Pages

Tuesday 31 January 2017

Pregnancy Update: 25 Weeks

Today I had my 25 week check-up and so far everything looks great. The baby's heartbeat is perfect, she moves a lot, and had the hiccups during the ultrasound today (so cute!). I also found out I don't have gestational diabetes (thank god!! chocolate is my weakness), iron levels are perfect and blood pressure, blood counts and whatever else the doctor checks are all on point.

Since this is my first time ever being pregnant, I never know what to expect during the process, and I'm always scared to death that something might go wrong with me or, especially, the baby. Each time I have a check up, she reassures me that everything is going really well which is awesome. Hopefully, this pregnancy continues to go smoothly...and quickly.

I'll be 26 weeks on Saturday, then it's only 2 more weeks and I'll be entering the third and final trimester!! Looking back, time does seem like it's gone by pretty fast, but 14.5 weeks still seems like a long ways away.

Andrew went away to work in Labrador this past Sunday for the next 3 weeks :( which means he wasn't able to attend today's doctor appointment (it's the first one he's ever missed) so my doctor was nice enough to do an ultrasound and let me take a video so I could send it to him. I was so excited to see her on the screen moving around and hiccuping. She's grown so much since the last ultrasound <3

I can't wait to meet her and see what she looks like, because at this point we have no idea what she will look like. I have a feeling she might be Andrew's twin, because so many girls I know are born looking more like their fathers, but we'll see when the time comes. 102 days and counting...





Sunday 8 January 2017

New Years Resolutions 2017

2016 was such an amazing year. We travelled a lot, my best friend got married, and we found out that we are expecting a baby girl! If 2017 is as good a year as 2016, then it's going to be a really good one :) And of course, the baby is due this year so that automatically makes it an amazing year!!

I'm basically only making a full blog post about my New Years Resolutions so that I can hold myself accountable throughout the year. I want to achieve at least 80% of my list by the end of the year. I have a little list on my phone that has all of my resolutions for 2016 that I wrote last year and I didn't achieve very many of them :/

I also think it's interesting to see what other people's resolutions are for the year and see how they want to change and become a better person, so maybe someone wants to know what mine are :)

1. Be the Best Mother I Can Possibly Be: This is a very broad one because I'm not exactly sure what that entails yet... I know becoming a mom is a huge change and things will probably get really hard and frustrating but I want to go into this with a positive attitude and embrace every hardship parenting throws at me. I'm so lucky to have a supportive partner who I'm sure will keep me sane through all of it and I honestly can't wait to experience it all.

2. Get Rid of Things I Don't Need: This is a huge one for me. I've been trying to declutter for what seems like forever but I think 2017 needs to be the year I actually get serious about it. Especially with a baby on the way because she's going to have a lot of stuff so I need to make room for all of that.

3. Travel More: Over the past few years Andrew and I have gone on about 2 vacations a year and that's something I want to keep doing even after having a baby. We were supposed to do a cruise on December 28 but obviously with Zika virus going around in the caribbean we had to change our plans. Hopefully we'll be able to do a small trip with the baby soon after she's born and then possibly go on a bigger trip towards the end of the year. There are so many places we want to see...

4. Spend Less Money: I've always been the type that just goes and buys what I want whenever I feel like it and I end up wasting money buying things I don't need and sometimes never even use. I want to start putting more thought into what I buy and giving myself at least 24 hours to think about whether or not I really need it in my life before I purchase it.

5. Waste Less Food: This is a huge one. We waste so much food in our house, fruits and vegetables usually. I used to buy a ton of fresh produce at Costco because it's a lot cheaper but there would be so much of it that half of it would go in the garbage so I wasn't really saving money. I'm going to put in a bigger effort to only buy smaller quantities of food and not buy anymore till it's all used up. Even if that means more frequent trips to the grocery store.

6. Read More Books: Reading used to be something I really used to enjoy but now I find I don't have much time to do it. I end up choosing to watch TV or go on my iPad instead but I want to set a good example for my daughter and stress the importance of reading. I'm going to try and read one book a month. That seems like a lot to me since I haven't picked up a book probably since my University days but I think it's definitely achievable and necessary.

7. Stretch for 15 Minutes per Day: Since becoming pregnant, I've experienced significant back pain and discomfort in my neck and shoulders. Stretching is so important for your health, pregnant or not and I need to make a conscious effort to integrate it into my daily routine.

8. Weigh 140lbs by the End of the Year: This was a resolution from last year and I was so close to reaching it, but then I got pregnant and losing weight obviously wasn't my main focus anymore. I think its definitely an achieveable goal for 2017 because I haven't put on too much weight during this pregnancy. I'm hoping a lot of it will come off immediately after birth, and I plan on going back to having a personal trainer since I've already paid for the sessions. Im also going to keep going to the gym for as long as I can before the baby is born.

9. Save $5000 by the End of the Year: Last year I didn't put away anywhere near that amount. And that's mostly due to frivolous spending. I'd really love to have $5000 in my TFSA by the end of 2017, it would make me feel more accomplished for sure. And there's no reason I shouldn't be able to do that.

10. Write at Least One Blog Post per Week: Blogging is something I enjoy doing because I love to share aspects of my life with friends and family as well as strangers who enjoy the same interests as me. Blogging provides an outlet for me to talk about things I love and also acts like a journal for me to go back and read through and see what events and changes have taken place in my life.

11. Drink 3L of Water per Day: I started doing this last summer when I was at the peak of losing weight. I found it hard at first but it became a part of my routine. After I got pregnant I found I wasn't drinking as much water because I wasn't as focused on losing weight. Water consumption is so much more important when pregnant because your body as well as the baby need to stay hydrated. So far, I've been pretty good with drinking 3L of water everyday, I just need my fancy Starbucks tumbler on hand at all times so I don't forget to drink it lol. Writing down how many mL of water I've had on a white board on my fridge also helps me achieve my daily water intake goal.



I hope everyone creates their own resolutions and puts their best effort in to ensure they meet their goals by the end of the year. Cheers to you and cheers to a very happy and prosperous 2017!!



Wednesday 4 January 2017

Pregnancy Update: 21 Weeks and Gender Reveal

Happy New Year!! I can't believe 2017 is already here! In just 4 and half months we will be welcoming our first child in to the world!

I know it's been way too long since I last wrote a blog post, but things have been super hectic over the holidays with my sister visiting from Wyoming, as well as work and family events.

But, we received some exciting news! We are having a baby girl!!! I was ecstatic and so surprised because I was 99.9% sure that we were having a boy. Obviously, I would have been over the moon with either outcome, but the thought of having a little girl to dress up and be best friends with was even more exciting. Andrew is super happy and excited and we both can't wait to do up her nursery and buy tons of PINK EVERYTHING!

We found out the gender on December 22 at the Janeway, and then later that day we decided to go to UC Baby juuuust to be sure :) Both ultrasound technicians told us it was a girl so we took that as a sign that we were probably having a girl LOL. We waited until Christmas Day to announce it to our parents in person and to everyone else via Facebook. It was so hard to keep it in because I know they really wanted to know. For our gender reveal to our parents, we bought them each an ornament that says "It's a girl" with her due date May 2017. We wrapped it in blue tissue paper (to be extra sneaky) and put it in a little box with the ultrasound picture and blue and pink bows. We filmed them all opening the boxes and their reactions were priceless :)

On another note, we found out that we are actually further along than what we thought (by 5 extra days!). I haven't even taken a 20 week bump picture and we are actually at 21 weeks. It will be 22 weeks on Saturday, so I think I'll just forget about taking a 20 week picture (since it would't be accurate anyways!) and just post my 22 week picture in a separate blog post.

P.S. I've also been feeling her moving around for about a week now. At first, I was unsure of how it would feel and if I was even feeling it. It's hard to describe because the movements are so subtle but I guess it's almost like gas bubbles haha. After feeling it every day for a week I was certain that it was the baby moving. Unfortunately, we haven't been able to feel her move from the outside yet, but hopefully that will happen soon because I know Andrew is getting anxious (and maybe a bit jealous, lol) that he can't feel her move yet.

Here are my ultrasound pictures and I've also included Week 18 since I haven't posted it on here yet: