Week 36 Appointment

At the latest midwife appointment, Mom met the midwife practicum student who will more than likely be part of Mom's Labour & Delivery team. She, who will remain nameless in case we decide to use that name (Mom and Dad are name shopping...rather late in the process), seemed like someone with a lot of potential. The procedure at this appointment was the same as usual - blood pressure, fundus height, weight, urine glucose and protein tests, and baby position check. Seems Bif has begun to drop. Where this appointment differed, besides the student midwife involvement, was a Group B Strep test. 25% of women test positive for GBS, putting the baby at risk of infection during/after delivery. Simple solution: antibiotics by IV during L&D. We are now into weekly-midwife-appointments territory, so we'll find out the results of this GBS test this week.

Many people (i.e., relatives, students, the midwife) have gently voiced their concern over Mom's choice to still be working. There are a number of reasons Mom is being stubborn about it. Firstly, she teaches a total of 6 hours per week, spread over 4 days - one course that she has already taught, just last summer in fact. No stress. Secondly, staying at home (we don't have a TV) waiting for labour is not Mom's idea of fun, and while there is lots of cleaning that needs to be done at home, cleaning uses just as much energy, if not more, than giving 2 hrs of lecture and 4 hrs of lab over the week. Thirdly, financially it is the best plan. So there! :-) Of course, there is lots of time to eat humble pie (made with Splenda).

Mini-GUESSer

Mom's friend Marcy (shown in the Qualicum Beach photo with Mom, Oct 1st posting) has given birth to a healthy 8lb1oz boy named Maximilian. He arrived Monday Jan. 22nd at 7:04pm in a Toronto hospital. We'd post a photo but must ask permission first. (UPDATED Feb 12th with a photo of Max, just minutes old)

If you didn't understand the blog title, not to worry. Mom was trying to think of one that wouldn't alarm or confuse readers, e.g., "Birth Announcement," or "It's a Boy!", etc. Marcy and Mom used to be part of the GUESS Lab as Master's students at the University of Toronto, under the direction of the late Dr. Ferko Csillag. He would have been so pleased to meet the next generation of mini-GUESSers.

Congrats to the new parents, Marcy and Rick!

Here is the latest photo of Mom, taken exactly one month before the due date. If you've been following the blog for a while now, you'll notice that this is the next photo in a series of backporch comparison shots. The previous two (taken with the old camera) can be found in the Nov 26th and Oct 20th postings. Quite the difference! It leaves Mom wondering a) how one more month of growth is possible, and b) well, how Bif is ever going to get out of there.

Unlike many women at the 9 month mark, Mom has really very little to complain about. Although she does complain here and there about her unrecognizable feet/ankles, she is sleeping quite well (and is therefore likely to be a proud outlier in the UBC end-of-pregnancy sleep study that she's participating in). And best of all, her blood glucose levels have never been better, allowing her to include a couple vanilla Oreos with each dinner (much to Dad's chagrin). In fact, the Diabetes Nurse and Dietician were so impressed at yesterday's appointment that they feel no need to see Mom again.

Next midwife appointment is tomorrow, after which there will be weekly appointments.

Eight Wheels

As of today, we'd like to welcome a new car into the household. And no, we're not referring to the SUV Graco stroller that we just bought over the weekend. We're referring to a 1995 [BC] grey-indigo Camry that Grandma and Opa no longer need, given their new Camry Hybrid. This exchange could not have come at a better time, given that our 1993 [Ontario] Corolla is near its end with parts rusting away at a rate of ~$2000/8mo. In fact, we're refusing to undergo the latest $1800 estimate to fix a hole in the exhaust pipe at the engine. The plan is to drive the Corolla into the ground, meaning we'll actually achieve the label of two-car family for a time. Yet another modification, alluded to in the previous post, from our normal behaviour.

If you were listening to CBC Radio One's Definitely Not the Opera show a couple weekends ago (all about pop culture and cars), you'll have heard the announcer refer to an "enzyme" that first-time pregnant women produce that causes them to decide that their offspring will not ride in their present car, and that they therefore must buy a replacement. Wonder if there are statistics to back that up. Ourselves not included, we certainly know of at least two couples this applies to...

Anyway, this temporary dual car situation will help Mom control glucose levels, fatigue, and swollen ankles a lot better. This way, she can be at work only for the 6 hours per week she teaches. No further longing for an office couch.

Symptoms of Consumption

Okay, there is clearly something wrong with us....we are exhibiting symptoms of the North American Consumption mentality. Last weekend it was a Baby Show. This weekend it's a Baby Registry. Yup, folks. We're registered...at Babies R Us. We resisted this action quite easily for 8 months. Firstly, we are already *quite* well setup, thanks to Uncle Chris and Auntie Trish (kudos to the transporters as well!) Secondly, Mom has always felt icky about registries, likely because she was brought up to never invite yourself over to swim in the neighbour's pool - always wait to be asked (similar to the never-ask-outright-for-stuff mentality). It even took some convincing to set up a registry for our Wedding a few years ago.

So how did this baby registry come about? Well, we certainly didn't visit Babies R Us today for the express purpose of signing up for a registry. We went to buy one of the bigger items on our list - a stroller. And the stroller we wanted was on sale ($70 off), today only. In other words, Babies R Us advertises a loss leader to get people like us into their store so they can sign people like us up for their registry. The incentive to sign up? Even more of a discount off our stroller, as well as a free gift bag. Good job, salesgirl.

Next thing you know, we'll be regular shoppers at Wal-Mart. Ughh. Actually, there's yet another step in there - to be discussed in the subsequent posting.

Whale Watching

Mom will have everyone know that this blog entry title was a suggestion from Dad, and is related to Dad's new nickname for Mom: Beachy. Guess that speaks volumes about Mom's general physical existence these days. Sigh.

Yesterday we braved a solicitation event. Yes, we took a break from work to voluntarily attend a "Baby Show" in town. i.e., pimping out your home address in exchange for some free stuff and chances at door prizes. The Show actually wasn't all that big, maybe 15 vendors total, lending further support to the small-town we-don't-have-any-maternity-clothes nature of Nanaimo. But it was nice to see other big bellies, beyond the 6 we've been seeing regularly in prenatal class. And there were a couple interesting booths.

• One was a professor from UBC Nursing who was recruiting pregnant women for a study on sleep patterns in their final month - she didn't need to work very hard to recruit academic Mom.
• The other was a Federal Government booth, which was good for figuring out all the RESP, CESP, Universal Child Care Benefit stuff - also had forms for child passports. One of the things at the top of Mom's postpartum-to-do list is to introduce baby to Great-Grandma Maga in Pennsylvannia (photo of her in Sept 3rd blog entry). Unfortunately, baby now needs a passport to travel to the States (can you say "rediculous?"), which first requires a SIN#, which in turn requires a birth certificate. Given that time is of the essence, we were relieved to find out that turn around time for the latter is 1 week. SIN#s can be processed immediately. It's the passport that takes a while, though a trip to the nearest passport office (Victoria) will speed up the process and they *can* issue emergency passports....for an extra fee, of course.

Back to School - Part 6 of 6

Lots of catching up to do....

Mom and Dad attended their last prenatal class on Wednesday. This was the one ("Your Newborn") that was cancelled in December due to inclement weather. Funny enough, Wednesday evening's dumping of snow was arguably worse than the pile that originally cancelled the class, but we're running out of time to again reschedule (one couple in our class has already had their baby). We ended up having a lot of difficulty getting home - even required a tortuous (mmm, sugary donuts) 30-min hiatus at the local Timmy's because we couldn't get our car up the hill without the aid of a salt truck. Anyway, the class itself was mostly on material we already knew, though it was good to have it reiterated. e.g., how to soothe a perpetually crying baby, immunizations, post-partum depression signs, co-sleeping debate, etc.

Mom's GDS has been largely under control, though the blood glucose numbers are showing signs of creeping up and ketones have been detected on a number of occassions. Mom chalks this all up to now needing to work the GDS schedule into the [albeit minimal] work schedule, for e.g., yesterday she completely forgot about her afternoon snack. Furthermore, it has been very difficult to get decent exercise due to the snow/ice conditions of late. Fear of slipping and falling outweighs fear of high blood sugar. Anyhow, at the last Diabetes/Dietician appointment (last week), the nurses were concerned about Mom's pre-bedtime numbers, which have never been low enough to fall in the accepted range. But the rest of the numbers were decent enough to reward Mom with even fewer required daily tests. Next appointment is not for another two weeks. Hopefully there will be enough of a work+GDS routine established by then that Mom's ultimate fear of the spoken words "insulin shots" will not be heard.

Mom is finally thankful that she purchased a rather baggy winter jacket several years back as it is now the only coat that still fits. She is rapidly running out of footwear options, however (due to swollen feet/ankles), and actually gave her first lecture of the semester in her ugly birkenstocks.

Dad's work continues to progress well, although he is quite busy with a full day of work followed by a full evening of prep. He has quite appropriately handed over a number of the house duties to Mom (who is failing miserably at these so far). Sadly Dad has had no time of late for the camera, although we promise another comparison porch-photo soon.

Bif continues to perform regular upside-down ballet routines. Wednesday evening's show lasted 1.5 hours and must have been choreographed to Stravinsky, given the flexible and wild moves involved. We can't wait to see what this translates to ex utero. 5.5 more weeks! We will be packing our hospital bag this weekend, just in case....

Oh, one more thing. If you're looking for a charity to donate to, the Nanaimo Hospital Foundation is raising funds in part for its new Maternity wing that is under construction (originally to be ready Feb 07, now estimated at June 07, darn!). See this website: http://www.equipforlife.com/pages/funding/maternity/. (Actually, our backup midwife appears in a photo in the banner (the photo with a Mom and newborn)).

Happy New Year

Mom, Dad, and Bif had a good holiday. We spent Christmas at Grandma and Opa's house on the mainland, where this photo of 32-week-old Bif was taken - Dad was learning the ropes of his new SLR camera. For New Years Eve, we went over to a friends' house for boardgames and xmas cookie avoidance.

In between these two events, Mom and Dad went to their 32-week appointment with the midwife, where Bif put on a performance. Not only have we seen hiccups at 18 weeks and felt hiccups for the past 6 weeks, now we've heard them as well via the heart monitor. At this appointment, we learned all about our choices for baby treatment immediately after the birth. We have decided against the eye ointment and in favour of the one-shot of vitamin K (as opposed to the multiple-day oral treatment). We also learned that our midwife team is taking on a practicum midwife student who, with our permission, will more than likely be the one handling delivery of Bif (albeit, supervised). This is a fitting generational continuation, given that Mom was surrounded by observing medical students when she herself was born at Women's College Hospital.

2007 is sure to bring about change, in a good way. 7 more weeks to go!