Definitely Descending on an otherwise Dumpy Day

Ok, I've already decided that I want to end this post with good news, so I'm going to start it with the frustrating news.

I get to school this morning. It was a work day. My principal finds me and tells me that my substitute got a full time job and that she is no longer going to be my substitute. Here's the worst part. To tell my principal this, she called her at school on Sunday morning and left a message. Now, I was with my principal when she called this girl on Friday and I KNOW my principal gave her her cell phone and home phone numbers to call her. Clearly this girl was embarrassed and didn't want to confront my principal, but come on! And, it gets worse. I had given the substitute the keys to my room. Did she keep them? No. Did she offer to drive them back to school? No. Did she suggest meeting somewhere to have them picked up? No. What did she do? She mailed them! Who mails keys?! So, goodness only knows if I'll ever actually get them back! Grrrr!

Continuing with my frustrations...I LOVE my team members at school. They are wonderful people with great ideas and they really and truly care about kids. The one thing I both admire and stress about, however, is how laid back our two male teachers are about everything. They had a general idea about what they were going to do tomorrow - our first day of school - but one of them didn't actually share those plans with me (I found out from another teacher) and the other one just happened to have written his schedule for tomorrow on the board. Now, the two ladies I work with were quite a bit better. They at least had some papers copied and/or power point presentations put together, but neither of them were in a particularly large hurry to get everything "finalized" either. I think this is because they are fairly used to what to expect and don't feel they need to worry. If I knew I was 100% for sure going to be there, I could relax and feel the way my team seems to feel. But, since I'm not quite sure what Sadie's thinking, I can't quite keep my cool. I did the best I could with the plans that I had and have emergency plans prepared if I should not be there tomorrow.

At 2:00, my principal came down to tell me that she had found someone to interview for my position, again, and that she would be meeting him at 2:30 pm. This was great! So, around 2:30 pm, in walks this guy. He's very nicely dressed and seems pleasantly intelligent. Then we start talking about his certification. It turns out that he's currently only certified K-12 in Phys Ed and Health. He is actually going back to school to get his special ed certification, but he doesn't even start taking classes until the middle of September. So, whereas I think students might be a little afraid of him (he does look like a very large and strong gym teacher), he can't legally work in my position for the length of time that I will be gone. Only after the interview did I find out why my principal had thought that he already had SpEd certification. My SpEd coordinator had called my principal and told her she found the perfect candidate on the Madison County substitute list. Under his certification it says, "Special, K-12, PE and Health." Now, I can completely understand why the label "special" could be misunderstood. What is meant by special in this context is that it is a special license. Very few licenses are issued for grades K-12 and those that are are for subjects like PE, Health, Band, Choir, Library, or Special Ed. However, if he were actually certified in SpEd, his listed certification would say Intervention Specialist, my actual "legal" title. So, needless to say, I got to whittle away a little bit more of my time by talking with this nice man who my district will very likely not be able to hire. Grrrrr!!!!!

Then, to top off all of this fun, I have started having a few contractions. I would imagine that this is due to the fact that I was at school today for nearly 10 hours and I am just a bit stressed out, as you may be able to tell from above. But, contractions coming are good because that means Sadie can hopefully move on out and this is actually leading to the good news bit of this blog. :)

It is clear to me that Sadie has begun to make her descent. Even when you look at me you can tell she is lower. It is also very hard for me to sit comfortably, making writing this a bit challenging. Additionally, when I am feeling her kick, it is no longer directly into my ribs. It's actually hitting me in my spongy middle! Woohoo! So, I am finally feeling that the end may in fact be very near! I don't actually have a doctor's appointment until Thursday afternoon this week, so it will still be a few days before I can give you an "official" report, but maybe Sadie will decide she doesn't need to wait until Thursday! If not, send good thoughts my way tomorrow as I start school one VERY pregnant lady! :) Take care everyone!