBI and CIA.  We thought that things like this didn't happen in Canada, and unfortunately we were wrong.

It scares me that a Canadian citizen would kill a soldier at our war memorial.  I can't understand how somebody can hate this country so much to disrespect it in such a way. 

So today my thoughts are with the soldier's family, my family members who live in Ottawa, and Canada as a whole as we try to make sense of why this happened.  

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Why We Are Using a Midwife

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One of the first things that people have said to me when I said I was using a midwife is "Why would you put yourself and your baby at risk like that?"  First of all, keep those thoughts to yourself.  It's none of your business how I choose to deliver my baby!  Secondly, I don't see this as an increased risk. 

Now the people who have said this to me thought I was going to have a home birth, which I'm not.  I will be delivering in the hospital, with my midwife.  If anything is to go wrong, if I need drugs or a c-section, I can switch to a doctor at any point.  I do feel more comfortable with this, especially since our house is 15 minutes from the hospital in good weather and this baby will be born in the middle of winter!

But tons of people have their babies at home and they turn out just fine!  Birth is a natural process, women have been doing it for thousands of years without the help of a hospital.  So it's really not anybody else's place to tell you where you should be having your baby!

So now that I've gotten that out of the way, why did I choose a midwife?

In our town, you see your family doctor for the first half of your pregnancy and then you are turned over to the baby doctors group.  This group is made up of at least 5 local doctors.  They try to get you to see as many of them as possible, but on the day that you go into labour, you will get whichever one is on call.  Plus, I'm pretty sure if there's an on call switch in the middle of labour, your doctor will change.  (Don't quote me on that.)  With a midwife, I have 2 midwives, I will build a relationship with both of them prior to delivery and one of them will be there for my entire labour and delivery.

I'm a pretty quiet person.  I know that I don't want a c-section if at all possible.  If it's what is safest for me and baby that's fine, but I don't want to be pressured into it because it would speed along the process.  I also don't want to be pressured into an epidural.  So I just feel more comfortable with a midwife who I know I will be building a relationship and a comfort level with, who will know me, and my "plans" for birth ahead of time.

I know that this might not go to plan.  I might need a c-section.  But I want to at least try to do things my way.  I know that the doctor's group is full of incredibly talented doctors, but giving birth is a super personal process and everybody has their own ideas of what is important to them and how they want it to go.

I also have found my midwife to be very thorough.  Instead of waiting for me to ask questions, she will bring up the things that I should know for that stage of pregnancy.  Midwives are educated in this.  All they do is babies, and that's why I completely trust them with mine.

Bump Date: 20 Weeks

What Fruit are you? The length of a cantaloupe

Next appointment:  Which one?  This week I have an extra ultrasound and an appointment to check out my heart, then the week after that I have another midwife appointment.  They are never ending.

Gender:  This week I still think girl.

Exercise:  I did mostly cardio this week, with some prenatal yoga and some weights TABATA style.

Sleep:  It’s getting worse.  I don’t know what it is waking me up, but I seem to wake up frequently throughout the night.  Probably just my body preparing myself for when baby comes!

Symptoms:  Acid reflux on the daily.  Apparently it’s going to be a hairy baby.  Oh and forgetfulness.  I seriously cannot remember the easiest words.  It’s very frustrating.

Movement:  Lots of movement and I’m loving it.  It really does just feel like a bubble in my stomach, and I often feel it when I’m sitting still or in the car.

What I miss:  Not much really.  I’m really enjoying my pregnancy.

What I'm loving:  The movement!

What I'm looking forward to:  Setting up the nursery and just prepping for baby.  Now that we have had our anatomy ultrasound I feel more comfortable doing this stuff.

Best moment this week:  Well overall it was the ultrasound.  However I ended up getting very frustrated.  Baby was in a bad position, so she didn’t get all the pictures that she wanted.  I was in the ultrasound for an hour and she had me doing jumping jacks and everything and baby was apparently quite comfy.  So I walked around, drank some water and waited in the waiting room for another 40 minutes and then went back in.  Baby still hadn’t moved.  So my hour scan took about 2 and a half hours and I still have to go back this week.

Thanksgiving Weekend

For Thanksgiving, we always head up to the cottage with the whole extended family.  30 people in a cottage = madness.  But I wouldn't miss it!

There was music, games and of course food.

Grandma enjoyed some dancing.

And we all enjoyed some apple desserts.  It was apple overload!

On Sunday, everyone who was left went out for a fall walk at Inglis Falls.  20 people walking the trails!  Someone asked my mom if we came on a bus.  No, but that would have been more convenient.

 It was a beautiful day and it actually really warmed up, not like the cold fall weather that we have had lately!

 Now that my favourite holiday is over, it's definitely time to get down to this baby prepping business.  So today I'm busy trying to organize the office so that we can move everything and turn it into a nursery.  It's pretty tough to find a new home for all of your stuff in the catch all room!

I hope everyone enjoyed their thanksgiving, turkey dinners and time with family this weekend!

Happy Stuffing Day Weekend!

Because we all know that the real star of the show is the stuffing, it's not the turkey at all!

This weekend I will be spending time with family, filling my belly full of delicious home cooking.

And I have an excuse to wear Thanksgiving pants.  I really can't wait.

Bump Date - 19 Weeks

What Fruit are you? A mango

Next appointment:  Ultrasound next Friday (not on Thursday like I kept thinking)

Exercise: This week I did prenatal yoga, a crazy hard weight class, TABATA, and last weekend we went camping and I went for some good bike rides.  My belly isn’t totally throwing off my balance yet but it was probably the last bike riding I will be doing for the year 

Maternity clothes:  All maternity pants, the odd maternity shirt just because I have a few

Sleep: I find I’ve been waking up more frequently, which is annoying. 

Symptoms: Round ligament pains (or growing pains in my lower abdomen) and acid reflux. 

Movement:  I’ve been willing baby to move.  Nothing this week though that I noticed.

What I miss:  Being able to wear whatever I want.  Getting dressed takes a lot more effort these days, and it’s not going to get any easier!

What I'm loving:  That really, besides a few annoying symptoms, everything has been so easy.

What I'm looking forward to:  Our ultrasound this week! So exciting!

Bring on the Babymoon

For those who don't know, a babymoon is a last getaway for expecting couples before baby arrives.  Although things are about to change for the better, these changes are going to be significant.  Travelling with just the two of us, and certain types of vacations may become things of the past, or something that we might not do for a few years.  So we finally booked our babymoon, and I'm so excited!

At the end of the month, we are going to Chicago for 4 days!  I considered Cuba for a long time as October prices are cheap, but I finally realized that Cuban food fears and baring my belly in a bikini wasn't what I was into.  A city trip is perfect because it's something that we won't want to do with young kids for awhile.  I also wanted to go before I was too far along as I want to be comfortable.  So we will be going when I'm around 22 weeks rather than waiting until closer to my due date.

 

It turns out there is tons to do in Chicago and I have a lot of ideas for how we can occupy our time already.  But I'm open to suggestions!  So if you have been to Chicago, tell me what you loved, what you hated, and what you ate, because food is just as important to me as anything else!  (I've been looking at pictures of Chicago deep dish pizza on the internet and the craving for it has started already, it looks so good!)

Lou Malnati's Pizza - How good does that look?

Fall Drives and Birthday Dinners

Ryan's birthday is coming up this week, and so to celebrate, he wanted to take a drive up to Creemore, Collingwood and go to one of our favourite places to eat.

First stop was Creemore.  The drive to Creemore in the fall is beautiful.  Creemore has a brewery, which Ryan got to enjoy some samples at and I of course had to turn down.

Next stop was Collingwood.  We travelled to the Village at Blue Mountain and grabbed a Starbucks and just wandered around.  No money spent besides our coffee.

Next up was my favourite part of the day.  Ryan wanted to buy some apples, as we were in apple country.  So we asked someone where to go and she suggested the nearby Farmer's Pantry.  

At The Farmer's Pantry they have a huge orchard where you can pick your own apples.  It was a rainy day, so we just bough some straight from the store instead.  The store also had baked goods, frozen food, jams and hot apple cider!  So we grabbed our apples and a hot apple cider each.  

On our way in, I had gotten pretty excited when I saw a donkey!  I don't know what it is about donkey's but I just love them.  So of course we had to go visit this little guy.  He clearly wasn't impressed about the rain, but as soon as we walked over he came over to us and stuck his head through the fence.

A little girl walked up to him later and he started hee-hawing at her.  Now I don't know about you, but I knew that was the sound donkey's made but had never actually heard the sound.  It was pretty funny. 

They had other animals too, like sheep, goats, ducks and bunnies.  It seemed like a great place to take kids.  The only cost is the cost to pick your apples, and you're getting the apples out of the deal!  We will definitely be back there in the future with little baby Osbott!  

Finally we went to Ted's Range Road Diner for dinner.  This place is off the beaten path and is located in a Quonset hut.  You would never go in if you hadn't heard about it.  And you need reservations because it's always busy.  You order from their chalkboard menu which includes things like Bison, Elk, Venison, Kangaroo and Ostrich.  I had the Ostrich as I had never tried that before and Ryan had the Bison.  As usual our meals were delicious!

Bump Date: 18 Weeks

This week has been madness, which is why I'm 19 weeks tomorrow and am just posting 18 weeks.  

What Fruit are you? A Sweet Potato

Next appointment:  Ultrasound on October 10!

Gender:  Currently, I’m feeling boy.  It’s back and forth!

Total weight gain/loss:  10 pounds, yikes.

Exercise: Still trying to exercise when I can and not use my pregnancy laziness as an excuse! 

Stretch marks:  Nothing yet

Maternity clothes:  Only maternity pants.  It’s not worth it to try to fit into anything else.  I can still wear a lot of my regular shirts though.

Symptoms:  Acid reflux still going strong.  It’s pretty much daily, and after dinner, but can happen any time depending on the food that I eat.

Movement:  Nothing yet.  Come on baby, move!

What I miss:  Being skinny.  This is totally worth it, but sometimes it’s tough to gain this much weight because it’s hard to know what’s baby and what’s just me.  And has it all been necessary or am I just indulging more than I should be.  (Probably the indulging part...)

What I'm looking forward to:  Our ultrasound.  I can’t wait! 

Best moment this week:  Hearing the heartbeat again at my midwife appointment.  It’s always a great reassurance!

I had all these fantastic plans for how we would have nothing to do this fall and could organize our house and clean out the babies room and get it ready for the nursery.  Ya none of that has happened yet.  Oh well, we have 5 months to go, hopefully we find the time eventually...