26w Bump Picture

As promised, here is my 26w (actually 26w1d) bump picture. Jon woke up early today so I had him take my picture before I left for work and the rain did a number on my hair (although my bangs were being difficult this morning so they were struggling before I even went out in the rain).  I feel like this shirt makes my butt look really big, or maybe it was the munchkins I just ate from Dunkin' Doughnuts that are making my butt look big?

Pediatrician Tours and Closet Doors

I wanted to include crown molding in the title of this post but then it wouldn't have rhymed so nicely.

This past weekend we went on our first pediatrician's office tour. I actually almost ended up canceling the appointment because when I scheduled it I was told a nurse would do the tour and we wouldn't even get to meet with a doctor which I thought was kind of silly but we decided to go after all and I'm really glad we did. Things started out a little rocky when we first got there and the door to the office was locked and there was no one to be found (strike one).  Luckily, I had to go to the bathroom (what's new) and in our effort to find the ladies room we ran into a nurse who must have noticed my bump and put two and two together. She said they don't normally do tours on the first Saturday of the month (strike two - made me question their organization and communication since the receptionist clearly had scheduled me for a tour on the first Saturday of the month) but she would be happy to show us around  (her efforts were quickly redeeming the practice). So she took us into the waiting area and started to go over some information with us when several other couples started to show up. Apparently I wasn't the only one who spoke to that receptionist who didn't seem to know not to schedule tours on the first Saturday of the month. At this point our luck really turned around because the nurse handed the tour over to one of the doctors to lead the tour and info session. So we ended up getting to meet one of the doctors after all and we really liked him (Jon especially liked him because they got to talking baseball). The offices were fairly new and seemed very clean and modern and the practice is only about 5 miles from our house so it's very convenient. And although it wouldn't be a deal breaker if they didn't, they do have privileges at the hospital where I am going to deliver so that's another added bonus. We're going to keep the 4 other pediatric consults that we currently have scheduled but at least I can take comfort in knowing that if none of those seem like a good fit, we've already found a really great option.

Also over the weekend we had a visit from our favorite handyman (who I told Jon I want to

adopt even though he's like a 50 year old man) who spent some time in the house installing closet doors in our room, the office/guest room and the nursery. Among all the other weird things this house had going for it when we bought it, none of the closets had doors and we've just had so many other projects around the house that we haven't gotten around to adding them until now. It's so nice to finally be able to close the doors and not have to see all the clutter going on inside the closet and for some reason, I feel like the doors make the seating area part of our bedroom feel larger. We also had crown molding installed in the nursery and it looks awesome. It's amazing what a big difference crown molding can make in a room.  I think the crisp, white of the molding and the closet doors will look great with the blue-grey walls (I finally decided on a paint color so hopefully our handyman will be able to come back soon and paint the walls).

I am also proud to announce that I finally went back to prenatal yoga. The last time I went there was a substitute teacher because the regular teacher was away on a yoga retreat. I thought the sub was tough but compared to the regular teacher, she took it easy on us. I was so sore on Monday I could barely walk! But I did manage to drag myself back on Wednesday evening and plan to continue to go regularly. I really like the teacher a lot. She is actually a doula so throughout the class she shares tips to help with labor and delivery and also gives us a heads up on certain things we can expect to experience - like last night she told us about the "ring of fire" and the thought of a natural delivery that I'd had for about 5 minutes earlier that evening quickly went out the window. 

I will be back tomorrow with my 26w bump picture, not a huge fan of my hair or outfit today.

Progress

25w - Having a bad hair day

I've gotten a lot accomplished over the past few weeks and it's nice to feel like I'm finally making some progress with Baby Liles preparation (even if there is still a ton of stuff that's left to be done).  So far, we've taken care of the following:

-Removed the old, nasty shelving from the closet in the nursery and primed and painted the inside of the closet.  Also spackled and sanded the hundreds of nail holes that were all over the walls.  A huge thank you to Tim on this one for helping Jon find his inner handyman.  
-Purchased closet doors which will be installed this weekend.
-Ordered all the nursery furniture.  Yesterday the dresser/changing table was delivered and it looks great.
-I did some pediatrician research and based off of recommendations from our OB, family friends and the DC Urban Mom message boards we currently have consults scheduled with 5 different practices.  I know 5 is probably a little excessive but you know me, and that's how I roll.
-Completed the registries, although I'm still adding stuff here and there.

And just because I love a good list, here is the list of what we still have left to do:

-Install the closet organization system in the nursery closet.  I am really excited about this one because just like I love a good list, I also really enjoy a nicely organized closet.
-Make a trip to Blinds to Go to look at our options for some sort of cordless blinds/shades.
-Paint the nursery.  This is a tough one because I am having a really hard time choosing a color.  I have lost count of how many paint samples I've been through at this point.  I want a blue-gray that is not too blue, but not too gray.  And I also don't want it to be too baby-ish looking because I want it to be something he can grow into.  Having the dresser actually helps because I found that some of the lighter colors didn't contrast enough with the furniture.  I'm now leaning towards the color on the bottom right.  I think the furniture will pop nicely against it.  The blue and white stripes are for the accent wall.
-Purchase crown molding and have it installed in the nursery.

-Take down the curtain rods that are currently hung in the room and spackle and sand the nail holes. Then, either re-hang those rods at a higher height, or hang some new rods in preparation for the curtains that have already been ordered.

-Purchase a drum shade and figure out how to add it to the ceiling fan (like this).

-Order a rug, which I already have picked out but has been out of stock for the past month.
-Order breast pump through my insurance company.  I think I can do that starting at 26 weeks so I will have to wait until next week for that one.
-Possibly schedule a 3D ultrasound.  This is not something I was originally planning on doing but then my OB told me my next ultrasound wouldn't be until 36w and I decided that was way to long to wait to see the baby again.
-We're going to look at cars this weekend!  My little two-door Accord has served me well but it's just not going to cut it as a family car.  I have a hard enough time getting Bizzy strapped into his harness in the back seat so I know a car seat would be way more difficult.

-Get my TDAP vaccination and have Jon check to make sure he has had his.

I think once the room gets painted and we can start moving things in and decorating the walls I will feel a little bit better about where we are in the process. Also, having a daycare solution would really be a HUGE weight off my shoulders but I don't anticipate that happening anytime soon.

On a serious note, October is National Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month.  You can find more info at www.October15th.com.  October 15th, in particular is Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day.  On that day, everyone is invited to light a candle at 7pm in all time zones, all over the world and keep it burning for at least one hour in order to create a continuous wave of light over the entire world.  

A Few Pictures

Just wanted to share my 24w (actually 24w1d) belly pic -

And a picture of us from the wedding we went to this past weekend -

Remembering...

Angelversary

The necklace I wear every day so that my babies are always close to my heart

This is a tough week for me. Thursday will be our first son's second angelversary. On September 27, 2011 we said goodbye to our baby boy and it was the hardest thing I have ever had to do. In the past two years, there's not a day that goes by that I don't think about him and wonder what he would have been like if he were here with us today. I have a lot of regrets about the decision we made and that, unfortunately, is something I will have to live with for the rest of my life.

One of the (many) difficult aspects of prenatal loss is that people often don't associate it with losing a child since they never actually got to see or meet the baby - which makes it difficult for them to understand why this loss has had such a profound impact on our lives or why we haven't just "gotten over it" by now. But this baby was very much our son and losing him is something we will never "get over." I may have only carried him for 19 weeks, but the love we have for him will last forever. 

"Your absence has gone through me like thread through a needle. Everything I do is stitched with its color.” W.S. Merwin

23 Weeks and Daycare Stress

Growing Bump - Weeks 19 Through 23 (Today)

Nothing much to update at this point, I really just wanted to post my 23 week bump picture. I thought it would be fun to post the last few pictures because I feel like my bump has noticeable grown just within the past week. In fact, yesterday Jon told me "you've gotten a lot bigger over the last week." Um, thanks honey.

We went to look at three more daycares this week. We really liked two of them and the third was old and dirty. Of the two we liked, they are both in corporate office buildings so they offer priority to employees of those companies first, then they offer priority to federal employees and then they open up spots to commoners like us. So basically what that means is they both have ridiculous wait lists and we probably have no chance of getting into either. We did get on the wait list for the one that we liked better of the two and because it's a Bright Horizons we were able to select up to two other Bright Horizons locations and also get on the wait lists for those so it was like multiple wait lists for the price of one. We also got on the wait list for the place we looked at a few weeks ago that we liked and that one doesn't seem to be as long. It's a (non-refundable) $150 to get on a wait list so as much as we'd love to go crazy and get on every wait list possible in hopes that something would work out, we just can't afford to do that so we have to be somewhat choosey. We have an appointment at one other place in a few weeks and then I might start looking into nannies, at least as a temporary option until we can get into one of the daycare centers.

Next up will be pediatricians, which will hopefully be much less stressful.