10 weeks tomorrow!

I am awful at updating this blog! I guess life with a newborn really makes you adjust your priorities... update the blog, or sit down with a cuppa tea and put my feet up?... Life is busy!

Lily is an absolute delight. She will be 10 weeks old tomorrow (eek!) and we cannot believe how fast she is changing in front of our eyes. I am going to have a tough time as she gets bigger- whenever she outgrows an outfit, I feel sad. Thus is the life of a mommy, I guess.

Lily smiles and laughs a lot now, and loves talking to her Daddy. They have secret conversations all the time, and I think they're plotting the games they'll have when she's bigger in bugging Mommy. They are going to be a dangerous pair.

Here's our happy baby girl:


I am adjusting to life as a mom. It's a challenge, but seems to get a little easier each day. Lily usually only needs one feed a night now, and often has slept right through, so it definitely helps my sanity that I am no longer sleep deprived. Her smiles and giggles help too- who can resist a little baby gummy grin looking up at you?

Some things I've learned so far:

- when you are running late and just about to get out the door, and have the baby over your shoulder, do not go near anything that isn't waterproof. Let's just say that Lily has fun puking on walls, picture frames, and wardrobes. Her timing is always impeccible, and she always follows it up with a big smile and a laugh.

- you will never walk so fast to Starbucks as you do when you first leave your baby to "get some peace." I have taken 2 walks without Lily (she is still refusing a bottle) as I insisted I wanted some "me" time. I of course walked as fast as I could, and couldn't stop thinking about her the entire time. Sigh... Was she sad I'd left her? Of course not. Her and Daddy had a blast.

- if breastfeeding, you'll feel like a cow in the beginning. But it does get better!

- somehow you survive with drinking out of glasses that just go through the dishwasher, yet any baby bottles/ pumps will need to be sterilized frequently, or you'll constantly worry your baby'll get sick. Just one of the many neurotic things you do as a new mother.

- strangers like to touch other people's babies. Not cool when there's a flu pandemic.

- love has a whole new meaning.

Finally an Update!

Well, it's taken me more than a month to update this blog. What can I say? Life's been a little busy. :)

Our beautiful little girl arrived on September 5, eleven days early. I'd been to the doctor's that day and then was sent to the hospital, thinking my water may have broken. Both told me no, and that there didn't seem to be any signs of labour. Phew! Brian and I went out for dinner that night, partly me celebrating that our little one wasn't arriving early (I would have been happy to go overdue!) and what do you know it, we order our food and GUSH! My water breaks at the table!

Lillian Claire arrived at 1:05 pm the next afternoon. Here is a very condensed version of her arrival- when I have more time I will write a more detailed story for our baby girl!

Wednesday, September 2: had dr's appointment and dr thinks we have another 2 weeks to go. Am due on the 16th, so leave thinking our little one will be born near his/her due date.

Thursday, September 3: Have an awful headache all day Thursday and basically spend the day in bed. In hindsight, I guess I was saving up my energy!

Friday, September 4: go out for a long walk in the morning, as I am planning to do a bunch of baking. Think my water may be trickling, so call Brian, who says to call the dr to be on the safe side.

Call the dr, am told to pop in to the office to be checked. Am checked, get told water's not broken, but am sent to the hospital to have a better test.

Get to the hospital around 3 pm, am told water's not broken but to come back if anything changes.

Head home, relieved our little one is not arriving that day (I wanted a few more weeks to get some good sleep!). Head out to White Spot for dinner with Brian and am talking about how relieved I am that we still have a few more weeks. Order our food, are waiting for it to arrive, when GUSH! my water breaks right there. Freak out a little, waddle to the washroom, come out and tell Brian we need to leave. Wait outside while he explains to the waitress what has happened! We get our food to go :) and walk the 5ish minute walk home as we don't have a car.

Head to the hospital, get there about 8:30 pm... Am told yes, my water has in fast broken (duh!), and to head home and come back either when things are progressing, or if nothing happens, around noon the next day to talk about induction options.

Get home, have some dinner, and go to bed around 10 pm. Have started to feel very light contractions- not painful yet.

Last photo of just the two of us! Early labour:


Sleep until 11:30 pm, try to stay in bed as long as I can.

Saturday, September 5: get up around 2:30 am, cannot bear to lay in bed. All the pain is in my back- feel almost nothing in the front.

Come online, start timing contractions around 3:30 am. Coming every 4 or 5 mins, varying from 30- 45 seconds. Contractions are bearable, but all in the back. I stand through each which helps.

Brian gets up, we try to watch a movie, doesn't work as I now need him massaging my back through each contraction.

6 am, things are getting intense. I lay on my side in bed, back pain is excrutiating. Vomit several times. Brian gets the Gentle Giraffe soothing sounds stuffed animal we bought for our little one (haha) and we turn it to the waterfall sounds. I clutch it through each contraction.

Brian starts to time contractions. Coming every couple of minutes, lasting at least a minute long. Decides it is time to head to the hospital. Brian calls his mum to pick us up as I need him in the backseat rubbing my back.

Leave house around 7:30 am. Car ride is awful. Pull up at the hospital, have to stop outside and have Brian rub my back. Get to L&D, cannot believe they want me to stand to sign paperwork! Doula is there waiting for us. Have another contraction before being brought into our room. Nurses are looking at me funny and everyone is asking what that water sound is am I am still clutching my Gentle Giraffe. Funny to look back on that now!

Bit of a blur after that. Nurse wants to check me, has to wait while I have another contraction. At this point I just say "BACK!!" and Brian, and now our fantastic doula, put as much pressure as they physically can on my back.

Get checked, am 5 cm. Looks like we arrived at the hospital at a great time!

Try different positions, nothing helps the back. Try the shower at some point, doesn't work as Brian cannot fit in it with me. Start to say I cannot do this and what can they do to fix my back. Is 11:30 am and overhear that I am in transition. Am offered gas and am about to take it, when luckily Brian takes charge and says I am doing great and to wait until the next contraction. (I wanted to labour naturally.) By the next contraction I have forgotten about the gas.

Am told I am fully dilated. I think it's about 11:45 am. This urge overcomes me and I instinctively start to push.

Have lots of rest between contractions, but the back pain has never let up.

After about 1 1/2 hours of pushing (I think) I am told to reach down and pull my baby up!

Hold our baby to my chest, start sobbing, and cannot believe this baby has come out of me and that the pain is gone!! Brian checks and announces we have a girl! I tell everyone that her name is Lillian.

Lily is not taken from my chest- they do all the checks on her right there. She is perfect and we are so in love.

Things Are Looking Good!

We are 38 weeks today, and had a doctor's appointment this morning. We're excited that we're making progress, and the doctor thinks our baby will arrive within the next 2 weeks. Fine by us! We could do with a couple more weeks of sleeping through the night and having quality couple time, but don't necessarily want to go overdue. 2 weeks would put us right on our due date, and since this pregnancy has been so textbook, we wouldn't be surprised if that's what happens.

Guess we'll find out soon!

This is Our Month, Baby!

Holy smokes, how did it get to be September?! That means we get to meet our little boy/ girl this month! Pretty crazy. I cannot believe how fast this pregnancy has flown by, and while I am very, very excited to meet our baby, I know I'll miss being pregnant! I'm thankful for having had it so easy. Now, come on baby!

Photo Shoot!

I had a photo shoot today which turned out to be a lot of fun. The photographer was great, and it was nice to have Brian there to keep me calm! We did tons of different poses in a couple different outfits, so I am looking forward to seeing how they'll turn out.

Brian's busy (as always) trying to get the renos done. We now have a temporary fix where we'll be putting a cabinet in, so I am no longer scared that me or someone else will accidentally trip and fall through the hole in the wall! It'll be great when the renos are done, but my god have they been a lot of work. Buying new I think must be the way to go!

I'm still feeling pretty good these days, and apart from a couple nights, have been sleeping really well. I don't feel like this baby is going to arrive early, but who really knows. It's just hurry up and wait time now!

4 Years Ago...

4 years ago today, we were married. Our wedding was magical, and it is hard to believe that 4 years has passed already!





We don't really have any plans yet. We may go out for a nice dinner, and then will probably watch the DVD from our wedding. Kate will of course cry, as she always does...

We took some belly shots yesterday. 4 years sure makes a difference!

On our wedding day:

37 weeks pregnant:



We had a doctor's appointment this morning, and it went great. Kate's blood pressure is in the normal range, and we're measuring right on at 37 weeks. The baby must have been excited, as the heart rate was a strong 166 beats per minute. Also, we got the results back from the group B test last week (standard test most pregnant women get around 35 weeks) and it was negative, which is good news! No concerns so far!

We are Full-Term!

Today marks 37 weeks, which means our baby is full-term! This means our baby can arrive any time. While very excited, I am not at the point yet though of wanting the baby to arrive NOW. A few more weeks would be good!

It's 4:30 in the morning and I have been wide awake since 2:30. Not fun! I guess I should count myself lucky, since I have slept pretty good for the most part up until now. Perhaps this is our baby's way of saying get used to no sleep!

I am really enjoying being off work. Yesterday I headed out to the mall to get some last things for our hospital bags (which we hope to have packed and ready to go today) and then went to yoga. Several asked if my baby's shifted, as they think my belly looks different than it did last week. I really have no idea, but did have a lot more difficulty doing some of the poses than before! My belly felt like it just kept getting in the way.

I've been getting tons of Braxton hicks, which don't necessarily mean labour is anytime soon. Apart from definitely feeling bigger these days, I haven't had any signs to indicate our little one will arrive early.

I am off to attempt again to try to get some shut eye... Fortunately if I need a nap later, I can!

All you can do is laugh...

It's day one of my mat leave, and I had big plans for today! Manicure, pedicure, makeup, hair cut and styling, and best of all, a pro maternity photo session!

I was stung by a wasp yesterday just above the eye. It gave me a pretty nasty headache, but only looked a little red, so I thought it'd be fine. Then I wake up this morning to this:



Needless to say, the photo shoot is off...

Maternity Leave!

Yesterday was officially my last day of work! I am now on about 2 weeks of vacation, and then maternity leave will kick in. HELL YEAH! It hasn't fully sunk in yet, but I must say that so far, it feels pretty damn good!

Infant First Aid Course

We took an Infant First Aid class last night at the local YMCA, and I highly, highly recommend it for any parents-to-be or parents of infants under one. It cost $5 each, and only lasted for an hour.

We learned what to do if a baby is choking and how to safely do CPR on an infant. We both feel a lot more comfortable knowing we would at least have some clue as to what to do, and will be taking the class again in November as a refresher.

Shower

A big thank you to Leanne for organizing and hosting a work shower for me at her beautiful home. Thank you also to everyone for the lovely gifts- we feel spoiled!

Leanne had us play some great games, such as guess the baby food (some of that stuff is nasty!), and guess the birth date/ gender/ weight. Not long until we find out who was right!

35 Weeks!

Only 35 days until our due date! We cannot wait.

We had our last prenatal class last night, and it's starting to feel very real that we'll be meeting our little baby soon. :) Kate only has just over a week of work to go, and is really looking forward to (hopefully) having some vacation time before our baby makes its appearance.

We feel pretty ready, but are still struggling a bit with names. We've had a girl's name picked for ages (still working on a middle name though...) and have narrowed a boy's name down to about four. Hopefully within the next couple of weeks we'll be able to decide!

Our nursery is almost ready- just some finishing touches left to do:









Kate's still feeling great and isn't uncomfortable yet. She's enjoying her weekly yoga classes and hopes to continue them for a couple more weeks.

Hospital Tour!

We had our hospital tour tonight, and it was great to see all the rooms and to picture leaving there with our little baby! We are both really excited and cannot wait until we get to show up there knowing our little one will make its appearance soon.

It's been another scorcher today though, which meant the hospital rooms were stifling hot. One thermometer in a room showed it was 26 degrees- yuck! I sure hope it's cooler by September...

During the tour, a man popped his head in and said he was meant to be on the tour... but that his son had arrived this morning, at 35 weeks! Yikes! Their baby is doing well. It made us realise that we need to start being prepared for anything to happen!

We filled out our admissions form, which was exciting. Now we just have to sit back and wait!

31 weeks, 4 days

Ice Cubes?!

At our childbirth class last night, we all had to hold ice cubes and pretend they represented the pain of contractions. We then used different ways to get through the pain.

One lady, who has 3 kids, said she wasn't sure that contractions were so painful! I know I am naive, but come on. If all I have to do is the equivalent of holding ice cubes for hours on end, things'll be a lot smoother than I am expecting them to be!

Nursery is coming together!

We had a busy weekend!

I came home from work on Friday to find a delivery truck pulling up in front of our house, and was a little annoyed, wondering why our neighbours were blocking our driveway! I then saw two delivery men walk up to our front door... and then walk right in! I had just received an email from Brian not long before saying that he had some stuff to wrap up, and would be home from work in a bit, so was pretty confused.

Turns out sneaky Brian had been working from home since noon (the delivery was late) and had hoped to surprise me by having everything assembled when I got home. I was still surprised! They dropped off our beautiful crib and change table, and Brian got them assembled right away. I was so excited, it was ridiculous!

On Saturday we got lots checked off our list: a crib mattress, carseat, bathtub, bedding, and picked up our glider and ottomon. The room actually looks like a baby's room now! It's really exciting, and we keep popping in there just to check everything out. I can now just work on the finishing touches and can get off Brian's case about getting the room set up!

We picked this gender neutral bedding:




and got this carseat:



We are ordering our stroller today! Things are coming together...

Crib and Change Table are Ordered!

Kate is feeling a little antsy about getting everything ready for the baby, since we still have some renos to do (if you asked Brian, he'd say more than just a little antsy!), so after we decided FINALLY on a crib and change table, Brian went ahead and ordered these beauties. Kate doesn't know when they'll arrive (she's leaving all those details up to Bri) but cannot wait to see them in the baby's room!

Yesterday's Dr's Appointment

We had an appointment with the doctor yesterday, and it couldn't have gone better! The results were back from the gestional diabetes screening, and were great. Results from the test for iron levels was great too. The doctor said to keep up with whatever Kate was eating... so when we left we headed to Starbucks for a frap. :)

Baby's heartrate was nice and strong at 140 beat per minute, and is measuring in the normal range. We've now booked all of our appointments, and go every 2 weeks until week 36, when we'll go every week! It's sneaking up so fast, we can't believe it.

We also ordered this glider to the nursery:

28 Weeks! Hello, Third Trimester!

We are 28 weeks today, and are so excited to be officially in the last trimester! I'm still finding this whole pregnancy thing really easy and am waiting for when it gets harder... but I keep getting told that this will be the trimester that'll happen!

I've started going to prenatal yoga, and am loving it. It is pretty cool to see women there that are 36, 37 weeks along... I cannot wait to be at that point!

We are interviewing a doula tonight and a couple others this week. I don't know if we'll end up going ahead and hiring any of them, but I want to at least find out what it's all about. If we get a good vibe from one, I think she could be very helpful to both Brian and I. Because our doctor is on a rotation with 6 others and we are not guaranteed to have her there for the delivery, at least a doula would provide a continuity of care.

The baby's room is all painted and ready to go, and Brian is hoping to get the crib this weekend! I'll be away, so if all goes well I'll come home to find it there...

Belly Shots! 26 weeks, 6 days

And for fun, 8 weeks, 12 weeks, 15 weeks, 19.5 weeks, and 26 weeks 6 days:

6 Months!

We are 6 months today (June 14)! We are very excited that in approximately 3 months, we will get to meet our little one! Time is flying, and we're looking forward to getting the nursery started. In a few weeks, we plan to buy the crib and other big purchases, and start setting it up for our wee one.

Kate's been feeling fantastic, and has no real complaints so far. She is pleased at how easy this pregnancy is, and is eagerly anticipating childbirth. At this point, it isn't something that scares her, and is something she's looking forward to (although ask her again in September, and she may have different thoughts...)

New Due Date! September 16

At our doctor appointment on June1, we got the results from our April 30 ultrasound. The doctor said everything looks great! Measurements were all normal, and our baby looks healthy.

She also noticed that at our very first ultrasound, the technician had written the correct number of weeks we were down, but had calculated the due date wrong. So, all this time we've been one week out! Rather than September 9, our due date is now September 16. This is just fine by us, as it means our baby isn't measuring on the small size- it's just right!

The heartrate was 148 beats per minute, and our baby kicked several times while the doctor was trying to use the doppler! We could hear loud thuds. It was pretty cool.

We Moved!

We moved to our new place on May 30. The move went quite well, thanks to all the help we had. We are now slowly getting upacked and trying to get the renos finished.

We have pics of the renos on Facebook.

Brian's Call Ceremony

Brian's call ceremony was on May 28. After all these years of schooling and hard work, he is a lawyer!

Renos

Our renos are slowly coming along. We got the carpet ripped out (as in, Brian got it ripped out) and had the original hardwood floors refinished. The kitchen cabinets were all ripped out, and the bathroom tiles ripped out and redone.

Ultrasound! 21 weeks, 1 day

We went back for an ultrasound on April 30, since the technician hadn't been able to get all the measurements he needed at our last one. The heartrate was 150 beats per minute, and our little one was estimated to be about 12 ounces!For all the photos, our baby was completely upside down...

You can see the umbilical cord:

Original shot is at the left... much easier to see flipped around!

Is it smiling?

Our Baby's Kicking!

Kate felt some light flutters around 16 weeks, but felt strong kicks for the first time on April 20, at 20 weeks. A week later, we both felt kicks. It was incredible. Right when Brian put his hand on Kate's stomach, our baby kicked about 5 times, very strongly.

19 weeks!

We both took some time off this week, and had a nice relaxing couple of days around Vic. We are now 19 weeks! Where is the time flying?!

We looked at baby items for the first time this weekend, and picked out the stroller we hope to get:
http://uppababy.com/products/product.php?id=79
Kate's very excited. It'll be like a new vehicle!
We also picked out a crib and change table, which we'll buy once we're settled into the new house.

Ultrasound! 17 weeks, 6 days

We had an ultrasound on April 7 for the standard measurements they do. Our baby looked enormous compared to our previous ultrasounds! We could see the head (the face looked a little alien-like), hands, arms, legs, and feet. The heartrate was measured at 156 beats per minute.

We weren't too pleased with the quality of the photos we got (the technician was very rushed) but fortunately it sounds like we'll get another ultrasound in a couple of weeks, as he wasn't able to get all the measurements he'd wanted.

As we later found out, a technician at our first ultrasound had written our due date down wrong, so our due date was actually a week later than we'd been told! No wonder the technician thought our baby looked a little small- we weren't even 17 weeks yet!

Belly Shots!

Starting to show! Photos from 8 weeks, 12 weeks, 15 weeks, and 19.5 weeks.

Dr's Appointment

We had another appointment with Dr. Green on April 1, and heard the heartbeat again! This time it was a strong 150 beats per minute. (What are the myths about gender and heart rates?...) Kate was a little baffled to find out her weight hadn't fluctuated at all yet, even though she felt she was visibly showing!

A Boy? A Girl?

Brian dreamt of our little one on March 19. We were at home with our newborn, who was all wrapped up in blankets. Kate realised that we still didn't know if it was a boy or girl, and asked Brian to check.

Brian said he didn't know either, but since our baby was sleeping, he wasn't going to wake it up to check. So we continued being in awe of our baby, not knowing what it was!

Guess we just have to wait to find out...

Work Knows!

Brian told his work our news by sending out the following email:



You are cordially invited...
...to join me in celebrating the good news!

What: some delicious cake!
Where: lunchroom
When: 3:00 today
Why: you will have to come to find out!

When everyone was gathered around, he pulled out a cake he'd ordered that had, "Daddy to be!" written on the top, along with some champagne.

Kate didn't have anything elaborate planned when she told her work, but was relieved to have the news out! No more sucking in and being selective in the clothes she wore!

Rough Weekend

Brian woke up early on March 6 very sick. He hadn't been sick since he was about 13, when he got food poisoning, so Kate was quite concerned.

Brian insisted that Kate go to work and that he would be just fine. When she called to see how he was doing, she could tell he wasn't doing good. She left work and when she got home, was very concerned. We assumed he had a bad case of food poisoning, as he'd eaten out at a work function the night before.

Not knowing what to do and feeling very helpless, Kate ended up calling an ambulance. What a relief when they turned up! They would know what to do, she thought.

After about 6 hours in the emergency room, we headed home. Kate was worried that she would get sick, too, so set out to disinfect everything!

Brian started to slowly feel better, but Kate woke up that night sick, too! We were very concerned, as obviously while pregnant, there are very few things you can take. We called the doctor on call who recommended Gravol and Coke. Although feeling very sick, Kate was thrilled- it'd been months and months since she'd had Coke, and now the doctor was recommending it?! It's never tasted better.

Luckily, Kate was only sick that night and made a full recovery a few days from then. We still don't know what it was we got, but it was very scary! Kate realised, after seeing Brian like that, how tough labour must actually be for men. It isn't easy feeling helpless. She has a new appreciation for the role men have to play. :)

Sharing Our News!

We kept our news a secret until we were at least 12 weeks along. It was really nice having this time to think about our future and talk about our baby as just a secret we shared. We were very excited to tell our families the news, though!

We told Brian's family when we were out for dinner at a restaurant. We pulled out a photo with our gorgeous nieces, and an ultrasound photo that said, "Due to arrive on 09/09/09!" Brian's mum was very quick to figure what was going on. Kate cried (blame it on the hormones?) and we were thrilled to have our news out!

Kate felt it was really important to share the news with as much of her family as she could get together. Although we knew we would have to tell Emma, who was in Boston, over the phone, we wanted to tell everyone else in person.

Kate planned a belated birthday dinner for her mum, and managed to get everyone there. She said she had a late birthday present, and gave her mum this picture frame:
The reactions were priceless. Kate had the video camera ready, but the footage is mainly of the kitchen table, as Kate put the camera down when she started to cry (seems to be a theme here...)! It was very exciting and overwhelming, and we were so happy to be able to talk about our little one! We phoned Emma and shared the news.