The Hunt for Bassinet

When I am not thinking about my ever changing body, I am obsessed with baby furniture. As I have mentioned before, a friend offered to buy crib--s, not just one but two of them. Its a very good offer to pass up. However, there's a big problem. The cribs that I want from Babies R Us are not available online. Panic mode. How will my friend buy me the crib? Crib is very important and we want  to have it before the babies come. Think Gladys think....Solution came as quickly as I identified the problem. Babies R Us have gift cards!! So I emailed my friend about it but still I will not get it till next year. :(

Most mommies ( esp mom-in-law) told me that it would be more convenient to have the baby in the same room as us. This got me thinking. If we have a crib, there's no way in hell it will fit in our bedroom. We have a small bedroom and even if we rearrange it, two cribs will still be a tad too big for the space we have. So hubby and I decided to get a co-sleeper or a bassinet.

Bassinet what? For the life of me, call me ignorant but bassinet sounds like a musical instrument to me until I got myself acquainted with it. Back home, other than babies co-sleeping in bed with their mommies, we have what we call as "duyan". Duyan is an improvised bassinet ONLY it is made out of a blanket tied on both ends and hang on the wall ( think of it as a baby hammock). This is a very effective method of lulling the babies to sleep, fail-proof. BUT in this age and times, it is safe to get something that is on the ground and not suspended   above ground level :)

Having decided on a bassinet, hubby and I spent way too many hours on the internet trying to find a bassinet that is not expensive and durable at the same time. Babies R Us have a fancy one for $160. I wouldn't want to buy with that price because we will just dispose the bassinet in 3-4 months time. So I scoured and got so frustrated. We even came to a point where I will have to apply for US visa to go to the States to buy a good one-- sometimes stupid ideas come from frustration! Alas, I came across sears.com. Yep, not sears.ca ( canada-based).

It was just in front of me but I just didn't see. I was so focused on finding the bassinet that it didn't occur to me that I can actually order straight from the States! In an effort to get Canadian buyers, Sears.com have flat rate shipping of 10 bucks to Canada. Although Sears stores are everywhere here in Winnipeg, there are items that are exclusively distributed in the States i.e. cheaper bassinets.

I went ahead and ordered a basic bassinet in green and yellow. It's not a fancy one, but it can be converted into a cradle. After I placed the order, I found another bassinet for the same price with vibrator and musical mobile. gaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhh. Shoot me.

The Name Game

When we found out that we are having girls, hubby was like.. oh they're gonna be like The Olsen twins. pfft. I don't even like them. If there's a twin that crossed my mind right there and then, its the Wakefield's!

I grew up reading all Francine Pascal and her ghost writers Sweet Valley Kids, SVH, SVU. For 3 years, the Wakefield's and their fictional school were given life through TV. I watched it alongside with Friends ( which my mom would always say too adult for you, that includes Danielle Steel in the too adult category!).

Despite my love for these twins, I never thought of naming them Jessica and Elizabeth. haha. But one thing I really hope to do as a soon to be mom is to treat them as individuals, not as twins, for them to be identified as their own person ( hahaha touche!). I wouldn't want a flirty Jessica as a daughter either, popular may be but not flirty. But  popularity comes when you are flirty and promiscuous, so forget popular.

I've already have in my list the name Sophia .. so we thought of finding the other girl's name. If you searched google, there are names that are really for twins. So Sophia's twin name counterpart is either Isabella or Olivia. But I'm taking the less conventional road, I opted for Emma. Emma, as a name, like Sophia sounds classy and simple.

As respect to my mother-in-law and to my mom, my girls will be named Sophia Elizabeth ( not because of SVH) and Emma Luz. I can add or change the middle names but they will be called Sophia and Emma. Besides, I painstakingly painted the wood letters for their nursery already!

Fetal Assessment 101

After my first ultrasound, I was scheduled for another ultrasound to assess the babies inside. I was told that multiple birth mothers usually make frequent trips to the hospital because well, obviously because its riskier than singleton pregnancy.

Again, took off from work and went to the Fetal Assessment Unit of St B. The office is so cute, it has a corkboard of pictures of babies. It inspired me to make those baby announcement postcards! ( if I can squeeze this in, I would).

The nurse was super friendly. She ushered me to the room to change and we had the ultrasound again. This time, Kevin was inside the room with me. The nurse was so informative, like a voice over on a uterus "tour". I had to cut her off midsentence because I  had difficulty breathing like I was straggled or something, started to sweat like a cow. The nurse stopped on her tracks and turn on the lights and gave me some water. I don't know what happened but my blood pressure abruptly shot up. Scary shiz.

I had to rest before we proceeded again. The nurse said it must be too much pressure laying down, so I have to keep my head elevated. The light-headedness disappeared and we continued. Unlike the first ultrasound, this time, I can really recognized their heart, limbs and how they moved inside of me. Here are some of the still shots given to us by the nurse

Twin A

twin B

Lovely, aren't they? BTW, they are both girls. They just can't figure out if they're fraternal or identical. I'm okay with both. I could have a blonde and/or brunette little girls. Best of both worlds.