After last week's mild temperatures, we were very surprised to hear they opened part of the canal this morning!

Elizabeth has been asking when the canal will open since it closed last year. So we decided that we should go, even though the temperatures plunged to negative double digits yesterday (with the windchill it was -30C this morning).

By this afternoon it was a mere -10C (-20C windchill) so we bundled up warmly and headed out. The plus side of being too pregnant to skate is that Daddy had to come too. The minus side was that Daddy and Elizabeth decided that since I couldn't skate I might as well stand in the Beavertail line and acquire treats that I can't even eat! Luckily they sell hot chocolate too...

The ice was rather bumpy and the wind cold, but the neat ice flooding machine was parked nearby and Elizabeth really loves skating. Before we'd even gotten back to the car, Elizabeth was already suggesting we should go back tomorrow...

I had another ultrasound yesterday at our favourite clinic after receiving an apology from the clinic about the whole gender based abortion thing. Turns out that it's not a clinic specific policy, rather it's a Society of Obstetricians and Gynecologists of Canada policy. The clinic in question follows all SOGC guidelines, in part because their top doctor is on the board of directors! Reputable clinics are supposed to follow these guidelines too though, meaning that clinics in Canada really aren't supposed to be giving out gender prior to 20 weeks. They aren't even supposed to be noting it on the patient's chart since there is then a legal obligation to provide it as per 1992 Supreme court decision that the patient owns the information, not the medical professional. The sonographer / manager at the clinic that I spoke to has promised to talk to the top doctor about my experience and get back to me in two weeks with more information and possibly some kind of solution. They are appalled at the idea that the policy could result in women choosing to delay their ultrasounds until after 20 weeks. It sounds very much like the perspective of ordinary people who just want to know gender wasn't really thought about when the policy was adopted.

The woman I spoke to also recommended that pregnant women who have a desire to know gender for non abortion reasons should contact the SOGC to let them know they don't agree with the policy. 

Interestingly, a relative of mine says they had the same experience in London Ontario as early as 1996, so the issue is not as "new" as one might think.

On to the results:

Still a boy, still on 50% percentile growth curve (5lb 18oz) and still breech. But not classic breech; "Oblique" and almost transverse.

Baby feels like he's trying to turn head down, usually making a concentrated effort somewhere around 5am and 9pm, before giving up and ramming his head into my rib cage. That seems to be his comfort zone; if not exactly mine! I am not very hopeful he can do it though - it feels like there is something in the way. Also, OUCH.

 I haven't tried acupuncture as baby is still seemingly trying to turn, but I have spent some quality time in strange positions recommended as being useful. They didn't help Elizabeth and I don't think they are helping now either. It's apparently possible that my anatomy simply doesn't allow head down positioning.

At my midwife appointment today I was told I will now be referred to an OB in order to schedule the c-section. Hopefully the same one as last time has space.

The January thaw we're currently experiencing has dramatically reduced our giant snow banks, but although we can see grass (!!!) in places we still have a couple of feet of snow on our front lawn. It's very wet packing snow; easy to work with and since it is so warm we have mostly indulged the preschooler's demands to play outside until her snowsuit is saturated with water or it is too dark to see what we are doing.

Every play session outside seems to involve the need to rebuild Elizabeth's snow fort. Snow forts apparently require a window through which small children can slide in and out like seals Turns out that building forts is challenging when eight months pregnant and your snow pants don't fit. Luckily my rain pants have enough elastic to hold a small elephant, so I'm making do.

It's a bit odd to be building snow forts to the soundtrack of trickling water, massive chunks of snow and ice sliding off various buildings and singing chickadees, but Elizabeth can easily spend a couple of hours rolling and sliding around outside without even getting cold so she's beyond thrilled.

After all our snow (76cm on the ground!), we've been gifted with unseasonably warm weather the past few days. So much for the canal being close to being opened - all the outdoor rinks had to close when the temperature hit +7 C yesterday, breaking the previous 1932 daily high record.

Warm days and cool nights provide perfect icicles and ice dam weather. One house in our neighbourhood has an icicle the width of a person stretching from their second floor all the way down to the ground! 

My twitter feed is full of fellow Ottawans with leaky roofs caused by the ice backing up their shingles, so when Brendan mentioned that CHMC recommended removing ice using hot water I was receptive to trying it out. Elizabeth was very keen to help too!

Regretfully, we found that the technique was not nearly as effective as intimidated in the article. We cut a few channels in the ice for drainage and then decided to hope the warm temperatures forecast for the next two days would do the rest.

So... I'm planning to take some time off in February this year. It's not exactly a secret, but I know that if you only read this blog or follow me on Facebook you might find it surprising to learn that I'm nearly 35 weeks pregnant! I didn't want to make any premature announcements, but as my Valentine's due date looms closer and closer I'm running the risk that I might actually have baby and then perhaps some of you might be shocked.

Actually, it turns out that I've been remarkably successful in keeping this quiet - I went to a meeting today with clients who have had the opportunity to observe my increasing girth on a weekly basis for months and they were rather surprised to learn of my pregnancy! Their reaction? "February??? As in next month?" Mine: "I'm HUGE! Eight months pregnant! How could you have not noticed until now?"

So yes. I'm PREGNANT! Again! Brendan and I joke it's all Elizabeth's fault because she wanted a sibling and we told her she'd have to take it up with God. She took me very seriously and prayed earnestly for a brother for over a year. She wanted a "real" baby to play with, apparently.

When I was born my mom wrote paragraphs about every photo she carefully pasted into my baby book. My brother's baby book has one or two sentences and my sister's baby book is essentially a photo album with no captions. I totally get how that happened - turns out I'm already doing the equivalent and second child is still in utero. While I wrote quite a bit more about Elizabeth during my pregnancy, I did actually write the odd post during the last eight months that I'm only getting around to making publicly readable right now.

For those interested - here's what you missed:

July 08th: In which I experience much morning sickness and my family doctor refuses to send me for a dating ultrasound.

July 09th: Possible miscarriage symptoms

July 11th: First ultrasound

September 18th: Second ultrasound 18w 5d - it's a vertebrate! Also, we discover that we should have waited another week to schedule the ultrasound.

October 01st: We get good news and perturbing news

November 07th: Morning sickness is back and I may be headed for c-section number 2

November 14th: Delayed decision on c-section

December 5th: Third ultrasound and we find out the gender

December 13th: The reason toddlers don't get to choose names

January 2nd: 33w 6d Raynaud's syndrome, transverse babies are more comfy than breech and an updated projected arrival date.