19 weeks ... It's a ...

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BOY!

I'm totally flabbergasted.  Now, I had a feeling right from the start this was a boy.  I think my IUI timing was perfect for a boy so much so I thought this one was horribly mistimed.  I had a feeling that since I had girl names all sorted it would, of course, be a boy.  lol  And when I started feeling kicks, albeit intermittently, 3 weeks ago I was sure it had to be a boy as I've heard that boys kick harder than girls so you might notice their movements earlier.

I told the tech at the scan yesterday that I was interested in finding out if the little bean was cooperative.  I even had a glass of orange juice before hand to try to get the bean to move but to no avail.  I think the bean was snoozing or in deep rest ... or something else that equaled chilling out.  lol  He was on his side with the knees tucked up to his chest and his hands tucked behind his head.  His butt is literally sitting right on my cervix in perfect breech position so that would explain the cervical pressure and pain I've been feeling.  He was content to sit like that the entire time even when she moved the probe around.  The tech showed me his developing brain which is developing on both sides, his 2 kidneys, bladder, etc. and he has everything they look for at this stage.  The heart was working well and the heartbeat came in at 147 beats per minute so nice and strong again.

Halfway through the scan she was covering the nether regions and couldn't get a good look so she zoomed in and pointed out the protrusion to me on the screen.  She said that was a boy.  She continued on with the scan and at the end tried to get a better look but he would NOT cooperate.  She did point out the bottom of the butt and all I saw was baby butt.  However, she is trained and pointed out something that must be a scrotum.  She told me that had she not seen that and the protrusion she wouldn't even have guessed.  So, I'm going to trust her and believe this is a boy.  Girls don't come with protrusions between their legs.  LOL  Although if she is wrong my mom is going to have an awful lot of boy clothing she purchased today to return.

I'm sort of at a loss about this.  I'm not disappointed.  That is definitely the wrong word for it.  I think I'm just really surprised because I've never imagined myself as a mom to a boy.  Never.  I always thought that if I had one or more kids it would be all girl.  I'm used to being around little girls even though I have a bunch of nephews.  Three of those nephews are overseas and I've only met the oldest one.  Most of my cousins are girls and they are a lot younger than me and my sister.  I asked my mom today, "What do you do with a boy?".  Really, I just don't know once they get past baby stage.  My mom was like that too but the complete opposite.  My mom had a younger sister and brother but 2 nephews so she was used to boys and didn't quite know what to do with a girl.  And my mom isn't super girly either so I can only imagine being surrounded by pink. 

There are positives to both girls and boys.  I was thinking it would be easier to have a girl in a very practical sense ... when out in public I never have to worry about her being too old to use the same washroom as me.  I'm not quite sure when I can trust my son to do that and be safe.  My job makes me slightly paranoid.  I'd also love to be able to give my niece's wardrobe another turn as would my sister.  She had so many lovely girl things and as the first grandchild on both sides she had a LOT of really cute stuff.  But I've asked my mom to tell my sister not to get rid of anything yet.  Just in case ...

Boys?  I've heard they're actually a lot easier in many ways after you get past the hard spots when they are young.  The massive appetite as teenager does scare me a bit but maybe that is because I lived with a family with 3 teenage boys who are all now 6'2" and over.  lol  One great thing is that since boys don't have ovaries they can't get PCOS.  That is a huge relief.  I did have a bit of a breakdown last night and started crying because I got sad over the fact that my son won't have a father in the house to be a role model.  But I know that this will affect a little girl as well just in different ways perhaps.  No matter what, any child of mine is definitely wanted and will be loved and he will know that.  I just wish I lived nearer to my family.  My dad is great: he's respectful of everyone, especially women, smart and incredibly funny and great with little kids.  We'll just have to make due with visits and hopefully quite a few business trips home from age 13 months to 2 years when he can fly free on my lap. 

I still have no intentions on going all blue with the baby room or with the clothes.  My mom said she found lots of really cute non-blue 'boys' clothes at Cos.tco today and I'm happy with that.  I'm leaning towards primary colours since I found some really cute vegetable garden theme curtains at Ik.ea. 

I'm a bit stuck on a name and will have to spend some time researching that one to find just the right one.

Other than that I'm feeling fine.  I've had a headache for 3 days now and nothing helps so I think this is just a hormonal shift thing that I've had before with this pregnancy and just have to wait for it to go away.  Hopefully sooner rather than later because I've done nothing all day except sit on the couch.  Kitty may be happy but I'm not.  I've got way too much to do to be sitting around all day on a Saturday. 

Anyway, if you've made it this far and you don't already know Shannon please head over to her blog Chasing Rainbows to give her some support.  Her little guy was born in May and she just received very difficult news about a tumor found with an MRI scan.  I just can't imagine going through what she did only to get this diagnosis.  She has a good support system but I think there is no such thing as too big a support system.  It sounds like this was caught very early so I'm hoping for a good prognosis.

18w1d ... busy, busy, busy

Sorry I've been away readers.  I've just been really busy.  Here is a non-exhaustive list of what I've been up to:

• Getting over that head cold that lasted 3 weeks.  Not a head cold from hell, no, but problematic, yes.
• A week long business trip over a weekend.  Allowed me time to see my niece and nephew and get started on baby shopping.
• Aborted attempt to fly back from said business trip because it was too hot and the airport was using the short runway because of construction on the other.  They couldn't take ANY checked baggage on the flight to Toronto and since I sort of need to fly with my work bag even if checked I volunteered to get off the flight and take a credit which I have a year to use.  I think they removed between 10 and 15 people from the flight.  Stayed overnight at my parents', unexpectedly, but got to see 2 waves of awesome lightning that night.
• 2 weekends working in the yard which has yet to become a garden of any sort.  ;-)
• 1st weekend I decided to work in the back on a Sunday morning.  Holy hot sun when the temp is only 23 Celcius at most!  I was done at noon and hadn't even gotten everything finished.  Thank you stupid sandy soil packed so hard it was like digging through a brick.  Planting completed the next night when it was much cooler.  Lessons learned:  no gardening in the back yard at any time other than the evening AND getting the yard in planting shape is going to take way more work that I anticipated.  More planning must be done this fall.
• 2nd weekend turned into 2 mornings of working in the front yard which is heavily shaded in the morning.  In fact, my entrance is shaded 24/7.  First morning I dug out the weed patch next to the front porch area (we don't get eavestroughs installed by the builder and until a month ago that area of my lawn was rotting from all the water and the only thing that seemed to grow was a crazy variety of weeds ... which I don't want).  Worked up and added soil so I can plant things easily next year.  Then tackled the weed patch under my city tree.  Watered city tree and covered the ginormous hole (way bigger than anyone else's on the street) the sod guys left with cedar mulch.  Awesome tan started developing.  Second morning I finished up the patch in front of the house and covered with cedar mulch to discourage weed growth.  Raked the sad looking front lawn of dead grass (unusually dry summer + water ban = dead lawn) and cut the parts that are actually okay.  Then that evening watered it to see if I can salvage any of it.  Bought extra soil and organic material for yard stuff next year.  I won't have time to just pop down to the store.  
• August long weekend - took the Saturday to do something fun.  I went to the National Art Gallery to see the Cara.vaggio exhibit.  My other bright idea flopped since the Ec.co store in the mall downtown had closed, unbeknownst to me.  No new shoes and must do that in the U.S. in a couple weeks. Bought the best organic oatmeal I've yet found at the health food store a 1/2 block from where I used to live and popped into a French bakery for a couple of pastries which I still haven't finished.
• Cooking and baking up a storm in the kitchen so I don't have to do lots of this while 9 months pregnant and after baby arrives.  On the long weekend I got a pot of split pea soup made.  Not as tasty without the bone but at least I had some leftover ham in the freezer.  Had to discard the other container of frozen ham since it had gone bad.  So, no double batch of soup.  This weekend I made 3 batches of blueberry muffins.  Would do more but I might run out of blueberries.  Besides, I have to catch a plane today.
• Headaches caused by my home builder.  I took a Wednesday off before the long weekend so they could come in and fix the outstanding items from my 1-year inspection.  The guy who booked the appointment forgot to schedule stuff!  I was livid and sent a terse email telling him how I would now be 1 month behind on setting stuff up for my impending baby.  Not impressed.  But drywalling guy came to 'fix' nail pops.  I will have to redo them in the future since they weren't screwed in further, just covered.  They came Friday to do other things and discovered they can't rip up the floor to fix the creaks because the carpentry guys finished at 1 pm.  Rebooked that and insulation installation for the 24th ... An inordinate amount of time was spent moving things over the past 3-4 weeks from my bedroom to the front 2 bedrooms to allow them to access my attic and the creaking/cracking floor.  I feel like I am living out of a suitcase in my own house.  And baby organization is on hold.
• Aborted attempt to get to book club on August 2nd thanks to a nasty headache that developed during the day and just got worse.
• Purchased diaper bag at BR.U.  Got a brown, hobo style one that I can wear cross body which is great since I don't have great shoulders and purses and bags just fall off. 
• Purchased crib mattress yesterday.  Took 20 minutes to find someone to help me ... discover I have to pay then go over to the extra Ik.ea warehouse I didn't know existed.  Pretty seamless once I discovered the necessary process but annoyed there was no one in the children's area for 20 minutes.  Mattress fits snugly and perfectly in the crib.  Discovered some really cute fabric and curtains that I might be able to consider.
• Watching my summer obsessions on TV:  Tr.ue Bl.ood and Roo.kie Bl.ue.  Combine that with raging 2nd trimester pregnancy hormones and all I can say is that the Viking and Officer Swa.rek can visit me any time.  ;-)  I didn't realize I'd seen AS in things before TB but I'm a big enough girl I can admit I've had a thing for Ben Ba.ss since I first saw him on Fore.ver Kni.ght.  Oh boy, that takes me back quite a ways ...

Then there is just everyday life stuff that happens.  Oh, and discovering someone swiped the back bumper of my car that I've had for just over a year and has just 3800 km on it.  *sigh*  Really?  I have to figure out what to do with this one and whether it is worth claiming it or just paying out of pocket with money that should really go to student loans or my baby but what the hell, I must have lots of cash so why not just hit my car parked far away from all the others in the parking lot.  Grrr ...  Nasty status update on FB ensued.

I've been stocking up on things that have gone on sale just so that I don't have to get them for a while.  I had a decent toilet paper collection started but it has grown by leaps and bounds in the past few weeks.  Stocking up on tissues too ... allergies and baby spit up.  And laundry detergent.  I was always mad that I never seemed to be able to hit the sales on the day they started and by the time I got there the next day or day after that there was nothing left.  Seriously, who doesn't work in an area of new houses such that they can line up at the stores and buy all the laundry detergent on the first day of a sale?  I used to be a cashier ... the strange things people do.  Decent sales at a pharmacy and grocery store lately so I've stocked up nicely.

Oh yes, and I told the team at work.  Some people are surprised especially because I haven't been sick.  Um, not everyone gets sick you know.  And our admin assistant, as sweet as she is, can really stop asking me every single day how I'm feeling.  Really, I was 16 1/2 weeks pregnant before you found out and no one cared how I was doing enough to ask every day so it isn't required to check to see how I'm doing every day now that you know.  Only one person touched my belly and I actually like her so I didn't get highly annoyed.  Just a little. ;-)

Okay, now that I've gotten that out of the way I can say that my belly is trying hard to pop out.  Some days it is very flat and others it is definitely more noticeable.  Here it is at 16 weeks before heading out on errands:

Belly at 16w0d

I can't believe I didn't post a shot between 12w and 16w but such is life.  ;-)  And here is the shot from yesterday at 18w0d.  I'm now in maternity clothes because they're just more comfortable but they definitely allow the belly to protrude further.

Belly at 18w0d

I'm off on another business trip today, albeit a shorter one at just 3 nights away.  My parents are going to join me for a couple nights so they can do some shopping at Lee Val.ley To.ols which they don't have in their city.

Sorry! I've been busy

Sorry for not posting, readers.  From that head cold, to a week out of town, to being completely swamped once I got back from my business trip, I've just been too busy to post. 

I promise an update soon.  All I can say is that as far as I know everything is going along just fine.

14w1d & Decor Shopping

I'm still amazed that I'm pregnant, let alone just into my 14th week.  How did this happen?  Okay, I know how 'this' happened.  I just don't know how I could be this far along and still not feel pregnant.  I feel round ligament pain more frequently now but it feels more like I just pulled a muscle instead of a stretching ligament meant to support my growing uterus.  I'm still shocked that (a) I'm pregnant and (b) I'm in the 2nd trimester already.  This just feels so surreal.

The head cold is slowly getting better.  During the day it isn't too bad.  At night it is a different story.  As bedtime approaches I start to get some type of chest or throat issue and I cough an awful lot.  I don't understand because I know that I don't have any kind of infection in there.  I just want this cold to go away. 

I was feeling good enough to get some shopping done and I'm happier than my bank account is.  ;-)  I hate using credit unless I've got the cash sitting in the bank so I usually find myself finding things I like when shopping but waiting to buy them.  Sometimes I wait so long that the stores stop carrying what I wanted.  Much frustration has ensued because of this.  You would think there is some commercial conspiracy to get us to buy things quickly on credit just to keep the economy and banks going.  But I digress.

Umbra's Dotty in Pistachio

I almost ran into this problem with wallpaper this week.  I have this little powder room off the front entrance and was inspired to do something a little fun or funky with the walls after seeing a show home powder room painted in funky colours.  I thought wallpaper might be a good option since my body doesn't always like paint.  I found this at Ho.me De.pot last year and thought it would be a perfect fresh green.  The silver details go great with my fixtures which came with the home.  I would never choose a shiny nickel myself but it was way too much money to change them with the builder.  The wallpaper does the trick.  When 'back home' last week we did a little window shopping and they still had the wallpaper.  But what did I discover when I go to HD here this week?  They didn't have it!  About 75% of their in store selections were beige, beige and beige.  (I suspect people in this town have a problem with decor colour.)  I had to run to another store and luckily they had what I was looking for and the number of rolls I need but I could tell from the tag this stuff has been in the store for almost a year and I think they're getting ready to make way for other stuff ... likely more beige. 

Leksvik crib ends

Then I went to Ik.ea.  I cannot tell you how excited I am that we're getting the country's largest store set to open some time next year.  Yippee!  I needed to get some book shelves to set out all my books but I ended up getting only half of what I wanted because the rest wasn't in stock.  Ugh!  But it gives me a chance to think over whether I want the 3rd one to be short or whether it should be just as tall as the others creating a bank of book shelves on that wall.  I did, however, score a crib.  I was intending on looking at options this weekend while 'back home' but I noticed this one was 50% off.  It is the best looking of the bunch even if it isn't my style or colour.  It is real wood and wood + wood looks good even if there are different colours in the room.  I couldn't say no to a crib for $69.99!  The challenge was to fit everything in my car.  It isn't small or large but I can't spend much on my trips to Ik.ea with a vehicle that size.  (Maybe that is a good thing?)  I discovered that my front passenger seat does not recline back like they used to.  Grrr!  I ended up having to take the one bookcase out of its packaging to fit everything in.

I have to say that it is really frustrating shopping by yourself at a place like Ik.ea and getting no help.  Only after I got the 2 bookcases loaded onto the cart did a staff member ask if I needed help.  And on the way out of the store I had one of my little side tables slide off the cart onto the pavement.  It was a lovely grandma much older than my mom who asked if I needed help.  Very nice of her but what about the younger people?  I did have a man ask if I needed help getting the last bookcase into the car.  Thank you for offering to help!  It wouldn't slide all the way in so I told him I'd take it apart to get the shelves out of the packaging. There was more than enough room for the uprights.  He seemed skeptical but I did it and it fit.  I love shopping at Ik.ea but I hate the loading of larger items because it is so difficult to do by myself.  If I have to do that again I think I'll be getting them to deliver it from the store.

c/o Sooner Plant Farm

Prairie Blue Eyes

I then went to Cos.tco for a few things I needed and walked out with some extra ... isn't that always the case?  I couldn't resist picking up a couple HUGE pots of daylilies.  I hadn't intended on planting anything this year but these were huge and not far from needing to be divided, say in a couple years, so for $9.99 a pot I couldn't say no.  I picked up a Ste.lla d'o.ro which grows well almost everywhere and a Prai.rie Bl.ue Ey.es which is a taller plant with ruffled mauve blossoms.  They'll be sitting on my front porch in the shade to acclimatize to the heat while I'm away.  I'll plant them in the backyard when I'm back.

Blogger hates me today

I'm having so much trouble adding photos to a post ... this is ridiculous.  I've done the troubleshooting as asked and I'm still having difficulty.  Why can't they design a more user friendly photo uploader and adder?  I never had this difficulty when I used a different blog site.  I was even able to place a photo in the middle of a paragraph, not just at the beginning or the end of one.  Grrrrrr ...

Head Cold

I've been out of commission this week with a summer head cold.  Certainly not the worst cold I've had, thankfully, since I've been surviving on staying home and Tyl.enol for the sinus pain.  I feel better today but I'm feeling dizzier today than I have with this cold so I'm glad that I stayed home again today.  I should be feeling much better by Monday when I definitely need to return to work.  I'm on the road again on Wednesday afternoon and get to spend the weekend 'at home' and will take advantage of that to raid my sister's maternity wardrobe and start looking at baby things. 

I had my regularly scheduled pre-natal appointment with my nurse practitioner this morning.  I'm definitely feeling the effects of the cold because I wasn't able to produce much of a urine sample.  But what I did produce was normal.  Oh, and the remainder is getting sent on to the lab for a culture because the lab lost my first one!  Anyway, I've been drinking more water today to try to up my fluids.

Good news is that everything is normal.  She found the baby's heartbeat with the doppler.  It took quite a while to find it and not mine but as soon as we found the baby's heartbeat it was distinctively faster than mine at 155 bpm.  My blood pressure is still good at 102/70.  I'm normally a little on the lower side of normal and this is a little lower than normal but it definitely explains the challenge I experience going up 2 flights of stairs then down 2 flights of stairs while doing laundry.  My throat is a little red consistent with a cold which is reassuring because I woke up last night with a burning mouth. 

Next up: IPS blood work round 2 next week, then my anatomy scan in August.  And getting rid of this cold!

Back home

After a week out of town on business, I'm back home ... or should I confuse the matter by saying I was 'back home' on business and now I'm back in my house?  I don't know.  I always cause confusion for people when I say things like that.  I don't think I'm ever going to truly adopt this city and province as 'home'.  'Back home' will always be home.  But I digress.

I had a long week of frustrating days.  I had only 3 hearings but each was long and very heavily detail oriented.  I was also relegated to the couch again.  Long story short, my one aunt came out to help my mom and another aunt move my grandma to her nursing home.  Big family problems ensued including my aunt who traveled to help ditching my crazy aunt in an effort to sort of hide out until she heads back home next week.  So I got one night in the spare bedroom before being stuck on the couch in my parents' room.  The couch is way more comfortable than the spare bed but being woken up early because my dad has to be up early to get to work is no fun. 

Then add to that my missing eye mask.  My niece has a 'collecting' problem.  My mom and aunt caught her playing with it and they swore she tossed it on the floor.  I looked everywhere including under the bed, under the couch and through all the bedding and couldn't find it.  Then Friday afternoon my BIL says "I think this is yours" and pulls the eye mask out from the diaper bag.  Somehow my niece snuck back into the bedroom, found the thing, took it and stuffed it into the diaper bag to take home.  She loves to collect things but this has to stop.  I got even crappier sleep ... which is normal for me in summer thanks to more hours of daylight.

Then add to that an extra early start to the morning on Tuesday to get the new kitty to the vet for her spaying appointment before my hearing.  Not so much fun.  But the good news is that the little lost kitty my parents saved was already spayed at some point so she didn't have to go through the surgery.  She's an extremely happy and cuddly kitty who loves to lick everyone.

The big reveal went well.  I was a bit nervous but finally found my in when my niece showed me her family tree.  I commented on the fact she had no cousins and whether she'd like some.  So I told her that she'd get one come January.  She then proclaimed "mommy, auntie's getting a baby!"  LOL!  That confused my sister for a while.  I could see her trying to figure out how I was 'getting' a baby and she put it together.  Since she knew about the plan I think it helped.  She offered me all the hand me downs I wanted and since she has both boy and girl stuff (mostly girl stuff being recycled for the nephew) it doesn't matter if I have a girl or boy.  She also offered me her maternity clothes.  They just moved back into their reno'd house so I told her I'd be back in 2 weeks over a weekend and would have time to come over then.  I suspect I can fit into the bottoms especially since the waist doesn't matter in pregnancy.  But I think the shirts will be a no go.  She's a size smaller than me on top so I think that will be a bust.  But I'll be glad for anything I can get that I don't have to buy. 

I'm dealing with exhaustion these days and headaches that pop up now and then.  I've been dealing with a headache most of today and am looking forward to hitting the sheets tonight.