Funny Story - FitzGerald

Having the last name "Johnson" always seemed lame to me as its very generic. As a high schooler I dreamed of marrying into a more interesting and regal last name, often giving the example of "FitzGerald". Well tonight I was googling various things trying to find potential boys names, when I came across an interesting fact. Apparently the "fitz" in FitzGerald denotes a child that is illegitimate in the royal family meaning born out of wedlock. So, all this time I've been holding this name in prestige when realistically the opposite is true. So funny!

Doc Appt Updates & Bonus Ultrasound

I found out at my last appointment that I would be getting another ultrasound a few weeks from that one, but my doctor was so rushed as usual that I didn't get a chance to recover from my surprise and ask why. Since I'm on 2 week appointments now I was able to ask today. Apparently it's fairly routine to check on the baby's weight at 32 weeks. I've never known it to be, but I'm not complaining as I love ultrasounds: another peek at my baby! So on November 29 @ 9:45am I will hopefully be getting a few more pics for the scrapbook :-)

On a negative note, I was sad to step on the scale today & be at my pre-pregnancy weight. I had managed to drop a few pounds in my first trimester but apparently they are all back now. I am at 30 weeks, so with 8-12 more weeks to go I imagine I will continue to put on a few more pounds...especially with it being the Christmas season and I with no plans to withstain from the goodies available. So far my jeans and everything still fit so hopefully that means it's all going to baby belly and not my ass and thighs :-P

I also asked what the doctor's overdue procedure was. She said if I was 8-10 days over (Feb 1 - 3), then we would talk about inducing. At this point I am not opposed to a February baby so I guess we'll see what happens. It's just interesting how the procedures vary, because in Red Deer I left my 40 week appointment (2 days early - Sept 18) with a scheduled induction for 10 days later.

I'm Getting a Doula!

After changing plans several times over several months, we finally met up with a potential doula last week. She is in training, so she is charging me a very reasonable sum of $150. Normally her package would include a prenatal appointment, the day of labour and a post partum visit. Since we live in Leduc (she's in Sherwood Park - 20 to 30 minutes away) and she's giving us a bit of a discount I am waiving the prenatal appointment. We can do everything over email and phone. I may end up waiving the post partum visit as well if everything is going well.

What will Abby's role be as my doula? She basically explained to us that she will be there for us in anyway we need. My goal is to balance laboring at home as long as possible to save my energy and be comfortable with getting to the hospital in time to get an epidural.

With Dexter, I went to the hospital way too soon - six hours before they would admit me for active labor (3-4 cm dialated). In retrospect I wasted a lot of energy trying to get my labor to progress when it was the middle of the night (midnight to 6am) and I should have been trying to sleep/rest as much as possible. When I was ready to go home and go to sleep for a while, that's when they admitted me and my long journey "began".

I am hoping that Abby will be able to provide support to Tyler & I with how to labour 'comfortably' at home and then direct us when best to head to the hospital. She has a variety of positions that we will practise before hand to use, said she would draw me a bath if I want and hopefully just keep me calm and focused.  

Once at the hospital, if all goes well and the epidural is effective the whole time, she will take pictures for us of the delivery (all PG for public viewing or less than PG if we so choose) and our experience which will be a great memento to have. I am also going to do the placenta encapsulation, so she will be one more person in the room who can keep an eye on it and make sure we get it 'to go' without any intervention on the medical staff's part (i.e. they usually throw them out &/or put them in chemicals). She said she can even deliver the placenta for me to the encapsulator if I would like.

If the epidureal isn't effective, or for some reason we can't get one, then I will rely on her to help us through.  All in all, I think the value is definitely there and Tyler seemed pretty excited about booking her too.

Funny Things Dexter is Doing

1. Tyler is often on the computer upstairs while Dexter and I are on the main floor. When I call him for supper, etc Dexter copies me, yelling "Ty-lur, Ty-luuur!" LOL Tyler says "that's daddy to you mister!"

2. Most nights Dexter wakes up & then crawls into bed with us on his own. About a month ago, he starting bringing in his Elmo with him. Then he started bringing in his Elmo AND a storybook. Now he does this every night. I giggle thinking about him waking up, looking for his stuff then walking over to our room with two items nearly half his size all in the dark. A few times these two things were already in our room, so he brought another book.

There were more but I can't remember them now.

Free Shopping!

I have been itching to make purchases as 'tis the shopping season, however I really need to stick to a tight budget as we are über broke. BUT I got a sweet fix in tonight by shopping the "rewards" on my airmiles site. I basically bought myself four Christmas presents LOL

My purchases were:
-a new Samsung point & shoot camera. I'm pretty unsatisfied with my current one. I had bought it to replace one I dropped in sand, and though I bought what I thought was an upgraded version of the original (Lumix) it never really took as good of pictures or seemed to have a good reaction time. This new Samsung isn't top of the line by any means, but it is 16mp and has the ion-lithium battery (vs the AAs ours takes) so should be an improvement.

-a gift card for a night out at the theatre for two. No brainer.

-iPhone speaker system w/ Cd player. I've been looking for a decent docking station for a little while and this one is the iLive which I believe means it's part of the apple line. Hopefully it does not disappoint.

-Kobo Touch eReader. My mom got one in August and is completely in love with it. Her's isn't the touch but she said she would have preferred it. I'm not sure if I'll use it a lot but I think it's one of those things you can live without until u get it and then it's super useful. A lot lighter to carry around then a book! Libraries are really building their virtual book reserve so there is a lot of free books available.

That's my haul! Pretty good I would say. A good $400+ worth of stuff for free. I tried to look for potential Christmas gifts as well but was distracted by all the items I wanted for me lol

Gymnastics

We signed up Dexter for parent & tot gymnastics from Sept 21 to Dec 7. Originally I was going to take him, but Tyler has been off work so it's turned into Daddy & Dexter time - which i love! Dexter responds to direction from Tyler more and really likes copying him. So far I have been able to have a few quiet mornings at home to sleep in or catch up on stuff. I've also gone to watch a couple times from the sidelines. Once I did the class with Tyler and once with Dexter on my own (which was horrible). It was horrible because I'm not in the best shape to begin with & being prego complicates it more. Also, Dexter was being super hyper: not listening to me, not taking direction and constantly running away from me across the gym (and I move oh so slowly).

My general parenting philosophy is "I'll love you even if you're below average" but I've been so impressed with Dexter's progress! He's not top of his class, but he went from zero skills to doing "star pose" "pencil" & "airplane" on command, being able to hang from the bars, etc. Considering he is the youngest in the group (it's 2-3 and he turned 2 the day before first class), he blends in perfectly. He definitely has some things to work on/through like he tends to watch things entirely before participating and he likes to watch the other kids a lot. And he still runs from Daddy sometimes. But so far it's been a very positive experience!

Theoretically...Baby

Theoretically, I am less nervous to have this baby than I was with Dexter. The first time you have absolutely no idea what to expect a you've never personally experienced it. However, the second time around you feel like a pro...though maybe that is some false confidence!

1) Theoretically, I feel like i know when baby will come. Dexter was born on his due date, which makes me (falsely) confident that this baby won't be born early nor late but "on time". Therefore I won't feel the need to get things done before week 38 plus I don't think I'll be worried about induction for 41+ weeks. BUT as recent evidence points out, the arrival date of baby is in no way influences by past births. Personal example, my friend Kyla's first baby was two weeks early and her recent second baby was a few days late.

2) Theoretically, labour is shorter with each subsequent birth. In reality, it's another guessing game. Again, my friend Kyla as a recent example: first baby came quite quickly, she was 9cm dialated when she arrived at the hospital. Second baby, took his time and most of the day I believe.

3) Theoretically, this birth should be equivalent to or smoother than my first. I should know how to deal with the contractions better and since I delivered vaginally with Dexter, a possible c-section hadn't entered my mind. In reality, each birth is unique and can have its own complications. I hope that my epidural will work the whole time and that I'll be calmer and more focused but who knows.

4) Dexter was a great nurser and I had no milk production issues so theoretically this time should be a breeze. In reality, baby could have latch issues, I could have production issues...past success doesn't equal a guarantee!

5) This is our second boy so there is no diaper changing learning curve and we've survived one circumcision. Shouldn't be any surprises there, right?

So yeah i was just thinking over how falsely confident I could be and it makes me a little nervous! Hopefully all goes smoothly.