The Verdict Is In!!!

I had a doctor’s appointment this morning and all seems to be in good order. I’ve gained about 20 lbs so far and this isn’t so bad in my books. I had already gained 30 lbs with Grace at this point.

The biggest revelation at this appointment was obviously the gender of this baby!
I finally know! It’s like Christmas has arrived! It’s a boy!

My little Gracie is going to be the big sister to a boy! My husband and I are thrilled. I saw a very proud smile creep across his lips when he found out the news.

My son is going to be born at the new maternity ward at Sunnybrook on September 28th. I am so excited!

So here I am in my 21st week and my belly is really starting to grow….and this is great. However, my boobs and butt have also jumped on the bandwagon and are growing right along with it! Aren’t they kind? They are making sure my belly doesn’t feel left out.

My boobs are seriously out of control. It’s like they are secretly taking steroids or something. If this rate of growth keeps up throughout the whole pregnancy, I am really going to be in trouble. My balance will be so thrown off that I’ll have to learn to walk again. Although, maybe my growing bum will be able to counter-balance this weight…so we’re good after all.

New symptoms: I’ve become increasingly light-headed these past few weeks. When I’ve been sitting for awhile and get up I have to stand still for a moment or I risk falling over. It’s so bad that I sometimes wonder if that bottle of water I just drank wasn’t actually a 26er of vodka. Also, heartburn has become a big part of my life. I am now dependent on Tums and if I don’t have a bottle near me I start getting the shakes. If it’s true what they say about heartburn, meaning a lot of hair on the baby – this kid is going to come out looking like Cousin Itt.

So I can’t help but wonder how my little Gracie is going to take to being a big sister. She’s 16 months now, so still way too young to even grasp the concept that mommy has a baby in her belly. I’m hoping she’ll be too young when the baby arrives to even get jealous.

Hopefully she’ll think she has a new doll to play with. Although, I’ll have to teach her that this doll can’t have its eyes poked out and it can’t be thrown across the room. A few days ago she used my belly has a stepping stool (she did this to give me a hug…so it was kinda cute). I tried to explain to her that she probably shouldn’t do that because there is a baby in there. I could see in her eyes that she was thinking “Mommy…I have no clue what you are saying…so stop with the gibberish and let’s play!”

I am being assured by a lot of second-time moms that those first few weeks after baby arrives are a little easier the second time around. This is because I already know the level of extreme fatigue I am going to experience…and I already know that this is not going to last forever. So when I’m up at 3:30am (after not even going to bed yet) feeding the baby, I won’t wonder this time if anyone else in the entire world is feeling my pain.

I will know that every new mom out there is doing the exact same thing I am. We will be getting through the day in a complete haze, wondering if it is in fact possible to use toothpicks to keep our eyelids open. We will all be wondering when the last time we ate was, because we really can’t remember.

We will be amazed at the amount of freakin’ diapers we will change in one day. We will wonder if a night will ever come again when we will actually sleep. Most of all though, we will all be amazed and in complete wonderment at this tiny baby who we will love so much the instant we see it. We will be amazed by how much our baby makes the extreme fatigue and exhaustion totally worth it in every way.

Here’s to sleepless nights………

Boob issues and great shopping success…

Boobie Issues... As mentioned in “Meet our Mommy Bloggers," I thought the most exciting thing about being pregnant was finally growing boobs.

For a while at the beginning I was more excited about the boobs than the baby!

I felt like puberty had finally come for me – I’ve been waiting over 20 years for this! As you can conclude, I was quite small pre-pregnancy.

But holy pregnancy, I can’t believe the rate my boobs have grown and I’ve had to buy five new bras in as many months. Yesterday, again, my boobs kept popping out of my bra all afternoon while at work. I was proudly in a 34D that has felt tight lately but everything I wear lately leaves snug marks so didn’t think too much of it.

I even broke the elastic on my under the belly maternity jeans. I’m quickly outgrowing my first set of maternity clothes and need to hit the stores again this weekend. At 22 weeks, I’ve gained about 22-24 pounds! I’m thinking I should trade in the chocolate ice cream and Doritos for celery sticks...

So, I’m in the fitting rooms at The Bay, frustrated after pulling on and off nine different shaped and styled bras in what I thought was my size (34D). My violated boobs were red and sore from being squished and pulled, so I succumbed to losing the bra battle and finally go ask to be measured. The nice lady thoroughly measured me and said I was now a 36D!

I asked her if she was sure. She said "Yes, positive!!" I still didn't believe her, just 20 weeks ago I was a 32B/34A! She told me to wait in the change room and she came back with a few 36D's with no wires (apparently she said underwire is bad when you're this pregnant??? Something about milk ducts growing?)

So let’s talk about these 36D's she brought me... These are the bras I used to walk past on my way to the small-tit section and think 'my butt would fit in that!'... Well, my pre-pregnancy butt at least! Anyhow, nothing pretty about these huge bras with thick straps and a lot of 'boob material.'

I reluctantly put it on still not believing I'd ever fit and the lady was still there to help me... Besides the embarrassment of being totally topless in front of a stranger with her hands all over me...

The bra felt like total bliss! If my boobs could sing, they would have sung hallelujah!

I really was a 36D! I couldn't believe it! I have been so comfortable today I can’t believe I’d been suffering for weeks in a too-small push up bra.

I used to dream about having huge boobs but now that my boobs have a life of their own, I understand why girls with big boobs wished they had smaller boobs.

But sadly, I also know my nice big-pregnancy boobs will one day shrink and become small-post-pregnancy boobs… I’m thinking I should take photos of them in their glory for those future sad droopy small days…

Shopping Success in the USA... So my recent business trip to NY was a great success for unisex baby clothing. A dinner meeting got cancelled and I headed straight to the Babies R Us in Times Square like a women on a mission! I found a great line of clothing in the US called Carters that had such cute stuff for a reasonable price, plus the store was having a huge sale.

This cute ducky set was one of the many outfits I purchased!

I also discovered chocolate covered gummy bears in their candy section… I had to brush my teeth that evening to stop eating them. They are so delicious, I can’t believe I didn’t invent them myself.

Unfortunately I didn’t get time to shop for maternity clothes but if the baby clothes were any indication, the selection in the US is way better than it is in Canada!

First time frustrations… Useful or gimmicky? Boy or girl? Fashion or comfort?

A great blog has two components – great photos/illustrations and great commentary/discussions. I’ve got two perfect topics for this.

As first time parents, we meander through baby stores, catalogues and websites inundated and confused with so much stuff for babies and for parents. My husband and I were both born in the mid-to-late 70’s when much of the stuff available today did not exist.

It’s really hard to know what we’ll really need, what's completely gimmicky and what is just useless crap?

Which items should we spend more money on for better quality? And are the more expensive items really better quality? I ask myself this as I flip through Bugaboo catalogues for strollers, Stokke for highchairs, and Pottery Barn for cribs.

Oh and I drool through the Restoration Hardware baby catalogue for absolutely frivolous items, but they’re just so darn cute! And this gigantic sock monkey from Teatro Verde in Yorkville for a whopping $2,400!

I’ve hit hump-week… I’m currently 20 weeks and the countdown begins! We’ve been busy trying to finish up house projects and probably won’t tackle baby furniture for another few weeks. However, I have my 20 week OB visit and ultrasound on Tuesday and we can’t decide on finding out the sex.

We’re both 50/50 but would want to know for the convenience. For the first trimester, I was adamant about not finding out but as I stroll through baby clothing stores I’m finding it very difficult to find unisex clothing for newborns.

Everything is so pink and blue and if it’s yellow it’s got flowers or green with planes and trains. The most suitable thing I liked was a package of two organic cotton cream colour onesies with an embroidered teddy bear for $35! Sorry but I couldn’t fork over the money for them. Do I have to give up my fantasy of a delivery room “It’s a boy/girl” because I’m too cheap to buy overpriced unisex onesies?

My husband and I just returned from a very relaxing holiday in Negril, Jamaica. I’ve heard a few different terms for this – babycation, babymoon – whatever made up term people call it, I call it our last crack at freedom on the beach alone!

Here’s a photo of me on the beach in the crystal clear water. At 20 weeks, I’ve gained almost 20 pounds… 6 pounds from this all-inclusive week! I guess I now know why croissants, eggs and bacon for breakfast every morning, desserts at every lunch and dinner, and many virgin piña coladas per day isn’t recommended in my baby books!

I’ve been asked a few times if I’m having twins… technically so because I have fibroids that have grown most likely due to the pregnancy. The largest one is the size of a baseball and for a while it was larger than the baby but I think the baby has caught up now. Perhaps the baby will use them as punching bags or cuddle pillows!

Also another pregnancy bane of mine… maternity clothing! I’m a petite person at 5 ft. 2 in. and was about 110 pounds pre-pregnancy. I am struggling to find suitable maternity clothes that fit. I may be pregnant but I’m still petite! If there are any designer out there reading this – please email me I have ideas!

Everything in the mainstream stores is huge and not very fashionable. I have a business trip to NY next week and have half a day free to go shopping… I’m hoping to have better luck in the US than in Canada. If the maternity clothes shopping is a bust, then I’m hoping to run into some cheap white/cream coloured onesies!

P.S. We met a couple in Jamaica from Texas that gave us the greatest idea – throw a taco and hot dog party and have your guests guess the baby’s sex! They served tacos and hot dogs, and people wore ‘taco’ or ‘hot dog’ stickers to identify their guess for a girl or a boy. Then they opened an envelope from their OB revealing the baby’s sex during the party. Too cute!