Mother's Day Weekend!

My parents sent me the cutest little card because I am a mommy-to-be! It was the sweetest thing ever! Of course we are seeing both our mothers this weekend and have great goodies to give out. Thanks Mom for all you do!!!

Little Roo is 27 weeks today. There is much discussion about when the third trimester actually begins. Some say 27 weeks, some say 28 weeks. I'm voting for 28 weeks, so there's another week to go!

According to the pregnancy calendar...

Week Twenty-Seven

• Your little one's brain continues its rapid growth. Don't forget to share music, conversation, and even books with your baby!
• Response to sound grows more consistent toward the end of the seventh month, when the network of nerves to the ear is complete. Your baby's hearing continues to develop, he or she may start to recognize your voice as well as your partner's.
• Lungs continue to grow and prepare for functioning outside of the womb. Each day in the womb greatly increases survival rates!
• He also continues to take small breaths and although he's only breathing in water and not air, it's still good practice for when he's born.
• Eyelids are now open more. Your baby can distinguish between light and dark. Retinas have formed.
• Your baby will grow over ½ inch this week alone! You may suspect this phenominal growth rate repeats in the preteen years!
• Average size is now 14.4 inches (36.6cm) and 1.9 pounds (875gm).

I touched base with our social worker today and she has been hearing that things are going well through D's social worker. She knew that we had met for lunch and told me again that everyone thinks we have a great match. I had some questions regarding travel, the letters and pictures agreement, and the amount of money that we are planning on for gifts for D and G at the birth. She said Florida law is pretty liberal regarding these gifts.... we can't give them a new car or anything like that but jewelry is not a problem. We're not planning on giving any diamonds here, so we are in the clear.

This is my latest favorite thing to give to D. I think it's a keeper. I had a lot of ideas but I knew that I wouldn't be able to really decide until I saw her in person. This would look so pretty on her and I think it is very sweet. I want one too!!! It can have so many different meanings so I don't think she would be worried about wearing it and getting asked questions about what it means.

Now I need to figure out what to give G. Buying things for guys is always so much harder!!! Our social worker gave me a few ideas to think about.

Mixed Emotions

I should title this "Mixed Emotions, Part 1" because I KNOW that it will be up and down for a long time. Some days I'm up for it, some days I'm not.

We had a rush of unexpected emotions come up after our lunch meeting on Friday. As wonderful it was to meet D and G in person and as much as we prepared ourselves for these possible confusing feelings, it was still a bit of a shock to actually feel them. The birth parents are real, the baby is real, and a lot of that reality just came rushing in at once.

We recognize that we are going to laugh with them and eventually cry with them and watch them grieve for the loss of their daughter. My heart breaks for them because we know how much they love their child and I am reallly trying to put myself in their shoes. It is not a day that I am looking forward to even though it will be the day that she begins her life as our daughter.

I wish that I could skip over all that, but that's not possible. This is part of the process and it is something we must do.

D and G are going through a rough patch with their jobs and living situation. In the last few days they have bounced from one place to another and now they are on their way out of town for a few weeks to stay with some family. Needless to say, this caught me by surprise, but I can understand that they felt like they had no where else to go. It's not like they are going to call us for help. D called and said that they were going out of town for a while and she didn't sound upset at all, so perhaps this is a good thing for them right now. I will continue to keep in touch with her on the phone and just keep it cool like all along. Her social worker asked her questions and D assured her that they were only going for a few weeks and then coming back well before the baby is due. She is still planning on delivering here.

I don't want to worry. All I can say to D and G is that I hope they have a good visit and they know how to find us when they want to talk. I'll continue to do what I've always done by keeping in touch every week or two just to see how they are doing and to let them know we are thinking of them. I can't imagine what it feels like to ask myself "Oh geez, what are we going to do now?" Please keep them in your thoughts and prayers.

Lunch Today!

We're back from lunch!

Here she is....

and that was even taken back on March 20th, so it's a little old!

Lunch was great, exactly what I had hoped for. It didn't feel weird at all really. No strange moments where we all sat around and stared off into space! It was nice to have the social worker there and she told me as we were leaving that she thought everything went very well.

D loved all the little goodies that I had put together for her and my florist did a beautiful arrangement of 6 purple roses in a vase with a big purple ribbon. I should have taken a picture of it - it was very pretty. D said her favorite color is purple so I did good! They took our photo album home with them so they could look at it more and they gave us 4 sonogram pictures.

Little Roo is going to be a beautiful baby - both her parents are very cute with dark hair and brown eyes. They both look a lot like Bill's side of the family! The plan is to get together about once a month until the baby is born.

I am very pleased... we all got along very well. I am not concerned about meeting up with them without the social worker as we have a lot of things in common. They were just so warm and open, I hope that they got the same impression of us!

Double Digits!

I have a ticker on one of my circles groups.... today it says 99 days left until Little Roo is due!! Hooray!!

Tomorrow is the big meeting! I have the photos in an album ready to go and the captions done in case they take it home with them. I found a very pretty bag to put all the goodies in. I'll be picking up some flowers tomorrow and then it is off to lunch! I'm excited, a little nervous. Bill is a lot nervous.

... to Mike and Paula!!!! They purchased a new house today!!!!

Countdown to Lunch!

The big lunch meeting is on Friday! "D" called me this morning to confirm that we are still coming. Of course we are!! She said she is really looking forward to it. I can't wait - I am taking all of Friday off. I can use a day off work for sure!

I am having a bunch of photos printed that I am going to bring with us to share. They have only seen the few that were selected for the family profile and I think they would like to see more of our home and families. I have to go pick up those today along with a little photo book. If she wants to take it with her, that's perfectly fine. Maybe I'll be able to find one that has space for some captions - who knows what the store has. I haven't been shopping for anything like this in a while.

I put together a L'Occitane travel bag with hand cream, foot cream, soap, and a small tin of shea butter. I'll see what else I can find - I really don't want to go overboard. I also plan on getting some flowers on Friday morning so they are nice and fresh!

Only a few more days.... I can't wait!!

New Furniture!

There's a new addition to the nursery...



It looks pretty funny to me that it's not all pretty and made up but the crib bedding is pending! My mom has graciously accepted the mission to make the bumpers, crib skirt, diaper stacker, and hanging caddy. The mobile of 3 bears came with the crib but we'll have to jazz those up a little - either with some tiny clothes are at least some matching bows! I have the blankets in the crib because they got moved out for the diapers in the dresser. The crib came with a "drawer" on casters, but it was pretty flimsy and Bill said he would make me a better one. I plan on putting the bedding and extra blankets in there.

Don't know what we are going to do with the 2 blank blue walls yet. We originally had a tall bookshelf where the crib is so we didn't hang anything there. I'm sure something will come to us, but I'm not having any moments of creative genius yet.

Viability

Found this on the FF August Due Dates board that I have stalking....

Babies born at this week of gestation and their corresponding survival statistics:

21 weeks or less: 0 percent survival rate
22 weeks: 0–10 percent survival rate
23 weeks: 10–35 percent survival rate
24 weeks: 40–70 percent survival rate
25 weeks: 50–80 percent survival rate
26 weeks: 80–90 percent survival rate
27 weeks: greater than 90 percent survival rate

Today 'D' is 24 weeks and 2 days (but who is counting?) pregnant based on her due date. Little Roo is 22 weeks and 2 days gestation, so she just reached these statistics.

Also from Friday (according to the pregnancy calendar):

Week Twenty-Four

• Bring on the bulk! Baby gains about 6 ounces this week. The weight is in muscle, bone mass and organs.
• His body begins to fill out with his appearance increasingly becoming more like a newborn.
• Taste buds begin to form. If mom drinks something strange or bitter, baby may be observed showing his distaste.
• Little creases have appeared on his palms. The muscular coordination of his hands has improved as he sucks his thumb.
• Over the next seven days the sweat glands will be forming in the skin.
• His lungs are developing "branches" of the respiratory "tree" and cells that produce surfactant, a substance that helps the air sacs inflate easily.
• This week your baby is officially considered viable.
• Baby weighs 1.3 pound (600gm) and is 11.8 inches (30cm) long -- almost the length of a ruler!

Each day that passes is one step closer to a nice fat baby! May 28th is the marker for the third trimester!

I am getting all the cloth diapers ready... most are ready to go! I love getting fluffy mail! Found some mei tai carriers that other moms were wanting to sell so I have a few of those coming soon. One is going to end up being a gift... so they aren't all for me!! I found a pretty Hotsling from another mama that I can't wait to use with Little Roo. Did I ever mention that I have a Moby wrap too?? Yes, it's baby crazy here!

I did order some new babylegs.... they are adorable!! They were having an Earth Day sale so if you ordered two pairs (I picked up strawberry shortcake and green dots) then you got a pair of the organic cotton for free. Couldn't pass that up!