This weekend was the first weekend of Spring. The signs of new life are all around my yard and give me the friendly reminder of our new little life that is about to make its first appearance. On Saturday Eric had to go for an MRI on his back. After that we had a Maternity Photo Shoot. Our photographer came over and took pictures of Eric and I both inside and outside of the house. We had a great time taking all kinds of different shots. After that I went with my family to celebrate Maison’s birthday at Cheeseburger in Paradise. Later Eric and I watched our ODU Monarchs play in the basketball tournament on regular T.V., pretty exciting! Today I had lots of indigestion and contractions. Lately my indigestion has been starting around 4:00 in the afternoon. Contractions are happening more at night and tonight I got a little worried. I didn’t sleep very well at all.
When I woke up Sunday Morning my hands were a little swollen. I sat all day in front of the computer and worked on report cards until they were finally done. I decided that I had better get my report cards done for the 3rd quarter early just in case the baby decided to come. I had more of the dreaded indigestion again. I had more contractions at night as well. They seem to be a little stronger and at times are almost taking my breath away. Overall I didn’t feel that great today. At the end of the day though my wonderful husband made me an ice cream sundae that was delicious!
On Monday my substitute came to school to learn about the procedures of our classroom. I feel very confident about her being there and know that she will take very good care of my students. My feet were very swollen today. I guess standing up on my feet all day at work doesn’t really help.
I continued to have swollen feet on Tuesday as well. I worked around the classroom getting things prepared for me to leave.
On Wednesday after school I had a fourth shower with the staff from my work!
My 4th Shower ~ My Work
Given by: First Grade Teachers
Where: Cedar Road Elementary Media Center
When: March 24, 2010 at 2:30
Decorations: Little Paper Onesies, Balloons, Chocolate Bars with “Baby Thames” wrapping cover, plates with a little lion
Games: Old Wives’ Tales Game , Gender Guessing Game, Baby Pictures Guessing Game
Food: Chicken salad croissants, fruit bouquet, veggies, chips and salsa, dessert bars, punch
Cake: White with colored polka dots, Lion in the bathtub as topper
I was given a wonderful shower by Patty, Wendy, Debbie, Peggy, and Betsy, the girls from my grade level. The entire school was invited and many of them came. We started out eating the delicious food that was prepared by the ladies while the other staff members played the Old Wives’ Tales Game that was at the tables. The food was great. Peggy had even made a fruit bouquet that was delicious. The guests had to make a guess of who thought I was having a boy or girl. There was also a poster with baby pictures of the ladies on my grade level. The other staff members had to guess who was who. They were all so cute! I opened presents quickly because it was such a lovely day and I wanted people to be able to get home and enjoy the weather with their family. After being at work all day people don’t want to stay too much longer than they have to. We took some pictures with my grade level as well as a picture with my boss. Mr. Bailey and I are the shortest and tallest staff members in the building! I received some wonderful gifts. Many of the gifts were off of my registry but others were more personal. I got a baby bag with “Baby Thames” embroidered on it as well as a handmade lamp with the nursery colors! I was more than grateful for all of the generous gifts that everyone gave. Thank you everyone! We also enjoyed a delicious cake that Peggy made. We were all so impressed with her cake decorating skills…the cake was adorable!
I continued to have swollen feet on Tuesday as well. I worked around the classroom getting things prepared for me to leave.
On Wednesday after school I had a fourth shower with the staff from my work!
My 4th Shower ~ My Work
Given by: First Grade Teachers
Where: Cedar Road Elementary Media Center
When: March 24, 2010 at 2:30
Decorations: Little Paper Onesies, Balloons, Chocolate Bars with “Baby Thames” wrapping cover, plates with a little lion
Games: Old Wives’ Tales Game , Gender Guessing Game, Baby Pictures Guessing Game
Food: Chicken salad croissants, fruit bouquet, veggies, chips and salsa, dessert bars, punch
Cake: White with colored polka dots, Lion in the bathtub as topper
I was given a wonderful shower by Patty, Wendy, Debbie, Peggy, and Betsy, the girls from my grade level. The entire school was invited and many of them came. We started out eating the delicious food that was prepared by the ladies while the other staff members played the Old Wives’ Tales Game that was at the tables. The food was great. Peggy had even made a fruit bouquet that was delicious. The guests had to make a guess of who thought I was having a boy or girl. There was also a poster with baby pictures of the ladies on my grade level. The other staff members had to guess who was who. They were all so cute! I opened presents quickly because it was such a lovely day and I wanted people to be able to get home and enjoy the weather with their family. After being at work all day people don’t want to stay too much longer than they have to. We took some pictures with my grade level as well as a picture with my boss. Mr. Bailey and I are the shortest and tallest staff members in the building! I received some wonderful gifts. Many of the gifts were off of my registry but others were more personal. I got a baby bag with “Baby Thames” embroidered on it as well as a handmade lamp with the nursery colors! I was more than grateful for all of the generous gifts that everyone gave. Thank you everyone! We also enjoyed a delicious cake that Peggy made. We were all so impressed with her cake decorating skills…the cake was adorable!
On Thursday I had a doctor’s appointment after school. Eric did not go with me because I knew it was going to be a quick appointment with just a routine check. When I went to the doctor I had gained 29 pounds total from the time I first started this whole process. I had Dr. Morgan back this time and he said that I was still 1 cm dilated. I told him what Dr. Sadr had said about me delivering early and about the size of the baby but he didn’t really say too much. He did say that I was doing well and that everything seemed fine, my cervix was good and ready!
On Friday I went to work as usually. I felt exceptionally good that day and even stayed after school to do extra work. I had a meeting after school with two parents and after that I continued to stay and get work done around the classroom. I don’t know what told me to stay but I worked until everything was done. I even left my gradebook at school that day which is not something I usually did. On the way home I had some tightening in my stomach. I didn’t think anything of it because that had happened quite a bit when I would drive home from school. I guess my body was saying, “finally you are going to sit and give me a break!” I got home around 5:30 and was still feeling a few tightening. When Eric got home friends or ours, Adam and Shanell, came over about 7:00. She wanted to bring me my baby shower gift since the shower was the next day and she would not be able to come. Right around the time they arrived I started feeling some very mild pains. The pains were definitely tolerable because I didn’t even let any of them (including Eric) know that I was having them. I remember looking at the clock a time or two while they were here wondering about how often the pains were happening. I figured out (all while they were talking and visiting with us) that the pains were coming in a regular fashion of every 5 minutes. Because the pains were so mild at first I really didn’t really think anything was actually happening. I honestly didn’t realize at first that I was having contractions. Our guests left and I told Eric about my very mild pains. He had planned to go over to a friend’s house in the neighborhood to play cards later that night. I told him to go ahead and go because I was totally okay. Because the pains were so minor at first I just thought it was all part of the Braxton Hicks that you get at the end of your pregnancy. Eric went on to his friend’s house but told me that he would continue to call and check on me or if I needed anything or if I felt things were getting worse to call him and he’d come home right away. He was as naive as I was because even he didn’t think that it was really, “THE TIME.” As the night went on the contractions continued every 5 minutes. The thing I guess that really got me was that when I wasn’t having a pain I felt like my normal self. I guess the idea I had in my head all along was that when I started going into labor I would feel really bad and have pains that I couldn’t bear. My guess was very wrong because as I said my contractions started at 5 minutes apart at 7:00 p.m. and stayed that way until I finally left for the hospital at 1:30 a.m. You see, my biggest shower was scheduled for Saturday so I was convinced that the contractions were going to go away and that I would be at my shower the next day as scheduled. While Eric was gone I figured I had better go ahead and starting getting things in line just in case things happened over the weekend (at this point I’m still not thinking it’s actually happening). I decided to pack our bags, take a shower, shave my legs, paint my toe nails, and blow dry my hair. During this entire time I’m still having tolerable pains every 5 minutes. When I was in the shower and for a little bit after I got out I felt a whole lot better so that still confused me more. Finally when the pains started to be just a little bit stronger I called Eric and he came home right away. We sat on the couch and he watched T.V. and dozed off and on while I was typing on the computer. Since I hadn’t expected Baby Thames to come until 3 weeks later I spent the whole night, during my contractions, typing my birth plan, making the list of people to call, making the list of possible names, charging the cameras, etc. You see I had Spring Break coming up in one more week and I was going to spend that time getting everything together. We had our girl name picked out already but the boy name was still undecided. At about 1:00 am Eric and I went back to the bedroom and I finally tried to lie down. That didn’t last long because the contractions were stronger, harder, and hurt more. At about 1:15 I got up to use the bathroom and started bleeding. I knew then that it was time to go. I guess the other confusing part for me is that I was waiting for my water to break to give me a sign that it was time but that never happened. I got to the hospital about 2:00 a.m. We got to the hospital very quickly and had to enter through the Emergency Room doors. They took me in right away and as soon as I went back to get my vitals checked our friend Floyd who works in the ER was right there. He was very surprised to see us but it was kind of nice for us to see a friendly, familiar face because Eric and I were both nervous. The nurse helping me in the ER called my OBGYN and reported what I had told her about what I was feeling. I don’t think that she thought I was in true labor because I was handling the pain so well but when I told her that I had blood she said I would be going upstairs to get checked.
When Eric and I got upstairs they put us in a small room. The nurse came in and again saw that I was handling the pain so well and said she would just check me to make sure that I wasn’t in labor. Much to her surprise and ours I was already 5 cm. dilated. When she said that I looked over at her and said, “I guess that means I’m not going home?” She said “no” of course. All I could think about was how much work my family had put into my shower and so I looked over at Eric and told him that he would have to be the one to call them and let them know we would not be having the shower. I felt soooo bad.
On Friday I went to work as usually. I felt exceptionally good that day and even stayed after school to do extra work. I had a meeting after school with two parents and after that I continued to stay and get work done around the classroom. I don’t know what told me to stay but I worked until everything was done. I even left my gradebook at school that day which is not something I usually did. On the way home I had some tightening in my stomach. I didn’t think anything of it because that had happened quite a bit when I would drive home from school. I guess my body was saying, “finally you are going to sit and give me a break!” I got home around 5:30 and was still feeling a few tightening. When Eric got home friends or ours, Adam and Shanell, came over about 7:00. She wanted to bring me my baby shower gift since the shower was the next day and she would not be able to come. Right around the time they arrived I started feeling some very mild pains. The pains were definitely tolerable because I didn’t even let any of them (including Eric) know that I was having them. I remember looking at the clock a time or two while they were here wondering about how often the pains were happening. I figured out (all while they were talking and visiting with us) that the pains were coming in a regular fashion of every 5 minutes. Because the pains were so mild at first I really didn’t really think anything was actually happening. I honestly didn’t realize at first that I was having contractions. Our guests left and I told Eric about my very mild pains. He had planned to go over to a friend’s house in the neighborhood to play cards later that night. I told him to go ahead and go because I was totally okay. Because the pains were so minor at first I just thought it was all part of the Braxton Hicks that you get at the end of your pregnancy. Eric went on to his friend’s house but told me that he would continue to call and check on me or if I needed anything or if I felt things were getting worse to call him and he’d come home right away. He was as naive as I was because even he didn’t think that it was really, “THE TIME.” As the night went on the contractions continued every 5 minutes. The thing I guess that really got me was that when I wasn’t having a pain I felt like my normal self. I guess the idea I had in my head all along was that when I started going into labor I would feel really bad and have pains that I couldn’t bear. My guess was very wrong because as I said my contractions started at 5 minutes apart at 7:00 p.m. and stayed that way until I finally left for the hospital at 1:30 a.m. You see, my biggest shower was scheduled for Saturday so I was convinced that the contractions were going to go away and that I would be at my shower the next day as scheduled. While Eric was gone I figured I had better go ahead and starting getting things in line just in case things happened over the weekend (at this point I’m still not thinking it’s actually happening). I decided to pack our bags, take a shower, shave my legs, paint my toe nails, and blow dry my hair. During this entire time I’m still having tolerable pains every 5 minutes. When I was in the shower and for a little bit after I got out I felt a whole lot better so that still confused me more. Finally when the pains started to be just a little bit stronger I called Eric and he came home right away. We sat on the couch and he watched T.V. and dozed off and on while I was typing on the computer. Since I hadn’t expected Baby Thames to come until 3 weeks later I spent the whole night, during my contractions, typing my birth plan, making the list of people to call, making the list of possible names, charging the cameras, etc. You see I had Spring Break coming up in one more week and I was going to spend that time getting everything together. We had our girl name picked out already but the boy name was still undecided. At about 1:00 am Eric and I went back to the bedroom and I finally tried to lie down. That didn’t last long because the contractions were stronger, harder, and hurt more. At about 1:15 I got up to use the bathroom and started bleeding. I knew then that it was time to go. I guess the other confusing part for me is that I was waiting for my water to break to give me a sign that it was time but that never happened. I got to the hospital about 2:00 a.m. We got to the hospital very quickly and had to enter through the Emergency Room doors. They took me in right away and as soon as I went back to get my vitals checked our friend Floyd who works in the ER was right there. He was very surprised to see us but it was kind of nice for us to see a friendly, familiar face because Eric and I were both nervous. The nurse helping me in the ER called my OBGYN and reported what I had told her about what I was feeling. I don’t think that she thought I was in true labor because I was handling the pain so well but when I told her that I had blood she said I would be going upstairs to get checked.
When Eric and I got upstairs they put us in a small room. The nurse came in and again saw that I was handling the pain so well and said she would just check me to make sure that I wasn’t in labor. Much to her surprise and ours I was already 5 cm. dilated. When she said that I looked over at her and said, “I guess that means I’m not going home?” She said “no” of course. All I could think about was how much work my family had put into my shower and so I looked over at Eric and told him that he would have to be the one to call them and let them know we would not be having the shower. I felt soooo bad.
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