back to the doctor, again

i had another doctor's appointment on tuesday. this was the first appointment i've had where i didnt' have a single question to ask. it was a little weird! i met another doctor int he office and she was just as pleasant and helpful as the others. everything checked out ok, only gained 1.5 lbs in 2 weeks (working out still working!). funny thing was neither nurse nor doctor commented on the nasty burn on my arm. maybe it's not that big a deal? the baby is as squiggly as ever, as he avoided letting us hear his heartbeat for a minute. last night adam got a new appreciation for the baby's movement: baby was active, so i tried again to place adam's hand on my belly. after a few seconds, the baby pushed up and adam felt it, but was convinced that i somehow caused the movement. i had to explain to him that it was all baby and he was eventually convinced that he managed to feel the baby a whopping second time. anyways, this last doctor's visit was pleasantly non-eventful and before i left i set up my remaining appointments. oi. that'll be a challenge. then i walked the 1.75 miles home; a nice stretch of the legs, especially for a pregnant gal.

a lot of folks at work are noticing the pregnancy, but i continue to be the smallest pregnant woman ever. "seven months!?!" they exclaim, "no way." alas, it is true. my modest showing has folks stumped far and wide, though i dont' see it. one person did concede that they could see how much bigger i was compared to when i started, but still, i'm not that "pregnant" looking. ugh. i can say i'm glad i'm carrying so well, because i haven't felt overly large (beyond being a little self-conscious at times) and been able to get around with little change and infrequent waddling. though, for the first time this week, i'm starting to feel "pregnant" in that my belly and back are starting to slow me down a little. not bad, but just a little. i guess my body's starting to catch up with my brain in realizing the baby's arrival is right around the corner!

work is proving to be a challenging front. i'm trying to get my ducks in a row, but it's slow going. i really dont' want people cursing my absence, nor taking steps backward in the meager progress i've managed to make. only time will tell, i guess. i've also been frustrated by our leave policy: by the book, a new mother has 2 options under the 12-week FMLA leave, to take short term disability and/or benefit time. what isnt' apparent until it's staring you in the face is that if you have any benefit time whatsoever, going on short-term disability is not really an option. this is because the disability starts counting the day you give birth, but you can't use it until you've depleted all of your benefit time first, then it only pays out up to the 6th week. so in my case, i have almost exactly 6 weeks of benefit time to exhaust, so it'll run out about the same time the short-term disability benefit window will. it seems odd to me to have 2 options, but you have to take them starting from the same point in time, so most people can't take advantage of the short-term disability benefit. some people get it, some don't. i think it's bogus. but it's a battle i'll have to wage strategically, but i'll definitely be pursuing it.

i'm excited to know adam is looking to the horizon of his smoking habit. i'm writing this with the expectation that few people actually read along, so there won't be people harassing him about his progress. he'll do just fine if left to his own devices and his own timeline. just look at the yard! ok, maybe i'll have to take a picture. but yesterday, adam mowed the lawn (it had been quite a while, with lots of rain)turned over the soil in the flower beds along the fence, relocated the peonys and "installed" our composter. i'm not sure how he managed it all in one day, but the yard looks outstanding and i can't tell him enough how impressed i am with his work. but he got so much done because he did it on his own terms and schedule. if i had asked him to do that stuff, he might not have accomplished as much. sure, at times, it's frustrating to have him be on a different schedule than me, but with patience, we both get what we need accomplished, and that's what matters. so with the smoking, adam's on his last carton of cigarettes and afterward, he hopes to transition to pipe smoking to ease the withdrawal and oral fixation, eventually phasing that out to an occasional, infrequent habit. like i told him yesterday, i knew he would quit eventually, but the prospect of the final steps going into action are exciting. i'm really happy for him and i hope he can count on me to help him transition into this healthier state of living.