38 weeks + post-baby plans

I figured I better hurry up and write this week's blog post, considering I'll be 39 weeks (full term) tomorrow! To say I am excited about that would be an understatement. He could come any day now... or he could camp out in my uterus for another 2.5 weeks. Lovely.

Now that he's seriously almost here, I've started to think about post-baby plans. One of the challenges of running your own business or being self-employed - how does maternity leave work? How much time do I want to take off? Not only does time off mean no income, but it also means lack of growth with the business. 

In the baking biz, the time of year definitely makes a difference... November and December sales are quite different than the months of January or July. (Aka Nov/Dec = super busy... January not so much.)

So, as you can see Poppyseed has timed his arrival pretty much perfectly. ;) 

When the business is in full swing, I work about probably 45-50 hours a week spread out over 6 days. Crazy holidays = even more. (Hello 15-hour baking days.) I know that will be unrealistic with an infant. If everything goes well with the delivery, and Poppyseed is healthy, and I have a pretty quick recovery, I am hoping to get back into the kitchen within 3-4 weeks of giving birth. (Lots of "if's" there... am I crazy?!)

Insert random picture of milk - Poppyseed's due date!

Right now, the cupcake counter is open Wednesdays & Saturdays. I am hoping to have it back open by the first or second weekend of December, but Saturdays only... which would mean only 2-3 days of work each week, depending on how many orders I receive. (Or take. I gotta remind myself, I can turn orders down! People will survive.) I hope to be able to go full steam ahead with Christmas orders, but then scale back down and take a few more weeks off in January. (When it is generally slow anyway.) Then back to the usual volume in February.

I will have some help a few days a week with childcare in the home, so I think my plan is pretty realistic. Remind me that when I have a fussy baby and am elbow-deep in buttercream. It'll be an adventure!

Of course, this is all assuming we have a safe & healthy delivery, and I recovery from childbirth pretty quickly. That is our prayer and desire (duh!), but if somehow we have a different outcome, my baby and family definitely come first. If I have to close down Sara's Sweets for several weeks or months, that's ok... the health and care of my child is way more important!

38 Weeks - The Facts

Poppyseed's size: A baby. It is still surreal to believe there is a full-sized baby currently residing inside my body.

Sleep: Not good. Just preparing me for mommyhood, right?!

Movement: Lots of squirms and jabs. It feels like he can't really move around a whole at this point... probably because there's not a whole lot of room left in there!

Running/Workouts: Mostly just walks on the treadmill. It's been nasty outside, and I've discovered Gilmore Girls on Netflix. One day I walked 5.5 miles, ha. (Did nothing to bring on labor.)

Cravings: Cheese, especially cream cheese! This week, I worked ahead on a bunch of recipes for the Chief Supermarket Market Blog, and one of them was a Bagel & Cream Cheese French Toast Bake. OMG. I could not get over it. Everything bagels + cream cheese chunks + cheddar cheese = best combo ever. We also made Buffalo Chicken flatbreads with a spicy cream cheese sauce, so good!

How could a pan of everything bagel chunks, cream cheese, and cheddar cheese NOT be good?! This was before being topped with an egg custard and baked for an hour.

What I am missing: Feeling like my normal self, and being able to move without it being a huge ordeal. I know that's still a far way off, but evicting the child will have to give me a little relief, right?!

Looking forward to: Meeting our little guy, of course. His due date is just 8 days away now. Though I'm making myself think Thanksgiving... because he seems quite cozy in there.