40 Weeks

Well, I've made it all the way to 40 weeks and I haven't questioned for a second that she's not in there. She is constantly moving around, so either she's simply just having a blast in there or she's ready to come out. I'm hoping she's packing up her things and heading out soon! And by packing up her things I mean having one last snack, and let's face it; it shall be a really good snack providing my cravings :). I haven't gained any weight since last week, surprisingly, and everything was checked out to be normal/unchanged at my last appt. She still thinks I'm dialated at the same 1 cm since she couldn't feel past the head (or something like that), and yes it freaks me out that she felt the baby's head with her hand.

OH, and our doc is out of town until Sunday, which is obviously frustrating. We met the "back-up" doctor at our last appt, and I'm a little uneasy about it. Not that I don't trust her, but I don't like the idea of some random person taking over like that. Adam said the look on my face gave it all away when she introduced herself. Oops. She said not to worry since she's done hundreds of deliveries. I know I'll be fine. And not to worry, Adam didn't pull a Knocked Up and threaten our doc, "you're dead, you're Tupac", but that scene from Knocked Up did pop up in both our heads.

I've been getting asked a lot how much time I get for maternity leave, if it's paid, etc. I'm anticipating taking 11 weeks off (if I do not have any complications, c-section, etc.) and it's entirely paid; the first half I'm using maternity leave, vacation, and sick leave and the second half is paid by short-term disability. I'm allowed up to 12 weeks off, so if at week 11 I decide I want one more week I will stay. I have a feeling I might want to. Every little part of taking some sort of leave is different, so it makes it confusing. I had to request for 6 weeks "unpaid leave" but it's really not unpaid because of the disability benefit, and figuring out the disability benefit was just another confusing part. Finally, after the help of HR explaining it to me, I have it all figured out. Now if I end up having a complicated birth/c-section I will get an extra couple weeks. It would be nice, but not worth it. All I'm hoping for is a safe delivery and healthy baby.

Baby Size: Estimated at about 7 1/2 pounds and 20 inches long.

Sleep: I'm still sleeping fine, besides waking up about 3 times in the night to pee.

Cravings: Sweets (specifically chocolate), chips & dip, actually almost anything that's not a prepackaged/frozen meal, in which case those gross me out entirely. I've been craving Japanese salads with Ginger dressing, but eating Japanese food is an expensive craving to fulfill. Adam picked some up the other night and it was pricey, especially for take-out.

Movement: Like I said, LOTS. Adam and I are so entertained watching and feeling my stomach at night, I'll even press back on her feet as a little hello. Last night she was having a grand old time kicking my bladder, and for the first time I actually couldn't fall asleep because of it.

Symptoms: Just feeling heavier pelvic pressure, sometimes when I go to the bathroom I get scared that she's gonna just plop out into the toilet because she feels so low (tmi?). Also, Adam says I officially have the pregnant waddle.

Labor Signs: Still none. The consensus seems to be that I'm actually just lucky.


*Crossing fingers that this is the last pregnancy blog post.*

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