are we ready?

Today I am officially 9 months pregnant.

A lot of the baby preparation has been going on for months but what do people mean when they ask if we're ready? Mostly I think they want to know how we're feeling about the impending arrival of something that's going to change our life forever and other times they are asking if we're prepared with the tools and such for this new pal.

So… are we ready?

As far as the big to-do's before baby… if you remember a few months ago I posted a list of the big things I hoped to accomplish before we had the baby and here's a status update on those things.

Nursery: I'm glad I heeded the advice of a co-worker that suggested I get on the nursery while I was still small enough because I wouldn't want to do much later on. So right on. The nursery has been coming along for months now and as prone to procrastination as I am, thank goodness I started that process awhile ago because it is exhausting carrying around this big belly and doing anything strenuous, muscles ain't what they used to be. There's a few minor tweaks I'm thinking about making in there and we are still waiting for the delivery of the glider and I still haven't bought a rug but if the kid came now, she'd have a place to lay her head and a place where we can change her if nothing else and that is just nice to know. The glider and ottoman should be arriving soon as well.

Car: We bought a car. More particularly, we bought a mini minivan. While we recognize that it's not at all necessary to have gotten anything other than a compact (my sisters dealt with a baby and had zero car), we thought about the future and scary thought as it is, we thought not about our first kid but about our second kid and if we're gonna go through the trouble of finding a car to purchase now, we might as well think about what we'd like to have when baby #2 came along in a few years. And that's how we ended up with the hot ride that's sitting in our driveway. My only beef is that the front passenger seat is so comfortable I wanna nap in it as soon as I sit down.

Bed: After years of wanting it we finally bought the Hoffman bed from Room & Board. I often ask Matt: "Hey honey, know what I love other than you?"

Laundry Room: While we didn't install any additional cabinetry or buy new machines, we were able to paint it and install a different shade to go over the window. The simple act of having painted the room was enough to make me happy so we'll give ourselves a pass on this one for now.

Pediatrician: I'm happy to report that we have chosen a pediatrician. We met him last week and got the good vibe from him right away and cemented our decision when we mentioned that we had a friend who was a pediatrician and it turns out he not only knows her, she fills in for him when he's unavailable. Small world? Sure. But I took it as a sign from on high. He's a bearded Jewish doctor and not to be racist but Jewish doctors are just better than other doctors.

Hospital or Home: I mentioned already why & how we chose a hospital, have taken a hospital tour, and pre-registered with them. We've also done an infant first aid + CPR class with them.

Other Preparations: I've washed a load of new baby clothes (0-3 mo) and blankets and hung up the 0-3 mo clothing and the rest is in bins labeled for later months. We installed the infant car seat in the van so we'll be able to leave the hospital with our child, whew. We've made space in the cupboard for baby feeding type things and I've covered whatever outlets were exposed in her room even though that's way far in advance. My hospital bag is packed and so is her diaper bag. We try to make sure the house is always in some state of order before we go to bed just in case I go into labor. I've read a book on pregnancy, childbirth, and started one on breastfeeding. I've started filing for disability and working on filing for the paid family leave act and the insurance company is sending me a breast pump (for free!).

Emotionally, hmm. We're not teenagers, we're 30 year old adults and responsible ones that have jobs and own houses so at least we have that going for us. We've been around babies and little girls since our nieces have been born and have lived with them, spent days watching them and changed a few diapers. But can anything prepare a person for the onslaught of newborns?

I do feel that I seem to be the only person that wants our girl to be born on her due date. Everyone else wants her to come early. Maybe I'm just not at that ridiculously uncomfortable state yet, maybe I just really really want her to be born in July, maybe I really just want to enjoy these few weeks of it being Matt & me for the last time, maybe I want to get a few more things done. Okay, yes, all of these things are true, especially since we have one more shower to go. On a recent doctor visit, my OB said that in a few weeks I'd be full term and on that visit I'd be checked and given a guess for how much longer this chick would stay in there and she "highly doubted" I'd make it to my due date since I'm "a small person" and my smaller person is running out of room so basically, this kid seems ready to go and could come at any time.

Is that terrifying? Heck yeah. But I'm also in a nice state of denial about the reality and approaching the fear with as much information and preparation as I can possibly muster. I want to keep myself busy with those last minute nothing to do with baby things (but sort of everything to do with her) like really going through the mountains of papers to file and just taking care of things I've been meaning to take care of and even sending out thank you notes before it's too late and I have a kid attached to my boob that I have to stare at constantly. I'm looking forward to that, but for now, I'll take any extra days of preparation I can steal.