"At First Sight" by Nicholas Sparks

I just finished reading the book "At First Sight" by Nicholas Sparks. My wife read it about a month ago. This is the sequel to "True Believer". The book is about a pregnant couple who gets married. He is from New York and she is from a small town in South Carolina. They have quite a bit of problems toward the end of the pregnancy. The end was very shocking and sad. Brandi cried, and cried when she finished reading it. It's probably not the best type of book for the two of us to be reading right now. But, I highly recommend it.

Week 29 - Doctors Visit

We went to another doctor's appointment on Friday. We did a sonogram. They said that they could see that the baby had a full head of hair already. Our revised due date is May 5th. We are continuing to take blood thinners. Everything seems to be going great during this pregnancy.

Valentines Day

This week has been insanely busy at my work. Monday morning, I had to fly to Chicago for a meeting. That evening, I flew from Chicago to Nashville. Thursday, I will be going back to Chicago. Friday night, I finally get to go home! Unfortunately, this itinerary means that I'm out of town for Valentines Day :-( This is the first time since I met Brandi that we have not been together for this holiday. When I left town, I set out candy and a card. And, I had flowers sent to her at work. But, it's just not the same as being together....

Prescription Problems

In January, my wife's employer had changed who managed her health care. The other day, she went to renew her prescription for lovenox, a blood thinner used for treating the MTHFR clotting disorder during pregnancy. The pharmacist said that the insurance company would not let her renew the prescription because it was supposed to be filled via mail-order. We only had a couple days worth of medication left. We didn't have enough medication to cover until the prescription would arrive by mail. And, we had no luck arguing with the insurance company. Ultimately, we ended up getting a prescription for five days to cover us until the mail-order shipment would arrive. We had to pay for these five days ourselves and it cost over one hundred dollars... Because the insurance company had been paying before, I hadn't realized her drugs were this expensive. Anyways, we may be a little bit poorer, but the pregnancy is secure.

To work or not to work

We've not yet decided whether or not Brandi will be working after the baby is born. Originally, she intended to continue working with no thought of being a "stay at home mom". But as we come closer to the due date, she is beginning to question whether it is such a good idea. A baby under one year seems so helpless. We are reluctant to trust just anyone to give the proper care. And, between our two schedules, we've not been able to find time to tour any child care facilities. I did call and get us on the waiting list for one of Lexington's "best". The waiting list is already until mid September, one month after she'd be starting back to work.

My wife is in her first year of teaching. Even if she continues working, the birth will lead into summer. So, the first few months are not an issue.

Another factor is that she is not currently teaching the classes she wants. Her degree is for middle school English and history. However, she got stuck teaching English as a Second Language (ESL) in a rather rough neighborhood. At this school, 87% of the students qualify for free lunch and 13% qualify for discounted lunches (that's 100% qualifying for government assistance). Many of her students are simply waiting until they are old enough to drop out. Needless to say, this is a difficult job. If she gets offered a job teaching English or history, she'd probably take it.

Decisions, decisions....

Baby Registry

We have registered at Babies R Us. Registration # 50333831.

Click here to go to the website for the registry: http://www.amazon.com/gp/registry/babyreg/ref=ba_hp_tn_br/002-3426123-1153659

Our due date is May 7th. Room colors are green, white, and blue. Some of you were asking about our bedding. The bedding, pictured at right, is called "Barn Yard". Brandi's parents bought this for us. We have already purchased most of the accessories.