12 week appointment

Today was my 12 week appointment with the midwife. I saw Fang again. I lost 2lbs. Blood sugar and protein are both fine.
Did a pap, woohoo. She decided to keep the original EDD of the 13th, which is fine, rather than go with the ultrasound date of the 9th.
Now for the not so good news. They got my surgery records from Lena's c/s. Turns out I had a single suture rather than double. Which makes the odds of uterine rupture higher. BUT she said they do VBAC's all the time, many with single sutures, and they all come out fine. That it will basically be up to me to decide what I want to do. So I have a lot of risks to weigh on both sides. Go for the repeat c/s or go for the vbac. I honestly don't know what to do. BUT I have time to think about it and figure out what is best for me.
Oh ya! I got to hear the babies heart beat. 160. =)

Anyone there?

I have no clue if anyone is actually reading this or not. I don't think there is anyway to track it unless I decide to pay somewhere else for a blog and have the tracking feature.
So, can you do me a favor, if you are reading this, can you shoot me an email and just say, Hey, I read it!
Thanks!
erin.dacca@gmail.com

Saw the Baby Today!

As I sit here half frozen because the world decided we needed a below 0*f wind chill, I am revelling in the fact that I got to see my baby wiggle around live on screen!
The orders were to drink 1 liter of water one hour before hand. ONE LITER! You have got to be kidding me! I drank 1000 ml (that is about 1/2 a liter) of water, and a smoothie and nearly pee'd myself.
The Ultrasound tech took mercy on me and let me pee after getting the measurements she needed. Then we went back in to get more pictures and for me to see the little wiggle worm. =) And it's heart beating! Yes, the monkey in there has a heartbeat.
It still blows my mind to know that something that started out smaller than this . is now over 3" long! And is producing pee!!! It's a pee party at my house today I guess!
Holy cow it's cold.
I have now posted these pictures everywhere I possibly can. And now I get to add this blog to the list. =)
My EDD (estimated due date) was moved up from 8-13-10 to 8-9-10. How cool is that!
I have my first official appointment with the midwife on Tuesday, and we will make sure everything else is ok.
So here is the little wiggle worm.

My Dear Dear Husband

My dear dear husband.
How I love you.
When you do not snore. When you snore,
all my love flies out the door.
Bad poetry I know. Horrible. Rancid even.
But anyone who knows Jay, knows that he has major nose issues. He has had 2 sinus surgeries, and a metal post inserted in there to straighten it out. Anyone who knows Jay also knows that he hates to take medicine and would rather wait until he is in severe pain to do anything about it.
And as everyone knows, I am nearly 12 weeks pregnant. The most important thing to me next to food is sleep. By 8pm I am drifting off waiting for the clock to hit 9 so I can drag Lena off to bed and crawl under the warm covers my self.
Typically the bliss lasts about 5-6 hours.
Jay works late. And by late I mean a typical night ends at 2:30-3AM. Sometimes if it's a hard problem, it can go until 4am.
Last night ended early at 2am.
He can't figure out how to get into bed quietly. It's more of a running leap, toss and turn 5 billion times.
Then, the nose turns on. Instant snoring. I know he can't help it. But man, I really wanted to kick him out of bed last night. The poor guy works so hard that he deserves a warm bed to crawl into as much as I do. But at 9am, he is still asleep, as where I have been up since 7am. Well out of bed anyway. I really woke up at 2 am when he came to bed. I managed to fall back asleep until 3:30 when the snoring really started.
The other night he scared me so bad. I was deep asleep when I heard this growling noise. I thought Daisy was growling at an intruder and basically jumped out of bed in my fight or flight response, only to realize that it was Jay. Snoring.
His antibiotics and steroids arrive today. Thank GOD. Seriously. Waking him up 2 times a night at minimum to blow his nose, and to turn over has got to end.
As I sit here typing I hear no noise coming from the bedroom. Just quiet blissful uninterrupted sleep.
I think I'll go take a running leap into bed and toss a few times just to make me feel better. =)

Product Mama

Most of my close relatives, and friends are well aware of my connection with the December 2002 Babies forum that has been a staple in my life since before Lena's birth. I made lots of great friends through there.
Well I recently joined Summer 2010 Babies. It's fun because not only to I get to meet other mom's that are due around the same time, but we get to talk about products that we love.
First is Belly Bands. I had never heard of these before, but people were raving abut them. They are like a glorified tube top that goes over your pants and belly to help keep your pants up, your belly and rear covered, and later, to keep your bits covered while nursing. No one needs to see an expanse of white belly while checking out my adorable baby. =)
I ordered from here: 4Mom and Me
I'll do a review when I get them.
Second. I was searching for safe pacifiers. With the toxic plastic information hitting the news, I want to make sure Baby is not going to be putting anything into it's mouth that isn't chemical free. So in my search, I found this
They had a deal where you get a Value Pack Buy 6 Get 1 Free Newborn GumDrop™ Pacifier
So I ordered This
I love it when places will ship to Canada. I feel like I am being left out up here!
And one more thing, Huggies is making a Pure and Natural disposable diaper! At Wal-Mart they cost a whopping $1 more per package. I will be using them in the beginning until Baby gets big enough for the cloth diapers I have decided to try this time around.

VBAC

My brother made me snort with laughter this morning. I told him I am going for a VBAC. He wrote back VBAC? Very Big Air Conditioner?
No, my dear brother, a Vaginal Birth After Cesarean.
I have been tormented for years with the memory of Lena's birth and how I wish it could have ended differently.
I have an appointment with a midwife on Monday and we are going to discuss my options and what my thoughts are. I have been struggling with what to do for a while now. Did I really want to attempt a regular birth and have it fail again and end up with a C/S again? In pain, again?
Well, I picked up Ina May's Guide to Childbirth. The first night I read it, it changed my life. Amazing, incredible, life changing. Just wow. Every day I read a little bit more and am just amazed that this book wasn't brought to my attention before, maybe it was and I thought, I am not THAT crunchy. But it turns out I am!
For the first time in 8 years I am excited about the birth process! I KNOW I can do this. I am going to give it my all with the thought in mind of completion. Not, well if it doesn't work out...
I can't wait till Monday to talk with the midwife. I hope this experience will be transformational if that is even a word.

10 weeks and gagging.

Well, I made it to 10 weeks! Only a few more and I'll be out of the dreaded first trimester.
Lately I have been feeling incredibly good.
I went to Value Village and got myself 2 pairs of prego jeans, and 2 tops for $30.
Had a great day, until I tried to make dinner that is.
I went against my better judgement and tried to feed my family Chicken. I made sure to make everything else before I pulled the chicken out. And sure enough, the gagging started. I had to excuse myself a few times while making dinner to go sit out. Finally got dinner on the table. I made tilapia for myself, along with twice baked potatoes, carrots and green beans. That is another thing I can't eat. Green beans. They are the devil. Chicken and green beans got together and decided that even though I normally love them, they would cause instant gagging. But I was feeling sorry for Baby and felt that I was depriving it of it's greens. So what did I do? I took a bite of the evil green bean. It was all over for me at that point. Spent 5 more minutes sitting on the edge of the bath tub willing my food to stay down. It did. Good tummy.
So that is it. My family is no longer allowed to have chicken until this thing passes.
At least the potatoes were good!

Hungry

Last night as we were heading off to bed I polished off a chocolate pudding cup and a banana. Mind you this was only about an hour after we finished dinner. My daughter said, and I quote: "Whoa mom! You are scaring me!". In my defense I have not gained more than maybe a pound in the 9 1/2 weeks of being pregnant.
Books tell you that your appetite will increase when pregnant, but no one ever warned you that you will be wanting to eat everything in sight. Seriously.
I do have major food aversions though. I can not eat Chicken. Yes, Erin, the Chicken queen, can not eat Chicken. I have attempted to gag down chicken twice now with bad results. I also can not eat anything green. Rice is also out.
But put some hash browns in front of me and stand back. I'm Irish, what can I tell ya.
Everyone has said that because of my weird aversions this baby must be a boy. Well, they have another thing coming because I happen to believe it's another girl.
My dear, dear sweet sister in law Husnia calls at least once a week to ask me if she can make me anything. That girl can cook. I am telling you. If Middle Eastern food is what you want, go see Husnia.
Can't stand it. Normally, I love it. But it's not happening right now.
She did send over some lentil soup that I was actually able to eat. Which I am grateful for! I was getting a little tired of tuna.
Now, the last few weeks I have felt really really bad. As stated in my last post. But for some unknown reason (Thank you God) I feel great! I have no idea what caused it, but I am not complaining! I have energy, I am not shaking and feeling like passing out or barfing! Still not sleeping well at night, and taking naps in the middle of the day. But hello! I am growing another human being inside of me...
Which reminds me. I am hungry..

New Year, New Start!

Last year had all sorts of great new things for us. We got settled in Canada, got an apartment, Jay got a great job. Things went really well for us!
Well, at the end of 2009 things got even better. We found out that I am pregnant! Total surprise for everyone! But we are so excited to be welcoming Baby Dacca sometime in August.
We were suspicious at the beginning of December, but didn't know for sure until December 7th, when this happened.

Needless to say we were a little shocked. We had talked about having more kids, but things just never worked out.
I told Jay first of course. But we decided to hatch a plan to tell Lena. It was hard keeping it away from her for 3 weeks, but we managed. And she didn't have a clue!
So I ordered a shirt off e-Bay that said, Big Sister, and bought a tiny Onesie from the mall. I wrapped them up and put it under the tree. Lena opened it last. Here is a video of what happened.

Needless to say she was a little shocked. But so so excited! She just couldn't believe it! She has waited so long, that she didn't think it would ever happen.

Now, I have felt like crap to put it politely. I was very thankful that I had 2 weeks off of taking Lena to school to sleep in and just rest. I have been starving, to the point where nothing is safe. I have felt like throwing up, haven't though. And I have been so tired that I have been taking 2 hour naps in the middle of the day and still sleeping a full nights sleep.
Yesterday, I couldn't button my pants by the end of the day. Folks, this is a good month earlier than with Lena. I am 8 years older, 10lbs heavier and they say you show sooner. So I guess that is true!

I have an appointment with a midwife group on the 25th ( SO EXCITED!!) and my first ultra sound on the 28th (DOUBLE EXCITED!!!!).

I will try to keep this blog updated so everyone can keep up if interested.

It's the end of the road

There is a song from last years So You Think You Can Dance.

When something ends Something begins,
But now it's just the end of the road
When someone loses someone wins
But now it's just the end of the road
Don't get to fix it if it doesn't break
But now it's just the end of the road
When you gotta leave
It makes you wanna stay
I know it's the end of the road

We are heading home in the morning. Our time here in Israel is over. We are on the road to a new adventure.
Our time here has been interesting. Very challenging at times. We didn't get to do half of what we wanted, but there is always next time. I have learned a lot about the culture here, about the family dynamics. And lots of new Arabic!
Lena actually cried when we said we were coming home. She is so excited about seeing her friends again. And so am I.
I am going to miss things like the incredible food, the fresh fresh fruit, the interesting driving techniques... The people are all very friendly and always welcome you with open arms, and lots of food.
Now, it's time to start our new lives in Canada.

The Wedding

The major event around here that we were all waiting for is finally over. THE wedding. After weeks and weeks of stressing over the dresses that were being made at the dressmakers, the parties, the food, the Marhaba, Salam Alakhom... We survived.
Friday Khalood and Alaa were heading to Caesarea to have their pictures done. They get totally done up in their wedding atire, hair make up the full 9 yards. We followed them around the beachfront snaping our own pictures. I got some incredible shots of the sunset, a statue that was quite well endowed and a few overgrown well fed cats (honestly, they all weigh between 20-30lbs and are about 2x the size of a normal house cat).
Saturday was a flurry of things to do. The girls all had appointments at the hairstylist at 1pm. This is a HUGE business here. There were 3 wedding parties going on while we were there. They had one girl blow drying the hair straight, one doing make up and then they would take turns putting the hair up. Lena was first up. We were both so excited! Even though I am an ex hairstylist, Lena has never had her hair "done" before. They were a little baffled by her hair texture, as it's more American than Arab. One girl blew dry her hair straight, then she went to another chair and got makeup, and hair done in record time. She was beaming!
The wedding began at 6pm. There was a major shortage of cars to get us all to the wedding. It was only down the road and around the corner, but the way they drive here, I can't let my guard down for a minute. In one car alone, they had in the front seat, the driver, two adults, holding a one year old, and 5 people in the back. Jay got extreemly upset at everyone who kept insisting that we don't need to buckle Lena in, just have her sit on our lap. So everyone went to the wedding and Abid returned after dropping off his mom and sister and gave us a lift.
The wedding was incredible. The building from the outside didn't look like much, but the inside was fabulous.
There was lots of good food, dancing, crying, laughing and picture taking. I alone took over 250 pictures at the wedding. The wedding ended at 11:30pm, but the partying continued here at the house until about 2am. I was in bed asleep by 1am.

Lizards, snakes and cows oh my!

Ok, so it's been a while. It's past midnight and I can't sleep.
About a week and a half ago we went to a Kibbutz and visited the dairy farm. Coolest thing I have seen in a long time. Not sure how many hows they had, but several hundred. They hang out in open pens, that have a self manure cleaning thingy, that can tell when it's full of shit. lol Sorry I had to do it. It sweeps it all out so the cows don't stand around in it. They spray water with a fan and it totally keeps the flies down. So when the cow decides it's time to be milked, yes, the cow, it walks down a pathway to a holding pen. It stands in line with all the other cows. While it waits, it gets a nice shower. Then when there is an opening, a door opens, the cow steps in and off it goes! The milking area is like a merry go round for cows. They come in one door, get hooked up to the automatic milker, go around the circle, get detached and exit. Then a new cow enters! They play music which apparently soothes the cows. Down the ramp they go. But they don't go straight back to the pen. They get in line to be scrubbed by the auto scrubber! Darnedest thing! They take turns, walk up to this large round brush, lift it with their heads, which activates it, and the walk back and forth letting it scrub in just the right spots. When it's done a new one goes up and does the same thing! So then they walk along a new pathway to a different holding pen. There is no one telling them to go, no one telling them when it's time to be milked. It's all up to them!
Maybe happy cows don't live in California but in Israel!
With the cooler weather all sort of creatures have come out of hiding. Not only nasty looking bugs, like the dead (thank you God) huge cockroach that was on the veranda, or the huge spider that the cat thankfully ate for us. But Lizards and snakes. We have no idea where the snakes are coming from. Fortunately for us, they are babies. But that means there is a mom somewhere close by. The first one was discovered inside. Promptly had it's head cut off and tossed into the yard by our resident teen-aged adventurist Maher. aka Lena's boyfriend. Then the other day after Lena discovered a cool lizard down stairs, good lizard, Jay and Lena were walking down the front steps when a baby snake dropped from who knows where to their feet! We could not find said baby snake and I have been living in fear of accidental coming upon it with my bare feet. I have since discovered about 6 new bug bites just from today... oy today, I'll leave that for another time.

Ramadan

Ramadan began officially today. It's pretty lethargic around here right now with everyone fasting. Basically if you are healthy enough to fast, Islam asks for you to do it. I kind of felt guilty eating breakfast and lunch today. But they assured us it was fine. Basically for 29-30 days they fast during the day, then the second the sun sets, all mayhem breaks loose. =0) Food is prepared in the morning and through out the day in anticipation for the feast that will take place. Family members, friends, neighbors show up as soon as the sun goes down with boxes of food. Rice, sugar, cakes, soda, fruits, and vegetables. They typically can live months off what they get. The Veranda downstairs will be loaded by the time it's over.
We had a little taste of what was to come the other night. A brother of a sisters husband showed up. I had no idea what was going on. Next thing I know we are all trying to go to bed when 10 extra people invaded the house. Jays mom is a stickler for tradition and wanted us to come meet EVERYONE and sit and have tea. We are not into that. We just want to live our little lives and if there is someone we are interested in saying hello to, we will. But we will not sit up at 11pm drink tea and be sociable. It is going to be an interesting month, but I look forward to it at the same time. Sometimes it can be fun, but others you just want to close yourself in and hide.