Baby

A Country Music Excursion in the Country

I've been harassing my dear ex-TSO colleague and great friend, Josh, to convince one of the many bands he plays drums for to tour through Saskatchewan. He told me months ago that there was a strong possibility that he would be coming our way at the end of November with Joshua Cockerill, a young and talented folk-country artist. I decided that it was Murphy's Law that we would have a newborn baby then and we probably wouldn't get to see him.

It just so happens that between Winnipeg and Alberta they added a concert at Pump Jack Saloon in Weyburn on Thursday night. Steve and I hemmed and hawed for about 30 seconds and then realized that it was only an hour away and there is a hospital in Weyburn so we hit the road after Steve was done work.

We had a great supper at the Saloon (amazing food that surprised me) and a great visit with Josh and Devo (the bass player who we also knew through Josh). I wasn't really sure what to expect from the music, but this 22 year old has some great songwriting talent. We of course bought his CD which features people like Serena Ryder, pretty impressive. Oh and the band changed their name to Joshua Cockerill and The Midwives for that evening...in honour of my current state. Too funny.

The music, food, and the visit with Josher were so great. On the drive to Weyburn I asked Stephen what he would have thought if three years ago someone told us we would be watching one of Josh's bands play in Weyburn, Saskatchewan.

The Wait Continues....

I spent yesterday afternoon in the Fetal Assessment Unit at the General Hospital. Stephen miraculously had one of those "Earned Days Off" - a perk of working life in Regina - so he could keep me company.

We waited and waited and chatted with some other people in the waiting room. There was a nice couple who was 10 days overdue and I loved the girl because she was super positive and kinda like "whatever happens" about the whole experience. There was another couple who were at 35 weeks and the girl was freaking out and loudly whispered to her husband "I DON'T WANT TO BE 10 DAYS OVERDUE" so I had to get my hate on for her. She was also dressed in head to toe Rider gear wearing a "future Rider fan" t-shirt with an arrow pointing to the belly. Everyone joked about how our late babies were probably going to come on Sunday during the Rider game and the hospital would be empty.

We got our ultrasound (only my second time to see Hairy in black and white) and it was looking very comfortable in there with lots of fluid and room still. Hairy is in perfect position for birth which made me happy. We got to see its little hand in front of the face again, a foot by the other side of the face, a long spine, a healthy beating heart, and my always full bladder. We were careful not to look as she did most of the test as we didn't want to accidentally discover the sex.

We then waited for the Non Stress Test for which I got to sit in a huge recliner chair and had two monitors put on my belly, one to take the baby's heartbeat and the other to assess movements and any contractions. They put you on the monitor until the baby has two periods of distinct movements. The lady in front of me took 45 minutes for this to happen and needed all sorts of juices brought in to her. Our active little Hairy took about 5 minutes to achieve this and then we had to sit for 5 more minutes while they monitored the heartrate. It was neat to see it move from 129 to 160 when it got moving and excited.

I was handed a pamphlet on Inducing Labour (sigh...come on Hairy) and we were sent on our merry little way.

On the way home we realized in terror that we had made absolutely no plans for this weekend thinking we'd have a 7 or 8 pound distraction. So...Steve phoned Derek and Sofia to see if they wanted to check out a movie with us. They happened to be planning an excursion to Vibank for the best Mexican food in Saskatchewan and called the very small restaurant which is reservation in advance only to convince them that their very pregnant friend needed some spicy Mexican food to induce labour...and they were able to fit us in. IT WAS SO DELICIOUS, but unfortunately did not induce labour!

We Live in a Small Town

I've been getting a little bit desperate for things to do these days. Yesterday my to do list consisted of:

- Lunch with Mom/Grandma
- Get library card
- Wash car

When I went to get my library card and gave the man at the desk my ID he said...oh that's my old address, you bought your house from me.

40 Weeks, 5 Days

Everything my friends have told me and I've read about being overdue is nothing like this. I know some people would probably like to throw something at me for saying this, but I'm feeling fantastic.

I've been having fun seeing friends and family checking in with me to see if there is a baby yet. The anticipation is very exciting and Steve and I just can't wait to meet our new "housemate"!

At the same time, I know that this short "vacation" between the two worlds of working constantly and becoming a mom will be something that I look back on fondly so I'm enjoying it as much as possible. I've checked all of the biggies off my list...but maybe there is time for another manicure or massage.

Due Date

I had a fabulous potential birthday for Hairy, having a pretty strong feeling that there would be no baby.

Went for lunch with mom and brother and then to the Michael Jackson documentary with a friend.

November 11th

For my first Remembrance day spent in Ontario, I was absolutely shocked to have to go to classes. Yes, in Ontario people work on Remembrance Day unless you work in a bank or for the government.

Today was Stephen's first Remembrance day as a holiday. To be honest, we didn't spend a lot of time remembering, but I think of today much like Valentine's day...something you should think about for more than one day a year.

Stephen spent his day helping a friend drywall a basement (it's so nice that he has found buddies here with such similar interests). He then finished installing his automatic car starter in his van (a Saskatchewan necessity), put a timer on our outside light, put dimmer switches in our bedroom and Hairy's bedroom, did some final preparations for the electrical inspector coming tomorrow, and started putting up Christmas lights.

I spent my day preparing food, lazing around online, returning a movie to Blockbuster, grocery shopping, and finishing the grant I've been writing for months.

Yes, it was productive indeed.

39 Week Update

On what may or may not be our last Friday night alone pre-parenthood, we decided to make a robot costume. The purpose of which was primarily to poke a little fun at our friends. We laughed so hard while doing so that it made it entirely worth it.

Productive Husblini

So - the way that I can tell Stephen is excited about something is that he starts to go full tilt on all of his home reno projects. He's been avoiding a few of the less desirable ones for weeks. His least favourite is insulating our attic. Anyway, tonight is his third night of working on it. He's dressed in a full on aesbestos suit because of the itchiness and looking thoroughly miserable every time he descends down the ladder. Normally I would be up there helping him (I'm an expert insulator), but he doesn't allow me to due to my current enormity.

He's doing this project amongst others to improve the heat retention in our house over the winter months. Even though I know he's hating every minute of it, it melts my heart because I know exactly why he is in such a rush to get it done.

I think I better go and bake him some cookies.

Maternity Leave: Day 1 of 365

On Sunday I started to get worried that I would run out of stuff to do this week, despite the fact that I still have a few major items of work to accomplish, so I created a list. It managed to keep me quite busy all day and helped me to procrastinate from the work I have to do.

Day 1 included:
- opening up my work computer and answering some emails for my replacement
- getting H1N1 vaccinated with all of the 6 month to 5 year olds and other pregnant ladies (was of two minds about this but decided to go for it...no side effects at all).
- cleaning kitchen and making lunch
- buying a few groceries in the afternoon with seniors and stay at home moms
- making homemade turkey soup to freeze
- listening to CBC Radio 2 Drive while working on a grant application

Only 364 more days to go....

Baby Deep Fry

I'll try to add some photos in another post, but wanted to give some highlights of our amazing co-ed baby shower last night hosted by the amazing Ash and Ryan.

- 2 deep fried turkeys
- extremely difficult parenting challenges for Stephen and I, Stephen the clear winner.
- Natasha the clear loser at the "car seating" challenge
- 2 adorable babies dressed up as monkeys
- Rock Band set up in Ryan's sweet garage
- 3 bottles of Beck's non alcoholic beer
- popcorn cupcakes
- chocolate peanut butter cakes as a post dessert dessert
- great friends and lots of fun!

I'm writing this as Stephen recovers from his hangover...which should be the result of every baby shower if you ask me.