:::MiddleMusings:::: The Nursery and the Homestretch

As I write this, we are currently 37w4d -- more or less full term and just waiting until the big day. I am still feeling pretty good and I am not yet at that point of being so-uncomfortable-and-just-ready-for-it-to-be-over.

Today, however, was a little different. Before lunch at work, I started to feel a little crampy and I was full-on sweating. Now, it was only in the high 50s today and rainy in the Philly area, so I mostly chalked it up to my decision to wear a light sweater today and the humidity. By the time I got down to lunch, I felt a little wifty and almost trembling. The pains in my abdomen were really mild, but I was slightly alarmed by the whole mess. I felt better while I was eating (figures!) but by the time I got upstairs, I was back in the zone I normally feel on about the second or third day of my period -- crampy and feeling like I could spend an hour in the bathroom.

Once I relaxed a bit at home and made C cook dinner (a momentous occasion!) I felt pretty much back to normal. The only thing about today is that it made me feel more like I wasn't going to make it all the way to May 16.

Right now, and I honestly can't remember if I have outlined this before, my intention is to work as long as I can. I have several reasons:

My short-term disability insurance from my work sucks and doesn't kick in until the day you give birth. This means that any day I stay home before birth comes out of my stock of sick days, which I am saving greedily. Our plan also only covers six weeks off from work -- regardless of doctor's orders -- and during that six weeks, the first week is completely unpaid and the consequent five weeks are only 60% pay. Given that C and I don't make much money put together and that I generally pay the mortgage, this is a problem. My HR representative agreed to supplement my disability pay with my banked sick and personal days, but the disability pay is often later than the normal paycheck would have been. Ugh.
I am a bit of a control freak about my job. To be fair, that which is left of the school year is pretty darned important. I am teaching one more chapter before wrapping up for finals, so that is important, and I also have to prepare the study guides and the final exam for the longterm substitute. Granted, she is being paid and already started last week for me to "train" her, but there is no way she can effectively make guides and exams based on material that she never saw or taught. She is literally just strolling in at the very end of the school year to babysit during finals review. I want the last chapter, the study guide and the exam to be done right and the longer I am there, the better chance I have of getting it all done.
I know that statistically there is generally nothing wrong with babies born after 37w, but I have two experiences that have freaked me out of late. First of all, my cousin was born just a few weeks premature and was huge. At over 9 pounds, the doctors figured he was ready. He ended up having premature lungs and suffering with asthma for the first 21 years of his life. I know this is just an anecdote, but I would rather Charley was as close to 40w as possible. Adding to this anxiety, I recently read an article from the March of Dimes about how babies should not be induced until 39w minimum whenever possible. I know, this anxiety is largely unfounded, but more time baking can't be a bad thing...

Moving on from my tumultuous tummy and irrational anxiety, let's discuss the fun stuff -- the nursery. As of this week, we are pretty much ready. All of his clothes have been washed, folded and put away. His entire cloth diapering system is prepped, organized and good-to-go. His bed is made, sleeper built, car seat installed and stroller assembled.

My shower was really wonderful, but included many things that we never asked for and frankly cannot use. We spent the past few weekends gathering up exchanges, coupons and gift cards -- and spending a good bit of money -- picking up the odds and ends we still needed. I also had a beautiful shower at work last week, bringing us pretty much down to the homestretch.

Below are some pictures of the nursery. We chose a monster theme, but the set was somewhat limited with accessories. We decided to make some of the details ourselves including some monster canvases (not shown), the "now we have everything" triptych and the name banner.