Kay
Toddler
Mama through local adoption :)
Posts: 230
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Post by Kay on Jan 18, 2010 11:43:09 GMT 10
Hi guys,
I am just so excited at starting this process at the moment and am a lot more positive than I ever was with 8 years of IVF... I have found myself looking on ebay and in shops over the weekend at baby/child stuff. Obviously there is not a lot we can get until we are placed but I am just wondering what everyone else has done/did?
Thanks everyone
Louise
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Post by waiting on Jan 18, 2010 15:02:05 GMT 10
Louise, They say you should not prepare anything and we haven't really. At the age I am, there are no guarantees, it is different for you, as you are younger. All we have done is made sure we have a bedroom that will used. We have moved anything that is child related into that room. That includes our old books, or toys that we grew up with. We have not bought anything. We have, however, gone out and looked at baby bunting and chosen a pram, and bed and baby seat. We have not bought anything, we have just made some intial enquiries to learn something about baby things. Some people have bought things and have their rooms ready. I think that may be a little premature and if you never get allocated, will in the end make you feel like crap.
The other thing we have done is just worked on trying to pay off the house so we can have the luxury of one of us staying home for a little more than a year.
So, there you have it. We have not really done anything.....
Waiting
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Kay
Toddler
Mama through local adoption :)
Posts: 230
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Post by Kay on Jan 18, 2010 15:17:58 GMT 10
Thanks Waiting.... We dont want to buy anything age or gender specific for obvious reasons. At the moment we are just planning a few minor renovations and child proofing. Louise
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Post by waiting on Jan 18, 2010 20:02:06 GMT 10
Plan your renovations to suit the two of you. I have given up planning thing for things that may never happen. I say, forget about child proofing, you have no idea what age child will come your way, so wait until you get one and then it will all work out. Relax now..... later you will be busy.
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Kay
Toddler
Mama through local adoption :)
Posts: 230
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Post by Kay on Jan 18, 2010 20:37:07 GMT 10
Really what we have planned is creating a couple of storage areas to clear out the spare rooms and to put floorboards into the dining room which currenly only has carpet. By doing this we are semi child proofing the house. Nothing too specific.
Thanks waiting
Louise
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Post by waiting on Jan 18, 2010 22:04:11 GMT 10
I like floorboards, they look nice in a house. Cleaning up spare rooms is always a good idea. Happy renovating. We have just finished building a sunroom.
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Post by shudie on Feb 7, 2010 18:53:31 GMT 10
Louise,
I also feel so much more positive on this path than I ever did on IVF. I think too that it is perfectly acceptable to be making a 'space' for your child to be - even if it is just in your head (lol).
We waited until just before our assessment to start to make changes proper but since putting in our application - we have made house renos that a) will suit a bub or child and b) will increase the value of the house.
We built an understairs bookcase, shoe rack and coat cupboard to make space in the entrance hall for a possible push chair etc and to make more storage in the study. We also did as many renos as we were planning on doing in the future so that the 1st year the child is here... we aren't concerned with 'stuff' that we meant to do. We spent 3 months doing up the back garden & the front courtyard. I personally found that doing this stuff helped kill time while we waited.
Since we got the go ahead for assessment, we have cleared the rumpus room of junk and I bought a new sofa (with washable cover), a TV cabinet, and IKEA bookshelf with some baskets in it (possible toy storage). Either way, it will be a 'cinema' room for us or a play area for a bub/child.
In what will be the bub's room - I have anything to do with our TTC/IVF/Adoption reading on a bookshelf, some old books from when DH and I were kids etc but it is still very much a 'spare room'. We have also cleared out the walk in cupboard in this room - it had all our camping equipment in it... now it is a space ready to go as and when.
We already have a 'built in' child gate that we inherited when we bought the house... the SW commented on it and asked, 'it looks like you inherited this with the house?'... yep we did and we left it obviously thinking IVF would work and now of course thinking about PC... they were fine with that.
I think a bit of preplanning is ok. A friend of mine was placed within a few weeks of getting assessed.... this is the ideal of course but I want to be ready just incase. (There are 10 people waiting in a pool already so I doubt that'll happen so fast for us).
xx Shudie
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Post by waiting on Feb 7, 2010 19:26:23 GMT 10
We have just been given a kitten and have had to make things kitty proof. We have limited him to downstairs and have put a door on the stairs. We are also making an enclosure for him on the balcony which will be childproof too, just in case the baby wants to play with the kitty cat! The way that I see it, a small child doesn't need much space initially and when we are allocated, I know that my husband can move heaven and earth very quickly to do what is needed to make sure that we have an adequate space for a bub. So, I am not stressing at all. When baby comes , we will fix.......
Waiting.
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Kay
Toddler
Mama through local adoption :)
Posts: 230
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Post by Kay on Feb 8, 2010 15:52:33 GMT 10
Hi girls,
Shuddie - sounds perfect what you have done...I like that the rooms have a dual purpose too Good Luck for Wednesday
Waiting - I think doing the dual work ie: baby and kitty proof is a really smart idea.
We are still preparing our renos. The room which we have called our nursery from day 1 (as we always thought IVF would work) was being used as a gym so we have cleared that out and but up a booksheld with books from our childhood and from when I did my child care training. The room has always had some teddy long stitches up which really makes it look like a kids room. Then we just cleared the closed as we had hard rubbish collection this week.
Other than that a friend was getting rid of an old cot so we told her we knew someone who could use it and we are in the process of sanding it down and painting it white. We thought given it was free it couldnt hurt.
I think that we are going to wait to do the floors over the easter holidays.
Cheers,
Louise
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Post by lilchookie on Feb 9, 2010 14:48:55 GMT 10
I have thought about this lots of times, but have really done much in the way of buying things. The babies room has been renovated and at the moment just has a single bed, bedside table, bookself and built in wardrobe. We expect to have formal approval within the month (just a house safety check to happen tomorrow now) and it was at this time we always have planned to start buying a little something each week (just like we would had done had we ever achieved a pregnancy). We won't be purchasing any of the large items until a match has been confirmed, but we will look into that a little more now and plan what we will be getting. It is so unknown how long we will be waiting, could be weeks, could be years. So we are just going to proceed on the buying business with caution
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Post by lilchookie on Feb 9, 2010 14:50:45 GMT 10
Lousie - I also wanted to say, that excited feeling you have at the moment.........hold on to that, becuase when the going gets hard & the waiting to get to each stage is long......remember that feeling because it gets you through
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Post by waiting on Feb 9, 2010 16:21:51 GMT 10
Yeah, I agree, that excited feeling is really special and it would be good if you could remember it. Times do get tough.
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Post by simone on Feb 9, 2010 16:51:19 GMT 10
I on the other hand haven't looked that far ahead.I don't look at the future.I haven't looked or purchased anything baby related.We are renovating our house anyway so we will continue to do so.My spare room is beautifully decorated with a queen size bed and it will stay that way until otherwise needed for a different purpose.As for the long process,it doesn't bother me.Life is meant to be difficult,that is what makes us stronger individuals.Having my hysterectomy was the most difficult thing I have ever had to endure,so the adoption process for me is a breeze.Sx
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Post by goggly on Feb 9, 2010 17:29:37 GMT 10
Ladies,
Just a word of caution on buying things - until you know the lay of the land it may be a waste of money. We rushed out and bought a lot of things when we were placed that we never used - I am looking at a baby mobile still in its packaging as I type!
Of course it is only a word of caution - if it makes you happy and feel positive it is money well spent, but you may also get the same buzz by doing something for yourself instead!
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Post by lilchookie on Feb 9, 2010 17:41:07 GMT 10
Good advice Googly. For me anything I buy and never get around to using will go into the little hampers I make for friends / family when they have baby showers.
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Kay
Toddler
Mama through local adoption :)
Posts: 230
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Post by Kay on Feb 11, 2010 14:35:47 GMT 10
Thanks for all the input girls. Obviously it is not good to spend too much money or get carried away but to just be ready.
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