Fetus' First Christmas

Baby Marshall would like to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas!  She had a wonderful holiday and is very much looking forward to her first Christmas out of the womb.  It's amazing... she may only be a tiny little fetus, but she still managed to get her daddy a very special Christmas present that he was very excited about... the Back to the Future Trilogy DVD set.  She even got a few of her own presents today.  GiGi (her grandmother on my side) got her all kinds of baby bath products and two little stuffed dalmatians (of course).  I hope the dalmatians get along with the stuffed lamb that Aunt Sarah & Uncle Chris got her a few weeks ago.  I guess only time will tell.  ;)

Well, a very sleepy Marshall family wishes everyone a Happy Christmas and a Merry New Year!  It's time to go to bed now... we've got a very busy day ahead of us tomorrow... it's finally time to pick up the nursery furniture and start getting the room ready.  Hooray!

It Is a Christmas Miracle!

Yes, it's true... the furniture has arrived! If I would have known that it would just take a simple post about my frustrations over the furniture taking so long to arrive for it to come in, I would have posted about it weeks ago. But alas, this weekend I received a call from Babies R Us that our dresser had arrived and we could call and schedule a time for pick up. Unfortunately, I don't think we'll have time this week to pick it up until Friday, but at least it's here and we have a 4 day weekend this week to start getting the nursery set up. See... it is a Christmas miracle!

Will the furniture ever come in?

As you may remember, we ordered our furniture back in early November. At the time, they told us it would take approximately 7 - 10 business days to be shipped from the warehouse. Well, it's been 6 weeks and we still don't have our furniture for the nursery.

I first got a call about a week after we placed the order telling us that the crib had been delivered, but they shipped the wrong dresser. So the store was going to send back the wrong dresser and reorder the right one. Then I get a call after another week telling us that the right dresser had arrived, but after careful inspection it was damaaged. Kudos to Babies R Us for actually inspecting it before having us come pick it up. But now they needed to send back the damaged dresser and reorder another one.

I was feeling optimistic at first because at least we were getting regular status updates about once a week. But that stopped after the last call. I have not heard from the store in about 4 weeks. I tried calling about 2 weeks ago to see if they had any information, but all that they could tell me was that the dresser had not been delivered yet and they didn't know when it would.

Needless to say, I am really glad we ordered our furniture early and didn't wait until the last minute. Now I'm just getting impatient to start setting everything up. Keep your fingers crossed that our furniture is delivered soon. Maybe it will be a Christmas miracle!

Another Successful Appointment

This morning Jason & I had our monthly doctor's appointment to check up on the little one. I know everyone will be happy to know that everything went well and we are progressing right on schedule.

This week also marks the point of viability in the pregnancy. This means that if our baby was born today she would actually have a chance at survivial outside the womb. It's a very big milestone and we are all very excited! Of course, we would prefer for her to keep baking for at least another 14 - 16 weeks, just to be safe.

On another note, Jason finally felt the baby kick this week. Hooray! She even kicked him in the head last night when he was trying to tell her a story. I guess we know who needs a little practice with his storytelling skills. ;)

Baby College

In case there was ever a parent-to-be who liked to be prepared and learn as much as they could about the newest addition about to join their family, Thomas Jefferson University Hospital has it covered! I guess it's a good thing that we are that type of parents and we're delivering at Jeff.

The Parent Education program at Jeff offers so many different classes, it's almost overwhelming. Ok... it's completely overwhelming. There's One Day Lamaze, Childbirth Lamaze Series, Breast Feeding, Getting Ready for Baby, Car Seat Safety, Infant CPR and Pediatrician's Night. Then there's also Sibling Class, Hospital Tours, and Expectant Grandparents Night.

How is a pregnant lady to choose... especially when the person who works in the Parent Education office never answers her phone when I call?

Dear Baby

Dear Baby,

I hope you are comfy and cozy in there. I know you haven't run out of room quite yet because I can still feel you moving all around, doing somersaults and backflips. However, can we please talk about the kicking?

You may think I'm going to ask you to stop kicking me, but it's actually the opposite. Could you please start kicking me a little harder and a little more frequently? While I have the joy of feeling you move around and kick and punch all day long, your daddy hasn't gotten to feel you move yet. I think it would be very nice if you could say hello to him with a little nudge or whack. I think he would like it very much too.

Oh, and one more thing... if we happen to have the opportunity to get another ultrasound so we can peek in on how you're doing in there, could you please share with us if you really are a little girl? Now, in the future, I may encourage you to be modest and at least somewhat proper, but now is not the time to start.

Love,
Your Mommy