The one with the four month update!

Sorry it's late - it's been a busy couple of days!

Charlotte turned 4 months old on Valentine's Day and I couldn't have asked for a sweeter Valentine :) She's been doing great, as usual!

We had her 4 month check-up on the 11th. She got two more needles - poor babe - and doesn't go back again until she's 6 months. She is 12lbs 13oz, 23.75" long, and healthy as a horse! She's (obviously) still on the smaller side but the doctor doesn't seem concerned in the slightest. She just takes after her mom and dad - we're not exactly big people.

A touch too small for her highchair, yet! She thinks it's pretty hilarious :)

She is getting funnier and funnier as the days go on. She talks all the time and changes the volume of her voice - sometimes she'll squeal and yell at us and sometimes she'll lower her voice and softly talk to us. It's adorable. She's rolled back to belly once after a good solid three days of constant practice - and now she won't do it anymore. She did it and decided once was good enough :) She loves standing and can sit up by herself for a few minutes without toppling over. She recently discovered that she has a head so she's always reaching up to touch her hair or touch her ear. It's super cute. She's also finally figured out how to get her fingers into her mouth and is chewing on them pretty much non-stop. I suspect some teeth soon!

Yummy!

She's become pretty predictable and we have her on a nice eat, play, sleep schedule. She sleeps through the night a few nights a week (like, from 8pm-7am sort of thing) otherwise she gets up once around 5am to eat, then goes back to sleep until about 8:30ish. She's still happy as a clam to sleep in her crib, wakes me in the morning with soft little coos, and always greets me with a huge gummy grin. Love. Her.

As far as milestones go, here's what she's been doing on my 4-7 month developmental checklist:

• Sits with support of hands (5-6mos.)
• Supports whole weight on legs (6-7mos.)
• Grasps feet (6mos.) - she LOVES her toes when she gets her diaper changed
• Tracks moving objects with ease (4-7mos.)
• Grasps objects dangling in front of her (5-6mos.)
• Uses voice to express joy and displeasure (4-6mos.)
• Explores with hands and mouth (4-7mos.)
• Enjoys social play (4-7mos.)
• Interested in mirror images (5-7mos.) - she loves looking at herself in the mirror!

She's just a joy! Every day, I just can't wait to see what she'll do next.
























February 16, 2011 - Four months and 2 days old.

The one with the two month update!

Charlotte turned two months old yesterday! I'd like to say "time flies", but it feels like it's been two months heh. Not that that's a bad thing, I suppose!
































Hogging all the toys!

She went in for her two-month check up today. She is now 10lbs 6oz and 21.5 inches long. She had to get her first round of vaccinations today and it was TERRIBLE! Poor little lovey. I've never heard her cry like that before (obviously, because I don't hurt her) and I never want to hear it again. She screamed so much, I felt awful. We spent the rest of the afternoon snuggled up on the couch together because I just didn't want to let her go. She didn't develop a fever (hooray!) but she seemed to be in pain, so I gave her some Tylenol and she was happy and back to her normal self for the rest of the evening.

Since I'm a huge dork, I've been taking the developmental checklists we use at work and applying them to my own baby. Yes, I take my work home with me (even though I don't work there anymore *sob sob sob*).

So what is Charlotte doing at two months old? Let's see!
- watches faces intently
- tracks moving objects
- recognizes familiar people at a distance* (she gave me a HUGE pout at the doctor's today when the nurse was holding her and she saw me across the room washing off her pacifier)
- has developed a social smile
- smiles at the sound of voice
- makes cooing noises, engages in vocal play*
- attends to sound
- startles at loud noises
- enjoys playing with people and may cry if the playing stops (she likes when we get down on the play mat with her)
- becomes more communicative with facial expressions and body
- imitates some movements and facial expressions (loves sticking her tongue out when we do!)

*denotes a three-month skill

She also sits supported (in her Bumbo and on our laps) and I can sometimes let go of her and she'll stay upright for a couple of seconds. She started squealing with delight a few days ago and it's adorable and hilarious, albeit sporadic. She has also been trying to roll over from her back to her tummy. She gets as far as her side and can't quite make it any further. This usually makes her pretty mad. ;)
























"Hmm, now what?"

She's pretty much awesome and she's just getting more and more fun every day! Oh, and she tells the best stories :)

The one where Charlotte is three weeks old

"I'm this big now!"




We had our three-week check-up on Tuesday afternoon. Charlotte is 7lbs 10oz now, so she's gained 8oz since birth. She's nice and pink, her lungs are clear, her heartbeat sounds great, and all seems well with her.
I'm healing well apparently. I was asked how breastfeeding was going and, of course, had to cry and explain what happened while being made to feel bad about my decision. I was offered an appointment at the Open Arms clinic to do a feeding assessment if I wanted to give it "one more shot". I said I didn't know if I wanted to do that.

"You're done trying?"

Well, I guess so. Saying it that way makes me sound selfish and like I don't care about doing what's best for my daughter, but yes. I am done trying. I'm done having to explain myself. I'm done having all these crummy feelings come back. I want to just be able to accept what's happened, deal with it, and move on. I've had two feeding assessments with the public health nurse. I've tried everything. I hate that people think that I've just given up without trying. I don't know what else anyone can tell me or show me. Sure, feeding works relatively well when someone is helping me but guess what - I don't have four hands! I can't hold her hands out of the way, position her properly, pull her chin down, and do breast compressions all at the same time. Sorry. I don't have someone here 24/7 to be my breastfeeding partner. So just leave me alone! I've done what I can and I'm still doing what I can to make sure she's still getting some of my milk through pumping. I completely understand the importance of breast milk, but why is there such a push for breastfeeding? When I breastfed her, I didn't get any of that nice bonding that we're supposed to have. She'd fall asleep and I'd spend the whole feeding feeling frustrated trying to wake her up. I can still have skin-to-skin, eye contact, and all that when I feed her my breast milk from a bottle. I just don't get it. Argh.

Anyway...

In the last week, Charlotte has started focusing on things much more. She is definitely looking at things now, especially our faces. She still loves her play mat and loves watching the light-up sun when the music plays. She's getting stronger and holds her head up for longer periods of time. She moves a ton - when we put her in the middle of the cradle at night, we wake up to find that she's wedged herself into the side somehow. When she's on her tummy, she kicks her legs so hard that I'm surprised she doesn't move forward when she does it. Super strong baby!
We're slowly easing into a routine. Nighttime is still hard and we're trying to figure it out, but the day seems pretty predictable lately. She's usually up sometime in the hour of 7am, eats, goes back to sleep until about 9:30ish, will usually eat again, spends some time awake and playing, and is usually asleep again by lunch time. She has lots of awake time in the early afternoon and usually again in the evening. She's usually up once or twice in the middle of the night to eat and will sometimes go back to sleep easily and other times will be up for hours fighting sleep. We just need to figure out a good bedtime routine and to get her to sleep in her freakin' cradle! That's still a huge struggle. Last night she just slept with me on my chest because I was too tired to bother fighting.

That's the news for this week!



















Watching the sun change colours and play music



















Staring at the puppy



















Hey, there's a baby in that mirror!



















So goofy!

The one where the due date is showing up in the 14-day weather forecast...

38 weeks, yahoo!

It's been an interesting few days. For most of the end of last week, I just worked my little bum off trying to get the house ready for Ladybird's arrival. Remember the previous post and what her room looked like? Well, when we left the house on Monday, here's how it looked:
























The view from the doorway. The stroller will obviously go into the trunk of the car and will be replaced by a rocking chair in that corner.



















Dresser/change table.
The top drawer contains all her newborn and 0-3 month sleepers.
The middle drawer contains the rest of her sleepers up to 12 months.
The bottom drawer currently contains only extra diaper inserts and the cupboard has all her diapers - clean, dried, stuffed, and ready to go!
























The closet. Oh, the closet. There was no picture of the closet in the last post and be thankful for that. This ... this was my project. It took me what felt like forever to organize. But there it is - the fruits of my labour and I'm so happy that it's mostly done. I still have some laundry that's in the dryer needing to be put away and two small loads to do later, but for the most part - it's DONE.



















And, lastly, her crib.
I forgot to take a photo of her cradle - it's in our room, all put together and ready for her. I'll take a picture next time I'm home (when she's in it - eek!)

And, as always, click on any photo to make it larger.

Thank you to Mom for helping me with the laundry, Joe for putting the dresser together, Laura for helping to bring stuff in, Boydo for painting and putting the crib together, and me for organizing the hell out of all that baby stuff.

Shout it from the rooftops, people!
HER ROOM IS READY FOR HER!!

There are obviously things that we're still waiting on (baby monitor, mobile, wall hangings, etc.) but I just love knowing that all the important stuff is squared away and organized.

Now, after a good three days of straight working (seriously, working until the wee hours of the morning, getting maybe 4 or 5 hours of sleep, and starting again) I'm back at my mom's house until Ladybird makes her arrival. This, of course, means I have nothing to do. It's such a drastic change, but I know I should really sit back and enjoy it. So, I'll try.

I had a doctor's appointment yesterday and another class tonight. My appointment last week went well. The doctor checked me and said that my cervix was still very high, but it felt like it was thinning quite nicely and I was about 1cm dilated. I chose not to have a check this time around because that one was borderline painful and I don't really think I've progressed enough to go through that again. The higher the doctor reached, the higher I climbed the table. It was not very nice. Boyd was able to make it to the appointment yesterday which was great! He hadn't been able to get to any appointments since the first one (besides the ultrasound, of course) so it was really nice for him to be there, meet the midwife, and hear Ladybird's heartbeat again :)

Aside from all that, nothing is new! Now we just play the waiting game. Ah, the waiting game sucks - let's play Hungry Hungry Hippos! Ladybird's baby updates seem to becoming more about me than her since she's pretty much ready to go, but let's see what's going on in there anyway!



















Most babies around this gestational age weigh about 6.8-7lbs. I asked the doctor what her guess might be and she said since I'm measuring pretty much right on track (so, average) that she weighs about 6.5-7lbs. Sounds good! All Ladybird's organs are in place and ready to go except her lungs, which are still developing and maturing. It will even take a few hours after birth for her to establish a proper breathing pattern. One website tells me that her eyes have no tear ducts and that those develop a few weeks after birth! How very interesting!

The one where Ladybird could be an infomercial product...

Please allow 6-8 weeks for delivery. Shipping and handling not included.

Yes, Monday marked 34 weeks pregnant so we have six weeks left until her due date! Hooray! I enjoy that now when people ask when I'm due, it's easier to just say "six weeks" instead of "October". It sounds a lot sooner that way too and people don't make that face like gee, you're a whale if you're not due until October. Six weeks til she's due ... eight weeks until she's way overdue ... it's all coming nice and quickly!

I had an appointment at the hospital today and met with with one of the two midwives there. I really like how the hospital here does things. Apparently it's the only one in Canada that works as a collaborative practice - the midwives and the obstetricians work together as a team rather than separately. It makes me happy because I was really hoping to see a midwife when I moved home, but was told by the NS midwife society (or whatever) that they couldn't see me since I was coming home so late in my pregnancy. Anyhow, it was a great appointment. The midwife was super friendly and very thorough. Everything is still going really well with me and the baby. She's still head down (hooray!) but I do still feel her kicking my right side quite often, so I asked if she might be diagonal. The midwife could easily feel her moving around on that side and asked if Boyd was tall haha. So, she must be all stretched out! So much for the fetal position.

After my appointment with the midwife, I went to my appointment at the Open Arms clinic, which is a family clinic located in the hospital. It was really nice and informative. They gave us a brief tour of the birthing area and said we can come back as many times as we want, so we'll go back again so Boyd can see it all. Aside from not having any bathtubs (boourns!) it all looked and sounded very nice. I think it's going to be a really relaxed and positive atmosphere - plus, I can bring my own snacks and Boyd will have a cot to sleep on in my room. Bonus :)

Now I'm just trying desperately to survive the hottest day on record here in Nova Scotia without ripping anyone's head off. I'm absolutely melting and pretty miserable. It's been a crazy hot week and we won't see any relief until the weekend when Hurricane Earl heads our way. It worries me a bit, since the oceans are SO warm and he's a category 4 right now. Hopefully we won't have much damage! Tomorrow we're moving a few things into the new house and removing some wallpaper to get the dining room ready for painting this weekend. We closed yesterday and got our keys - it's all so exciting! I just can't wait to get in there and get my life routine back on track!

It's too hot to even be on my computer (the heat from the laptop on my wrists is actually driving me CRAZY) so we'll wrap this up with a baby update to see what my stretchy little lady is up to this week!



















Ladybird is about 18 inches long (woah!) and just under 5lbs now! She's huge! She's getting rounder and fatter to help regulate her body temperature when she comes out. Her hearing is fully developed so she can hear me bitching and complaining about this heat. Her central nervous system is still maturing but her lungs are almost fully developed now. She's starting to shed her lanugo (remember her fur coat?) but her vernix caseosa (cheesy substance) is increasing. 99% of babies born at this point would survive outside the womb with no major problems. Yippee!

The one where Ladybird is showered with love and delicious food (pt.II)

My lovely Mommy hosted a baby shower for me and Ladybird this weekend. Thank you so much to everyone who came and everyone who thought of us even though they couldn't make it. The amount of people and gifts was pretty overwhelming - it's very nice to know that there are so many people out there who care about me and my family. So, again, thank you!

Here are a few pictures from the day. As always, click on them to enlarge.















Chatting with my high school homies :)















A portion of the guests + tent + food + gift mountain

A montage of me opening presents:

















































I don't think I've ever opened so many presents in my life. This kid has way too much stuff already!















OMG it was hot outside!




















Nice little Mommy-daughter-mommy-daughter moment.
Thanks for your help, Momma :)















The beautiful handmade cradle that Mom and Joe got for us. So nice!















The aftermath of the afternoon! Wowza! Thank you everyone!

Okay, I'm done putting up pictures. That took fo'eva! If the layout of the photos looks weird on your computer, just deal with it. Blogger doesn't make putting up photos a very easy task, unfortunately.

So, today marks 32 weeks! I met my new OB today and everything went really well. Blood pressure is good, I haven't gained any weight since my last appointment, her heart beat is nice and strong, no word on my glucose test so I assume I don't have the baby diabeetus - and the best part of the appointment? He checked and said that Ladybird's head is where it should be - down! Hooray! All that swimming and hanging out on my hands and knees paid off, I suppose. Now she better not move back to being sideways. I'll have appointments about every two weeks now and will get to meet the other doctors and the midwife in the practice. Exciting!

OH! And speaking of exciting news - we bought a house!! Yes! We found an adorable bi-level in Lower Sackville (for those non-Nova Scotians, it's about 20 minutes from downtown Halifax and 20 minutes from the airport ... perfect location!) that has three bedrooms, nice big living room, beautiful kitchen/dining room, one and a half baths, a laundry room, a nice big deck, a fire pit, and - get this - a pool! It's a newer house (only 12 years old) in a great little subdivision with everything we need (grocery stores, restaurants, banks, move theatre, etc.) about five minutes down the road. And the best part? The previous owners are already out so our closing date is at the end of the month! Hooray! We're very happy about this whole thing and it's so nice to know that we'll have a place to bring Ladybird after she's born. Just a couple more weeks and we get to move into our new house. I can't wait! After our ridiculous house-hunting experience in Winnipeg, I'm still in a bit of disbelief at how quickly and smoothly this process went for us.

So there's definitely been a lot of excitement going on around here. Lots of things to keep me busy (read: slightly overwhelmed) but that's good! Now, what kind of excitement is going on in Ladybird's neck of the woods? Let's check out the baby update to find out!

















Ladybird is just under 4lbs now and is about 17 inches long! Not much more to go, kiddo! Her lungs won't be fully functional until birth but she is inhaling amniotic fluid to practice her breathing. No wonder she gets the hiccups so often. She sleeps about 90-95% of the day and her movements will peak this week. She's running out of room! Her growth does begin to slow down now, but she'll continue to put on weight (and lots of it!) over the next few weeks.

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 with the home stretch...

30 weeks! Can you believe it? I sure can't. 10 more weeks (give or take) to go until this little lady makes an appearance. Just to put that into perspective: we had our ultrasound ten weeks ago. Say what?!

I had to go into the hospital today to do my one-hour glucose tolerance test to see if I've got the gestational diabeetus. I'd heard pretty icky things about it, but it wasn't bad. The drink just tasted like orange pop, so I just got a free orange pop out of the deal. Awesome. Now let's hope I don't "fail" this test because if I do, I have to do a three-hour one, and if I fail THAT one then they determine that I have gestational diabetes. So come on body, break down those sugars!
While I was waiting the hour after drinking the drink for them to take my blood, I peeked down to the maternity area and saw the big doors with "birthing room" written above them. It made me pretty excited to actually see where Ladybird will be born. I'll be getting a tour of the place sometime soon, but I just had a quick peek today.

I have my next doctor's appointment on Friday. I somehow lost my file in the move (we think it's packed up in storage somewhere) so I need to call the office in Winnipeg and see if A) they even still have my file and B) they can fax me another copy. I meant to do that today but I came home from my blood test and fell asleep for three hours. Oops. Hopefully I can get another copy easily enough, but it really wouldn't surprise me if the office gives me some trouble.

Other than that, not a whole lot is new here since the big move. The next thing on our agenda is buying a house, so that's where our attention is focused right now. We've found some listings that we want to see, so Boyd and I will be heading out to look at houses when he comes back home on Monday. Our realtor emailed me tonight just to let me know that two of the homes (out of like, seven or eight I think) already have offers on them. I just laughed. Good to know. In Winnipeg, every house we bid on we were up against a good 15-30 other offers. I think this process is going to go rather smoothly. Let's hope, anyway! I still can't believe that we've moved halfway across the country, are buying a house, and having a baby all within a two month period. Yep, we're officially insane!

And how is miss Ladybird handling all this craziness? Great, as far as I know! She's still wiggling around lots but I can tell that her movements are starting to slow down a bit (since she doesn't have as much room in there anymore!). It feels more and more like body parts moving around rather than just spastic bubbles. It's neat. I'll hopefully get a new belly picture up by next week. It's getting bigger for sure! Let's check out this week's baby update to see how Ladybird is developing!





















Ladybird is still about the size of a squash and will be all month, apparently. Her growth in length is starting to slow down but she'll keep gaining weight until she's born (and uh, obviously afterwards). She's already between 15 and 17 inches long and weighs about 3lbs. She can differentiate between light and dark, track a light source, and see what's going on in utero. She has eyebrows, eyelashes, and if she were born now, she has enough body fat to keep herself warm.

The one where Ladybird busts a move

Sorry for the late update! All those pregnancy discomforts seem to have found me, so I've been dealing with unexpected pain for the last few days (since about Saturdayish). It's definitely nothing to worry about, but it's making life pretty hard. Everything hurts these days - my back, my front, my legs, my feet ... it's crazy. I'm having a difficult time sleeping and staying in any one position for too long starts to bother me. If I sit too long, it hurts. If I stand too long, it hurts. If I walk too much, it hurts. I know it's normal and due to the quick growth that I'm experiencing but it's still hard to deal with. So I just haven't really felt like sitting in this computer chair long enough to update ... but now I'm just going to have to sit here even longer since I have lots to say, haha. Oh well!

Let's see ... what first? On Saturday (the 10th) the girls from work threw me a baby shower. We had dinner at the Old Spaghetti Factory - yum!! - and then some of us went to the ball game afterwards. It was lots of fun and we got some very beautiful and thoughtful gifts! I have no photos because I didn't bring my camera, but just imagine me stuffing spaghetti into my face and then clapping along to all the fun, goofy ballgame songs and you'll get the picture! :)

Some point during the last week, I ran out of my omega-3 prenatal capsules that I've been taking to ensure that my baby is a GENIUS (haha) and Boyd and I went to Shopper's to pick up some more. When we got home, I popped the last capsule from the old bottle into the new bottle when I noticed the expiry: July 2009! What?! So I checked the expiry of the now-empty bottle and it was the same thing - July 2009. I was not happy. Now, yes, I should have checked but I just don't check expiry dates on things unless they've been in my medicine cabinet for a while. I didn't think to check the expiry on brand new bottles of vitamins. Boyd brought both bottles back to Shopper's and they were very apologetic. All the bottles on the shelf were expired and they finally found a bottle in the back that expires in 2011. Luckily, taking the expired capsules will cause no harm to me or the baby. I was basically just taking capsules with little to no potency. Kind of annoying, but at least there's no harm done. And, thankfully, they've taken all the bottles off the shelves. So, just a little head's up - always check the expiry date even if it's a brand new bottle! Luckily for me, omega-3 isn't essential ... but what if it had been something essential? Kinda scary...

Monday, we officially switched over to 27 weeks pregnant and possibly into the third trimester? I'm not entirely sure when that starts because everything I search says something different, but I know I'm either there now or getting close! Very exciting and slightly terrifying! I ended up leaving work basically as soon as I arrived on Monday because of how much pain I was in and called in in the afternoon to secure Tuesday off as well. I absolutely hate doing that but I knew that I'd be pretty much useless since my job is basically all lifting, bending, or sitting. I literally spent all Monday and Tuesday either reclined on the couch on my back or laying in bed. All I wanted was to be comfortable. Yeah, that's not going to happen for a LONG time! I was happy to be back today, though. Things are still sore but I was WAY TOO BORED to be gone any longer.

This morning, I had my last OB appointment here in Winnipeg. My doctor is away on holidays so I had to see a different doctor. WOW! What a difference seeing a good doctor makes! She sat down, asked me how I was doing, actually talked to me about some issues, told me how my weight gain was going, measured my stomach to see how the growth is going (my OB has never once done this, although she wrote on my charts that she did), took my blood pressure and told me what it was, felt my stomach to tell me what position the baby is in (!!), and even told me what Ladybird's heart rate was. Wow. It was unreal! If only I had had appointments like this the entire time. Wow.
So, in case you're all wondering - my weight gain is on track (although I apparently gained a ton of weight since my last appointment, but the doctor said that it probably isn't nearly that much since I was weighed on a different scale this time), my uterus is measuring 27 weeks exactly, my blood pressure is 110/60, Ladybird is breech with her back toward my right side, and her heart was pounding away at 148. Excellent. I also got my file photocopied since I need to bring it home for my doctor in Nova Scotia, so I read over it at lunch today. I feel much more informed about what's going on in my own body now. It's a good feeling.

After my appointment, I headed back to work (yay!) and ended up getting some beautiful gifts from two of the families that I've had the pleasure of working with. I'm so grateful to have had the chance to work with such wonderful people. I can't even believe their thoughtfulness. So a huge thank you to the Bowerings and the Jacksons for thinking of me and my family! You guys are fantastic!

So I think we're all caught up now with what's going on pregnancy-wise. Life-wise, the big move is getting closer and closer. Two weeks from tomorrow is my last day of work (the 29th) and then I fly out the next day. I'm looking forward to seeing my family and friends, but leaving my life here in Winnipeg is going to be so so hard. I'm not going to lie - I'm getting really sad about it. I don't do well with major life changes and the next few months are nothing BUT major life changes. This is all really difficult for me. I'm really going to miss my friends and my life here.

But anyhow...
If you actually made it through ALL that text, I'll leave you with a baby update to see how Ladybird is changing this week, a video, AND a couple of cute photos.



















Ladybird is still approximately the size of an eggplant (but probably not as rubbery). She's about 14.5 inches long and is up to 2lbs already! Wow! Her eyes open and close, she sleeps at regular intervals, and might even be sucking a finger or thumb! She's moving around a lot lately and you can even see it happening now. Even Maggie likes to get in on the "let's feel the baby move" action:















(Yes, my kittenface smiles.)

Check out this little video we shot - when Boyd is home, we like putting his iPhone to flashlight mode and then putting music on to watch her dance and try to figure out where the light is coming from :)

(It's a little long and she gets annoyed with us and stops moving toward the end, so you don't need to watch the WHOLE thing if you don't want to!)



Watching the phone wiggle always makes me laugh!

And, lastly, quite possibly the cutest thing I've ever bought for her (thus far):




















Oh, cute. Pyjamas. With hearts. Wow.
Except you haven't seen the back!




















Oh yes, that's an "I Heart Dad" butt flap!
Oh yeah.

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 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.