21 Weeks

We just returned from a wonderful trip to Devinder's family's farm near Saskatoon for his cousin Angie's wedding. We had such a great time it was hard for us to leave. There were probably over 50 kids at the wedding ranging in age from 3 1/2 weeks to 14 years old. We were asked if all the kid's were overwhelming and if we were having any "what have we done" thoughts about our impending parentehood. Both Devinder and I looked at each other and said "If anything it makes us even more excited to become parents, in fact we wish our kid was here right now playing with all his/her cousins..." It was great to be around so many children. Great for taking notes. Great for the mothering hormones which are in full swing. There was even a birth that tool place at the farm while we there as you can see below.

I am HUGE by the way!! I feel like my belly just popped overnight. I was only away from work for 5 days and when I came back everyone was commenting on how big I got while I was away. I think it might be time for me to finally purchase a few maternity clothes, especially pants, all mine seem to be digging into my belly. I am feeling really great lately, but the need for sleep seems to have increased considerably. I function best if I have a nap during the day. I was told to enjoy my first pregnancy and take all the naps I need because the next time I'm pregnant I'll be chasing around baby number one and won't have time to pamper myself. The only thing I'm not so happy about is my diet. I wish I could get it back on track, but I seem to be craving sweets and eggo waffles.

I had my first prenatal yoga class last night and I LOVED IT!!! It felt soooooo good to stretch my belly and being in room full of pregnant women was so amazing.

Glenna did do the ring on a string thing to see if we are having a girl or a boy and the ring said "BOY" over and over again. So we are concentrating on finding boy names now, since all we have is a girl's name so far. If anyone has any suggestions let me know.

Oh and I almost forgot, the baby is kicking more and I can definately feel it now, and so can Devinder!!! It's the most amazing feeling in the world, our baby moving around inside my belly. Alison said Andrew kept her comapany on her long commute into work every day. Man do I ever love being pregnant now that I'm not sick anymore...

My Birthday, 20 Weeks, 4.5 Months - Half way there!! Oh and a house to call our own...

Where to start...well, it's my birthday today, my last one before I'm a momma. 28 years old, that seems like a good age to become a parent, not that it really matters, I mean it's a little late now to bring age into it. Devinder asked me what I wanted to do for my birthday and I said I don't really care as long as I get to eat Lava Cakes. Spoken like a true pregnant lady craving CHOCOLATE 24/7!! Amanda made a funny comment about how it's ironic that whenever it's her son Charlie's birthday she will always remember that that was the day when she went into labour. It's more than just his birthday, it marks the end of the 2 week waiting period in which she went into false labour many times, it's the day Amanda pushed with all her might, experienced pain so intense she screamed "give me the drugs", it's the day she experienced the burning ring of fire and felt like her insides were being ripped apart. Then she and Chris experienced the joys of becoming parents for the first time. She learned how to breast feed and experienced how painful a cracked nipple can be. And after that she began to understand the exhaustion that comes with being a new mother. It really does seem like it should be more than Charlie who gets showered with gifts and cake on his birthday. So this a REALLY BIG HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my mother and father who experienced all of the above 28 years ago. Thank you so much, I have had a wonderful life thanks to you and all your hard work.

Another thing that I have been thinking about is the fact that I am actually 28 years and 9 months old today. I mean I feel like there is life inside of me. Our baby is already living, it's 4.5 months old. Yet when the baby pokes it's head out into the world suddenly it's like it only just started living right then and there. Really a baby's first birthday should be 3 months after the birth. I just wonder if it's always been calculated this way, or if maybe at one time babies were born 9 months old instead of 0.

I am also 20 weeks today, which also means that I am 4.5 months and half way thru. Only 4.5 months til labour and birth and parenthood!! It sounds far away, and yet very near at the same time. I am definitely without a doubt over my dreaded morning sickness!! Life has been good, really good and I am starting to really enjoy being pregnant finally. I am feeling the baby kick more and more. Nothing too painful yet, just really good to know he/she is doing fine. I am more tired than I was before and I seem to be experiencing that lesser known symptom called "pregnancy brain" where I forget things easily and just generally take longer than usual to "get" things.

And finally, I know most of you already know, but for those of you who do not, Devinder and I will be moving to the Comox Valley on Vancouver Island in January. We bought a large duplex with the help of his parents who will be living in the downstairs suite about 6 months out of the year. My parents, grandparents, sisters, aunt and cousins live in Courtenay and we will be living in a little town called Cumberland about 10 minutes away. As well, Devinder's cousins and their kid's live in Comox about 15 minutes from us. The Valley is absolutely gorgeous with lots of great swimming holes, hiking trails and parks as well it's right on the ocean, the same ocean we were married on. It's a huge lifestyle change that we have been talking about making for quite sometime now. Thanks to his parents we are able to proceed that much sooner and we couldn't be more excited for the sudden change. I will post a picture of the house very soon...

18 Week Ultrasound

I thought it would take a while to find the baby like when we went in to hear the heartbeat, but as soon as she touched the wand to my belly, WHAM, there was our baby. It was the most humbling experience. To actually see our baby inside my belly, there just aren't words enough to describe it. According to our technician, we have a VERY active baby, healthy, but active. But for all the kicking and punching we saw it do in there, I couldn't feel a damn thing, so it's a little hard to fully get that it really is inside my belly. We saw it yawn and suck it's thumb. It did provide us with a lovely crotch shot but we still couldn't tell if it's a girl or a boy. I have been so distracted today, all I keep seeing is my baby squirming around inside my belly. I felt this instantaneous love well up inside of me, but it's hard because the baby's as close as it could possibly get to me and yet I can't feel it. I can't pick it up and cuddle it all I can do stare at these grainy pictures. There is absolutely no doubt in my mind now that we are pregnant and I think I'll start growing now because I really get that it's not just gas that's making me look bigger, it's a baby growing inside my belly...

Is It Over?

Well it's day 9 now with no signs of nausea...is it safe to say I'm in the clear?? I was reading back over my previous posts and I realize that I made the mistake of saying I was in the clear back when I was 9 weeks, and then the post right after that I'm puking my gutts out again. So instead of saying this is it, I'm just going to celebrate these past 9 days, cause they really have been great, and if I get sick tomorrow, at least I can look back and remember that I had a break and it was fantastic. Memory, that's something else I wanted to write about. Now that I've been nausea-free for 9 days, it's like I almost forget what it was like 9 days ago. I even mentioned to Devinder that I think we should have our children closer together after all. Before, I wasn't so sure if I ever wanted to have another child. I've heard that the human body is incapable of remembering pain, which is why, even after the pain of childbirth, so many women do it all over again.

In other great news, Kelli and Trevor are pregnant!!! 9 weeks and holding strong! I am so excited to be pregnant with Kelli and Amanda. This means that our kids will only be a few weeks apart, which is so freakin' fantastic! Nicole and I were just reminicising at work yesturday about how many Aunts and Uncles we had growing up who weren't really our Aunts and Uncles, but our parents best friends. Our friends are already our family, but it's so great to add kid's to that relationship. It makes sense really, I mean you don't get to choose your family and often you don't get to live near them either, but you do get to chose your friends. Why wouldn't you want to have children with all the people you are closest with, who you've chosen as friends because they are so much like you.

I have motherly instinct!! I baby sat for my cousin Caleb last night. Well more to the point, he slept and I watched TV and read Miriam's baby books. But at one point he woke up and started to make noise. My heart began to beat a little faster at the excitement and terror of what was behind the bedroom door. But I just waited, and listened and realized that he was just making noise, not really crying, and he stopped and went back to sleep. I am always asking Miriam for books on how to raise babies and she is always telling me that she was mostly frustrated with the books she's read, because she knows that it's mostly mother's instinct. I think it's the best advice I've gotten so far, cause that's what I heard when Caleb was crying. I wasn't leafing thru my brain to that page in that book where they talk about what to do when a baby cries, I just listened and somehow knew that he was going to be fine.