Pitty Party

In April, my Favoritest and I took a long weekend and went house hunting in Pittsburgh.  Doodle stayed with Jayburb.  Don't get too jealous, it was not the relaxing baby moon you may be thinking of!  We spend the weekend looking a frat houses, talking with slum lords, and I am not going to lie there were tears.  Lots of tears.  The low point of the trip involved an appointment with an OB.  In case you didn't know, Sadie is due July 14 and My Favoritest has to start his new Job in Pittsburgh on July 1st.  My current doctors suggested making an appointment with an OB in Pitt to get into their system and so they would have me registered as a patient.  I was assured that in the academic hospital world, this is not an unusual situation and it shouldn't be a problem to transfer so late in my pregnancy.  SHOULDN"T being the important word.  Someone should have mentioned that to the idiot we saw.  After looking totally flabbergasted when we explained the situation, running out of the room to check with her partner, and returning to the office with me in tears she basically told us that she would accept us as a patient, but she couldn't guarantee  me the quality of care she normally provides to her patients.  She was not even willing to discuss ways to make the situation work for both she and I.  As we walked out, I told My Favoritest that I didn't care what he had to do, he needed to figure out how we could stay in VA for the delivery.  The rest of our trip was pretty much tainted by this visit.  Here are a couple of pictures from our hotel.  Pitt by day and by night.

April 19 (273/365) 

April 20 (274/365)
View of the incline from our hotel room. 

I mentioned that we looked for houses.  Oh what an adventure that was!  The rental market in Pitt is crazy!  We looked at a house in the city that had 5 college boys living in it.  When we arrived I almost refused to walk inside.  There were no less than 3 recycling bins full of beer bottles on the front porch alone!  My feet stuck to the floor.  It was disgusting.  We left.  The next house we looked at in the city was being remodeled and had some potential.  The downside was it was 3 stories with a basement.  The contractor also mentioned that he and the crew thought there was a ghost living in the basement.  And since the place didn't come with an inspection from the Ghost Hunters crew, we took a pass.  Finally I convinced My Favoritest I am not a city girl and we moved our search to the burbs.
As we drove up to the first house in the burbs, we both said there had to be some kind of joke.  The houses were huge and nice with big, green, manicured yards.  We were waiting to cross the tracks to the slums.  We were pleasantly surprised.  The house we were there to see was smaller than it's neighbors, but it was brick, it was nice, and it had lots of curb appeal.  It also had lots of lookers.  There were no less than 5 people looking at the house.  The inside had some issues and a weird floor plan, but it was clean, finished, and in a safe neighborhood.  We left feeling a little more optimistic.  We weren't ready to sign a lease, but we had an option.  We wandered into the little town and found the Oakmont Bakery and I am pretty sure that is what made me feel like we could live in that house:)
After a day of lackluster houses and failed leads, we made the decision that the Oakmont house was our best bet.  We returned to the house to take some pictures and drive around the town.  We met the current tenants and had lunch at another good restaurant.  There were more tears.  I think the reality of everything just came crashing down on me. I cried so hard, I could hardly talk to my mom.  Here is a picture of our new house

April 21 (275/365)

We arrived home from our adventure, and though I tried to stay positive, I was overwhelmed by everything.  The reality of leaving friends who have become like family.  Finding new everything.  Being pregnant and not knowing where I was going to have this baby girl.  It was all too much!  As I got ready for bed, I dug out a t-shirt to sleep in.  It's a maternity shirt that I bought as a joke when I was preggo with Doodle.  It seemed to fit my situation perfectly.  It was truly how I felt.  There were so many decisions to make and so many hurdles to cross.  I didn't even know where to begin.

April 22 (276/365)

I pretty much spent the next day in tears and frozen in place.  Like I said, it was just to overwhelming.  There were too many decision to make and too many variables.  Finally, I decided to put pen to paper.  When My Favoritest got home from work we made a good old fashioned pro/con list to all of our possible plans.  

April 23 (277/365)

In the end, we decided the best thing was to stay in VA for delivery.  There would be lots of details to fill in, but it made the most sense to us.  Luckily, we were able to extend our lease for a month.  Nothing about the plan is perfect, but it is the best we can do.  My Favoritest has to start work in PA on July 2st, and the c-section is scheduled for July 9th.  If she decides to make her way into the world between those days, her daddy probably won't see her come into this world.  Like I said, not perfect.  But, we are so lucky to have family and friends supporting us.  Bubbie and Zayde are coming before My Favoritest leaves and both will stay till after Sadie is born.  Bubbie will bunk with us girls until the very end of July.  We also decided that self packing was not in the stars.  We are having the movers pack us, and that has been a huge relief for me.  Life is still stressful.  There are still lots of details to work out.  But for now, things are moving along!