Today I am 20 weeks or 5 months pregnant! Just yesterday I was told "you don't even look pregnant." However, I've also been told recently by some ladies at church that they can see my baby belly now. The truth of the matter is that it depends on what I'm wearing. Skirts and ruched tops make it far more obvious than pants, and my belly also shows more when I'm sitting down rather than standing. My heartburn has definitely been worse lately, but I still have a day now and then when I don't have any heartburn, and I don't recall that ever happening at this stage with my last two pregnancies. I weighed myself this morning, and I still weigh the same as what I weighed on April 28 (at the end of our stay in Hershey). I'm really happy that I've only gained 8 pounds thus far. I'm doing much better with keeping my weight in check than I did the last two pregnancies.
The spring semester ended last week, and my first summer classes don't start until next week. Not having any schoolwork to do this week has definitely helped me with my to do list. The flowers have been planted, and Paul is going to do the mulch on Friday when he gets back from Philadelphia. I have ordered just about everything for the nursery. I love the
changing pad cover I ordered. It doesn't exactly match the crib set in that a monkey is featured (instead of a bear), but the colors match, and I think it's adorable! My sister got me a contour changing pad and two white covers in 2005 (at that point we thought they'd be used by an adopted baby). I've used those white covers the past four years, and they are worn out. It's time for a new one! I'm going to save one of the white ones to use as the spare one when the monkey one needs to be washed, but most of the time I'll be using the monkey one. I decided to go simple for the valances, hamper, and spare fitted crib sheet. I got all three in a solid brown. That was the cheaper route to go for sure.
I splurged a bit more on the
light switch cover, bookends, and
clock. Nadia and Ian have personalized clocks, but since I might use this crib set with our fourth (if we have a fourth), I decided not to get a personalized clock. As for what I still need to get my list is rather short: Baby Bjorn infant carrier (I plan to buy one on eBay), yellow paint (for the nursery walls), wall letters to spell his name (we need to pick a name first of course!), and some cloth diapers (still not sure what brand to buy). I'm sure at yard sales this summer I'll probably pick up a few more outfits for him as well. I can't wait to set his room up!
Paul's parents are picking up a mattress/box spring set for us at Sears today (to save us the $69 delivery fee). They'll be bringing it to our house on Thursday. When we get back from vacation I'm planning on switching Ian to a twin size bed. The mattress/box springs we had for him got ruined in the basement flood last year. After he's in his bed, we can move the crib to the nursery, but before that can happen we need to move the bookcases from that room downstairs. I'm planning on asking some men at church to help with that. When we get back from vacation a top priority will be to list our dining room table and chairs on Craiglist. Then we can paint the nursery yellow and get it all set up. I can't wait!
Yesterday I typed and mailed an appeal letter to the insurance. I'm hoping they'll end up paying for more of the March 12th bloodwork. If not, I hope the hospital will work something out with us. I noticed yesterday that Hershey billed our insurance over $1,000 per day for Ian's feeding program - even though I know they'll accept $481 per day from Medical Assistance. I remember two years ago my trip to the ER (and resulting D&C and blood transfusion) was over $10K, and yet the hospital accepted a payment of about $1K from Blue Shield. Why are there such HUGE gaps between what they bill and what they have agreed to accept from the insurance? That's 90% off! With the PSU insurance, they pay 95% of what the hospital charges. If we have to pay, I'm going to ask that we pay at Blue Shield's rate! I really think charging over $1K a day for the feeding program is utterly ridiculous. She spent on average 2 hours total with Ian over the course of each day. Granted she needed a little time to prepare his meals, but still we're talking under 3 hours a day. She has a master's degree. How can they charge that much per hour for someone with a Master's degree? We even had to provide the EleCare for him one week. At that cost the EleCare should be included! The PSU insurance isn't going to cover the feeding program (that's what Kathy told me anyhow), and I'm grateful that Medical Assistance will pay for it. I am grateful we went as he's definitely farther along with his eating than he would be if we hadn't gone, but if I had to do it over again, I just would have done two weeks. I think we could have made the same progress at home during the third and fourth week (especially considering she had me do almost all the feedings those weeks), but still it was worth it to go (although I'd never pay $20K for it!).
The spring semester ended last week, and my first summer classes don't start until next week. Not having any schoolwork to do this week has definitely helped me with my to do list. The flowers have been planted, and Paul is going to do the mulch on Friday when he gets back from Philadelphia. I have ordered just about everything for the nursery. I love the changing pad cover I ordered. It doesn't exactly match the crib set in that a monkey is featured (instead of a bear), but the colors match, and I think it's adorable! My sister got me a contour changing pad and two white covers in 2005 (at that point we thought they'd be used by an adopted baby). I've used those white covers the past four years, and they are worn out. It's time for a new one! I'm going to save one of the white ones to use as the spare one when the monkey one needs to be washed, but most of the time I'll be using the monkey one. I decided to go simple for the valances, hamper, and spare fitted crib sheet. I got all three in a solid brown. That was the cheaper route to go for sure. 
I splurged a bit more on the light switch cover, bookends, and clock. Nadia and Ian have personalized clocks, but since I might use this crib set with our fourth (if we have a fourth), I decided not to get a personalized clock. As for what I still need to get my list is rather short: Baby Bjorn infant carrier (I plan to buy one on eBay), yellow paint (for the nursery walls), wall letters to spell his name (we need to pick a name first of course!), and some cloth diapers (still not sure what brand to buy). I'm sure at yard sales this summer I'll probably pick up a few more outfits for him as well. I can't wait to set his room up! 
Yesterday I typed and mailed an appeal letter to the insurance. I'm hoping they'll end up paying for more of the March 12th bloodwork. If not, I hope the hospital will work something out with us. I noticed yesterday that Hershey billed our insurance over $1,000 per day for Ian's feeding program - even though I know they'll accept $481 per day from Medical Assistance. I remember two years ago my trip to the ER (and resulting D&C and blood transfusion) was over $10K, and yet the hospital accepted a payment of about $1K from Blue Shield. Why are there such HUGE gaps between what they bill and what they have agreed to accept from the insurance? That's 90% off! With the PSU insurance, they pay 95% of what the hospital charges. If we have to pay, I'm going to ask that we pay at Blue Shield's rate! I really think charging over $1K a day for the feeding program is utterly ridiculous. She spent on average 2 hours total with Ian over the course of each day. Granted she needed a little time to prepare his meals, but still we're talking under 3 hours a day. She has a master's degree. How can they charge that much per hour for someone with a Master's degree? We even had to provide the EleCare for him one week. At that cost the EleCare should be included! The PSU insurance isn't going to cover the feeding program (that's what Kathy told me anyhow), and I'm grateful that Medical Assistance will pay for it. I am grateful we went as he's definitely farther along with his eating than he would be if we hadn't gone, but if I had to do it over again, I just would have done two weeks. I think we could have made the same progress at home during the third and fourth week (especially considering she had me do almost all the feedings those weeks), but still it was worth it to go (although I'd never pay $20K for it!).
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