30 Weeks

I am really late with this one!  I was 30 weeks last week (Monday, June 3).  It feels like the home stretch, although I'm sure the last 10 (or maybe 12) weeks will drag out.

We've gotten a few major things accomplished since my last post.  The first was childcare.  Joseph and I looked at several daycares near our house, and while we liked some of them, they all had wait lists and it did not look promising that we would get in anytime soon.  I didn't want to stress about not having childcare lined up, so when my friend Stephanie suggested doing a nanny share, I thought it was the perfect solution!

Stephanie is due about 6 weeks before me and is also having a girl.  She lives in Morningside, about 5 miles from us (although she used to live just a few blocks away in Grant Park).  We decided to do a share and alternate between our houses.  Last weekend we interviewed several nannies (after carefully narrowing down the list from 50+ applicants we received online) and were fortunate to find one we (and our husbands) love!  We're still finalizing the contracts, but everything looks good and she will start in October when Stephanie goes back to work.  I'm very excited about this - it will be nice for our baby to have in-home care but also get some socialization since she will have Stephanie's daughter to play with.  We've committed to the share for a year, and then we'll decide if we want to continue or send our daughters to preschool or daycare.

We also had our furniture delivered last week, so the nursery is coming together!  We bought a crib, mattress, dresser, nightstand, glider, and ottoman.  They all look great in the nursery.  Now we just have to work on the accessories and bedding.

Finally, I started my Hypnobabies birthing course at 29 weeks.  It's a home study course that has a workbook with informational lessons (e.g., there is a lesson on nutrition and exercise) and 6 CDs with hypnosis and relaxation tracks.  It's a 5-week course, and after I complete it, I will "maintain" by continuing to listen to the tracks.  So far I really like it.  I listen to one class track each day, which is about 30 minutes, plus a track of pregnancy affirmations every day.  It's really relaxing and positive, and it makes me think of pregnancy and birth as a positive, natural event instead of something to be afraid of.

30 weeks