Week 16

Well, hello WINTER. Didn't expect you so soon, as in before Halloween....

Yes, what they say about Calgary is true. Just when everyone is commenting on the beautiful, extended fall you've been gifted with in September, BAM. Overnight blizzard. In go the flip flops, out come the winter boots. Brings a tear to my eye, and not in a good way. I'm all for a nice winter day, snowflakes falling on Christmas Eve, a good white dusting while you're sipping hot chocolate in front of the fire... But this is OCTOBER. Fall leaves out, brown sugary, slushy, slippery, no-one-can-possibly-walk-through-this snow IN. Oh, Canada.

We were in Canmore this past weekend with my parents and brother, and it DUMPED the first night and looked like Christmas morning when we woke up. I have to say, it made for an interesting hike that day. The snow was absolutely downpouring. You know, those HUGE snowflakes that aren't so much flakes but wimpy snowballs falling from the sky and into your eyes while you walk? That kind of snowfall. It made for some pretty spectacular photos though, which I'll share in another post.

Back to today. So it snowed last night. And kept snowing this morning. And I had my first prenatal checkup in a totally opposite end of the city. Wasn't too bad to get there, but MAN the snow was thick! It looks much nicer now as I sit in front of our fireplace that has been on almost 24/7. Mmm.

So my appointment! It was actually perfect timing since I've been having some crazy weird pains. Up to this point, I've been feeling awesome. The past few weeks, I've noticed more cramping, but read up on it and it seems to be round ligament pain, which should be happening around this time, and is just the feeling of the ligaments around the uterus starting to stretch and grow to accommodate this little avocado baby! The last 2 days though, it's been really sharp pains, almost like gas pains (TMI) that won't really go away. Tres uncomfortable! Both doctors I saw today said it's likely the same thing, crazy ligament pain, especially since I mostly notice it when I'm moving (aka anytime other than sleeping or sitting on the couch). How's that for healthy lifestyle promotion! I have yoga tomorrow, so we'll see how that goes, but as long as all is well and nothing gets worse, I won't get too worried.

We went through other standard questions, did my blood pressure, height and weight...which has continued to go DOWN (?!) unless all these scales are wrong. I'm thinking that I'm probably losing muscle from not strength training (which I neeeeeed to get back to), but weird to know how much I've been eating and how tight my pants are, yet I'm down in pounds. That sounds like something I would read from someone else and HATE them. I'm sure it'll catch up to me and I'll be a whale in no time, don't you worry!

Best part about today's appointment? BABY'S HEARTBEAT!!! This was my first time hearing it. At the ultrasound they just looked at the heart and we could sort of see the little flicker of it beating, but it was different to actually hear it! She warned me that it might still be a bit early and that if I still wanted to try, to not freak out if she couldn't find it. Well, I assure you, it's a good thing she did find it right away because I most certainly lied and most certainly would have freaked out if we heard nothing! There it was, right away, that crazy "whoosh whoosh" that you've heard in movies or on tv. I thought it sounded fast, and she listened for a long time and said that it actually was pretty fast. 165 and they like it to be between 110-150. I said it was 168 at the ultrasound, so she said maybe baby is just really active! (Does this mean we'll have one rambunctious little crazy baby on our hands??) She took it again a few minutes later and it had gone down to an average of 155, so all is well. Baby was just excited for his/her first audio debut! She asked if I was feeling any movement yet, but I don't think I have. I know it's still early, but it could be anytime now, so I'm trying to pay close attention. Can't wait for our next ultrasound to see little pea again and watch those squirmy arms and legs, and maybe feel what's going on this time! 

I'm also thankful, thankful, thankful for a spring baby and will hope that the snow is clearing out in Ontario in April for pea's arrival! 

That's right. MATERNITY SKINNY JEANS, Y'ALL!