Baby and life news

This was taken at the end of August (after I had my gallbladder removed and was able to eat fatty foods again). My baby belly was just beginning to pop out and ice cream was becoming the most wonderful thing ever invented (as it still is).

My body is feeling mostly good now. My gallbladder is almost healed although when baby Thea starts kicking, that seems to be one of her more favorite places to drum... ouch!

My belly is now ~42" around and growing about 1/2 - 1 inch per week. I have regained my pre-pregnancy and gallbladder weight and added about 10 pounds and from all the ultrasounds and measurements my midwives have been taking, our daughter is very healthy and progressing well for her age.

Physically things are going pretty well. My only complaints are that I have been having MASSIVE amounts of heartburn (yes, yes, I know... we are going to have a hairy baby) and difficulties moving around with a basketball sized critter in my tummy.

Baby preparations are starting to get really exciting now! This weekend Colin and I went up island to visit with my parents on Saturday (and to do chair massage in Courtenay on Sunday). While we were there my parents (and aunt Marilee and uncle Rick in absentia) had a mini baby shower for us. We now have some baby clothes and blankets, a playpen/change table for camping and travelling with, and a stroller/car-seat. The neatest thing that we recieved was a mobile from my aunt and uncle that lights up and swirls sparkles around in a watery sphere that hangs over the crib. VERY nifty (in fact, we may need to get another one for the baby as we might just set the one we have up over our own bed)!

In non-baby related life I have been auditing Chemistry and Biology at Camosun College in preparation for entering a bachelors program to become a midwife about 2-3 years from now (depending on finances and how our baby is growing up). I have never been so excited about taking science before and have never done so well! I got the top mark in our Chemistry mid-term last week with a 93% while the class average was in the low 70% area. Biology hasn't been quite as stimulating just because it is such a large amount of information being crammed into too-short lectures with other students who just won't shut up during the lecture... I wonder how long it will be until I snap and start throwing things at them? It has been really great to finally be passionate about a career path that is next to a guaranteed money-maker (midwives are currently funded by MSP in the province of BC and are HUGELY in demand). It is also wonderful to find a career that will allow me to use my intelligence on a daily basis and to interact with people in a way that is both meaningful and compassionate. Colin is also really looking forward to the day when he no longer has to work in the auto industry and has a little time to discover what _his_ passion is.

Another thing I am doing in the next few weeks to learn more about the career of midwifery is to attend the Spirit of Midwifery conference being held in Vancouver from Nov 1-3 (so for those of you in Vancouver who are free the evening of Saturday, Nov 3 for dinner, I would love to hook up!). It is two and a half days of speakers and exhibitors. I am really excited about it from a couple of standpoints... firstly, it will be really neat to attend a conference about childbirth while only five weeks away from giving birth myself... should be some interesting insights. Also I will get the chance to hear all about recent developments and challenges in the field from the experts. I hope to meet a bunch of the faculty and students from the UBC Midwifery program while there as well. I want to find out what they think of the program, what suggestions they have for good volunteer work to help familiarize myself with midwifery, and just to find out what the personalities involved are like.
There will also be instructors from a couple of the Ontario midwifery schools present so I will be able to sound them out about their programs as well.

As it stands Colin and I have decided that Vancouver is our first choice of program (being closest to our families and least disruptive to our lifestyles), Ontario is our second choice (either at McMaster in Hamilton or else at Laurentian in Sudbury - largely due to the MUCH lower cost of living that in Vancouver), and the Seattle Midwifery School is our third choice (only because they do not grant a bachelor's degree and after the program is finished I would have to do almost an entire extra year of PLEA certification which is both costly and time consuming).

One of the biggest benefits of the UBC program is that from the sounds of things they are pretty nice about trying to arrange clinical placements that are convenient for their students. The scariest thing about UBC is that they usually have between 100-150 applicants per year and they only accept 10 of them. I REALLY hope that I am one of those ten the year I apply.

So that's my life in a nutshell right now... lots of school, lots of prep for baby, and lots of prep for midwifery. I am EXCESSIVELY happy with my wonderful husband and am really looking forward to what the next years bring us.