Mother's Day Update

Well, this past week has been rather hectic!

On Monday, I got to work to find that there was a surprise baby shower for me, thrown by my office-mate and various bosses. Yes...I cried.
It was early, but she wanted to be sure that everyone could make it before they head off to various summer obligations. I'm going to miss them! Got some really nice gifts, including a really unexpected gift of an hour's prenatal massage done by the massage therapist who volunteers on the wards to de-stress the staff. I'd had a chair massage from her the other week and told my boss how good it was. He got me the gift certificate that day.

Tuesday was the 'big' ultrasound. The big 20-week one where they check to make sure baby has all it's bits and pieces. John joined me for this one so he got to see where we will be having little baby Hansen. Baby is perfect in every way size wise and has all the bits it should have.
We also found out the gender. We DID originally want to keep it a surprise, but it's surprise enough that we managed to procreate.....

It's a BOY!

I kind of knew this all along. We have a name picked out and THAT will be the big surprise. We told everyone this weekend that it's a boy and we also told them the name it would have been, had he been a girl. Georgina Frances - named after both of our grandmothers. Apparently, no-one likes that name. Well...poo on you...
:-)

Thursday was yet another ultrasound. This time, I went to Ste. Justine Hospital for the special doppler ultrasound. This one was to measure the cardiac function of our boy. Because I have hypertension, they wanted to make sure baby's cardiac function was not affected. It was a very LONG ultrasound....lots of detail. I didn't mind though, because I got to see my baby for a bit longer. The doctor interpreted the scans and told me that all is 'perfect'. Yes, he used the word 'perfect'. It made me very happy.

Next week is our monthly prenatal exam.

I'm almost 22 weeks. More than half way. "Scuse the language, but HOLY SHIT!

The BIG baby shopping trip (or why IKEA is STILL the best store EVER!

Yesterday, John and I went to Swedish Heaven to buy the rest of the furniture for the baby room.
I put it together yesterday and today - after having to take one piece back and replace it because I bought the wrong one - and now, for your viewing pleasure...

IKEA crap:










Funky cool buckety-drawers










Change Table












The light fixture - which, as you can tell, is not put up yet













Curtains

And...here's the rest of the crap that we still have to clean up and deal with:













These are the last pictures of the room until it is painted and all put to rights. A teaser one might say...
Enjoy.

May 1st update (2 days late)

So...we're half way there folks! Time to get in to panic mode. We have so much we have to do: paint the room, get rid of junk, arrange my maternity leave, etc. We thought we had so much time but apparently not.

All is well with the butter-bean. He/she is growing and healthy as is his/her Mum.
Let's catch up shall we?

Thanks to some still wonky results on the blood sugar front, I'm being seen by a nutritionist and given a 'pre' gestational diabetes meal plan. It's high on veggies and low on carbs/sugar. Makes perfect sense really. That, and portion control, is keeping the blood sugar a lot more normal. Hopefully, this is all I will need and I won't have to do the insulin shots. This is the ONE thing I can control myself so I'm doing everything I can to keep it that way.

The blood pressure is down, as is expected for the second trimester, but they're still watching me closely in case I develop pre-eclampsia. GOOD LORD I HOPE NOT!
Exercise and pills are my friends.

The injections of blood thinner are doing their job. I still hate them. Only 6 more months until I *HOPEFULLY* am allowed to stop doing them. Not only are they painful and leave colourful bruises, but they cost a FORTUNE. It's 100% covered by insurance but at about $10 a shot it adds up really fast.

Other than that...we have two ultrasounds next week. One is the BIG one where they might tell us the sex (we still don't know if we want that or not), and the other is a doppler ultrasound at Ste. Justine to monitor the heart function and blood flow - a specialized scan that is thanks to me having 'special' super thick blood.

Not many kicks yet. They'll come.

I start my Mat. leave in 3 months if all goes well, but the GARE clinic doctor may veto that and I'll probably be off earlier on CSST until the baby is born. Such is the life of a geriatric mother!