Getting Ready for Baby

"One is loved because one is loved. No reason is needed for loving."

(Paulo Coelho)

To give a brief update to my last post, I have good news: My OB said that whatever I had been doing worked because Ava, who was full-term breech, turned and is now head-down, so thank you for your thoughts and prayers! I was very conflicted about having an external cephalic version (ECV) -- which would require an epidural and other medications, is only 50% effective, and can have serious risks -- and wanted to avoid additional medical interventions, so I did everything I could to get the baby in a vertex position: inversions, shoulder stands, and yoga cat/cow/downward dog poses; using music and light, and ice and heat; praying; talking to her; manually trying to move her; and finally visiting a chiropractor for the Webster Technique. The chiropractor -- who I'm planning to see again before birth and then again several weeks afterwards -- was the one who told me she thought Ava might have flipped so until I could get ultrasound confirmation I should hold off on continuing the various techniques. My OB performed an ultrasound confirming that my chiropractor was right. But anything can happen between now and my due date, and I still needed to see an ultrasound specialist because there is another issue that could present a problem during birth, but we won't know until I'm in labor so I'm not worrying about it now.

So here we are, and my due date is rapidly approaching! By this point, most pregnant women feel that time is dragging on. I'm very excited to meet our baby girl, but to me it's all still going by so quickly.

In just the past several days, I was able to pull together the baby room, though she probably won't actually stay in there for a while. My mother-in-law's church friend passed along a crib to us, which I wasn't expecting -- I hadn't planned on having any real nursery furniture (e.g. crib, chair, changing table, dresser, etc.), and was only going to use our Graco Pack 'n Play Day2Night Sleep System, which we ended up putting in our bedroom -- and finally, after months of consideration, I decided to buy a swivel glider/recliner chair from Overstock.com when it was on sale, which arrived on Friday. Please see below for photos of my recent progress preparing for our baby's arrival.

Our Bedroom Baby Station

The Graco Pack 'n Play with bassinet, napper, and changing station is in our bedroom, since we put the crib in the baby room. It's stocked with newborn-size Honest Company diapers, Size 1 Pampers, 99.9% pure WaterWipes, Boogie Wipes, tissues, Desitin and A&D cream, Vaseline, Aquaphor, and hand sanitizer. We also have Huggies diapers and Kirkland wipes that my mother-in-law picked up at Costco, so I'll have to see which brands works best for our little one. I've heard good things about Target's up&up diapers, so we'll try those too at some point.
 

Portable Pack 'n Play Sleep System

Bassinet

Side view... shoved in by the glass doors

Diapers and more underneath changing table

Adorable diapers in a basket I crocheted

Other Baby Supplies

I bought a 2-tiered non-skid turntable to hold baby bath, body, and health supplies, which are now in the bathroom. A good friend gifted me with a 3-month bundle subscription to The Honest Company, hence all the great Honest supplies.

Bath, body, and health supplies

Some of my Honest Company stash

More baby-care items

Gender Neutral-ish Nursery

The baby room is decorated in mostly grey, white, and aqua to complement the seafoam-colored walls. I wanted it to be on the more gender neutral side, but it's still pretty girlie after all, with the pink accents. I transitioned the room from my brother-in-law's old bedroom, to my home office after moving here, and now to a baby girl's room. I moved the twin bed to the other side of the room, and originally was going to paint the headboard shelving white, but would have had to detach it from the bed frame, which seemed like too much work. Then we were given the crib -- which came with the teddy bear mobile -- from my mother-in-law's friends, so I decided I would definitely not bother painting anything.

Grey, white, and aqua with seafoam-colored walls

Crib holding my collection of Boppy pregnancy pillows

Walls decals I arranged

Comfy swivel rocker/recliner, grey striped rug, and bed

Headboard with books, blocks, and baby crafts

I'll try to post about baby crafts separately

Grey and white memo board with maternity photos

Girlfriend has a bigger and more colorful wardrobe than I do

Some of her cute little shoes, socks, bibs, etc.

Closet dividers to organize clothing by months

PJs, bear suits, leggings, swaddlers, blankets, and more

Hooded towels hanging on inside of room door

Door latch stoppers in cute prints

Hospital Bags

I packed up a couple of bags for the hospital, including the baby bag and my bag. The baby bag contains hats, socks, a couple of simple sack-style one-pieces, receiving blankets, her going home outfit, baby book cards for footprints, nursing pillow cover (my sister is sending me the pillow), Itzbeen Pocket Nanny Baby Care Timer, hand sanitizer, large zip-top bag, a "0" candle, and a little crocheted garland. 

Baby bag items to bring to hospital

Newborn hat, outfits, and socks

Variety of cards for baby book, "0" candle, and baby-care tracker

Monogrammed going home outfit with hat, converter gown, and blanket

My mom bag contains a pillow, maternity gown, PJs, tops, yoga pants and leggings, undergarments, Belly Bandit, socks, on-sale Crocs flip flops and clogs to easily clean after being in the hospital, hair and body towels, toiletries, vitamins, and an extra zip-top bag. The hospital will provide other supplies, but I have stocked up on lots of postpartum products.

Items in my bag to bring to hospital

PJs and comfortable clothing

Towels, undergarments, footwear, and socks

Toiletries and vitamins

We still need to pack up the tech gear, general supplies, snacks, drinks, candy, and mints, nurses gifts, documents and records, plus my husband's things... and install the car seat!

List of remaining items to pack for hospital

Finally, below are links to 2 videos I've watched and enjoyed:

This is really cute and makes me cry every time!

"I'm So Pregnant" Iggy Azalea Parody.

Personal Space

"I long, as does every human being, to be at home wherever I find myself."

(Maya Angelou)

Almost a year ago, I posted details and photos of our new apartment in "The Big Move", including the outside, the empty inside, and the furniture we purchased. As I had mentioned, I planned on sharing an update on our apartment life once we had settled in, but realized I never did. I thought about splitting it into a few separate updates, but I might as well fit everything into a super-long summary post. So here it is, an "after" from the "before".

Bedroom

The bedroom is small, with an even smaller closet and a single window, and fits a queen-sized bed, 2 complementary-but-not-exactly-the-same nightstands and lamps, and a corner and 2-door wardrobe to serve as extra closet space for yours truly. It's simple and quiet, and the only sounds we hear are church bells, or birdies outside when they sing with extra cheer.

Light, neutral tones are calming

Korean lacquered box with inlaid mother-of-pearl -- a gift from my uncle and aunt
(I also have a larger one from my mother-in-law) -- and my journal

Extra storage with full-length mirrored door

A look inside my wardrobe unit

Towels, handbags, jewelry, clothing, cosmetics, and a few friends

My mirrored corner wardrobe unit holds hanging blouses, cardigans, dresses, and skirts. Sam's clothing is in the regular bedroom closet, we keep our coats in the outside closet, and I store out-of-season apparel in zippered underbed boxes.

Bathroom

The bathroom is very basic, with a sink, mirrored medicine cabinet, toilet, and bathtub. We installed 3 floating wall shelves to hold bath products; a 2-door wall-mounted cabinet with shelf, since the medicine cabinet is very shallow and doesn't hold much; and a small towel rod for our watermelon-y coral Kate Spade Larabee Dot hand towels (the platinum grey bath towels hang on an over-the-door towel rack). A canvas print adds more color to room.

Basic sink and mirror as the starting point

Gifts of fragrance, lotions, and scrubs on added floating shelves

We needed additional storage options

Full view of our added cabinet and towel rod

Monet Nympheas canvas print and Hookless white waffle shower curtain

Hallway

Immediately inside our apartment is a wall-mounted shoe cabinet to maximize space (also holding our wedding cake topper, which I didn't know where else to place). A few steps down the narrow hallway towards the living room is a mini gallery wall of framed photos. I'll eventually add to it since right now most of the photos are wedding-related, which I know is a little lame but we don't have other nice photos yet.

Slim-profile wall-mounted shoe cabinet by the door

Hallway, facing out and facing in

Heading towards the living room

Mini gallery wall, a work-in-progress

Some family photos

Living Room

The hallway leads into the living room, which contains our TV, sofa, coffee table, and a few decorative elements. Before I got married, I lived a very low-tech home life, without cable, internet, even a smartphone, but those things were necessities for my husband. I still don't know how everything works -- TV, cable/Wi-Fi, Blu-ray player, and Apple TV -- but I use my iPad every day (the latter 3 were gifts).

TV/media console against Popsicle Sticks wall art

Sofa with chaise lounge in front of windows

Living room with a glimpse of the kitchen

Colorful embroidered and canary yellow velvet throw pillows

Blooming calandiva, wedding photos, and abstract floral canvas

Dining Area

The living room has somewhat of a built-in room divider, which allows us to partition the space and have a slightly separate dining area, even though it's really the same room. We have an extendable dining table with chairs, a stacked set of folding bookcases for cookbooks and other items, and we bought a buffet with hutch top after moving in because we needed more storage than what the kitchen provided.

Dining area at end of living room

Decorative items on bookshelves

Shelf with wine bottle corks and books

Cooking and craft books (Can you tell by the way it's organized
that I worked in a bookstore?)

Dining table and chairs

Lamp and red, clear, and blue vase stand

Hutch and buffet (flanked by Cher and Dionne)

Nicer glassware, dinnerware, serving pieces, and my ceramics

Kitchen

Last but not least is the kitchen. It's small, with very limited counter space, so when prepping and cooking, I place cutting boards on the stove top for more surface area. We installed a wall-mounted pot rack, a microwave oven, and a paper towel holder for convenience, and bought a dual trash/recycling can to make it easy to sort recyclables.

Where we whip up breakfasts, lunches, dinners, and desserts

Stovetop = Countertop in our kitchen

Nice to have a window, even if it faces a building

Requisite rice cooker, and an ultra compact dish rack

Cutting boards, utensils, spices, and at least 5 types of hot sauce at all times

Wall-mounted pot rack with shelf

So there you have our humble abode: simple and comfortable for this space and stage of our life together. What do you think? Next time, I'll share more close-ups of the kitchen -- or more accurately, of meals made in the kitchen -- in my spring food post!