The cat’s out and other misc. topics

On Work
I have now officially told folks that I am expecting. It isn’t a secret anymore.

My direct boss (the one that has my salary and administration) has known from the get go (or almost) about this pregnancy. In fact, she knew about my ttc efforts as they went along. The week I started reporting to her, I was out of the office 4 out of the 5 days for and IUI cycle/monitoring. She and her admin. thought I had some terminal illness or something and I could tell they were worried about me so I disclosed and she (I’ll refer to her as SG) has been nothing but supportive.

I report directly through one chain of the organization and dotted line through another chain, due to the nature of my role. This means that I have multiple bosses so to speak. I told the other one that I get the majority of my day to day direction from today (I will refer to him as TS) and told him that he didn’t have to keep it a secret. Then, I had to go tell SG that it wasn’t a secret any more in case it came up.

TS was very excited for me and seemed very supportive. He made some comment about how he thought that he had gotten used to me and he didn’t think I could surprise him anymore, but that I did with this one. Of course, it wasn’t his reaction that I was worried about, but his boss who I will refer to as LF. I set up this program to facilitate training for project managers in our organization. The response was so good that we ended up creating 13 monthly sessions and I wanted to have 2 facilitators per session (which means that I needed 26 facilitators). LF agreed to facilitate one of these sessions. Since she has a fairly senior role in the organization and some people are intimidated by that, I paired her with someone who I knew would not be, who I will refer to as MS. Now, MS was pregnant and I knew it, but I needed to get this program off the ground and I figured that I could find a replacement before MS when out. LF freaked out when she found out. She only needed to work with MS one hour, maybe two max per month and she was upset or at least seemed that way. I play a major role in LF’s organization and in our recent org. changes have much more responsibility than I even did in the past. We will see what her reaction will be. I’m hoping that TS tells her (and I think he will) so that I don’t have to.

Anyway, I had to tell them sometime and since the org. changes are final and I have half way through, it seemed as good as any. Plus, I need people thinking about backup’s for when I am out.

On Baby Showers
I was told in no uncertain terms yesterday by my older sister that I was having a baby shower in July regardless if I wanted one or not. This is just another example of how selfish and inconsiderate I am. People want to do this for me and I am going to let them. She will do all of the work and planning and will even register for me if she has to (sounds good, but we will see), but I am having one. I guess that is that. I just don’t have the energy to fight this anymore.

On SMC Support
At the SMC meeting on Saturday, I joined an interesting conversation in progress. It was between 2 SMC’s, who are already moms. They were discussing the importance of the SMC group and getting the kids together on a regular basis. I had always looked at the meetings as support for me. They were saying how they wanted their kids to grow up knowing and growing up with other SMC kids to normalize this for the kids. This way, when they got older and needed to talk or complain or whatever, they had a support system to do this with. There was a lot more to the conversation, but that was the gist of it or what I took away from it. I just thought that this was very profound and could see the importance, but it wasn’t something I had not really thought about yet. It is a take away that I think I will always remember and will make more of an effort if/when I do have a child because I can really see their point on this.

On Traveling
I was hoping to make it through my entire pregnancy without having to travel. I need to email my OB to get her okay, but it looks like I will be going to Texas for a few days sometime in May. As I mentioned, we have recently re-organized and my main boss, SG, is pulling together a 2 day face to face meeting with all of her direct reports so that we can bond as a new team. I know that I really need to go, but am a bit nervous about being away from home and my dr. for 4 days. I am trying not to let this overwhelm me. I will need to be in business dress of which I don’t fit into anymore. I don’t know how this will impact Lucky’s treatment and don’t want to really leave her while she is having to go through this. I wish I had all of the details so I could better know how to plan/prepare, but the exact dates are not yet set. It is making me tired and stressed out just thinking about it. And, I really, really need to go. This will likely not happen again and if it does, it will be at least a year. Deep breath. It will all be okay. I know it will. I just wish it were done and overwith.

Edited to add:
On Maternity Clothes
Despite the best of my intentions, I did not go out shopping for maternity clothes on Sunday. Instead, I finally got my taxes pulled together for the accountant and then laid around talking on the telephone until it was time to go to a piano recital for a friend. She only had lessons for 5 weeks and did a great job. Way better than most of the people who had been playing for years. Then, we went out to dinner. Anyway, I decided on what I think will be a win-win situation on getting maternity clothes. I will have my mom do it. 1) She likes to shop. 2) She does a great job finding bargains. 3) She knows my taste in clothes and does a good job shopping accordingly. 4) She said she can’t wait until I start wearing them. 5) I think it will make her happy to be apart of the pregnancy and help. 6) I will get the clothes and I won’t have to do it. I think this is a fine plan. Now, I just need to run it by mom tomorrow night at dinner.