~Spotlight on Amyleigh33~!!!

[Ianthe]

1. What is your TTC story?

2. How long have you been vegan?

3. Do you know what you are having?

4. What are you plans for birth?

5. What is your favourite pregnancy related book you've read?

6. What is your favourite non- pregnancy book?

7. Do you work? What do you do?

There's some questions to start you out with! Have fun!!!

[Eaglevoice]

What do you still have left to do to get ready for the baby?

How has your pregnancy been so far?

What is your biggest fear about labor?

How far along are you?

What is your favorite baby item you have for this little one so far?

[amyleigh33]

1. What is your TTC story?
Well, we weren't exactly TTC, but it is a pretty crazy story and not too, too TMI heheh. This little bugger was conceived when we were staying with some friends in Montreal last summer, on our way back from a hitchhiking trip to Halifax, when I drank entirely way too much of this strange conconction those French folks have out there called "Sangrila" (which is not the tasty wine spritzer drink you're thinking of, but a really sugary, disgusting $4 40oz. bottle of flavoured malt liquor) completing melting all the inhibitions that I would normally have that would NEVER have allowed me to go with Jeff into that abandoned apartment next door...

2. How long have you been vegan?
I think I've been vegan for about 4 years or so. I was a veggie kid though, ate meat throughout some of high school, then went vegan after watching this PETA video with a song by Goldfinger (whom I was a big fan of at the time) in the background called, Free Me.

3. Do you know what you are having?
No, I think it's a girl, I have pretty much since I found out... but I think it has less to do with anything spiritual or any sort of strong sixth sense on my part, and more to do with my minor obsession with Gilmore Girls.

4. What are you plans for birth?
I'm having a hospital birth with a midwife; so apparently there's a pretty nice "birthing" room that they try to get you and it's a bit more cozy in comparison to a "regular" hospital room. I'm totally pro-homebirth, but this place is more of a temporary living arrangement than a "home" so I didn't really want to have the baby here... plus the walls are so thin between units, that I can hear word for word my next door neighbour's telephone conversations. I was worried I'd be really self conscious about ahem, "birthing noises," and it would interfere, whereas at the hospital I'd be more likely to feel like, "Well they're used to this here..."

5. What is your favourite pregnancy related book you've read?
I really haven't read that many : ...I've read What to Expect..., and The Girlfriend's Guide to Pregnancy (pretty funny)... and that's about it. They were both pretty good, though I don't really agree with the medical advice in the latter, but it was freakin' hilarious anyway.

6. What is your favourite non- pregnancy book?
Yipes, I have a lot of favourite books. For fiction, right now I am trying to read a lot of the Classics, but most of the time I am just reading textbooks for school (see below).

7. Do you work? What do you do?
After I found out I was pregnant, since I wasn't working at the time (travelling) I decided I didn't want to look for a new job and decided to enroll in correspondence university through Athabasca University. Now I'm sort of regretting it because I am just not too into it right now, I've got baby-brain 24 hours a day and no matter how much I am interested in the causes of consequences of the First World War, it is no where near as amusing as my "refresh" button and the Birth Announcements page.

[amyleigh33]

What do you still have left to do to get ready for the baby?
Not much! Woo hoo. Basically just wash the prefolds a few more times, we have shared laundry so I only managed to do the initial first 3 washes so I gotta do a few more. Also gotta do the baby towels, washcloths, etc. as I have already done clothes. Oh, and the baby's "bedding" which right now is basically limited to some mattress pads from Momma Commune Boutique for our bed, as well as the lining for the moses basket my sister bought for us. I can't wait!!

How has your pregnancy been so far?
Frighteningly easy... some swelling, some heartburn, a bit of lower abdominal pain, but no major concerns or afflictions whatsoever. I hope it just stays this way, but the skeptic in me can't help but wonder if I'm in for a really rough labour or something as payback.

What is your biggest fear about labor?
I guess my main concern is a) the baby makes it through OK, and then b) I make it through OK in the longrun. I'm nervous about some things, i.e. getting to exhausted to go on and not being able to do anything about it, or finding it too painful to stick with my plans for no meds., etc. and maybe worse of all, not being "gutsy" enough to assert what I want and don't want and stick with it... but for the most part I'm pretty much just "ready to go" whenever baby is and would sort of just like to get it overwith and meet this little creature.

How far along are you?
37 weeks tomorrow!

What is your favorite baby item you have for this little one so far?
That's tough because it's all so very cute and little, but I think my favourite is the matching Skull & Crossbones diaper & t-shirt from Wiggle Worm Bottoms cause they're WAHM-made, but way cooler than the bigger brand stuff I picked up.


Thanks for the great questions, ladies, I hadn't really thought about some of this stuff yet/in a while.

[richella]

What are you studying (or not studying!) and what kind of work will it make available for you? How soon do you think you will want to go to work after the baby?

Did you know you had conceived right away?

[amyleigh33]

What are you studying (or not studying!) and what kind of work will it make available for you? How soon do you think you will want to go to work after the baby?
Well, I am studying History and French specifically because originally I wanted to be a high school teacher; but now that I am having a baby of my own and having doubts about wanting to enroll my own child in the public school system, I am starting to question that goal... which I think is also part of the reason why I'm not so into studying right now... I'm kinda wondering about going so far into debt (student loans), which will force me to take a job teaching, when I could just opt to study on my own terms and homeschool, KWIM? Anyhow.. so that's where I am at with that!

Did you know you had conceived right away?
No, unfortunately not... didn't know for at least a few weeks.

[emiLy]

Yeah- GILMORE GIRLS!!!!!! I have a daughter already and we sing the opening song together - I have totally forced it upon her. LOL She's three so obviously not really into the show itself but someday... oh someday.... We will walk down the street, arms linked and gab on and on. ROFL

I was also going to be a high school teacher and I am SO GLAD I didn't go that route. We're gonna homeschool/unschool too.

Are you close to family (proximity wise)?

Are you going to name a girl Amy?! LOL

Are you in Canada, or did you just go there to hitchhike? Have you ridden the trains there?

How were you managing to not be working or in school, and travelling?

[clavicula]

Is it hard to maintain a well balanced vegan diet?

Where are you on the "chrunchy scale?"

[amyleigh33]

Originally Posted by emiLy

Yeah- GILMORE GIRLS!!!!!! I have a daughter already and we sing the opening song together - I have totally forced it upon her. LOL She's three so obviously not really into the show itself but someday... oh someday.... We will walk down the street, arms linked and gab on and on. ROFL

Awesome! More fans! Heheh. I have had a few, actually serious discussions, with people a lot about the show/them/etc. because personally I think (except for the fact that they're both very beautiful and very thin) they are also portrayed in the show as really strong, smart, witty, etc. which is a more positive image than given to a lot women on TV. And though Loreli Sr. had rich parents, they show her "doing it on her own" without their help. I honestly think that for the most part, the relationship that they have is one type of parent/child relationship that I really respect and plan to try to emulate to a certain extent. I like that most of the time they're just friends and they respect each other (and yeah, I realize it's a show and IRL it might be a lot harder to replicate) except only once in a while when Rory's doing something really stupid Lorelai pulls out the "Mom Card" and Rory knows it's serious. Anyhow yeah maybe I'm overanalyzing a TV show too much, so I should just also note that I just think it's really freakin' funny.

Originally Posted by emiLy

I was also going to be a high school teacher and I am SO GLAD I didn't go that route. We're gonna homeschool/unschool too.

Yeah, I still have some time to decide before I am sooo far in debt that I can't dig myself out on a low-wage job; but there will be a turning point that I'll pretty much have to finish and go through and get a "real" job to pay back those loans. Hopefully once baby's a bit older I'll be able to figure out my priorities in terms of his/her schooling vs. my own career, etc. Right now I'm definitely leaning towards schooling my own kid instead of other people's

Are you close to family (proximity wise)?
No. Jeff and I moved to BC about 2 years ago and all our family and friends live in Ontario. It was ok for a while, in fact last year we had about half a dozen friends camping out on our living room floor on and off for about 4 months which, while stressful, was also nice but now we're pretty solitary with the exception of a handful of folks we hang out with once in a while. Even a lot of the friends we made here drink a lot, go to concerts, parties, etc. all the time which isn't really where we're at, obviously. Hehhe.. But my mom will be here in 2 weeks today for the baby! Yay! My mom's pretty old, so we're not like Lorelai & Rory or anything but I we're still really close.

Are you going to name a girl Amy?! LOL
No, hehe, but I did have Rory on the list except Jeff said, "No way!"

Are you in Canada, or did you just go there to hitchhike? Have you ridden the trains there?
Yeah, I live live in Canada. Woo hoo free midwives! If you mean train-hopping, no we didn't do any of that. I was too terrified. It took 2 years for Jeff to talk me into hitchhiking; when we originally came to Van we took the Greyhound for 75 hours. OK so I think it was avoiding THAT again that really convinced me

How were you managing to not be working or in school, and travelling?
Basically our 6 month lease was up at our apartment, so we just sold everything we could (or wanted to) put the rest (mainly our bikes) in a storage space for $100/month, had a friend take care of our bunny, and used our last paycheques from the bakery we worked at and took off. Really isn't that hard when you don't have any responsibilities... not really an option any more, so I am really glad we did it while we could (and lived to tell the story! yipes!)

[amyleigh33]

Is it hard to maintain a well balanced vegan diet?
I don't think so... especially now that they've adapted the Canada & US food guides for "normal" diets to concentrate mostly on fruits and vegetables, then grains, then dairy and meat; and they even talk about how you're supposed to combine different colours (something vegan food guides have recommended for years), etc., pretty soon it won't be so far-fetched for people to just drop the couple recommended servings of meat & dairy for alternatives like legumes or something. I really had no idea on the status of my health, other than just feeling healthy, until the prenatal bloodwork results showed I had really good iron stores, b12 stores, etc. which I was pleased with.

Where are you on the "chrunchy scale?"
Pretty darn, but I'm not a hippie!!!!!!!!! : heheh. My biggest "non-crunchy" things are probably eating fast food every couple months, using disposable wipes to clean the toilet, erm... I'm sure there's more I just can't think.

[BrooklynDoula]

What is your favorite vegan chocolate? (I adore terra Nostra Dark Chocolate Truffle bars)

What is your favorite piece of maternity clothes?

Where is your favorite place you have travelled to?

[amyleigh33]

What is your favorite vegan chocolate? (I adore terra Nostra Dark Chocolate Truffle bars)
My favourite purposefully vegan chocolate brand is Cocoa Camino, except I haven't had great luck with the chocolate chips... my favourite accidental chocolate are the President's Choice Purely Decadent Chocolate Chips (probably a Canadian thing), they're soooooo good. I've never tried Terra Nostra i'll hafta take a look at my HFS next time. I love chocolate

What is your favorite piece of maternity clothes?
Probably my belly bands that allow me to wear some of my drawstring/elasticy normal clothes, like skirts and yogapants or sweatpants. My actual "maternity" pants and shirts are kind of awful (though I really liked them at first, I think it's a "getting sick of 'em" sorta thing) and I only have a couple.

Where is your favorite place you have travelled to?
Here in Canada, I love the Maritime provinces. I've never been to any other countries (except the US) I'd love to see many parts of Europe and Latin America.