40 Weeks Today

I know that only about 5% of births happen exactly on the due date. Is it wrong to hope like heck that we're one of the 5%?

I want this baby out! I'm terrified that the longer this baby stays in, the bigger this baby will be and I might not be able to get baby out!

Today I put together a little ABC book with my Zutter machine. It's so cute, and the animals in it are adorable. Colors are great too. I'll post a pic another time. I also made cookies. Tonight we went to Okotoks for a walk by the river and out for supper. Andy swears he was trying to make me giggle, but I think he's trying to bear-claw the baby right out of my belly in this pic!

This past week the baby room has really come together. I mod-podged some paper onto a bookshelf and cut some vinyl shapes for the wall with my CriCut. Andy finished the drapery rod so we hung the drapes. There are only a few things left to do for the completion of the room, but Andy insists he will need something to do when the baby actually does arrive. So, here is one picture to whet your appetite, and I will show more when things are finally together.

Waiting Time

I've been busy.

Last week we prayed that the baby wouldn't come until after the recital. Baby listened and hung out for awhile longer.

Saturday came and still no baby (even after some intense contractions Friday night). So then I got to thinking, Hey, I could stand a little more time to get some things done. Time is good. Time is nice. So this is what I've been up to:

Sock Creatures. I've made three. Just finished the last one today. We've got the twins, Max & Millie, and little Percy. They're kind of fun and a bit ridiculous. Check out their awesome tails!





















On Monday, I made this piece of artwork for the wall. I sewed fabric and also added paper and buttons. The tree and the birds are all templates I made from Maya Road chipboard shapes. I'm sure I could have come up with something more original, but I really loved these shapes, so I just drew them on my own and adapted them for this project.












I love the sewing on the bottom with the little round logs.





















Andy finished the set of drawers. It is BEAUTIFUL! I love the look of the grain.

Over the Easter holiday, I made this slip cover for the chair.

















I've been getting the baby's room more together and it's looking great! I've been cleaning and tidying spaces around the house and tomorrow I will do some baking. I'm really enjoying this TIME!

But... I am getting bigger. Can you believe I've gained almost exactly what the midwives hoped I'd gain: 40 POUNDS! I'm out to HERE!!! Mostly I'm feeling pretty good. I've got Braxton Hicks contractions, constant kidney pain, and now swelled legs, ankles, and feet because I have to spend a good portion of the day (and sometimes middle of the night) standing to alleviate some of the kidney pain. Other than that, I'm happy. I'll be much happier when I get to cuddle this wee babe in my arms. Although by the time he or she makes her grand entrance, she might not be so "wee". One of our midwives thinks this one is going to have a long body with long legs.
And here's one of Andy. I think he feels a little left out with all these pictures of me and my belly.

37 weeks.. and all that that implies...

Just when I thought I could get no bigger... my ever-expanding belly surprises us all!




















Highlights of this past week (or not so highlights) include:

1. Ode to my Mother. She keeps asking me what I have left to do, and I told her of some sewing projects I wanted to do: hemming the drapes and making the diaper bag. She said it most aptly: "I can do it faster than you." And true to her word, she spent one day and had it all done! So thanks Mom! Now everyone will want a bag like mine!






2. Andy is almost finished staining and polyurethaning the dresser for the baby room, yay! And, my talented husband also made an attachment for our kitchen tap that will aid in filling our "birthing pool". Nice work, Andy!

3. This was my last week at Kids Are Special Jr. Kindergarten. Sad, but it had to happen sometime! Unfortunately for me, it happened sooner than later, but more on that next. The kids made a list this week of their guesses as to what sex the baby would be, and what we should name the baby. We had names ranging from "Sweetie" (cute, huh?) to "Tina" to "Princess Annalese". A few of the children thought that their own name was the best, so we got some Calebs and Davons and Connors, etc. I will miss these kids!

4. I had another kidney attack. This time it wasn't a gradual thing - it literally attacked out of nowhere. Stabbing, completely dibilitating kidney pain. Lucky for me it didn't last as long as it did the last time. We (actually, my afore mentioned wonderful Mother) rushed to the hospital and they put me on the monitors to check baby, and in about an hour and a half the pain had subsided considerably. Our midwife suggested we go to Calgary, but when we left High River Hospital, I felt like the pain was going away and we didn't want to spend another night and day waiting around for tests at the Rockyview. So, I stayed home to rest and we went to our pre-scheduled ultrasound on Wednesday morning. Now, there's some prestory to this ultrasound. It wasn't just kidneys that they would be checking. At my last appointment, TWO midwives were stumped by a big lump in my belly that apparently wasn't a discernable baby part. I am also measuring small, so they wanted to check if there was a growth that was taking away from baby. Well, I was very worried. But I know the Lord watches over us and answers prayers (thanks for all your prayers). If there was a lump there, there's not one now! The ultrasound showed baby as happy as a peach. Babe is moving a lot and gets herself into some strange positions, so they think that the way baby is sitting has stretched my uterus into some strange shapes. The spot that was in question turns out to be baby's bum stretching out. Andy was funny, saying that our baby might be born without a bum since everyone's been praying for the lump to go away.
We're so glad that baby is okay. We only have to worry about kidney pain, because they found a small stone in the left kidney, and quite some fluid in the right kidney. It's funny because all this time I've been having a lot of pain in the right one, and the left one never gave me any pain until Monday. So... still a lot of kidney pain, but it's manageable. I've been drinking a tonne of fresh lemon and water and have cut back on many things that may aggravate kidney stones. These things include animal products: meat, milk, dairy, fish, etc. And sugars (which I wasn't having much of in the first place). But now I'm stumped as to what I should eat. Last night I made a really yummy minestrone soup and a roasted red pepper hummus, but I can't just eat beans for the next few weeks! Any suggestions? Please!

5. My good friend Rebecca Smart had her baby 5 weeks early by emergency C-section a week ago Friday. At first things seemed to be going well (at least he was a relatively healthy birth weight of 6.1 lbs), but her baby, Sean, had a few seizures and now has some blood pooled in his brain. After a week in ICU, he seems to be doing better - a few minor seizures, but he is able to breathe on his own and has been able to cut back on some of the tubes and monitors he was hooked up to. They are hoping that if he can feed on his own, the blood will dissapate and he should be able to go home with his parents. The doctors are optimistic, which sounds good. He is in our prayers.

6. This afternoon, Andy and I attended a gorgeous a capella choral concert in High River. My good friend Candia sings in the Spiritus Chamber Choir, who happened to be performing in High River today. What a treat to hear a professional choir like this one! They were BEAUTIFUL!

So, exciting week say the least. I have one more week of teaching piano, with the student recital this Friday, so anytime after that the baby can come! (We hope!) I'm still trying to putz around, doing cleaning and setting up for baby, but in all the essentials we are ready.

Thank you for your thoughts and prayers. It means so much to us at this time!

April 27

Very uncomfortable. Babe's feet in the kidney or kidney stones again? We might find out at our ultrasound on Wednesday.
Pressure. On kidneys, bowels, bladder.
They don't tell you about the end of pregnancy until you get there. It's long and uncomfortable.
Oh well. Only a few more weeks to go.

Congratulations to Rebecca and Terry, who had their baby boy, Sean Henry Smart, last Friday night in emergency c-section 6 weeks early! At first everything looked fine, but last night, baby Sean had two seizures and they think he might have an infection in his blood? You are in our prayers, sweet babe!

34 Weeks/Easter

I hope you have all had a happy Easter! I've been looking forward to this week off. I have grand plans to sew, bake, shop, visit, a bit of teaching, and get some piano stuff done too. Enjoy your week!

Baby update: At our last appointment our midwife felt the baby and decided that babe has moved into position! And I gained another 4 inches! You're supposed to gain about 1 inch per week after 15 weeks or so, but I jumped 4 inches in two weeks since baby finally moved! We also learned that I've been having Braxton Hicks contractions since before week 26! I just thought it was baby stretching. I guess not, but it's all good because it just gets my body ready for the real thing!

33 Weeks

Well, here I am at 33 weeks. Everyone always comments that I still look so small. Well, there's a reason. I actually am measuring small, but it's because baby has gotten comfortable in a certain position - sideways, or transverse!! So, hopefully baby will move into a more appropriate position for labour as the time draws nearer. I don't think anyone is worried about it yet - not until 36 weeks at least.

Things I love right now? Andy is finished the shelves in the closet (just the clothing rods to go!) and he set up the crib today! I'm planning on doing a huge shopping trip (or a few) starting next Saturday to get all the essentials in order - you know, like crib sheets, onesies, and diapers might be a good thing. I can't really go overboard seeing how we don't know the baby's sex yet. Any guesses? While we're at it, anyone want to guess the date, sex, and weight of baby? I'll have something fun for the person who ends up being the closest!

29 Weeks

I'm so slow at posting these days. I'm posting this while I'm almost at 30 weeks. My excuse this week? Taxes. 'Nuff said.

What's going on with me at 29 weeks? Well, blood work says I'm iron deficient, which explains why I feel light-headed and fainty after I do something simple like walk up the stairs! My white blound count is still up after the whole kidney thing, so my body is still trying to combat infection. I'm so tired.











That said, the fun things include: continuing to feel baby moving around, and the kids at preschool are in awe at my ever-expanding belly. They will spontaneously want to feel "the baby". One little boy always asks if he can "see" the baby, and makes motions like he wants to look down my shirt. Here's a typical conversation:
Him: "Can I see the baby?" (motioning to look down my shirt).
Me: "Well, the baby is inside Ms. Kaly's belly. You can't see the baby from the outside."
Him (as he points to my belly): "But it's right there."
Me: "Can you see what's inside your belly?"
Him: "Uh, no."
Me: "Baby's inside my belly. All you would see is my skin, just like we see your skin on your belly."
Him: "Oh."
Then we have a repeat of the same conversation the next week.

Perhaps She'll Die?

No, not really. But I'm posting this blog from my hospital room today. Yup. Hospital. So not fun. I came in yesterday with symptoms for kidney stones or just a really horrible, terrible, no good, rotten urinary tract infection. I was pretty much in pain from 9am till 11pm or so, getting progressively worse as the hours ticked by. By 11 pm when they finally started giving me iv antibiotics, saline, and morphine, I was in mucho intense pain. But as soon as the antibiotics started to kick in, I began feeling a bit better. Then the morphine kicked in and I started to get drowsy and the pain started to fade. Morphine is great for pain, but it feels icky, that's for sure.

Anyway, to look on the bright side, our midwife, Sivan was with us the whole time last night and she remarked that I will be a pro when it comes time to labor because the pain I was having was so much more intense than labor pains will be! Some consolation at least?

Our midwife was great, the obstetricians were great (baby is great), and the nurses were wonderful.

I'm feeling drastically less pain today. Very tired, but feeling okay otherwise. They keep putting in the iv antibiotics and they want me to get an ultrasound to check my kidneys and urinary tract, and just to check on baby, but since it was the weekend, and there is only one radiologist for the entire hospital, we are all on a very long list to get ultrasounds today.

Since I feel so much better today, I am assuming that either the antibiotics are killing whatever infection I have or I actually passed my kidney stones last night. At least I am feeling better.

I hope you all had a much better Valentine's and Family Day weekend than I did!

p.s. I would post a picture, but you don't want to see this face after such a night! I popped some blood vessels or capilliaries around my eyes. Not a pretty sight. I just need some rest and I'll be as good as new (I hope!).

p.p.s. It just so happened that a good friend (expecting twins) was in the same night I was, so we had a little visit this morning. Nice coincidence. Not being in the hospital, but getting to see a familiar face. As far as I know, she's going home today for more bed rest.

UPDATE: I was able to be discharged from the hospital Monday night around 7pm following an ultrasound and doctor's consult (who happened to be Diana [Poulin] Timms' brother). The prognosis? Hydronephrosis. Distention (dilation) of the kidney with urine, caused by backward pressure on the kidney when the flow of urine is obstructed. They assume that the urine was obstructed by either stones or that baby had been putting pressure at a certain point to cause a kink in the line. Well, whatever it was it was painful and I'm glad that it is over.
We got home last night and I went straight for the shower then straight to bed. Roughly 12 hours of sleep later and I'm feeling rested and much better.

Preparations for Babe/24 Weeks

I'm posting this picture a bit late. This is me at 24 weeks. I'm now almost 25 weeks. Wow, does time fly! Especially when you're going by weeks.









Here's Andy, plugging away at the baby room. Two coats of primer and this is the first coat of paint. I love it! It is a happy green, that's for sure, and it looks so cheerful in the daylight! You're doing an awesome job, Andy!

Temple Trip and Tap-Dancing Toes

Andy and I have always had a goal to attend the temple once a month. (We'll see how that goes this year with baby! Any suggestions?)
Andy came up with this great idea that we should take a picture each time we go to the temple and I will make a mini album out of it - kind of a flip book through the different seasons, times of day, outfits, weather, etc., but we will be the constants. So, here's the first picture for 2008!

In other fun news, yesterday was my birthday. I slept in, did a bit of scrapbooking, visit with a friend, then went to the temple. The highlight of my day? Waking up to tap-dancing toes on my belly! Now, this baby is an active little peanut, so I've been feeling all kinds of bumps and nudges and somersaults and all kinds of other acrobatics, but this was a unique feeling - two tiny feet going tap-tap-tap-tap one after the other! So exciting!

Love these guys!

Okay, so it isn't Mother's Day or Father's Day yet, but can I just tell everyone how much I love my parents? They really are the best!

Yesterday I had a regular checkup with my midwife, and since Andy is in school right now I thought maybe my Mom would like to go with me. When I asked her, she said she was planning on having a date with Dad the same time, so I said he should come with us too! So that was the plan.

Well, Dad showed up alone to pick me up. Apparently Mom needed to stay home with Gramma. So I insisted that I could just go by myself and he didn't have to use up his precious time driving all the way to Calgary and back. He (perhaps a little jokingly) said that Mom had told him that they need to support their daughter. So off we went to Calgary!

I think Dad would have been happy to stay in the car and read his book, but I convinced him to come in to the waiting room. Then convinced him to actually come into the appointment with me! So, all went well and we heard the baby's heartbeat and actually heard the baby moving around. Apparently I have a very active baby! (That's actually what the ultrasound report stated, and I've been feeling the baby moving tonnes in the past week or so.)

So anyway, thanks Dad, for supporting me. It was fun to have you there to listen to the baby. He or she will know that you cared enough to do that.

Beginning the Baby Belly!

It's been beginning for awhile now, but since I'm a small person, it hasn't been as apparent to other folks as it has to me. But here we are now, sprouting out! The funny thing is that I feel like the baby went through a massive growth spurt in the last week and a bit! I wasn't this out there a few weeks ago! I wasn't eating a lot for those 6 days I was sick, just drinking lots of fluids, so not a lot of growth from that. But then Christmas day hit... And Boxing Day.... And then family dinner on the day after that... Then leftovers for days and days and some eating out too. I sure made up for the week that I didn't eat much! And now here I am! Thanks to Mom and Dad for feeding us so much over the holidays!

Seeing Baby!

Introducing our little baby! He or she is moving around, kicking, flailing arms, everything! You can see he/she yawning (well, opening mouth at least!) Andy and I were able to see all this on Friday at our 18 week ultrasound. Isn't technology fantastic?!
I think our baby must be really smart and very loving already, because if you look closely at this one, you'll notice that baby actually makes a slight "I LOVE YOU" sign with fingers! Wow.

Check out the feet action in this one! Amazing!

Crepe-tastic!

Ooh, these crepes were so so yummy! Becky, you are such a better blogger than I! You had pictures and commentary up the very next day! I had to make you wait almost a week! Anyway, for all those who don't know what the heck I'm talking about, Andy and I (more emphasis on the I) had three of my girlfriends (Birdie, Becky, and Candia) over for a crepe and girlie gab night. Yeah... Andy mostly hid in the basement. We don't blame him though! We loved all the girl talk!


The crepes were fantastic and yummy! My favorite was the Nutella and raspberry one with whipped cream on the top. I would have photographed it better except that we were just too excited to actually eat them! So I didn't bother setting it up so much.

Latest baby news? Nothing much about the baby, more like symptoms of it being there. I feel very "stretched" today. It seems like the belly is starting to come all at once! I've been getting a lot of headaches lately, which really wipe me out. And I'm still craving all things raspberry. Well, except that raspberry cheese fudge that Andy bought me. He was so sweet, thinking that it would be a great treat for me. Well, it was more cheese than fudge or raspberry, so the taste was a bit odd. Okay, a lot odd. It was kinda gross. We gave it to my Mom who seemed to like it.

Lub Dub-Lub Dub

Or was it Swoosh-Swoosh Swoosh-Swoosh? Well, Andy and I heard the heartbeat of our wee babe yesterday! What an exciting thing!

Our first checkup with our widwife was great and everything is going very well. I'm even gaining weight! I told my Mom how much I've gained in the last three months and she replied, "Where are you putting it?!" I guess to most people I haven't really started to show yet, but it's there and it's healthy.

And Baby makes 3... or soon to Be

Andy and I would like to announce that we are expecting a bouncing bundle of joy sometime near the end of May! (Exact due date is May 22) We are thrilled! We are excited! We are a little bit nervous! But I'm sure all will be well.

How am I feeling, you ask? Well, some days it's like I have an alien parasite sucking the marrow out of my bones... literally. I've been super [super] tired, and only nauseated if I get too hungry or if I eat certain things at certain times of the day. No throwing up (thank goodness! and cross my fingers that it will stay that way!). The worst thing is that I have huge hormonal pregnancy acne so I feel kinda like I'm 13 going on 30 or something like that. I'm twelve weeks pregnant, and they say the tiredness will soon go away, but will come again in the third trimester. The baby is doing well as far as we know, and we have our first big appointment with our midwife team next Wednesday.

We'll keep you posted as we go!

btw, Here's Andy and I on Halloween - a burglar and Rocket Man. Dig the wigs?