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February 3, 2003
13 Weeks
Ah, and another week passes by… It really feels to me that this whole semester and therefore this first trimester, have been zipping by. Where is all this time going?
First of all, I have to admit that I really really love going into the nursery, whose door we usually keep closed, and just looking at the crib. It’s full of random stuff right now, like the few little teddy bears Simon or I had from before we met, paint chips for the walls, shelf liner that I’m going to put into the drawers for the dresser and change table… But it still looks marvellous in my eyes. Chalk this up to my pregnancy addled brain, but I don’t think I’ve written yet that we have painted the tall dresser from our bedroom set for use in the nursery. We’ve planned on using it there for a while now, and so it’s been in there, sitting at an angle to the corner, and it must have been over the Christmas break that Simon painted it. The colour is just wonderful – it’s called Harbour Fog, but it’s this ice blue shade. You can hardly notice the blue, until it was moved back into the room, which is already a shade of blue, and it just popped out. We just noticed when we were doing the crib, however, that we taped the inside reveal wrong, and we’ll have to fix it. That will wait for when the change table arrives however – which we haven’t even ordered yet, it’s just too far away to worry about something like that!
This is another issue. I have heard and read time over and again, that change tables are really just not worth the money spent on them, as any flat surface will do. I thought that for many people, this is most likely absolutely correct. HOWEVER… Most people are probably not as tall as my husband and I, the journey to a floor or bent over the bed is just too much – my back aches if I’m bent over for as long a time as it would take me to change the Little One (and trust me, I have YEARS of experience changing diapers already), and my knees have long been cursing me for years spent pushing them over the edge of the envelope in sports :-( So… The decision was made that we would buy a changing table in light of these circumstances, and also the fact that it’s not as if it wouldn’t get use, with the four children we plan to have! Also, the dresser set has a matching children’s furniture set, which includes a changing table, with an optional piece you can attach later forming a bookshelf above what looks like a tall bureau. With both of them painted this beautiful blue, I know it’s going to look great in there. That would also be the only other piece of furniture in the room, so there would be the dresser, the changing table dresser and the crib – that’s it.
What else this week? Oh yes! Chinese New Year was on January 31st this year, and there is a fellow in Simon’s graduate office who is from China, and so we had this HUGE cooking party and made from scratch some great food. Cabbage and chicken soup and two types of Chinese dumplings or wontons in great masses of quantity. We then stuffed ourselves silly. It was great! We had a couple people from the office group over, and one of them brought a cheesecake for dessert (YUM YUM) and then we toasted with champagne, and I had gingerale.
That moment, when we were all joining our glasses together was this really amazing moment for me. I realized how long it had been since I had had alcohol, as I did not indulge when we were TTC, and how long it would be until I would perhaps enjoy a beer or a glass of wine – or my favourite drink, a gin and tonic – as I plan and hope to breastfeed for a year minimum, and we also plan to have the babies fairly close to each other (relatively). It just sort of cemented again in my mind that I am carrying this almost magical little being inside of me, who is growing, adapting, and maturing every moment of every day of the pregnancy until the time that it is ready to make its entrance. Wow. The other thing is that it doesn’t even enter my mind and thoughts that this is a sacrifice of any kind; rather, it is a whole lifestyle that I have been waiting and waiting for to begin.
The second item tied to the Chinese New Year celebrations is that this is the Year of the Ram. Those who are born in the year of the ram tend to be gentle, kind and compassionate, and are better suited to be good friends and partners than leaders, and are generally unselfish and creative personalities. That’s a pretty good outlook, isn’t it? :-) Simon is born in the Year of the Dragon, I was born in the Year of the Snake, which apparently is a very auspicious pairing, partially because the snake is viewed as a version of the Dragon, but secondly because the best pairings are of a large animal and a small animal. We, essentially, are the best pairing for each other that people born in these Years could be. Additionally, the Dragon is a very powerful animal, and is viewed by many as one of the best animals to have as your symbol. The last item tied to the New Year is when the Little One is forecasted to be born. Apparently, the best time of year to be born is the hottest time of year – certainly, it is going to be the hottest time of the year here by the time that this little being makes their entrance! I don’t see how the stars, years or seasons could have lined up any better than this :-)
In other news:
The field trip went fine, I just told my group members that I had meetings at night that I could not miss, and left it at that. The driving was also just fine, although Simon made sure that I had a shovel, blanket and emergency supplies in the back of Andie (my Subaru Outback) JUST in case. What a sweetie.
We made an appointment this afternoon to see an estate planner to write wills for Simon and me. The impetus for this was of course our newly expanding family, and the meeting went really well. The lawyer was nice, friendly, spoke well, and was clear about what would be in the wills and how the process of writing them up would go. We will get an emailed copy in a couple weeks, and then go in to sign the final document after that. I have to say that this was a topic that was very very hard for me. I was having a lot of difficulty with the concept that Simon could die, and leave me alone (well, I would have the kids, but it’s different when a best friend is gone forever). I have had the unfortunate experience of a best friend committing suicide when I was a teenager, and it nearly destroyed me – I could not, and did not want to even enter into the arena where this could occur again, except that it would be the light of my life, my true love, leaving me, and our precious family. It still makes me sick and upset when I think about it now. I do know, however, that this planning ahead will only benefit us, and that is why I go ahead with it, given the difficulties it brings me.
The last Prenatal Class until it starts up again in May was really fun and great again. I noticed in quite a few of the ladies there that they had ‘popped’ and I was just filled with anticipation for that moment when I too, would pop :-) One of them brought a camera and at the end of class, all the ladies lined up and we got our picture taken. She will bring it in for our next meeting together and I am SURE that we will just be so surprised at how ‘small’ our bellies were then!
This is it folks – I just can’t do it anymore! I have got to switch to Pregnancy Yoga, my regular session is just not working out anymore! It’s not as if you can see any changes in my outward appearance at all yet, but I certainly feel quite different on the inside. Certain poses that have been becoming uncomfortable are just outright yuck for me to do now. So, next week, as I begin my second trimester, I will also begin Pg Yoga. It’s going to be great fun, I just know it.
Symptoms: Okay. I may, just be imagining this, but when I stand looking at my side profile in the mirror, and suck in my belly… it doesn’t go anywhere. I used to be able to do this and it would ‘cave’ in, you know? Now? Nada. No movement backwards at all! There is no bulging outward yet when I am relaxed, but the fact that I can’t suck my belly in shows me that I am very very close to the time when the Little One will be making it’s first physical appearance, albeit on the inside still! :-) Isn’t this exciting? My mind is just boggled at this tiny little development.
**Talk to Me**
When did you and your DH start to get ‘responsible’ for your futures and create wills and the like? Did you find it emotionally difficult?
How was your experience with the Change Table Decision? LOL
When did you first realize that your slim form was beginning to show the initial developments of a Little One nestling inside?
Namaste, Laura and the Little One
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