9 days left!

Yep, the countdown is officially in the single digits for how many days are left until my due date. It is ridiculous how close it is, but unfortunately it still feels so far away. I am still working full time, have obligations outside of school, and I'm starting to think about next year. It is funny to hear the countdown of the other teachers here- 21 days left of school! Then I quietly mumble that I hope I have 5 or fewer and they say things like, "is it really that close??" etc. It is funny. I am in the middle of an assessment window, though, and I hope I can get most of those finished before I actually leave. I am mostly done, but not completely. We will see how far I get and when this baby actually comes. I just thought I would let the world know that I will be a mother in less than 10 days *fingers crossed*

One more appointment down

I went in yesterday morning for my 38 week appointment. It didn't start off well as I was the very first one in the office and they didn't call me back until 20 minutes after my appointment was supposed to be. I don't know what the hold up was because I was supposed to be the first appointment of the morning but whatever. I haven't gained any more weight in the last 2 weeks, which is really good, and puts me at a grand total of 37 lbs at the moment. I don't feel too bad about that since I had one really rough month (think Thanksgiving and Christmas time...) but otherwise have kept it under control. I'm still partly watching what I eat, but not nearly as closely as I was a while back. Anyway, my midwife didn't check me (I told her it just makes me anxious so I didn't want to know) and basically said, "If you don't have a baby I will see you next week." *sigh* I really badly want to have this baby really soon. I am so uncomfortable and tired all the time, I'm having a very difficult time focusing at work, and I just want to be able to hold/hug/kiss/love on this little boy. I know God has everything planned out to be perfect timing, but I wish He would let me in on His plan because patience is not a virtue I possess!

Jason has an interview today at another company. A while back there was some question as to whether he was going to be able to stay where he was because the program he was working on ended. When that was happening he applied to several places and is just now getting interviews, even though he has been assured a spot where he currently works. He decided to go through with the interview just to see what happens and then we will take it from there. He thinks he is going to stay where he is because he just moved departments and is excited about all he is going to be learning, but depending on how this interview goes and after some prayer we will make a decision. Say a prayer for him today! He told me several weeks ago when he knew this interview was coming up that I wasn't allowed to have the baby today. I asked him, "what if I wait and just go into labor at like noon? That should give you plenty of time at your interview then we can still have the baby today." He didn't think that was very funny.

I'm so thankful that I have everything ready (more or less) to go at school for when this child decides to make his arrival. I am not worried at all about how it will go when I have a sub in here full time. I'm supposed to go on a field trip next Tuesday to somewhere outside of the city for an all day excursion. I'm not entirely sure I want to go, just in case something happens. I think it will be fun and my kids are going to love it, but it makes me a little nervous. Although if I'm still pregnant at that point then I may want to go do a bunch of walking around to see if I can get anything moving. We will see!

Ok, gotta go get ready for the day. Take care and God bless! 10 days until my due date!

Next year

I just found out this week that I definitely have a job next year at the school I am working at right now. I can't even express how amazing it feels to know this so long before the end of the year! At my last job I was a short-term hire, so I knew that in May I would need to start applying for other jobs and hunting around. I didn't get this job until the day before teachers went back to work, so that made for a long summer of interviewing, applying, and wondering. To know that I won't have to do that again this summer is so wonderful. I can just relax and spend time with the baby.

Speaking of the baby, I had an appointment with my midwife on Wednesday. Apparently my blood pressure is pretty high, so she had me get some baseline blood work done and will see how I am doing on Tuesday when I go back in. If it is still high and my blood work changes any, they will induce me. Part of me is really excited about this idea because that means I get to meet my son earlier than anticipated. The other part of me doesn't want this to happen because I know my chances of making it through an induction without any kind of pain meds are slim to none. I am not totally opposed to pain meds, but I want to try to have a natural birth if possible (plus the meds are so expensive!). I want to try to have him at the water-birth center in our hospital, although I will not be having a water birth. We will see what happens though, and the most important thing to me is to have a healthy baby, so I will do whatever I need to to make that happen.

That's the update for now. Stay tuned for more!

Baby update

I had an appointment with my midwife yesterday and she did my Group B Strep test. I don't really know what that is, but I had to undress from the waist down and I'll have my results in a week. She offered to check me yesterday and of course I was really curious to see if I had made any progress, and sure enough! I'm "at least 2 cm dilated" and she could feel his head. She also said my cervix is pretty soft, although I'm not sure what that means. Haha, can you tell I'm a first-time-mom? She did not check to see how big he was but I'm figuring he is between 6.5 and 7 lbs, according to my last ultrasound and baby's "average" weight gain.

Speaking of weight gain, since I have cut way down on the sugar I only gained 1lb in the last two weeks, compared to the 3lbs I gained the week before. I am up to a grand total of 37lbs so far and I hope I can keep it under 40lbs by the time he is born. I know everyone is different, and I had a really rough month in there (Thanksgiving to Christmas) which made my weight skyrocket. My midwife seems very pleased and not at all concerned about it, though, which makes me feel good about it. I've been very active the past few days (hence the dilation?) and feeling great, overall. I'm exhausted by the end of the day usually, but I haven't had as much swelling in my feet/hands, and the heartburn is subsiding for the most part.

Thank you for the continued prayers. One thing that has really been weighing heavy on our hearts has been how we are going to raise a Godly child. Neither Jason nor I were raised in a Christian home, and while my parents are Christians now, I can't really get any pointers from them on how to raise young children to love God. We have some other couples we can use as examples, but we are just praying that God gives us the wisdom and the strength to do what is best for our little boy and guide him to Jesus. As scripture says, "Train up you children in the ways of the Lord and when they are old they will not depart from it." We are confident in that promise and trust that God will take care of him.

More updates to come as things progress!

4 weeks left

Yesterday was April 8, meaning I had one month left to make it to my due date. That is crazy! As of tomorrow I have exactly 4 weeks to make it to my due date. It feels like just yesterday (ok, maybe last week) that I was finding out I was pregnant and then going to my doctor's appointment. How can I be so close already? And I'll admit that it has been a little hard to focus at school recently. It doesn't help that it has been 2 straight weeks of testing for my kids, which means I have a lot of down time where I just have to monitor them and not teach, so my mind was free to wander at will. And trust me, it was wandering like crazy. I spent a lot of time working on sub plans this last couple of weeks and I actually have 4 weeks of them completed. I am only required to have two weeks for my long-term sub, but I needed to have something planned in case I went into labor early because my sub has another obligation that week so I don't know who would be in my class that week. Then, I made a week's worth of "emergency" plans for if I am out sick or something. If those don't get used up then my sub can use them the last week of school. I'm glad I was so productive but now I can spend time thinking about other things that need to get done before the baby comes (laundry washed and put away, bed made, closet finished, etc.). Hopefully being back on a normal schedule will help me focus and be distracted, rather than obsessing over this upcoming change.

Not only that, but it is very possible I will have to find another job for next year. There is a pretty serious budget cut here which means my school has to get rid of several teachers. Seeing as I am at the bottom of the seniority list, that means more than one or two people have to either retire or transfer for me to be able to stay there. I want to stay, of course, but I know there is nothing I can do about it so I am just leaving it in God's hands and trying not to think about it too much. I have faith that He will place me exactly where I need to be, as He has done with my last couple of jobs. Prayers are appreciated!