Sharing the News with my Students...

I decided kind of spur of the moment this afternoon to tell my class about my baby-on-the-way.  At the very end of the day after we were all packed up I always have the kids sitting on the carpet to listen to our read-aloud book (Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing is the current book) so today after finishing a chapter, I told them I'd stop there for today because I had a question for them.  I asked them, "What are some names you guys like for boys OR girls?"  After several suggestions, I said, "Why do you think I'm asking that?"  And a few of them guessed because I'm having a baby.  I told them they were right, that I'm having a baby in March!  They (especially the girls) were all excited and asked lots of questions like when did I find out?  Is it a boy or girl?  What names do I like?  Then the bell rang and we left.  Somehow in the 5 min. it took to get out of the building, the entire 5th grade (my kids from last year) had also heard the news and were quite excited as well.  It was fun to get that over with, now I don't have to try and  find clothes in my closet that "hide" it more than others.  Now I just get to wait for the parents to start asking about my maternity leave (how long, who will sub, etc...)  I did have one of my favorite boys from last year come up to me and ask if I was still gonna teach next year.  I told him yes and he said, "Oh good 'cause I want my sister to have you next year!"  How cute :) 

Week 14

I feel like I have a huge tummy now, but of course I find myself thinking sometimes, "Is it growing the way it's supposed to?  Do I look like other 14 weeks pregnant women?"  This is bad news because I am already worrying about the dumbest things!  I just read through another pregnancy book that a friend let me borrow and enjoyed it because it is written not from a doctor's point of view, but a regular girl and it goes through several different scenarios that she and her friends have experienced through their pregnancies. 
I am still not sure when to announce this to my class and parents at school.  Parents would be able to tell by now when I wear certain outfits, but the kids are more oblivious for now.  However, we have curriculum night in about 2 weeks and I feel like I should tell them by then or the parents will just be eyeing me strangely wondering, "Is she just getting fatter, or is she pregnant?"  Ah, who knows.  I guess I'll just tell them out of the blue one of these days.
I also have my next appt. in 2 weeks and I'm not sure what all we'll do, but then I can schedule my 20 week ultrasound and I definitely look forward to that one!  However, to go along with my worrying, it seems like a lot of people first hear about potential problems during their 20 week ultrasound, so I guess I'm eager to see it, but I also want the relief of hearing that everything looks healthy and good (and that the stupid hemorrhage is gone).  And of course I can't wait to find out the sex!  Right now I still think boy mainly because I enjoy looking at/shopping for the girl stuff much more, so I probably won't get to buy any of it!
I've had the worst cold and or allergies for the past couple of weeks and don't wanna take much medication.  I did break down and have 1 Benadryl a couple of nights ago after searching the "safe lists" online.  It didn't help much, so I didn't take any more.  Hopefully I'm over the worst of it for now and will start feeling and looking normal again.  I look like I should be in a hospital bed due to my paleness and dark circles under my eyes when I have a cold...  Anyway, I'll post again next week at some point!

14 weeks!

14 weeks and ready for the first Husker game of the season!

Week 13

Here I am finally ending the first trimester... I am so glad to be through the most nerve-racking part (hopefully) and into a bit of a "safer zone".  Sean and I went this past weekend to pick out a crib and we found one rather quickly that we really like and will probably go with.  It's black and somewhat modern looking (for a crib).  I cannot wait until we can find out if it's a boy or a girl though, because then I can start hunting for fun stuff for the room like bedding and decor!  It might be hard to find cute boy bedding to go with a black crib because a lot of what's out there is blue and brown.  There is some cute pink and black stuff for girls though.  I wish that I knew now!  I really don't have any strong feelings either way about the sex.  I wonder if I will in the coming weeks...?
In the meantime, school will certainly keep me busy until the baby comes!  It's already September and although each day seems to go slowly, the first 3 weeks of school have gone fast.  I'm still hoping the kids will settle into more of a routine by the time I have to leave them with a long-term sub.  Right now it's hard to imagine writing and explaining everything I do during a day to a sub!  At least when it's just for one day that I'll be gone, I can come up with easy activities to have a sub do.  But when it'll be several WEEKS, they will really have to stick to curriculum and give assessments, go on field trips, etc.  I pray that I can work right up until I have this baby though so that I have less time to worry about other people watching him or her when I have to return at the very end of the year.  I'm guessing that I will have to return for at least the last week of school (which wouldn't be so bad) but if I have to stop working earlier, then it'll be the last few weeks of school which tend to be the toughest.  Yikes!  So just pray for me that the baby does not decide to come early so I can have as much time home with him or her as possible! 

Last Appt. for the first trimester!

Just finished up with my last doctor appointment for the first trimester.  I think most pregnant women only have 1 or 2 (the first being just a blood test to verify pregnancy) but I have now been 8 times!  We just listened to the heartbeat again this time and it still sounds good :)  I technically have 1 more week before my first trimester ends, but I'm so happy that we're kind of "exiting the woods" now.  I am continuing to bleed and I'm wondering if this is just going to be something that happens through my whole pregnancy.  I've noticed that it's kinda like a period where I'll bleed for several days then not for a couple to a few weeks, then it starts again. 
I do wish i could work out because I am constantly hungry and eating and now I've gained almost 7 pounds since before I was pregnant.  Most of that was just in the last 2-3 weeks, too.  My tummy is definitely getting more obvious (at least to me) and I won't be able to hide it much longer from kids and parents at school.  I have a couple pairs of maternity pants that are really loose but I wore some this week to work with a belly band.  Today I wore one last pair of regular work capris that buttoned (not very comfortably, but at least they buttoned!) and yesterday I bought a few clearance shirts at Target.  They aren't maternity shirts, but long and looser fitting shirts that are cute for work.  They should be good on me until it gets too cold out and then I'll need to buy some long-sleeved maternity shirts. 
I have been obsessed about pizza lately... just thinking about it constantly... and it's not something Sean and I eat very often (unless you count those 200 calorie microwave ones which are good, but not quite the same as REAL pizza) so I am so excited for tonight.  We're going to Sean's parents' house and they're ordering Valentino's pizza :)  Delicious!  It's my favorite type of pizza!  I think a huge part of the sudden increase in weight is that I'm back in school and when I'm stressed out, I definitely tend to eat more and more bad foods.  I should really find some healthier options that I enjoy and I will, but it's hard to find something that is healthy, yummy, AND easy to make quickly for work.  That said, I'm going to go enjoy my pizza for tonight and look for healthier options tomorrow!

Belly Photos!

6 Weeks

9 weeks

11 weeks

13 weeks

Week 11

I started school yesterday with a half-day and unfortunately it was the worst first day I've ever experienced! Part of it was due to the fact that I was freaked out because I woke up that morning bleeding heavily (after 2 1/2 weeks of no bleeding at all!) So I was more focused on that than trying to get my class to behave (which they did not!) So I called the doctor after work and told the nurse everything and she talked to one of the doctors I've seen who ordered me to come in for an emergency ultrasound this afternoon. Luckily school went much better today and then at the ultrasound, I was able to see Baby moving around quite a bit and the heart rate was 170. He/She is measuring 11 weeks 6 days and is around 5 cm long (I think that's what she said) :) When I met with my doctor after the ultrasound, she confirmed that everything looked really good and that there is still some hemmorhage left in there meaning I will still continue to bleed. When I asked if she had an estimate for how long that will last, she told me that there is no way to know, but that some women bleed for the rest of the pregnancy and others stop somewhere between 12-14 weeks. Let's just hope I'm in that 12 - 14 weeks category because this is crappy! It was SO GOOD to see the baby moving and actually looking in the shape of a baby now :) I felt a million times better leaving the office today. I am dying to know if this is a boy or a girl... no one has said they really have a feeling either way yet, and I go back and forth depending on the day as to what I think it is. Well I will have about 9 weeks before they can look for that on an ultrasound! I have another appt. next week just to check the heartrate again and then I'll probably go monthly. I appreciate everyone who was praying for me yesterday!

Week 10

Week 10 has definitely been the most exciting so far! No bleeding now for about 2 weeks and Sean and I both got to hear the little heartbeat for the first time yesterday! It was 180bpm and sounded good. I have the last appt. for the first trimester in 2 more weeks and then into the second trimester which is supposed to be the best.
We also had the fun of telling our families last night! I printed up a little invitation for our parents that says Celebrate!!! What: The Birth of Baby Miglini When: Sometime Around March 5, 2011 Where: Methodist Women's Hospital. So we had them open those and they were all thrilled. It was fun to see the reactions. When I came home I called my sister and my best friend to tell them and of course they were excited as well. Today I told my co-workers on our first day back at school and a few said they kind of suspected it, so maybe that means I look bigger than I thought! I had so much fun telling everyone though after keeping it secret for so long. It is nice to not have to hide it any more. Now if I can just figure out what I'm going to wear to work during this in-between stage... Can't wear my work pants, but still too small for maternity clothes. I have the belly bands, but with work pants you can totally tell that they're unbuttoned under there and it just doesn't look right! I don't know, but I'll have to figure something out this weekend, because Monday is our first day where we have to dress up. Then on Tuesday the kids have their first day and the craziness begins :)

9 Week Update

Well I'm on day 4 with no bleeding, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it remains that way and that the hemmorhage is already gone. I just wish they'd do another ultrasound to tell me once and for all if it's gone! We have 1 week until the next appointment at which we hope to hear the heartbeat. I can't wait!
However, there is one thing that also happens in 1 week that I'm NOT looking forward to and that is starting back to school :( I just feel very unmotivated to start back after such an emotional rollercoaster of a summer. I feel like I've been worried most of my summer about this baby and whether he/she would make it. I do feel better about things since my last appointment though. I feel like since I can see my belly growing a little that it's a good sign. I do think that after hearing the heartbeat again I will be much more at ease - especially since the end of this month will be the end of the first trimester. We plan to tell the families in about a week and a half and I'm about ready to burst from keeping it a secret! I also feel terrible for seeming "lazy" lately when it comes to helping our parents move things or helping my co-workers at school... for example, when I was up at school today, the secretary told me that a box of our copies had arrived from the print shop and I should take them up to the room. So I proceeded to push the box a little to see how heavy it was and it would've been a struggle to lift even without being pregnant! Not wanting to risk hurting anything (and after the particularly stern warning from the doctor last time about not lifting heavy things) I left the box where it was. Later on, the secretary (who's smaller than me) came up with the heavy box in her arms to drop off in my room! So I feel bad that people don't know WHY I can't do these things right now. I'm not sure yet when I will tell my co-workers, probably right after we tell our families, but I don't want my students and parents to know right away, so I'll have to make that clear to the staff. I think I'll wait until after Labor Day to tell them, then they can't try and pull kids out of my class just 'cause I'll have to go on maternity leave during the year. I know some parents get mad about that!
Anyway, this has been a long, rambling post, but I've had a lot of rambling thoughts lately that I wanted to get out, so I can share them with future readers. I'll probably wait until after my appointment next week to post again since I'll be busy at school getting things ready for the next several days. Until then... I'll keep praying for littlekins to grow bigger and stronger every day!

9 Weeks

Here I am at 9 weeks! Some days my belly looks like this, other days it's flatter. It depends on what and how much I eat that day I guess!