The following is a stream of consciousness about the upcoming arrival of our Baby Girl, and the possibility that it might just be time to start working from home until she gets here. See the rest of the content after the jump!
Wednesday was very interesting but not very fun. I had an incident on the way to work that caused a cascade of events that landed me at my OBGYN wondering if Baby Girl wanted to show up early. “Incident” might be too strong of a word, but there are details I’d rather not publish on the internet for all to see. Suffice it to say that I got to listen to Baby Girl’s heart beating away for about 20 minutes straight, and press a button that seemed like a missile launcher every time she kicked.
Before I could leave for my appointment, I was considering all the different ways it could go. What if I don’t get to come back to work today? What if I don’t get to come back at all? What if I have to start leave early? What if Baby Girl comes this early? It’s too early. We’re not ready.
Now, worrying gets us nowhere and so I turned my anxiety into action and took some steps to get things ready for the hand-off at work. We hope to still have another month with me here, but after Wednesday, I didn’t want to leave anything to chance. I delegated access to my e-mail to 3 people that were identified as potential back-ups, and I wrote out a guide on how to run a query in my workflow to pull up the open tasks. I also moved my e-mail archive onto a shared drive and published instructions on how to access it, should my back-ups need it.
I couldn’t do anything about the fact that my hospital bag wasn’t packed or that we weren’t ready to diaper a baby at home–I resolved that if things were happening then and there that Jeff would have to tie up those loose ends.
The good news? Baby Girl settled in and does not seem to be intent on making a great escape any time soon. The doctor did say that things appear to be “ahead of schedule,” though and that he wanted me to “take it easy.” I’m pretty sure it was an exclamation of surprise when he said “Wow! That’s her head…” as he went to check my cervix. No wonder I can (literally) breathe a little easier these days..
Walking is troubling, when it’s for long periods of time. Today seems to be better than either Wednesday or Thursday, but it’s still not easy. I get winded, and it feels like a bowling ball bearing down on me. The weight/pressure turns painful (stinging/burning) after about 15 minutes of continuous movement, but abates almost immediately after sitting/reclining/lying down. Let’s just say me and gravity are not great friends right now.
Because I don’t want to end up on bed rest, I’ve been doing my best to take it easy as instructed. I’ve got my feet up on a stool at work right now, I only get away from my desk for water or necessary tasks, and as soon as I get home, I put my feet up again. The downside is that this gets really boring… And that I can’t really “work on my fitness” like this. I’ve struck out my strength training goal and replaced it, as of today, with a strict “freggies” goal. Each meal and at least 1/2 of my snacks have to have fruits/veggies involved. Diet is 90% of the battle, right?
I did a lot of shopping on Amazon last night. Originally I had over $300 worth of items left to get from my registry that we could’ve saved 15% on. Given the current circumstances, though, and the possibility that my leave might have to start before Baby Girl makes her appearance, me and Jeff went through and chopped that in half. A lot of the things are wants, not needs, and so we just chopped them off.
I have *most* of what I need for my hospital bag now, and I plan to put that together tonight or this weekend. Saturday we get to attend a birthing class and tour the birthing center. Sunday, we’re going to wash the cars and install the car seat.
We’re going to have a baby, either any day, or sometime within the next month or so. It’s so surreal! I think Jeff sums it up the best, though, when he does a little happy dance, scoops up the cat, and gleefully exclaims “Toby! You’re going to be a big brother!”
You can tell that Toby is thrilled… Either that or he thinks the dresser will be a good hiding place.
We’re excited. ❤
MegsFitness 