6 weeks...

This week marks the 34 week point in my pregnancy - 6 weeks to go until the "end"... maybe. 3 weeks until Tidbit is full term. For those of you without kids, this is sort of a significant point - I can no longer travel more than an hour away, and complications tend to crop up in the last 6 weeks. Lots of people ask me how much longer I'll be at work. My standard answer is "until the baby gets here". I've learned from all my friends who have children that babies don't necessarily follow a schedule... they can be early and they can be late, and unless my doctor strongly recommends I get an induction early for some reason, then it'll just be whenever the baby is ready - hopefully sometime in November! I guess some people take off early, but I just don't have the vacation to throw away - I'm pretty sure whatever I have will be needed for coping once I have an infant... (-;

 

side by side comparison - 4 weeks pregnant to 34 weeks

Last week at work they announced that starting next year we'll be going to a 9-80 schedule - every other Friday off. I can't think of worse timing for me! The last thing I need is longer days - and while our local managers are usually flexible, we got an official corporate briefing that basically said "child care issues aren't our problem and aren't an excuse to get out of this". So I'll wait and see what I can get away with - since I'll be out for a month and a half right before the policy goes into effect, it will be harder for me to get management turned in the direction I want (yes, I am stubborn and manipulative - and valuable enough - to usually get what I want at work...). For now I'm trying to figure out what kind of child care and work options we can arrange/afford so that when Gavin is sick I can still work enough hours to get by, but that doesn't overcompensate and over-pay for something that we don't use when he is well. It's quite the logic puzzle!