23 weeks and growing......

Well, let's see... what's new? Not too much I guess. Things are still going well, I feel good (other than a few aches here and there). The baby has been very active lately which always make me happy. Considering that the baby is just over a pound now, I have had no problem feeling every little movement. I really can't believe the little one is actually over a pound. I got some new clothes last week and it is nice to have things that fit so well. My old pants that I was rigging with a rubber band just wasn't cutting it anymore. Especially, after I would eat. It's funny because the pants I got are made exactly like maternity pants (with the elastic band), but I got them in my normal department. I guess maybe it is the style now? 

I've been going over to my friend Melissa's house lately to lay out at the pool at her apartment. I can't wait until it is the middle of the summer and the pool is a little warmer. The other day, after I came home, I noticed that the top of my belly was a little burnt, but not the sides or the bottom. I found humor in this.

We got the most fabulous news ever last week. We have PPO insurance with Blue Cross and we were paying for our midwife out-of-network. My insurance still covers 65% after your $500 deductible with anything out-of-network. We already paid our midwife in full a couple of weeks ago, but we wished that it had been in-network obviously. One thing that was weird was I had checked my insurance company's website and there wasn't a single CNM covered in-network in my county. However, there were tons of them in-network in the adjacent county (Los Angeles). When I told my midwife this, she said to call the insurance company and see if they would possibly do an in-network exemption considering I didn't have any in-network options locally. When I called my insurance company they said that they would put a claim in but it probably wouldn't be covered since they only do exemptions if there is nothing in-network within 50 miles (the closest for me is 36 miles but next county over). I got a phone call today that they are going to do the exemption from here on until december! Which is fine because most of the cost is going to be in the end anyways. We will probably still have to pay a tiny, tiny, tiny bit (co-pay and whatnot) but nothing compared to it being out of network. Now we will only be paying hundreds of dollars versus a couple of thousands of dollars!!!
Woohoo! I never thought my insurance company could make me so happy.

I finally contacted the lady that is going to be our instructor for our birthing classes. She was really nice and had nothing but good things to say about our midwife. We are taking The Bradley Method classes. We will probably be starting them in a couple of weeks and they run for about 12 weeks. The instructor was really nice to work with our schedule considering that Eric really only has saturday evenings and sundays off. In a month or so, his schedule might go back to normal... but we'll see.

I finally have put some registries together. There is one that I am still working on, but I have to go the store to scan everything.

For now, we have registered at babiesRus and the registry is under either my full name or Eric's. Or you can type in the registry# 49652987.

We are also registered at an online diaper shop. 

The website is Kelly's Closet and the registry is listed under Michele & Eric Sanford and the password is baby.

Don't be to shocked when you click on the link, but yes, they are cloth diapers. I'm sure a lot of you might be nay-sayers about this. If that is the case, I don't want to hear it. Yes, I know it will be harder and I know it is less convenient, but I am going to do my best to make it last. Any words of encouragement will be welcomed with open arms. I have done a lot of research on the subject and it is something I want to try. Once I have my system down and I have been doing it for a little while, maybe then I'll post all the reasons why I made this decision. Just a few would be the $ (easily over a thousand dollars),  the waste from disposables and not to mention... it is much healthier for the baby. Also, if you haven't seen any of the latest cloth diapers.... they are beyond cute and they typically aid in potty training little ones faster. We'll see how it goes and I am nothing but optimistic about it all.

so, now for the obligatory belly photos.............

22 weeks

23 weeks

23 with belly

Well, I believe that is about it. Now, I am gonna go play with the four legged, fur-kid Ilsa.

Michele