Prenatal Appt Update

I had a prenatal appointment today. My blood pressure is 104/71 which is higher than it's been throughout my pregnancy but healthy and normal. I gained some fundal height these last two weeks and now measure 36 cms (2 cms larger than my last appt on March 14th). I didn't gain any weight though which is interesting to me. Our baby girl's heart rate is 138 which is about 10 beats faster than it was at the last appointment as well. A very quick ultrasound showed that the baby's head is indeed down and in a good position. I still have a good amount of amniotic fluid surrounding her so she's nice and happy inside considering she still moves around a ton. I have gotten sick with a cold again but I'm faring alright. We received our first shipment of cloth diapers today with the good ol' diaper pail and looking at all these small diapers makes it even more real for us. It's truly amazing how our lives will be changed forever in a matter of days or weeks! Jeff is anxious for me to go into labour and would love it if she arrived early before his final exams begin on our due date (April 15). Although neither of us have control over this, we have kindly requested that she want to come out sooner than later. We'll see!!

Better Days

I had a much better day today. This afternoon was interesting because I had two different couples wanting to book the same wedding day this coming August. In the end I lost one of the couples, but the other one I'll be meeting with tomorrow. The bride happens to be finishing her year as an articling student for a family law firm. It was interesting briefly hearing how articling has been going for her as this is what Jeff has ahead of him once he's done law school. I am trying to balance preparing for baby's arrival and working and I have to admit the baby preparation is tending to take more of my energy and focus. I just finished cleaning all of her clothes and blankets for the next 3 months. She's all set in terms of outfits from 0-3 months that's for sure. Our friends who've had girls in the past have loaned me a lot of clothes and receiving blankets so this is awesome! Jeff and I still have yet to get a stroller and crib/bedding but at least she doesn't require both at birth! I spent a lot of time talking to clients today and prospective clients as well as visits with friends (my good friend Nadia was over for tea this morning for a couple of hours - she's from Australia so I hadn't seen her in a very long time!! I do wish she lived much closer!) so I'm pretty tired but it was overall a great day! Leftover turkey from the weekend and chocolate helps!!

37 Weeks

Well, today marks the day I'm full term and that basically means our baby's lungs are fully developed and she is healthy enough to be born any day now. Since feeling the baby drop this past Friday I've been experiencing new physical symptoms...Not all pleasant for sure but everything I'm feeling leads me to believe that labour is just around the corner. Today I'm more tired than usual though. I'm not sure why except that last night I went to bed at 2am (as per our usual time) and got up every 2 hours (bathroom) until I finally got out of bed to meet the day late this morning. Jeff and I met with our doula, Jen, this afternoon for a couple hours and that was helpful for us both. She left me with another book to read and there's a lot of information on water births which is great as that is what I'd like to have if all goes well. There's even a DVD for us to watch. Emotions and hormones are pretty intense these days and I'm very sensitive (poor Jeff). :)

Baby Dropped

Well, yesterday afternoon (Good Friday, March 21), our baby girl dropped and I now can breathe easier which is fantastic. The downside is having to run to the bathroom more often and I am quite uncomfortable at times. It's getting harder and harder to move around (getting up from the couch, out of bed, in and out of the car etc). My lower back hurts quite a lot these days and I am now experiencing some slight cramping in my back and lower abdomen area since yesterday. I read that the baby dropping is a good sign that labour is days/weeks away! Look out world - another baby will be arriving soon!!

I'm super excited and also nervous about what's coming up so soon. In the meantime, I've got to get some of these photography orders done before our new arrival so I can focus on the baby and also so I can rest.

Belly Image from Session #2

Here is a shot my friend Lane took of me in our living room. He worked on it although there are some final touches left to do but I think it looks pretty lovely the way it is. I'm likely going to print this on canvas as small as I can and hang it in the baby room.

Belly Photos

This week my friend Kristi took some photos of Jeff and I at her studio. Here are three photos from the session.

Sick and 34 Weeks Pregnant

Well, this last week was a hard one. I'm almost 35 week pregnant now but have been really sick this past week. Coughing constantly and diagnosed with 2 ear infections and sinusitis was not much fun...then later that same night I got pink eye! I barely got any sleep and unfortunately kept Jeff up during the night too with my coughing. Finally today - March 8th, I'm feeling much better. My mom was here visiting over the weekend for my 30th birthday open house this past Sunday which was a ton of fun. We had over 50 people in the house and it was great to have all my friends in one place at once! I enjoyed it tremendously even though I wasn't feeling very well. I photographed an engagement session this afternoon which was a blast and will post some of those photos on my photography blog soon.

Baby girl is still kicking a lot and jabbing me in the ribs these days. I still have a lot of heartburn and breathlessness but in weeks time I'll be giving birth.

Well - I better be off. I have a lot of work to do this evening before tomorrow...so much to catch up on since I've been sick and very tired. Currently we are trying to decide whether or not we'll use cloth diapers and wash them ourselves or use a diaper service...and trying to decide on a stroller for our baby girl. :) Fun stuff!!