7 Quick Takes Saturday - July 27, 2013

--- 1 ---

Let me reiterate how much I hate scorpions. We found two more Wednesday night (one of which I nearly stepped on). The first was in the doorway of our laundry room and the second was on the floor of our master bath. We had the exterminator out again, and last night Collin found another one on the downstairs bathroom floor. Good news is that it was already dead.

I'm so paranoid now that I'm having trouble sleeping; I keep imagining scorpions crawling on me. Last night a fly landed on my foot and I screamed because my first thought was, "Scorpion!"

--- 2 ---

Last Wednesday was just plain awful. The kids were at each other's throats all evening, we had the adventures with scorpions, Collin got off work 45 minutes late, and then later that night he ended up going to the ER for ANOTHER kidney stone. He's seeing a urologist now and they're going to do some tests to see if they can narrow down the type of stones being passed so he can better tailor his preventative strategies.

--- 3 ---

I was supposed to meet up with Leila for coffee on Thursday but had to cancel due to Collin's ER visit. Sigh. We've already had to reschedule once. Maybe we'll actually manage to meet up before the summer is over.

--- 4 ---

Gabriel was 20 months old yesterday! Lately he keeps moving until he literally stops in his tracks and falls asleep. Exhibit A: one minute he's playing with the toy, the next he's sound asleep on the kitchen floor:

--- 5 ---

In pregnancy news, I passed my gestational diabetes test. Yay! I wasn't really concerned as I've never had GD, but, you know, one less thing to worry about. Tiebreaker has been quite the little gymnast lately as well. We've graduated from little flutters to full-on kicks, and often it feels as if s/he is using my cervix or bladder as a trampoline (ow).

--- 6 ---

I was also thrilled to learn at my last appointment that my OB is hiring midwives! (One more reason I love him.) One has already started and I'm having my next appointment with her. She's a fully-certified CNM so she can deliver babies at the hospital as well.

--- 7 ---

One thing I was not pleased to learn was that my paid maternity leave is half as long as I thought it'd be. I only get six weeks paid for a vaginal birth (eight weeks for a C-section), not twelve as I thought. Granted, it's wonderful that I get paid leave at all, but still... I was really excited at the prospect of having a longer leave this time around without the accompanying financial stress.

I can take an additional six weeks unpaid, but who can afford to do that when you're dependent on both incomes?? So, lately, I've been very stressed about it. Six weeks is just way too short. I'd hoped the baby would be completely out of casts and well into the brace by the time I went back to work; now s/he might still be in the casts when I go back, and I'll probably have to take off additional unpaid days after I return for casting appointments as I'm almost out of PTO the way it is. If we can swing it financially I may try and take an additional two weeks unpaid at least, but we'll have to see if we can work it out.

Sorry these quick takes are such a downer this week. For more cheerful Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!