2nd Ultrasound

The baby is certainly coming along!

Baby broke the camper!

Well I have a doctor's appointment again this week - now I am supposed to go every 2 weeks. They assured me that this is normal procedure at their clinic. Baby has been kicking every day, strong enough to make me gasp/yelp if it is in the right spot (i.e. the ribs). Cameron and I felt the baby's head the other night - just by pushing on my belly. The baby didn't like that though and squirmed away from our pressing hands. Also we tried the flashlight trick - got a LOT of kicks then!

We went camping on the weekend at a nearby provincial park. We woke up on Sunday morning to a gaping hole in the camper walls - the velcro had ripped open! Just as we were trying to figure out how the velcro had come undone, there was a creak, a groan, and then the bed seemed to tilt! We broke the bed!! I discovered 2 ADDITIONAL support poles UNDER the other bed's mattress on our last trip (May) but didn't put 2 and 2 together until it was too late that those poles were supposed to be used with the big bed for the camper! Cam and I are going to Home Depot this week to get some BIG L-braces and a bottle of wood glue to fix the problem. The funny thing is - the bed might never have broken except for the extra weight I am carrying now! The baby has made his or her first impact in the world & hasn't even been born yet! My waist measures a whopping 36.5"!!

Iron Supplements

I took my glucose tolerance test yesterday and the results must be in already, as there was a message on the answering machine about my bloodwork results. The doctor wants me to start taking iron supplements 2 times per day, so iron must be low. Makes sense...I have been feeling like crud by the time mid-afternoon hits. I am already taking 27 mg of iron in my daily supplement already, so how much more can I need?? I have to phone back to get the specific instructions, also they might have a different opinion if I tell them how much iron I'm taking every day already. I hope I don't have to get an iron shot in the bum, it is supposed to hurt a lot!

What do fetuses dream about?

I learned that 27-week old fetuses can dream the other day. My question is: if babies in the womb haven't seen anything yet, WHAT do they dream about??

Baby is kicking right now as if to say "I dream about plenty, THANK YOU VERY MUCH".

Clear Lake Cabin Visit

Had a wonderful weekend with Jason and Aimee and Noah Pawsey at their cabin near Wainwright, Alberta. It was so great to spend time with these friends, as they are such nice people but because of the distance between our homes, we don't get to see very often. Spent lots of time in the sun, fishing, reading, chasing Noah, etc. Returned to Calgary quite relaxed, however we were racing a big storm home and it began to rain shortly after we arrived. Had hoped to help move some things with Matt Drover (they recently bought a house & had some furniture stored) but rain/hail made it too difficult - will reattempt tomorrow night. It rained nearly 1 inch in about 2 hours, and now has started raining again (11:30 PM) - Dani was woken up by a loud crack of thunder, so got up to pee & have a snack: peanut butter on crackers and a glass of milk. Cam drank a mouthful of bad milk tonight - Dani suspects that he was drinking out of the carton again, which serves him right.

6 minutes later.... well I just reviewed the photos from the weekend and I have to say that my tummy is getting QUITE big now! In one of the photos on the boat I nearly block Cam out completely - kind of like a lunar eclipse, haha! While taking a bath in the middle of the lake one morning, I scraped my belly against the side of the boat. Actually, it was more like I slid against the side of the boat. The whole front of my belly turned black and blue - the blue turned out to be from cold water, mostly, but did bruise a bit from the scrape. For such a tiny little bump, I am surprised at how much of a mark I got - the book I have says that blood vessels are closer to the skin's surface now, so tiny bumps, even the ones the baby makes from the inside, can leave bruises.

Baby Things Accumulating...

Some days seemed to fly by last week and other days never seemed to end! Have been on a roller-coaster sleep pattern: one good sleep followed by 2 or 3 nights of poor sleep, 1 good sleep, etc...Baby is generally on a 2PM-7PM kickboxing routine now. Today was very quiet but I think that I maybe just didn't notice movements so much because I was sleeping most of the time. Now am feeling more stretches and kicks (10 PM).

Went over to Ryan and Jill Shumay's for supper - they hosted a BBQ for a big group of us. Very nice, ate a lot of food, very tired around 9:30 PM so left Cam there and drove home. They only live 15 minute walk away, so if Cam can't get a ride home when he is ready, he can always walk.

A colleague from work came by the house today and dropped off a load of baby items she doesn't want anymore: a playpen, a high chair/swing set, a crib mobile, a cribside toy, a baby bathtub, a jolly jumper and a rocking horse sling for little babies (6 mos or younger). Wow! I was really touched by her generosity - she just wants the stuff out of her house, she has 3 kids (aged 14 yrs, 4 yrs and 1 yr) and doesn't want it anymore! I think Cameron was a bit dazed by all the things she gave us, too. He just kept on saying "wow, that's a lot of stuff".

Too hot to sleep upstairs

1:32 AM - up for a snack. Sleeping in basement tonight again because it is 30° C. I am on the futon, Cameron on the guest bed. I prefer the firmer mattress of the futon, and the futon back supports my back so that I stay on my left side, and wake up less often. Had windows open to get some cool air in and woke up to Cameron scaring away a cat who was staring down our Scarlet. Our poor kitty wanted to do the scaring away, I'm sure, to protect us, you know, but as it IS 1:30 in the morning, she understood that Cameron would be more efficient at it. Other cat was black, he said - could be Velvet, the 3-lb kitten from 3 doors down we found Scarlet fighting with last summer (Scarlet was losing, how embarrassing!).

Comments by strangers...

Belly is now obvious enough that perfect strangers feel compelled to comment. Some of my favorites:

"So are ya pregnant?" - BC Cherry Stand guy
"That's quite the bump. When are you due?" - lady at camera repair shop
"Is pregnant?!?!?" (while pointing) - cleaning lady at work. 20 seconds later..."You MARRIED?!?!?!?"