December 6th

The last time I'd heard from my mother was the day after our first baby shower. She'd said some strange things that made me think she was back in a "funk". She also said some stupid thoughtless things that hurt my feelings. At this point that is so expected from her that it wasn't even worth blogging about. So when 4 weeks went past without hearing from her nothing felt out of the ordinary. It was my Dad's insistence that made me call her today... the result was unbelievable. So much so that I need to sleep on it before I can even put words together to express my feelings.

I'm not even sure where the rest of the day went and therefore I have nothing much to say except to expect a doozy of an entry tomorrow!!

December 5th

Thank you to those who helped with the info on our car seat. There is good news and bad news. The good news is that D was able to release the seat from its base in about 3 seconds, looked at me and laughed. She did EXACTLY what I had been doing!! The bad news is that even with the PDF instruction manual, the actual instruction manual and direction from D I'm not able to. My hands are not strong enough!!! I wonder how long it is going to take for my hands to go back to normal after Sadie is here? I'm not sure if I've ever mentioned that I have pregnancy induced Carpal Tunnel. It isn't really a bother other than at night when I wear a brace however my knuckles are messed up really badly. They pop, crack and hurt when I bend them. Apparently this has made my hands weak! Yikes. Hopefully by the time I need to take the car seat out of the car I'll be able to!

Two other thoughts on the car seat:

1) I appreciate the convenience of the manual being stored on the base but it would be much easier if you could extract it from its holder while the car seat was still attached - just in case you need to read it to figure out how to get the car seat off its base!!!!

2) I was going to try and install the seat myself and then have it inspected but I'm throughly exhausted by it now and scared off by the instructions that mention suffocation if I do it wrong. For $40 we've opted to have it professionally installed and I'm OK with that!!

NOTE: While writing this I remembered that I hadn't called the store to schedule the pick up of our crib (which we wanted to do on Tuesday and requires 24 hour notice)!!! I've called now and everything is set. It's actually the same location as the car seat installation center which is what triggered that thought.... I think I need to keep blogging so I can remember these things!! What else have I forgotten??

December 4th

Last night I had an evening to myself. That doesn't happen very often because D and I are one of those annoying couples that travel everywhere as a pair. She was at her work Christmas dinner (spouses not invited) so I was left to fend for myself. I wish I could say I had made good use of this time but in reality I spent most of it online. I also had a long discussion with my dad over the phone. I wanted to know what my brother wanted for Christmas. Normally I spoil the snot out of him but this year we're trying to be more conservative so I thought I'd find out one really important thing I could get. It sounds like it may be a portable weather station. Odd, I know, but my brother is quirky just like I am. My dad said his big present from them is a bass guitar. He asked what I wanted and I had no answer. There really isn't anything we wanted other than the camera (which we bought for ourselves).

I ended up calling in sick/work from home today after another bad night/morning with "morning sickness". I'm not sure why I feel so awful. I also feel like I'm proving my manager right and I should be off already but I'm not going to back down!!!! I'm at about 90% right now. Just tired. I may have another nap although surprisingly I've been kept busy (by work) this afternoon. I also called every pediatrician I could (list given by OB) to find one to take us for our 48 hour after birth newborn appointment. Do you think ONE office picked up their phone? They all seem to be screening calls due to H1N1!!! So I left messages - some for a second time since I'd already tried a couple of weeks ago on my own. I expect that no one will call me back just like last time! Very similar experience when trying to find a daycare.

In the end I called my GP's office and asked if they'd take us in for the appointment. My doctor (who is also pregnant) is on vacation from December 21-January 4th. Great help for my December 30th due date!! Oh, and she herself is due at the end of January and they're not sure when she's leaving. Great!! I was pretty much assured that no matter what they would accommodate me with any available doctor and that yes they would perform the 48 hour appointment. I'm feeling much better now and I'm considering this off my list of things to worry about. It was refreshing to speak to a HUMAN and not an answering machine! Our GP office has never let either of us down in the past (except when the messed up my first trimester blood work) so I really need to TRUST that they'll take care of us this time too. Too bad they do not have a daycare as well!! If for some reason I cannot get an appointment I will let the hospital/L&D know.

It certainly isn't easy for parents, is it? Will it always be like this? Will I have to send my kid to school in another city because our Kindergarten will be full too????

ETA: OMG SOMEONE CALLED ME BACK!! SAME DAY!

We have a pediatrician!!! OMG OMG OMG!!! And this one is actually close to us and a doctor that had good reviews on RateMDS!!! The phone call came in as I published this post!

Pictures!

This is not my official post for the day... I just wanted to share a pictures like I said I would yesterday. I only had a chance to play around for a bit so I have nothing exciting to share. Here is a a before and after shot of our Christmas tree. The first shot was taken with my Point and Shoot and the second with the DSLR. I have a long way to go in learning how to take photos but just playing around I can see the difference already!

Shot #1 - Panasonic DMC-LZ7, flash ON (touched up using Picasa)

Shot #2 Sony a330, Flash OFF, no touch up.

Still a bit blurry with the flash off but I had some fun with the flash on. If you click on the actual picture it should open up and you'll see how horrible the quality of the first one really is!!! Here is another shot (from the same angle as the first). I'm sure there is a way to get the settings so it is not as dark and blurry. With the flash ON you could see every artificial detail... which isn't what I had wanted!!!

I'm not sure if the following pictures used macro or not but I was able to get up close and get a lot of detail.

I can't wait to take the camera outside to see what kind of shots it takes. Overall I'm pretty happy. I think it will serve its purpose as a step up from a Point and Shoot that will be fun to use and hopefully take great pictures of the baby. My dad is excited about the extra lens we have (75-300mm) and already wants me to bring the camera to some of my brothers shows! He said he can't wait to come in and try it out!!

December 3rd

I woke up to a good dose of morning sickness this morning. It’s funny how much the 3rd trimester is like the 1st. Of course one of the big differences is that in the 1st your baby isn’t kicking you in the gut as well!!! Thankfully I was able to pull myself together and get to work where at 9:00 am I thought I was going to fall asleep at my desk. D said I should have called in sick and I think I agree.
As of tomorrow I have 8 more days at work (+3 “work from home”) and then I’m free!! I know that my manager would rather I take leave early however I’m sticking to my original plan. The bad news is there isn’t any work for me since all of the new projects are for 2010 and we implement a system freeze (no application changes) in early December. Soooo I’m pretty much at work taking up space and trying to look busy even though everyone knows I’m not. It sucks.
What I should be doing is reading instruction manuals so I can figure out some of the new gadgets we have. I spent some time playing with our new camera and I love it so much! It was easy enough to pick up and start using without even opening a manual. That’s what I like! I’m going to post some pictures tonight when I’m at home. What I really need to figure out is our car seat! I bought the last one in the store (BRU) and I’m wondering if the box had already been opened. I say this because I can’t find an instruction manual and for the life of me I cannot figure out how to get the seat off of its base! For now it’s sitting in the trunk of my car because it is just too heavy with the base to carry up from our parking garage (2 flights of stairs). There is a tag that has instructions but I thought there would manual, wouldn’t there be? I think I need to call the store. In the meantime, I have the Peg Perego Primo Viaggio SIP - does anyone know how to release this from the base? It can’t be rocket science!! Isn’t its portability sort of the point of having the bucket so you can take it with you?
I have a feeling we’re going to be in trouble if we can’t figure out all of this gear ASAP. (; I'm supposed to be the technical one and I'm LOST.

December 2nd

I just noticed this morning that the logo on my BBC birth club has changed from a pregnant silhouette to a mother holding her baby. I guess that change took place yesterday! For the record, yes, I’m still on BBC. The birth club board (December) has been keeping me entertained and the women have all seemed to calm down since their 2nd trimester (when they were all crazy). I guess when you have childbirth to prepare for you are more level headed than when you’re just hanging out waiting for time to go by!
I'm actually starting to get a bit anxious wanting to know when Sadie will come. I keep hearing over and over that your first baby is late. With a December 30th EDD that means a January baby (which would be awesome since that is D’s birth month as well). However, I could be early and we could be looking at a Christmas baby! On that note, I’ve done the math and a December baby would require 10 months less daycare since Sadie would start Kindergarten a year earlier. Of course in the long run that would also mean we’d be sending a 13 year old to High School and a 17 year old to University. Holy Crap – I’m getting ahead of myself!!! Time to STOP!
The only thing I know for certain is that if anyone tells me to hold the baby in (while in active labour) in an effort to have the first baby born on January 1st I’m going to hit them!! D, are you reading this??? I’m not joking!!
Also, I’m not going to be trying any labour inducing methods (pineapple, spicy food, castor oil). I’m going to let nature take its course. At least that’s what I’m saying today, December 2nd. Don’t hold me to it!

December

I am going to blog daily for the month of December (or until Sadie makes her grand appearance) in an attempt to capture as much of the final weeks of this pregnancy as possible. I want to be able to look back and remember exactly what happened in the days/weeks/month leading up to giving birth. I want to know my state of mind. I want to remember everything as clearly as I can because time is going by too quickly. At the beginning of our 9 months (10 months) it felt like pregnancy would be an eternity long. Now it feels like it has gone past in the blink of an eye and although I hope that we can do this a second time, it will never be the same as the first. Yes, I’m being sappy and nostalgic. I just want to soak it all in…
That said… it’s December first so continuing on from yesterday….
Along with buying the car seat on the weekend we also picked up a manual breast pump. Our Doula suggested we look into renting a hospital grade pump if we need one for more than just pumping a relief bottle here and there. For now we have this pump and I hope it will do the job. One more thing off of our list! Our biggest purchase this weekend (bigger than the car seat) was a new camera. D had wanted to buy me one for at least a year and a half but I kept putting it off because I knew our next step would be a DSLR and I wanted to know we were having a baby first (to make sure we had the newest model at that point). Time is running out so we took the plunge.
We had done research and asked for advice and then we did not buy the camera people recommended. We have 45 days to test drive to make a decision for ourselves and we hope that we’ll conclude that our decision was the right one for us. My main concern was that I wanted to ease into DSLR ownership. We started out with about 4 options for entry level cameras but our final decision came down to the Canon EOS Rebel XSi or the Sony A330. They were comparably priced but in the end it seemed like the Sony A330 had more of the features we were looking for as beginners (this review, among other similar ones convinced us). We were also able to get a great deal that included an extra 75 -300mm lens (not that I have any clue what we’re going to do with it). The battery has been charged so I need to take it for a spin to see what it can do…. or rather what I can do with it. I need to learn quickly so we’re ready to take lots and lots of pictures of Sadie!!
Btw, I will not ignore the obvious irony that we just laid down big bucks for a camera when we're "struggling" (not really, just complaining) getting baby stuff together. I would like to freely admit that our priorities really are that off and we didn't really have that money to spend... I have 3 pay periods left before my maternity leave. The responsible thing would be to "save save save" but we haven't been doing that. So please, when we cry that we are "screwed screwed screwed" I give everyone permission to laugh at us.