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Tuesday 20 October 2009

Oh Christmas Tree...

Why do I have a Christmas carol stuck in my head? Why do I keep dreaming about Christmas time and decorations? Why am I panicking about the possible Royal Mail strike (and therefore the possible delay of my Christmas cards arrival to their final destinations)? What is my obsession with Christmas this year?!

Is it perhaps that we aren't really planning on celebrating as usual this year? Who knows. All I know is that on Christmas day, I will be nearly 37 weeks pregnant and probably in no mood to decorate anything unless it is my baby's nursery. Nic and I had decided that we would forgo the hubbub this year to save money, time and effort since it will be just he and I here anyway. That seems sensible. However... I still have a little guilt that we won't even have a tree or anything up. I have a little Scottish Santa that resides on my fireplace (yes... year round. He's cute.) but that will be about it as far as decorations go. I am quite aware that it won't really feel like Christmas. Especially without all the usual yummy Christmas foods. I'm not sure what we'll have that day, but I doubt it will be the feast that everyone thinks of. Will I even want to eat a big meal then? I barely have room for food now, I can't imagine how squished my stomach will be in 9 more weeks (Holy cow! Is it really that soon?!).

I'm thinking, maybe Nick and I should do something that will focus on us this year, since this is our last Christmas as just us. I just don't know what that may entail. On top of that... I need to think of something for our 5th Wedding Anniversary (the 8th of January). I will be 38 1/2 weeks then... oh how fun. I don't see us doing anything wild and crazy, that's for sure. The traditional gift for the 5th anniversary is wood. I wonder if the crib counts. LOL.

Does anyone have any ideas about how to get in the festive spirit when you are really pregnant? I'm all out of ideas.

Friday 16 October 2009

What's in a Name?

I'm a planner. I've always been a planner. I'm pretty sure that I'll always be a planner. Because of this, Nic and I picked out names for our kids (one boy name and one girl name) YEARS ago. I mean, we had them picked out when we were engaged to be married. Some people think this is a little odd, but it's always been a little comforting for me. We've been happy with our choices, and still are, and didn't really question the fact that we would name our child one of our pre-chosen names.

Until now.

The only name that is up for debate is the name we had picked out for a girl. What is strange I guess is that neither of us are unhappy with the original choice. In fact, if our baby is a girl and the next child we have is also a girl, we are planning on using both of the names we have selected. The dilemma I guess, is which name to use first. We've kind of decided to wait until the delivery day, and IF it is a girl, see which name seems to suit her more.

I'm still getting used to the idea of not fully having everything planned out... as there are a lot of things still unknown in the birth of our child. I have a birth plan (of course...) to have the baby naturally and I am really hoping for a water birth. However, there is only one pool available and if some other lucky Momma is in it, it's not an option for me. So, the question is... what happens then? I still plan on having the baby naturally but I do have to admit, it does make me a little anxious since the water is supposed to be my pain reliever of sorts. I'm sure it'll be fine either way, billions of women have done it before me and will do it after me.

Then there's the plan of when the grandparents will get here... Cris and Tony are thinking about coming from the 20th to the 30th and I think Mom is going to be here from the 10th to the 31st. My only concern I guess is that what if the baby is earlier than that? While it would be nice to have some alone time with just our little family, I really want my Momma to be here to help out, I know we'll probably need it!

Today I was looking through one of the pregnancy boards that I read and some of the ladies were posting pictures of what outfits they had picked out for their babies to wear home from the hospital. I have no clue what our baby will be wearing yet. It's not because I don't want to pick something out, or haven't thought about it... it's simply that I don't know which color the outfit should be. I'm happy about the surprise, don't get me wrong... I really think that will help me out in the end (especially if someone is in my pool!) and am really looking forward to hearing my husband announce what the sex of the baby is. However, the planner inside me is screaming bloody murder because I can't plan what outfit our child will be wearing home. YES, the baby could wear something that it has in its closet (the baby already has a healthy selection of clothes), but it won't be sex specific and I'm not sure if that's ok (the planner inside me says no).

Another thing is the art in the baby's room. I plan on putting our baby's name on the wall above the crib (or at least their initials), but I can't do that until afterwards. We don't even know which name we are using, how would we know what letters to put up?! Can you tell I'm a little anxious for the arrival of our little one? I just can't wait to see who is in there, and what they look like, and be able to share that with the ones I love. I'm so excited about this child, and I am just becoming a little impatient.

On the opposite side of the table... I would like my baby to stay inside for as long as it needs to. I want to ensure that everything possible is done to make sure we have a happy healthy little one and that it is "fully cooked". I'm pleased to say that our baby is viable now, and that if I were to go into labor it would most likely survive (it's something like 90% viability at 27 weeks), but I wouldn't want my baby to have to struggle to breathe or have to stay in the NICU for any period of time. I'm really hoping to walk out of the hospital the same day with my baby. Actually, if all goes as planned (meaning, I have the baby naturally, without drugs and any problems) we'll hopefully leave the hospital a mere 3-4 hours afterward. I would LOVE that! I think we'll be much more comfortable at home and that I'd be able to rest easier that way.

Ok. I'm off to take a quick nap before I head off to the grocery store. We are going to dinner tonight with Bob and Roger, as well as a couple VP's of a company that we are hoping to get some equipment from. Tomorrow we are all heading to the west coast of Scotland to do a little survey work and then we'll hopefully be back tomorrow night... if not, Sunday.

Monday 12 October 2009

Cribs, Bedding and Bellies... Oh my!

Here's a picture of our baby's crib for your viewing pleasure. I love it and can't wait to see our little one in it! I love the height, simply because you don't need to drop the side down to get the baby in/out easily which definitely helps when they are sound asleep. This picture was taken before we moved some furniture around, so ignore the chairs and such around it :)


And here is a picture of the bedding set that we are getting... it's being shipped to my Mom's house, so it'll be a little while (like right before the baby comes) before it gets here. It comes with the three wall hangings, the curtains, the mobile, blanket, crib sheets, diaper holder and dust ruffle. I am going to add some teal colored accessories to the room (including the brown and teal blanket that my Momma is crocheting!). So exciting!
Wow, I'm getting big! This is me at 26 weeks... I have no idea how big I'm going to get in the next 14 weeks, but if my growth so far is any indication I'm guessing HUGE! I might just get to the point where I'm wider than I am tall...


I ordered my glider and car seat today and am super excited to get those... hopefully they'll come this week sometime! I can't wait! Once they get here, I'll take a picture of the glider/stool and the stroller/car seat. I am really starting to feel prepared and can't wait for the baby to get here (at the full 40 weeks of course).

Oh- also, I've added a list of the blogs I read on a regular basis (except the ones that are set to private and the ones that I only check occasionally). Check them out if you'd like and/or are bored. They keep me entertained to say the least.

Thursday 1 October 2009

Num Num Num!

I'm an eating machine lately. I want to eat EVERYTHING (except cow of course... I haven't quite lost my disliking for red meat). I especially want to eat apples, cheese and crackers. Together. MMM.... so good. To be honest, I just finished off a plate of that exact thing. Two apples, 10 cheese slices, and 10 crackers later I'm one happy camper.

This, however, has lead me to gain a little weight... so now my weight gain for the pregnancy is up to 12 pounds so far (I'm at week 24)... so while I'm not doing too bad I do need to curb it a bit I think. This concern only comes from the fact that I only had gained a whopping 3 pounds or so up until a month ago. Yes. I have gained 9-10 pounds in the last month. No, I don't plan to continue at that rate. At least I hope not. The baby, however, would like me to gain 10 pounds a week I think. Baby bug is a hungry hungry hippo that wants me to eat ALL THE TIME... but in semi-small quantities. If I eat too much I do get massive objections from my little karate star in there. Usually this means I'm being kicked repetitively in the bladder, or punched in the stomach... whichever it prefers that day.

I'm more and more entertained by this little person growing inside me... I think he/she has got quite the sense of humor already and I'm starting to love its little personality. The baby will play games with me now, as in- when I poke my belly it will kick back. It isn't afraid to show when it is displeased with something (like the fact that I'm trying to bend over and inadvertently squishing it or when the midwife is poking it with the fetal doppler to find its heartbeat) by kicking the crap out of whatever is pushing on it. The baby also likes to play a game where whenever someone else tries to feel it move (like Daddy for example), it will immediately stop moving until they move their hand away. This game that the baby plays is a little frustrating, but at the same time kind of funny. It's like the baby is listening in to our conversations and can hear when I say "ooh, I think you'll be able to feel it... put your hand here". It's like a game of freeze tag. The other day I was giving it love pats (a tradition in my family... we're rockers and patters) and every time I'd stop the baby would kick like crazy until I started again... then would be still until I stopped again. It was too cute.

I can't wait to meet our little baby and really get to know him or her. I'm so excited!