28/02/2009

22 Weeks

Well, I'm slowly getting bigger and bigger. I'm 22 weeks today and I can't believe how quickly time is going. This baby is going to be here before I know it! If I count actual months, I'm 5 months exactly today. I feel pretty good most of the time but unfortunately I had another migraine yesterday. It was a really bad one too and I spent most of the day trying to sleep it off. I had some nausea with this one as well so it was hard to stay standing or sitting upright. This is the 6th one that I've had in the last 9 weeks.

22 Weeks
Baby is getting more and more active and the night before last she was just kicking and kicking for hours. I wonder if she's teaching herself how to dance?

I'm still in Canada right now and I really miss Graham. It's been about 11 days since we last saw eachother and there's still 11 more to go before I'm back in the UK. It feels like it's been ages since we said goodbye at Heathrow but for some reason at the same time it doesn't feel like I've been in Canada for very long.

Robbie went for a catscan this morning and he's having an MRI done on Monday, then on Tuesday he's going in for surgery to have the defibrillator put in. He seems to be doing well so far but I'm sure he's anxious to get home. Hopefully he'll be able to leave the hospital on Wednesday or Thursday next week.

26/02/2009

Baby's First Sweater

I went to the hospital to visit Robbie with my mom yesterday and we ended up meeting up with the two Grandmas later in the afternoon. Grandma B had a little surprise for the baby and I just love it so I took a picture to put on here.

It's a beautiful soft white cardigan with matching booties and a hat. I can't wait to see the baby wearing it :) One of the seniors at the centre my Grandmother goes to knit it and I guess my Grandma bought it from her. I wish I could knit that well!

It's a....

Well, this has been an eventful week for us.

Last Sunday, the 15th, I received a phone call from my sister in Canada informing me that our brother was in serious condition at the hospital after having suffered a cardiac arrest that morning.

My parents thankfully were home and found him in time. They performed CPR until the paramedics arrived and they were able to get his heart started again. He spent 2 days in a coma in the hospital while they lowered his body temperature in hopes to minimize any damage to the brain and organs.

It was obviously a scarey few days while we didn't know what was going to happen, but our Robbie pulled through and has made an incredible recovery. He's now in a special hospital in the city waiting to have a defibrillator/pacemaker implanted in his chest to prevent this from happening again.

It's amazing that he doesn't appear to have suffered any damage from the whole incident, and the only side effect we could see at first was short term memory loss but that has gradually faded away. So far the doctors can't really see any reason why this happened, but they think it may be due to the scar tissue in his heart from the surgery he had when he was 4 years old to repair a hole.

I knew I had to fly home as soon as possible when I heard the news but I wasn't sure what to do about the baby. I had my 20 week scan booked for the 17th, so I called the doctor and they said that I should have the scan and that I should be seen by the doctor every 4 weeks or so. Since I hadn't seen a doctor in over 6 weeks at that point, I figured I should go for this scan and fly back to Canada that evening. My mom agreed, so on Tuesday Graham and I went to the hospital and got to see our baby for the second time.

Everything appeared to be in order as far as we could see... 2 hands, 2 feet, a heart and a head. I could see the baby moving around and it was so weird that I could hardly feel any of the movements... it makes me wonder what on earth it's doing when I can feel it!

We also found out what we're having, so if you want to be surprised stop reading now... According to the doctor, we're expecting a little girl :) I was very surprised because I was convinced it was a boy. I guess there's always the chance that she was wrong and it is a little boy, but from what I could see I would have said girl as well.

She's been kicking like crazy lately, and getting stronger by the day. A couple of days ago she actually woke me up with one major kick! I hope Graham will be able to feel it soon. I'm sure he would be able to by now but he wasn't able to come with me to Canada so it'll be another 2 weeks before he can feel it.

We were given another picture which I planned on posting here, but it doesn't really look like anything so I'm not sure I'm going to bother. I'm surprised the doctor chose to print that one off when I had seen much better ones during the scan. Especially the one where the baby had her arms in an X across her face. It was like she was saying 'Quit looking at me!' :)

I'm now 21.5 weeks along and I feel pretty good. I get the occasional tired moment and tiny bouts of heartburn here and there, but I definitely feel better than I did during the first 3 months. I'm also eating like there's no tomorrow! The day before yesterday I think I just ate and ate and ate all day long. I couldn't stop! I woke up that morning twice, dying of hunger pains and had to eat the granola bars beside my bed. At the rate I'm eating these days I'm going to be the size of a house by the time I get back to England!

12/02/2009

19.5 Weeks - Nearly Halfway There!

The baby feels like he's doing somersaults in my tummy right now! Sometimes he just kicks and taps me, but other times it feels like he's rolling around and doing his own little gymnastics routine in there. (I'm only calling it a He because it's easier than saying It - I don't actually know what it is yet.)

Graham and I were comparing bellies yesterday and decided to take a picture of them. I think mine is actually bigger than his!

I'll be 20 weeks on Saturday - almost halfway through! I can't believe how quickly it's gone by... It feels like it wasn't that long ago that I found out. I guess the 3rd trimester will feel the longest, I hear the novelty has usually worn off by then and most women just want the baby out.

I've had another couple of migraines since the first few, but only 2 since then. Apparently some women get them for the first time during pregnancy and they can last their whole lives. I really hope that doesn't happen.

I've had to start carrying snacks around with me everywhere I go because I get so hungry, so suddenly that I feel like I'm going to die if I don't eat something right away. When we were in Belgium last week we were waiting at a deserted airport on a Sunday and there were 4 places to eat nearby. Unfortunately we couldn't get food at any one of them.

1. The cafe only took cash, we only had cards
2. The vending machine only took euro coins
3. The two restaraunts closed between 2:30 and 5:00 and it was 2:25.

We still had to wait around until Graham's boss showed up so we could fly back to England but I was starving! I actually thought about breaking the vending machine. No one was around... they'd never know it was me...

We ended up walking to one of the nearby restaurants and begging for some bread to have with our cokes. The people weren't very nice, but they gave us some to eat anyway.

So I've learned my lesson: Take food everywhere. You never know when you're going to be stranded and starving!

Also... Congratulations to a friend who shall remain nameless for the time being... :) 9 weeks pregnant! I'm so happy for you!!