Wonderful and not so wonderful moments

John and I had a good day with some not so good moments. Most of the not so good moments, to get them out of the way, were related to driving- we were in the car for over 5 hours today and we got lost several times on each leg of the trip and visibility (especially after dark) was pretty awful because of condensation in the daytime which turned into frost inside the car at night. Oh well...


Good moments of the day included...


-meeting Tim and Charles who are visiting the US for a couple of weeks- Tim will be our regional pointperson for CAMA Services when we're in Rep. of Congo, and Charles heads up the local NGO, BREAD, that we'll probably partner with. BREAD works in three cities in the south of Congo doing HIV/AIDS prevention and microfinancing among other things. We're thrilled to be working with him and it was great to meet him in person today- nearly a year before we'll actually arrive in Congo itself (after French study in Morocco)

-having a (very late) dinner with my aunt and uncle (Cathy and Raysh) it was great to see them and to talk about birth and labor. Cathy started Birthworks- a natural childbirth organization and always has lots of interesting pieces of information and advice. All the getting lost and the delay of our doctor's appointment today shortened our visit- but it was great nonetheless.






The big moment of the day was getting an ultrasound- we'd not gotten one yet- not needed one, but I had some spotting over the weekend so our midwife asked us to get an ultrasound to rule out placenta previa- which is when the placenta is between the baby and the cervix (blocking the cervix)- that can be pretty serious and it's a common cause of bleeding 2nd and 3rd trimesters. Before I go into it- we're in the clear- the placenta is located just fine.






So we got in for an ultrasound appointment today- it was an interesting experience...I didn't like it that much- nearly fainted from laying on my back and there was all this extra stuff- measuring the baby and stuff- when all we really needed to know was where the placenta was, but there were perks too- we saw the baby's heart and brain and kidneys and the cord and all that was very cool. It kind of looked like snorkeling in murky waters and we would have been clueless most of the time without the technician or doctor telling us what we were seeing. The baby is so big now (they estimated 7lbs 6oz) that you can only see a bit at a time- not like those normal ultrasound pics of the whole baby taken much earlier in pregnancy. We could see the face though- and that was cool- the two pics they gave us are at the bottom. You can tell that the baby is all squished inside of me now that it is so big- it's cheeks and nose are so squashed :-).




Anyway- the placenta is fine, the baby is healthy and kicking, and the cord isn't around his/her neck (which was one of John's concerns). We're really excited to meet this little one out in the real world and get a better look at him/her.




This long weekend John's going to be at his grandmother's funeral in Thunder Bay , Canada so our friends Jen and Becky have agreed to be with me if I go into labor (which isn't terribly likely but not unlikely either as I'm two weeks from my due date on Sunday). Also, my sister and friend Becka are coming to stay with me on Saturday and Sunday so I won't be alone at all :-) It will be a bit like a highschool sleepover with those two- we've all three been friends for over 12 years.