Why "Crib" Is a Four-Letter Word

(19w2d)

I do my homework.
I like to be prepared.
I am slightly neurotic.
Think Kate from J.on & K.ate P.lus 8--- only minus (at least some of) the harshness, and plus a little (!) flexibility.
Or at least I would like to think :-).
These are qualities that I believe will serve me well in the years to come when attempting to corral, feed, and play with three toddlers. All the while averting bodily injury nigh unto death (ummmmm, their's, not mine), preventing bodily fluids from taking over our house (a la "The B.lob") and keeping baby clutter to a minimum so that we don't have to move into a bigger house next year.

I know. A tall order
Thank heaven for nannies who do housework :-).

Consistent with my aforementioned neurotic nature, I have spent HOURS (20-30) researching the perfect cribs for us. I had finally settled on one particular type. I was VERY settled. It fit all the picky little criteria I had listed (including being black and relatively small). Saturday morning we spent moving the furniture out of the nursery (well, Matt moved and I looked on admiringly), leaving a completely cleaned-out nursery. Matt was excited to set one of the cribs up, so we spent a few hours going through a few other stores first to be SURE that "our" crib was truly THE destined crib. We ordered a changer/dresser to go in the nursery. Then we headed off to the last store to pick up one crib and order the other two, enthralled that our dream crib would soon be gracing the nursery with its presence.

We arrived to find out there has been a "stop-sale" order put on the crib.
They are investigating it for safety problems.
Only two weeks have passed since I was in the store discussing the crib and how to order the extras.
But now... my crib is gone.
(we are obviously grateful to have discovered this issue BEFORE purchasing and assembling the one and ordering the others!).

Pregnancy hormones fully engaged, I sat in one of the gliders all annoyed that I was now back to zero.
Never fear... All that research paid off (really it was partly a issue of me REFUSING to do another 20 hours of research on a dang crib!). We ordered, over the phone from another store, our "second choice" crib that was, as a bonus... on sale. All the furniture should arrive together in about 3 weeks.

Oh, but I wish that was it.
We had previously measured the nursery and had an idea of where all the furniture would go. We knew exactly how large the cribs could be and how the dresser could be no longer than 50". But I decided, now that the nusery was totally cleared out, to tape off where the furniture would be... as an exercise in reassuring myself there truly was room for everything.

Well, there isn't.
Not if we also have a glider.
Fitting three cribs, a changer/dresser and a glider into this one room (at least if we expect to be able to WALK between said furniture and actually be able to access the bathroom and closet) is a complicated puzzle for which there is no solution. and believe me, we tried.
A full hour of crawling around on the floor convinced me of such.

It was so frustrating I actually started considering having two nurseries (*gasp*. My motto has been "contain the chaos!!!").

Then it occured to me.
We were never going to set up more than two cribs to start with since as preemies the babies will be sleeping in bouncy seats for at least the first few weeks out of the hospital (because of reflux). And after that, we can put two in a crib temporarily. We were going to put two swings where the third crib would eventually sit. But even with only two cribs... there would still be no room for a glider AND swings AND bouncy seats. So the solution? We will only set up one crib initially. That will leave us room for all the seats, gliders and swings (and as a bonus... a mini-refrigerator to store bottles for each night in order to avoid several night-runs to the kitchen on the other side of the house). Slowly they will be moved from bouncies to swings/cribs at which point the bouncy seats will be used in other parts of the house, and either the glider or one of the swings will be moved to another room, leaving us room for a second crib... and eventually a third when none of them are using swings to sleep. There is actually room (barely... and I stress barely) for three cribs and a dresser. Just not for anything else.

I am cognizant this may have been for you, dear reader, an exercise in tediosity (yes, I am aware that is not a word). But I cannot tell you how relieved I feel. This will work. This will really work. It will just require being a little flexible and modifying the nursery in stages as they grow over the first few months home.

But we can do this.

As for the whole pregnancy thing (oh yeah... the whole reason for this mess)... if my abdominal girth is any judge, the babies are still growing. Ultrasound this Wednesday.

btw... it is a record. I have now been off of any sort of bed rest for a full THREE weeks. Well slap me silly and call me Sally! Granted, said record will end this weekend as I will hit 20 weeks (wow, 20 weeks, really?) and I will be on "light bed rest". Still not clear what Dr. Peri expects that to look like, but I imagine he will give me the long list of things I shouldn't even possibly CONSIDER doing when I see him on Wednesday. Such is his style :-).