The countdown to Doodle has begun..well actually it began the day that we found out that we were pregnant…(I say we as if I have done anything to help carry this baby..yeah, right) But we are at week 30 and that means only 10 more to go!
I am not going to drone on and on about boring stuff we did or didn’t do this week because I have come to the conclusion that I don’t think anyone really cares! Ok..I’ll give you a snippet–for 4th of July we went and saw my parents, sister and brother in law. My parents live at the beach..well I guess we do too, but they literally live at the beach–so we got up super early and went down before all the beach traffic started. We had a nice cookout, well actually my mom said to refer to them as barbecues because cookout makes us sound like we are redneck! Silly mom.
We have still been getting things for Doodle! We got a rug and lamp from Target and I have had to tell Machelle to stop buying things from our registry! I absolutely love the rug and the lamp matches perfectly.
Machelle is doing pretty good–here lately she has had some serious groin pain. Groin pain would be the nice way to put it–she said it feels like Doodle is punching or twisting the inside of her lady parts. Apparently this is common, but tonight when we were headed out to dinner she had to go get in the bathtub because it hurt so bad. This pretty much scared the crap out of me because I had convinced myself in the 3 minutes it took her to fill up the bathtub that she was going in to labor. She wasn’t and she is fine–but it made me realize that the time is drawing very near and that we should probably go ahead and get some things in the hospital bag.
Speaking of hospital bag, I need some advice to those of you who have gone through it–what did you put in it and what kind of bag was it? Like a rolling suitcase or a duffel bag? I work in behavioral health and sometimes patients bring in suitcases full of things when they have nowhere else to put their belongings and so the thought of bringing a suitcase in has a little bit of a negative connotation in my mind–mainly because I was the one who had to go through their belongings with them and it took forever!!
Also, I told Machelle tonight at dinner that I wonder if I am trying to visualize what life will be like with Doodle too much instead of just embracing the changes as they come. Sometimes I will daydream that everything will be perfect and just like I would like for it to go in my mind–the child will be attached to me and be the most perfect kid ever. Then I wonder if I should try to prepare myself for when things do not work out–this is where so much of the internet has played a role in how I view things. When my mother and grandmother were growing up, people did not talk about the difficult aspects of being a parent until you were knee deep in it and complaining about to your friends. Now, there is a blog or website or article about whatever you are wondering about at the tip of your fingertips–and this can be just as scary to me.
I told Machelle that I think that we just need to embrace the changes as they come and deal with it as it is..it gets to be a little exhausting to try to plan for things which you know nothing about. I think I understand why they say 2nd time parents are just a little more relaxed.
Our baby shower is this weekend and we are stoked!! We have got lots of family and friends coming in to town and are looking forward to it! We are so grateful for everything and often times feel ourselves overwhelmed!!
Any and all feedback that you all want to give is much appreciated!
Be kind to one another and yourself!
HatchedBy2Chicks.com 
When we packed our bag for the hospital, we packed literally a take home outfit for Callie-some maternity pants and loose, flowy shirt my mom bought her (she spent most of her time in the nursing gown they gave her) , and a pair of sweat pants and a tank top which she never wore because she had a C-section and it was just too uncomfortable to even try to put them on! I packed 2 pairs of basketball shorts, my Adidas slides, and 2 t-shirts and my bright rainbow tie-dye hoody. Underwear for the shower, and toiletries. We were able to pack all of our stuff in my Adidas gym bad. We also took a separate bag with two outfits for each boy. One was a premie outfit and one was a newborn, because you never really know how tiny or big they’ll be! You’re getting close friend!!! And just a tip, you’ll be surprised how little you actually need for the 2-3 days you’re there. You hardly leave the room and you hardly let go of your baby.
So we are fortunate enough to work at the hospital that lets us use our badges for payment..I like your thinking of short term..we are the same way, get in, get doodle out, get us out!!
My wife took a Nike duffle bag to the hospital. It had just basically clothes for her and the babies and shower stuff. She wanted to be there the shortest time possible. Be sure you have your phone chargers and cash for the vending machines, cafeteria or the coffee cart like in my case.
Wish we could be there for the shower. Take lots of pictures. Love you both.