BabyNews.co.za

Reporting to you directly from Merritt, British Columbia – Canada! www.merritt.ca We made it at last and we cannot describe how welcome we feel in our new town.  The people of Merritt truly went out of their way!  Even though we still get lost every day, not only in the supermarket but also on the roads, it feels as if we’ve been here for quite some time!  From and ‘outsider’s’ point of view, I think this town should be awarded the motto of “Friendliest Town in Canada”, if not the world.

Getting lost in a shop like Wal-Mart (equivalent to Checkers or Pick ‘n Pay) has its benefits.  You find a lot of interesting foods which as far as I know, we do not have in South Africa.  On our arrival at ‘our home’ in Merritt at about midnight, we found to our surprise, cupboards filled with a variety of foods.  That was greatly appreciated and most certainly to Sydney’s benefit as you wouldn’t want to starve a pregnant woman at that time of night!  It could be dangerous!  Obviously I rummaged through the cupboards to find my New Favourites.  So far I can say that Kraft Macaroni & Cheese is really good tasting and easy to make and so is the Hot Chocolate by Carnation.  There are many other great items such as “Biscuits” the equivalent to our Scones.  Its ready made in a tin.  All you have to do is bake it for 12 minutes.  No mixing and no dirty dishes.  Who needs a recipe book!?

Besides avoiding the oncoming traffic in the wrong lane, I mean the ‘right’ lane; we’ve encountered some other challenges anyone would encounter when relocating abroad, like opening a bank account, getting cell phone contracts, buying a car and other things like health insurance.  Being citizens from another country, we have to wait for our Health Insurance to ‘kick in’.  This means that we will only be able to see our little one ’kick’ on a scan at 22 weeks, for the very first time.  Unfortunately for us there is a 3 month waiting period once you’ve submitted your application for health insurance.  Luckily we were offered the opportunity by a local doctor (originally from South Africa) to listen to the little one’s heartbeat.  That was truly amazing and we were all surprised at how strong the heartbeat was.  You could also hear the little one moving around quite a bit.  So depending on whether it’s a boy or a girl, he / she was definitely practicing ballet or ice hockey in there.  I can now also clearly feel the baby moving around which I believe is the most wonderful feeling in the world.  Well that is until the little one uses your bladder as a trampoline for extra bounce to perfectly execute their tumbling.

At 14 weeks your little one can apparently already squint, frown, and suck his thumb.  Your baby is about 9 – 10cm tall.  Soon you will be able to find out whether to create a blue or pink baby room.  This is one thing I really wanted to know.  Unfortunately for us, certain ethnic groups in British Columbia terminate pregnancies based upon the gender of the baby.  Therefore they will not tell you whether it’s a boy or a girl.  You can however visit a private clinic at a fee of $200 to find out, but you can buy about 600 nappies for $200!  So currently in baby’s drawer is browns, whites and greens.  I believe yellow and orange can also work, which other colours would you suggest?