30 Weeks or 35??

It's been 2 weeks since I posted last. How is that possible? There's no way it's been 2 weeks since I've been here. Where are the days going???

I had a midwife appointment yesterday morning that Shaun came to with me. He started asking as soon as we were in the room if he could do the gel part and turn on the dopplar. What a highlight! Maggie, my original midwife, is off indefinitely on sick leave so now my back up, Pooja, will be the main one and will deliver my baby. I'll meet my new back up in a couple weeks. I'm down to visits every 2 weeks now. It'll be exciting to get to listen to the baby so often. I still get excited hearing the heartbeat.

I've been measuring about 1-2 weeks ahead this whole pregnancy. That's no surprise because I was with Shaun too. Yesterday I nearly fell off the bed when Pooja told me I'm measuring 5 weeks ahead! 5 weeks, are you kidding me?! I don't think I've grown all that much in the 3 weeks since my last appointment but apparently I have. Pooja is sending me for an ultrasound on Wednesday to check up on the baby, do some measurements and check the amniotic fluid too. Apparently a higher than normal amount of fluid is sometimes an indicator of GD. I had my glucose tolerance test 2 weeks ago and it all came back normal but that's not to say something hasn't cropped up in the meantime. Also, if I do have an excess of fluid it could pose a greater risk if my water were to break because the cord can prolapse. I'm doing my very best to think positively and just be glad to be getting another ultrasound. Worrying will do me no good for the time being.

My urine test was a little off too. Glucose was nil but the protein had risen from 'trace' amounts 3 weeks ago to +1 yesterday. I don't know the actual measurement but I think that protein goes from nil all the way up to +4. Most often, protein is a sign of infection, like a UTI or something, but in some cases it's a sign that pre-eclampsia is lurking. My blood pressure has been fine this whole pregnancy so I'm hoping it's just an infection and my kidneys aren't working just right. I have to drop a sample off to the lab on Monday. At least it's not blood... this time.

To compare, I put my 31 week photo with Shaun beside the 30 week one from yesterday. Without stating the obvious, am I really THAT much bigger???

5 Green Speckled Frogs

I only had to sing this song once to Shaun and then he took over! We don't have any frogs in the tubby toy basket so a racoon, 2 squirrels and a baby tiger had to do. He didn't seem to mind!

Five green and speckled frogs

Sat on a speckled log

Eating some most delicious bugs

Yum Yum!

One jumped into the pool

Where it was nice and cool

Now there are four green speckled frogs

Glub Glub!

An Adventure with my Boys

I love spring! I love winter too... and summer and fall, but really, I LOVE SPRING. I think it's because I just feel so rejuvenated. After a long cold winter with too much snow and not enough vacation, along comes spring with flowers everywhere, sunshine almost every day and temperatures warm enough that I don't have to worry about a jacket. The birds sing so loud it's amazing they don't need throat drops to soothe themselves. And everyone's happy. It seems no matter where I look in spring, there's happiness everywhere: in the animals, in people, in the sky. Did I mention that I love spring?

We decided to head down to the river today to search for tadpoles. Shaun and I went down there this time last year and the water lapping at the shore was thick and black with billions of tadpoles. I went armed with an empty pickle jar this year, hoping to scoop some up and bring them home. I was disappointed that there weren't any tadpoles yet - well, we did see one. Yup, one lonely tadpole. I didn't have the heart to take the only one in the whole river. Shaun and I will return in a couple weeks and hopefully all the mummy frogs will have spit out their eggs by then so I can borrow a few. Shaun's so interested in anything having to do with nature right now that Craig and I thought having tadpoles would be really cool. I just have to do some research on what to feed those tiny things. Any suggestions??

Since there weren't any tadpoles we walked a trail to a long dock jutting out into the middle of the river. Last year there was a muskrat that swam out from under the dock that nearly sent me flying into the river with surprise. The muskrat wasn't there today. Shaun figured it was out fishing. *shrug* The three of us sat on the dock in the warm sun for a while and then Craig decided to go exploring with Shaun further down the trail. They found a skeleton and deer tracks. I wish I'd gone with them. I'm fascinated by skeletons. When I was a little girl, my dad and I found a skeleton of a raccoon under a bridge by a river where I grew up and he brought it home, bleached all the flesh off the bones and glued it all back together. My brother and I had the best show and tell EVER! I still have that raccoon skeleton in a shoe box in my daycare chest, just waiting for the time when I start my own daycare in my home and can pull it out to impress all the kids.

28 weeks belly photo. The blur in the front is Shaun trying to scoot quickly in front of the camera before hearing the "click". He was too slow. Lovely.

27 Weeks

Okay, 27 weeks. I can't believe how much this baby grew since the last photo! My uterus has grown to just below my ribs and is causing them to expand out a little, meaning my bras don't fit quite as nice anymore! I was wanting to wait until the baby was born to go and buy some new nursing bras but I'm going to have to get some earlier than I thought if I'm going to avoid having the underwires digging into me!

Also, my midwife moved my due date back 3 days so I'm now officially due on August 8. It's actually better I feel, because this way I have that much longer to go into labour on my own before there's worry of complications from going overdue (although I HOPE I won't be). Because of the new due date, I'm taking photos on Friday now instead of Tuesday, so maybe the amount of belly-growth is more due to the fact that it's been 2 1/2 weeks since my last photo instead of only 2 weeks, like the gestation would otherwise indicate.

Oh, and that thing at the bottom of the photo beside my hand, it's some of Shaun's toys that I was rotating that I hadn't gotten around to putting away yet. I'm usually really conscious of what's sharing the photo with me but the bag of play food missed my attention. No worries.

Buddy

I heard Shaun talking to someone a couple of weeks ago while he was eating dinner and I had quickly run to the bathroom. I chalked it up to him talking with the fat cat that always sits on the empty chair and wills food to drop to the floor so she can nibble on it. Then a couple days ago it happened again; he was talking to someone while I ran down the basement for a moment.

Finally when he turned and spoke to the air yesterday while we were sitting eating dinner together I asked him who he was talking to. "My friend, Buddy, Mum," as if I should have known. Apparently Buddy is Shaun's new friend who sits beside him at the table. So far I haven't seen Buddy appear anywhere else in the house except when we're eating. Buddy is a boy but only talks to Shaun and his favourite food is corn. Go figure, that's one of Shaun's favourite foods too.

I've known for a while that Shaun really needs a friend his age to just be a kid with. His play is so different when he's with another child than with me or Craig. Now that the warmer weather is here we've been spending a fair amount of time outside and he's made friends with a little boy from our complex who is only a week or so younger. I've felt relief that this may be the social aspect of Shaun's life that has been missing. I guess I was wrong because now Buddy has appeared. It's too cute to listen to him ask Buddy what he'd like to eat and encourage Buddy to take "just one bite". That's our rule: you have to take at least one bite of everything that's being served. Buddy doesn't talk much and Shaun hasn't played with Buddy as of yet but I'm sure the more he explores the world of pretend and imagination that Buddy will become a permanent feature in Shaun's life. It's sort of creepy that Shaun has an imaginary friend but it's really cool at the same time. He's only 2 1/2 and already has identified that having a friend is important; and if he can't have a real friend, he'll make one up.

I wonder what Buddy's mum thinks of him eating here all the time instead of at home? I have to remind myself to let this whole story-line follow Shaun's lead and not get too involved. I tend to want to direct play too often and don't let it find its own course. He's awake from his nap right now but playing in his room. I can hear him over the monitor talking about planes and helicopters. I wonder who he's talking to...

And So, We Meet

Craig and I had discussed back in the first trimester getting a 3D ultrasound done. Extra ultrasounds above and beyond the standard aren't covered by OHIP so it would cost us $169.50 out of our pocket. Originally I decided I wasn't going to get it done but the more I felt the baby moving inside me, the more I realized how much I wanted to meet this baby early. Shaun and I went today and Mum joined us. Craig couldn't get time off in the middle of his shift so I'm thrilled my Mum could come and share the scan with me. It would have been so different if I was by myself.

Peek a Boo!

I was amazed at how much the baby moves that I don't feel. It was squirming the whole time! And we got some great shots on DVD of the baby yawning and stretching. One yawn was so big it stuck out its tongue and everything. So amazing that this a life we started together.

We had decided back at the last ultrasound that we don't want to know the gender this time around. I knew the chance of the gender remaining a mystery after this scan was slim but baby cooperated and kept its legs closed! It must have known that we want it to stay a surprise until its birth day. Funnily enough I don't have any strong feelings one way or another. I had been thinking for a while that I may be carrying a boy but now I'm not sure. It's strange that so many people say they just "know" the gender of their baby before even an ultrasound. Do they say that AFTER they know that their hunch was right? What does that feel like, to know what gender your baby is without actually knowing for certain? I have to admit that I haven't even had a single dream about the gender of this baby. That must mean that it really doesn't matter to me and that it's not on my mind. I've been dreaming of all sorts of bizarre things lately, from the brakes not working on the van to my favourite TV show being nothing but commercials for the whole half hour, but the baby hasn't appeared in any yet.

I'm finding it harder to bond with this baby. When I was pregnant with Shaun I would sit and read after coming home from work and nudge my belly whenever he'd kick or squirm. I remember spending hours in the rocking chair before he was born, reading outloud and singing favourite songs from childhood. I haven't done that specifically for this baby yet. Granted, I read every night aloud to Shaun and I sing countless children's songs every day with him (his favourite right now is Herman the Worm) so that helps with the guilt I feel that I don't have as much time to enjoy this pregnancy. I always knew that this pregnancy would be different. I'm busier. Our routine has changed. I've been here before and the little nudges throughout the day aren't new anymore so I don't notice them as much. It's sad, really. I'm almost mourning this pregnancy before it's even 3/4 done. Craig commented to me tonight that it seems to be going a lot quicker than with Shaun. I agree! I'll probably have just as many days to enjoy having a tiny life all to myself as I did with Shaun but I'm busy caring for another little life at the same time. I wonder what it will be like with 2 children? No wonder so many people plan to have their second child when the first is old enough for school.