pregnancy

Current Top 3 Pregnancy Pet Peeves

Everyone knows that during pregnancy, we’re all a bit more sensitive and there are things that bother us a bit more now. These are my current top three pet peeves (I’m sure the list will grow as my stomach grows).

One thing that drives me nuts is people touching my stomach, or asking to and not even waiting for an answer. I’m sorry but who gave you the right to touch me? Just because there is a baby growing in a belly does not give you the right to touch someone. I normally hate being touched to begin with as I am super sensitive, so, please, unless I tell you to do so, do not touch my stomach or any other pregnant woman’s stomach. It doesn’t matter if you’re family or friends (especially a random stranger!), always ask and wait for a response. If you see that they’re hesitant or uneasy at all, just don’t do it. Some moms may feel guilted into it and even though they’ve said yes, they’re still uncomfortable with it. You wouldn’t go up to someone and just pat their stomach now would you? Growing a baby shouldn’t change that, and the same goes for when the baby is born. Do not touch people’s babies without their permission. They are so much more susceptible to diseases and sicknesses that you unknowingly carry around with you all of the time. Respect the parents’ wishes and their baby’s health. I just know that the belly touching will drive me crazy as I get bigger. It hasn’t happened too much yet, as I’m not showing much, which leads me to my next pet peeve.
As you may or may not know, I am a first time mom or FTM in the pregnancy community. As a FTM my uterine muscles are tighter and don’t stretch as easily. I also have a long torso which gives my uterus more space to grow in, and a retroverted uterus (which essentially means that my uterus tilts backward instead of leaning forward). All of this adds up to me not showing much. I’m twenty weeks currently and I have a small bump. I can certainly see the difference, especially when I look at pictures from before, but there are many who don’t see it yet. I’ve been able to hide it from my students, but that’s because the school uniforms that we have to wear aren’t form fitting at all, and I always wear a sweater on top of it as well. What’s happening now is that people have known I’m pregnant for quite some time now, and I feel like they expect a huge bump from me. I’m not due til April, so sorry folks that’s not happening yet. It frustrates and upsets me though when people say I don’t look pregnant at all or when they say something like, “Where’s the bump? There’s no baby there. Are you sure you’re even pregnant?” That last comment really gets to me. My anxiety is already high enough to begin with. I do not need you to make me stress more or make me feel bad about not having a bump. I cannot control how big my bump is, and even though I am twenty weeks it is still hard to process that I’m pregnant. It’s still early; give my stomach time to expand. The doctor told me that she is measuring perfectly and is right in the smack dab middle of average size and weight (a long sweet potato and 12 oz).
Another pet peeve that I know might sound silly to some is when people ask me how the baby is. Unless I have just had an ultrasound that day, I cannot tell you. There is no window into my uterus. I cannot see what is going on in there. Trust me, I wish I knew. More than likely, everything is good, but the fact that I can’t answer for sure and that it’s something I’m constantly worrying about. I wish I had an at home ultrasound machine so I could constantly check on her to let you and myself know. I do have an at home fetal doppler so that I can hear her heartbeat, and that helps relieve some of my anxiety, but that doesn’t tell me how she’s developing. It’ll be easier once she is a bit bigger and I can feel her more clearly. At the moment it’s still hard to differentiate her movements from gas. I know that people mean well when they ask me this, but it just stresses me out more.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m absolutely loving being pregnant, and I am beyond happy. We are only human though, and we all have pet peeves. What about you? If you’re pregnant can you relate? Or how did you feel when you were pregnant? What are or were some of your pet peeves?

Just Can’t Do It

20 November, 1925 November, 19 Una Vagabonda4 Comments

Now that I’m just hitting 20 weeks (cue Bon Jovi, “Wooooah we’re halfway there….”) , I’ve noticed that there a few things that I cannot do or that I struggle to do. My bump may still be little, but she is sure changing how I move and go about my day.

-Bending over / down: Oh my, goodness! You never realize how often you have to bend to do something until you’re pregnant. Bending to pick stuff up, bending to do laundry, bending to feed the cats, or clean up something on the floor, bending to pick up my bag, or vacuum. I’ve since learned that I must squat instead, but I still haven’t gotten in the habit of doing it. It’s like I can feel her there and if I bend, I feel like I’m squishing her and it’s just uncomfortable. This is driving me nuts when I’m sitting, leaning over, as well as, of course, trying to put on my shoes – a task that I deem will be impossible in a few months..

-Walk: Ok, ok, I can walk, but not like I used to be able to. I’m constantly out of breath and it’s driving me nuts. Whenever I go for walks after work (or to work) or on the weekends, I am constantly out of breath. I find myself having to slow down, pause for a bit, then continue. Talk about frustrating. The doctor did tell me that my lung capacity would go down as I grew this munchkin in my belly but talk about frustrating.

-Stand for a longer period: This is honestly so annoying and is making me seem like the laziest teacher ever! I should be up on my feet more often, but even after only five minutes of standing up, teaching, just being on my feet at all, the only thing that I feel like doing is sitting down. I have sat down so much this year that my kids probably think that my bottom is glued to my seat (I wish theirs were). I’m glad that I still walk to and from work still because otherwise I’d barely get any steps in.

-Deal with whining or anything of the sort: My mood the past couple months has definitely made me less tolerant of my students’ or anyone’s whining, pettiness, drama, etc. I shut it down the second it happens in the classroom. I swear the kids think I’m the meanest teacher this year. I just don’t have the time for it, nor do I want to deal with any added stress.

-Handle emotions: Everything at this point makes me want to cry. I normally cry at the drop of a pin, but it’s worse now if that’s possible. Not even just at sad things in movies or shows; anything that’s emotional, I’ll cry. The other day, one of my student’s parents brought in her newborn when she was picking up her son, and I had to hold back tears because the baby was so cute. I actually had to walk away. Talk about having my hormones in overdrive right now.

-Stop eating: This second trimester, I have not been able to stop eating. I’ll eat a bagel in the morning for breakfast, whatever my main lunch is plus a about four other snacks, then I grab a snack when the kids are snacking during the after school program, I’ll eat a big dinner when I go home, and even after that I’m not done, because I’ll be hungry again in hour so I end up eating some more things; usually I’ll have fruit, cheese, or pickles…. Or a combination of everything else. I haven’t had any particular cravings for anything weird yet, but once I get something in my mind that I feel like having or that I want to have, I need to have it, and I won’t be satisfied until I eat it. I’ve only gained a couple of pounds so far though, so we’ll see what happens. My stomach is definitely rounder, but not enough that my students can tell that I’m pregnant yet (I’ll probably tell them after Thanksgiving break); they probably think that I’ve just gained a few pounds from all the bagels that I’ve been eating. That’s been me my whole life though; I’ve always had a fast metabolism so now with that plus the baby sucking in all my calories, I’m just in a constant state of hunger.

What are some things that you noticed you couldn’t stand or couldn’t do anymore while you were pregnant? Anything that pertained to your job? How long did it last and how much of an inconvenience was it?

education · elementary education · pregnancy · school · teacher · teaching

First Trimester and First Semester

13 November, 1912 November, 19 Una Vagabonda3 Comments

First Trimester and First Semester

I found out I was pregnant on the first day of school this year. My mood had been slightly off, I was constantly hot, I was crying more than usual during commercials, and, my goodness, was I tired. I mean dead tired. I would pass out on the couch at 1 pm tired after doing not much at all. I was also about a week late, so that morning as I was preparing for school, I knew that I wouldn’t be able to wait until the weekend of even the end of the day; I had to test then. Normally, those little test strips take about five minutes to formulate a response, but it barely took thirty seconds for that second line to appear. I took another one after that just in case, and another one, and then just one more for good measure. I tried to contain my excitement and just go about my normal morning activities. I didn’t even tell my husband because I wanted to surprise him later that day when he got home from work. I went straight to Amazon and found some knock-off baby Chucks, a Guess What? onesie, and a We’re Pregnant book to surprise him when he came home that night. I was just glad that it was the first week of school which meant that the after school program that I normally work until six hadn’t started yet. If it had started there would be no way for me to prep his surprise. I also ordered my first set of prenatals. I had already been taking other supplements, but I wanted to be sure that all my bases were covered and that my little bean was getting what they needed to be getting. The first day of school is normally a whirlwind of a day to begin with and with this brand-new information I could barely get through the day. As soon as I got home, I grabbed the packages by my front door (can’t tell you how much I love Amazon’s Same-Day shipping) and prepped his surprise box. When he came home that day he just kept talking and it me a few minutes to get in a word to let him know that he got a little present today. I tried recording his reaction, but I somehow didn’t press the right button on my phone (I’m still upset about it). It took him a minute but his reaction was so sweet and he just kept repeating, “Really?” over and over in a high pitched voice. He even got all teary eyed. I think even now he’s still in a state of shock, but he’s still excited.

The next few weeks at school were interesting to say the least. My doctor’s appointment wasn’t until a few weeks later because I had to wait until I was around eight weeks. I just kept taking more tests to reassure myself (I can’t tell you how may test strips I went through…) and kept trying not to stress myself out at school – which, if you’re a teacher, you know is near impossible to do. It was a new school year, I was in a new grade level, with all new team members, and a new principal. The only things that weren’t new were my students since I had previously had them in third grade, which I think greatly helped out. The schedules were constantly changing, and we didn’t have a second of down time ether. During our planning periods, instead of getting to plan or prep for the day or week, we had meetings upon meetings upon meetings. Never ending meetings. All of this while keeping this new and exciting, yet still scary, secret. I’m a first-time mom, so of course I’m constantly worrying about everything in this pregnancy. I wouldn’t even let my husband tell his parents until after the first doctor’s appointment, and same thing went for me telling my best friend and my family. I wanted to make sure that it was real and that the little bean was actually in there and that all was good and healthy.

Luckily, I didn’t have too much morning sickness. I only ever got sick if I drank too quickly or too much on an empty stomach or if I left my toothbrush in my mouth too long or tried to brush my tongue (sorry kiddos, you’ll just have to deal with your teacher having stinky breath for a while; that’s why we have mouth wash and mints, right?) I was worried the kids would notice when I switched out my coffee for tea, and then for water, but luckily they’re too busy with their own fifth grade drama. They’re usually the first to notice or suggest things though. When I was working with them over the summer, a few of the girls were asking me when I was going to have a baby and that I should have a baby soon. I think they helped with the luck of this process, but they still have no idea. Each time I’ve gone to the doctor, I I get nervous they’ll start getting suspicious because I’m that teacher who is normally always at school. I mean always. Last year, I even had perfect attendance. I thought they’d start asking questions on this third visit, but they stopped when I told them that I just had to get my flu shot.

I honestly cannot wait to tell them. I know that they’ll be excited and I’ll finally be able to explain to them why I’ve just been extra grumpy this year. I haven’t put up with any drama since the year started. In a way, the surge of hormones has definitely helped with my classroom management this year which I know I needed to work on.

For my baby’s sake, I refuse to stress myself out over all the petty little things that happen at work and over all the constant changes. I just need to ride it out this year and make it until mid-April when my very own little munchkin will arrive. For now, I’ll prepare my fifth grade not-munchkins anymore for their state exams and middle school.

I’ll be back in a few more weeks with a second trimester bump-date to keep you all informed!

education · elementary education · school · teacher · Uncategorized

To Holiday or Not to Holiday?

11 November, 19 Una VagabondaLeave a comment

Hi all!

Happy Veterans’ Day to all who’ve served!

That being said, I’m one of the lucky teachers who has off today, but know not all teachers do. It’s interesting to see the what’s considered a school holiday or not when you move from state to state, county to county, or even country to country, and also what has changed over the years.

I remember when I was in school we’d all grumble and moan when we’d have to come in for school on MLK Jr day or Veteran’s Day or any of those holidays especially when we knew other schools around us had the day off. Instead of making it a normal school day though, my school would take the day to educate us about what the holiday means and why we have it. We would have assemblies, people would come in and talk, and, then, once we returned to the classroom, we would either work on an activity related to the day, write a reflective essay, or have discussions about what we learned. The teachers (or rather the admin) knew better than to try to get us back on task and do regular school work because nothing would get done (I can’t say that it’s the same any more because we’re not allowed to waste a minute of standard based instruction). Even though we’d have school on those days, I’m from an area where we would get the first day of hunting season off!

Looking back, I do feel that it was beneficial. Nowadays, it’s so hard to teach about anything extra or that’s not on the curriculum because there is no time. Every standard has a certain amount of days allotted to it and we have to stick to it. If we feel that the kids understand the standard, we might be able to move on ahead of time but that might just give us extra time to teach a standard that they will struggle with or it might, just might, make up for time when a team member is absent and we have to split the classes up because there are no substitutes, so our regular instruction is yet again interrupted. Very rarely have I had time to ever teach about any holidays (or very rarely are we even permitted to do to restrictions in this day and age). Many holidays come and go without anyone even mentioning them. Why? Again, if it doesn’t align to the standards, there’s no time. They say that we’re not teaching to the test, yet we’re still evaluated based off of how the kids do, and our curricula and day to day teachings are based off of what is on the test and only what is on the test… so, there’s that too. But that’s a whole other blog post.

Working at a Title 1 school, I know that holidays can be somewhat of a problem for the parents as well. Not all companies and jobs have today off, so that leaves the parents with the question of who will watch my kids because most cannot afford to take off or to pay someone to watch them. More often than not, I find out that the kids stay home alone. For the older grades that’s fine, until you also realize that they have a few younger siblings, so who’s left to play mom or dad for the day? The older siblings of course. Babies taking care of babies.

As a teacher who is stressed and completely exhausted (not to mention currently 18 weeks pregnant), I definitely welcome these three day weekends. I get done what I need to get done on the weekend, like cleaning, lesson planning, grading, laundry, and shopping, and normally I don’t get a minute to actually relax. Three day weekends on the other hand actually give me that extra time I need to just zone out and chill or do some things that I want to do. Recently, I’ve started to sew again, and I blame that on my maternal nesting instincts kicking in. It’s self care time. I also try to promote my side Avon hustle (click to join my team or click to see all the new and amazing products we have )! I don’t look forward to the rest of the week though because every single time we come back from a three day weekend, the students act as if they don’t remember any of the school rules and it completely throws them off. For now though, I’ll try not to focus on that and enjoy my day off.

What do you think? How should schools (as well as other companies) handle these holidays? Should we still have them off? Should we use them as an extra educational day specifically devoted to that day? Should there be more daycare options available to parents those days? I’d love to hear some input and other thoughts!

education · elementary education · esl · school · teacher · teaching

It’s that time again!

30 July, 1930 July, 19 Una VagabondaLeave a comment

Good evening all!

I can’t believe that school is starting already! I go back on Monday the 5th for returning teacher training, but I’ll probably be at school this week to try and set up my classroom.

This year, I’m changing it up. Instead of teaching 3rd grade again, I’ll be teaching 5th grade math and science! I’m excited because that means that I will be looping with my kids from the other year.

I and my students would greatly appreciate any and all help that you can give. Even a share would help! I’m trying to get items for my students that will help them throughout the year in school and out. Remember, I teach at a 100% free and reduced Title 1 school. I’d love to stock them up on snacks, essential hygiene products, as we as materials that will help them learn and focus in the classroom.

Click here to help out! And don’t forget to share! Thank you!

education · elementary education · esl · school · teacher · teaching · Uncategorized

Flex for Success!

20 July, 1821 July, 18 Una VagabondaLeave a comment

Hello again! I’ve set up a DonorsChoose, and I would appreciate any and all donations! If you can’t donate, a simple share would be great! Thank you in advance!

My Students

My students are enthusiastic, highly motivated, and competitive. They love to dance, play, and are always on the move. As much I push them to be the best that they can be, they end up pushing me even harder. I teach 3rd grade at a Title I, high poverty / low income school. No matter what hardships they’re facing, they never give up and always encourage one another. If ever they’re feeling down, for whatever reason, they always try to lift each other’s spirits and won’t stop til they get each other smiling.

My Project

My students are tired of sitting in normal student desks. They constantly fidget because they don’t get nearly enough time outside or time to run around. Many of my students like to sit on the floor and I’id like to make it a bit more comfortable for them to do so. Having the low round table will help my students with group work and group reading in a spot where they like to be. Some of my students have experienced wobble chairs in other classrooms, and, I must say those chairs do wonders! The students stay focused and get their energy out! I have quite the energetic bunch.

Check it out, donate anything that you can (if you can), and please share! I and my students appreciate all and any help! Plus, add the promo code RIPPLE at checkout and your donations will be doubled up to $50 for the next 7 days!

If you want to take a look at our classroom wish list as well, here’s the link.

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THANK YOU 🙂

education · elementary education · esl · immigration · teacher · teaching · Uncategorized

Help Out a Classroom in Need! :)

9 July, 189 July, 18 Una VagabondaLeave a comment

I know it’s hard to think of, especially for my friends who just got out of school up in the Northern states, but it’s nearly back to school time! Florida starts August 10th! If anyone wants to help out my classroom, I’d truly appreciate it.

I teach 3rd grade at a Title 1 school in Florida which gets 30% less funding than the public schools. 100% of our students are eligible for free lunch which means they are at or below poverty level, so I’m trying to provide them with the an amazing education experience. Any and all help is appreciated. Thank you all. I try to increase their access to diverse books, give my students comfort and a release for their fidgets, as well as continue to educate myself. I appreciate any and all help 😘❤️ Thank you all!

Click here to check out our class wish list.
I currently have many of the Who Was series on there as well as a decent selection of diverse books. I also am trying to help my students focus more and I’m starting to turn my classroom into a flexible seating room so that they can study where they feel most comfortable.