Updates

Well, with more than a week since my last post, many things have been happening! First, something that I find rather funny. :) Sadie keeps getting hiccups! This has been happening for more than a week now and happens at least every other day, if not every day. My entire belly will shake because her entire body is shaking! I kept reading about the possibility of hiccups in utero and many people told me they had experienced them with their babies, but until recently I had not had this very unique experience. Adam and I hope to get my belly recorded on video the next time she is really hiccupping, but we'll see if she'll actually perform for the camera. :)

A second notable topic is our graduation from Baby Birthing Class. Last Monday was our last class and now we are officially "ready" to give birth! We completed a very difficult simulation during class. To test our mental and physical readiness for pain and remembering our breathing techniques, we had to hold ice cubes. That's right, Pat would say, "Contraction begins, pick up your ice cubes!" Then, as the contraction got stronger we were to grasp the ice cubes tighter. Finally, as the contraction came to an end we were allowed to drop the ice cubes. Now, I have no idea how the pain created from grasping ice cubes will relate to the pain of labor, but grasping ice cubes is really quite painful. If you don't believe me, go get three cubes out of your freezer and grasp them tightly for sixty seconds. It hurts! Adam and I learned that we definitely need to keep practicing so that our breathing techniques are more like second nature and less like a partially rehearsed routine.

A third happy topic is that my sister and James came into town last Thursday night. Rhian was in a wedding for her college roomate in Elida, Ohio. The wedding was yesterday, so she and James were in town for Thursday night and Friday morning before they had to head up to Elida for the rehearsal dinner and then, of course, the wedding. Today, after brunch, they are supposed to be coming back down to Columbus so that we can all go to the Ohio State Fair. Now, I'm confident that I won't be enjoying the fair as much as I normally do since it's supposed to be 91 degrees here today and going to the fair requires lots of walking. However, I LOVE the fair and getting to see all of the baby animals and other fun things, so I'm really hoping that that love will far outweigh any other concerns. I'll keep you posted! :)

Fourth, I got some more excellent news on the "back-to-work" front. If you've read previous posts, you know that I have to work at least one day of the 08-09 school year in order to qualify for FMLA. This is because I won't technically have worked for a full year in the district until I have worked a day of this new school year. Originally, I thought this was going to have to be August 22nd. That Friday is the district's first official teacher work day of the 08-09 school year. Unfortunately, August 22nd comes at the end of my 38th week of pregnancy. Because of Sadie's large size, my doctor was pretty skeptical that Sadie would stay in utero for that long. But, here's the excellent news! The district is having "Data Days" on August 13th and 14th. These are days where teachers can come in for half a day (and be paid) to analyze state test scores and work together to look at curriculum and different ways of teaching concepts so that we can do a better job of meeting students' needs and in turn improve their test scores. I am super excited for this opporunity no matter what, but when I contacted the lady in charge of the "official day" count, she said that if I attend these days that they could count as my official return to work for the 08-09 school year! Yeah! That means only having to convince Sadie to stay put for 12 days from now instead of 20 days. Twelve seems like a MUCH smaller number to me!

Finally, Adam and I went to JC Penney's portrait studios yesterday and had some maternity photos taken. Even with MANY coupons, this ended up being a VERY expensive process. However, the pictures turned out really great overall. We picked several different shots to give away as gifts and several more to keep for ourselves. We also purchased the $4.95 on-line package so that our photos can all be posted on-line. It takes 10 business days for them to make that happen, so I have no link to share yet. As soon as I see they are up, however, I will be most happy to share with all of you. :)

Well, that brings us fairly up to date with everything. I'm currently having an allergy attack, so I've got to go take a shower and some medicine so that I can breath and not want to scratch my eyes out! Hope you all have a wonderful and rest-filled Sunday!