Sunday, September 30, 2012

I Quit!

(sorry this might get wordy. I warned you!)

So, this is how it all went down...

  • We found out that we were expecting Lovely Babe 2 on a Thursday
  • We told our families that weekend (at my family's 50th reunion no less!)
  • I walked into work on Monday morning to put in my 2 weeks notice. 

We've made the decision that, for our family, I'm going to stay home.

It was the right decision and it was definitely time. The anxiety that I felt about telling my employer that I am pregnant again was enough to drive that message home for me. I didn't post about it at the time because I was to much of a mess, but my job as a female chemist and my first pregnancy DID NOT get along.

During the first pregnancy, I was afraid I was going to lose my job or be forced to work in an environment contaminated with documented reproductive hazards - on large scales. I was forced out of my group because they made claims I wasn't being productive and wasn't working 40 hours a week.  All completely untrue, but what they were claiming could have cost me my job. They didn't want to work around my limitation mandated by a company health assessment. After being forced out of my lab group, they had nowhere to place me because of hazards. They attempted to move me to a different lab without a health assessment, and told me about it the morning that I was supposed to transfer. I finally had to get HR involved and threaten to contact a lawyer. Then, when I came back from maternity leave, no group wanted to work with me because of the terrible rumors about me. I had to fight for my job and reputation while caring for a newborn, breastfeeding/pumping at work and being completely sleep deprived. Pumping at work was a large hurdle, because I would "disappear for large chunks of time" for no reason. And I continued to catch crap about having to leave early to get a sick Firefly from daycare.

I had been passed over for at least 3 promotions, denied raises and bonuses. But there was not much I could do about it because it was a she said/she said situation.

Anyways! that anxiety left me with a feeling of peace about our decision. So I walked in and gave my resignation. Unfortunately, my immediate supervision is a very good friend and I have worked with him for almost 4 years. There were tears his not mine, seriously and hugs and sad faces, for 2 long weeks. And there have been sad face messages since. I do miss our daily half hour coffee breaks every morning, but morning cartoon time more than makes up for it.


So far, quitting has been a wonderful decision for all of us. Now if I could only get a handle on this morning all day sickness...


Friday, September 7, 2012

Add One More

We are so excited.

I am beyond thrilled!

Husband is too.

Firefly has absolutely no idea what's going on, but...

Firefly's going to be a big brother!


We're expecting our second little Lovely Babe the beginning of April!


I'm about 10 weeks along and don't worry, I won't start the pregnancy posts yet.  I'll just say that I was doing really great until I hit 8 weeks and the soul crushing tiredness and morning sickness all day nausea hit. 

We have our first appointment and ultrasound in about a week and a half and I can't wait to see the images and hear the heart beat to make it all seem real.  But, honestly, what I really can't wait for is getting out of this first trimester and being able to look at food before 1pm. 

This is just the first of the HUGE changes happening in our lives right now, but the one that's lead to all the rest.