Snow

I woke up to snow and I loved it. I really missed snow when I was in Vancouver - real snow. I cleaned off my car and ventured out on the snowy roads for the first time in about 3 years. It wasn't so bad, though. After making it through a traffic cirle I was going somewhat slow around the turn because of all the snow on the road. A guys behind me decided to pass me on the right going a little too fast. Once he got in front of me he started fish-tailing and I was really glad he didn't do that when he was beside me.

I made it to the church in Sherwood Park for my women's breakfast club and I was really glad I did. It was a really small group of women, but they were really sweet and they made me feel welcome. It's really nice to find a place that I feel a connection with and I can make a home base at. Now we just have to move to Sherwood park so i don't have to drive as far. Scott already works there so it just makes sense. It's about 20 minutes south of Edmonton.

Well, I'm at home with a stuffed up head and a sore throat, but I have to say that I'm in a pretty good mood. Yesterday I was feeling a little nervous about what my birth experience was going to be like based on the fact that I'm going with an OB/GYN instead of a midwife. For some reason I have the idea in my head that doctor's will laugh at me when I say that I want a natural birth. I know women all over the place deliver naturally with a doctor so I don't know where this came from. So yesterday I did some research on doulas and natural childbirth classes here in town and I started to feel better. I've spoken with my potential doula on the phone and I felt instant chemistry with her. We set up a consultation for the end of November. She also told me wonderful things about the doctor who'll be doing the birth so that made me really excited.

When I was looking at the website I was also excited to find a company here who brings parents cloth diapers every week and picks them up for washing for what I think is an incredible price. I've always wanted to use cloth diapers because of environmental reasons, but I also think they are better for the babies and they encourage toilet training sooner. I'm suddenly feeling so much better knowing that it is still possible to have the birth experience that I've always wanted!

Doctor's Appointment

I had my first doctor's appointment this morning and it took forever. Scott picked me up at the daycare at 11am and we arrived 15 minutes before the scheduled time of 11:30 in case there was any paper work to do. I only had to fill out my contact info and medical card number. At around noon they finally admitted us and we went to a little room where a nurse asked me a billion questions about my general health and took my blood pressure. All of that was fine. She took us to a small examination room and I slipped off to go the bathroom (the second time since I had arrived, of course) and when I came back Scott relayed the message to me that the doctor would be there any minutes and I was supposed to remove my nice warm clothing and put on some paper. I did this and sat on the paper-wrapped table and waited - and shivered. Scott and I sat and chatted for a while, but time kept going by. After about 25 minutes we started to get concerned that they had forgotten about us, but decided to give it some more time. Finally, after almost an hour, the doctor came in. It turned out he had to do a c-section at the hospital next door. We decided we'd forgive him for it. He did all the necessary things and listened for the heartbeat, which was the sole purpose that Scott had come along, but we couldn't hear it yet. He said that we'll be able to hear it at the next appointment in 4 weeks, though, so Scott will go to that one with me too. Another four weeks after that one we'll do the ultrasound and we'll find out if we're having a boy or a girl. I'm excited about that. I'm too excited to wait the whole pregnancy. We don't really care what it is, but it's fun to know.

I'm dissapointed that I can't have a midwife, but it's not covered in Alberta's healthcare. I've always said that I'd have the baby in the hospital with a midwife, but we can't really afford to pay for it, so I'll have to make do with a doctor. He seems like a nice man and apparently it's the nurses who care for you most of the time.

Scott and I went to church this morning at the Sherwood Park Alliance Church. It's the church he and his parents went to when they lived here before. I am happy to say that I really liked it. We went to the early, more traditional service, but I think next week I'll give the later contemporary one a try to see how I like it. I'm really excited about the opportunity to meet people and finally have some friends of my own. They have a whole bunch of women's groups and get-togethers that I'm looking forward to attending, like the monthly breakfast and the annual Christmas dinner.

Scott's out golfing (in the rain) with his friend and I just got my beef-vegetable soup in the slow cooker. It'll be done a little later than I'd like, but I haven't made it in a while so I'm looking forward to it. I haven't had a hard time cooking like some pregnant women do, but the smells coming through from other people's apartments is hard for me to deal with. I haven't been feeling nauseated like before, but I still can't stand smells. I was trying to describe it to Scott today because I think he's pretty sick of hearing me complain about it. My sense of smell is so strong sometimes that I can taste whatever is I'm smelling. So when I'm getting a bunch of things coming through the vents and windows like cigarettes, pot, laundry detergent and bad cooking, I feel pretty terrible. At the grocery store today I was trying to find some hand soap that was unscented, but I didn't have any luck. That's another thing I don't like.

Eleven Weeks

So here's my first belly shot. Ignore the mess behind me and the fact that I look terrible after a long day at work. At this point I feel like I'm having a girl even though Scott tells me it's silly to have a "feeling". He doesn't get women's intuition. Of course, I could be wrong. We don't care, though, as long it's healthy.

I've been feeling good for the past two days so I'm hoping that the morning sickness is going to be finished for good. It makes work a lot nicer when I'm not feeling sick all the time. Work's been fun actually, since I told them because another girl I work with is also pregnant and she's due a week before me. We get to bond over our bellies.

Spilling My Secret

It's time for me to spill my secret; I'm pregnant! I'm about 10 and 1/2 weeks and I'm due May 10th. I've been super tired and I've had some nausea for the last couple of weeks. The weirdest sensation is how I can't stand the smell of some things, particularly anything perfumey. I also don't want to eat some of my favourite foods.

I don't have any belly pics like Rachel yet, but I'll post some soon and I'll keep you all updated.

A Visit from Mom

My mom flew into town last night...I mean this morning. Her plane arrived at 1:30 this morning and we arrived at our apartment at 3:15. I'm not feeling too tired right now because I had some sleep before picking her up and I have today and tomorrow off so I could sleep in a bit this morning.

Scott has the car, but we may take a bus to the West Edmonton Mall today. Quite honestly it's probably the highlight for a tourist coming here. There are museums and stuff, and we live close to the legilative grounds which are nice for walking around, but if my visitors to Vancouver (my mom and my best friend, Emily) were to compare my two cities, there's much more to look at in Vancouver. I still like it better here, though. We're planning on checking out the farmer's market on Saturday and maybe we can convince Scott to come with us to Elk Island National Park for a nice walk through the woods on Sunday.

I wish we had tickets to the hockey game tonight, but it looks like we'll be watching it on t.v. instead.