12 things a very pregnant/overdue woman doesn't want to hear (as much of)

Let me confess something that several women have confessed before, and was some women want to confess but might not want to out of politeness.

I am officially overdue with this baby. That's not the confession. Everyone knows that because everyone is excited ( though probably not as excited and my self and this baby's father) about meeting this little guy. But frankly, as much as I have enjoyed being pregnant, the last couple weeks ( roughly weeks 34 and onward) suck. I can't seem to do anything for myself, I feel like a ticking time bomb and my crotch is in pain, like I've been kicked down there by a steel toe boot.
But most of all, the questions. This is the confession part. Although, I know that people are being polite, and are just curious and generally caring about our well being, a pregnant woman can only handle hearing the same questions for a certain period of time...40 weeks worth is a bit exhausting.
Now I know that I'm not the only one who feels this way...trust me I Googled it.Being largely pregnant and irritable is apparently normal, so don't take offence. Here is my own list of well meant questions that I am simply getting tired of answering:

1. How are feeling? 

This is such a common question that gets asked by everyone to everyone, not specifically pregnant women. It's a general question that starts probably 97% of conversations, most people don't even think about asking this, they just do. I generally just tell you I feel fine. I do. I am uncomfortable, incapable at times and rather sore, but I don't want to share all the details all the time to everyone. I'm not miserable, or upset, just tired. I don't know why this question bothers me so much, maybe because I assume you should know how I'm feeling, but for some reason, probably pregnancy hormones, this questions irritates me more now than when I'm not pregnant.

2. No baby yet/why is he still in there, etc?  

Yes in fact we had him days ago, we just decided no to share with a single person. Rather we decided to leave him at home while we go out and about and do our own thing. 

3. Have you tried...? 

Oh frig. Seriously??? You think we haven't? None of them work people and don't you dare tell me they do because you went into labour the day after eating a pineapple. That's just a coincidence. I'm not going to go into labour today because I ate fish sticks for dinner last night.

4. Maybe your due date was wrong?  

I had someone tell me that they can be off by two weeks. I know when I ovulated. I did the tests to get my self to this point. my dates are not wrong, especially not by two weeks. 

5.Sleep while you can/enjoy the rest because after the baby arrives...blah blah blah. 

 I am aware of the life change that will occur. I wake up multiple times in a sweat with sore back muscles, having to pee, unable to roll around in my bed let alone get out of my bed to go pee with out looking like a beached whale. Having to pee while being largely pregnant is a different sensation than in a normal body. When I have to pee now, I get a constant braxton hicks contraction where I am unable to walk properly. As for resting, I can only rest so much, I can only watch so many shows/movies. I can only read so much. My house got organized before I was due. what is enjoyable about that?

6. Most first time mom's go over due.

 Thanks for the new information. I am in fact aware of this, but like every pregnant woman, I was simply hoping it wouldn't apply to me.

7. I/ my__________(insert mom, sister, aunt, friend) was late too. 

Great. That doesn't help me.

8. Are you ready for labour/are you nervous?

 This question I really don't get. How can a first time mom, be ready for labour? what have I got to compare it to? I am about to push a ~7lbs person out of my body which is already hurting...Yes I am nervous, telling me I'll be fine won't help nor will explaining your birth experience. It just needs to happen.

9. Are you excited/your parents must be thrilled.  

No we/they are not. This is the least exciting thing that will ever happen. Of course we/they are excited.

10. How is the baby? 

I would ask him, but, well to be honest communication with an in-utero child is a little difficult. So on his behalf, I'll give you the typical answer anyone gives when they ask "how are you"...he's fine.

11. Is the baby moving lots?

 (and then proceeds to touch the belly/make the baby move). Yes the baby moves. He's a living child...they wiggle, they kick, punch and shift around. At 40 weeks these violent movements can be very uncomfortable and the moments of inner calmness are nice. Please don't poke or prod my sleeping child so that I can sit/lay comfortable for 5 minutes.

12.  You must be feeling the heat.  

Well, when its over 30 degrees C, I think everyone feels it.

It's not that pregnancy is a terrible thing for me, I love being pregnant and feeling this little person moving around, especially after the struggle of trying to get pregnant. I'm glad people care about us, and want to know how we are doing, how they can help us and show concern for our well being.
So if you ask me these questions, and I give you a blank stare or don't respond immediately, I'm just tired, mentally, physically tired. I'm anxious, impatiently twiddling my thumbs while waiting and sore. And sometimes a woman who has been pregnant for 40 + weeks, simply doesn't want to answer these questions anymore, they were answered multiple times already to multiple people multiple times per day.

The baby is fine he will come, and you will know. We are excited, but mostly, I'm okay... just tired and waiting.

Time off, Projects, Paint etc

*** this post is from  6 weeks ago.... turns out I never published it. I'm not sure why. Perhaps I forgot about, maybe never really finished it, not really too sure. Either way here it is, 6 weeks late I guess. Or did I publish it and now I just duplicated a post? Who cares, I'm really pregnant and anything goes and everyone understands...at least those who have been in my shoes does.***

At  33 weeks pregnant, it gets difficult doing many things. Things such as walking at a normal pace, breathing, or not peeing while doing the previous two to the best of my ability. But I am still able to craft and work on some DIY projects. And now that I'm on Mat leave, I have a little bit more time also. 

Our house number and mailbox were placed most inconveniently on our house. When there is mail in our mailbox, the lid of the mailbox hides our house number, but it's nearly impossible to get the mail out of the mailbox because of the light hanging in the way above the mailbox.  I want to change the whole front side of our house but for a start, I changed the house number display.

First I cut some planks and nailed them together for a base, which I stained using homemade wood stain

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side recipe:
home made wood stain:

place metals of your choice into vinegar. different metals create different colours. Coppers create a bluish green stain while iron creates a redish-brownish colour. I used iron shavings from my dad's workshop, and added old coffee grounds to darken it a bit. Let this mixture sit for about a week. You might want to seal this stain once it has been applied to avoid residue from rubbing off onto clothing.

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Next I found n image of a key silhouette, printed it out, taped it onto the wood, and then traced it with a pen to create an imprint of it onto the planks. I then traced in filled in the imprinted image with my wood burning tool. 

I removed the numbers from the house so that I can reuse them and nailed them onto the board.

 My only mistake in this project, is that I should have bought a new "7", since mine looks too much like my "1"

I also decided that the orange doors in my kitchen, though a bold statement, never really satisfied my style. so I changed the colour to a minty blue-green. Opinions?

this was the colour before.

the new colour.

35 weeks and I can't "relax"

I'm due in 33 days. At my last appointment, my midwife, though I'm not supposed to quote her on this, said that there is a chance I could go as early as mid-July. This gives me about 14 days left to prepare! I'm pretty sure that we are ready to go. We have all the basics, put the nursery together although with one key thing (though not instantly necessary) not quite ready yet, I am unable to blog about it, but I am truly excited to share my nursery with you.
I don't think that I have really processed the fact that I am going to be going through a birthing process yet. I always get asked if I'm nervous, but in all honesty, I can't really tell you my feelings about it, because I have never experienced anything like it, so I can't really process that idea. I think I just processed the fact that I'm pregnant...and that took me 8 months....now I have about 2-5 weeks left to try and process the birth? I don't think that's going to happen, so I'll just let it be. I bet that as soon as that first contraction happens, I'm going to panic. There's no turning back. But I am excited of course!

35 weeks and counting!

 Things that I look for ward to after pregnancy (aside from the obvious of getting to see/hold/get to know our new little boy):

1.  sleeping on my stomach.
2.  having the use of my stomach muscles again
3. not looking like a beached whale/ turtle stuck on its back, whilst trying to get out of bed
4. no more leg/foot cramps on a morningly basis (hopefully)
5. room for my guts
6. being able to breath
7. being able to work properly in my garden
8. being able to bend over
9. breathing
10. reaching my toes
11. walking at a decent speed again ( this one is especially frustrating when you are used to being a fast walker)
12. being able to shave my legs in a comfortable position
13. fitting into more than two pairs of shorts. 

I tried "relaxing" the other day. Supposedly it's best to just put your feet up and take it easy during the last little bit of pregnancy. I'm usually out gardening or working away in the work shop with my power tools, but the other day I thought that I would try out this whole relaxing thing people keep telling me to do. So I spent an entire day lounging around the house, watching a movie, drinking some tea, soaking in the bath, looking up everything that exists on Pintrest, and anything else I could think to "relax". Let me tell you, I had never felt so exhausted in my entire life! I don't know how people do that?! so the next day, I harvested a bunch of veggies, prepared and froze those veggies, made dinner, bathed the dog and did a bunch of other things and I felt a tonne better! I need to accomplish something in my day in order to not feel exhausted.

Our most recent baby purchase was our car seat. We finally got one. We really wanted the Baby Trend and then we discovered that the Baby Trend car seat is not compatible with our Phil & Teds stroller.... no worries though, I come from a handy-man family, and my dad made an adapter than would attach the car seat to our stroller. Yay!

What I love about the Baby-Trend car seat, is the handle. Most car seats have a fairly plain straight across handle bar, however, the Baby-Trend car seat has a triangular handle so that you can hold it at multiple angles for an extra comfortable hold. 

Baby-Trend with triangular handle grip

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Phil & Teds sport stroller bought off kijiji (with dad-made adapter)

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A great combo!

I have also prepared everything for our home-water birth. At least I am hoping we have everything. I decided this week would be a good week to test the kiddie pool that we purchased for the occasion. Since it was 38'C with the humidity, and I was getting rather irritable, it seemed like a good time to soak in my new pool. Let me tell you, it was great. It felt like what a hot tub feels like on a cold winter night, but the opposite I guess. 

Did you know that it costs $250 to rent a birthing pool, not including the liner which you have to purchase? My midwife told me to just buy a kiddie pool for $30 instead, because they work just as well, and you can reuse it as a regular pool before and after the baby. Why would anyone rent one??

This is the pool that I got. That's not me, nor do I know who those kids are.
  My pool was covered with a tarp today because it has been so rainy for the
 past two days so I couldn't get a good picture of mine. This will have to do.

Remember how I made all of my own inserts for my diapers? Well I recently threw them in the washing machine to wash off any possible chemicals (from other peoples laundry soap since I upcycled used sheets from the thrift store). Good thing I did that because I discovered that a bunch of them started to fray in the wash. So my next step is to resew all around them using the new cutter edge foot that I purchased off e-bay for my sewing machine. If you don't have a serger/don't want to pay for a serger because they cost between $400 and $1500, then a cutter edge foot is the next best thing. Though not as good as a serger by any means, it can get the job done.  I also think that I might just sew all of my stay-dry liners right onto the inserts. But I haven't fully decided on that yet. 

one of these attached to a sewing machine
will solve a bunch of issues...for me at least.

Well that pretty much sums up the baby update, aside from the nursery....I seriously can't wait to post that!

Overhaul

So there has been a lot, and I mean A LOT going on since my last post. I've been wanting to post for so long now, but I wanted to wait until the right moment to reveal all these new things. I have been working on some projects, but I couldn't blog about them without telling everyone my secret. Though I am sure that a lot of my readers also know me on Facebook and so this is old news to them. But this is what has been going on in my life:

About a year and a half ago, we decided that we wanted to start a family of our own. We wanted to keep it a secret from our families, especially since this would be the first grand child on my husbands side. The next year to come, were filled with monthly disappointments, tears and hundreds of peed on sticks and many temperature charts that always told me about my disappointments to come. At the end of the year, we were considered an infertile couple and the appointments with the specialist were set up. About one week before our appointment with the fertility specialist, I was looking over my latest temperature chart. Now on a normal chart, your temperature should be bi-phasal (an average temperature pre-ovulation and a higher average post-ovulation) but as I was looking at my chart, my temperature had gone up an extra jump to a tri-phasal when it should have started to fall. I just sat there and stared at my computer screen, knowing where my thoughts were going and knowing it would only lead to disappointment if I let my hopes get up like this. I had some other women look at my chart via a forum, and my thoughts were confirmed by another. Fritz told me it would be better to test that night (a Sunday) and be able to deal with my grief that night rather than in the morning, right before work when I'd have to face other people. So I opened yet another testing kit, like I have so many times before. Only this time.....I'm pregnant!
(from the mouth of a frugal mom-to-be: stop paying $15 per preggo test at Walmart and go to the dollar store. You pay $1.25 for the same strip in a cheaper package. Especially worth-while if you pee on ten of them per month.I just think it's a waste of money to spend $15 on something you pee on for 5 seconds,and then throw it out. The same goes for OPK's, buy those at the dollar store too)

How we revealed the news to our families:

We found out that we were pregnant on December 2nd and we wanted to wait until Christmas  to tell our families. A lot of people don't share the news with their families until 12 weeks but by Christmas I was 7 weeks, and should the worst happen, we would want our family's support. We wanted to tell our families in unique and creative ways so here's how things went down: We planned a family barbeque for the Sunday after church. We told them it was nothing special, but just to have lunch together. In the morning, before church, we stopped off at several A&W restaurants, and asked for the wrappers to the Grandpa, Grandma and Uncle burgers that their chain is so famous for. Unfortunately the Grandma burger got discontinued a month prior but after stopping at around 4 or 5 A&W's we finally managed to get a hold of a Grandma burger.
Eventually the family arrived at our place, we had the patties cooked and the toppings on the table, but the buns were placed inside the wrappers and stored on a plate in our cupboard. Once everyone was seated we told them that instead of barbequeing we just stopped at A&W and picked up burgers instead (though we did actually BBQ burgers ourselves) My father in law was the first to clue in and then Rudi, my youngest brother in law. Charl, my other brother in law simply stated "there's only a bun in this wrapper!" and didn't bother to look at the wrapper until it was pointed out  to him by Rudi. While all this commotion is going on, my mother in law, is just staring at her wrapper in utter confusion. and all I hear her say is quietly "prime rib?" (Prime rib is written in small print just above "Grandma burger" and then a couple seconds later, the loud scream of realization occurred!

My family was told in a different way. My parents already have three grand kids, so we couldn't do anything related to new grand parents. So instead, I made use of my nieces and nephew. Since they have no cousins yet, I picked up two little t-shirts, and a onesie, and created shirts that said "I'm going to be a big cousin" . I tucked these shirts nicely inside their actual gifts, in hopes that they would pull them out and reveal what's on them, but instead my three year old nephew just tossed it aside, without even giving unrolling it a thought. and my niece...well, she was in some sort of 2 year old mood. eventually my sister in law picked up one of the shirts. There wasn't as much screaming as with Fritz's family, but everyone was still very excited. My mother already knew (in fact she knew before I even knew!), even though I never told her and denied the fact that I knew she knew....mothers, they seem to know everything.

(my nephew is covering his, but it has dinos on it.)

The week before Christmas, I had my very first ultrasound at 6 weeks. I couldn't see a whole lot, just a little bean, but I did see a tiny blinking pixel, which was amazingly the heart beat, and for maybe 5 short seconds we heard it beating...at 6 weeks! it was incredible!
Then on March 22 we had our 2nd ultrasound this one would reveal the gender of the baby. The ultra sound was incredibly clear. We were able to count our baby's toes and fingers! they are all there!

Hans at  almost 22 weeks.

I am currently 26 weeks and we are expecting our little boy, Hans, to arrive August 11, 2013! Now we are not doing this the traditional North American style that is to say, seeing an OB, and having a hospital birth and most people would expect to do. We are planning (though I know things don't always go according to our plans) to have a non-medicated home birth. I watched a couple documentaries, one of which was "pregnant in America" about hospital vs home birth, and the women who did it both ways always said they wished the had all their kids at home rather than in the hospital. They mentioned an empowerment that comes from going  all natural, and that is what I want to experience. So I am taking that advice and I am starting right off the bat with a home birth with my first one. Plus this has always been normal in my family, to have your kids at home that is.The only reason you would go to a hospital is if something was medically wrong with you or the baby and lives are at risk. People in hospitals are sick or dying, I'm neither of those and so I don't feel the need to be there.  Statistics even show that it is just as safe/beneficial, if not safer/more beneficial to have your children at home in a familiar place where the mother has control over the process. Not that I am anti-hospital birth, or feel the need to defend my decision,  I just think this is the better way to go for my family. But should anything go wrong, midwives are equipped  just as much as your general hospital, and I can always be transferred there should I have to have a hospital birth at the last minute.

Pregnancy Brain
I didn't think this was a real thing. I thought most women just say this as an excuse.... but your mind really does seem to disintegrate around 4-5 months. Here's an example of what pregnancy has done to my brain: I was at IKEA the other day ( and by other day I mean more than a month ago) I saw an item I really liked for the nursery, it was a poster frame with a really cute picture of a quilted looking world with little children and animals and rocket ships. The colours work so well with our nursery. I get to the cash, and the cashier guy looks at the item, then looks at me and says " did you take our display item down?" turns out that I did, since the frame and poster don't get sold together and the display tags were hanging off the item. My mother didn't want to make a scene, because she knew what I did, even though I swore I didn't take the display item. It sure was a good thing we weren't shopping for couches!

So here is what I have been working on for the last while:
1. Our basement:
              The basement is starting to come to an end. All that is left is little projects related to the basement. That is, Fritz is working on building a pub, the frame of which is up, I am working on getting a proper crafting desk put in and I have a couple of paint touch ups to do plus some curtains for the windows and then this should be totally complete. It's amazing how much space a finished basement adds to a house!

2. A new room
Now with a baby on the way, I am working on the nursery. This project is my baby...no pun intended. The details of this will have to go in another post because there are a lot of projects just inside one room! Also it's not complete yet (almost) and I don't want to blog about an incomplete project. But soon enough.

3. Diapers.
I plan on cloth diapering, it's much cheaper and it's doing the environment a huge favour. I will blog about my diapers in a separate post also because it's a big topic on it's own, but I have been working on them and I'd love to share my diaper adventure with you.

4. Gardens.
 I just finished putting a bunch of flower seeds in my flower beds, o none of those have sprouted as of yet. but a lot of my other plants are growing and blossoming!We have extended our vegetable garden  from about roughly 12 square metres to 20 square metres. We have planted a great variety of veggies, and accidentally grew pumpkins. You see, we used our own compost and we composted a pumpkin from Thanksgiving/halloween and now the seeds are in our veggie garden and they seem to be the first ones to sprout ( aside from our rhubarb). Does anyone want a pumpkin plant?




















I also made a new wreath for the summer using twigs from my back yard and some leftover paint:

So from now on a lot of my posts will probably include the frugal ways of a new mom. But fear not, I will still continue to craft and refurbish and reupholster and do all sorts of money saving things. It's just that there is a new dynamic to my blog.