Working and Being Pregnant

Hello, again! Well, I went back to work teaching this past week with the kids starting school on Thursday. I forgot how busy and stressful the beginning of the school year is! I am almost thinking of creating a separate blog to vent my frustrations and exhilaration of being a teacher. I won't torture you with that right now, except to say that being a special education teacher is VERY hard and that difficulty has little to nothing to do with the students themselves. It all has to do with school funding and district politics/bureaucracy. :(

Anyways, being pregnant while teaching so far is not too hard. I just have to remember to have little snacks and drinking (water) breaks throughout the day. I also have to remember to not pick up or move kids. Eek! I did that on Thursday without thinking. This student was not heavy and I did not feel strained picking her up, but what was I thinking?!

I also have to remember to not stay late like I did almost every night last year (I refuse to work at home). I seem to get tired late in the afternoon, so I do not want to push myself physically too much now that I have to take care of 2 people (me and the baby). I am always trying to please people and not let anyone down (especially my students), but I cannot be superwoman. If I cannot sufficiently do my job within an 8 hour workday, then that means the district has given me too large of a workload and/or not enough resources to do my job. I say all this stuff now, but I will probably still catch myself feeling guilty for leaving at the end of my contract day.

I also need to limit my workday for the sake of my sanity. When I think about work too much and I basically work from sun up to sun down, I cry a lot and get depressed. I need balance in my life and that will be even more important once baby comes.
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I wish I could feel baby move! I am SO looking forward to that sensation. I decided against buying a doppler to hear the heartbeat at home because I didn't want to become worried if one day I couldn't find the heartbeat. I am in the 2nd trimester now, so I just try to assume everything's OK. I keep putting my hand on my belly just below my belly button, trying to feel a small kick or punch from my baby. I have no idea if it would be possible to feel this early, but I keep trying. Sometimes it seems like I feel a light tap against my hand, but that could possibly be my pulse or a muscle twinge.

I should be able to feel baby in the next few weeks though for sure! Yay!

Happy Labor Day weekend and remember why we celebrate it! (http://www.columbiamissourian.com/stories/2011/08/31/david-rosman/)