The Not-So-Divine Secrets of -Motherhood-

Spotting at 32 Weeks Pregnant

I titled this post this way because this is how I Googled it a few minutes ago. And while plenty of pages of information did come up they were mostly chat style boards in which many of the responses were, how shall I say, less than educated.

So as of right now I am going to tell you that I again started spotting. This time much heavier than the last time so while last time was no big deal I was of course immediately worried. I worried because unlike last time, this time I could find no real reason why this spotting should be occurring. I wasn't out doing yardwork, trimming trees with a hacksaw.

Today I did go to the outlet mall for two hours. But I did walk slowly and take lots of breaks. When I was pregnant with Hayley I went to the outlet mall at 38 weeks pregnant and walked about six million miles with no results. That time I was actually trying to kick start labor.

So anyway, I googled it and although the general consensus is that spotting at 32 weeks is not normal I also know that my OB said last time he would not have had me run to the hospital for a little brown spotting. So I guess I'm going to drink lots of water, lay down, and keep my eye on it. If it turns from anything other than brown or pink then I will drive like a maniac to L&D. I am of course freaked out. Nothing like this ever happened when I was pregnant with Hayley- and thank goodness it didn't. It took us so long to conceive her and I was so worried about that pregnancy that I think I would have been an absolutely stress case if it had. Not to say I'm not a stress case now but I guess I have also been able to step back and realize that worrying isn't going to get me very far. Being smart and safe will get me much farther.

So while I am dying, DYING to go upstairs and measure studs and outline a level spot on the wall to start hanging the wainscoting in Hayley's new room I am going to refrain. I am going to lay down instead. Because maybe this spotting is perfectly fine, but just in case there really is something more to it I would hate to go to L&D and tell them, " I started spotting but I didn't think it was any big deal so I proceeded to hang wainscoting in my toddlers room." The nurse would no doubt give my husband the evil eye again and in reality it isn't his fault that he is again sleeping when I feel there is work to be done. It isn't his fault that I am impatient and can't wait for him to get around to doing something.

 

UPDATE as of 9/17/08- I forgot to update on this post but I did deliver the baby within two weeks of when I started spotting which was still six weeks early. So please, please get yourself checked out if you are spotting at this stage in your pregnancy. Many women may go on to have normal full term pregnancies but in cases like mine, spotting truly was a sign of preterm labor.

Two Year Molars

Hayley never gets one tooth at a time. With her front teeth they came in pairs. Then with her first molars they came in all four within a ten day period. Same with her canines or eyeteeth. All four at once.

It should not surprise me that she is getting her two year molars. All four at once. But it really is tough- on all of us. I can only imagine how it must hurt her, but the middle of the night wake up calls and the five am alarm are really getting to Mommy. Likely because I am pregnant. Like fifteen months pregnant.

Actually today I am 32 weeks but who is counting? So anyway, I looked up the teething schedule and we should be in the clear after this- at least for a little while. There are 20 baby teeth and after these last four poke through I think she has them all. We will be through them in just enough time to start another round with the new baby... I guess that is why they say you won't sleep again until your children are all 18.

Dear Hayley,

August 30th, 2008

Dear Hayley,

It feels like forever since I have last written you a love note as these days go by much too quickly. It seemed when you were a baby that every day was too short and I think the older you get the shorter the days get also.

The "terrible two's" are definitely upon us. You are twenty two months old and are just so independent I don't know what we are going to do when you get older. You always tell us "I do it" and you mean it. We better not try and do something for you that you are determined to do yourself.

You love music and dancing. Even a small clip of a song gets you dancing and smiling. You love going outside- even when it is a hundred and ten degrees out. Your little cheeks get flushed with heat but it doesn't bother you. What bothers you is when we try to bring you back inside to cool down.

You love to pick things outdoors. Dada grows hot peppers, tomatoes, squash, apples, nectarines, pomegranates, and citrus. You are always trying to pick one thing or another! And you love helping your Dada water everything- the garden, the roses, the grass.

You love to read, and I sincerely hope that this love of reading continues for the rest of your life. You also play pretend- you feed your baby dolls, make us dinner in your little play kitchen, and dole out little pieces of brown playdoh to the kitties like you see Dada doing with kitty treats.

You are so very social- you just love to be in the middle of a crowd! I think you get that from Mommy. Whenever you are around all of your cousins you are in heaven. We just got home from a visit to Canada and every day while we were there you said "Mom, find the kids. Kids? Where are you?"

You love animals. I'm sure because your nursery was decorated with animals, but you just love watching "shows" with animals.

I can't believe we are approaching your second birthday in just two months. We waited so long to have you that I suppose we thought time would be slow once you got here, and the opposite is true. Now that you are here time seems to go twice as fast. We just love you so much and every single day we talk about how blessed we are. You are so cute, smart, and funny. While I dread the day you are "all grown up" I also can't wait to see the young woman you will become.

I love you my little girl! Mommy

Scheduled a date

My 31 week appointment went great. I explained to the OB that my contractions are pretty harsh but since I don't keep a log of them and they don't seem to come every five minutes apart we couldn't really determine that they were detrimental.

He did do an internal exam (again, who is grateful for one of these but me?) and he found that my cervix is thinning and I am fingertip dilated but neither one of those led him to believe that the baby was going to fall out any day, which is how I feel.

All in all, things are going ok. And he did allow me to schedule a date for my c-section. I know how mellow conservative he is when it comes to unnecessary inductions and scheduled c-sections so it should have come as no surprise that he will schedule it no earlier than seven days before my due date but still, I was hoping, really hoping that it would be closer to ten or twelve days before my due date.

Before you judge my desire to deliver early, if you do not know the story of my first child, she was born after my due date. I had to beg (with real tears) to even get my doctor to induce days after my due date and when she was born she was eight pounds nine ounces. She was holding her own head up for Pete's Sake. It wasn't like I was asking him to spare me an entire month of pregnancy misery, I was simply asking him to put an end to the long overdue misery I was in. The c-section with Hayley was a result of the fact that her head was tilted in such a position that I could have pushed forever and she never would have come out.

And it isn't like as if I would want to have this baby early just because I am selfish. The only reason I would like to see it scheduled a few days before October 21st is because I am not lying when I say these contractions are harsh. However, since I am having so many harsh contractions, it may be out of our hands anyway and there is a snowballs chance in hell remote possibility that my body could go into labor on it's own before the 21st. I'm not holding my breath for that one though.

So there is a light at the end of my tunnel. I have fifty five days left, but who's counting?

Third Trimester- Tips for C-Section

I officially entered my third trimester a few weeks ago. It's funny how with my first pregnancy there were so many milestones and so many celebrations. I know it is because I am busy both at work and at home chasing a toddler, but I don't have time to even think about it most days. I guess I just realized it, well, right now, that I am in the last trimester.

Officially I am thirty one weeks pregnant today. I feel every ounce of being thirty one weeks and yet I don't feel like it has been very long. Likely because I still have so many things to do before this baby comes. I will say, last time I was much more prepared.

One thing I was thinking about was packing a bag to take to the hospital. Not that I need it this early, more because if I don't at least start thinking about it now then I probably won't get it done when I really do need to. And I was laughing about how meticulous I was when I packed my bag the last time. I think I even still have the written list around somewhere- probably tucked into my baby journal. (that I incidentally haven't even used this time).

So if you want some tips for packing your bag to take to the hospital let me give you some second time tips.

I had heard that you should pack some socks you can throw away because childbirth can be, well, messy. I suppose this is true. But I don't know about your hospital, mine gave me some socks with rubber gripper on them when I checked in. Something to look into.  I was also told that they keep the hospital at subzero temps so you will want them to keep you warm. Possibly, but I guess that didn't apply to me because I was still fairly warm from being pregnant. Socks? Optional. I would suggest some slippers though because it does gross me out to walk on the hospital floor and then climb back into my bed,even with gripper socks.

PJ's- a must. But if you are not a nightgown person now then don't run right out and buy a bunch of nightgowns because you think you have to. Just find some good two piece sets that have light elastic and tops that button down. Probably not boxers unless they are well worn- because they tend to have like a four inch strip of elastic at the top and especially if you have a c-section they will catch you in just the right place. I did get a useful tip from someone or somewhere the last time- if your undies are rubbing on or near your incision stick a sanitary pad inside the front of your undies parallel with your wound. It really worked for me last time.

Something to wear home- think yoga pants and maternity tees. Maybe you will drop most of your pre-pregnancy weight right there in labor & delivery but it doesn't mean that you will fit back into even your larger clothes. Remember, your hips had to stretch out too so they aren't going to go back immediately. And if you have a c-section in particular you may not realize it but they are going to pump you full of fluids. It may take a week for all those fluids to release themselves. My feet were so swollen I couldn't even wear flip flops home. The only shoes that I could wear were crocs. Keep that in mind.

Toiletries- do not forget your toothbrush and toothpaste. But along those same lines you will want to bring your shampoo & conditioner, soap, and hairbrush. I'll say blow drier is optional because I felt like a truck had hit me and standing in front of the mirror didn't really appeal to me when I thought I could barely crawl back to bed. Truthfully, I forgot it the first time. I threw my hair into a ponytail wet and left it at that. I will probably bring my blowdrier this time but I won't shower until I have someone there to help me with it.

Baby clothes- do you know something funny? I brought clothes to the hospital for Hayley, but only one outfit to wear home. I left her in the hospital t-shirt the entire time we were there. And afterward I guess I realized that I should have dressed her in some pj's while we were there. Actually, I didn't realize that part until I went to visit someone else in the hospital with a new baby- and their baby was dressed in their regular clothes already. Hmm. I don't know what I was supposed to do. I think next time I will bring a few sleepers that the baby can wear while we are there- and if the baby wears them then great.

Activities. One list I read suggested that I bring a novel or a crossword puzzle. So I did. Ha! Hahahahahah. Seriously. Are you going to spend the fifteen minutes of peace that you have reading a book or doing a puzzle? No. Because believe me when I say you get fifteen minutes and you want to rest. Now maybe if you are going to be there in labor for a long time then I suppose you could bring something to occupy you. We watched tv. And talked. I had an epidural so I actually did take the opportunity to rest while I was waiting to dilate enough for the real action.

Medications. I went out and bought a brand new container of Tucks and Dulcolax. I have heard that the first bowel movement could be a little scary after giving birth. Since I had a c-section I had no need for either of those items but I will pass them along as a tip for those it may apply to.

Nursing Bra. One thing I will say is this- you can bring one but likely you aren't going to be wearing it under your pj's unless you are really worried about that. I brought one. I didn't wear it. As a matter of fact, I didn't even wear it home. I wore my pj's and cared less if I was freeballing. So sure, pack it. And on a side note- do yourself a favor and get fitted for the right size before buying one. I figured I would go grab one from Walmart and then get it figured out later. I don't know why but I bought one that was just absolutely huge. I guess when I looked at myself I thought they were like watermelons. For some reason I thought they would get bigger after giving birth- and at times they do- but then you nurse or pump and they return to normal. I am normally a 34c but I bought for some unknown reason a 36d. Needless to say I didn't wear it much and especially not at the hospital.

Cameras. I add this one because you think it is common sense. Except that you are trying to be so prepared that you leave the battery charging at the house and only have the camera in the bag. So just add camera/batteries/film/chargers/etc to the list and check it off only once you have put all of them in the bag.

Phone list. My suggestion is that you write down all the names and numbers of the people that would be totally offended if you or your spouse didn't call them direct. You know, parents, siblings, etc. Make a secondary phone list of people that you can call when you get home- or even that it would be ok for someone else to call. So for example, my husband called all of our immediate family, while my best friend who was there with me called some of our extended family- cousins and friends.

Change for the vending machines. You may wonder how that is important- but if you get admitted at 10pm and the cafeteria is closed believe me when I tell you that your spouse or the people laboring with you are likely to get the munchies or get thirsty for something other than ice chips while waiting. Most machines take bills now- but some may not. Better to be prepared.

Munchies. Not for you of course. If you aren't a fan of vending machines then plan to pack a few snacks for the ones supporting you. We brought trail mix, pretzels, cereal bars and a small stash of candy for the sugar-pick-me-up. They did come in handy once my husband and best friend had already raided the vending machine and found nothing left desireable. We also brought a small soft-sided cooler that held six drinks. We brought some soda and juice and topped it all off with ice so for the seventeen hours that we waited everyone had something to drink.

Carseat for baby. Sounds simple, but remember to install the base before you get to the hospital. The last thing you want to do is work up a sweat out in the parking lot and use profanity in front of your newborn when you can't get it to go in there level. I would suggest that you look into getting it professionally installed or get help with learning how to do so. We didn't but that was because ours had a level right on it and it was latch. We could tell immediately if it was in there properly. Note to first time parents on the carseat though- the chest harness plastic piece thing is supposed to be up higher- near their breastbone. If you get in an accident you don't want it to force against their tummy and all their soft organs. And another thing that drives me crazy- the carry bar of the carseat is supposed to be clicked into place when driving- not in the up position. I know they make all these great dangly toys for the kids to play with and all but that compromises the safety of the seat. So hand your child a rattle instead of relying on the bar of hanging toys to entertain your baby.

It sounds like we wheeled in a giant suitcase and four carryon's but we didn't. I had all of this with the exception of the small cooler packed into one wheeled carryon. There may be some things I have forgotten- but really- you will likely only be there for 24-48 hours. If you are having a c-section you may be required to stay 72 hours. So plan to bring enough clean undies and pj's for that time and really, anything else can be brought by your spouse when they come to visit.

The Finale

I'm sure you have been waiting for the final installment of the Tales from A/C Hell. Sunday was rough. Not because the air conditioning was out upstairs, although that definitely contributed to it, but because I couldn't move. My tailbone hurt to do anything and everything.

Sunday night however we all finally got a decent night of rest. We finally figured it out. I laid on the Aerobed with Hayley until she fell asleep and then I moved to the regular bed. She slept on the Aerobed all night without waking and we slept in the big bed without taking any flying kicks to the head.

I went to work on Monday with peace in my heart knowing that the air conditioning people were scheduled to come out sometime Monday afternoon. Unfortunately, I don't know how I thought I was going to drive or sit with that tailbone problem.

I played with the power controls on the driver seat like it was a carnival ride. Up, down, tilt, repeat. I did somehow make it to work, driving while sitting on one cheek most of the time. I was at work for all of two hours when I realized I couldn't possibly sit for eight or nine hours with my tailbone.

I immediately went to Target to look for one of those pillows. You know. THOSE PILLOWS. Online they called it a "coccyx pillow". There were no pictures of it so I assumed they meant the same thing as a donut pillow. As in hemmorhoids.

You know something? Target doesn't carry donut pillows. I wandered the pharmacy section for about fifteen minutes. I couldn't find them so I was heading out the door to go to CVS when a young male associate asked me if I needed help. Internal debate. Do I ask where to locate said donut pillow, further embarassing myself, or do I just move on to CVS.

Tailbone pain won out. I could barely walk and didn't really want to get back in the car and drive another mile up the road. I asked him.

"I'm looking for one of those round pillows that you can sit on. YOU KNOW. FOR LIKE WHEN YOU HAVE A BRUISED TAILBONE."

I wanted to be very clear. I do not have hemmorhoids. (this pregnancy) He looked at me like, "yeah right lady, and you are only using the Preparation H to reduce swelling under your eyes, I've heard about pregnant ladies and hemmorhoids."

At any rate, they didn't have the pillow. So I both embarassed myself and still had to get in the car and drive in search of one.

CVS has them. Can you believe they are ten dollars? Fifteen for the upgraded model- whatever that does for you. They are located right where you would expect them to be- near the canes and other age related implements. I bought the ten dollar one, a little miffed that I was going to have to blow it up myself. I mean, ick. You have to blow this thing up. And then sit on it. And then blow it back up once it loses air. After you have been sitting on it. Get my drift? ICK.

I took it back to the office where all of my dignity had already gone out the window. We made it a public performance just to blow the thing up because it doesn't have a valve on it that automatically retains the air like floaties or pool toys. You have to blow it up and maneuver it shut with a superhuman strength tongue. Which I did. My husband would have been proud.

I sat on it. And it sort of worked, although not as great as I thought. I mean, I should have saved my ten dollars. It did somewhat take the pressure off my tailbone, but it did put tons more pressure on whenever I did stand up. I used it for a day or two and now I am just living with the pain. Mind over body.

Oh yeah, and the A/C did get fixed on Monday for the righteous sum of only one arm. Holy cow, if the mortgage industry doesn't work out for us I think we should go into A/C repair in the desert. Seriously, it isn't like anyone can really say no when you tell them how much it is going to be. Especially after going without air for three days. I mean, if we only did one job per day and only worked five days per week I think we could live with only working six months out of the year.

Ultimately balance has been restored in our home. The air conditioning is blowing again. My tailbone, although still painful, is manageable. I did get one night of sleep this week so I guess I'm ahead. Tomorrow is Friday which means that the weekend is only one day away. My husband graciously bought the paint and supplies for Hayley's room, and he is going to indulge me even though he hates painting and he doesn't understand why we have to decorate her room at all.

In this, the final installment of the air conditioning saga, all is well.

Murphy's Law- The Sequel

I've always been a sucker for sequels. The air conditioning saga continues! And I just know you are all dying to hear about it. So we called for service yesterday and they told us they could come out, but it would be sometime in the afternoon. Fine, fine, just get out here.

I took Hayley back out to the casita for a nap around 11 and my husband came back out and told me he could fix the A/C as he found the problem-some genius that engineered the unit had created some plastic housing part that melted in the hot hot sun and once warped it fell down creating a blockage so the fan couldn't move. Once he removed the warped piece the fan was able to move freely again. Sounds great! So we cancelled the service.

Apparently the unit ran for a half an hour but then the motor quit again. So I guess the motor is fried. We called back to reinstate our service call and they never called us back. And after talking about it we decided that we had enough air conditioned space to live in during the day and could sleep in the casita at night so we are going to wait until Monday when the service call is not going to be jacked up for weekend rates.

With that plan in mind we decided that we would put Hayley to bed in the big bed but sneak her into the pack and play after she was asleep and then magically we would all get a good night of sleep. HA. HAHAHAHAHAHA. Where have you heard that before?

She fell asleep in the big bed alright. And I was able to sneak her into the pack and play without waking her. But as I was lifting her from the big bed I felt the most intense twinge coming from my tailbone, right at the very top of my, ahem, crack. Ohmygosh it hurt so bad- like I can't even remember it hurting that bad when I fell on it while rollerblading. Is it possible that there is a muscle in there that you could pull? And now I know, there really is a LITERAL meaning to "busting your ass". I have done it.

Ok, so I get her into the pack and play without dropping her because ohmygosh does my bum hurt, bad, and then I try to climb back into bed. ouchouchouch. I finally get into bed and get comfortable, only to find myself waking in pain every half hour or so. My husband came to bed and around 12:20 Hayley woke up and realized we had pulled the old switcheroo. She was not having it, so we had to put her back in the big bed. And since I was, well, disabled, I knew it wasn't going to work out to have her flopping around like a fish in between us all night.

And here is my favorite friend again, good ole' Murphy. So we have an Aerobed- which I love. Super easy to inflate, comfy, I have slept on it myself numerous times. I figured I would go in the house, inflate the Aerobed, bring it back out, and then either Hayley or I could sleep on it and we would all get a decent night.

I brought the bed into the house and started to inflate it. It wasn't holding air. Poop, that means that the plug isn't in. So no problem, cap it and start over. Who the heck designed the plug on that thing? I wrestled with it for about fifteen minutes because it was so stiff I couldn't get it to plug. Frustrated and having worked up a sweat I was happy to see that I could get it plugged up and started to inflate it. I had to adjust the cover on it so I lifted up the end with the pump attached. Of course after wrestling with it and getting all cranky I wound up dropping the mattress and the pump fell. RIGHT ON THE TOP OF MY FOOT. So now, as if I am not already hobbling around like an old woman I have a giant bruise on the top of my foot.

If I had blogged about this last night I am certain it would have been curse words every other word.

I got it all together and brought the air matress back out to the casita. It was determined that I would sleep on it while my husband would sleep in the bed with Hayley. I was totally comfy- it turns out that an air mattress with a little give to it feels pretty good on a bruised tailbone. (Sprained tailbone?) Until Hayley decided that she needed to sleep with Mommy. Needless to say, the sleep wasn't that great last night either.

I am no more well rested than I was two days ago when I started posting about how tired I was. I have gotten no more done on my project list, and now I have burned through another weekend before the baby comes. But folks, stay tuned, because the A/C people aren't going to come out today either so this could turn into a trilogy yet!!

Murphy's Law

When you are seven and a half months pregnant, got home from a long vacation at 11pm on a Monday night and then worked all week until you are to the point of sheer exhaustion what do you think can happen? I mean, you are bone tired. Patience is not worn thin, it is GONE. Contractions are coming like crazy. You fall into bed looking for a good night of sleep. I'm asking, what do you think can happen?

The air conditioning goes out at 11pm. That's what can happen. But you don't really know it goes out, you just think that you are having pregnancy hot flashes. So you crawl back into bed and make every effort to get comfortable. Finally at 2am you realize that it is so friggin hot in the room that you are going to DIE.

Yes, that's what happens. I woke my husband and we tried to figure out an alternate plan for sleeping. Hayley just so happened to be wearing long sleeve pj's to bed and the room was 83 degrees. I was amazed she hadn't yet woken in a sweat, but maybe she was just in a sleep coma from being too warm.

Lucky for us we have a two story home and only the second story air was out. Even luckier for us we have a casita with it's own air conditioning unit so we went out and set it up to bring the whole family to sleep out there. We were hoping since Hayley was already sleeping that we could sneak her out there and into the pack and play. HA. HAHAHAHAHAHA. Does that sound like the manic laugh of a pregnant woman who has had approximately five hours of collective sleep, most of it in 83 degree heat? Well it is.

So we were lucky that we could go sleep in the nicely air conditioned casita, right? Do you recall that I mentioned that my child does not really sleep? It was GAME OVER last night. We scooped her out of her bed at 2:30 and whisked her off to the nicely cooled casita. She was wide awake and there was no turning back. I certainly couldn't get her to lay in the pack and play so we put her in the bed with us. I swear we have the only toddler in the world that does not want to sleep in her parents bed. WHY IS THAT???

For the next three hours we wrestled the alligator. We took kicks to the head, kidneys, and every other sensitive body part you could imagine. I think somewhere in there one of the kicks to the head must have knocked me unconscious because I think I just might have gotten an hour of sleep. At 5:30 I could stand no more. I brought her back into the house where we have been sitting downstairs watching tv and driving each other crazy ever since. I figured if I had to be up with her at least my husband could still sleep, which he did.

Now that he is up I have tagged him and I'm out. However, she is sleepy, probably as tired as I am, and so that means that in order for me to get some sleep I will have to take her back out to the casita with me where it is cool and we will have to sleep together. I'm not cranky at all.

I have called for service and am waiting for the return call. It is bad enough that 1) I am pregnant in the middle of the summer, in the desert. 2) The A/C went out in the middle of the night. 3) ON A FRIDAY...

WTF? I have things that need to be done around here and very limited time to do them. Like paint Hayley's new bedroom, put up the wainscoting, and finish (start and finish) decorating it so she can move over there in plenty of time before the baby comes. That was supposed to be my project this weekend and next weekend. I can't even go upstairs it is so hot so until the A/C gets fixed I am out of luck. And since it is a weekend, well, I am at their mercy for how quickly they will get here and just how much extra they are going to charge me.

Do you think all ill-timed disasters are not really accidents but rather there is some sort of internal evil force at work that knows just when to compound the situation? A/C going out on a weekend, getting sick before taking a vacation, a flood before you are supposed to have company, those kinds of things? Because whoever that "Murphy" is, I'm tired of his laws.

Home Sweet Home

We got home late Monday night and it was right back to work on Tuesday morning. Three cheers for overused cliches but TGIF. I am so completely exhausted I wasn't sure if I would make it through today.

I must say, I was very worried that we were going to have a tough time getting Hayley back into any sort of routine when we got home. Our last two trips were a little rough on the landing- it took her a week after we got home from Puerto Rico in March and two weeks when we got home from Dallas in May.

Maybe there is a magical age at which they learn to adapt to their surroundings while traveling and also when returning home. Whatever that magical age is, it falls somewhere between eighteen months and twenty one months- or at least it worked this time. If I was worried, it was all over nothing because we got home and she really has settled back into our mundane life with no resistance.

The only thing I do know that she definitely misses is having all of the family around and playing with all the kids. It was just so cute to see her with her cousins. I grew up with a large extended family and I am so very happy that she will too. Each day while we were there she would say "Mommy, find the kids." and then she would call out "Kids?". So stinkin' cute.

At any rate, coming home and getting back into the grind has also meant lots more contractions, which worry me because they are increasing in frequency and intensity. One night I was up most of the night. I'm not timing them because I can't really see any pattern to them, but I will be happy when I get to see my OB on the 25th as I am hoping he will do an internal exam and make sure all is solid. I will be 31 weeks at that point, and realistically since this is a follow up c-section I am guessing he will schedule me around 38 weeks. So as of today it looks like I will have only about nine more weeks before I get to meet this active little critter that is keeping me awake at night.

Ugh. Who ever says they are happy about getting a pelvic exam? Maybe that vacation really did turn my brain soggy. Although it is always nice to travel, there really is no place like home.

Vacationing in Canada

I am on vacation in Canada right now and well, I love it. Love it, love it, love it. Who doesn't love vacations? True, our vacations are generally spent visiting my husband's family in Canada, and true, spending time with in-laws has been known to be stressful, but really, I usually love spending time here. I call it "home" as if I grew up here all my life. I didn't, but it does feel like home to me too.

I was questioning the wisdom of choosing to travel at seven months pregnant with a twenty one month old in tow when we were struggling on the two full flights here. Especially on the connecting flight when they put us in the very last row. The one that doesn't recline. Who does that to a pregnant woman traveling with a lap child? Thanks a bunch.

I have even been questioning the wisdom of the decision to travel since I know that Hayley doesn't sleep well when we are on vacation. This trip has been no exception. She has generally napped less, gone to sleep later, woken earlier, and it has taken me an hour every time I need to get her to go to sleep.

But then I have moments where all is right. I am happy to be on vacation. Like yesterday, when we were out in my sister in law's gigantic garden, picking everything known to man. Tomatoes, peas, raspberries, local berries, green beans, you name it and we picked it. And not just a handful either, buckets of each. Now I understand why people can things. We always had gardens growing up but they never yielded enough to make a meal out of, let alone more than one meal.

I have moments like this morning, when I watched my daughter dance with glee at a local parade where not one, but two bagpipe bands (is that what they are called?) marched by.

I have moments like right this minute, where Hayley is so fascinated with her older cousins that she is swimming in the pool and there are four hundred (or so it seems) relatives around to help keep her entertained. And thankfully because of them, I have a few minutes of peace.

I have eaten non stop since I have arrived. I love that about coming "home" for vacation. There are so many good things in Canada that are not common to where we live. Like fresh fruits and vegetables. Right out of the garden. And pierogies. Is that word going to make it through spell check? (PS- it didn't) Souvlaki (that one didn't either). Donuts from the best local bakery ever. Believe me when I say they top Krispy Kreme AND Duncan Donuts. Yes, they do. Coffee from Tim Hortons. Even their decaf is good.

Sleeping in the basement with the window open. Under a down comforter. Mmmm. Stopping at the red light when it turns red instead of gunning it. Eating the leftovers in the fridge instead of throwing them out. Homemade deserts. (think butter tarts and pies) Families eating dinner together.

I guess if you live in the Midwest you are saying, well, DUH. And maybe there are other areas that this applies to, but I have lived in the desert southwest and general urban area my entire life. I didn't grow up with these things and therefore it is very important to me that Hayley get the best of both worlds. I have lots of fond memories of my own childhood, things my husband never got to experience. But I just LOVE the feelings I get when come here.

We are here for a total of nine days. Not enough in my opinion, although I'm also sure that at the end of that time I will be very happy to go home.