Full Term!

We made it :) We are officially full term today which is so exciting! I know that we could still have a long wait before she comes but there is a level of anticipation now and a sigh of relief to know that she will be just fine if she is born now. They won't have to whisk her away and put her in nursery where we can't hold her. So that is very exciting to know. It's funny, we watched 19 and Counting with the Duggar family. Their 19th baby was due just a day after us, however, she delivered at 25 weeks I believe. To see the difference between our two experiences is very humbling. Their little girl is maybe 2 pounds and ours has been able to develop and they estimate her weight at 6 pounds (give or take a pound). Their little girl is on a respiratory and ours will be able to breath on her own once she is born as her lungs have been able to fully develop. It makes me grateful for the uncomplicated pregnancy we have been able to enjoy.

My belly is really feeling big and little girl has her feet right up into my ribs and with the coughing from last week means I have a spot on my side that throbs and anytime I have to cough or move sharply I cringe. Now if this is the worst I have to deal with I won't complain....too much. :) It is pretty uncomfortable but like I've said the entire time, as far as things that are worth it go, this is pretty tops. I'm hoping to get more active starting Friday :) Friday being the first day of my Maternity Leave. I have a goal to walk on my treadmill everyday for as long as I can. I'm finding walking causes me some intense Braxton Hicks but if I take er easy and keep up with it I'll be fine. I just have a really strong desire to regain some strength and energy and this is a safe, doctor approved method.


I have finally taken a picture of the 3rd Ultrasound. I have one that I adore but it's a little hard to interpret without the Radiology Tech helping. So I'll do my best. Its an image of her face, looking straight on. The right side of her face is nestled into the side so you can't see her entire face. When you look you see the top of her head on the right, eyes squished closed, her nose, and chubby cheeks. So good luck with that :) I'll have a real picture to share soon enough!


Finally, tonight is the Canada vs Russia game. It's going to be crazy intense! We must must win....they played a good game last night so I am hoping that we can take the momentum from that game and apply it to the game tonight. I think it would be foolish to think it's going to be an easy game at all. We are going to have to bring it all :) Go Canada Go :)

Ultrasound Three and Good News

I've been very lucky to have the chance to see our baby three times during this pregnancy. Typically in Canada, women experiencing a low risk or normal pregnancy only have one ultrasound. I had my first around 21 - 22 weeks and everything looked great then. Later on around 32 - 33 weeks my OBgyn noticed I was measuring a little small. Nothing serious, but smaller than average so he just wanted to have a confirmation on her size and how far along I was. During that ultrasound they said she was looking great and was in the 40th percentile. However, they did see that she was in a Footling Breech position, meaning she had her feet down when her head needs to be down for delivery. This meant that I needed to have at least one more ultrasound around the full term mark to see if she was going to be in the correct position for delivery.

Ultrasound happened yesterday and it was great! Henry was in charge of the shop this week so he was not able to come with me this time. He was disappointed but it was okay he said, "I'm going to see her in just a few weeks." I'm such a lucky lady :) Anyways, so I drank my water and had to pee so badly. Honestly, I know it helps them see everything but it always seems cruel since everyone knows a pregnant lady has to pee all the time regardless! I got there and waited only a few minutes for my turn. The Tech was incredibly friendly and chatted with me the entire time. After the first visit and the lady who had clearly lost all passion for her job, this was a pleasant surprise. The first thing that she noticed was that she was head down! Hurray! That was so very exciting to hear and know that we get to do this whole thing naturally like we hoped. After that bit of news she did a complete check on her development and she is right where she needs to be. They are really happy with where she is at in her weight, her structure, everything.

One of the best moments of the ultrasound was when she turned the screen to show me what she was seeing. She showed me a front facing picture of her face and for a second I saw her face. Her amazing chubby checks, her perfect little lips, tiny chin, eyes closed tight. My heart nearly stopped. She had one little arm in front of her, she looked like a little sleeping angel. Through this entire experience we've both been trying to fully understand that this is real. That this little girl is coming and in a split second it felt entirely real. I cannot wait to hold her and see Henry hold her, kiss her sweet little face and begin our lives together.

As far as what else has been going on, finally I feel like I am winning over this Cold and that awful awful cough. My doctor wasn't overly concerned but gave me some suggestions if it comes back that can at least help deal with symptoms. So that is awesome. It was nice having this week off so I could relax when I needed to and get better. I did get some work done which was awesome. One week left of work! Jeepers! I hope the crib gets here when it is suppose to so I can use the time in the interim to completely set up her room. Finally allow this nesting to take over :)

Finally, the game on Thursday nearly sent me into labor! No joke the stress stimulated some cramping (which the doc said is going to start happening more and more now) but jeepers, we need to pull it out on Sunday! We are very excited to watch! I think it would be entirely foolish to think it will be an easy game. It's so much fun to watch, goodness I never thought this would be me but I love hockey. I cannot wait until our little girl is old enough to take to an Oilers game :) It's been really neat watching all the Olympic coverage as well. What an awesome Winter Games it has been. Makes a person proud to be Canadian as lame as that sounds but too fun! It's not even how many medals we get but this sense of community that comes over the country. I love it.

I promise I'll add the new ultrasound pictures soon!

Can You Squeeze A Baby Out By Coughing?

Man alive! My poor baby! I've been coughing and coughing hard since Friday now. My belly muscles hurt and I can't imagine she is enjoying being jostled around! It clearly makes sense that when I would decide to go get checked out, both my family doctor and my OBgyn were gone this week. lol I say good for them! They work hard and need to be able to get away, just makes things a little complicated for me. However, I was fortunate enough to get myself a quick check at a clinic. Just needed someone to tell me, "No you won't squeeze the baby out." and "No you do not have pneumonia.". I was able to get both those answers and while I am still coughing, at least I know that everything is fine. I have a OBgyn appointment on Friday along with my hopefully final ultrasound :) I say hopefully as we are praying that she is flipped around and head down. However, if she isn't it is clearly okay. We are trusting that God has this labor planned out in away to keep everyone safe, healthy, and happy. I'll be sure to update everyone on what we find out. Until then I am going to try and get healthy again before I go into labor. I haven't be able to be as active as I feel I need to be as a result of this coughing and I am really wanting to feel a little stronger before I need to push this baby out. Henry says he thinks I'll be surprised what what I will be able to do, and I agree with him. Mostly since she doesn't have the option of staying in there so shes coming out!



Well today we have reached the 36 week mark! Pretty exciting :) One more week and we are officially full term. We told her on Monday that this week doesn't work so well for us so she just needs to wait at least four days before she can come. Obviously, we are happy to have her develop longer and as long as she needs too. Henry put it so well last night when he said it's like there is an awesome present you can't open for 9 months and that you are scared sh**less of. lol It's about right. We both are so thrilled and excited. We love her more than she could imagine but it is completely terrifying.

So in other news...HOCKEY! Oh yes, it was finally time after much waiting to watch Team Canada play. What an amazing game, a great start to the tourney. We beat Norway 8 - 0. We figure if it wasn't for the cap, it would be amazing to make the ultimate NHL team with these guys. They would all have to all take a severe and crippling pay cut.....not sure if I see them agreeing to that lol We have some tough games ahead but I am confident, Go Team Canada!

35 Weeks......whoa

Well it's been a busy week! Finishing up the nursery was amazing. We are so happy to have that project finished. A person doesn't realize what is all involved in a project like that! lol oh well, we are really really happy with the finished product and cannot wait to see our little girl in that room. We are just waiting now for the crib to arrive, it is due February 24th. If she comes before the crib it's not the end of the world but it would sure be nice to have it set up and ready first! So the crib and a lamp are all that is left for that room. Surreal...



On Saturday my sister had my baby shower (feels odd saying mine when its not really for me ;). It was a ton o fun! It was relaxed and casual which is totally me. It was really nice to have friends around and chat and eat some candy! My sister in law came down too which was a super extra treat! It was a really nice time and huge thanks to everyone that made it out :)

I had an appointment yesterday and things are looking good. We booked my third ultrasound to find out jellybeans position. He tried to get an idea of her position based on the heart monitor and trying to feel for her head, he thinks she is head down as of yesterday. However, he can't be completely sure. So we will find out next Friday what the plan is as I have the ultrasound in the morning and then meet with our doctor that afternoon. Whatever the result we are so incredibly excited to see our little girl no matter how she chooses to make her appearance :)


I can't believe how quickly the last trimester has gone by! To think that we are only 5 weeks away from the due date! It's kind of one of those most incredible, unbelievable things.

On another note. I have moved away from watching the news in the morning and happily transitioned to watching Sportsnet Connected. I really LOVE watching all the hockey highlights and now the Olympic coverage is a lot of fun to keep updated on. But I have to say, I've told Henry before, hockey players are kind of gross! lol It makes me laugh and cringe every morning when I see the boogers and spit fired off in the benches. I think to myself, the poor person responsible for cleaning the benches. Next time you watch a game, enjoy the game itself, and then pay attention to everyone on the bench and the boogers and spit that is evacuated on to the ice and bench. I suppose it has to go somewhere but it just makes me laugh. I bet their wives and girlfriends are super turned on by all that ;)

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 :)