18 weeks

The time is moving so so slowly... Tomorrow we will hit our 19 week mark and then one more week until the mid point in our pregnancy. Another event that I've been waiting for what feels like forever is our anatomy (or is it anomaly) scan u/s on Friday. Am I too shallow to pretty much only care if its a boy or a girl? It does preoccupy my thoughts a lot lately. I just want to know! I guess once DH said that everything is going to be ok with this baby and with this pregnancy, I kind of assumed that that's the way it is going to be. I am a bit nervous that I haven't felt the baby since the last time (which was over a week ago), but then I guess my baby is comfy where it is and doesn't have a need to poke me :) Although, I do get jealous when I read other mommies-to-be telling their stories of their babies kicking right, left and centre. Oh well... my time will come - I just have to be patient. But back to the events of this week, and it was a crazy one.

Friday was the beginning of Yom Kippur which was starting at 6:31 p.m. and of course, out of all Fridays, it was the craziest day ever. I had to finish a major agreement which was supposed to be done in the morning, but of course, IT guys came to switch our telephone system and needed our computers as well. Also, the IT guy who was working in my office didn't connect the phone properly (I was in the washroom at that time). Then I asked them to redo it, and of course, he redid it when I was in a meeting with my boss. Again screwed it up. I was running out of time, so I just told him to forget it and that this pregnant lady would go under the desk and reconnect all the wires herself next time I am in on the weekend. Ugh!!! Really pissed me off. The time of my departure from the office was gradually moving to later and later train, until I hit the point that if I don't catch the next train, I am not going to make it in time. I did send the agreement out to client, and had to almost run to catch the train.

By the time I got home I was all frazzled and stressed out. I looked for the prayer on my ipone on my way home as we were running out of time. When I got home and got the candles out, I still had a few minutes to spare. I told myself to relax and stop thinking about the events of the day, I lit the candles and said a prayer and felt so much at peace... It was a very nice feeling. I had the last meal with DH (it was the last one for him, not for me), and we spent the evening watching TV (I know we are not supposed to watch TV, but we usually do).

When I was looking for times and prayers on one of my favourite Jewish websites, I found an article about fasting by pregnant ladies. It did say that if it is done right and if there are no complications and it is not a high risk pregnancy, it is ok to fast. The comments to that article were priceless (they were on both sides). I sent it to DH and he said "over my dead body". Yep, I didn't plan on fasting either, but I didn't expect such a strong reaction. He said he'll take my sin on him. I didn't ask my OB about fasting and I wasn't making any decisions based on one article. Besides, when they were listing high risk pregnancy they did mention IVF pregnancy, so I decided that I fit in that category.

On Saturday the plan was to try to sleep in as much as possible (if DH doesn't go to synagogue, some years we would get up close to 1 p.m.). But of course, MIL called just after 11 a.m. to see how DH is doing. Needless to say I was pissed. She NEVER calls us on a weekend that early, but she had to do it on Yom Kippur. Of course, we couldn't fall asleep after that. I went downstairs and boiled 2 eggs for my breakfast, which I had with a piece of cheese and some bread. As I was quietly eating in the kitchen, I was thinking about DH upstairs and felt so sorry for him that I had tears streaming down my face (I blame pregnancy hormones!). We did spend a few more hours in front of the TV, then went to see my BIL & SIL who had another friend over as well. The weather was amazing, and we sat at the backyard and chatted for a bit. We went to my sis house thereafter, and they also had a few friends over, but they were sitting inside, so we didn't stay for long. In addition, her live-in was preparing food for the kids, and even though I wasn't hungry I felt bad for DH. When we got home, I had a tomato and an apple. Then my sis came over with the kids and we all went for a walk to a nearby playground, where DH was happy just to sit in the shade and conserve the energy. By the time we got home there was about 1.5 hours left till the end of the fast. We stayed home a bit and then went to BIL & SIL to break the fast. Overall, it was nice to be able to pretty much disconnect from the hectic life. I didn't even turn on my computer, nor checked emails on my iphone. I started thinking a lot about that being the reason for Shabbat. It's the time to be with G-d but also with your family. Since I work on Sundays, Saturdays are always hectic, spent running errands and not too much time with the family. I was thinking that after my maternity leave, I will not agree to work over the weekend as I would want to spend more time with my baby and DH, just some quiet time getting to know each other.

On Sunday we hosted our traditional family breakfast. As I said before, I do love having everyone at our house (our big family and 5 kids plus a little "bun in the oven") My mom stayed with us for a bit, and then DH and I went shopping, and it was very productive. I got some shoes for the fall. We also went to look for a maternity store and it wasn't where I was told it would be (and where I remember it was), so DH & I decided to go to the shoe store next. As we parked and got out of the car to go to the shoe store, I looked up and the maternity store was just one store away. Ha!!! They moved to a new location. So I got 2 pairs of maternity dress pants, and 3 short sleeve shirts (for our November vacation). I've actually got a few long sleeve shirts from Cos.tco which were pretty loose and fit perfectly even with my bulging tummy. So overall, a successful shopping experience. I also promised DH that I would go and see Eli.te Ki.llers with him, which we did on Sunday night, and got our favourite treat - frozen yogourt!

Monday was a big day, and no I am not referring to Thanksgiving (as we don't really celebrate it). My brother was turning 13! Which for a Jewish boy is coming of age. As he is autistic and would not comprehend any religious study, we had our own program. I did promise to take him bowling and he has been mentioning bowling for a few weeks now. So Sunday, I called the bowling place and they said that they were open from 11 to 11. I told them that I want to book one lane for 11 and the girl was like - Uhm we close at 11... to which I replied that I was talking about MORNING!!! I guess it was hard to comprehend that somebody would want to play bowling this early in the morning LOL.

So my mom dropped of my brother at around 10 a.m. and me, DH & him headed to the bowling place. My sis & her DH, my BIL & SIL and my niece and all 3 nephews joined us and we had a blast. Well, at least in the first 30 minutes. As the time was past 45 minutes of bowling, only my oldest nephew was still interested (he is 6 yo), by that point my brother could care less. He would just drop the ball and walk away without even looking if the ball hit any pins. Once we were done it was around 12:30. My sis needed to put her LO to bed, so they left in a hurry. My SIL asked if we wanted to have lunch together as we still had about 3 hours until the party. So we went to a restaurant in the same mall as the bowling alley. My SIL told the waiter that my brother was having his birthday party and on top of having a lunch with us, he got a candle in his sundae and some kind of a happy birthday song courtesy of the restaurant. He was ecstatic!

The restaurant was in the opposite end of the mall from where we parked, and being the only mall in the area which was open on Thanksgiving, it was a challenge just to get to our car. I was exhausted, and asked to go home before going to the party. So my brother and I spent half an hour on the couch resting. He is so tall now, but very thin (unlike the rest of the family). All I could remember is when he was born at 28 weeks, weighting 1kg 105 grams, and losing 100 grams right away, and how we were told that he would not be released from NICU until he reaches 1.5kg. He actually didn't as when he was released just before Christmas, he weighted a bit over 1.4 kg, and fit into one leg of the smallest winter suit that mom and I could find. Then, my brother and I would spend days together, me watching TV after I get back from my morning classes at the university, and him laying on top of my tummy to help with colic. And now, he is all grown up, not as tall as me yet, but almost as tall as my mom. I was 18.5 years old, so he is not only my brother but my first baby.... and I love him to pieces :)

The party was great, we had tons of people at my parents' house, although Dad was away. DH helped to cook at the beginning and then was enjoying the company. I didn't even sit next to him, as the space was limited and both me and my sis were helping our mom with stuff. There were tons of kids too, so my brother had lots of kids to play with (all of them much younger than him, but who is counting). After we had cake the plan was to go for a walk. The city has build a long walking road along a hydro field, and we actually managed to walk over 3 km just chit chatting with my sis, SIL and my cousin. Our DH's were taking care of the kids, plus my sis' MIL was there too taking care of my niece and nephew. Boys were on their bikes and DH was on roller blades. The weather was amazing, so it was very nice to be outside. Most of the guests started leaving after we got back from our walk. But DH and I stayed a bit late as my mom's best friend and her husband came late and were also staying. Her friend had also difficulty in conceiving and keeping the pregnancies, but by the time my mom became friends with her, she had two girls 3 and 5 years old. Now almost 20 years later, her girls are all grown up, but she was still giving me lectures that I should stay off my feet and not run around much :) She means well...

Tuesday was back to work, and the moment I entered the building I knew something was wrong. It felt really warm in the foyer, and I felt like sauna in the offices upstairs. The temperature in my office hit 28.6C. One of the partner's office hit close to 30C. Both partners were walking around red faced. My boss was coming over to my office often reminding me to put cold water on my face and ask me how I was feeling. This was not comfortable, but he never suggested that we go home. The building manager said that mechanics were working on the problem, but by the end of the day the temperature only dropped to 26C. At around 2 p.m. I decided to go for a walk and met an old friend from law school. She was walking her 1 year old. IMHO the middle of Downtown is not the best place for walking a little baby, but they live nearby, so that's were she walks. She told me that she didn't get back to work, and that her DH's business is doing pretty well, so they can afford that. I wish I could do that too, but I really don't think so. It was nice chit chatting with her and catching up on some old friends as well.

In the evening DH was picking up my Dad from the airport, and I went straight to my parents' house after work. My dad bought me my favourite Czech chocolate, which nobody sells in North America. We actually finished one bar after dinner :) We didn't leave until 11 o'clock, and I only had about 6 hours of sleep, which resulted in a very bitchy yours truly today. My boss was annoying me, my colleagues were annoying me, and I was really really tired. The moral of the story - I have to get at least 7-8 hours of sleep to feel like a normal human being. Although the temperature in the office was much cooler today (back to normal), I again went for my little walk around 3 p.m. as I was getting really tired, and am thinking of making it my daily ritual. We will see how it goes.

Anyways, seeing as the time is moving close to midnight, I do have to get to bed asap, as tomorrow will be a long day too. My oldest nephew is turning 6!!! But that's for the next post. The update u/s will follow on Friday - wish me luck!!!