11 Weeks + 3 Days

Saturday was the Collins-Grogan extravaganza and a wonderful time was had by all. The bride was beaming, the groom was handsome and 1 of the 4 bridesmaids barely squeezed into her dress and made it through her speech without having a complete meltdown. Andrea's aunt told me I was having a big baby and her uncle told me he wouldn't rule out twins - so that paints a pretty accurate picture of how big I'm getting.

This is an exciting week - the ultrasound is on Thursday and I meet my new doctor on Friday. If all goes well I'll have a picture of Owen or Jen Jr. to post on this site.

Congratulations to Jackie Molson on the news that she's expecting baby #2 a couple weeks after me. That makes for 4 pregnancies within the "Buchans" family.

At 11 weeks the baby loses it's tail and it's liver, intestines, brain and lungs are beginning to function on their own. Little Connell is about the size of a large lime.

How I'm Feeling: I should have taken a vacation day today! Yawn!

10 Weeks

1/4 of the way through the pregnancy and finally into double digit weeks. Not much going on this week other than impending wedding stuff. Dresses to be fixed, suits to be dry cleaned, speeches to be written. I was telling Andrea that it's hard to write a speech about someone you love without it sounding like a eulogy. So I've printed the speech and am bringing it home to see if Owen can punch it up a little and to make sure that I will actually receive laughs at the funny parts and not blank stares. Because there are funny parts - oh boy - are there funny parts.

How I'm Feeling: Bien

Let Out

Happy 1st Birthday Eric!

This past Saturday was my godson Eric's first birthday and he celebrated in style. I can't believe how quickly the year went by since he was born.

One of the attendees at the party was Joanne's cousin Denise who is 5 months pregnant. This is her third pregnancy - the first 2 ended in miscarriages. So far this pregnancy, she's been in the hospital more nights then she's been home. She gets violently ill and has on occasion fainted from being so sick. She is on at least 3 medications and has her own room at the hospital. Lesson #1: Suck it up Jen, your hangover nausea ain't that bad! So, good vibes out to Denise (and her baby girl) this week.

Yesterday I went to a tailor to get my bridesmaid top (12 days to the Collins-Grogan nuptuals!) taken out. The top was always snug but when I tried it on yesterday the seamstress gave me a look like, "she's gonna blow!". They are going to let out the seam which should buy me at least an inch on either side. I pick it up on Friday so fingers crossed. According to the seamstress, after this I have nowhere else to go seam-wise. Lesson #2: You aren't eating for 2 if 1 of you is the size of a small plum (finally a food a like!).

How I'm Feeling: According to Mike from Sales, it's not how you feel, it's how you look. And I look nice today.

P.S. Let your comments fly - it's nice to know that people are reading this thing!

9 Weeks

I have to say that the last 2 weeks have been the worst so far pregnancy-wise. When you hear about "fatigue" and "nausea" in terms of being pregnant it's hard to wrap your head around what the words mean. How tired could you really be? How sick could you actually feel? I think the feeling is best summed up in the word "hangover". I have felt, for the past 2 weeks perpetually hungover. Like I started out the night drinking at Toots', went to the Stampede, drank too much Corona, fell on the dance floor with a beer tucked in to the back of my pants, left the bar when the lights came on, went to Roddington, passed out on a random couch, woke up at 5am, left Roddington, passed Mom on Ottawa street on her way to work, went back to Toots' and fell into a sleep with 2 other women in the bed, and woke up to Jim Furey hammering nails into the stairs and screaming for Marg to bring him a cup of tea. Not that anyof that's ever happened to me - every weekend for 2 years. Nope, not at all. So for those of you who are wondering what being newly pregnant feels like, go out tonight and get hammered. Tomorrow when your head is in the toilet you can feel the wonders of pregnancy. Burp.

This past Tuesday our building held it's annual Tenant Lunch. Basically it's a BBQ for all the tenants in the building. My building has 30 floors and therefore there are A LOT of tenants. I stood in line for an hour (Owen said there really is no such thing as a free lunch and he was right!) with my new work friend Michelle and shot the shit. Michelle is a sweet girl - in every way that I'm not so sweet. She doesn't curse, is on time for work, goes to church and probably never woke up in the International House of Porn wondering if there was a new Prime Minister. Anyway, Michelle and her husband have 2 children and to me she seems like a really good mother. She always has a cute kid story and absolutely lives for her family. While we were waiting for our "free" lunch we were talking about pregnancy and how I was feeling. Most people I've talked to have loved being pregnant. It was the best time of their life, they never felt so healthly - yada, yada. Michelle turned to me and said "You know what? I didn't enjoy being pregnant." In those 2 sentences Michelle endeared herself to me. Here she was, what I think a perfect mother is and she was honest enough to say that although she loved her children she didn't like being pregnant. She didn't like being sick all the time, the getting big, the constipation, the heartburn etc. I guess she showed me that I don't have to feel like there is something wrong with me because I'm not all glowy and earthy. I'm just me. Going through more changes in the past 9 weeks than in all of my 31+ years. In those 2 sentences Michelle made me enjoy my pregnancy more because she showed me that whatever I was feeling was fine because it was mine.

How I'm Feeling: I could really use a Coronoa!

For the Record (and so I'll remember)

I had a dream last night that we were having a boy. He looked just like Owen (whew!) and I was carrying him around upsidedown.

I'm not putting too much stock into my dreams because I also dreamt that Andrea was marrying Sebastian Bach (from Skid Row and more recently Gilmore Girls) and his hair looked nicer than hers.

8 Weeks

So, here I am. 2 months pregnant. 1 month to go in this trimester and 27 days away from hearing the heartbeat of the little kidney bean growing inside me. One thing I like about one of the baby books I bought (Your Pregnancy Week by Week or something) is that at the beginning of each chapter it tells you how big the baby is. For some reason they always compare the size to a food - ironically a food I don't like. I've gone from a lentil to a kidney bean and in about a month I'll have a green olive frolicking inside of me.

This morning I was thinking about how I would answer the question, "How do you like being pregnant?". Truth be told I think I would like it better the second time around. This pregnancy - obviously my first - has been nerve racking. I just don't know what to expect next. I go from not feeling any physical changes to all of a sudden being overwhelmed with tiredness or nausea. I have a hard time enjoying the "now" and always wish of the "later". I want to be 5 months pregnant instead of 2 months. Owen says that I never enjoy the day, that I always have to have something to look forward to. I don't want to be that way. I want to enjoy the now of the pregnancy instead of focusing on what's coming next. Hormones - gotta love them.

Yesterday at lunch I went to a maternity store with Lee Ann (AKA 3 weeks more pregnant than me). The styles go from "bigger regular clothes" to "come and knock on my door" patterns that you would never see at a non-pregnancy store. It's like once you're pregnant you can decide to dress like a completely different person, wearing chevron stripes and polyester stretch pants. There are pregnancy bras, tights, pajamas - even thongs. Like at 8 months pregnant I'm going to be worried about panty lines. Who knows? This pregnancy might bring out my inner hooch and I'll be showing up to work in fishnet stockings and a plunging neckline.

Re-reading this post it is pretty apparent that I am all over the place today. That can be attributed to the fact that my neighbour decided to have his own little dance party last night around 11:30. I finally gave up on our bed and went to sleep in the bunkbed room. I shouldn't really complain about buddy next door seeing as 95% of the time he's not even home but he listens to the beginning of a song and that's it. And then he plays the beginning again...."kiss an angel good morning"...pause..."kiss an angel good morning"....pause..."kiss an angel good morning". Owen says that he plays in a band (side note - Owen has met everyone in the neighbourhood - Harold from Conception Bay, Bill the handicapped guy down the street who wanted to take one of our front yard flowers for his mother, Old Guy across the street who walks his cat on a leash. For someone who hates people as much as he claims to Owen certainly is chatty) and that he's probably trying to learn the words. Either way it gets really old, really fast.

How I'm Feeling: Comme ci, comme ca

Good News Just Won't Wait

Today I told my manager (and her manager) that I was indeed (almost) 2 months pregnant. I did it because I have some doctor's appointments coming up soon (August 31 - blood work & ultrasound and September 1 - meeting the new doctor) and because last week's layoff hit close to home. My manager reacted wonderfully and gave me a hug which just cements for me the fact that good news rules!

How I'm Feeling: Still tired (trust me, I hate typing it as much as y'all hate reading it!)