Celebrating!!!

Today is a good day.  I decided to try on a pair of my pre-pregnancy jeans to torture myself with how many inches I have to lose (I know Paxton is only 2 weeks old so this was a long shot), but I was actually able to get them on and done up!  They weren't 100% comfortable so I know I do have to lose some before I can actually wear them, but it was an awesome feeling!!!

And, since I was feeling so great, I decided to try on my wedding ring again.  I haven't been able to wear it since July 1st due to a combination of swelling and weight gain which is sad because I really, really love my ring.  I got my ring on with a little elbow grease, but I figured I should take it off while I still could.  However, again this is a step in the right direction since I couldn't even get it past my knuckle a month ago!

Yay me!

Likes & Dislikes

First off, I would like to say that after experiencing pregnancy and childbirth I have a new appreciation for just how amazing the human body is (especially the female body).  It's mindboggling that such a perfect little person can be created without any conscious direction and that the body knows how to deliver that baby even if you don't have a doctor or midwife there to tell you what to do!

But I digress.  Since Paxton arrived 2 weeks ago, I've been thinking a lot about what I miss about being pregnant and what I like about not being pregnant anymore.  So here is my list.

Fist off let's do what I miss (because me whining is always more fun!):

1. Being "just pregnant."  I'll explain this one.  Before I got pregnant, I was overweight.  However, as soon as I got pregnant, I went from being overweight to being "just pregnant."  I pretty much got to eat whatever I wanted for the whole thing without worrying about what it was since I was fairly lucky and only gained about 45 lbs through my entire pregnancy (apparently Paxton has the metabolism of a teenage boy already).   But now I'm not pregnant anymore so I'm back to being overweight which really is no fun especially since it's Christmas and all of my favorite fattening foods are everywhere!  This brings us to my next point.

2. My pregnant belly.  Don't get me wrong, I love being able to see my feet again without bending over and being able to shave my legs on a regular basis, however I'm not a huge fan of what has been left behind.  I enjoyed having my big belly and "rock hard abs" that I could rest a bowl of whatever snack I'd found on.  But now I have to deal with every woman's nightmare ... the pooch.  Or as I call it, the "Dun-lop," because it dun-lops over my pants!  I did think it was pretty neat how small all of my stretch marks were the morning after Paxton was delivered, but once I moved from my super fashionable hospital gown into pajama pants, I discovered this new fabulous tummy of mine.  I would like to return it and am even willing to take back my pre-pregnancy one (which was not so fabulous but was better)!  Oh well.  I suppose I'll just have to exercise and watch what I eat like everyone else I know since I can't afford to have a plastic surgeon fix me.  Boo-urns.  But on the bright side, I can procrastinate a little using the "I just had a baby" excuse and getting rid of the dun-lop can be my New Year's goal!

3. People listening to me.  While I was pregnant it was all about me and people paid attention to pretty much everything I did which included what I was saying.  But, I have discovered that when Paxton is around, people now tend to tune me out even when I am answering a question that they asked!  I was expecting that once Paxton was born that it would be all about him, however it is definitely worse than I had imagined.  I find myself not finishing sentences a lot now because I realize halfway through that no one is listening to me because they are cooing at my baby instead.  This is not necessarily a bad thing because I know his cuteness is pretty distracting, but why would you ask the question if you don't care what the answer is?  Maybe they're just trying to distract me by asking questions so I don't feel left out now that it's all about Paxton ... (DISCLAIMER: This is not applicable to all people, but it is applicable to quite a few.)

4. Feeling Paxton move.  This was one of my favorite things about being pregnant.  Towards the end it was sometimes a little uncomfortable since things were getting so crowded in there, but I miss feeling him rolling, stretching, and jabbing me from the inside.  It was kind of our thing to do together. 

5. Being able to just run out quickly.  I used to be able to shower, get dressed and do my hair and make-up all in a half hour.  But now I have to make sure that I'm ready as well as Paxton (we'd never get anywhere if I let him get ready by himself!).  And if we're going somewhere for dinner I have to make sure that Jay's ready as well.  This is due to the fact that when we first got together I quickly realized that Jay could not be trusted to pick out his own clothes (most of the time he was ok, but every so often he'd throw me a curveball.  Maybe he was testing me ... hmmm).  And then once we're all dressed and groomed, I have to make sure that I have everything that used to occupy my purse (or the "black hole" as Jay christened it) is in the diaper bag as well as making sure that the diaper bag is fully stocked!  Everyone tells me this will get easier so I'll keep you posted.

6. Not crying for no apparent reason.  I had the most uneventful pregnancy in the history of man (this could be true, but it's probably an exaggeration).  I didn't have morning sickness, mood swings, ridiculous cravings, or really any of the "classic" symptoms we all know and love thanks to tv and movies.  I only cried while watching tv once and that was because we were watching a "Dogtown" episode about the Michael Vick pitbulls.  It was really sad and I probably would have cried even if I hadn't been pregnant at the time!  Now that I'm not pregnant, however I cry a lot.  It's not "baby blues" or anything.  I just seem to tear up a lot more than normal when I think about stuff involving Paxton and how much we love him.  Maybe that's just a part of being a Mom that I'll have to get used to.

And now moving on to what I like about not being pregnant:

1. Not having to pee every half hour to hour!  I think this is self-explanatory.

2. Being able to sleep for more than 1 to 2 hours at a time at night.  Paxton currently sleeps for about 3 hours at a time during the night.  Sometimes he'll even go for 4 hours!  Everyone tells me that this will change as he gets older so I'm enjoying it while it lasts.

3. Not having to worry about going into labor while at my parents' house for Christmas.  My worst fear was that my water would break while we were opening presents out in Raymond so I'm glad that one is behind us.

4. Being able to see below my boobs.  My belly got so huge that not only could I not see my feet anymore, but I also couldn't see our dogs if they were right in front of me.  This was a problem since they like to be right beside us most of the time.  I'm also enjoying being able to maneuver more easily between things like chairs and tables since I'm a little skinnier.

5. People don't give me dirty looks when I get up on a chair or lift something over 10 lbs.  I am quite independent so it was hard for me to ask Jay and others for help while I was pregnant.  It was also really annoying for me when I did ask for help (usually from Jay since he lives with me) because when I ask for something to be done I usually want it done asap since that's when I would do it myself.  So when my wonderful husband says, "Yes I'll do it" and then proceeds to do something else (with intentions of getting around to whatever I asked about later on) I get really frustrated and just end up doing it myself.  (This will probably be an ongoing problem that isn't solved by the end of pregnancy.  But it makes it easier for me to attempt to do everything myself now that Paxton is here.)  So now I can climb on chairs to reach high cupboards, lift bags of dog food, etc without people getting mad at me!

And the best for last:

6. Cuddling with my little man!  I know I said before that I miss being able to feel Paxton moving on the inside, but it's so wonderful to be able to hold my little snuggler in my arms!  I'm enjoying the cuddly phase where he just curls up over my chest and sleeps.  I try not to hold him too much while he's sleeping since I want him to sleep in his crib at night, but I do indulge every so often!

I am so glad that Paxton arrived safely and that he is healthy.  When people asked me if I wanted a girl or boy, I replied "I don't really care as long as it's healthy and has all of its parts where they are supposed to be."  That really was all I cared about, and we are so blessed that Paxton is healthy and happy (at least I think he's happy.  He sleeps a lot so it's kind of hard to tell.).  I'm also extremely happy that Jay has taken to being a Dad so easily.  He is such a proud Daddy.  All he wants to do is show off his son and he just beams when he gets to.  It makes me melt whenever Jay holds Paxton whether he's feeding him or just hanging out with him.  Now we just have to work on the diaper changing ...

Life may not be perfect, but it's good!

Paxton and Jay

We had Christmas dinner at Grandpa Chicken and Grandma Roseanne's on the 12th.  Paxton got to meet more family!

Great Grandma Rose's first hold

Auntie Mandy's first hold (she gave in because he's so cute!)

4 generations of Christensens

Joyce's first hold

Paxton was actually awake for quite a while (during dinner of course!)

And a few more cute ones for good measure

Sorry Paxton, but you're destined to snore like Mom!

So wrinkley!

Paxton is here!

It's been a while since I've blogged, but I definitely have some news to report.  Our bouncing baby boy decided to make an earlier than anticipated arrival into this world on Wednesday, December 2nd!  So here are the details of how it went down ...

It had been a pretty uneventful Tuesday as I'd been chillaxin' on the couch for most of the day reading up on labour and delivery in my "What to Expect When You're Expecting" book since our computer was still in the shop and I hadn't been getting my weekly emails from their site (holy run-on sentence Batman).  I unbeached my whale-like self to use the bathroom, grabbed a snack and then headed back to the couch around 3:30 pm.  However, upon my descent to the cushions I felt a sudden gush from you know where (fear not those who have sat on my couch since this happened, I didn't actually sit down so there was no contamination).  I quickly deduced that my water had broken since I had just returned from the bathroom.  So I calmly walked back to the kitchen and proceeded to phone my Mom.  I informed her that I was fairly certain the baby was going to be here earlier than expected and when she asked why I replied, "I'm pretty sure my water just broke."  Kudos to Mom for being calm, cool and collected at this point.  She advised me to phone my OB to see if I should go to the hospital and then phone her back.  So I did, and then phoned her back to report that the receptionist instructed me to go to the hospital to get assessed.  We then decided that Mom would drive in to Lethbridge to pick up all of the baby clothes and take them home to wash as we were planning to do this on Thursday but obviously this was not going to work out now.  I then went to pack my hospital bag all the while trying to remain calm myself as I attempted to wrap my head around the fact that I was most likely going to have a baby by this time tomorrow.  Once my bag was packed, I decided that I should probably phone Jay to let him know what was going on.  I could tell that he was slightly confused about the urgency of the situation because I told him that it was up to him whether he came home right then (about 4: 30 pm) or stayed for an extra 1/2 hour or so to finish his shift .  He decided to leave right away.  Shortly thereafter, Mom arrived and we made a list of stuff that I would need asap that hadn't been picked up (ie diapers, vaseline, pads, etc).  Once Jay got home, Mom headed to Wal-Mart for the aforementioned items.  Jay's confusion was then compounded by the fact that I was still very calm as I told him he should probably have something to eat since I didn't know how long this was going to take.  When Mom got back to our house she and Jay loaded the baby clothes into her truck and then Jay and I headed off to the hospital.

Last belly picture just before we left for the hospital.

We arrived at the hospital about 6:30 pm and I checked in while Jay parked the car.  Once we arrived at the delivery suite, the nurses hooked me up to the fetal monitor and contraction monitor.  They determined that I was having contractions even though I couldn't feel them and after checking that I was only 1 cm dilated, so they sent us home at 7:45 pm with instructions to be back at the hospital by 6:45 am if my contractions didn't send us back earlier.  So we grabbed some Wendy's on the way home and started the waiting game.  However, by 9:45 I was pacing the upstairs hallway since I couldn't sit or lay down and my contractions were about 5 minutes apart.  I was also having back labor, so I got to feel each contractions twice: once across my lower back and then across my abdomen about 2 seconds later.  Not fun.  So we headed back to the hospital and when we arrived at about 10:30 pm my contractions were about 2 minutes apart.  One of the ER nurses pretty much ran me up the delivery suite in a wheelchair while Jay was left behind to re-admit me.  Once upstairs, I was hooked up to the monitors again while waiting to be checked again.  A word of advice to anyone planning to have children: DO NOT eat a hamburger during labor.  I ended up puking all over myself because of the contractions.  Not a pleasant experience normally, but I'm pretty sure being in labor made it worse.  After we got me cleaned up and into a new gown (which is definitely one of my least favorite things to wear by the way) the nurse checked me and informed me that it was time to move into a delivery room.  We are now entering the part of this adventure where I stopped caring what time it was and pretty much just concentrated on how much pain I was in.  But fear not, "Funny" Alisha that we all know and love still made an appearance by trying to crack jokes between contractions.  Jay thinks it was great but I think it's slightly embarassing.  Because of the back labor, the nurse suggested that I get in the shower so that hopefully the warm water would help with the pain.  It didn't, but I stayed in there for a while until the nurse then informed me that I should get out of the shower so they could check me again.  She also offered me morphine.  I had decided going into this thing that I would try to do it natrually, but that I would ask for drugs if I couldn't hack it, so I immediately agreed to her offer.  She then hooked me up to an IV, which of course took 2 tries since I have the worst veins on the planet I'm pretty sure, and then she checked my dilation again.  I had now progressed to 8 cm and she told me that I had been 7 cm when we had arrived for the second time (so no epidural for me).  We told Jay to go get the camera since delivery should be happening soon and while he was gone we tried the hands and knees position to see if that would help me finish dilating (Jay was very confused when he came back as to why I was doing this).  I'm going to guess about 5 minutes later I was starting to feel "pushy" as the nurse called it.  I think that this was almost as bad as the contractions since I knew that I couldn't push yet, but my body had other ideas.  The nurse kept telling me just to breath through the contractions and not push to which I replied "I'm not!  It's my body doing it!"  About this time the attending and resident doctors decided to check in with us and check me again.  Finally I'd made it to the magical land of 10 cm and was allowed to push.  However, in the land of 10 cm, I discovered that I can reach octaves that may shatter glass because I was screaming from the pain.  I don't think the morphine was working.  Jay was frightened, but "Funny" Alisha came back after a few screams and announced, "I'm the person that scares all the other women in labour.  I'm the one that they tell their family and friends about 'There was this woman screaming down the hallway ..."  Ya, embarassing.  But after pushing for about half an hour (I'm timing this from about 9 cm) the nurse announced that this little person had quite a bit of hair (yay for crowning!).  About 5 or 10 minutes later I felt the worst pain ever and decided that I wasn't going to be pushing anymore.  However, this coincided with when his head was coming out so they didn't really want me to push anyway so it all kind of worked out.  Then a couple of pushes later the baby was born which was the greatest feeling of relief I've ever had!  At least it was until he started crying and then I was even more relieved.  The nurses announced "It's a boy!" (which we already knew, but it was good to have it confirmed) and then took him to clean him up, weigh him, etc.  He was born at 12:51 am, weighed 7 lbs 11 oz and measured 21.6 inches long.  Once that was done, I got to hold our new little man for the first time.  It was so wonderful to finally meet the little person who'd been sharing my body for the last 9 months and so amazing how much I already loved him at that moment.  We'd already decided on Paxton John Scott Christensen for his name so Jay and I confirmed that he looked like a Paxton.  I was so proud of Jay as well since he was such a great coach during the whole event.  He had a huge smile on his face and scooped Paxton out of my arms like he'd held a million babies before (I'm pretty sure Paxton was the first one he's held) when the nurse announced they were going to deliver the placenta.  After that and some stitches, the nurse had me feed Paxton and then we headed across to the maternity ward.

Mom's First Hold

Paxton John Scott Christensen

Once we were settled in the room it was about 3 am so Jay headed home to be with the dogs and I tried to get some sleep.  However, this was nearly impossible since the nurses had tokeep coming in and out of the room.  First they had to give Paxton a bath.  Then they had to come in to check his vitals every hour for the first 6 hours and me every 2 hours.  Add to that the fact that I didn't have a private room, so they were doing the same thing for the woman and baby "next door" and that I was a little wound up from the past 9 1/2 hours and that equals almost no sleep.  So I started making phone calls to family and friends around 7 am to pass the time until Jay arrived to visit us around noon.  Poor Jay, he was soooo tired because he'd stopped at his Dad's house on the way home and didn't get back to our place until between 5 and 5:30 am.  He got a little sleep, but people started phoning him after a few hours.  However, he was the only visitor I was allowed to have because the Maternity Ward had been closed to everyone else due to the Swine Flu epidemic.  Boo-urns to that.  Hospitals are very boring when you are there all by yourself!  The rest of the day was pretty boring, consisting mostly of feeding and changing Paxton and watching him sleep.  The people next door got to go home that evening since this was their 3rd baby, but we had to stay overnight.  It's a good thing the other people left because Paxton was none too happy that night and cried for almost 2 hours straight!

Tired Daddy

Gassy smile

Thursday morning eventually arrived and I was informed by the nurse that they had discharge papers for me but were waiting for Paxton's.  This was at about 8:30 am so I phoned Jay to let him know.  We figured we'd be out of the hospital within a few hours so he hurried to run some errands and then came to the hospital.  And then we proceeded to wait and wait and wait and wait (you get the picture).  The reason for all this waiting was that I had procrastinated getting a new family doctor so we were waiting for the same woman I'd been seeing before she referred me to an OB for the last trimester (see my previous post in October called "Ranting" if you are unaware of how horrible this doctor is).  Once we knew which doctor we were waiting for we started to get upset because we were fairly certain we weren't going to ever get out of the hospital.  So around noon Jay schmoozed one of the nurses into calling the doctor's office after which she reported that she'd spoken with the doctor's secretary and was informed that she was on her lunch break.  However the nurse had left specific instructions to not let the doctor do anything else but call the hospital once she returned.  An hour later we still hadn't heard anything so we started discussing signing ourselves out of the hospital.  (You can actually do this.  You just have to sign a form stating that the doctor hasn't signed off on it and that you won't hold the hospital liable if anything happens.)  So we had one of the nurses go over all the "checking out" info with us (how to prevent SIDS, breast feeding info, etc) and check out our car seat.  Poor Jay had to then remove the car seat cover he'd previously spent 20 minutes installing because it goes between the baby and the car seat which can apparently cause the baby to fall out of the car seat if there's an accident because the straps aren't tight enough.  Really?  The thing is like 2 mm thick.  How loose can the straps actually be?  Whatever.  At this point the super helpful nurse who phoned the doctor returned to inform us that she had actually spoken with the doctor (see, miracles do happen).  Apparently the doctor had started into her about "How dare you tell me what to do?  I have patients to see, blah blah blah."  So the nurse gave it back to her something like, "These people have been waiting all morning and now into the afternoon for you to show up so that they can take their baby home!"  She informed us that the doctor had said she would come by after her appointments were finished for the day.  That was the final straw.  Jay and I informed the nurses that we would be signing ourselves out as we didn't want to wait for 4 or 5 or who knew how many more hours.  We then phoned my Mom and Dad to come meet us at the hospital since they had all the baby clothes with them.  Jay met them downstairs and returned with clothes, so we dressed him, bundled him into the car seat (it was about -10 outside so it was a good thing we had extra receiving blankets as we couldn't use the car seat cover!), signed the form and headed down to the atrium where Mom, Dad and Auntie Kinsey were all impatiently waiting to meet Paxton.  We all then headed to our house.  Mom, Dad and Kinsey stayed for about a half hour and then had to head home.  Jay's Mom came by a short while later for a small visit and then headed out as well.  And then we were alone with our new baby.  Mo and Maggie were very curious about the noisy new bundle we'd brought them but both were very gentle when they sniffed him.

We were both really tired so we hit the hay pretty early.  Mom and Dad came by the next day (Friday) to help us finish setting up the nursery.  We also made a trip over to Jay's Mom's house so Dave and Great Grandpa Ben could meet Paxton.  Then on Saturday, Jay's Dad and Roseanne stopped by to meet their grandson.  Jay's Dad was just slightly excited to meet Paxton.  I think he was actually vibrating. 

We are so blessed to have so much family and great friends here to help us out.  So far I think we're adapting fairly well to being parents.  I'll keep you posted.

Grandpa Dooley's first hold

Auntie Kizzy's first hold

Grammie S's first hold

 Grandma Daryl's first hold

Maggie and Mo checking out the new arrival

Safe in the playpen from the dogs

Chillin' with Mom

Great Grandpa Ben's first hold

Matching hospital bracelets

All tuckered out

Grandma Roseanne's first hold

Grandpa Chicken's first hold

Our little family

WARNING!!!

I have now entered an entirely new realm of pregnancy weirdness.  This week I have apparently started snoring so loudly that I'm waking Jay up and keeping him awake.  In fact he is quite surprised that I'm not waking myself up.  Now, I normally snore, but apparently this is just ridiculous.  Anyways.  So last night at about 3 am Jay woke up swinging as he thought that he was being attacked (we'll get to what the attacker was shortly).  Apparently he was awakened by me snoring (again) but it was an odd high-pitched sound, and at the same time Mo was scratching his ear so the bed was vibrating.  So in his still half asleep state of consciousness, my wonderful husband determined that he was being attacked by ...

That's right ... a Pterodactyl.

Let this post serve as a warning that I have apparently morphed into a prehistoric flying animal, and you are lucky that I haven't attacked you ... yet.  I haven't heard of this particular pregnancy symptom before so please let me know if you know of anyone else who has experienced a similar phenomenon.  We should probably start a support group or something so that pterodactyl attacks don't get out of hand.

Needless to say this was the last straw for Jay, so he relocated to the couch where I think he will be spending most nights until after the baby is born.

I Will Survive

At first I was afraid, I was petrified ... ok not quite but it was definitely not a good feeling!  Let me explain.  I contracted the flu (the seasonal one, not the swine flue) sometime last weekend and started exhibiting symptoms of this wonderful disease on Sunday afternoon.  I didn't really think anything of it at first because it started as a feeling that I had something in my throat and that I was trying to cough it out.  But after arriving home from Edmonton (where I had been all weekend) it soon became evident that I was definitely coming down with something.  I started to feel achey in my shoulders, hips and thighs which I tried to attribute to the amount of driving that I'd done in the previous 48 hours but apparently my body wasn't listening.  I decided that maybe a soothing shower would help so I asked Jay to start one for me while I went to grab my towels from my bathroom.  By the time I got back (we don't have a huge house so this took about 30-45 seconds) I was shivering so bad my teeth were chattering.  So I called my fabulous older sister to see if she knew anything about the flu and being pregnant, and of course she did.  But being the eternal optimist that I somehow have morphed into, I procrastinated getting any of the stuff she recommended until Monday morning as I hoped against hope that I did not have the flu.

But Monday morning finally showed up (I say finally because I had been awake for pretty much the entire night sweating, coughing, aching and peeing because I was trying to stay hydrated ... it's a vicious cycle) and it was decided that I was entirely too sick to go to work.  So my wonderful hubby stayed home as well to play nurse for me and was sent on his first assignment to get the Tylenol, thermometer, Gatorade and soup that I'd been advised to get the night before and had not.  The rest of the day was fairly uneventful and passed with me sleeping/lounging on the couch while Jay got me whatever I requested.  And then Tuesday decided to rear it's ugly head.  I woke up feeling slightly better than on Monday as I had actually slept fairly well on Monday night, and after a shower I was feeling fairly human so I decided to head back to work.  BIG MISTAKE.  By the end of work on Tuesday I was physically drained of any energy I thought I'd had that morning, and the cough was back with a vengence that made my lungs and body ache as well as making my throat raw.  The cough also decided it should bring it's little friend the stuffy/runny nose with it.  Apparently the cough did not get the memo that it was not actually invited to this party and definitely shouldn't be inviting friends.  So Tuesday night was passed with me attempting to sleep in the lazy boy because I thought sleeping upright might help as I was unable to accomplish this feat in a normal horizontal position after more than 3 hours of trying.  But it did not help.  And it also caused more problems as I was aware that the baby was not moving much at all.  We now had a combination of sick, exhausted, hormonal Alisha and were now adding panic into the mix.  Not a good situation.  So Jay drove me to the ER Wednesday morning where I was informed that 1. I had to wear a surgical mask so I didn't infect anyone else; 2. I was not running a fever (which I already knew because I'd taken my temperature before we left the house); 3. my pulse and oxygen levels were great (yay me); and last but not least 4. even though the rest of the hospital doesn't want the unclean masses (ie those who have the flu) walking about, they were still going to send me up to the delivery suite to check the baby out since I'd had decreased fetal movement.  Thanks for all your help ER nurse lady.

Upon arrival at the delivery suite, I had to explain again to the nurse why I was there, but we were then escorted to a room where I was hooked up to some fetal monitors to make sure everything was ok.  By this point I was a mess and was crying.  The nurse was like "Is it just 'cuz you're feeling so horrible that you're crying?"  I was thinking, "Doesn't everyone cry when they are here?" but Jay pointed out later that she was probably just making sure I didn't have any other pain or anything to worry about.  It's a good thing one of us was level-headed.  But it turned out that everything was fine with the baby.  His lack of movement was probably caused by the fact that I wasn't feeling well and had been living on soup for the last few days which although delicious doesn't really contain a lot of carbs and stuff to make him feel like shaking his groove thing on the dance floor.  However, I did score my very own set of fetal monitoring bands which I was instructed to bring back with me for delivery or if I have to go back for decreased fetal movement again, so it was not a complete waste.  And I had my mind put at ease which is also good.  But the day was not over yet.  I also had to go see my regular doctor to get checked out for my flu symptoms, so we headed over there where I had to sit in the "special" waiting area for the infected until she could see me.  It was a good thing that we know one of the nurses that works there because she was able to get my appointment pushed up so we didn't have to wait for a year and a half to get in.  But I ended up with the same news ... it's the flu, so stay home from work, avoid crowds and company, continue on my liquid diet and get plenty of rest.

Which I did for the rest of Wednesday.  And all of Thursday except for the few hours when I had my first appointment with my OB.  It went well and he seems to know what he's doing (I'm just kidding, I've heard he's really good from a bunch of people).  He also informed me that as soon as I'm feeling better I should go get both flu shots because as a preggo my immune system is decreased making me more susceptible to both strains.  So I will add that to my list of things to do for next week. 

And that brings us to today.  I actually slept all night!  It was fabulous.  I think I might actually be getting over this thing 'cuz my nose is hardly stuffed/runny anymore, when I cough it doesn't make my lungs ache and my throat feel like it's being stabbed from the inside, I've only had 3 mugs of hot lemon water with honey so far (which is a definite improvement since I think I was at about 10 by this time yesterday), and I actually had the energy to wash my bedding today.  Don't worry, I took it easy and watched my recorded episodes of Grey's and Private Practice in between loads.  Besides, since I'm starting to feel better, I figured it was time to remedy my germ infested pillow cases, etc.  And I actually had something other than soup today ... I had 2 bowls of Cinnamon Toast Crunch for lunch today which definitely made the baby happy.  Yay for the return of my appetite, however small it is at this point!

That's about all, I guess, and although I felt like it was never going to end earlier in the week I think it's safe to say at this point that I will survive as this too shall pass! (And apprently I am capable of stretching "I have the flu" into the longest post ever.)

Ranting

First of all, I would like to say that Mother Nature needs to get on some medication or something because these drastic weather changes are starting to get really old.  3 weeks ago we had plus 34 C as a high and this morning we had at least 5 cm of snow/slush on top of icey roads!  And then I heard on the radio this morning that they're forecasting plus 20 C for a high on Saturday.  Honestly!

This brings about my second point I would like to rant about.  I almost hit a pedestrian this morning and it totally wouldn't have been my fault!  I'm driving about 30 km/hr, which is odd for me but was necessary because of the aforementioned road conditions, when a boy aged approximately 16-17 years old pushes the pedestrian crossing button and immediately starts walking across the street!  I would like to point out that my proximity to the intersection was such that even if there had been dry roads I would have had to slam on my breaks and most likely would have left some rubber behind me, but combined with the icky road my Jeep turned into a giant sled.  Now I did exercise the whole break pumping thing and also threw it into neutral (which is apparently supposed to help because then your drivetrain isn't still trying to move forward while you are trying to stop), but I was super lucky that there was no one in the left lane as I had to slide my way into that lane to avoid hitting this Braindead Specimen of Adolescence!  Oh, and while I am yelling at this teenager (which he didn't hear since my windows were rolled up) he keeps giving me dirty looks like "Hello!  The lights are flashing so I can walk.  Why aren't you stopping?"  Needless to say, I was not super impressed, and neither was Jay.  I know that drivers need time to adjust to winter driving conditions, but is it too much to ask for pedestrians to pay attention as well?

So after dropping Jay off at work and making it back into town unscathed I had a pre-natal appointment with my General Practitioner.  I arrived at the clinic at 9:40 am on the nose which is when my appointment was scheduled for.  I checked in and entered the waiting room with all the coughing, sneezing, masses and assumed the "I will be patient" facade.  After 1/2 hour in the waiting room I checked with the receptionist to see if she had any idea how far behind my doctor was running today as she is chronically running late ... even when I'm the first appointment of the day like today!  She said unfortunately not but I was the next person to be taken back for her.  At this point I pulled out the "I'm pregnant" card and played it with no qualms.  "Is there any way I can do my urine sample now?  I will come back out and wait to see the doctor, but I've already been waiting for 1/2 hour and this baby is sitting on my bladder and I'm going to explode soon."  Thankfully she took pity on me, procured the magical cup from the lab for me and all was well with my world again.  (On a side note, apparently this is the only clinic in the universe where they don't take your urine sample as soon as you get there.  3 other people I've talked to said "At my doctor they check you in and have you pee right away so you're not dying in the waiting room.")  Anyways.  So at 1 hour from when my appointment was supposed to be I again approach the receptionists to see if I will ever be seeing my doctor today.  (I mean it's not like I have a job or anything like that.  I just have all day to sit around waiting to see my doctor!)  At this question, 2 receptionists chuckle and give me the knowing smile as they recognize me since I've been there multiple times for pre-natals over the last 7 months.  However, before they can check for me, I am finally called to the back at which point I explain that I have already left my urine sample for them as I have been through this whole process a few times before.  So we move on to taking my weight and blood pressure and then on to the Holy Grail ... the actual doctor's office.  At this point I think I may have entered the Twilight Zone because my doctor was actually in the room when I get there as opposed to me having to wait for an additional 15-20 minutes for her to arrive like usual.  So she checks the height of my uterus and informs me that this is going to be a big baby, and then  checks for the baby's heart beat which is all good.  She then asks if I've heard anything from the OB that she referred me to a week and a half ago, to which I reply "No.  I actually was going to ask you if I should check with them."  But apparently I have nothing to worry about since I've had no problems with my pregnancy and should just continue to wait.  So if I haven't heard anything by Friday I will be contacting said OB's office to make sure they have the referral letter.  Long story short: I waited for about 1 hour and 10 minutes for a 10 minute pre-natal appointment.  I think this is ridiculous and am really glad that this was my last pre-natal with her.  If I don't get into the OB for some reason I have now reached the point where I don't care and plan to go to the hospital when I'm in labour and inquire, "Is there anyone here qualified to deliver a baby?  If so could you please help me?"  And once the baby is born I plan to find a different doctor because as you can probably tell, my current one is driving me crazy!

Sorry about the super long rant, but I feel much better now that I have it out of my system.  And to make it slightly better, here are the newest belly pictures.  These were taken on Sunday, so I'm 29 1/2 weeks although I reached 30 weeks officially today.

Surprises!

Our alarm went off this morning and both Jay and I layed there as we normally do to listen to the weather before getting out of bed.  After hearing the report, I sat up and saw Maggie laying at the end of the bed.  She leaned back toward me, exposing her throat so I could rub it, which I started to do.  Then, surprise!  She puked on my arm, the douvet, my body pillow, my quilt from Mom and the sheets.  It was definitely not the ideal way I wanted to start my day!  But I got the douvet through the wash and the sheets in the wash before we left for work so things were looking up.

Work was pretty blah and I had another Doctor appointment.  I'm not entirely sure why I needed to be there since I just had a prenatal appointment on Tuesday.  My GP isn't delivering the baby so she was referring me to an obstetrician.  Basically all I did was sit there while she copied some test results into a form and then typed up a referral letter.  I'm pretty sure this could have been done when I was there on Tuesday, or without my help at all.  I was definitely not super impressed that I had to miss an hour of work for this.

But, work finally ended, and I headed home where I found a most excellent surprise.  Apparently my wonderful husband got done work early today, so he phoned his mom and told her that they were going to go crib shopping (which is what the 3 of us were supposed to do tomorrow).  They made an executive decision and bought a crib, brought it to the house, and then cleaned out the baby room!  It's so awesome, 'cuz now all that needs to be moved out is my eliptical, the gun case and the treadmill.  Then we can take down the wallpaper, paint, clean the carpet and start setting up the baby room.  Hopefully we get it done before he decides to make an appearance!  But at least we know Baby Boy won't have to sleep in my sock drawer when he arrives!  And now I don't have anything to do tomorrow other than laundry!  Maybe I will finally be able to get caught up on the So You Think You Can Dance episodes I have recorded!

This is the crib we got, but withouth the bedding.

It converts into a toddler bed, day bed and then a full size bed.  Love it!

First Blog

So this is my first blog ... obviously.  I'm not quite sure what to write, but I'll give it a go anyway.

It's 2 am right now, and I probably should be sleeping.  However, I am 7 months pregnant and apparently insomnia has decided to make a comeback.  I actually have been sleeping relatively well for the last month or so, but I guess not everything about this pregnancy is going to be perfect!  All things considered I really don't have much to complain about.  I didn't have any morning sickness (yay me!) or really any other of the common pregnancy symptoms.  The most I have to complain about is that I'm starting to get cankles a bit lately.  I mean, if that's it after 7 months then I should probably be rejoicing.

"So why the insomnia?" you might ask.  Well it's probably from stuff that most expectant mom's worry about.  Am I ready for this?  Will I be a good mom?  Will we be ok financially once I'm on Mat Leave?  Is Jay ready for this?  How will I cope with 2 dogs and a newborn at home? (ok so maybe not everyone worries about this) Not to mention that we haven't even started on the baby's room yet and time is rapidly slipping away.  I'm starting to feel like "nesting" but at the same time have no motivation to do anything once I get home from work at night.  So the baby's room remains my junk room.  We still need to strip the old wallpaper in the baby's room and then re-paint. After that we need to clean the carpet and get everything set up. I guess it's a good thing that I'm going on Mat Leave a month before I'm due. Hopefully I'll have everything ready by the time Baby Boy decides to make his appearance!



We are so lucky that we have such great family and friends around to help and support us, though.  We've been really fortunate that a lot of the people we know are done having kids and are looking for someone to give their old stuff to.  My mother-in-law wants to buy us a crib, which I'm still looking for ... ok so I've only been out once this last weekend.  But hopefully we will be getting one in the next week or so.  We are also lacking a car seat so we should probably get on that one as well so that we don't have to worry about trying to leave the hospital with the baby. 

Anyways, enough of my whining.  I'm really excited for this new chapter in our lives and I'm sure we'll figure it out as we go along.  For now, though, I think it's time for me to go back to bed!  I'll leave you with some prego pictures to admire!

This is me at 7 weeks.

This is me at 24 weeks.  Just slightly bigger!

Oh, and one last tidbit for you ... there are 83 days until my due date which means that Christmas is only 85 days away!  Enjoy!