It Takes a Village

So, I am pretty sure that at some point, every friend of mine that has had a pregnancy turned baby blog has this exact same posting, but wow, I mean our friends' and families' generosity is just overwhelming. I am so appreciative of all the support we've gotten, even being so far away from home.


Here's a peek at what used to be a functioning guest room, which became baby goodie deposit zone (knowing it would be the future nursery). We have gotten so so many clothes and cloth diapers from friends, which are piled here on the bed.





I decided the only way I could deal with these was in bins...so I sorted them by size, keeping out only the smallest ones for now. Let me say, my friends have great taste. Baby Boy Pulle is going to be one styling little guy straight out of the womb! All these little clothes got me SO excited. Funny how that can happen.


This was such a large job, my parents came to town to help us out. Okay, not really, but we did need their help. I have heard horror stories from friends how putting together a crib could become an all day endeavor, and lead frighteningly close to divorce. Since neither MP nor I is particularly mechanically inclined (and, fine...I admit it, I am sorely lacking in the patience department) and we would like BBP to have a happy home life with his parents' marriage intact....so, it was time to call on my parents for help.



We'd gotten the crib from a dear friend, and had all the pieces, but no instructions. She'd assured me we'd be able to figure it out, and I'm not going to lie. I doubted her at the time. But, really with all of us there to hold pieces in place as others attached the hardware, and my mom's heretofore underutilized (and unknown by me) knowledge of hospital bed workings, we had that puppy together in no time. Add the bumper and crib skirt, and voila!


Only problems, I guess we're not supposed to use a bumper anymore and instead BBP is to sleep in a cage. Worse than that though, it's probably hard to tell in the picture here, but the sweet baby bedding has little green elephants all over it, to which my dad pointed out that he was glad to see I had gotten Republican bedding! I am sure my friend who handed this down to me didn't think of that when she bought it!! Anyone who knows me well (and why I have to explain this, since anyone reading this blog does know me well, is beyond me), knows that I need to now swap this out for sweet little donkey baby bedding. Somehow, the donkey doesn't have the same effect though...sigh. As long as BBP doesn't get confused - perhaps we can offset this with an Obama bumper sticker or onesie or something.

Mom and Dad had another important job to do... A few weeks ago, I asked them to drop everything one day after work and rush over to see a dresser I'd seen posted on CraigsList in Nashville. I'd been keeping an eye out for the past couple months for something I liked, looking on CL, going to antique stores, etc and hadn't had any luck. Then, I found this one, which a lot of other people also seemed to like, so the woman selling it was ready to get it done. Thankfully, Mom and Dad agreed to rush over, and it was just what I'd been wanting, so they snatched it up...and this past weekend, delivered it to my door (well, further even...to the nursery)! Seriously, isn't that so nice?

So, here it is...just needs one of those changing table pads, and we'll be in business!

So, with the crib and changing table in place, clothes sorted and put away, and a few toys set to the side, the once-a-guest-room was looking more and more like a nursery. The only thing was, I was worried that when the bumper goes, it's going to be pretty bare...so, I got this cute picture at Target to liven up at least a 21" square of wall. I don't have much else to say about it, except I guess the artists at Target didn't want to cheat "Y" out of half a square and figured "Z" isn't that important anyways. I hope BBP learns that there is a 26th letter in the alphabet, rarely used though it may be.

As a thank you for coming and helping, Mom and Dad then took MP and I out to our very favorite CoMo restaurant for dinner on Saturday night. I know, seems kind of backwards? That is just how fantastic parents are. I guess we'll have a chance to pay it forward in about 30 years?

Here's Mom, BBP bump, and I.

...and all three of us (BBP bump is much less obvious from front view).

In all seriousness, we're both so thankful for what all of our friends and family have done to help during this crazy, fun and special time. All the baby and maternity clothes, toys, furniture, diapers, and especially time and love given. We appreciate it more than we could express - all three of us!

Here goes nothin'....

Okay, so that's what I was thinking back on Halloween when I set down my very tasty Boulevard Single Wide IPA to await the results. When the "Not Pregnant" part of the line doesn't even show up...that's when it's time to give your husband the beer bottle, get another pregnancy test out, and say to yourself "Well, here goes nothin'"



For the next few weeks, things seemed pretty normal. I consider myself among the lucky ones - or lucky pregnancy, or whatever - but my first trimester progressed relatively symptom free. (I think MP may say that the "hormonal" symptoms were most certainly present! But, I suffered not a bout of morning sickness.) Here I am at 6 weeks - and apparently post yoga class.

MP and I enjoyed the holdiay season with family and friends, followed by a delightful honeymoon in Playa del Carmen, Mexico in early January (where we managed to take about 3 photos, none of which is blog-worthy). I will say that Mexico sans-margarita is a totally different place ;)

The start of the second trimester brought with it the beginning of anticipation of our 20 week ultrasound. We had chosen to forego some of the early blood testsing for abnormality in favor of just waiting to see what the little booger looked like. Our midwife assured us that this would be a fine approach. We really wanted to avoid the fear of false positive results, and the subsequent further testing required in that event.

As the weeks ticked by, I began to have anxiety filled dreams where I was laying on the ultrasound table, and the technician is saying, "I'm sorry, Christine, but we're just not able to tell the gender." At which point I am completely flipping out, "You don't seem to understand, though...I HAVE to know what I am having!!!!" I guess my subconcious was never concerned about the health - clearly my priorities are all sorts of messed up!

Finally, February 19th arrived. MP and I head over for our 9am appointment, the technician brings us back to the room, dims the lights, and starts to have a look at what's been cooking in there. We get to see a picture of the face - watching our sweet little baby's mouth open and close, she shows us BabyP's spine, feet, heart, arms (see below!), head...all the while, I am saying, "...and what about the other parts?!?!" But, my worst fears are confirmed as the tech says, "See here, between BabyP's legs? That's the umbilical cord blocking our view." She invited me to get up and move around, use the restroom, etc. assuring me that she had plenty more scanning to do afterwards. I returned to my spot on the table, she took several more measurements, and then the lilt of cheerful conversation died down. I was sure she was going to give up at any moment, when she said, "Are you ready to find out?" Of course I was, I was ready weeks ago, certainly when I walked into the clinic that morning! She announced to MP and I that we'd been cooking up a little baby BOY! A BOY! I was so excited. I had gone into the day with an unidentified, genderless baby, and came out with a little baby boy. Talk about the best. feeling. ever.

That growing boy in there was also resulting in something else growing, as evidenced by the 20 week belly photo shown below. Lucky for me, you all can't see the rest of my bottom half growing along with it!

Six days after this photo was taken, I donned my first pair of maternity pants, and immediately wondered where they've been all my life! I am fortunate enough to work at home, where I have been able to dress very comfortably (i.e. yoga pants, daily)...but getting out of the house was becoming more of an issue when none of my pants were fitting very well. Thanks to some very generous friends, I am feeling pretty much set on the clothing front.

So, here we are...21 weeks and 3 days into this 40 week adventure (ha! as if the adventure stops at 40 weeks, right?). Hopefully, I will be able to keep a somewhat regular account of how we're doing on this pregnancy and then parenting thing, and my friends out there across the world can have another diversion from actual work to chuckle at our missteps and celebrate our victories :)