Week 17...

How your baby's growing:
Your baby weighs 5 ounces now (about as much as a turnip), and he's around 5 inches long. He can move his joints, and his skeleton — until now rubbery cartilage — is starting to harden to bone. His sense of hearing is also developing. The umbilical cord, his lifeline to the placenta, is growing stronger and thicker.

The United States and Australia are the only two industrialized nations that don't guarantee paid maternity leave. — The Project on Global Working Families

-Brandon and I went and talked with our HR rep in the athletic department to find out if they provide paid maternity leave. Well they don't...big surprise! They do have a program set that would allow me to take 12 weeks off if I have enough vacation and sick leave to get paid, otherwise it would be unpaid leave. We also found out that Brandon can transfer his vacation and sick leave over to me to use along with anyone else in the department. So even if we have to use most of our vacation and sick leave, I will be able to stay home for atleast 6 weeks or more. I am thinking that more would be great, but we will just have to wait and see what we can do.