The Time Has Come...

Update on the pregnancy -- after mulling this over for the last week, I have come to terms with the inevitable: BED REST. It's time. Much harder this go-around for a lot of different reasons:

1. With Jake, it was an emergency situation and I had to go on bed rest ASAP or risk him being born super early. This time, it is more of a preventative measure so I have to be the one disciplined enough to pick a day and do it. Heck of a lot easier said than done.
2. In the middle of a huge project at work that I am the manager for.
3. Have little man Jake running around the house!
(BTW, those are in no particular order...)

And don't get me wrong, of course I am ridiculously concerned for the well-being of unborn little man and want to do everything I can to make sure he stays safe and secure for A LOT longer. But such a drastic change to your everyday life is hard to get a handle on. I HATE HATE HATE asking other people to do stuff for me, especially things like taking care of my child, doing my laundry, and cooking. Those are my responsibilities and I enjoy doing those things. Taking away the joys of hands-on parenting of Jake is definitely the hardest part about it all. It is unfathomably tough to not be able to pick up your child when he craves his mommy's arms. (*sniffle*)

Yet we need to do whatever we have to to make sure the newest addition isn't born too early. Living with the guilt of a baby born too soon and having to stay in the NICU for months, and heaven forbid, have developmental issues or lung problems would be much worse than the frustration we'll go through over the next 4 months to make it to May. I suppose I should look on the bright side that Jake isn't going to remember any of this :-)

My next check-up is a week from today (7th) and I know my doctor will discuss bed rest with me again so in preparation for that, I am going to start bed rest next week. If all continues to go well with the pregnancy and things stay shut and long (those who have been through it known what I mean!) then I will go in to the office one day a week for project meetings. My other days will be spent with my feet up, laying on my left side, glued to my trusty laptop. Thank goodness for being able to work from home. And a quadruple thank goodness for having the world's most supportive boss who isn't giving something like this a second thought. (Well we'll confirm that in March when it is bonus and raise time, haha!)

We're very fortunate that Allison is going to stay with us until the baby is born. She will be a godsend to helping take care of the dogs and Jake in the evenings and on the weekends. And of course all of the other family and friends we have in the area whom I know I can always count on. I don't know what we would do otherwise.

For now, 21 weeks and counting down to 37....!