Happy Due Date, Still in Wait

Right now I'm listening to the heavy breathing of my puppy and my hubby taking a nap while I watch my belly as Pip wiggles around. Today is our "due date" but it would seem that baby wants a bit more time in there. I will miss all the squirms and kicks, but I want to hold him/her in my arms!!!

I'm constantly being asked if I'm feeling any contractions yet. And while I've been having more and more Braxton Hicks contractions where everything gets very tense and tight, they're not likely to give me a pass to the hospital room just yet. Nothing regular or increasingly frequent, and definitely not to the point where I can't just keep talking through them, or keep doing whatever it is I'm doing.

Still, baby has dropped and I know that my body is getting ready. It's just a matter of waiting and wondering "when?"

Right now my maternity leave is scheduled to start this Monday. While some resting time would be nice, I only get 3 months off so I would really like to be able to spend that entire time with baby rather than spending up to two weeks of it just playing the waiting game. So the game plan is that on Monday morning they will allow me to do a sort of "reverse sick call." Basically if Pip hasn't arrived over the weekend and I wake up at 5:30 on Monday not feeling any different, I can call in and request to work. Sort of funny, huh? But the thing is, since they have already scheduled float nurses to work for me, they will need to reassign that person to another site (ie a previously denied float request or an actual sick call) in order to allow me to work.

Some people have told me to just relax and enjoy the time if I don't have to work and baby is still in the belly. Some people have told me I'm crazy for wanting to work until I "pop." But again, it's not so much because I don't want to rest or that I wouldn't mind the time off. It's because I know already that it will tear my heart apart when I have to drop our baby off at childcare for the first time and go back to work. I want that to be as far in the future as possible. Yes, it is only a two week difference at most. But two weeks is a LOT of time for a newborn and new mommy.