Thoughts on H1N1

On Monday I was hit hard with a sore throat, a headache and exhaustion beyond normal pregnancy tiredness. So I did some research and found out that it could be H1N1. Off to the doctor I went for a swab and Tamiflu, which is the current protocol for treating pregnant women with flu symptoms.

By Tuesday I was incredibly sick. But it was clearly a head cold – no fever, and just a whole lot of nasal congestion. I rested and rested and waiting to feel better. Wednesday was worse. I honestly felt like I might die (I was being a little dramatic…). It was very, very clear that my immune system was struggling with a simple head cold. All of a sudden, all my fears and anxieties about the H1N1 vaccine seemed insignificant. I realized that faced with a more serious illness, like the flu, that there was a real possibility of ending up in the hospital.

Note: I have never experienced an untreated head cold before, so I assume that might have been some of the reason I felt like I was on death’s door. Absolutely not one medication, except plain ol’ Tylenol and a neti pot, entered my pregnant body. And Nacho happily kicked and punched me as I tried desperately to sleep.

And then the mayhem in Canada began. People lining up for six or seven hours to get immunized – mainly because of the sweet face of a 13-year old athlete, dead only days after the first symptoms of the flu. And I was still waiting for confirmation from my swab that I didn’t have it already.

It has been such a stressful couple of days. I have been waiting on test results, unwilling to go get the vaccine if I already have H1N1. I am afraid of infecting other people, afraid of four-hour-plus line-ups, and terrified of needles in general. I know that I need this vaccine to protect my precious little Nacho, who needs at least 11 more weeks to bake. I also need the vaccine to protect myself.

All the worry came to a head yesterday, as I sat on hold waiting for my uncompetent family doctor to give me the results. Forty-five minutes and twenty reditions of the muzak version Sweet Caroline later, I finally got through. And an unhelpful, snotty receptionist told me that she couldn’t help me. I broke down, and then realized, Hey! This vaccine is important, yes, but the stress it is causing isn’t healthy. I can wait.

So I will wait. And not in a line-up. Hopefully at some point in the coming weeks, Public Health will get it’s act together and I can go to my doctor, or my midwife’s office and get the shot. Until then, I will be avoiding crowds, and not standing with 1000 other people who are all panicking about needing to be jabbed in the arm immediately.

More interesting blogging to come this week… Once I take pics of my many FO’s!!! Yes, I have been knitting up a storm for the LO, and I cannot wait to share

I keep meaning to take some photos… But you’ll have to deal with some text for now!

I have been thinking (and reading) lots lately about birthing, and also about parenting an infant. It is so interesting to change focus after so many months of trying to get pregnant, and then hoping that we would keep this one. Now I am turning my attention to what will come next – pushing out the baby and taking care of him or her.

I have some wonderful “crunchy” friends who keep posting great links on Facebook to articles on everything from breastfeeding to home birth to the effect of Leap Frog and Baby Einstein on brain development.

Since I don’t have photos or knitting or anything to talk about, I thought that I would share some of the links, books and other resources that I am loving right now.

Books:

The Thinking Woman’s Guide to a Better Birth by Henci Goer – A book that will make you think about epidurals, inductions, hospital births and Obstetricians in a new light. After I read it, I switched to a midwife and started preparing for a drug-free, intervention-free birth.

The Birth Partner: A Complete Guide to Childbirth for Dads, Doulas, and All Other Labor Companions by Penny Simkin – A wonderful resource for mamas-to-be and their partners. My hubby is reading this in preparation for the birth.

The Birth House by Ami McKay – A beautiful novel about the power of women.

Articles & Blogs:

PhD in Parenting – A wonderful blog that is helping me to shape a general parenting philosophy.

The Hurried Infant – A Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) series on the effects of our culture of competitiveness and our obsession with raising geniuses.

The Unnecessarean – A daily dose of the reality of the medical world as it relates to birthing.

DVDs:

The Business of Being Born – The hubby watched this with me and it was a great documentary – maybe a bit of Michael Moore propaganda, and perhaps not totally applicable to the Canadian system – but very informative nontheless. Plus, the home births are beautiful and inspiring!

What Babies Want – I have not watched this yet, but I have ordered it from Amazon and I am really looking forward to it.

Less serious knitting content to come! I promise! Oh, and an update on my cloth diaper stash!

10 weeks and hoping for relief soon

It feels like another huge milestone to have made it to 10 weeks. I guess every week at this point means a big sigh of relief and a quick mental calculation of how many we have left until we are out of the danger zone. Now I am also counting down to when I might start to feel slightly better, because right now I feel absolutely awful. I want to be happy and glowing and enjoy this time, but really I am exhausted and severely nauseated and it stinks.

People keep telling me that it only lasts so long, but you know what? I am sort of living in the now, and the now STINKS. I am very happy to be carrying the little Nacho, and lending my body to the little parasite. However, I would like at least some of my former self back! Hopefully the old Weirdness will return in 2-4 weeks.

In the meantime, I have been online shopping for baby stuff and compiling a list of stuff for my mom and I to start making once she returns from Newfoundland. I am hoping to dig out my knitting soon. The plan was to get into it last night, but I ended up laying on the sofa, trying to stay perfectly still, and eating saltines. What a fun evening! At least the sun is out today and I might try to take a little stroll at lunch to see if that might settle my poor stomach.

Soooo… the list so far:

1) Hip Mama Diaper Bag

2) Kicking Bag for Babies (Ravelry Download)

3) Fitted Cloth Diapers (still exploring patterns)

4) Zigzag Sock Yarn Pram Blanket (another Ravelry Download)

5) Flakey Baby Socks (Ravelry… again…)

6) Curly Purly Soaker (to go with the fitted diapers)

This is the short list. My mom is planning on making a quilt for the Nacho, but I am still a little undecided about the nursery decor. I don’t want it to be themed, or too matchy. It also has to be unisex, since we won’t know whether it’s a girl or boy until he or she arrives! I am thinking about using my favorite color, turquiose, in sort of a retro, fun way. Just have to figure out how that will work. Suggestions are welcome!

8 weeks down, 32 to go!

Since my mom, mother-in-law, and dear, dear husband are too excited to keep a secret, the world now knows that I am PREGNANT! A little early to spread the word perhaps, but I have never been one to keep a secret, and now I get to talk about it nonestop!

So I guess I may start blogging more regularly. I am done with school for this (school) year, and I am anxious to start some relaxing activities, such as knitting for the LO, reading and hopefully some outdoors stuff. I do find blogging relaxing as well, so hopefully I can be more consistent.

I will be back soon to tell you all about my symptoms, why pregnancy isn’t what I expected, and also what my plans are for knitting projects for this LO.

In the meantime, just letting everyone know that we have temporarily named the LO “Nacho”. This is because I have already gained some… inches… on my belly, and I needed to buy stretchy pants. Each time I said that I needed stretchy pants, I thought of the movie Nacho Libre. Does anyone know what I am talking about here? Anyways… we have named the little bean “Nacho”. Since we aren’t planning on finding out the sex, we figure this name will be appropriate for the next 7 months. Oh, and hopefully the LO will come out already with a taste for Tex-Mex.

Now… hopefully it’s not twins. But I already have the perfect in utero name for a second baby… “Guac”… aptly named after my newest craving

Oh, and if anyone has some cute “prenancy-related” fiction to suggest, I am all in!

Is it okay to distract myself from painting with a few purchases?

So the cabinet painting is… slow. Wah! The doors require two days just to prime, with the damp weather of a Nova Scotia spring, and the fact that my dad’s garage is a little… er… cramped right now.  There is alot of furniture being given a fresh coat of paint on preparation for a big move. My baby sister is leaving home for good in a week. My parents are driving her and all of her cute things to Ottawa, where she will be moving in with her absolutely adorable boyfriend. Very exciting, isn’t it? We will miss her so much, but we are pretty excited that she is starting this new phase of life with such a caring person by her side. Plus, Ottawa is an awesome place to visit, and only 14 hours by car, so doable a couple of times a year.

Anyways, I digress. On to the post! Hooray! I am posting three times in one week! I must be turning over a new leaf.

To distract myself from the immense effort required to get this kitchen done, I may have made a few Etsy purchases. I live by the rules, “Only buy what you love” and “Rome was not built in a day”. Basically, I can start decorating with precious few items, and add to the room as I find things. This prevents me from repeating the disaster of 2007, when I moved into my house determined to fill it, and bought many things, including paint that really were not me. My darling husband is patient, but painting the same room twice in six months made him a little… er… edgy…

My purchases!!

Pretty vintage buttons from Whitebirddesign, to be used to create a yo-yo bouquet

Seriously cute, and much needed Salt & Pepper shakers, also from Whitebirddesign

Swoon… I love these vintage handmade coasters from Boomerville

By now have you guessed by “Shabby Chic” theme? Basically, my new kitchen is being designed to compliment this:

Best shower gift EVER, via the Inlaws

I am painting my cabinets a very slight off-white. I am still deciding between Sail White and Wash Basin, both Ralph Lauren paint colours from Home Depot. I am choosing a neutral colour, because goodness knows how long we will stay in our little house. Walls are much easier to paint, so I am choosing a pastel colour, Aqua Wave by Behr, also from Home Depot, in honour of my inspiration photo:

Via Cottage Home Decorating

Oh, how I wish I could afford a wash basin sink… and a natural material for my countertops! I think we will at least be going natural on the floors, and use either hardwood, or this retro material, back again and much lower maintenance. Goodness knows I won’t be waxing a floor – I can barely find time to mop the floor these days!

I promise to take some progress photos soon! This weekend will be busy, with Easter visiting and the renovation.

Happy Easter! Try not to eat too much chocolate (and, my personal favorite, hot crossed buns).

Renovating the kitchen, and other insanity

Last weekend we started dismantling the kitchen. April seems like a great month for a whole new kitchen, so we jumped in with both feet by ripping out this horrible cupboard that was taking up a ton of counterspace.

My kitchen is a bit… er… 80′s. A friend once told me, after I had already complained, that it looks like there should be wallpaper with geese. Ugh! The white-washed oak is so dated, and the forest green countertop is possibly worse. Soooo… I decided to paint the cabinet, spring for some new countertop, and finally paint the walls and trim. The baseboards have been hanging off the wall since we moved in almost two years ago!

It felt great to get primer in the cabinet “structure”, and some of the doors and drawer fronts. If I remember, I will take some “in progress” photos tomorrow to post.

I think the coolest thing about owning a home has been doing things myself, often for the first time. Learning to paint walls, and now, cabinets make me feel so independent and grown up. I know that my hubby gets lots of satisfaction from doing things for himself as well. He always drags me in to whatever room he is working on so I can oh and ah over his handywork. We still ask for help with big things, and we ask for advice on pretty much everything that we do, but it’s kinda nice to actually do it ourselves.

I’ll be back tomorrow with some photos, and some fabric samples and paint chips, so y’all can get a better idea of what I have in mind. Soooooo excited about this project!!!!

Trying to get back here…

Okay, so I am the world’s worst blogger. But I have been writing on so many messages boards, pouring my heart out lately, I figure this might be a good place to hang out for a while and maybe vent, show some of my knitting (since I have actually been knitting) and share my life and thoughts with anyone that might decide to stop by.

Since I last posted… I GOT MARRIED!!! Hooray! It was such a tiny celebration of those most loved, and we giggled like kids through the “I now pronounce you” part. My parents big old house was the loveliest setting I could imagine, and I am proud to say that I remember the day, and most of words that we spoke and the promises that we made to each other…

So without further ado… some of the photos… All taken by the wonderful Evan McMaster.

This champagne made me fall down and scrape my knee... Oh, I was a classy bride

My incredible hair stylist, Katrina

Eating a ham sandwich in the bathroom? My dad was nice enough to make me lunch while I was putting my make-up on

Making out at Sullivan's Pond

More later on the planning details, jic anyone is interested

Visit my wedding blog!

Well, despite my best intentions, I have totally abandoned this blog over the past year. I seem to be knitting again, and I have a million crafting projects to get up to over the next year because Mr. Weird and I are GETTING MARRIED!!!!!

Visit me over at Touch of Whimsy as I muse about planning a fabulous vintage-inspired wedding that is 100% (well, 98%) DIY.

A Forecast for Snow… And Getting my Mojo Back

I can’t believe that it has been a full month since my last post. I have to apologize to those of you who were reading my blog for those very few consecutive posts, and I hope that you will keep reading, as I think I have found my footing and will be posting more often. Though I seem to keep saying that.

I wish you could see the Recycle Bin on my computer – it is packed full of entries that I never posted. See, I have been struggling with which sides of my life to share with you all. There has been slightly more dark than bright in my life lately – I have felt confused, tired and worn thin, and a little bit outside of myself. I have been restless – not producing much at all on the knitting front. I shall admit that I wore myself out a bit with knitting. I made it stressful by insisting to myself that I do more complicated projects, that I knit faster and that I knit what everybody else was knitting. I have finally snapped out of that, and I am currently knitting a very plain, boring moss stitch hat, my own creation, from Lamb’s Pride Worsted. Standard faire, and I am loving it.

You see, when you are busy and it is late every night when you finally settle into bed in your Hello Kitty pjs and your nice woolly Walmart socks (not a lot of time to knit a pair), it is impossible to focus the mind on, say, a complicated lace edging on a sock that you have already gotten twisted twice and had to frog and start over. There is no gentle enjoyment in that folks. So I cast on a hat. Nice thick yarn on nice fat needles (when compared with my 2.0mm Addis, 5mm needles seem HUGE) makes for nice, stressless knitting.

And I am learning a bit about myself, and my knitting tastes. Namely, I like big thick slightly scratchy until you warm it up with your hands sort of yarn, and I like it knit up into nice fat cables. I like some verigation in my yarn, and I covet beautiful hand-dyes like this and this. I should not knit in the summer, because summer patterns and summer yarns inevitably make me stressed, and then I feel guilty about spending too much money on beautiful, stunning yarn, that I am not happy knitting with (cue my 1/3 finished Seasilk Scarf). Perhaps next summer, my second summer of knitting, will bring a true appreciation for summer knitting. Until then, I will be reveling in the upcoming season of hats, mitts, thick wool socks and scarves.

I will also be knitting quite a few of these. Oh, Yarn Harlot, how you never fail to inspire me. And I love how we seem to love the same sorts of knitting.

In other news, there is a forecast for a little of the white stuff this weekend, which has spurred my little butt into “get some new tires before it snows” gear. I will also be needing some thrummed mittens for our march to the Cenotaph this Sunday. Hmmmmmm… sounds like Friday night knitting to me.

A houseguest… and some UFO’s

Before I say anything else, I want to let everyone know that I have a house guest. Meet Spencer Donahue, my mom’s nine month old Yorkshire Terrier. A face only a mother could love?

This weekend my cute little house got a huge face lift – a new front door complete with a sidelight and top light to warm our entryway. While the boys worked in the entryway, I worked in the kitchen. I welcomed in the new season and all its glory with a fresh batch of apple cinnamon muffins with a yummy walnut topping, a simmering pot of chicken stock chalk full of carrots, celery and onions, and an apple cake made with lovely slices of fresh local Macintosh apples.

As soon as the door was in, I had Mr. Weird install a hook for my Thanksgiving wreath. I bought a beautiful pot of burgundy mums and put them on the doorstep. Perfection… When I came home after work today I smiled to myself – this is my house… How pretty

I think these moments of blissful indulgence in thoughts of Fall that gave me some real inspiration to finish some projects. I endeavored to make you all a list, but I found this activity much too stress-inducing. So I shall show you one item at a time, so that you can hold me to it! Each week, a new item for me to finish – and I shall offer proof of my accomplishments at the end of each week… And so, without further adieu, this weeks selection:

A little sweater for a little man who is steadily getting bigger! I plan to finish it, wrap it and deliver it by Sunday!

• Pattern: Opal Baby Sweater
• Yarn: Opal 6 ply, bought at Tangled Skeins in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia

And in other fibre-related news, I finally took out the sewing machine that my grandmother gave me five years ago and tried it out. Two hours of internet research and blurry diagram frustration later, and it was threaded, tension adjusted and… still not working! So while it goes to the repair shop for a tune-up, I am going to borrow my mom’s and make one of these from some good old-fashioned autumn fabric – cordoroy, and a thrifted pillow sham.

Hopefully I will have some finished products to show you soon! In the meantime, I am going to update my Finished Projects Page… Enjoy