Week 22

Advice Request:

Here is this week's advice request as we prepare to create a baby registry:

-What is the best breast pump out there?

-Is it worth it to get a video baby monitor?

-How the heck do you choose a carseat????

How I am feeling:

 I am feeling good.  I feel like I am showing more and more each week, but what’s the strangest for me is how much I feel like I grow from morning to night!  This might sound nuts, but I feel like my belly is so much bigger by the time I go to bed than when I woke up.  I know food and water play a part in that, but it’s pretty funny.  I am still working out 4 or 5 times a week, which is keeping my energy level up and hopefully it will help me with labor, especially since I want to have a natural childbirth.

Here is what I look like at 22 weeks:

Baby movement:

I love feeling her move.  I like to think she’s dancing, but I am not sure there is much room for that ;o)  She moves sometimes when I am at work and it puts a big grin on my face because, in the word of my friend Amber, it's like I have a secret that no one else knows about.  She still moves the most at night, which I love because it’s the time of day when Darren and I are relaxing together and we can bond with her.  I was singing to her the other night and she was moving a lot!  I know it’s probably a coincidence, but it definitely made my night!

Shout Outs

Huge shout out to Aunt Mare for her generosity and for getting us our dresser!!!!  (see below)  She saved us from having to toil over the decision between composite wood and solid wood.  We love you Aunt Mare!

A long overdue shout out to Michelle S. for lending me her maternity clothes, because believe me, those elastic waist pants are starting to really come in handy!

Also, a long overdue shout out to Sarah and Jeff H. who were so generous and gave us a basinet, swing and pack and play.  We are over the moon thankful!

Big thanks to Carissa and Jared S. for the STACKS of baby books!!!  I am obviously a book nut, so this was a wonderful addition to baby girl’s room.  They also loaned us some painting supplies so we (and by we, I mean Darren) can paint the nursery!!!

Nursery:

We have made a LOT of progress on the nursery in the past 10 days.  It is so exciting!  First, we decided on a paint color (and bought the paint).  We chose the light green shade called “seafoam green.”  I think it’s going to be perfect!  I can’t wait to see what it looks like once it’s actually on the walls.

We also finally made a decision on a dresser and a bookshelf.  The bookshelf is here and set up, but the dresser is on order and we’ll have to pick it up at the store in a week or two.  We went with a solid wood dresser from Babies R Us.  We originally went into the store to order one we saw online, but we found one that was almost the exact same for $70 cheaper, and then an amazing sales associate saved us another $100 by tracking down a few coupons and promotions for us.  Thanks Stormie from the Cary Babies R Us!

We also bought a bouncy seat (yes, I had to get something pink!), a clothes hamper, a blanket and a sleep sheep.  We had a very successful shopping day yesterday in case you can’t tell. 

Favorite Names:

We seem to agree on our two favorites!  We both like Lily and Madeline as her first name and then Rae as her middle name.  I think we’re leaning toward Lily right now.  But I am not ready to decide for sure.  We’ll also need to decide on the spelling. 

Labor and Birth:

We officially signed up for a birthing class!  We decided to go with a class that would meet on two consecutive Saturdays.  The class is taught by three doulas: http://www.thebirthingwell.com/ on March 17 and 24.  I think it will be great for us to get prepared, get some questions answered and also meet other people.

Next on the agenda is to sign up for a tour of Wake Med.

  

What I am reading:

I am still reading Husband-Coached Childbirth: The Bradley Method of Natural Childbirth by Robert A. Bradley.  There is definitely a lot of good information about natural birth, but this is actually a book meant for coaches/partners to read.  So Darren will be reading this once I am done.