scanner guns are super fun

I made a registry! It's #355611819, in case that link stops working later. I'll put it over on the sidebar too. It was pretty fun, I just wandered around and scanned about everything I could think that the little one would need. I do apologize for the crib bedding set, it's mighty pricey, but it's the only one I've seen that I really like - it's not too busy or too obviously gender-neutral or too cheesey cartoonish. We also need some crib sheets, but I don't really care what those look like, so I didn't bother to scan any specific ones. Same for the washcloths and receiving blankets, they don't have to be any specific kind. I'm also not expecting to get most of the stuff, but I thought I'd make it easy for anyone who feels the need to buy the baby something.

I really don't have any other news. I'm going to go through all the stuff from the shower and make a list of everything so I can do up thank you cards. I've never done them before, so that should be fun. I'm pretty sure Grant should have to help. Is it ok to wait and send them out after the baby comes, so I can say how much s/he is enjoying the gift? Probably not ok.

good times a-comin'!

What will you be doing in your spare time? Looks like I'm going to be pretty busy!

*shudder*

Had the baby shower last night, got an absolutely embarrassing pile of stuff. First off, enough diapers to last a while, really and truly. Also, we have over a full big blue Rubbermaid bin full of baby clothes, hand me downs. So, on top of that, we got a vibrating bouncy chair, a giant plush Eeyore, an Ocean Wonders aquarium thing for the crib, and a Leap Frog phonics bus that plays songs and stuff about letter sounds. Along with 2 blue garbage bags full of sleepers, undershirts, blankets, a fleece outfit for the spring and a bigger fleece snowsuit type thing for the fall, bottles, nail clippers, spoons and bowls, car window shades, a mirror so you can see the baby even though it's facing away from you in the car, a gift card, and enough baby bathing products to make any germ-o-phobe proud. I'm sure I'm forgetting things, but it was really sort of overwhelming.

Anyway, I'm planing to go to Toys R Us and see what else I can find. I know there are a few things that I'd like so I'll go a little scanner gun happy, since we have basically everything we *need* now, we can get the extra stuff I guess. I don't want to get too much more in the way of clothes, because I'd like to be able to dress the baby like a boy or girl at some point, rather than the albeit adorable, but very gender neutral things that we have so far. I felt sort of gluttonous with all the presents, but then I felt ok, because it's not even for me, it's for this little one who is, really, not so little, and will be making the grand entrance in about 9 weeks. Everyone I meet says I'm not going to make it that long. I say, thanks! I know that it's different being pregnant than just fat, but you can only be told you're enormous so many times, before you start to get a little self conscious. I know I'm big! And yes, I have 2 WHOLE months left! lol. Get over it!

some advice

just so you know, a bath is not nearly as relaxing as baths are meant to be, when your tub is roughly big enough to comfortably seat a toddler, and not nearly big enough to allow enough water to cover all the bits that need warming and relaxing in the first place.

my back still hurts.

sigh.

ch-ch-changes

The baby is slowing down a bit, I guess it's getting a bit cramped in its current living conditions. Still plenty of movements, especially when I sit and count, but not as much as a few weeks ago. 31 weeks tomorrow! I have this feeling that I'm going to go early. I don't know how early, or why I think that, but I just do. I'm worried that it'll be really soon, or that something will happen (ie, the giant baby is so big that I'll have to go on bedrest to keep it from coming really early) and that because I don't plan ahead, and they haven't hired a replacement for me at school yet, that my classes will be totally screwed. Whenever I mention this worry to anyone, they invariably reply 'that's not really your problem!'. True, but I still worry. Also, this is still pretty early, it's got a good 6 more weeks to go before it's considered term. I'm into my 8th month though, which is kind of fun. I'm also realizing that 9 months is not actually how long you're pregnant for, since they start counting from your last period. I was 7 months...2 days ago, if we're using that math, and that doesn't compute with my due date. Slightly over 9 months, I guess.

Anyway, my back is ridiculously sore from being hunched over my desk, marking all day. Since I don't have a personal masseuse / live-in significant other at this point, I think I'll take a bath. I'm doing a lot of work at school this week so that I can come home and relax in the evenings. I have a bit of cleaning up to do here, it's part of the fun packing process, but nothing to strenuous. I have to tally the marks on my grade 9 exams, but I'm not marking anything else until tomorrow. And, I have to decide what to eat, because last night I had a DQ burger, so I feel like I should have something real tonight.

I have some very small stretch marks, and I have to say I'm a little annoyed. I grew really quickly up to this point, and was doing fine! I'm happy I don't have enormous ones, but I know that not *everyone* gets them (like my mom, she didn't...no fair), so I was hoping I'd be one of the lucky ones. They are small, and on the underside of my giant belly, so I don't even see them unless I look in the mirror. I also have some, for some reason, where my bellybutton ring was. I took it out as soon as I started to show, because it was looking really odd. Just recently, I've noticed that there are stretch marks there, between the 2 holes. Odd. Confined for now, so I'm relatively happy.

The bath beckons, I'll talk to you fools later.

why aren't you commenting!

I need rassurance!

Anyway. I put up a newer / more fun picture of myself on the sidebar there. It's even a link to the normal-sized picture, if you'd care to take a look. I'm going to need somebody to actually *take* pictures of me though, so I can get nice ones with a normal facial expression and stuff. I'm usually still trying to get myself into position when the picture takes, and thus look totally stunned. Hence the headless shots. Also good for anonymity.

Anyway, according to the babycounter thingie, tomorrow I will have exactly 10 weeks until the big day. I have a feeling (and it may be wishful thinking, true) that I may not make it all the way to the end. That I'll come close, but maybe go a week ahead of schedule. My dr. keeps telling me that it's just a big baby, and that it doesn't affect my dates or anything, but the look of surprise / confusion on her face every time she measures me leads me to believe that I could possibly be a little further along than I have figured out. Regardless, 10 weeks is kind of scary. The first line in my 'your baby this week' email this week was about how my baby's head is getting bigger. That's just a mean thing to start off with, don't you think?

At least I'm not this poor woman. Yet. She had a c-section, of course, but still.

I stopped in to Thyme to see if I could spend a gift certificate I had gotten before Christmas. I managed to get myself a pair of overalls. They are cute, but do definitely emphasize my giant-ness. I don't care though, because they're comfy. Another thing, to be categorized with the poncho, that I will probably only wear whlie pregnant.

I told you, giant baby

everything is going well, the glucose tolerance test was fine, so I can continue to eat whatever I want (in the words of my doctor). I've gained a total of 12.5lbs, which is good / normal, and I'll probably gain that much again before this trip is over. When she measured me, she was like, wait a minute, went and looked at my estimated due date, looked at me, looked at the date again, came back and measured me again before writing it down. Apparently, I'm still running noticeably bigger than my date indicates. She still refuses to change said date though, she said that it's just a big baby. Fun for me!

After my next appointment on Feb 15 (5 weeks from now rather than 4, the Dr. lady is away the 4th week) I'll start going every 2 weeks, but that will only be one more appointment here, then I'll be moving up to Fredericton. The original plan had been to stick it out here until the baby decided to make his/her appearance, but it seems silly to do that now that Grant and I have a nice place up in Fredericton that I can fuss over and get ready. So it's looking like I'll stick around here until after March break and then head up.

I start my pre-natal classes next month; I'm taking 4 I think, but I can't remember the 4th one. One is a full day on labour, pain management etc (or "comfort measures", as they say on the sheet), then one on breastfeeding and one on newborn care. Should be good! My mom is taking classes in Halifax so she can help out in a sort of doula-esque way.

I think that's it. I took the morning off, I think I'll start taking the day for the next...2 appointments I'll have during school. It's easier to find a supply teacher for a full day than just for the morning, and really, it's not like I can save my sick days anyway, so I might as well use them.

picture time!

now, I have to put up 4 pictures in order for you to fully appreciate the growth that has happened in the last month. The befores are from December 6, the afters are January 10 (today).

enjoy.





I'll admit, that front-on shot scared even me. Yipes. What's the counter at, 75 days to go? I'm interested to see what's going to happen. I'm very short waisted, and I'm blaming that for the fact that I'm only comfortable either standing up straight, or lying in bed on my side stretched out. When I'm sitting down for a long time, I get to feeling squished, like there's just not enough vertical room in there for what's going on. Again, should be intereting!

w t f

I'm sorry, diaperless babies??? Intuition my ass, that baby would be messing all over everything. Seems less cruel to be changing poopy diapers that the poor dear might have sat in for a minute or two, than to confine the little one to plastic coated areas of the house.

strange contrasts

ok. So, about the belly picture...my camera is in Fredericton, but I'll have it this weekend. It'll just be that much more fun for you to see the difference from that one over yonder.

Anyhoo. A friend of mine at work gave me some baby clothes, sleepers and onsies and stuff, all in very gender neutral colours like white, yellow, etc. So, at the same time that I'm thinking, 'wow, my tummy is getting big, I wonder how big and alieny this baby is going to get in the next 2-3 months!'...I'm looking at these teeny-tiny clothes and thinking, 'holy crap, I can't believe I'm going to be responsible for someone so very, very tiny!'

It's all relative I guess. Compared to regular-sized people, babies are really quite small. Compared to, say, molecules of pee (or anything else I can more easily imagine coming out of that specific area of my body), babies are really quite enormous. I have to say, the whole delivery thing is scaring me a bit. I know that women have been doing it for approximately a billion years, mostly without medication of any kind. I, however, have never done it before, and it's scary. All my 'your pregnancy this week' emails are more about how to tell if I'm going into labour and what to expect (like an email can prepare you for that), than about the baby. The baby is basically done, just small scale. All the finishing touches and filling out and whatnot, the getting strong is happening now. This week his/her eyes opened, and s/he even has eyelashes! Pretty amazing. Random fact for the week: in one of my books, I read that sometimes premature babies don't have nipples, because they're one of the last things to develop. That's kind of funny. I wonder if boys will ever eventually evolve to not have them at all? Why do they have them now? This is getting a big tangent-y; I think that means it's bedtime.

I'm going to have a baby this year

that's pretty scary. Less than 3 months to go. The baby continues to do kung fu acrobatics against my abdomen, bladder, and ribcage, and sometimes it's downright startling to just be sitting there and then feel like there's, well, a person inside me flipping around.

I promise (really) to put up a new picture, soon. I haven't taken one in a while, and I haven't been home to upload anything anyway. The family was duly impressed by my girth, and everyone is letting me know none-too-subltly that they thing I'm going to be enormous. Thanks, guys. I did get some nice new maternity clothes that should do me through to the end, including a couple of really nice blousy shirts, long sleeved t-shirts, comfy sweaters, a pair of pants, and a set of matching mom-and-baby pjs. How cute is that? They're non-gender specific too, just teddy bears, so it's a go either way. We also got some crib sheets, blankets, a jolly jumper, and a carrier. Add that to a stroller / infant car seat and a high chair, a vibrating bouncy chair thingy and a whack of clothes and things from Grant's uncle and his girlfriend, who have a 3 month old and are just packing and sending our way everything that he outgrows, and we're on our way to being set. There's definitely a lot of stuff left that we need, but I feel good about what we have so far. I may actually have to register somewhere, but that takes a lot of work, so I'll more likely just make a list of have and have-nots for any among you who like to buy us things. The only other 'big-ticket' item we need is a crib, and I'm honestly not sure what else you're supposed to get, other than lots of sleepers and things. I suppose a car seat for later on, but that'll be, well, later on.

Anyway, enough of that, I'm pretty tired, last night having been new years and all. I had a wild party! Or, obviously, not. I did stay up until about 3 though, and then get up at about 9 for some strange reason, so I'm pretty sleepy now. I'm glad to be back to my bed with my body pillows too, they make sleeping much more comfy.