Oliver is here!!!!

Hello Everyone,

Thank you for all of the kind words and wonderful wishes.

Baby Boy Balo finally has a name: Oliver Thomas Ty Balo

For those who may not know, we decided to add Ty (pronounced tee) as a second middle name, because it means House in Welsh.

Mum, Dad, and Oliver are doing wonderfully (aside from a lack of sleep for Mum and Dad). The labour and delivery however, weren’t quite as anticipated. Mum was induced on Monday morning due to slightly high blood pressure (the OB and us didn’t want to take any chances, and thankfully no complications arose). After spending almost three full days using everything under the sun to try to coax little Oliver out, they decided at 11 pm on Wednesday night to send Rhian for a caesarian. Unfortunately, the first anesthetic shot didn’t fully take, and instead of being born a Leo before midnight, Rhian had to receive a second shot, and he was born a Virgo early on the 23rd. Because of the caesarian, we will be in the hospital until at least Saturday afternoon. Since Mum has been in bed most of the time, Dad has been on full-time diaper duty, and has already been experienced, more than once, the hazards that come when changing a baby boy's diaper.

We have attached some of our favourite pictures of little Oliver, and can’t wait for everyone to meet him!

Lots of Love,

Rhian, Andrew and Oliver

 

It's a Boy!!!

 

 

 

Love

 

 

One Hour Old, waiting for Mummy to recover it only took two hours (she thinks)

 

 

The Grandparents welcome their little grandson :)

 

 

Getting checked out by the fantastic staff at Royal Columbian Hospital

 

 

 Good morning!!!!

 

 

 

 Nana, Mum and Gran

 

 

Dad, Granddad and Grumps/ Papa (still working on that one)

 

 

~On a side note,

Although the birth didn't go as I (Rhian) had planned, I have to say if anyone ever gets to deliver at Royal Columbian Hospital, the staff at all levels were so fabulous. They really helped make a rather traumatic experience for me very calming. I can not say enough about the nurses who sat by my side while I suffered through round and round of induction as well as the OB's who gave the medicine and my amazing midwife Tracey who was with me for all of Wednesday and there to help me while I was in surgery. I am truly blessed to have met all these people, also to have the love and support of all my family and friends and to have Andrew and Oliver happy and healthy.

 

Camping

I really am taking advantage of not working tonight, 4 blogs in 1 night.  As Rhian has touched on, we have had a fairly busy summer.  On what I think was the rainiest weekend of the summer (well technically spring), we decided to go camping in Ucluelet.  This picture might give you an idea how wet it actually was:

This was the middle of one of our campsites.


Everyone else arrived Friday night, and when we arrived Saturday morning, everyone was amazed we made it out.  I was really impressed Rhian toughed it out and came out camping.  We did learn that an airmatress in the middle of a tent is not the best place for a pregnant woman to sleep, and moved to our car around 3 a.m.

We decided to get some ponchos during the day to keep ourselves dry, isn't she cute:

We Have a New Sister

Just over two weeks ago my brother, Tim married Holly on Newcastle Island in Nanaimo.  It was sunny all weekend, and they had a gorgeous setting for their ceremony:

Here is Tim with his groomsmen:

and Rhian and I before the ceremony:

And of course Tim and his new bride:

We had a great time, and are thrilled to have Holly in our family. Sorry for the brevity, 4th blog of the night ...

Baby Training

In the middle of June, I had a training for work out in Montreal, so I decided to take advantage of the fact I was being flown out east on the company dime, to visit good friends of mine in Ottawa, Jeff and Lisa, and their adorable little girl Michaela.  For those of you who were at our wedding, Jeff was the guy who did a great job MCing it.  Unfortunately, Rhian was just entering her third trimester, so we decided not to push it and she stayed home.

It was really nice to see them; Rhian and I were out in Ottawa two years ago, and had a great chance to visit with Lisa, but our timing didn't work well for Jeff as he happened to be in Israel during our entire stay.  We also got a chance to see them for an evening about 8 months ago when they were out here to visit Lisa's family with their little girl.  But, this was the first chance in I don't know how long, where Jeff and I got a chance to hang out for an extended period.  I had a great time, and the Saturday night I was there, Jeff and Lisa got to go out together without their little girl for the first time when we went to see Steven Paige perform at West Fest (a little indication of what I have to look forward to).

While I didn't do any diaper changes, I got to spend time with an 11 month old, basically 24 hours a day, and saw the the fun and challenges a little one can be.  To be fair, she is really a good little girl, and the challenges were more due to her wanting to be independant and do things herself at 11 months, than her being difficult.

So, I learned why our little one may need to have bath time every night:

There is basically a 2 second window you have to try to wipe her face, and you only get 1 shot.  If you miss, she won't let you wipe her clean, and it definitely winds up in her hair.

Here is Jeff, Lisa and I before, you guessing it, the Run/Walk for Jewish Education in Ottawa.  Jeff and I jogged most of it, and Lisa walked it with a stroller and Baby M:

Here is me holding Michaela.  We spent the day walking through West Fest, and I gave Mom and Dad a break by pushing the stroller or carrying Michaela for part of it.  You can definitely tell she is Jeff's little girl in this picture:

And here is Michaela helping Daddy pick his next beer, and while Lisa and I pose for a picture together:

I had a great time visiting them, and it makes me wish even more that they lived in back in BC.  Maybe one day...

Pictures! The Baby is Almost Here

Well, I actually have a night were I am not working until the wee hours of the morning, so I decided that I would do a bunch of photo entries to catch everyone up on our past few months.


It's hard to believe that Rhian is actually considered full term today.  She is 37 weeks today, and officially reached the stage where it is safe for the baby to escape and it not considered early.  We (read as Rhian) have been in the nesting stage for the past month, picking up pretty much all we need for the first little bit with baby.  We spent the weekend getting the last things we need for the baby hospital bag - a newborn size onesie (we have a cute onesie already pick out, but if the baby is 7 pounds or less it might not fit), some socks and mittens for the ride home, and some baby toiletries for it first bath time!  The baby's hospital bag is packed, and we just need to pack one for Rhian and I.


Next on the to do list is to install the car seat; I think both of us have been procrastinating doing this because it is making things feel really real.  Rhian's due date is 21 days away, it feels so close now...


Anyway, as most of you haven't seen Rhian for a while, here are some pictures from the past few months:

Rhian at 30 weeks, just days before our nursery became a storage area for all of the things we are donating, or hopefully offloading on her cousin Kim if she ends up renting an unfurnished place.

Here is Rhian at 35 weeks, that belly sure is growing!! 


And here is Rhian in her birthday present from me and Mum and Dad (and her new favourite place to sit):

And finally, here is Rhian from earlier this evening, with her cousin Kim.  Kim stayed with us at the end of May before she heading up to Northern BC for field school, and is back with us for a couple weeks between the end of field school and the start of Grad School:

Hope all is well with everyone.  Hopefully we will be introducing you to Baby Balo soon!

Finally an Update!

Well we did it again ... clearly we aren't very good at weekly updates ;) Just kidding we have been crazy busy this last month and a bit. Lots have changed I got a year older, both the Balo family and the Hall family gained one new member and we haven't had a weekend that wasn't fully booked up. At the beginning of June my cousin and cousin-in-law had their precious little baby Laura Kathleen. She is just the prettiest little girl and I can't wait to actually meet her and see her parents as well. This past weekend we celebrated the wedding of Tim and Holly! It was such a great time and considering the weather we have had the month before they couldn't have picked a better date. The weekend was full of family and tons of love it was beautiful. In between our families getting bigger we had an awesome camping trip in Uclulet during a monsoon. Sleeping on an air mattress at 30 weeks was challenging and I ended up sleeping in the car... it was drier in there too. Even though the weather was crap the company was fantastic, we learnt how to call for a Sasquatch and how to build a tarp city as well. Over all the third trimester has been eventful, but I'm ready for it to slow down so I can get my home ready for Baby Balo to "escape" (Andrews terminology).

So as I'm writing this I'm 34.5 weeks along, that means only 2.5 weeks till the baby is full term eek! Our due date as per our care provider is August 20th so still 5.5 weeks away. But baby is the right way around and lower than ever before which is creating some awesome pains I have never had before. Baby is growing well, as of last midwife appointment is approximately 4 days ahead in size not sure how they figure that part out, fingers crossed we have a Balo/House size baby. The baby's heart rate has been at the 140bpm mark the past 3 appointments which is great. For those of you into old wives tales about gender, for a girl it's 140 and above, for a boy it's 140 and below. So 50/50 odds there. Right now as a couple we are thinking we are having a boy, I guess we have a bit more time to speculate. All of my blood work has come back as normal no anaemia which I'm grateful for, adding another pill to take in the morning would really stink, I already have to take my prenatal 3x a day and my DHA and Vitamin D 2x a day. All in all we are doing well, I am looking forward to putting a face to the little one using my bladder as a soccer ball.

Andrew claims he will write the next one ... I've heard that one before hardy har har. Oh we'll put up pictures then too :)

Love
the Balos

 

27 Weeks Already!

I have something that is really bothering me right now... I am sick and tired of comparing the baby to a piece of fruit or vegetable. One of our baby books gives us an update on what is happening with the baby each week, and for some reason, it always compares the size of the baby to a piece of fruit or vegetable.  As cute as it sounds to hear that baby Balo is the size of a rutabaga, it has lost its novelty. When we were in the first trimester saying that the baby was the size of a bean or seed was exciting as I couldn't feel or see where the baby was, now the book is telling me its the size of rutabaga is a little redundant :) Every morning I lay on my back and you can feel where the baby is and also see it moving around. I can actually visualise 14 inches and 1.5 to 2 lbs, I guess just hearing that the baby is something I eat isn't a fun thing to visualise.

Here we are in our 27th week so we literally have anywhere between 10-14 weeks left till baby's guess date. Oh and the third trimester begins next week. Holy has the time gone by so fast, I'm loving pregnancy and enjoy all the changes that are happening inside and outside my body. The baby is still growing normally and seems to really enjoy hitting my bladder and kicking from 2am till about 9am in the morning. The baby also really enjoys it when I have fruit, as soon as it hits baby Balo's system a dance occurs :) Baby Balo is still hiding from Daddy but every now and again it gives a little kick to let Drew know that its OK and Mummy isn't crazy. 

This weekend was wonderful, I got to spend some time with my mother-in-law and soon to be sister-in-law.  Her bridesmaids hosted a lovely afternoon shower for her and then it was her weekend to get away. We are really looking forward to Tim and Holly's wedding and I was really honoured they asked me to make their wedding invitations for them. It's just so awesome to have the family keep growing, maybe cousins won't be far behind (although the furry one we have now may be enough for the time being)  ;) I also got to spend some time with my husband!! On Saturday, the party animals we are, we went to bed at 9:30pm Andrew got up at 8:30 and I got up at 7, it was wonderful. Weather nixed the plans for gardening so we went and picked up a few onesies from Value Village. For those of you who don't know Andrew got a laptop for work which is a double edge sword. It's great to have Andrew home in time for dinner and we can spend some time together before bed, but having him up to 12:30 - 1:00am is not so great. I really am grateful that because he can work from home on days we have appointments but do worry that he doesn't get time to shut down before heading to work the next day.

Here is Rhian at 23 weeks:

and here is Rhian at 27 weeks:

The baby is certainly growing!!

Oops

So we are a bit behind, sorry guys! I'm now 26 weeks, time sure is flying by! In a week and a half I'll be in the third trimester, I can't believe it. We are nearing the end of our prenatal classes which we will miss. No longer will Andrew be up with me that early on Saturday again (maybe when the baby comes, but not likely, jk). The classes we wanted to take are all being taught by women who are due in June so we had to start classes a bit earlier than we had thought. 

We had a midwives appointment on the 3rd and looks like everything is normal. My blood pressure is great, baby growth is good oh and the new ultrasound looks phenomenal!

Here is baby Balo at 23 weeks, we think it's pretty cute but we could be a bit biased. 

Today I had my gestational diabetes test done, a great way to spend a morning.The lack of food is made me a little cranky so it may be have been a good thing I went alone (though Andrew did drop me off before work). Thankfully that will be the only test where I need to fast over night. Next up will be iron deficiency, yay blood tests.

This whole experience has been so awesome every day the baby gets stronger. Andrew can now feel the baby kick, every now and again I'll catch my stomach moving on its own.  Most of the time I will call Andrew over to feel it when the baby is really active, and as soon as he comes over, the baby stops moving.  I think it secretly knows it is teasing Daddy. 

Just knowing that this little person that's inside me now is going to be in our lives forever is pretty awesome. We are really looking forward to seeing its face, learning its personality and learning from it as well. By the way I hate calling the baby it, I have made the mistake of giving it a gender label I call it 'she' but have no idea if it is.  Andrew's brother Tim is convinced it's a boy, so he calls it 'he' all the time; I guess that counter-balances everything.  

As of now we have a wonderful roommate living with us for a bit before she leaves for field work. My cousin Kim will be here till the end of May and back in time for baby to make its entrance. Other than that we are anticipating the birth of my Cousin Mark and his wife Andrea's first baby, we are so excited for them and can't wait to meet baby Hall soon.

We promise to be a little more prompt with our next update... 

It's Starting to Feel Real

I think it was when we went for our first ultrasound at 12 weeks when it actually started to feel like we were pregnant.  But after seeing a little human being inside Rhian, and actually seeing it jump, almost as if it knew we were looking at it, was pretty amazing.  We had initially planned to wait until Valentine's day to tell everyone, but we felt we were far enough along, and having just seen the baby, that sharing the news a few days early would be ok.  We had already told our parents and siblings over Christmas, but hadn't shared the news with Rhian's grandmothers or any extended family and friends.  Kind of like announcing things on Facebook, telling that many people you are pregnant made it feel official (as things aren't really official until they are on Facebook). 

Fast forward 12 weeks and it definitely feels real.  I think 5 of the first 7 weeks after we came back to Port Moody from Christmas, Rhian convinced me to spend at least one day of each weekend looking at baby and pregnancy stuff.  For those of you who may have not been baby shopping recently, there is A LOT of products that exist for babies and expectant mothers.  On my family's side, there hasn't been a baby since my brother, 27 years ago, so I was definitely not familiar with the baby product market.  I had no idea that there were special pregnancy pillows (which we went and picked up yesterday, and Rhian is very happy we did) or so many different types of cloth diapers.  Anyway, we have slowly started to pick up some items that we will need; we bought a car seat, crib and mattress in the past 2 weeks and the nursery is starting to slowly fill up, making it feel like our baby is coming soon (Rhian's due in less than 4 months!!).

Now that Rhian is pregnant, I am noticing pregnant women and babies everywhere I go.  Rhian can attest that I have probably been noticing babies for the past year or so, but noticing pregnant bellies is something that has happened since we have become pregnant ourselves.  It's pretty obvious to me that I am ready and excited to become a Dad.  We went to a wedding over the May long weekend and I was talking to a friend of mine from high school that I probably hadn't seen for maybe 10 years.  He was the father to a 2 year old little boy, and was telling me that the day his son was born was one of the most incredible moments of his life.  Not that I didn't expect him to say that, but actually hearing him describe how he felt then and what it's like to be a dad just made me even more excited.

22 Weeks

Well we have just reached 23 weeks and to celebrate we got more ultrasound pictures done (and gelato). The fact that I can forget that I am pregnant is a bit confusing, until I go to bend over or get up and realize there is a beach ball in front of me that seems to get bigger each week. The baby does also remind me every now and again that its there, which is a surreal feeling. I have been feeling great, enjoying our prenatal classes and looking forward to our hospital tour soon. No midwife and no naturopath / acupuncture appointments so that's been a bit of an adjustment. I've started a relaxation program to help me as I get closer to the birth, I keep getting reminded that the baby feels what I do, so I'm trying to be more conscious of being positive.

"Remember this, for it is as true as true gets: Your body is not a lemon. You are not a machine. The Creator is not a careless mechanic. Human female bodies have the same potential to give birth as well as aardvarks, lions, rhinoceri, elephants, moose, and water buffalo. Even if it has not been your habit throughout your life so far, I recommend that you learn to think positively about your body."
—Ina May Gaskin (midwife)

As an insecure woman this pregnancy is making me see my body a bit differently. No longer am I ashamed of my belly I'm really starting to embrace the stretch marks and the fact that it just keeps growing. To be honest, being heavy before pregnancy made me nervous that people wouldn't think I'm pregnant just getting heavier, but ever since I was 16 weeks there was definately a baby bump forming. Maybe it has to do with my height or my lack in torso I actually look pregnant.

The above picture is 16 weeks 2 days.

The above picture is 22 weeks 2 days.

Both pictures were taken in the nursery and we still need to take the 23 week picture and will post next time (along with the new ultrasound).

Our little one

So as most of you already know we are expecting our first baby in August. We felt that starting a blog would help with keeping everyone up to date, plus would give me (Rhian) another project to work on. I am already 5 1/2 months along and with under 4 months left I wanted to be able to get out what I've been feeling, changes I'm noticing as well as share some pictures for those of you who don't get to see us on a regular basis. We have had a couple ultrasounds now so I'd like to show that off and will have another one sometime soon (our child is camera shy).

This is from our 12 week scan. Used for dating and measuring at this point (its was only 5cm). The baby flinched once, involutary of course and we got to see its beautiful heart beating.

This is one from our 20 week scan, apparently my appointment was at the most active point of the hour for the baby and this was the clearest Baby Balo could get. The 2 circles at the left are its knees then the hands in the middle and a bit of the top of the head on the right.

This is as close to a profile as we got, she took the picture and it quickly moved out of the way. Needless to say a standard 20 minute appointment turned into a 45 minute appointment. Everything looked great I have to go in again for another anomaly scan just to get a better look at the face, completely elective on my part.

So baby is growing and getting stronger, its kicks and jabs are feeling less like flutters and more like actual kicks. I'm feeling great andf was blessed not to have too much in the way of morning sickness. However, I was exhausted for the first 3 months. Now I'm on to projects for the baby and getting things fixed up around the house so we can just enjoy the baby when it makes its big entrance.

For those of you wondering we are waiting till the arrival to find out whether Baby Balo will be a boy or girl.

We love you all and excited to share our experiences with you.

xoxo