The baby is here !!

We have a baby ! She was born on June 18th without epidural and everything is great ! I won't be sharing her name or any other details except this one picture on this blog, but if you know me and have my email, just email me and I will let you know, i am sure there are lots of friends out there who we haven't had a chance to notify. She was 2.5 weeks early and is doing really well :)

18 days left

Today, we had the hospital tour. It was so exciting !! We originally wanted to go to the Langley hospital but we decided to go to Surrey Memorial (they have OB 24/7 while the Langley one has him on call so sometimes he's not available right away) They also have private rooms where all the action is happening, which is great so you dont have to be moved from room to room to room... When I saw all the equipment they have for the babies, I was almost in tears, it was so touching and looked so real. The rooms there are great (better then those we've seen in Langley) The only thing is that the L. is closer to us, but I know now I'd have to switch anyway due to the need of Dr because of my diabetes, I wouldn't be able to go to Langley anymore (as I will need to have Dr at any possible time to evaluate me whenever necessary)

The only thing was that there was a couple with three kids already (why do you need the tour, even if you went to a different hospital, they all look similar!) Anyway the youngest child was bored and constantly crying. They spent majority of time distracting him, tickling him and making him laugh, so he won't cry and I found that quite disturbing, as I couldn't hear half of the stuff the nurses were saying, and I couldn't concentrate. The couple didn't really care about other people and that they can't hear neither, and kept doing their own thing.

We have also decided we don't want any visitors in the hospital at all. I am a very private and secretive person and I can't imagine just being distracted by visits. I don't know how things will go, how much pain there will be and we just want to be alone, private and cozy and just go through this experience without any outside influence. My husband will be calling his parents, we will then try to reach my parents in Prague and as soon as these 4 people are informed, we will start informing everyone else ! I think I mentioned it earlier, but it would break my heart if someone else except my husband's parents would find out before we are able to inform my own parents !!! I just can't imagine. I dont' know why it matters to me so much, but it does and it just has to be that way. It will probably be just a day or so, but it's so very important to us.

I have 18 days left (maximum, I hope!!) and I cannot believe it. It really went so fast. So fast !!! I wanted to have a baby today, 6-16 is such a cute birth date, but it's about 10.42 pm and unless the miracle happens, this baby is not coming tonight. So next cute date is ... hmm... i dont know ! I guess we will now be shooting for Fridays since B has three days off (and that would work great cuase he wouldn't have to take any days off that way)

The baby can now come any day and I still have absolutely no traces of fear, panic or anxiety. In fact, I am really looking forward the labour, pains, my baby and sleepless nights.

And we have already chosen a name but will not be sharing until she is born. It will be a surprise !!

So baby, if you can hear me or read my mind, which I know you can, please take in consideration, that your mommy would like to meet you really, really soon. Like ... now !!

Prayers request (SIDS ment)

I would like to ask you if you can, send a prayer to my online friend Sarah and her family. When I woke up today I found out that her sweet baby Olivia passed away on Thursday, just 5 days shy of her 6 monhts birthday. The investigation is still ongoing about the baby's death but all signs do point to SIDS. They were putting the baby to sleep on her tummy for several months now and thought she's used to it, so she would be fine. I am heart broken, this was an IVF baby and I know how long they were waiting and how much she meant for them. SIDS scares me to death too.... that will be my biggest worry because it's so unpredictable and even though there are lots of common sense things the parents can do, there is still that little percentage of babies who still die. I am really scared (I know that most babies are fine but still !!) and I am upset over Olivia's death and still cannot believe it. I am not going to have a good day today :( Who would think that 6 monhts old can still suddenly die from SIDS when sleeping on her tummy like she was used to for monhts !!

Please send them some prayers ...

37 weeks today

Today, I am 37 weeks pregnant. That is full term. The baby shows no signs of coming though ! I know I can have a baby as early as tomorrow and as late as 5 weeks. Hoping for the early one though lol !! Im feeling great, not miserable at all (although my back sometimes hurts, i can hop on my elliptical trainer for two minutes and the pain goes away in no time, how weird !!) So far I'm not wanting the baby to come out only because I'd be miserable, cause Im not. Im just loving being pregnant so much ... I just cant wait to meet her.

And there are so many things to do ... so many that I just dont know where to start. But im not stressing over it, i know I can do what needs to be done once the baby is here. Im though cooking yummy czech dishes and freezing them for later. If they make it that far, cause they are so yummy. Like today, I made something and before I could freeze it I ate half of the pot !!! Really great for my GD.

The baby is now moving. I thought she will pretty much stop once she gets too big and run out of space. That hasn't happened yet (i have lots of amnio fluid) and she still kicks here and there. Too cute ! Im going to miss it so very much. I can feel her feet sticking out constantly through my tummy. She is so adorable ! Im in love .already ..

So (not) productive !!

Omg my days now are filled with nothing. I wake up, in an hour I go to take a nap, then I wake up some more, another hour later another nap. Then the cats come to me and start poking me - I got out Mimi's massage blanket to cover myself and she got all excited and just had to come and give it a real good massage. And since we can't find anything, especially the claws scissors, I couldnt' really continue napping. They are both so snuggly and hugable these days, they just want to be cuddled and attentioned, I wonder if they know what's about to happen !!!

The baby is doing fine. I need to go P all the time, and I mean all the time. I go, then I come downstairs and I seriously can go again. My feet are quite swollen so I'm advised to keep them up and drink water but there is so much stuff to do ! I can't just lie down the whole day. My back would hurt plus we have that P situation and it's quite hard for me getting up and down now. So i rather run around the house and see what else needs to be done. I'm also freezing some food (I put stickers on it now !!) so I have something to eat cause I dont have anyone who could cook for me often. I've heard that comes handy.

I should start thinking about the birth plan. Well it's still simple: Dim lights, and let me do my thing. I just don't want any arguing cause I know the best. I also don't want anyone in the hospital, to distract me, except my husband and midwife. I can't imainge having like 20 people in the waiting room like on A baby story, that's crazy !! I just want to be alone. We have also decided to tell only my MIL and FIL, but noone else, until we reach my family in Prague. Then we will tell others. It's very important for me that my mom is not the last person to find out we had a baby, that would totally upset me. It's funny, there are some things I don't really care (like the traffic on Wednesday) but some things I'm absolutely specific about. So first we will tell my parents in law, and my parents, and then we will do the big announcement !! That's not unreasonable, is it !!! Dh doesnt' really agree, he thinks he should tell his sisters too, but I'm very strict. I want my mom to know before anyone else does. Then, he can tell everyone else. This is extremely important to me.

We are also getting closer to choose the name. We have three options and at this point, we are just going to use them all (if we end up having three girls) so we just need to choose the order !! I think though we will go with option 1. But we will not be telling neither, until the baby is born ... DH says we don't know yet, I say we do but we're not sharing lol ... He thinks it's easier to say we don't know and I think we do have the right to keep it secret for now. I also don't want to deal with the unecessary critisizing that comes with stuff like this.

I think the baby can come now. Why not? We're almost ready (except the stroller, it should arrive today but noone called us) I'll be full term on Saturday, and due date in three weeks, so she is totally ready. I can't wait to meet her but I will miss her inside. I love her kicks and stuff, it's so cute ! But she doesn't show any signs of trying to come out. No testing, no braxton hicks, not a single contraction, nothing. I think I may stay pregnant forever, like I wanted, actually....

I am obsessed !!!! (with my belly shots)

I can't stop taking my belly shots. Most of the pictures are horrible, and unshareable, but from time to time a jewel one appears. Yay !! We got these taken at the Babies and bellies fair a day I stopped working. I just got them last week and I cannot stop staring at them. It was only $25 for few (which is fine), but the normal session would cost us $200 - 300 !!! Totally worth it. I am gonna try to go to another baby shower (this one is commercial, for pregnant mommies) tonight and I am hoping they will have another photographer there.

35w3d - belly shot

I finally got a good belly shot ! I took so many I hated, but im in love with this one. I went to Walmart in the afternoon for a photoshoot but I still like this one way better. Plus its so expensive ! They have a package for $7.99 but you get one single shot. I chose to buy 5 separately that was $10 each. And if they enhance it, it's $20 per pic. I can do that free in photoshop !

I'm also working on few miniscrapbooks for my parents and MIL from the parties we just had. I got some nice pictures, and the scrapbooks are so cute. I realized (it suddenly hit me !!) that I cannot do everything so I'm dropping my scrapbooking business all together (maybe I will do some christmas paper bags, those do sell) I'll only keep my knitting, and Im trying the clippings. So now when I dont scrapbook for sale, I'll be doing some little projects as gifts. I think that will be way better. I am relieved, too !!! I was so busy, jumping all over things and never got anything finished. The only thing that really works for me sales-wise are my fingerless gloves. So I'll concentrate on that.

32 days go to

Last night I totally freaked out cause I haven't felt baby for few hours. I've heard that they move the most between 28 - 32 weeks, and then it kind of stops. My baby is having playdates with her new imaginary friend often, nothing stopped. Even now when I'm typing this, she is having hiccups so strong the sofa I'm lying on (elevating my swollen right ankle - left one is ok for some weird reason) feels like it's jumping up !!!

We have one of those baby dopplers I got on eBay with a Christmas discount. So I took it out and I couldn't find the heartbeat !! Then B came and of course he can find it in no time. Oh well, I'm one of those worriers. I'm definitely going to get one of those breathing monitors and take infant CPR and memorize all the reaons that may lead to SIDS. When people get new baby, they usually don't sleep and that will work with me, so I can stay up all the time and watch her being safe.

It's so hot here. I couldn't sleep last night so I was up till 4 am (something I dropped few monthsago) and organized some baby shower gifts. I wrote some cards, but i was still not tired. I want to move. Somewhere really really cold. The Arctic actually sounds seriously inviting.

Until today, I do not understand, how from all places on earth, I ended up living in Tunisia for few years. It's so hot there !!! The only explanation I have is that it's kind of expected that it's hot in Africa, so I probably didn't mind that much. I was always busy working so I didn't get to the beach often and I was not even interested. And of course I had a/c wherever I was staying. But still, imagine that I'd ended up there forever !! I would melt by now.

I've heard that the older people get, the more cold they get. Me, I'm the opposite. I think the older I get, the more I hate summer. I am really envious when I hear people love being hot. I think if I'd love being hot I would probably enjoy the summer, too. But that's not the case. I'm going to suffer through it, and I can't even eat ice-cream. It's 11 am and I'm already melting. I dont have desire to do anything. Hopefully it will get cold soon ! Some rain would be awesome, too.

The Thank you cards

Like I said before, I couldn't use the $1 for 10 Thank you cards from the dollar store. So I made my own, scrapbook style ! Aren't they adorable ! The writting inside will be done in white with my gorgeous handwriting. I hope everyone who attended my baby showers will like them :) I also decided that I will make the birth announcement the same way. I will make similar cards and glue the picture of the baby inside. I do that with my Christmas cards and honestly, they are the nicest ones I see each year around.

Another baby shower !!!

On Sunday, I had another baby shower !! This one was organized by my husband and his family, and lots of their friends, and my friends from work and one Czech one came. It was so cool ! I just wanted to talk to everyone and everytime I went to start opening the gifts, I got distracted by yet another person I really had to talk. The baby is totally spoiled. She got so many outfits, little things like blankets, sockies (did you know how tiny the baby socks are!!!), and I especially loved the Bear baby bible (we're not that religious but I really wanted to get a children bible (and children koran) so she knows the basic stories from these two books) and the swing, that I didn't have yet. I spent today's evening making my own scrapbooked Thank you cards, cause I decided those sets from dollar store (10 for $1) will just not be good enough. My cards I made are really pretty. I'll post a picture when I download it.

Today is very hot. It's not a secret I hate summers. I absolutely do and I always had. My favorite is autumn and winter. I really don't get, why people love being hot, sweaty, why they love not being able to sleep and being sunburnt. When someone says I love this heat, the hotter the better, I just roll my eyes. For me, the ideal weather is rain, wind, fogs, snow, cold, just those awesome miserable days when all you want to do is to stay home and snuggle in your bed with your cats and a basket of knitting. I always say, when you're cold, you can put a sweater on, or take another blanket. But what do you do when you're hot? Nothing!!!

Summers for me are totally miserable. I hate hate hate them. This one will be different as I will finally have my baby but I'm sure I'll resume with longing for autumn and winter pretty soon.