Frohe Weihnachtsgrüsse (nachträglich) und alles Gute fürs Neue Jahr

Weihnachten ist schon vorbei and das neue Jahr steht vor die Tür. Ich kann es kaum glauben. Und unser Baby soll in einer Woche geboren werden! Wahnsinn!

Heute ist Desiree auch wieder zurück nach Vancouver geflogen. Sie war für ungefähr 2 Wochen hier und hat uns besucht. Es war schön denn sie hat alles für mich gemacht! Kinder Kleidung gebügelt, aufgeräumt, mir etwas zu essen und trinken gebracht als ich am lesen war... Ich wurder verwöhnt. Doch sie hat es mir klar gemacht dass ich nur so verwöhnt wurder wegen meiner Schwangerschaft. Das nächste Mal wird sie mich nicht so bedienen. Schade.

Weihnachten wurde sehr ruhig gefeiert. Wir waren nur zur dritt und haben Fondue gehabt. Es hat geschmeckt! Und wir hatten viel zu viel zu essen. Doch da brauchte ich nichts diese letzten Tagen zu kochen.
Desiree war entäuscht dass das Baby nicht durch ihren Besuch gekommen ist. Naja, das Baby wird kommen wenn es bereit ist. Doch ich selber hab keine Ahnung ob es früher oder später kommen wird. Don seine Mitarbeiter haben gewettet ob es ein Junge oder ein Mädchen sein wird und auch wann das Baby kommen wird. Bis jetzt denken 9 Leute dass es ein Junge sein wird. 4 wetten das es ein Mädchen sein wird. Den frühsten Geburtsdatum is den 29.Dezember... heute. Das wird wahrscheinlich nicht war kommen. Den spätesten Geburtsdatum is den 11.Januar. Mal sehen was passiert. Meine Wehen kommen öfters, aber tun nicht weh und sind nicht unbequem... ausser wenn ich zum Klo muss.

Und jetzt haben Don und ich ein paar Tage zusammen. Und wir werden diese Tage geniessen.

Ich hoffe dass Ihr alle ein schönes Weihnachtsfest gefeiert haben, und ich wünsch Euch alle ein guten Rutsch ins neue Jahr!

Und wenn dass Baby kommt, wird unser Blog die ersten Bilder haben! Bis bald!

Merry Christmas (belatedly) and Happy New Year

It's been a while - sorry. I've been enjoying Desiree's company... actually what I've really been enjoying is Desiree catering to my every whim and not having to do any housework. It's been great. Wish she could have stayed longer... but she had to go back to work. She mention that she was thinking about taking a leave of absence to come and live with us and spend her days taking care of the baby and surfing...

We had a quiet Christmas. Just the three of us and lots and lots of food. Instead of our usual take-out-Chinese food Christmas Eve dinner, and Eleanor's fabulous Christmas Day feast, we had fondue on Christmas Eve and cheese, crackers, fruits and veggies on Christmas Day. Desiree and I did agree, though, that we had to have our traditional breakfast on Christmas morning - Hawaiian toast. And we spent a few hours at the beach that day, too. It was pretty nice. Not quite the same, but still nice.

Desiree left this morning, and has already arrived safely in Vancouver. And the baby didn't come while she was here, much to her disappointment. I'm finding it hard myself to predict when the baby will come. The contractions are happening a little more often, but they don't hurt or even really make me uncomfortable... not unless I have a full bladder, then I have to get to a washroom really quick - although I discovered today, once the contraction is over, so is the urgency to get to a washroom.

Don's co-workers have a pool going on when the baby will come, and whether it will be a boy or a girl. At the moment the count is 9 boys and 4 girls. The earliest due date is December 29th, the latest date is January 11th. I don't think the baby will come tonight...

But a New Year's baby is not out of the question... still first babies are usually late rather than early.

Here's hoping you all had a great Christmas and wishing you a Happy New Year!

More Pics

Some more pictures of the beautiful mother to be.

Not obsessed

Unlike my wife, have not become obsessed with Poop and Diapers.

As Robin in 'Batman and Robin' would say----

Holding out.... Must hold on.... Can't constantly think... about Poop...

The baby dropped

And I can once again breathe. It happened on Friday, the day after American Thanksgiving. I was brushing my teeth around noon, leaning over the sink and I felt this ... internal slide. It was very bizarre... I haven't felt anything like that before. I thought it was the baby dropping - felt like something internal slid into place - not to be redundant. I immediately stood up and took a deep breath. And I could breathe like I wasn't pregnant. And the pressure right below my rib cage was/is gone. And the baby's movements all felt/feel lower down. So I think the baby dropped. It's also called "lightening" and I can totally understand why. I feel lighter. We went to the doula's house that day as well and she thought it sounded like the baby dropped. She said it was a good sign because that means the baby is head down, just as it should be and that won't change. The baby is engaged and the pre-labor process is beginning. She also said I'm right on schedule as the baby dropping can happen anywhere from 6 weeks to during labour... Also good to know because after it happened I told Don and I felt a little confused because I thought it might mean that labor was going to start fairly soon. But it doesn't. Which is good because we need to tidy up the house first.

Tomorrow we go to the obstetrician and I'll let them know the baby dropped. Hopefully I won't have gained 5 pounds these last two weeks. I've tried to cut back on chocolate. It's hard. I also get the Group B Strep test done tomorrow. Hopefully the results will be negative.

It' s a whole new world...

A world filled with cloth diapers.

Don and I have decided we want to give cloth diapers a try. We started at the Baby Bargains message board and have gone from there. There are soooo many resources out there. And it requires you to learn a whole new vocabulary:

• prefolds - Indian or Chinese, they already have several layers in the middle to soak up pee. You fold them in 3 and use pins or snappis to hold 'em together - or use a diaper cover.
• flats - the type of diapers our mothers and grandmothers used to use. A flat cloth that gets folded a special way and pinned or snappi'd together - or use a diaper cover.
• fitteds - material that is shaped and diaper-like. Still need to pin or snappi them. Or you can use a daiper cover to hold the diaper in place.
• pockets - almost like a disposable, but made from cloth. Has a pocket thru the crotch that you can stuff with as many liners as you want depending on the absorbancy you need. I think you need diaper covers with these, too since they're not leak proof.
• AIOs - All-In-One: cloth version of a disposable diaper. All-in-one means you don't need a diaper cover to make the diaper leak-proof. The issue with these is that they take a long time to dry because of all the layers of absorbancy in the crotch.
• PULs - a type of diaper cover made out of Polyurethane Laminated Fabric. Not as breathable as wool, or fleece - other options for diaper covers.
• DSQ - Diaper Service Quality: refers to the prefolds. If you get DSQ prefolds, that's the type you would get if you used a diaper service that picks up your dirty diapers and returns them clean.
• Snappis - an alternative T-shaped stretchy plastic thingy used to keep the diaper together. No longer do you have to worry about sticking the baby with pins.
• WAHMs - Work-At-Home-Moms: many of the clother diapers out there are made by work-at-home-moms.

You can even find free patterns and make your own. When Don heard about that he was stoked and thought I could start making my own diapers - and we would really save money. Considering we don't have a sewing machine and there's very little time left before the baby comes I told him to rethink that suggestion.

If you're interested and know nothing about cloth diapers, a nice website to check out that carries everything mentioned above is www.diaperware.com.

Other news... I've cut my hair and my belly is quite a bit bigger. We've officially started the Holiday Season as today is Thanksgiving. After this week, it'll be 3 more weeks of work and then I'm off, first on Christmas Holidays and then maternity leave. Can you believe that?!?! I can't! I'm in a happy place right now. Pregnancy limbo - I look pregnant. Some people might even say I'm huge, but I don't feel huge, not really.

Also, our new plantation shutters were installed in the two other bedrooms and they look fabulous! On the to-do list for this weekend is organize one of our closets in the master bedroom so we can move the chest of drawers out and put the pack-and-play, which will be the baby's bed and diaper changing station, next to me.

Happy Turkey Day!

Hello, Nice to meet you, Goodbye....

That was how my last obstetric appointment felt like. I met the last doctor in the practice - I believe she was one of the founders - I felt like she couldn't get me out of the office fast enough! Didn't like that at all. She was nice enough, but, well a little more time would have been nice. I guess my pregnancy is pretty straight-forward, no complications (knock on wood) so she didn't feel she needed to take the time. She did tell me that I'm reaching the limit of the weight I'm supposed to gain. I've supposedly gained 30 pounds already and weighed in at 170 pounds (only 30 more and I'll weigh as much as Don). She told me I could only gain 5 more pounds otherwise the baby is going to be too big.

I don't think so.

I'm pretty sure at least 10 - 15 pounds of the weight I've gained so far has been packed on to my hips, thighs and butt and my arms... not to mention my milk machines. The cause? Well, I haven't exactly been holding back on the chocolate, ice-cream and Nestle chocolate milk. I'll admit I've been eating more, a lot more, than I normally would. Combine that with the fact I no longer work out regularly (do I ever miss Tori) and it's pretty much no surprise that I've gained so much weight. I did read, in my Lamaze Childbirth book, of a study conducted in Finland that showed that babies whose mothers ate chocolate during pregnancy were happier babies than those whose mothers didn't eat any chocolate. I'm going to have a very happy baby.

I'm also pretty sure my hips are getting wider. They're getting ready to let the baby move through the birth canal and all my joints are loosening up. The reason I think so is because at night I wake up because my hips are sore... It hurts to move. Fortunately moving makes it go away, it's just getting going until the hurt stops. I think that has been my biggest complaint when sleeping. The baby is pretty quiet during the night and doesn't wake me up. I do have to go to the bathroom often, but that's not a big deal. My hips hurting, though. That I don't like. And the fact I feel like a hippopotamus when I change positions in bed. I have to get up on my hands and knees to move.

But I've found a pretty comfortable way to sleep. I have 4 pillows. Two under my head. One under my stomach for support. One wedged behind my back for support and to prevent me from rolling over on my back. Also, that pillow against my back lets me rest against it without being flat on my back in an alternative sleep position to on my side. So I think I'm doing pretty good sleep wise.

Actually, I really have nothing to complain about. My pregnancy has been uncomplicate (knock-on-wood) and pretty comfortable. I may look huge, but I don't feel huge. And I'm not waddling yet.

Herzliche Glückwünsche!

Es ist offiziel - Nanette und Rob haben sich verlobt! Hurrah! Jetzt werden wir warten müssen um zu sehen wann die Hochzeit sein wird. Ich freue mich schon darauf!

Congratulations!!!

Nanette and Rob have made it official and are engaged! CONGRATULATIONS! Looks like it's going to be another exciting year!

32 Wochen...

Heute sind wir 32 Wochen schwanger. Das Baby bewegt sich oft - besonders den Tag durch. Morgens nachdem Don aufsteht und bevor ich aufsteh. Dann vormittags bewegt sich das Baby oft auch, und dann wird es wirklich aktiv nachmittags, so um 2 or 3 Uhr. Und Abends nachdem ich gegessen hab bewegt sich das Baby auch. Nachts durch ist das Baby ruhig, ausser wenn ich zu sehr auf mein Bauch liege.

Bis diese Woche habe ich die Nacht durch gut geschlafen ausser dass ich jeder zwei Stunden zum Badezimmer gehen musste - doch diese Woche nicht so. Wir haben letzten Samstag unser erste Geburt Klasse gehabt... Eine Doula hat die Klasse gehalten, und es war OK. Ich glaube es was das Video wo wir eine aktuelle Geburt gesehen haben wo ich mich unbehaglich gefühlt hab. Ich wäre glücklicher gewesen ohne die Details zu sehen. Im Krankenhaus wo ich geburt geben soll habe ich die möglichkeit ein Spiegel zu haben wo alles sehen kann... NEIN DANKE!!!! Unwissenheit und unsehenheit ist mir lieber! Ich will zwar ohne Medicamente geburt geben, aber alles sehen ist für mich unnötig. Ich glaube diese Klasse hilft mir nicht so sehr. Hoffentlich kann unsere Doula mich damit helfen. Ich glaube weil ich nicht weiss was ich vor mir hab, deshalb fühl ich mich so, obwohl ich weiss das Frauen für tausended von Jahren Babies geboren haben, ist es für mich das erste Mal... Wenn es soweit ist, werde ich OK sein, es nur diese Zeit davor.

Naja. So geht es.

Sonst geht es uns gut. Im grossen ganzen. Es hat diesen morgen geregnet und Don ist von sein Fahrrad gefallen und hat sein Kopf gut gestossen. Seine Brille ist kaput, er hat über seinen linken Augenbrauen schön geblutet und sein Auge wird morgen etwas blau sein. Er ist von der Arbeit zu Hause geblieben und hat den Morgen durch geschlafen. Ich bin zur Arbeit gefahren, hab mein Komputer geholt und bin wieder zurück nach Hause. Er wollte nicht zum Arzt gehen und mir was es lieber in seiner Näher zu sein als auf der Arbeit wo meine Phantasie verrückt gehen kann. Ihm geht es schon besser, aber ich glaube er wird morgen steif sein.

Und sonst gibt es nichts neues zu erzählen. Mein Bauch wird grösser und es haben schon Frauen gemerkt dass ich ziemlich gross bin. Ich fühl mich gar nicht so gross, ausser when ich etwas vom Fussboden aufheben muss... Ich bin sicher dass ich noch grösser werde denn das Baby hat kein Platz höher in mein Bauch zu wachsen. Es muss anstatt raus wachsen.

Oh, was ich noch erzählen wollte, ich habe letzte Nacht von unser Baby geträumt - es war ein Mädchen, und sie hat dunkle, lockige Haare gehabt wie die Nanette. Wie das möglich ist, weiss ich nicht denn Don und ich haben beide blonde Haare gehabt als Kinder. Und obwohl Don seine Haare etwas Welle haben, lockige Haare haben wir nicht. Wir sind beide gespannt was das Baby sein wird... Mädchen oder Junge? Nur noch 8 Wochen...

Nur noch zwei Monate...

Am Freitag wird es nur noch 2 Wochen sein bevor das Baby geboren werden soll... Im grossen ganzen fühle ich mich wohl. Doch letzte Woche, wurde es für mich etwas zu viel. Nicht schwanger sein - damit habe ich noch kein Problem - ausser wenn ich am schlafen bin... nein - alles andere. Wir müssen viel recherchieren - Kindergarten, Kinderärzte, Kindersitze für im Auto und dann auch Doulas...

Gibt es Doulas in Deutschland? Eine Doula ist nicht das selbe als eine Hebamme. Eine Hebamme arbeitet etwas mehr im Medizinischen Bereich. Eine Doula gibt geistliche Hilfe zu Frauen durch die Geburt. Eine Doula weiss wie sie die Frau helfen kann die Wehen durch stehen zu können. Angeblich, in Amerika, und vielleicht auch in Kanada, misschen sich die Ärzte in die Geburt auch wenn es nicht nötig ist. Sie handeln jedes Geburt als wäre es eine Geburt höher Gefahr wäre - ganz bestimmt damit sie nicht angeklagt werden. Je mehr die Ärzte sich in dem natürlichen Prozess von der Geburt einmisschen, desto höher die Chancen dass die Frau mehr medizinische Hilfe brauch und damit steigen die Chancen das Kaiserschnitt gebraucht wird. Und in Amerika haben mehr Frauen Kaiserschnitt als es gebraucht wird. Jedenfalls, will ich kein Kaiserschnitt haben wenn ich es irgendwie vermeiden kann. Ein Weg ist eine Doula bei sich zu haben durch die Geburt. Sie weiss wie Don mich massieren kann damit die Wehen nicht zu weh tun. Auch dass eine Dusche hilft die Wehen besser zu wieder stehen, usw.

Die Frau die wir ausgewählt haben - denn es gibt mehrere hier in unsere Gegend, hat 30+ Jahre Erfahrung. Sie ist Krankenschwester, und hat für 30 Jahre in New York als Krankenschwester in die Mutterschaft Abteilung gearbeitet und hat tausende von Geburten miterfahren. Sie weiss also auch über das Medizinische Bereich von der Geburt. Ihr Lebenslauf ist sehr beindrukend und dass gefällt Don sehr gut denn er war garnicht so begeistert eine Doula bei uns zu haben. Ich glaube er hatte dass Gefühle dass er dann vielleicht nicht so sehr an der Geburt teil nehmen wurde. Mein Gefühl ist dass sie uns beide helfen wird.

So, es wird jetzt Spät und ich bin müde... ich wollte noch mehr schreiben, aber dass muss bis zum nächstes Mal warten müssen. Hoffentlich wird es nicht so lange dauern bis ich wieder in Deutsch schreibe.

Don hat auch ein paar Bilder von mir genommen. Ich habe gemerkt dass ich etwas zugenommen hab. Nicht nur von meiner Schwangerschaft, warscheinlich mehr von die Schokolade. Gut ist es nicht, aber im Moment gibt es Schokolade überall denn es ist Halloween Zeit hier. Ich glaube auch dass ich etwas unter Stress leite da es nur noch 2 Monate bis zur Geburt ist... Ich will morgen zu Yoga gehen und da hoffe ich mich etwas entspannen zu können.

Also, bis zum nächsten Mal!

Some Pics form 'Day of the Dead' and the Beach

Got out fo the Condo on the weekend and staye of the computers (pretty much). Oceanside was hosting the 'Day of the Dead' festival in which the Mexican-American community displays it more holistic - 'death's just a natural part of life' approach to dying that they tie into Halloween.

Got some good shots of Tanya in which you can see she's coming along. Then we went for a stroll down on the beach.

Ode to my nutty wife

My wife's a nut.
Her belly quite stuffed.

Full of life, apprehension, suspension.
Diligently preparing, caring.

Temper's a bit quick.
With a husband so thick.

Thank God we'll be thru with this quick.

Nesting Instinct has kicked in....

and poor Don has to suffer because he has to help me clean the house.

We did our main cleaning yesterday. That means that while I clean the bathrooms and vacuum, Don cleans the kitchen and washed the tile and linoleum floors. I don't think he minds cleaning up the kitchen, but I don't think he likes washing the floors. Neither do I. I did give him the choice of cleaning the bathrooms (plus toilets) or washing the floors. He chose the floors....

But that was just regular cleaning. No, the nesting instinct asserted itself yesterday after we came home from Costco - this was also after the hospital orientation. Don was putting stuff in the fridge and the fridge, in general, is not really organized, and it totally got to me and made me quite short-tempered. Quite short tempered.

Also, what's been bugging for a while, is the guest bedroom. To make it tidy before my mom came, we basically piled everything into the closet, which meant that there was no room in the closet for any clothing. Eventually we brought some shelves up and tried to organize a little more... but not very successfully. But now it's getting to a point where I feel a compulsion to get everything organized. And Don has to help me. Today we tackled the guest bedroom. We got all out paper work organized into folders, which cleared up a lot of space in the closet. Moved some of the kitchen stuff in there to the kitchen. Re-organized some boxes... and lo and behold, we have space, not only for hanging clothes, but also on the baker's rack shelf for folded clothes. Hooray. It's nice to be able to offer guests space to put their clothes.

Other projects that need to be done:
(1) find my wooden embroidery hoop. It's gotta be somewhere. Since I didn't find it in the closet in the guest bedroom that means
(2) tidy up the garage and go through all the boxes and look for my missing stuff. I'm also missing a pillow
(3) properly organize the laundry closet. We have the shelves now I just need to utilize them more efficiently
(4) tidy up the master bedroom - maybe even rearrange the furniture (don't tell Don) so we can fit the Pack'nPlay in there where the baby will sleep
(5) get all the cd's burned into our home computer which is doubling as our stereo/radio/television - and then alphabetize the cds in the guest bedroom
(6) line the shelves in the kitchen with the cork liner that I have. Makes a huge difference.

And I'm sure I'll come up with more stuff as we get closer to the due date.

Anyway, if you click on the picture of Don organizing the paper work in the spare bedroom - the guest bedroom, you'll see some more pictures of our place. Not the best pictures of the place - we haven't cleaned up the dining room table yet - but hopefully it'll give you an idea of what our place looks like... and how Don likes to decorate. Black and white. There'd be pictures up on the wall, but I haven't finished putting them in the frames. And I thought of another thing we need to do

(7) find lamps so we have more light in the living room, guest bedroom and baby's room

The Doula

We (mostly Tanya) have done some research into having a Doula.

What's a Doula? From the Web - "The word, "doula," comes from the Greek word for the most important female slave or servant in an ancient Greek household, the woman who probably helped the lady of the house through her childbearing. The word has come to refer to "a woman experienced in childbirth who provides continuous physical, emotional, and informational support to the mother before, during and just after childbirth."

A friend for mine at my work, Sharon, recently had her first child. Donny, her husband, was as skeptical as am I about the need for what I at first considered was just another 'consultant'; when the Hospital and Clinic we've been attending seem quite enlightened and are 'baby friendly' already.

Though Sharon and Donny had similar reservations, friends of their's had glowing reviews/opinions regarding the benefits of having a Doula and we were impressed enough with their thoughts and comments to explore further. In fact, Sharon's friend said that if Sharon did not want to have a Doula, they'd personally pay for Sharon to have a Doula - because it had been such a great experience for them.

Sharon had two of her sisters with her (both of them had had their own children already) and they both were impressed enough with having a Doula, that they said if they were to get pregnant again, they would both choose to have Doula's as well.

The Doulas plays the role of contant advisor / attendant - providing the nursing services you might otherwise expect the Hospital nurses to provide - but apparently the Hospital nurses are not able to provide the care you would like because they are dealing with multiple patients and have a tremendous amount of paper-work to attend to.

You meet with them several times before the birth event and page them when thing get cooking. The Doula then works with you to estimate / evaluate how quickly or not-so-quickly things are progressing and hopefully lets you stay at home untill the real action picks up and you really have to get going to the hosptial. Then, they stay with you 24-7 as you go through the birthing process and act as your advisor / proponent in dealing with hosptial staff.

They provide post-partem consulting services as well (some are lactation consultants as well).

So, that being said, we (I) am a little more willing to look into these baby-popping consultants.... Looks like there are some freaky 'new-agers' out there and also some more 'traditional' Doulas that may be a good fit us.

We've found one in-fact, who is European, has written numerous on-the-Web and conventional-print articles and more importantly attended thousands of biths, She is an RN, IBCLC, CD (DONA), LCCE, FACCE (whatever the rest of these after RN stands for) and is a speaker/educator who spent several decades in New York as a Child-birth expert and is a Doula extra-ordinarre. She's retired to the San Diego area to be near her son as heis a Marine at Camp Pembleton, thought she just can't fully retire.

We'll meet with her this week to feel her out and to learn more about 'Doulism' first hand.

Hospital Tour

Went for Scripps Hospital for Delivery orientation this afternoon. No big relevations, but comforting just the same.

We met up with in the Lobby with eight or so other prego couples and listened to a 'talk thru'.

Some observations; in this session and other prep sessions at the same hosptial, everyone of the total of 20 - 30 couples has been white and between 25 - 40+ year old. A little surprising in that the local populace is at least 30% Mexican American or minority and we've seen soom younger parents.

Maybe its the fact that that I think the Hospital is tied to corporate HMOs and PPOs. Don't really know enough about the local health system to know if folks without Healthcare go to other Hospitals; but just interesting to observe that so far, we all 'look alike'.

The younger couples seem a little more anxious and more inclined to be comforting each other as the they learn about what they are about to go through. Though, at the same time, it also seems that most couples have read enough on the Internet and from books that whatever they have to tell/teach you, you've already read about it before.

Scripps has what they call a 'baby friendly' philosophy that is a good fit for what we are looking for.

After the baby is born, they don't wisk him/her off to a nursery, the baby stays with you in the delivery room and with you when they shuffle you down the hall to a post-partem recovery room.

The delevery ward is just off the main entrance to the Hospital and not connected to the Emergancy Room entance. It's security controlled so that you can only get in if your connected to a family having a baby. The babies get an ankle braclet that has an alarm that goes off if anyone tries to leave the ward with the baby so the prospect of abuctions is not something we'll have to worry about.

The delivery rooms have basinets and sinks where they can bathe the baby so they keep the baby in the room while they clean up after-birth, apply eye-drops and give the vitamin K shot. Also, we've learned from class videos that the baby usually is fully awake for about two hours after the birth and that they will accommodate our desire to have the baby spend those first two hours direcly with Tanya (and me) before he/she is expected to go to sleep for pretty much the balance of day one.

They have four delivery rooms and eight post-partem recovery rooms. The recovery rooms are set up for two moms - though it looks like you usually have the recovery room to yourself. If they have a 'rush' the post-partem rooms can also be used for delivery rooms.

We were only able to see one of the recovery rooms as the delivery rooms and seven of the recovery rooms were in use today.

If a caesarean is required, they have a surgery room in the same ward, so your basically in the same small section of the hospital for that event as well.

The rooms are pretty plain and 'hospitally', so though you can hang out for 48 hours post-partem for natural birth and 72 hours for caesareans, I think we will want to head home pretty much asap.

Were only a few people in the hallways attending for current births. Was one young guy that looked a little freaked out and I imagine he was in the 'waiting stage' and perhaps was not ready to be 'in the room'. Thinking, I'll be pretty anxious myself, but that I'll have no problems 'being in the room' as events progress.

Ode to my belly

Belly, belly, oh my sweet belly
You're somewhat firmer than a bowlful of jelly

You groove and you move
And sometimes you're quite smoothe

Othertimes you bump and you thump
And I can see quite a lump

Now I've become quite large
But I'm not yet big as a barge

So I carry you quite proud
And stand out in the crowd

Kann mann von Schwangerschaft platzen?

Obwohl es noch 3 Monate dauert bevor das Baby kommt, ich wundere mich morgens, wenn ich mein Bauch sehe, ob ich doch nicht vielleicht davor platzen werde... So gross ist mein Bauch vielleicht nicht, aber meine Haut scheint ziemlich stramm zu sein. Wie viel kann sich die Haut noch ausdehnen? Und danach, wird sich die Haut wieder zurück ziehen? Oder wird mein Bauch wie ein Luftballon ohne Luft aussehen? Ein Luftballon platzt auch.

Was ich auch nicht erwartet hab - wie mein Bauch juckt! Doch da hilft kratzen leider nicht. Anstatt kratzen muss ich sicher sein dass ich morgens mein Bauch gut mit Kreme einschmiere. Ganz gut.Abends muss ich auch einschmieren. Ich muss zugeben dass es nicht wegen Schwangerschaftstreifen ist dass ich mein Bauch einschmiere sondern nur wegen das jucken.

Habt Ihr vielleicht über die Schlange in Florida gelesen? Diese Schlange hat ein Krocodil geschluckt und ist geplatzt! Doch vielleicht sind Leute doch anders. Es gibt ja Leute die riesig dick sind und es ist noch niemand geplatzt. Also glaube ich dass ich mit mein kleineren Bauch doch keine Sorgen zuhaben hab.

Sonst geht es mir ganz gut. Das Baby bewegt sich und ich kann "Dinge" in mein Bauch fühlen. Don meint dass er Elbogen und Füsse fühlen kann. Ich kann nur runde Dinge fühlen in verschiedene viertel meinem Bauch. Und da muss ich mich auch wundern. Wie bewegt sich das Baby dass es mich überall aufeinmal Stosst? Vielleicht will das Baby mich wissen lassen dass es ein Sportler wird. Wir haben am Radio Eishockey gehört und das Baby schien ganz activ zu werden. Wenn Baby ein Eishockey Spieler werden würde, da wäre Don ganz happy. Doch ich glaube wir müssten zurück nach Kanada ziehen und damit is Don nicht so begeistert. Ihm gefällt das Wetter hier in San Diego viel besser.

Ich muss jetzt gehen denn ab 28 Wochen soll ich die Bewegungen des Babys zählen. Es soll sich mindestens 10 Mal in einer Stunde bewegen. Wenn nicht, dann soll ich den Arzt anrufen. Bis zum nächsten Mal!

AAARRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGHHHHHH!!

Never let an old lady who can't see touch your knitting!!!!!!

EVEN IF YOU NEED HELP!!!!

AAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGHHHHH!!!!

I finished my first bootie yesterday and it looked a little funny. She, one of the knitting shop owners, a woman who is quite old and seems to be almost blind, took hold of it, said it was lopsided and started to take it apart to see where the problem is. Because of the way the bootie was knit there were different ends in the same area and she got completely confused, started undoing different sections, got confused and totally mucked it all up. It was all I could do not to snatch it away from her and run out the door screaming! Then she complained about how small and tight the stitches were... I was using small yarn and US 3 needles (small needles)... so yes, the stitches were tight. After watching her struggling with the bootie for about 20 minutes and seeing it get further and further unravelled and disordered, and hearing her mutter about not being able to see, I finally asked if she wanted me to undo the stitches and I finally got it back. I was able to repair the damage, and while I did that I got a lesson in how I was knitting the wrong way and that the person who taught me taught me wrongly. That annoyed me to no end. My knit stitch may not be the standard way of knitting, but it's perfectly fine - and it's straight.

And my purl stitch... well, I'll admit I do purl incorrectly resulting in a twisted thread. But not because my mom taught me wrong, but because I'm not doing it correctly. I remember her telling me that I wasn't purling correctly when she taught me, and I ignored her and went my own way. It looks almost the same. Almost. For those in the know about knitting, I wrap the yarn in a clockwise direction when I purl rather than counter-clock-wise. This causes the stitch to get twisted. As I said, it looks almost the same.

Anyway, when I finally got back to where I had been with the bootie, with the exception of finishing off the last two rows, I gave it back to the old lady to look at... with much trepidation - didn't want her to muck it up again. She took a look at it and was surprised that my stitching was straight. I know she got confused between the moss stitch section and the garter knit section, plus the knitting of 2 stitches together when she was previously taking it all apart. And I know I knitted it together correctly. Anyway, as she said, I learned something by doing this... not that I knit and purl incorrectly, but to try not to let her get her hands on my knitting! Not unless I have the huge needles all the other women seem to knit with.

Still, I'll got back to the knitting shop because it's nice to meet other women and to socialize. Much as I love Don, sometimes spending time with other women is really nice too. Plus I'm enjoying knitting. It requires you to be really precise which fits in with the side of my personality that is more ... well, less flexible. And it's nice to create something.

Another picture of Baby Isaak

There has been some consternation over the ultra-sound picture that I chose to put up on our blog. Granted the baby looks freaky, but that's the reason I put the picture up... Under promise, over deliver... a standard practice in project management where you promise less than you expect to be able to deliver, so you set low expectations, and then your over deliver, making the customer really happy. Based on this principle, not matter what the baby looks like when it eventually arrives, it'll look better than the freaky picture. But to appease the masses, here is a much better picture of the baby...

On another note, I've "cleaned up" our blog and removed many of the pictures Don had posted. Instead, some of the pictures have links to other pictures. I'll leave it up to you to figure out which pictures are the links... Have fun. I'm off to knit baby booties.

Life in Oceanside

Oceanside can be a little rough at times but it has the beach and the Pier. Two things we tend to not appreciate as much as we should 'cause they are right down the street.


(10/08/05 from Tanya: I've taken the liberty of "editing" the last few postings by Don and, basically, deleting them and instead using another program that works with this blog to display our photos... particularly the scenic shots. Click the photo above to see a compilation of the best sunset/beach shots we've taken with our new camera)

Front View of Baby Isaak

Here is one of the ultra-sound pictures we had taken mid-August. Kind of scary looking.


Front view of Baby Isaak

Baby sure can move!

I'm sure this will be nothing new to anyone who has already had a baby... but baby sure can move! On Monday and Tuesday I was in San Diego for Verity's Developers Conference. Verity put all employees attending up at the Omni Hotel. Don joined me. The thrill for me was that we had a TV! Anyway, some evenings as I lie down more than sit up, the baby seems to adjust itself and moves a lot. On Monday evening this was the case. Don first put his hand on my stomach and felt a few good kicks, but he hasn't had a chance to really see the baby move. So I uncovered my tummy and boy did we see some action. I don't know what the baby is doing, but I've never seen my tummy move like that. I think the baby is doing some break-dancing moves like the full body wave or something. For those who have never had a baby, the only comparison that I can make is if you've ever see an alien invasion movie where the alien somehow gets inside a human donor and, as they get ready to break out, the human donor's stomach starts convulsing... I guess that doesn't paint a very pretty picture of being pregnant, does it?

Tuesday evening we went to the obstetrician and the nurse midwife checked the baby's heartbeat and while checking she was able to feel the baby move. The heartbeat was in the 140s, which may mean it's a girl. I think they know the sex of the baby. We don't want to know, but we were asked twice at the last visit if we wanted to know. For me it's more exciting not to know. It's like getting presents at Christmas. You kind of want to know what you're getting, but you don't because most of the surprise and excitement is in not knowing.

It's been a busy few days...with Isabella

I've been letting Don have all the fun in posting to our blog. It's my turn now. We've been pretty busy the last week. We took last Friday off to drive up to the Santa Barbara area for the baptism of Isabella, Todd and Liz's daughter. Don didn't want to pay for a hotel, so we camped in Pismo beach. I wasn't too thrilled about the idea, but it turned out to be really quite nice. The campground was great. We were next to the sand dunes which were next to the beach. The first night we were there, we pitched the tent in a hurry, walked across the sand dunes (an adventure in and of itself) and had fun with our camera. We got a couple of pictures of the two of us with the sun setting in the background. I was trying to show off my belly - which has gotten quite a bit bigger! The picture here is one of the better pictures. The sunset was pretty amazing. I do have to say, though, getting up in the cold in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom was not so much fun. Still, we should go camping more often, although how we're also going to be able to fit baby and baby stuff in the car along with our camping gear I have no idea.

We spent pretty much all day Friday getting to Pismo Beach. Then Saturday we were at the baptism, which was really nice. The church didn't look like much from the outside, but it was really nice inside. The baptism reception was at the Four Seasons in Santa Barbara. That was amazing! What a beautiful hotel! There were a few weddings there that looked pretty elaborate judging by the dresses the brides were wearing and by what the female guests were wearing. We got some pictures at the baptism. Here is a picture of Hertha, Todd's mom and a very proud grandma, holding Isabella in her cute baptism outfit.

Sunday we spent in Solvang - a danish town. It was pretty cute as all the buildings were built in the same character, giving it a very European look. Almost a bit kitsch, but not quite. They had lots of bakeries and restaurants. They also had a couple of shops that sold needlecraft stuff. I bought a tree skirt to cross stich with different types of Santa - or actually more like St Nicholas. Will probably take me a few years to complete and I promised Don I'd first finish the knitting I already started - especially the baby stuff I've started to knit. He wants to make sure the baby will have clothes when it's born.

While we were in the Solvang area, Don wanted to see where Michael Jackson lived. So he looked the address up on the Internet and we drove to Los Olivos (very Napa-esque and looked like it had some great biking) and into the countryside and we found the entrance to Michael Jackson's Neverland. It's located right across the street from a school. Did anyone know that? We didn't take any pictures, just drove by. There were no fans hanging out - probably because Michael Jackson is rumoured to be in Jordan as a guest of the King there. That's the info we found on the web. Los Olivos, though, is a cute little town. Too bad it takes a whole day to get there, otherwise we'd probably go there more often for camping and biking.

I think that's all I'll write for now. Have to have dinner and also figure out a good way to let every one view the pictures we took at the baptism. Until next the next post!

(10/09/05 from Tanya: I've deleted all the photos Don placed here. If you click the picture of Hertha and Isabella, it'll take you to more pictures of Isabella's christening)

Swap Meeting on Weekend

On Sunday, we made our way to an event co-ordinated by the sister hospital (Scripps La Jolla) of the hospital where we will have little Fred(orika) at. It's basically an infant and toddler swap-meet where folks set up booths in the parking lot to sell their no longer required baby or infant crap (though most of it is in really good shape).

We were only looking to pick up a Universal stroller carrier base for an infant car seat (as we want to buy a new car seat but can get by with a pre-owned stroller), but ended up going on little shopping spree. We got some 2nd hand stuff and some pretty cool stuff we've been seeing on the Web that we could touch and feel first-hand and was being sold at less than Web prices.

Cheap stuff:
7 - Onesies for $0.25 each.
5 - Socks for $0.25 each.
Bag of assorted teethers $1.00 (sounds gross but put them through the dishwasher and off you go).
Bag of assorted bath toys $1.00.

Dr Seuss's Books for $2 each (kind of neat to only purchase the books that we remember reading as kids):
- Go Dog Go!
- Mr Bean Can MOO! Can you?
- Ten Apples Up on Top

Cat in the Hat:
Inside, Outside Upside Down (Bear in a Box) $0.50.

Book for making your own baby food - something we intend to do. Don't want to spend the money on commercial baby food and don't think they can process food that is anywhere near as healthy as what we can make ourselves buying fresh ingredients locally at Boneys (a local blue collar Whole Foods). Time well tell if we can stick with the extra work required. $2

Pack and Play Play pen that has a Basinett and Changing table built in. We intend to use it as the crib for the first 6 months, so the crib is taken care of. It folds up into a bag, and has wheels so its portable inside and outside the house and you can travel with it. $40.

Play thing that sits on the floor - "Toy of the year" $10.

2 Fleece Slings (baby carriers for hippies) (one for me and one for Tanya) $30 each. (http://peekaboobabycollection.com/)

1 really nice, classy Wrap (baby carriers for hip hippies) $55. (http://www.sunbearbaby.com/)

Think that's about it. Next time we go, we'll proably look for a wagon for dragging stuff to the beach and or a trailer for the back of the bicycles (though we have our eye on a really good one from Burley in Oregon).

Think they have this swap meet a few times a year, so we should be able to pick up stuff as we go along.

So, we had a really good weedend on the baby front.

On Saturday we we went to Tanya's company picnic and had a really good time checking out the camera we bought last week-end.

Here's a picture of Tanya in her current state (sorry for photo orientation - this Blog has pretty limited features - from Tanya: what Don didn't realize was that he had to orient the photo in its file format before uploading to ensure the orientation is correct. What would he do without me?).

Though this picture kind of sucks, I took a few other really good shots and am looking forward to awesome pics of Frederika (or Hobileena) and/or Jacob (or Wolfred).
Here's an example:

Ruminating on names

So. A few folks out there apperently have some reservations about the dead Dalamation namesakes' Fred and Hobbes.

For those in the dark, Fred and Hobbes where Dalmations that were a big part of my previous life in Canada (pre-Tanya) . Fred was a big, gentle liver-spotted (brown spots not black) grand-fatherly, former stud and Hobbes was a hyper - rather needy, little snuggler that was rescued from the pound.

Some excellent names we're considering are:
Boy:
Wolfred Jacob Isaak

Girl:
Hobillia (or Hobbileena) Frederika Isaak

I swear I heard my niece Cailtlin call him Hobbes Hobbileena when they were playing dress-up and she dressed him up in a scarf and skirt. At the time I thought it sounded a little feminine for a male dog but as Hobbes was nutured and all, he did not object. Presently, Caitlin, says 'Tanya, you've got to talk to Don about those names'. Seems she's changed her tune.

One of Tanya's sisters says she's 'going to come down to San Diego and open a can of Whoop Ass on me' if we don't come up with something better.

Did you know that John 'the Duke' Wayne's real name was Marion? And that Duke was the dog that faithfully walked him to school everyday? And that Condelezza Rice was named after a pizza?

Wolfred, Hobbileena. Tomorrow's Duke, Condelezza....

If anyone out there has some better suggestions bring 'em on.

Post-Getting-Ready-For-Baby-Class...

I had more confidence going into the class about having a baby than coming out. Naturally, Don felt he knew everything. It was pretty much all was common sense and, if you've read any baby books or articles, you've heard it all before. I think what really got me was the thought of trying to bathe a baby in the first few weeks. And trying to figure out its wants and needs. Don made the comment about the baby not being able to communicate and all it could do was cry. I've heard, on the other hand, that you can tell the difference between the different cries a baby has - if it's hungry, wet, tired... Don's response to that was a question to ask if babies could communicate as well as dogs...

Other funny moments during the class came when the instructor told us to throw away any leftover milk and not to give it to the baby if the baby hasn't drunk from it for 15 minutes. Don asked if that leftover milk could be used in coffee...

Yup, pretty much did know everything. Kind of strangled the doll during swadling practice and sent the instructor flying when she turned out the lights for the video and then she proceeded to trip over my laptop extension cord - but all-in-all went pretty well.

Few other things. Instructor said if the kid does not eat for 6 hours - call the doctor; sounded kind of nuts to me. Also, apparently your not suppossed to wash the baby clothes with regular folks' clothes - your suppossed to use more expensive soap on the babies clothes and never mix in even a single mommy or daday pair of socks. Ya right. Wonder if they used to wash the baby clothes in a different river before washing machines were invented.

One good thing though, a whole lot of other first-time Dads look to be just as old and cranky as I am - just not as good looking - and with much less attractive wives.

Always nice to get a visual on shoving a thermometer no more than one inch up the baby's bottom. Can't wait.

Getting Ready For Baby

We're going to our first baby class today - Getting Ready For Baby. It's supposed to cover things like basic parenting skills, infant nutrition and home safety issues. It's a 2 part series with today being the first part. The 2nd part will be taught by a pediatrician. Maybe we can ask the pediatrician about the Amby Baby Motion Bed (www.ambybaby.com) that we've been considering. Seems like a nice alternative to a traditional crib... but it's on the expensive side.

Don has decided to come, which was a nice surprise. He has held the opinion that he already knows everything there is to know and doens't need to be taught anything! And what he doesn't know, he's wants me to tell him - which is all fine and dandy except he never accepts/believes what I say and needs to either figure it out by himself, or have it confirmed independently. We were recommended to take this class, as well as the others (Hospital Orientation, Childbirth Prep and Breastfeeding) by one of the midwife nurses at the obstetrician's office.

It's all still so unreal that I'm having a baby. I'm much bigger (I know we have to put pictures up for everyone to see) and the baby is starting to move. I'm carrying the baby differently from the way Lise, my friend, is carrying hers. Her baby is more spread around her upper and lower abdomen. My tummy is definitely bulging in the lower quadrant. Kind of like the picture I saw of a pregnant Heidi Klum the other day. She had a boy. According to folk wisdom, the way you carry your baby is indicative of sex. If you carry high, you'll have a girl, low a boy. This seems to have been true for Todd and Liz (Don's cousin and his fiancee). Liz said she carried Isabella higher up. Seems to have also been true for Heidi Klum. I still think the baby will be a boy.