28 weeks

Today, we are actually exactly 29 weeks pregnant, and I should have posted yesterday, but I was just getting too tired (in general, not from blogging). I think I am getting the tiredness which is part of the 3rd trimester, as I sleep about the same (of course, with about 2-3 bathroom trips per night) but the total amount of time is the same.

My parents left for Dominican with my brother and my uncles family. I call my mom every day, so I did feel kind of lonely this week. I talked to my sis and she said the same thing that during the day she calls our parents a few times and now she has nobody to talk to. The good thing, I managed to talk to my mom a bit today and they are actual flying in at 3:00 a.m. tonight, and DH is going to pick them up from the airport. I did offer to (a) come with him, or (b) drive myself (although I rarely drive), but he refused both of my ideas. He has been working late anyways, usually coming to bed at 2-3 a.m. and then getting up at 8 a.m. to drive me to my train. I've been trying to get him to bed earlier but he just get so engrossed in his work and has so many ideas that he wants to implement and feels like he doesn't have a lot of time and sleep is a luxury he can't afford right now. I feel so bad for him. I do stress a bit about the money while I am going to be on maternity leave, as the maternity benefits are going to be almost 1/3 of my regular salary, and DH's business has its up and downs (and mostly downs lately). Last week I was talking to the baby about his daddy how carrying and funny he is and how he is going to be loved by his daddy and DH said that he wished the baby had a daddy that could earn more money. And there was so much honesty in this phrase that I hurt my heart. Since the moment we met, I have never put money first, most of the time I was making more money and still do, but it has never been a problem with either DH or me, but I guess deep down inside he does want to make sure that he can take care of all 3 of us so that we had nothing to worry about.

I had a pretty good childhood. We weren't rich but we were ok financially. I have never been the one into shopping and stuff so growing up I didn't need much. I started working just before my 19th birthday and it was an office job. I paid for my tuition in university and law school, plus all the travels I did. On the other hand, DH had been working hard since he was a teenager. When he was telling me stories how he and his brother worked almost 20 hours a day at a banquet hall doing dishes etc. because his parents' couldn't find work, I cried. It still upsets me to this date, but notwithstanding all the BS that he and his brother went through while they were teens and growing up, they are both amazing human beings. I can go on and on about our different upbringings but that would be a very long post, and I should get to last weeks events.

Friday was a quiet evening for us as we went out for some Thai food (nothing spicy for me) and the rest of the night just spent home lounging in front of TV.

Saturday, as always, started with my yoga class. As I was leaving I was talking to a friend of mine. She is studying to become a nurse and is doing her practice at Sick Kids Hospital. Somehow the top of our discussion turned to our struggles to conceive and I told her everything, our full story, all the heartbreaks, the surgeries, IUIs, IVFs and FET. She was also interested in my emotional state during this whole experience, and I did tell her that just before I knew that I am pregnant, I have given up. She wanted to know more about infertility and people who deal with infertility since being a nurse she might be dealing with people like that. It was nice of her to care. The interesting thing is that just a week or so ago, I was rereading my blog entries, the desperation of failed IVFs and the posts leading to FET and just before we got the call that we finally crossed to the other side. It all feels so far away. My brain works in an interesting way, I forget the bad stuff and only remember good stuff. I have no bad memories from my childhood, and even the hard years in law school are getting blurred. The 4.5 years of TTC are still a bit raw, but with the birth of our baby getting near (another 2.5 months) the wound is slowly healing, and I am happy about that.

When I got home (considerably later than I usually do) and had breakfast, DH and I prepared the plan of attack. There were a lot of things that needed to be done. The first stop was at a paint store. We picked a colour for the nursery (green/yellow) and as we were going to order it, I saw a card with a nursery with similar coloured walls. It also had bright coloured circles and we decided to do that too, so we bought smaller containers of bright yellow, turquoise and orange paint. We already have some animal stickers, so we just have to be very carefully in planning where the stickers would go and where the circles would go, so not to make it too overwhelming.

The next stop was at a maternity store. I needed a back belt as my back started to get a bit sore, plus the tummy is getting so big that there were moments when I had to carry it in my arms because it just didn't feel right. We got the belt and a few little things. I was looking for something fancy to wear for New Years, or even something to wear to the office, but didn't really like their stuff, so sticking to the clothes I still have (not maternity), which I am running out of. I didn't wear the belt right away, but have been wearing it this whole week and it makes a lot of difference! It is makes it easier to walk and move around, and I just love love love it!

We've done some more shopping, basically looking for that second present for New Years. By the time we got home, I was exhausted to the point that I have not been exhausted before. I went upstairs and straight to bed, and I just couldn't move. I was just laying there trying to get back to my senses. I didn't realize how much energy it took to just walk around shopping. I spent over 30 minutes in bed and then it was time to get ready to go out for dinner. I spent another 30 minutes in the shower as it felt awesome. We were supposed to celebrate our friend's birthday but due to different games played by his wife (I am not going to go into details here, but I they were once our best friends and for the past year we have been growing more and more apart) anyways, we still went out with another couple and had a nice dinner in a nice restaurant. Actually, when we drove to the restaurant I notice a nice maternity boutique nearby with pretty nice tops in the window, I made a mental note to come back there and look for something for New Years, although it is probably on an expensive side. We will see.

After dinner we invited our friends to our house, and wanted to invite my SIL & BIL but when we called their house, MIL told us that they were outside, so we decided to just drive by them, and ended up staying at their house until 1 a.m. (my sis and BIL were also there).

As both my sis and BIL&SIL were away the weekend before, we decided to make breakfast on Sunday. Everyone came over on time, but my BIL had to leave with my niece for her make up swimming lesson, and so did my SIL & BIL. So at the end it was just me, DH, my sis and my little nephew who is 2.5 years old. I haven't spent much time with my little nephew and was surprised at how he has grown. He understood everything that I was telling him in Russian and was actually talking back to me sometimes in English and sometimes in Russian. He is very soft spoken and when he talks it is hard to hear what he actually says (unless he is having a temper tantrum). My sis made me a 3D snowflake (I found a video on youtube on how to make it, pretty easy, and it looks beautiful), and DH actually set up the tree that my SIL & BIL bought on Saturday and left in our garage.

By 11:30 a.m. I told my sis that I really had to start heading to the office. Had to make excuses as to why, after telling my boss that I am not working Sundays, I am going in on a Sunday again, but whatever... It was a long day as had to do 4 agreements for the client who wanted it done by Monday, plus we stopped by my parents' house to feed the fish and to check that everything is ok. The subway ride was bad, i had hot flashes and felt awful, the train was barely moving and I couldn't wait to get out. When we got to the house, I told DH that I wanted to spend just a few moments outside to enjoy crisp air as I was feeling very hot. As he opened the door into the house and I stepped in, I could feel a faint traces of paint. I turned to DH and asked him whether he painted the baby's room. He said that he wanted it to be a surprise, and asked how did I know. I guess after spending the whole day in the house, he couldn't feel the paint smell anymore, but since I spent a few minutes outside before going in, it was obvious to me. I could also see that he put the lights and the topper on the tree (but decorating is mine, and he doesn't dare to touch it!). We actually saw a very cute topper which has Magen David (the Star of David), but it was pretty expensive and looked very shoddy and cheap, although the idea was great. We will try to find it on the internet for next year. DH also said that he had good news and bad news. The good news was that he did painted the nursery. The bad news was that he took the door to the nursery off its hinges and put it in the hallways, as for some reason the door would not close (we had this issue for a while now) and he wanted to cut the bottom of it so we would be able to close it properly. Of course the door felt and made a hole in the drywall that he would have to fix at some point.

I knew that Monday and Tuesday would be busy days at the office as the boss was going away on Wednesday morning. With all the action at work and me being constantly tired, I still cannot get into the holiday spirit. I am always the first to decorate the tree for New Years, to have our chanukiah and candles out and ready. Last year we went to my sis place for the first night of Chanukkah and had a blast. This time, the first night of Chanukkah felt on Tuesday. I was hurrying home to have something to eat before 9 p.m. as my gestational diabetes test was at 9 a.m. Wednesday morning. The day was stressful and once I got home I tried to eat and drink as much as possible (I called my OBGYN office in the morning and they confirmed that even water was not allowed during the 12 hours prior to the test). DH & I relocated into the family room to watch some TV when the phone rang. It was my cousin's husband (who is actually Person) congratulating us with Chanukkah. I realized that I completely forgot! As DH was on the phone with my cousin's husband, I went upstairs, got the prayer and candles, took out our chanukiah and lit the first candle. I still can't believe that I forgot. Last year we were so full of hope, praying and wishing for our own little miracle (that wasn't meant to be until now), and now that I have this little miracle inside me, I cannot get into the mood of the holidays. Although I do lit candles every night when I get home from the office.

DH and I discussed a few days ago that it doesn't make sense for him to come with me for the blood test and wait an hour so that he can hear the baby for a few seconds. He asked if I was ok with it, and I definitely was, as long as he was ok with it, and he also was. So he and my BIL dropped me off at the doctor's office at exactly 9 a.m. and went to the office. As I was getting into the lab, one of the lab technicians was scurrying out of the lab. There were two other pregnant girls and no personnel. We started talking and it turned that all three of us were there for GD test. One of the girls already had her drink, so it was me and the other girl who didn't, it turned out that this girl was also the patient of my doc and had an apt right after me. We waited for 15 min before the only tech which was in the lab finished with her patient and gave us our drinks. I have heard how awful that orange drink is, but even though we were told we have 5 minutes to finish it, both of us just gulped it in about 30 seconds (we were both hungry and thirsty). The girl ("A") let me go first as my apt was 15 min before her. As we had to wait for an hour I sat close to her and we started chatting about everything. She already has an 18 month old daughter, and it turned out that she lives one street over from us. It was so great to chit chat with her that the hour just flew by. I got in a minute before her and when I was done told her that I'll see her upstairs. The doc was waiting for me (as I was a bit late for my apt), so he took me right away. It was a short apt as always. He asked if I had any questions, I said that I didn't. He asked all the standard questions and then we went into examination room. My BP was excellent. As he was feeling the uterus he want all the way to my bra line and I told him that I suspected that it extended that far as the baby has started to kick me in the ribs. To which he said that he was glad as that meant that the baby is getting into the right position. Although I think our little "homyak" (hamster) is doing a lot of movement around and pushes my various organs out of the way (it feels weird and somewhat painful). He tried to listen to the hb but as soon as he found it the baby moved away and he had to hunt for it again. The doc said that the hb was good and that the baby definitely enjoyed the orange drink! On the way back, I stopped to chit chat with the receptionist (unlike most of the receptionists this one is very very nice) and exchanged information with A. I was told that GD results would be available on Thursday, but if they come in too late on Thursday then I would not know until the following Wednesday, as the office is closed on Friday (and both Monday and Tuesday are statutory holidays). Whatever... I am not expecting anything bad. And by the way, it turned out that I gained 2 pound in the past three weeks based on my doc's measurements. So by his measurements I gained 10 pounds and by mine a bit less than 5 kg (which for me is a bit on a heavy side).

I was so excited from meeting A that on my way to work I called DH and told him all about her. I couldn't believe it that I found another mommy in my neighbourhood who is also due in March and also having a boy. Then when I got to work something clicked. I texted my sis to ask her some question about a male friend of hers who I've met a few times and who takes the same train as her on the way home (which I rarely take). I put 2 and 2 together and it turned out that A is actually the wife of that friend! How freaky is that!!!! We both live on adjacent streets and go to the doctor who is across town! She also said that our OBGYN was at the birth of her sister's 3 kids and she was really happy with him. Which was nice to hear, as it turned out that the same doc was the one attending my SIL first birth, and she was not really impressed by his bedside manners.

So those are pretty much the events of the week.

Symptoms pregnancy wise I can say that I've been having headaches more often (pretty much every day for the past 3-4 days). The heartburn has been bad. The worst was the night before GD test, when I couldn't take anything for it, and it was actually very painful. However, usually 1 tablet of tums suffice to stop it for a time being. I've also started to have some blurry vision, both on the weekend and this morning. It sucks, but it does get better and I hope that my vision will be as good as new once the baby gets here.

As I said, the baby has also been very active. A few times he was making a grand performance for DH. We are entertaining ourselves by watching my tummy move as the baby moves from side to side. Plus last time when DH put his hand on my tummy he could really feel the baby move or kick, and he was shocked on how pronounced it was (and it was actually pretty painful for me). I think as the baby has grown, I could feel more of him stretching and moving as he is running out of room and some of his movements are starting to get pretty painful. I have another 11 weeks to go, and have no clue how much bigger I will get. I guess we will see.... as now it feels that the time just flies!

heartburn and eye problems.