38 Weeks~ And Finally Pregnant

I am officially 38 weeks today! YEAH!!! I said on the title that I am "Finally Pregnant" because it's been my first hard week of pregnancy and I have even complained a little (I hope it's only been a little). I apologize to those of you I haven't called, or returned phone calls to. I am tired, my stomach hurts, and yesterday I had contractions every 5-7 minutes for 6 hours, but I didn't call the doctor because they didn't hurt all the time, only one out of five hurt. And I think like my sister... I don't want to be sent home for false labor, so I am going to make sure I am in labor before I go to the hospital! So today I am again having contractions, but not as close together as yesterday. I called my Dr's office and the nurse told me I should have went into the birthing center... I said shouldn't the contractions hurt or be painful. She replied " I wouldn't want to say painful, but I guess they would be very discomforting. However, some women have no pain with contractions until it's time to push- but that is VERY RARE!"

All the teachers and students I work with have been great and they have almost all said to me this week, don't go into labor here please! Yesterday afternoon and today most teachers told me to sit down for a few minutes, I think the bags under my eyes made them concerned.

Today, the wonderful students and staff I work with at East Lansing High School threw me a surprise baby shower! It was so nice of them to do that for baby Fletcher and me. They cut up fruit, and we had bagels and cream cheese. Baby Fletcher got a blanket, burp cloths, bibs, sleepwear, bodysuits, relaxing music, and more! Everything was blue, because it's a boy, and almost all of it was sport related (or Winne the Pooh) because I am the adapted physical education teacher and we all do sports together! They even told me that for the FIRST baby they would be respectful and NOT get me MSU stuff... but they wouldn't get me U of M stuff either! The student who is a fan of Winnie the Pooh also created the card at the top of the blog. He is such a good artist! The picture doesn't show the imagination and depth of placement of all the characters as the card does when it's in your hands. All the students and staff signed the inside of the card and I got to hear advice and nice thoughts from the students. It was a great afternoon.

The students that I work with have been great, and so funny. I could probably blog on just the comments I have heard them make the past week or so like...

"Ms. Fletcher what did you have for lunch?" I replied "Cheese and Sprout sandwich" the student looked at me strangely and said "Did your baby like that, because I would have wanted peanut butter and Jelly"!

Or another student said "Are you having a Son or a Daughter"? I replied "Son", "what are you going to name him?" I reply "it's a secret", the student stomped his foot and stopped walking before stating "I DO NOT BELIEVE IT IS A SECRET!!!" folding his arms across his chest and then pouted, I reply "no your right, my husband and I know his name, but we aren't sharing until after he is born". a long pause.... "I think his name should be Louie". I reply "yes, that is a nice name for a son". After a minute he began to walk again so we could continue to the gym to work out.

I thought that I would post a picture of me at 38 weeks... not the best picture, and if you look close you may be able to see the bags under my eyes!!! But really things are great and we are waiting for baby %!*& to get here.... then I can stop referring to him as Baby Fletcher.