Sunday, July 28, 2013

Maternity Leave!

As of 8:15 this evening, I am officially on maternity leave!  I originally was going to start maternity leave on August 5, but the restaurant has been extra busy the last couple of weeks, which means less breaks for me. I am generally on my feet for 7 or so hours before I get to sit down and eat anything, which has been really hard physically as I get further along.  So, my boss was able to get me on leave a week early! 

I've been really excited and nervous about it this last week.  Being on maternity leave (and ultimately, being a stay at home mom since I don't plan on returning to work when my maternity leave is done) was always something that was so far away, and the fact that it's now here is so crazy.  It just means that we are getting closer and closer to meeting our baby girl!

I have a lot of things that I have planned for the next few weeks, although I am a bit nervous that boredom, along with anxiousness, will take over.  I want to clean the whole house (hopefully my nesting instinct will take over!) in order to make more room for baby stuff.  I need to clean out both the car and the truck, and make sure the carseats get installed.  I have to finish putting together the babys room. I need to pack bags for us all for the hospital.  I want to get some meals together to freeze for some crockpot meals for after the baby is born, so we don't have to worry about dinner.  Plus, it's my birthday this week, and there is a big festival going on that I want to make sure that I can spend some time going to.  There's a craft show and a parade and fireworks so hopefully I will be able to make it to all of that.  The girls from Cody's work are throwing me a shower on August 5, and then on August 12, there is a group of women who I met on facebook through a breast feeding group who are all into natural birth, and we are having a get together, which I'm also really excited about. I feel like I have a lot of stuff to do, but at the same time, I don't feel like I have that much to do.  I am hoping to be able to get it all done before the baby gets here, although, I wouldn't mind if she came soon!

I will be 36 weeks along tomorrow, and I'm so happy there's only 4 weeks left! I have enjoyed having the baby all to myself, but I can't wait for Cody to meet her, and be able to share her with everyone.  We have an ultrasound on Tuesday, and I am so excited to see how she has progressed from week 20, when we had our last ultrasound!  It's so crazy to think that she can be born at any time now, and she will be okay.

I'm so excited to meet her!!!

Thursday, July 18, 2013

34 Weeks

December 22.

That's the day that we found out our lives were about to change in bigger ways than we would understand.

I remember that day really well.  It was a Saturday morning.  Cody and I were laying in bed, talking about how we were glad that the world didn't end on December 21.  My period was late, but I had stopped taking my birth control the month before, so my period was screwed up anyway.  I had taken a test the week before, but it was negative.  I hadn't told Cody that I'd tested, but the fact that my period was still late was making me nervous, so I told him before heading to the bathroom that my period was late, and I was gonna test just in case.  I went back to bed, and we laid there talking, not thinking anything of the fact that it was possible I could be pregnant.  About 5 minutes later, I went back to the bathroom...and it was positive. I sat there, staring at the stick, kind of in shock. I was sure it was a false positive.  Cody kept calling my name, but I think when I didn't answer, he knew what the answer was.  I went back in the bedroom, and we sat in silence.  We were terrified.  It wasn't something that we had been planning, but it wasn't something we were preventing, either. 

Now here it is, 39 days away from my due date.  She really could come at any time, and although we are still a little nervous, we are both so excited about meeting our baby.  This whole pregnancy has been full of ups and downs, but I wouldn't change it for the world.  I can't wait to meet her, learn about her, figure out what her personality is.  I am so happy where we are at in our life right now, and I can't wait to see what the future holds!