It's the Final Countdown
This past week was my last week at work until after Charleigh arrives, and it was a tough one! The week itself was stressful and I found myself getting irritated much easier than usual. This, as you can imagine, made for a very long week...
I was super excited until I walked into the house on Wednesday, that's when it hit me like a ton of bricks...I may never walk through that office door again. You see, at this point I'm not certain whether or not I'll return to work after Charleigh. I have a few concerns - I don't make much money, so I'd pretty much be working to pay for daycare. Probably the biggest drawback to working for me, personally, is missing out on important time with Charleigh. Some of my fondest memories growing up were of spending time with my parents and going on mini-adventures. Yes, many of those 'adventures' consisted of visiting my grandpa in the hospital or singing on the hearth, but they were good times. hell, I turned out fairly normal, right?! I want Charleigh to have those same memories.
Thursday was a special day at the office, and I managed to make it through the day without crying or getting too angry. My coworkers treated me to lunch from our favorite local Chinese joint and sent me home with a beautiful book that they wrote messages in. Amazingly enough, I didn't even cry at the end of the day. I think that I realized that regardless of whether or not I return to work, I will always keep in touch with both Carlos and Tracey. They became my family and made Texas home. I'm certainly going to miss them, but I can honestly say that I don't think our relationships will change. I'm a lucky girl to have both of them in my life,
On Friday morning we headed to my doctors appointments. First up was the high risk doctor for another growth scan. This is where we found that Charleigh has a mullet. Only my daughter...
While Charleigh grew from our last appointment, we found that her growth is starting to stall out, her abdomen went from the 10th percentile to barely the 9th and overall growth fell from the 35th percentile to the 20th. When we saw Dr A, she said she wasn't horribly worried at this point because she was still growing. She did say, however, that Charleigh would definitely be here prior to her due date. She also mentioned that babies with IUGR and SUA don't tolerate induction well, and that I shouldn't be shocked if we end up with a C-Section. That being said, they scheduled me for weekly monitoring and sent me down the hall to Dr Heaps.
We arrived at that appointment early, but he had to run for a delivery so I laid back and relaxed while I waited. He came in and said that most things were looking good, but that Dr A had called him about Charleigh. He agreed with her recommendation and said that we would be having a baby between May 20th and 23rd, we'd schedule an official date at my next appointment. He was pleased that I was taking early maternity leave because he'd said he would have pulled me out, as my blood pressure was considered prehypertensive. Personally, I think the long week I'd endured played a large part in that. He also had me move my appointments to midweek in the event that they had to draw labs or so rethink was amiss. So, on Wednesday afternoon we will know when I'm being induced. I walked out of the appointment feeling like I was going to barf. In just over two weeks we'd have a baby!!!
We both called our parents to give them the news and I took a nap after I got home. The thought of everything going on was getting a bit much for me to handle. While I'm still quite nervous about everything, I know that they wouldn't be inducing me that early if it weren't truly necessary. Both Chad & I knew that she'd be coming early, but I don't think we anticipated that she'd be coming quite so soon.
Since Chad had to work yesterday I spent most of my time cleaning up around the house and attempting to prepare for Charleigh's arrival..of course, I also made sure that I had plenty of time got my daily nap. :-)
Today was my Texas baby shower, thrown by my coworker Tracey and friend Suzanne. It was a perfect set up. I will admit, I was disappointed in the lack of people who showed up, but it was nice and intimate. My two friends Liz and Mel were the only ones who made it, but I'm perfectly okay with that. It was quiet and we were able to fully enjoy each other's company. And, both guests won prizes from the games! :-). How perfect was that?! Charleigh is one very loved little princess, and I felt incredibly loved too. Thank you all for making the day perfect!
I left the party with a bunch of generous gifts, three gallons of ice cream, flowers, veggies, fruit and plenty if snacks to last me through the week! Chad was floored after he opened the trunk to my car, and was super thankful for the recent purchase of a freezer for our garage,
At this point there are a few more items we need for Charleigh's arrival, and we have a lot of putting together and organization to do. I only hope that the replacement dresser arrives sooner than later, because I really don't want to put everything away only to take it all out and put it away once the new, undamaged dresser arrives. This week will be full of cleaning the house, running errands and organizing her bedroom. Thankfully, I'll receive a much needed break on Thursday evening for dinner and a pedicure. Gotta keep these poor feet looking good! :-)
I was super excited until I walked into the house on Wednesday, that's when it hit me like a ton of bricks...I may never walk through that office door again. You see, at this point I'm not certain whether or not I'll return to work after Charleigh. I have a few concerns - I don't make much money, so I'd pretty much be working to pay for daycare. Probably the biggest drawback to working for me, personally, is missing out on important time with Charleigh. Some of my fondest memories growing up were of spending time with my parents and going on mini-adventures. Yes, many of those 'adventures' consisted of visiting my grandpa in the hospital or singing on the hearth, but they were good times. hell, I turned out fairly normal, right?! I want Charleigh to have those same memories.
Thursday was a special day at the office, and I managed to make it through the day without crying or getting too angry. My coworkers treated me to lunch from our favorite local Chinese joint and sent me home with a beautiful book that they wrote messages in. Amazingly enough, I didn't even cry at the end of the day. I think that I realized that regardless of whether or not I return to work, I will always keep in touch with both Carlos and Tracey. They became my family and made Texas home. I'm certainly going to miss them, but I can honestly say that I don't think our relationships will change. I'm a lucky girl to have both of them in my life,
On Friday morning we headed to my doctors appointments. First up was the high risk doctor for another growth scan. This is where we found that Charleigh has a mullet. Only my daughter...
While Charleigh grew from our last appointment, we found that her growth is starting to stall out, her abdomen went from the 10th percentile to barely the 9th and overall growth fell from the 35th percentile to the 20th. When we saw Dr A, she said she wasn't horribly worried at this point because she was still growing. She did say, however, that Charleigh would definitely be here prior to her due date. She also mentioned that babies with IUGR and SUA don't tolerate induction well, and that I shouldn't be shocked if we end up with a C-Section. That being said, they scheduled me for weekly monitoring and sent me down the hall to Dr Heaps.
We arrived at that appointment early, but he had to run for a delivery so I laid back and relaxed while I waited. He came in and said that most things were looking good, but that Dr A had called him about Charleigh. He agreed with her recommendation and said that we would be having a baby between May 20th and 23rd, we'd schedule an official date at my next appointment. He was pleased that I was taking early maternity leave because he'd said he would have pulled me out, as my blood pressure was considered prehypertensive. Personally, I think the long week I'd endured played a large part in that. He also had me move my appointments to midweek in the event that they had to draw labs or so rethink was amiss. So, on Wednesday afternoon we will know when I'm being induced. I walked out of the appointment feeling like I was going to barf. In just over two weeks we'd have a baby!!!
We both called our parents to give them the news and I took a nap after I got home. The thought of everything going on was getting a bit much for me to handle. While I'm still quite nervous about everything, I know that they wouldn't be inducing me that early if it weren't truly necessary. Both Chad & I knew that she'd be coming early, but I don't think we anticipated that she'd be coming quite so soon.
Since Chad had to work yesterday I spent most of my time cleaning up around the house and attempting to prepare for Charleigh's arrival..of course, I also made sure that I had plenty of time got my daily nap. :-)
Today was my Texas baby shower, thrown by my coworker Tracey and friend Suzanne. It was a perfect set up. I will admit, I was disappointed in the lack of people who showed up, but it was nice and intimate. My two friends Liz and Mel were the only ones who made it, but I'm perfectly okay with that. It was quiet and we were able to fully enjoy each other's company. And, both guests won prizes from the games! :-). How perfect was that?! Charleigh is one very loved little princess, and I felt incredibly loved too. Thank you all for making the day perfect!
I left the party with a bunch of generous gifts, three gallons of ice cream, flowers, veggies, fruit and plenty if snacks to last me through the week! Chad was floored after he opened the trunk to my car, and was super thankful for the recent purchase of a freezer for our garage,
At this point there are a few more items we need for Charleigh's arrival, and we have a lot of putting together and organization to do. I only hope that the replacement dresser arrives sooner than later, because I really don't want to put everything away only to take it all out and put it away once the new, undamaged dresser arrives. This week will be full of cleaning the house, running errands and organizing her bedroom. Thankfully, I'll receive a much needed break on Thursday evening for dinner and a pedicure. Gotta keep these poor feet looking good! :-)
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