Slipper celebrates Christmas

Although Slipper has not yet made his/her grand entrance into the world, the baby was showered with gifts this Christmas. From tiny Canucks mittens (the kind with the string to hold them together!) to cosy clothes, from a rocking chair to a hard copy of Good Night Moon (suitable for chewing on), the baby got it all! Grandma and Grandpa Broadland (actual grandparent names yet to be finalized) even got Slipper a stocking!

Slipper also enjoyed a full turkey dinner with all the fixings. Holly realized that her stomach capacity is getting smaller due to a certain baby taking up all the room and that, in retrospect, maybe eating that whole mountain of mashed potatoes covered in gravy wasn't the best idea. Moderation, here I come!

Deep thoughts on the reality of babies

Tonight we went to a "Meet the Midwives" night at our clinic. The goal was to get to know the two new midwives who will be joining our team in the new year. However, one wasn't able to make it and the other was talking with clients, so it turned into a "Meet the Other People in the Waiting Room" night. This was interesting, as several of the people were little 4-6 week old babies. Real, live babies. Wow. They're incredible!

I was a little overwhelmed by how real those babies were. No longer bumps that kick, these were very small people. I know in my mind that we'll have one of them in the new year, but it doesn't always compute. Even when my baby is kicking me multiple times daily and giving ample proof of its existence, I can't fully comprehend this idea. Even if I don't know what I'm getting in to, I'm looking forward to the challenge of becoming a mother!

Tammy or Tommy?

Today I got two more name suggestions! One of my Grade 6 students came up to hand in her assignment and randomly remarked, "I've got names for you." This came out of the blue, as she hadn't said anything about me being pregnant. My first thought was, "What names? I want your reading log!" but when I asked her, she clarified and said they were for my baby. Tammy for a girl and Tommy for a boy. I assume she'd want me to use both for twins. Hmmm... I'll get Dean's opinion on this.

Ahhhhh....

I have discovered the joys of prenatal massage. Today I had my second relaxing "treatment" and felt like I was floating on a cloud. They've got these special pillows that create a hole for your belly, enabling you to lie on your front once more. What a treat! (thank you to Dean's extended medical for covering this!)

I might try a different massage therapist in the new year. This woman was good, but I found her chatting a little unsettling. Who wants to be asked, "So, have you finished all your Christmas shopping?" when you're trying to relax! Eventually, she stopped talking, probably since I stopped answering, and then I was able to relax much better.

Navel Gazing

I came to a realization today while lying on the couch watching for Slipper's kicks. I have spent more time staring at my belly button in the last two months than in the rest of my whole life. I am completely mesmerized by the kicking and have spent hours watching and waiting for the next kick.

Ever since the end of October, I've been able to feel several kicking sessions a day. The kicks are getting stronger now as the baby grows and I just love it!

Slipper's first Canucks game

Well, we took Slipper (a.k.a. Hol's belly) to his/her first NHL game tonight. We went with our good friends Trish and Erik to see the Canucks take on the league-leading Anaheim Ducks.

Funny that the Ducks have dropped the "Mighty" and the Disney duck mask logo and all other things that initially made them such a dorky team. Now they're left simply as unthreatening waterfowl, which I guess was meant to be an improvement. Regardless of how dumb their name is, they are at the top of the league, so we can't find too much fault with them.

So, pre-game: we all met up downtown, had a lovely/quick meal of wraps, stopped by the chocolate shop for hedgehogs and the like, and took the skytrain to GM Place. (Speaking of stupid names... What if we did that with our child? "Oh what a lovely baby, what's their name?" "McDonalds Telus Broadland, brought to you by Pepsi. You love your Pepsi, don't you, little one?") Once at the stadium, we trekked all over the place, due to a) an initial lack of intelligent navigation by yours truly, and b) a clueless ticket-taker at one of the gates. Curses! But we finally found our way in, and found our seats - not bad, at least two or three rows from the ceiling! But like they say (and it's true), there are no bad seats in GM Place. Probably because GM is such a fine class of automobile...

The game itself was pretty good - the Sedin twins were solid as usual on the boards, and I thought Linden and Cooke were the two guys trying the hardest. We were pretty even for the first half of the game, but Anaheim started to show their superiority towards the end. We took a lot of questionable penalties (they're always questionable when they're against your team) and Luongo let in one weak goal and one really tough one. We ended up losing 2-1. Oh well. Slipper didn't seem to mind.

Funny moment of the game: During commercial breaks and between periods, Fin (the orca whale Canucks mascot) was doing his usual thing, and rocket-launchering (if that's not a real word, I claim first usage) bundled-up T-shirts into the audience. One of them came launching up towards us, and was almost magically drawn straight to this guy's beer - it knocked it out of his hand, and all over himself and his neighbours. I think he was a little ticked. We had a good laugh. I think Slipper enjoyed it, too.

I'll close with a couple pictures of us, all decked out for cheering...

Baby, it's cold outside!

As Dean was saying goodbye to me this morning, he reminded me to walk carefully on the icy sidewalks and said to Slipper, "Baby, it's cold outside!" I may just be easily amused, but it made me happy to hear that phrase in a new context.

I think Slipper was the only person who was cosy and warm on this freezing cold and snowy day in Vancouver. I bundled up as best I could and headed out onto the bus routes with the hordes. It was a day that made me glad to be a substitute teacher, as I've worn the same maternity turtleneck sweater for three days in a row! Fortunately, when you teach in a different school every day, the kids don't have a clue that you're wearing the same clothes again and again. Note to self: go shopping this weekend and look for more warm maternity clothes.

Slipper's first concert

Our baby was lucky enough to have a private fiddle concert from Aunt Kristi tonight. Slipper was dancing to the music and kicked extra hard during the jigs! The baby's hearing has now developed enough for it to hear outside sounds and we're enjoying interpreting the kicks. "Kick once if you like Bon Jovi, kick twice if you don't like Bon Jovi!"

The Name Game

As many of you know, we will be keeping any potential baby names a secret during this pregnancy. We have been working on a list of names and were doing a bit more today. The baby was in an active mood, so we decided that kicks were votes for the names we were reading from the baby book. Unfortunately, the baby's taste in names doesn't really match our own. The three biggest kicks were for the names Fran, Bonnie-Belle and Buffy. Surprisingly, we didn't see the name Slipper listed as one of the 35,000 names in the book!

From the mouths of babes cont.

Here is the conclusion of my story about Brian, my very direct 7-year-old student. Today, I called him over and told him that I am looking bigger than usual because I'm growing a baby inside of me. Brian replied, "Oh! I just thought you were drinking too much Diet Pepsi!"

From the mouths of babes

I was teaching in a Grade 2 class today. After recess, 7-year-old Brian came up to me and said, "Mrs. B, you're fat!" I asked him why he would say that and he replied, "Because you're fat!" The other students immediately chided him and told him it was mean to say that. The student teacher made him apologize to me. I thought it was hilarious and left the cause of my potbelly a mystery for now.

I guess this means that I'm officially showing! Brian was the first stranger to realize that something was different about me. I'm in his class for two more days, so I may give him a hint about why I'm getting so "fat". These moments are why I love working with kids!

Saw my first kick!

We had an appointment with the midwives today. All went well and they let us listen to the baby's heartbeat again (140 bpm). While the midwife was moving the Doppler thingy around (yes, Doppler thingy is the technical term), the baby kicked really hard and I could see my belly jump! This kid just gets stronger and stronger.

We booked our next appointment for when I'm at 28 weeks. That seems like it must be really far away, but it's only six weeks in the future. I have a feeling the next four months will fly by and I'll be a mom before you know it!

Slipper's blog is now online!

Welcome to Child Process, a blog that will record the joys and challenges of becoming parents! We are excited to share this amazing time with you and will be filling in some archives detailing the first 4.5 months of my pregnancy soon.

The latest update is that Slipper is kicking more than ever. Slipper seems to be most active when I'm sitting down (especially on the bus) or lying down. The kicks come in clusters, a few at a time, but you can't predict when the next one will be felt. It reminds me of watching a seal and wondering when and where it will next surface. I always stop what I'm doing and wait in anticipation of the next kick. I can see that my favourite pastimes are changing already!

Major milestone

Today, we reached the halfway point of my pregnancy! We also had an ultrasound and saw our baby for the first time! To celebrate this momentous day, we had dinner out at a fancy local restaurant and dined on bannock bread, cedar jelly, fancy pasta, and I had a steak! (First steak in about 7 years, pregnancy causes some weird cravings!)

The ultrasound was great, all indicators looked good and the baby was doing a headstand for us. We saw the baby's little feet, well-developed spine, beating heart, etc. I think I saw Slipper sucking his/her thumb. We didn't want to find out if our baby was a boy or a girl and we didn't get any clues, so we left happy. Here's Slipper's first photo:

How Slipper got her/his name

This one's my fault. :)

On our honeymoon (2002), Holly and I were swimming in a salt water pool out in Tofino, having a great time. Nowhere to be and all day to get there, as the song says... Anyway, we were playing one of those games where you have to answer questions really quickly, without thinking. You know, what's your favourite kind of car?, would you rather have ice cream or pie for dinner?, what's Pauly Shore's best movie?, etc. I'm not sure why, but part of our game was ducking your head underwater, coming up, and having one of these questions fired at you. One of Holly's questions was "what's our first child's name?" to which I replied (without thinking, as the game specifies) "Slipper!" And "Slipper" the wee one has stayed.