Pre-Baby Maternity Leave

With Addie I worked past my due date. With Eliza I took a week off and then she came 6 days late. With this guy, I promised myself I would try to take more time to relax and get ready. With two wild little girls I need this. Of course I don't know when the big guy is going to make his debut, but the plan is to take 3 weeks off before my due date.

While on pre-baby maternity leave, I was expecting more time lounging around the house in my pjs watching daytime TV but that hasn't been the case - yet. I guess that's for when the baby is here and I'm a slave to a milk sucking podling. Instead, I've been busy checking things off my To Do List, going to the doctor and, yes, seeing a lot of movies in the theater. This has been a priority.  I've seen 6 movies, the last one being Super 8 where I was the only person in the entire theater. I've been loving the time to myself.

I've taken the girls out of the aftercare program at school so I pick them up at 3 and pretend I'm a stay at home mom for a few hours. Also within the two weeks I've been off, Addie was home sick from school one day last week and then Eliza today (no movies for me). Maternity leave isn't reality though as no one expects me to "keep house." If this was my job, going to the movies every day probably wouldn't fly. Right now, I'm carrying a gigantic baby (more on that below) and can barely walk across the house without needing to sit down so if I want to go to the movies, I go to the movies.

One of the activities we've done at home is painting Mommy. We bust out the face paint and I let the girls use me as a canvas. It's win-win. I get to sit down for a while and they can exercise their creativity. In this belly masterpiece, there are two flowers and a girl with long, long white and silver hair that circles my stomach.







So about this big baby. Today my doctor gave the baby a label - macrosomia - perhaps a  term you have heard used in the news lately in regards to a particular record-breaking behemoth of a baby born in Texas. Am I freaking out that I'm going to have a 16 pounder? No, but there are certainly health risks involved if the baby is larger than normal. My doc said he thought everything would be fine and I'd have a normal delivery but he did warn me that if there is any concern, he would do a c-section. I'm going in for another ultrasound next week where we'll know more. He told me some horror story about a baby getting stuck and it's shoulder becoming dislocated resulting in paralysis of that arm. No thank you! I want the baby out in whatever manner ensures his health and safety, and mine. My doc also thought the baby wouldn't come early. Looks like I might get another week of movie going.