Introducing Amy Elizabeth!!

After a VERY LONG labour which began with my water breaking right before midnight Wednesday night, Amy was finally delivered via c-section at 8:40pm May 23rd (same birthday as her great-grandma!) coming in at 7lb 13oz. The birth obviously did not go as planned, but that’s a story for another day as I’m still in hospital for a few more days. I’m sore, but doing well and Amy is doing fantastic!

What Baby Is Up To:

Well, considering Baby Center seems to think I have a newborn right now, there’s not much ‘official’ information to put here this week. Essentially she’s just chilling until she’s ready to come out into the world!

How I Am Feeling:

Physically – still pretty exhausted due to lack of sleep.. and sore/achy carrying around this HUGE belly!!

Emotionally – very anxious and excited for the big day.. at times impatient and also frustrated when I seem to get small signs that point to possible labour which then only fizzle out. I know she’ll be here soon, but right now this playing the waiting game is pretty hard.

How My Body Is Changing:

Although it’s not entirely easy to see in this photo, I assure you that my belly has definitely dropped in the past week. We noticed most of the dropping over the weekend.  AND unfortunately, with the belly dropping came the dreaded stretch marks.  I can’t believe I lasted right until the end with none and then BOOM!  As each day passes, my belly drops just a little bit more and the stretch marks creep up just a little bit higher.  It was inevitable, but I am hoping that they won’t be too noticeable once I get back into shape this summer.

And because I am HOPEFULLY at the end of this journey (watch I probably just jinxed myself and will be typing a dreaded 41 week post next week… lol) …. here’s a CRAZY comparison photo showing my belly at 4 weeks – the day we found out about the pregnancy, 20 weeks and now 40 weeks.  I can’t believe I was actually THAT tiny!!! LOL

Weekly Stats:

Appointments: Midwife appointment went great last week. Although I’m not going to go totally into detail due to a little TMI, I will say that I had a stretch and sweep done (google if you don’t know what it is) in attempt to try and bring on labour, but it obviously didn’t work!  Hoping to give that another go at tomorrow’s appointment if labour doesn’t start before then!  That aside, baby is still doing fantastic! She continues to measure bang on where she should be with a perfect heart rate.  Oh and her head is way down in my pelvis right where it should be. What a good girl.

Now we just continue to WAIT!!!

What Baby Is Up to:

“Your baby is waiting to greet the world!  The average baby is about 51cm (20in) long from head to toe and weighs about 3.4kg (7lbs 8oz) at birth.  Boys tend to be slightly heavier than girls but if your baby is anywhere between 2.5kg and 3.8kg (5lbs 8oz to 8lbs 6oz), that’s a healthy weight.  Your amniotic fluid, once clear, is now pale and milky. This is because your baby has been shedding the greasy, white substance (vernix caseosa) which has been protecting her skin.  The outer layers if skin are also sloughing off as new skin forms underneath.

And if the week passes and there’s still no baby? Don’t panic — only 5 per cent of babies are born on their scheduled due date. Most doctors wait another two weeks before considering a pregnancy overdue.” From Baby Center

How I Am Feeling:

Physically: Exhausted, heavy and sore.  Thank goodness I am able to nap whenever I want these days because I’d be a complete wreck if I were still working. The physical state I am in now makes me SO look forward to getting back into shape once the baby gets here. I never thought it would be THIS HARD to carry around all of this extra weight.

Emotionally: SO VERY READY.  It’s becoming harder and harder to relax and be patient at this point.  I’ve been off work for just over a week now and have finished the majority of my ‘to-do’ list.  I just want to hold the wee one in my arms now vs. feel her banging around in my belly.

How My Body Is Changing:

Although it’s not completely evident in the photo, my belly has definitely begun to drop in the past week.  I can feel this mostly when trying to walk around as the belly seems to be hanging lower and putting more pressure on my pelvis.  I’ve definitely got a waddle going on here. LOL  I’m also getting a bit puffier all around.  I did take my rings off a few weeks ago and was noticing some swelling in my legs/feet during my last few weeks of work, but these days, I tend to stay puffier most of the time. Hopefully this all means labour isn’t too far away!

Weekly Stats:

Weight Gained: As of now, it’s 33.2 lbs so far— (starting = 122.8 lbs/current = 156 lbs) Right on target!!!

Baby Items Purchased This Week: I bought a pair of baby nail scissors in preparation for some potential newborn claws!   We were also gifted a beautiful basket filled of goodies from Chris’ work. SO amazing!!!

Workouts/Activity This Week: Let’s start counting walking around running errands and working outdoors the workouts these days.

Appointments: Had an easy peasy midwife appointment last Wednesday. Baby is still head down with her head pressing deep into my pelvis.  Her heart rate is still perfect and she’s measuring dead-on.  As for me, blood pressure is perfect, urine test perfect, and I got my GBS results — they came back Negative!!!! This means that I will not need any sort of antibiotics in labour.. which also means, my hope to labour at home for as long as possible has become more of a reality providing nothing else goes on. Good News!!!

Chris and I are really hoping that our girl decides to meet us this coming weekend, but we all know that this isn’t something you can really plan for.  She’ll be here when she’s ready, so there may or may not be a 40wk update in a week!  On that note… time for me to have a nap.

This nursery was a pure labour of love filled with some items that we hold so very near and dear to our hearts and I really can’t wait to bring the wee one home into this space.

The whole reason that it took so long was that I am a HUGE fan of DIY’ing and my projects tended to take a little longer than expected.  You already know that I refinished the dresser, but I also made each and every one of those pom poms, the pillows and the butterfly mobile.  As for the gorgeous pouff, I thank my mom (or should I say Baby girl’s Nana) for that one.  I simply purchased the fabric from Etsy and my mom sewed up the pouff.

The smaller coloured art prints on the shelves and the walls came from Ikea, but I printed off the bigger ones myself.  I saw a print with the saying “Dream Big Little One” on Pinterest a while back, so I created my own print which is hung on the same wall as the pom poms.  As for the Mickey Mouse one, I found and printed it off of Pinterest.  We went to Disney World as a family the week after we found out about the pregnancy, so I thought it was only fitting to include some Disney stuff into the room.  The quote on the print is one from Mr Walt Disney himself – “It’s kind of fun to do the impossible.” I love it.  Oh and you’ll see a horse shoe hanging on the wall near her closet.  That shoe belonged to Chelsea and I hung it up for good luck.

In terms of the more special touches in the room, you will see those on the shelf above the dresser/change table.  The My Little Pony statue was a gift from my cousin many years ago.  It had actually been a fixture on my desk at work, but I thought it would be better in the nursery.  I had to include something horse-related!!!  The Cinderella statue was actually one that I had gotten on my very first trip to Disney World when I was only 6 years old.  When my mom handed to me a few weeks ago, I knew it needed to be on the shelf.  There’s also a nice classic piggy bank which was a gift from my grandmother.  She gave baby that piggy bank the day after I told her about the pregnancy and we’ve been adding change to it ever since!

And then there’s the fancy gold purse…  That purse is probably THE MOST SPECIAL thing in this entire room and that is because it belonged to my sister-in-law Katie who passed back in December.  A couple of months ago my brother had asked if I wanted any of her purses and when I said yes, I knew right away that I would be putting one in the nursery.  In my mind, the nursery would not have been complete without a touch of Katie in it.  This way I can smile and think of her every time I go into the room.

I’m not sure what else to say about this room except for the fact that I am SO glad it’s finally done.

The only thing I really have left to do now is get my hospital bag packed and then I’ll be all ready for this little one to FINALLY arrive!!!!

What Baby Is Up To:

“Your baby is now ready to greet the world. At this point, the average full term newborn is still building a layer of fat to help control body temperature after birth. Most babies are between 2.7 and 4.3kg/6 and 9 1/2lb at birth and boys tend to be slightly heavier than girls. All your baby’s organs are developed and in place though her lungs will be the last to reach full maturity.

Wondering what colour your baby’s eyes will be? Most Caucasian babies are born with dark blue eyes and their true eye colour — be it brown, green or blue — may not reveal itself for weeks or months. The colour of your baby’s eyes in the first minutes after birth won’t last — exposure to light changes a baby’s initial eye colour.” From Baby Center

How I Am Feeling:

Physically – Still pretty tired and sore.  The fact that I am off work now is beneficial for the sleep department – as in I’m not really making any plans and am napping when I feel like it.  Yesterday, my first nap happened at 7:30 .. today it was at 7:50 LOL.  My hips and legs are starting to get much more sore though, but that is to be expected this close to the end.

Emotionally – After a few more days of rest, I will be SO ready to meet this little one.  I’d be lying if I said that I wasn’t a little scared about the whole unkown of labour and delivery, BUT overall I am READY. The classes helped IMMENSELY and I pretty much feel fairly relaxed and excited for the whole thing. Bring it on baby!

How My Body Is Changing:

As soon as I think my belly can’t stretch out anymore, it seems to continue to grow.  I spoke too soon a little while ago when I said I didn’t have any stretch marks yet, because some very faint ones have begun to show this week on the lower part of my belly. I can’t say that I am surprised though. I’d honestly be shocked if I ended up with none because my skin just keeps on stretching!! I continue to slather on the lotion though so hopefully they won’t be too bad once baby is born and I’m back into shape.

And now, are you ready for what’s coming next?????

I haven’t spoken about this much yet, but if you’ve been following my blog long enough, it shouldn’t come to a surprise that I obviously have a post-pregnancy workout plan to get back into shape once I get the go-ahead to do so.  With the help of Jillian Michaels’ 30 Day Shred and Ripped In 30, I was able to get myself in the best shape of my life before becoming pregnant.  Since the combination of those programs worked SO well for me, my current plan is to do those programs this summer in attempt to get my new mommy body back as close as I possibly can to how I had it before pregnancy.

So with that being said…… Since the baby could really come at any time now, we decided to snap a weekly belly shot with my workout gear on to use as part of my before/after series post baby. (You didn’t think I was going to tackle a post-pregnancy workout plan without blogging about it did you?)

Here’s where I am now.  It makes me laugh to see how huge my belly really is!

Weekly Stats:

Weight Gained: No weigh in since last week. So as of now, it’s 32.4 lbs so far— (starting = 122.8 lbs/current = 155.2 lbs)

Food Cravings: Cookies. So I made some yesterday.

Food Likes/Dislikes: Only thing that sounds bad to me is a filet of salmon… everything else is fair game!

Baby Items Purchased This Week: Thanks to a clearance sale at Well.ca, we purchased a high chair this weekend! Yes, we won’t be needing it until the fall, but we figured that we might as well take advantage of the sale! It will just sit in storage until required.  I just LOVE the modern look to this!

Clothes For Me: When it comes to clothes, it’s pretty slim pickings in my closet these days.  There’s NO WAY I’m buying any more maternity clothes at this point though!

Workouts/Activity This Week: Let’s start counting walking around running errands and working outdoors the workouts these days.

Sleep: Sleeping at night seems to be getting worse and worse. I am up pretty much almost every hour… peeing 5-6 times in the night. We’re almost there though!

Movements: Baby is still exactly where she should be — head down. And has also remained in her comfy position of back/butt to my left and feet/hands kicking/poking to my right.   She squirms around on a regular basis and just LOOOOOVES when I eat.  Here’s hoping that I’m baking another little foodie here!

Appointments: Another uneventful midwife appointment last week.  As mentioned, baby’s head is still down, her heart is great and she’s measuring right on track.  My blood pressure is still text book perfect and now we just wait for my GBS results.  They didn’t have the results back as of last Wednesday, so I should be finding that out tomorrow.

Nursery Progress: Well, I can finally say that the nursery will be done this week!! Well.. pretty much done.  I did want to wait to get our diaper pail before posting my final nursery photos, but I’m too impatient to wait as I probably won’t be getting it until next week.  So stay tuned!  The final nursery reveal will come tomorrow or Thursday. In the meantime, if you missed it yesterday, here’s a sneak peak of my mobile! I made this sucker all by myself! It was a very long and tedious project, but I am SO happy with the final results!

I wanted COOKIES!

Of course, we never actually have any cookies on hand. If I want cookies, I have to make cookies.  My automatic reaction when it comes to making cookies is to simply go with my standard oatmeal chocolate chip recipe, but today I wanted something different.  I saw that we had a ton of bananas on hand and I do love me some peanut butter, so I figured why not try my own version of a chunky monkey cookie!

Needless to say, the recipe worked, and I may have already eaten 3 or 4.. or maybe even 5 of these little gems.

Chunky Monkey Cookies

What You Need:

• 1 C soft whole wheat pastry flour
• 1 1/4 C rolled oats
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 banana
• 1 egg
• 1/2 C loosely packed brown sugar
• 1/3 C peanut butter
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 Tbsp milk
• 1/2 C mini chocolate chips

What You Do:

- Mix together the flour, oats, salt, baking soda and baking powder in a large bowl. Set aside.

- In a smaller bowl, mash the banana, then whisk in the egg, brown sugar, vanilla, peanut butter and milk.

- Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and mix well.

- Stir in the chocolate chips.

- Using a teaspoon, spoon the dough onto a parchment paper-covered cookie sheet.

- Bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes or until slightly golden.

With their slight banana and peanut butter flavour, I dare you to try to eat just one of these in a sitting!