All right. In the last two weeks I have started maternity leave, been to the hospital, been to my family's for Christmas, spent god only knows how many hours making diapers and Christmas gifts, and contracted food poisoning.
During week 34, Emery dropped and scared us all to death with her decreased movements. Dropping has made my life hell. I was still fairly comfortable with my whaleness. The swelling was a bit annoying, but my back and hips weren't hurting too terribly. And then she dropped. I feel it now, let me tell you. I just want her out.
Jacob finally heard where he'd be student teaching, and it is very bad news. As you may or may not be aware, my place of employment does not offer paid maternity leave. You take what vacation, sick days, and holidays you have, and the rest is unpaid. The somewhat less crappy solution was to take winter furlough, where we will be living off of my greatly reduced salary of about $150 a week. That $150 a week will cover our house payment, and part of our insurance. It doesn't touch electricity, water, sewage, wifi, the rest of the car insurance, my car payment, cell phone bills, gas, or groceries. Jacob makes roughly $200 a week between his two jobs, which would bring our income up to about $100 more than the bills we have to pay.
We have saved up enough money to get us through this winter with that reduced salary. However, we had saved based on Jacob student teaching in Hollister or Branson. CofO, being the lovely people that they are, informed Jacob at 5:30 p.m. on the last day administration works before Christmas break that he will be in Alpena, AR. Alpena is 40 miles away. We did the math based on my car's gas mileage, and we're looking at $90-$100 a week on gas for him to student teach, and that's if gas drops back to what it was pre-Christmas.
Alpena is roughly a 50 minute drive. Jacob will be there from 8:00 a.m. until 3:30 p.m. Monday-Friday. Odds are he will be down there when I go into labor, which means that I, being stranded at the house with no ride, will have to wait on him for an hour before going to the hospital. That's terrifying to me. I know the first baby usually takes a while, but my aunt had her first one in four hours from stage one labor to delivery. A guy Jacob works with's fiance had their baby twelve minutes after she realized she was in labor, because her pain tolerance was so high she didn't notice the contractions for what they were.
This long drive means Jacob will have to quit one of his jobs, knocking our income by $100 a week.
He mentioned all of this to his supervising teacher, and kindly pointed out that one of the other English Ed majors was assigned two teachers in Branson. She lives on campus, which means she has literally NO bills to pay. The school will even provide her meals through student teaching because she lives on campus. He requested that he be allowed one of those teachers, to avoid the strain this would be putting on us financially. The other option, he told her, was for him to take out a student loan to cover gas. CofO will not allow you to graduate until your student loans are paid off, because they're a "free" school where all students graduate debt free! She advised him to go to the financial department and ask about a gas allowance.
Their response? "We have a $300 book scholarship you can have. It can't be used for gas, though, only books." He doesn't need books this semester. I am so frustrated over this it makes me cry every time I think about it.
We went to my parent's house and stayed for a few days around Christmas. It was absolutely lovely. Emmy made out like a bandit with her Christmas gifts, as did I. Jacob and I received a Keurig and a Kitchenaid, as well as a good bit of cash that we're saving for this winter.
We got Emery's crib down and started to clean and repair it. The crib was made for my Mama when she was pregnant with me by her Grandpa, and now it will be mine. My parents will be bringing it, my rocking chair, and the rocking horse Grandad made me down sometime next week.
I had a doctor's appointment the day after Christmas, the first of my weekly appointments. I had some blood in my urine, and Dr. Allison seemed genuinely weirded out that I could have a UTI that severe and not be complaining of pain. But I've had no pain, so...
I'm currently battling a nasty case of food poisoning, either from the Chinese buffet, or from the leftovers I had for supper last night. In either case, I was up all night throwing up, I've had a fever and headache all day, and the nausea and diarrhea are killer. I hate being sick so much,
How far along? 34 & 35 weeks
Total weight gain: I weighed in at 210 at 34 weeks and 219 at 35 weeks. Keep in mind my 35 weeks weigh in was the day after Christmas, right after eating at a Chinese buffet.Maternity clothes? I wear them! All the time!
Have you started to show yet: You tell me!
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| 34 Weeks |
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| 35 Weeks, after she dropped |
Sleep: Rare and fitful
Best moment this week: Being with my family for Christmas
Miss Anything? Sleeping well, feeling well,my waist
Movement: After the scare she gave us, she's been moving non-stop
Food cravings: None
Anything making you queasy or sick: Food poisoning
Gender: GIRL!
Labor Signs: Definitely not.
Symptoms: Backaches, headaches, heartburn, swollen hands and feet, Braxton Hicks, not sleeping,
Belly Button in or out? It's very close to popping out
Wedding rings on or off? Off. My hands and feet are back to being so swollen they've been cracking
Happy or Moody most of the time: So, so moody.
Looking forward to: Meeting Emmy
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