Ouch, today at lunch I was stung by a bee!  It's been many years since I've been stung but I have been stung so I'm pretty sure I'm not allergic to them.  It hurt like heck though and it's been about 2.5 hours and it's still hurting!  The swelling is gone down a bit now but as you can see from the pictures it is swollen a little.

My left hand (not the hand that stung)	My right hand (red and swollen from the bee)

And just because I was in the bathroom with my cell phone in my pocket (I know it's really kind of weird) but I figured I'd take a picture of my big ole' belly.  Here I am 30 weeks 2 days pregnant with baby #2.  Any suggestions for names?  We're still stuck on "Baby Brother" LOL



Oh well, that's it!  Just a random post from me today! :)  Stay tuned for Part II of Hannah's birth story!  It'll be up tomorrow! :)

With the pending birth of our second child coming October/November I've been reflecting back to Hannah's birth!
I love reading birth stories and thought maybe I'd post it here so others can read ours, maybe I'll give someone a little inspiration or motivation. Maybe I'll just give you something to read but I just feel bringing a new little life into this world is such a miracle and I couldn't pass up the chance to write about it one more time! :)

On the morning of May 2nd I had a midwife appointment. I was a week away from my due date and my midwife was curious if I was anywhere close to having our sweet bundle of joy. She was off all weekend and thought it would be a good idea to check me. I agreed because I was really wanting to go shopping for the day. I had already been on maternity leave for a week and I still had a lot to get done (at least it felt that way to me). My mom, sister, niece and I were planning a trip that day to a city about an hour or so away and I wanted to be reassured that I would be able to go and not have to rush home in labour.


I was given the go ahead from the midwife to go to London but was told, I'd be having the baby that weekend. Yeah right! My midwife had said silly things like that in the past - she told me I was having a big baby, ultrasound confirmed baby wasn't, then I was told she was too small, again ultrasound determined she wasn't. She was born a healthy 8lbs 4oz!

Everything was good, I was about 1cm dilated, fully effaced, blood pressure was perfect (I had had a couple high readings in the past), babies heart rate was perfect. We were going to go shopping! Yippee! I left my appointment, dropped my husband off at work and headed over to my mom's to pick up both her and my sister and niece. I should mention at my appointment my midwife did a stretch and sweep. This was definitely not the most comfortable feeling in the world. Amanda said I would probably have some spotting and cramping for the rest of the day. Great!

We were on our way! We got driving laughing, being super silly and having a great time. The whole way there I was definitely uncomfortable with cramping but I was told I would be so didn't think anything of it. We spent the entire day shopping, and as the hours winded down I was getting more and more uncomfortable. The cramping was really intense and I just couldn't really get comfortable unless I was walking. We stopped at Applebee's for dinner and I just had a really hard time sitting. My mom and sister kept asking if I was okay and I was, I just need to be distracted. We continued having a great time, again, laughing, joking, reminiscing and having a great time.

We drove home, dropped my sister off at her place and headed to moms so I could pick up my car and go home. At this point it was about 10pm. Mom asked if I wanted to come in for a bit but I thought I'd better get home to see Chris. I got in my car and headed home. I was in the car for about 4 minutes and made it just around the corner when I noticed the cramps were no longer cramps but intense pains that would come and go. Humm..I wonder if this is the start of labor? I drove home uncomfortable and tired from our VERY long day of shopping! Oh yeah, all day long Chris had called my cell phone, he swore I was going to have the baby that day and was worried I wouldn't be able to make it home in time to get to the hospital that my midwife could deliver at. It was super cute and very funny the number of times he called. I told him each time I was having cramping but I was good, we were having a great time and I would call him if anything changed. He kept calling!

I walked in the house to be greeted by hubby. He was upstairs watching TV and came to see how I was feeling and see the loot I had bought (I honestly am not even sure I bought a single thing). I told him about the change in pains I had as soon as I left my mom's house and that I really wanted to just go sit in the bath. He said that was probably a good idea and went back to watching TV. I went to our bedroom, ran the bath water and got in. Man, did that feel nice. I think I was in the tub for about an hour when the pains I had started to get MORE intense and I knew this was the beginning of my labour. After about an hour and a half or so, Chris came to check on me and see how I was doing. As soon as he walked in, he knew this was it. I was definitely having contractions and they were getting more and more intense. At this point it's about midnight. I really wanted my mom to be part of the whole process so at this point we called he to let her know that we thought I was in labour and she should think about coming over soon. She couldn't believe I never came back to her house when I started feeling the contractions before I even left her neighbourhood. She told us she'd be over shortly and we hung up the phone to continue on with labouring in the tub.

Hubby stayed with me pretty much from this point on to make sure I was coping well with the pain (and it was definitely getting painful, nothing like the cramping I had during the day). I stayed in the tub for a bit longer and thought I would get out and start packing my bags to head to the hospital at some point (yes, most of my bad was pack but there were still a few things I wanted to pack last minute that hadn't made it yet). I got out with the help of Chris and instantly I thought I was going to die. I could hardly move, the contractions which were about 4 minutes apart at this point were one on top of the other and I wasn't getting any relief. Lucky for me, we didn't drain the water in the tub, I jumped (or jumped as much as a 9 month pregnant women in labour can) back into the tub. Instant relief! I could breath! At this point we decided it best to call the midwife and make sure what we were experiencing was all good and what we were doing for relief was okay as well. We paged Amanda - oh yeah she had the weekend off, we paged our secondary midwife - she wasn't available, and told us to call someone else (I can't remember who right now?) - she was already at a birth. I'm starting to freak out a little at this point. We are going to have this baby without a midwife all this preparation and excitement to have a midwife present for my birth was all falling apart because NO ONE was available. We finally got hold of a fourth midwife, thank god! She wanted to talk to me on the phone during one of my contractions to see how I was handling them. I made it though one with her on the phone (by the way at this point my mom has also shown up). It's about 1:30am! My contractions are about 3 minutes apart. My new midwife says she'll be there in about 15-20 minutes. Sounds good to me! I'm still in the tub and able to socialize and breath/concentrate during contractions. I hung up the phone.

The next couple of minutes are a blur, I remember feeling intense contractions and they seemed to be coming quickly together. My mom and Chris started to get nervous with how quickly it was all happening and decided to call the midwife (Evelyn) again, this time to tell her that we'd just meet her at the hospital. She was okay with that and told us she would me us at the front entrance.

I got out of the tub, which let me tell you was not an easy task! Things seemed to get 100% more intense and the contractions seemed to come right on top of the other. I had to try and get dress and make it down stairs. With the help of my mom and Chris we were able to do it. I got into the back seat of the car on my knees facing the back of the car and told them to go! All I remember on the way to the hospital (about 20 minute ride) was Chris hitting EVERY SINGLE bump! I felt like I was on a roller coaster going up and down, and swaying this way and that! It was making me an angry labouring women caged up in a car. Not a good thing!

Finally we made it to the hospital, sure enough my new new new new midwife was there. I almost ran the other way when I first saw her. She was an old order Mennonite and I wasn't sure I wanted "her" to deliver my baby. Then a contraction came, just get me into the hospital and that point I didn't care who was about to deliver my baby! It turns out Evelyn was the most amazing women I ever met, she was exactly the type of midwife I needed for the birth of my daughter and I could only hope she would be able to deliver my next babies (unfortunately she wasn't available this time around but I went a midwife who was a student of hers, hoping they had the same philosophy).

I got into the hospital, got into my room and was checked pretty much right away, I was 5.5 cm! Nice process!!! I laid down for a bit to relax after the ride to the hospital and was hooked up to IV. I was group b strep positive and therefore had to have an IV of antibiotics to ensure everything was alright for delivery of the baby.

Second part coming soon!  Read the second part here

My mom loves to knit and crochet, she's pretty good at it as well! She makes sweaters, socks, dish clothes, blankets, etc. You name it she's tried it!


I always get excited when she says she wants to make something for us! We talked today and she'd really like to make something for "baby brother" but is having a hard time finding something that she doesn't think is to girly. I haven't found much that is too girly looking and think there are so many amazing things on the net that she could make that I start to get a little giddy! LOL

I did a quick good search today to see what I could come up with and give her a little inspiration. Here are a few of the things I showed her that I thought would be perfect for "baby boy".

What do you think? To girly?

My mom and my sister (just a quick side note - check out both their blogs my mom has some great pictures up of a weekend at the trailer and my sister is just starting a book review blog), her daughter, Hannah and I headed across the border this weekend to do some shopping. I'd call it back to school shopping but we weren't really doing back to school just the shopping!

We headed to Saginaw Michigan to Birch Run Prime outlets. It was a LONG and tiring drive, we left about 10:30 on Friday morning and finally arrived at our hotel at about 5 o'clock that evening. Waiting at the border was horrible - almost 2 hours to get across. We played eye spy with my little eye while waiting and we are fortunate enough to have a DVD system in our van that kept the two occupied while we waiting as well. We heard lots of Wiggles, Cat in the hat & Toopy and Binoo

Both kiddos were very well behaved though considering being strapped into the car for such a long period of time.

Another great thing I have to mention is we didn't even have any potty accidents. Hannah stayed in her "big girl panties" the whole way there and back asking each time she had to go pee. Amazing! We packed her potty with us so all we had to do was pull over and she could go. That way we didn't need to worry about finding the closest nasty rest stop and risking an accident on the way. I'm very proud of my little girl! :)

We got to the hotel, checked in and needed to find some dinner. We found a restaurant right across the street - ate dinner and headed back to the hotel to get settled in. We brought all our luggage up stairs and quickly changed into our swim suits. Hannah and Keira really wanted to swim. We had a blast swimming and splashing in the water. Both kids just do so well in it and it was nice to relax and enjoy the evening.

Back to the room we went where the girls had a quick bath/rinse and got in their PJ's. We had a few snacks and it was time to sleep for our day of shopping in the morning. Hannah was very excited to be going "Shop Shop Shop" and was being SUPER silly in her pack and play. It took her a while to go to sleep but when she did she was out for the count. LOL!

We work up early and started our morning with a good breakfast and headed out for a fun filled day! Wow! It was exhausting! But we scored a lot of great swag! I got some great outfits for "baby brother" and Hannah plus I got a fantastic Coach baby bag! I'm so excited to get it all packed now for when "baby brother" comes!

Check out Hannah's haul! She's got lots of great things for fall/winter now that it seems to be coming very quickly!



And "Baby Brothers" stuff! :)  I wish there was more variety in colours but it seems to be this years fall colours are brown and blue!  Oh well, I can't wait to see how adorable our little sweet boy is in all his new clothes!

And of course, the gift I bought for myself when "Baby Brother" is born - our new diaper bag! :)

I'm pretty sure I'm not the only person complaining right now, and I'm pretty much positive I'm not the only pregnant women complaining right now about the heat.

Today isn't even the worst of the heat we've had but today I had to walk about a 7 minute walk from the road I parked on to the 4th floor of the hospital in the heat (both ways). By the way it's only 33 degrees Celsius today (that's 91 Fahrenheit for those that don't do Celsius) but there's also 51% humidity on top of that.

I don't mind the heat personally and really haven't complained to much but there is a part of me that doesn't appreciate it so much and that's my feet.



Check it out! Those suckers are swollen. I've been back from the hospital and sitting at work for about 3 hours and my feet are still swollen and too big for my cute shoes!

Anyway, I just had to complain! Thanks for listening!

Are you enjoying the heat? What's your biggest complaint about the summer heat? Any suggestions for un-swelling (is that even a word) my feet?

Well this weekend we did it!  We finished the nursary, well the walls and furniture are done we still have small details and bedding to finish up but we've got plenty of time for that!  I'm really happy with the way things turned out, I think it's masculine but boyish and should last him for quite a few years before a change is needed. 

I choose to do wallpaper on the bottom half of the room because it just seemed so easy compared to painting all the stripes on it.  I love how it turned out!  I think it looks wonderful and to be honest wallpapering isn't that hard to do!  Wait! I should rephrase that, my mom said it wasn't that hard to do! LOL!  Lucky for me, I've had the help of my mom over the past week to paint and wallpaper.

I'll put my disclaimer first - I was not given any products or compansation for this review. I purchased all diapers and inserts myself and am giving my honest opinion about this product.

I purchased 24 organic cotton prefolds to use as both inserts in the Baby Kangas I purchased (see my Baby Kanga Review) as well as inserts for a cover for when our new addition arrives in October/November.  I had heard great things about using prefolds with newborns and am very exicted to try that out when baby boy arrives.  In the mean time I am going to "review" the prefolds as inserts for Baby Kangas as well as inserts in a cover (their original purpose) on a two year old night time diaper wearer.

If you're interested in learning more about prefolds and how to use them I'll leave that up to the experts, you can find all kinds of information at the Bummis website!  They are very informative and have lots of available information ready at your finger tips.  Examples of things you'll find include "Why Cloth Diapers", washing instructions, what to do if you have residue, etc.  Check it out, it's a great resource even if you don't use Bummis products.


Anyway, my review of Bummis Prefold diapers.  I love them!  It's as plan and simple as that.  They are super easy to use, absorb a TON and I have nothing to complain about.  We've been using both the SuperBrite wrap and the WhisperWrap and I will admit I do have a favorite between the two of them.  (Check out my quite review/post here). 


I don't have a lot to say about the prefolds other than they are very simple to use...watch this quick video to see just how simple it is. 



They have worked wonderfully for night time as well.  Currently we put two prefolds in a cover.  One of them is folded in the fan fold and the other is just trifolded down the center of the fan folded prefold.  We haven't had any leaks at all!  In the morning both prefolds are typically soaked with pee but Hannah is dry and doesn't have nasty red marks on her chuncky thighs.  BTW - we are using the infant prefolds for my two year old.


Ease of use - Simple Simple Simple, even my husband puts them on my daughter at night time. 


$$$ - at $16.50 for 6 prefolds and about $13.00 a cover (you can use a cover multiple times in one day) you really are getting a very cheap but effective way to cloth diaper your baby and save the environment.

Performance - Amazing!  We haven't had ANY leaks with these.  Another great thing about the covers - when we go for long car rides we throw on a cover over Hannahs "big girl panties" just in case she has an accident before telling us she has to pee.  We actually haven't had any accidents but it's a great way to help prevent accidents all over the car seat.

Fit - Great fit!  At night time with 2 prefolds it VERY bulky but no different than if I had to stuff and double stuff a pocket for absorbancy!


Overall - Love them!  They are currently my go to diaper for night time!