March Monkeys 2016: 21 boys and 15 girls born

[SilasLove]

I have 12 weeks available, they're just unpaid. I'm going to take 6 weeks off, 4 unpaid, then my Mom will watch baby until the end of the school year. It'll be nice to have the summer together before daycare next year.

Good! I wasn't sure with you mentioning you moved states. I get 12 weeks too, but 6 paid (if I have the time to cover it). I'll take 6 weeks too, just trying to keep myself motivated and focused to make sure its paid.

How great that you dont have to put the baby in daycare right away. That is my husband's main concern for when I return to work.

 

[Left wonderin]

We get 6 months paid then the option of another 18 weeks unpaid .

 

[Buttercup84]

Daisy, my oldest is very into the idea this time (she's 4 next month) She was very interested in my friend's baby boy, wanting to hold him etc but as DD2 is only 14 months she's still a bit young to understand really, I guess she's still a baby herself really... Sometimes I feel a bit mean 'displacing' her as the youngest so soon (DD1 was nearly 3 when DD2 was born) but i'm hoping it'll be a good thing in the long run to have them all reasonably close in age
Hope all of you American and Canadian ladies have a lovely Thanksgiving, it's not celebrated here but a lot of stores on and offline join in with Black Friday. I'll be keeping an eye out online as I want some new towels and a frying pan so i'm hoping for some good deals on those
NDH, so cute about your eldest! That's great that she's so interested in the birth aswell, maybe you have a future midwife there
Curly, I literally spat my tea out at the witches finger belly button mental image! Mine is quite cavernous too lol and it's popped out somewhat in my previous pregnancies, though not completely. Just looks more like an outtie than an innie! I must admit it's never been quite the same since, mind you I could say the same for my abdominal region in general!
jbell, yes! OH just suggests stupid/obviously jokey names when I ask if he has any in mind I've made my shortlist for a girl so I think i'll just be approaching him with that and seeing which ones he likes and which he doesn't and we'll narrow it down from there. For a boy we're set on either Zachary Robert Ian or Dominic Robert Ian.
bombshell, yes I feel like all my bras are just uncomfy right now. I got measured when I was first pregnant and I don't feel like i've outgrown that size or anything, so weird!
Really feel for you US ladies re maternity leave, it seems so unfair Not saying the UK doesn't have it's problems, far from it, but i'm grateful that we can take 9 months paid maternity leave. I remember reading about a lady who had to go back to work when her little one was 2 weeks old... With my first I was only just recovered from my tear and was still bleeding at that point, plus leaking quite badly as my milk was still regulating

 

[DaisyDreamer]

Buttercup congrats on double digits!

 

[jbell157]

Buttercup I love the name Zachary. We talked about it but it's my brother's name so decided against it.

Anyone else not wanting to travel for the holidays? Sam is very routine driven and no one except my mom comes to see him often at all. My husband's family is an hour away and they see Sam maybe once a month to two months. We just aren't really willing to drive two hours on Christmas to go see them when they hardly come see him. We want to stay in our warm home and open presents and watch Christmas movies and make cookies and dinner and keep Sam on routine. Is that selfish to not want to go see them? It's quite the group of people but it's just such a hassle.

 

[bombshellmom]

Everyone that gets 12 weeks or more is so lucky!! I get 6 weeks unpaid leave, and whatever PTO I have saved up by the time I give birth! I will have like 6 days PTO I think, was thinking on using that PTO for after my 6 weeks are up, just adding an additional week. But I feel like my job would rather me leave 6 days before my due date if I haven't had her already, and use my PTO then so they know in advance. I'm just afraid of wasting days and she ends up being way late or something.

Right now I'm at 30 hours a week, but after she is born I'm going to ask if I can go down to 20 hours, even 25 is fine - I will just need that extra day off because it's going to be hard working, being a new mom again with a 3 year old and newborn, school etc. Plus MIL doesn't want to watch the kids for more than 3 days a week.

 

[Dawnlouise30]

We are having to drive 4 and a half hours at Christmas to see my husband parents. We have done this every year since we got together (so 7 years), we have figured out that the best way to do it is leave super early (5am), we just get Isaac up and put him in the car in his pj's and dressing gown. ..... get a good 2 plus hours under our belt before he wakes up then we stop and have breakfast and get him dressed. Means we miss a lot of traffic and Isaac doesn't feel the journey is quite so long. Mind you I have never done the journey pregnant (Isaac Oct birthday, so travelled with newborn that year), so will have to see how such a long journey goes when 28 weeks pregnant. Xxx

Buttercup I love the name Zachary. We talked about it but it's my brother's name so decided against it.

Anyone else not wanting to travel for the holidays? Sam is very routine driven and no one except my mom comes to see him often at all. My husband's family is an hour away and they see Sam maybe once a month to two months. We just aren't really willing to drive two hours on Christmas to go see them when they hardly come see him. We want to stay in our warm home and open presents and watch Christmas movies and make cookies and dinner and keep Sam on routine. Is that selfish to not want to go see them? It's quite the group of people but it's just such a hassle.

 

[CurlyRose]

I will be doing a 4 hour journey (each way) to visit my mum's family just after Christmas. In the past I have driven the first 2/3 as I am a terrible passenger and would rather drive it, but I have no idea, by then, how comfortable I will feel behind the wheel. Either way, I predict a couple more loo breaks than normal! Tbh, I'm really looking forward to it, the drive is long, but bearable, and I'm due to be spoilt rotten when we get there! OH is working though, which means leaving him behind, the only really crap thing about it.

 

[Fezzle]

We're going to be visiting MIL for Christmas which will be a 3.5 hour drive each way- we're going up Christmas Eve and coming back Boxing Day. She keeps saying we don't need to come up, but otherwise she'd be all alone (her husband passed away a year ago). That'll be our last big trip of the pregnancy. Next year we'll probably want to stay home with it being the baby's first Christmas, but it might also be easier to travel to the US while she's still young too. We went away this past weekend and the trip in the car was about 2.5 hours each way- it was ok, but on the way there, I could have used another break to get out and stretch a bit! The seatbelt was getting a bit uncomfortable too under my bump.

 

[allforthegirl]

Wow so much driving at Christmas....I may get out of the driving, but because of my mothers knee surgery, we will be having Christmas at my house I am so worried about it too.....our house isn't really small but it is narrow so it seems small, so to have that many more people in here is going to be trying. I have a lot of things that I need to do to get ready....

 

[BellaRosa8302]

Wow, this thread has been active! Just finished catching up!

LittleLily - One of my FAVORITE things for my daughter was her Arm's Reach Cosleeper. I HIGHLY recommend it! We used it sidecar-style up until DD was almost 10 months! It's FANTASTIC (especially if you're breastfeeding!)

Curly - With my DD, I worked up to and on my due date. I gave birth that evening, after working a full day. This time will probably be similar, unless I'm put on bed rest.

Mewolkens - Me too! If my water breaks before going to the hospital this time, I have a chance of it happening in my (carpeted) classroom. That would be "fun"

Curly - I get 6 weeks of maternity leave, which is paid only if I have that many sick days in my sick bank. After that, I get 12 weeks FMLA, which is unpaid. This should take me right to my summer vacation (because I'm a teacher), which means I should get about 5 - 5.5 months off before I need to send Jacob to daycare at the very end of August. BTW - at the "witches finger" comment!

Bombshell - Why wouldn't you get 12 weeks FMLA? I thought that was a federal law? Wait - did you get a new job recently? If so, I feel your pain. That happened to me with my DD - I just wasn't eligible for FMLA yet, since you have to be at that place of employment for a full year, I believe.

AFM, 23 weeks today! Excited for Thanksgiving (and my birthday - "Black Friday") this week! We always spend Thanksgiving day and Christmas day split between my in-laws and my family. We drive 1.5 hours to my in-laws, spend 3-4 hours, then drive 1 hour to my parents' home, spend 3-4 hours, then drive 35 minutes home. It's lots of travel (which I hate) but neither one of us wants to forego seeing our family for these holidays, so we make it work. So excited for the Christmas season to start! Rather than shop, I spend Black Friday/my birthday decorating the house and tree while listening to Christmas carols!

 

[NDH]

No driving over Christmas here. We only have my parents and my brother and SIL here, and my parents will be going back to Canada this Christmas. The rest of our family is in Canada (my sister and her husband and son are in Australia too but at the opposite end of the country). So it will just be the four of us for Christmas this year. Adapting to just my parents and siblings when we first moved here from the 30-40 of our extended family that got together every year growing up was weird enough (especially with the opposite seasons) - this year with just us four is going to be really different...

 

[Fezzle]

Today's been a really stressful and emotional day- I've felt since yesterday that there's been less movement, even though last night before I went to bed the movement was like usual. Today there's been maybe little flutters or rolling feelings but not like the thuds I usually feel, especially after I eat or drink something. Then I went to the doppler and the heartbeat sounded funny, like it was skipping beats, which made me even more worried.

I ended up getting really worked up and called the midwives and got an appointment to be checked out. The midwife was really nice and reassuring- there is an irregular heartbeat, but she said it's not that unusual or anything to worry about- but I have to go in twice a week now to have it monitored.

The movement though she didn't seem that concerned about and said it was normal that some days will be quieter when she's this small and moving around in different positions- but again, to keep monitoring things and let them know if there's still a lack of movement compared to before. She measured my uterus with the tape measure and said that was all fine, and said I shouldn't worry.

I have my regular midwife appointment tomorrow morning so I'll get everything checked again. I feel a bit reassured, but I'll feel better if she starts kicking me again!

 

[BellaRosa8302]

Fezzle; I hope things get back to normal for you & baby girl very soon! I'm glad the midwife got you right in for reassurance & that you'll get checked on quite often!

 

[DaisyDreamer]

Fezzle, was in the same boat as you just two days ago! Walking, eating, lying still and barely any flutters or kicks. But I had just had a MW appt so I decided to wait it out. Babes is kicking away in there like normal now Hope everything works out for you!

 

[Left wonderin]

That's crazy , I've had a couple of days where this little lady has not been as active as before . Usually she kicks mad when I'm putting little blue to bed and lying quietly but not last night or the night before . The pattern changed . She has been more active today so thinking maybe she just moved position

 

[stuckinoki]

Fezzle, that's scary but I'm glad you got some reassurance. I've actually felt way less movement this past weekend, early last week she had been kicking up a storm, waking me up at night and now I haven't felt anything. I did use the Doppler to check the heartbeat and it was there and fine but the very limited movements have been freaking me out.

I'm exhausted too. Today has been terrible. I can barely get off of the couch and I feel almost like I ate too much bread and sugar, my body feels gross. Hopefully it's just today. I'm still fighting off this cold that has been reeking havoc on my life the past month :/

I'd really just like to feel better. lol

 

[Left wonderin]

Think its a phase we are all going through !!! Growth spurt ???? I hear ya on feeling. Uck like the too much bread and sugar !!!

 

[Fezzle]

Thanks all- I felt her kicking last night before bed, though it still seemed like less than usual. I've felt her kicking the normal amount this morning so far though. I have my normal 25 week midwife appointment at 9am, so she'll check it all out again, but now that I've had more movements, I'm feeling better about that, and also am glad they'll be doing regular checks for her heartbeat now.

 

[CurlyRose]

That sounds hard fezzle I had a few days last week when babber felt a little more still than usual, but it's definitely back up to full speed now, even more times of day than it used to! Hope yours has finished giving you a scare now, but at least you have the extra monitoring now to keep worries at bay.