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