My first ever blog

These ultrasound pics were taken on Jan 8, 2008 at 21 weeks 3 days.
We wanted to find out the sex, however the little scamp kept it's legs crossed the entire time. The ultrasound tech said that the radiologist MIGHT be able to make a guess...my next midwife appointment is on Wednesday the 16th (I think) so we might find out more.

The heart rate at the ultrasound was just over 160 bpm. Now, before everyone goes running off into the sunset yelling "it's a girl!", I want to let you know that at our last midwife appointment it was only in the 130's. And heart rates fluctuate depending on age of baby, etc. Also, the "using the heart rate to determine sex" wives tale is just that: it was disproven 20 years ago as an accurate method of determining sex.

As for me, I'm feeling fine, and have started to really show. I'm OBVIOUSLY pregnant now, even to strangers. I'm not as tired as I was a few months ago, and have a reasonably ok appetite (could be better). I have an aversion to pretty much all meat items, except ground beef and bacon. I'm loving fruits and vegetables, which is probably a good thing. And the smell of honey nut cheerios makes me gag-forget eating them!

Ben and I went on Friday night to Toys R Us and made up our baby registry. They have a huge baby section in the back corner of the store, and things are pretty reasonably priced. They had almost everything we'll need (their clothes selection is a little iffy). We put over 50 items on the registry list, with everything from washcloths to a rocking chair. For anyone who wants to know, our registry # is 40485155. You can go to the Toys R Us website and click the Baby Registry link and type in our # in order to see what we've put on it. Just a reminder, if you DO decide to buy something from it, PLEASE check the registry in-store before purchasing, and make sure the cashier knows that it's for our registry so he/she can remove it from our list. I'm unsure of their return policy without receipt, and we don't want to end up with needless duplicates (like the 3 coffee makers we got for wedding gifts!)

A notice to anyone planning on buying us diapers or wipes or any baby bath care (Johnson and Johnson), soothers, or any baby formula products---DON'T! We will be using cloth diapers and wipes. I plan on making my own wipe solution and baby bath products. Did you know that Johnson and Johnson products rate the HIGHEST in toxicity when it comes to carcinogenic ingredients? No thanks. As for soothers, we have a couple but plan on TRYING to avoid using them. I will be nursing so have no need for formula.

If you're curious about the type of cloth diaper we will be using, please go to the cheeky monkey website and search for cloth diapers. We will be using a couple different kinds, all in the "All-in-One" or "pocket diapers" section. Feel free to get us one or two of those, in any colour! We plan on using the ones that are one-size-fits-all type, so they will last from newborn to potty training size. Talk about economical! It may seem expensive ($24-28 each, which adds up to around $800), but when you figure it out, we'll need about 30 diapers for the whole time the baby will be diapered, compared to the approximately $2000 worth for disposables. In addition, we'll be able to re-use the diapers for another child, or sell them. Not to mention we will be RESPONSIBLY reducing the amount of diapers going to landfills-4 MILLION disposable diapers a DAY go to landfills in Canada. Talk about gross. Also, did you know that solid waste is supposed to be put into the toilet before throwing out disposable diapers? How many people do that? Not many, I'd think. So our landfills are full of untreated human waste. Tasty.