Monday, October 31, 2011

Great Pumpkin Adventures!


I know I'm randomly posting a photo of Tori Spelling, but it got me excited. Perhaps it's the fact that she's very pregnant and orange. I can't wait to play in the pumpkin patch with my baby NEXT YEAR:) 

I totally missed Charlie Brown this Holiday season! 

Sunday, October 23, 2011

The Ultrasound Adventures!



We just had an amazing baby shower in Toronto surrounded by family, friends and my adorable god daughter Chloe! Everyone is asking if we'll be getting a third ultrasound and so far it's a NO. But that's good news! It means there's no need to check up on baby because we're measuring and growing just fine. Besides, our second ultrasound wasn't the nicest. I'm sorry but compared to the first one our poor baby looks so big and fuzzy. Just look up- the first batch was perfect, defined and the lighting was way better. I do like the second one because we get to see the spine, heart, all fingers and toes, but it's still not as smooth. That's why I won't go for the 3D ultrasound. No need and no thanks! That stuff is just plain scary. People still want me to confirm the gender and trust me, as mama I feel your eagerness! The nurse told Phil and I "I THINK" it's a girl but she had her doubts because the legs didn't move. I asked one midwife if she thinks it's a girl and she showed me the hospital's report and they wrote GIRL confirming they checked the gender. Awe :) I asked my other midwife Janet and she said "hmm I've got that girl vibe" LOL. She said even the heartbeat is girly.

Naturally a few of my best girlfriends showed up with fitting materials such as a mini leopard fur jacket, pink TML outfits and even part of the bedroom set was pink and brown

So son, if it goes the other way I'm sorry! We have some gender neutral pieces but we're preparing for a little Annabelle (especially after receiving matching leopard pieces for mommy and baby) :)

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Pressure

I just realized how hard it is not to think about having to pee after two large water and lemon drinks with friends and you head home on a shaky bus and your child's legs are pressing in your ribs and her arms are pressing on your bladder.
Wow. 

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Baby's back

I'm blogging from the Out There office right now because #1) I don't feel like carrying my Mac home and across town tonight and #2) I haven't made anytime to blog since Phil returned home from the Halifax2Toronto Courage Canada campaign.

The homecoming was Saturday (although considering his proximity within the GTA we had a quick date/Beatbox Canada meeting Friday night).

It was still thrilling to see him enter the arena Saturday surrounded by his team, friends and family. They walked/rollerbladed into the arena on a rolled out red carpet and we all cheered, teared and screamed really loud. My boyfriend of course, was there filming the whole thing. He looked so tanned and much more toned. A lot of girls want your skin and legs babe. 

It gave us the chance to be surrounded by close friends for the first time in two months with our growing belly and it's still so magical. Although I did get to visit him in Ottawa two weeks ago, it was really nerve wracking preparing for my love to come home because I am sooo much more pregnant. I knew that once he got home this was it- it's baby time.

We've got back-to-back baby showers, a King of the Dot event, a Beatbox Canada event and a labour all within the next six-eight weeks.

It's only been a few days since we're back into our home and routine together, but we're taking our fast forward lifestyles like a couple of champs. There's been a lot of love and a lot of baby talk the last couple of days and it feels like fresh love all over again. Like we never had a break at all. We didn't need one. We've becoming closer since our seamless move in together and I find so many little things to love even more.

I don't regret any day he was absent and I pray he feels the same way and sees the strength he portrayed and resonated on me. Even though I couldn't bare certain days, for the most part we talked for hours about his daily adventures and my growing pregnancy. Although he wasn't around physically for the last while, he was checking in with his babies every single day. We went through high highs and some lows (but facts of life to grow from) and we really got to know each other and talk a lot more with each phone conversation.

Point and lesson of this blog is: I've got my baby back! Daddy's home and ready to spoil this little girl. I hope that any girl who reads my blog has the type of love I talk about or at least is aiming to never settle for anything less. Your mate is Out There. Mine was literally Out There.

Now if you will excuse me I've done my PR MOM blogging duties. I've got to head home to my boo and catch up on some prenatal yoga because this back has quite the curve!

FACT: My baby loves a good horror flick. I don't know if it was the sense of fear in me and my racing up heart beat but as we watched These Hills Have Eyes last night the baby did not stop moving!

oxox Googly-eyed PRMOM
The team in Ottawa

My baby filming in Ottawa

Courage Canada girls promoting in Ottawa
We stayed in Gatineau so this is our morning walk over the bridge the day I left
Phil got to take the 30 week baby photo :)

Baby Belly! September 30th- 30 weeks!


Us in Ottawa- First visit in over a month

We got to go to the Toronto Maple Leafs vs Calgary Flames game Saturday :)






Wednesday, October 12, 2011

I Love Midwives!

I met another back up midwife tonight, another sweetheart. Her name is Janice. So now to be clear Janet and Mahnaz are my PRIMARY midwives (one of the two will deliver depending on schedule). Janice and Abir are the BACKUP midwives. Backup midwives are called when I start to deliver so I will have two midwives on hand. One for me, one for baby.

Baby was healthy today and even moved a lot when Janice was trying to find her position. CUTE! My test results from the glucose screening were good and my hemoglobin results were perfect :)

Midwives offer informed practice. This means we have options and we're in control.

This is a good time to clear up any midwife rumours because everyone still thinks I'm giving birth at home or in a tub. Good news folks! Living in the City of Toronto in 2011 you can be spoiled by a midwife and deliver like everyone else! They even discourage at home/tub births because why risk anything?!

- We are delivering at the hospital (St-Joseph's Health Centre)
- There is a doctor on hand if anything goes wrong
- I will be offered an epidural and anything else if pain gets in the way of my labour and is needed. Just like everyone else.
- My midwife will visit us at home within 24 hours of the baby being born so it's up to us if we want to leave 4 hours after birth or 24 hours after birth. It will depend on how the delivery goes.
- She will continue to visit us at home up until 6 weeks after birth!
- There's no extra cost for a midwife. They are covered by the Ontario Ministry of Health and they are governed by the College of Midwives of Ontario.

So there you have it. That's why I chose  midwife after a couple weeks of panicking and waiting lists (yes-they have waiting lists!). They are completely educated to care for a mother and child before, during and after childbirth.

Look at some of the costs of giving birth! (CIHI Patient Cost Indicator)
Cost of a physician-attended vaginal birth in hospital: $2,486
Cost of a hospital birth with forceps or vaccum: $3,484 (I was a forcep baby)
Cost of a hospital birth by c-section: $4,863










Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Styling more beautifully

Can I just say I look amazing right now?
Why?
Because i'm seven months pregnant and wearing post pregnancy clothes. I've got lace on. Love lace! Lace tighted calmed down with my everyday normal black dress and an orange and black plaid jacket that screams fall. Paired with uncomfortable flats of course. I will never be a lucky stylish shoe girl. I tried taking pictures of myself to show- but it really looked like I was just taking pictures of myself. Awkward. Maybe i'll try editing one later.

I tell ya, my style just gets more beautiful the more round we become!

Just left the bank and off to the production office for a new week.

XoxoFashionHappyPRMOM

Monday, October 10, 2011

Sweating- it's a countdown!

Totally sweating. Beatbox Canada Champs in 1 month- Baby arrives in two.

Today: Dusted every hair and picked up every sunflower seed possible. I decided to put some ammonia-free brown mousse in my hair and stained my pillows. So I'm on hour five of laundry.

I also streamed Rachel Zoe all day. Bananas!

Cravings: No cravings today but I did eat a turkey sandwich. I'm still really turned off white meat though. All I used to eat was low fat turkey and chicken now all I dream about is a BIG JUICY HUNK OF STEAK. I spoke to Phil and he's in the boonies somewhere eating chicken and rice. I ate turkey and rice. He's almost home <3 I bought balloons yesterday, he's going to hate me :D

Happy Thanksgiving TODAY. I had a meltdown on Twitter because it really bothered me that people were saying Happy Thanksgiving all weekend when really it only falls on Holiday Monday. It's just as irritating when people say Happy Birthday the day before your birthday. But I will start saying Merry Christmas now because it's a wonderful season. You win some, you lose some.


xoxZombiePRMom

Friday, October 7, 2011

Midnight thought....

Well I just finished watching the adorable Back-Up Plan with a crazy pregnant J-Lo. My baby kicked the whole time. I feel feet :) Soooo cute.
I think I'm going to start practicing my many faces of labor. J-Lo was really pushing!

xoBootyliciousPRMOM

Thanksgiving weekend anyone?

Getting started on the baby room! 

We've got the whole green earth/calm, cool, collected feel

What's everyone doing for Thanksgiving?
I'm usually such a family hound but this year I'm keeping it really low key. I'm bored but I don't really want to do anything lol. I actually didn't get asked/harassed by any family members this year to attend Thanksgiving dinner. Must be everyone prepping for the back-to-back baby showers. I  may go and meet Phil on the road, he'll be filming Courage Canada's skate somewhere between here and Belleville. How awesome would it be to have a Thanksgiving dinner out in the boonies? I like that idea. I definitely had fun at my camp and in Sudbury last Thanksgiving and never thought I'd be pregnant this year! It's kind of my way to rebel.  I'm going to skip Thanksgiving dinner because I have no child and no man yet! I'm going bananas though. I can't wait to have them both in my arms. I love love. That is what I'm most thankful for.

Today was awesome. I absolutely love working from home. Except I slept in so I missed The Mom Show. But I did some great sponsor calls, one was successful and the rest didn't get back to me of course. I cleaned, caught up on laundry, almost sold a desk and watched Rachel Zoe in bed. Oh and I caught up on Young and the Restless! So good. I can't wait until Baby and I can watch nothing but Y&R and Hockey Night in Canada all winter.

I've got some restless legs tonight so I'm going to pop a Calcium pill, run a bath and do some yoga/pilates. I bought a plug, well two plugs, for our bath last night and they both fit. I felt so accomplished. Everyone I had spoken to had never boughten a bath plug before so I was proud when clearly, the universal master plug fit.
Oh and I'll most likely watch the Back-up Plan tonight. Light-hearted J-Lo-pregnancy-lovey dove flick.

She's moving a lot. I feel a foot near my right rib all the time and today I told Phil it felt like a slug moving around. That made me feel a little nauseous! I just love how she's so real. I hope she's still a she at this stage because we're head over heels for Annabelle!

XOPRMom

Thursday, October 6, 2011

Success, Money, Truth and Babies

Truth is, i've been scared.
A lot of people know me as a young successful PR graduate who works in entertainment and gets to be on TV and work with really cool musicians. That's so true!  I've been working as a publicist for Melissa DiMarco's national entertainment show since my second semester at Humber College. I sent a crew to Cannes, helped host three TIFF events, introduced Out There to Canadian Music Week, and ran CMW for a second year. I'm Too Legit To Quit!
But I was quitting...
As I approached College graduation this June I was sooo thankful to have such a great resume thanks to the show. I was excited to take what I've learned and play on the other side. I was looking for a new life, new job and more money. Heck, Melissa and I even drank wine to celebrate! She knows! Well I got my new job- Hi Motherhood, and Melissa let me stay. She wants nothing to make sure our little family is okay. Someone decided it was my time as I was entering my little midlife crisis. Maybe I was heading in the wrong direction? I was already moving in with Phil to begin with so we could pay off our debts and move on together. I guess throwing a baby into the mix didn't hurt.
Our baby is already so well taken care of and surrounded by love and support. I'm so humbled and learning to accept the extra help and support. My only regret would be as a young professional diving in to the workforce, I  wasn't educated on different kinds of work agreements, contracts and benefits. I was just accepting cheques every two weeks like I always have and I didn't ask for a copy of any contract.
It wasn't until I became pregnant that I realized I didn't have anything. No benefits (especially now that school was done), no E.I., NO MORE OSAP and no safety net.

So please. I urge you whether you're 16 yrs old, 19, 23, 30 or more, know your rights and contract agreements. I was hired as a freelance publicist, meaning that I need to take care of my own taxes and write off's and pay into my own unemployment. I didn't do any of that and now I feel real bad and so do my employees. Frankly although I felt a lot of anger it is no one's fault. It wasn't up to my employer to hold my hand and make sure I did all my paper work. It was up to me as a responsible, working young adult. No one expected a pregnant woman on the show! And you could be in the same situation so read these links and be ready for anything to happen:
Having a baby: http://www.servicecanada.gc.ca/eng/lifeevents/baby.shtml
Self-Employed: NOTE: In order to be considered for maternity benefits you have to pay into EI for at least a year: http://www.servicecanada.gc.ca/eng/sc/ei/benefits/examples/self_employed_workers.shtml

There are links for parental benefits as well for you dads.

Even if you think Oh that'll never happen to me at least make sure you make your Service Canada account and a CRA profile TODAY. Keep the logins and passwords safe in a private folder on your computer or in your e-mail. The time will come when you need to access the services...ASAP.

I'll be okay. It's a personal battle with myself and my own personal income but that's the beauty about my line of work- I can easily work from home once I get a decent plan in motion. I almost sold my MAC and a few other investments until my partner in crime and lover made me realize we will double what the MAC is worth once we get our game plan in action. Until then, I need to focus on my job as a mother and bringing this baby safely into the world and know that for once, I have to let my man be my man and keep calm around everyone else's support.

xoxoxALearningPRMOM

1-4 a.m.

Baby shifts already? I'm blogging from bed but I'm supposed to leave for work in 20 minutes. My back and head are throbbing after last night. It was pretty wild, I was up wide awake from about 1:22am-4:30am. Mentally frustrated, physically awake. Baby was awake too. We didn't read, because I didn't want to accept the fact that I wasn't sleeping anytime soon. I didn't even want to blog! We ate cereal and went pee about 5 times. This makes for a longggg Thursday but at least I don't have to go to the office tomorrow.
Time for breakfast!
XoTIREDPRMoM

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Working Out with the Working PR MOM

Well I remained grumpy for most of the day. I'm in bed blogging now after having to leave work 30 minutes early before I popped a baby. I came home to do some amazing prenatal work out dvd's!
1) 10 Minute Solutions Prenatal Pilates: Tonight I did 10 minutes of flexibility and 10 minutes of standing pilates.
2) Element: Prenatal Yoga

I was even more entertained during the Pilates DVD because I still haven't bought any dumbbells (note to self buy a new mat as well), so I used baby bottles!

xoxofitPRMOM

rainy weather with a chance of sun

I'm not sure why I woke up feeling tired and miserable but I do. It doesn't help that first thing this morning I realized someone at the hard boiled eggs that I made and marked. Ugh. Breathe. I went to bed early enough, listening to Phil as he spoke about some fundraising success and good times he had with his friends. I smile when he smiles, but maybe it's'the fact I wished we were smiling and sharing those good times together. I know he'll be home in two weeks to enjoy the rest of this pregnancy, but i'm also feeling too pregnant to function sometimes. I definitely can't shave my legs the way I used to, bend down or get up. Work is also challenging because of my increased fatigue and nothing but baby brain.  I also fell asleep reading my "i'm pregnant" book. My baby is a beautiful 30 weeks and about 11 inches long, 2-3 pounds. hence my increased "extra pregnant" feeling. I'm just tired, hazy, ready to be a successful mom and get my boyfriend and mom life on track. Much like this grey morning I know we'll see some sunshine today.
XoxPRmom

Sunday, October 2, 2011

Happy Love

Baby and I got to reunite with Philly Dad this weekend. He got to see how our belly has grown over the last month. We were really busy, but we took time to talk about us, baby and feel a kick. We talked, sang and beatboxed to the belly. It's really sweet to watch him kiss my belly (and her butt). I wish I could kiss my own belly! It was a great weekend and I can't wait for him to return in two weeks to enjoy the rest of our pregnancy and baby kicks :)

Work: Monday? I'm excited to get back to work and keep busy until Phil gets home. At least lately they have me starting at 11 a.m. so I have time to watch The Mom Show at 8 a.m. :) Life is getting really busy with the Beatbox Canada event coming up. And all I care about is designing and decorating my rooms. C'est la vie!


Cravings: Baby is craving some Hard Boiled Eggs! Makes her move!