~Spotlight on Pinoikoi~ (Feb. 3-6)

EDD: 6/21 Summer solstice- the LONGEST day of the year for sure around here!
Name: PK (ok- not my real name, but still, what I prefer online)
Age: 33
Location: Alaska
Family: Dh- B, Sons, 11,6,5,4 (almost 5) two cats, 4 keets
Gender: GIRL!
Names: I think I am going with Ursula- all my sons have vowel names.
Birth plans: First home birth. Am considering donating cord blood, but my midwife wants me to try acupuncture for my bladder/uti issues so it may not be an option.. plus I am not sure that Alaska is within the donation area- as shipping from here just takes LONGER.. I will not be eating the placenta, but will probably have a birthpool.

This is my 7th pregnancy, and one of our sons we adopted. I have felt the baby move, when we had an ultrasound, she kept waving at us! I am rather house shaped. I am an urban high school teacher. (and yes, we have gangs in Alaska).. I lived VERY rurally in Alaska when I was young.. I am mentioned in a book called Kids from Nowhere- although I wouldn't call myself a central character.. I have studied several languages, but have only MASTERED English- well, sometimes.

Oh yeah, and dp told me that I would have gotten a mustang as a consolation prize had this been another boy... so I guess he is off the hook.. that's ok, though since I have been designing a nursery.. I spent $1000 on Sunday on furniture! ... and yes, I am normally incredibly frugal... oh well.

But in my defense, I really couldn't help myself.. I am getting white furniture and ordering pink crystal knobs for it along with two mini pink chandeliers (instead of a mobile).. Dp has already started stocking up on frilly dresses and mary janes.

Ooo, how exciting, a girl!

How did you come about adoption?

What brought you to home birth?

(A side note - in case you have not done the research - Cryobank Internation is the only company in the US {as of 3 years ago} who will except cord blood from a home birth for donation. I was told that there are some rules with US donation banks that only allow donations from institutions that have a certified laboratory. Certifying each home would be impossible expense and logistics-wise. Cryo Intl can however donate the cord blood to an international donation bank. But, if you have newer info let me know as I am very interested in doing this for this birth as well. )

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We adopted my stepson's baby cousin. No relation to ME, but I consider it a family adoption none the less..

I am interested in homebirth because my first two were induced, and it made my labors really long, but my last came on his own, and it was a really different experience for me.. so a homebirth seems sort of an extension to that... plus Alaska law is pretty homebirth friendly, and this is my last chance to try it out.

The cord blood donation thing- I was following a thread on the pregnancy board about it.. I am pretty sure that some mamas there said they collected with the blood with the help of a midwife- I assumed they meant homebirths.. but I don't know for certain.

How fun, a girl to buy frilly stuff for I had a girl after 2 boys, she is 2 now and I STILL can't go to a store without buying her some type of clothing...it is an addiction! I want to see pictures of your nursery when you get it complete, it sounds as though it will be GORGEOUS! Are all the boys excited to have a sister in the mix??? Will you go back to teaching after you have the baby? If so, June is a great time to have a baby, a few months off without having to miss work!!!

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My boys are REALLY excited.. my youngest was singing "candy girl" to her yesterday.. I will be teaching again in the fall, dp works nights, so we don't need a sitter.

let me find some links to my nursery.. basically the walls will be LIGHT pink, the furniture will be white with pink knobs.. the crib will not have a "bedding set" because I don't like bumpers and the quilts that they come with, so just sheets and a crib skirt.. oh yeah, and did I mention the two pink chandeliers instead of a mobile? Window hardware

I just can't decide on the window treatment..

I like this set a lot
http://www.toysrus.com/product/index...ductId=3022918
http://www.toysrus.com/product/index...ductId=3022919

but I also like this
http://www.toysrus.com/product/index...ductId=3732273
http://www.toysrus.com/product/index...ductId=3732267

And I DESPERATELY need a way to darken the windows! I have blinds in there for now, but for a June baby in Alaska, that is not enough..

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Well thanks! The hard part is, though because of my location, I have to order everything and HOPE the color is what I see on my screen.. so I am trying to limit my purchases to places that I can easily do a return..

I found out how hard it is to buy a crib in Alaska... really dang hard. Tons of places that offer "great deals" on cribs won't even ship here... We HAVE a JCPenney furniture store, even, but no, they can't send me a crib.

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Interesting! I'd think that over there you would have plenty of choice of craftsmen that could do a beautiful, non-toxic, handmade crib. Over here in the big crazy city where I live (Athens) it is really really tough to find such a crib, so I had to settle with one from a big chain store and I'm not happy about this at all

I've never been to Alaska but I'm determined to come there one day (only got as far as British Columbia and the Canadian Rockies) as I love nature and wildlife (although I live in Greece where the sea and the beaches are gorgeous I still prefer the mountains ).

Also I must say that it sounds very strange to me that we have the same age and getting ready for your fourth child! I only have one and getting ready for the second and sometimes I feel that I'm about to have a nervous breakdown
The family culture must be totally different from ours; here people do not get married till their early thirties so they do not start have kids till their mid-thirties (yes, here I'm been considered a young mom ).

Today I had my 20-week scan and found out that I have a baby girl! I have a son and I feel that I'm crazy in love with him, so I was hoping to have another baby boy. I do not know how I'll ever get used to the idea of having a daughter, so I'm curious about your feelings after four boys!

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Well, lots of my college friends are just now having their babies.. So I think I have been ahead of the game for awhile.. but my dp is 44.. and he already had one son when we got married.. so "parenthood" was kind of given to me from go, so I started having babies while still in college..

But then I work in an urban high school- I see teen moms around me... I don't think I am THAT far in front of the curve.. My family is considered bigger than most- even to most Alaskans I think.. but not overly so.. in my church there is a family with 7 kids that attends every week, and I have had students with families of 14 and 16.. not a lot of them but probably 1 a semester.. Dp was the youngest of 6 kids.

The girl thing is still sinking in for me.. I kind of thought that dp couldn't make girls.. (he has made 4 bio sons after all)

Dp wanted a girl from the start, though.. each baby he wanted a girl.. in his defense, this is the first pregnancy that we were following the "girl steps".. charting/timing (although it didn't work out perfectly) conceiving during the "girl months" on the Chinese gender predictor for both the 33 AND 34 column, cranberry tablets, vinegar, taking dp off of bananas... oh and shallow you know what.. so we were definitely trying to sway the odds.

I LOVE the stuff for the nursery!!! It is so girly, and beautiful!!!!!!!!!! As for the "young mom" thing, I too get "double takes" from people when they walk by and I have my 3 kids and a preggo belly. I am 30 (due on my 31st b-day) and I know that is YOUNG to have almost 4 kids (I too had my first son a couple months before I graduated college), but it bugs me when people look at me like I did something wrong. I look much younger than 30, I still get carded anytime I try to buy alcohol (even if I have my kids with me). And the look on some of the patients face (I work in a hospital) when they ask if I am expecting my 1st and I say no, my 4th...well, sometimes it is a look of disgust Oh, i'm sorry to have hijacked your thread!

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Sometimes I get comments.. the one I have gotten most recently, is "oh, its a girl! Well, now you can be done!"

Um, this was going to be our last bio child no matter what the gender.. not that it is anyone's business...

I have come to realize that when it comes to parenting EVERYONE thinks they are the expert.

LOL, now that I think about it, everyone does seem to know what is best for my children!!! And we got the same thing when we found out we were having a girl after 2 boys "awwww, you got your girl, now you are done"......like my boys were not good enough or something

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Yep, I agree. I didn't really set out hoping for boys, but they are wonderful creatures!

I hate those kinds of negative comments..

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Yep, and dp said he wants to go to the mall (we rarely go to malls) that has Coach AND gymboree in it.. So I am thinking he is taking care of Valentine's day AND girly baby stuff tomorrow.

I told him that's fine as long as we make it to Home Depot tomorrow as I have paint supplies to pick up, and I have stuff I posted on craigslist that needs to be picked up tomorrow, too.. hopefully a bunch of people I am expecting show up and buy the stuff they were asking about.. it amazes me how much stuff I had in that little room! It was my office, and I already sold off the chaise lounge, a giant globe, and moved my desk/armoire out of there and into the family room... I have sold off a half dozen bags of books... threw out about 3 large garbage bags of old paperwork.. and donated about three boxes of odds and ends.. I am ALMOST done cleaning it out.

oh those doorknobs are gorgeous! good thinkin'!!

stick w/ the homebirth plan, it's totally the way to go.
you sound like you are having fun shopping.

Ok- wanna hear a really weird story?

Last night was the first time I took my kids to see a "REAL" performance.. some of them have seen them because of school field trips, but my littlest had never gone to a show that wasn't put on at my high school. We did a family thing of it, all dressed to the 9's.. I had a maternity dress that was kind of black gauze and little heels.. We checked our coats in at coat check..

the show was going well until after intermission.. then some lights were flashing during the performance.. then some other lights start flashing during the performance and started buzzing.. then we realized the second set of lights were not part of the show- fire alarm. but the dancers kept dancing, the ushers didn't say a word..

My littlest has been through fire alarms at the house, but doesn't know the "rules" of fire alarms as well as the older boys- like no running for example.. we aren't THAT familiar with the Performing Arts Center, and we were on the Mezzanine floor.. I expected I would be taking 3 flights of stairs (the main stairs) to the ground floor..

NOPE.

Exited our row, and found the emergency exit sign.. 5 metal scary flights of stairs down (remember the little heels?) brought us to the basement. The whole way I am helping dp keep the kids together, concentrating on my balance, and trying to move briskly. Did I mention I am quite large at this point?

We cross the basement and find another flight of stairs.. this one going up, and they are outdoor stairs.. concrete and covered in ice. I am really questioning the sanity of this at this point.. and the sun is down so it is COLD.. my dress, of course, gauzy, is sleeveless as well.. my kids have no coats..

Dp dashes into the coat check area (really a few feet into the ground level of the building) but really dumb anyway, and demands our coats.. while we wait, a really nice gentleman offers one of his coats (he had the two layer kind on) while we are huddled together waiting..

When dp finds us, we leave.. I have to walk (snowy sidewalks) about a block up, cross a busy street, 3 blocks down into a parking garage before we can leave.. there were still people huddled outside the center when we left, but some others had decided to go home as well..

It was truly creepy.. the way everyone continued the show reminded me of that scene from Titanic where the band just continues to play.. and the massive flights of stairs made me think just a moment of the Twin towers and people trying to escape down those steps.. (not miminizing the tragedy of the Twin towers, but it felt reminiscent)..

In the end, I felt really bad for the dancers.. they had done a really great performance until that point.. (and it was TapKids, so I am assuming they were young performers but I don't know their ages) I was trying to find an article in the newspaper online about it, but no such luck yet..

The nursery things look beautiful!

Very eerie about the performance. The ushers really did nothing? Sounds very odd. I don't think I could have gone back in after that. I'd be on edge looking for a fire.

I get the same looks when I tell people I'm pregnant with #4. I turn 30 in April but look much younger. Last year I was finishing up my bachelor's degree with a Spanish class at the community college. I was talking with my professor one day and mentioned my children. She said "oh, you have a child?" I said that I have 3 and she was shocked. She said I looked like I was a teenager. She thought I was right out of high school. My oldest is 10 and is the size of a 7 year old, so even when I have her with, I guess it could easily look like I'm much younger. I don't drink much, but I do get carded most of the time.