Almost a year and a half

My son will be a year and a half tomorrow. It's hard to believe time has flown by so quickly. I thought I'd take a moment to think about on my pregnancy and how it went. It was not easy.

I knew I was pregnant within the first week. I remember going to a Cirque du Soleil (awesome!) performance with a friend and telling her I felt off, and that I suspected I was pregnant. It was two weeks from the time I could test. And I definitely was: I saw the "Yes" line almost before I finished peeing. There was no mistaking the test result. (Topic for another post: is it really so common to misread a pregnancy test result?)

Since my boyfriend was gone for a month visiting his family, I had a friend go with me to have the blood test to confirm I was pregnant. I have always been terrified of needles and having blood taken. I got through it, and received the results that I was definitely pregnant. Since I didn't have a family doctor, I was sent to the pregnancy clinic at the hospital where a nurse would be working with me until I needed to be assigned to an OB.

My first round of blood tests was thankfully after my boyfriend returned, so he came with me for it. It was definitely unpleasant. I didn't see how many vials were taken, but he did, and he said there were about 10!

The first time we got to hear the heartbeat was awesome. Very cool sounding. Especially since it took a bit to find it due to where the baby was sitting. My first ultra sound went smooth, and was also very cool. I was told that my placenta was a little low, so they would be monitoring that.

Did I mention the morning sickness yet? That encompassed almost my entire existence for the first 4 months. I threw up at most smells. The smell of meat, the smell of greasy food, the smell of the garbage in the kitchen if it wasn't taken out every day. I could only eat fruits and veggies. I had serious cravings for cucumbers (ate at least 1 a day) and bell peppers. Due to my eating problems, I actually lost weight the first few months.

My morning sickness finally subsided. And I started getting random shooting pains down my legs and cramps in my side. I was told that they were fairly common, and nothing to be concerned about. My calves cramped all the time. My boyfriend used to rub them every night to help me fall asleep, and I still woke up most nights and had to stretch them out.

So this continued... I started putting on weight at a good pace, not too much and not too little... Then came the kidney stone. Yes, that's right, I got a kidney stone. Ended up spending the majority of 3 days in the hospital right after Christmas. Got some crazy strong pain meds that made me very loopy. Apparently it is better for the baby to be stoned with you than the stress of mom being in excruciating pain. Good to know. I learned that my boyfriend is very good support when I'm sick. He will hold my head, wash my puke bowl, and look after me. But he won't force me to the hospital if I keep saying I don't need to go, even when I can't stand from the pain. Which I apparently did, I don't really remember, that night is pretty foggy from pain.

But I made it through and passed the stone. Apparently it is pretty common for pregnant women to get them. Something about the extreme hormonal and physical changes happening in your body... Not something I want to repeat again. And as a precursor, I agree with people who say child labour is less painful than kidney stones!

After that episode, things settled down and went fairly smoothly. Baby grew at a good rate. I learned the feeling of him moving turned my stomach and made me nauseus. Not so great. He decided to spend most of his time with his head down, his feet jammed under my ribs with his back out. He loved his back rubs! And definitely slept on his side, and didn't like if I tried to roll over. He chose our sleep position on the nights he let me sleep.

I put on quite a bit of weight in the last few months. Left work 2 weeks before my due date. Had a baby shower on May 2, and was so uncomfortable for the whole 3 hour drive there and back. Everyone thought I was just whinig and complaining. But then I went into labour on May 6. Birth story coming tomorrow.

Blog colloboration I'd like to see

I read a lot of blogs. They seem to be split into distinct types: personal finance, kid blogs, or random life blogs.

Three of the personal finance blogs I follow frequently have a reader question/scenario that the author addresses. I think these are great posts. And other followers often have great advice in the comments section. I have found myself wishing that I could see the opinions of all 3 bloggers on the same situation. I think it would really highlight each of their points-of-view, and offer quite a complete picture.

The three personal finance blogs I'm talking about are: Gail Vaz-Oxlade, Get Rich Slowly, and The Simple Dollar. I'd definitely recommend you check them out if you don't already follow.

Cross-stitch project update?

I put a question mark because I feel compelled to give an update, but it's pretty disappointing. I haven't updated since Sept 27, and it's mostly due to the fact that I haven't worked on it since then. So my update is: no progress.

At this rate, it will take decades to do this project.

Book review: Debt-free Forever

I have one word to describe Debt-free forever : take control of your money and your life by Gail Vaz-Oxlade: amazing! Gail is a Canadian financial guru. I wrote about her previously when I said that we were going to try her budget jars idea.

This book is really meant to be a step-by-step workbook about how to get your financials in order. If you have ever seen her show, this is what the couples go through, and includes the steps you don't see in the show.

I have read through it once, and my husband and I are going to sit down this weekend and work our way through it. I am excited about it, especially since I have previewed what the steps are. They aren't easy! But will definitely be worth doing.

I would highly recommend the book to everyone! I'm sure anyone could benefit from it, whether you have a mountain of debt or not. Definitely a top pick! And if you have to be frugal and borrow it from the library, it's worth the wait. I was hold number 74, and had to wait almost 2 months, but I'm glad I finally got my hands on it.

Challenge is over

It feels weird to say the 30 days of truth challenge is over. It has definitely been a journey over the last month. I've enjoyed it, and learned a lot about myself that I probably knew, but just never acknowledged.

I think the natural question is where to go from here?

I have already created a page with some ideas for future posts. But for now, I will bask in the glory of writing every day for a month, and go treat myself to some of my son's Hallowe'en candy. Yum!