Pregnancy Shots

A good friend took some awesome shots of my belly today. Matt and I have absolutely zero skill with the camera so this is a great gift for us. Terry even got in on the action and the photos - although you won't see him, he was holding up the black sheet. Jennifer even took some shots of the puppies. Brutus growled the whole time but she captured him much better than we ever have since his black fur is hard to photograph.

Weeks 27 and 28

Weeks 27 and 28 were a challenge pregnancy wise. I had the joy of doing not one but two tests for gestational diabetes. The first test was a one hour test involving one one draw of blood. I got the results back on Thursday and I failed by a measley 0.1! Couldn't they factor in the Christmas cookie consumption and give me a break! I took the test again Friday and it was a 2-hour test complete with three blood draws. I narrowly made it through the second test but recovered after lying down for about 20 minutes. Thankfully the results won't be in until the 28th at the earliest so I can still enjoy Christmas dinner!!

The baby is moving like crazy - I can actually see my stomach jumping from the outside now. Unfortunately for Matt, this little guy does not like to perform for his Dad and goes into hibernation mode whenever Matt is around. Matt just may be responsible for putting this little guy to bed when he's born since he does such a good job of it now :)

2006 Christmas Letter

I can't believe that it is already time to be writing another Christmas letter; 2006 passed in a blur and sadly we are still working on our to-do list from 2005.

Here are the highlights from our first year and a bit of marriage....

In January, Matt and I headed down south to the Dominican Republic to celebrate with our friends Luc and Laura as they got married. The weather was fantastic (much better than our honeymoon where we landed on the edge of hurricane Stan), the wedding was beautiful (definitely not your typical destination wedding) and the chance to spend a week on the beach gave us the opportunity to recuperate from our November move.

At the end of January, our first little niece Emjae was born and in true Barker fashion, she made quite an entrance. Maureen's original plan for a c-section in Yorkton was not well communicated to Emjae as she decided to arrive at a hospital (barely!) in a small town between Swan River and Yorkton. The town was so small that Emjae actually made the newspaper as the New Year baby (born January 22nd)!

We spent quite a bit of time this year getting our new house feeling a bit homier. We installed California shutters, did some demolition on an oddly configured bar counter, planted a garden out front and some trees out back and partially installed a fence which will be completed next Spring.

And our biggest house project...getting the nursery ready for our expected arrival due mid-March. After some challenging health issues, we were able to announce in September that we had finally made it over that first trimester hurdle. An ultrasound in October confirmed that we are expecting a boy; he was more than happy to show off his stuff to the ultrasound technician and she was 100% as to the gender! We're now in the home stretch and only a few weeks away from the third trimester.

Stay tuned for more updates which will be added to the Barker family website www.thebarkers.tzo.com. We have also jumped on the blogwagon and started our own www.weinerwonderland.blogspot.com (in honour of our mini dachshunds) to keep everyone updated on daily happenings particularly those related to our baby boy's arrival, milestones and development.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all!

Matthew, Vanessa, Gus and Brutus

Natural Childbirth

After talking to numerous new mothers, those who had better birth experiences tended to be those who chose a natural approach. Although I have little desire to be in pain, I have less of a desire to be hooked up to an IV and an epidural machine so I have decided to attempt a natural birth.

We bought out the natural childbirth section at Chapters but quickly lost our momentum reading so we figured we would seek out professional help. This week we managed to find a doula (after starting our search a little late). She is down to earth, experienced (mother of four), and had lots of great advice on labour and navigating through hospital policy. I am so much more relieved now and hopefully will be able to relax about the upcoming labour.