Bam! Third trimester. I checked my pregnancy app multiple times per day when I was pregnant with Cub. I knew what fruit he was, I knew how pregnant I was up to the day. Just now, in order to title this blog post, I opened my app to discover I was in my third trimester! I suspect this is pretty normal for a second pregnancy with a toddler in tow.
So if you’ve been following along, you’ll know that we’ve settled well in Calgary. We are still living in our temporary apartment downtown, and though it might seem like an inconvenience… it’s actually pretty gosh-darn convenient:
- There’s an elevator.
- The office accepts all my mail and a cheerful gentleman brings it up to me every day. I am sure he is wondering what the heck I keep receiving in all those packages… especially those marked “fluff mail.”
- There’s a lovely housekeeper who comes by once a week and changes all the linens and does a general clean. (I have never in my life had a housekeeper, and this is amazing to me.)
- The apartment is located right next to beautiful Prince’s Island Park, and is a 5-minute walk to my husband’s office.
The only reason I’m in any rush at all to leave our temporary digs is because I don’t want to be in the middle of moving to a permanent location and then go into labour. The good news is, we bought a townhouse! It’s been a whirlwind house-shopping adventure, and we fell in love with the third property we visited. We will be settling in July (hopefully a couple weeks before baby comes) in a super community-oriented, trendy and walkable ‘hood in the south west of the city called Marda Loop. The only downside of the townhouse is that we will not have a backyard; something I had originally listed as a non-negotiable when I was imagining our future home. We’re coming from an 800 sq. foot condo in Montreal, so we didn’t have a private yard there either. It basically came down to living 40 minutes from downtown in a more car-reliant, suburban neighbourhood but having a yard, or foregoing the yard in order to be more centrally located in a neighbourhood that I feel is a perfect fit for our family.
One of the main motivations for moving to Calgary was better working conditions for my husband. Ever since we’ve been together, and even more so since we’ve become parents, his job has required long hours and 24/7 availability. He had his cell phone and lap top with him at my bedside when I was in labour! This past weekend we went on what feels like our first family day-trip, ever: to Banff!
In pregnancy news, last night we visited the Arbour Birth Centre, where I’ll be delivering under the care of my midwife. Unlike in Quebec, birth centre births are not currently covered by provincial health care. However, we are willing to incur the expense of just over $500 because we fell in love with the idea of delivering in a birth centre before we left Montreal. Besides that, I’ve spent the past couple of days trying to imagine not knowing I was pregnant and delivering a surprise baby. This was a recent news story, with a Canadian woman delivering on a flight to Japan. It’s certainly not the first time I’ve heard of such a thing- I know an entire reality show revolves around the concept! With my giant belly and the raging party that goes on in there every evening as I try to get to sleep, it’s totally inconceivable to me that a woman could simply not know a baby was inside her. That said, I know it happens, and almost everyone seems to at least know a friend of a friend to whom it has happened!
On Mother’s Day my parents arrived to visit us from BC. They are so excited to have us so much closer to them: a one-hour plane ride and one-hour time change is a huge improvement over the five-hour flight to Montreal and three-hour time difference. Plus, they don’t get nervous about not speaking French! Cub has been absolutely thrilled to have his Popo and Pop Pops around. They’ll be here for another week, and back when the new baby comes!
Here’s my mother looking like she’s my son’s teenage babysitter:
And my Dad and I looking our actual respective ages:
Nicole Burch says
Marda Loop is a great neighbourhood! I haven’t been following long, but I’m not at all surprised that you’ve found yourselves at home there. 🙂
The 24/7 availability can be tiring, we live the same way. Hopefully you’ll be able to sneak in some more day trips to Banff! If you haven’t been before, I recommend Jasper – even though it is an additional 4 hours away. Not quite a day trip with babies and toddlers in tow, but worth seeing. I find it feels quite a bit less touristy.
Grandparents around here are Grandma and Papa, and my grandparents are Papa and GG to my boys, nieces and nephews.
Lindsay Gallimore says
Oooh Jasper!! Yes, we’d love to go on some longer trips that involve camping, but definitely not this year. We plan to take the grandparents up to Banff on Saturday. We bought the cheapest place on the market in Marda Loop, lol!
Anne Sweden says
Time flies when you’re busier the second time around! It’s a nice bonus, since pregnancy can drag sometimes. You’re looking great, and I hope your family is enjoying the new digs!
Sarah McKelvy says
Congrats on the townhouse! Hope everything goes smoothly with your move. It’s wonderful that your mail gets hand delivered. 🙂
Glam Granola Geek says
So exciting to be moving into a new house just before baby arrives! That will be wonderful. I also plan on delivering at a birth centre, we just got one in TO and it’s gorgeous. And it offers nitrous LOL and yes I had no idea what week I was on with my second baby. And it’s even worse this time, at prenatal yoga we have to say our Due Month at the start of each class and I always get it wrong!!
Lindsay Gallimore says
This one in Calgary has nitrous too! Are birthing centre births covered by Ontario medical?
Camille W says
Yes, they are! I delivered at the Toronto Birth Centre in March and it was awesome. It really is a beautiful facility.
Glam Granola Geek says
Please share a little more about your experience! I’m dying to hear first hand about what it’s like. I’ve had two hospital births, so I’m comfortable there, but the TBC looks so glorious!
Camille W says
Anything in particular you want to know? I had a midwife from the Midwives Collective of Toronto so we were deciding between Mt. Sinai and TBC. I did Hypnobirthing so I knew I wanted an atmosphere that would be calm and comforting. I did a tour of Sinai (before their renovations were complete) and I just wasn’t impressed – it felt so cold and sterile: not what I had in mind. Once I visited the TBC, it was a done deal. I went into early labour on a Wednesday morning and didn’t progress to active labour until Friday afternoon. My midwife came over to my house twice on Friday to check me and we headed over there after the second visit. I live close by so it was quick 10-15min drive, even with the expected traffic on a Friday afternoon. My midwife had the bathtub ready for me once I arrived so got to labour in the tub. The lights were also dimmed, the fireplace was going and I put my own music on. I think all these things contributed to a really warm and supportive atmosphere which is exactly what I needed. I laboured in the tub for about 90min before I had the urge to push. My baby was born after another ~90min in the tub (water birth). We left for home about 3 hours later after doing all the checks, cleaning up etc. It was a great experience. Everything went smoothly. Let me know if there’s anything you want to know. Good luck!
Glam Granola Geek says
Yep, totally covered. The centre is brand new though, not crazy popular yet I don’t think, my midwife told me they have never had to turn anyone away. My previous midwives could actually bring the nitrous to your house too!
hayley s says
I had been planning on delivering this baby at the same hospital with a midwife that I had my first at, but I just started working as a nurse on the unit, so I’m not sure if I want my co-workers helping deliver my baby! The only other hospital my midwife will deliver at though is about a 30 minute drive versus about 13 minutes :/ we’ll see what happens I guess!
Amanda T says
Our kids call my dad and step mom gramma and grandpa, my mil and fill Grammy and grampy and my mom is Memere. our kids call my fiance grandparents the same thing we do Nana and Popeye And my grandma is memere the great!
Mylène Bélanger says
My mom and her boyfriend are Gramie(I would like mamie, because I love my now deceased mamie so much but she was my mom’s mom so she doesn’t want that name so compromise is grand-maman+mamie=gramie) and Papi, my dad and his wife are Grand-papa and Grand-maman, my hubby parents are Baba(Ukrainian MIL) and Grand-papa