pinku

7 weeks and 3 days to go....

That's 52 days, which kinda sounds like a lot and at the same time nothing at all.

First a shout out to new mother and all round rocking crafty gal Pinn (also one of the founding Tokyo SNB members) who had her baby girl, Mari in Thailand on 15 August. Congrats to Pinn and Seimi!! I can't wait for you guys to visit Tokyo!!

I've decided though that I need to get organized sooner rather than later. Preparations have begun. We bought a combo chest of drawers/change table from Ikea and Darin is working on some cute animal decorations to keep Dudley amused while being changed. We also have quite a lot of baby clothes, which still need to be washed (do you need special washing detergent?). I also bought a 2nd hand rocking chair on the weekend. It is so nice to finally have a chair and be off the floor sometimes....western people who live on tatami will know what I mean.

So I need some advice from all you mothers out there. What else do I need to buy? Or what items did you find useful or a waste of money in those first few weeks. I think I'll be buying disposable nappies from Costco - how many do you need?? As you see I have a lot of questions.  We don't have a lot of space so I don't want to overbuy, but I also don't want to be stuck without essentials as we don't have a car and can't just pop out to get stuff like in the western world especially in those first few weeks.

my tentative list: nappies, wipes, some kind of cream?, baby bath, breast pump?, baby sling/baby bjorn, some kind of rocker thing?, some kind of magic bin that keeps bad poo smells on the inside... Hmm, that's all about I can think of right now. Help, please.

Tokyo is SO hot!

Yep I love summer but 35 degrees everyday for three weeks will test the resolve of most. As soon as the sun goes down, it's lovely but while it's up it's draining. Our pigs hate the summer way more than us. They eat less and they limit their movement. Here is a picture of Loretta and Sugar cuddled up to a cold pack that we keep in their house. They rarely leave their cooled down tiled area and they even have their own personal pig fan.

Their favourite summer fruits are nashi and watermelon - much the same as me but I also love peaches.

30 weeks + 3 days

Holy moly time is flying. Thanks for your well wishes for Sugar! We've taken her back to the vet and he seems to think it could be cancer, but I'm not convinced. He said there is surgery they can do but it is risky for small animals with only a 30% success rate. That is just too low. We just wish her leg wound would heal up - it's heartbreaking to see a gaping bloody hole in your guinea pig's leg/rump. She is acting pretty normal, though she isn't nearly as active as usual - this also might have something to do with the fact that it has been 34 degrees everyday for the last week. Pigs don't do well in the heat.....just like pregnant women. Ha!

So I'm 30 weeks and I'm feeling it baby. I have some back pain when sitting at my desk for long periods of time, but the worst is the hip pain I get when sleeping on my side. We've added another futon but it doesn't seem to make a difference. Apart from that though I feel pretty good and have just been taking it easy. I walk slowly. We've bought a couple of baby items and their physical presence in our apartment was shocking at first - we really are going to have a baby!! I'm at my happiest now when swimming at the gym. I never want to get out of that pool. I'll be sad when I have to quit the gym at either the end of August or middle of September when my maternity leave begins (my gym is near my work). Luckily I'm pretty much only working four day weeks now and get to finish at 4:30pm. It is very helpful in avoiding rush hour crowds on the trains. Ok, it's 4:28pm now so it's time to leave work.

our sweet shoogie

On Wednesday Darin went to feed the pigs and found blood. He found an open and bleeding abcess on our sweet Sugar's leg and rushed her to the vet. How could we not have noticed?! I had only been cuddling her that morning and she had seemed completely normal. They have cleaned out half of the abcess but had to stop halfway because of excess bleeding. They are not sure why there is so much bleeding. If the infection goes internal I don't want to think about possible consequences. She is our first born pig daughter and has brought so much to our lives. I know she's only a guinea pig, but we have become very attached to this sweet and innocent creature.

So please send lots of healthy pigs vibes our way. Sugar is going back to the vet today. She's been at home the last couple of days but we've separated her from Loretta and both of them seem down. They are not eating and drinking with as much vigor as before and there's definitely been no popcorning. I was shopping at Ikea when I got the call about Sugar's abcess. My initial reaction (after tears that is) was 'what if this was a human child?' What have I gotten myself into?....

Whenever Darin and I are down something that always makes us feel better is 'double pig'. Holding two pigs at the same time. Darin wasn't down in the photo below - that was just a gratuitous double pig moment.

Ganbatte Shoogie!