Membrane Sweep?

Maybe it's the expectation that "it only gets worse" as many people love to tell me, but I have to say that being off of work for a week has done me the world of good.  I am feeling better now than I was through most of my third trimester.  Aside from some hip pain, my back and sciatica have been treating me pretty well this past week and that truly makes all the difference.  Last weekend, I definitely had the "burst of energy" and kept puttering around the house cleaning this and that and getting last minute things done.  I've had a few tired days since then, but mostly on the up and up.

My doctor is now officially back from vacation and I believe she is on call this weekend and so my next check up on my due date on Thursday will be with back with her (the last 2 weeks were with random on call doctors at the perinatal clinic which is great, but there's something to be said about the comfort of being seen by the doc who has seen you through your pregnancy).  Which brings me to my next decision.

Two weeks ago, my doctor did my regular check up and said, "Well I don't think you're having a small baby!" which wasn't a surprise to me really, but she didn't give me any reason to be concerned about it and didn't want the baby measured by ultrasound or anything like that.  At that time I was at 37 weeks and belly was measuring at 39.  She said if you're within 3, you're fine.

My next checkup at 38 weeks in the perinatal clinic, I was seen by a Resident who was really nice and said all was "tickity boo" but that during my next check up at 39 weeks I could be checked and can decide whether I want my membranes swept.  There was also a conversation we had about the fact that I had an impromptu ultrasound the previous week (only because I noticed fetal movement seemed to have slowed down in the last little while which while baby took a while to get the last 2 "big move" points, passed and the sonographer was satisfied which was a big relief) and when I mentioned that I had an ultrasound, she said, "Why, because the baby is big?" Hmmmm....no, but it indicated to me that she also thought baby was on the bigger side.  Ok, no big deal.

Fast forward to yesterday's appointment and the doctor on call said everything looked great, but that she thought the baby was most likely measuring already at around 8.5 lbs (based on her feeling my belly) and was ready to come out because s/he "is big enough now"and that I could have my membranes swept.  My belly was measuring at a clean 39" at 39 weeks.  I had given it thought since the last appointment because of what the Resident said and my initial thoughts last week was that I wasn't even at my due date yet, so I didn't see why there was a rush to do that and I hadn't discussed that with my regular doctor yet and would rather wait it out until I saw her next which was on my due date.

Doc asked me about how much I weighed when I was born (8 lbs, 2.5 oz) which seemed to make her nod her head as to why it wouldn't be unexpected for my baby to be in that range and she asked me how my Mom did with delivering me.  My mother knew in advance (she can't really remember but thinks around 5-6 months along) that she was going to require a c-section because she was "too small" for a natural delivery.  Doc asked me if we were the same height and we are.  There were a few nods and hmmms and that was that.  I asked her if I was going to be checked at all and she said no, since I wasn't going to get the sweep.  Ok, I can't say that I'm disappointed for not having an invasive exam (who likes those anyway?), but I suppose in retrospect it might have been helpful to know where I was standing progress wise for when I see my doc at 40 weeks to know how far I was progressing along at this stage.

So now I've got all of these ideas in my head that they are going to be anxious to move this baby along and that maybe I should have the membranes swept this week if baby hasn't come before my due date.  At least it's a more natural way to move things along in advance of being faced with being induced with pitocin later on.  At least if it comes to that, the sweep may possibly help and I've tried that first.  I keep thinking in the back of my head that it could all end the same way as it did for my mom and for the same reasons which I'm not crazy about, but what will be will be.  I might just be worrying for nothing too, of course.


What are your experiences with membrane sweep, going overdue, baby measuring "big" etc. and how did it all work out for you?

Spa Day For Mommy-to-be

Last week the husband pulled out his "husband of the year" badge and purchased me a promotional package from a new down town spa, Cas Spa & Salon on Dresden Row.  Perfect for a mommy-to-be to pamper herself on her first week of maternity leave waiting for baby to arrive any day :-) *mwah*

They are a fairly new spa looking to promote themselves and obtain new clients, so they were marketing a 5 service package for only $50!  Now, keep in mind, while these services are just fine on their own, there are "upgrades" available for all of them and the package indicates that they would like you to use them on separate visits.

The services in the package include:

(1) Renew:

• In Depth Style Analysis
• Conditioning treatment
• Stress Reliving Scalp Massage
• Designer Haircut, Shampoo & Style
• Colour & Highlight Consultation
• Complimentary Beverage

Upgrade:

• 20% Off Highlights, Colours or Perms
• 10% Off Extensions
• 10% Off Hair Care Products
• Add $45 For An Up-Do

(2) Restore

• Quick Lift Facial (30 Min)
• Personalized Skin Analysis
• Cleansing
• Toning
• Exfoliation
• Moisturizing Treatment
• Decollete Massage
• $10 Credit Towards Waxing
• Skin Care Product Prescription
• Complimentary Beverage

Upgrade:

• Add $40 For A Deep Cleanse Facial
• Add $64 For A Peel
• Add $80 For A Nourishing Facial

(3) Relax

• Pedicure Polish Pick-Me-Up
• File, Shape, & Buff
• Relaxing Foot Soak
• Foot & Lower Leg Massage With Moisture Treatment
• Polish Change
• Manicure Police Pick-Me-Up
• File, Shape & Buff
• Hand & Arm Massage With Moisture Treatment
• Polish Change

Upgrade:

• Add $25 for a Signature Manicure
• Add $35 for a Signature Pedicure
• 20% Off Gel Nails

 (4) Refresh

• Follow up Design Consultation
• Stress Relieving Scalp Massage
• Conditioning Treatment
• Accents Highlights (3-5 Foils)
• Shampoo & Style
• Complimentary Beverage

Upgrade:

• Add $30 For a Custom Cut
• 20% Off Colours, Highlights (3-5 Foils)
• 10% Off Hair Care Products

(5) Rejuvenate

• 20 Minute Relaxation Massage
• Includes The Use of Essential Oils
• Laser Hair Removal Session On Choice of Underarms, Lip or Chin

Upgrade:

• Add $50 for a 60 Minute Relaxation Massage
• Add $60 for a 60 Minuted Deep Tissue Massage
• Add $80 for a 90 Minuted Therapeutic Massage
• 25% Off Laser Hair Removal Packages

So as you can see, even if you upgrade here and there, you are still getting your bang for your buck buying the package. (You'd think I work for them or something! lol But I had a great experience and don't mind promoting them.)

Since I'm now off work and still waiting for baby to arrive, it seemed like the perfect opportunity for a little pampering because we know it's a last chance for a while!  I already had a hair appointment booked with my regular hairdresser, so I decided I would focus on getting a facial and mani/pedi and use the other services at a later date (it expires in March).  I thought I would have to go in on two separate days for the two different options, but when I called, she was willing to book me into as many treatments as I wanted in the one day!  Maybe she appreciated the fact that I could be having the baby at any time and time is a bit of a gamble, but it was definitely a nice surprise.  She said as long as I'm purchasing an upgrade for at least one of them, they didn't mind :-)  It was a nice added surprise when I showed up and the woman working the desk is actually an RN (who must be Lesley), so she joked to me that I shouldn't worry if I go into labour because we're right next to the hospital and she's always wanted to deliver a baby lol

I decided to upgrade to a deep cleanse facial and upgrade the pedicure as well and my services were all with Darcie.

The facial was incredible and included an amazing facial, neck, shoulder, scalp and arm massage as well.  Heaven!  It was also appreciated that their product line they use is natural (and vegan even) although I can't for the life of me remember the line of products they use.  There was one part of the facial that was skipped because it was contraindicated during pregnancy, but I didn't miss a thing.  I was not rushed in or rushed out at all and in total spent just over 3 hours for all of the treatments.

My glamorous long natural nails I had from about 23 to 30 weeks of my pregnancy have pretty much gone back to normal, but truth be told, as much as I relished in the natural long and healthy looking nails, the length was driving me nuts!  So I'm just as happy to be sporting shorter nails and this is probably only the second time in my life I've ever had a manicure so it's strange to see polish on my fingers!

I mentioned that I've only ever been to a spa a few times, but usually go to Cascades because I use their Dermalogica products and they have steam showers and a hot tub that you are free to enjoy when you are there for other services.  She informed me that they are currently renovating the downstairs to include a "wet room" which may include steam showers or sauna or something of the sort, but not sure what it was for sure.  For me, that is a huge selling point of Cascades, so it's nice to know that this spa may also be offering similar services too.

And as you can see, no baby yet, so the husband was wrong about the 26th being the day!  Thanks to you all for submitting your guesses to my fun little prediction poll!  I have a fun little anecdote to share with you after the baby arrives and we have chosen our names which is something to do with an interesting conversation with my esthetician and what she thought my name was before looking at the sheet which just happens to be one of the girl names we have decided is one of the finalists!  Interesting!!  She predicts girl and August 2nd, so we shall see and also if we end up deciding that name to be "her" name :-)

Today's "spa" treatment is getting my hair done with my hair dresser and then I'll be fully refreshed ready to be Mommy who never gets to take a shower again! :-P

The Labour Whisperer

So the husband thinks he has a special "baby birthday sixth sense" because he predicted the day our friends would have their baby girl last year.  She ended being born on his birthday (Aug 1st) and she was due on the exact same day that I am due this year, August 5th! What are the chances!

This time around though, he's predicted that the baby would be born on July 26th, which is TODAY bloggies - today!  Even last night, he was sticking with his original prediction, so we shall see how things go today! 

(P.S. Kate was due the day before I am due and had her baby boy on Saturday! Congratulations to Kate and Benjamin!)

Keeping in the fun spirit of predictions, I thought it would be fun to have you all weigh on on what your predictions are on our little peanut.  I might even try to come up with a fun giveaway prize for the winner who is the closest :-)

For fun, please tell me in the comments section (numbering your answers 1, 2, 3, 4):

1. Gender (1 point)
2. Weight (in lbs and oz) (3 points)
3. Length (in inches) (3 points)
4. Birth date (3 points)

Now I know that it's nearly impossible to get them all correct, but I will score points for each one correct for a total of 10 points.  I decided that #2, #3, #4 deserve more points for being correct because they are very specific guesses where the gender is a 50-50 chance.

I can't figure out a way to convert this into a clickable poll while giving you credit for your guesses, so in the end I will tally them up into a poll to show the percentages of guesses for fun.


Given that as the days go by (and as you can tell this is a very scientifically controlled poll :-D), the chances of getting #4 correct are higher (or lower I suppose!), I will close this contest tomorrow night at midnight - assuming of course that the husband's prediction powers are wrong! :-D

Good luck! :-)

IWK Pre-Administration Clinic & Tour

A few weeks ago or so, the husband and I finished the last of our pre-natal class opportunities (Part 1 & Part 2) and participated in the pre-admission clinic and labour & delivery tour at the IWK.  It was a quick run through with a nurse clearing up any questions about:

• when to go to the hospital (already covered, but nice to reiterate!)
• what to pack for you
• what to pack for your baby
• and of course for the husband too (let's not forget the husbands - mine has threatened to start a "The Forgotten Husbands" blog to voice his experience disappearing into the pregnancy dust! lol)
• where to park when you arrive in labour
• information about parking passes and meal cards required for partners and hours available
• what to do when you arrive at the hospital
• where the administration desk is
• the opportunity to pre-register all of your info that day in advance and choose which type of room you want, including providing your insurance coverage for direct billing for private/semi-private rooms so that you don't have to deal with it when the time comes
• what to expect during a typical labour & delivery & even c-sections
• what the hospital likes to encourage (i.e. skin to skin contact & breastfeeding)
• what the hospital provides for formula if you choose to formula feed your baby
• to answer ANY questions or concerns you might have
• AND A TOUR of where you will be having your baby

I meant to write a post about it in detail at the time, but it ended up getting lost amongst some tweets (there is a truth to how twitter is considered "micro blogging" for sure).


I wanted to tell you all that after the opportunity to go on the TOUR of where I will be giving birth, being a first time mom who is ambitious for information and who has immersed herself in as much education about what to expect as possible, it truly was the TOUR that put my mind at ease.  There is something about seeing it with my own eyes and hearing it straight from the horses mouth that put me at ease, rather than reading it in print.

The nurse giving the tour was experienced (30ish years I believe) and I felt she was the best source to be doing the job.  I left the IWK that day feeling at ease about what was expected to happen when we arrive when "it's time," we knew where we were going to go, knew the special little elevator that would take us to the room where a nurse checks your progress for admission, saw the room that all the action takes place, laid eyes on the equipment that we would expect to see during the delivery, became familiar with the little carts, tools and blanket and baby warming stations set up, how the beds work, saw the bath tubs, heard about the involvement of the NICU and what to expect if baby requires some special attention, felt better hearing how cautious they are and not told not to worry if NICU are present and that it's common and often extra precautionary etc., when you will join your baby in the NICU if that is the case and were taken to the family area and shown their little photo-booth you can use to take pictures of the baby and email them to you for free (very neat btw).

In my mind I know where I'm going when it's time, what is standard procedure at MY hospital (and not reading random experiences from other hospitals) and it alleviated 80% of my anxiety that was stemming purely from the "unknown" which in my opinion, in my present state of being ready to give birth at any time now, is HUGE.

Maybe this was a luxury that I was lucky to have been a part.  All I know is how much it helped me feel comfortable with the biggest event of my life about to take place.

So imagine my surprise when a good friend who is also expecting 2 months after I am when she called up to book her pre-natal classes and pre-administration course & tour that:

• All pre-natal classes offered between now and her due date at the first of October are BOOKED and she and her husband are SOL; and
  
• Oh yeah, they've now canceled the tour and suggested she watch a video from their web site

(At the time of writing this post, this link is not working using Firefox for Mac and I'm unable to watch the video which I am now told is because the web page is not designed with cross browser support.)

So now she has zero opportunity to participate in the pre-natal classes AND she's unable to have a tour.  I am uncertain how often or how many pre-natal classes are offered throughout the year, but I know that I would never have expected that having 2 months left to go before my due date that there would be no space available for me.  I'm really disappointed in that. 

I feel so fortunate that I was able to participate in those things and it looks like I was a part of one of the last tours offered.  Lucky for her she has a friend going through the same thing around the same time and I can offer the Coles Notes version of all if it for her if she needs.  But I keep thinking about how I would feel if it were me booking my classes and was turned away.  The classes are "free" but they are not.  The nurse pointed out in our very first pre-natal class that they are "free" as in you don't pay to take the course at the time, but they are funded by our tax dollars.  Very good point.

So yesterday, coincidentally, I had my 38 week pre-natal appointment which I was required to do at the perinatal clinic at the IWK with the on-call doctor because my doctor is now on vacation (yes doctors also are entitled to some down time too, and I'm one of the lucky patients who could give birth during this time! :-D).   I will also be doing my 39 week check up there as well.  And as I was sitting there waiting, I realized there was an interview going on behind me with a staff member (not sure who) a journalist and cameraman (not sure who), getting the story on why the tour had been canceled.

I only overheard part of the interview and I wish I knew who was doing it and when/where I could see it.  The only thing I heard the lady explain to the journalist was that their decision to cancel the program was based more around privacy issues for the patients and that they would not be saving any money cutting this part of the program as the nurse who handled this responsibility was placed elsewhere in the hospital doing something else.  She commented that if anything, the IWK would be "more fiscally responsible" for having canceled it although I couldn't catch why.  I think her explanation could have been due to the new placement of the nurse, but I'm not sure.  So I'm left without any real answers for those of you who are interested, but know that there is media somewhere covering this who likely does have the answers.  If anyone is aware of who covered this story, please comment or send me an email as I am very interested.

I certainly could never speak for the nurses doing their jobs or the women who have already given birth and how these tours affect them and can only express how much the tour has helped me as an expecting first time mom.  Maybe when I'm on the other side having given birth I will understand what privacy issues she may have been concerned about.  All I know is that during our time touring the L&D, I saw no patients or babies.

A Nursery for Our Peanut

There are A LOT of exciting things in preparing for the arrival of a baby, but preparing the nursery nearing your expected time of arrival really brings it all together in such an exciting way!

The Bedding

I started scowering the net looking for ideas as to where to start and I figured the bedding was the best place and once I decided on that, we would go from there.  I wanted something neutral, but not something “too” generic green or yellow.  The thing is that I LOVE green and yellow so it was no problem deciding that I wanted it in the colour scheme, but didn’t want to over do it.  Finally, after clicking and pricing, hmmming and hawing, we decided on this bedding which we got an incredible deal on from a BeddingHut.com, which is a Canadian company which saved us on shipping as well!  That NEVER happens shopping online!



We ordered a 9 piece set for only $79.99 which was a STEAL.  The exact same set is listed on overstock.com for $172.79 for the 12 piece set.  Given that most FOUR piece bedding sets sold in the department stores are usually in the $200+ range, I think we did great on this find!

 

The Paint

So then it was time to pick out the paint chips!  I tweeted that I was about to go to pick them out when Dutch Boy Paint happened to notice my tweet and offered to pitch in and send me some of their paint to use which became money savings score #2!  I was thrilled to give their paint a try.  I had always heard of it, but had never used it!  When I received my colour fan, I decided on using three colours in the nursery:

Wells Beach C10-4

Willowbrook B8-3

Sleepy Hollow D6-2

When the paint arrived I was immediately impressed with a few things:



Firstly, it’s a screw top with grip TABS making it easy to open and close – NO screw drivers and hammers required!
 


Secondly, when you take the top off, there is a pouring spout for easy pouring which is great for people like me :-)  This particular line of paint is called “Refresh” and is actually an “odour control” paint that can help absorb odours in the room, which is a pretty good perk when there will be 393484738474 diapers to change in that room! :-D

It was finally time to get rockin and rollin on the room! 

 

Before:

We decided we were going to paint the top half in Wells Beach and the bottom half in Willowbrook.  Wells Beach was a nice soft neutral colour with just the right amount of yellow that didn’t overpower anything, but was a nod to the yellow in the bedding.  Willowbrook was more of a soft neutral colour with the slightest hint of a “muddy” peach but not in an obvious “peach” kind of way.  This colour came from the outline in half of the dragonfly on the bedding itself:





And to separate the colours, we added a white chair rail all around the room that matched the baseboard and doors:



And I had a big ambitious idea to make a stencil out of a dragonfly from the bedding and did so by photocopying it and tracing out wings out of a clear plastic transparency.  I painted the wings with the same semi-gloss white that was used for the chair rail and traced two wings with the bottom colour Willowbrook and used the Sleepyhollow green for the other two wings (much like the pattern).  I bought a metallic brown/copper acrylic craft paint to paint the bodies:



And another hit of Sleepyhollow for the ABC’s!



And the next thing we knew, it was really coming together exactly the way we had pictured it would:

Operation Beautiful

And here’s where I made my most personal and important Operation Beautiful note of all:

Whether we have a son or a daughter, I believe that teaching this message to our child(ren) essentially becomes a fundamental building block for a healthy self esteem that really has no limits. What better place to start than the very beginning :-)

 

The Crib

We bought our crib at Sears and it is a Stork Craft “Monique” which I grabbed on sale for $299 just prior to Canada day ($ savings #3!).  It is a convertible crib that comes with the toddler rail and no conversion kit is needed to be purchased separately except for bed rails if you choose to turn it into a double bed.



Note: I won’t be keeping these bumper pads on the crib and will be replacing them with breathable mesh version that I bought at Babies R Us.  I may reconsider using them later on down the road when it is no longer considered to be a risk to the peanut.  But I had to include them for the photos, ya see :-)

WAIT A MINUTE!!!!!!!  There’s something that doesn’t really “go” with the room that just popped up out of no where!!  What IS that?!?!



Whoa whoa whoa whoaaaaaaa!!!!  Ya see, we’re already having a disagreement in our parenting decisions ALREADY!  The husband is a big Toronto Maple Leafs fan and my father and I are big Montreal Canadians fans!  We have our work cut out for us it looks like :-P

Oh don’t you worry, I’m alllll over it! :-D

 

The Changing Table/Dresser

We decided not to buy a changing table and to use a dresser of appropriate height with a change pad on top.  It has tabs to screw to the back of the dresser that secures the pad in place.  We bought the dresser at Pier 1 which was another savings because we had some gift cards burning a hole in our pocket from Christmas and my Birthday :-) ($ savings #4!)  It’s a solid wood, heavy dresser that will last forever.

            

 

The Chair

The nursing chair was something we did not save on and was a bit of a splurge.  I knew that we would be spending hours every day using this chair and if there was one thing that we both agreed we should splurge is being comfortable nursing and feeding the baby and feel comfortable falling asleep with the baby in our arms.  This is a Lazy Boy glider/recliner rather than a rocker/recliner and the sales lady pointed out a very important difference that we would thank her for later if it was to be a nursing chair.  With the “rocker” recliners, they will disturb the baby when coming down from recline because it kind of rocks you forward quite hard, but the glider mechanism doesn’t do that.  The last thing you need is to wake a sleeping baby getting out of the chair!

The chair has a lifetime warranty on the mechanism and 10 year stain protection plan, so regardless of what gets on it, they will come to the house and clean it which isn’t a bad perk to have when it is going to be used for nursing a baby – lots of opportunities for mess!  I’ve been thoroughly enjoying this chair since it has arrived and up until now had a spot in the living room :-)  Another reason why we justified the extra expense is for that very reason – it’s a chair that can be used later on in our family room too.

 

The Accents

We had to get a book shelf for all of the wonderful books, peanut’s first piggy banks and memory box  that we received from the girls at my surprise baby shower!  :-)

   


Not exactly sure what purpose this little thing serves, but it was a part of the set!




So there you have it my bloggies, that is our Peanut’s nursery and it feels GREAT to have it all complete!

A big thank you to Dutch Boy Paint for providing the paint!  As it turns out, we can’t actually buy it in Canada, but if we could, I would definitely be buying it for further projects.

We are at 37 weeks now bloggies and are full term!! Any time the Peanut decides to arrive is fair game and now I think we can say we’re ready :-)

Check!

Thank you bloggies for your kind comments on the maternity photos taken by Shelagh.  I truly think that she deserves the compliments because she did all the work!  Although I suppose it could be argued that standing around for a few hours supremely preggers could also be considered work too :-D

I ended up canceling the other photography session we had booked that would have included the husband, simply because our weather turned awry today and it did not jibe with an outdoor beach session and neither she nor I were crazy about doing it in studio.  She was willing to re-schedule for Tuesday afternoon, but unfortunately, we both work M-F and she is 1.5 hrs away.  So needless to say, I am MORE than grateful for Shelagh’s beautiful photos that I will cherish forever and I am happy to have those :-)

We are making amazing headway on the nursery and if all goes well, I hope to have the final results posted up for you this week! I almost said “today” because it’s early and I’m not keeling over with backaches yet, but I’ve learned a few lessons in the past few weeks about the ol’ back aches and sciatica pain not to try to plan too many hours ahead! lol  I suppose I also need a good day of natural light to take good photos of the final result, so I hope our grey and rainy forecast doesn’t keep us waiting too much longer.  The nursery is 95% complete now and it was 99% until we realized that there is one part of the stenciling that I used an old water colour paint for that does not seem to be drying at all and will smudge and wash off, so today’s agenda is to wash that part off of all of the stencils and re-do them with another kind of acrylic paint I picked up at Michael’s on the way home last night. Hopefully this kind will at least dry and not smudge if you touch it! 

Today is rainy and grey outside which is bringing us some much appreciated relief from the humidity of late, so if all goes well and I keep my ice packs chilled and take frequent back icing breaks, you never know, maybe I will get it all completed today and stroke the nursery off the list!  I am loving stroking things off of the “must do before baby comes” list.  It just makes me feel that much more prepared – even if it is just a mind trick :-D

Yesterday, the husband and I spent the day in my home town where my family gathered for a baby shower for us.  I am fortunate enough to only live 1.5 hrs away from where I grew up, so I have the luxury of being able to go “home” more easily than some people.  Even so, there never seems to be much opportunity to see the extended family very often.  In fact, I think I haven’t seen most of them since our wedding which was September 2008.  I was most happy to just sit in the same room and gab with my aunts, a few cousins and dear friend.  That is the most important thing.  I grew up having many aunts and uncles, but no brothers or sisters.  The husband has one sister who lives very far north in Inuvik, so as a result, the peanut will have no traditional “aunts” and “uncles” in every day life.  BUT we do have some AMAZING close friends who have already declared their “aunt and uncle” status to the peanut and it really means so much to us. xoxo

I am so happy to say that the “down days” appeared to have passed and have been replaced with pure excitement and anticipation.  That is BIG because feeling that way was really quite difficult.  I have 10 working days left of work before I go on maternity leave where I will be off with the baby for one year.  We are fortunate in Canada to receive one year of parental leave benefits.  I have even heard rumors that there is a change this could be extended to 18 months at some point in the future.  I haven’t even held my baby yet and I can’t imagine what it must be like for mothers who have to go back to work after a few short months or less and for most people, going back to work is a necessity.  I find it a bit strange that I just said that I only have 10 working days left of work.  I finish on the 23rd, but I really don’t think it has sunk in.  I’m focusing so much on trying to get things in order that I don’t think I really have accepted that my daily life is about to change so dramatically.  I mean, I “know” that it will and it already has tremendously just going through pregnancy, but my new roll as Mom so far is only in day dreams.  We are so anxious to meet the baby, discover if our peanut will be a son or a daughter and what happens after that is all unwritten and undiscovered.  I am so happy for the uncharted territory to be my new life, which is different from how I felt only a few short months ago.  It is of course normal, and expected, to feel angst, but I am very happy to feel at ease and more confident to jump into my new roll and my new life as Mommy.  This child has no idea how much love we have for him/her already and I already feel like this is one lucky little peanut!  I am tearing up right now, hormones or not! lol

 

As of this coming Thursday, the baby is considered full term so it’s all fair game if the peanut decides to arrive early!  The husband keeps bringing up the fact that we have to get our hospital bags packed soon :-)  At one point I would have thought I’d want to make sure I had that all ready, but realistically, I hope an instantaneous trip to the hospital will not be necessary and we will have time to make sure we’re packed with what we need even if it’s on the day it’s time to go.  You can’t predict how things will go, but if it’s what is considered “normal” I should be labouring for at least several hours at home before going to the hospital.  He of course, just wants to make sure he’s doing what he has control over and that’s making sure we have our bags packed!  But it’s all about crossing off the “to dos” ya see!

Speaking of one of the last big to dos, I am starting to think about some meals I can make ahead of time that I can freeze to be readily available to re-heat for when we are home with the baby trying to keep our heads above water :-D.  There’s the obvious lasagna and chili which freeze really well, but given that it’s super hot and the peak of summer, I’m wondering what other kinds of pre-prepared meals we could put on our list and what better people to ask than you guys!  So, if you have any suggestions or recipes to share with me, hit me up, bloggies!

Maternity Photos in Dingle Park a la Alice in Paris!

As you may have gathered from my teaser post earlier today, I had the absolute pleasure of spending Saturday morning with Shelagh who honoured me in using me as a subject in applying her artistic talents on this mama to be.  I was beyond thrilled to be given the opportunity!  We had a beautiful most summeresque weekend upon us in Halifax and we chose to do the photos as the Sir Sanford Fleming Park (better known as Dingle Park) on the Northwest Arm.  I will forever swoon my love for this beautiful province and city of Halifax and I love living here.  It couldn’t have been more perfect.  In fact Shelagh kept saying that it the setting resembled somewhere in the south of France!  Angie in Paris?  :-)

Well known for her beautiful folk art and amongst the local Twitter community with her enthusiasm and community involvement with the Halifax Chicks, I couldn’t be more pleased with her talents behind the lens as well.  It was difficult to pick just a few to share with you, but I did my best to pick out a few of my favourites! 





These were my first pair of walking shoes as you may have gathered from the scuffed toes!  The peanut gets especially active when I lie down and during this photo, s/he was actually making the shoes dance on my belly and I laughed out loud :-)
   


 

      

Do you think I look pregnant at all here? lol

Thank you Shelagh!

The husband unfortunately could not participate as he was up to his ears in nursery renovations on limited time, but we do have a photo shoot pending for next weekend with a photographer in my home town which I “might” be able to convince him to allow me to include him on the blog in due course.  We shall see :-)

Do You Recognize...

these feet? 

Did you know that they used to fit into these shoes? :-)

While the husband and my father have been hard at work painting and shaping up the nursery and both our front AND back decks, you may have gathered from the above two photos and links that I have been up to some fun with our very own Alice in Paris :-)  I can hardly wait to share some more with you which hopefully should be tonight.  It was so much fun :-)

Until then, my friends :-)

Beautiful Holiday & Leisurely DIY

Well bloggies it's Canada Day here in this beautiful country of ours, the sun is shining, it's beautiful outside, it's a day off and dare I say, I am feeling MUCH more like myself!  If I wasn't 35 weeks preggers, I'd lace up my runners and run a 5k! :-)  So in compromise, I'm going to gear up for a little jaunt with the pootch.  She is chomping at the bit these days and this morning there was no runner, walker, biker or child that has passed by our house without getting a big ol' taste of her little big barky face lunging at the end of her rope!  She's harmless, but it makes me cringe.  I would hate to think that we are "those" neighbours that everyone raises their eyebrows at!  We had a few "incidents" this morning with the first few passersby, but after taking her through our "bad dog" routine hauling her inside and making her sit, laydown and stay so that she gets back into her "stable" mindset, I can now happily report that the last 3 passersby haven't received her barky, lunging reaction! Yay Lucy!

So at least that brings me some hope that when I'm home full time with the baby over the next year, I'll have more chance to monitor her all day long keeping her in check on a consistent basis, walk with her more and I think just being home with her 24/7 will tire her out more than she's used to.  Right now I think she's used to just sleeping most of the day (probably barking at every bird and passersby) until we get home after work, so times they are a changin'!


So today my Dad is coming up for a visit and to help us get some of our household projects complete.  We have high hopes of getting the front and back decks painted before the baby arrives because we all know our free time for that kind of stuff takes a serious cut and well, quite frankly, they won't get done!

The nursery is half complete!  I am very pleased to say that while my intention certainly was not to solicit Dutch Boy paint in any way in my last post and only to ask for your advice, they saw my post and felt bad about me not being able to purchase the product in Canada and have offered to send me some more paint to make sure we have enough!  Thank you Dutch Boy!  Since we are kind of on a time crunch, we are just hoping that there won't be any undue delays at the border :-)  We are continuing on with the paint we have knowing that there's more on the way if need be, and we are already pleased with the results so all is good :-) I'm really excited to share with you all the final results, complete with our nursery furniture, bedding and the works.  Here's hoping that my big "homemade stenciling" idea doesn't blow up in my face and I don't make a mess of the walls! lol 

If any of you have posted about any DIY painting projects, especially those with stenciling, I would love for you to leave your link in the comments!