the jellyball family blog

Chère Boulette,

The other day I ran across an actual definition of "boulette".

Boulette n. A little ball. A French culinary reference for a little meatball.

This made me laugh out loud, because that's what you are, our little meatball. Even though you are more of a big meatball - 6.5 inches crown to rump (in the fetal position) and about 10 inches head to heel. You are tipping the scales at 10.5 ounces now.

Tomorrow afternoon, we are going to the hospital to have our 2nd ultrasound. At first, I was a little apprehensive about doing the ultrasound at all - only because of the infamous bloated, cranky mommy incident a few months ago. I was pretty happy when I asked the secretary at the ultrasound clinic if I would have to "drink a liter of water" again... She laughed and said "Oh dear no!" and then told me that by this point, I probably knew what it took to get to a full bladder (I nodded vigorously). She must have seen the look of relief on your dad's face, because she then turns to him and says, with a smile, "I think you can handle that, right?"

She even said I could pee a little if I started cramping from the full bladder. What a nice lady! I almost jumped over the counter and hugged her.

So. Tomorrow's the big day. I really can't wait to see you again - last time it was so fun to see you waving at us and moving around.

I'm hoping that tomorrow, just for that short appointment, that you are going to be a bit of an exhibitionist. In fact, no big deal - you're in the womb! Be loud and proud! You're already a little nudist. (But, I promise you that this is the only time I'll encourage you to flash me.)

Your dad and I are really, really hoping to see if you're a little girl or a little boy, because we're so excited to meet you and we want to start getting everything ready for your arrival!

But, if you're feeling a little shy or mysterious, that's OK too. Because regardless, I know you're going to be just perfect.

See you tomorrow!

Love,
Mom

Dear sweet Meatball,

I can't tell you how much I've enjoyed the last week being with you. I'm not feeling full-blown movements just yet, but you let me know that you are there by doing whatever it is that you're doing in there, which makes me feel like I'm being tickled by little bubbles in my belly. I like to know that you're in there, you're doing well, and that you know when I'm talking to your Dad on the phone. And I have to say that your Dad loves to hear me say that "Meatball says hi."

You are weighing in at about 8 1/2 ounces, and are now the size of a small zucchini - 6 inches head to toe! Your arms and legs are in the right proportions to each other and the rest of your body now - aren't you glad? Phew! The hair on your scalp is sprouting like you're some kind of super Chia pet. Your brain is rapidly designating specialized areas for smell, taste, hearing, vision, and touch.

Today, we heard your little heart beating for the first time! What a thrill. It was strong and fast, and sounded kind of like a bow-wow-wow-wow...

Next Friday, we will be going for our second ultrasound, and I hope you will not be shy with us - because we want to know if you are a little girl or a little boy! We have a lot of thinking to do about your name, and what kind of cute outfits we'll be buying for you of course.

With love and till next time,
Mom

Just after I wrote the previous post, I talked to Luc on the phone and then there was a barrage of gurgling bubbles in my belly. They are much more frequent than Monday and every once and a while there is a really strong one that tickles. Meatball must be doing baby aerobics!

My sweet meatball,

Hey big guy - or big girl! Holy Batman, you are now the size of a large sweet potato - five and a half inches and almost 7 ounces. Don't you fret, though - while I love sweet potatoes, I'm pretty sure I love you more.

A few days ago while I was chatting with my friend Anh-Minh, you made yourself known! I felt some little gurgling bubbles on my left upper belly. You really took me by surprise! I had no idea what it was, but about an hour later, I felt a few more bubbles towards the middle of my belly.

I suppose these movements will be becoming more and more frequent, but it sure was nice to feel you in there! And Anh-Minh was very pleased to hear you were saying hi. Your dad spent over ten minutes that night talking to you, hoping you would give him a little gurgle or two.

In a few weeks, I will probably be asking you to tone down all that kicking so that I can get some sleep, but till then - keep on dancin' in there! Oh, with the notable exception of those jumping jacks you've been doing on my bladder. That is a bit less funny, but hey - do what you must, little yam!

Love,
Mom

This weekend, we made our single biggest baby-related purchase so far - a stroller and car seat. While it may seem a little early to be buying such things, we didn't really see a reason to wait, especially considering we have so many things to buy with the house in the next few months. We really just wanted to make sure we had these essentials, in case we ran out of money. :-)

We'd done a bit of shopping around, but we pretty much already knew what we wanted, having seen a similar system in use with Nancy and Sebastien's baby. Once we'd seen all the brands and systems, we were pretty much convinced about our choice. Plus, the others had more or less eliminated themselves from contention since they were too heavy. As reinforced by one crazy, heavily mascara'ed saleslady who felt it necessary to totally smack talk me about my complete lack of upper body strength.

Anyway, check out what the coolest baby on the block will be chillin' out in:

The car seat snaps in and out of the base, which stays in the car. The seat then snaps right into the stroller. SO cool. And yes, this is what excites me these days - baby seat and stroller features. It's come to this.

The official name for this particular colour scheme is "Metallica". Luc, having been a former fan of the band, thought this was extremely cool.

I wonder if they make Metallica shirts in size 0-4 months?

Hello, Meatball!

How's it going, there, kid? All 5 ounces and 5 inches of you. Movin' on up in the world, aren't you, now that you are the size of a large onion.

You've been moving your joints, and your skeleton — until now rubbery cartilage — is starting to harden to bone. Apparently your sense of hearing is also developing, which means that your dad has to stop messing around and start talking to you in his "normal" voice. Your dad's version of baby talk (which he swore he would never do), is some kind of strange, old-man loud whisper. He kind of goes "HELLOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" as if he's whispering a big dirty secret to you. He toned it down to a loud whisper after once doing his hello a little too loud, which I thought might wake you up in case you were sleeping, or maybe scare you so much that you'd pee in your amniotic fluid.

Heh, oh, and last week I caught your dad talking to you in the third person. That didn't take long.

Next week should be pretty exciting - we're going to meet our obstetrician! I'm kind of hoping we'll get to do an ultrasound, but don't want to get my hopes up because I haven't been told to drink any water yet. Oh, and we ALL remember how fun that was, don't we?

Your aunt, Julie, mentioned to me that apparently all mothers who do their first ultrasound drink the full liter, only to realize that they don't really need to. LET THIS BE A WARNING TO ALL FUTURE MOTHERS: Don't drink the full liter. May cause you to explode, or at the very least be very, very irritable and sweaty.

I've been feeling great this week, despite being incredibly busy, and eating well too. You've been the best, little Meatball. Keep up the good work and talk to you soon!

Love,
Mom

Dear Meatball,

I'm so proud of you! By the end of this week, you will be the size of an avocado -- roughly 4 1/2 inches and weighing 3 1/2 ounces. Well done, little avocado. In the next three weeks, you will be going through a little growth spurt. I can hardly wait!

It's amazing to learn all the things that are already working in your body - your circulatory system, your urinary tract, and your little heart - which is pumping about 29 quarts of blood each day. By the time September rolls around, your heart will be pumping 1,900 quarts! The patterning of your scalp has begun, though you don't really have hair yet. You're growing taste buds, even though there isn't much to munch in in there. And you're growing toenails on those wee piggies.

Your dad is starting to wonder if, like most parents, he will start referring to himself in the third person. His mom says it's inevitable, but your dad seems intent on not falling into that trap. Something tells me, though, when you start getting to the age where you can talk, he'll be throwing "Papa" into every second sentence and giving you the full play-by-play as to what Papa is doing. Just so he can hear you repeat those two magical syllables.

Well, keep up the great work, little one.

Love,
Mom

We had our second prenatal class last night, and it was a good one. I'm starting to feel a lot better about my knowledge of pregnancy in general, having read most of what was covered in classes.

Without a doubt, the best part about our classes so far have been getting to meet people and learning from them. There was a doctor from CHEO as well as a physiotherapist from the General Hospital, who both contributed a lot of knowledge to the class. The woman sitting next to me in class had the same food allergies as I did - probably even worse. Our doctors even share the same office - small world! Even just hearing about what people were experiencing was comforting in itself.

The next series in July covers labour and birth (all the gory stuff, I suppose) as well as caring for baby. I'm looking forward to that, if only to arm myself with knowledge of what's to come!

Dear Meatball,

Oh, my little lemon-sized meatball - how you make me laugh. Today we went to the doctor's office and she made a second attempt to track you down and listen to your heartbeat. But, being the coy little bugger that you are, you were playing hide and seek! You should have seen the doctor's reaction. She was literally working up a sweat trying to find you and she wasn't going to give up!

She felt your little movements - "plouf! plouf!" - as you scurried around trying to avoid the doppler device on my tummy. You did a good job avoiding her, though I'll have you know that she was disappointed that she didn't get a chance to listen to your little heart beating for more than just a second or two. You see, from now on we'll be going to see an obstetrician, so she was hoping to hear the little pitter-patter of your heart before we left.

Dad went as far as to suggest that perhaps you are a typical Tourangeau male, but I reminded him that perhaps the mix of genes has produced a feisty little wasian lady. I can't wait to see what you are like!

You have grown to three and a half inches long and weigh about one and half ounces. Your body's growing faster than your head, which now sits upon a more well-defined neck. You're starting to develop an ultra-fine, downy covering of hair all over her your body. We found out in our prenatal classes this week that this stuff prevents your skin from wrinkling up like a prune as you float in your watery home.

So, my little one. Best that you enjoy all the room you have to play in there, because that won't last. I can't wait until you get a little bigger and that I can start to feel your movements. Till then, do all the cartwheels you like.

Love,
Mom & Papa

We had our first prenatal class last night at the Ottawa General Hospital, where we will be having the baby. It was a class of about seven pregnant ladies, most accompanied by their helpless-looking partners in crime.

There were some pretty cheesy parts to it - like when they made us watch some PBS-special on the miracle that is reproduction. Though I have to admit, I was pretty mesmerized by this actual intra-uteral footage they had of the growing baby. I just vaguely recall seeing that same movie or some version of it in sex ed, though at the time the moral of the story was more "this is what happens when you don't use protection, stupid" versus "let's watch the glorious voyage of the fertilized egg down the fallopian tube".

Then there was the part where they split up the men and the women, and had each group brainstorm on the changes we were seeing in ourselves, the changes we were seeing in our partners, and the changes to our relationship. The men sulked off into one corner of the room and were frequently heard snickering, while the women compiled a laundry list of items and shared their innermost feelings, interrupted only by someone else exclaiming "Oh, you TOO?"

Overall it was a positive experience and we have one more class next week in the same series. The next series will probably be more interesting, as we get into the gory stuff and take a tour of the hospital wing where things will be going down.