My Life Lately

Things have been pretty crazy as we try to get ready for the move to the new apartment next weekend. Yesterday morning I went to Zellers, The Superstore, and the Liquor Store to get boxes. I did pretty well for myself, but I think we're still going to need more.

Scott was sick with the flu most of last week, but luckily is getting better. He was well enough to go to the hockey game on Friday night and well enough to help me do a large amount of packing. Hopefully he'll be 100% better soon. He still has cold symptoms lingering. Speaking of the hockey game though, it was one of the best games I've been to in a long time. It wasn't what I was expecting since they were on a 12-game losing streak, but it turned out to be a really good game with an exciting finish. My favourite player, Marty Reasoner, was the only one to score in the shoot-out to win the game.

On Friday at work the other teacher who is pregnant and I were surprised with a presentation of a gift basket that had all sorts of nice baby things in them. They gave them to us in front of all the kids because the kids have all been very interested in the babies in our bellies. The kids are constantly putting balls under their shirts and telling us that their babies are kicking them. This is my last week coming up and I'm really glad. By the end of the day I've been pretty tired out and even sometimes a little light-headed. I'll be 34 weeks on Thursday and I have my next doctor's appointment on Wednesday. I always look forward to my appointments, but I never look forward to the 2 hour wait I have to see the doctor. Tomorrow night we also have our first of two prenatal visits with our doula, Mitzi. It'll be fun.

Fears

I keep having a recurring dream that I have my baby and I forget to feed her for a long time, and then when I finally try to, I have a really hard time getting her on the breast. To anyone who's talked to me about my pregnancy it shouldn't be a surprise because I'm more nervous about breastfeeding than I am about labour. I read in "What to Expect When You're Expecting" that in many hospitals the nurses will take the baby out of the mom's room and feed them a bottle without the mother knowing. This totally freaked me out and I was scared that they would ruin my breastfeeding attempts. I've finally talked to enough people who have given birth at the Royal Alex Hospital and even a nurse who works in the ward (she's the mom to a couple kids at the daycare) that I feel confident that they won't do this. But still, in my dreams something doesn't work with the nursing. Last night in my dream I gave birth to her at the point I am now and she was a healthy 7 pounds, but I couldn't remember how many ounces or how long she was. She also didn't look like a newborn. She looked to be about 5 months old with light brown hair and pretty blue eyes. Also, in all my dreams that I give birth the actual labour part is a breeze.

When people ask me if I'm going to get an epidural I find myself saying "I hope I can do it without". By saying this I still sound "realistic" to them and I avoid the comments about how they think women who want to go naturally are dumb or want to be martyrs. I have no problem with epidurals for other women. My sister is one who needs to have one. She doesn't tolerate pain very well and it helps her bond with her children better if they haven't caused her that much pain. I also know that sometimes if a woman is too stressed out by the pain it can cause distress in the baby. Back pain and extremely long labours are cases when I really can't blame a woman for wanting to get rid of the pain, even if just to have a rest. For me personally, though, I don't want one. I want to be able to walk around, I want to be able to go to the bathroom myself and I don't want to possibly prolong the process. The biggest thing for me, though, is that I'm scared of that very small risk that it could harm me and that it does affect the baby's alertness. So the real answer the question is, "no, I don't plan on having an epidural". I'm lucky to have Scott who is extremely supportive of my decision and a doula who has years of experience coaching women through drug-free labour. I don't want the pain, and I know I'll have moments that I'll think an epidural will be the best option, but I also feel confident in my own body and state of mind.

A bunch of updates

I'm pretty bad at keeping up my blog lately, but I thought it was about time.

I have three more weeks of work left and then I'll be a housewife and a stay-at-home-mom. We got a new apartment on the west side of town and we're really excited about moving into it. It's about 3 times the size of the one that we have now and it's a 3-bedroom with a dishwasher. I don't love the area, but I do love the apartment. We loved it right away, but weren't sure if we would get it because there were a bunch of other applicants. I guess the landlady liked something about us. It'll be nice to have a place where the baby will live and we can start to prepare our place for her.

The beginning of March was pretty hectic since every spare minute was spent looking for a place to live. Now that we've found a place, though, we need to pack and that is just as stressful for me. As is keeping this place clean for viewing.

As of Thursday of this week I'll be 32 weeks/8 months. It's hard to believe how fast time is flying. I just found out tonight that my sister will be having her baby next Monday after being induced. Her baby seems to be in a good position and she's been pretty uncomfortable so the doctor okayed it. It's her third.

We've finally been getting some spring-like weather lately and I'm loving it. I really missed having a spring when we were in Vancouver. Although, on the other hand, I missed seeing tulips in February this year too.

The other update is that we went to see David Suzuki speak at the university a few weeks ago and it was pretty amazing and inspiring to hear him speak. If you ever have the chance to hear him, you should take it.