Bread in the Oven

or often a Bun

Saturday, October 4, 2008 T's Birthday We celebrated T's 5th birthday on Wednesday They played hot potato. T opened presents. There was a lot of Playmobil sets to put together. We had fun. T wanted everything that was in a cardboard baby book on a birthday page. She wanted the same cake and snacks and even the same present, a teddy bear. We didn't pay attention at first but she kept on insisting. We had bought her all the new Playmobil circus sets but we knew she's be disappointed with no bear. Luckily the toy store had a perfect one. It was perfect too. T loves it and it got many ohhs and ahhs when it was pulled out of the bag. She also asked for sundaes just like in the book. The cake. She wanted the same cake too but asked to have dogs on it. She also wanted to decorate it but was happy to make a box cake with Dad and let me do the frustrating part. The cake turned out soft and crumby. I tried using a jarred icing but it was too sticky and runny. I ended up making a cooked butter icing and piping it on the cake. She was happy and so was I. posted by ma @ 11:04 PM 10/4/2008 Comments for September Friday, September 26, 2008 Cute Again I think Tf was my cutest baby. Then she grew hair. She didn't have cute baby curls like many of my kids. Her hair only grew in the front and back. I cut her bangs so she looked like she had a mullet. I really don't like mullets. Had I know how cute she would have looked if I only cut her hair I would have done it a few months ago! Yesterday I went to the dentist. I have a tooth that's been bothering me for a while. Last visit 8 months ago she didn't see anything wrong with it. It only hurt if I used it to chew gum or bit down on something hard so I ignored it. Then it got sore when I chewed anything with it. Hot and cold things bothered it. Recently just poking it with my tongue or room temp water made it hurt. Finally it was just sore all the time. Not bad or anything but I didn't want to wait anymore. My dentist looked at it and x-rayed it. There is nothing wrong with it. She removed the filling and put a temp one in. If it still hurts in 2 months she will do a root canal. She also put something in that smells like cloves. I don't mind cloves but yuck I don't like tasting that all day long. At first it hurt less but now it seems to be the same. We went to see the toy store lady, Heejin, after the dentist. We had no idea but it was the second anniversary of her owning the store. She helped us with wrapping the clothes for the finding out that D was a boy. We wanted to show her D. We also bought T the new circus sets from Playmobil and needed to pick them up. I added a weight tracker to my side bar. I was 230 lbs 2 days D before was born. I was 186 when I got pg and 176 when I first saw the dr. I had gained 8 lbs the month I got pg. I went off my plan hoping I would get pg if I wasn't on plan. It worked lol. When I started back on plan this Sunday I had lost only 11 lbs after the birth. First day on plan I lost nothing but the next 2 days I lost 3 each. I didn't lose anything the next 2 days but that's ok. Today I went off plan. We are doing haircuts. posted by ma @ 10:47 PM 9/26/2008 Comments for September Monday, September 22, 2008 Weight and Visit S and his gf, Jo, came over to visit. It's been a while since they were here. At first I thought maybe she wanted to hold a new baby but she turned out to be scared since he was so tiny lol. I forgot but she mentioned a tradition of knitting a booties, sweater and hat set for any new baby in the family. Once all S's brothers and sisters start having families that could be a lot of work lol. I didn't want to weigh D at first because I thought I'd worry. He seems to be nursing well and has lots of dirty/wet diapers. I'm not leaking and he never has milk coming out of his nose so I'm not making too much either. At 8 days he weighed 8-10.5. He was just changed but still a bit of that weight is the onsie and diaper. I just weighed those and its just under 2 oz. posted by ma @ 5:06 PM 19/01/2005 Comments for September September 20, 2008 1 Week D is one week already. Some of the days have been long but the week has flown by. I'm going to go back on my diet tomorrow. I don't want to wait too long because I tend to gain lots of weight in early pp. I think I'm trying to feel full like I felt while pg. I didn't want to start too any earlier because I wanted my milk to have a chance to come in. D seems to be nursing well posted by ma @ 8:10 PM 9/20/2008 Comments for September Thursday, September 18, 2008 Yea, It's Off D lost his umbilical cord today. We lost it too. Reg went to change him after getting home from the library and it was gone. It wasn't in his onsie or the foot of his pj. It wasn't in his diaper or on the change pad. I was home alone with him so I know no one else could have taken it. I looked in his seat and around it. Finally I found it on the other side of my computer chair. D was wearing a pj that opened in the back. Up till today I had only changed D twice. While Reg was getting ready to go to the library I changed D again. He had pooped and smelt oddly bad. Later while Reg was out I changed him again. Then it hit me that it was his belly button that stunk. I always notice it smelling bad right before coming off. I read somewhere that it rots off. I think it's true. Way back when we had K we were told to clean it with alcohol. Somewhere along the line they changed their minds. I noticed that ignoring it and keeping it dry makes it fall off the fastest. I knew D's should come off soon but I was still surprised that and because we couldn't find it. posted by ma @ 11:42 PM 9/18/2008 Comments for September Tuesday, September 16, 2008 Birth Story I got his story up. I'm going to put a temp link here for a few days. If its gone you can go to my main site and find it. I should put the link on the top of the main page tomorrow then after you can find it on his page. D's birth story posted by ma @ 11:57 PM 9/16/2008 Comments for September Sunday, September 14, 2008 Pics! Reg and D at the hospital right before we left. Tf warming up to D. I think she thought D was a doll. She got scared when he moved lol. After a while she realized he was a person just small. She has given him a kiss even so I think she likes him. He looks a lot like Co but he has a wider nose more like H. posted by ma @ 11:41 PM 9/14/2008 Comments for September Saturday, September 13, 2008 I'm Home! I couldn't post from the hospital. The maternity wing was full and I had to stay in the Caseroom (L&D) for 8 hours after he was born. Then they put me in a ward so I couldn't use the phone line. D C was born at 5:19 am, weighing 8-13 and 22" The ward sucked so I told them I was leaving at 12 hours. They frowned and said ok. I'm feeling great (but sleepy) and he is doing well. The kids love him but Tf (19 mos) is a bit scared. I will post more tomorrow posted by ma @ 9:03 PM 9/13/2008 Comments for September Friday, September 12, 2008 Almost time Surprise, surprise, no one called. I'm getting ready to go. Most likely I will not be able to update till I'm in my room after the birth. Most likely that won't be until tomorrow afternoon. Often I can't think straight enough to connect so I'll need a nap too before posting an update. If I can go online with the XO I might update in the comments and on LOK PG/TTC. Probably I won't be updating. I'm gonna miss chat too wah. ooops wait I'm having a baby. Eeek lol. posted by ma @ 5:55 PM 9/12/2008 Comments for September Thursday, September 11, 2008 40 Week Appointment That was a long outing. We left at 1 and got home at 9. My appt went ok. Baby is breech and I'm 3 cms. My bp is creeping up, 147/89 and I gained 7 lbs. Dr filled out a request for induction tomorrow. Since the baby is breech they probably won't call. If they don't call before 6 pm I'm to go in for 7:30. It's silly because even if I went in really early the induction takes so long that my dr will be there before the baby. He starts at 6 pm. They worry about rupture since I have so many then some worry I will go fast because I have so many so they go slow. I don't mind since I never liked the 4 to 10 in 20 min routine but lets stop pretending that I might go fast on such a low dose of pit or that I might rupture while having ctx that I can hardly feel. My dr said it's very rare but it has happened so I asked if it was like having 6 breeches in a row LOL. He said I'm more likely to win the lotto. Rats, I should have bought tickets! We stopped at TRU, Costco and WM. Traffic wasn't good downtown and I walk really slooowly. I had fun saying I was due yesterday and that we were kicking him out tomorrow. Tomorrow seemed a long way off before the appt. Now it's so close! Eeek lol posted by ma @ 11:28 PM 9/11/2008 Comments for September Wednesday, September 10, 2008 Due Date My second time making it to my due date! We picked up my glasses. I didn't realize that I would be getting dizzy again. It's so nice to not have scratches but they are different. I'm used to the different feel and I like them even more than when I picked them out. Probably because I can see better than with the dummy lens at the store lol We drove M to her apt last night. We drove over 2 hours on bumpy roads and crossed 6 railway tracks. I had one wussy bh the whole time. Past pg's I would have been having them the whole time. An hour after I got home I had a nice ctx with a back ache. I even lost more plug but the next one 30 min later was back to a wussy bh. I have no idea what it means. I don't like bh's so don't think I'm complaining lol. M's apt is an older 3rd floor walk up. Reg took some pictures. The outside stairs are crazy. I went up because I was curious and I thought I would have to use the bathroom. My pelvic joints were fine. I tried to install the baby car seat base again. My arm is pretty good but nope. I tried installing the seat without the base and it installed easily. Oh well I will be buckling the baby on the way home. I normally like not using the base because it's slightly safer but only if the seat is installed correctly each time. I like not having to install it right after giving birth. At least I didn't hurt my pelvic joints. Reg got through to the school transport office. The woman said he would be picked up Friday for sure. He could probably take the bus home tomorrow but since we won't be around to pick him up if he can't she recommended not sending him in. Phew. Just in time to get some sleep before Friday's all nighter. posted by ma @ 7:25 PM 9/10/2008 Comments for September Tuesday, September 9, 2008 1 "Days" Left LOL I never thought I would get down to having 1 day left when I made my java script counter. 11 of the 12 would have been born by now. Costco just called. I wonder if I can convince dh to get my glasses before picking up M. Often he needs a nap. Tf stays up late still and he gets up early to drive M. Hmm it would be perfect to go into labor now. We could drop off M at her new apt then head to the hospital. My dr will be able to be there lol. Just had a ctx but it was only a bh. I'll be 40 weeks at midnight :-) Ah he just got home from picking up P and said ok. Woohoo, new glasses here I come! Ok, after his short nap lol. posted by ma @ 3:31 PM 9/9/2008 Comments for September Monday, September 8, 2008 Arm We went to see a dr for a follow up on my arm. He looked at my x-rays but couldn't see the break. He wanted to send me for another x-ray but I asked if it was really needed. He said it could wait. He doesn't want me to wear the split anymore and only use the sling once my arm gets sore or tired. I will wear the split when I go out. Too many people will bump into it. Also I can see at the birth people just acting as if my arm is perfectly fine. I'm not suppose to lift anything yet and I can't use it to help move myself in bed. All the laundry folding was good for it. He wants me to exercise it by bending and twisting it. He also wants me to use it for daily activities. I'm happy I'm suppose to since I want to and was anyway. He asked me to come back on Monday but if I have the baby on Saturday and come home on Sunday there is no way I will want to go back then. He said the 19th was ok. The little kids have been sniffling. I wasn't sure if I had the cold or not. It started with a headache which I did have. I have allergies so I wasn't sure if it was a cold or allergies. Well after the dr visit this am I'm sure. My throat started to hurt and my nose is being very anti social. Now I hope it's gone before Saturday. If this was my pg with M she would have been born tomorrow. Odd that she is moving out tomorrow. P bus still isn't figured out. We will be driving both M and P back and forth yet again. Tomorrow evening we will bring M to her apt. I managed to get all the laundry done and folded yesterday. Not bad for 9 mos pg with a broken arm! We just need to get it put away. No signs of labor. Baby is getting big. He has been kicking me hard enough that I scream out if he hits something sensitive. Reg says it time for him to be out and I have to agree lol. posted by ma @ 11:06 PM 9/8/2008 Comments for September Sunday, September 7, 2008 More Couch and Laundry Friday night after Tf fell asleep on the couch, Reg got started on getting the old couch upstairs and the really old couch outside. He didn't mean to bug her but she fell asleep early lol. Since the couch might have arrived really early in the morning he wanted to get it done the night before. Tf was not impressed. The couch comes apart in 3 sections. The backs also remove but he left them on. Tf climbed back onto one of the sections. Reg had tried to lay her on some blankets but that didn't work lol. The couch is bigger than our old one. It's a few steps up from our old model. My feet almost dangle when I sit on it. P who is 6-1 says it was made for him lol. I didn't mean to get a fancier model but I had wanted a drawer. I didn't get it because then I wouldn't have gotten the sale price. Hopefully it will last longer. I had wondered if I should sort the clothes before they came with the couch. I knew I needed 2 days to get it washed. I take up the whole living room when I sort. Luckily I got it done before they came. Laundry is going well. The 7th load is in the washer. I have plenty of clothes to wear again and no signs of labor. I took off my splint because folding clothes makes my elbow hit the hard plaster. My arm is pretty good but I'm happy I waited since it's making it sore. I'm glad to be getting the laundry done before the baby arrives. Here is the schedule I posted on LOK ttc/pg board for next week. Monday: Driving P to school and M to the train. LOL Sounds simple but we live in the middle of nowhere so it's an hour per trip. They leave at different times and are in different directions so 4 hours of driving not including any stops. While P is in school I have my follow up appt for my arm downtown. I guess we will go out for lunch and pick P up on the way back. Tuesday: Hopefully P's bus will pick him up. M will need to be driven to the train. Tuesday evening we move her to her apt near the college. Wednesday (my due date): Stay home? lol. They broke my glasses so they had to redo them. They might be ready to pick up. Thursday: Ob appt. My ob's office and hospital I deliver at is 65 min away so it makes for a big outing even if we don't go shopping. We will need milk and groceries unless we get them the day before if my glasses are ready. Friday: Get ready to go to hospital at 6 pm if I haven't had the baby yet. Saturday: Have baby. Sunday: Come home. I'm glad dh is on vacation lol posted by ma @ 1:22 PM 9/7/2008 Comments for September Saturday, September 6, 2008 Couch and Laundry The couch came today. They said any time between 7 am and 9 pm. Reg got up early in case. I went to bed late because I was at chat. I actually slept more last night than most nights. I wondered if I should sort the laundry before they came. I only do the clothes once every 2 weeks (ha ha more like 3 with a catch up load). I had done the laundry the week before breaking my arm. I had worn all my clothes. I was joking that as soon as my only fitting shorts were wet in the washer I'd need to leave to the hospital. Nope they are clean and dry. The ctx I was having yesterday are gone. I'm back to my few a day. I guess I'm more tired than I thought. I'm having a hard time making sense even to myself lol posted by ma @ 8:25 PM 9/6/2008 Comments for September Friday, September 5, 2008 5 Days to Go! M got her new glasses tonight. They broke mine somehow so even though I ordered mine a week before M she got hers first. They were very nice and apologetic but ugg! I finally had some ctx this morning. They last a couple hours. I just woke up and there was no reason to have them like a full bladder or too much activity lol. After I told Reg and he left to drive M they stopped of course but I can no longer say I don't have any signs. posted by ma @ 11:53 PM 9/5/2008 Comments for September Thursday, September 4, 2008 39 Week Appointment I had my 39 week appointment today. Baby was breech but I knew that. I'm 2 to 3 cms. I go back next Thurs to talk "options". It looks like if I'm still pg next Friday, the 12th, I will go in at 6 pm to be induced. I'm only getting a few bh's a day and no signs of labor. Sex and shopping obviously don't bring on labor lol. Ro got hit by a door so we have matching bruises. Poor Ro! The bruise on my upper lid hardly shows. People talk to me for a bit before noticing now. I have a pink patch where the scabs were but even that isn't very noticeable. My arm is a lot better. I was actually able to brush my teeth with it last night. Yea! I used it so much today that the splint made my wrist sore lol. I have my follow up next Monday. We bought a couch today. I really like our couch but after just 4.5 years it's starting to fall apart. The kids' couch upstairs is horrible so we thought we'd get a new one and put the old one upstairs. The couch is still very comfortable, just the cloth cover is wearing out. The new couch is leather. The leather is on sale so cheaper than the fabric one. It's coming on Saturday. Costco still didn't have my glasses. They said 7 to 10 days and it has been 13. I was pretty disappointed! I'm sick of these scratched ones. Ugg! posted by ma @ 9:16 PM 9/4/2008 Comments for September Wednesday, September 3, 2008 39 Weeks I sort of remember looking for a usb cable before and not getting one because of the price. Then I saw them at the dollar store but I didn't want one anymore and figured if I did want one again I go just go back. That dollar store closed. We went to another one but they didn't have any. WM had them for 13$. We also tried Best Buy, Staples, and Source. They all had long ones that were 27$. I want 2 for my day or so at the hospital then I might not use them again. 13$ was too much and 27 was just nuts. It was really hot yesterday and I'm 9 mos pg. Running to all those stores wasn't much fun. We were going to try the other WM after picking up M since we knew she needed some sketch books. By then 13 was sounding ok. On the way there we stopped at another dollar store. It was the same chain as the other one so I wasn't too hopeful. But they had some for a dollar each. Yea! I tested one out and it worked fine on the laptop. I also bought some disposable 18 oz cups. The only thing I can think of that I don't have now is a current picture of Tf. Here is that tea pic finally, jeeps. lol. Reg makes tea for the kids and me each morning. I guess he started when P was little because M and up never have any. He still makes it in the old sippy cups but they have just been removing the lids for years and years. The little kids tea is more watery sweet milk than tea. It's rare to see the cups all on the counter because they usually grab them as soon as it's made. Tf switched from the bottle to the sippy very easily so the tea is handy too lol. I have my 39 week appt tomorrow. I'm not having any signs of labor. I'm having a few bh's a day just like last week. I'm not losing anymore plug. Baby has been very obviously breech for the past 12 days. Before that he'd flip or get into positions were I couldn't tell. I was wondering why I felt bad on the weekend. I had a headache too and one by one the kids are saying they have one too. I guess its just a bug going around. Luckily its not that bad. posted by ma @ 4:25 PM 9/3/2008 Comments for August Tuesday, September 2, 2008 Nesting My bag is mostly packed. I forced myself to get started but once started I didn't want to stop. I got tired and sore but when I sat down I couldn't stay sitting. I found a list of things to pack from last time. I forgot that I wanted a glass. In the Caseroom they just have little styrofoam cups. I'm used to having a 20 oz cup. Reg was continually running to get me a cup of water. He'd bring 2 but then we got nervous about knocking them over lol. I need a couple of boring usb cables. I thought I had one but I can't find it. Last time I was frustrated because I only brought one. I need one for the card reader and one for the usb modem. I also wanted 2 phone lines so I could leave the hospital phone plugged in. Those at least I have. Today is the first day of school for P and under. Reg drove M to the bus. There was a lot more traffic this morning and she got there 15 min late. On the way back Reg saw S walking to work so he gave him a lift. I'm happy he saw him but it made him more late so I started to worry about why he was late. I had a nervous P waiting for him to drive him to school. Poor S is being forced to work doubles. He works in a animal research lab and there is a very high turn over rate even though the pay and benefits are good. He was happy to get a lift. Reg said that he said that it was very "random". I can hear him saying that lol. Reg drove P to school. He ended up bringing him back too. They were swamped and didn't think they get his schedule done. It's nice since we don't have to go get him. They met the new principal, the vice-principal and the guidance counselor. The guidance counselor is supportive of home schooling and said we had a good track record and didn't have to prove anything. Huge change from when we tried to register S! On Sunday I was really uncomfy. I felt like I ate way too much turkey dinner. I did eat a big lunch but not turkey dinner big. The baby was also kicking. He feels like he is getting really big. I'll feel silly if he turns out to be small like Tf. Yesterday was much better. posted by ma @ 1:21 PM 9/2/2008 Comments for August Monday, September 01, 2008 Laptop I'm posting from my laptop. I wanted to have it ready by 38 weeks but better late than never. I'd use the XO but after not sleeping all night and giving birth I'm pretty sure the XO would be too confusing. I'm going to bring the XO too because the Caseroom's phonelines won't let me use dial up. Last time I brought the XO to the lab at the hosp it picked up a connection. I'm assuming I won't be able to connect during labor. The only thing I can't test is the dial up connection. Hopefully all the settings from Tf's birth are still right lol. posted by ma @ 9:51 AM 01/09/2008 Comments for August Sunday, August 31, 2008 10 Days! 10 days left to my due date. 7 of the 12 would have been born by now. Maybe I should pack my bag lol. Partly I'm in denial and partly I don't think anything will happen till 39 weeks. I'm starting to feel like it will be easier to not be pg. Either my arm is getting better or I'm getting more uncomfy pg wise. I feel more ready for it to be over. I'd still like to wait till my dr is there but I don't feel like it's gone too fast anymore. Before turning 40 all pg's seemed too long. Last time I thought it went faster since I was in better shape. I'm not doing as well this time but it still went really fast. I know I will miss my belly baby but I'm looking forward to holding him. T made Ella a necklace and asked to have her picture taken. I just like how it turned out. The person that M went to see about renting a room from was very picky. M wasn't old enough but she said she let her know. M liked it so was disappointed. When we got home on Friday she had received an e-mail saying she had been picked. M wrote back but we also said to call because she might think she wasn't interested since many hours had past. When M called she found out the person in the room decided to stay longer, till Dec 10th. Poor M was disappointed again. The person said she'd try to talk her into leaving earlier and to call back the next day. When she called the person said she'd leave on the 9th instead. Then it hit M that she misunderstood and heard December instead of September. Reg and are relieved that we won't have to drive her but we are sad that she is leaving. I'm going to post daily till the baby arrives. I had meant to starting at 38 weeks but since I didn't mention it I never got around to posting a couple days. posted by ma @ 2:27 PM 8/31/2008 Comments for August Saturday, August 30, 2008 Pool Outing Pics A few times a year Reg takes the kids to one of Montreal's biggest indoor pools. Normally he only goes in the winter but we didn't have a pool this summer. Above is Tf and Ra. Here is Tf. Reg is trying to get her to smile but she won't for the camera anymore. Ro having fun. Not sure why the flash didn't work. T in the shallow part. The pool is like a beach. H P and J All the kids. Can you see T? Reg took the kids to M's school. They were very impressed with how big it was. Reg was impressed too. A large part of the school is underground. It's right downtown and connected to the subway and mall next door. When you enter from the back you are on the 5th floor. posted by ma @ 5:06 PM 19/01/2005 Comments for August Thursday, August 28, 2008 38 Weeks Ok and a day. On Tuesday I had my 38 week ob appt. Baby is breech and I'm 1 to 2 cms now. He had a hard time reaching the baby unlike when he was head down. Baby has been breech since Saturday. In a way I'm happy the dr found him breech because I wasn't sure if he really believed me or not. We didn't talk about it since he moves so much. I had a hard time getting off the table because of my arm. I get cramps this pg in my lower belly so even with Reg's help I hurt myself. At least my pelvic joints are good. My appt was at 2:30. We were able to leave by 3:30. We ate lunch then went to pick M up from school at 4:30. I thought it would be a nice break from the long commute. We stopped for 10 min to pick up iced cappuccinos and got home at 6:20! Ugg, it was a long trip with traffic. Next time she can take the train or bus and we will go shopping instead lol. I'm doing a lot better. I'm able to use my arm a little bit now. I can picture looking after a nb. I finished washing the baby clothes today. I packed a larger nb outfit. Reg had taken all the kids out to the library and pool while driving M to school. She had a nice short day today. It was still a big day for Reg. Since I was home alone I actually did a lot more. I made a couple trips to the basement. I remembered a pj I really liked then I remembered the little polar fleece outfit. Luckily I was able to find everything. We actually had some nice boy stuff. If he grows fast I might not need to wash onsies again. LOL ok maybe not. I made my arm sore but not too bad. It's less swollen so the splint is lose now. My face looks a lot better too. Yesterday people actually talked to me instead of looking shocked lol. posted by ma @ 10:29 PM 8/28/2008 Comments for August Monday, August 25, 2008 Birthday I was looking at when the others were born and made a graph. It's much easier to see when I delivered by looking at it. Wouldn't a blue square fit nicely in week 40? It looks like there is little hope to go that late. At first I wasn't sure if I'd actually want too once I got farther along but now with my broken arm I hope I will. I can hardly look after myself much less a nb or deal with pp crap. One thing that gives me hope is that I always tried something to get labor going. What I thought worked for my first who was 4 days before due sure didn't work for my 3rd who was 9 days after lol. My normal pattern is to go to the hospital and have my ctx stop. One thing that is bothering me is that my dr always says I'm just a finger tip if he ever checks before 38 weeks and this time I was already 1 at 36. Here is a short summary of my births. 1st: 39w3d. Classic labor. I think my water broke late in labor. 2nd: 39w0d. Induced for PIH. 3rd: 41w2d. Natural except dr broke water at 8 cms. 4th: 39w5d. Induced for PIH. 5th: 38w2d. Did membrane sweeps. Water broke in very early labor. Got Syntocin (Pit). 6th: 38w1d. Did membrane sweeps. Water broke in very early labor. Got Syntocin. 7th: 37w6d. Water broke with no labor. Induced. 8th: 38w3d. Did membrane sweeps and EPO. Water broke before labor. Got Syntocin. 9th 38w2d. Did membrane sweeps and EPO. Water broke in very early labor. Got Syntocin. 10th 38w3d. Did membrane sweeps and EPO. Water broke in very early labor. Got Syntocin. 11th 39w2d. Did membrane sweeps and EPO but started later so M and baby wouldn't have same bday. Water broke before labor. Got Syntocin. 12th 38w0d. Did membrane sweeps and EPO. Water broke in very early labor. Got Syntocin. My 3rd birth was very traumatic. I had really easy ctx then sudden intense pain after my water was broken at 8 cms. I much preferred getting induced and having an epidural. In a way I'm happy I went without any pain meds once just so I know what it's like. With my nasty pelvic joint pain it's nothing I ever want to experience again. I have an ob appt tomorrow so I'll find out if anything has changed. I'm assuming they have since I've lost more plug. I've had some fairly intense bh's but not very many. I do notice I get lots of minor bh's when I don't drink my water. posted by ma @ 11:14 PM 8/25/2008 Comments for August Sunday, August 24, 2008 Getting Better I'm doing a lot better. My arm is less painful and the swelling in my face is gone. The scabs are peeling off. I'm assuming the pg hormones are speeding things up. On Friday after the optometrist visit we went to WM and Costco. I really noticed that I had more energy. We had just gone to both stores but we bought a broom at WM and never brought it home. We went to Costco because the small optical place wanted 900$ for a pair of glasses. I liked the frames I had found but didn't love them. The exam was 65$. At Costco they were 369$. I have progressives and astigmatism so my lens are a bit more than regular ones but yikes that's a huge price difference. Both places had a 7 to 10 day wait. I liked the frames at Costco a bit less Tomorrow M starts college. Monday is her worst day. She starts at 8 and finished at 6. The trip is going to take about 2 hours each way. That makes for a very long day! Reg is going to drive her to the closest train stop which is about 30 min away. The train takes an hour then she has a 20 minute walk or a short subway ride with a transfer. She is very interested in finding a place now lol. She has an appt to see one tomorrow. Normally we follow Reg's schedule so get up late and go to bed late so he is going to be getting up really early. Reg is going to take Tf with him. Ha so I had to uninstall the new baby's car seat base. posted by ma @ 8:51 PM 8/24/2008 Comments for August Thursday, August 21, 2008 Purple Sweater and ER trip Monday night I finished knitting the sweater. I was hiding the stray yarn ends when it was bed time. I was hoping to get it finished before my ob appt. Shirley, the secretary, used to knit years ago and was interested in what I was making. Tuesday morning I did my usual wake up too early so I finished the seater up. I went back to bed after so got enough sleep. I had no idea what good timing I had for finishing the sweater lol. As I mentioned last post I fell. We were leaving for my ob appt. I was carrying a few light things like my ob file, the sweater and a new ball of wool. One of the wood steps had come loose on one side. I stepped to close to the other edge and the whole step flipped up. I landed on my face and right arm. My legs were bent under me. I opened my eyes and saw gravel. I let out a scream. Reg had just closed the door so watched the whole thing. He tried to help me up but my arm hurt. I saw my glasses all bent and scratched and the little purple sweater with dirt on it. I couldn't get up because my arms hurt. I asked for a towel so I could put my hand down. The gravel felt sharp. I have a hard time getting up from a smooth couch lol. My eye started to swell shut. I managed to get up. I spat out gravel and was happy that it was just gravel! I had no idea what to do. I could feel gravel and blood falling from my face. My belly seemed fine but the baby wasn't moving. I figured I should clean off my face so I went back inside. It was hard to tell which step was bad since it fell right back into proper position. I knew I needed to get the baby checked but we were on our way to the ob. I asked Reg to call and ask. She said to go to the caseroom (L&D). I tried rinsing my face but there was mud stuck to my skin. I figured it would be less painful for me to wash it off than someone else. My arm hurt but not too bad. I didn't know if I was in shock or if it was ok. I got a nasty goose egg on my eyebrow. My eye swelled shut. I worried about the baby and thought of all the things that would be hard without my glasses or use of my arm. Gravel was falling off me so I looked around. My ok arm was covered. It just had small scratches. My legs were bleeding but not much so I ignored them. As we drove down our road the baby gave a tiny poke. He is never quiet but I was thinking he got quiet because of the stress. The trip in was quiet and traffic was good. We got a parking spot right in front of the door. Yea! By then the baby was moving normally and I noticed my toe hurting. Up in the caseroom I was led to a stretcher. I had to repeat several times how many kids I had then I became known as the lady that fell down the stairs. They couldn't help but to look lol. A resident came by and asked the usual questions. He was not impressed by my injuries but he was really impressed that I had 5 vag breech deliveries lol. They had placed a monitor on my belly but one nurse wasn't happy with the reading so she got one of those girdle things and made me roll to my side. When I did that I knew something was very wrong with my arm. They decided they liked the reading. I told the resident I needed my arm checked. I got transferred to the er in a wheelchair. The elevator was crowded. A couple students wearing purple scrubs were right in front of me. I asked what school they were from while mentioning my uniform was a light blue polyester uniform. They asked if it was my first and I said no my 13th. No one had heard right yet so I repeated it very clearly that we had 12 children already. Suddenly I heard odd breathing and Reg asking the orderly if we should get off. I had no idea the orderly pushing was listening lol. I don't mind the funny reactions. If I'm not in the mood I usually say I have older kids too. Most people don't ask how many. The orderly apologized and we laughed said we were used to it. In the er we registered then waited for triage. It took a long time and I started to wonder if we were wasting the day instead of going for my ob appt. We got called to triage. As soon as I got back to the waiting room they came out with a gown. Reg wheeled me to the bathrooms. He wanted to go to the men's and I wanted the lady's lol. I won. The men's was open but the women's was empty too. It's hard to get out of already too tight maternity clothes with a sore arm. I had on 2 kinds of pull over shirts. As I removed them more gravel fell out. I noticed than even my boob had cuts but my belly was fine. When I almost had the gown on they called my name. Ha now things were moving fast lol. We were sent upstairs to radiology because the er machine wasn't working. They had no idea up in radiology. We waited for a while until things were sorted out. A man went before us. His wife said he pushed a car then felt sore. She was friendly so we chatted while waiting. Finally it was my turn. The poor radiologist was upset because they ordered so many views of my arm and I was obviously very pg lol. She wrapped me up in lead aprons. During the X-rays I knew my arm was broken or something else serious was wrong. I could not stretch out my arm. Some movements were really painful. I started hoping it was "just" broken so I'd get a cast and not move it by mistake lol. She gave us the X-rays to take back to the er. She had been really sweet. I thanked her. At the er Reg gave the X-rays to someone. As soon as we got to the waiting room my name got called to go to room 3. A nurse said hello and the dr would be in soon. We waited a while and finally a dr popped in. She said on my what did you do after saying my name 3 times. She looked oddly familiar but I couldn't place her. She did a quick exam then said she'd look at the X-rays. When she left Reg and wondered who she reminded us of. Ah its the women that works at the toy store. She came back with a resident. She said I had classic sign of a common fracture. She said it often doesn't show up on X-ray but mine had. Ah it was broken like I thought. She had Reg wheel me to the plaster room. She gave me a choice of just a sling or a splint and sling. I had accidentally moved my arm and hurt myself enough times that I asked for a splint. After setting my arm all up my ob popped in. He was on call and heard I was around. They both agreed I needed a tetanus booster. I thought my cuts weren't deep enough but whatever. We said we'd see him next week. The er dr said I could change. We just laughed and said we'd bring back the gown when I came back to deliver. A nurse came in a gave me the tetanus booster. Reg wheeled me to the lobby, paid for parking and helped me to the car. We were there for a bout 5 hours which really isn't bad. We had planned to eat Mexican after my appt. We normally eat between 2 and 3. At 3 the restaurant switches to its supper menu so if my appt is later we can go there since I like a supper item. We were starved and I figured anything would be hard to eat. The trip home was really long. Traffic wasn't great. I was tired and in pain. I was wondering how I was going to manage without glasses or my right hand with my computer. I couldn't knit either and the pg would drag by. I wondered how I would sleep. At least Reg was home on vacation. I did ok at chat and my friends cheered me up. I picked up lefty typing pretty fast. I slept better than I expected. Last night was even better. My arm is already less sore. This morning I cleaned and straightened my glasses. Seeing a bunch of fuzzy scratches is better than seeing everything fuzzy lol. I decided to go ahead and make an appt with an optometrist. They had an emergency spot for tomorrow. My eye isn't as swollen and my face is healing nicely. Hopefully I'll be ok when the baby comes. posted by ma @ 10:26 PM 8/21/2008 Comments for August Wednesday, August 20, 2008 Ouch! I never made it to my ob appt. On the way out the 4th step came loose and flipped me face first into the gravel driveway. I have to get going but want to say that baby is fine phew and my arm has a small fracture. My glasses are ruined. M has a college thingy appt today and I don't want to be left home with Tf. I'll post more later posted by ma @ 12:13 PM 8/20/2008 Comments for August Sunday, August 17, 2008 Blanket I've done all the mindless knitting for the purple sweater. As usual I don't have a pattern so I need to figure out how to finish the pieces. Reg and I stayed up way too late last night. My brain is mush today. Since I can't figure out the sweater I decided to work on the blanket. I bought a piece of polar fleece. I had bought a blanket already but it's not the right purple to go with orange. The polar fleece piece turned out to be just a touch bigger than the 2 pink blankets I had bought for one of the girls. Doing the blanket stitch around the edge turned out to be a lot more work than I thought. I didn't have the right needle. I either had a dullish fat one or a thin sharp one. The sharp one went through the fleece well but made it hard to pull the yarn through. The fat one was, well, dull so going through the fleece was hard but pulling the yarn through easier. I like how it turned out but not enough to do the second blanket. While cutting the polar fleece I was reminded why I don't like sewing. The table was sticky. Reg nicely offered to wipe it again. Guess H isn't very good at it yet lol. The kids complained because they wanted to use the table. Tf cried because Reg had to shower so I gave up and sat with her. After it was time to eat. After eating I got to listen to the kids complaining again because they wanted to color. All that to cut out 2 baby blankets. My pelvic joints are much better today even though we went shopping on Friday and Saturday. Rushing out shopping before Reg works is partly annoying but fun because it really helps the day pass faster. Reg likes skipping the stress of trying to have a meal right before work. I think the shorter trips are much easier on my pelvic joints. The baby is practicing his breathing a few times a day now. That feels weird lol. I am hoping to go later this time so I didn't want to wash the clothes too soon. I had cleaned out the tubs we keep the baby clothes in. I had left Tf's clothes in them. I'm silly but I get sad seeing all the cute stuff she has outgrown. That is one reason I don't want to get the baby clothes out of storage. I know we have very little nice boy stuff so I don't mind buying new. I felt like I should be getting stuff ready just in case. Yesterday it hit me that I could wash the lighter stuff only. The smallest clothes are light so in case he comes early I have those ready. It was fun to fold and put away the tiny clothes :-) On Tuesday I have my 37 week appt. I think he mentioned checking the baby's position but I don't know if he meant during a cervix check. Usually he only starts those at 38 weeks but after delivering at 38 weeks several times he started checking at 37. Once I got away with no checks because my 38 week appt was the day after I delivered lol. If I go to 40+ weeks that will be a lot of checks :-P Reg is working his last few hours right now then his vacation starts. Yippee! posted by ma @ 7:44 PM 8/17/2008 Comments for August Thursday, August 14, 2008 1 cm I had my 36 week OB appt yesterday. While doing the gbs culture he quickly checked me. Why is it that when I actually want to go later I dilate early? Normally I'm a finger tip until 38 weeks. The baby is head down too. At breakfast I assumed he was head up. In the car he got into a really weird position that I would guess was transverse with his back on top. In the waiting room he continued to move. All I'm sure of now is that he wasn't in one of his common positions when the dr checked me. I'd really like him to be head down but I want to be sure more lol. I'm afraid of ending up breech with a scared inexperienced dr. My dr said they could call him if that happened. He says he makes no promises. I feel a bit better about that. I think he is happy that he gets to say the baby is head down on my papers. Hospital policy is c-sec for breeches so I assume my refusing one causes some trouble. I'm starting to wonder if I'm wrong thinking he is head up. With the others I was sure because it felt like a nice round grapefruit that was loose on top. He always has feet or legs with what feels roundish. On the u/s he had his feet near his face so who knows. We will know for sure when it's time to push. In a way that is the best since I won't have a to argue if the baby is breech but it won't give much time for my dr to get there if he is available. On Monday I decided to try installing the new car seats. The huge boxes were in the way and the kids wanted to play with (destroy) them. The convertible seat we bought as a spare installs really well rear facing and forward facing on the side and the center in the car. It's installed on the van bench in the house right now so I know it installs well in the van lol. We keep the last bench in the house so we have trunk space in the van. I also installed the base for the new baby's car seat. On Tuesday I was really sore from all the installing. When I walk a lot I get a numb soreness but installing seats I just ended up in pain, ouch. It's no where near as bad as when I was pg with Co or H. Yesterday I was able to shop and climb onto the exam table without trouble. With Ro I installed her seat after my water broke so I was in pain during labor. I'd much rather be sore now than then. We did a lot of walking and shopping yesterday. I was really tired after. My pelvic joints were sore but an odd numb sore like a nasty bruise that no one is poking lol. I wasn't sleepy when I got home but I didn't want to do anything. I forgot the pumpkin sweater again so still no buttons. We looked for some school supplies for M. She has a long list of weird art supplies. We did a lot of walking but didn't really buy much. I did get a paci in case the baby will take one. I also bought the orange yarn I saw after buying the $$ cotton one. I want to buy some polar fleece and use it to do a blanket stitch around to match the baby's car seat. I'm having trouble staying asleep in the early morning. Normally I like 8 or 9 hours of sleep while pg. I wake up often after 6 or 7 then can't fall back asleep. By lunch I'm falling asleep at my computer. I can nap but it's a big production and by the time I get to bed I'm wide awake. Also if I nap late it just messes me up the next night. Ugg The sweater I started for Tf came out too small. I never switched needles after doing the ribbing but even the ribbing is small. The yarn might be smaller even if it the same brand and size as the blue I used for T's. At first I just got discouraged then I decided to make it a sweater for the new baby. I added some dark colors in an argyle type pattern. Now I'm happy with it. Reg is working today even though it's Thursday. His boss scheduled him for an extra day. Work has been really stressful. They are missing so many people with the summer vacations. I'm mad he has to work but he only has 4 days left till he goes on vacation till the baby is born then parental leave for 35 weeks. I guess I can't complain lol posted by ma @ 12:48 PM 8/14/2008 Comments for August Sunday, August 10, 2008 Caterpillar Hat At first I made the hat with a flat top. I thought something looked wrong. I wasn't sure if its because the top was hexagon shaped instead of round or because it was flat instead of domed. Tf didn't mind trying it on but the other kids didn't like it. Tf, in the picture, is wearing it when it still had the flat top. After getting the antennae finished and making a domed top I really liked it. The only problem is the garter stitch used for the stripes and the new dome make the hat really big. Like it fits Reg big and now he is threatening to wear it lol. On Friday I started to worry about the baby's size. He is measuring 2 weeks ahead. He has flipped back to being breech and I don't know if my dr will be able to be there for the delivery. One time the dr on call was noticeably scared that she might get stuck delivering my baby because she had never delivered a breech baby before. I know that having a breech birth is just as safe as a c-sec but only if the dr is experienced. I was getting quite bothered since I know we are going to try to get him to come later than the others. I looked up the others late u/s's to see what size they were. Ro who was born at 39w3d was also 2 weeks ahead. Phew. Her apgar was lower but I think it had more to do with the fact that the dr asked me to push before he was ready so he had to ask me to stop. Her cord was also around her neck one and a half times. Her birth was otherwise easy. We went out shopping before Reg went to work today. I wanted to try to get buttons for the pumpkin sweater. We left late like usual and ended up getting food from a crowded restaurant so it took a long time. When we arrived at the fabric store they hadn't opened yet though since they only open at 12 on Sundays, ugg. We decided to go to TRU to look for a spare car seat. I hate transferring the seats from the van and I wanted a seat that could adjust easy, fit a wide variety of sized kids and wasn't too heavy. I used to be a car seat nut but I'm out of the loop. We ended up getting a Evenflo Triumph Advance. I had no idea they had changed it lol. It was on sale too. Good day to buy it too since we didn't get groceries. We also bought some Lego sets because nothing lift a sour mood from a store being closed that a brand new Lego set right? I got a little cement truck and Reg got a big Technics crane. I started working on a purple/light purple sweater for Tf. I don't have anything else in mind for the new baby. I just might be losing my knitting bug too. I actually had a small urge to sew something lol. Exactly 1 month to go till my due date! My thoughts of it being too soon are starting to get replaced with wanting to met him. lol phew! posted by ma @ 7:15 PM 8/10/2008 Comments for August Wednesday, August 6, 2008 35! 35 weeks pg and 35 days to my due date! We bought some boyish onsies today. I think that was the last thing I wanted to do. Well that and find a little polar fleece blanket. I got a dark purple one but it really doesn't match the carseat. I only got purple because I thought it would go with the seat. We really shouldn't need it for until October so maybe I should wait till we have him and the seat with us. I forgot to bring the pumpkin sweater with us today so I couldn't look for new buttons. Yesterday I finished a blueberry hat. I really like how it came out. The only thing I don't like is it was so hard to get a pic of lol. It's dark and the camera just couldn't seem to see it right. I started a caterpillar hat today. I've only casted on stitches. It's funny, if I don't have my knitting I feel like I'm wasting my time whenever I'm stuck waiting. When I knit and only get a few stitches done I feel like the waits are no time at all. Hmm Reg seems interested in learning how to knit. I should teach him in case I end up with another slow induction lol. We bought some school supplies and lots of crayons and colored pencils. The kids love coloring and all the neat colored pencils get used up. I was watching the sales but as soon as the pharmacy had a good deal WM had one just a touch better. It hit me today that we have one kid starting college, one starting public high school, and a baby on the way all during the same few weeks. M hasn't found a place yet so we will be driving her. We also will have 4 homeschoolers. T turns 5 on October first so missed the cut off date by a day. I don't really think she is ready anyway. And with the new baby 4 too young for school. Oh neat, I used to think my first few kids were really close in age compared to my kids now. K, my 1st, was 6 years and 5 mos when P, my 5th was born. H will be 6 years and 6 or 7 mos when the new baby is born. posted by ma @ 11:25 PM 8/6/2008 Comments for August Monday, August 4, 2008 Pumpkin Set Is it really August already? I have no idea where the time went. And can July really be over without a bad heat wave or a day without rain? I have no idea where the time goes. It's funny. I thought having a baby at the end of the summer would be really awful. I know we have ac's but they aren't enough to keep up with really hot days. We just haven't had many. They are good with humidity and we've had plenty of that. I think this is the first pg I don't want to be over. I'm looking forward to holding a newborn and having Reg on leave but I know I will miss it too. I have this thing about not having 13 so I know I will worry about being able to get pg again. They say your fertility drops by 50% at 40 and 95% by 45 years old. I have no idea what it means for me but I know it will bug me. I will be 43 before ttc again. I'm enjoying feeling the baby move. With the placenta in the back I can really feel small parts going by. Ok sometimes I don't enjoy it. At least once a day he kicks me so hard that it makes me yell ouch. The pelvic joint pain hasn't gotten worse. I'm still able to shop and do some stuff around the house. He is back to being Mr Grapefruit. I don't mind. After 5 breech deliveries it is old news. There might be a problem with my dr not being around. I'll have to see at my next appt. I'm a bit stressed by that. I've been telling myself that I'm going to my due date but he might decide that it would be better if he was born at 37 weeks if he is breech and large. That sounds way too soon lol. Just like the hat I was disappointed at first with the sweater. I find the sleeves too green. I made them green because after knitting the fronts and back I realized I didn't have enough orange yarn. I don't care for the buttons. I will look at the fabric store to see if I can find something better. I couldn't get the leaf idea to work either. Reg asked for a pic since I finished it while he was at work. Then I got the idea to tuck the sleeves behind. Now I hope that when the baby wears it the green on the sleeves will be less noticeable since nb's have fat tummies and skinny arms. The car seat arrived by minivan lol. I was expecting a big Fedex truck. The seat is really nice. I just hope I don't mind the buckle. It's one of those ones that have to have both sides put in at the same time. It's nice and tall. Tf is just 1/2" too long in torso length to fit (There is only 1/2" of shell above her head). She is 33" long. She is too heavy too at 28 lbs. She is at the 90%tile for her age, 18 mos. It looks like the new baby should fit in the seat until 22 lbs. I'm happy about that. Tf thinks its her seat lol posted by ma @ 3:03 PM 8/4/2008 Comments for August Sunday, July 27, 2008 Pumpkin I wasn't crazy about the hat until I stuffed the ball of yarn into it. Now I think it's very cute. Hopefully the baby's head will have the same effect LOL. I really love knitting with the cotton. Too bad it's so thin and expensive or I would knit myself a sweater with it. I didn't want the swirl pattern so I experimented with a different decrease. It went well. I hardly made a dent in the ball of yarn so I should have plenty for the sweater. I got started this morning. I'm almost finished the back. Since the stitching shows so well I decided to make raglan sleeves. I'm thinking of adding leaves to the cuffs and front opening. I got a chance to wipe up Tf's new chair. Normally the kids wipe up the highchair but they only do the tray. The plastic is very smooth and the dried on food slides right off. I was a bit worried since the Cosco chair we had before the FP was almost impossible to clean. posted by ma @ 10:28 PM 7/27/2008 Comments for July Saturday, July 26, 2008 Watermelon and appt update Sewing didn't last long. I got tired so went back to knitting. The hat is meant to be a bit too big for Tf but she had it on when Reg asked for a pic. I like the design but I find the yarn is too soft or thin. It's the same yarn I used for Ro's sweater. It feels really nice. I should make a matching scarf because that would be really nice with that yarn. After Tf's appt we went to a nice knitting store. They had cute cotton yarn called "Stork" in baby colors lol. I asked if they had cute pumpkin orange in a regular acrylic. All they had it in was an expensive cotton. I really enjoyed knitting with the cotton so I was happy for an excuse to use it again. I also got a green. The skeins are big so I'm going to make a matching sweater. Of course we went to Zellers right after and they had a cheap cute orange yarn. Oh well I'm having fun knitting the cotton and incase I want to make a bigger pumpkin hat I know where to go. When I got home I knit a test square with the green cotton. The skeins are just a big round of loops bent over on itself. By the time I finished my square the yarn had gotten tangled. I spent hours untangling and rolling the yarn into a ball. I was mad but figured I must have done something wrong. With the orange I was more careful. I opened the loop and put it over a chair back. I was able to wind it into a ball quickly, phew! Thursday I had my ob appt with the us afterwards. My bp is back to normal. I think I gained too much weight but at least it was a bit less than 3 lbs a week lol. I felt that the baby was bum up and so did my dr. At the us it showed that we were right. It's weird to not have a breech baby lol. Co wasn't breech at his late us either but he was head up most of the time. I think the baby is still bum up. I can only be 100% sure when I feel a loose grapefruit on top. Then I know its a head. Rest of the time it could be legs and bum or head. The baby is nice and big. He is measuring 2 weeks ahead. He was 6 lbs at 33w1d. I know it could be off but I'm happy he is big. After Tf being so small I wondered if my age or weight loss was a factor. I was surprised at how big his feet were. I think of fetal feet as being small lol. The late us is my least favorite but the tech was fun and it went really well. A few times it has been really painful but while my pelvic joints are sore they aren't what I would call painful. I walked really slowly the rest of the day but at least I know why I'm so much less comfy this time than last. Tf was only 6-9 at birth so he is close to her size already lol. After the us we went to Bestbuy to pick up another dvd/vcr. The vcr on the kids' stopped working again. WM only has an expensive combo. The little kids watch a couple videos at bedtime every night. We have a lot of dvds but we have way more tapes. It's not their fault since the machine is downstairs. A cable goes upstairs to their tv. Bestbuy is close to the baby store that we were waiting to get a call from. Reg asked if I minded stopping by to see if they had the highchair we ordered. It's a good thing that we did because they didn't have the right phone number. I like our old FP chair but the pad is peeling and the plastic leg holder is cracking. I was hoping to find a chair that Tf couldn't smear food on the leg tops but after looking I was just happy to find something I liked the look of lol. I really don't like beige and many of the chairs we saw come in beige. We had been looking for months and pretty much given up. I had gone into the baby store to see baby boy clothes and their car seats. The highchair was on sale. Reg and I both liked it right away. Tf loves the doggy lol. While at chat I was looking for a pic of the chair model we got. I couldn't find it so took the pic above at 1 am. Luckily(?) Tf was still awake lol. I ended up at a Cdn baby store site that had the car seat I was thinking of buying. I was going to get the black model until I saw the colors. I would have picked blue but Reg loves orange. My fav color is purple not blue so it made more sense to me to at least get his fav if I couldn't get mine. TRU was doing pre orders for Aug 22 and Sears could special order it but I didn't want to have to go pick it up. Babyproofing.com would Fedex it to my door for just 10$. It was cheaper than Sears too since I didn't have to pay Quebec tax. Woohoo couldn't beat that! I ordered it last night. I'm really happy that is settled. The seat I got for Tf matches the strollers we have but she never went in the stroller. The harness was so hard to adjust that I hated the seat. The Mico has an upfront adjuster. It's only a 22 lbs seat but I measured it and it is about as tall as a Graco Safeseat that goes to 30 lbs. My kids tend to outgrow seats by height. The Mico's adjuster was a lot smoother than the Graco which scratched my hand. I can always get the bigger seat later lol. posted by ma @ 5:25 PM 7/26/2008 Comments for July Tuesday, July 22, 2008 50 Days to Go! There are 50 days to go till my duedate. Normally I hope to go early but this time I'm not. My dr might not be around during my 38th or 39th week. I have been thinking I actually have 7 weeks and a day to go instead of how I usually think which would be 38 weeks. We normally encourage going earlier with EPO and membrane sweeps but we won't this time. I'm really curious to see if it will make a difference. I'll probably go at 37 and have nothing ready lol. Ty to who ever hid my knitting stuff. I'm actually sewing now. Earlier today I did manage to squeak out an apple hate for a cabbage patch baby. H had been bugging me to make a doll hat. Well, she doesn't like it. She wants an expensive cotton hat. Picky picky! Ro likes the hat. I tried my decreasing pattern and the hat top came out nice and rounded. What I do is 1/3 decreasing every second row, 1/3 decreasing 2 out 3 then 1/3 every row. A few months ago I bought myself a pair of shorts that I was going to cut off the waist and add a stretchy panel. They were snug when I got them so I decided to widen them too. They were too long so I shortened them. I'm using the leg cut off to make the band to make them wider. I guess it would have been easier to start from scratch lol. I don't know if I could find a black weave stretch material. Sewing is such a pita. M had my scissors up in her room. She is at work since Reg got scheduled to work today. My desk was covered in junk. I need to use the dining table but the kids are still eating. Tf has her 18 mos appt tomorrow and it would be nice to have my belly properly covered. My April comments page got spammed so I figure it's just a matter of time before the current page gets it. I have an idea if it does but hopefully it won't. If the comment page gets full or is gone you'll know why at least. I made the pattern page for the free knitting pattern of my Bee Hat. If you notice any errors let me know. I might add an adult size too since Reg wants one lol. Oh, Kim while I encourage you to knit the only reason I actually seem to make things fast is because I spend hours on end sitting on my tush knitting. I'm sore and get tired easily so sitting around is my fav thing to do. Knitting just makes it more fun and useful. Hmm knitting in the round you only have to know one stitch, casting on and decreasing :-) posted by ma @ 8:03 PM 7/22/2008 Comments for July Monday, July 21, 2008 Tee-Bee Not a watermelon. We did a quick stop at WM on Sun. I wanted to pick up orange yarn but that WM didn't have any even of the not very cute orange. Reg saw a ball of bee yellow and wanted to get it. I also picked up a knitting spool so I could make the antennae. I knitted a test square but it seems I knit more tightly on the round. It's slightly smaller than I had hoped but fits H, T, Ro and Tf. It's a bit big on Tf. I'm really happy how the top came out. I experimented with decreasing slower to make it rounder without bumps. I think I will make a pattern out of what I did since I made it up. I'm going to put it on it's own page since my posts don't have there own links. I had a heck of a time getting a good pic. I first took one on my keyboard but the black antennae wouldn't show on my black keyboard/shelf. I took a pic of Ro wearing the hat but the background was dark. I put the hat on the table but the flash made a shadow making the antennae look fat lol. The knitting spool comes with a tool but it's so much easier to use a darning needle. I was ready to send Reg back to pick up the $$ spool until I figured that out lol. Bee Hat Size: 4 to 6 years Material: 75yds yellow worsted 25yds black worsted needles: 16" circular and DP needles size 7 (4.5mm) knitting spool (or just use DPNs) Gauge: 5sts = 1" Pattern: With yellow and circular needles cast on 90 sts and knit for 12 rows. Knit 2 rows black then 4 rows yellow. Repeat pattern till tip of hat. After 5.5" or 35 rows total change to DP needles and shape crown as follows: k 13, k2tog (repeat till end) knit next row k 12, k2tog (repeat till end) knit next row k 11, k2tog (repeat till end) knit next row k 10, k2tog (repeat till end) knit next row k 9, k2tog (repeat till end) k 8, k2tog (repeat till end) knit next row k 7, k2tog (repeat till end) k 6, k2tog (repeat till end) knit next row k 5, k2tog (repeat till end) k 4, k2tog (repeat till end) knit next row k 3, k2tog (repeat till end) k 2, k2tog (repeat till end) k 1, k2tog (repeat till end) k2tog (repeat till end) (6 sts remain) Break yarn and thread through yarn needle secure tail. With a 4 prong knitting spool using black make two 6" cords. Roll 1" the cord on itself and attach for a base. Sew onto hat Ok someone hide my knitting stuff so I'll do some sewing! I really really need to have a belly panel added to my shorts. I only have 2 shirts that fit and even they creep up to expose my stretched marked hangy belly, ick! posted by ma @ 8:46 PM 7/21/2008 Comments for July Saturday, July 19, 2008 More Knitting Not much is happening. I sit around, knit and get bigger lol. I finished T's sweater on Thursday. She mentioned wanting a horse or pony on it but hasn't brought it up again. I'm in no hurry. She likes the sweater and complained that it was too hot to wear it lol. Here we are in my computer corner. After getting the sweater done I got started on a cotton hat for the baby. I like my babies to have something on their heads when we go out. I used to put a bonnet on the boys but it's worn out. The newer ones I found were all really lacy. Looked great on the girls lol. I bought some light knit hats but they clash with most of the clothes. When I got about 3 inches done I started thinking it was too big for a newborn. I pulled out the needles and sure enough it fit Tf. I had bought only one ball. There was no way I could finish it. It was 6.70 with the tax so I wasn't interested in making a hat in a size I didn't really want. I pulled out the stitches and started over. I still managed to finish it by chat. I'm very happy with how it turned out. It's about 13" around. Most of my babies had 14-14.5" heads. The hat stretches easily to 16 inches. The cotton was interesting to knit. I love how it came out looking so even. I didn't know I would get the pretty swirl on top. My chat buddy jeeps did lol. Rereading the Apple Hat pattern I see that I must have made a mistake. I should have gotten a swirl then too. With regular decreasing it wouldn't have made a line like the pic. The flash from the camera made the baby sweater look more shiny than it is. It is very soft with a bit of a sheen. The first Apple Hat is about a size 3 months. I just made another one for Tf. I haven't finished it yet. I need to add the leaf and hide the stray threads. It went fast to knit it on a circular needle even though it's a lot bigger. Tf likes it. She's cute in it too. Ok I'm off to knit a leaf and then I think I will knit a watermelon hat or maybe a cable hat to match the baby's blue sweater. I have an OB appt and my late u/s on Thurs so I should have something other than knitting to report. posted by ma @ 7:19 PM 7/19/2008 Comments for July Friday, July 11, 2008 Apple Hat and Sweater I got the sweater done but I didn't like the buttons I got for it so I started the Apple Hat. At first I bought star buttons. I had meant to make 5 button holes but I made a mistake. For once I got lucky and I ended up spacing the holes almost perfectly for 6. I only had 5 star buttons. I thought that the stars might be too catchy with a knitted sweater anyway. The new round buttons I bought looked too big so we went back to WM for smaller ones. They were out of white ones. I was upset until Reg found the blue ones. They almost look like they were made for the sweater. I'm really happy with how the sweater turned out. Once again I'm surprised! I'm glad I thought it was fun since I made several mistakes that caused me to have to redo a lot of areas. I made one sleeve about an inch shorter than the other. I had just learned how to graph so decided cut the yarn and separate the sleeve in half since it was missing the inch in the middle. I think it would have been faster to just knit the top over again. Oh well I'm really good at graphing now lol. My apple is redder than the pic shows. It's too dark to adjust and I'm too tired to take another. It was fun and fast to make. The pattern would never make an apple like their picture shows but it's cute anyway. I only added one leaf because I think apples only ever have one lol. I started T's sweater. It's going to be blue but it still feels wrong to not knit for the new baby lol posted by ma @ 9:46 PM 7/11/2008 Comments for July Friday, July 4, 2008 Having Fun Wednesday night I got started on the front. It's a cardigan so it will have 2 front pieces. As usual I had a slow start but once I got going I was really happy with what I saw. It's more confusing to knit but it looks really neat. I went to bed with a big smile on my face. Wednesday night we had a bad storm and then TF woke up early. I got the one side done. By the time I started the other side I had gotten really tired. Confusing knitting and being tired don't mix. I had to pull it out several times lol. I have about 5" done and it's looking good. Yesterday Reg took the kids out to a "circus" which was more of a fair. They had advertised a bunch of free stuff but like usual once there everything was over priced. M and I stayed home. They had a lot fun. Reg tried to take the camera but forgot it on the bench beside the door. On the way back they stopped at WM so P could buy some more fish. Larry, the fish, is doing very well. P ended up spending around what he had in the past except this time he got twice as many fish lol. After drinking my water better on Wednesday I noticed I was less swollen. I wasn't swollen really but now I'm even less. The cooler weather helped too I'm sure. Today it's beautiful. I actually went outside to get some sun this morning. I brought my knitting. I think I could sit anywhere as long as I had my knitting lol. The next 5 days are going to be warmer. The humidity is low enough today that it's not making it feel hotter than it is. If the humidity would stay down I know the next few days will be fine. If not I will regret not letting Reg install the ac's. I get the feeling he would have installed them during the first heat wave. I don't like the cost or the fact that we can't open the windows afterwards. I get asked every once in a while if I ever considered selling what I make. I always say no. I'm not business minded. Also I think doing stuff for cash takes the fun out of it unless that is why it was made in the first place. I do make gifts and enjoy that. Most things I make take too much time so the money wouldn't be worth it. I guess if I was stuck in my chair I would have the time to waste and may as well earn money. The other thing is my own little family could keep me busy for years. Several people have told me they don't knit. I guess I figured most people were like me. They learned as a kid but just didn't bother to knit. My mother taught me the basic stitches when I was around 7. When I was a little older I knit a hat and scarf for a doll. As a teen I knit a sweater out of yarn given to me during a hospital stay. My neighbor showed me how to finish it but I don't remember wearing or liking it. Mostly I knit mittens and a few teddy bears. As an adult I made myself another sweater on huge needles. It snagged the first time I wore it and I think I unraveled it. I started a gray sweater for Reg. I gave up. K was a baby back then and wouldn't leave my stuff alone. Other than a pair of overalls for a cmas bear I really haven't knitted except to show the kids when they asked. The cmas bear had his original overalls chewed on by a mouse. The Dino sweater is really the 3rd sweater I made. I'm still surprised how well it and Ro's sweater came out and I'm surprised at how much fun I have been having. Ok back to knitting! posted by ma @ 6:18 PM 7/4/2008 Comments for July Wednesday, July 2, 2008 30 Weeks I almost posted yesterday. I got started on the blue baby yarn sweater. I just finished the back. I love the feel and look. It has the same number of stitches as Ro's so should take about the same amount of time even if it's nb sized. I spend about as much time thinking as knitting so hopefully I can cut back on that lol. I made a mistake and pulled out 2 rows. Since the stitches are tiny it was a real pita to get back on the needles. I had my 30 week ob appt today. My bp was up. On one cuff it was 148/92 and the other it was 138/98. She tried the other cuff because it was made to wrap itself. I don't know if either were made for larger arms. My arms aren't small and with the weight gain they've only gotten larger. My ob redid my bp while I was lying down and it went down to 120/82. I do know that I haven't been eating so hot. I don't want to cook meat in the heat and all I crave is peanut butter and bread. Some pg's I hate peanut butter lol. I haven't been exercising and I wasn't that good with my water the past 2 days. My urine was fine. I go back in 3 weeks. It should be 2 but he is going on vacation so the next 2 appts will be 3 apart. I bought some red yarn. I want to make this Apple Hat. I also bought a knitting bag, some new tiny needles, a needle guide, kids needles, and some needle caps :-) posted by ma @ 8:53 PM 7/2/2008 Comments for July Monday, June 30, 2008 All Done Both the month of June and Ro's sweater! I finished her sweater earlier today. Of course I waited till it got late before posting. I'm not sure if or when I will add a picture to it like the new baby's. That was the plan when I started which is why I made it 2 colors. I didn't have a pattern or proper sweater to copy so I'm very happy with the fit. I thought it was going to be too narrow. While stitching up the sleeve I put my arm in it and it fit me. I was scared I made a tiny body with huge arms lol. It's hard to see the fit because Ro has her shoulders up. She was very excited to try it on. It was warm today so I took it off right away. June is over. I managed to force myself to post daily. I only continued because I knew there was an end. Mostly I enjoyed it. I'm happy I did it but I don't see myself posting daily in July lol. I was hoping to get into the habit of posting but almost every day I waited till it got late. Often I wanted to get more done on the sweater before posting but today I finished it earlier and still waited. I'm a morning person and make more mistakes at night. I also have Tf sleeping in my lap. Well I can't knit with her on my lap. I tried but the yarn tickled her and made her kick lol. I'm hoping I'll post more often now. I knit a swatch in the blue baby yarn. I found it too loose on my smaller needles. It's ok but not what I wanted. I knit up another swatch on even smaller double ended needles and I like the feel. It will take longer to knit but its only 1.5 stitches more per inch than Ro's and a nb sweater is a lot smaller. Ro's took less than 5 days to finish so I guess I have the time. My pelvic joints are more sore this pg than last but this pg is going just as fast and now all I want to do is sit around and knit. T and H are a bit jealous and want their sweaters done so I have lots to keep me busy. posted by ma @ 10:30 PM 6/30/2008 Comments for June

About Me I'm ma, a Canadian sahm to 13 and married to Reg for 22 years. I bake all our bread and bread products. I would like to have more children (or buns in the oven ;-). I like to chart my cycles and obsess over the details. I was very overweight and in Jan 2005 decided to change. I had lost over 100 lbs. I gained 54 lbs while pg with my 13th and I'm losing it again. Contact Me I'm My E-mail Page 31341001 on ICQ cmd on AIM cmd on Yahoo mabread@hotmail. com on MSN at irc.chatnet.org on IRC Previous Posts 10 Days! Pool Outing Pics 38 Weeks Birthday Getting Better Purple Sweater and ER trip Ouch! Blanket 1 cm Caterpillar Hat 35! Pumpkin Set Pumpkin Watermelon and appt update 50 Days to Go! Tee-Bee More Knitting Apple Hat and Sweater Having Fun 30 Weeks All Done Archives May/June 2008 Mar/Apr 2008 Jan/Feb 2008 July-Dec 2007 Jan-June 2007 Oct-Dec 2006 Aug/Sept 2006 June/July 2006 Oct '05-April '06 August 2005 July 2005 June 2005 May 2005 April 2005 March 2005 Jan/Feb 2005 Nov/Dec 2004 Sept/Oct 2004 July/Aug 2004 Links My website is .info My TTC chart LOK Weight Loss and Healthy Living Board My Recipe Index Blogs I read TOK Blogs Our Deer Baby Musing, Rambling and All Around Blathering thejoyofsix A House Full of Boys