New Belly Pics

I had my camera out last night, and was dressed somewhat decently, so I decided to take a few belly pics before stashing the camera away again. So here's the baby bump at 33 weeks on the nose:

And I finally had some time to put together somewhat of a progression of the belly growth, so here it is:

And last but not least, I took a pic of our baby boy's coming home outfit - it's polar fleece, and has built in mitts and foot coverings to keep him nice and toasty. It looks huge in this pic, but it's only a size "3 months" in case he's a big baby - we'll also bring a sleeper and socks and a hat for underneath of course, along with the Bunting Bag if it's an extremely cold day.

Only 7 weeks to go...

Wow, time flies, doesn't it? I'm 33 weeks pregnant today, and that means there are only 4 weeks left till baby boy is considered "full term" and could arrive any time.

This past week has obviously been bitter sweet with the passing of our little bunny, but I'm trying to remember the good times with him, and to look forward to our baby being born.

I'm starting to get a little nervous about the birth itself, and hope that everything goes smoothly. But although I've enjoyed pregnancy, I've also experienced enough complications and discomforts to be happy that it's coming to an end. I like feeling baby boy moving in my belly, and feeling his hiccups and movements still amazes me, but at the same time I'm so ready to be able to look at him and hold him in my arms instead.

I also wouldn't mind a nice glass of wine and fitting into my pre-pregnancy jeans again :-P When I told my mom that I felt like a whale just a few weeks ago, she said: "Well...maybe a small whale...." Thanks mom! But yeah, I can't wait to be able to get off the couch unassisted again, and seeing my toes when I look down would be nice too!

So anyways, this past weekend hubs and I went for a walk at Mackenzie King Estate, and took some pretty pics of the trees. Here they are:

The trail from Kingsmere to Mackenzie King:

Fall foliage:

Hubs:

It was a really nice, sunny day...

Moi:

Me again with the belly poking out:

This is the official residence of the Speech Writer of the House of Commons, located at Kingsmere:

Rest in peace, Peppy Baby!

This past Thursday, October 22nd, 2009 at 7pm, little Peppy closed his eyes for the last time.

Over the past year Peppy slowly started to loose his eye sight due to cateracts. He was 11 years old, but despite his age and sight issues, he was still a happy little bunny, and loved his daily yoghurt drops, veggies, and cuddles. In September he had some issues with his eyes tearing up too much, but that was quickly alleviated with an eye lubricant prescribed by the vet. He seemed to be doing great otherwise after that.

But last week things took a turn for the worse - we'd noticed Pep had been favouring not lifting his back legs sometimes, but we chalked it up to old age. However on Monday night of last week Peppy started stumbling, falling over, and his sense of balance was off. We made a vet appointment for Thursday evening when he didn't seem to be getting better, and good thing, because as the days went on he didn't want to get up at all anymore, and by Wednesday night he stopped eating and drinking.

Every night when we got home from work, hubs made dinner, so I could have time to cuddle and spend time with Peppy. I guess we both knew his time was drawing to an end. I cuddled him, watched TV with him, fed him his favourite foods while he still ate, and gave him a bath since he could no longer clean himself.

On Thursday night we came home after work, ate a sandwich all the while holding Peppy, and then made our way to the vet's office. Something told me this would be the last time I'd get to see the little guy, and sadly, I was right.

After examining Peppy, the vet told us that he either had a really bad internal infection which had slim chances of being cured, or it was a tumour. Either diagnosis had a very bleek outlook, and long, invasive and expensive treatments were involved. Due to Peppy's old age they were not likely to buy him much more time either, and would prolong his suffering, so I once again had to make one of the hardest decisions. I decided that Peppy had suffered enough, and I couldn't stand seeing him in pain any longer.

So while I stayed in the exam room, cuddling my baby bunny, and saying my goodbyes while bawling into his fur, my dear hubby took care of all the arrangements and the bill, so I didn't have to deal with any of that (what a sweetheart!).

And after some tearful minutes and final goodbyes, I handed the little guy over to the vet, who took him into the back room to do the procedure which relieved my bunny from all of his pain.

She then brought him back to me, wrapped in his towel in a box, with just his little head poking out - he looked like he was sleeping. We'd requested this so that we could burry him in my parents backyard.

Mom and dad were waiting for us (hubs had called ahead), and I gave Pep one last kiss before we closed his box, and dad took him out to the garden and buried him, while hubs drove home to take Peppy's cage out and clean any reminders of him away, so that I would only have fond memories of him. He kept his food bowl and water bottle as I'd asked - but packed it away in a box for now, since I can't look at it yet without crying. Meanwhile my mom kept me company and distracted me with knitting stuff and baby clothes, and I really appreciate her efforts - she even had me smiling again at one point.

Thank god for my amazing family - Peppy's passing was not easy for me at all, but they did everything they could to soften the blow. Eventhough I still get tears when I think about him, I also know he's in a better place, and no longer in pain, and that is a very comforting thought.

So here are a few pics of him - all taken after a bath - hence why he looks so fuzzy and unkempt...lol!


Can you tell he liked to chew wires? He was so lucky he never got a shock!!! We always had to keep a close eye on him when he was walking around.



Hi Pep! :-)




Rest in peace little guy, I miss you!

The single digit countdown has begun...8.5 weeks to go!

The other day hubs and I went to a wedding, and during supper we were seated at a table with a family that had a 7 week old baby girl. At this point it's obviously easy to see that I'm preggers, and after asking me all asorts of questions like "When are you due?" and "Is this your first?", they asked if I wanted to hold the baby girl. I jumped at the chance of course - she was absolutely adorable, and I can count on one hand how often I've held an infant in my lifetime.

So she's handed to me, and I'm looking at her tiny fingers, tiny little nose, cute ears, gorgeous eyes, and then it hits me....in just under 2 months, I 'll have a baby of my own. Oh.My.God. Suddenly I got nervous and even a little scared - the little girl must have sensed it, cause she started to squirm and whine, so I lifted her up a little more, made some funny noises, got her to smile, and all was well again. Crisis averted...for about 5 more minutes - then no noises, faces, or bouncing could stop the crying, and I passed her off to her family. Phew! That wasn't so bad...only that I won't be able to do that with our son.

So I'm hoping that my Mommy Instincts will kick in once our little one arrives, cause everything I've read and learned so far didn't help me at all when the little baby girl suddenly started to cry.

But despite the nervousness, and even the fear and apprehension of having our own baby, I also cannot wait till he gets here. I like being pregnant, and LOVE feeling his little feet kicking, and all the movement in my belly, but at the same time I'm also looking forward to not having pelvic pain, sore ribs, peeing every 5 minutes, and the latest finding: elevated blood sugar. So now I'm being sent for more tests and have to watch my sugar intake - I already miss cake!!!

Luckily baby turned exactly 2 weeks ago, and is now head down, and in a good position for a vaginal birth, so I'm crossing my fingers for a smooth waterbirth when the time comes.

Belly pic and 3D ultrasound

So I finally found some time to take a bally pic, and to even upload it online - it's about time too! This pic was taken at 28 weeks, 5 days - so just over a week ago. I had to cut off my head cause I couldn't stand how my face looked on camera - it must be a preggo thing, but I'll take a pic with my head attached soon. So here's the bump:

And without further ado, here's a 3D ultrasound picture of our little boy at 27 weeks:

And this is a photo of him 2 weeks later at our follow up ultrasound, at 29 weeks - his cheeks have gotten so chubby, and he looks adorable!!!