and we have...

...movement! yesterday the midwife asked if I had felt any movement and I said I wasn't sure but maybe. and then yesterday I for sure felt movement and this morning after drinking a cup of african chai and eating a slice of chocolate zucchini bread the baby was dancing!
this is the fun part for sure.

heart beat

I met with M {the midwife} today for a 4 month check up.
It was short and sweet as there weren't any major concerns or questions on my part.
AND...I got to hear the baby's heartbeat.
S/he was moving about and M said that the baby is quite active! It took a few seconds to find the heartbeat and for one scary moment I thought, what if she can't find it? what if there is no heartbeat? Oh those ridiculous "what ifs".
But we did hear the heart beat and I can't wait to see the baby in a couple weeks {we'll go the week after Easter}.
I think I've started feeling movements which has been so sweet.
But I've got that pinched nerve back in my left foot. The only time it ever really bothers me is when I'm kneeling on the ground to change Jude's diaper. In fact, it's so painful at this time that I can't kneel so I have to switch positions {note to self; get Jude potty trained. soon.}
We've started thinking about giving the baby a Lugandan middle name {in addition to an English middle name}. Jamie suggested it and while not initially "for it", the idea has grown on me, and I quite like it.
Once we find out the baby's gender, and decide on a name, I think we'll at least make the first name public so as to help the boys really grasp the idea of this baby as a person and as a boy or girl.

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.

15 weeks

So it could be the giant bowl of stir fry leftovers I just gobbled or the lack of exercise for a week and a bit or the increased amounts of sweets I've been eating, but gosh. I look about as big as I feel these days!
Don't mind the squinchy eyes - it was bright.

I seriously do feel a lot larger and I think I am, but now that we have water, I can exercise again because lo and behold...SHOWERS! 

I had a lovely morning with my friend Kelly at an amazing cafe where I had the best latte I've had since being here and a huge croissant. I bought 6 new (to us) children's books for the boys - I gave them each one (Peter and the Wolf & Peter Pan and Wendy) and am saving the others, possibly for Easter baskets or something. Oh and I also bought the most amazing bread from the cafe - filled and covered with whole grains and seeds. DELICIOUS. I could eat the whole loaf myself. But I won't.

It's amazing what a couple hours with a friend can do for your spirits! Thankful for friends here.

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.

14 weeks!

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.

sugar, sugar, sugar

As in past pregnancies, I am craving sugar. Candy. Chocolate. All of the above.
In general I have a sweet tooth, but pregnancy has always amped it up for me.
One night when the power was off, I started listing off all my favourite Easter and seasonal candies. Then I actually made a list.
Here it is:
- the giant jellybeans with the marshmallow-type centers
- Cadbury mini eggs {of course!}
- anything Reece's Peanut Butter cup
- the malt/Robin's eggs
- Peeps {but they have to be stale}
- Conversation Hearts {V-day}
- really good jelly beans

sigh. I love candy. Now excuse me while I eat the Smarties White Chocolate Bar that Jamie brought home for me.

13 weeks

Today I'm 13 weeks pregnant.
All of a sudden time has slowed down.
This morning I started googling "what to bring to a hospital birth" and doing some other searches related to that.  I'm not all that upset that I'll be giving birth in a hospital. Obviously I'd love to have a third home birth, but right now that's just not an option so I'm choosing to embrace what I've been given in my current situation.
Jamie and I talked about him taking a parental leave since I'm clocking in very few hours as it is and won't take a maternity leave. He can qualify for up to 35 weeks! If he started taking his leave when I'm due (September 1st) he wouldn't be off parental leave until the first week of May! That's almost our entire second year on STINT. Crazy. Obviously he's not taking the full 35 weeks, but we haven't decided yet how many weeks he will take.
And this morning I got a message from a woman who lives in Kampala and is a photographer. I had messaged her many months ago when I was still on Facebook and she never replied re: a family photo session and just today she did.
When I told her I was pregnant she asked if I was interested in labour/birth photography as well! I definitely am. I have never had professional maternity, birth/labour or newborn pictures done and I have always wanted it. So I'm excited. I don't know what her pricing is, but I'm hoping it'll be reasonable and we can do a maternity/family shoot, labour/birth shoot and a newborn one too! How precious those pictures would be.
I guess I should start taking some belly pics. {Maybe tomorrow.} My belly is getting a bit thick, but doesn't really seem to be a "bump" per se and all my clothes still fit me normally.
Jude often requests to see my belly and then comments, "Yah belly is getting biggah and BIGGAH!" Ha. You have no idea, kiddo.

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.