Last Vacation on the Horizon! (28 weeks 2 days)

I'm taking tomorrow off and hubby and I are heading down to "The Big City" (aka Toronto) to see some friends. In particular, we're staying with Pam and V and with luck, we'll get to hook up with Patti, Mark and Jack, Aurelia, possibly MyReality and who knows all else?! We're really looking forward to it. It's my last holiday until after Petit arrives in late August, so I'm hoping to make the most of it. Pam and V? I hope you're ready for us!!

While we're there, I'm going to hook up with an old friend of mine from high school. She got married much earlier than I did and moved off the island to the mainland quite some time ago. Her children are now pre-teen I believe and she and her husband live very close to Pam and V. She and I keep in touch by e-mail and the like and if all goes well, we'll be able to see her on Saturday for a little bit.

Hubby is keeping himself busy at home. He's getting a variety of estimates to have our deck replaced and we're booking someone to come do an energy audit on our home so that we can take advantage of some of the tax credits available to homeowners who upgrade to make their home more energy efficient. We're looking at getting a new front door and a new furnace this summer, so both of those will qualify and the new deck will have some financial perks as well. One thing at a time, right?

I'm finding that lately, things are becoming more difficult. I've officially entered the third trimester (holy hell; you've gotta be sh*tting me?!) and I'm getting things organized. But doing so has become rather challenging. For example, I was adamant that I wanted to plant some flowers out in the garden so I picked up some annuals a little bit ago. Have I planted them? Nope. You see, I realized that I need to weed the garden first and that entails a whole lotta time either bent over or on my hands and knees, near our cedar hedge, which is filled with mosquitos. Joy. Now, mosquitos LOVE me at the best of times. I was once out with some girlfriends for drinks on the patio of a local bar. About 30 mins later, I said, "I need to go inside guys. I'm getting eaten alive" and I pointed to the plethora of bites I'd received. (My skin usually develops welts after a mosquito bite, sometimes for days on end.) My girlfriends were shocked; not one of them had been touched. No, of course they weren't! Because I was greedy enough to keep all the mosquitos to myself! Either I have sweet blood or my pheremones attract them or something! Whatever it is, I'm a mosquito magnet. Hubby jokes that as long as I go outside with him, mosquitos never touch him. *sigh*

Anyway, so first I'd have to deal with the mosquitos and I'm not keen on using DEET this year (though I know in small amounts it's still safe). And then the whole bending over bit. Dear God. You're kidding. A joke, right?! Seriously. I dropped my keys this morning in the front porch and for a moment just looked down and sighed. It's getting more and more difficult to bend over, to pick things up off the floor, to manoeuvre things, etc. So I have the annuals, but they're not yet in the ground. I'll get there. Slowly but surely.

On the symptom front... it's hard to bend over, my lower back and hips ache to high heaven and I could sleep for 15 hours a day, I'm sure! I've got some rib pain here and there, but nothing too drastic. Usually I give it a rub and either it disappears or Petit moves the offending body part! I don't have much swelling yet, unless I don't get enough rest, and then I get cankles something fierce! For the last week or so, I've been eating much smaller meals and sort of grazing through the day because my stomach can't hold that much anymore and I'm more prone to indigestion. Thank heavens for Tums with Calcium! I am up at least once per night because I have to go to the bathroom and sometimes the baby keeps me awake after that... so getting up at 5 a.m. is virtually impossible at the moment. I've yet to invest in a nursing bra but I can tell 'the girls' are starting to get strained in my regular bras; some of which I had to give up wearing months ago. (Ah, the lovely pink lace has been set aside for the moment!) And it's official; I can no longer see my toes unless I bend a little at the waist. I'm still taking the colace (and consuming TONS of water and the occasional prune) to keep myself regular and to try to avoid getting hemorrhoids. Please God I won't have that to deal with.

I'm in the middle of washing the clothing, bedding, blankets, etc. that we do have for the baby. One load at a time, it's getting done and hung up in the closet again. I still need to do some things like look at cloth diapers and figure out what ones to get, because right now, all I have is one package of disposables that a friend gave to me. So I gotta get on that. I hear good things about FuzziBunz and BumGenius 3.0. If you cloth diaper and have tips/tricks, feel free to leave me a comment about your preferences and why. I'd love to hear about it!

I know of two or three other women who were also due in August who have had premature labours and their babies have arrived. All safely, but all are in NICUs and being taken care of for the moment of course. But this made me think: what if that were me? Maybe I should think about putting down a waterproof cover on my mattress now just in case. Maybe I ought to figure out what to pack for the hospital, just in case. Maybe I ought to buy that nursing bra, just in case. Maybe I need to just think ahead a little more, you know? And then again, I've "thought ahead" for so much of this pregnancy (and envisaged the absolute worst), maybe I need to stop thinking altogether!!

At the office, I have been asked numerous times about when I intend to take my maternity leave. Living in Canada, I get a year off and for that I am grateful. And being a government employee, my salary is "topped up" (I receive almost all of my salary for the entire year as opposed to the 55% that Employment Insurance pays out). So I am thankful for that as well. But that means that I want to push my departure date as late as possible so that I can still be off work for Petit's first birthday. If I'm due on a Tuesday, I'm hoping to work til at least the Friday prior. But I can only hope right? Things change and I will listen to my doctor on this one. If he sees need for me to take my leave early, then I will and we'll manage. I might take my leave a couple of weeks early and use some of my saved vacation. That might make things easier. My mom and my aunt expect to come in August before I go into labour, so they can be here and help us out. That will give me some time to spend with them too.

On Tuesday evening, hubby and I went to the hospital to attend the orientation for the Labour and Delivery as well as the Maternity wards. All very interesting. I went with a list of questions and by the time the 2-hour presentation was done, I had each of my questions answered to my satisfaction. So my nerves are somewhat appeased... for the moment anyway. I know that some hospitals still give tours of the L&D ward but the hospitals here cut that out a few years ago. With the various pandemics going around (SARS, H1N1) and the stress that tours inflicted on new mothers and babies, now you don't get to see the ward itself. You get a slideshow with pictures of the wards, facilities and equipment and essentially, they can give the presentation to 140 people at once, rather than a 20-person tour of the ward which was less effective. It's good enough for me for now. Again, one day at a time. And now I have the direct number to L&D in case I need to call and ask questions or whatever.

Last night, hubby and I broke out the doppler to listen to Petit again. We do that once every 10 or 12 days, just to reassure me. And we heard kicks and thumps as the baby moved around. We recorded it for posterity. We also recorded my heartbeat so we can play it for Petit; the theory is that the sound of mom's heartbeat will reassure a fussy baby and help to soothe him/her. So it might come in handy; we'll have it if we need it anyway.

We're getting there.

And yet, I still think about so many of you and I know you were further along than I was. And I think, "Where would so-and-so be with her pregnancy now... if...?" God knows I wish it could be different. We all deserve joy and happiness on this road, no matter the path we had to take to get here and no matter what the path to that joy. We all DESERVE it. I firmly believe that. No matter how you reach your joy, I'm pulling for you.