Monday, October 12, 2009

To stay or to go

Dreadfully boring Organization Behavior class (which everyone refers to as "OB"...which I refuse to do for what should be obvious reasons...) and rather than pay attention, I am going to blog:-). God bless classroom Internet!!! How did people go to school before 2000? They probably learned a whole lot more.

First things first...weekend was really nice:-). I went out for a little bit on Friday night (tonic water and lime looks just like a vodka tonic...you just have to be careful not to let anyone order you a drink!!!) but was home and in bed by 10:30. Munchkin had a soccer game on Saturday morning that I went to, and then we had lunch and I took a nap...lol. That is how I roll these days:-). Woke up from the nap feeling kinda shitty, and ending up bagging out of dinner with some friends...too many smells in restaurants if you stomach is a little edgy...

Woke up yesterday feeling fantastic...and also feeling incredibly horny...hee hee. Munchkin was out all afternoon with Smoking Hot Roommate and some friends of ours, and things got plenty debaucherous while she was gone:-). Don't blame me...pregnancy is weird. Um...hormones...

So, a couple of you have asked some practical questions in regards to the two monsters inside of me, and I haven't been avoiding them, I just don't really have firm answers to them just yet. The first is...how will this effect school? I am not entirely sure. If you recall, my original plan was that I could maybe have a baby right at the end of the school year, and be home all summer with it and then there would be some day care options come fall when I had to go back to school.

Then I ended up getting knocked up a little earlier than planned, and my due date of May 4th cut the end of the school year closer than expected. I figured I could manage that, though. Maybe I would have to take some finals a little early (or a little late)...but maybe not. I figured I could work all of that out with my professors, and hopefully could reach some working agreement with whatever groups I was working with on group projects, too.

Well, now that has gotten stickier. First of all, while my due date is still May 4th, there is no actual chance of me going that long...most likely it will be at least a full month before that, and probably closer to six weeks (Late March). What that means is that I don't have to worry about scheduling end-of-year stuff, but I will have to worry about how much time I will miss in the middle of the semester. And what if I am on bed rest at some point? I could find myself not able to practically do the work required to be in school.

And then what about next year? Will I be able to be a full time student with twin infants at home? They would be about 5 months old when I go back in the fall, most likely.

As far as I can see, there are a couple of options. First, I could take a leave after this semester and come back second semester next year (Spring 2011) or even the year after. I couldn't come back in the Fall, because the curriculum is all mapped out, so I would have to join in with the first-years next school year. This obviously has the advantage of avoiding the scheduling problems involved with delivering twins mid-semester. On the downside, it would mean delaying school by at least one full year, and I would have to recognize the possibility that, once I stop, I will never start again. I would intend to, but you never know how these things work out.

Second, I could just go ahead and enroll second semester and hope for the best. In a perfect world, I would miss a complete week or so of class, but would be able to be back in school pretty much right afterwards (actually, in a really perfect world, they could be born over spring break:-D). The advantage of that is obviously that it wouldn't cost me any time, and that The Boy would be home full-time for at least the first couple of weeks back while I was working out the schedule. Things would be ridiculously hectic for a month or so...but I would be able to stay on track to finish in May of 2011 just by suffering that one crazy month or so.

The downside is that it may still not be manageable. Even if it goes according to plan, I may find that I just can't keep up and have to take the year off anyway. Or...maybe it won't go according to plan, and I find that I have to be in bed for a few weeks ahead of the birth and miss too much time entirely. In that case, I will have spent all of that effort from January through March, and still have to come back and start over again next January anyway.

One huge thing working to our advantage...The Boy's Mom, recognizing that this could be an issue, has offered to basically move in with us for that month or so (the time between when The Boy has to go back to work and when I will be done with school) to be a full-time Nanny and let me finish the year of school. I am not sure that I can really express how generous that would be of her, or how much of a massive help it would be...what it would mean is that I could reasonably be able to find enough time to study through the end of the semester. So, there is that, too.

I am not real sure where I am leaning at this point, and I don't have to make a decision until December at least. By then, hopefully the doctor will have a better idea of whether I will have any health issues that could confine me to bed, or if I should be pretty mobile right up until D-Day.

Thoughts?

10 comments:

Our Happy Married Life... said...

sounds like a ton of options you have and each scenario has it's good and bad, of course! It's such an exciting time but also a VERY busy time for you! Everything will work itself out-whatever you decide. :)

Smoking Hot Roommate said...

You left out the best part of this: if The Boy's Mom moves in for a month, she will stay in Munchkin's room, and Munchkin will come and stay with ME!!!!!!

Rachel H. said...

Who knows which one is the better option or how things will go...I guess you really never know how you will feel or how things will be at that time. Why do babies have to be so unpredictable? :)

Rachel and John said...

I hope you figure out what will work best for you!

One of my coworkers had twins earlier this year and she was on medical leave for 2 months before she gave birth. And before that she was so tired all the time. She said even showering in the morning tired her out for the rest of the day.

I hope things go as smoothly as possible!

Tess said...

I love that you're exploring all your options. But you never know how this will turn out - my mom had her twins (my siblings) at 38 weeks, which is pretty dang close to term. So you could be closer to your due date than you expect, in the end! I bet you will find (speaking from my experience as a much older sister to twins, who helped out a LOT) that planning will start to take a back seat to flexibility. Life with twins in the mix is hard to plan for, but AWESOME. My twin sibs are amazing little people (well, they're 16 now, but still...).

Anonymous said...

I'm so happy my friend turned me in to your blog! I'm 27 and 7 weeks pregnant too! Looking forward to reading all your adventures. And congrats on the twins!

Lori S-C said...

Don't agonize over this. the decision will make itself along the way. And WOW! How great it is that you can have the help of the Boy's mom aka your mother-in-law who is an experienced parent of twins herself!
That said, you really need to decide that you will be willing to accept the help that has been offered! Remember how you agonized over Papa Bear helping you with Munchkin's school, back in the day? You are an independent sort and will be motivated by your personality too... you will try to do it all!
Hang in there and let what happens, happen. The important thing is for you to get through all of this in a healthy way-both you and the babies! Taking a year off might be a great gift and you might not want to look that gift horse in the mouth! Bonding in those early months is critical and you will be tired...more so than you can imagine. School will be there later. The moments of your babies life can't be brought back.
You'll soon know what will bring you balance...
Let me know if you need any other advice! With kids ten years apart, my perspecitve may be a little different...

Kari said...

Hi,
You don't have to figure everything out now...as for bed rest etc. It will all work out for the best...you will have lots of help etc.
One of my BF had twins about 3 years ago. She is about your size but suffers from some GI issues (making weight gain difficult). Anyhow, she carried the twins to 2 days past their due date and was able to work up until about 2 weeks before. We had a "deep freeze" baby shower for her and made enough meals for 3 months for the freezer.

Kari

Windy City Kelley's said...

Wow, this is hard. I guess if I was in your position I'd take a year off. Then you can enjoy that time with the babes and not worry about other things going on. Good Luck!

Kathleen said...

Although I have no experience with having my own children per se (I've definitely helped raise both my brothers, from the indirect experience I've had with friends it seems like you kind of get to stop planning for awhile and things are decided for you. Not fun at first maybe but it seems like it ends up ok in the end. :-)