What a Miracle!

E at 6 days old! What a cute hat I got from my friend Barbara!

I have been a little busy this week so I haven't had a chance to sit and write about the miracle of Little Miss E's birth. I'll try to condense this so you don't have to read a novel! (Sorry, it's still pretty long!)

Last Monday I was feeling very "over" being pregnant. When our work party was at the bowling alley I figured I would do my best to speed things along! I bowled two games, much to everyone's surprise, and was exhausted by the end of the evening. I then went home and cleaned a little and then went to bed, hoping for some big occurrence that night. Nothing happened so I went to work the next day as planned.
At work on Tuesday I was super tired and sore from my exercise the day before, but I worked nonetheless. I had a doctor appointment that afternoon and found out that I had progressed to a 2 and was 80% effaced. I was so excited that I had finally changed from a 1! The doctor also told me that I could go in the next day and he would strip my membranes. After the appointment I was pretty sore and started having some consistent, hard contractions. I went back to school to work on my sub plans for a few more hours. I figured I had one more day so I left a few things undone. Steve picked me up and we went to a Mexican restaurant and then to the grocery store.
When we got home my contractions got harder and harder. By the time we went to bed at 8 I was very uncomfortable. I finally got up and called labor and delivery because the contractions were 5-8 minutes apart. They told me to wait until they were 3-5 minutes apart. This made me cry because I felt so yucky! I took Tylenol, drank lots of water, took a bath, and tried to lay down again. For the next few hours I timed and breathed through some very painful contractions! Finally at 12:30 Steve asked how far apart they were. When I told him 4-5 minutes he said, "Okay let's go!" It reminded me of a movie: we were running around the house throwing things into our bag and the car.
I was breathing the best I could through every contraction on the ride down. Steve really wanted me to be freaking out or something so he could race to the hospital : ). Unfortunately for him I was very calm.
When we got into the hospital they made me change into a gown and then they checked me. I was at a 3 and 90% effaced. I then had to wait an hour to see if I had changed. After waiting that excruciating hour nothing had happened. They asked if I wanted to go home with pain pills or stay and walk for an hour...I chose to stay (any girl who would go home cannot be in true labor!). I tried walking but after half an hour I was in so much pain I asked if I could be checked again. Lucky for me I had progressed enough for the doctor to admit me.
At this point everything moved very quickly. They moved me into a Labor and Delivery room and called the anesthesiologist. He got my epidural in by about 4 and then they let me rest until I progressed enough to push. My water broke on its own at about 5:45 and then my self medicating epidural stopped working at about 7 or so. The nurse came in and found that it hadn't even been turned on so she got that fixed for me...thank heavens!!! My sister got there at about 8, the same time as my doctor. I was progressing pretty fast at that point and by 9 I was ready to start pushing. My sister and Steve were in the room and were able to help me hold my legs. I pushed through just about every contraction for 50 minutes.
By the time E's head really crowned I was on a roll. The nurse went and got the doctor. I pushed about 2 more times and she was out at 9:54! It was such a miraculous experience to be able to birth a child. The feelings are indescribable! I was so lucky to have such amazing coaches...thanks Michelle and Steve!!!
We were able to come home on Friday and things have been going fairly well since then. E is learning how to sleep at night, which is a challenge for all of us. The last two nights have been better, however, and mom, dad, and baby are all happier for it. Yesterday E lost her cord stump, which was an exciting milestone. Daddy was very excited to give her a real bath.
Sadly for me, my mom left yesterday. I so appreciated the help she gave me this last week. She was my saving grace, as Steve was at work all day. My mom is the best...she is an angel! Thank you so much mom, and know that you are welcome here at any time!!!
Wow, what a whirlwind week!!! Hopefully I will be able to get some more good pictures on soon, but until then you can look at my Mom and Dad's blog (link is to the right) for some good ones.

Thanks for all of the messages and texts and calls. I have so appreciated the love and support of all of my friends and family!!!

Early Arrival!

Regardless of what my baby countdown may say...my baby arrived on Wednesday morning at 9:54 am!!! I will write out the whole exciting story (leaving out most of the gory details) soon, but she is here and beautiful and perfect. Just to be safe from wierdos out there I'm just going to call her Baby E or just E on the blog. We're home and happy, although exhausted...her new nighttime nickname will be Porky, as in the pig : ). Well...she's calling for the milk truck so I'd better get running!

6 More Days...

...but who is really counting? I have spent the last week trying to get all of my sub plans done. While I am not totally satisfied with what I have, I know that my class can be run without me there now so I have really started to slack in the home stretch. I am feeling more and more tired every day but I found just enough energy to bowl two games yesterday for my work winter party. Everyone thought I was crazy, but I am doing my best to work this girl out! I'm feeling good and I'll keep you posted on the week to come...

PS: Mom, sorry for the phone calls yesterday and late Sunday night... :) I'll try to not scare you any more!

Thanks

I just wanted to thank people who commented that my hair wasn't so bad. : ) My bangs are growing out so now I probably look 14 rather than 10! 2 more weeks to go and the official count down has begun. I now pray daily that she will come TODAY! I am ready to have her out and here!

Update on Miss Burden is Missing

My plan to create a kinder, sweeter, more respectful class by leaving them with a scary lady unfortunately did not work. When I went back to school on Thursday they were just as naughty as ever! Looks like I'm going to have to bring out the "bad witch" more often.

The "bad witch" philosophy is one that I read about in The Nanny Diaries. She claims that you need to be the good witch the majority of the time: kind, sweet, and cheerful. But when your charge (in my case, my class) gets naughty you turn into the bad witch. Very quietly (but with a very scary voice), and at their level scold them and inform them of what is going to happen to them if they do not stop. Then you stand up and act like nothing has just happened. I've done this with individuals in my class and it works like a charm, now it's time for a whole class intervention!

Miss Burden is Missing

In elementary school (and still today) one of my most favorite books was Miss Nelson is Missing by Harry Allard and illustrated by James Marshall (a personal favorite!). In the book a very sweet teacher named Miss Nelson is being taken advantage of by her horrible class. One day Miss Nelson doesn't come to school, in her place comes Viola Swamp, an evil, mean, ugly woman. The class finally shapes up and at the end of the book Miss Nelson comes back and they appreciate her while the reader discovers that Viola Swamp was really Miss Nelson in disguise.
The last few days I have been feeling like Miss Nelson. My class has been naughty and rude and I haven't known what to do with them. I follow through with my consequences, I praise positive behaviors, etc. Despite all of this, they have been somewhat wretched. Today I am hoping they had a bit of a Miss Nelson/Viola Swamp experience.
I knew I had to be at a workshop all day today so I requested for a substitute last week. When I looked at the name I was excited because it was someone I know to be a great sub: very sweet, follows through with the plans I leave, makes my class feel great. I let them know how lucky they were to be having this sweet woman.
This morning I was in my room before school getting a few things ready before heading for the workshop when in walks this mean, nasty looking woman. I came to find out that she has the same last name as the sub I thought she was and her name is Connie while the other lady's name is Bonnie. Whoops! She was somewhat brash and rude to me as I was explaining some things in my plans...I am kind of excited to go back tomorrow and see if my class appreciates me a little bit more. If not, I may have to pull the real Viola Swamp out of my closet!

4 Weeks to Go!

Let's start this post by looking back at me at six weeks...notice how hard I am trying to push my belly out. Look at that cute, skinny little face and the normal hair.


Fast forward a few months and you get this...me trying really hard to suck in my belly and straighten my back. I've started "filling out" in the face and my hair is insane (story to come). It must mean that my "baby is getting huge!" as one of my students told me on Friday. I know the dress is also a little unflattering but at this point I am going for comfort entirely! Hopefully the next time I want a picture taken Steve will not be at work so he can do it for me! The self timer thing is really frustrating!


I have really had a fairly easy pregnancy, not much to complain about. My hormone levels and emotional state have been pretty even keeled. But this week I was allowed my one moment of "temporary pregnancy insanity" (as coined by Steve). My sister, Michelle, cut my hair last week and also cut some long bangs. On Monday night I looked in the mirror and decided I wanted shorter bangs so I cut (more like hacked) them. My sister found out and asked my mom, "Who gave her scissors?" I tried to justify it by saying that everyone tries to cut their own hair at some point. My mom said, "Yeah, you just decided to wait until you were 23." Now I look like a 10 year old pregnant girl and this is how I get to look for all of the pictures that are to come in the next month. I'm hoping they grow out enough to at least make me look 15 or 16...

What (if any) insane pregnant moments did you have?