26 weeks today. 56 days until 34 weeks.
Today baby is the size of a head of lettuce!
On Friday we went for another ultrasound appointment. My cervix continues to dynamically shorten and lengthen randomly (and without any sensation that the change is occurring). Back and forth it goes. Dr. L was pleased that it continues to be about the same. And given that the nifedipine has not caused any symptoms (no dizziness or drop in BP), he wants me to remain on that. Baby was pretty chill – I think he was sleepy. I did ask Dr. L why baby is always head down and he said that he simply doesn’t have enough room to flip around like most babies 😦 Baby’s heart rate was 147 and my fluid levels were 10.6 which the tech said was “good”. They won’t measure the baby for size until 28 weeks which is unfortunate. I feel like it’s really motivating to hear how much bigger he’s getting. They did monitor for contractions for 20 min and unlike Tuesday’s appointment, I didn’t have any. I went ahead and asked the doctor who had previously ok’d our trip to Florida next week and she did say she didn’t recommend travelling at this point. She said that yes, there are hospitals there, but if baby were to be born he’d likely be stuck in Florida for several months and therefore we’d also be stuck there too. That was a point I hadn’t considered. As much as I’d like to go to Florida to be able to spend some time with Eric and my family, ultimately it’s not the best thing for baby and I’ve accepted that. Maybe once we get to 34 weeks we’ll plan a getaway to Va Beach for a long weekend.
I got some good news about work. I’ll be able to use up all my PTO prior to starting maternity leave and then I get to take 12 weeks of FMLA. PTO will take me up to mid-July sometime. At that point, I would begin maternity leave for 6-8 weeks whether or not baby has arrived. That means full pay, then 50% pay that will take me at least until September. Then with 12 weeks FMLA (no pay), my job will be held up until November. I’m not sure if I’d be ready to return to work at that point. I guess it depends on when baby actually arrives. I doubt they’d fire me if I didn’t return to work immediately after FMLA. I think whenever I can come back they’ll want me back – unless they’ve completely replaced me. But given the way our company is growing, I don’t foresee them not needing me in the future. So far my boss has been pretty supportive about everything. But then again, up until this point in my career I’ve been a really reliable employee so I kind of feel like they owe me.
I’ve spent the last few days beginning a cross stitch project. I’ve never cross stitched before but after working on it a few days I’m pretty pleased with it. I think it’ll be a good addition to the nursery and will be something special for the baby. Also, it will take hours upon hours. And currently, I have too much time so it’s a great thing.
The storage cube unit arrived Friday – now if I can just get hubby to put it together 😉 It looks really heavy…poor guy.
Slowly, one by one, the art pieces I ordered from Etsy are arriving. I have 2 fox ones, a hedgehog, owl, bear and raccoon. I’ve bought some frames and hopefully they’ll come in soon. I’d like to also get a maternity photo printed on canvas to go in the middle of these. I’ll wait a while until the belly gets a little bigger. I have a friend who will take the photos for us (though I haven’t asked her yet). I’d like it to be Eric and I standing in the woods hopefully backlit so it’s kind of us silhouette from the side maybe holding hands. I’ll hang everything over the changing table. I’ve also considered getting a big wooden F (first initial of baby) to go in the mix of the frames but can’t decide on a color. And also, we haven’t completely decided on baby’s name yet.
Biggest fear recently: stillbirth. What a terrible thing! As if it’s not bad enough to think that yes, baby will survive but will have severe defects if born at this time – but now we got to consider he may not survive at all?! I read something today where one woman had carried 2 babies up to 28 weeks only to have stillbirths. Come on 34 weeks!
Saving Flynn 