Good News for Baby!

Amber on January 31, 2005

I don’t know how many of you are aware that my company was undergoing some serious turmoil in the past few months.

A group of dissident shareholders engaged in a proxy battle with Creo. This means that they forced a vote at our annual meeting for control. They wanted to dissolve our board, fire our CEO, and put one of their own at the helm. They promised a major reorganization, including significant cost cuts, particularly in research and development. Research and development is what engineers do.

The meeting was to be held on February 10. Things were looking pretty dicey, and it seemed like the proxy vote could go either way. I was particularly worried, because of my approaching maternity leave, which isn’t due to start until the end of March. If I get laid off before my leave, that would be very bad. I would still receive my government benefits, but I would lose significant income from Creo’s benefits and top-up plan. We would have to pay for health insurance out of pocket, for example. Not good.

Today, though, we signed an agreement to be purchased by Kodak. This is good news for me, because Kodak wants to keep Creo more or less intact. This is also good news for me, because they will have a generous buy-out program for our options, which could mean a nice chunk of change if everything is approved at our rescheduled meeting on March 29.

So, the kid will have food and clothes and all that good stuff, for the foreseeable future. Yay!

Back and Forth

Amber on January 28, 2005

I have recently started the late pregnancy bathroom trips. Twice a night now I wake up, and head off to the bathroom. Luckily, we have an ensuite–it’s a real lifesaver. I’ve heard many people say that these trips are nature’s way of preparing you for interrupted sleep. I’m not sure it’s the same thing, but I guess we’ll see.

This week, the baby is about 11 inches from crown-to-rump, or 15 1/2 inches from head-to-toe. The kid weighs in at about 3 1/4 pounds. Apparently, the baby’s brain is going through rapid development. At this point, the baby is pretty much fully formed, but the lungs are still immature. Also, the baby is big enough now that I can feel individual body parts. Sometimes I’ll just feel a hand or foot trace its way across my abdomen. So, my kid has limbs, which is a good thing.

Tagged With: Pregnancy

Mood Swings

Amber on January 26, 2005

Tomorrow night was supposed to be our first prenatal class at Douglas College. Jon and I were both really looking forward to it. I wanted to meet other expecting parents, and have an opportunity to sort of get in the right headspace for having a baby. I can feel labour looming now, and I just haven’t thought about it much, which is freakign me out.

Unfortunately, there are rotating strikes at a lot of the community colleges right now, and Douglas College is being hit tomorrow. This means that our class is cancelled. I am ticked off, but mostly I feel deeply hurt. I feel like it’s a personal affront, and now I won’t be ready, and there’s nothing that I can do about it.

This is part of the joy of pregnancy. Bad things happen in life, but to a pregnant woman any little bad thing is a Very Big Deal. It is all Life and Death, you know, and the health and happiness of the baby could depend on it.

Lately, I’ve been feeling panicky. I need to buy things, I need to nest. This weekend the boys are renovating the baby room, so that I can get started. I can feel a big shopping spree coming on. I need diapers, I need clothes, I need sheets, I need baby nail clippers. But mostly I need to be able to walk into the baby’s room and see that all the little things that come with a baby. My hormones will not rest until it’s done.

Tagged With: Pregnancy

Wild Guesses

Amber on January 24, 2005

I made an on-line baby pool, which you can participate in. Go to www.expectnet.com, and enter the game name ‘strocel1′. Then, you can enter a guess of your own. The winner will receive bragging rights, which is another way of saying that you won’t get anything for being right. It’s still fun, though, right?

This weekend I went to the first of my sister’s wedding showers, and it was lovely. I got to see a lot of extended family, who I haven’t seen since my own wedding shower four years ago.

We got a fabulous travel system this weekend, the Graco Quattro. A travel system is a combination stroller/carseat/infant carrier thingy. It’s ‘Baby Days’ at Sears, so it was a real steal for a great system, that should hopefully last us through a couple of kids. I’m not making any promises that I will last as long, though.

Funerals

Amber on January 21, 2005

Today Jon and I attended Jena’s funeral. It was really a wonderful service. Lots of people were there, and many spoke. Jon wrote delivered a speech, and was very eloquent. The funeral was very helpful in commemorating Jena, and in gathering together the community to share grief and come to some understanding of what happened. Afterwards, we agreed that we felt much better for having been there.

Funerals are really very healing things, I think. I am never happy when someone I know dies, even though I know that everyone will. But I have found great solace in marking the occasion, in gathering with others, and in having a venue to express my emotions.

Even through the funeral today, though, new life was making its presence felt. The baby was moving around a lot, especially when music was playing. My books tell me that he or she now weighs in at a whopping 3 pounds. The kiddo is about 10 3/4 inches from crown to rump, or 15 inches from head-to-toe. And I am definitely feeling every last ounce, and every last inch. But you know, that’s OK with me.

Organized Mama

Amber on January 19, 2005

Today we had another midwife appointment. Here are the stats:
Pregnancy date – 29 weeks, 4 days
Fundal height – 29 cm (should equal the number of weeks, +/- 2cm)
My weight – Pre-pregnancy + 27 pounds
Baby’s heartrate – 156 bpm
Baby’s position – Head down, back on the left, leg sticking out on the right

It seems that we didn’t have much to talk about, because I am above-average in the organization department. The midwives were nice enough not to use less flattering terms, such as “uptight” or “neurotic”. Anyways, the end result is thtat we didn’t have much to talk about. Apparently, in addition to being “organized”, I am also short on the questions. So Jon shared an interesting anecdote about a 100-pound woman who ate a 6-pound burger. We were all amazed.

Jena Zara

Jon on January 18, 2005

jena zara.jpg

Let me tell you about my friend Jena Zara. She’s a person that many of you have not met, because she was a co-worker of mine at Global. We would do Sports Page together, I would build the text pages, she would build the pictures. We would build the show together, usually three nights a week, for the past three years.

As Jena would tell you, she was a performer. An incredible singing voice, and a theatrical personality. Her sparkle was infectuous. The graphics room was a sanctuary for everyone that worked the nights together. We would talk about everything and anything. Those of us in that room kept that conversation going for the past three years.

We knew that there were demons, we had talked about them numerous times. Just last week, I had said to her she was doing great by always coming to work. We all knew it was a place where people listened, and talked and laughed and cared. We could keep the darkness out.

On Sunday night, she didn’t come.

We phoned, we made excuses, Laurie who also works with us went to find her. I got the phone call an hour later. Our worst fears had come true. The demons had taken her.

We all work with people every day. We tend to think of our friends as being those people we meet every once in awhile socially. Right now, think of those people who you see everyday, those people you make a living beside. Sometimes your best friends are right there all along.

It was very quiet in our graphics room today….

Tagged With: Memories

What’s Up?

Amber on January 17, 2005

I haven’t been writing here as regularly. You can blame it a few of the following factors:
1. I have the third trimester grumpies.
2. Work has been busy, so I’ve had to actually spend my time at work, well, working.
3. The snow left me feeling like holing up and not communicating.
4. I am starting to nest, and I spend the free time I do have in associated activities.

Excuses aside, though, I’m here now. Here’s what’s new with me:
- We received a lovely ‘Portsmouth F.C.’ jersey for the baby, from William. It’s the first new outfit our baby has received, and we just love it.
- We visited our financial planner, and learned that we aren’t in such dire straits after all. So, we decided we can afford to keep the kid.
- I started baby shopping. So far I have purchased 6 receiving blankets, 8 baby washcloths, and 4 of those baby undershirt thingies.
- I passed off the Brownie books to one of the other leaders. One small step on the road to freedom (or indentured servitude to a very small person).
- I am really enjoying prenatal yoga.
- One of Jon’s co-workers passed away, under very difficult circumstances. Jon is understandably very upset. We’re trying to do what we can to come to terms with it, and help out.

Tagged With: Pregnancy

Enough Winter

Amber on January 13, 2005

We have now had over a week of real ‘Winter’ here in the Lower Mainland. We are all tired of it. It’s supposed to end Sunday or Monday, which is just too long for us wimpy West Coasters. Bring back the rain! We understand the rain! Given how much our home assessments went up, all this snow is just adding insult to injury. Why pay a premium to live in Lotusland, when it’s frozen over?

I have been feeling increasingly distracted lately. This kid is big, and can give me some right good jabs. Many times a day, my stomach feels like it’s just dropped out from under me. It’s kind of like the feeling you get on a roller coaster, only you’re not on a roller coaster. You’re in a meeting, attempting to have a professional conversation, and unexpectedly you get the sensation that you’ve fallen off of a cliff. Eep!

Tagged With: Seasons

Hospital Tour

Amber on January 8, 2005

Jon and I took our hospital tour today. The hospital in Maple Ridge was small, but nice. We’ve decided that we will definitely have our baby there, and we filled out all of our pre-admission paperwork. The nurse who gave the tour was nice, and they seem pretty flexible in their policies, so we thought it was great.

I was thinking that there might be a lot of people on the tour, since they run them every two weeks. A lot of people would have held off over the holidays. Still, there were about a dozen expecting women, and their hangers-on. The hospital staff were quite surprised, so you know that it was unusual. Also, most of the women there were due very soon–one was even due today. It kind of surprised me, really, that you would leave it so late to decide where you’re delivering and fill out the paperwork.

I am 28 weeks today, so we took a new picture. You can see it here.