Maternity Leave: Day 2

Today is my official due date. Baby, you can come out now!!!

Yesterday was my first day off from school and it was fabulous! I got up around 8, ate cereal, played with the dog, did lots of laundry, changed the sheets on our bed, took a 30 minute shower, and worked on baby shower thank you cards.

Around noon I started getting anxious and for some reason thought I needed to pace back and forth in our little living room. After maybe my 97th trip from the couch to the door and back, Jay said he had to meet clients in Orem and Provo so I decided he should drop me off at the mall. I assured him, THIS IS NOT A SHOPPING TRIP; IT IS A WALKING TRIP. So like a little old lady, I "walked the mall". It was fabulous! The best part was when the salesmen who work in the little center aisle stores started to notice what I was up to. Funny looks at first, then just smiles and nods. It made me laugh.

When Jay picked me up a couple hours later I felt really good. I definitely feel like it helped my body in a lot of ways. Everyone says walking is a good way to induce labor, and since it didn't work yesterday (but I loved it) I think I'll go again today.

Oooh! Oooh! And we have a doctor appointment today at 4:00! We're gonna set a date to induce me. Jay and I are really hoping we can get my dr to plan it for soon, like Thursday or Friday. We'll keep ya posted!

Start maternity leave tomorrow?

I just read my friend Kristin's blog and it gave me a lot to think about.

I really REALLY wanted to have this baby by today. I thought that if I wanted it bad enough somehow I could make it happen. Well, it's only 9:00am so I guess there's still a chance, but let's be realistic, it's a slim chance.

Even though I couldn't magically make baby come by today like I thought, I really don't want to go back to school tomorrow.

All day Friday I kept telling my kids, "I'm pretty sure today's my last day."

In my huge crate of weekly plans for my sub, the first week I planned for is this week. I told my sub awhile back to just plan to start this week which was fabulous for her since she's got another long-term sub job lined up starting exactly 8 weeks from tomorrow (8 weeks is how long I'm taking off, so she'd jump from my job directly into the next one). If I kept teaching into this week then she wouldn't start my job until later so she wouldn't be able to take the next job... does that make sense?

All last week I was MISERABLE at school, partially because I was physically miserable and in pain, but mostly because OTHER PEOPLE were making me feel miserable. I really don't understand the need for people to go out of their way to seek me out just to say things like, "You're STILL here?!?!" "What are you still doing here??" "Aren't you EVER going to have that baby?!?" or even worse is when they make their own diagnosis: "You need to have sex, that'll get him out" or "Go walk up and down the hallways"... on Friday one woman put her hand on my belly and said, "He hasn't dropped at all, he's still way up high, he's not coming for awhile."

I'm not at all exaggerating... I'd honestly say it's like 20 or 30 people making these comments EVERY SINGLE DAY last week. Every person I passed in the hall... Every person I saw in the copy room or faculty room... People were even coming upstairs to my classroom, totally out of their way, just to tell me things like that...

I left school on Friday and went to the hospital to be checked because I thought my amniotic fluid might have ruptured (a.k.a. I was "leaking") and a few people at school knew I was going which means they all have probably spread it around that "Ashley went to the hospital to have the baby!!" So when I show up to school tomorrow the OTHER PEOPLE are sure to make me feel more miserable than before. Being the already-emotional wreck that I am, I really can't deal with that anymore.

Another argument for staying home: I would like to have some time to finish things. I worked so hard to get everything done for my sub at school that there's still a bunch of things we haven't taken care of at home. I haven't had the time to sufficiently "nest" like I wanted. I finished my "school to-do" list, but I've only scratched a few things off my "home to-do" list.

You might think: What if you start your maternity leave tomorrow but then baby doesn't come for like another week or two?? Two thoughts to answer that: #1) My dr is awesome and he said we could set the date to induce me by Friday this week, and #2) I'm taking 8 weeks off instead of 6 weeks which is the "teacher norm", meaning that even if baby doesn't come until Friday I would still get 7 full weeks with baby afterward instead of the usual 6 other teachers get.

I gotta stop and chuckle a bit... am I convincing anyone? Cuz I'm REALLY convincing myself!!!
This is what I want. I think I deserve to make this decision for myself. Don't you??
I'm calling my principal today to tell her all of this. We'll see what happens from there.

Wednesday, 6:00pm, no baby yet.

Yesterday at my doctor appointment I got my membranes stripped. It really didn't hurt as bad as I expected it to. Hopefully that will help speed things up. I really REALLY wanna have this baby by Saturday, but if not I guess it's okay now because Jay's boss said he wasn't going to send him to Texas anymore. Whew! What a relief!!
But still... Come on, baby! I'm ready any day now!!!

My "adjusted" plan.

Since many of you seem to think my "perfect plan" is a bit too, um... unrealistic, here is my new, improved, adjusted plan.

I don't want to go into labor before Tuesday. Tuesday is a teacher prep day with no students. I really REALLY need that day to get my classroom situated and finish all my planning and prepping for my sub.

I would LOVE to teach Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday since they're such easy days. Already planned, lots of assemblies, I could totally handle it. Then go into labor Friday night.

I realize that the odds of that happening are slim, so I'm ready to negotiate:

I am good with going into labor anytime between Tuesday night and Saturday.

***BUT*** it really really REALLY needs to happen by Saturday, because Jay's boss wants to send him to Texas for 5 days on Sunday. If I haven't had the baby by Sunday, I know exactly what will happen: Jay will get on a plane for Texas Sunday, and I'll go into labor Monday. Seriously, that's what my doctor even said (quote): "The fastest way for a woman to go into labor is for her husband to leave town."

Yes I have a "perfect plan", but my new "adjusted plan" is a little more reasonable, don't you think? I'm proud of myself.

Tuesday night to Saturday.... Come on, baby!! Let's do this!!!

My perfect plan.

Here's my plan:

Next week we have Monday off for MLK day...
Tuesday students don't come to school, it's a "teacher prep" day which means I can finish getting ready for my sub...
Wednesday and Thursday back to school but there are assemblies both days so it'll be easy...
Friday is early out, kids leave at 1:00...

...then I'll go into labor.

My doctor appointment

If I had to pick two adjectives to describe my appt today, I'd choose INFORMATIVE and LOUD!

I had my first cervix check... HOLY COW!!! Talk about painful!! My dr doesn't hold back, he just shoved in there and I screamed for about 10 seconds. Literally screamed. Seriously, who screams in their dr appointment? When I left I walked through the waiting room and all the people looked up at me and I could tell they had heard me. Geez, I'm such a wuss. Luckily, it only took 10 seconds to get all the info we needed.

Here's what we found out: I'm...

2 cm dialated
50% effaced
-1 station

I'm excited I'm making some progress! I guess all those painful "practice contractions" have been worth it!

Tuesday Thoughts

At my appt last week dr said baby could come any day now. (Gulp).

He said he could start stripping my membranes if I wanted. My appt is tomorrow. Yikes.... do I want to?? Today was so painful with all the stupid cramping and braxton hicks contractions... maybe speeding up the process would be worth it.

15% of the oxygen that usually occupies my brain has moved to "other regions" of my body and the loss is obvious.

It took me over 2 hours to put together a mobile to hang over the crib. It only had 5 parts.

My "preggo brain" is so bad, yesterday was my first day back teaching and I couldn't remember kids' names.

I am drinking as much soda as I want and I don't even care at this point.

My back hurts so bad I can't get out of bed in the morning without groaning loudly.

I'm "cute like a whale". (Direct quote from a 1st grader I passed in the hall today at school. I've decided to take it as a compliment!)

Tomorrow is Monday and I'm NOT HAPPY about it.

I DESPERATELY DON'T WANT TO go to school tomorrow!!!!!
After 2 weeks off, you'd think I'd be ready to go back and get back on a schedule, yadda yadda... NO WAY! I am completely depressed to think that in 12 hours I'll be waking up to go back to work. I'm a miserable pregnant lady in constant pain; I don't think I'm in a very good position to be working with children! Can't I just start maternity leave now and have it last until, hmm, how about end of May?

To end on a brighter note, I know myself well enough to know that once I get to school, see my awesome coworkers and my kids again I'm sure everything will be fine and I'll automatically kick back into teacher-mode. But as of this moment I am just dreading thinking about it!

Happy Birthday to ME!!!

Tomorrow is my birthday! HOORAY!
No huge plans... Jay's family is coming over to our house for dinner and we're celebrating both our birthdays (Jay turned 30 on Dec. 27) so that'll be fun.
Anybody wanna get me a cheap birthday present?? SODA! I'm drinking it faster than I can buy it!!! Sprite, Cherry 7Up, Peach Fresca, A&W Vanilla Cream Soda, and (gasp) Mountain Dew... I know it's so bad for baby, but I can't help myself!!!!!!!