Ultrasound March 2, 2017 – 29 weeks

This is a picture of Baby boy spinal column (his face was towards my spine and the technician couldn't get a good profile picture- so I asked for a picture of the spine, I like how defined it is).  The other picture is of the baby girl head on, it's hard to make out the features though!

Baby girl is 2 pounds 12 ounces with HR of 136

Baby boy is 2 pounds 8 ounces with a HR of 131.  He has moved back to the breech position (head up and feet down).

Everything is on track with growth and development

My blood pressure continues to be high and I broke down and bought a home BP monitoring cuff.  I will start taking my BP 3 times a day and give Dr. Baranowski (OB) my readings at our next appointment.

My belly is measuring at 42 inches today!! Woah!

OB Appointment February 23, 2017 – 28 weeks

Appointment with the OB on February 23.  My heart rate was 56, I weighed 181 pounds, my blood sugar level was 5.2 according to my gestational diabetes test on February 13.  This means I do not have GD! Yea!! My blood pressure was measured at 136/82. This is a bit high and I need to monitor my BP at local pharmacies.

I saw both babies on the ultrasound, and both of their heads are down, sometime in the last 2 weeks boy baby did a somersault to join his sister head down.  I didn't even notice!  There is still time for the babes to change positions and rotate but eventually we want both babes to be head down, so this is a great start!!

My hips, glutes, ribs and SI joints are feeling MUCH better. I will sing Dr Patti Hort's (the chiropractor) praises!  Although chiropractory as a whole still weirds me out!!

We Got a Little Snow

Calgary got walloped over the weekend with a steady stream of snow and bitter cold that was capped off on Sunday night with a big dump of snow with temperatures hovering around -28C. Thankfully the snow stopped when it did as I was starting to run out of places to put it.

I know that a lot of western Canada was hit pretty hard this weekend and that some places got it a lot worse (or better?) than we did but it was still a pretty noteworthy event for Calgary. The good news is that it’s predicted to be +8C by the end of the week.

Snowy front yard
Snowy front yard
Snowy driveway
Snowy (long) driveway
Frosty Kyle
Frosty Kyle

We Got a Smoker and Made Smoked Chicken Minestrone!

We finally bought a smoker which brings us one step closer to being able to make our own sausages using our own gear. The only missing piece now is a sausage stuffer and some know-how. If you have any recommendations on those fronts, hit me up.

Bradely Digital Smart Smoker
Bradley Digital Smart Smoker

So far we have smoked a couple of venison roasts and a whole chicken. The roasts were only ok but the chicken was fantastic. I’ll describe what we did with the chicken below.

The smoker works really well and produces a lot of steady smoke. The smoker has what appears to be a kind of gimmicky feature; Bluetooth. That’s not what sold me on this particular smoker but I have to say now that I’ve tried it, it’s a game changer. I can set the smoker up and forget about it until I get an alert on my phone that whatever I’m smoking has reached the target temperature, or change the oven temperature from my phone etc. It’s pretty slick.

Continue reading “We Got a Smoker and Made Smoked Chicken Minestrone!”

OB appointment

We met our OB, Dr. Sue Brananowski today.  She is very nice.  When we asked, she admitted it is unlikely she will be at the delivery since the chances of her being on call during my labour are slim (1/12).  We talked about vaginal delivery of twins and a couple possible complications that are considered the exception not the rule.  Nothing to worry about now.  My heart rate was 56, blood pressure was 132/86.  I weighed in at 171 pounds.  Baby A is in the 50-75th percentile for size and Baby B is in the 50th percentile for size.

My next appointment is in 3 weeks.


This is where Baby A is positioned, her head is downward, and she is lying in this curved position.


This is where Baby B is positioned, his head is upward.  They are feet to head in a circle.  Or as Kyle said they are in Yin Yang position.


25 Weeks!!!

Preparing the Kids Room

The kids room is finally finished. With all the prep and 3 different paint colours it ended up being a month long project. I did all the prep work (except for the ceiling- with Kyle’s height advantage it just made sense for him to prep the ceiling) and Kyle painted. He painted the ceiling white (because it was beige before!!) and the walls purple and grey, and touched up the window trim which was very poorly painted.

The colours aren’t exactly what I was envisioning but I really like them, so it’s a win! The grey has a lot of blue in it which I love, and it looks different throughout the light changes of day/night. The purple is SO bold. I’ve never painted an interior wall a non-neutral colour before, it feels good! All in all, super happy with the final product.

Kyle spent a lot of time perfecting the paint job, his lines are impeccable.

Taking a Page (or a Box) From Finland

Apparently, for the past 75 years Finland has had a program wherein every mother who gives birth, is given a “Baby Box” which is packed full of stuff for newborns including things you might not even know that you need, and the box itself is lined with a mattress and serves as a bassinet made from non-toxic materials. The idea is to give everyone a little bit of a head start no matter what your socioeconomic background. This program is credited in part for Finland’s exceptionally low infant mortality rate.

Baby Boxes
Baby Boxes

Continue reading “Taking a Page (or a Box) From Finland”

January Woes

The month of January has been tough.  It started out with a 2 week migraine and is ending with a head cold.  I am hoping February brings happier experiences.  Also in January my body decided to quit.  My glutes, hips, lower back and ribs are extremely tight, sore and painful.  It was so bad last week I was limping around feeling totally useless. I had a massage therapy appointment with my friend Leanne last Tuesday and I have slowly started to feel better everyday since (except for this head cold).  

I have an appointment with a chiropractor on February 1. She only works on prenatal women and comes highly recommended, I will start seeing her weekly.  My next massage appointment isn’t until March because that was Leanne’s closest availability.  Hopefully the chiropractor will work her magic.  This will be my first time seeing a chiropractor.