The Whirlwind Has Begun

11/18/2012

 

 

Oh my, it's been a while since my last post. Can I just say that time seems to have begun moving in warp speed? I mean seriously!

The main reason I have not been posting as much is because I have been really busy with a million different things and also...I am feeling pregnant. More on that later, but suffice it to say that I am having a hard time sitting at a computer without my back killing me.

Here is a run-down on what I've been doing over the last couple of weeks -

Two baby showers, couch shopping, doctor's appointments, preparing to train my temp at work, figuring out childcare, talking to insurance and setting up a maternity leave budget, writing my birth plan, getting belly pictures taken with hubby and cleaning out cabinets and closets.

I know...crazy.

This week? I am going out to see Breaking Dawn (yes, I am still a teenager at heart), going to a wedding, hosting Thanksgiving, OB appointment, a hospital tour and our first all day birth class!

 

I feel like I don't know how to cover everything in writing, but I will try... in a brief way.

Lets see...

My baby shower was on the 10th and was thrown by my sister and sister-in-law. It was a really great event and I was so touched by all the people who came to show their support. Now that I think about it, it really would have been better to be able to split the shower into two smaller showers. It was kind of like my wedding in that I wanted to spend lots of time talking to everyone, especially the people I rarely get to see, but I just didn't have enough time!

My sisters (and mom) did a great job in making the party pretty and intimate. There were maybe 20-25 people there and I did cry...just once. I left with quite the loot and some nice pictures to remember the day by. I just can't believe that I am far enough into this pregnancy to have had a baby shower!

 

Figuring out my maternity leave budget was stressful. I do monthly budgets for other people for my job, but doing one for myself for three months unpaid leave was hard. I thought my supplemental insurance would cover more than it did, so I had to reconfigure our savings to cover two extra months instead of two weeks. Yuck! At first, I thought I may have to go back to work after 8 weeks because we just wouldn't have enough to get us through 12. But...after some manipulating of numbers and cutting back debt payments to the minimum (which I hate), I think I made it work. I think I was sweating by the time I finished.

We also finished our 'birth plan'.

I looked at a couple of examples and adjusted a few sections to fit our needs as well as put in an intro describing some of the emotional challenges we might encounter and how we'd like the staff to handle those situations. I kept it pretty low key and flexible mostly just asking that they discuss all procedures and decisions with us as they come up. I also explained that I wanted to labor on my own for a little while but that I would most likely be getting an epidural to keep me calm midway through. I have decided that in order to make this delivery experience the best it can be, I need to accept that drugs will keep some of the terrifying memories at bay (hopefully). So my plan is set and I just need to get it to my OB.

Oh! I forgot! I also interviewed one pediatrician of two I had scheduled. She was very thorough and seemed to know her stuff. She answered a lot of my questions before I asked them, which was nice, but I did feel a little rushed. I'm not sure if that is how all Pediatrician's offices are but she seemed to be intent on keeping herself on a strict schedule...which I think is a good thing, but also had me wondering about when I have a fussy baby at the office that may require a bit more time.

I will talk with this other baby doctor in a couple of weeks and see what I think of him and make my decision from there.

The only other thing interesting enough to mention, is that we actually got some maternity pictures taken. My sis has a photography business and offered up her services so we could have a few photos of the both of us. I realized the other day that we really don't have any recent pictures of us as a couple and knew we should get them done before any really bad weather came around.

We are in rainy season here in Washington and had to literally run out to squeeze some pictures in before it started pouring on Saturday. I knew we would only have a couple of hours max, so we found a spot near our house and took a quick hour to take a few. I will post them when I get the CD back. Hopefully we lucked out and have some decent ones to print, although I am sure I looked a bit blah as it was cloudy and drizzly. Oh well...at least we tried!

As for this week's approaching craziness...I am already exhausted thinking about it. Hopefully I can take a breath after this coming weekend and we can focus on one thing at a time.

My body is definitely slowing down and I am feeling this third trimester so I know I need to get in anything major in the next three weeks. I don't know when this baby is coming and I need things to be done here at home so I can focus on getting my work situation cleaned up.

The list keeps getting longer!

I think you can tell that the reality of this pregnancy being over in 7 weeks is finally getting to me.

Okay, enough rambling pregnant brain...

Cheers!