31 weeks and Liam's 1st bday

We are attempting to take a photo every week from 30 weeks on. So far we are doing well. I may get less camera-happy as the discomfort of being big increases. Long car drives are the worst....lucky I only have a 6 hr drive with 16 students in 2 vans in a few weeks!
Our most recent antenatal parenting class taught us about drugs and post pregnancy bleeding etc. So many things one never knew about before entering into this birthing thing. So much yet to discover too I guess!

Liam (Carl and Denise's son) turned 1 this weekend so we headed over to Napier to celebrate with them. Denise and I got a chance to do some girl pampering and got pedicures and went bra shopping.
This is the cake her sister made Liam for his party. She is very skilled and is planning on making her own wedding cake!

Hospital visit and 30 weeks....

Here is a new pic of my belly at 30 weeks. So roughly 8-10 weeks to go, hopefully. We are hoping to take a pic every week now to see how much it changes. People say the weight gain is most noticeable in the last trimester so we shall see. So far I have gained 9 kg but expect that to ramp up in the next few weeks.
We went with the midwife today to see the birthing unit that we will be in. The rooms at Wellington Hospital have all been renovated and are pretty big and up to date which is nice. Each one has its own birthing pool too, which the woman (and man if he wants) can use for labour and for the actual birth if they choose. I am not sure Bryce would be keen to get in the pool during the the birth though....


Our midwife said today that Bryce's toilet would be down the hall, etc etc. We inquired why he wouldn't just use the one we have in the room and she said, "because sometimes there's more blood on that toilet and he might not want to use it". Bryce and I both looked at each other and freaked out a bit. We have been on a steep learning curve (as I am sure most first time parents are) with all this stuff and sometimes we still get a lil weirded out by the craziness of a birth. Its gonna be awesome, but I am not a good one with looking at strange fluids on the best of days, so I am a bit concerned that I may gag a lot when yucky substances are coming out of me. I guess that it is good training for the yuckier stuff that is gonna come out of both ends of our child soon after!
Check out the bars they have installed on the wall of the birthing room for women to hang on to ease some of the pain during contractions. Wild!

Rotovegas weekend

We hadn't had enough holiday time yet, so last weekend we headed up to Rotorua with a friend/co-worker/international client of Bryce's, Luc who lives in Quebec. The weekend was supposed to be geared around work and showing Luc some of the stores where his product is being represented, but there was time to fit in lots of MTBiking so the boys did just that. They managed to fit in 4 rides in 40 hours, which was a pretty good effort for one weekend. Carl drove up from Napier to join them in the last ride, which I think was the last one Luc would have been able to endure. He loved all the riding but he was pretty tired after not having ridden in a few months (due to all the snow in Quebec!) Needless to say, on our long drive back to Wellington on Sunday, Luc was asleep within 15 minutes of the drive.

The boys riding endeavours suited me just fine as I got to do some nice walking trails in the redwoods and around Lake Taupo, plus take some time to do some shopping for clothes that fit.
It is difficult at this stage of the pregnancy to not buy maternity clothing that I will only be in for 2 more months, but to try to find clothing that fits now and won't look too big afterwards.
As you can see, I am definitely protruding out the front these days. I seem to spill more often on my tummy (when I eat) more than I have ever before (except maybe when I was a baby!) and it is hard to squeeze past people in stores and close surroundings now. Sleep is also less enjoyable and comfortable. Seems a bit unfair that just before you begin several years of sleep-deprived nights, you don;t get a chance to bank up heaps of sleep because you are too big to sleep properly! Plus, the frequent pee stops in the middle of the night add to all the enjoyment! The April project is healthy and kicking up a storm each day and all night so we are pleased that things seems to be going all right.
We started antenatal classes last week and had our 2nd one this week. So far we have had to watch 2 birthing videos, amongst all the other activities we do to learn about labour etc. Sure is an eye opener. One thing I have learned that makes me feel prepared is that if my water breaks in the supermarket, I should drop a jar of pickles......

Holiday continues...but only for a lil more...

After the cracker of a golf game, we continued on to Napier to have a yummy BBQ with Carl and Denise. My bump seems to be craving corn on the cob, so we were sure to stop at a fruit stand on the highway to get some of this goodness and grill it up on the BBQ. Denise had also made us a combined birthday cake which was really yummy (as was Rachel's and Kim's!) and so we felt like superstars yet again. What a nice holiday visiting all these friends who made us feel at home wherever we went!

This continued as we travelled a bit further south to spend the night camping with Trish and Sinka and their kids Sam and Herny. I was keen, bit tentative about spending another night in a tent, as we had spent 3 nights already in a tent and I was feeling a growing sense of discomfort having to get up several times each night for pregnancy pees, then trying to get back into a cramped little tent.
Trish lent us the cushions from inside their caravan which made our tent a haven of comfort as you can see in the picture. What a great sleep that was!!!


The next day I felt so great I even decided to take up the offer to go fishing with Sinka and Sammy on the boat. Not a great idea. Great fun, and amazing to be on the open ocean etc.....but I can get motion sickness at the best of times and I think the big belly just made things worse. Sinka wasn't loving the idea of my vomit being good bait for the fish so he turned the boat around about 40 minutes after we left. Not before Sam caught two fish and Bryce got a 1/4 of one. When I say "a quarter" I don't mean a fish that was not whole. I mean, his fish was so small, it looked like a toy. I think he was pretty chuffed he caught something though. I will also give him the benefit of the doubt to say that had his wife not caved in to the sea sickness, he would caught a "big'un"!!



SO after the fishing excursion and some yummy ginger beer to settle the stomach, we continued on home to pick up our Lil Eddie (our cat) from the cattery and enjoyed a good nights sleep away from a tent. Unfortunately, it is away from holiday feel for Bryce too, who had his first day back at work today. He came home frustrated, saying people shouldn't have to work, and just be able to vacation permanently! Someday, maybe!

More summer fun...

I forgot to mention, I felt like a queen on my birthday. I was greeted with a big hug from Kim and John's son Jackson in the morning while still in my tent. Then we went shopping, swimming and Kim even dug me a pregnancy hole for my belly so that I could lie on the sand on my front. How great that felt!! Then we had a mini golf game, which was nicely interrupted by Canadian phone calls from Mom and Dad, Tim and then Rob all within about 10 minutes!
Also, while back at the camp, Bryce dutifully painted my toes as I am starting to have difficulty reaching them! What a guy!

After leaving Whangamata, we went to Tauranga to see Pam, Andrew and Quentin. Pam and Andrew have lent us their crib/cot that was Sam's. Seeing as Sam is going to university this term, I think they decided they could do without his crib for a wee while. We feel honoured to be able to take care of it for the next few years.
(the pic below is our lunch with Pam, Andrew and Quentin, on their deck; what a great place they have!)

We went back to Rotorua for another night with Mark, Rachel and baby Holly (and another birthday cake made by Rachel!). The next day we drove off to Napier, with a stop in Taupo to play some more mini golf. I had a great game (which was a nice change from the game I lost to Bryce a few days before!) and even got the high score of the day, which resulted in my name being written up on the chalkboard. I felt like a real "afflete"!

Whangamata

We stayed in Whangamata with Kim and John and all of John's family. There were about 10 different campsites that held his relatives so we enjoyed getting to hang out with the whole Kelly tribe and feel a part of the crew. We were 120m from the beach and spent some days playing in the waves and enjoying the sunshine.


We had my birthday while up there as well, and Kim went to great lengths to organise a surprise cake for my birthday dinner at a restaurant. It became difficult due to the fact that the cake could not be taken in early to the restaurant because the new owner of the place was being very difficult and was certain that they "sold food, not given food from customers". We were pleased to take our business elsewhere to a restaurant up the street who accomodated (and made some good money) off the party of 10 we had. Of course, I knew none of this as Bryce and Kim were trying to keep the whole cake thing a surprise still!

One of the coolest things we got to do was walk to the island, at low tide, which is just offshore. It was pretty cool to navigate your way across a sand bar to get to another landmass! Supposedly, several years ago, they had to rescue some locals who walked across but then could not make the return trip due to a school of tiger sharks who had decided that the sandbar was a nice place to hang out and play. (the pic below shows Whangamata beach with the island we walked to on the left)

Holiday cont...

We drove up to Rotorua to spend a night with Mark and Rachel and to meet Holly, their 3 month old daughter. What a cutie! I learned some helpful diapering and feeding tips from Rachel and enjoyed watching Mark do some real Daddy stuff too. I am looking forward to seeing Bryce as a father in only a few months!



The next day we drove further up north to the Coromandel Peninsula to spend s few days with Kim and John and their family in Whangamata. Mom and Dad and Bryce and I spent a day here last year, but they only got to see the town from under the heaviest cloud of rain last year. Lucky for us, it was stunning this year.

Our babymoon/Summer Holiday

So New Year's was a bit quiet, with only Bryce and I spending a night at home, drinking fake champagne (sparkling grape juice), and doing a massive crossword puzzle. Felt like Nana's but really enjoyed being chilled out and not having to fuss about a big night. We got a chance to do that at Clare and Brent's wedding two days later anyway! On New Years day we went down to stay with Donal in Wellington and see Avatar in 3D. What a cool movie. It was even cooler when we stayed to watch the credits at the end and saw Donal's name in the IT section. He is really enjoying his job and is great at what he does. The movie was incredible and having the 3D effects made it more memorable. Bryce and I both ducked when a grenade flew past our heads at one point.


Clare and Brent got married on the 2nd and had a beautiful wedding in a hall in Paekakariki. The weather was not great and so the ceremony had to be held indoors, but Clare lit up the room in her gorgeous wedding dress and the hall was decorated really nicely; it was easy to forget we were inside all night.




We left the next day for a week's holiday in the sunshine, up north. It was awesome to get away and for Bryce to get some time free from work. Plus, we figured this was probably our last retreat alone together for "we become three". Lucky there was only two of us too because the car was jam-packed by the time we came home, with a MTBike and a crib/cot, plus our tent, sleeping bags and all our other stuff too! What is it going to be like with a car seat and all the baby stuff all parents need to take whenever they go anywhere? Surely the MTBike must still fit in the car......