Baby Noah!!! (it's a boy!!)

23^rd of April 2011 (20 weeks 1 day)

Hi Noah,

It was a pleasure to find out that you were a baby boy. Mommy was just so sure that you were a girl. Thinking back, at first I knew you were a boy. I am not sure why I started to have second guests about it. It really doesn’t matter anyways. Let me tell you a bit more about the ultrasound. Mommy had been excited for weeks and I couldn’t wait to find out your gender. I didn’t know it affected me this much but when we finally got to see you and that night I slept much better. It was actually the best night mommy had gotten in a while. The first thing the technician told us was that you were going to be able to see. That was already great news to us. She then checked everything; she was measuring this and that. She was explaining to us what she was doing. We saw your arms, your hands, your legs, your feet, your stomach, your heart, your blood vessels (the major ones) and so much more. We even got pictures of you to keep! It was wonderful. We couldn’t wait for her to tell us your gender…I mean, I was happy that everything was well but I WANTED to know!!! So we asked and she said she would try to find it out. She saw right away that you were a baby boy!! Now, I’m not going to lie, we were expecting her to say it was a little girl but honestly, at that very moment it didn’t even matter! You were perfect!! I didn’t even care about pink dresses or anything of the sort (although we got you a polo that has pink- it matches a polo dad has) all I wanted was dinosaurs and tons of blue!!

Daddy and I just stared at each other for a bit. I couldn’t tell is he was disappointed or not. Then we went shopping and he picked most of your clothes “No, take the darker one”  “Look at this one” “Meh” “that’s cute” “Mhm mmm”  I mean, he was INTO it. He was so happy that night, it was incredible. So, was he disappointed, NO! The next day I asked him to be honest and to tell me that he did want a boy and not a girl. He just replied ”yes! I’m a boy!!” and very honestly, I couldn’t be happier. I can’t believe we’re going to have a little boy in the family. Sonia is leaving so, we’ll be 2 girls for 3 boys…hmm. That never happened before. 

So, let me tell you how we told the family. First, daddy and I went straight to shop after we found out your gender. We did quite a few shops…we also got a cake (daddy’s favourite) and we came home. Grandpa, Grandma and Sonia were waiting for us. So, daddy and I put the cake in the fridge, hide a message in Soleil’s collar and went to place pieces of clothes in your future nursery. In order to find out your gender, grandma, grandpa and Sonia each had a mission. First, grandpa had to catch the cat. To do so, he had to get his candies, and shake them, then grab him and take off his collar. Then, Sonia had to find a hidden message on the cat’s collar. It was inside a little address thing and it said: Go to baby’s room. Once in the room, grandma was the first one going in and we had a white blanket that said “les petits garcons sont un cadeau du ciel” meaning that Little boys are a gift from the sky. She was way too nervous to understand that and honestly, she was so sure it was a girl that she just said “it’s a girl!!” then, Sonia read it and started jumping around and saying “IT’S A BOYYYYY” We were all really happy. Grandma turned out happy to see that you were a Noah and grandpa was on a cloud (FINALLY a boy). It’s funny because I’m writing this and I’m as excited as the day we found out AND you’re kicking me like crazy. I’m so happy to have you Noah. Daddy and Mommy already love you SO much. You cannot even imagine. Then, we all had cake and we went to tell Titia and Titio that you were a boy by bringing them cake! Titio is thrilled to know that you are “like him.” We also told grand-maman and arriere grand-maman. I texted grand-maman and asked her to make a wish. She made a wish and I told her you were a baby boy!!! Grand-papa didn’t want to know. After putting pictures of your ultrasound all over Facebook I guess it made it hard for him to “not want to know.” I knew he would eventually find out! I hoped so because I really wanted him to know. 

So, technically, we have very few people who really thought knew your gender. On the blog, we had 9 people out of 34 saying you were a boy (27 saying you were a girl) and on a forum, we had 66% of the members telling us you were a girl as supposed to 33% who thought you were a boy. I promised the girls that I would mention their usernames on here so here it goes:

These girls have super powers and just KNEW you were a boy:

aeryfaery7, Ashley Renee, Barby..mama2be..., Cadence45, courtnik1, flashofpassion808, Ginrhea, goddesskieryn, Hellohoney, lilmama28, Loz189, MandersMny, Raezy, semper83, Sharon410, tattoomomma, tifferzzz7, Tori369

Congrats girls!!! You have amazing future telling/ baby gender knowing skills. 

Well Little Noah, that will be all for this time. Once again, I can’t believe I’m having a baby boy! I’m so happy. Thank you for making Daddy and me so happy, we love you so much.

Be safe in there!!

Love you,

Daddy and Mommy

Noah's arm and hand

Noah's boy parts

Noah's legs

Noah's foot

Noah's hand

Noah!!

Almost knowing if it's Allicia or Noah!

16 of April 2011 (19 weeks 1 day)

Hey Baby!!

LESS THAN TWO DAYS BEFORE WE FIND OUT YOUR GENDER! So excited!!!!! I really hope you collaborate. If you don’t you’re grounded as soon as you come out. Mommy dreamt that you were a girl two days ago, we could see your labia and then yesterday I was holding a boy and telling him “you’re my little boy.” Can my mind be more confusing about mixed signals? Anyways!! 

1 day and some hours!!! How exciting! In baby time that’s about 1000 kicks and 1 major heartburn to mommy and 2 headaches. Can’t wait to see you!

Mommy and Daddy love you very much. 

P.S. Keep those legs wide open!And...that's Soleil playing with your bassinet/changing table/ park

Two appointments and mixed news

11 of April 2011 (18 weeks 3 days)

Hey Little Pickle!

This hopefully is your last week of us calling you something else than your name. We’re finding our next Monday (in a week) if you’re a Miss Pickle or a Mister Pickle. If you collaborate of course (please collaborate). We also booked your 3D/4D ultrasound. It’s going to be in June so in a while…you’ll be 26 weeks then. The beauty of it is that grandma and grandpa and the rest of the family can view the ultrasound live! I’m so excited!

We had a busy week. First, Thursday we had an appointment with our midwife. She has a student that will be with us until June. It’s really too bad because she’s great. Anyways, it’s much more fun than at the doctor’s office. She really takes the time to get to know us she asked us a lot of questions about how we felt, if the pregnancy was planned, etc. They really want us to feel comfortable with them. After asking all the questions, she asked me to lay down on a bed!! A bed! And she tried to find your heartbeat. The student tried to find it and she wasn’t able to. We were able to feel the vibrations you were making but no heartbeat itself. I won’t lie, I was getting worried but then the midwife tried with her Doppler and there you were! Running around everywhere. We couldn’t get your heartbeat for more than 5 seconds at a time. You were just so active. You’re heartbeat was at 156bpm which is fairly good! Mommy’s pressure was also pretty good and everything was going well. We came home and had a good night of sleep. Then, when I woke up the next day, I realized why you were so active. Mommy had gone to Starbucks right before going to her appointment and she got a caramel Frappuccino. It’s full of caffeine and sugar. I totally forgot to ask them to make it without caffeine. Poor you, I’m sorry!

The next day (Friday) we went to the doctor. Mommy has proteins in her urine…we need to figure out what is happening. I’m confident that it’s nothing but who really knows. It could mean anything from nothing to degenerative kidney disease. We’ll go for the nothing. Daddy is not worried at all and he usually has a good feeling for these things but *shh* don’t tell him. So we have to do a 24hour urine collect. We’ll pee in a jar all day long…fun! Other than that, my uterus  - your dome- was doing great. It measured 18 cm on Friday which is excellent because you are 18 weeks. It works this way; by every pregnant week, your uterus should grow one centimeter up. So you’re doing great Everything else was fine during that appointment. We were able to hear your heartbeat without you running everywhere (I guess it was the lack of caffeine ;) ) and the doctor didn’t tell me how many bpm it was but I’m sure it was great. 

Mommy is trying so hard not to buy you clothes. I know that next week I’ll be able to get pink or blue! We still think you are a girl but who knows. I’ll be happy if you are a boy. I think that was it for this week. Two major appointments and little tests and homework here and there. We have a huge oral to prepare for tomorrow. We need to make sure we get a good grade on that one. OH! And we passed the TECFEE and our French class. We are so done with French! Yay!

We love you Little Pickle, take much care. Don’t exhaust yourself swimming around.

Love you,

Mommy and Daddy

Telling the news to the family!

2^nd of April 2011 (17 weeks and 1 day)

Hey Little Nugget,

You know, you`re starting to get big for a nugget. You`re apparently 8 inches long…hmm you're getting pretty long. I don`t think I can hide you anymore to be honest. I could blame it on putting on a few more pounds but you see, the problem is that mommy is losing weight. I`ve lost over 10 pounds… BUT my stomach keeps getting bigger. So, people are starting to just stare at my belly. Specially people at church and people that we know. I don`t think you are that noticeable for the world yet. Otherwise people would let us sit in the metro in the morning when it`s really full and that mommy barely faints. On this note- if you are not pregnant and you see a pregnant women on the bus or subway don`t just stare at her stomach and look away. I understand the ‘I`m not sure you`re pregnant’ but I don`t get It when women who are obviously very very pregnant cannot get a seat on the bus. That frustrates me because I always gave up my seat for old people or pregnant women. Anyways!!! It`s been a while I didn`t write to you about…you. This week and last week was full of surprises. 

As you may have noticed, you have met a new part of the family last week. Two Wednesdays ago (23 of march) we met Grandmaman for a coffee. I wasn`t sure at that point that I was going to let her know that daddy and I were expecting you. As the conversation went along I decided it was the right thing to do. After all, it`s very important for her to know as you will be part of her life and vice-versa. I find it`s pretty important for you to grow up with all of your family. You`re going to LOVE having a big family. We don`t have that much of a big family actually but it`s growing! So, I wasn`t sure how grandmaman was going to react. She didn`t know we were trying, she didn`t know anything about our trying to conceive journey so it was basically throwing the news right at her. Well, she is very happy and she sounded very excited! She thinks you`re a girl! Finally someone who thinks like me and your other grandma. It must be something with us women ;) She also said that If you were a boy we could take a look at some of the clothes that Daddy and your uncles had as babies. Cool! I didn`t tell her the amount of clothes we ALREADY got you without even knowing if you were a boy or a girl…but she`ll read it here anyways. I didn`t want to look too weird haha. So that`s how grandmaman learned that we were expecting you. It wasn`t planned that I would tell her that day, so I didn`t do anything special- I just spoke with my heart.

 

Obviously, if grandmaman knew, grandpapa had to also know! So I spoke about it with daddy and we figured that the best thing to do was to tell grandpapa on his birthday (30 of march). So, exactly one week later than grandmaman. We were thrilled to tell him. You know that feeling of being so excited that you wonder if you`ll be able to hold the secret until then? Well maybe you don`t, but one day you will. So, mommy prepared a cute card for grandpapa saying that we were expecting you and put it with the other card we were going to give him. To celebrate grandpapa`s birthday he invited us to go to a Lebanese restaurant. It was the first time we ever ate Lebanese and I think daddy was super happy to eat Lebanese again. I think we`ll have to get going on Lebanese recipes because their food is pretty good. It sort of reminds me of Portuguese food…the flavours have nothing in common but the way of eating (with bread and sharing the meals) is the same. It was pretty special and we totally have to go back but let`s get back to grandpapa here. He opened the card that said that we were expecting and he was happy. He didn`t even read the inside at first! I think it was a good birthday gift. Your uncles were also there and I think they are excited too but I mean, they are boys…they don’t show as much expression. What do you think? The supper went by very well and we were both happy that the rest of the family knew.

Daddy just finished talking with your great grandmaman and he just told her the good news. So, I think it`s pretty official that we are expecting you. I hope you realize how lucky you are for having a great grandmaman! Family is so precious. Never forget it.

I think that’s going to be all for now Little Nugget!

Swim carefully in there and I would like to add that I’m not a big fan of backpain, so try to drop that.

Daddy and mommy love you very much!

Info-session for a midwife (in Montreal)

23^rd of March 2011 (15 weeks 5 days)

Since I found out I was pregnant, I knew I wanted a midwife. I called at 6 weeks to have appointment with a midwife and I thought I would get one right away because I was so early- WRONG. It takes forever for them to call you. I was disappointed because when I called, the receptionist told me that they would call me back at the end of the month (February) but they only ended up calling me back in the beginning of march after I called them back. Doesn’t really matter. I’m super happy that they have a place for me. 

As you might imagine, I did a lot of research on hospital, birthing center, homebirth, OB, midwives, etc. I feel like it’s my job as a future mom to look at all those options. So far, I was being followed by an AWESOME doctor. I mean, the dude is great (although he looks like my brother in law) but that’s just not what I want. It sucks because he’s right next door and everything but my heart is telling me to do something else. That “something” else is to have a midwife.  Why did I make that choice?

First, I want to have a good and understanding relationship with the person who will deliver my baby. Is it necessary? YES. For me it counts more than anything. I want to know her, I want her to know me. I want her to be able to tell if something is wrong or if I’m scared just by looking at my behaviour. Hmm, is that really possible? Well, consider this, each appointment is 45 minutes to one hour long. If you’ve been pregnant here in Montreal, you know that the time you spend at your GYN/ OB while pregnant is about 10-15 minutes. Okay, fine, my first appointment was a big 20 minutes. Why is it so short? Well, doctors do the essential; listen to heartbeat, to your pressure and weight you. If you have a question they will answer it and then good bye. Do I blame them? Not at all! I just had to take a look at the waiting room to see how many women were waiting just like I was. I wouldn’t want it to take 1 hour, there would be 20 women waiting after me (no joke. ) That being said, does it make “bad”? No! he checked every single thing that could have been wrong, he told me I was okay and actually he answered a few questions- the guy is great-just, not what I want. 

So, what does a midwife do that is so special? She takes the time to talk to you, to get to know you. She wants birth the way you want it. I am guaranteed that she’ll be the there for birth of that one of her colleagues (that I will meet previously)will be there. What does that change? A lot!!! I’ll trust her. I’ll want to listen to her, I know that she knows what she is talking about and I KNOW she will try to respect all my wishes. Not that it’s not doable in a hospital but try telling a bunch of doctors and students that you have never seen that you are not comfortable and that really you would like to take a snack or even to walk. Not doable- not here anyways. You are in labor, you lay down and you give birth Woman (yes that is exaggerated.) I’m not into that either way. I am thinking about giving birth at home or at a birthing center. I won’t know for sure until I meet with my midwife. I will write more about these birthing methods but right now I’ll just stick to this. So, let’s talk a bit more about midwives here in Montreal;

I am going to the birthing center of Pointe-Claire for my appointments. 

My midwife will be Marie but I have not met her yet. I am very excited and meeting her for the first time on the 7^th of April. I went for an info-session last Tuesday. I thought it was at 8 am…turns out It was at 9 am! Oops. Anyways, we were 5 people; two couples and me. I was sad that the husband couldn’t make it, but he really couldn’t. A midwife gave us a little background on what they do and our options. It was really fast but really well done. We got to ask our questions at the end and the midwife was able to answer all of them. Then, she made us visit the center. It’s not super big but it’s just perfect. There are three rooms to give birth in. Two of them are quite alike but one is really different; it has a bathtub where you can give birth in. The other two rooms have simple bathtubs but you cannot give birth in them because the midwive cannot go all the way around. Makes sense. So, other than that, we took our first appointment and it’s “see you next time.” 

I feel happy about the choice I made and in the end, that’s all that matters. Don’t let anyone tell you how to birth- they won’t birth for you. Just be at peace with the choice you made no matter what that choice is.