A Blog from my Friend Kyla (somewhat relating to us)

DISCLAIMER: Please don't refer to this specific topic on Facebook as Kyla doesn't want to stir up any more trouble with her landlords until it's all sorted out.

May 6, 2009

Being this indirectly is linked to Crystal, I thought I would share a little story that Crystal suggested putting on her blog.

This morning at 10am, we had our landlords coming by to let the ATCO-Gas meter-reader in to our home to check the meter. This has been something they’ve done every few months (or monthly in some cases) for the past 2 years we’ve been living in our current residence. Well little did we know this particular time was going to be such a gong show!

Michael for his birthday on April 29th received an 8mm missile looking thing (I’m not even sure what it’s called exactly but it’s about a foot tall and looks like a mini-missile) from Tyler. We had it in our back room sitting on the floor next to our soup (as I don’t have a “home” for it yet) and this ATCO gas guy came in, saw it and freaked out! He stormed out of my house and was threatening to call the cops and telling my landlords if they did not do something he was going to take things into his hands, etc, etc. He just was freaking out through and through (I wasn’t at the house for this, just the lady landlord).

She called me and just asked if she and her husband could come by when I got home from work and I agreed. At this point I had no idea what had happened, I just assumed that the gas guy didn’t come, and they were going to be checking the meter themselves as they’ve done that in the past. So I get home, and around 4:30, they show up and I start doing my usual chit-chatty stuff with them and didn’t even notice the “not happy” looks on their face. Well they go straight into our furnace room and he taps the thing with his toe and was all “what is this?” (again, I’m still oblivious to his expression) and I was like “oh that? Michael’s buddy gave that to him last week for his birthday” and I babble about it for a second, and I am thinking he just thought thinks it’s cool or something and they are still there just to check the meter.

Well I was wrong! He proceeds to tell me the story about the gas guy and then he’s all “this is bad, this is very bad, you guys messed up big here” and my landlords are just furious! So I apologize and explain that it’s not real and it’s just a decorative piece. Michael had been sent home early due to lack of work (which I told him later was definetly a blessing from above because I don’t know that I could have dealt with this on my own – especially since I had no idea what this thing really was!) so I went and made him get out of the shower and explain to our landlords that it’s not a “live” weapon. Well that wasn’t good enough. They told us they had no choice but to call the police and S.W.A.T and whomever else had to be around. I straight up said that’s fine, do what you have to do – because really, we have nothing to hide!

So we said we’d call for them being it was our house, and then they suggested we just go to the station instead. We hopped in our vehicles and drove to the station where I went in and explained to the policeman what had happened, and we just wanted them to confirm for our landlords there was no problem with our ornament. Anyways, the police honestly seemed to care less about the situation. They looked at it and said that of course they have to assume its “live” until further clarity, but they would look into it. They were so casual about it I felt so much better. So we wrote our name/number/address down on a STICKY-NOTE (tells you how much of a “big deal” this was right? They did not even file a report!) and we went on our way.

Now, when we got into the parking lot, I went over to my landlords and said “okay, so are things alright between us now?” and they just huffed and said “I’m just not sure yet.” and jumped in their vehicle and drove off. They still anticipate that our house will be searched and this is “serious”.

I immediately called Crystal to tell her our the story. She told Tyler later, and then Tyler called Michael later to apologize/explain the story behind it. We hold no bad feelings toward Tyler as frankly it wasn’t a bad thing he did giving him it. Tyler called to confirm though that it was definetly decommissioned – his dad had found it some odd 25 years ago, and when he found it he personally took it in to get decommissioned just to be safe. Tyler has had it for 9 years, and they were cleaning house and Michael had admired it last time we were there, so Tyler gave it to him as a gift.

Where I stand:
-This caused me exuberant amounts of stress which is NOT good for someone 36 weeks pregnant.
-My landlords were extremely rude and harsh and would not accept any form of apology we offered.
-I feel strongly they want to kick us out.
-I am not sure if I did anything wrong – like, was the ATCO guy out of place? Was the landlord out of place? Were we in the wrong to have this in our home? What are my rights here?
-Now that I reflect on it, with some other “issues” we’ve had with our landlord/upstairs people, I find they are acting more like parents than landlords, and I’m not sure I want to deal with them any longer.
-This is a completely attack on my person (at least that’s how I am taking it unintentionally) and I’m really upset about it.
-I do appreciate where they are coming from, but the way they have handled things is not so impressive.

Was feeling "green"...

so I changed my template up. Nice to spice things up once in a while. Also I am killing time at my temp job LOL

The Great Diaper Dilemma

Cloth versus Disposable Diapers
To be honest, I had never really considered anything but disposable diapers until my father-in-law's wife Kris asked me what I was going to do. I was bored on her acreage when she asked (at Easter) so I used my blackberry to google it. There are definitely economical and environmental reasons to go with cloth but is that reason enough to out weight the perceived convenience??

Cost, Convenience, Time, Etc:

-I hate doing laundry and our washer & dryer are in the basement whereas baby's room is two floors up, upstairs.
-I am very grossed out by poo (baby, adult or animal produced). Not sure if I can stomach whatever is necessary to do cloth diapers.
-Cloth diapers have come a LONG way from when I was a baby. They are more than just a facecloth with clothes' pins nowadays.

-"Disposable diapers, especially the super-absorbent AGM type, generally require fewer changes and less change time than cloth diapers. They also are convenient for travel and day-care use. Cloth diapers take up less purchase time, but they require additional time for washing and folding, if laundered at home."

-There is an initial start-up cost to doing cloth diapers. My friend Katherine has a friend Melody in Lacombe who has a company called "All Natural Babies" (search it on facebook to check out the catalogue) which shows some of the cloth diaper lines. Most of the diapers seem to be adjustable to work for the entire diaper age range. They price ranged about $15-23 dollars each. I'm not sure how many diapers you would need though?? Most estimates say it'll be about $2-300 dollars to start up with cloth.

-"...disposable diapers can cost between $1500 and $2100 over the course of the three years it takes the average child to be toilet trained," Diane Weathers of Consumer Reports said."

-"The basic numbers show that you will spend approximately $50 a month for disposables (with wipes) compared to about $40 a month for washing your own cloth diapers or about $50 a month for a diaper service. So the acquisition of the diapers themselves shows cloth to be cheaper, but overall cost of care is not very different"

Enviromental Considerations:

-"Throwaway diapers make up the third most common item in our landfill spaces, behind paper products and food containers. Since the average disposable takes about 500 years to break down in a landfill, the proportion of diapers there is ever-increasing."

-"The amount of water to wash diapers is about the same as it is for a potty trained child or adult flushing the toilet." says one source while another says "Generally, creating waste in landfills by using disposable diapers is no more environmentally harmful than using water and energy to wash cloth diapers," Weathers said.[Weathers is from Consumer Reports]

-"Although some diapers are touted as biodegradable, the lack of oxygen in landfills means disposable diapers can take a long time to break down."

-"Judging the relative environmental impact of each method, then, means deciding to what extent solid waste is a more important problem than water use and wastewater disposal."

Ideally, I would like to shadow someone who uses cloth diapers and see how it affects their day. However I don't see that being realistic. I'm still on the fence about this topic but leaning towards disposables at this point.

Sources:
http://www.healthunit.com/article.aspx?ID=10271

http://www.perc.ca/waste-line/articles/diaper.html

3D Ultrasounds: FAQ & Internet Information

I facebooked a girl I used to work with & she said that "most" of her ultrasounds were 3d and she didn't pay anything for them as they were doctor ordered. I'm not sure how many she had, but she obviously had multiple ultrasounds that were 3D. If the exposure effected her baby in any way, I'm sure I would have heard about it by now!

From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3D_ultrasound#Timing_of_3D_ultrasound

"Gender determination is the most accurate at 20 weeks and beyond, with a rate of 95%, as reported in the medical literature based on ob/gyn visits generally done at 20 weeks."

From one of the Companies that does 3D Ultrasounds: http://www.uc-baby.com/en/why-uc-baby/faq.php

Is 3D Ultrasound safe?
When it comes to safety there is no difference between 3D and traditional 2D Ultrasounds. Because both ultrasound methods use same kind of sound waves.
The last 50 years of research shows no harm to the developing baby from ultrasound scanning. Ultrasound is one of the safest means available for scanning unborn babies. The greatest risks arising from the use of ultrasound are the possible by inadequately trained staff and using poor equipment.

What are the benefits of 3D or 4D ultrasound?

Because the 3D pictures and 4D videos are more life-like, there is better and stronger bonding between parents and the baby. Increased bonding has been shown to improve mother's care of herself and therefore of her baby. Also 3D ultrasound increases the sense of maternal well-being and enjoyment of the pregnancy.

Can I find out the sex of my baby during the 3D ultrasound?

Yes, you can. The sex is determined after 20 weeks and the accuracy while not 100% is higher with 3D ultrasound. It depends on the baby's position, amniotic fluid around the baby, location of the cord and the mother's body type.

From: http://www.askquestions.org/articles/ultrasound/

"To date, studies of humans exposed to ultrasound have shown the following possible adverse effects: growth retardation, dyslexia, and delayed speech development. But only one effect, a higher rate of left-handedness among boys exposed to neonatal ultrasound, has been observed in at least three separate studies. "

"In other words, doctors accept that there may be risks, but they believe that medical ultrasound remains a beneficial practice when performed by a trained operator for diagnostic purposes. According to Dr. Joshua Copel, Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology and Pediatrics at Yale University, “It’s impossible to prove ultrasound is completely safe, but if you’re getting medically helpful information, then the tradeoff is reasonable.”"

"The biggest wildcard in the politics of ultrasound — even bigger than big money — is the anti-abortion movement’s embrace of the technology. Calling the images a “miracle,” activist newsletters and magazines abound in reports of women who change their minds about abortion after seeing 3D videos of their unborn fetus. "

From: http://www.ob-ultrasound.net/

"It has been over 40 years since ultrasound was first used on pregnant women. Unlike X-rays, ionizing irradiation is not present and embryotoxic effects associated with such irradiation should not be relevant. The use of high intensity ultrasound is associated with the effects of "cavitation" and "heating" which can be present with prolonged insonation in laboratory situations.

Although certain harmful effects in cells are observed in a laboratory setting, abnormalities in embryos and offsprings of animals and humans have not been unequivocally demonstrated in the large amount of studies that have so far appeared in the medical literature purporting to the use of diagnostic ultrasound in the clinical setting. Apparent ill-effects such as low birthweight, speech and hearing problems, brain damage and non-right-handedness reported in small studies have not been confirmed or substantiated in larger studies from Europe. The complexity of some of the studies have made the observations difficult to interpret. Every now and then ill effects of ultrasound on the fetus appears as a news item in papers and magazines. Continuous vigilance is necessary particularly in areas of concern such as the use of pulsed Doppler in the first trimester.

The greatest risks arising from the use of ultrasound are the possible over- and under- diagnosis brought about by inadequately trained staff, often working in relative isolation and using poor equipment. "

Obviously there is conflicting opinions out there. The gist of what I'm reading is that a) there is no evidence directly linking ultrasound with negative effects but b) since they are unsure of the risks, the official world does not support the 3d ultrasounds for non-medical purposes. Ultimately, as with EVERY decision about baby, you have to weigh the pros/cons for yourself.

Contemplating 3D/4D Ultrasounds

So right off the bat, I feel very hypocritical even considering a 3D/4D ultrasound because about 6 weeks ago I had absolutely no interest in getting one. I thought that they looked kind of creepy and were very expensive and that I would easily like to spend that money on something else.

However, in light of us not finding out gender at the 18 week ultrasound as I had hoped, I found myself considering this option. Here's the info:

-I can get in for May 15th (a Friday so Tyler can be there too) in Red Deer at the "Central Alberta Fertility Clinic",

-for $150 you get a 30 minute appointment & 5 - 6 pictures printed off,

-for an additional $25 you can get a 15 - 30 minute DVD made of moving video clips,

-they ARE there for your entertainment so I'm hoping they'd be a little nicer than the other lady,

-as an added bonus you are suppose to arrive with an EMPTY bladder.

I do have another regular ultrasound scheduled for July 3rd (also a Friday for Tyler). I am not 100% satisfied with knowing that because:

-that is a whole 2 months away and only about 2 months or so before baby is due (2 months ISH depending on circumstances),

-there are still no guarantees that we can find out gender at that appointment. The appointment is for them to identify the location of my placenta at that point and see if its still near or covering my cervix and I can already see them being so concerned with that, that they won't bother with gender.

In addition to that, I still feel as if I am not yet connected to baby. I've been going through a bunch of parenting magazines that I've stockpiled (a whole other story) and I keep coming across advertisements for the 3D/4D which are getting me more and more on board. One of the points they made is that it helps you connect with baby & I could see that. It also says that they use the exact same technology & frequency of normal ultrasounds so that makes me feel better about the exposure factor. I also feel like I was "ripped" off of a positive experience at my last ultrasound and want to have a positive experience to reflect on for our baby.

If you're like me and you're wondering what the difference between 3D & 4 D is...

-3D is because you have depth in addition to height & width,

-4D is when you actually have the motion as well (so a video verus a still picture).

I'm still not 100% sure though as cost is still a factor for me, though it is less expensive than I thought it would be and I AM a scrapbooker so the extra photos could come in handy. Another big factor is of course there are still no guarantees that we'll find out gender at this appointment. So I think I need to decide if there is more elements to this that I'd enjoy other than just gender. They could also be wrong about gender (as a normal u/s tech could be), as I just heard a story directly from a girl who was told she was having a boy. Then ended up with another ultrasound (as they found out their baby had cystic fibrosis) and at that u/s were told girl. They had a girl. I'm not sure if she was here in town or not. I'm going to find out though!

Ugh, pregnancy is just the beginning of making endless decisions. At this point the good outweighs the bad for me but I haven't specifically discussed it with Tyler yet. I'm going to try to remember to talk to him tonight about it.

Oh & I googled "images" of 3D ultrasound and they are better than I remembered them being. However I think the further along you are, the better they'll be & I'll only be about 22 weeks (which is the earliest they do them).

To Vaccinate or Not To Vaccinate, that's one of the questions!

DISCLAIMER: My intent was to write a blog outlining the pros/cons of both sides of the coin, however I find I am way to much on the one side to fairly write about the other side. I apologize to those who were maybe looking for more info on why not to vaccinate. You won't find it here, sorry!

One of my favorite TV shows, "Law & Order" is famous in my books for writing shows that are very current in terms of what is going on in reality. Very "art imitating life". A week or so ago "Law & Order SVU" did a show on a baby dying. It actually starred 'Hilary Duff' (shout out to Kyla!) as a young mother. The story started out being about her being an unfit mom but it turned out her less than 12 month old baby died from the measles. They traced the measles to a woman who didn't believe in vaccinating her toddler who had gotten the measles and recovered. The problem was, measles is highly contagious and in the meantime, when he wasn't displaying any symptoms, she had taken him to a park where he had passed on the sickness to other kids who were too young to be vaccinated.

Here's some facts I learned about measles from Law & Order (I'm assuming they are true LOL):

-the virus or whatever causes the measles stays in the room after the infected person as left for 1 hour,

-it is contagious up to 200 yards away,

-you can be contagious for 21 days without having any symptoms.

Those are some scary facts! Especially since while yes, your kid could just get over it, they could also die from it. One of the important points the episode brought up for me in the whole vaccinating debate is that the decision you make not only effects your child but also other children around you. Are you willing to have the possiblity of other children's deaths & illness on your hands?

Jenny McCarthy is one of the leading voices on not vaccinating. Her son developed autism and she believes it was from vaccinations. Last I checked her son no longer displayed any autism symptoms due to a diet regimne she had him on. While I do love to take advice from celebrities, I've decided to research other opinions on the web...

I also think it's important to mention that one of my good-friend-from-growing-up's nephew has autism and when I mentioned Jenny McCarthy at our last social connection, my friend rolled her eyes and shook her head. It seems that Jenny may not be a voice for EVERYONE in the autism community!

Reasoning & quotes from those who do believe in Vaccinating:

-"largely because of the movement by a determined minority against vaccination, long eradicated diseases are gaining a new foothold, making vaccination as important as ever."

-"doctors are so worried about a potential public-health crisis that 22 medical and advocacy groups recently formed the Immunization Alliance in order to make sure that kids get immunized."

-kids can die from the diseases the vaccines prevent. If your child does get autism, he/she is still around for you to love & hold, if he/she dies they are not there at all.

-"The notion that childhood vaccines cause autism is a belief based on anecdotal experiences that is not backed up by the facts. There is now good scientific evidence that such a relationship does not exist. But not vaccinating children, or delaying to do so, can potentially have serious individual and public health consequences. The collective time lost from school, the individual misery, and the formidable complications (brain injury, deafness, and others) make it worthwhile to once again make those diseases obsolete."

-"Measles cases in the U.S. are at the highest level in more than a decade, with nearly half of those involving children whose parents rejected vaccination, health officials reported Thursday.
Worried doctors are troubled by the trend fueled by unfounded fears that vaccines may cause autism. The number of cases is still small, just 131, but that’s only for the first seven months of the year. There were only 42 cases for all of last year."

-"When a major drop in rates of immunization against whooping cough occurred in the UK in 1974, there was an outbreak of more than 100,000 cases and 36 deaths by 1978."

-Diseases that vaccinations help prevent: measles, polio, smallpox, diphtheria, chicken pox, meningitis, mumps, whooping cough,

Reasoning from those who don't belive in Vaccinating:

-believe vaccinations are linked to autism, aggression and other learning disabilities (though there is allegedly no concrete evidence of a link),

-"immune function obviously didn’t achieve perfection through vaccines, and I suspected immune function was on the decline. Everyone’s always sick. These are my unscientific, not-supported-by-statistics, observations about the people around me. "

-"I think that parents need to really think about medical advice that's one-size-fits-all, whether it's for a vaccine or something else, they need to look at their individual child"

A friend of mine & I were discussing how hypocritical some of these non-vaccinators can be. A friend of her's gets very "passionate" about her beliefs and how "wrong" it is to vaccinate yet she sees no problem with smoking marijuana and breastfeeding (let alone smoking marijuana period).

Evidence - it appears that some of the studies that supported a link between autism and vaccinatations have since been retracted due to "conflicts of interest" coming out. It's always interesting how people's personal motivations can motivate "scientific results"!

Which ever decision you make or I make is sure to have pro's & con's. If one decision had no con's then the choice would be obvious. All we can do, all we can ever do, is to do CREDIBLE research, trust our instincts and hope for the best. I feel that it is VERY common for opinions to be passed on which utilizes on scare tactics more than evidence (a.k.a. the mania that is Swine Flu right now), especially with the internet as an available tool for any person to spread their uneducated opinion like a wildfire.

Personally, I like to be a proactive person and I believe the proactive choice in this situation is to vaccinate. That was the decision my mother made for me and I never got the measles, mumps, polo etc. A few generations before me they didn't have these vaccines and millions suffered or died from these diseases. I also believe that this decision also helps the general public health and I'd like to be a positive contributor to society out of education then a negative contributor out of fear. I am also very skeptical of anything that appears to be more of a "hippie" attitude bucking the system than conventional wisedom. I don't believe in living my life in fear that some fictionalized man in a suit with money is buying political opinions and FDA approvals. However, that being said, if Michael Moore did a documentry on Vaccinates, he definitely has the power to sway me LOL That's the way the scales have tipped for me, what have/will you decide?

I also can't help but feel that this topic closely shadows the religious beliefs regarding blood transfusions etc, where certain people believe that they'd rather put their trust in their God then medical science. While I agree that medical science is more of an art than a science, I also feel that I'd rather do EVERYTHING I could to stack the odds in my favor.

Additional Comment: It's kind of like smoking. Yeah it's your decision, except that when you do it (smoke or not vaccinate) that action impacts the rest of the world (second hand smoke and increased disease breakouts respectively). One of the arguments of non-vaccinators is that it doesn't affect other children however it does:
-the ones who are too young to get vaccinated yet,
-those who the vaccine was unsuccessful with,
-those who are unable to get vaccinated due to medical reasons (such as an auto immune disease).

Interesting Articles:

Consequences of Not Vaccinating (Apr 6/09): http://momblog.santarosamom.com/default.asp?item=2360272

Rare Sickness Kills Child; Officials Urge Vaccination (Jan 23/09) :

http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/01/23/hib.vaccine.cdc/index.html

Sources:

http://blogs.consumerreports.org/health/2008/09/to-vaccinate-or.html

http://cdc.gov/vaccines/

http://www.vegfamily.com/vaccines/deciding-not-vaccinate.htm

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/12/04/earlyshow/contributors/emilysenay/main531638.shtml

http://www.kelownaparents.com/?p=247

For more information on vaccines in Canada, visit one of the sites below:
http://www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/im/index-eng.php
http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/hl-vs/iyh-vsv/med/immuniz-eng.php
http://www.cps.ca/caringforkids/immunization/VaccinationChild.htm

Follow up with Dr.Phil(pot) & Cool Website

So the majority of my appointment was spent talking about how I now have a low lying placenta. Which means that instead of being toward the back or top it is close to the cervix. So if it is still that way closer to my due date then it'll be an automatic c-section (which doesn't bother me all THAT much). For those that are interested in the bio lesson: the placenta is what nourishes the baby. Normally you would want the baby to deliver and then the placenta to follow. If it's in the way of the cervix, then I would have to c-section as baby needs to come out through the cervix.

I needed to schedule another ultrasound for the end of the 2nd/beginning of the 3rd trimester to check on it so I'm booked in for July 3rd. Two months away but better than nothing. Oh & if I end up having any bleeding I'll need to do an ultrasound right away. And I'm suppose to abstain from intercourse for now cuz it could irritate my cervix and cause bleeding (and yes I've selfishly considered not listening so that maybe it will cause bleeding and I'll get in sooner. But Tyler refused). She's also referring me to an Obstetrician just to be cautious and get his opinion (as I'm considered a little more high risk now). Most likely she figures he'll just give us some direction but tell me to keep seeing Dr.Phil (who's just a general practicioner not a specialized OB). I haven't googled anything yet about it but I'm sure there's a wealth of info out there.

C-sections don't scare me anymore than actual labor does. In fact, even though they are surgery, I think they'd be better in the long run as I have heard SO many horror stories about long labors and then followed by c-sections. Then I could guarantee baby was born in September (sapphire birthstone) as my due date is the 20th and I think pre-scheduled c-sections are done about two weeks early? Maybe they could even do a tummy tuck while they're down there?

She also mentioned that they baby is head down which I'm not sure if that's an issue or not as she didn't elaborate. Tyler had a large head for his size as a baby so I've been pretty freaked about that for a while!

Dr.Phil also informed me that they are changing how they are doing things a little as there is so many doctors retiring & semi-retiring and not doing deliveries anymore. Instead of having one doctor I'll have a group of doctors and when I go into labor (if that's the cause) then it could be any of those doctors who are scheduled for that day. That's how they do things at my friend Kyla's clinic and I'm actually surprised that doctors didn't come up with this idea sooner: Dr.Phil shared how difficult it can be if you take a day to help one of your patients deliver and then you have to try to take all those missed appointments and re-fit them into an already full schedule. So instead each doctor would have pre-set aside days of when they are doing deliveries (or on call for deliveries I guess). However all of that would be irrelevant if the Obstetrician decides he wants to keep me under his care.

I've also been referred to a cool website by a friend. It has recordings of pregnancy & baby related discussions. I haven't listened yet but I'm sure it's worth checking out:

http://www.pregtastic.com/

Baby Daddies

I'm sure most of you are filled in on the situation but in case you've forgotten here's the details:

My brother Cody was dating a girl, Crystal who is about 4 years older and has a 5 year old son. First of all, having kids brings baggage to a relationship (sad but true) and my brother is very young for his years so I wasn't all that kosher with him dating a girl with a kid (let alone someone so much older than him). Secondly, I have rarely met another Crystal I have liked.

That being said I had met her with an open mind. So in August/September of 2007 I met the girl and her kid. The kid's name is Blake and is a pretty cute one. His mother (& my brother's girlfriend at the time) was something else. She is one of those people who acts more like a big sister than a mother. She would say things to her son Blake like "don't be stupid" and "don't be a butthead" and I really hate when people talk to their kids like that. I think it's SO important for a mother to be her kids' #1 fan & supporter. Anyhoo, I wasn't too impressed with her. Then while I was there my brother & his girlfriend got into a mega fight - not in front of me as they lived together already (yes after they had only been dating for at most 4 months) & I was at my Aunt's house - but he come over to my Aunt's so we knew it was going on. When I left after the weekend it seemed they would be breaking up shortly.

One week or so later I get a phone call from my dad saying 'guess what?' and I correctly guessed that she was pregnant. Seemed a little too convenient. After Christmas the two of them got into yet another fight where she got violent & starting throwing things at him. My brother called my mom & said he wanted to leave and she encourage him to as if the cops were ever called they'd hardly believe this pregnant lady was the one being violent. She was definitely pissed that he left her as i'm sure her frame of mind was that babies trap men into relationships.

Her dates never really made sense along the way so I doubted she was pregnant the whole time but she did end up popping out a baby on May 2, 2008. However she ensured my brother wasn't there when baby was born by calling my Uncle's cell phone @ 2am instead of their house phone (my brother lives with my Aunt & Uncle). So she took the liberty of naming the baby herself: Chaise Alexander Corey Major (note my brother's name is Cody David Johnson so there is no reference to him, but Corey does happen to be one of their male friend's name, oh & she wasn't welcome at their house for a while...hmmm). So anyway, my brother was pretty upset about that, but he's also not the sharpest dude so they convinced him that he had to sign the bab papers and so he basically accepted the name by doing that.

In the beginning, when my mom & I came down Crystal brought Chaise over to my Aunt's house to visit. Which was nice of her. But then she realized we weren't going to be showering her with gifts or anything so she stopped being nice. She started refusing visitations and insisting that my brother pay child support through the courts (which he was giving her money without the courts). We visited a lawyer who gave us no hope even after we described the conditions of her home. Spent a few times in court, my brother gave up for a few months, then finally he has gotten re-involved again. Now he has visits ordered by the court every Tuesday, Thursday & every other weekend for a few hours each time. They are scheduled to go back to court on the second Thursday in June to re-evaluate how things are going & see if Cody can get more visiting in. Chaise will also be over a year old by then. In the meantime, Crystal has tried every "trick" in the book to get more money out of my brother:

-Maternity Payments: child support for the last three months of pregnancy. Her reasoning was that she needed money to get all the baby stuff in order. Funny, my brother does too but he doesn't get to ask her for money. The judge asked if he was willing to pay it, he said no, judge asked if he'd go half & Cody said fine. Judge ruled that he would pay $450 over the next 6 months versus the $900 she wanted all at once. Crystal was pissed.

-tried to get more than the $300/month that was ruled for child support based on my brother's income (my brother has maybe a 10th grade education & does manual labor for my Uncle for a living). Judge looked at the tax papers and said what he was paying was fair. So...

-she filed papers to have my Aunt's payroll audited to make sure they were paying my brother properly. Pain in the butt for my Aunt, but no changes were made.

-Then she asked for "activity payments" to be set up 90% my brother and 10% her. First off, Chaise was like 6 months old so what kind of activities does he do? Secondly, the judge ruled that they both earn about the same amount of money so no they will split any activities 50/50. She didn't like that either.

-She also wanted my brother to pay for daycare so that she could spend time going back to school and she wanted my brother to pay for her to go back to school. The major flaw I see with this is that my 20 yr old brother with a 10th grade education is suppose to pay for a 25 yr old girl who has some college to go back to school? Maybe he should ask for her to pay for HIM to go back to school. Anyway, i'm not sure if she's filed any official paperwork but I know he isn't paying anything extra at this point.

That's about all the ones I can remember. When Chaise was newly born, my brother mentioned getting a paternity test and Crystal freaked out. As a guy who had only been with a girl a few months, I know I would have done a test just to feel 100% that the kid was mine. Especially when I had no say in naming the baby & then she was being so difficult about the whole thing. My dad & I feel that even if only 1% of you wonders if it's yours, you should do the test to be sure. If the results come back that it's yours, great now you have no surprises down the road and you can feel more confident about fighting for your kid & his rights. However, if you find out it's not yours, then you've saved yourself the pain of bonding with a child that isn't yours and the woman knowing and manipulating you about it. Plus you have taken away her power to hold that possiblity over your head.

One of my friends, Danielle, let me know that you can actually order paternity kits online. Basically a lab sends you some cotton swabs and you send back one with the kid's salvia & one with yours. Then in five business days you know the results. The results don't hold up in court as there isn't a proper chain of evidence, but the way my dad & I figure is that if you get the results and it's his kid then you know 100% and Crystal is never the wiser that you did it so she doesn't have a chance to be pissed off. Then if she ever tries to pull the whole "maybe it's not your kid" down the line, you can be confident that it is. If you get the results that it isn't his kid, then you can go the proper more lab based root (& more expensive) and who cares if you piss her off because you have nothing to lose at that point.

So I googled "paternity kits" and got LOTS of results. I went with the one called www.whozthedaddy.com because it was a little less costly ($189) and the lab is based out of Edmonton so a little more local for us. My dad was here last week so he slapped down his credit card and I ordered it for him. Now, the next time my dad goes down to visit (scheduled in June) they can do the swabs and we should know for sure. You can probably expect a blog either way with the results!

you know you're getting old when...

I wanted to get a new swimsuit because the one useable suit I have is a little low cut and the top doesn't fit the best which reemphasizes how low cut it is. First I went to Penningtons (plus size store) but they had a small selection. I didn't love any of them & they were about $90 each so I left and headed for Walmart. A lot of the tops at walmart were tie up around the neck (another issue with my old suit), which I wanted to a void as it gives me neck pain. The suit I liked & went with is the reason I know I'm getting old. It is one of those dress/skirt suits I swore I'd never wear AND I think it looks cute. How did old age sneak up on me like that.

A Few Topics

Bella Bands

I've been having low back pain & some occassional pelvic pains so I thought this product, Bella Band might help. Its marketed as a product you can use from the beginning of pregnancy to the post labor days. Essentially it is a spandex tube top that you wear over your waste. I got it on Monday - so it's still early days - but I'd say my biggest complaint is that since its got spandex in it, it tends to "roll" up. Maybe that means I should have gotten the bigger size but I figured since the size three fit (yep i got to buy something in a size three, ha ha) that that's the once I should go with. I'll include a picture for your reference & I'll keep you posted on it.

Jealousy

Alright, so this girl I went to high school with who isn't a close friend but is kind of friends with a friend is pregnant right now. She had a baby in May of 2008 so with her due date info her first will be about 16 months when the second is born. I found out yesterday that her due date as been bumped up to October 2 (it was much later in October before) and since she had a c-section the first time, they will schedule her about two weeks before that for her c-section which puts it right around Sept 18th. Um, not only is my personal birthday on the 23rd but my due date is September 20th. I don't really appreciate sharing that time period with anyone else. Especially someone who just had a baby and doesn't need to hog my baby & birthday month LOL Thankfully she is not super close or anything but it's still annoying. My friend Shelley's boy was born on the 21st of 2007 so I wonder if she feels the same way about her boy's birthday. Hopefully the baby will be a week or two early so he/she doesn't have to share with anyone.

Husbands Who Work Away

Tyler has been working in other towns for a good chunk of our relationship. When your spouse works away for most of the week, it presents a few challenges: you have to do all the work around home by yourself, you get into your own schedule and then when they come home it messes it up, you just simply build your own private life and then have to fit them in when they're home on the weekends. I was willing to deal with these ramifications when it was just the two of us but I have said for a very long time that I wouldn't put up with that when we have kids. When Tyler used to work in Fort McMurray he caught the bus every Sunday in the Tim Horton's parking lot. While we waited for the right bus and the right amount of 'fullness' on the bus, I would watch the other families saying goodbye to their dad or husbands. There would even be van-ful's of kids saying goodbye. I decided then & there that it would be unfair to father & kids to have that kind of relationship.

Right now Tyler is working in Fort Saskatchewan. The plant there is booming despite the recession and there is at least a year's worth of work there, they are told. In my 8 1/2 years of experience with the Electrical Union I would say that about 90% of the jobs that are available have been in the Edmonton area or in Fort Mac. There have only been a handful of jobs in the Red Deer area and even in the Calgary area. So I basically told Tyler, that come September (when baby will be here) he needs to decide if he's going to quit the union and find an non-union job in Red Deer or stay with the union and we'll move to a community closer to Edmonton.

Even though I said come September, its really a decision that needs to be made closer to now...after all it might require selling our house here and looking for a house elsewhere and that doesn't happen overnight. And realistically, I don't want to be 9 months pregnant and moving or even non-pregnant with a very young baby. I don't think I wrote about this yet but if I did, I apologize for repeating myself!

Another Nightmare

I woke up Saturday morning from the following nightmare/dream:

I had had the baby (it was a girl who looked a lot like baby Tehya) but for some strange reason I was unable to breastfeed for one month. So for some even stranger reason, Kim was breastfeeding my baby for me. So I was getting really upset because she was doing all the so called "bonding" with MY baby but everyone else seemed okay with it because it's oh so important for baby's to have breastmilk over formula. Finally I got upset enough that I got really mad at her and said it was my baby & I'd do what I wanted to do with her.

Now let's analyze that dream LOL Well I definitely have been feeling a lot of pressure from the world to breastfeed and I've definitely been struggling with the concept. The best way I can think to explain it, is that for as long as I've had boobs they have been a sexual object. I was never really the kind of kid who "dreamt" of being a mom so I never really thought of them in their real purpose of feeding babes. So it's a little weird to think of a baby sucking on my breast but to put it in a non-sexual context. Make sense?

Anyway, I've decided to try not to really stress or think about it right now. I'm hoping that once the baby arrives it'll feel more natural to me and it won't be an issue. I don't really buy into the whole "breast is best" propaganda that is put out into society and the anti-conformist in me wants to not do it simply to rebel. However I did find out that formula costs like $300/month and that is a lot of money to spend if I don't have to. I am also inherently lazy and popping a baby onto a boob sounds like less work in the long run than making bottles!

Info Tidbit & Ultrasound Update

What is the difference between an ultrasound and a sonogram? (I get asked this a lot & I didn't know the answer but I came across it today)

An ultrasound is the machine that allows you to see your baby during your pregnancy. A sonogram is the picture taken of your baby during the ultrasound. A sonogram is a "still-shot" of your baby.

UPDATE:

-I can't get into my Doctor until May 1st (next Friday), so I have to wait until that day to see if she'll even consider giving me another ultrasound rec form.

-I called Janeen, the Tech Supervisor, at CAMIS to follow up with my complaint and she basically informed me that they are there for medical purposes and it is not their job to entertain me and that if they see gender it is a bonus. She was super bitchy and defensive and not at all sympathetic. So either she's never been pregnant before, or she has benefited from working there as a pregnant person, or they didn't have the technology in her day so she doesn't care if I have access to it. Needless to say, she didn't care if my appointment was less than positive for me as long as they got the pictures they needed. Glad to see that Customer Service is still a priority for companies today!!!! Oh, and I'm pretty sure my tax dollars pay her salary...maybe I should write a snarky letter. A little sympathy would have went a long way with me rather than the cold, attacking defense she put out.

Logical vs Emotional

So logically I know that the following experience isn't that big of a deal in the grand scheme of things...but emotional it is!

My Ultrasound Appointment Today:

So I have been counting down the sleeps to my ultrasound like a kid does for their birthday or Christmas morning. In fact, when I went to bed last night & awoke this morning it felt like Christmas! I couldn't wait until appointment when at last the mystery of boy or girl could be determined and I could finally do the things I've been waiting to do. I've been putting off looking at baby names until we could focus on one gender. I've been putting off any room decorating plans until I know which colors & schemes would be more suitable. I even thought I would be able to bond better with a little being once I knew if it was a baby boy or a baby girl. It would be one more piece of the puzzle to what kind of baby we were going to have.

The beauty of finding out this info was/is that there is no wrong answer! Yes I am leaning more towards boy but girl is still good too. I just want to know so that I can move forward with my plans and everything.

So I made sure that I drank my water this morning. And I even drank a OJ juice box because I heard it helped increase baby's activity so that you were more likely to see the appropriate parts. Then I went to CAMIS (the place that looks like a ski chalet) where my appointment was at for my 12:45pm appointment. The lady at the desk asked me if it was my first ultrasound there and I said basically yes so she gave me a laminiated card to look over. The card had a couple blurbs on it that basically said that they understand that you're excited but that they need to do their medical stuff first and then hopefully they can tell you the sex if you so wish to know. Then a woman called out my name and I got up to follow her and handed her the card (so she should know that it was my first time). She pointed me to a curtained change room & told me to put on the gown and leave on my undergarments. I didn't understand the need to be naked, so I asked if I was suppose to take off my top only or pants too? And she responded with a frosty "Undergarments on ONLY". So that was a great start.

So I got on my nice hospital gown opening to the back, and noted to self to consider not wearing a thong next time and to possibly shave my legs. She came back to get me and again in her abrupt tone told me to grab my purse (so I assumed to leave my clothes there), then to put my purse on the chair in the room and to lay back on the bed. She asked if this was my first pregnancy & I said "well i had a miscarriage before..." she asked "how far along" i said "early, less than 4 weeks". Then she said "so your first ulrasound told you your due date?" and I said "well that & my period dates". Then without anymore talking she squirted the (thankfully warmed) gel onto my pelvis area and went to town with the monitor, making sure to move it so I couldn't see a thing. About 10 minutes went by without her speaking to me when I asked "so what are you looking for at this ultrasound" to which she responded "anatomy". Okay, cranky one for sure I thought. Then after a minute or two she elborated to say something which i don't remember about the different parts all of which fall under anatomy within about 30 seconds. Then silence again.

Then some more time went by, and then she asked me to move onto my right side so she could get a different look. I asked if baby was being difficult and she said "yes" and I said that wasn't anything new. More silence. Then she asked me to move back to my back. Then she asked my husband's name to which I said Tyler and wondered why she had asked me that. She asked me if I needed to pee and I said it depended on how much longer we were going to be. She said she was all done and was just going to grab my husband to tell us stuff. I said he's not here he's working in Fort Saskatchewan. She was like "oh then I can just show you now then you can go pee". So she spun the monitor over and pointed out baby's head, arms, feet. Okay that wasn't anything new. She referred to baby as a "he" so I asked if she was able to tell the gender then and she responded with "oh, we just call all babies "he". you'll have to tell us at the beginning so if the tech has time they can look for that. so if you come in again you can ask then." and that was it.

she told me to go pee and come back. so i did, and i was trying not to cry with disappoint about not finding anything out - gender...or weigh or length or anything other than my baby has a head & four limbs. when i got back she said 'oh you can just go change cuz we need this room and then i'll come meet you at the changing room. and there are your pictures.' so i put my clothes on & looked at the pictures and they weren't clear or pronounced or really any better than the ones we got from Calgary at 13 weeks. she was taking a while so i went to the front desk to make sure that i was suppose to wait and the front desk lady told me to go back to the change room. i was there for another minute or two when the tech came back and said "yep everything's fine. and IF you come back tell them at the beginning."

so i managed to make it to my car and then i started crying because i had built up this moment so much and here i knew absolutely nothing and it seemed like that was because she was too busy to find out. i had booked this appointment 6 weeks in advance and they were too busy to tell me the one thing i wanted to know. everything i had every read about ultrasounds at this stage basically said that if you DIDN'T want to know to make sure that was clear at the beginning. i wasn't prepared at all for telling her i wanted to know in advance.

I've spent a good long time being upset, and whenever I try to talk about it or think about it I start crying again. It doesn't help that I am a hormonal pregnant lady. At first I wasn't sure if I was allowed to be upset or what but my friend Megan assures me that this was suppose to be my experience as much as it is a medical necessity and that I shouldn't have to leave feeling the way I did. She called the CAMIS on my behalf to put in a complaint about the way it was handled and see if I could re-book an appointment ASAP. Megan was very diplomat about the whole thing for me repeating that we didn't want to hurt anyone's feelings and that we understood they weren't there for our "entertainment" (as they put it) but that it's still a service and that I should have come away at least with a better explanation and a little more info about baby. The lady didn't sound very forthcoming on the phone so I am suppose to call her myself, which I'll do when I am a little less teary eyed about it. I did put in a phone call to my Dr.Phil as she seems like a much more sympathetic individual, hoping that I can get a new ultrasound rec asap and then go to the other place in town that is easier/faster to get into and has a little better bedside manor. I think i will try to do all future business with them as much as possible!

I'll add my new lame ass photos for your judgement...the first one will be my 13 weeks so you can compare.

It seemed like a good idea at the time...

When I was talking to Tyler on the phone tonight he was telling me about the burger & onion rings he had for supper and I was like "that sounds so good, I'm going to go get that". So I drove threw snow flurries & got a teen burger and onion rings, then I ate about 3/4 of it...and now I feel nasty, gross & disgusting. It tasted good going down but now it feels like it is going to come back up. I almost always feel this way after A&W so I don't know what I have this amnesia about it shortly before purchasing...blah!

Pregnancy Dreams

One of the most common experiences pregnant women have is "weird" dreams. I personally, have always had weird dreams! But now I feel a little more normal for it ha ha Here is a recount of my dream last night that left me very weirded out this morning...

THE DREAM:

I awake in a ficticious bathtub, having the knowledge that I've been in there for a while (anywhere from a few hours to a few days, I can't remember which one or if it was both, you know how dreams are). I feel kind of weird 'down there' so I reach down and feel that I am crowning! The nice thing is that I don't feel any pain, the not cool thing is that I am about to give birth. So Tyler calls an ambulance & I'm excited until I remember that I'm not even 5 months pregnant yet and that giving birth is a bad thing.

Dreams are so bizarre in how they cross real life with fiction. I watched an episode of "Cold Case" last night in which a woman who was sick, passed out on her bathroom floor, and no one found her for two days. So that could be part of the dream origin. As for the crowning, I'm not sure. It was creepy, and I've been creeped out all day remembering it!

Coming out of the closet...

Well I’ve been out-ed.

No, not the lesbian kind.

And no not even the pregnant kind (cuz I’m still kind of in the closet about that with some people).

It’s the financial failure closet that I was in. And now I am out.

See although Tyler & I have been together more than 8 years, and married for 3 ½ of those, we started our relationship with very separate views about money and thus kept our money separate. In the beginning we had our own accounts and chose how we spent our own money and split most of the bills 50/50. As our relationship got more committed and he started earning more money we sort’ve combined our accounts but it’s still very separate. We definitely still have very different views on how money should be spent: me on frivolous things and Tyler on nothing at all!

Anyway, long story short...I've technically been unemployed for the last 15 months but I've continued to spend like I have a full time job. I've basically racked up all my credit (credit cards & a line of credit) to the point of "maxed" by the end of December and I've just been paying the minimums for the last few months. I didn't go out of my way to hide it from Tyler, but I also didn't advertise it either. On Easter Monday when he was home, he was digging through the paper pile looking for something and came across one of my statements. Surprisingly, he didn't even bring it up until Wednesday night, and he was much more calm about it then I would have expected. I guess for me, I'm seeing HUGE amounts of money with little to no income coming in on my end as I'm the one who racked them up, I should be the one who needs to work hard to pay them off. Tyler, very nicely, suggested that I should limit my extra-ciricular activities until I've paid off some of my bills which I completely agree with.

I think for me, money spending is as much as addiction as my junk food habit is for me and the drugs and alcohol can be for others. As far as I'm concerned, an addiciton is when you look outside yourself to fulfil something inside yourself. So I need to start doing more fulfilling things and less "empty" things. Easier said then done I think!

Fatness or Baby Belly?

You decide...here's one pic of me sort've sucking it in & one letting it hang out.

We took these today, officially 18 weeks.

Only 5 more days until our Ultrasound :-D

Updates

Nothing major going on but many minor things so just a general "updates" title :-D

First, I bought a Magic Bullet. For though of you who've been to certain parties, NO i don't mean one of those bullets. I mean the food processor that you've probably seen the infomercial for.

So far, you know, I am not really that happy with it. I really believed the infommerical when is subliminally suggested it would change my life! My main goal when I was considering purchasing it (which has been since before I went to Greece by the way, cuz I remember that the infomercial was on the plane ride and I was watching it for the second time) was for it to help me eat healthier by eating something like smoothies. Well, texture has always been a major category for me when it came to how I like food and I don't think I like the texture of smoothies. However there are a "wide" variety of things my Magic Bullet can make for me so I am going to google some recipes and see if I can't fall in love with it. That being said, this morning I tried to make a Mocha and it was...messy. I had just taken the blender part out of the dishwasher (which its allowed to do) but forgot to make sure the seal was still in place and apparently didn't seal it properly so I dripped coffee mocha all over my counter and the machine...more than once. So the machine does not get any points for making me grumpy and feel stupid, first thing in the morning!

Tomorrow I start my six day temping job. Pretty excited to make some money, meeting some people and hopefully feel good for being amazing LOL It's going to be quite a change for me (8:00am-4:30pm) compared to my schedule now but I have been practising getting up earlier all week. I still haven't been up and ready for the day before 8am but I'm hoping it'll go good. I decided that I need a new pair or two of dress pants, as the ones I have fit, but feel tight. Well, I was not in the right mood for shopping and after hitting both Reitman's (including the one I worked for, for one week) and then Walmart, I was only successful finding one pair that weren't what I was thinking but I liked the price ($14). I don't really want to go blow a bunch of money before I even make some (cuz that defeats the purpose and I'm trying to be better behaved) so I'm hoping the pants I have now will hold out for a least one more week. There's a lot of "hope" happening in this paragraph it feels like?

Hmmm, pregnancy wise I am feeling about the same. A little more tired they the "books" are saying I should feel but then I just read that could be related to low iron (which I've not been doing anything to improve my iron eating) so maybe I'll try taking the iron supplements again (they gave me uber nausea before). I have been having a lot of lower back pain which started travelling to my glutes (butt) & hips. I went to my massage therapist on Monday & then to the chiropractor today and felt much better just moments after the adjustment. Any action that required back muscles was really painful before (like turning in bed, or getting up from the couch or chair) so here's hoping that'll hold out!

My chiropractor also practises hypnosis so I've made an appointment for a session regarding "Pain Free Labor". I am all about any & all tools I can put in my belt to have a more enjoyable pregnancy experience and I really believe in the power of the mind so it only makes sense for me to do the hypnosis. For those who don't know much about hypnosis, or shy away from it, for me it's mostly just a guided version of meditation. It's getting yourself to a point where you can work in the background of your mind to help focus your thoughts. Today, during the chiro adjustment, Baker (that's the chiro's name) said that it's about switching your focus to labor being something you can't wait for, versus something you fear. I've always been very aware of my hypno sessions (I've done a few of them before) so stay tuned for posts about that sometime after the 25th which is when my appointment is.

As for exercise, I went through March with little to no effort down that avenue. With Tyler gone to work in Fort Sask as of last week, I feel like I have more hours in the day (for some bizarre reason) so I went swimming yesterday and today I took my dogs for a walk. I was taking anti-depressents before I got pregnant and planned to take them throughout the pregnancy but found they made me really nauseated so I haven't been on them. I really need to find other ways to keep my moods in check throughout at least the next 6 months and I've read and been told more than a few times that exercise releases endorphins. I haven't really benefited from any endorphin-happy moods yet but here's hoping! I've definitely noticed that I've been more likely to cry over nothing, grumpy & irritable (which is how I felt before I started taking my anti-depressents) so with the added factor of pregnancy I really have to be aware and watch myself. It also means I am more likely to get post partum depression so I need to be prepared for that as well. Good times! LOL

Today is the 8th and it is only 2 weeks and 1 day until my next ultrasound. I am putting a lot of pressure on that ultrasound as I really want to find out our baby gender. At this point I am leaning more towards wanting a boy for a few (probably unhealthy) reasons:

1) It'll help me avoid some of the hand me downs from Kim & Tyrone that I don't want (due only to the negative energy I associate with it).

2) I'm a retardedly competitive person and I feel like having a boy is a little bit more of a triumph for a few other reasons:

a) I'm reading the "Other Boleyn Girl" which takes place during the Henry VIII's time and I think some of it's seeped into my subconscious,

b) Kim & Tyrone want to have another baby which I'm sure they wouldn't be saying if baby number two was a boy so i'm hoping if I beat them to the punch maybe they'll stop their nonsense,

c) I think it would bug Tyrone if we (a.k.a. Tyler) had a boy before he did and since Tyrone always bugs Tyler about being a little sister I think it would challenge his manhood if Tyler produced a boy.

3) Right now we have two male dogs that I am VERY bonded with and it feels more natural to have another boy enter the house. Our cat is a girl and she drives me insane and I'm worried that our kids will follow the same pattern LOL

4) We already have a very cute, feminine purple room upstairs that we use as the guest room. I feel that the "office" room which is now going to be baby's room, needs to be masculine to balance out that end of the house.

5) It's the first legitimate baby on either side of our families (i.e. from a couple who is committed to each other, stable in their life & a planned pregnancy).

That being said I am just so excited to have any baby that I of course will love & cherish (that sounds gay) whichever baby gender we are having and I firmly believe that there are no mistakes and we will be given the right baby for what we need in our lives and for what that baby needs to do in life. So here are some reasons why having a girl wouldn't be so bad:

1) There are more female names that I like (and to choose from) than male names.

2) There seems to be a whole lot more girly stuff out there and a lot cuter things for girls (i.e. clothes, decorations, scrapbooking stuff).

3) Tyler isn't one of those male chauvenists who thinks boys are better (unlike HIS father).

4) I don't care for the "Nelson" last name so I don't really care if it lives on...

5) It would probably bug Willie (Tyler's dad) as he doesn't have any grandson's yet (though Kira is such a boy that she might as well be).

6) My family is hoping for a girl so they can buy girly things as my brother has a boy already.

Either way, it'll be a piece of the puzzle as we have only girls on Tyler's side, and so far only boys (my cousin is also having a boy) on my side. I just totally hate this in limbo part and I can't imagine feeling this for 6 more months! I'm glad technology has come far enough that I don't have to suffer through this much longer LOL Once we find out, I feel like I'll be more confident in designing the baby room, picking out names and even bonding with baby as I know one more piece of his/her identity. And I hate using "it" so that'll be a nice change.

Overweight & Pregnant

I really, truly desired to be in shape before I got pregnant. Now I didn't desire it enough to actually do the things required to get in shape, but you know, mentally I wanted it. One of the reasons is of course, health. But another reason of mine, is much more vain.

You know that adorable belly bump that some mom's are lucky enough to get? Well as of right now, if I have one, it's covered in a layer of fat. As the days and weeks and months progress I would much rather have a firm, obvious bump to show off then some extra belly rolls that could easily be misinterpreted as the results of my latest binge. So far, I have actually managed to lose a few pounds from my pre-pregnancy weight (somewhere around 10lbs as of today) so I am happy about that, and I can still where my normal jeans so far. So be happy about that right? Oh & for the record I am not dieting or anything. I am simply trying to make better decisions most of the time. And I'm having a lot of aversions to foods so I'll cook them and then not want to eat them. Or eat a bit and not want to see or smell that food again for at least a year! The only thing that has been safe for the most part is fruit and some sweets. Hopefuly baby takes what it needs, right?

The thing is, I've been admiring everyone's baby belly pictures for a while and I desperately want my own to show off. Some of you who are on facebook, may have noticed that I haven't put anything on there yet regarding the pregnancy. If I had something adorable to show off, it would probably be on there. But for the most part I think I look the same so I am waiting...most likely the first thing that'll make it on there, is our ultrasound pics for April 23rd.

Now of course, everyone's experience varies and not everyone has the body type that lends itself to the crazy bump that I visualize but damn it, I want it. It's still early days, I'm on the tail end of 14 weeks right now, so I'll be careful for what I wish for, but right now, I'm putting it out there that I want that belly LOL A lot of things are called "beautiful" during pregnancy that in my opinion, are not beautiful (they're kind of gross). I just want to look my most beautiful, pregnant - except for maybe my wedding day!

Now I am off to do something somewhat fun: shop for two different baby showers, both of which I am attending this weekend. The last time I went baby shower shopping I was attending two showers in the same weekend again...weird. Anyhoo, my friend Twylia is having twins due in May (one boy & one girl - yep I'm jealous) and she has one boy already. My cousin's girlfriend Megan is having a baby boy due in April. I kind of have a male mentality when it comes to baby showers, so I hope they are not too "fruity" or gay so to speak!

P.S. I am going shopping with less guilt because Tyler got a job again. Starts Monday! And I have an interview on Friday for a temping agency. Woo hoo!

A Good Debate: Share your baby names before baby is born?

For names I have always believed in keeping them to ourselves. I thought I had maybe blogged on this topic before but I couldn't find it in my fast search so I'll have to do it from memory. Reasons why I don't want to share my possible baby names (once I figure them out):

1) People are much more likely to give you their (unsoliciated) opinion of the name, when it hasn't been officially attached to a baby yet. All the things it rhymes with, who they don't like who has that name, etc. If you announce the name & then hand them a baby they are much more likely to just say "awww, he/she is adorable" (even if they aren't LOL).

2) It's near impossible for most people to keep information to themselves. If you have worked really hard to come up with a combo of names that reflects your family, you guys as a couple and an impending baby, how would you feel if someone shortly before you gave birth, named their baby that? Even if your mother told some random stranger in the post office just so she could get it off her chest, that person could end up in the same hospital as you, or same class or something like that. Some people might not care about this, but as a "Crystal" from 1982 who shared my name with at least 2 others at any given time, a unique-ish name is important.

That being said, I am not directly opposed to "bouncing" names off of people to get a reaction...to do that I might use the internet or one or two trusted people...just once we have officially decided I think I'll be MUM on it. However, I have considered having a baby naming contest so we can get some help on getting some good names to think on.

A couple girls that are friends/aquaintances of mine had an issue regarding names. Since I'm not super close with them, I'm going to rename them. Couple A, lets call them the Smiths, got pregnant and shared the news. They had a family association to the name "Blair" so if they had a boy that was the name they were going to use. Unfortunately, 'the Smiths' had a miscarriage and lost the baby. They then decided maybe it wasn't the best time to have a baby so focused on their careers for a while. Good friends of theirs, "the Jones" (real creative I know LOL), got pregnant right after they got married. They were struggling to decide what to name their baby when they suddenly thought of the name "Blair" and decided it was great for them! It caused a lot of hurt feelings for the Smiths as they had their baby taken away from them and the Jones definitely knew how important the name Blair was for them (the Smiths would use it regardless when they did have a child one day). The Jones were very stubborn at first, insisting they didn't realize that the Smiths had picked that name but eventually did name their baby boy something different but it caused some hurt feelings in the meantime.

Yesterday I had lunch with a former co-worker Cynthia, who had her daughter's name picked out until 33 days before she gave birth. On this day, 33 days before her own child was born, her sister used the name Cynthia had wanted since she herself was a child. I just think that is selfish on the sister's part. Why not pick out a name that has meaning for you??

Some other comments I dug up from the internet.

"Most parents, however, admit that they don't want to share the name of their baby-to-be because they don't want to hear any criticism of their choice. I think that's a pretty valid reason since people seem to have no problems sharing their opinions, particularly when it comes to anything parenting related."

"Another friend of mine chose a name and someone else pointed out that the initials would be PIG. She hadn't considered that and decided to keep the name but change the order. Maybe not a big deal, but maybe it was. By putting her name out there, she was alerted to the situation. What we name our children DOES matter. There are plenty of studies to prove it."

"When I was pregnant, my husband and I had picked out a boy name and girl name. We shared those names with close family. We had a boy and named him Elijah Blue. The close family we shared our baby names with is now having a girl and is planning to name their daughter the name we shared with them!!! I am very upset because that girl name was chosen by my husband and I because what the meaning of the name symbolizes. The close family says they don't remember us telling them.... I don't believe that. "

http://www.parentdish.com/2009/01/16/should-you-share-your-unborn-babys-name/

The Great Debate: To find out or not to find out

I feel like I've been getting a lot of flack for my/our decision to go ahead and find out our baby's gender at our ultrasound rather than waiting for the traditional delivery annoucement. It seems for everyone one person who agrees with me, there are 3 that are venomously against it). For my entire baby making life, I have never really considered NOT finding out. It just seemed natural to me that you would find out if you could, after all I am an information junkie. So the fact that I seem to only associate with non-finder-outers surprised me and I decided to see what the world of the internet seemed to say. The very first debate board I found had one women's write up that I really enjoyed. Here's an excert...

Danielle Friedl "Here's the thing: it doesn't matter if you find out at 20 weeks or 40 weeks - it's still going to be a surprise! The element of surprise has never ranked very high in my world because in essence - I like to be in control. And in pregnancy and childbirth there is very little, if anything, you can be truly in control over. Obviously this is a decision that every couple needs to make on their own and there is no right or wrong answer. The beauty of making this decision is that you aren't causing any harm to your unborn baby whether you find out their gender or not. That being said, the only reason not to find out earlier seems to be the act of surprise following the actual birth, whereas knowing the gender halfway through the pregnancy has many benefits. And back to that silly old element of surprise. Having found out I was carrying girls in each of my three pregnancies I was very excited and, yes, surprised at about 17 weeks when I found out. I also have to say that upon delivery I was still highly excited to meet my daughters but i felt that I had already formed a bond because I knew what I was having. I can also report that friends and relatives who decided against finding out were not more or less thrilled. Perhaps a few were a little less prepared, and maybe one or two were unfortunately not so pleasantly surprised, but the thrill level seems to be the same. You still count fingers and toes, you still ask if it's healthy. I suppose the difference in each of my cases was not asking 'What is it' but asking 'It's a girl, right?' Hey - those sonogram technicians have been known to make a mistake or two!"

I personally don't equate gender as the biggest jackpot of having a baby. It's one of many things that make my child who he or she is going to be so I feel like I still have PLENTY to look forward at the delivery. When someone says to me that there is no light at the end of the tunnel if you know the gender I wonder "Is meeting your child not the most exciting part?" Even with a gender your visualization of what they will look like is only a guess so you have no idea what your baby will look like, feel like...who they are going to be.

One of my friends, who just had a baby boy in November thought she was having a girl until the u/s tech told her differently. My friend, Megan, said she was shocked and a little disappointed to find out it was a boy. All her life, when she visualized herself with a baby she had seen a girl and it had, for some reason, never occured to her that it could be a boy. Since she found out, she had time to come to terms with the fact that he was a boy, and bond with her baby as a boy. Now she of course loves him like that is what she was always expecting! However, if she had not found out and continued to feel as though it was a girl the whole time, and bond with a the baby as a girl, it would have been quite the shocker to get the "It's a Boy!" announcement after being in labor for 40 hours...mix in the exhaustion, hormones and post postum and that could be quite the experience.

Danielle B "I think that finding out the sex is a great thing though, it just made me even more excited to meet my little girl. Also, with all the chaos that is happening in the hospital when you are delivering and the endless nights that follow, it kind of makes it easier because everything is mapped out! We had her room done and everything picked out for her and even had her name going into the hospital. I think that was the best thing for us, but to each their own and everyone is entitled to how they want to do things, but no matter what, it is always special once they enter this world and then you know that there is no turning back!"

Clair Kernaghan "Sure, finding out the sex of your baby before birth may make planning for the baby easier, you can paint the room the right colour instead of yellow, and you can pick out all the right clothes and have absolutely everything ready for your baby's arrival. But the bottom line is you are going to get all that done anyway so why do it all before the baby comes and work your pregnant butt off, sit down, relax and enjoy being pregnant. Even though a new baby is stressful and a busy time, trust me, you will still find time to paint the nursery, and go shopping for even more pink/blue clothes. "

Okay, this Clair lady is trying to make a case for "no" but she just convinced me yes. It's the whole "why put off for tomorrow what you can do today". I figure if I am exhausted now, pregnanct, I don't expect to be bouyant & full of energy when I have a new born that sleeps sporadically and cries and is desperately in need of my attention. But yeah I'll just stop & go paint a baby room in the middle of it LOL

Some of the major "no"s come from people who didn't have the option in their time. I can't help but feel that they think its unnatural because they couldn't do it. Despite their opinion if you should find out or not, everyone seems to feel they should tell you what they THINK you're having. I'd love for some know-it-all to say "oh you're carrying this way so you're having a girl" and for me to say "hmm, an ultrasound machine begs to differ" LOL

One of my friends who had a baby in May, knew she was having a boy despite not finding out. So started buying boy things and didn't even consider that she might be having a girl. Luckily she did have a boy, but is a mother's instinct always right? I think what you "want" usually influences your "instincts".

The biggest reason everyone totes is the "thrill of anticipation". For us that thrill and build up is happening for the ultrasound on April 23rd. I can't imagine it would be any more or any less whenever you find out. There is a still a "magical" moment where you can start picturing your life with a baby girl or a baby boy rather than just this imaginary baby that seems to exist in you.

It all boils down to personality I think. My friends that agree with me, and have found out, have the same personality as I and they have not for one second regretted their decisions. So I think I'm safe...I'll let you know in 6 months or so LOL

Nicole Lepke "My husband and I tried desperately to conceive for two years, before getting the miraculous news of our impending little arrival. Waiting that long for the conception alone to happen, we certainly didn't want to wait another 9 months to find out what God was blessing us with. I was nervous on the day of the ultrasound only because I thought the baby would be uncooperative and in a position where the ultrasound tech wouldn't be able tell. We didn't have a preference as to having a boy or a girl, but just that the baby in there was growing and developing and looked like he or she had all of his or her parts. (I could even live with an extra toe!) Finding out the sex of our baby was by far the most exciting event my husband and I have ever witnessed. The tech put the cold gel on my ever expanding stomach, rubbed the wand in the goop, and there on the screen our miracle came to life. It made the long-awaited pregnancy all the more real to us. We identified with our little child inside of me - our little boy. He was no longer just our unborn baby, but our son, whom we could name. Our son, whom we could sit for hours and fantasize about who he would look like, what kind of little boy he would be and what kinds of mischief he would one day get into. We decided to keep his name secret, so there would still be a little surprise at the end for all of our family and friends."

There does seem to be some give and take on the gender & then name sharing. Those who find out then might choose to keep the name a secret for the element of surprise for the announcement. Those who don't know the gender might have more fun sharing at least their name possiblities with others.

http://www.helium.com/debates/130647-should-you-find-out-the-sex-of-your-baby-before-birth

musings from my mobile

I'm waiting for my oil change and decided to try to blog post via my blackberry.

Hmm, what's going on? Well I am on my way home from Grimshaw. I was trying to strum up some business by holding an open house for each 'Everyday Style' and 'BeautiControl'. Blame it on the economy, bad weather or lack of advertising: they sucked.

Car's done!

What Activities are Best for Pregnancy?

I really need some of the endorphins you get from Exercise so I'm trying to find activities I enjoy. According to BabyCenter.Com here are some of the greats:

-Swimming: Healthcare providers and fitness experts hail swimming as the best and safest exercise for pregnant women. Swimming is ideal because it exercises both large muscle groups (arms and legs), provides cardiovascular benefits, and allows expectant women to feel weightless despite the extra pounds of pregnancy.

-Walking, Low-Impact Aerobics, Dancing, Yoga & Stretching.

I wonder if walking while shopping counts?

Crystal the Office Diva!

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Quotes from Buddha

"Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, no matter if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense."

"Every human being is the author of his own health or disease. "

"However many holy words you read, however many you speak, what good will they do you if you do not act on upon them?"

"It is a man's own mind, not his enemy or foe, that lures him to evil ways."

"No one saves us but ourselves. No one can and no one may. We ourselves must walk the path. "

"The mind is everything. What you think you become. "

"You can search throughout the entire universe for someone who is more deserving of your love and affection than you are yourself, and that person is not to be found anywhere. You yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe deserve your love and affection."

"You will not be punished for your anger, you will be punished by your anger. "

"Your work is to discover your world and then with all your heart give yourself to it. "

A Funny Quote...supplied to me by Catharina

"No woman will ever be truly satisfied, because no man will ever have a chocolate penis,that ejaculates money."

Quote by Ernest Hemingway.