Pranava: I have been thinking about you and am glad to see you posting. I think your new perspective is a good one -- no matter what happens, you are that baby's mother. I'm sure it is a huge blow and you never expected to be in this situation, but you can do it.
I hope that your ex figures out what she wants to do and you can move forward with that information. What do you want at this point? Do you want her to be a parent or would you rather do this on your own now?
As far as keeping cats out of the bassinet, I do not have any suggestions. At least one cat can be found in the co-sleeper at any given time around here.
Finally, my offer still stands for getting together sometime.
Heart-n-Bones: Congrats on seeing your baby on the ultrasound. Have you made any decisions on homebirth midwife v. ob care yet?
Beccalina: You must be so excited to be so close. And since everyone else is putting in plugs for certain dates, I think 10/12 is a GREAT date. My nephew will be four on that date and he's a super cool kid.
Jodybird: Welcome!
Ellie: Isn't seeing the heartbeat so amazing? The heartbeat sounds perfectly normal to me. In terms of when you can start breathing again.....I think 18 sounds like a horribly stressful time to be a parent. When I think of 18, here's what I get: Colette is going off to college. Possibly far away from us. Maybe living in a dorm. Parties. Lots of alcohol. College kids binge drink.
Yeah, I think things out too far in advance and am already horribly protective and scared for her. I don't know that we'll ever breathe completely easy again.
Me: Things are still going really well. I can't believe we only have 98 days until the EDD. Double digits now, baby! DW and I are celebrating our five year anniversary today. I thin we are going to go buy invitations for the baby shower, register at a couple places, go out to eat, and watch a movie we rented last night and did not watch due to the debate. We're really exciting people, huh? I have decided that my best friend is awesome. She is throwing us the shower and called this morning to let us know that she rented
this place for the shower. I love the home and the fact that we are supporting our local neighborhood (we live about a mile away).
I asked my MW for a recommendation for a birth photographer. She gave me a woman's number and when I called her, she is willing to work with us. She is in doula training and considers herself "a doula with a camera." Awesome, huh? So not only are we getting a doula, but she is also doing professional birth photography, a maternity shoot, and newborn pictures. What's even more amazing? It's free. Since she is in training, she said all of her services are free. We're not sure if we will owe her for the maternity and newborn shoot, but who cares? The doula and birth photography services are free of charge....not that we will not give her a generous cash gift at the end. How much do you guys think would be appropriate? She will not be printing pictures for us. She will photograph the birth, photoshop the pictures, and give them to us on CD so we can print them as we would like.
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we are going to get some spicy thai soup to try to clear up her sinuses, and then go get our cards read, since that's what we really wanted to do at renfest, anyway. 
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