Single Digits

Nine days until my due date!

Holy Shit!

I remember reading blogs way back when, before I got pregnant, and when I was newly pregnant, and reading posts about when people noticed moving from 300-something days to 200-something days, 200 to 100, and then to the double-digits...

And now here I am in the single digits! Whoa!

I did end up asking my midwife to check me at my appointment yesterday, crazy as it seemed. She said I was about 50% effaced, but not really dilated at all (she may have said something like "not even a fingertip dilated"). She also said my cervix was "posterior", so she had to reach way back... I have to goo.gle that to see what that means, because I honestly have no idea.

My midwife practice has about 15-17 midwives, operating out of about 5-6 different offices, and sharing call at the hospital for deliveries. So, any one of them might deliver my baby, but chances are I won't have met whoever does. I go to the same office for all my appointments, but there are only 4 midwives at that office. My appointment yesterday was with P, the only one of those 4 I hadn't yet met. She was fantastic! My mom came with me to the appointment, so she got to meet her, too. We both really liked her. I'd be so happy if she happens to be on call when I go into labor! Not that I don't like the other midwives at the office - I especially really like my "primary" midwife, M - but P just has the absolute perfect personality for being a midwife, if that makes sense. Just very warm, maternal, great about explaining things, listened well, etc.

She said my baby is probably around 7 to 7.5 pounds (it might have been 7.25-7.75), give or take a half a pound. Yikes! Ok, she can come out now! I don't want her to get much bigger than that!

She also gave me a letter saying I should stop working as of this coming Friday, July 27th, pretty much just because I mentioned not wanting to work anymore. She knows about my anxiety issues, and maybe the midwife I saw a few appointments ago, who had already suggested I stop working as of that day, put it in my chart. I heard what she said to the secretary who typed up the letter - to word it something like, "due to end of pregnancy stress" or "issues" or something, but the secretary worded it as "medical complications", which isn't true. My blood pressure is fine, everything is physically fine, aside from the usual end-of-pregnancy discomforts.

I'm not sure I'm actually going to stop working. I might be willing to if I could know for sure that Baby Girl isn't going to come late. But who knows? I don't want to start my FMLA maternity leave early, because that means having to go back to work sooner after the baby is born. I'm dead-set on having a full 12 weeks off WITH my baby! So, any time I take off now has to come out of vacation time, and I just don't know how much more I can take, since I'm already using 12 hours/week just cutting back my shifts from 12 hours to 8 hours. I'd have to get my supervisor's approval, which stresses me out just thinking about it (although honestly it would probably not be as big of a deal as is in my head), and I'm worried about having to take so much of my actual maternity leave unpaid, due to using up so much vacation time prior to even starting it.

I know that in the grand scheme of things, one paycheck (or so) really isn't going to break the bank. So, I'm going to see how it goes working tomorrow and Thursday, and go from there. I'm scheduled on Sunday, Monday, and Wednesday next week, so maybe I'll work just Sunday, or just Sunday and Monday... After next Wednesday, I'm not scheduled for any more shifts, regardless of whether or not the baby has come, since Thursday is my due date. Considering my last scheduled shift ends at midnight Wednesday night and Thursday is my due date, I figure I can easily get away with calling out that day, labor or no labor!

Today I placed two big orders for stuff from B.RU and Ama.zon, the two places I'm registered. I had those "regi.stry completion" things for 10% off regi.stry items at each place, and since it's getting down to the wire, I wanted to order some things I need and want to have. Not 30 minutes after submitting the orders, I got an email from one of my mom's close friends (a close family friend, really), asking if I ever got the stroller for the carseat (sna.p n go), because if not, she wants to order it for me and have it shipped right out. Are you kidding me?! Why'd she wait so long??? She'd mentioned something about the stroller a long time ago, and said something about waiting until after the baby was born and then seeing what I still needed. Now, isn't that kind of a stupid plan? What was I supposed to do, send her an email and say, "So, if you want to buy me a gift, now's the time, because otherwise I'm going to buy it all myself"? Come on. Who DOES that?!

So, of course, I'd JUST ordered the sna.p n go, among other things, and couldn't think of what else to tell her to get (she'd asked me to tell her what else I still needed). I don't like that plan, either, because then I'm basically telling her how much money to spend. She'd also said something about "letting her send a check for the stroller". I ended up telling her that I couldn't think of anything else I needed right now, but that she was more than welcome to check out my regist.ries as there are still some items left on them, but that she shouldn't feel as though she needs to send a check. What was I supposed to do, say, "Yes, please, a check would be great!". I don't know, maybe that would be ok... but it just feels very awkward and weird to me to do that. She has two kids, one with one kid and one with two... she should know better than to wait until the last minute to go and buy a big(ger) item for someone who's due so soon with her first child! Right?!

I mean, come on... I'm in the single digits now, baby!