41 weeks

one gorgeous week overdue.
I admit. I went through many phases this week. acceptance. grouchiness. anger. frustration. desperation.
I've walked up and down our gigantic hill in our compound a bunch of times. I ate bowls of pineapple. I've paced and swayed and had lovely hot showers and crawled around on my hands and knees. I've done the "needful" with jamie.

if you don't like words like "mucus" and "blood" stop reading now. you've been warned.

I was getting a bit discouraged because unlike my other two pregnancies, I hadn't lost my mucus plug yet or lost much mucus at all. with noah I lost my mucus plug 4 days before he was born. with jude I think it was 2 days. to me, it's been somewhat of a "sign" that things are happening. so to not see it is discouraging.
this morning I've lost a bit of mucus which is a good thing. hopefully things will pick up.

right now there's a student meeting/retreat going on in our living room today; I can hear the clapping and singing and laughter and it makes me smile. baby B may not show up today, but if he does, he'll have a warm reception, that's for sure.

my latest plan that will likely not come to fruition;
if I am still pregnant on Monday, I will go to the hospital a couple hours early, get my ultrasound scan done and then meet with my doctor for my appointment with him at 11:30. as long as all is well with me and baby B I am going to push for the doctor to give me a stretch and sweep, since I've completed my full dosage of antibiotics {as he was concerned that I was GBS+ and didn't want to possibly push any bacteria further up and infect baby B}. I'm also going to push that I am not induced by any drugs until at least 42 weeks, as long as baby is okay. and depending on which dates he is going by, this could be either next Saturday (the 15th) or as late as the following Wednesday (the 19th!) depending on which dates my doctor is going by.

But let's all hope and pray that I announce the arrival of baby B before Monday at 11:30!

38 weeks

Well I may or may not be experiencing a sugar high/coma due to inhaling two glazed donut muffins that I made this morning. Whoo, someone's got the shakes.

Anyway, so I'm 38 weeks! My bags are packed. I've got some fun ideas to make up small little "fun" bags for both the boys to either enjoy at the hospital {if we're stuck there for awhile. Please Lord, no.} or at home before or after we get back.
Nick arrives on Monday morning and then we'll have our built-in person to watch the boys when we need to go to the hospital. I'll breathe a sigh of relief when he does arrive.

What else? I'm actually feeling quite well. Not feeling too impatient although in the evenings I'm feeling pretty tired {I looked at the clock at 8:45pm last night because I felt so tired and wondered what time it was! I did end up going to be around 9:30ish.}. I wake up to pee lots at night but usually can fall right back to sleep.

I'm happy to wait until this baby shows up on his own time. Not feeling so grumpy and expecting that he'll come early like I felt with Jude {which made being even more overdue than Noah exceptionally more of a letdown.}. Just content to wait - a bit because I'm slightly nervous of the labour/birth in a hospital and would rather just skip over that part and meet baby B already.
But it's good.

Oh I texted Dr. B again {yes. I have his cell phone number and he told me to text him for the lab results.} and haven't yet heard back about the GBS or the iron levels {correction on last time's post. apparently my hemoglobin levels were low but he hadn't heard back about my iron? I don't really know the difference, but whatever.}, so I'll just wait and see and maybe I'll hear back sometime this weekend.

No weight gain lately. Still hovering around the 16lb mark as total weight gain. Hoping for a regular sized baby this time around. No behemoths, please.

Okay, I should eat a piece of cheese or something to combat these sugar shakes!

pelvic pain

I really hate to complain about pregnancy related things for 2 reasons;
1. my pregnancies are generally really easy and straight-forward and I don't usually have much to complain about!
2. woman everywhere struggle to become pregnant and I am thrilled to be pregnant.
That being said, I am in pain.
My pelvic/hip joints are causing a lot of pain. I walk like a 94 year old and going from sitting to standing to walking is quite painful. It's mostly on my left side but I think because it's pelvic, it's now causing a bit of back/butt pain as well. I don't remember having this kind of pain with either of my other two pregnancies. When I was carrying Jude, I do remember it being a more difficult and cumbersome than it was with Noah near the end, but it was nothing like this. I don't know if it's better for me to lie down or sit down or walk it out.
I did a bit of research {surprise, surprise} and it's not unusual to have this kind of joint pain. Generally "walking it out" does nothing to help and usually only serves to exacerbate the condition. So for now I'm going to take it easy and not feel guilty about putting on a few more tv shows or movies for the boys {although right now they are playing quite well together} if I need to. Thankfully, Jamie's around for the next little while and we don't have anything on the agenda.
I'm not one to complain about pain in general but I am hoping that yesterday and today are just bad days and that it's not like this for the next 4 weeks or else I'm in for a rough month.

35 week appointment

Today was my last appointment with Michele. It was supposed to have been at 9am this morning but at 7:15am I got a text saying she was attending the birth of a woman who had gone into early labour and if I could just wait for her text to come in.
So at around mid-day (noon) I got a text asking if I'd prefer 2:30pm today or 10:30am tomorrow. We went for the 2:30 slot and arrived shortly after 2:30 due to massive rain storms and just being late in leaving the house.
Classic.
Everything looks and sounds good. The heartbeat sounds good - no ectopic beats today but we'll keep an eye/ear out for things there.
My blood pressure was (of course) a little higher than she likes to see, but I think it's just me being in Uganda - higher elevation levels? I have no idea. I'm personally not worried, but we'll keep an eye on things to be sure.
I'm measuring 33 inches so as big as I feel, I am still smaller than I've been with both other pregnancies so here's hoping for a smaller baby! He's not small by any means, but I'm hoping this means that I can expect an under 9lb baby. *crossed fingers*
We talked about where I go when I am coming in to deliver, how long they'll let me go over due (there's no rush but will likely book a 41 week physiological scan if no baby has arrived by then) and then a crazy lady walked into our room and interrupted our conversation. Awesome. Michele escorted her out and found a nurse to keep an eye out for her.
My thoughts on everything is that it may just be better to have my baby at a hospital here rather than a hospital in Canada. They seem a bit more laid back, less likely to administer or push drugs or a C-section and as I tend to be more of an independent labour-er the doctor will just be there for the end of things while the nurses/midwives will do routine checks on me (if I'm in the hospital with enough time to be labouring instead of pushing out a baby!).
So I've got my next appointment with the doctor in 2 weeks and we'll see how he is, how the appointment goes and I'm just trusting that God's plan is best and it's yet another opportunity to trust in Him to take care of me and this baby.
And now to submit my receipts (oh how I miss "free" healthcare - sure it all gets refunded back to us, but we have to pay up front here and then submit paperwork to our insurance. ugh. I hate paperwork.).

35 weeks

Whew. I'm feeling it. Last night I noticed the swelling has begun. It's just minor but it's there. I can feel it and only just barely see it. So here we go. Putting the feet up. Making extra sure to drink lots of water.

Yesterday at the craft market I was sitting in the shade with Noah & Jude and another little {white} boy came up to us and started playing with the boys. Instant friendship. Eventually I got talking to his dad and found out that this family of 2 boys and a baby girl live in Gulu. The mother just had a home birth a week ago with a midwife and had a fantastic experience! I was so encouraged {and a wee bit jealous} to hear about it! I was also encouraged to hear that while they were in Kampala, she was receiving care from Dr. Busingye - the same doctor I will have. The father had nothing but good things to say about him which was so reassuring and such a sweet blessing to my heart. {thank you, Jesus!}

I got a new pair of earrings at the urging of my friend Kelly who was also at the craft market but you can't see them in the above picture, so I made Jamie take a picture so I could show them off to you.

Lovely mint green. I love 'em.

Right now there's another party next door so we can count on blasting loud music with some sweet bass until at least 11pm tonight. Good times!

Well, we're off with Jamie's family to MishMash at yet another attempt for me to buy tortilla chips and bagels. Still no luck.
Tomorrow is Jude's birthday party and I'll be making the cake later on today and possibly some of the other food that I can prep ahead of time.
Baby B is a butternut squash! Can't wait to meet this little guy.

under pressure

I met with Michele today for another appointment at the hospital. This time we brought the boys as well. It's always fun when people get to meet my kids. She said they were like two peas in a pod. In her British accent, of course. :)
The appointment went well apart from one thing. I have slightly high blood pressure. I've never had high blood pressure. In fact, I think my blood pressure may have once been on the minorly low side with one of my other pregnancies. I always heard my midwives say, "Oh lovely." or "Perfect." when they took my blood pressure before. But even from my first appointment with Michele, it was never even close to being "low". I started around 132/83 and stayed around that number, went down for my last appointment to something over 79 but today's was 134/93. Not good.
I admit I googled "high blood pressure in pregnancy" a few weeks ago - probably after my last appointment with Michele.
The good thing is that there is no trace of protein in my urine (a significant warning sign of pre-eclampsia) and I have no swelling thus far. I did have a bit of swelling in my hands with Jude and significant swelling in my feet with Noah so I'm just hoping for no swelling at all.
I'm not freaking out, but I am mildly concerned and trying to stay calm and just chill out. Part of me also wonders if I have mild white-coat syndrome or if being out on the roads here is just generally stressful for my body as I don't feel quite relaxed or myself when I'm at the hospital. It could also be that the boys were there too, although they weren't acting out our misbehaving or anything.
Either way, I would appreciate your prayers that my blood pressure comes down a bit and that nothing serious would arise from this.

**oh and I've now gained 9lbs! whew, growth spurt indeed!**

16 weeks

16 weeks! So crazy. So big. But it's nice to have water to shower with and being able to exercise (due to having water).
My emotions are still all over the place (ie. I'm still cranky and can be - for lack of a better word - quite bitchy) and Jamie says that sometimes when he's called me or when we've spoken on the phone that it's like that Seinfeld episode where the girl that Jerry's dating looks nice in certain lighting but then sometimes different light falls on her and she looks hideous. Will it be "good light" Vanessa or "bad light" Vanessa?

http://youtu.be/TFeUrC2gR30 (for some reason blogger isn't allowing me to embed any videos in this blog - maybe because it's private? not sure. anyway, check out the link for more on that Seinfeld episode.)

For those curious (I was), here are my other 16 week pregnancy photos:

16 weeks with Jude

16 weeks with Noah (love those culottes!) 

I was definitely smaller with Noah, but now I'm not sure, I think I kinda look about the same as I did with Jude...that makes me feel a bit better. At least the quality of my pictures has progressively got better. 

I can't wait to find out if this little one is a boy or a girl! 

Anyone have any name suggestions? We feel like we used up all our favourite boy names and none can compare, but I guess we felt that way when I was pregnant with Jude and his name popped up and we love it just as much as Noah's. So there's hope. 

Did you know that in your first trimester you should be drinking 2 quarts of water every day and in your second trimester you should drink 3 quarts of water every day and in your third trimester you should drink 4 quarts (a gallon!) of water every single day?! Now obviously I got this from an American website but I think a quart of water is 4 cups of water? Now I think I'm doing alright, but I know I need to up my water intake for sure. And especially being in a warmer climate.

grouch

pregnancy hormones. they aren't pretty. at least not this time around. I honestly can't remember the other times feeling like this. grumpy at times, yes. but this?
I'm impatient. I snap at my kids and Jamie. I grumble {I try to keep the grumbling in my head - especially around the kids}. I yell - or at least I raise my voice a lot more than I have in the past.
blech.

I'm tired of feeling like this. Will this pass or will I be more easily frayed until the baby is born?
who knows.

also, we haven't really decided when to let the general public know about the pregnancy. close friends and family know. but yeah, we're keeping it off facebook/twitter/the interwebs for now.
that's all.
week 15 tomorrow.

dreams and other bits of randomness

My skin {mainly my forehead} has been breaking out - big time. At least for me. Makes me wonder if there's a wee little girl growing inside me as I had lovely skin when I was pregnant with both the boys. They do say every pregnancy is different, no matter the gender, so it's just a pondering at this point.

Noah's moved from baby Mater to baby Magic and now to baby Izzy {after a character from Jack and the Neverland Pirates}. I must say that I'm not opposed to the name Isabelle/Isobel and the nickname being Izzy, but for now...we'll see.

And my dreams have picked up on the vividness and frequency. I blogged about one of them the other day on my Strickly Speaking blog and then last night I had another dream I was in Canada with my Mom and Sister at Stone Road Mall in Guelph buying a wedding present for a guy from our church in Toronto who was married last summer, if I recall {I was not invited to said wedding in real life}. Anyway, so I'm wandering around Home Outfitters trying to find something cool to give. I suggested to my Mom that she do a "games night theme" and now I'm annoyed because I can't figure out what to give. And of course we're at the place they registered with the least amount of things.
The boys may or may not have been there, I can't remember.
I think this is when the dream within a dream part happened and I "woke up" and thought, that's silly. I'm in Africa. I can't even give them their gift. Maybe I can send money.
Then I woke up and thought, A) The wedding happened many, many months ago. B) I wasn't invited, therefore I'm not obligated to buy a gift. C) Enough with the shopping dreams in Canada!


This morning I moved my head too suddenly to check what time it was and ended up feeling dizzy for the most part of today. Not completely dizzy, just mostly feeling "off", so we're taking it easy around here.

And a last bit of randomness...I have two new lovely "baby" sites I've been checking somewhat regularly. Check them out:
Lay Baby Lay {nursery/kid room designs. I adore pretty much every single "room" idea she posts.}
You can't call it "it". {a look at baby names of all sorts.}

And now it's thundering so that calls for a spot of tea.

tired

I don't get it. I thought the 2nd trimester was supposed to be filled with more energy, not increased tiredness!
I am always tired. Mid-morning I'm feeling so exhausted and weak that I snack on something hoping to increase my energy but while it helps the weakness, I'm still so tired. I nap (or at least rest) every day and I'm looking forward to this exhaustion passing. Soon.
So. Tired.
The End.

food

My appetite has been all over the place. Mostly I'm just hungry. But usually {around dinner time} I'm starving but then once dinner is on my plate or in my bowl, I'm just     not. And then give me about 15 minutes post-dinner and I'm hungry again.
So annoying.
The other day Noah asked me,
Mom? Where does your food go?
It took me a second to realize where that question was coming from and then I understood that because we say "baby Mater is in Mommy's tummy" and that's where food goes, well then are there rice and beans dropping onto baby Mater's head at dinner time?
I thought for a second and then just explained that Mommy's tummy gets pushed up and there's a part for the food to go into and there's a part for the baby to be in.

symptoms

After a few cycles/months of trying I felt I was getting pretty good at reading my body. Which was to say that the month that I actually did get pregnant was exactly the same as every other cycle. I have no tell-tale pregnancy symptoms until at least 5 or 6 weeks.
But here are some things I have noticed that are different lately:
- I was scatterbrained before, but now? It's on a whole new level. I forget to put ingredients into recipes, I wander around the house aimlessly because I've forgotten what I was doing and if I want to tell someone something it has to be right that very second or else I've already forgotten.
- Um, I have this increased love of bacon. I know bacon is much-loved by so many, and I always liked it, but now? LOVE. The amazing thing about bacon is that you can have it for breakfast, lunch and dinner and was it not so expensive here I probably would do just that. Good thing for my arteries it's expensive.
- I'm tired. This is not unusual for me. I am rarely physically sick during pregnancies but I am dog-tired. The annoying thing is that most nights when I actually try to get to bed on time, I toss and turn for what seems like hours before falling asleep.
- My previously favourite drink? Water. Now I still drink lots of water, but I'm finding myself adding flavourings into it. Jamie likes Crystal Light or Nestea packages, so that's what I've been using. So weird.
- I am cravings central. This morning I woke up thinking about my Mom's Sticky Buns that she serves {only} on Christmas morning. Lately I've been longing for a good donut. And one time in the middle of the night I woke up and thought, tomorrow for lunch, I'm going to make myself an egg salad sandwich. Then I promptly went back to sleep. The next day, that's exactly what I did and it.was.amazing. And then just this last week obviously my body was craving dairy because for dinner I made the creamiest mac 'n cheese {the pasta is cooked in milk!} and then vanilla pudding with slices of banana in it. so.much.dairy.
- I generally don't feel fantastic, but not nauseous or throwing up so for that I am giving thanks.
- oh and my boobs are ridiculously sore.
So that's me. I'm still trying really hard to work out 5 days a week, drink lots and take naps when I can if I can't get to sleep early enough.
Looking forward to Spain and the ocean and Spanish food like churros and their famous jamon {ham} sandwiches and tapas...mmm.