Now, where'd I leave my brain?

It could be somewhere in the first trimester. Or maybe in the second trimester, where I left my coordination and balance?

I used to be a reasonably intelligent person. I could understand simple, and some complex, concepts. I could focus my attention and complete a task without blanking out and finding myself on the couch watching judge shows, not sure exactly how I got there. (But pretty happy about it nevertheless.)

The problem has continued to get worse throughout this pregnancy, and now I am held hostage to a full-blown case of Pregnancy Brain.

This is most obvious to me as I struggle to prepare Bean's layette. For those of you unfamiliar with this term, a layette is the collection of clothes and accessories for a newborn baby. Sounds relatively simple, right?

Not to me. I first realized my deficiency in understanding and securing a layette when we registered at BRU in the fall. DH and I wandered through the endless aisles of assorted tiny outfits. Newborn size, 0-3 month size, front snaps, side snaps, butt snaps, short-sleeved onesies, short-sleeved shirts, long-sleeved onesies, long-sleeved shirts... to get every combination would cost roughly $3,000. We started scanning what we thought was reasonable, but gave up in disgust and cheated our way to the end by simply scanning the page of suggested UPCs in the "registering shortcuts" guide from BRU. So now our layette resembles something that a monkey would select if he was let loose in the store after hours.

I was hoping that it would eventually become clear to me what this little guy needs in his layette. Unfortunately, it's only gotten more foggy with the deterioration of my thinking abilities. Yesterday I washed all the adorable clothes we were given at our baby shower. I can't wait to dress him up like a ducky, complete with tail and fuzzy slippers. But we are lacking those basic outfits for when he first comes home. A few of the questions I can't wrap my mind around:

- How many items should I purchase in newborn size? These are for babies 5 to 8 lbs. I was 8 lbs 4 oz at birth, and DH was 9 lbs 3 oz. Since I'm anticipating a chunker with this kid, I don't want to waste money on clothes that only fit him in the womb.

- Related to this, how do I know what size baby clothes to bring the hospital when I deliver? He'll be getting his first picture taken, which will be posted on the hospital's web site of newborns. Seeing as our friends and family are all out of state and will only have pictures, his first impression here is especially important. I do have a yellow onesie that could work size-wise, but what if he's more of a manly baby and looks better in blue? Do I need more options?

- I read somewhere to get a variety of styles of onesies and t-shirts, as Bean will have his preferences. Is this really a common problem? The newborn gets angry about his clothing options? I wonder how many infants are diagnosed with colic, but really he just hates the side-snapping long-sleeved onesies that mom always puts him in.

- Do babies wear pants? Judging by the contents of Bean's closet so far, I don't think mine will.

- Many of his socks don't match any of the outfits. This isn't a question, I know, but I'm concerned that he'll get teased by the other kids in daycare. Maybe it'll be good if he's large.

So as of now, Bean is in some serious trouble with his layette. And if my brain power does not regenerate shortly after the birth, we're in for more trouble than we know.

A few other updates:

We had our day-long CPR course on Saturday. It was traumatizing, both for the stories of dead babies meant to drive home the importance of the maneuvers and the incredibly odd people in our class (25% of which failed the course altogether; and one of whom tried to trick me into giving her answers to the test). On Sunday we had our first birthing class. I was expecting some good blog material to come from the experience, but it was overall pretty uneventful. Fingers crossed for next week.

Yesterday I went to see the OB. All continues to look good, from the outside at least. I now start weekly appointments. It seems like there must be some mistake, as weekly appointments are for women who are near delivery.... crap, I guess that's me. We also scheduled my final ultrasound for next Thursday, so they can estimate his weight, give or take 4 lbs. The best news of all is that I had only gained 2 lbs since my last appointment 3 weeks ago. Yippee!! I was guessing more like 10 lbs from the looks of things. *cringe* So DH took me to Cold Stone for some ice cream to celebrate.

A lot of people ask me how I am liking Seattle at this point. I do want to come back to that topic, but as this post is already long enough, I'll just say that it's a really neat city, and other than the usual adjustments (they don't sell Count Chocula cereal here, do you believe that?), I'm enjoying the area.

UPDATE: I just got a call from the baby furniture store... IT HAS SHIPPED! The crib and dresser/changing table will be here early next week. Awwwww yeah.