This is not a time to be vein!

Well our little mini-baby is now 18 weeks old! And for such a young whipper snapper, it sure knows how to run the show.
Now baby is dictating my fashion!!! Last week I wore a pair of heels for the last time. How the hell did Sarah Jessica Parker shoot that season of Sex in the City while traipsing about in Manolo Blahnik's ? Makes me sick.

So today I went to an orthopedic store to get the very sexy and fashionable support hose that pregnant women and old ladies wear. The guy measured my legs and when he looked at my ankles, he declared that I was very swollen. I had to admit, I didn't notice. But there was a very distinct pattern from my pink argle socks left on my leg. So perhpas I was a wee bit. And then he declared me a prime candid for, gasp, VARICOSE VEINS. He insisted I get out of the shoes I was in with the same vigour and panic that one might tell someone to jump from the window of a burning building.

He said my joints were becoming looser and it looked as though I may be up half a shoe size. Then he began to explain, in great detail, about the loosening up of ligaments, the weakening of joints, the expanding of veins and the breaking of valves. I got very weak. I had to sit down.
Apparently this is your body'sway of preparing for labour.

Nice.

He recommended I start wearing sandals at work, like a pair of Birkenstocks, WITH my new panyhose (BTW: they cost 100$!!!!) and sit for no more than 15-20 min, then walk about. So I am going to be quite the fashion victim for a few months!

Otherwise, we are all happy and health, which is the main thing. Ultra sound is coming up next week. We can't wait. Such an exciting adventure. Will keep you updated.

Zucchini Baby

Here we are on our wedding day! Such a beautiful day! As we both like to live dangerously, we choose an outdoors wedding. Risky. Very risky. But, the weather was almost too good to believe. At 5:30 pm it was a lovely 25 degrees and not a breath of wind.



I haven't said too much about the wedding, as talk of baby has pretty much dominated our thoughts for the past few month's. But it was
simply perfect. Except for when the waiter tipped the punch bowl over the front of my dress. But even that garnered a pretty good laugh. And all the pictures we over, so I didn't mind a bit. Besides, it will make for a good story to tell grandchildren.

Right, so on to Children. Our friends, Jan and Paul Guise, just had a baby 2 weeks ago. He is just a gorgous little peanut. We visited them last Sunday and I realised I had never held an infant. He was so tiny and fragile I was afraid I might break him. Everyone tells me it will be different with my own. I hope so.

Jan had religiously recorded her pregnancy in a very insightful series of emails that she sent to friends and family, named Preggo Prose. For someone who hasn't personally known anyone to have to go through it, it was quite illuminating. Marcus and I can't decide if it made us excited or scared. She did give a pretty detailed account as to what happens during labour. For example, Marcus has made notes to make sure the passenger seat is covered with towels and lined with a garbage bage...this is something you probably don't think about when your water breaks.

So perhaps our blog will serve as a good guide to friends of ours who are trying, or at least trying to not think about it for a while but intend to get pregnant "someday".

This is week 16. It is the size of a small zucchini and measures 61/2" from head to toe. Funny looking baby huh?

I have heard the heartbeat twice now. The first visit I heard it, the little squirmer could only be heard for a few seconds at a time. But now that he is bigger and can no longer hide behind moms pubic bone, its easier to detect and much stronger. They use a special device to hear it. A stethoscope is still not powerful enough at this stage. The Doppler picks up the sound and amplifies it so you can hear it. I have recoded it with my mp3 player and occasionally play it back to myself and each time I feel speechless. For a while, it was the only thing that gave me confirmation...

Which leads me to what I now look like. Well, I have gained 10 pds so far. Mainly of course in my stomach area. Having no energy during 1st trimester and not exercising too much possibly aided to weight gain, but I suspect the lions share is just baby stuff. I say baby stuff because right now baby is only 6-7 oz or so. There are other things like the gook that it lives in and the placenta that help make up the rest of the pounds. Plus a little fat duvet that is probably necessary. Jodi lent me some clothes she had and this has been a great help. slowly starting to wear them as many of my slacks won't do up, and most of my skirts look ridiculous. I feel a bit like a poser in the preggo shirts, but man they are so much more comfortable. As right now I don't look like the classic pregnant woman with the tell-tale belly, but rather someone who has a fat-ish looking belly. But it isn't fat at all, its really quite hard. Pretty weird.

I am still sleeping quite a lot. 9 hours a night. I am bed by 9 or 9:30 each night. And I get up to pee at least 3 times when I am asleep. I have had tons of dreams where I am on a bus that won't stop and I am screaming that I need to go pee or standing in an incredibly long line up to get to the toilet and I am begging people to let me cut the cue. Then I wake up and realise I am desperate to get to the washroom (no accidents yet!). In all of my life, I have never had to get up in the middle of the night to go, so I find this highly amusing/annoying.

Anyhow, that's all for this week!