28 freaking weeks! Can you believe it, peeps? Amazing. It's still hard for me to wrap my little brain around. My incredible shrinking brain... (I have zero short-term memory left).
Yesterday's visit to the OB went well. I really like my OB, Dr. L. He's so easy going and positive. I have a friend whose doc is so conservative with the "You can eat this or do that's." Dr. L is very permissive, but has told me not to use my favorite face cream with some sort of acid in it, and my favorite protein powder because it has some artificial sweetener.
The best part of the visit was that Mr. Jem was there. We initially were shown into a room without an u/s machine... Mr. Jem looked around and said, "Hey, my ticket stub didn't say anything about not being able to see our baby today... Can we see her?" Dr. L laughed and led us into another examining room, with the caveat that we shouldn't "expect" an u/s. He then spent 5 minutes going bit by bit over our baby's anatomy. "There's her eye socket, her chin, her hands, her heart (144 ppm - perfectly normal), her belly, her labia, her feet, her brain, her eye socket again..." and on and on. LOVED IT! Mr. Jem has so few opportunities to "experience" her. I keep asking him to put his hand on my belly to feel her kicking, but he doesn't really feel much and is disappointed.
The other good thing was Dr. L confirmed that it is "pretty standard" for his patients to go on maternity/disability leave at week 36, as that's the point where he won't try to stop labor or a "birthday party." So I informed my boss that I'll be going out on leave 2 weeks earlier than I had said (4 weeks before my due date). Just 7 weeks away!!! Such a relief to move up the date. I'm bloody tired, as our friends across the pond put it.
UPDATE: To answer Oak's question: this new start date won't affect my leave end date. I'm fortunate to live in California, so there is extra protection for my job and extra disability pay, so I'll have a total of 22 weeks of disability + baby bonding leave.
UPDATE: To answer Oak's question: this new start date won't affect my leave end date. I'm fortunate to live in California, so there is extra protection for my job and extra disability pay, so I'll have a total of 22 weeks of disability + baby bonding leave.
My cold symptoms are slowly dissipating. Still on antibiotics (fully cleared by Dr. L), nasal spray, Robitussin. Still coughing, but starting to feel more normal. Unfortunately, normal means my insomnia is back. I was up at 3:00 a.m. for over an hour. Tired this morning.
Okay, I better get back to work.
Tomorrow: I'll post about my big Baby Shower Revelation.
~Jem
9 comments:
I'm so glad Mr. Jem was able to join you for the visit and get a glimpse of his little girl! So Exciting! And what a nice surprise to be able to cut out of work 2 weeks earlier than expected. Yay!
28 weeks! Congrats!!! My hubby also really enjoys seeing the baby on the screen. We also play the game of "oh the baby's kicking, put your hand on my belly" and then he immediately stops kicking. So frustrating for daddy!
28 weeks! Wow!
Its so important to like your doc, you're so lucky that you have that. I think leniency is the way to go too, happy mom, happy baby.
Here's my only question...if you go on leave two weeks earlier than planned does that mean you have to go BACK two weeks earlier? I can tell you that just in case you don't deliver before 38 weeks those two weeks of waiting will be long and tough and going back sooner than you'd planned might be a bummer in the end. Just something to think about. I had only 12 weeks so I worked up until I had the baby so I could optimize my time with the baby after he arrived and even then it felt too soon. I'm hoping for your sake you have 12 weeks even after the delivery because that would be AWESOMEBALLS.
Great news!
Glad you had a good exam and that Mr.. Jem had a chance to see baby too.
So happy to hear that all went well at the appointment and that Mr. Jem got to have a good look at your little girl!
I'm glad to hear that your coverage allows you to take the extra time off. Being as rested as possible before you deliver is a huge advantage.
Can't wait to hear about the shower.
How exciting that you and Mr Jem got to see your daughter! It sounds so close when you say only 7 weeks left to maternity leave and then not long after that you'll get to meet her.
What an exciting time!
Congrats on a great visit! Glad Mr. Jem got to experience seeing his daughter; very cool. And I'm happy for you that you get to leave a couple weeks earlier. I imagine that will make a big difference. Look forward to hearing about your revelation!
Yay for a great appointment!
And, WOW, just 7 weeks until your leave starts?! That just sounds incredible and makes it all seem so close and real!!
22 weeks of leave?!!! Awesome!! How great that Mr. Jem got to see her!!
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