*Baby Corner*

[Autumnchik 6]

@ Vi - I took a little over 3 months off after Declan was born. I have a contract with the National Health Services Corps that I must fulfill, so I had no choice but to return to work. In an ideal world, I would work part time, 2-3 days a week, seeing clients, and then be home with Declan the rest of the time. We actually were looking into adjusting my work schedule after my contract was up, but then hubby got laid off so I am now the primary breadwinner. Don't make any decisions until the baby comes and you see how you feel.

@ Amaya's Mommy - She is such a cutie Ya know, it seems like sooo many people give the advice, oh you are spoiling your baby if you hold him or her all the time, etc. After my son was born, I heard that from my father-in-law. Drove me nuts, but I kept reminding myself that he is of a different generation and that is what was believed back then. Nowadays, we know that you cannot spoil a newborn. I was like a broken record saying that and he finally got it and stopped (of course, he was visiting 3 weeks after I gave birth when I was fully in the baby blues and incredibly touchy and irritable. I had to keep saying something to him, it made me feel better! LOL)

[DanielParul 50]

I went for my monthly checkup yesterday and I am just upset coz my doc will not do another ultrasound till december and I really want to know if its a boy or a girl (I am 20 weeks already! everybody knows at 20 weeks ) Now I wait another month.

My friends are planning a baby shower for me and well, most of them are not moms yet. I am confused about what are the things I absolutely need for a new baby besides diapers and 'b00bs' so I can work on a list for my baby registry. Please, really need help with this one...

[Nessa 23]

can't you pay for an u/s. that's what i did?

[DanielParul 50]

can't you pay for an u/s. that's what i did?

I am just being cheap and not paying coz I just keep feeling bad to spend money on things ever since Daniel's not here and I am not working (just a guilty feeling for nothing, I guess!). Besides, we've got really good insurance.

Edited November 8, 2008 by DanielParul

[Eveline 9]

Are you in TRICARE? If you really really want to know then have an extra US scheduled, if you are being cheap (like me, hehe) then wait another four weeks and try to find out then, even though baby gets bigger and bigger and it gets harder to see since legs and arms are going to be in the way. Maybe you are lucky though.

About the baby stuff. I'd get the necessities like crib (plus mattress and bedding), carseat, stroller, maybe a changing table, a bunch of long sleeved, long legged onesies, some hats, mittens (or little socks will work too), maybe some blanket (you'll probably get plenty of those at the shower), some bottles (check for BPA if you buy plastic), maybe a pump, pacis and I think that would be it. Maybe the girls here have some more suggestions.

Isn't the 20 weeks us a mandatory one though? They do organ screening then, right? I thought EVERYBODY had an US at 20 weeks...

[DanielParul 50]

Yes, We are on TRICARE and its really good. I checked and its apparantly not mandatory. My doc wants to do one at 24 weeks and will also do the blood test, glucose test etc then.

Oh boy! I will just wait (coz I am cheap ) besides we will need all the money we can save, later and not to forget the christmas shopping

[Eveline 9]

I had my son while on TRICARE and I had my daughter on Humana Military. For her I paid 25 Dollars, for my son, they covered everything. I'm glad we had such good healthcare.

Well, I think 24 weeks is still good enough to see babies gender. At least then, when you don't see the little 'extra' you know for sure it's a girl and there's no more guessing unlike when you have the US done at 16 weeks or so.

[Nessa 23]

I'm on Tricare too, and they approved the u/s for 20 weeks, but I just couldn't wait another month.

[chnst 6]

@Anna: I ordered my birth anouncements at shutterfly. My mom was here for the delivery and she's a great photographer so we used one of her pics and then you can design your own b-anouncement on the website. They came out great! I don't remember how much I paid though. We ordered 100, but prices go down, the more you order.

phew.. I thought I had mine sent out late when Ben was 4 weeks old.

[Anna C. 4]

@ Chnst: hehehe my SIL sent them out when my niece was 6 months... So she set the standards and I have some time left, phew.

Ultrasounds: I'm on Tricare too, but I was in Europe when I was 20 weeks. I did an ultrasound out of pocket there (184 Euros for an organ screen by a neonatologist, 30 minutes incl. gender detection). When I came back I was 23 weeks along and the doc insisted on the organ screening again as she said it has to be done between 20 and 24 weeks, later on it is too hard to detect certain things. Of course they did it again (I don't have to pay for it so who cares)... And still everything was fine. Then I started to have preterm labor around 28 weeks and had an ultrasound then, another one at 32 weeks to check the cervical length and they always looked at Jona too. Tricare paid for all of it.

[Autumnchik 6]

I had an ultrasound at 18 weeks and my little stinker didn't cooperate and show the gender so I had to wait until 32 weeks when my insurance would pay for another one.

[Eveline 9]

I never sent out any birth announcements. Everybody who knew that I was pregnant somehow learned about the birth. I'm not the card writer in general, it only gets thrown away in the end, unfortunately.

[Nessa 23]

new baby pics. The u/s lady said it's pretty obvios it's a boy, that sometimes it gets confusing with a girl if her ####### is swollen, but not in this case. She could find his thingy several times and she was positive

[Eveline 9]

DEFINETELY a boy...girl looks completely different. Congratulations. Those are great pictures. Allie would never go into a position where they could take a profile picture of her. SHe was just sleeping away.

[Nessa 23]

he was moving a lot. his body was first across, head on the left, then all of the sudden he did a 90º turn and his head was on the right, then he decided to sit. She had a hard time trying to get a profile pic cuz he was moving so much.