38w0d -38w6d - Kids say the darndest things :)

I've spent a bit more time with my niece and nephews this week, and the things they say are so so cute and inquisitive. BIL has two sons, the oldest one is not that much interested in the baby, but the youngest was told that he is going to be an older brother and he is all over DH on when the baby is going to get here. Just a few days ago, he asked DH to make him a sandwich, then he asked when the sandwich is going to be ready, and then when the baby is going to be ready, LOL. When I came over, he touched my belly and I told him that the hard spot at the top is baby's bum. He was interested, and asked where the baby's head was. I pointed a bit lower on the tummy (not to the exact location of course), and the next question was: "Why the baby is upside down?" I almost said that it was because he is in a position for easier exit (that would have been a problem as DH & BIL have already been fighting off questions about how the baby is going to come out!), but luckily SIL interjected and said that it was because baby liked it that way. Then we had questions about why the baby likes it that way, what is he doing in there, why is he swimming etc., etc. etc. Later my SIL told me that the oldest one actually asked her how did the baby get in my tummy. Hmmm... My nephew is only 6 years old, so it is a bit early to have the whole conversation about THAT with him. Luckily the younger one interjected with more questions and that topic was dropped. SIL confessed that she is dreading more questions when the baby actually gets here. Oh the joys of parenthood :)

When I was at my sis' house last week, my niece asked me if she can come to the hospital to see the baby (she is very very excited about her cousin), so I told her that she can come as long as she is not sick. She said that she knows what to do not to get sick - she is washing her hands all the time, eating healthy and exercising. So that was the end of that conversation, until my sis told me what happened a few days later. Their neighbours stopped by to bring something over, and my sis asked my niece to hug the boy (who is the same age as her), to which she replied "NO! He has to wash his hands first!". The situation was a bit awkward as they were just standing in the hallway, so my sis repeated her request, to which my nice replied "He has to wash his hand first! I am going to the hospital to see the baby and I am NOT getting sick!" I do love my niece and nephews to pieces!!!
Her brother is only 2.5 years old and he doesn't understand yet anything about the baby. When my sis shows him my tummy and says that the baby is in there and then asks where the baby is, he just pats his own :).

Going back to the events of the past week. I've had a few visitors during the day, which was nice. My mom and aunt came by and so did a friend of mine. We had so much fun that the construction guys told DH that our laughter was louder than their tools.

On Thursday DH & I headed to Wal.mart and finally finished shopping for the items that I needed for the hospital bag (although it has not been packed yet). I've also done some more laundry (easy does it for me).

On Friday, the constructions guys finished the basement. Yei!!! Right on time as promised and as scheduled. After DH got home, we went to my sis house for Shabbat dinner. Two of my cousins were there as well (I knew about one but not about the other so was pleasantly surprised). One of my cousins came with her kid and her kid and my niece were getting rowdy. We had dinner and then headed home. I had to get ready for the night out with the girls. It was nice to get away from the house - me, my sis, SIL and my cousin (the one with no kids). We stayed in the restaurant pretty late, but since my cousin had a long drive home, she also didn't drink and I was relieved that I didn't have to drive.

On Saturday, DH & I had shopping plans (but not for a baby), there was still some stuff that DH needs to finish in the basement (it was not part of the deal with the contractors, so no blame there) plus we needed groceries as well. We were going from one store to another, and I was exhausted. We decided to stop and eat at our favourite Asian restaurant, and it was 4:53 p.m. It said that they were closed until 5 p.m., but all the doors were open so we got in. We asked if we could sit down, but the host/waiter told us that they are not open yet and to come back. Well, you don't say that to a heavily pregnant woman! I was pissed! They couldn't let us in 5 min earlier, that was just ridiculous and I wouldn't have any of that. So we went to a middle eastern place. The food there was great, we each had soup of the day and some falafel. Then I decided that I wanted a steak salad. When the waiter came to take an order he asked if I wanted "medium". I told him that medium would be fine. My thinking was that since we already had some food, the medium size to share would be just enough for us (and leave some room for desert :) ). DH asked me a few times if I was sure that I wanted medium, and I said: "definitely". The restaurant was getting busier and there were more people coming and ordering food. There was a group next to our table and I could hear them talking about "medium", "well done" and "rare" meat, and at that moment it dawned on me! I asked DH if the question the waiter was asking was about the size or the meat, and he said the meat! I said why did he let me order "medium" meat, as I've never in my life had medium (I don't like blood), and especially now that I am pregnant. He said that I was very convincing and he wasn't about to argue with a heavily pregnant wife. But he never even said if I wanted "well done" he just asked if I was sure that I wanted "medium", so it was all his fault! He actually talked to the waiter and we got our meat "well done". After dinner we stopped by my BILs house and spent some time with his family, and then headed home as my parents dropped by to see the basement.

Sunday, DH & I decided to host another family breakfast as it might be the last one for a while. We had fun with the family and DH tried new recipe. My mom and brother stayed longer, and since we had a late night and early morning, I was just falling asleep on the couch. DH & I didn't do much for the rest of the day, but in the evening DH was painting baseboards and doors, so it was again a late night for him.

Monday was a very eventful day, first, we had a pediatrician appointment in the morning. We waited for the doctor for about 45 minutes and the waiting room was full with kids of all ages. Both DH & I really liked the doctor when we finally met him. He asked us a few questions including with respect to our fertility, and I asked him for his thoughts on immunization. He is pro immunization but he said that he would want us to be very comfortable with our decision and he would understand whatever our decision would be and work with us if we want to alter schedule of immunization. Both my sis and SIL delayed immunization until after the kids's first birthday, but DH and I are on the fence about that. I am thinking of just staggering them a bit, so that he doesn't get them in batches. Luckily this is a decision that we don't need to make until the baby is 2 months old (which gives us some time to breathe, as right now I have absolutely no time to read up and research on immunization). Although the doctor did say one thing that made me think. He said that a disease will resurface when the non-immunization population reaches 20-25% and currently in Canada it is 10-15%, and those are life threatening diseases. Kind of scary!

My OBGYN appointment was later in the afternoon, and since DH & I spent over an hour at the pediatrician, I asked DH to take me to my parents so that my mom can drive me to the appointment. I had breakfast at my parents' house (which was around noon) and then my mom drove me to drop of some documents for my maternity/parental offices. I was lucky that they took all the documents at the information counter without waiting a long line for a representative. When we got home, both my mom and I were very sleep, so I had a nice 1 hour nap before heading to the OBGYN's office.

When my doctor measured and felt my tummy, he said that in the past 2 weeks the baby descended just a bit, but not yet engaged. My next appointment is next Wednesday (the day before my due date), and the doctor said that if there will not be much progress, he will induce me on the Friday (March 9), which was fine with me. I didn't ask why he would induce me basically on my due date, but I am thinking that's because the baby is already big. I asked him what was going to happen if the baby would not drop any further, and he said that in that case we would have to consider C-section. Surprisingly, I was OK with all of that, but when I called and told DH he got a bit upset, as he really doesn't want me to have any more surgeries (two IVF retrievals were enough). I explained to him that it is better that the doctor uses c-section than trying to force the baby out with forceps and vacuum. Well, I guess we will wait until next Wednesday and will go from there. I am actually happy that either way I will probably not be pregnant past the weekend of the 10th (although I don't think that I am ready for the baby to come out just yet.

Another great thing happened on Monday, my friend gave birth to her baby boy! She called on Tuesday and we chatted. She had a c-section scheduled for 8:30 a.m. on Monday morning, and I left her a message on Sunday wishing her all the best. She called me back and we chatted around 7 p.m. On Monday morning at 8:00 a.m. we get a text from her boyfriend that she gave birth at 1:30 a.m. to a baby boy (they left the sex a surprise). Apparently her baby was too anxious to come out and her water broke as she was going to sleep, so instead of having a good sleep, they hurried over to the hospital where she had a c-section as the baby was in breach (and her first one was a c-section). Both the baby and mommy are doing great, and can't wait to go home. :)

On Tuesday morning I decided to walk to the bank to move some money around and into RRSP (as the last day for that was on Wednesday). The walk took a while and it turned out to be a 4 km walk (both ways). When I got to the bank, I recognized the lady that was serving me and she recognized me. We met at the same time a year but 2 years ago in 2010. We were undergoing IUIs at that time and she actually had done 6 IVFs with all of them resulting in miscarriages, and only after the last miscarriage she was diagnosed with the rare blood disorder, so she and her husband were pursuing adoption. Talking to her in 2010 really helped me to put our situation in perspective. When I saw her yesterday, I recognized her name, but didn't want to bring it up. She scanned my card and also recognized my name. She asked how things were going, as the counter was pretty high and until I moved to sit with her at a desk she didn't see my huge belly. She looked genuinely happy for me. I ask her how her adoption process going, and she told me that they've tried to adopt two times and both times it felt through. I didn't pry. She said that she turned 46 and finally put over 10 years of TTC and adoption process behind her. She has 4 nieces who adore her and her husband and she thinks of them as her kids. It was nice to hear that she got closure and now taking care of herself, the life she put on hold for the past 10 years. We chatted a bit about my struggles conceiving and she asked that I bring the baby to the bank to show her, although I don't think it would be such a good idea. She is just such a nice lady that I am afraid to somehow hurt her feelings.

After the 4 km track to the bank and back I wasn't in much condition to do anything, but lay on the couch. My back and butt were killing me! I've spent some time watching TV and trying to sort some baby stuff. In the evening my mom's friend came over with her husband (they've known me since I was 11 years old, so we have a very good relationship). She needed my help and her husband needed the help of my DH, and that turned out to be a very long night as they didn't leave until after 12:30 a.m. (all because DH was so involved in sharing his knowledge he lost track of time!).

The night was awful! About an hour after I went to bed, I woke up chocking. I was coughing vigorously and had tears running down my cheeks. DH was in the office, but ran over when he heard me struggling. He asked me what happened, but I didn't know. When I calmed down a bit, I realized that I was chocking, so I asked him what was I choking with, and of course, he had no answer. With all the coughing, the baby got very active and even after I calmed down, he was moving back and forth, and not letting me sleep. That turned out to be a good thing, as I found out the reason for my chocking - heartburn. As I was laying trying to fall back asleep, the acid just travelled from my stomach straight into my throat. Since I was awake, I sat down right away so it didn't reach my air pipe this time. I had to take more pillows to prop myself up, so that acid from my stomach would not have such an easy time reaching my throat, which turned out to be very uncomfortable for sleeping. In addition I started having contractions (I think BH since they didn't hurt, just were uncomfortable), but they were not just at the top of my tummy as usually, but were all over including the bottom part and my back.

So to make the long story short, I barely slept the entire night. When DH woke up in the morning I told him everything and I was still having those contractions and asked him to keep his cell phone close. He told me to cross my legs and not to give birth today (which is February 29th), so as not to rob our baby from having birthdays every year. I told him that he shouldn't talk to me but talk directly to the "boss" :). In addition, we had a snow storm, so the entire day I didn't go outside (nor did I want to), and I am glad to report that even though my baby has been kicking crap out of me, and I had some more of BH contractions, it is 11 p.m. and he is still safe and sound inside of me :).

Today, I actually did more laundry (if that's even possible) and finally finished packing the baby's hospital bag. Yei me!!! Now, I have to do mine, but I don't have a bag as all our suitcases/bags are in a closet in the basement (and of course in the farthest corner which is impossible to reach as all our stuff is in that closet) Ugh!!! I've also figured that I don't like the diaper bag that I was handed over, as it doesn't fit much stuff. I put all the baby stuff in there and it was impossible to close, so yes I am not happy and thinking about getting another one!