kate's gift

The first time the doorbell rang today, it was a woman looking for the occupants of Apt. no 6, right across the hall from us. She seemed very surprised that I answered the door, even though we clearly live at Apt. no 7. The next door neighbor overheard and helped straighten things out, but not without her again commenting on how no one was answering at no. 6. Go figure. The second time the doorbell rang, I was anticipating another confused visitor, but instead it was the postman who swiftly asked "Is this you?" and waved a package at me. "Yes, it is me," I said. What good fortune I answered the door the second time because inside the package was the above handmade jersey wrap made by my friend Kate! It is soft and wonderful, and the minute it drops below 30 degrees celcius, I will wear it instantly. I also can't wait to wear it after the baby is born because I think it will be easy to wear while nursing.

In other news, we have been making progress over here on our apartment. I have taken a scary 'before' picture of the master bedroom, but will not post it until the 'after' is ready. Devrim and his dad fixed the wallpaper to the best of their ability (the owner/former 1st and only tenant left lots of evidence of her living here, mostly with cigarette stained walls, etc. Not fun to clean... huge thanks to Devrim for wiping walls and not losing his mind over the amount of work involved. I didn't even ask him to do it! It was his idea.) Tomorrow we are having new carpet put in, which means we can move our bedroom furniture to the master bedroom soon. We will have the guest room in place by the time the baby is born... and visitors are welcome! And I am very excited to work on the baby's room in the next few weeks, too.

Also, we made a breakthrough in our research into birthing options in Izmit. The nearest hospital to us is less than five minutes away. The staff is wonderful and friendly, the hospital is small, there are excellent color combinations in the waiting rooms (pale pink and mint green), the delivery and labor rooms are intimate (only 2 beds), the patient rooms are really nice, and the doctor we met with yesterday was in agreement with me wanting as natural a birth as possible. Sweet relief. We will probably continue to see my current doctor until I give birth and then go to this hospital. It is private hospital, but the fees seem reasonable considering the advantages. So now I can relax during these remaining weeks as I just seem to get bigger!