I Dropped the Baby!!

I had my midwife appointment yesturday and not only learned that the baby has turned and is now facing down, but it also dropped and is half way down my pelvis already!! What a good baby I have and to think I was worried! The dropping of the baby explains my increase in period like cramps thru the day, apparantly that's normal as it's head is rubbbing against my pelvis. As for my size, I seemed to have lost a pound for a total weight gain of 14 pounds. I am also 3cm under in my measurements, which is still in the low-normal range. If I am 4cm under by our next visit they will send me for an ultrasound just to make sure everything is tickety boo. In the meantime I am to eat more and do less - ha!! I eat ALL DAY LONG!! As for doing less, I would love to, but I am in the middle of moving and renovations. Luckily today is our BIG move and some sense of normalcy should return very soon. Oh and I also was able to look at my own cervix during a pelvic exam. If any of you have one in the near future before you start dilating, make sure to grab a mirror and have a look. It's absolutely amazing to see your own cervix completely closed and so tiny and then to try to imagine a big a head coming thru. Even as I write it I just can't quite imagine how that's going to happen. It really puts it all into perspective.

Devinder just leaned over and said "Don't forget to tell them about watching the baby move. Oh and you can tell them I think it's really cool!" My moms and my sister think it's pretty cool too! All of a sudden we can really SEE the baby moving. I thought feeling the baby move was the cats ass, but now, I just love staring down at my belly and watching he/she roll from one side the other. I can't believe I only have 5 1/2 weeks left to enjoy this all. I feel like I am going to be so lonely without my friend in my belly. I am sooooo excited about meeting our baby, but at the same time I am starting to feel a bit anxious about the whole thing, which I am sure is perfectly normal. It's almost like I feel the most anxious about getting enough Devinder and me time in without doing renos before the arrival of our new family member. I just want to have at least a week of quiet mushy cuddling and movie watching time cause it will probably be our last for a long time...

34 Weeks - Please Allow 6 to 8 Weeks for Delivery...

I am feeling soooo much better after a fantastic Christmas with family. Things are still a little hectic putting in hardwood flooring and then our big move on Friday, but the list of things to do is drawing to a close. I really did feel bad for my baby; being so stressed and crazy cannot be a good thing for a baby in a belly. I was supposed to have a midwife appointment today but some lucky woman was having a baby. I am feeling better about not being that big after talking to my family and learning that all the women carried their babies the same way, so my baby should be just fine. I would have liked to have had my measurements taken just for peace of mind, but I might have to wait til next week. I really don't know how they can base every pregnant women's measurements off of one perfect measurement scale, I mean we are all just so different and it's got us small woment hinking we are too small and us big women thinking we are too big. I really think this must be the stage of pregnancy where you start to worry even more because I am starting to ignore the logical side of my brain and only listent to the constant "what if" side. I just am so close, all I want to do is to meet my baby.

Devinder and I did jump the gun a little on the whole parenting thing and we got a dog. His name is Kona and he is an 8 year old chocolate Lab. We got him thru a friend of a friend who just felt she didn't have time for him anymore and wanted him to go to a good family. We are head over heels in love after only a week! Having a dog has always been a part of this dream, the dream of living in a small town, because we just never wanted to have a dog in the city. So it really makes our move seem all that more real. Here is a picture of Devinder and Kona having a morning snuggle...

Explanation for Pregnancy Brain

I was reading a book on water birth last night and it explained the reason pregnant women often feel spaced out and forget things. I always knew it had to do with hormones, but was unsure why. A very simple explanation is that our brain is divded into 2 parts, the thinking part of the brain and the emotional part of the brain. It is the emotional part of the brain which releases hormones essential for your baby's development. The only way for your brain to release these hormones is to shut off the thinking part of the brain, thus we feel a little retarded from time to time.

This is also true during labour as your body needs to dump all sorts of hormones to help the uterus contract. I have heard of "Labour Land" the place that women retreat to in labour - this is because the thinking brain has taken a backseat for a while. It is extremly important during labour to feel relaxed and comfortable in your surroundings so you don't have to use the thinking part of your brain as it will release endorphins and adreniline which can block the hormones and cause labour to slow down. Once you are fully dilated your thinking brain will kick in, block your emotional brain from dumping hormones and release all those endorphins and adreniline so you will feel the urge to push. After the baby is born once again your thinking brain takes a backset and large amounts of the hormone Oxytocin are dumped causing you to fall madly in love with your little bambino and at the same time helps you to birth the placenta.

I love our bodies! It is just so cool that it just knows how to do all that!

Another cool thing my body can do - inspired by Corrine and Cathy, I gently squeezed my right nipple last night in the bath and low and behold, a little drop of milk came out!!!! Holy shit I really am going to feed my baby thru my own boobies!!! Oh I can feel the love hormones flowing freely now...

33 Weeks

Yes I am alive and doing much better! This whole pregnancy I have been saying that it's impossible for me to feel stressed because of all these wonderful hormones making me feel so calm all the time. Last week I realised that that is absolutely not true. As you all know we are in the process of moving over to our new home in Cumberland on Vancouver Island. And I'm sure you all also know that moving is VERY STRESSFUL!! Maybe even more so when you are pregnant because you are just so damn tired all the time how can you possibly pack up your enitre house in the evenings after working all day??? To top it off, Devinder has been working like a mad demon on our Volkswagon Van tyring to get it running so we can move it over with us. This has left me to do all the packing and cleaning by myself, and I did mention that I am VERY pregnant and SOOOO tired. I blame not Devinder, it's just the way it worked out, but it has caused me a fair amount of stress. It also doesn't help that it's Christmas and we are moving away from all our friends, so there are a lot of social functions that must happen as well. It's a lot of juggling and I'm not feeling so co-ordinated these days.

All that being said, today I hardly feel pregnant at all, I have energy and feel relatively calm. Last night we finished all the packing and the little details that are left are just that, very little so there really isn't much left to stress out about, not that I really needed to stress out last week either, but too late for that now. I started to train my replacement at work today and it looks like this Friday will be my second to last day, my last one being January 5 after a nice long break. I will just come back on the 5th and make sure she is settled and doing well and say one last goodbye to everyone before my year off!!

And just a shout out to you all for reading this blog. People mention to me all the time that they read along every week and I am just always amazed!! I also got a comment from Corrine over at Two Pink Lines checking in on me to make sure I was still doing okay cause she hadn't heard from me in a while. I am just so touched, thank you! I am also so amazed by everyone's generosity. Devinder and I haven't bought a damn thing for this baby yet because people have been so kind in giving us stuff - it's utterly amazing!! This weekend all our friends gave us the stroller we needed for the car seat that our other friends gave us!! Thank-you, thank-you, thank-you!!! I hope you all know how much we appreciate everything, and everyone and yes I might be getting sappy but it is just so nice to feel so loved...

Acid Reflux Humour...

This is the funniest and most appropriate picture I stumbled upon today on Notes From a Former New Yorker. You know I can actually tell the difference between Tums and Rolaids...

32 Weeks

Wow only 8 weeks to go!

Feeling good overall with some complaints to follow.
Complaint #1 - Sleeping poorly. Peeing what seems like every hour at night and just can't seem to get comfortable.
Complaint #2 - Sciatica. Oh the nerve! From my lower back, down my right buttock and ending at the top of the back of my thigh. I have never had problems with my sciatic before, so I didn't really know what it was at first. Seems to be very mild and tolerable, but I am still aware of it.
Complaint #3 - Back Pain. I just feel full. From my neck down to my pelvis I feel stuffed and I think the stuffing is trying to get out. It's pushing on every muscle down my back from the inside leaving me with a dull ache by the end of the day. Without Devinder's nightly back rubs I don't know what I'd do.

Other than that I feel all right, a little tired from not sleeping well, but I still seem to have quite a bit of energy as long as I'm not exerting myself!

I had the craziest baby dream last night and I can't get it out of my head today. It was more like a baby anxiety dream following my midwife appointment on Friday. Our baby is still in the breech position which isn't yet a worry, but by my next appointment when I will be 34 weeks, we are going to have to start worrying about turning it. Last night I dreamt that I could see my baby thru my belly and I was asking him (it was a baby boy in my dream) to please turn for me. The baby replied saying he would be happy to as long as I promised to stop pushing his head all the time. Then the baby crawled up my throat and came out my mouth. I then grabbed the baby by his feet, held him upside down and swallowed him head first!!

I think I may be a little worried about delivering a breech baby. If I have one fear it's delivering in a hospital and worse than that, having to have a C-Section. I am so completely fascinated with what my body can do, that I want to see it all thru. I want to experience labour and I want to deliver my own baby, vaginally without anyone else telling me what to do. I want to listen to my body and let nature take over. I am not scared of pain, I am scared of losing control in a hospital and not having a say over what strange men do to my body. I have been trying some exercises I read about in my sister's mothering magazine to help turn the baby and I know I still have time so I don't really need to freak out yet, but it's a little hard not to when I look at the alternatives.

And last but not least, Happy Birthday to my hubby Devinder who is 33 today!

Me n' my Girls

Me 31 Weeks, Amanda 26 Weeks and Kelli 23 Weeks, just 3 of the many people I get to be pregnant with. I wish I could get a picture of all of us pregnant at the same time, but I think I may have to use photoshop to make that happen...

I had a crazy baby dream last night. I was trying to breastfeed my baby who I swear was my 1 1/2 year old cousin Caleb. Only I couldn't produce any milk and I was obviously very frustrated. In real life my sister Kyla told me that if you can't breastfeed for any reason you can substitute pure raw organic carrot juice for breast milk as it contains all the nutrients and protein mother's milk has. In my dream I was desparate to find carrot juice while carrying around Caleb who kept making sucky faces indicating that he really wanted to be fed...strange!

31 Weeks or 7 Months!!

Yep, I feel very pregnant now. Have thought once or twice that I am ready to not be pregnant and that I would like to have my body back now, but I am trying to stay positive, I mean there is still so much more ground to cover. If you were to ask me what one thing would make me suddenly feel this way, I couldn't tell you really. I just feel pregnant. I still love my belly, I love to rub the buddha and I love the baby kicking me all day. We have our little routines, like I know when I have my nightly bath that I will play tag with the bun as he/she rolls from one side to the other. I can always rely on the bun to kick me pretty hard just as I am falling asleep. And I'm not sure if it's the baby that wakes me up every morning, but when I do wake up the bun is moving around like crazy. Devinder loves it when I spoon him and he can feel the baby through his back. He gets mad at me if I don't tell him EVERY SINGLE TIME the baby is moving. I thought maybe he might get bored with it cause there are more hours in the day that baby is moving than not moving. But no, he really wants his had on my belly EVERY TIME THE BABY MOVES. I'm glad he's so excited but I'm a little concerned when he says the baby will make him even more kid like and immature!

In other news, my cousin Amy is pregnant with her first child!! Our family is just buzzing with excitment! All these babies so close together! What a wonderful time we're having, how dare I complain about being pregnant...

More Baby Feet

No this is not my belly and those are not my baby's feet. Avorie over at ReDinkyDink posted this picture and I just had to share it with you all. I had NO IDEA this was even possible and for the life of me, and I can't decide if it's beautiful or just plain scary...