Approaching thirty-six weeks…

In spite of being distracted by I-don’t-know-how-many episodes of Breaking Bad, this was a productive weekend.

My office threw us a very nice shower on Thursday evening that got me inspired to sort and organize the baby things I have on hand – and I must say we’re very well equipped. There is no dearth of adorable onesies and swaddling blankets – and lots of other sweet and needed things too. I still have the big task of washing everything which I’m saving for next week, when I go to my three-day-a-week work schedule. But the sorting and putting away helped me plan out how to use the space efficiently, and also helped me tackle a little pocket of cleaning in the bedroom that I’d been putting off.

On Saturday morning, Zach installed the car seat! We officially have a baby seat in the Prius. Here’s Dad-to-be after completing this feat of wits and strength:

For those interested, we chose the Britax Chaperone. We tested a few in a baby store, and liked that this one is a detachable infant carrier that attaches to several of the really great Britax strollers – so we’ve got our stroller selected to0 – Britax B-Scene – but are waiting to buy it until spring. Babe can be carried in a sling during the remaining winter months. Stroller walks can wait for longer, warmer days.

After car seat installation was complete, we headed out on a shopping trip with three goals: one, a new 2×2 Expedit for the living room, and baskets for the cubbies; two, decent DVD storage binders; three, all of our home birth supplies. The Expedit (now put together and nearly filled up) was a needed organizational tool -now holding some computer parts, balcony gardening tools, and two cubbies worth of knitting materials (aka, my stash). The binder was a big dad-ward step for Zach – he transferred 90% of our DVDs into two binders, keeping cases only for special stuff, thereby making more storage room in our other living room cubbies for thingsthatneedtobeputsomewhere.

And the birth supplies, obtained at Rite-Aid and Target, are from the list provided by our midwives which we need to have on hand in advance of our 36 week home visit – so we’re ready when ever Red Bean decides to make his or her grand entrance into the world.

Missions Accomplished!

More weekend accomplishments included the actual transfer of DVDs into the binders, a fabulous photo session with a great family whom I’ve been shooting for since their first baby was expected almost four years ago! Lots of photo editing, pizza with grandparents-to-be Dave & Donna, and the ordering of a steam mop, gift from grandmother-to-be Avi.

Two and half days of work until Thanksgiving, then a nice long weekend ahead. I’m looking forward to that.

Nursery decor: stylish crib sheets!

I posted a few weeks back about planning to make crib sheets for our Alma Bloom Mini crib mattress. Best I can tell this is the only way to get anything other than the Alma Bloom brand sheets which only come in white and are $50 for a set of 2. I found a tutorial online which seemed exactly what I needed, and enlisted Auntie Kristi’s help – she being the only person I know in town with a sewing machine! I bought three great fabrics from fabrics.com, 1.5 yards each (these were in the neighborhood of $13-16 per yard but there was a sale, and I ended up rounding the least expensive one to 2 yards to bring my total to $35 in order to qualify for free shipping).

You can read the tutorial for yourself if you’re interested. The sheets were very easy to make. One hint and one change we made:

The Sweet Hereafter

I’ve started a new page (accessed from the menu in the header) called The Sweet Hereafter, to collect my growing arsenal of new baby knowledge.  My first entry is under the “Stuff” category, thanks to new parents Andrew and Rachel, from our childbirth class.

Andrew and Rachel’s baby came a little bit early which was lucky for us, because we got to see the new family at our last class, and hear what things looked like from the other side of the belly! Of interest to me was the “stuff” – what do you really need, what do you really use? On my mind, mainly because of our upcoming baby shower and the creation of registries that goes along with that.

Andrew and Rachel sent our class members a great list of the things they had used so far, and allowed me to post it here. Andrew writes: “We took what seemed like a minimalist approach, but I know that – even before writing this – that it will be a long list (though nothing compared to what buybuyBaby will tell you is needed).” Click to read more.

Thank you both for sending this! It’s SO helpful.

Crib Sheet Tutorial

Just found this tutorial on making sheets for the Alma Urban Mini Crib we purchased. It is smaller than standard size, and the only sheets I’ve found so far are the Alma brand sheets at $45-50 per two pack, and only available in white. I’d like a few more sheets and some in other colors. Thankfully, The Priscilla Home blog shows me how to make sheets. Looks like I might need an afternoon with Auntie Kristi and her sewing machine!

Birth in the Squatting Position

“Birth in the Squatting Position” is one video we watched in childbirth class so far. It was, as you’d expect from the title, one mom after another pushing her baby out from a squatting position. We’re three weeks in to our 8-week class with awesome instructor Susan Messina, and so far this video was one of my favorite parts of class. In my days working with midwives I saw lots of moms have their babies in this position, and I’m all for it. It uses all the mom’s efforts so efficiently, along with gravity, and opens the bones of the pelvis beautifully for baby to move through and out. Those slippery little tykes were popping out like chubby little bullets. Go babies!

I have to take a kind of annoying bus ride to get to class, but it’s long enough to make visible knitting progress so I won’t complain.

In the Know…

One of my favorite new blogs to follow is called In the Know Mom -founded by good friends and moms Erin and Sarah, ITKM covers great, high-quality and eco-friendly products for babies and kids, along with a few great recipes and DIY ideas to keep you creative. Even better, a lot of their product reviews include giveaways of the product they’re reviewing. Totally worth checking out. And today especially, because they’ve reviewed (and are giving away) a super-awesome car seat by Peg Perego. Read the review and details here, and if you feel like entering the giveaway on my behalf I’ll write you an extra-special thank you note!

The article includes links to car seat review sites, as well as details about the Peg Perego seat. The seat itself is very highly rated, and snaps into many different stroller bases. So basically, I’m saying, if I won this car seat, Red Bean would be sitting pretty.

If you wanna sing out, sing out!

One thing I learned working at Capital City Public Charter School is that Cat Stevens is great music for kids. I take it that means prenatally too.

I’ve also been thinking about the “playlist” I want on hand for our birth. My birth assistant, Claudia, mentioned it when I interviewed her, and she emphasized the wisdom of having a few different lists of varying energy in case you need to change things up. Calming; danceable; singable; energizing; mellow. A few days later I heard this great story on NPR about one woman’s desire to defy the stereotypical Enya birth playlist and heard on her list one of my favorite songs by Somali hip-hop artist K’naan, “Wavin’ Flag”. Her list is a great one.

So, friends, recommendations! What should go on my lists, and in what “category” does your recommendation belong? Help me make Red Bean’s Welcome to the World playlist.

A little flurry of activity

Something about Red Bean’s first kicks set off a cascade of birth preparation activity!

BirthCare, my midwives’ practice, has 4 midwives who share call. Additionally, they require that I chose from among their partner birth assistants the assistant I wish to be the second person at the birth. So from their list of partner assistants, I chose a few to contact and set up meetings with. One of the choices, well-liked by my friend Ann (who also used BirthCare) was actually not available at my due date because of Christmas holidays. Another was available and we arranged to meet. And the third that I called works in a group of three assistants who share their own “call” and cover for each other in case of two moms being in labor at once. They have monthly meet & greets for prospective parents to meet all three of them together before committing.

Once those meetings were set up, I went over to the yoga studio around the corner from my office and signed up for their newcomer’s special – one month unlimited yoga for $50, and registered for the Wednesday evening prenatal yoga class.

Today, I met with the first of the birth assistants over lunch at Teaism, down the street from my office (have  I mentioned how conveniently my office is located?) and we had a great two-hour conversation about her style, my style, her background and mine, what I’m looking for and what she offers. Her skill and experience seemed excellent and I enjoyed her very forthright and open manner.  I do make judgments based on intuition and first impressions and I was very happy with her.

I’ll be meeting with the three partner assistants in just a few days. Once I’ve settled on our birth assistant, I’ll begin the next step: securing a pediatrician and taking care of paperwork at our back-up hospital (our midwives require us to pre-register at our hospital of choice in the event a transport is necessary, to ensure a smooth transition). And then, just about 5 weeks from now, our childbirth class series begins.

It feels good to be actively doing something – both having the energy to do things, and checking items off the to-do list. It also feels wonderful to have our baby wriggling and occasionally kicking inside – making himself or herself known. We can’t wait until Zach can feel it too. I am beginning to sense a bit of escalation, and I want to embrace it, but also to keep my patience and resist the temptation to live only for the next milestone. Every day is a milestone when you’ve only been around for 18 weeks, right Red Bean?

Baby hammocks

I’ve spent a week of evenings now researching baby hammocks!

While I was in LOVE with the bassinet/crib I picked out, I’m becoming more convinced that a baby hammock is the way to go with a wee one. Like the bassinet form of my chosen crib, a baby hammock is designed for babies from newborn to around 6 months, but unlike any flat sleeping surface, hammocks gently mimic the natural curve a baby’s back, helping them to sleep comfortably on their backs as recommended. The shape of the hammock also mimics the snuggly womb they’re used to, helping, so all the testimonials and articles I’ve read say, with colic issues as well as helping babies sleep comfortably for longer stretches at a time.

Ideally, one more of their charms is that they are small and can hang from the ceiling. Challenge for me is, in our current apartment, our ceiling is concrete. So we’ve got to talk to building maintenance to see if they will allow, and also can assist us, to install the necessary hardware in the ceiling. The other option, and actually a lovely one, is a hammock stand – but the drawback is the stands add upwards of another hundred-fifty dollars to the cost, and most of them have such a wide base that they’d actually claim more floor space than a crib. A few of the stands  have a lovely T-shaped leg design that would make better use of space, but naturally the better design costs more.

The other factor on my mind is that the crib I love is considerably cheaper sans its bassinet conversion feature. It’s also widely available via Craigslist at better prices, again, sans it’s bassinet conversion feature. As lovely as is that bassinet, I’m thinking if we can solve the ceiling/stand dilemma, I want to go with a snuggly hammock for baby Red Bean.

Mommy-work

I am a procrastinator. So I knew it would take asking for help to deal with two large drawers plus a box of framed photos taking up the tiny portion of space in our bedroom that will be Red Bean’s territory in a few more months. I have a beautiful dresser that belonged to my Grammy & Pawpaw, and they gave to me. Given a) our shortage of storage space and b) our plaster walls no good for hanging stuff on, I’d used the dresser to hold the many, many, …many framed photos I’ve acquired in years of camera toting good times. But now the dresser is meant for Red Bean and the photos need to a) be put on the walls or b) go away.

I enlisted my best friend to help me start and finish this task, and on Saturday afternoon we emptied all the pics onto the bed, sorted by my love for each given picture, and with a lesson in the marvels of 3M wall hanging stickimajiggits, put pictures up all over the house, shed the unwanted frames and no longer loved images, and left the dresser prepped for cuddly new babywares. In between the work, we ate watermelon, discussed weighty matters, went out for Mexican food, explored Target’s baby section (I’d never ventured to that daunting corner before) and sipped a splash of white wine. (Admission, yes, a splash: deal with it!)

It was a wonderful evening’s work and I am very grateful to have a friend who is not averse to prodding me through daunting tasks, or to sweeping up dust bunnies that I pretend not to see. Thanks, darling!

I’m also grateful to have a dresser standing ready for our new family member. *giggle*