Monday, November 30, 2009

36 weeks

T-5 days until the cerclage comes out!! 36 weeks and I'm still feeling pretty good. The contractions are definitely continuing to get stronger and more frequent, especially in the evenings. Other than that, I'm good. The sciatic nerve pain still hurts but I'm so used to it now that I just ignore it. I had another NST today and everything looks great. I'm now measuring 38 weeks and I only gained 1/2 a pound this week...during Thanksgiving week! I sure wish my metabolism was always like this. I also had my second appointment with my doula today and it went really well. We reviewed my birth plan and she gave me a wonderful foot massage. :)

I also wanted to say thank you to everyone for your encouragement on the daycare. I was definitely having a downer of a day when I wrote my last post and was feeling overwhelmed. After discussing many options, we've decided that the first step is that I will request to reduce my hours and work part-time from home. This will be a stretch financially but totally doable after we tweak our spending habits and reduce in some areas. Rob will also watch him one day a week and make up his hours throughout the week and weekend, which is a plus of owning a business. If work approves my request for 3 days a week and Rob watches him 1 day, that only leave 2 days where we need some type of daycare, which I can definitely live with. Our best friend's daughter goes a woman that runs a home daycare that is only about 2 miles away from us and they absolutely love her. She's going to be the first on the list for our options but I'm also going to look into hiring a college student to come into our home 2 days a week to watch him, which would really be awesome, since I would be here. So anyway, that is now the new plan and we are feeling very comfortable with it. I'll just be praying that it all falls into place and that the perfect person comes available.

7 comments:

  1. I better ask you all my questions before you get busy playing mommy. :) Congratulations! Your story brings me so much joy. I can't wait for the announcement that your baby boy is here and safe. Hoping you are able to work out the part-time situation. That sounds ideal.

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  2. OMG!! This Saturday you could have your son in your arms. I'm not selfish or anything like that, just REALLY excited...could you take your computer with you to the hospital so you can post right away. Maybe a hourly update typed by hubbie maybe because I just feel you are going to have your baby as soon as the cleavage is removed.

    Side note: I wanted to comment on your daycare situation so badly, but my words were getting angry because I was hurt someone would make you feel bad about ANY decisions you made about your little one. Funny story, I stood inside a really great Daycare (Early Learning Center) and cried and the women flocked around me because I was crying so hard. Then I was able to squeak out "I got to put my baby in Daycare" and all of them just hugged me. I laugh now but I totally understood where you were coming from when you ranted a little about Daycare. I was blessed to find an in home Daycare place that loved my daughter and my daughter loved Lisa. She interacted with the children, they had arts and crafts and lesson time where they learned ABC's and phonics (so the TV wasn't the babysitter). My daughter is a very well adjusted, happy, and hilarious 3 year old. When I chose the in home daycare I went to the Virginia Social Services website (because I live in VA) and looked for licensed in home daycare so you can see if they have any violations and such because they are inspected 2 to 3 times a year. I don't know if CA have something similar but it something maybe you can look into.

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  3. Jenell - I was going to comment on your "friendly" Anonymous commenter in the last post, but ... just let me say that putting your child in daycare is not an easy decision, especially after all that you've been through. I spent a good month feeling like a failure because I HAD to put my daughter in daycare so that I could go to work and keep a roof over her head and diapers on her behind. Then one day, I realized that I'm a GOOD MAMA. I picked out a daycare provider that LOVES my daughter.

    But as far as "To put your infant in daycare, .. they don't love your baby. To them, your baby is a little bag of money. They keep your baby alive while you work, because you pay them." That is crap. Callie's babysitters DO LOVE HER, and more importantly, she loves them. They worry about her, they miss her when she's gone for more than a day or two, and she RUNS to them on Monday mornings.

    "Your son will see his daycare provider more waking hours than he will see you. He will not have the security that he needs so much in those first months of life. If you have to work, a family member would provide a lot more love than a daycare would." Again, CRAP. A family member is not necessarily the best caregiver. My daughter goes to her Tommy and her Betty's. They are only related by heart and by faith, not blood. They are a retired couple that are members of our church. They keep one other kid - a 5 year old boy. I am quite sure that they are not getting rich off of the combined $45/day that his mom and I pay them. They do it - not for money, but - because they love having kids in the house. They say that the energy that the kids put off is their own little fountain of youth. Their grandkids all live out of state, and so Zacky and Callie are their Stand-In grandkids.

    Moral of the novel... You can absolutely find someone that you trust, that will love your son and care for him. Yes, it hurts to hand your most precious gift over to someone else, but you'll have to do it at some point. And don't let anyone on the interwebz make you cry. Especially if they're Anonymous. :)

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  4. Don't despair, you WILL find the right daycare situation for your family! No, it's not easy having to leave your precious baby in the care of someone else (ANYONE else), but it's not a bad thing. I've also been following your story since March 2009 and I'm just so happy for you and your husband! I returned to work full-time at 8 weeks, left my son with my mother-in-law for a month and a half, then started him full-time at a daycare center at 3-months-old. They LOVE him there, and even though he is now one of four babies in the nursery, he gets SO MUCH one-on-one attention. They miss him when he misses even a day, or a morning (hey, we're known to run late on Mondays)... It is very possible to find a provider (however you choose) that will love your little guy endlessly. So, continue the hunt, but don't stress over it. Enjoy these last days (weeks) as a couple, your life is about to go from good to great! Best of luck in the delivery room, and remember, JUST BREATHE :)

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  5. YAY t minus 5 days... so happy and excited for you!!!

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  6. Okay, I'm going to be a nut this week. I'm so freaking excited I feel like I'm going to puke. I've been "with" you ("knew" you from BBC)for over a year now, praying, crying, holding my breathe every week to see how you are doing. And now we are here, 3 days before your son makes his debute. DON'T YOU WANT TO PUKE!!! LOL!

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  7. The 23 days on your countdown just totally excited me!!!!!!!! 23 days Jenny!?! I am so excited for you guys. Good luck on Saturday, we are going out of town but I will look forward to your next update for sure!!! Love you all!!!
    Amy

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