Nursery Photos

Well as promised I have photos to share of the nursery! We are very excited that it is finally coming together. We don't have the crib yet, but it is on it's way. I think it will finally feel finished once we have that set up.

Getting close to being done. Needs the highlighting on the 'Sneetches' and Baby. The landscape is only just getting colored.


I had to laugh at the hair on this 'Sneetch'. A lot of the highlighting was done by memory or from the book cover. The transparency lines disappeared once the base color was finished. So the poor Sneetches hair made it look like he had been brutally attacked! Henry and I got a good laugh out of it. I adjusted the hair a little and we are all good now :)



The finished product!

Here you can see the green wall. So the finished nursery has two green walls and two walls have the mural.
We are really happy with it and proud of ourselves for setting a lofty goal. A labor of love :)

Week 34

Wowzers, can you believe how quickly we have gone through this pregnancy! Three more weeks and we are Full Term and Six till the Due date! Unbelievable....

Well things are going really well and I really can't complain about how things are going. I feel pretty good, obviously tired and getting a little more sore as time goes on. But I think that's to be expected when you have this belly stretching out and pulling you forward. I am still able to sleep through the night and have not had to get up to pee in the night still. I know this is probably going to end soon but hey I'll enjoy it while I can! I was actually thinking what happens if I don't start waking up? I read that the insomnia and pee breaks in the night prepare your body for the nights after baby. So we will see....lol I don't think I want to hope that it starts soon, but I suppose if it's in a way good for me, bring it on :)

We are really getting a sense for her personality lately, or at least what we are thinking is her personality. Last night she was squirming around quite a bit in large movements that stretched my belly. On top of that she had the hiccups (precious). She tends to get a little annoyed when she has them for too long as she gets fidgety. When she pushes up like that Henry likes to try and figure out what part of her it is and then he pushes on her, she pushes back, and the two use my belly to pick on each other :) This time she had enough or something and she wound up and kicked me so incredibly hard! The hardest to date. Henry heard it at the same time he felt it! We laughed so hard. It was a nice moment to think about what our evenings will be like when she is here. Just us relaxing and learning about her.

The baby shower is this Saturday and I'm really excited. I think it'll be a really nice time to get together with friends and family. My sister in law is making a trip down for the shower as well so I'm very excited to see her. We are also excited to finish the nursery so that we can show it off when everyone is here. We don't have the crib yet but we will have the walls painted and all the other furniture set up and ready to go.

I am definitely in the nesting stage right now. Since I work at home I can see all the things that I need to get done. It's taking a lot of will power to not just walk away from work and start painting the nursery! But I promise I have been putting in all my hours and painting after that's done :) I'm definitely ready to feel like we are ready to go, but more than that, I am so grateful and mindful of all the blessing we have. I never want to take that for granted!

Ultrasound Two

We were sent for a second Ultrasound Monday this week. Our OBgyn decided he wanted a look at her size since I was measuring a little smaller, nothing to be worried about, but just to be thorough. I went in to get the results already on Tuesday. Things get done quickly with this doctor!

At the ultrasound we had a harder time spotting things on the screen. Since she is so much bigger than the first time there is less room to recognize different features. We did manage to get a nice profile picture where you can see a little button nose. We were told that she also has hair! Since I was bald until I was at least two years old this was a surprise. The tech pointed out some strange stringy looking stuff and she said, "There, that's her hair". Henry and I both laughed, "Are you sure this is our baby we are looking at?"


One thing that was interesting was that she was in a 'Footling Breeched' position or feet down position.


By the time I went for my appointment on Tuesday the doctor said she felt like she was in head down position. She is definitely flipping around a lot in there. He said we have loads of time for her to settle in since I am at 33 weeks and they usually don't settle in until 36 - 37 weeks. It does mean that at 37 weeks I have to go in for another ultrasound to see where she is sitting. Clearly this also means, if she is still breeched at this point I'll likely be scheduled for a C-Section. It was funny when Henry and I found out her position, we realized that we had not considered this possibility at all. So we are talking now about what happens and what is the plan if this is the case for us, which is a very real possibility. At Prenatal Classes they told us here in Lethbridge it's about 1 in 4 births that are done as a Section. I definitely would prefer a natural birth, I love the idea of being surprised by labor and going through that experience, but we will do what we need for our baby girl and if this is what happens in order to keep us both safe I'm okay with that. However, it's not like I am expecting this to happen, but I think it's healthy and important to make sure you have mentally approached the possibility.

D Day is coming up quick! It's funny how fast and slow everything has gone by. I feel like I am trying to relax and really focus on enjoying the next few weeks as it's the end of a time in our lives and the start of something so exciting. Also Henry and I are talking a lot honestly about how petrified we are. I think it's okay to be scared. Henry said last night that he figures if you aren't scared, you don't have a healthy understanding of what is to come and what can be involved.

Work is winding down for me. It's strange since it's not like we all get to take the holiday. I am really going to miss my girls at work :) I'm scared they will forget about me or when I come back I'll be soooo behind. So my plan is to continue to harass them while on Mat Leave. Emails, phone calls, packages are all in their future so watch out chickies :)

Tired But Still Blogging :P

So tired. I think I am definitely still recovering from the flu. At least it's not what it was earlier in the week!

Anyways, today I had my second appointment with my OBgyn. I am officially switched over from my family doc to the OBgyn. I have to say I really really like our doctor. He is super friendly and bless his heart when I asked about if I was measuring small for how far along I am, he said, "well because of your slender build you will likely measure a little smaller because you can hide it." Clearly, he has worked with pregos before! He is really happy with how things are progressing, she had a nice strong heartbeat, and despite loosing two pounds from last week, everything looks good. So we are happy :)

I get to have one more ultrasound just to get an idea of her actual size and get a good guess as to what her birth weight will be. So I am excited to get to see her again :) Perhaps we can get a better picture this time. The one from before that I posted, she is mid turn and the head looks a little.....strange lol


It looks like we will be getting the nursery most of the way done this weekend. Since I was sick and still have symptoms, it was recommended that I not go to my prenatal class on Saturday. Which totally makes sense with so many late term pregnant ladies, I would not be okay with getting them sick! So that means we got the base paint yesterday and supplies and are going to try and get the first coat down tonight and the second tomorrow morning. We are both pretty excited about getting that done and setting some furniture up. It would be really neat if we were done this weekend but we shall see :) Can't set up too many expectations!

Well time to go get some more gingerale :)

Week 32 and the Stomach Flu

Pretty nifty that that rhymes!

So we hit the 32 week mark today. I am completely exhausted but feeling about 80% better than I did yesterday. I was hit with a nasty stomach flu and for 24 hours was sicker than I have been in years. Not fun whatsoever. However, I had people looking out for me and making sure I was doing okay. I finally fell asleep last night and slept the entire night. I woke up this morning feeling much much better. The cramping in my stomach had stopped, I didn't feel like I was going to puke, and the body aches were much less than they were yesterday. I'm still not brave enough or really interested in eating anything quite yet but I have been able to keep fluids down for a number of hours now.

I swear being sick like that is hard enough but when you worry about your baby on top of it, not easy. I was very grateful to have her kicking and VERY active all day so I knew she was fine. On the other hand, having a baby kicking you from the inside when you have the stomach flu is an interesting experience!

Well 32 weeks today, which means she is coming very soon! 56 days, 8 weeks, 2 months.....whoa....Our nursery isn't finished yet but at least we have the projector and Henry was thinking about picking up the paint tonight or tomorrow. Hoping to at least get a good start by the weekend. It's a little tricky as we have our second Prenatal class all day Saturday. Last week was our first and it was good. Lots of good info and it nice people. A lot of the information I have read about before but I found it helpful to have someone talking to us about how things go here in Lethbridge. The hospital tour was great so now we know what happens and where to go when the time comes. That was a big thing for us I think.

Even though I know better I have been tuned into CNN all morning. The massive earthquake in Haiti is all they are talking about. The pictures and information is devastating. It's a hard thing feeling helpless when some many or someone is suffering. I am hoping over time I will be able to do some of the small things our family likes to do to help others.



Today I officially hit the 31 week mark but I covered all that earlier in the week. Today I am mostly filled with gratitude and a sense of my blessings. Clearly in the wake of such tragedy but other elements from yesterday and this morning have brought this on. Yesterday, I decided with the glorious warm weather to finally get my poor dog out for a short walk around the park. I'm not sure if trudging through the snow drifts was a little much for me or not but by the time I was on my way back to my house (which is not more than a block or two really) I felt some pain and cramping in my belly area. Nothing that I panicked over, it wasn't really fluctuating, and it wasn't crippling pain. I had no sensation of fluid or anything like that so I figured my best choice was simply to take my time, get home and sit for a minute or two. Once I was settled it took only a few minutes to taper off and I sat and annoyed her to get her to kick me. Once I felt the familiar swift kick I was happy. I wasn't opposed to a rest anyways so I took it easy for a little while after that. All the activity made my abdomen muscles a little tender and sore, plus later that night our little girl was celebrating something in there and then got the hiccups. So needless to say I was definitely ready for bed last night :)

This morning however, demonstrates my love and desire to feel those kicks, no matter what they feel like. She almost always wakes up at the same time as Henry and I and starts her kicking right away. That didn't happen this morning. I asked Henry to wake her up since she wasn't responding to me picking on her. After a little bit of poking and prodding and what felt like 20 minutes (definitely not that long though) she kicked him back a little and then did a bit of a flip. It almost seemed like a, "leave me alone I'm sleeping" moment. By the time I was up and started with my day she was in full action. The point I think I am making here is how blessed I am and grateful for everything in my life. The kicks of my child are reminding me of that everyday. While I am so anxious to see her, to know that she is healthy, all those amazing things, I treasure every second where I can still feel those movements and have this connection with her....no matter how uncomfortable :) Plus I am still sleeping through the night for the most part (minus needing to wake up to roll over) but no bathroom runs at midnight! I'm sucking up all the sleep I can!

31 Weeks Starts Tomorrow But I'm Doing It Now!

I peaked ahead this week. Go figure. So I decided to blog about it now because I need to do the blog for work as well. Plus it's a good start to the morning.....


So it looks like the jellybean is definitely no longer. Babycenter says she is likely about 3 and a 1/2 pounds now. I'll be honest, she feels way bigger than that! When she does somersaults it's insane. My poor mom seems to put her to sleep whenever she is around. Doesn't move when she is here, but it's all good, I am sure she will give her a healthy run for her money once she is here and especially starts walking and running! I promise you this will be an active kid.

I am definitely starting to feel like I am in my Third Trimester. I'm slowing down a bit from the aches and pains. I'm starting to feel that familiar exhaustion. People keep telling me, "You think your tired now, just wait till the baby comes." *sigh* I am aware that sleep will be hard to come by, but I think if anything is worth sleepless nights, this is about it. Our pastor and his wife had a new gorgeous baby boy! On Sunday she passed him back to me and said, "Here, get some practice in.". Oh I was filled with fear and joy. Henry was mostly filled with horror. He hasn't had the chance to be around newborns and the realization of how tiny they are was shocking. For me, I completely forgot how entirely tiny they are. We talked after about being nervous about being in charge of this tiny breakable person. But I know instincts will take over and I mean that's why we take the Prenatal classes right! Get as much info and learn the rest on the way :) There is no one else I have more confidence in to do an amazing job than Henry.

I had been reading about Braxton Hicks for ages, apparently they can start as early as the second trimester. I think I am starting to experience a few here and there. It's hard to tell since I don't know what I suppose to feel but based on the descriptions, these feel a lot like them. I'm not worried about them at all but it's interesting. It's neat to have little thinks happen that remind me I'm pretty darn close to D Day! I've decided that once I hit 37 weeks, I'm ready to have her come whenever :) Not likely that she will come early but hey, maybe if I'm open to it something will happen!