Stressful Times

It has been a stressful couple of months for our family and I'm hoping it will not and has not affected baby in any way. I'm sure it'd take a lot of stress to cause harm but as a mother its natural to worry somewhat.
This past May we sold our house and if that wasn't enough stress, we were also homeless for 6 weeks. Not like we were living on the streets, just had no place to call home and lived out of suitcases. Lucky for us we had great family to stay with for parts of that time.

Then in July we moved into a new house. Unpacking pregnant while watching two toddlers (who are fascinated by bubble wrap) was interesting to say the least.

Then our dog came home, after living her entire life in our old house, she didn't do so well with the transition. She was miserable and wanted nothing to do with our toddlers, even going so far as to curl her lip at them and growl. We knew she wasn't happy and knew she needed to find a new home. After a few weeks of stressing about what to do, we had a very generous offer from friends who are angels for taking our dog and giving her a loving home in their pack. We miss River but know she's getting care better than we could provide here.

Shortly thereafter our 13 year old cat, Halo, started peeing in random places. Toys, corners etc. we quickly put a stop to that by having him live in our laundry room. I realized it was dark in there and quite tiny, so we lived him to the back mushroom instead where at least he has a window and two litter boxes. We were poised to put him to sleep but before we made up our minds I had to travel to Manitoba.
My 88 year old Grandmother had passed away. September 10th was a very sad day in our house and it didn't feel real to lose someone you've always known to be there for you. We made the decision that Phil and our babies would stay at home while I went to my hometown (nearly 1800kms away) to say my goodbye.

I traveled with my own parents to northern Manitoba over two and a half days, while Phil's parents came from southern Manitoba to our house, to help by watching our kids so Phil could work. We really appreciated their help and it was so very nice of them to offer. We have wonderful family that's for sure.
My Grandma's funeral was held on a Monday, September 16th, and the day was beautiful. The weather was sunny and lovely, while the trees began to turn golden colour. The service was nice and many people came to say their own goodbyes and talk with our family.




I was away from home for 9 days as family cleared out my Grandma's three bedroom apartment and sorted her legal stuff out. It was a stressful, long and tiring week for us all and very emotionally draining. The following Saturday I caught a ride for the 8 hour drive from Thompson to Winnipeg with my uncle, and then took a flight back home that evening. After a 16 hour day of traveling, I was finally home.

Sunday was a wonderful family day, where Phil, his parents, our kids and myself all went for a walk and than had a nice home cooked supper together. It was a beautiful day to start autumn.

Today Phil and I left our babies in Grannie & Grampa's care and ran errands. We got a bunch of things taken care of on our to-do list. Then I took Halo for a car ride to the vet in the city, who did blood work and took a urine sample. We get the results tomorrow and hopefully they will give us some answers as to why he's not acting like himself lately. Its stressful enough to think that he's sick or has a behavioural issue, never mind thinking about how I'm ever going to bring myself to put him to sleep, especially after he's been my friend for over a decade and seen me through most of my adult life.

I also went to a doctors appointment this afternoon. Baby's heart rate was 135bpm, which is lower than anytime so far but still in the normal range. I think baby was sleeping as I didn't feel movement until after the doctor on rotation today poked around at my belly. She told me she thinks that baby is head down.
I also found out that all this time, while I've been gaining "extra" baby weight, that my fundal height (belly measurement) has been measuring large for weeks now! (Since at least week 24!) No previous doctor ever bothered to mention that! Today my belly measured 34 weeks, a full three weeks larger than normal.
The doctor sent me home with forms to get an ultrasound done to check on baby, and a form to have a more in depth glucose tolerance test done. This one will take 2 hours and requires an 8 hour fasting beforehand. I'm really hoping that I pass. I'd prefer not having GD due to complications and risks. I am also hoping that the ultrasound comes back saying baby and fluid levels are both normal. Perhaps baby is just large or my belly is larger than a normal pregnancy because it carried twins in the past.

Please wish us luck as baby has another 9 weeks to bake and I'm not sure I want to be pushing out a 9lb baby!

30 week belly - Sept 18/13

Belly Comparison, Now & Then

I've been terrible at taking belly photos this pregnancy. I keep meaning to, but then I forget because I'm busy, or truthfully just don't have the energy to get out of my pjs in order to get a nice photo. I have been trying! With our twin pregnancy I documented approximately every second week.

I had a conversation with a good friend the other night and it was mentioned that I may be as big now as I was last time. I've been curious to see the difference in belly sizes between our two pregnancies for awhile now and have been meaning to post some pictures. Though there are days I think I can't get much larger than I feel at the moment, I know my belly was bigger last pregnancy (I just can't figure out how I carried it around without feeling giant!)

Here are some comparison photos of the last few weeks, for those who are also curious, of now (2013 singleton pregnancy) & then (2011 twin pregnancy).

22 weeks now vs. 22 weeks then (twins)

24 weeks now vs. 25 weeks then (twins)

28 weeks now vs. 27 weeks then (twins)

My conclusion is that this time my belly is smaller (to be expected), and it appears as though I am carrying this baby much higher (which may explain why it's harder to breathe than with our twin pregnancy).

With our twins, both babies were head down in a vertical positioning, while this singleton baby is lying across my belly horizontally (and it had better turn head down in the next few weeks!). Another interesting fact, I feel this baby moving more and kicking/punching harder, as its placenta is posterior (in back towards my spine) and both of my twins had anterior placentas (in front of baby, between baby and my tummy).

Though, I assume that I only carried lower last time because of carrying two babies at once, it may have been a blessing in disguise as I had almost zero pregnancy complaints. I'm hoping for similar great things for the rest of this pregnancy. Only 11 more weeks to go!

Third Trimester!

August 23rd we went to UCBaby for a 3D ultrasound. Since we didn't want to know baby's gender we mostly got to see images of their face, which was pressed snugly against the placenta. Baby was lying across my belly horizontally.

We sent an email to grandparents so they could watch along live over the Internet as the technician did the scan for us. Last time, with Claire & Hayden we had wanted to know their genders and so got a ton more images. Likely also because they were two babies.

However, here are a few that we did get this time. I don't really think that baby looks much like Claire or Hayden but completely different or a combo of both (based on their faces from our 3D ultrasound back in September 2011).





Now I'm even more curious if this little babe is a girl or a boy. I have an instinctive feeling, but I guess we will just have to wait another 10-12 weeks and see.

As of yesterday we are officially 28 weeks and now into the third trimester! Baby kicks & rolls & punches me many times a day now and it feels quite strange, especially the rolling motions. I've also been out of breath most nights now and am having trouble getting comfortable enough to sleep, which does not bode well while caring for two energetic toddlers. I also was diagnosed last week through blood test as anemic so am now taking an iron pill once per day.

It's very bittersweet being in the third trimester, as I've tried my best to enjoy this pregnancy as I enjoyed our first pregnancy, but with two toddlers and moving to new house this summer, its just flown by so quickly. I really hope things will begin to settle down this fall so I can enjoy the final trimester of my last pregnancy, prepare for baby and cook some freezer meals. We also need to come up with some names soon!