Thursday, October 13, 2011

Webster Technique and Start of Maternity Leave

So the day after my last blog post, my chiropractor called me back with the name of a fairly local chiropractor who knew and practiced Webster and so I made an appointment there for today. I think it went well but I didn't feel any movement from the baby during that time. I didn't know it would be instantaneous. The baby has been moving a lot since I got home and sat on the couch. That is when my baby is most active - when I sit down and relax. I also bought some pulsatilla on Monday night and took some today. I did not take it correctly. So I'll try again tomorrow. I'm going back to the chiropractor for another adjustment and will take the pulsatilla then, the correct way.

My last day of work was Tuesday. I'm now officially on maternity leave as of yesterday at 36 weeks pregnant. I honestly thought I'd feel guiltier leaving. I think I left things in a good state and left good notes on all my outstanding projects. And while I know I'll hate missing out on what is going on, I really had the feeling of, "Get me the heck out of here." I'm just so tired all the time and walking can be such a challenge. I guess it doesn't help that I don't exactly love my job anyway. So if baby is born on time I'll probably be off for a total of approximately 20 weeks! I can't imagine how many changes will take place in 4.5 months time! The leave I'm on now is FMLA and that starts up to 4 weeks before due date. It ends when baby is born and my next disability starts that day. It will still be FMLA but I'll get paid 6 weeks from that date. I'm paid 100% right now and will be for 6 weeks after baby is born. Then after that I start NJFLA which is completely unpaid and I can take up to 12 weeks of that. I'm planning to only take about 10 weeks though. If my baby is born on time I'll be headed back on Leap Day. Well, that would be officially 16 weeks but I'm figuring for day care purposes it would make sense to go back on a Monday. I'm so lucky to get this time ahead but I really wish I could have more paid time after and I'd have worked closer to my due date. But really, I'm just very grateful for this time!

I went to Walmart yesterday and got almost all the supplies on my list the midwife provided. I needed a waterproof mattress cover and a small fish net and juice and sanitary pads, etc. I figured Walmart would be a good place to hit for all those different categories. Most of the things I couldn't find were things just too specialized for Walmart. I went to the health food store today and got the Arnica 200c and the red raspberry leaf tea I needed. I also got some grapefruit seed extract in liquid form. I'm taking that along with garlic, echinacea, Vitamin C and a few more supplements in preparation for my GBS test next Friday when the midwife comes to do her home visit. I guess these things will help me to be GBS- if I was at some point GBS+. They're all immune boosters I believe.

So here I am 27 days from my due date. It feels so surreal. When I look ahead to Thanksgiving, it's crazy to think I will be a mom then. That's 15 days past my due date and I'm pretty sure if I don't deliver by the day before Thanksgiving I'll be induced. I don't know the hows and wheres of that yet. I don't know if it would be a "natural" induction (i.e. castor oil) or if I'd have to check into a hospital or what.

Back to the birth class for a minute... There were two other couples in there. One is due with a boy on 10/19 and the other was due 10/25 but did not know the gender. My midwife has a FB page and she announces the births on there, just the gender and the weight on the date. She said happy birthday, baby boy on Monday and I was wondering if it was one of my "classmates." The one who I knew was having a boy was due sooner so she was my first guess but she and I are staying in touch and I actually heard from her later that day and she was still very much pregnant. Yesterday, I heard from the other father and here it was his girlfriend who had the baby. I felt so sad for them because they wound up doing a hospital transfer and a C-section but I'm glad everyone is doing well! So now that means 2/3 of our class is having a boy. Am I going to make it 100%? Or will we have the lone girl of the group? Ack, the suspense is killing me! I keep secretly hoping I need another ultrasound and that the tech will slip again. Or that I'll tell her we're being surprised but this time she'll refer to the baby as "it" or revert back and forth between "he" and "she" and then I'll know she really did slip last time. Oy, I need to get a life, huh?

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