31 weeks pregnant and 7 weeks to go until 'C' Day. Apparently my breasts may now start leaking (lovely), and I should be having a few Braxton Hicks contractions (err yes! lots!).
G and I have just been out to Toys R Us to stock up on a few essential baby items. 370 bucks later (ouch) I am now ready to express milk into storage containers, I have a few bottles, the ability to clean them with a bottle brush, the ability to sterilize them, have pads to catch leaking milk from my boobs, and have a nice 'Eddie Bauer' changing bag to carry all things baby around in, which matches rather nicely with the Eddie Bauer car seat we have, and the stroller we have our eye on! Oh, and we got the previously mentioned Baby Bjorn carrier too.
I'm intending to breast feed this baby, I couldn't with D due to getting ill and I really want to be successful at it this time. I do, however, want G to be able to participate in the feeds because a) he enjoys it and b) to give me a break now & again, and c) so that I'm not tied to the house/baby all the time (i.e. if I want to go out for a few hrs on a Weds night!). I also think it's quite important to introduce bottles within the first few weeks otherwise you can end up with the baby refusing them, so I wanted to have all the gear ready. I'm not intending to use formula though, it'll be expressed milk for G feeds.
Having said that, these things do have a way of not going as planned so I'm very determined not to get all emotionally distraught about it if it doesn't work out in my 'ideal' way.
Another purchase I made today at great expense is a Sony Baby Monitor bought online to be shipped from the USA. The choice in Canada is, typically, extremely limited and we both want something digital, clear, and with a good range. This one has had good reviews by US mothers I know, so we decided to get it.
So, we're now pretty much ready should this baby decide to arrive. There are still some things I need, and would like, but they're mostly toiletries for the baby, and some nappies / wipes etc. I have all the 'major' things done. Except for this stroller we have our eye on. I must clarify that we really do not NEED another stroller. We have a very expensive all bells & whistles pram/stroller that we got with D. It's lovely - it has a crib for the early months so that the baby is lying flat, then you can replace that with the seat which can face either to you or forwards, and at various different heights. It has great big wheels with some serious suspension for off-roading, and is perfect in every way. Except that the wheels don't swivel, which isn't a problem really, at all, especially for walking around outside, it's only really a problem when you're trying to walk down a very busy street during rush hour in London and you can't easily duck and dive into spaces. Quite. But of course, we have a fetish for buying funky strollers and this one is v cool, so we want it ASWELL, perhaps to keep in the car for shopping purposes and use the other one at home................. yep ok I know it's a complete waste of money! But I want it, alright? :) Oh and Sears are having a sale soon and it'll be 200 bucks instead of 300 - bargain.
Last night the baby was really active and kept me up until around 1am. Therefore, I woke up fairly late this morning.
Took the dog for a walk up an old (mostly) disused railway track. The weather was lovely and the surroundings quite beautiful once we were out between the fields. Unfortunately my tummy protested quite violently (ouch, tight and painful) once we'd gone so far so we had to turn around and come back, by which point I was nearly on my knees longing for rest. Got home and promptly fell asleep for an hour, waking up to eat lunch, and then having an afternoon nap :)
I sent G out to the Supermarket this afternoon so that I didn't have to traipse round, and on the list I wrote '4lb (around 40) new potatos'. Being G, he came back with 40 massive spuds filling an entire carrier bag which cost him around 20 bucks - NOB!
I'm despairing of deciding, finally, upon a name for this child. My feelings about certain names are changeable and I'm currently in a 'I don't like any name' frame of mind.
Went to the 'Baby Time' show this afternoon which is an exhibition of baby and pregnancy stuff. It was quite interesting to see all the different bits & bobs out there. I bought a Maya Wrap Sling for the baby...I'm not sure how I'll get on with it but wanted to try it out. D was too heavy to carry around much...G carried him a bit but G won't wear the sling as he says they look 'gay'. So we'll have to get a Baby Bjorn front carrier too (rather stupidly gave away the original after D grew out of it!).
This morning I popped over to see Julie who had baby Christopher 4 weeks ago... he's so cute and small. He's still smaller than D ever was, and his head seems tiny compared to my memory of D's big nut. He hiccuped his way through our visit but seems to be a lovely contented little thing.
Sis's wedding day today! Have been thinking of her all day... hopefully all will go well. Dad emailed this morning to say it was wet but hopefully would clear up.
Off to look at my new 'Medic Alert' bracelet which has arrived, and fetch a large box up from the basement for my son to play in (!)
I got out of the wrong side of bed this morning. I woke up shortly before the alarm went off at 7.20am and D, who had appeared in our bed at some point in the wee small hours, decided to start prodding me and kicking me.
I tried to go back to sleep, but couldn't. G announced that he had to 'leave early' therefore I had to get up and organize D for school and walk him to the bus, which is something I've not done in quite a while as it always ties in nicely with G's going to work, and because first thing I usually feel a bit wobbly / nauseous etc.
Got up, had some breakfast and a large filter coffee because the Gaggia is broken and I couldn't have a latte. Now feel very jittery from excess caffeine.
Got D dressed, took him to the bus, and got even more narked because G left at *exactly the same time* as I did... so much for leaving early!
Took the dog to the bus stop and had to scold her about 3 million times for pulling my arm off and barking at people.
When I got back a neighbour that I don't know very well asked to come in and use the phone as her husband had locked her out. Of course, the house is a pig sty.
Anyway - all of this stupid nonsense things have conspired to put me in a bad mood which I can't shake off.
Oh, and the weather sucks too.
And all seems to be going well. All my 'vitals' are normal, and the baby's heartbeat sounds good. I've gained 1lb and a half in the last 2 wks, which is 1 and a half in total in the last 4wks - glad that weight gain is slowing down (although obviously then become paranoid that he is no longer growing!). Also my stomach measured 32 wks today, as opposed to 34 wks a fortnight ago.... but that was probably due to the position of the baby. My next scan and next set of appointments are scheduled for June 10th.
Got a little upset last night when people once again thought it was OK to ridicule one of the choices of baby name we've picked out. Really stupidly told them early on one of our favourites, and for some reason a few people think it's OK to ridicule it. We've since made a policy not to tell people for exactly this reason. I wouldn't mind except the name is VERY TRADITIONAL and NOT WEIRD AT ALL. I am not even going to mention it on here because frankly, nobody should feel at liberty to be rude about our choice, but it really did offend and upset me that they found a way to be horrible about it. Also they insisted that Jones = another word for penis, which is absolutely ridiculous. I have never heard that, EVER. I did some research today with loads of American and other Canadian friends on various BBS's I visit, plus on Haddock, and nobody else has heard it either, I think it's some kind of absurd localism - hopefully our child won't grow up here anyway.
...can't quite believe how good I feel. When I had D, 30 wks pregnant, I was a physical wreck and I was twice the size I am now. Now, I feel good, I am not too big (someone even said I look small earlier today - nutter!), and it's all going so smoothly.. WHAT IS GOING TO GO WRONG???????
G had an ultrasound on his liver this morning. And now has a bad achey pain in his stomach. Scary. We have to wait 2-3 days for the results, fingers crossed everyone please.
I've cheated a couple of times over the last few days with my diet. I've had a couple of 'highs' as a result. I need to really start watching what I eat again, feel free to shout at me / nag me, it's bad, and I don't feel good for it either. Spots have appeared on my skin again, and I had my first major headache in months last night.
I have an appointment with the OB on Thursday and I want to ask her whether Polyhydramnios (too much amniotic fluid) is a trend that I'm likely to follow seeing as I had it last time. It can occur as a result of GD.
My sis is getting married this weekend and I really wish I could be there, I'm so saddened to miss it but obviously cannot fly. I'm sure it'll be a beautiful & classy event! At least I'll get to see Sal in July as she will be coming with Dad for Boswalds birth :) My Auntie K is making the wedding cake and terrified as she has to drive to take the cake ... some 100 miles or so. She's been making it for months, very intricate delicate work, and she's petrified that someone is going to run into the back of the car and wreck it lol.
30! Another milestone... only 8 weeks to go! I really feel like we're on the home stretch now.
I think my tiredness is increasing, but fortunately I'm still not too uncomfortable to sleep. I had a weird dream last night that I'd had the baby and then my leg started to hurt and they rushed me up to surgery cuz it was a clot. I was very upset, woke up upset, and my leg was hurting! Fortunately I think it was just a sciatic nerve type pain, took some Tylenol and it went away.
Today we're off to be 'Golf Cart Wankers' while G plays 9 holes.... me and D are going to drive the buggy around in a stupid manner and probably get kicked off :)
Rain rain and more rain today. Dark and gloomy and overcast. The kind of day where you simply don't want to be bothered doing anything, which is exactly what I did.
D's got two new favourite words. FUCK and BUGGER. Excellent.
Decided to go out somewhere today with the woof and give her a decent run around, preferably by a beach so she could run into the water if she wanted to. Ended up spending nearly all day in the car looking for somewhere suitable and not finding it. Had a nice lunch at a fish 'n chip place and then managed to finally find a lane to walk the dog down in some woods, so that was nice, but boy does my back hurt after all that sitting in the car! I did enjoy the walking, however, must do more of that. I have this silly theory that I might be able to go into labour if I do alot, perhaps one or two days before the c/s due date, then I can have him naturally. Yeah right!
It's a long weekend - Victoria Day or some such nonsense. Quite why they celebrate her here when the Brits don't even, I don't know, but it's a day off on Monday. The weather, however, is gloomy and rainy and I think I just saw some lightning outside too.
We finally had the xbox (cough) chipped (cough), and there's a very funky media centre front end to it which allows you to play all those movies and tv shows you've (cough) aquired (cough) so I'm currently (cough) getting (cough) a whole bunch and hopefully should have something good to watch tonight :)
I'm also hoping that G's mood will improve. The sugars are making him really arsey and he is taking it out on both me & D, which is not fun. Today I threatened to leave him at home if he didn't cheer up, which seemed to work :)
It's getting soooo bad. Last night I woke up 4 or 5 times to take Maalox to combat the pain of it. It was the same when I was having D. Nothing seems to trigger it especially, it just WONT GO AWAY.
Aside from the periodic moments of wakefulness, I'm still loving the sleep and can't get enough of it.
Another interesting phenomenon that happened yesterday was that I was bitten by a Mosquito. When a Mosquito bites, it first injects an anti-coagulant into your blood, to thin it and keep it from coagulating in its stomach. Which is all very well, but I'm anti-coagulated enough at the moment thank you very much! The result of the bite was that my arm bled for about 15 mins. The moral of this is that I must remember to spray my low DEET containing bug spray regularly from now on as pregnant women are extra tasty to Mozzies, who are obviously beginning to come out in force as the weather warms.
The appt yesterday with the Anaesthetist was reassuring. He basically said that there is no reason I can't have a spinal - that it is the safest option for me (GA's apparently are the 6th most common cause of maternal death in childbirth due to the difficulty in getting a pregnant woman intubated!). He said the Fragmin will be gone, and the risks are very minimal. I can have a GA if I am too scared, but as my preference is to be awake for the birth I think I will pass on that (pre-birth terror attack not withstanding).
My dad suggested today that me & G both immediately without haste increase / max out our life insurance. There's a cheery thought.
I actually managed a fairly good nights sleep last night -- only getting up twice for the bathroom. I'm still exhausted today, I think I need a couple more of those to play catch up completely after so many nights lying awake worrying. I was supposed to go out for a gig but I didn't make it, we got back from the hospital far too late and I had absolutely no energy left at that point.
One of the women on the PSD forum lost her baby at 19 wks. It's very upsetting news. PSD is linked to miscarriage, and it could happen to any one of us. I feel so bad for her.
D was out playing last night and I am also feeling very sorry for my neighbours whose 4 yr old son has a form of Autism and also ADHD. He's not an easy child, to say the least, and it's very hard for them to control him successfully because of his conditions. He of course, wants to play with the other kids, but doesn't know how to properly. The other kids want to play with him, but don't get that he has some problems and often make situations worse. D quite often ends up getting hurt by him because he can be quite aggressive, and then I feel bad for D, but it doesn't stop D wanting to go over there and play (as opposed to playing by himself) so I am trying to teach D how to not wind him up, or extracate him from the situation if it appears to be going downhill fast. What else can I do - I'm not about to forbid him to play over there, he likes it and I like chatting with them, they're my friends.
I am SO FREAKING STRESSED OUT at the moment. This whole diabetes thing with G was bad enough but then he had some blood work come back with very scary results for his liver, and since then I have been in total panic mode. Not sleeping, heart racing with fear, unable to relax, completely wound up and worried. Terrified, would be more accurate.
This morning we went to see the Endocrinologist at the hospital and he was, at least, reassuring. He said it's not beyond the realm of possibility that there's something dodgy going on in there, but it could also well be due to the diabetes screwing everything up until it stabilizes, so he wants G to come back to see him in 4 wks, having had blood work done again in 3 wks to compare the results with. He thinks G is responding well to the insulin, which is good.
This afternoon I have an appt. with the Anaesthetist to discuss the birth of the baby (I seriously need a parking pass for the hospital as I'm there often enough to warrant it!) which should hopefully be less stressful than the appt. this morning.
Which means there are 9 weeks to go. Single figures. Hurrah. Apparently the baby should be weighing about 2 and a half pounds at this point, but as we know from last weeks scan, he is 3lb+, but that's ok, big and healthy is good :)
He's still very active, sometimes to the point of it being very uncomfortable when he's buggering around in there for hours at a time!
My heartburn is increasingly bad. It woke me twice in the night to take Antacids, which in turn leave a bad taste in my mouth. Bleurgh.
G's sugars are occasionally in the right place now, but still manage to wobble off on a big Hi now & again. He's also suffered a couple of (not too serious) lo's during which he gets extremely arsey and yells at us (fun), plus he has an infection which is apparently common.
We went down to Chapters today and bought a couple of books on diabetes. I need to learn more about the 'Glycemic Index' so that I know what I can cook for him. We have learned already that cornflakes, despite the insulin and the correct carb count, seem to send him off on a hi, and I read today that they have a really high GI so I'm guessing that's why. One of the books I bought is a recipe book which has good, easy cook recipes for diabetics and includes all the GI / carb counting stuff for each meal. Ive just made a list of ingredients and am off to the supermarket to stock up on diabetic foodstuffs. D and I will be eating healthily with him from this point so maybe there's good will come out of this (although once this baby is born I can't promise not to sneak off for a bar of chocolate now and again lol).
Did a little more maternity shopping today, got a couple of t-shirts (after ruining a couple), and some short-dungaree-overall-things. Not convinced my legs should be bared to the world at this point in pregnancy but it's so damned hot otherwise!
Also bought a couple of really cute little newborn outfits from Baby Gap this afternoon. I want Boswald (not his actual name!) to have a few things new of his own, although we do have enough baby boy clothes for several children at once already!
Had a gig outside this morning, and typically (as it has been in the 90's all week) the weather decided to drop dramatically in temperature and we just about froze to death. I lost all sense of feeling in my feet and my fingers. I've been home a while and I'm still only just beginning to warm up!
Had an horrendous attack of heartburn last night which only went away after 10 TUMS and a Zantac and an hour of agony and it's just come back again this morning. Gah. Need to go and investigate something else at the drug store.
I woke up this morning to find D throwing up in the bathroom. I immediately rushed over to him and he told me he'd been sick in the night and slept on the floor outside the bathroom incase he had to be sick again. I am completely devastated that he didn't wake me when he was feeling poorly! He's such a stoical child when it comes to illness that he just wants to be left alone to get on with it, but I hate the thought of him being sick alone in the middle of the night and sleeping on the floor!
He's still ill now, he's thrown up again several times this morning and he's beginning to get a fever. I guess it's some kind of bug he caught at school.
What with him and G, this is a house full of sickness!
Another hosp. appt. this morning to learn yet more about Diabetes. I had to learn about giving G a Glucagon shot should he fall into unconciousness caused by low sugars (very scary indeed) and they've also said he'll probably be put on blood pressure and cholesterol medications for life as a preventative measure. So much to take in and quite hard to get your head around, all this is. I think coming to terms with it will take a while for him, and for me too..... for me I am finding it hard to adjust to him, the never ever sick one, being suddenly not quite as healthy as we thought, and that's quite frightening.
Meanwhile, I continue to be large, uncomfortable, and hot.
My appt. this morning went well. The Endocrinologist & I had a chat about anaesthesia in terms of anti-coagulation. He said personally, if it were him, he'd probably opt for a General Anaesthetic, but suggested I definitely should chat with the Anaesthetist. He requested that the nurse book me an appointment, which she did, and I have a consultation next week. I'm keeping an open mind on that front until then. There are pro's and con's for either method.
The OB measured me - I'm measuring 32 wks (at 28 wks pregnancy). Yike, although very similar to how I measured when I had D. One good thing was that I managed not to gain any weight in the last 2 wks - hurrah!
I told the Endocrin about G and he said it sounded like Type 1 diabetes, and he was more than happy to sit and chat about it nice guy that he is. I then waited after my appt. as G had his at the diabetes clinic (next door) so I went in with him. We met the Endocrin on the way in and he said hi to G and told him to do what the Nurse tells him lol. We then saw the dietician followed by the nurse, who managed to get G onto my Endocrin's books despite that he isn't taking any new patients..hurrah. She also got him to prescribe the necessary insulin for G, which he did. So G is now taking insulin 5 times per day, yikes. He has to have 3 shots of 'rapid' insulin at mealtimes, and 1 shot at 10pm and 1 in the morning of 'long acting' insulin. His numbers, after 2 shots so far today, are back in 'normal' range for the first time. We have to keep an eye on it so that he doesn't go too low. He has to set an alarm and wake up and test at 3am for a few days to make sure he's not dipping at night too. We have another appt. at the clinic tomorrow and several more planned as this all gets juggled to see what he needs and how his body reacts.
After that, finally got to relax at home this afternoon and then had a nice time outside while D played with the kids on the street, chatting with people and enjoying the not-quite-as-hot-as-it-was-earlier sunshine. My air conditioning is currently blasting out to keep me cool, G & D are complaining of being cold!
Feel a little better than yesterday, but not wonderful. Have gone through several boxes of Kleenex already and my nose shows no signs of drying up but several signs of extreme redness. Being ill while pregnant sucks. I have enough to cope with thank you, take your stinking cold and shove it where the sun doesn't shine!
I did, at least, manage to sleep a little longer last night than I did the night before. The dehydration wasn't so bad, so I didn't have to drink as much, and consequently didn't have to get up to go to the bathroom every hour.
I'm supposed to go out tonight but I don't think I'm going to make it. Not being able to breathe through your nose and not being able to concentrate on anything kind of ruins the idea of a decent evening out.
G's sugars are still pretty wacky. He started on the pills yesterday morning. He managed to get his levels down to 12 last night but this morning it was up to 15 again, and then 21 after breakfast. Sigh. He's also feeling quite wonky due to the medication, a common side effect in the first days of taking it but not pleasant nonetheless.
I feel like total crap. I can't breathe through my nose, my throat is sore and breathing through my mouth aggravates it. My head feels like it's been stuffed full of cotton wool. I'm feeling completely dehydrated. I can't take anything for it. Blah.
G had a slight hiccup in this diabetes issue last night. Our GP was absolutely useless when he went to visit him. He dismissed diabetes as 'people are really wound up about all this nonsense these days' and suggested G try some pills for a couple of weeks and then come back. Oh, and not to bother testing his sugars in the meantime. He also refused to fill out the referral form. G was horrified by this, naturally. Apparently older generation Doctors often don't take Diabetes seriously :(
G called the clinic at the hospital who were horrified to hear this. They said look, this can wait a few days, it cannot wait 2 weeks. Come anyway.
Anyway, he then went off to see another Doc who took it very seriously indeed. He checked his BP (high), urine (Ketones), Eyes (fortunately no sugar deposits visible), requisitioned a million different blood tests, and filled out the referral immediately complete with a request for a consultation with an Endocrinologist. G said 'I did the right thing in coming to you then' and the guy said 'Diabetes is very serious. You have it. It needs treating right away, your sugars are very high indeed, YES you did the right thing'.
So he's gone off this morning to have his blood work done, and then he'll start on the pills which should hopefully bring his sugar down to an acceptable level. If it doesn't work, it means Type 1 Diabetes and Insulin, so he needs to keep testing and see what they say on Thursday at the Clinic. The GP wants him back on Monday also for a follow up.
Pretty amazing visit to the hospital.
First, the scan. Had a less than forthcoming sonographer this time who absolutey wouldn't say a word to me about what she was seeing (always makes me a bit paranoid) but we did have a lengthy discussion about celebrities and their pregnancies! She showed me the baby briefly, but I have a dreadful cold bug and feel like crap the room in there was making me feel dizzy and faint as it was so hot, so I just had a quick look and then made a hasty exist. Met up with G in the carpark and went over to the High Risk Clinic to get the results.
The baby is, apparently, in the 75th percentile at this stage, which means he's on the big side (no surprise there!). His head is measuring 30 wks (2 wks ahead - we have big headed babies in our family!), his legs 27 wks (1 wk behind) and there were two other ones I forget but they were 29 or so, which they use to calculate this 75%ile measurement. Apparently all is good, some bits grow quicker than others, etc.......... absolutely nothing to worry about. He will, no doubt, end up being a big baby though! Hopefully not TOO big, D was in the 100th percentile for everything (bar his head which was off the scale big) so I'm thinking a little smaller might be nice :)
We then popped next door to the Diabetes Clinic. I asked for the nurse I've seen in the HRC but she wasn't there, so another lady came out to talk to us. I apologised for dropping in but wanted some advice, and explained the situation with G's sugars. She immediately brought us into the office and tested him herself - 16. She said to him that it looks like he has Diabetes love, sorry! She said it's impossible to know at this point which type, but they will treat him with some pills for Type 2, if they don't work it'll be Type 1. We explained that we had a GP appointment at 4.30pm today and so she wrote down for the DR that G should be prescribed Metformin pills, and that he should be referred down to the clinic to see them. She gave us a referral form, and made an appointment for G at the clinic for Thursday morning (by which point we'll know if the pills are working and if not he'll be given some insulin).
I'm absolutely amazed and impressed by the swiftness of which you can be sorted out in this country. If this had been in the UK he'd have been on a 6 mths waiting list, or alternatively hospitalized as the only way to get him seen to as a priority. Here there are obviously far more resources to see people as outpatients, and it's very impressive that you can walk in cold and come out with a game plan of treatment and instant appointments.
It's about 3 bazillion percent humidity outside. It's foggy and it's not overly warm (although it is going to be 35c/95f this afternoon) but the humidity is disgusting and I feel like I'm sitting in a soupy humid nasty nightmare. Ugh. I need to move north for the summer.
Scan at 12.45
High Risk Clinic after that
G to Doc after that
Today - 28 weeks pregnant. I'm officially in the 'third trimester' and if I am going to feel as hot as I do right now, it's going to be bloody miserable, lol.
Lastly for this morning - this Nanny State in which we currently reside, has changed the law to say that all children under either 80lb or 8 yrs old must be in a car seat. FFS. D hasn't been in a car seat since he weighed 40lb (the law everywhere else) and it seems absolutely absurd to be putting him back into one at 5 yrs old. But we have no choice, so yesterday I bought one for him. Fortunately, he likes it, esp. the cup holders. It could so easily have gone the other way.
It's my 5th Mothers Day today. (it happens on a different date on this side of the Atlantic). D and G woke me with breakfast in bed and some lovely presents & cards. D had made this wonderful card at school on which he'd written 'Happy Mothers Day Mom, I love you, Love from Dylan' and inside had a list of my favourite things (according to him!). Very cute indeed. He'd also decorated a little plant pot and given it to me complete with some flower seeds, and made a bookmark too. So sweet :) G bought me this absolutely beautiful Murano Glass flute player figurine which I'd seen in a gallery recently!
Speaking of G, I've been teasing him for the last 2 or 3 weeks that he has diabetes. He's lost a little weight, and he's complained of a raging thirst on a couple of occasions, last night being the 2nd of these. After 4 pints of water in succession I jokingly said that we should test his blood sugar. Not good- the result was off the scale and just said HI. To be certain I did it another 7 times (his poor fingers!) and each time got the same result. I even tested it on me, and with the control solution, to make sure it was working properly and it was. I put him on the treadmill for 10 mins as exercise is supposed to bring down your sugar level, but it made no difference. This morning when we woke up I tested him again to see what his fasting level was. 17. NOT GOOD. I've made an appointment for him with the Dr tomorrow. Looks like he might have suddenly got Type 1 Diabetes :(
I woke up in the middle of the night with a terrible pain in my calf. I jumped out of bed and hobbled around until it eased a little, but it's been aching ever since. It's not swollen, red, nor hot to the touch. I want to think it's cramp, but the only other time I've ever had this before in my life was when I was pregnant with D and we think it might've been a DVT. I'm a bit scared. I have to go for a scan on Monday and then to the High Risk clinic so if it is still sore I will speak to them about it :(
Last nights BBQ was fantastic. The food was *amazing*. We had a good time and everyone pitched in with the cooking and it was very funny.
The new furniture arrived today for the nursery & Dylans room. They are gorgeous, the only problem is the wardrobe for nursery has only recently been stained and the smell is very strong. I've opened the window in there and put the ceiling fan on , so I am hoping that the smell will dissipate soon.
Oh - and I found this website explaining the differences in car seat safety laws between different countries http://pages.ivillage.com/momika/carseatphotos/id8.html
Why is it that every pregnant woman I see is wearing some kind of nasty voluminous giant patterned dress that was never fashionable and never will be?
I have made an effort to buy maternity clothes which resemble the kind of clothes I wear usually - i.e. jeans or black pants, shirts & t-shirts. I haven't had to try very hard to buy these items, they're pretty much what is available in the two maternity stores that exist here. Someone said to me the other day they thought I always dressed well (they only see me when I'm out, rather than slobbing around looking like crap!) which was a lovely compliment but I really haven't made any kind of special effort with my maternity clothes, just bought very average things which are basically normal clothes with a bit of extra waist space. I don't go for dresses when I'm not pregnant so I'm not going to start now, and I don't like wearing anything gigantic resembling my grandmothers curtains as it's not flattering to me or *anyone*... my gear is more along the lines of bump hugging t-shirts and low rise jeans.
And yet, everyone else I see is wearing these phenomenally unpleasant tents. Why? Why? Why? And where on earth do they get them? I have never seen anything like this for sale (thankfully)!
On another note - I have friends coming over for a BBQ tonight which will be an interesting learning process as I'm crap at BBQ'ing and so are they (despite their Canadian-ness). I have to clean up this pig sty of a house and also go shopping for food. Neither of which I feel like doing.. I just want to sleep.
First - final episode of Friends. Strange to think it's the last episode of a show that's been on for 10 years. I liked how they ended it, it was nice. Shed a little tear :)
Second - ER. Should *not* have watched it. Knew it was going to be harrowing before doing so, and watching a baby born dead was so not what I want to be doing right now. Apparently the cord had tied itself in a knot. Like, what are the chances of that happening?? Now Im paranoid!
I'm starting to feel rather uncomfortable - as if the baby hasn't got enough room in there and is stretching me into places I don't want to be stretched, with every move he makes. It was particularly bad last night, thankfully a little better this morning. People say 'get used to it, it gets worse from here' and I know that they are right, but due to that memory-wipeout that women get after having a baby, I have no recollection of just how uncomfortable I'll become, but I know it's gonna be baaaad.
I have my scan on Monday for the growth check which I'm looking forward to. After the scan I'm given the results and I take them over to the High Risk clinic for assessment so I get to know right away whether things are on track. I need to add to my list of forgotten things to ask, to enquire as to whether I'm likely to get too much Amniotic Fluid this time seeing as I did last time.
We launched some new Message Boards on UKC last night and they are very funky indeed. Step 1 towards a complete new look. They seem to be very much getting the approval of the users too, which is great!
Instead of the usual pregnancy complaint of insomnia, I'm finding I cannot get enough sleep. I'm constantly tired and by 10pm at night I am struggling to keep my eyes open. When I am finally able to crawl into my lovely big comfy bed, I am asleep within minutes and don't wake up until the morning alarm goes off (at which point I am totally NOT wanting to get up).
This morning, thanks to G 'working from home' (i.e. sleeping) today, I was able to lie in until 10.30 which was lovely, but now (1 hr later) I'm knackered again.
Baby is fond of the breech position, in which he is currently residing. It's extremely uncomfortable for me because it means I'm constantly being kicked in the lower regions. When he does turn (becoming more infrequent as the days go by) it is a very odd and uncomfortable feeling. I'm hoping that he will at least turn once more, and then stay down.
I finally got through to Britax on the phone. Apparently my seat is fine, but European Safety Standards are not recognised in the US or Canada, and vice versa. The guy said it's insane because they're all basically the same, and flying over a bit of water is not going to change anything. The problem is though, he explained, if you use a British car seat here, or one from here, there, and you get into an accident....you risk invalidating your insurance and you risk being sued. Bum.
I then rang the Canadian CAA to verify this and got some very stupid woman on the phone who told me that the seats have to be MADE in Canada. Finally got her to read her literature & concede that this is not the case (knowing that most of the brands in stores here are US made and the same as you can buy there!) but regardless, they do have to be Canadian approved. Apparently the 'standard' here is different again to the US.
Suspect from what the Britax geezer said, the standard everywhere is actually identical but unless they have a specific sticker on for the country, you are nobbled if you don't use them. Which makes me wonder what happens if I want to drive into the US? Sigh.
Baby gear gets no less confusing the 2nd time around.
Fortunately we've kept alot of the more expensive stuff from last time, but there are still a number of things (30, according to my comprehensive list) we've got to buy this time, some of which are fairly major including a new mattress for the crib, a car seat or two, a swing, and a little more furniture.
Went out yesterday to check out mattresses. When D was born we went to John Lewis and there were a number of choices which met safety regulations. After a long chat with the saleswoman we determined that a foam mattress was a good idea to begin with, it supports the tiny weight of the baby and is breathable so should he bury his face in it, air can get through. Made sense, until later when you buy a firmer coil mattress. Here, they don't appear to sell foam mattresses, only plastic covered firm coil ones. According to the saleswoman they haven't sold foam ones in a few years due to safety regulations. But checking some UK Sites I discovered they do, so that's confusing as to what I ought to get. Ended up buying the most expensive (there's not much difference in the prices between low and high end) firm one I could get as the woman insisted it was the safest, but I remain confused between the different guidelines depending which side of the Atlantic you're on. I suspect that US led guidelines would be more anal about safety mind you.
Car Seats are also confusing. When D was born we had the obligatory Britax Rock A Tot. He was only in it for a matter of weeks as he was too heavy to carry around in it, so we switched to a larger seat (which we then stupidly gave away to G's sister). The Rock A Tot has been stored since, so I figured I could use it again. Apparently this may not be the case. According to safety regulations on this side of the Atlantic, seats are no use once they're 5 yrs old. Apparently the plastic degrades and renders them unsafe. There's also concern that they've been knocked around and damaged being so old (mine hasn't). So I'm not sure what to do on that front. I've unsuccessfully emailed Britax twice about it and had no response and I've tried to call them and can't get through. Another thing is car seats here advertise they use the LATCH system. I have no idea what this means or whether I need it / already have it. Sigh. Meanwhile I have ordered this car seat which is very snazzy, has cup holders and arm rests (which every discerning infant needs of course), and should last a while.
Swings. Never had one with D. Was always wary of him getting 'addicted' to one, as you often hear happens with some people. They put the child in the swing as a calming device and before long find the kid can't sleep unless it's put in there. I definitely DO NOT want to get into that habit! Having said that, D used to suffer terribly with the '6-10 grizzles' when he was small due to being a bit colicy, and I'm reliably informed by many women on babycenter.com that the swing is great for calming them and relaxing them, so I decided to get one. I ordered this one, which is apparently the best. We'll see!
In terms of other major purchases still necessary, I want to buy a bookcase for the babies room and this one is tempting, complete with lined baskets full of nappies and wipes and stuff like that.
Other than that, I am procrastinating over a baby monitor - it needs to be a good one, with a long range reception and preferably digital (so we can hear the baby when we're hanging out outside in the summer!), and other necessary purchases are all the essentials such as bottles, sterilizers, nappies, wipes, breast pads to catch leaking milk (lovely), and similar. All in all I reckon there's still a grands worth of stuff to get - yikes.
In other news, today makes 27 weeks of pregnancy. It really is going by rather quickly, I remember with D every day dragged! I'm starting to feel very massive and slightly uncomfortable, but nothing too bad as yet. This morning I discovered that it is extremely difficult to maintain a tidy bikini line when there is a very large obstacle in the way.
Went out to see some friends yesterday and spent the day with them. They have 3 sons and D had the time of his life playing outside all day long. Got home pretty late and exhausted.
Also looked at some Caravans yesterday. Brand new dealership near friends place. They didn't have a huge selection. We saw one we liked, but it was extortionately expensive (30k). Think we need to set our sights a little lower - might check 2nd hand ones ! Not convinced it is the right thing to buy this year anyway mind you, what with baby coming and all that. Perhaps financial priorities should be set elsewhere......
Speaking of babies.......
Our friends Andrew and Julie had a little boy last night - a couple of weeks early - 6lb 7oz, and his name is Christopher James. Can't wait to see him! They already have one son, Matthew, who is around D's age, so it's lovely that they now have another who will be close in age to our next one too :)