a baby is being born AS WE SPEAK

{not mine!}

But ahhhh it's so exciting.

Our dear friends Martin and Amy from our church here in Montreal are having a c-section literally as I type this post! It has been such a fun journey with them this past year.

In September Amy and I met for the first time and bonded pretty quickly and one of the things we both discussed over coffee was when we were going to start trying. It became something we talked about a lot even though we weren't ready to start trying officially... Then without consulting each other (not like we needed to!!) we both started trying, and BOTH got pregnant within days of each other!

They were exactly 10 days ahead of Brad and I and we all went through the same stages together - constant puking, misery, extreme fatigue, excitement, stroller shopping, starting to "show", cloth diaper buying, nursery decorating...

Since they're having a Cesarean their "due date" was pushed a bit forward, so now our kids will be two weeks apart instead of one, but it's so fun to think that they'll grow up together and we'll have friends who are experiencing the same things we are as the years go on. It's SUCH a blessing when you move to a new city to find a friend who you can relate to in such specific ways and to have things like kids and pregnancies knit you together even more.

Praying for them right now and so excited to meet their boy,
Adrian William

ps - something about friends who conceived at the same time as you really makes you realize you're too having a BABY soon. Obvious? Maybe. Wild and thrilling? YES.

CLOTH DIAPERS!!!

I'm so excited, I feel like the baby's actually coming the more prepared I become {as if she would wait for me to get it together?!}

We're still lacking a baby's room but everything else is in place, including as of yesterday, her cloth diapers! We decided it would probably be suicide to start cloth diapering from day one - you know in those weeks/month + when babies poop every 30 seconds? SO we're going with disposables for the first month+ and switching to cloth shortly after that - but we HAVE them, and that's what makes me feel less like the crazed, irresponsible mom who forgot to book prenatal classes, and more like, well a MOM.

I was going with the AppleCheeks system for several reasons including but not limited to:

• They're a Montreal company
• They're less bulky and probably the cutest one's I've seen
• They have rave reviews

However last night I had a slight change in plans when I was at the Bummis 15% off everything in our store (plus 80% off other things!!) sale on the Plateau with my girlfriend Amy. Bummis doesn't carry Applecheeks for starters, but the main deal was they carry another product called Easy Fits made by Tots Bots (a Scottish company).

The Easy Fits lacked some things AppleCheeks do have:

• not as cute colour selection and a tad more bulky
• not local

But what they lacked they made up for in spades:

• They're one-size fits-all, so with the AppleCheeks I'd have to buy size 1 and size 2 for the baby as she grows, but Easy Fit will last her the.whole.time. YES!
• They're prestuffed {AppleCheeks and most other cloth diapering systems come in 2 parts: an envelope cover/outside shell and the actual absorbent lining which you fold and insert each time, and hence must also remove each time...when it's poopy and urine-soaked... yum!}
• So with the Easy Fit I don't have to ever unstuff a soiled inner-part because it's all attached. **see clip here
• They're cheaper {AppleCheeks were $20 for the outer part and $9 for the inner part, Easy Fits are $23 even, but last night even 15% off of that ;)

Now that I think about it I should have bought way more than I did... It's suggested you have 8-14 diapers {brilliant because the AppleCheeks you would have needed as many for EACH SIZE!} and I only bought 5... I guess I'm holding out because it always chokes me up to spend so much at one time... but looking back that was a bad call since they were 15% off last night and may not ever be again...

Oh well, I'll just think about how much money I'm saving both from switching from the AppleCheeks system, but most of all, from not using disposable :)

let's pretend this isn't a sign that I may forget my baby at the hospital...

The freedom of getting off the pill and not having to remember to take something at a precise hour every day or panic would surely ensue was short lived.
My friend Amy reminded me recently that you basically switch taking your pill for taking your pre-natal vits... Crap. Prenatal vitamins. oh yaaaaaaaa...

*run to the bathroom and take 4, because who ever really overdoses on Folic Acid?*

Now thankfully I don't have to take the prenatal vits at 11pm every night or I'll feel nauseous and my period may be messed up, because we all remember that fun... But still, why is it so hard to remember a single pill!? JUST TAKE IT. EVERY DAY. SO YOUR BABY'S SPINE ISN'T AS CURVED AS NONNA'S (the 96-year-old-medical-marvel who is my grandma-in-law).

Clearly sitting the pill jar in the bathroom cupboard is just ludicrous as I forgot nearly every day for a WEEK (and yes, I know this won't actually do huge harm since I'm NOT PREGNANT yet, but starting habits early is always a good thing) so I've moved the meds to my bedside in hopes that before bed or when I wake up I'll just see it and do it.... you know, like all the other pre-moms who arn't impossibly forgetful.

But then there's the issue with needing water to down those suckers... because the fact is they're the size of about 4-5 birth control pills in one giant super pill that is so daunting to swallow I almost want to grind it up with a mortar and pestle and sniff it like other drugs, that I have never seen as appealing until now when I'm choking down the horse-tranquilizer-sized beast wishing there was another way. In short, a large glass of water plus maybe a cookie or two is needed to avoid the gag reflex that the super pills bring on.

Yeah, looking back, a little baby birth control pill that only needs a sip of water to go down did seem easier, though the whole date-time-perfection was unquestionably problematic in that I am the most forgetful person alive (lets not even talk about the iPod I forgot in a car not too long ago...)