Because Everyone's Getting Antsy

Went to the doctor today and I thought I'd give everyone an update.

1. Baby is not going to come this weekend. Or at least the odds are stacked against it. Baby poolers who have placed their bets on arriving by the 5th have lost them. There are a plethora of signs to tips a pregnant woman off that she's about to go into labour. I have not had a single one. Heck, the baby has yet to drop all the way (meaning s/he's happy in the big pool and hasn't moved into the smaller one, yet). I haven't lost my plug. I'm not nesting, nor do I have any surges of energy. I'm without a single contraction. I can still walk without discomfort. Sorry, folks. Baby's coming next week or later.

2. Since baby seems comfy, we get another ultrasound! Yay! So sometime next week, if baby is still not out or showing signs of wanting out, we'll be getting another snapshot before Friday.

3. Fear not. Baby news will be spread far and wide when it happens. You will not be the last to know.

Labour & Delivery Trip

That's correct, I've been to the hospital and back (baby's still in there, folks). On Tuesday I had a doctor's appointment and leading up to actually going in to meet the doctor (he's a specialist for a secondary "complication"), baby was doing somersaults (raspberries, apparently) and was the most active s/he's been to date. Went in, had my appointment, came home. On Wednesday night, I realized that I hadn't really felt the baby move SINCE then. I did all the tips & tricks (eat, lie down, wait a while, try again). I did manage to get one boot out of the baby, but what little movement I was feeling was markedly weak in comparison to the prior two or three weeks' activities. Grae came home from his night out and I let him know the situation. Grae played the baby music and that was when we got the one boot from him/her. I really don't like going to hospitals, causing alarm, or needlessly freaking out, so I thought, "baby's just having a quiet day; we all have quiet days". The next morning I was unable to rouse the baby. What little movement I could feel was very easily from gravity (lying on one side, rolling to the other, and very limp movements inside). At 7am, I decided that I still shouldn't panic as there isn't a whole lot that can be done in the worst case scenario. I would wait it out and see if I would get any more movement in the morning. At 11am, I got tired of waiting and realized that there was no activity coming from inside. I was pretty upset at this point (which has, in the past, encouraged baby to boot me a bit), so I called the hospital. They took some information and told me to come in right away. I grabbed a quick shower, and Grae threw together a hospital bag in case baby was in trouble and had to come out (middle-of-the-road scenario). We grabbed a cab over to the hospital and baby finally moved, but again, weakly. We get checked in, and I'm hooked up to monitors. Baby's heartrate has been consistantly 160bpm in previous appointments, but the one on Tuesday and on the monitors was around 130-140bpm. Good news! It has a bpm that isn't BAD. Good news, he/she is still alive in there! It was a big weight off of our shoulders. Grae was wondering why we weren't being discharged after being hooked up after 15 minutes, and the really nice nurse came in to inform us that they were calling in my doctor and explained that there needed to be shifts in the heartbeat pattern (when there were none after about half an hour). She changed my position and the heartbeat patterns became irregular, dipping as low as 120bpm (still a reasonable rate), but also getting the highs of 160bpm. My blood pressure was good (high for me, but still safe) and I wasn't running a fever. My doctor showed up and we talked about the situation. Other than waiting a further 12 hours (coming in the night before), I did pretty much what I was supposed to do; attempt to rouse it with food, activity and rest and come in when the tricks don't work.

We got discharged (phew!) not long after and went to give baby some more raspberries (which got it up and partying again...).

Baby Shower!

So this past Sunday, my sister-in-law Amber threw the most intense shower I've ever been a part of! It took me a good day to recover my cramped fingers from hours of unwrapping really amazing gifts from such a great group of ladies!

I wanted to include photographs of the gifts baby (and I!) received, but quite frankly, I think I would exceed storage space on here! A lot of people got us very wonderful baby clothes (in a variety of sizes, too! Thanks!). My great-auntie Diane, auntie Bev, aunt-in-law Michele, mother-, Connie, & sister-in-law Laura; friends Sue, Christine, Eddie, Mike & Shira; family friends Bonny, Garet, Chris, Karen, Louise, Ietje, and Mary; all contributed to a very complete baby wardrobe! Packing all the gifts up at the end of the party meant there were two bankers' boxes filled with colthing (and blankets, too!).

Sister-in-law Amber bought a fantastic keepsake set and some wonderful bath stuff for when baby gets dirty (they get dirty?)! Cousin Shauna tracked down some great finds including a Peruvian fair trade organic cotton monkey (which is supposed to be for the baby; we'll see), some great spoons, and gDiapers. I am so grateful for these diapers as they are such a fantastic idea. Friend Sue not only provided us with a warm one-piece (with baby hat!), she also found some great books for baby and sweets for me. I can't express how thrilled Grae and I were at such a wonderful start to the baby's library. Bonny not only made us a beautiful sweater, hat and booty set, she also gave us an adorable bank to start saving for baby's first college or baby's first cell phone bill that he or she can't pay (hahah!) and a circus pattern bin that was a great help in transporting a few items back to Vancouver. My mom and dad, excited for the first grandbaby, went over the top in offering us baby's travel system (stroller/carseat combo) as well as my mother's super soft handmade blanket. Amber's parents packaged up an adorable pack with blankets, bibs and books (I love alliterations!). Friend Erin/Eddie not only helped dress the baby, but tracked down the stacker toy that I remember fondly from my youth (or maybe it was my brother's youth; either way, it's a very cool toy). Even though the sales lady was pressuring her to buy the pink & purple Barbie version, Erin stood her ground! My auntie Shelley was extremely generous and bought us this amazing little bouncer seat from the Rainforest collection. It's rated amazingly high on Babies R Us's reviews that I can't wat to see how baby reacts to this party chair (I'm thinking they should make these in adult sizes, too!). She also got us a teether that I had never seen before (and I've looked at A LOT of baby things this year); it's a little yellow duck with chewable appendages. Family friend Chris bundled a unique gift set together that included a crinkely elephant toy, a pacifier, washclothes, squishy spoons, bibs, a book, baby washing supplies, onesies, and an issue of Parent magazine (a great reminder that we're not just having a baby, we're actually going to be... parents?!). Graeme's aunt Michele (and family) also provided clothing alongside a chew/rattle toy of a puppy and some more reading material for baby. Family friend Chris (a different one!) tracked down two CDs with lullaby versions of modern music (Radiohead & the Ramones) and packaged it with a great towel and Sophie the giraffe. Sophie the giraffe is really one of my favourite items out of the lot; made from natural rubber and food paint, this squeaky giraffe has a fantastic vintage feel (she should, she's almost 50 years' old!) and is remarkably soft. "Auntie" Rachael added to the gDiaper stack (hooray!), and included a set of mismatched booties (that shows her inability to effectively predict how much of something she'll need at any given time). Graeme's family not only stocked baby's closets, but the basket also included a plush bunny (that Rachael was unable to steal), a temperature-sensative pirate rubber ducky, burp pads, a leather pink pig, hooded bath towel set, and a couple books! Family friend Karen also made sure to keep baby clean with a safety bath spout and some wash clothes. Family friend Louise was thinking safety and got us plug covers and door latches along with a fantastic book and a cute sleeper. Family friend Ietje (and family) provided a very full basket topped with clothing, blankets, bath foam and wipes!

I would've written out all the clothing, but there is A LOT to go through. We're quite excited that baby's going to have his/her own full load of laundry to him/herself!

We've also gone through the online registry and added most of the big items we received and marked them as such.

Down to the Wire

Well, my body's starting to pretend it doesn't want to be active (rolling over at night is actually a painful experience; no one warned me!), so I know we're coming down to the last few weeks. Kind of a nail-biter for us as we're somewhat ready (or at least can be in a pinch), but don't have a couple "necessities"; luckily we've scheduled in when we're actually going to get these items in the next couple weeks. I was hoping to keep a busy calendar until October, but I'm not so sure my body wants to play along.

The baby has dropped (for those not familiar with this jargon it means "the cannon is loaded" and baby's in a position to exit), and it's quite uncomfortable (and they said it would make it so I would breathe better and be more "comfortable" by not having feet under the ribs. PSHHHH.). With that development, it really has become a waiting game (!!!).

I just wanted to start giving giving some shout-outs to all the people who have already greeted baby with presents (awwww!). Very early on, Megan F. got us baby's first onesie (a pram with the slogan "this is how I roll" image in green on white), which we're realizing is going to be a huge staple in baby's wardrobe! Mariko came out from Montreal almost two months ago and brought us a really cute black & grey t-shirt for baby that had a howling baby head and crossbones (I promise to upload pictures of everything next month when I'd rather be out and about :) ). Christian, up from Seattle on his last visit, had procured baby a very stylish onesie (for next year, or if s/he's a grower, this spring!) from Diesel Sweeties with a 8-bit skull on a black onesie (all the cool babies wear black, now, you know). Graeme's super sweet step-grandmother shipped us the high chair we registered for (which was a very BIG surprise on our doorstep this week! Last night, Gareth & Sophie overwhelmed us with generosity! We got some adorable diaper shirts (like onesies, but with more room) in green (one solid, one with really cute safari animals), a light green onesie with a lamb (it's a really soft onesie!), three receiving blankets with a Pooh pattern (which was a great idea!), a super pack of washcloths (which I'm sure we'll go through in the first week; all 30 of them), a fantastic changing pad that we're probably going to store in the bedroom but can easily be moved around (great idea!), an oral care set (with this really cool gum massager thing!), a set of cute bibs, and a starter pack of gDiapers (plus a pack of inserts)! This was the first chance I got to actually touch and feel these diapers. They are as cool as (maybe even cooler than) I pictured. I'm actually excited to get using them (?!). I think I may have said "cute" one too many times in this paragraph, but I think these items are designed to fit that description!

Of course, official thank-yous are on their way, but I really wanted to puff about how awesome everyone has been regarding this pregnancy and we're both incredibly happy that everyone has been so supportive over these past eight (and counting!) months!

More Thoughts on Registries (or: How to Detangle the Mess)

The registries on the right are in order of depth of items listed.

So, the "wishlist" link has the most and varied selection, the Babies R Us one has less, and then it dwindles down to single item links that we think are cool.

Naturally, don't feel compelled to pick from the lists (we trust your judgement as much as our own in this situation), and certainly don't feel compelled to shop at the retailers we've chosen. However, if you end up shopping outside the lists and pick up an item from one of them, give Grae or Corinne a head's up to remove it from the list. Or, remember the gift receipt in case everyone else got a better deal on that super-chic sleep sack!

We're counting down the last 8 weeks of this pregnancy. In a little while, (maybe 2-4 weeks' time) you'll see a baby pool link put up. Just don't see it as quite so pressing to add it just yet!

As for updates with the actual pregnancy: Summer's hot, baby is active and I can't seem to keep my cool or balance through these two events. We're trying to come up with names for finalization. Would LOVE it if everyone just told us their middle names. Eight weeks' left...

Observations from a Register

Grae and I sorted out what the main items we want are on our registry, the big tickets, last week. I thought I'd get down to registering for the smaller items (the things that we are less likely to purchase ourselves).

I've come to the very obvious reason why Grae and I didn't register for our wedding: It's daunting! Even online, clicking through, I can't fathom how anyone gets through this!

As a child at Christmastime, we used to go through the Sears catalogue and put our names next to items we were interested in. We probably got 1% of anything we asked for, but it was probably a good thing. How many Winnie the Pooh towels does one really need? With a registry, it's so much harder because people are actually going to pick from this list.

While I've plopped some stuff down on the registry, I think a basic guideline is a better idea for us. We want to do things as green or sustainable as possible (and Babies 'r' Us kind of lacks in this department), so safe second-hand items are just as exciting as ones wrapped in plastic. We want to instill a love of letters and creativity early on; alphabet toys, age appropriate art supplies, books, etc. are all really great. We're doing gDiapers (in case you missed that before) and want to avoid disposable wipes. Both of us are opposed to the Baby Einstein video series by Disney (makes babies dumber, apparently).

One final note about the registry: Why are baby toys so garish?

Notification Request Form

You have a choice.

Do you want to find out a couple days after the fact via facebook, or do you want to be on the phone list? I'm 100% open to anyone wanting to be there at any point, and I don't want to forget anyone who might want to be there.

If you want to be on the phone list, do you want a call during labour (for those interested in coming down to the party at Women's), or after birth (less likely to get a call right away as we'll probably be busy with the baby more than the phones)?

I'm giving you the option of when and how you want to find out about the birth. I do want to mail out physical announcements, too; so if you want paper mail that lets you know the stats (and how to spell the thing's name), provide a mailing address.

If you want to find out via facebook, do nothing but check facebook daily from September onward.

If you want a call, send me your phone number that you would like to be called at. Let me know if you want an ungodly hour or the following morning call (I imagine labour will be a couple hours). Specify if you want to come to Chez Hospital Pre-Birth Party Extravaganza (there won't be prizes, but I'm sure everyone else there will love the company; and, no, you can't see me give birth, but Graeme will parade the freshly washed baby for you), or post-birth "don't bother coming; we're heading home in a couple hours" call. If in any circumstance you just want a text message only (I recommend this option) stating a) labour and then b) delivery, specify that too.

If you want a paper mail out, gimme your address.

SO:

Would you want to chill in the waiting room with other people so you get first peak & holding privileges (this gets you to the secret invitation facebook event to be set up in the future)? (Y or N):

Phone number (10 digit dialling!):
Labour (Y or N):
Post-birth (Y or N):
Text Message Only (Y or N):

Paper announcement (Y or N):
Mailing address:

Of course, you can provide this information via email or by comment.

Here's Baby!

Okay, so our last ultrasound was a bit of a let down (sorry if you didn't get to see the pictures). So, here's the footprint from 5/22 and the profile of 6/18:

FINALLY! Something NEW to say!

So, I'm still pregnant. That hasn't changed much. I've officially got a belly to match.

The new news is that on Mother's Day I got to finally feel the squirmy little one move around. A couple days later, Grae was able to feel some movement if I lied on my stomach. And now, just about anyone can feel the pings, boots and writhing--if you ask nicely.

I've got a few days where I get a few swift boots to the belly. I just can't wait for it to have enough muscle tone to put my in physical agony when it kicks.

The big ultrasound is on Thursday this week, expect updated pictures either Thursday or Friday.

Long time coming

4 Months and it seems like nothing is happening.

Since the heartbeat listening and the ultrasound, evidence has been thin that our little friend even exists. Well, apart from Corinne's heartburn and my sympathy tummy.

Read this post on Poplicks awhile back, and since Corinne suggested I make a post about possible baby names this seems the ideal time to bring it back out. Some great stuff here, my faves have all been vetoed by Corinne already, such as Anne-Frank, Clever Danger, Panda, Smoothtavius, Adolf, & Captain. When I was a kid I wanted to have three children and name the first two Hope and Chrity, while naming the third one failure, so as to be able to do some armchair psychology. But we're pretty sure were only having one, so that's out. Too bad she vetoed UrHieness.

There are a couple of names we've half-settled on, and they are nice but they don't jump out as great anymore. I like that they are tied to family, while not being to obvious which is a fine line to push, but they don't really have any spark for me anymore. Maybe it' s just because we came up with them fairly early on and they've lost their pizazz. Feel free to pass on down some ideas. Corinne's getting sick of my sillier ones so if you can come up with some nice ideas that would be cool too.

Ultrasound News

We had the ultrasound done this afternoon, and we're please to announce I've got one baby in the house!

It's shy and lazy, though. The fetus decided it wanted to lie face down and rest, but we needed to get better angles on it. I rolled around a bit and emptied the bladder and it seemed to perk up a bit. I'm measuring 12 weeks & 2 days, which puts my due date into September on the 30th. We'll probably stick with the October 4th date, so if it's "late" I won't be getting antsy. My doctor also advised if it's within a week, they tend to just stick with the original plan.

Names That Corinne Refuses & Updates

I think the biggest rule for me is that it's not something trademarked. No Bentley, Mercedes, or Captain Crunch.

Updates:

First, since the last post, I've developed morning sickness at night. It wrecks with my motivation like nothing else. On the upside, I am starting to feel it wane finally. They promise me no more than two weeks more of misery.

Second, ultrasound is scheduled for Thursday. We're not going to find out too much aside from its measurement and that it will likely (and hopefully) look like every other 12 week ultrasound. Also, it's a headcount and we're expecting a singleton. The gender ultrasound is another two months off if we decide to find out at that time.

Thirdly, I miss sashimi. Counting the days down to when I can next eat tuna tataki....

Graco SweetPeace

I just found the neatest parent webspace. It's kind of like MythBusters meets parenting.

DadLabs promotes a wide variety of information and products, but the SweetPeace had me at MP3 player. I just started clicking through previous videos, when I came across quite possibly the coolest rocker (complete with rockability!). The neatest thing is that it works with other Graco car seats. Which is very, very cool. For parents.

Your Chance to Contribute

Grae and I have names we are leaning toward, but in the event we come to our senses and decide our primary choice for names completely blow, we'd like to have some back up names. While we have names chosen based on family ties, we also have names we just like. We've got nine months to be set in stone certain on a name, but it's fun to get a head start and entertain ourselves for the next eight months with hypotheticals.

Feel free to add your two cents or names to the list. Later this month, both Grae and I will post our "no way we're ever naming a human being this" lists!

The Onesie to End All Onesies

Sozo Baby makes possibly the cutest camo onesie this side of the universe. I'm a little biased because of my love of the Stegosaurus, but it's the crossed bones on the bum that win me over. I made this page the home page on Grae's and my shared computer when we first decided we were ready for baby.

The Aesthete

I was trying to find a onesie that I really liked that had a stegosaurus on the front and stumbled into this website. It's called Wry Baby and everything on that website had me giggling; even the US politics ones seemed so perfect.

gDiapers

This is my most idealized parenting fantasy: not using wasteful, environmentally damaging diapers. After reading many, many points about the environmental damage of disposable diapers (the third largest landfill filler, when less than 5% of the population uses them), I was set on finding something different.

The diapers are cloth with flushable inserts. The inserts can either be flushed, composted or disposed. They are designed to break down in 50-150 days. Which is quite impressive. They recommend 6 shells for each weight category, but I think with an immobile baby for the first 14lbs, four shells should be enough.

I've read some reviews about these diapers, that they're not great for blow-outs or newborns, but I can't find a similar product that can compare.

No Where Online

This is the Baby Wiggins Website devoted to all your Baby Wiggins needs (and wants!).

I know when we got married many moons ago, we didn't set up a registry because, well, we didn't need anything. With the pending (way off in the distance) baby, we find ourselves in a grander position to actually need stuff that we'd be unlikely to purchase ourselves.

I've set up this website to keep everyone up to date and informed about the brewing baby and some of the ideas we hope to incorporate with the wee one. One of the things that I am finding important is the need to go a little greener than previous generations. I've looked into a few cradle-to-cradle products and sustainable items that last more than a few months. Ideally, I would like to start sewing onesies out of old clothes we have lying about the apartment. Not only would it parse our closet down, but it would give baby clothes that smell like the parents right out of the gate. If anyone has a onesie sewing pattern kicking around, email me!

I want to list a bunch of the items we'd be looking at when the showers start heading down the tube, because we all know there are only so many pastel yellow and green layette items one can use in the first few months. I'll be including the big ticket items through the Babies 'R Us Registry. We, by no means, expect you to drop a bunch of money on higher priced objects at Babies 'R Us, but we wanted to give an outline of the items we think are good ideas and why. We think it'll give you a sense of the environment we hope to welcome the baby into.

The first item is the crib that converts to a toddler bed, a day bed and finally a full size bed. I really would love to see a frame that not only does crib work, but toddler work, too. We're kind of planning for a baby, but are expecting a child. The other thing we'd like to have in a crib is sides that slide down for easier access to baby. So, crib requirements should be that it lasts a few years and has sides that drop. We found a couple at Ikea that have the toddler bed, but it does not have sides that drop. Ideally, we'd like to find something like this second-hand, but realistically, these long-term conversion beds aren't that old to begin with and they're all in some state of use & abuse by this point.

Almost everything registered for is designed to last beyond the first months, and that's kind of where we are at with items for the baby.