the essence

Working & Rambling

Yep, still working. The good news is that this will probably be my last shift for at least 7 more weeks.

When the baby is born I'm supposed to submit for my six-week unpaid leave of absence. The girls were both born about three days before their due dates. Going under that same assumption I figured I might as well apply for paid time off this week - that way, I can get paid, not work, hopefully the baby will arrive & after my paid time off week THEN apply for my leave of absence. Thus, still making a bit of money & getting a little more time off. Strategic, don't you think?

Ray has been a dear the past few weeks and really helping me out. For one, I don't remember the last time I had to work my entire 6-midnight shift. He's been taking the last 2.5 hours of my time for me in the evening for several weeks now. I'm so thankful for that because I've definitely become more tired. It doesn't seem to matter what I do, though. I can have a restful day or a busy day (like going to Busch Gardens) & I'm exhausted by evening either way.

As for piano, I'll just keep teaching until he arrives. For my students' sake hopefully the baby will come soon as the hormones seem to lessen my patience and increase my irritability! Not good when teaching little ones.

I'm definitely "feeling" pregnant again. There's a lot of pressure. Actually, the only time I've ever had this much pressure is when I've been in labor, except I'm not in labor yet. The baby is also so low that even when I'm sitting down when he moves it sends shooting pains into my legs- I'm also pretty sure I could win a waddling contest right about now! I've felt that pressure for awhile now, but it's definitely worsened over the weekend.

Thursday night, around 11, I had the "need" to spot-clean my bathroom. It might sound silly, but it goes back to the home birth thing - I don't want to give birth in a dirty place! Even though it was only light cleaning I started to get a stitch on the right side of my abdomen, kind of like when you've been exercising. The problem was that even after a night of rest it hadn't gone away. My course of action was to hope it went away, but after talking to Rach & my mom they convinced me to call the birth center & my midwife thought it'd be best if I went to the chiropractor. They recommended one, a bit far away but he was wonderful & completely worth the drive! Tghat night I also put a homeopathic ointment on my side & by the next morning I felt all better.

Saturday was a day of not-feeling-so-well-pregnancy-pain-wise & this morning wasn't so great either. Because of that I stayed home from church this morning while Ray took the girls. I took advantage of a quiet house & went completely against my nature & RESTED. For about an hour.

After my rest time I continued to sit but managed to fold all of the laundry. (Hurray!) That is my most despised of household chores. After all of that rest I do feel a bit better, however I'm still nearly convinced that every time I walk about my water is going to break!

My biggest hope for this week is that the baby comes when the midwife, Andrea, is on duty. If it's not her it will be the back-up midwife (since Bea is out of town). The back-up midwife is perfectly fine & I've heard good things about her, I just don't have a relationship built up with her. And, that's part of the point of going the birth center route. Anyway, I'm not joking when I ask that you pray that if I go into labor this week that Andrea will be on call!