There used to be a photo of my mom giving me a bath in the kitchen sink when I was a newborn... I always thought it was cute and decided to give Emma a bath in our sink tonight. She seemed to enjoy it and in all honesty it was simpler than using her baby bath and quicker than me having a bath with her. I think I see many more "sink baths" in our future! :)

Emma has a cold and was not very happy this afternoon so in an effort to stop her screaming I let her feed herself... mmmm rice cereal! :)

It was cold today but Kalli needed exercise so we bundled Emma up and headed to Dogwood Park so the dog could have some attention. Emma looked pretty cute in her little fleece sleeper.

Today Emma and I went to Halzemere Pumkin Patch with Lani, Sam, Leesa, Carson and Brea. It was a gorgeous day... and really a lot of fun!! There was a petting zoo, and a tractor ride out to the pumkin patch. Emma was more interested in eating straw and playing in the dirt than the pumpkins but she still enjoyed it. Next year will be even more fun when she's able to walk around and choose her own pumpkin :)

The first taste of food!!

Puppy Love!!

I have been having an issue sleeping this past week. Technically I haven't been sleeping well for a long time, mostly from having to get up to go to the bathroom every hour or so but this past week its more that I can't sleep at all. It's 2:30am right now which isn't bad, last night I went to sleep finally around 4am. I imagine that it is mostly nerves and partially that being on bedrest I do not expend much energy throughout the day so don't get as tired? I thought I would sleep really well last night as I actually was out for about 7 hours yesterday, a few hours at work, a few errands, some last minute baby shopping mixed in with a lovely mental health visit to my favorite scrapbook store. I was more than exhausted and feeling terrible by the time I got home but I still couldn't sleep last night... so yeah it must be nerves :)

I am so excited to meet our little girl, but have all the new mom doubts too... I worry some about the actual birth, how will it go? Will we both be healthy? How long will it take, when will it actually happen?? And I worry some about afterwards. It is scary bringing a little human into our world... life changing. I worry about how we will cope together as parents, how will she affect our relationship? What kind of mother will I be? I worry about my health, being healthy enough so that I can play with her and have a long life with her. So many more worries... I think really the only thing I don't worry about is what kind of father Brendan will be, I know he will be awesome. Loving, fun, patient. I knew it as soon as we started dating. He and I talked a long while tonight, turns out we had both been worrying separately about many of the same things... and I had been feeling very lonely. I feel better now, maybe not completely but much much better. He is still the same Brendan, just more stressed out than usual apparently.

So onwards with this journey we go... really it is exciting... we should have our very own little precious baby girl here with us no later than say a week? Gosh maybe tomorrow, who really knows other than her and God. She will make her way out when she is ready... or when we decide to induce her on Tuesday, either way, shouldn't be long now.

Here are a few random photos from the last week or so.

Stacks of baby stuff, all washed and ready to go.




Brendan playing "hockey" with Kalli, and her happiness afterwards.












Paul and Brendan spent last Tuesday together, finishing up some work on the Passat, then enjoying a few hours at the 2010 Car Show and finally the evening at a Canucks game. Brendan bought Emma her first official Canucks gear - his first purchase for the baby that he made my himself :)

Let's start with the positive today... this is a photo of a pillow I got for Emma's room, to go on her glider. It just makes me smile for some reason... and smiles are good.





















I had an ultrasound and monitoring appointment at Peace Arch Hospital today... I had a bit of a rough morning before, jut not feeling well and stressed out - which is the worst thing for me right now - and had an argument with B on the phone which ended with me hanging up on him - after telling him that I couldnt deal with him and was going to hang up - somehow that makes me feel better. I just wish that he wouldnt put things off that are important and need to be taken care of... maybe because I have a lot on my mind and feel like I can't be the one to worry about everything. He got me the info I needed though and gave me a nice stress relieving hug when he got home to take me to the hospital.

My ultrasound went well, Emma was squirming around a lot and weighed in at 7 pounds, 6 ounces and the tech told me that she is head down again. This is good and bad news, well mostly good meaning that we will not need to schedule a C section right now. Bad news is that we were both sort of hoping for that outcome at this point only because then we would just be able to schedule it and have her be born now and wouldnt have to worry about any Pre-Eclampsia complications. But in the end if I can deliver vaginally it would be a good thing and they still may induce my labour sooner than at 40 weeks because of my blood pressure.

Next I was admitted and went upstairs to the maternity ward to have my labwork, Non Stress Test and blood pressure monitoring done. It is a little boring sitting in the little room by myself, but one thing I do enjoy is hearing Emma's heartbeat magnified through the speakers... it is such a reasurring sound. My BP was better today, classified as High Normal, I am still showing protein in my urine which was the start of this whole thing and Emma was doing okay. They were a little concerned that she wasnt moving much although her heartrate was good but I explained that she had been moving a lot during my ultrasound so she might just be tired. They still kept me hooked up longer though to be on the safe side and sure enough she woke up after about an hour or hour and a half and seemed to take some joy in booting me in the tummy for a good ten minutes. Finally convinced that she was happy and healthy they let me go. My sister had come to pick me up and we just stopped at the desk to make my next appointment for monitoring on Monday and get a refund for the prenatal class that B and I were supposed to be attending on Saturday and are no longer allowed to go to and then we got to leave.

This photo is of the machine that monitors the baby, that is heart rate on the left and all those squiggles on the sheet happen every time she moves inside me.


















Once home I took some pity on Kalli and took her out in the back yard for some playtime. Technically this is a no no but she is really missing her daily exercise so I just sat in a lawn chair with the chuckit and threw her ball for her for a half hour... she was so so happy!























The rest of the day was better, went to bed to read a bunch of information they gave me at the hospital that we would have gotten at our class on Saturday, then fell asleep until B came home. He went and got stuff to make dinner, my dad stopped by for a few minutes to give B a package that had come for him, I watched some tv, ate and now I am about to go to bed again.

The days are passing quickly at least... and I have a lot to look forward to!

Yesterday, during my weekly Maternity Clinic appointment my blood pressure was found to be dangerously high. I was once again admitted and sent up to the third floor for a non stress test, blood work and to have my blood pressure monitored every ten minutes. Brendan was at work so I hung out by myself for a while and then decided to call my sister to come sit with me to pass the time. My first few BP checks were also really high but once my sister came and sat with me they leveled off to a more normal range. The non stress for Baby Emma was fantastic, her heartrate was in the perfect range and she was very active.

After a few hours my doctor finally got my blood work back and came to talk to me. The news wasnt great, although of course it could have been worse. She had called a specialist to consult on my case and together they decided that I will have to be on bedrest for the rest of the pregnancy due to Pre-Eclampsia. I technically only have three weeks left until my due date and maybe reading this you will think "oh that's nothing" but for me it feels like forever... I was already having trouble being on "homerest" so actually having to lay down on my couch or my bed and do nothng wasnt something I was very receptive to hearing. The only thing I am allowed out to do is my Maternity appointments, the ultrasound on Thursday and also to go to the hospital every two days for monitoring.

The doctor wrote me a prescription for a home blood pressure monitor and then I left. I called my sister so we could meet up to give her my prescription so that she could deliver the machine to me today but when we met up I realized that I had somehow lost the form when I left the hospital. By this point I was completely overwhelmed and had tears in my eyes but managed not to start bawling, and Lani and I retraced my steps and she found the prescription on the ground outside the hospital.

Then I went to Brendan's work where I prompty burst into tears! He took me to get some dinner and drove me home so I wouldnt have to drive back later to pick him up and then I hung out on the couch and ate, watched some tv until I heard a knock on the door.

My sister had come over to bring me flowers and a Pecan Mudslide from Dairy Queen. She had seen how upset I was when we had met up earlier and thought that flowers and ice cream would help to make it better. They did of course!! :)

So today I took a photo of my sunny happy flowers, because it was sweet and they are pretty and because I am trying to be more positive. Three weeks of bedrest in exchange for a beautiful healthy baby girl is a pretty good trade off. Now to keep reminding myself of that!

Slice of Life - 2010 - Day 1

Well here I am again, ready and hoping to do better this year. In only a few months Brendan and I will have a new and wonderful addition to our family... which will give me new inspiration for photos I hope. Either way I plan to just do my best with this project this year, and enjoy it. I hope you will too...

This is a portion of 2009 in Facebook Statuses... isnt that funny? And here also is Kalli wishing everyone a Happy New Year!!