Holidays/26 weeks

The holidays have been a much-needed distraction for me.  Family time. Food. Indianapolis. Friends. Snow. Fuzzy socks. Movies. Reading. Starbucks. Husband time. Crafts. Ya, that about sums it up, and it has been nice. I think I will still have a hard time on January 2nd, when all of the Evans staff returns to school, and on January 3rd, when the kiddos come back, but each day I am able to be more content with my current circumstances. The holidays have definitely helped. Still looking forward to time with my very first best friend, making pizzas and going to orange leaf tomorrow, New Years Eve  date with great friends, a nice dinner, and chocolate fondu, sister in law time for a couple of days, and craft time/ lunch date on Friday.  I have so many things to be thnakful for, and I am reminding myself of that daily. Still having my daily quiet times too. I am reading Calm My Anxious Heart,  as well as devotionals on my phone on the topics Fear, Anxiety, Contentment, and Peace. It is helping. Slowly but surely.

On Thursday, I had my 26 week appointment. My blood pressure was pretty high. 150something over 80something. Highest that it has been since my last appointment. I think it was nerves! Although, it stayed high for most of the following day, and is back to normal now. Could nerves related to the doctor's office really cause my blood pressure to spike and then stay high for that long?? At this appointment, the doctor told me that since there is something abnormal about my pregnancy, she will not allow me to carry past 37 weeks. If I have carried to 37 weeks, I will induced on that date. This puts us at or around March 14th for her arrival (instead of April 4th). I feel like she will be here before we know it, and there is still so much left to do. Good thing, I have 8 hour work days to get it all done. :) Since my due date was pushed up, and she could possibly come sooner, there is a very good chance that I'll be returning to school to finish up the end of the school year. Grandmas have agreed to stay with Miss Eden if this is the case, so that we do not have to start her in daycare until August, when I start a new school year.

That about sums up everything going on for me. Here is how you can pray for us now:
- pray that my blood pressure stays low and does not progress to Preclampsia
- pray that baby stays in until it is a healthy time for her to be born
- pray that I will trust in God, find peace and not be anxious.

Thanks for reading and Happy Holidays

"Jobless" Perks

I've been off work for 4 days now, and although it feels like much longer, I have begun to look at the perks of being "jobless." I'm writing to share those with you, but before I do, I would like to make a little disclaimer: for those of you who have a job that you love and are able to go to each day, but find yourself dreaming of life without work from time to time, being off work indefinitely is not as glamourous or wonderful as it may seem. Not for someone who loves their job as much as I do.  Nevertheless, I am trying my best to enjoy my time at home, because as many have told me, the next time I will have this extended amount of time off will be retirement (or maybe next time I get pregnant, but I would prefer that it be retirement, as I'm hopeful that this will not be a normal occurance when it comes to my pregnancies...) And since retirement is a long time away, I am trying to enjoy the time that I have been given, even if I would have chosen other use of this time.

Perk 1- A Routine & Quiet Time-When thinking about time off from work, I would have thought that sleeping till 10 am and spending my day in pjs lounging on the couch watching chick flicks would top my list of perks for time off work. However, this is not the case. I am trying my best to keep some kind of routine (mainly for my sanity.) This week I have woken up when Josh gets up to go to work, he's checked my blood pressure (which has been great!), and then we've eaten breakfast together before he heads off for work. After he leaves, then I spend a good amount of time reading my devotionals, spending time in the word and in prayer, and I have to admit it is a great unrushed start to my day. Then I make myself take a shower and get ready for the day. It just makes me feel better.

Perk 2-Pinterest Catch up- Since summer, my Pinterest boards have been terribly neglected, so I have spent the past four days catching up. I have pinned lots of  recipes, baby shower ideas, nursery ideas, some teaching ideas, and more. These pins are giving me random things to do throughout the day. This can be done while laying on the couch with my feet up and the tv on.

Perk 3- Plenty of time to Scrapbook- I love scrapbooking, but rarely have time. I had acutally planned on having each guest at my baby shower create a scrapbooking page for me, so that I could use them to create Miss Eden's scrapbook after she arrives. However, now with all my free time, I have decided to create my own scrapbook for her instead, and I have begun working on it this week. It's something great to do while still relaxing, with my feet up.

Perk 4- Cooking and Baking- This one is somewhat related to Perk 2. Cooking and Baking. I love to do it, but again, rarely do, because I am so busy with school. Most days during this school year, I arrived at 6:30 and left around 4:30. That makes for long days. Then in recent days, I had been walking an hour each day, and that left little time and energy for cooking when I got home. Josh is great about doing it, but it is something I enjoy doing, especially with all the delicious looking ideas that I have pinned on pinterest. So far since I've been off, I have made crock pot beef stew and homemade biscuits, chicken chili,  white chocolate chex mix, chicken/black bean/cream cheese/mexican yumminess that you eat on tortillas, a healthy banana nutella smoothie, and I am excited about trying other recipes that I have pinned (especially the crock pot ones.)

I will keep you updated as I think of more perks, but these are the top 4 this week. Don't get me wrong, I still miss my job, I still miss my class (terribly!) But I am trying my best to be thankful for this time. On Friday afternoon, I was lucky enough to be able to skype with my class, and they seemed to have mixed feelings about whether or not I should be resting or at school teaching them. They were so sweet. They didn't want to start thier Christmas party, because they just wanted to talk with me. I love them!

Have a good weekend and a good Christmas. Do something that you enjoy and consider relaxing.

Monday Appointment, Contentment, and More.

As I mentioned in my last post, I was scheduled for a follow up appointment with my doctor this week. I went in for Monday, and got some unexpected news. She requested that I take the remainder of my pregnancy off from work due to prenatal hypertension. She told me that this is what most doctors would request with someone having hypertension so early in their pregnancy. She also said that it was the only option. She said that she will not be surprised at all if the hypertension eventually progresses into Preclampsia. I was in shock. (I still might be a little.)

And to be honest. I've cried. (at least 5 times) Why? I love my job. I have said numerous times that my job doesn't even feel like work (most of the time) I thought I still had months left with my precious students, months left to perfect my maternity leave notes, months left to prepare these kiddos for the dreaded standardized testing, months left to prepare them for when I am gone. I teach a special education inclusion class, and change is hard for many of these kids. I wanted to do my best to prepare them for such a big change, instead I didn't get to prepare them at all (I was planning to teach until Spring Break!), hardly got a chance to tell them good-bye. By far the hardest part for me is that since I am on FMLA, I am unable even to step foot into the school, so no visiting, at all. How do you explain that to eight and nine year olds? I'd hate for them to think that I don't want to visit them...

Even though this news is still very fresh, God is already at work, and that is how I know that all of this, even if I don't understand it, even if it's not what I want for myself, is all part of God's perfect plan for my life and for my little girl's. I'm pretty sure God wanted to make very clear that he was speaking to me in the past 36 hours or so. Let me explain.

I read a pregnancy devotional book each morning, but I had gotten a little behind in the book, so last night I got the book out to catch up. The topic for the day that I was on was Finding Contentment, followed by the verse, Philippians 4:12-13, "I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation  whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through him who gives me strength."  I know that I haven't been definitely "content" with the situation that I am in right now, so I just thought, Ok, God, I get it. On a side note, I took a sneak peek ahead in my devotional and the topic is. Making Sacrifies for Your Baby, with the verse, "Whatever you do, do everything for God's glory-  1 Corinthians 10:31.

Anyway, I put away my devotional book, and got out my kindle. Someone recommended the book, Calm My Anxious Heart by Linda Dillow. lo and behold, God reminded me again of Philippians 4:12-13, along with the following recipe for contentment.

• Never allow yourself to complain about anything--even the weather.
• Never picture yourself in any other circumstances or someplace else.
• Never compare your lot with another's.
• Never allow yourself to wish this or that had been otherwise.
• Never dwell on tomorrow--remember that tomorrow is God's, not ours.

I am sad to admit that I have been doing all of the above, but God is at work.  He just might think I need to hear about contentment more than one time...

This morning before I got into the shower, I turned on an audio devotional. I have gotten into this habit this school year. This morning, the devotional was Joyce Meyer, and the topic was.....Consistently Content! God definitely knows me well, and knows that I need lots and lots and lots of reminders.

So, if you've actually made it through this novel-blog, I would appreciate prayers in the following ways.

• That I will be content with the circumstances that God has given me at this time of my life.
• That my blood pressure will stay low and my condition won't progress to Preclampsia too early.
• That Eden will stay healthy and continue growing inside for a long while!
• That God will be with my class and their new teacher, and help them to all adjust well.

Today I am thankful:

• for a husband who takes care of me, eats breakfast (that he cooks) with me before he goes to work, and learns to take blood pressure  manually so that we don't have to use a digital machine.
• that my baby girl is growing nicely, despite my Hypertension.
• for my mom who came to bring me lunch, decorate cookies with me, and keep me company
• for friends and family who are supporting me, encouraging me, and spending time with me
• for the first semester that I got to teach my wonderful class at Evans.
• for supportive administrators at my school
• for Evans faculty who are keeping me posted and updated 

Thanks to everyone for your thoughts and prayers!

24 weeks 1 day

At 24 weeks 1 day, I went in for my regularly scheduled prenatal check up. This was after having a relaxing afternoon of a prenatal massage and orange leaf (still stuck on the chocolate mint, with mini chocolate chips and hot fudge...yum!) I wasn't the least bit worried or stressed about this appointment, as I sometimes am, because I have been feeling Miss Eden moving like crazy in there! However, when the nurse took my blood pressure, she seemed a bit worried, and told me that she was going to take it a second time. She then asked me if my blood pressure is normally quite high. I told her that it is ususally very normal, and has never been high. It was 152/98. She went to get my doctor. My doctor asked me if I had a history of high blood pressure or if anyone in my family had a history of high blood pressure or high blood pressure during pregnancy. I reminded her that my mom suffered from high blood pressure/preclampsia during pregnancy, but not as early as 24 weeks. She then told me that she would like to send me to labor and delivery for a 24 hour observation. Not what I was expecing! Talk about high blood pressure, my heart was racing at this point! She sent me to get an ultrasound before going to labor and delivery to check the growth and fluid of the baby. Lukcily, little miss looked great, was very active, weighed in at 1 pound 8 ounces and had plenty of fluid! Praise God.

Once I was all checked in and laying in a bed upstairs, my blood pressure began slowly going down, and by 10 pm. It was almost back to normal. All of my labs came back great too. I stayed for 24 hours so that they could do a protein count on my urine over the course of 24 hours, and was able to leave at about 4:00 today. The urine test looked great. I will have a follow up appointment this week, but it seems as if everything is good for now! I will be monitoring my blood pressure a few times a day. Being in the hospital made me  even more excited for Miss Eden to come, but not quite yet.  Hoping/praying that the blood pressure stays down.

Oh The Things Kids Say..

As a third year teacher, second year full-time third grade teacher, and second year TAP school teacher, I have had many observations; however I am still not fond of these observations...Getting better, but still not a highlight of my school year, by any means.... Still not something I tend to do a happy dance about. While I realize that they are beneficial, and I am always thankful for them after they are over, and after receiving feedback, they are never completely pleasant while they are taking place. If you are a teacher, or especially if you are a TAP teacher, I am sure you can relate.....

Anyway, these TAP observations happen four times a year. Two are announced. Two are unannounced. Today marked my first unannounced observation, and while I thought the lesson overall was a good, engaging lesson, I have to blog about the things a couple of my kids said during the lesson, because I am sure I will look back and laugh....someday, and when that day comes, I want to remember them... That will be a day when observations no longer make me so nervous.

Anyone who knows me, knows I tend to get a little on the blotchy/red side when I get nervous. It becomes a nice covering over my chest and neck. There is no hiding it, except with a turtleneck, which I happened to not be wearing today. As I am teaching, one of my oh-so-favorite students said, "Mrs. Bowman, why is your neck getting so red?!" This is a comment that I chose to ignore, hoping that the topic would be dropped. A few minutes later, another student, said, "Mrs. Bowman, I'd like to make a connection to the hippopotamus in the story." I quieted the class, and told them all that this child was making a connection and we all needed to listen. (In fact I was feeling quite proud that my students are so good at making connections. :) When everyone was quiet, this student said, "My connection is that the pink sunscreen all over the hippopotamus is kind of like Mrs. Bowman's neck." Yep, he said it. I sarcastically told him that I was so glad that we took the time to listen to such a wonderful connection.

Oh, the things kids say!