40 weeks pregnant!

How far along: 40 weeks pregnant! I MADE IT! 😃

Size of baby: pumpkin
(19 - 22 inches & 6 - 9 pounds)

Yah, there's no way this child is 6 lbs. That was proven by the ultrasound, I'm quite sure that Bub's will be around the 9 lb mark.

Weight gain/loss: DAMN YOU WET WEIGHT!!! still swollen, still have lots of water weighing me down. BUT, today I lost 3lbs! YES! SO happy! that puts me at a gain of around 30lbs with approximately 8-10 of it being water & another 8-9 of it being Bubba!

Maternity clothes: I'm wearing my new sports bras every day now. I love them! They're SO comfy & I just need comfy right now.

Movement: so much movement! Still lots of kicks in my rib cage, this baby must be loooong cause head is down but still not engaged & feet are in my lungs.

Sleep: I'm waking up a lot still but I've just got to get used to it. I'm still snoring but I'm sure that'll change once baby is out.

Cravings: chocolate ice cream with bananas! YUM! Oh and every type of fruit I can consume. AND salt/original chips. Don't worry, my sugar numbers are still good!

Symptoms: DAMN YOU WET WEIGHT!!!! Stupid swelling all over my stupid body & in my stupid feet which hurt & my stupid hands that can't make a fist. Oh, & stupid heartburn!
But I loooove my baby belly when it's not in the way 😊

Yep the above still sums it up! Although my spazzing legs are getting more annoying.

Best moment of the week: Cam & I had a fantastic meal at Ocean Park in Langley. It was fabulous! We also walked Campbell valley park on Saturday & crescent beach on Sunday. We didn't succeed in putting me into labor but we did have a really great weekend together just us!

So here we go! Come on Bubba, there are so many people who want to meet you. But most of all your daddy and I want to see you, hug you & kiss your chubby cheeks. The doctor today even touched your head 😊
please! please come out!
N.

nearing the end

This is it... well, not technically RIGHT at this moment, but any second now my body can begin labor. My due date is tomorrow, April 30th (changed from April 24th when I was in my 27th week). So every moment now has the potential to bring on what will begin the most incredible journey of my life, labor and motherhood. I would be lying if I said I wasn't a wee bit freaked!

Not scared for the labor process, I have faith in myself and I believe that my body can accomplish what it was designed to do. Plus I have an amazing doula that will help and an incredibly supportive husband. I also believe that my track record and having had suffered from insanely painful menstural cramps since I was eleven and undiagnosed endometriosis pain for five years gives me an advantage. So when it comes to that "type" of pain, I'm a pro! Obviously it's not the same but I'm sure it's darn close.

So what freaks me out? I'M GOING TO BE A MOMMY! How in the world will I know what to do and when to do it? Yes, I've read books, articles, blogs. I've taken child psychology classes and I've worked in child care for a year and a half before this pregnancy. But I still can't help but feel a bit overwhelmed with the notion/idea of what's to come. I keep asking myself, "will I love it?", "will we bond?", "will this ruin my life?". I know! HORRIBLE things to consider but I'm just being honest here. And I'm sure after my labor I'll come back to this post and wonder how I ever let myself think those things. But the thing is, this is such unknown territory for me and I accept that these crazy thoughts are valid. As long as I don't allow them to take over.

I AM excited!
I AM eager!
I WANT this child!
and having a little bit of apprehension about the whole thing is perfectly normal. Right?!

Well... I'll keep you updated :)
So far I have symptoms that labor is impending, just no contractions yet and I'm thinking that those are the key to getting things started!

Maybe this red leaf tea will help?!
N.

39 weeks + 1 day pregnant!

How far along: 39 weeks + 1 day pregnant! SO close :)
Today was my original due date.

Size of baby: watermelon
(19 - 22 inches & 7 - 9 pounds)

Weight gain/loss: DAMN YOU WET WEIGHT!!! still swollen, still have lots of water weighing me down. I'm looking forward to having Bubba on the outside and seeing the scale go down.

Maternity clothes: Well, I did buy some sports bras from Walmart the other day & they're AWESOME! I wanted something for the hospital so I didn't have to buy a nursing bra & these bras were definitely the right choice.

Movement: I'm feeling a lot of kicks up in my ribs now. I'm being told over & over how long this child is so Bub's dropping really hasn't given me much relief but that's ok. I'm doing movement counts frequently if I feel like Bubba is being a little too quiet. Yesterday at the hospital I had no movement for a solid 30 minutes. It wasn't the ideal time for Bubba to nap.

Sleep: I'm sleeping better again which has been nice! I'm still snoring (sorry Cam!) & I'm still waking up to pee but that's just part of it I guess.

Cravings: I really wanted McDonald's yesterday after being at the hospital for four hours with no food! So I gave in & then felt suuuuuper guilty afterwards :(

Symptoms: DAMN YOU WET WEIGHT!!!! Stupid swelling all over my stupid body & in my stupid feet which hurt & my stupid hands that can't make a fist. Oh, & stupid heartburn!
But I loooove my baby belly when it's not in the way :)

Yep the above still sums it up! Just feeling like a complete fat ass! I've never been this large in my life & that's hard to accept some days. But I get a gorgeous baby out of this experience & I wouldn't trade that for anything else in the whole world.

Best moment of the week: just spending time with friends and family has been great! Hearing my brothers talk about becoming uncles has been so sweet & doing last minute prep has been fun! I'm just ready to become a mommy, I want to meet & hold my baby so badly!

I'm SO close to labor & I'm SO excited. I'm not afraid to birth my baby naturally, I'm SO looking forward for the experience to start! Maybe tonight?! :)
N.

An interesting day (39 weeks pregnant!)

Today was supposed to be a nice lazy day, I woke up around 9 am and slowly got out of bed. Waddled my pregnant self to the kitchen and got some breakfast, things were good!

Then my phone rang and it was my doctor asking me to meet her at triage at the hospital as soon as I could get there. She explained that my blood results came back with an abnormality and they wanted to check me, check Bubba and re-do the blood tests. All as a precautionary of course, but then she said "if we find something then we'll have to do something". I must of gone from cheery to stone cold silent cause she quickly asked if I was ok. I said I was, told her I'd be there in a hour and hung up. But I was honestly in a moment of complete freak out!!

For a second there I thought the worse, but then I pulled myself together and immediately prayed a prayer for calm and handed myself and my baby over to God. I was at peace right in that moment with whatever was to be. I thought to myself, "this could be it! I could be meeting Bubba today! I didn't want it to go this way but as long as we're both safe & healthy, that's all I care about."

I got to the hospital and after a little while I was in a gown and attached to a fetal monitor. I had to pee in a cup, had my blood taken, blood pressure checked, pulse was checked, temperature checked. Everything was done! The nurses there were AMAZING!


I'm SO grateful for my mom, she was with me the whole four hours I was there. Keeping me calm, keeping Cam updated (he was at work), drove me and took care of the parking. THANK-YOU MOM!!!

The tests came back with two higher than normal liver readings but everything else is good. So I was free to go with instructions to go for more blood work on Friday and another blood pressure test on Saturday.

Now... I'm going to concentrate on keeping healthy but I'm also going to walk like crazy, and try to encourage Bubba to come out soon!!!

Thanks for all the love & prayers friends. I appreciate all the support I got today, it meant SO much!
N.

Funny side note: when the nurse measured me she said "whoa, long baby! Having trouble breathing?!" Hahaha! That really put a smile on my face! :)

Camy's birthday is today... so Bubba that's your cue to come any day now!!

Things have drastically changed these last couple weeks. I went from feeling "alright, a little big" to feeling like "get the baby out now!!!". I'm huge! A lot bigger than I anticipated lugging around more weight that I wanted (damn you wet weight!) with a now constant stabbing/stinging pain as though someone karate chopped me in the vagina. I walk so painfully slow these days that even my parents dog is getting annoyed and for the life of me I can't reach the coffee table to get my water bottle anymore. My feet are SO swollen that I'm now officially in flip flops and they hurt so much now when I try to massage them that tears run down my face. I can't sleep either, even moving in bed hurts and the thought that Bubba could come out as a boy and be without a name has me constantly thinking.

I'm now just even more eager to meet Bubba. Jason birthday has past (Bubba's Uncle Po Po) and today was Cameron's birthday, so we're good. Bubba will get his/her own birthday!! YAY!! I'm so very glad!!

So now anytime dear child... don't be like your daddy and take your sweet sweet time. Unless that means you'll sleep great and be as relaxed as can be, because I'm quite okay with that :)

N.


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38 weeks, 9 1/2 months pregnant!!

How far along: 38 weeks pregnant! That's 9 1/2 months, WOW!!!

Size of baby: watermelon
(19 - 22 inches & 7 pounds)

Cam & I saw watermelon at the grocery store the other day & bought one :) that was sure an eye opener to how big baby is.

Weight gain/loss: DAMN YOU WET WEIGHT!!!

Maternity clothes: I don't even have an extra extra large shirt to lounge around in anymore. So I've given up! lol.

I did decide to buy my nursing bras AFTER bubba arrives. This way I get exactly what I want & what fits. I'll just drag Cam & Bubba to the maternity store with me! :)

Movement: surprisingly not as much movement as previous weeks, BUT I hear that's a sign of baby dropping & preparing so I'm ok with that. Bubba seems to love it when I drink cold water, always moves then.

Sleep: I'm exhausted, SO tired! I'm still waking up all the time at night but of course that just comes with pregnancy right?! And poor Cam, I'm still snoring :(

Yep! Above is still all so true.

Cravings: ice cream, candy, lots of fruit still (which I do eat). I'm getting nauseous again a lot so that prevents me from wanting to eat but I think Bubba stretches into my rib cage (good times!).

Symptoms: DAMN YOU WET WEIGHT!!!! Stupid swelling all over my stupid body & in my stupid feet which hurt & my stupid hands that can't make a fist. Oh, & stupid heartburn!
But I loooove my baby belly when it's not in the way :)

Best moment of the week: well.... my aunt Lina who lived in Germany & was 109 1/2 years old had died. That was NOT a good moment, but she's in heaven now & that's good!

My brother Jason had his 26th birthday on the 10th & we went out to dinner & a movie with my family which was really awesome!

And tomorrow is Cameron's 32nd birthday!!!! So maybe Bubba will arrive to say happy birthday to Daddy :)

Yikes! The time, I've got to go to the doc & get my membranes sweeped. Has anyone done that before?? I'm a bit nervous about it, but rather have it done than a medical induction at 41 weeks.

Love!
N.

wet weight

So.... Today I found out the reason behind my sudden crazy unusually high weight gain. The term is apparently "wet weight" and is associated with a stupid amount of swelling. And when I say stupid amount, I really do mean RIDICULOUSLY high amounts of water volume all over my body. Just take a look for yourself (below).


I took that picture tonight at the end of the day, only because I couldn't believe how huge they were. This morning I thought the swelling was bad when I went to the doc but I never imagined it getting THAT bad! This is the worst, but it's okay cause the doc said I'll just end up peeing it all out after Bubba is born. When I told my mom that she just laughed and said that I'll be spending all my time in the hospital bathroom then.

The good in all of this?! I didn't actually gain 8 lbs of real weight in two weeks (yes, HOLY COW!). But instead I just ballooned out because of extra liquid which will go away (the key here is "go away!"). So that's good! I can live with that then. I'll just keep saying "it's not forever" over and over again so I feel better :)

Oh, and today my diabetes doc said I'm doing so well that she insists I only prick ever other day. And since she has no intention of putting me on insulin cause I'm doing so awesome, I'm done with seeing her! So that means no more diabetes visits! Just every other day I've got to prick for my records and to keep myself accountable! I'm really happy that even after having doubts and guilt at times I still managed to do my best and keep my health for my baby!

Not much longer now, but please... no more water retention. I don't think my feet can handle any more liquid!
N.

37 weeks pregnant!

How far along: 37 weeks pregnant! YAY! I made it to full term

Size of baby: watermelon
(19 - 22 inches & 6.5 pounds)

Weight gain/loss: the scale went up again and that is all I'm going to say about it this time.

Maternity clothes: it makes no sense to get anything new now but at my awesome surprise shower my friend Amy got me a couple nursing tops! I'm looking forward to wearing those :)

Movement: still tons of movement! I can see Bub's move around like waves, lots of rolling going on in there. And head butting, this baby LOVES to head butt my "business".

Sleep: I'm exhausted, SO tired! I'm still waking up all the time at night but of course that just comes with pregnancy right?! And poor Cam, I'm still snoring :(

Cravings: carbs, sugar, fruit... I just wanna eat lots of fruit. I REALLY wanted McDonald's today but I stopped myself.


Symptoms: LOTS of swelling in my hands, legs and feet, it's getting harder to bend my knees because of it. I'm getting cramps, "stabby crotch", Braxton Hicks, and tons of pressure. The doctor was not kidding when she said that it just gets more uncomfortable the farther you go, but that's ok! If you take a peek at the picture above you may see why I thought baby dropped, it's lower but not "engaged" yet. Hopefully that happens sooner than later, but I keep telling Bub's to come when he/she's ready.

Best moment of the week: if you read my earlier post then you know my amazing friends threw me a surprise baby shower! It was AWESOME! I had so much fun! I'm SO lucky :)


Another fun thing is we chose outfits for Bubba! I picked the girl ones and Cam picked the boy ones. We'll just have to wait and see which set we get to use!

I also had an ultrasound on the same day as my baby shower. We found out that Bub's is still in the 90th percentile for leg length and currently at approximately 7 lbs 2 ounces (give or take 500 grams). This means babe is average and my GD isn't seriously affecting the growth (YAY!). However, it is measuring at 38 weeks (which would make d-day April 18th) so maybe we'll have an early delivery?! I'm getting membrane sweeps at my next two appointments so we'll just wait and see!

I guess we're going to do Cams birthday celebration early to make sure he gets one (his birthday is April 17th!). At the ultrasound Leigh-Ann (who is the only one who knows the gender) gave us a gift! A GENDER SPECIFIC gift! So Cam immediately hid it on me... But I know that somewhere in my house is a present that will tell me Bubbas gender. It's SO hard not to tear the house apart to find it but I'm doing a good job at resisting :)

Ok, time to nap now, I'm exhausted and Bubba is head butting again!
N.

SURPRISE!!!!

Yesterday evening I went out for a nice dinner with Cam, Nantina and Rachael. Cam needed to take off for youth group so us ladies hung out at the restaurant with plans to head off to Alissa's afterwards. We couldn't be at Alissa's until 7:30pm because apparently Alissa had plans (or so I thought!) so we just took our sweet time at white spot.

I had absolutely NO IDEA what was in store for me when we made it to Alissa's front door. Nan approached and knocked while I proclaimed, "no need to knock, I never knock!". All the sudden the door swung open and there were SO many of my friends, my mom and my mother-in-law yelling "SHOWER" right at me!!!!'

I was SO surprised, SO excited, SOOOOO happy!!!!! It was incredible to have that many people I loved (and who obviously love me) in one room! From all parts of my life too, I had friends from Gracepoint Church, CBC, Langley College, Wind & Tide, etc... It overwhelmed me and I kept thinking to myself "is this happening?!" I keep thinking about that moment with a big smile on my face :)

Bubba and I got SPOILED! The gifts just kept coming, and gosh they were very very cute. We got onesies, booties, toys, books, a nursing pillow, a nursing scarf, socks, blankets, hooded towels, stuffed animals, even two nursing tops for me and more. My nieces and nephew got us the Canuck pacifiers that Cam really wanted too!

There was a cake in the shape of a baby, games to play, yummy food out to eat and adorable decorations. I loved all the belly rubs, hugs and smiles. I was giddy all night long and when I got home I couldn't fall asleep for hours because I was so happy :)

So THANK-YOU THANK-YOU THANK-YOU!!! To my fantastic friends Alissa and Nantina for planning and hosting. To my husband Cameron for helping them and keeping it the best kept secret. And to everyone who attended, I love you all :)

I can't wait for you to meet our precious baby Bubba!
N.

Maternity pictures!

On Easter weekend Cam and I went out to the very same park we did our wedding photo shoot at and met up with my friend Angela. I've known Angela for a VERY long time (since we were babies) and I was thrilled to have stumbled upon her website and notice how amazing she is in her photography skills. Seriously people, this girl is FANTASTIC! She is so much fun and so talented, and has such an incredible vision for the exact style of photography I was looking for.

Cam and I wanted to do a maternity shoot because we believe that this time in our life is very important and we wanted to capture it all in photo memories! I'll hopefully be putting together an album with these photos for Cam and I to keep and then another one for Bubba along with the newborn session photos we'll be getting from Angela too! This way, Bubba has an album for him/herself capturing these moments as well. We're also going to frame a bunch for the house and when you scroll below to take a peek you'll see why I'm going to have the hardest time picking out which ones to frame!

So here are some of my favorite that are on Angelas website! Ella Haus Photography

Now go and click the link and see the rest she has posted as well as all her other work and  hire her for your own photo shoots! I promise she's amazing, you won't be disappointed :)

N.

36 weeks pregnant, NINE months!

How far along: 36 weeks, that's nine months pregnant! One more week and I'll be considered full-term which means Bub's could come at ANY time after April 9th.

Size of baby: large cantaloupe
(19 - 22 inches & 6 pounds)

Weight gain/loss: the scale went up again, 2.6 pound gain. So that's a total gain of 24.4lbs this pregnancy. I was hoping that I would be within a gain of 20-25lbs but I've come to terms with the fact that I might be closer to a 30lb gain instead. I've decided to TRUST my body to gain what it needs as long as I'm eating healthy and moving my body daily. I need to understand that it's not about loosing weight right now or staying a certain weight. It's about the last few weeks of carrying a healthy baby and trusting that I'll be able to be healthy afterwards as well. My body knows what to do, as long as I'm feeding it appropriately. One thing I've definitely learnt through this diabetes process is that I'm absolutely addicted to sugar in every form. Whether it be fruit, carbs, plain sugar, milk sugars (just not milk itself) and I NEED to do something to change that. So that's something I definitely need to work on.

Maternity clothes: I had planned to get a couple nursing bras but after a conversation with my doula I'm thinking of holding off. I'm just not sure what I'll bring to the hospital then?! Hmmm....


Movement: there are times when this babe moves so much that my stomach rolls around like waves, it's crazy!! But since room is running out in my tummy, Bubba is moving less which makes me nervous at times. So when that happens I rub his/her bum (which is always at the top of my belly) and in minutes Bub's starts to move around and I feel better.

Sleep: I can't believe that I've started snoring!! Cams actually recorded me on his phone to prove to me that I'm snoring (sadly, I am).

Cravings: I'd love a good glass of wine or a gin & tonic with lime :)
But of course I'll wait to satisfy that craving.

Symptoms: I thought I wouldn't suffer the swollen hands and feet but I was sadly mistaken. My hands are huge and often hurt while I try to make a fist. My feet are also puffy and now my socks and Tom shoes make imprints. It's okay though, soon I will have a baby and my body will heal and go back to normal.

Best moment of the week: Easter was fabulous this year! My grandma gave us a knitted blanket that she's had made and wrapped for two years!!! She said she was just waiting for her first great grandchild. My whole family is thrilled to be welcoming this baby in the family :)

Can you believe that it's April 2nd?! You know what that means? I might have a baby this month! WOW!

Happy Tuesday
N.