First and foremost, I'd like to send out massive apologies to the many people who thought I'd officially gone into labor, based on the vague post I left on Facebook a couple days ago. I should have been a little more clear, in that I'm starting to feel the first signs that labor is approaching, not arriving. Sorry, everyone! Hopefully, still another week or more left before baby makes its grand entrance.
The last week and change has been wrought with my increasing anxiety (and constant nagging toward Adam) about the state of the house. The office-turned-baby-room still had not one piece of furniture swapped out, piles of paperwork everywhere, and there were no signs that the big change was going to occur anytime soon. Knowing that babies come on their own timeline, and not necessarily sensitive to their future parents' planning process, I felt like it was time to step things up. We did get the car seat installed by one of the midwives, who is a certified infant seat inspector, so that was a weight off our shoulders; at least baby could legally come home with us after it was born! But home was the operative word...what would be the state of this place once baby arrived here?
This past weekend has set a lot of those worries aside. Adam (and friends) did an amazing job of rearranging the house to accomodate our new arrival. The office has been moved into the living room (we actually really like the new arrangement, almost to the point of wondering why we never did it before!), and the office is now being converted to the future baby's room. Notice I've never called it a "nursery", since neither Adam nor I has a creative or decorative bone in our bodies, so we are literally just going to be putting a crib, a rocking chair and a dresser in there, and calling it a day! I doubt the baby will care if there is Pooh Bear or Kermit the Frog on the walls, anyway...
Tomorrow, I will wash all the baby clothes and cloth diapers we've inherited from friends, load up the dresser with all these goodies, and then finish packing my overnight bag for the big day. Adam has been patting my belly a lot more recently, talking directly to the baby to let him/her know of the life s/he will have upon birth. I think he's really excited, even through our mutual terror at the idea of a newborn in the house. Oh! One more serendipitous occurrence...I was talking to midwife Shelly about not having a bassinet for baby (I never thought I'd need one, but have been convinced by several women that I will NOT want to get up five times per night to nurse the baby in its room if I can just grab it from where it's sleeping in the bassinet beside my bed...hey, I'm all for getting better sleep!). Anyway, she told us that she had one at her house that she'd been trying to sell on Craig's list with no bites, so she's going to let us borrow it for a few months! So glad to not have to buy this, since we'll use it for such a short period of time. We've gotten so many nice hand-me-downs from friends and family over the last nine moths, I look forward to being able to pay the favor forward to some other friend or relative in the future.
So that's that. Adam and I are savoring the last few days of childlessness together by gorging on desserts, rented movies and sleeping in till 10am. It's been good. Speaking of sleep, it's about that time now; I think I can already hear Ads snoring.
'Night.
2 comments:
I meant to comment a while ago on one of your posts about being a bit ambivalent. I think that's normal. Also, being home can take some getting used to - it is very eye opening to see how much validation we get from the workplace. I think that's why a lot of women can't stand being away from the office that long. There's not a whole lot of validation from a youngin' until they are about to have their own - just my opinion though! It takes a lot to be able to tell YOURSELF- "hey good job making it through the day - way to go getting that shower taken today!" Especially the first few months when baby isn't doing much but sleeping, eating and pooping (and crying - eeks). It can get verrryyyyy long and boring and tedius, but I think if you know that going into it and realize it won't last forever, that helps. As my friend told me when I was bored sometime the first couple weeks/months. "Don't worry. Things will get busier soon!" Boy, was she ever right! My mother-in-law lost 2 lbs chasing after Max for a few days recently. Hang in there.
Re: nurseries - I always feel a little weird knowing that some of my friends basically have nurseries that Pottery Barn would be jealous of. We didn't have the money, but also, I'm with you - the little one isn't going to know if there's no Winnie the Pooh on the wall. As long as it makes you happy, that's all that matters. The kid will torture you with what he/she wants on the walls soon enough, so enjoy this time.
Finally, basinettes - everyone told me how I wouldn't want to leave the room too, but I am such a fitful sleeper with any kind of odd noise, that I couldn't sleep at all when Max was in our room - I think he was in the crib from night one. I didn't mind padding down the hall to get him at all (well, except the part about being woken up - that's what I didn't like, not the moving down the hall). I liked knowing I wasn't waking anyone else up and I could rock him peacefully in his room. I can't even tell you how much praying I got done during those early weeks and months. I always wanted to be a stay-at-home mom and when Max was born were were really at a low point financially. I would just rock & nurse Max and pray and pray that we could find some way for me to not have to go back to work. Thankfully Matt got offered the job at Manassas St. Thomas where he is now and I have been able to stay home, but I can still recall those nights praying vividly.
Oh, and if you haven't seen it yet - make sure you watch The Happiest Baby on The Block DVD BEFORE you go into labor - so many great little tricks Adam can use in the hospital to soothe the little one and you can both use for the first couple months. Seriously, the tricks work from day one - so watch it!
Sarah, you always leave such insightful, heartfelt comments! I've been thinking a lot about what you said, and even mentioned your story to Adam this morning. I think having that quiet time in the middle of the night, alone with baby and your thoughts, is SO special and something you'll always remember and treasure. I guess we'll see how much Adam can deal with a baby in the bedroom (sleepwise) and go from there. I just know that once I've been "up" walking around, it takes me forever to get back to sleep, even if I'm dog-tired, so the bassinet seemed like a good middle ground.
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