Being a pregnant teacher...

So I have to have at least one post about being a pregnant teacher. Because, while I'm totally a "a woman can do everything" kind of person, there are many days that I just want to have my pregnancy in the privacy of my own home!

First, who and when do you tell the happy news? I told my supervisors in a email first, to which almost all of them replied with excited emails. It was nice to know that I had their support. The same night I emailed some of the teachers that I am closer to- my department and others that I have done special projects with- to let them know. I had talked about probably having a baby last year, so I didn't think anyone was too surprised. One teacher said he though he had noticed a baby bump (note: I was only 10 weeks along at the time and had not gained any weight).

Then for the students. I announced it to each class with a simple riddle. The seniors caught on really fast. The riddle was, "Why will Mr. and Mrs. M. be getting a tax deduction in 2014?" The great part was the reactions to this announcement. The girls are "aww-ing" and the guys say congrats. For some reason it's just really fun for them to have a pregnant teacher. One reaction from a female student was, "We get to watch you get big!" (Oh, great, I think...) From an autistic male student, who tends to not have a filter for his thoughts and is sometimes perceived as rude, "Maybe the boys will stop talking about hitting on you now!" (Yes, he really said that. And yes, his parents laughed with me when I told them about this at PT conferences). To which a girl replied, "No, because your boobs get huge when you're pregnant." (Seriously, this is what high school students say these days).

Yet another response, this from a junior girl, was, "We'll be pregnant at the same time!" (To which I was saddened, because certainly she faces much more of a challenge at this point than me). As the last few weeks went by, one particular student, whom I had last year but not this year, keeps telling me she's ready for me to start showing. "When are you going to get big? I'm ready to see it." I try to explain with first-time mothers often don't show until the 5th month, so she will just have to wait.

So perhaps you might understand why I feel like I am being watched. In some ways it's fun to be the center of attention, but most of the time, not really. I'm one of the youngest people on staff in a school that tends to hire with more experience. The vast majority of the teaching faculty or other staff are at least 10 years older than me. There hasn't been a pregnant staff member for about 3 years, and before that, another 4 or 5. THEREFORE, I'M KINDA A BIG DEAL. Ok, just kidding! But I certainly feel like I am on display. I am trying to have a graceful pregnancy, to still keep up with everything, but it is definitely harder now. The fatigue, facial breakouts, seem more obvious on the job. And my pants are starting to fit a little tighter, but I'm not really showing, it's just a general tightness around the waist (Though I still haven't gained any weight. Wait, that wasn't the first time I said that, huh? LOL)

To wrap up last week, I had a junior student come up to me 8th period, and say she had to tell me something. Apparently a boy has said to her, "You know that Mrs. M., she's sexy, but she's getting kinda fat lately." Oh dear! The girl said she defended me by telling the kid I was pregnant, to which he replied, "Oh." (I know this is just a kid, I know I shouldn't care that they think I'm fat, but it still bothers me a bit. Plus, cut me some slack, I'm pregnant!). And I just keep trying to take it in stride, laugh at these comments, and know that, in fact, I'm providing a good example of a pregnancy in a loving marriage to my wonderful, supporting husband.

Who knows how people will take this post. But know that all these comments are just how the students said them, and I'm just trying to be honest, and it helps me process by writing things out. Your body is changing constantly, so just in size but emotions. Pregnancy can be stressful, ya'll!!

First Trimester Recap

I thought I would take a moment to recap my the first trimester of my first pregnancy, for posterity's sake.

After few months of trying, aiming to be due at the end of the school year, we found out I was pregnant in September. Hooray! The first baby! While three months of trying isn't too long (they say the average 25 year old couple takes 6 months), it sure feels long when you have to wait those few weeks to see if you are pregnant! I'm sure someone out there knows how this feels too. Anyway, I am due in May, and since I'm a teacher, I will probably take leave in May and then will be happy to be off in the summer for the baby's first few months.

It wasn't too hard to figure out some of the side affects of pregnancy. The most difficult one for me is being SO TIRED ALL THE TIME!! The first few weeks of school I was wondering why it was taking me so long to get back in the swing of things, but once we confirmed the pregnancy, it made a little more sense. Being tired has been tough for me, because normally I am such a high-energy person... go, go, go all the time. I have had to release myself from some of the guilt of letting a few chores go undone (the dishes aren't getting done until we run out of silverware), and also taking naps nearly every day when I get home from work (who needs melatonin? my head's practically dropping over my plate at dinner). I've also backed out of a few commitments at church, though we still have small group to lead and Sunday school to teacher twice a month.

If you remember, I ran the half-marathon in September, when I was about 7 weeks pregnant. I bet it would have felt different if I wasn't. But I'm still super glad that I did it, and I thought it was funny when my dad said he had no clue. (Does that mean I'm good at hiding things?) Now, I have scaled back quite a bit, though I am still running 2-3 miles, three times a week. It is healthy to do this! And I'm going to keep it up as long as possible.

Besides being tired, I've also had some food aversions, like sitting down to eat dinner and suddenly not wanting to eat it. Not a particular food, just that it doesn't sound good. Sadly, sometimes nothing really sounds good. I've had some skin issues too, which are not cool and make me feel like I'm still a pimply high schooler. No fun!!  Oh, and the mood swings. Poor Justin. I've definitely had a few sobbing bouts...

I've found that I really have to eat throughout the day, breaking my three meals down with a few snacks so that I'm eating something every 3 hours or so. I probably add and extra 200 calories in healthy snacks (fruit, veggies, cheese sticks, peanut butter). This seems to help with moods and energy. I'm happy that I haven't gained any weight yet, which is normal too. I'm guessing when I get into December or so, I will start to see a few more pounds add on. I have to admit though, this is one aspect that freaks me out. I have always had to really try to eat right and exercise to maintain my weight, unlike my siblings, who seem to eat anything and not really exercise and keep this super fast metabolism. So anyways, since I'm being honest about everything else, I figured I would write about that too.

Another area was when we would tell everyone. Of course we were excited, but once you announce it's like baby mayhem. People ask you tons of questions, and while it's fun to answer, it's the same questions over and over. So I broke it to a close friend first, so I could complain about some of the first trimester symptoms. A few weeks later, after the 10 week ultrasound, we told family. After that, I started telling at school and on Facebook. Common wisdom says to wait until the first 10 weeks are over, since that's the highest risk of miscarriage, so that's what we did. The downside is that I couldn't complain about anything, because no one knew. While my husband is a good listener, I still think another woman can sympathize more in this area. We used some of the pictures below to send to family, taken on the self-timer on my camera. (Everyone always asked about the baby swing, even though it just came with the house, so we thought this could be cute to announce the news).

Now the second trimester is here, and I've been feeling much better this week. Perhaps it's from the time change, but either way, I am soooo ecstatic about having more energy!!