Moms fight the flu - Blog tour

I was pleased to be chosen to participate in the Mom Central "Moms fight the flu" blog tour. To be honest I don't usually think about the flu at all. But this year with H1N1 and being pregnant I have spent months thinking about it.

I was in Florida at the end of April 2009, I was already 6 weeks pregnant and I developed a fever while I was there. It only lasted two days and all I had was a cold but I was pretty freaked. H1N1 had hit Mexico hard in early April. The airports in Florida were on full alert. When I had dropped my family off at the airport (we had done a Disney vacay prior to my conference) I had observed a security team at the Orlando airport being briefed on what to look for in a sick traveler, how to approach, question and quarantine them. The main thing they were looking for was fever and contact with someone from Mexico. I had just spent 4 days at Disney, goodness knows who I had contact with. When I spiked a fever on the following Tuesday (day 2 of the conference) I had a panic attack worrying that I would not be permitted to travel home on the Friday. I was cursing H1N1 and a bit scared.

At that time the implications of H1N1 on pregnant women wasn't known. It was only a few short months later that I had to start thinking about what to do for my family and my unborn child. I wrote a post about my decision here, but to sum it up. We decided to get immunized and I am still very happy that we did.

The idea of the blog tour is to help pass on information about web pages and tools available from the Ontario Ministry of Health. Pages that you may not have realized existed. I know I hadn't seen them before. There is the Ontario Wide Clinic Information page, the Self Assessment tool, and the General H1N1 information page. I have already used the General information page to find out the current guidelines on the 2nd immunization for children over 3. And I have bookmarked the Self Assessment tool. Even though we got the shot I am still paranoid that it could mutate and hit us, or god forbid the baby.

I hope we all stay healthy this holiday season, not just me and my family, but you and yours!

Full Disclosure: Mom Central invited me to write this post, in return I will be receiving a Mom Central gift pack as a thank you.

35 weeks

Here I am at 35 weeks. Big belly, tired eyes :) Yes I am tired. I had a midwife appointment yesterday and she confirmed that the baby is carrying very low, already beginning to engage. I have been having Braxton Hicks for months now but in the last few weeks they have been increasing in intensity. Not strong like the real thing. But they can occasionally hurt and when I get a lot of them in a short time my thighs hurt after (like period pain). The midwife said she thinks this boy wants to come early. I also would like an early entrance, but not too early. Anytime after Dec 15 is find by me. Now is way too early - Do you hear me baby! WAY.TOO.EARLY.

I thought I might take a moment to document the things I will miss about being pregnant. Amazingly there are a few.

1. My thick shiny hair. Isn't thicker hair just the best side effect of pregnancy. I have thin hair normally and spend the last half of my pregnancy happily brushing hair and staring at myself in the mirror. Of course the inevitable, chunks of hair falling out in the shower after the baby is born SUCKS DONKEYS BUTT. I guess in life, good always comes with bad.

2. Feeling the baby kick inside me. Even when he hurts me I still adore this feeling. I will miss it when it is gone.

3. The feeling of control I have now. Since this is baby #3 I am totally prepared for the chaos that is about to envelop my life. I am not in denial at all. The first 3 months will be a blur of poop (his) and tears (mine). I know myself. I am an emotional new mom. Today I enjoy being in control of almost everything. After I will have to reestablish control. Should be interesting.

I am sure there is more, but my brain is not functioning as well as it should tonight. Mucus has decided to make a home in my sinuses. Just a head cold but it is driving me nuts. It looks like my immune system has teamed up with my bladder to "prepare" me for sleepless nights. Thanks body, but I don't need to be prepared ahead of time. I prefer full immersion, thanks.

Grandad

My Grandfather was cool. In all the old photos of him he looks very smart in his suits and his slick back hair. He was French Canadian but I find he looks Italian.

We grew up living 2 doors away from my Grandparents and spent a TON of time at their house and playing in their yard. They lived in the heart of my hometown but had a MASSIVE yard. I think it was something like 150 feet wide be 800 feet deep. Almost very single home on our block backed on to their yard. He had used it as a massive garden when his kids were young, but as he got older it was a play area to run and bike in. Also a short cut to get to our friends houses.

He worked in the rail yards in Montreal for many years. A hard job that had him commuting 1.5 hours from our home town to Montreal daily. When he retired from the rail yards he built houses all over my home town. Most of which are still standing. He and my Grandmother had 4 children, one of which was my Dad.

They met during the war. When he was posted overseas he spent some time living in her family home before going to the battle field. After the war he went back, married her and she came over on one of the many War Bride ships that made their way to Canada. She came from Scotland.

My Grandfather was very proud of his time as a soldier, but he didn't talk about it. Ever. He was much happier living in the present. I guess the present is a better place when the past has things that would rather be forgotten.

Until the end of his life he lived with shrapnel embedded in his hands and was hard of hearing from the loud shelling he had endured.

We had a K-Tel record that had the Serendipity Singers song - Beans In My Ears on it. We used to sing "My Grandpa has beans in his ears! Beans in his ears! Beans in his ears!" He always smiled, he never got angry or annoyed. He was an amazing Grandfather.