Storm hits Atlanta

Just in case anyone sees the stories in the news, I wanted to let everyone know that we are ok. We had some strong rain, thunder, and lightening this evening. And we were under a tornado warning for about 30 min. However, in the end, our neighborhood seems to be in fine shape. The news stories talk about damage in midtown and downtown, which are both very close to here, so I hope that everyone else is doing all right!

Week 20 Sonograms

As promised, here's the sonograms from today. The first one is the full view of the baby. There's a bit of a shadow on the face because he was hiding behind Sara's belly button!

The second picture is why we know it's a boy. This one is pretty self-explanatory, I think. The notation made by the technician is rather funny.

It's a boy!

We just found out that we're having a baby boy! I'll post the
ultrasound pictures later this evening, so stay tuned for that. But
everything looked good and normal this time around.

20 Weeks: I'm Half Way There!

Friday marked the 20 weeks. That's the "official" mid-way point. It's crazy (and kinda scary) to think that I'm half way there already...it seems like I just started this whole crazy pregnancy adventure!

Here's what all the books have to say about the baby at 20 weeks: It weighs about 10.5 ounces, and is about 6.5" from head to rump (and about 10" from head to toe), making it about the size of a banana. It's skin is thickening, and its hair and nails are growing.

One of the most exciting developments recently is that I've started to feel movement! For a while, it was very difficult to distinguish between baby movement and gas (sorry if that's too much information!!). But over the past week, I have started feeling what is definitely the baby moving. It is unlike anything I've felt before, so there is no question in my mind what it is. While most of the movements I'm feeling are still little flutters, there have been a few times when I've felt sharper, more kick-like sensations. I'm not feeling it every day yet, but I love the feeling, and I'm looking forward to feeling regular movement.

This week will be a big week for us. On Monday, I have my regular 20 week check up with my doctor. Then on Thursday, we have the "anatomy scan" and that's when (hopefully) we'll be able to find out if Baby Payne is a little girl or a little boy. I promise, we'll post an update here as soon as we know!

Maternity Leave, or lack thereof

Several people have asked if Sara will continue working after the baby is born. Our current thinking is that she will, primarily because I'm still in grad school and not earning too much money. The next question is usually about maternity leave. How much time off will she take?

While certainly a reasonable question, this tends to stir up some strong opinions so don't be surprised if you get an earful from us after asking! To understand, one first needs to consider how maternity leave works in this country. Thanks to the FMLA, Sara can take up to 12 weeks off work and not lose her job. That's it as far as maternity leave goes. She gets no pay and if she still wants to get benefits (e.g., health care insurance) during this time, she not only needs to pay her normal contribution, but also the employer's share as well. Fun stuff.

Some people might wonder why one would complain about such things. After all, why should one expect to be given paid time off. And, even more, why should one expect to be given lots of paid time off. Well, one reason why one might expect this would be because pretty much every other country does offer this kind of benefit. Consider this quote on the issue:

"To put it another way, out of 168 nations in a Harvard University study last year, 163 had some form of paid maternity leave, leaving the United States in the company of Lesotho, Papua New Guinea and Swaziland."

You can find this and more information in this USA Today article. There's also a wikipedia page with statistics on this issue from around the world. If we lived in Canada Sara could take 50 weeks off work, while earning 55% of her salary. If we lived in Mexico Sara could take 12 weeks off work, while earning 100% of her salary.

Getting back to the original question, Sara does plan to take some time off work. Mostly like it will be 12 weeks or very close to it. However, we're still working out the details on all of this and on how she will ease back into a work schedule.

Our leaky house

After choosing the nursery colors, we were excited to move full speed ahead with painting. So a couple of weekends ago we prepared the room for painting. We removed outlet cover plates, put painter's tape everywhere, and took down the blinds. After all of that, I spent two days getting primer up on the walls and trim. And then it rained.

Why does it matter if it rains? In theory, it shouldn't. In practice, it turns out that we have a leak in the nursery! We hadn't noticed it before because the water was being absorbed by the blinds as it dripped in. But, with the blinds removed, the leak is now quite obvious. The good news is that we discovered the problem and will be able to fix it before painting.

But then there's the bad news... At first I wasn't sure how the water was coming in to the house. Sara's brother, John, was nice enough to come over and investigate a bit for us. Based on what we saw, we thought the flashing on the outside of the leaky window was the blame. John put some silicone caulk in the critical areas and I was hopeful that the problem was solved. But, it wasn't. The next big rain storm leaked in as if nothing had changed.

Now I was determined to get this fixed. The trim was already removed from around the window so it was easier to see where the water was coming from. So, when the next storm hit, I looked around with a flashlight and found a critical piece of information. The window itself was fine, but it was installed wrong. Naturally, the window company promptly washed their hands of any involvement. The builder won't return my calls, but the house isn't under warranty anymore so I doubt they would be helpful anyway. The HOA normally handles any "exterior maintenance" but doesn't handle problems with windows. And our home insurance is really setup for catestrophic loss, not for builder error.

Given all of this news, we decided it was time to bite the bullet and just get a contractor in on our own dime to fix the problem. After all, water leaking into the home seems like the type of thing that's worth fixing! The problem with this approach is that aparently contractors in Atlanta are way too busy. We got a few recommendations from friends and family and started calling around. The first person is booked for the next two months. The next person's phone just goes to voice mail. Another is booked for 6 weeks. And this continued...

Fortunately, we might have lucked out. I finally spoke with someone today who is working another job nearby tomorrow and said that he'd come over and take a look. I figure that's better than nothing, so that's the plan. Or at least the start of a plan.

In the mean time, painting and all other work in the nursery is basically on hold. Perhaps it's all for a reason, though. One week from today we are going in for the "anatomy ultrasound" and will likely find out if it's a boy or a girl. While I fully expect that we will stick to the same colors in the nursery either way, some of the other aspects of the room's design might be affected. I supposed that only time will tell. And, right now, we have lots of time while we wait to get the leak fixed.

FAQs Game

Here's how the game works: below are the answers to the questions we are asked most frequently. See if you can match the answer to the correct question:


ANSWERS:
1. We don't know yet. We have an appointment on March 13 where hopefully we'll get to find out.

2. Pretty good. I have a "healthy" appetite, and more energy than I did during first trimester (though not as much as I did pre-pregnancy). All in all, no real complaints :-)

3. July 26, 2008. Though from what I hear, first babies are often late, so perhaps the first week of August would be more accurate?

4. The nursery is downstairs in the room that was my craft room. It will be green and yellow (the paint colors are actually called "frog toe" and "lemon meringue") with some reddish-orangeish accents. It will be more contemporary in design so it will fit in with the rest of the house, but we're still figuring out the details.

5. We have a few ideas. But we're not telling anyone until the baby is born, no matter how nicely you ask :-)

QUESTIONS:
a. When are you due?
b. Have you picked a name yet?
c. Is it a boy or a girl?
d. How are you feeling?
e. What does the nursery look like?

(Correct answers: 1-c; 2-d; 3-a; 4-e; 5-b)

I hope you had fun playing.