3 more sleeps!!!

i can't belive it. 3 more sleeps and in 4 days i will be hugging dave. it feels like he has been gone forever! i fly back to vancouver tonight. i hate flying but today i am looking forward to getting on the plane.
things were good here at home it was great to see people. i even got to hang out with lisa last night and went for breakfast with her this morning which made the trip complete. i must say william gets cuter and cuter. hopefully she will send me a recent pic and i will post it all for you to see.
i am feeling the baby lots more lately its the most incredible feeling. i'm feeling good other than bad gas pains, bleeding gums and acid reflux.
time to get going. think of dave as he travels alone from perm to moscow on the 23 hour train ride and then waits 5+hours at the moscow airport. so soon he will be home!!!!!!
have a great day!

18 weeks

well at least its something. when i get home i will take a better belly shot but for those of you who are dying to see here is me and our little bean at almost 19 weeks.

miracles

well its snowing and so beautiful outside and i have good news. the midwives here in winkler have agreed to take me on. i still find myself speechless that they have decided to make room for me. its amazing. i never really let go but must admit that my hope was dwindling. i have not spoken with my primary yet but hope to this week. i have felt really good the last few weeks and only this week with the lack of activity (sitting at my parents house doing nothing and eating lots more than i am used to) i feel a bit gross. i need to get out and walk or something. i am looking forward to getting back to vancouver and routine and seeing dave. only 9 more days - actually only 8 more days cause on the 9th day i get to see him. it will be nice. hopefully he is not a little ice cube - where they are this week it has been about -45 degrees (now that is COLD).
its been neat to see my belly grow and the baby flutter around the acid reflux is not so much fun but tums seem to relieve that quickly lucky for me.
i can't wait to see the little bean on our ultrasound on the 30th i think we have agreed to find out the sex of the baby; its funny to hear people's reactions to that. here is advice from one pregnant momma to be to everyone. Its best to keep all opionions to yourself. now whether or not we tell everyone will be our secret - we will let you know.
time for supper. till next time.

coming home....

i made it home. it was a good trip and i got to spend the night at Lindseys house and hang out with her the next day which was so good!! she is doing really well as always its so fun to spend time with her. i've been home now for a couple days. its been lots of relaxing which has been so good. i needed the downtime. i have not seen too many people just family and my good friend rhonda which was nice. she is about ready to deliver her second baby which is exciting. i am hoping she has the baby while i am here. anything obviously not much else is new. i will post some new pics of me in my fourth month this weekend. oh and by the way it is warm here - almost balmy. when i got out of the airport the other day it was almost midnight at only -2 which is CRAZY. it is much nicer than what dave is having in russia at a mild -25. yikes.
till later.

the weekend, phone calls and other things...

i don't have a digital camera right now as dave took it to russia so it seems silly to post with no pics to show you but i figured i should post anyways. had an ok weekend other than not alot of sleep. can't seem to sleep these days. i cleaned, was crafty and hung out with friends which was nice. sunday morning i was woken up to the most beautiful voice and got to speak with dave for almost 20 minutes. it was so good to hear from him. they are well a bit on the cold side but doing good. its about -25 with windchill and most of the time they are skating on outdoor rinks. yikes. but they seem to be in high gear and attracting lots of people to hang out with. it was so good to hear his voice and i figured i could make it another week now without hearing from him but then this morning the phone rings and its him again!! i was so excited i barely knew what to say. it was nice to have those morning calls and i feel a bit spoiled.
i get ready to leave to manitoba tommorow and i am looking forward to being home and eating good home cooked meals, seeing friends and family and just relaxing. i get to see lindsey tommorow and will stay with her my first night there and hang out with her on wednesday i am really looking forward to seeing her. so yeah thats about it. i still need to pack and get some work things done before i leave but keeping busy helps pass the time. thanks for all your kind calls and emails it means alot. i will post again in manitoba and will have use of my parents digital pics so i can email you some more pics of my ever growing belly. enjoy today!

isn't he cute

looking up..

been a good couple of days. i have been keeping busy and have been trying to surround myself with people. its only hard in my lonely house. i heard from dave and they are doing well. they are currently on a 23 hour train ride through the beautiful land of russia. they spent yesterday walking around red square and dave said it was breathtaking. i'm excited that he gets to have this experience. just wanted to let you all know things are better. i miss him but i've already made it three days! i leave for manitoba on tuesday which will be nice to catch up with family and friends. i'll post more later. enjoy your day!

got my sad face on...

so dave has left and is sleeping right now somewhere in Russia...its lonley in our house without him. i figure its ok to be sad and all the well wishers who keep telling me oh but hes doing good work need to stop.. of course i am happy he is doing good work and of course out of anyone in the whole world i am proudest of him and happy he gets this experience but for goodness sake i am still going to be sad and all you have to say is thats ok heather you can be sad because you love him and miss him.
so with all that being said.. i am proud of him and i know that the people of russia and the team are super lucky to have dave with them but i am still going to hope the time goes by quickly.

i love.....

you know what i love about maternity pants.. you can just pull them on and off. no zippers, no buttons. its genious.

merry christmas and other things

well the tree is almost put away (its dead) and the presents are unwrapped. it was a good christmas. given my condition leading up to it i didn't get into the season as much as usual so things were low key. we had 14 people over for a lovely fondue on christmas eve (which is a loewen family tradition) it was great we had 6 different nationalities represented, lots of fruit and loads of chocolate (linds you would have loved it).
These pictures were from Christmas Eve.







Christmas Day was nice. Dave & I made a delicious breakfast of Eggs Benedict and we just hung out. Opened some gifts and spend the morning in our pj's. We went over to the Pallisters for Christmas Dinner. The food was amazing. Wade spent a few days preparing a churducken which is a Chicken stuffed into a Duck which is then stuffed inside a Turkey. With each layer surrounded by yummy, yummy stuffing. Need I say more?
This is Audrey and me ready to eat!!
DTS ended the thursday before the holidays and with that comes some nice downtime for Dave before he leaves for Russia in only a few short days :( We took a staff picture which turned out funny. And also ode to red. The other picture is Dave's outreach team which will be gracing Russia soon! I love the red track suits. It is what they will wear when they are coaching hockey (teaching skills and stuff). I love it!! I think that is all the update I have for now. Just want to give a birthday shout out to Lindsey. Today is her special day and she has much to celebrate as she also celebrates getting into the midwivery school she applied for. Yeah! I am proud of you Lindsey and love how you are following your dreams. You are special! Pregnancy Update: I have felt like a normal human being for the last four days and am so thankful. It helped to enjoy the holidays! The baby is moving up higher and my stomach feels like a little hard stone. Beautiful thing.

13 weeks!!

well here you go. 13 weeks! not to much there just enough to fit my nectarine size baby. me and some friends decided we like how they compare your baby to food at least until a certain point until they run out of ideas. i've been feeling a bit better which has been nice. dave and i did some christmas shopping this weekend which was good. audrey, pam, rita and i watched a great movie this weekend called "there eyes were watching god" its a oprah movie and although a tad slow it was great.
i also saw Narnia last week which was so good. they did a real good job at following the book. it was inspiring. you should all go see it. i gotta get some work done. i will post more later. have a great day!

MIRACLES!

life is a beautiful thing. today dave & I went to see our midwives and we got to hear our babies heartbeat (not plural baby)! what an amazing thing. the midwife showed me where the baby is and i felt the little ridge where he/she lives. the midwife smiled when the heartbeat came on the monitor and said "sounds like a girl!" heehee. i guess girls have faster heartbeats. we shall see. anyways it was all so exciting i wanted to share it with you! i'm gonna post some pics of my belly soon for those of you far away. just perfectly fits my lemon size baby!

my pants are tight

its so wierd to encounter a time when its neat that your pants don't fit right. i mean come on theres a baby growing in there. i have some generous friends/family that have lent me some nice maternity clothes - which is nice to save me from the moomoo that i was terrified of having to wear. other than my belly and my boobs nothing else has changed yet so thats nice.
its been a pretty good week. sunday was horrible! i was sick all day and i didn't keep anyting down all day until 8:30 when a smoothie managed to stay. ugg. i am excited to enter this next trimester and i realize that this time will fly by. having Dave gone for the month of January is going to be so hard and I am hoping to get home (plane tickets are expensive). i figure my lonliness will be a bit less if i go home then having to stay in our house and sleep in our bed. ahh lonely. anyways we were talking last night and wondering how much my belly will change in those 4 weeks he is gone.
so the quest to find a midwife is on. i have been pestering the midwives in the winkler area and am on a wait list which is so frusterating. but at the same time inspiring because it means that people are catching on to the miracle of midwifery. anyways called a lay midwive as well who is not paid by the Regionaly Health Authority (if you are reading this and are from BC - the system in MB is horrible compared to here and count yourself a lucky duck if you deliver here) anyways but she is unsure if she is taking on clients in June but she said to contact her again in March to see. I'd have to pay her but the cost is quite worth it to me. So crossing fingers for all these options. Not sure of any others that I have. I love my midwives here and wish they could fly to Manitoba to deliver the baby. Anyways enough baby talk. Not much else going on.
I apologize for the lack of posting. Enjoy your day!

graceful

its been a good week. it seems i am only super sick on sundays, mondays and tuesdays. wierd.
yesterday we celebrated american thanksgiving which was so good. its nice being married to a half american. i love americans - yesterday we went around the table and the non americans shared what the loved about americans. to me they carry a sense of boldness and a lack of fear. they aren't afraid to shake things up. my american friends are all fierce and funny. so to all of you. cheers.
i have been trying to journal to the baby you know things that i am experiencing as the baby grows and most of it comes down to what i can and cannot eat. yesterday i found out something wacky. i love yams i mean love yams.. mashed, sushi style, boiled, drenched in brown suger and butter. but the baby no the baby does not like yams even as i gazed upon them last night it did not take me long to know the baby would not like them. and peanut butter come on, the baby also likes things cold. not a big fan of hot food. i know it sounds crazy. but vegtables need to be raw unless its corn and i'd rather do yogurt than anything hot. and pineapple i can't get enough - fresh pinapple. ooh and another gross one: cheezy breathe - after dave eats goldfish (the cracker). yuck.
anyways i think thats all..
so i want to bring up the question of the day.
when does pregnancy begin to be graceful?

CD(DONA)

So after all my hard work its official I am now a certified DONA doula. Now I have credentials.
Heather DiFrancesco Certified Birth Doula (DONA)

silence

seems i have a lack of things to say although its been a pretty good week! i'm beginning to realize that i am an avoider. i distract myself to avoid doing anything. not that all distraction is bad because sometimes it helps you to not get wrapped up in just doing, doing doing.. but sometimes instead i fill my day with things i must do (which becomes the distraction) when really all i want to do is be free to just sit and journal, or read something other than birth books...wow i am just now reading how true that all sounds. like this quote i read today
"Tonight I danced with God under the quiet stars the moonlight sticking to the bottoms of our feet."
Purely Lovely.

who knew...

well needless to say the honeymoon period is over. these past few days have been HARD. i don't really feel like a normal person. my stomach aches all day. there are a million sights and smells that can send me straight to the toilet and the headaches are coming every day!! my outlook is good. i know that this is the normalcy of this little life forming inside but i'm afraid to leave the house in case i need the safety of my bathroom. like my friend audrey said "when are you going to be fun again" yeah when will i be fun again????
but on the positive and clearly amazing side of things. Pinto is a busy little bean...(the reference to a He is purely the website i got the info off of.) Now almost half an inch long — roughly the size of a raspberry — He has elbow joints and distinct, slightly webbed fingers and toes. In his oversized head, both hemispheres of his brain are developing. His teeth and the inside of his mouth are forming, and his ears continue to develop. Eyelid folds partially cover his tiny peepers, which already have some color, and the tip of that nose you'll be tweaking someday is emerging. His skin is paper-thin and his veins are clearly visible. Your little one also has an appendix and a pancreas, which will eventually produce the hormone insulin to aid in digestion. His liver is busy producing red blood cells, and a loop of your baby's growing intestines is bulging into his umbilical cord, which now has distinct blood vessels to carry oxygen and nutrients to and from his tiny body. You can't feel his gyrations yet, but your baby is like a little jumping bean, moving in fits and starts around his watery home.
Now to me that all seems worth it!

what a week

this has been a great week.. i've been sitting in on lectures with the DTS and Karen Padgett has been here teaching on relationships. its been so refreshing. so much about living life from your spirit and recognizing who you are and what you have to offer the relationships you experience. its been amazing. the students are loving it. they are really into the kind of teaching that centres around more interaction and couldn't be bothered listening to someone lecture. they are such a real bunch. really motivated by the things of God and the relational aspect of life. i've been so inspired by the DTS this fall they are all so amazing. i love just being around them. anyways.. i'm doing well. i have been really blessed and feeling great. every so often i'll get waves of nauseausness but it comes and goes and doesn't amount to too much. its wierd to be pregnant and to imagine all the creating going on in your body. next week pinto will be whole and will just need to grow. its a miracle. life is a miracle. i want to experience it to its fullest. don't you?

frugal

do you know how expensive maternity clothes are??? i mean seriously then comes the baby and you are shelling out thousands of dollars. come on. they say that the average person spends over $1000 per year on diapers. anyways its outragous. i think i will have to wear a moomoo that i'm sure can be found at value village for a couple of dollars. uggg!

peanut butter and confessions..

figured it was time to write again. not sure i have much of eternal value to say. its been a good week. i've felt for the most part good other than one morning when i realized pinto does not like peanut butter. but now we know. wednesday night i had a fun night going out with jamie, jessi and andrea. we went to this sketchy club downtown to hear andreas friends play. what a night. refer to jessi's blog for a more detailed story.
ok ok i have a confession to make now please don't go judging me.. i am an avid reader and fan of the celebrity baby blog. now i have been going there daily for months now and feel it is time to uncover my underground religous reading of this site. i have decided that i want you all to know about this if only for the sole purpose that you would continue to love me even if i want to know who gets the first picture of Sean Preston Federline and even if i love reading about Brooke Shield's second preganancy or my curiosity of when the next picture of Reese, Ave and Deacon will come out and we were all the first to hear of Matilda Rose Ledger's birth. Oh and the precious glimpses of Bennifer's bump. ahh the relief of being able to tell ones secrets.
have a lovely day.