156

Today, I had my second official doctor's appointment and the little peanut's heart rate was 156. The nurse said that was "good"!. I also scheduled my next appointment on March 19th when we will get another ultrasound and can find out if "peanut" is a boy or girl... that's assuming he/she cooperates. I can't believe how fast this is going! Although I've gained some weight and been tired, for the most part I don't feel any different. Often, I find myself saying, oh yeah, I'm pregnant.. I'm like out of the first trimester pregnant.. it really shouldn't be a surprise by now but reality still hasn't completely sunk in. I think here soon when I can feel the baby move, we know if it's a boy or girl and my stomach really pops out then I'll have constant reminders about it. But for now, I'll try and live in bliss and joy.. and try not to worry too much. It's kind of scary to think of two kids, Wendell and a baby.. like how to go for walks, how to get out of a car and into a building with everyone staying safe, and how to take care of a Wendell's demands while feeding the baby. I keep telling myself that I will just adjust and learn a new way to take care of things and before I know it baby 3, 4 and 5 will be here and I'll be worrying about the same things. (just kidding, we're not having 5 children!)

On a not so fun note, I just found out that I can only get about 6 weeks paid maternity leave.. and I really want to take off the full 12 weeks. I can take 12 weeks off it's just half of it won't be paid. Going without pay wouldn't be so bad but our health insurance comes out of my check. Which means that I'll have to pay them about $750 (6 weeks of insurance) to cover the cost of insurance while I'm gone. And not to mention the deductible of insurance for actually having the baby (unless I want to do a home delivery with Phil being my doctor, hmmm, let me think about that). And... we're currently dealing with Phil's 5 (unpaid) day's off in the next month. So I have been picking up extra hours to cover that and don't want to (and emotionally can't) pick up too much more to cover the future concerns.

The good news is that Phil and I each get an "extra" pay check (we'll get paid 3 times instead of 2 times in a month so we call it an extra pay check since the third check isn't scheduled for bills) in the next few months so that should be extra money coming in. And we are getting our taxes done soon and will hopefully get a good chunk of money for that as well. Of course, we have our precious savings account that we've worked so hard to build up. But who actually wants to use their savings account (even though it is for times like this)? Anyways, Phil and I have already agreed that we're not going to worry too much and try not to argue about this and just put in God's hands. I guess if I have to go back to work early then I'll survive, who knows, by then I might be ready for a good 8 hours sleep? : ) Maybe going back to work early will be a good thing... so I'll quit worrying and calculating and just let it be.

Thanks for listening to my bleeding heart. I feel better now. 156 for a heart beat and the baby is doing good! According to the books the baby is about 3-4 inches long and about 3-4 ounces. Yesterday, I thought I'd try and wear a pair of maternity jeans to see how they fit, and even though they're a bit big and baggy, they sure are comfortable. My goal was to make it 4 months before wearing maternity pants but it might be sooner than I thought, I don't know if I can make it 2 more weeks.

Well, that's all for now.. thanks for listening!