Month Seven...(February 2012)

So many changes, emotions, getting to see your pudgy, cute self, Daddy constantly being away on business and Daddy's Valentine's present and a crazy end to the month...were all things that were really memorable this month.

This month was a complete whirlwind of a month.  I am blogging this much later than I would have liked to, as I am actually blogging this when month 8 has passed us by as well!  That was an interesting month, but that's a whole other story that will be blogged about after this month!

We found out at our 3D ultrasound this month, that you are definetely growing quite big!  I know that there is still so much time for this to change, but Daddy and I have a feeling, that you are going to be a Dutch sized baby afterall!  With the size of my belly, that's really no surprise!  We instantly fell in love with your cute button nose at the ultrasound and found watching the DVD play back, was a moment that we will NEVER forget!  Your Dad wished for ONE thing, for you to NOT have the "Mosselman chin".  I guess we will see when you decide to have your birthday!

Daddy was away A LOT this month.  He went on business for a few days, three out of the 4 weeks of this month.  He missed you and I SO much while he was gone, lecturing the BOTH of us, that nothing better change/happen, he better not miss anything that you do!  Your movements have been UNMISTAKABLE this month, with Daddy seeing and feeling almost every movement you make when he is home.  By the end of the month, you were still up in my ribs, but you started doing flips and rolls, which fascinated the BOTH of us, as we could see my entire belly change every time you did.  Little did we know, that these flips and rolls would turn into one heck of an interesting end to the month!  Everyday, Daddy fell more and more in love with you and my belly, asking me to take photos whenever I could while he was gone.  So much has changed and I felt HUGE!

  

For a few months now, I have been working on a little surprise for Daddy.  It was VERY hard to keep it a secret, but when he received his present, the sheer look on his face and the silence, while he opened it, made it BEYOND worth it.  I had an amazing opportunity to do some maternity photos, back in January, with Ashley Vansickle Photography.  This is something that Daddy had been BEGGING me to do for a long time, as he LOVES my belly (what a good man to tell me that all the time!) and wanted me to remember every moment of growing you.  He has a few definite favourites, that will be hung in the house, but we were both excited about them all!  Thank you so much Ashley, you did such an amazing job and I felt so relaxed and beautiful!  Yes, it was freezing, I did get a NASTY cold after this photo shoot, but it was worth every bit of cold and discomfort!

Lastly, this month brought on some VERY big surprises for both Daddy and I.  Since he was away a lot on business, he got quite a few lectures on MAKING SURE HE HAD HIS PHONE ON HIM FROM NOW ON.  Unfortunately, he's not always the best listener, or most concerned about having his phone with him, or answering it, so he got in a little bit of trouble...

The big surprise, was that... I went into labour!  This is a weird, long story, that deserves a memorable post of it's own, so I will end here, as the next month, became the craziest, most unpredictable time ever!

Month 6...a slow moving month...

Month Six (January 2012):
Going off of work, exciting news from friends, serious belly growth and a surprise present in the works for Daddy...were all things that were really memorable this month.

Last month, Mommy and Daddy had another secret to keep (there's been so many while you've been growing!), that they were just bursting and overjoyed all of Christmas!  My most favourite Christmas gift that I received, was a phone call on December 24th, that was by far, the "strangest" conversation that I had ever had with our best friends, Kathryn and Gary.  Kathryn was inquisitive, yet vague and all over the place.  Then she hung up.  I immediately told Dad that I thought she was pregnant, but knew that she would have told me if she was.  Then a photo msg came on my phone, of Brayden wearing a Big Brother shirt!!!!!!!!!!  I knew it!  I was so thrilled to find out that we would get to enjoy pregnancy together and you were already getting your first friend, closest to your age!  We celebrated New Year's together, which was such a fun time to celebrate two new lives coming this year!

This month, I also stopped working.  While I enjoyed my co-workers, it was getting very difficult for me to stand for long periods of time, with minimal breaks and constant lifting/bending.  My fibromyalgia started to get worse, my sleeping affected the most, as well as my joints, so the midwives knew that I needed to stop.  They wanted me to be able to get more rest, still be able to exercise and keep healthy, rather than go to work, exhaust myself, be in pain and not be healthy enough to not worry about your growth and wellbeing.  I felt very guilty about this and had a hard time adjusting, but the better I felt, the more I had a chance to take care of myself, the better chance I had taking care of you.  It made it a very long month, but it was the right thing to do!

You have been VERY active off and on this month!  You also like to play games on us though, hiding for hours...sometimes DAYS on end!  You'll move like crazy one day and then I don't feel you for a whole day, which not only worries me, but your Dad and the midwives.  You spent 48 hours not moving one week this month and Dad and I had to make a Friday night trip to Labour and Delivery.  Of course, as soon as we got there and they put the doppler on, you tried to kick that thing right off!!!!!!!  You were a little stinker!  Dad had a stern "talking to" with you after this, telling you not to do this again, as neither of us enjoyed that time particularly much!

Your nursery is REALLY starting to come along now and fabric has been decided on for your room!  Both Dad and I are REALLY excited to have found the nicest lady to help us make your custom bedding.  We wanted something "gender neutral", but FUN and she helped us pick the perfect choices for a travel themed room!  Pictures will probably have to wait till next month, as the bedding is currently being worked on, but I am on the edge of my seat till then!  Daddy has bought a few new toys for your room (mainly two 5 foot stuffed animals), that he is obsessed with and Mommy has found some of the cutest clothes and shoes for you!  A sneak peek:

Landmark Scenery fabric for some of your bedding!

I didn't think that my belly had grown too much during these weeks, but now that I compare our photo by the Christmas tree, to what my belly looks like by the end of this month, I realize that it has grown quite a bit, just not week by week!  Daddy still gets really EXCITED to my belly changing.  He loves to talk to you (sometimes through my belly button, thinking that you'll hear him better) and he loves to feel you kick!  He starts to pout when I feel you kick, he comes over and then you hide from him!  Lately though, your kicks have been getting SO STRONG, that it makes my belly bounce or my ribs REALLY hurt!  I beg you to move out of them, but it NEVER works!  You have yet to move "head down", so I pretty much spend the day, trying to push you out of my ribs, or get you to move from being sideways (transverse).  You have yet to let anyone else feel your kicks yet and are much more active when I keep my belly warm, then when I expose it...so funny!

 

A comparison of me at Christmas vs. me at the end of this month!

I guess that a lot HAS changed!  I don't know how much bigger I'll get, but I can only see it in my upper half.  It's starting to weigh down my hips and back, but I'll take that, over it spreading everywhere :)

Lastly, some cloth diaper shopping has been done for you and we have started our "stash".  Even Dad is getting excited about diapers and how soft they are, which are his favourites so far and how cute you will look in them.  He has picked out his favourite one to put you in first, which I think is beyond adorable!  We have great friends supporting us through this and giving us a lot of tips, so we are confident that this is a successful and good choice for all of us!  Dad's favourite minky diaper!

Only 3 more months to go!!!!!  I really hope that time starts moving a little faster soon!  Not only is your Dad getting more impatient to meet you, so am I!  Mom has also been working on a BIG surprise for Daddy, but that won't be revealed until next month!  All I can say is, that one very special lady helped Mommy make something for Daddy, that he is going to LOVE!

Keeping us on our toes!!!

Well, well, little one.  We've heard the phrase A LOT, "giving you a run for your money".  But we were hoping not to use that phrase when it came to you/us for a very long time.  Last night, however, you won the battle and we lost.  I wanted to re nickname you, "little buggar", but Dad didn't think it was very endearing.

See, Mommy has been quite busy over the last few days, visiting friends/family, doing some shopping research for you, completing a gift for Daddy and doing a lot of driving.  I have been feeling quite uncomfortable and tired, so I wasn't as "on the ball" as I usually am. 

Yesterday morning, I realized that I had not felt you moving much at all in the last day.  You have DEFINITE patterns, which surprises the midwives already (but not me, as I am a pattern kind of person) and your pattern had been off.  I had been feeling quite stretched and sore lately, so Dad just kept reassuring me that you were having a growth spurt and were extra tired.  By mid morning/early afternoon, I thought more about it and called your Dad, saying that I really hadn't felt you move since the night before.  He tried to play off that he wasn't worried and to just call the midwives, but I knew he was worried as well.  I tried EVERYTHING!  Candy, water, pop, juice, milk, food...and NOTHING would make you budge.

I called the midwives mid afternoon and they said that I should head home (was already on my way there), have some protein, juice and a glass of really cold water, lie on my left side for a half hour and call them if you moved less than 6 times or not at all.  Within 30 minutes of getting home, you didn't move.  The midwife called back, asked us to meet her colleague at the hospital, so that she could do a check.  At this point, I was quite worried, as was your Dad.  She reassured me that you could have moved, now hiding yourself behind my placenta, which is in the front, but that she wanted to make sure, as your movements were so off. 

We got to the hospital and your Dad (he thinks he super funny, even when I'm worried), tried to make a joke: "Well, at least I know how to get you here now, when you're in labour and don't want to give me directions...maybe this baby just wanted us to have our hospital tour early...OOH look, the gift shop has SUPER CUTE TOYS"!  The last part of that statement, almost had me laughing, just because it is SO typical of your Dad!

We met the midwife, she reassured us not to wait so long next time and then took us into a triage room.  See, the GREAT thing about being pregnant and having midwives we found out, is that they meet you at Labour and Delivery, you skip the ER and go straight to a room to be examined!  It's like playing Monopoly, rolling the dice and getting sent to jail without collecting the $200 at "GO" (although better than going to jail obviously!).

She sat me down, asked a few questions and then pulled out the doppler to see if we could hear your heartbeat.  You gave us an immediate "horse gallop" of a heartbeat, at a nice strong 144bpm and for the first time in over 24 hours, gave a kick!  it was a kick SO HARD, that you moved the doppler right off of my belly!  We were all VERY relieved to see and hear that, but were all shocked at the amount of movement we heard on the doppler, without having any feeling of it from the outside/inside whatsoever!

She felt my belly and let us know that you are finally moving out of your "comfy" position, laying sideways across my belly!  I wasn't too happy to know that I have bruised ribs from you digging your bum up in there, but it made me laugh, as Dad likes to stick his bum out in a comfy position when he sleeps as well!  You are now laying diagonal in my tummy, with your face under the placenta and your legs up in my right ribs.  She gave me some suggestions on how to move you OUT OF THERE, before I break a rib, so let's hope that those work!

Needless to say, baby Clarke, you are keeping us on our toes!  It'd be nice if you stopped teasing us and playing games...until you've joined us outside in this world!!!!