The one with two weeks left...

Two weeks left until BoJu's due date, can you believe that?  It has certainly been harder to keep up with the blog this time around but I have been trying.

I hit 38 weeks pregnant today and I'm really looking forward to meeting my little boy.  I feel massive and I'm uncomfortable so I'm ready to get him outta me for those reasons!

37 weeks with Charlotte vs. 34 weeks with BoJu

I feel a lot bigger this time around and I have been measuring ahead at a few appointments.  I haven't gained as much weight this time (I think I'm at around 24lbs now) so I think it's just the way he is sitting.  Charlotte was stretched out - I remember writing about "so much for the fetal position" - and he is all curled up in a ball in the front.  I can feel his little heel or elbow or something pointy sticking out all the time.  He has been head down for months now (yay!) so I'm hoping he's getting himself ready to come on out.  He is sitting quite low and I can sometimes feel him just burying himself into my pelvic bones.  So so comfortable, I love it.  NOT.

I finished work last week (November 28) on doctor-ordered sick leave prior to starting maternity leave.  Because of the way he is sitting and how my belly is, I've been in so much pelvic pain and have had shooting pains and numbness going down my leg.  Simple things like driving and walking had become unbearable so I was written off work early.  I'm very grateful for that because I can rest my body now and prepare for labour and delivery.  Now when I'm hurting, I have the option of changing positions, laying down, sitting on the exercise ball, etc. whereas I did not have those options at work.  It has definitely helped.  Now I am just home, trying to finish getting things ready, and wait for my son to arrive!

We are still working on getting his nursery all set up.  We let Charlotte choose the theme for his room and she decided on robots.  LOVE!  We have his crib, dresser/change table, and rocking chair in the room already.  It is getting painted tomorrow (a blue-grey colour called "gentle sea") and I plan to spend Thursday putting everything away and decorating as best I can.  Charlotte is visiting Grammie and Grampie for the week so I am trying to take advantage of the extra "alone" time that I have to get these things finished up.  I will definitely post some photos when I'm all done!  Right now, it's just a mess and will be an even bigger mess tomorrow when it is being painted  :)

Part of his room decor I got at Target  :)

So now that we know what is going on with me, let's find out what's going on with him!  What's in the baby update this week?

BoJu was officially full term last week, so now he's just sort of hanging out in there, putting on a bit more weight, and waiting to come out.  He is shedding his weird fetus hair and cheesy white goo in preparation to come out and be all cute  ;)  All of his organs are developed and ready!  Here we go, little bud - you're ready so come on out!

The one where time flies...

There has been so much happening these days and just no time to really get it all written down!

Our sweet Charlotte turned 4 on Tuesday.  Can you believe that?  Our little lemon, our sweet little Ladybird is now four years old.  I can't believe it.

We spent the day together on Tuesday and had a great time.  I made her a special birthday breakfast, we went to The Play Box (an indoor playground), and out for lunch at Boston Pizza.  She had a great birthday party the Saturday before - a dinosaur party!  Roar!!

Four year old Charlotte amazes me every day.  She is incredibly sweet, kind, and caring.  I can't even explain her compassion and kindness.  She makes my heart swell.  She is so bright and will be starting school next fall.  We are hoping to put her into French because she is pretty well ready for school now and we don't want her to be bored.  She can perform basic math concepts in her head (i.e. "Mommy, when Baby BoJu is 1, I'll be 5.  And when he's 2, I'll be 6."), we think she might be able to read but has a bit of a stubborn streak, and she's printing, loves to spell, and play rhyming games.

She is fully into 4T clothing now and wears a size 8 shoe.  She is still in the 30lb range, sometimes hitting 31 or 32 depending on what she's wearing and what she's eaten  ;)  She's getting more independent every day.  She still has some trouble getting certain articles of clothing off and starting her zippers, but she's just turned 4 so that's understandable!

She started ballet in September and she is doing great!  We got to watch her class last week and she made me so proud.  She was focused and paid attention when she was supposed to and had lots of fun running around and dancing during the free time.  She can do first, second, third, fourth, and fifth position with her feet and knows how to pirouette.  She's awesome.

Here are a few of 4 year old Charlotte's favourites!

Book:  For her birthday, she got The Snail and The Whale and we have read it every single night at bedtime since her birthday party.  She loves it!

Activity:  She still loves playing with her cars and her wooden blocks.  That hasn't changed at all!  She also enjoys playing with her baby dolls, Charlotte Bunny (of course), and creating imaginary friends that visit us for a short period of time - so far, there have been three children whose names I can't remember, Charlotte Turkey, Isabella the tiger, and Charlotte the Dinosaur.  She cracks me up.

Food:  Broccoli chicken and "crunchy" (raw) carrots.

Toy:  Charlotte Bunny will always be number one.  But she's also really loving her doll that she got for her birthday (she named her Lilah) and her Ana and Elsa dolls.

Colour:  Purple, pink, and red.


So, that's the Charlotte news.  And how about Baby BoJu?

I will be 31 weeks on Tuesday (what?!).  Things are going very well.  Everything is perfect at my check-ups, according to my doctor.  I had my glucose test at the end of September.  I do not remember the drink being so disgusting - I remember drinking it when I was pregnant with Charlotte and thinking it just tasted like orange pop.  This time, it was GROSS.  I had a hard time choking it down.  Thankfully, my sugars are great and I don't have the baby diabetes.  I'm measuring perfectly, my blood pressure is great, my blood work came back perfect (even my iron levels!!  So weird.), and at my 26 week appointment, I had only gained 14lbs.  I didn't ask this time around.  I have my next appointment on Wednesday.

25 weeks, 2 days.  Getting belly pictures this time around is hard!  

The pregnancy is going well in that regard, but I'm another story.  I am pretty much in constant pain.  Everything hurts all the time.  I can't sleep.  I get really sore and stiff if I stay in one position for too long, but moving around hurts too so it's kind of a catch 22.  Do I get up and walk around, hobbling in pain, or do I stay put for a while?  I get really weak - not tired, just weak - so I was convinced that my iron or my blood pressure must have been low, but nope.  My doctor just told me that's the way it goes in the third trimester with a four year old.  Work has also been really busy so there's just no rest, it seems.  I'm really looking forward to being on maternity leave for a couple of weeks before BoJu arrives.

He is moving around but not as much as Charlotte did.  He tends to really like quiet times - he is especially wiggly when I am tucking Charlotte into bed each night.  Tonight, he was moving around like crazy so Charlotte spent a good 10 minutes or more just giggling and talking to him.  She is very excited to be a big sister and I can already see how much she loves him.  She came home from daycare the other day with two pictures of snowmen that she drew for him.  Tonight, she told him that he has a "really nice family out here, your grandparents, me your big sister, Mommy, and Daddy that are all excited for you to come out".  Bless her heart.

With that quick update, let's see what BoJu is up to in there!

BoJu is about the size of a pineapple now and is definitely running out of room!  Kicks and bumps have become rolls and pointy elbow jabs.  All five of his senses are working now and he's going through some major brain development.  He is starting to plump up and get that adorable chubby baby look.

The one where Ladybird is done cooking

37 weeks on Monday means that Ladybird is officially full term. This means she can come anytime now and not be considered a preemie.




















It also means that I'm gigantic! I'm curious to see how much bigger I can possibly get in the next two and a half weeks. (And yes, I found and unpacked my camera cord - yippee!)

I have a lot going on right now and I'm just trying to take it easy as much as I can. It's really hard to do that, though. I have some personal/family stresses that I'm dealing with right now (nothing that I will post about) in addition to just trying to find some sort of semblance of routine in my life so I can not go insane when Ladybird makes her arrival. Right now, this is the bane of my existence:




















See the walls? Still the same as when we moved in. See her stuff? Either still packed or strewn about the room. See this room? Driving Lisa insane.

Countless people have said things like "it's okay, she won't care that her room isn't ready" or "all a baby needs is food and a place to sleep" just to try and make me feel better. Don't say that to me because it makes me feel worse. I know she won't care. She's a newborn. I know she doesn't need a whole slew of stuff. I get that. I need her room done and organized for me. Anyone who knows me knows that I am organized. I need organization in my life. I know when she arrives, I won't have time for getting organized. I know life will be turned upside-down when she gets here and the last thing I want is to be living in a house where everything is upside-down as well. I absolutely do not want to have all her stuff still in boxes or strewn about when she gets here. I don't want to be digging through boxes or piles, looking for something, while she's crying in my arms. Oh, here Ladybird, let me put you down on the floor amongst all this stuff while I desperately search for a new sleeper/diaper/pack of wipes/burp cloth/whatever I need at the moment. Yeah, no thanks.

Thankfully, it's on its way to being done. Boyd primed the walls last night and has one more coat of paint to do today. Mom came by on the weekend and we got all her newborn and 0-3 month clothes washed and dried. I washed and dried all her diapers so those are good to go. I'm hoping that by Monday the room will be ready - not decorated and pretty, but at least functional and organized. That's all I need. And I need it by Monday because that's when I head back to Antigonish and will not be coming back home here until Ladybird is with us.

I'm off to my mom's tonight for the first of my childbirth classes and a doctor's appointment tomorrow morning. So, on that note, I need to get up and moving. We'll end with Ladybird's 37 week baby update to see what's new!
















Yep, we made it to the watermelon. Most of her lanugo (fur coat) has disappeared now as well as the vernix caseosa. She'll swallow them (gross, Ladybird) and store them in her bowels for her first BM after birth. Awesome, thanks. Most babies have their heads cradled in the pelvic cavity by this point. I'm not sure if she's dropped or not, so I'm guessing she hasn't. She is basically ready to go at this point, but is still just growing and developing in there while she waits to come out - she's refining her sucking, inhaling, blinking, etc. and putting on weight.

The one where Ladybird needs to do more acrobatics....

31 weeks!




















This was actually taken at 30 weeks 5 days but the two days don't really make a difference, I don't think.

I had my doctor's appointment on Friday and it was pretty typical. I was weighed, my blood pressure was checked, I was measured, and all that fun stuff. The doctor felt around to see where Ladybird is positioned and it's not good news. She's freakin' transverse. She was transverse at the 20 week ultrasound as well ... only now she's transverse the OTHER way. Ten weeks ago, she had her head on my right and her feet on my left. Now she has her head on my left and her feet on my right. So she's moved, but she just moved into another sideways position! I'm starting to get a little nervous about it. Breech I can handle. Breech is possible to deliver. Transverse lie? I'm getting cut open to get her out. I really want to avoid a c-section if at all possible because the idea absolutely terrifies me to my very core. So, she better turn and turn soon. I've been reading online and some websites make me feel better by saying that babies can turn all the way up until labour and other websites make me feel worse by saying that transverse babies past 30 weeks are unusual and likely won't turn on their own. Oy. I'm not going to start panicking too much until I actually speak with my OB (hopefully within the next couple of weeks) but I'm not going to lie and pretend that it's not bothering me. Man, if she doesn't turn, I'm holding it against her for the rest of her life.

"Mom, I can't believe you won't let me go to the party! That's so unfair!"

"Oh yeah?" *lifts shirt to reveal c-section scar* "Well, I can't believe that you didn't turn around!!"

Aside from panicking about trying to get a sideways baby out of my body, I've been feeling good. I'm starting to get more tired again, but it's a different tired than the first trimester. I feel like I'm just using up my energy to keep myself from toppling over because my belly is getting so big. Standing for longer than ten minutes makes me feel like I'm going to fall over and even doing things like washing my hair or putting on my makeup makes me feel breathless. Lovely! But, really, I can't complain. It just takes me longer to get ready and I need a chair more often than I used to - things could definitely be worse! :)

As far as life news, Boyd and I are actively hunting for a house. We went to look at four properties today and, unfortunately, were pretty disappointed. There was one home that was absolutely gorgeous but it was in one of the worst areas of the province and I really don't want to be living alone, taking the baby for a walk, and having to pass through the projects. It's too bad. But we're trying to remain optimistic that our house is out there for us and that we'll get it before the baby is born. We have another six that we want to look at, so possibly tomorrow or Wednesday. Everyone keep your fingers crossed for us! I really just want to get into a home of our own, get our routine back, and start getting the baby's room together! My mom found us a beautiful quilt on Etsy and the seller is going to make some matching bumper pads as well.




















Cute, eh? The back of the quilt is the same fuchsia colour and there are little airplane outlines stitched on it. Then we'll just look for some plain crib sheets in green, yellow, purple, etc. that match the colours in the quilt. I'm pretty pleased! She just needs a room so we can set up her crib and get that beautiful bedding into it.

So that's the update on the outside of my uterus. Let's check out the baby update to see what's going on the inside!




















Ladybird is about 16 inches long, a little over 3lbs, and looks much more like a newborn now. She's putting on more fat, her skin is pink rather than red, and her arms, legs, and body are in proportion with her head. Exciting! Her fingernails have grown to the end of her fingers and she may scratch herself while in the womb. She's running out of room in there to move a lot, but she does squirm more and I'll still get bigger kicks and jabs. Studies show that fetuses at this stage also have periods of dream sleep! Awesome!
(PS - Hey Ladybird, see that baby up there? HEAD DOWN!)

The one where Lisa must rant...

28 weeks!




















Can you believe this is the only maternity shirt that I own? Everything else is just "roomy". It makes me giggle a bit, though, that this shirt is the only one that I have that makes me look OMGpregnant - at least I think so, anyway.

So, I'm definitely in the third trimester now and I'm definitely feeling it! I hardly sleep at night anymore*, walking hurts, and my belly is getting in the way. I'm just waiting for the day that I go to spit out my toothpaste and it winds up on my shirt instead of the sink. ;)

* Let me rant for a moment: if I get one more comment along the lines of "sleep now while you can!" or "get used to it because when the baby comes you won't sleep either!", I honestly will drop-kick you in the face. Number one: that's not how sleep works. I can't sleep now and bank it for later. In a few months when I'm up in the middle of the night with Ladybird, I won't open a closet, pull out a jar labeled "July 20", and think "ah, there's that sleep I got months ago! I'll just use some of it now." I can sleep all I want now - I'm still going to be tired when she arrives. Number two: I understand that babies don't sleep well. I'm not an idiot. So, seriously, shut up. I fully expect to be up multiple times during the night for a very long time with this little lady. I kind of hope I get one of those magical babies who sleep really well just so I can spite all the annoying people who say such stupid things.

While I'm ranting, I'd also like to publically wonder: why does pregnancy become such a pissing contest with some people? Honestly. The "oh, just you wait" comments are almost worse than the sleeping ones. When you ask me how I'm feeling and I tell you, just take my answer and leave it at that. Don't smirk at me and say "just you wait" when I tell you that no, I'm not peeing constantly. Don't scoff at me and say "just you wait" when I tell you my back hurts. What, I'm not allowed to be sore now? Yes, I understand I will get bigger and likely more sore but what I'm feeling now shouldn't be invalidated simply because "just you wait..." it'll get worse. Again, expect a drop-kick to the face if you start pulling that stuff with me. I may be sore, but I'm sure I can get a good kick in if I'm determined. It's absolutely ridiculous as far as I'm concerned. Any kind of "just you wait" advice is totally unwelcome. It comes across as arrogant, condescending, and downright rude. But apparently being pregnant gives people a free ticket to say stupid and rude things.

ANYWHO!

How are things going, besides the need to rant? Not too bad. The apartment is almost all packed up and the whole "leaving Winnipeg" thing is getting more and more real. Yikes. I work two more days this week, then I head back home for my cousin's wedding, then I come back to Winnipeg for three more days. So I have five more days left. Double yikes!! I feel like there's still so much left to do but no time to do it. Oh well. It will all get done. Aside from the moving stuff, there's lots of excitement going on these days! My brother and sister-in-law are having a baby and are due at the beginning of February! YAY! And Boyd's brother and sister-in-law are also having their second baby, due in February/March. YAY! It's really exciting! Plus it's nice that I'll have some others who will be going through the new-baby thing so we can go through it together :) It makes me feel a lot less alone in the whole process.

Ladybird continues to do well. She's still moving around a lot and I think I'm getting some elbow jabs lately because some of her "kicks" seem awfully pointy. I think she's still breech because I don't feel a lot of bumps higher up but I'm not sure because the last few days it's been really uncomfortable to cross my legs and I feel a lot of pelvic pressure when I'm walking.
("Oh just you wait, Lisa. Once she drops, you'll never be able to walk again and life as you know it will cease to exist. You'll be a bitter old zombie who can't do anything ever, so you can't possibly complain about pelvic pressure now")
I hope she does turn around soon if she hasn't already. I know she still has lots of time and room to move into position, but it'd be nice if she did it sooner rather than later just to give me some peace of mind.

What else is new with her? Let's have a look at this week's baby update to find out!

















Ladybird is just getting bigger and bigger! She's almost two and a half pounds now and is almost 15 inches long. Her job at this point is really just to continue to gain weight and get ready for life on the outside. She opens and closes her eyes and will turn her head if she notices a continuous bright light outside the womb. Her brain continues to grow and develop all those folds and grooves of a fully developed brain and the hair on her head (if she has any!) is getting longer!

The one with some new belly pictures

I know ... super creative title, eh?
I promised new belly pictures so here they are!
























26 weeks and 2 days
























Teehee, Maggie's in the picture. What a good big sister.
These pictures are just so funny to see ... I can't believe I actually look like that.

Anyhow, nothing else new to say. Enjoy looking at my hilariously large belly! Geez, and it's probably going to double in size before this is all said and done...

The one where Ladybird knows she's upside-down

24 weeks today!

























This was actually taken yesterday at 23 weeks, 6 days. I was too barfy today to take any pictures of myself. I'm pretty sure the one day hasn't made much of a difference!

It's been a pretty uneventful week, really. I still feel really good and nothing has been happening that really makes me go "wha?!" I have, however, had to crack and buy some maternity bras. I still don't think my boobs themselves have gotten much bigger, but my ribcage is definitely expanding and my belly is moving right up under there, so the bands on my bras just weren't fitting anymore. In fact, one bra that I wore semi-comfortably on Wednesday would no longer do up on Saturday. Crazy! Luckily, Thyme Maternity is having a "buy one, get one 50% off" so I bought two convertible maternity bras. Yippee! I'm shocked at the size I had to buy but it's nice to be comfortable again ... for now.

Ladybird is definitely making herself known to the outside world these days! My belly is getting bigger and bigger and my belly button is getting shallower and shallower, haha. I wonder if it'll end up popping or just going flat. No stretch marks anywhere yet, but yet is the operative word here. I know I'm going to get them, I'm just waiting for them to show up. In the meantime, though, I'm trying to combat the itchiness and the uncomfortable stretchy feeling with some St. Ives collagen-elastin lotion after I get out of the shower. It helps, for sure.

I'm trying to figure out her patterns now. Apparently, at this point, I should be able to discern between her wake times and sleep times. I'm probably just not really paying enough attention, but I only really notice her consistently moving around in the evening (usually after 6ish and up until bedtime). She definitely moves around a lot during the day as well, but I haven't paid attention to the times. I'm going to start doing that now. I also sometimes notice that she's moving when I wake up in the mornings. I'm not sure if she moves around a lot at night when I'm sleeping - if she is, she's not bothering me!

What else is she up to? Let's have a look at the baby update and see!

















This is the last week that Ladybird is comparable to a papaya. Woo! One website said she's about the length of an ear of corn, so let's go with that. She's about 11.8 inches long and weighs about 1.3lbs. Her inner ears have developed and she's now aware of her position - so I better start doing some handstands to see if she likes being upside-down! Her lungs have started to produce surfactant to keep her air sacs from collapsing. She's starting to practice breathing so she should be an expert by the time she arrives.

Oh, and just to let you all know - my uterus is now the size of a soccer ball. Insert raised eyebrows here!

And, lastly, a very happy early/first Father's Day to my wonderful hubby :)

The one where Lisa forgets how far along she is and has to look it up

I blame this ridiculous cold that I have. Seriously. Will someone please come and drain all the gunk out of my head and chest please? I haven't had a good night's sleep since Friday. I really really REALLY miss my Buckley's today. Ladybird, you better be one awesome kid.

After having looked it up (even though I was JUST at the doctor's), I've reached the 23 week mark. Yeehaw! I had a doctor's appointment today that I was looking forward to since we would have been (should have been) discussing the ultrasound and all that jazz. I got nothin'. Here's my appointment:

Doctor: So, ultrasound on May 27th?
Me: Yep!
Doctor: There's one baby. We had you at October 11th ... *fiddles with something* Yep, that's close enough. (doesn't tell me what the baby is measuring - good thing I saw it myself) Hop up on the table. Blood pressure's good. Let's see your belly ... *listens to heartbeat for a nanosecond* ... Any questions?
Me: Uh. Yeah, I had a question about my iron supplements. The bottle says adult dosage 1-6 tablets a day. I'm only taking one. How many should I be taking?
Doctor: Here's a sample of a different kind of iron supplement.
Me: Uh... okay (did that answer my question?).
Doctor: Anything else? *as she's walking out the door*
Me: Uh, no...?
Doctor: See you in a month.

What a grand waste of my time. It took me longer to drive there, park, and wait. And apparently she's on holidays next month so I'm on a waiting list for a different doctor for my next appointment. Well, my next appointment is my LAST appointment before I move home. Goody. So, uh, I guess the other doctor will have to work with me about getting my file sent home. Oy. I look forward to seeing my real doctor.

But at least Ladybird is doing okay, I guess, since we discussed essentially NOTHING about my ultrasound other than the fact that there's one baby in there. Thanks doc, I saw that for myself.

I have no idea how to segue from that into the fact that I bought Ladybird some more clothes, so just LOOK HOW CUTE:




















I can totally picture her in this outfit, her big ol' cloth-diaper bum plunked down at the beach, shoving sand into her mouth, then looking at me with furrowed eyebrows as if to say "dude, why'd you let me eat this stuff?!"

I can't wait.

And while we're on the subject of pictures (seriously, pregnancy brain + crazy horrible head/chest cold does NOT = seamless writing ability), here's one I snapped today of me at 23 weeks. 23 right? I honestly had to scroll back up to make sure.




















Hello belly! Oh, and I only gained 2lbs since my last appointment, so I'm now up 13lbs total. Not bad. I'm still feeling great (aside from the cold) and I'm really lucky that this pregnancy has been so smooth and uneventful so far. Yes, there was the miserable nausea/pukey extravaganza early on, but even that wasn't as bad as it could have been. I belong to a few pregnancy-related message boards and whatnot, and some of those poor girls ... geez. Heartburn, round ligament pain, various other pains, Braxton Hicks contractions, more heartburn, reappearance of morning sickness, pain pain pain, discomfort discomfort discomfort. I've honestly been pretty symptom-free overall and I'm happy about that.

And on that note, and since the cursor has disappeared in this text box for whatever reason, I'll leave you all with a baby update to see what Ladybird is up to this week!



















Ladybird is still relatively the same size (11ish inches, roughly a papaya) and now weighs a little over a pound. Her hearing is well-established and she can make out distorted versions of voices, my heartbeat, and my tummy rumbling. Loud noises that she hears now shouldn't bother her once she's out of the womb. She's putting on more fat now, but she's still all red and wrinkly. She's moving around a lot and I might be able to start feeling hiccups from her swallowing. Her lungs are developing more now and are preparing to breathe. If she were born now, she has about an 85% chance of survival. Cool! But stay in there, Ladybird, we're not ready for ya.

The one where Lisa feels like a house

We're now at the 22 week mark which means I'm 5 months pregnant. Woo. It also apparently means that I've gotten gigantic. Now, I know that's not true and I'm still all belly but I just feel really really big. I've always been very skinny and my weight never fluctuated more than five or so pounds here and there (except for the weight I put on during university, but even then that was a gradual four-year "filling out", if you will). So the fact that I've probably put on a good 15lbs in the last three(ish) months is insane to me! I'll find out exactly what I weigh at my next doctor's appointment a week from today, but I'm assuming it's around 15lbs total. Everything I read says that that's pretty much on track, but still ... yeesh! My body really isn't used to this. Everything feels cramped and stretchy and my back issues are coming back. And I'm only going to get bigger!!

Here are a couple of pictures from today. Yes, I'm in my pyjamas. It was Pyjama Day at work. It would be silly and kind of backwards to change out of pyjamas and into regular clothes after coming home from work, now wouldn't it?




















Zoinks! Belly, where did you come from?
(I need to stop putting my hands behind my back for these pictures because it makes me look thicker than I am. I still have a waist, so really, I shouldn't be complaining...)




















Hellooooo Ladybird!

Besides my all-of-the-sudden feeling gigantic, I've also been torturing myself by reading horrors online. I'm not really afraid of giving birth. The idea of contractions doesn't bother me. I feel like I'll be able to manage the pain. However, I decided to read up on tears and then I found a website that showed diagrams of the various degrees of tears. And now, I've decided that this baby is NOT coming out of me. So, if there are any moms out there who would like to share their tearing (or non-tearing) experiences from their first delivery, please do! I'd rather not have a twenty-year-old living in my uterus, but good lord do I ever not want to go through a fourth-degree tear. *cries* Someone just tell me it'll be okay and that life goes on...

In other news, I've slowly been collecting a few more things for Ladybird. We got a huge donation of clothes at work and, once we found out we're having a girl, me and the girls from work went through the clothes and chose to "save" a few things that were just WAY too cute to be ruined by writing "daycare" on them in black Sharpie. Most of them are bigger sizes, but Ladybird will need some clothes when she's a toddler, so it all works out. Here are a couple of my favourites:




















Love it!














Detail on the sweater. It's super cute.




















Little white sweatsuit ... it's adorable as well!














Little pink bird detail on the pants. Apparently, I like clothes with birds on 'em.

I've been putting some thought into the nursery and how I'd like it to look. Granted, I have a ton of time and we don't even know where we'll be living when Ladybird is born, so it's hard to have a vision but I still like to think about these things. This brought me great frustration when I realized that there is very little airplane-related out there for girls. Seriously. Try searching for a non-boy airplane crib set. They don't exist!! Annoying! I'm going to check out the big fabric warehouse here in the city over the weekend to see if they have any girl(ish) airplane fabric so maybe someone can at least make her a blanket or something. I did, however, order this for her (in pink and brown argyle) and I'm SUPER excited for it to arrive!

Anyhow ... that's about all that's been going on over here! Let's see what the baby update has to say about Ladybird this week!


















As noted last week, we don't get a new food item to compare to! She's still a papaya this week. So, I just took this diagram off BabyCenter.ca to show what's going on in there. Ladybird is about 11 inches long from crown to heel (about the size of a Barbie doll!) and weighs in at just about a pound. Her facial features are distinct and her eyes are fully formed, but they have no colour yet. Her little tooth buds are forming beneath the gum line and, apparently, nipples have started to sprout! Hmm, teeth and nipples should not be in the same sentence, ever. She's definitely aware of sounds outside the womb. She's showing either a strong like or dislike (can't figure out which) to certain music and certain baby cries at work.

The one with the second doctor's appointment...

I headed to my second prenatal appointment this morning. I wasn't sure what to expect but I had a feeling that it wasn't going to be anything overly special or important. Boyd, unfortunately, had to work and wasn't able to be there. He wants to be at all the appointments but, like I said to him, this one is probably the best one to miss because I really didn't think it would be too interesting.

And it wasn't!

I got in right away. They weighed me and I now weigh 121 lbs. I'm up 7 lbs from the last appointment 7 weeks ago and (I believe) about 11 lbs in total. That seems like a pretty okay number to me and they didn't say anything to me about it, so I assume all is good there! We went over the results of my blood tests. I'm immune to everything I'm supposed to be immune to, but I'm not immune to Fifth's disease - I got tested for it since I work in daycare. My blood type is A positive (good to know) and, of course, my iron is low. My iron is always low so that news didn't exactly come as a huge shocker. My OB recommended that I get an extra iron pill in addition to the prenatals and the iron-rich foods. So, I'll be heading out shortly to go shopping for iron supplements! My life is so exciting. She also checked my blood pressure - which I assume is fine since she didn't say otherwise - and I got to listen to the heartbeat again. That was awesome, of course. I love hearing it. This was the only point in the appointment that I really wished Boyd was there because the heartbeat was so much louder and stronger than the last time. Makes sense - the baby's much bigger now! My OB said it sounded perfect, asked if I had any questions or concerns, and I was on my way. Done and done for another month. Next up baby-wise is the ultrasound in TEN DAYS! Eeeeeee, I can't wait!

After the doctor's appointment, I unexpectedly took the rest of the day off work (for um, asbestos-related reasons) so now I'm just relaxing on this gorgeous summer day. I was able to snap a couple of pictures after I came home, so without further ado ... me at 19 weeks.




















Good ol' camera self-timer shots. Ignore the dirty laundry in the basket. Actually, be thankful that it's even IN a basket. So there.
And, because my dearest Mommy wanted to see my new maternity pants...




















Woot! And now I won't wear them for the rest of the week because they're already starting to stretch out too much and I've only had them on for ... five hours? Now I definitely do not want to/plan to gain extra weight in my bum/thigh area, but it would certainly help to make these pants fit better. Eh, whatever. Really, I'm perfectly happy that I'm just all belly right now.

And that's it on the Lisa front. Let's get a baby update and see what Rufus-Doofus is up to this week!















Rufus-Doofus is the size of a mango! He's now coated in a greasy white substance called "vernix caseosa" that helps protect his skin from the amniotic fluid. Sweet, so he's got his fur coat AND a layer of grease. This kid is the cutest thing ever. His sensory development reaches its peak this week! The nerve cells for the five senses are all developing in their specialized areas of the brain - how very cool. And, as usual, he's busy kicking and summersaulting in there while he still has the room to do so.

The one where Lisa hits 15 weeks...

Yep, today marks 15 weeks pregnant. I've been feeling really good lately. I've been sleeping better (not getting up to pee constantly), I feel more energetic, I can't remember the last time I threw up (well, I remember it, but I don't remember what day it was), and I just have a general feeling of pleasantness*.

*Well, not today. Today was an all-around crummy day and I was certainly displaying the horrendous moodiness of pregnancy. I blame the universe, though. Absolutely nothing went right today in all aspects of life.

I feel like I'm starting to show. Not much, but it's noticeable to me. I've always had a bit of a tummy, but when I suck it in now, the tummy is still there (and when I don't suck it in, the tummy is DEFINITELY there). My pants are getting tighter (I usually wear my pants mid-rise, but now I've been wearing them lower below my belly) and things just aren't quite fitting me right. It's also getting really hot here - it was 23 degrees today - and I'm getting very uncomfortable having to wear sweaters all the time. I have a few shirts from last summer that fit me, but other than that ... I'm running low on clothes. It's pretty frustrating. Maternity stuff is A) still too big for me and B) crazy expensive, and regular stores seem to only have flowy tank-tops in stock and it's still not quite hot enough for tank-tops. I wish I could just go to work in my pyjamas or sundresses every day. I'd be a much happier camper (especially since the extra heat I'm feeling lately gives me super wicked headaches).

Anyhow, here are a couple of "belly pics" since I know people want to see that sort of thing.
Sorry for the terrible quality/darkness. Boyd took way better pictures this afternoon but I was making stupid faces in all of them. That's totally my fault. I always make stupid faces...
First one: suckin' it in.
Second one: totally NOT suckin' it in.

I received a letter from the hospital stating that my ultrasound is scheduled for Thursday, April 29. That's next week, people! At first, I was a little concerned/curious as to why my ultrasound is so early. From what I've heard/read, ultrasounds usually aren't scheduled until about 18-20 weeks. I'll only be 16 weeks. But then I thought about it and, really, does it matter? If there's something concerning that shows up, I'm sure they'll schedule another ultrasound. And it's only in recent years that women even receive this ultrasound. Years ago, women went without having ultrasounds unless something was really wrong and they all turned out (mostly) okay. So, I'm fine with having it "early". Besides, Boyd somehow miraculously was able to get the 29th off (seriously, divine intervention or something) so I don't really want to call them and ask why it's so early lest they reschedule and then he can't make it. Sure, the baby will look all creepy and alien-like, but hey - that's cool. We'll both be there to see it and that's important to us.

Sadly, the hospital that I'll be going to is one in the city that will not tell you the sex of the baby. I'm hoping (s)he won't be modest and I'll be able to tell myself. I've looked at enough ultrasound photos online that I think I'm pretty well-prepared to differentiate between 16-week-fetus boy parts and girl parts. However, we do plan on getting a 3D ultrasound very soon to find out the sex for sure (or as sure as we can). Once we get Boyd's schedule for next month, I'll call and see if we can arrange an appointment on one of his days off.

And, with that, we'll leave you with a baby update!













Rufus-Doofus is the size of an orange! Neat. He's busy in there, mastering his hiccuping and squirming/wiggling around. In a few weeks, I should be able to feel him (although I do find it weird that I can't feel something the size of a navel orange moving around in my belly). His legs are now longer than his arms (yay for being proportionate!) and all his joints are functional. Cool beans.