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