Category Archives: Oh Baby

Yikes! Only 79 days until my due date. Which means 76 days until my scheduled c-section. I know it seems like a while, but I know it will be here soon and I need to get organized. My own personal system memory (a.k.a. “mommy brain”) could use a boost these days — if I don’t write it down I forget it — so I’m writing up this master list mostly for my own benefit. It’s basically just a big “to do” list of things I want/need to have done before the baby is born. Hopefully by having it out here it will keep me accountable! At the very least, hopefully I won’t forget anything.

Must Do:
– Install infant carrier in Forester
– Wash/sort baby clothes
– Pack hospital bag
– Double-check on child care arrangements while we’ll be off giving birth 😉
– Remind my publisher that I won’t be writing articles during May, June, July
– Set up crib (even though dollars to donuts she’ll just want to sleep in the baby carrier like both of her brothers did)

Want to Do:
– Stock freezer with two weeks’ worth of dinners
– Bake and freeze some quick breads and muffins for easy snacks
– Make sure pantry & medicine cabinet are stocked to avoid last-minute shopping trips
– Put together basket with pens, thank you cards, stamps, and address book so I can easily jot notes and mail them off
– Stockpile of at least one month’s worth of diapers
– Write out, stamp, and date any cards that need to go out during the month of June/early July
– Wrap a couple small gifts for the boys “from” their baby sister
– Have a couple of bottles on hand, just in case (already have a sample can of formula, but hopefully nursing will go as smoothly as it did with Noah and we won’t need to resort to this)
– Have comfy post-baby clothes ready (who wants to wear maternity clothes longer than they have to, plus I will need to be mindful of my c-section scar — no jeans for a while, LOL)

Am I missing anything?

Wow, today is just flying by! I had an OB appointment this morning, and I got lucky again — no waiting, hooray! I am one of those boring patients that they love. Nothing to report, no real questions to ask. Everything is going along fine. Even my doctor remarked that I look small, but I am measuring on target, so I guess it’s just the way baby girl is curled up in there. She also gave me the official date for my c-section: June 3rd! That is the day after our 8th anniversary. I plan to enjoy a nice, big anniversary dinner the night before, so I won’t be hungry after the point when I have to fast. Actually the no-eating shouldn’t be too bad. She just said no food after midnight, and they usually do the scheduled c-sections first thing in the morning. After my c-section with Noah they let me eat real food right away (best turkey sandwich ever, I swear!), so hopefully the same policy will apply and I won’t be stuck on a liquid diet for a day or so. But we’ll worry about that later.

I had such a great experience last time at this particular hospital, and I hope it will be a repeat performance. I remember thinking that it actually felt like a mini-vacation! The nurses were wonderful, the room was comfortable, and heck – even the hospital food wasn’t bad! Saturday I’ll be 24 weeks along. Crazy! I feel great and have no real complaints. Some back pain here and there and despite the fact that everyone tells me that I don’t even look pregnant (great, so I just look fat? LOL!), some tasks are getting difficult. I noticed that my belly gets in the way when I wash dishes and I literally roll out of bed in the morning. But otherwise, things are pretty uneventful, and for that I am thankful!

There were three “big” items we needed/wanted to get before June when it’s baby-time. 1) A swing. The swing was a lifesaver with Jake and a convenient item to have with Noah. Jake was soothed to sleep every night by the swing and it help a lot with his fussiness. Noah didn’t seem to care either way, but it was a safe place to put him down when I needed to go to the bathroom or cook or eat dinner. As much as I love holding babies, you simply can’t do it all the time. (At least I couldn’t.) We’d donated our old one last year, and it was one that was given to us anyway. Last week Drew found a great swing on clearance, so that was out of the way. 2) A crib bumper. True, not a necessity, I guess, but I think a crib looks terribly depressing without one. We never had problems with either of the boys rolling into it or anything so I did want to get one. We’d also donated our old crib set last year at the same time we donated our swing. Target has some cute bumpers on sale this week, so I picked this one up:

I think it’s cute and the price was right. Some of the bumpers I’ve seen are just ridiculous. The manufacturers might be able to fool a first-time mom, but not me!

Last we just need to replace our travel system. Our infant carrier is past the “expired” date on the bottom, and I’d rather err on the side of caution by replacing it. Besides, the stroller is really beat-up. We used it a lot, that’s for sure! So we’re just waiting for a couple gift cards to come in (thanks to our credit card rewards and MyPoints!) and then we can cross that last item off our list. (It, too, has a polka-dot pattern. I guess I sense a theme here, LOL!)

It feels good to get these items out of the way so I can stress about other things 😉

Sorry for making everyone wait, but we wanted to call our immediate family first. And then there was dinner, and the boys wanted to do this and that and… Well, you know how it goes! The ultrasound went well and the baby looks healthy 🙂 Ten fingers and ten toes. No flipper babies here! (Sorry, that’s a “Brain Candy” joke for those who might not get it.) And the tech was able to tell the gender. She was certain that we are having a girl! Can you believe it? I had to ask, “Are you sure?” LOL! But the baby’s legs were wide open so her girlie parts were discernable.

Poor Noah was rather distraught and in denial for a good while. He really wanted a boy, but he’s come around. Jake was excited to find out that he’ll have a sister. So there you go! Now I have to run and get the boys washed and in bed, but I figured you have waited long enough. Have a great night!

I know you all are awaiting the results of ultrasound! But I figured that I’d just let everyone know it’s not until 2:15 this afternoon, and then I have a regular OB appointment immediately afterwards. I probably won’t be back home until between 4 and 4:30 assuming they’re right on time, so I won’t be posting until around dinnertime probably. Now they’re doing the sonograms right in my doctor’s office, and I love that we don’t have to go to the hospital for it. The hospital is pretty much right across the street, so it’s not a distance issue, but who wants to go to the hospital if you don’t have to?

Yesterday I polled my friends on Facebook and it seems that almost everyone is guessing “girl.” Now, I’m not sure how many of those are gut feelings and how many are people who just are hoping for me to have a girl since we already have two sweet little boys, LOL! Either way, it is very exciting and more than just hopefully finding out the baby’s gender, I’m just hoping that everything else looks perfectly healthy. That is the purpose of the ultrasound, after all. Getting to find out if the baby is a boy or girl is just an added bonus. Wish me luck and I’ll update you all later today!