All my bags are packed, I'm ready to go...

I love that song.... and it's true for me right now!

My bags are packed and just waiting to be grabbed to go to the hospital...

No signs of Cal coming any time soon. He's been moving a LOT lately and he feels super super low, but I haven't had any other signs or symptoms. I am pretty crampy lately (like period-like cramps), and I have had a few contractions here and there.

Not working has been AMAZING. I am soooo thankful for these last few days out of the classroom. It has been super nice to be able to sleep in until 7 (I usually get up at 6!), because I am NOT sleeping at night at all. I am running errands and I guess nesting here and there. I think we are pretty ready for this baby to arrive though!

It is now 3:25 and time for my afternoon nap...heehee.... gotta sleep while I can! Hank and I are enjoying an afternoon nap together. Speaking of Hank, he knows something's up. He is my constant shadow lately. I can't walk up the stairs without him running behind me. As I sit in my kitchen writing this, Hank is curled up at my feet.

N1H1/Swine flu

Today is 9/9/09... so far, no baby!

There was some excitement however in school today. After a night of NO sleep at all, I stayed in bed for an extra hour and went into school at 8:45 instead of 7:45. A few teachers were talking about the flu going around in the lower school, but I honestly didn't think twice about it. I was having such a productive day in my room with my replacement teacher. I actually had things I needed to do for her and it was a great day!

Well, a few teachers came in to talk to me about the 5 confirmed cases in the lower school and the current case in the middle school. Turns out, the 5 lower school sickies all had siblings that were in the middle school (they weren't sick, but they were in school). My very close colleague, Julie, has 3 kids: Lucy had a case in her class, Ida Scott had a case in her class, and Zeb is in my LA class.... all kind of scary to think of the contact that could be coming my way!

So I called the doctor to see what she thought, and she thought I would be okay to stay at school, and just avoid the "sick kids." Ummmm.... anyone who has ever been around a school knows that avoiding the sick kids is darn near impossible! There is snot and spit and....well, stuff everywhere! The kids constantly have their hands in their mouths and touching desks.

There is another pregnant girl at school with me (due on the 16th), and she called her doctor who said, "Why take the risk?" and sent her home. I followed her doctor's orders because it just isn't worth it to me, and went home too. I called my doctor back and explained the situation and he wrote me a note to stay away from school for 3 works days. I will stay away for Thursday, Friday, and Monday and then we will reevaluate the amount of sick people.

Now if we could just get this baby to come then! That would be perfect!!!

9-9-09?

Tomorrow is September 9th, 2009: 09-09-09!

There is another pregnant girl at work and we are both hoping for a delivery tomorrow... it would be too neat to deliver on 9/9/09!

Again... I don't want Cal to come before he's ready, but I am ready for him to be ready! I just can't wait to meet him!

Had a few contractions today, but nothing too big, and nothing worth timing. I will try to stay on top of the updates now that we are getting close!

PS-- we celebrated my brother's birthday tonight... had a great time at 411 West. I couldn't even eat half of my meal. I guess what they say about your stomach shrinking is true! That is so unlike me! haha

FALSE LABOR!

I went to the doctor this morning after my eventful Labor Day yesterday. The contractions stopped around 9 all together with just little ones here and there after that.

Turns out, it was false labor! The doctor said it was my body's way of getting ready for labor. He checked me and I am not dilated at all nor am I effaced. I kind of had that feeling, but I needed to hear it from the doctor too just to confirm it.

Soooo, I am back at work after a long break. I will keep everything updated as anything new happens!

Labor Pains on Labor Day

I posted last about my fear of going into labor while at the beach.... well, we made it home today around 1:00.

At 2:00, I had some stomach pains, and about 9 minutes later, I had more pains. Hmmm.... well, I started timing these "pains" in the off chance that they were something more, and they were very sporadic and all over the place. Eddie was on the golf course and I was determined not to call him off the course for nothing!

After a few hours of this, I called the doctor on call, just to see what was up. He said it definitely sounded like the onset of labor and when my contractions reached 5 minutes apart, I should call him again to go meet him at the hospital.

For the next few hours, I had a contraction ever 6 minutes (almost to the second!). I called Eddie on the golf course and told him he might want to come on home... who knew how long it would take me to get to 5 minute apart contractions??

Eddie came home and started timing the contractions for me. They were pretty steady at 6 minutes, but some were closer and some were further apart. It lost it's consistency. I got up to walk around a bit and the contractions pretty much went away.

That was a LOT of excitement for everyone in our family. My dad is now answering the phone, "BABY WATCH!", and my mother is afraid to go to sleep in case she won't hear the phone ring. My mother in law is in Texas waiting on the word to hit "submit" to purchase a ticket out here immediately.

At least I am home and with Eddie... Cal can come at any time now! On a side note, my brother's birthday was yesterday. All he wanted for his birthday was a nephew... isn't that cute?

I will update more tomorrow.... I am going to go to the doctor just to get checked and make sure everything is okay. That is....IF we don't make a run to the hospital tonight!

Labor Day Weekend...

Let me preface by saying my mom went into labor with me on Labor Day....

I went to the doctor on Wednesday and she measured me and I was measuring 2 inches smaller than I was last week. I gained only an ounce and a half since my last visit... I asked if I should be concerned (because that's what I do!), and she said it just meant the baby had dropped in to the birth canal. Yikes!

As many know, I am still teaching full time. The entire 6th grade went to Camp Cheerio for Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, and I wasn't allowed to go, so I ended up with an extra long Labor Day weekend! My doctor's appointment was Wednesday, and I had a few other appointments, and then Thursday morning we headed to the beach.

At my doctor's appointment, I asked if she thought it would be okay to travel (oh yeah-- Eddie was going to be in Atlanta too!), and she said she didn't have any reason to tell me not to go. She didn't check me to see if there was any dilation, since I haven't had any contractions or anything. There is a hospital down here that is AWFUL. I had one bad experience there and I swore I wouldn't go back! I think my mom was terrified that we would be making a mad dash home when my water broke. It is now Sunday night and we are heading home tomorrow morning... so far, no baby! We are all holding our breaths that we make it home tomorrow! I don't want to deliver in Carteret County, and I want Eddie there with me!

I have been relaxing and keeping my feet up and I swear, this is the best I have felt in weeks. I have ZERO swelling and other than my large size, I feel great. It is awesome!

The weather left much to be desired this weekend, with only one nice day, but I did get some great pics with my new camera!

Hope everyone had a great Labor Day weekend!!! I will keep you posted on this baby!

29 candles on the birthday cake

On September 1st, I turned 29 years old! So much for having this baby when I am 28! Eddie is a few months younger than me so I was hoping we would both be 28 when Cal came to town, but now he will have an older momma! :)

We celebrated by going to dinner with the family to Mez and then opening gifts and having some cake. My big gift was an AWESOME camera that I already love love love. I have been playing with it a lot to try to learn all it can do before the baby arrives. Here are some of my favorite shots of just playing (poor Hank has to put up with me!):

growing, growing, growing.....

Just took a picture of me at 37 weeks (and 3 days):

I swore I would never take pictures of myself with my bare belly (I wasn't sure I would want to remember my stomach looking like this!), but it's kind of entertaining to see it.... maybe I'll delete them all in 3 months...? It took 9 months to put it on, it'll take 9 to get it off....right? I will just keep telling myself that! :)

The GLIDER is IN!

YAY! The Glider we ordered is FINALLY in! When we got around to ordering it, we were told it would be in in about 2 weeks (this was a looooong time ago), and then we got a call that there were some issues so they would have to order it a different way. The way they had to order it, it wouldn't be in until September 17th...and I am due the 19th! That was cutting it super close and I wasn't too happy about it, but seriously, what can you do? It isn't going to do a bit of good to freak out (although it might be entertaining....).

Anyway, it's in now and I LOVE it! We opted to not get the matching ottoman, since it was an additional ba-zillion dollars, so we took an old ottoman and my mom (Martha Stewart) made a slip cover for it that matches and it works out perfectly! I love sitting in my new chair imaging holding this little miracle in my arms :). Here's a pic of the new chair:

37 weeks...and back to school!

I am now 37 weeks...phew! I can't believe this little guy will be here so soon! In my last post, I wrote about going back to work. The first day of school was Tuesday. On Monday, we had orientation where I met all of the students and their parents. It was a good day, but one with a lot of standing around.

The 6th graders this year are super cute and sweet and I know I am going to miss teaching them this year. My replacement teacher is awesome and is doing such a great job with everything. She is doing all of the teaching and I am just hanging out in the back of the room helping any way I can. She hasn't taught middle school ever, and her last job was 9 years ago teaching high school. I am just offering little tips here and there to help her survive middle schoolers! She will be so great in this job and I feel confident leaving my class to her.

All of my students from last year came back to visit me on Monday and they are all rubbing my tummy and commenting on the baby. It's funny to see them after the summer. They haven't seen me since around 22 weeks, so they were in for a shock! haha!

The swelling is still in my feet, but the rest of my body isn't as swollen. I took water aerobics on Tuesday night and it felt great to get in the water for a workout. I am not able to walk as much as I'd like because I can't get my sneakers on (so gross!).

I had a doctor's appointment on Tuesday and told him about my swelling. His response: "It's hot outside! What did you expect?" I was like... well, I just wanted to make sure it was normal, and he goes: "It's August! It's hot out! You are 9 months pregnant!" So. That shut me up! He told me to stay off of my feet (so easy as a teacher!) and keep my feet elevated (again, so easy!). I am trying very hard to sit a lot with my feet up. I woke up this morning with SUPER swollen feet, so it's off to a *fat* start!

My friend at work that is also pregnant and due at the same time as me told me about her packed hospital bag and her installed carseat....yikes! That got me motivate. I went to the mall last night and bought 2 nursing bras and a few shirts that are made for nursing. I came home and packed the bag. Baby and I are ready to go to the hospital, now Eddie just has to get his stuff together and we will be good to go!

I am starting the countdown...22 days until the due date. Let's see if he comes early....and hope it's not late! I will go crazy, I am sure! Oh well... he's going to come when he's ready to come! :)

Here is a pic from this weekend for Grandma's birthday. I am 36 weeks in this picture.

In this picture, I am with my sister-in-law, Elizabeth, and my cousin, Molly. We found out that both girls are pregnant! Both are due in March. It's going to be a baby crazy time in our family! Can you tell that I am the most pregnant in this picture??? HA!