A few pictures

My sister (Nadia) and I.... she's 13 weeks, I'm 16 weeks! And ignore the closed eyes, I just liked my new top!

xo

Ok, so I didn't have DQ...

BUT last night after dinner (we were out, for my brother in law's birthday), Jeff and I split... get this...

"deep fried cheesecake with chunks of banana and a praline-chocolate sauce drizzled over top"

MMmmm it tasted even better than it sounded. But, at least I split it! Usually I would have wanted my own :) And I only ate half my dinner and brought the rest in to work with me, go me!

The baby has fingernails now, and hopefully within the next few weeks I should be able to feel it move - that is going to be amazing. Which reminds me, I need to call and book my ultrasound. We have a scanner sitting at home in a bag somewhere (a brand new one, from Arlene, we just never hooked it up) and I'll have to get it hooked up so I can post the picture of the u/s

Now I am just rambling, without a headache, I feel WONDERFUL! If it wasn't for my headaches, this pregnancy would be a breeze. I know, I know, there is still 5+ months to go, so I don't want to get too excited, I hope at least the second trimester continues being so easy.

I'm wearing a cute aqua blue tank top today (hand-me-down from my sister in law, Alexis) with white capri pants, white flip flops and I feel...summery. Good thing cause I just heard it was terribly hot outside.

No DQ for me!

I did it - I drove right past DQ without stopping.

Which means, I have only had Dairy Queen ONCE since getting pregnant, and regular ice cream one other time. Wow, I thought it was going to be my biggest downfall, but I have been doing fantastic!

Last night was great, besides the fact that everyone else had a yummy drink (read: alcoholic) in front of them, and I with my water. But I really don't mind. I thought I would mind more. Ask me again next week after being at a cottage this weekend though :)

Justen (3 months old) and Maisie (1 month old) accompanied their parents were there, and I spent precious cuddling time with both. At one point I had Justen on my knee and I had this feeling come over me - this will be me soon! Next year at this time I will have a 6 month old bouncing on my knee. It was wonderful and I got teary-eyed. I just can't wait, I am so excited to meet the little person growing inside me.

My next project at home is going to be the nursery. We are going to paint murals of nursery rhymes (Twinkle Twinkle on the ceiling and Old McDonald on the walls), I am going to outfit the closet with shelves (right now it just has a regular bar), and paint the change table white to match the crib.

I have floating shelves I want to paint and two wooden book shelves we bought from a book store that was closing that I am going to put on top of each other and paint them the same colour we paint the walls. I know this baby is going to have lots and lots and lots of books.

I'm getting excited! I can't wait till lunch so I can surf the net looking for ideas!

Pictures and a day off

Woke up with an earache, and a headache. Too many aches to work, so I stayed home.

Funnily enough, I looked in the pregnancy journal and today's entry was all about your nose and ears being stuffy, and if it starts to cause pain and fever, contact your doctor. Luckily, no fever was to be had.

Had a GREAT day. Slept in, did laundry, went out to lunch with a few girlfriends, went to Chapters for a few hours to look at books for ideas for the nursery, did some groceries, took a nap cooked a pasta and broccoli pasta and now am waiting to head out for dinner for one of my oldest and closest friends (Peter)'s birthday. There MAY be a stop at DQ on the way.

I really don't like calling in sick when I'm not sick, but I needed to sleep.

At the doctor's last week, he weighed me. I prepared myself, I was scared. I gained 9 lbs in 15 weeks. I think I've done worse than that when I wasn't pregnant, so I'm feeling fantastic.

AND I got 5 bags of maternity clothes from my friend (she's lost 33 lbs in the 4 weeks since she had Maisie), so I'm feeling pretty darn great. I can't believe how much better I look in maternity clothes then trying to fit into my regular clothes. Although I am happy to report that I still fit into alot of my old clothes. At least, in the morning I do :)

It's not a hoax!

Way back when, I took two home pregnancy tests (both positive) then made an appointment with my family doctor. He sent me for a whackload of blood tests, but not one of them was a pregnancy test (whoops!), so somewhere deep in the back of mind I thought maybe this whole pregnancy thing wasn't for real....

BUT... yesterday we had our first appt with the obstetrician (who told me my due date is the 14th of December, not the 12th as my family doctor told me, but a due date doesn't mean much at all anyways, my cycle was all screwy so who knows when 'beauford' is going to show his/her face to the world).... and we listened to the baby's heart beat! It took a while for Dr. Farrell to find it (the whole time I was holding my breath and just waiting for the news that there was no baby) and then all of a sudden, there it was. It was amazing, I had tears in my eyes and I was covered in goosebumps.

There really is a little person inside of me, with a heartbeat. Amazing.

I am going to stop

Stop complaining about my weight gain, headaches etc etc... I have been hearing/reading too many stories of wonderful people who are going through the horrible struggle of infertility.

Knowing there are couples out there trying SO hard to conceive, without success.

I am going to embrace this pregnancy, be THANKFUL there is a baby growing inside of me. I am going to treat myself the best way I know how, and be as healthy as I can be for me, and for the baby.

If I gain 100 lbs? Who cares. I will have the most precious gift in the world to show for it.

Mmmmm pizza

Gave into my craving last night, the 'idea' of pizza is always good, the eating of pizza is wonderful but the digestion of pizza is horrible. I still think it's sitting as a whole piece in my stomach right now.

Packed my lunch full of yummy stuff today though so hopefully the scale doesn't show the stupid pizza!

The baby is now the size of a softball, apparently (according to my pregnancy journal) it's a few more weeks until I will hopefully be able to feel the baby kick! We have our first appt with the obstetrician this Thursday and in my own mind I assumed that meant an ultrasound, but now I think it won't be this time around (hopefully we will hear the heartbeat though) and then he will schedule an ultrasound. I could be wrong, but I didn't get any instruction about coming in with a full bladder etc etc, so I'm thinking the u/s is not going to happen.

And, I was REALLY excited to have it done.

My mom (god love her) kept the body pillow I had in university, I picked it up last night, brought it home, washed it and slept with it last night. And boy did I sleep. It was wonderful, I woke up only about 4 times, none of those times had I flipped to my stomach and I woke up without a headache!

I think I've found my new best friend.

New clothes

So, the clothes that fit last week didn't fit on the weekend so off I went shopping. And shopping I did. $500 later, and I have maternity clothes! All the tops I bought were tank tops with long bodies to cover everything... then last night between 3 and 4 am I lay awake thinking they weren't exactly work appropriate so 3 of the shirts are back in teh bag, in my car and back I go tonight to look for some more work-savvy shirts.

Yesterday was the first morning in 36 days I woke up without a headache, which was fantastic but by around 5pm it was back. Getting into bed at 8 didn't seem to help and each time I woke up last night, there it was, haunting me.

Sleeping sucks lately, I wake up probably about 10 times during the night and it takes me quite a while to finally get back to sleep. Must buy a body pillow tonight, every time I wake up, I am on my stomach.

I am going to try and post some new pictures this week.....

Non-baby related

Dream Take 5

This is now my 5th dream that we have a little boy, so I think I have to concentrate on little boy's names now. The baby is now the size of my fist - that's crazy! I remember when he was just the size of a peanut. I'm starting to feel more pregnant now, I have more cramps when I move too fast and even though it's not big yet, my stomach is getting in the way of things. I remember that in my fat days, but that was over 3 years ago now so it's been a while.

I don't quite like it yet. This morning I had to change 4 times before settling on something to wear, the old clothes just arn't cutting it anymore - they aren't comfortable anymore. I've worn maternity pants twice so far and both times I was in heaven, but they still look a bit funny on me. I have a few pairs of nice mat jeans, but I don't feel comfortable wearing jeans to work so I can't wait for the weekend so I can wear them. I also have a few pairs of my 'fat' jeans that will fit me now. I never thought I would be wearing them again.

Bye bye sleep

I started off sleeping on my stomach last night, like I have for the past 30 years (ok, I digress, I honestly can not vouch for how I used to sleep until I was probably around 6, but saying 30 just makes the story better). About 30 minutes later I woke up with insane cramps in my stomach.

So, the rest of the night I slept in about 30 minute increments, constantly waking up and unable to find a comfortable sleeping position.

First thing when I awoke, was flip to page 208-209 of "What to Expect when you are expecting" which told me I should be sleeping on my left side, with the top leg over the bottom and a pillow in between. It says I should start now so I become used to it. It compares the change of sleeping position to losing your teddy bear or favourite blanket. I would give up a 30 year old teddy or blankie in a heartbeat if I could sleep on my stomach again.

Week 14 - in my 4th month. I feel great. I slept alot this weekend (and so did another soon-to-be-mommy though I can't mention her name yet) until last night. Of course, the night before a full day of work.

But I'm feeling pretty good. My face is starting to clear up, I made it to the gym this weekend. Now only if my "achy" leg syndrome would go away. Look at that, I can never finish on a positive note.

I feel skinny today - maybe it's because I am all dressed in black and I have this new T-shirt that's super long... I'm digging the new style. I wish I would have posted a picture today.

Ssshhh don't tell my mom

But I have been having pretty bad cramps the past two days. Last night I was lying in bed on my back, I went to turn over onto my side to go to sleep and I had the most excrucitaing cramp in my belly. I think I may have just moved too fast? Whatever it was, it scared me. I am turning over much more slowly from now on.

I feel fantastic today. I feel slim, I feel pretty, I feel happy and I am smiling. I have a baby growing inside me, a wonderful husband by my side, what more could a woman ask for?

chocolate?

Ok, maybe not.

I don't think I am quite ready to move over to the maternity clothes yet. I am back in my regular pants today. They were just so comfy. And they fit better than getting a bigger size in regular clothing.

I am normaly a size 8. My tummy is (obviously) getting bigger so I bought a few pairs of size 12 pants. The problem is, around the waist they are fine (although a tad loose still) but the bum and legs are baggy! And with the maternity clothes, there is no "bag", they fit perfectly around the legs and the elastic stomach solves the problem.

I couldn't sleep last night, so I went through a couple bags of maternity clothes that have been given to me over the past few weeks, found some stuff I can save for the winter and other items that will be good for the summer.

I'm already a bad mother, I forgot to read about the baby this morning *gasp*

13 weeks....

The baby has teeth sockets now. That's all I can remember from the journal this morning. Oh yeah! And the baby is born with 300 bones, but some will fuse together and as it becomes an adult - they will be left with 206 bones. Neat eh?

Today marks the first day of maternity wearing clothes. Actually, I don't quite need them yet, but they feel so much better than regular pants. These are jeans - so they don't actually LOOK maternity until you lift my shirt up and see the big thick band. But, who is going to be lifting up my shirt? No one. So you can't tell. And if YOU guys don't tell, no one will be the wiser.

No results from the potential bathing suit disaster. I decided to sit under the umbrella and watch people in the pool. For some reason I didn't find it hot enough yesterday? And I had the car WITHOUT the A/C.

I saw Nadia last night, she looks fantastic! They all kind of gave me the hairy eyeball when I said I was playing volleyball, I can understand Nadia's worry, but I will keep playing until I feel not well enough to play! I said they had to actually SEE us play, see I'm not diving for the ball, jumping up 3 ft to hit it etc... my mom is a worry wart :)

Second trimester!

Woo hoo - here we are! And I am ecstatic to be here.

Only 190 days left. Or 27 weeks. Let's say 27 weeks, it sounds like less. That's about how long ago I started at Health Canada. That's nothing. That will be here before I know it. Actually, I am going to stop talking like that because there is SO much that needs to be done between now and then.

I really should start updating this site at night time when I have my preganancy journal with me. I always forget what they told me in the morning by the time the afternoon rolls around, so rather than truly updating on my pregnancy, I just ramble on.

I like a name. I like Charlotte. Charlie for short. But, since I'm having a boy (no, we didn't find anything out, I just feel like I am) I should stop looking at girl names. I like Finlay. My mom and sister didnt' say anything when I told them about that name, so I'm assuming they weren't too keen on it. But, Jeff and I like it. And really, after a week, no one will be able to picture our baby with any other name... no matter what we go with.

Making plans - I think next summer I will be taking a trip out to Edmonton and maybe Vancouver too! My dad/step-mom are in Edmonton so I should take the little one out to see them, plus my two cousins are in Vancouver so I am thinking I should go out there for a few days. My mom offered to come along with me, so we will see if that works out. Jeff would be bummed if I went to Vancouver without him though. But seeing as two weeks in PEI, one week (maybe two for me) in Edmonton, and he's out of vacation! Well, he can take as much vacation as he wants, but since he works solely on commission, we may not be eating for a few weeks.

I think I've said it again, but thank GOD I got into the gov't when I did, so my maternity leave is topped up to 93%, I would have only gotten topped up 14 weeks (I think) with Winfund.

Tonight will be the test. My bathing suit will be worn (parentals pool opened today), will it fit? Will I be hideous? Will I hide the rest of the summer under a T-shirt? Stay tuned.

Two cheers for the weekend!

Although I have been feeling pretty on-top-of-the-world this week, I am still looking forward to the weekend.

Last night was Jeff and I's first volleyball game, with a co-ed league we joined for the summer. It's beach volleyball and tons of fun! The men aren't allowed to spike, so my previous nightmares of having a volleyball moving at the speed of light hit me smack dab in the stomach are gone. It's not like I'm going to be diving for the ball, so I think I am out of harm's way. If at any point it becomes uncomfortable or if I am worried that something could happen, I will stop (at least that's what I promised my mom).

I told my boss today that I was pregnant - he was happy for me, said that's awesome and asked me when I was due. I suppose it will sink in soon that he will need to find a replacement for me, but for now he's happy. Which makes me relieved. I always imagine things to turn out really badly, so I work myself into a frenzy (he even commented that I looked sad! I said no, I was just nervous to tell you) and after whatever it is I've worked myself up over, I laugh and say - now why did I worry about that? But, I never learn my lesson.

Happy picture after scary picture

Just to refresh your minds with good images rather than the scary one of me from 6am this morning... and especially for Kim and Kara, here is your niece and nephew!

I know it's not pregnancy related, but it is baby related. Or, now I guess they are considered toddlers.

Anyways, they are damn cute and I hope I can do half as good of a job at raising my own child as Carrie did with these guys, they are absoloutely amazing kids!

A few pregnancy pics

Well, as per request (of my beautiful cousins), I have posted a few pics of me from this morning. In the pics, I look bigger than I thought I did.... wow, reality sets in.

Don't get scared :)