Dentist Drama!

I went to the dentist yesterday for a regular cleaning. After about 10 minutes of her cleaning my teeth, I started feeling light headed and nauseous. As hard as it is to try to talk with their hands in your mouth, I had to say something. I told her I didn't feel good, and she immediately tilted my chair back up. She could tell I was white as a sheep and clammy, so she got one of the other girls to get me some oxygen. I told her I thought I was going to pass out, so they put a cold rag on my forehead and took my blood pressure several times. They were fanning me, giving me a coke, and telling me to stay on my side. It was pretty comical after it all happened. The hygenist kept apologizing that she didn't think to have me on my side for the cleaning. My air supply was being cut off having to lie back so far. :) Anyway, I sat there for a few minutes, and they told me to just come back after the baby was born.
Good way to get out of a teeth cleaning! haha!

Baby Shower

I figured I should finally write about my wonderful baby shower since my sister and friend, Betsy, already wrote about it. :) My friends and family did such an amazing job putting it together, from the food, diaper cake, decorations, cake, and presents! It was so special, and I felt so loved. Here are some pictures from the big day.

Baby Room

Over Spring Break, we were able to finish the nursery, and some of the living room! Since Nkere was out of town, a few of my WONDERFUL friends came over and helped me. They did an amazing job, and I was so impressed. Nkere actually didn't know about the living room until he came home. I didn't decide I was going to paint it until after he left, so I thought I would surprise him. :) He actually loved both rooms, and was so appreciative of our friends who helped out.
So here's to Betsy, Jared, Niki, and Jeff! Thank you!
Hope you like the pictures!

Part time

I went to my boss a couple months ago, asking to work part time next year. She has known for four years now that this was my plan when we had a baby. When I talked to her, I knew she wouldn't give me an answer right away, but she was very positive, encouraging, and said she would let me know as soon as she found out (the decision is above her head). At first, I felt kind of hopeful because of the way they talk to me and tell me how much they want me there. The problem with special education, at least in the district I work in, is that we are pretty much at the bottom of the totem pole of importance. They never hire enough speech therapists, etc, and they just end up spreading us as thin as possible. For example, the Texas Speech and Hearing Association states that your caseload should only be 40-45. That doesn't even count workload. My caseload this year is close to 70, and has been as high as 100 in the past. How ridiculous for administration to think that's okay to do to their employees? But I figure I'm organized and efficient with my time, so I get the job done. I want to tell my bosses that the district isn't going to build schools, and not hire enough teachers! But they feel like they can do that with special ed. Anyway, I called my boss today to see if she had an answer for me. Disappointingly, she was unemotional and just straight forward with me. She didn't tell me no (yet), but she said she doesn't have an answer, and it doesn't look good. That's it?!! After four years of dedication, loyalty, and very hard work, that's the answer I get? I just have a feeling that when I ask her again in a few weeks, she'll just say no to part time altogether. I just feel really sad about the whole thing because 1)I've been a really good employee for them, 2)I've always had such respect for my bosses, 3)I feel like they should fight for people they want. I don't think they're fighting for my position at all! Maybe I'm just being unrealistic and in a fantasy world, but I believed her when she said she would do everything she could to keep me. Why would you want to keep having turnover and have to train new people (you never really know who you're gonna get), when the parents and kids you work with feel comfortable and like their speech therapists? I guess it doesn't matter that much to the administration, but I see it differently.
So I'm just going to keep praying about it, and if God closes this door, I pray that he clearly opens another one. I just want to stay home a little with my baby!

Kid's questions

As you know, I work in 2 elementary schools. At one of my schools, I have a 2nd grade group that is very interested in my belly and the baby. I have a sonogram picture on my desk that they look at every week. They constantly ask questions, like "When is the baby coming?" and say "You better bring your baby up here so we can see it." One little girl in particular loves to touch my stomach and tells me that I get bigger every time she sees me (which is twice a week). :) She also told me not to let anyone but her touch my stomach, not even my husband. Hehe. Well, the other day, the same girl came up to my desk (where they practice their sounds in words and sentences), and she asked "Do you have to get a shot to get pregnant?" I immediately smiled, not knowing what to say, and obviously not telling her any more information. For a minute I thought the other kids were going to spill the beans, because they were laughing at her question. Then fortunately, another little girl interrupts, and said "No, silly, you pray." I loved it!! So I immediately said, "Yes, I prayed for this baby." After all, it was true!

It's a...

Boy!! I know this doesn’t come as a surprise to most of you who are reading. It’s been almost two months since we found out. We went to our doctor’s appointment on Monday, December 22, at 8:00 a.m. We had already been up for quite some time, checking our bags in early at the airport, since our flight left at 10:15! We were cutting it close. Fortunately, the sonographer was right on time and got us in promptly. As he was getting everything ready, he asked if we wanted to know the gender. I immediately said “Yes, but I think it’s a boy!” I’m not exaggerating, the moment he put the wand (I don’t know what the technical word is for it) on my belly, he said “You’re right, it’s a boy!” I was so excited and looked over at Nkere to see the big smile on his face. What he told me later was that he wanted to see the heart beat and make sure everything else looked good before he got too excited. The doctor said everything looked great! We saw his legs kicking and him sucking his thumb! It was the coolest thing ever! Everyone had asked us before what we wanted the baby to be. We both honestly said we don’t care, we just want it to be healthy. I think/know some people think that’s a cop-out answer for some reason. I mean, I know everyone wants a healthy baby; who wouldn’t? And I don’t think it’s bad at all to have a preference of boy or girl! We would have been thrilled with either! But if you know what my job is, and what I do for a living, you would understand why I said that. No one wants their child to be disabled in any way! I decided not to have the amniocentesis test done to check for Downs’ Syndrome. But I was asking my doctor some questions about it, and he came back with a great question. He said “Well, would you do anything different?” Of course I wouldn’t! I felt like there was no reason to get tests run when I’m going to love this baby no matter what.
So, in case you’re wondering, our colors are brown and turquoise!! We can’t wait to meet him!

I'm pregnant!

I know, I know…I have been horrible at writing anything on here for several months! I will really try and do better, because I do want to have my thoughts recorded to look back upon later. September 13th was one of the happiest days of our lives! Nkere and I knew it was either going to be a really great day, or another disappointing day. We had been trying to get pregnant for 9 months, which may not be long to some people, but felt like an eternity to us. It’s such an emotional roller coaster, and I got tired of crying every month and wondering why we couldn’t get pregnant. Nkere and I went to breakfast that morning, and I was supposed to take the pregnancy test when we got home, but I continued to put it off. I waited until about 1:00, Nkere was taking a nap, and I figured I would take it then so I could cry to myself when he was sleeping. I didn’t let myself think in any way that I could be pregnant. Well, it sure didn’t take long for it to come back positive!! I think I about hyperventilated! I was shaking and trying to put batteries in the camera so I could wake Nkere up with the test. He apparently was in a deep sleep, because he didn’t know what I was trying to tell him when I woke him up. I could tell he was really excited, but immediately cautious about the whole thing. He didn’t want us to tell anyone for the first 3 months!! I told him I had to tell our family and close friends, at least! But we agreed to at least wait until my first doctor’s appointment. That agreement was quickly broken in 2 days, when he called practically everyone he knew to tell them the exciting news.  So I was definitely going to tell my family that night. I wanted to be somewhat creative, which isn’t me at all, to tell my parents. My mom has a birthstone baby necklace, with her other 4 grandkids on it, so I decided to get a birthstone baby for May. I wanted to get a boy, but they didn’t have any more, so I just got the girl. I’ve always had a feeling that we would have a boy first, and I was still sure it was a boy.
Anyway, I went to my parent’s house, where my sister and brother-in-law were temporarily staying, and gave my parents the box. I told them it was an early anniversary present, which didn’t make sense at all since I’ve never gotten them one before. When they opened it, mom quickly figured out what I was trying to tell them. Dad kind of looked at me with confusion.  So I said “Dad, I’m pregnant!” After that, Amanda and Paul came in and heard the news. They were all very excited. The funniest part of the night was when we told Gracie Claire that Aunt Gracie was going to have a baby. She first said “Where is it?” I told her that it was in my belly. Then we asked her what she thought I was going to have, and without hesitation, she said “It’s a boy…his name is Percy.” We all laughed, and wondered where she came up with Percy! She has remembered that name and still calls the baby Percy.
Another exciting thing was getting to tell my closest friends as well. I remember Hope coming up to me at church on Saturday night (before we were telling people) and asking what the test results were. I totally had to lie to her, especially since other people were standing around. It was funny because she later said that I acted awfully fine with not being pregnant. Later, I called and told her that I had lied to her; she was so excited. I called Jodi and Betsy to tell them. Betsy was in the truck with Jared, and I remember her screaming at the top of her lungs in excitement! It was a great sound. I was able to tell my friend, Niki, in person. It was such a special time.
All of these moments were awesome, and something I will never forget. It was such a great feeling to know that all of these people were praying for us, and I was able to tell them what God had blessed us with!