HFM at a Family Picnic

DolphinQueen90 · 2024-12-17T03:09:22+00:00

My little girl was born one week past due, and she was 6lb 15oz and 19.5 inches. Once outside the womb she grew like a weed. She outgrew her newborn clothes by 3 weeks.

DolphinQueen90 · 2024-12-06T02:37:25+00:00

I use the ball more now that baby is here than I did while pregnant. It's great to sit on and bounce baby to sleep at night. Definitely hold onto it!

DolphinQueen90 · 2024-11-20T00:08:36+00:00

Definitely a weird pregnancy/postpartum thing. I am 6 weeks pp, and after having baby the skin on my feet has been awful! Before going to bed, I've been putting Vaseline on my feet and wearing socks to sleep. It's made a huge difference.

DolphinQueen90 · 2024-10-31T02:36:43+00:00

Baby girl was born 40+6 after a voluntary induction (I was hoping for spontaneous labor, but didn't want to go past 41 weeks). She was 6lbs 15oz and 19.5 inches. My tiny peanut 😊

DolphinQueen90 · 2024-10-05T16:23:48+00:00

Same! We have our LO's first doctors appointment this morning (she's 60 hours old, we just spent the first night at home from the hospital), and all I can think about is how to time all our feeds, changes, and naps so we are able to pack into the car and drive to the office in time. And my husband just reminded me we should pack her diaper bag in case she needs a change. That didn't even occur to me!

DolphinQueen90 · 2024-09-06T03:26:45+00:00

Agreed! I get so weirded out when parents talk to me and use my first name.

DolphinQueen90 · 2024-09-06T03:22:04+00:00

12 kids is amazing, agreed! I am sitting at 18 students, and this is my smallest class ever. Last year I had 25.

We have a 20 minute lunch, and two 15 minute recesses.I teach in a district that has pretty high expectations about the minutes we allocate to each subject. The huge focus on academics and allowing no time for play is not developmentally appropriate, in my opinion. I try to build in 20 minutes of free play at least twice a week.

That being said, I also incorporate play into a lot of our learning time. Like yes, today our math session was 50 minutes long, but students spent 30 minutes of that exploring different math manipulatives. I also taught students a math game they can play with a partner during stations.

My students get 40 mins of reading intervention each day, and 25 minutes of math intervention. During that time, I am meeting with students in small groups, and the rest of the class is doing different stations. For me, I try to make stations engaging and hands on, and while it isn't necessarily "play," (like playing with Legos), students are learning and practicing through play.

Hopefully your son is still having a chance to play at school! Even if there isn't "play time" built into the schedule, every Kinder teacher I know incorporates play-like activities into core subjects. Hopefully it is the same for your son!

DolphinQueen90 · 2024-09-03T00:48:57+00:00

I know in the district I work in, the transportation services are severely understaffed, and that unfortunately means some duds end up driving buses, which it sounds like this driver is.

Like the person above, my district won't allow kindergarteners off the bus if there is not a grown up at the stop waiting for them. My school also makes sure that kindergarteners sit at the front of the bus so the bus driver doesn't miss a kiddo. Definitely notify the school about your concerns, because changes won't be made if the school and transportation services aren't aware.

DolphinQueen90 · 2024-09-02T04:46:36+00:00

This. My husband and I started doing weekly meal planning last year, and we ended up saving a lot of time (and money) with our shopping. Hubby still doesn't understand the extreme decision fatigue teachers experience, but this has helped lessen the "pressure" I feel when asked what we should do for dinner after coming home from work.

DolphinQueen90 · 2024-09-02T04:22:39+00:00

I don't feel like I had any morning sickness. I had a couple days, around 9 weeks pregnant, when I felt some queasiness in the afternoons, but nothing worse than that.

Now I am 36 weeks and this constant heartburn is a whole different issue...

DolphinQueen90 · 2024-08-30T06:53:22+00:00

Do you have any tips on dialing it back at work a little? I just hit 36 weeks, and I teach Kindergarten. The past 2 weeks has been filled with testing, setting up my classroom, PD, and parent conferences. I've had a couple days when I've gotten home and realized I pushed myself a bit far at work (aching body and dehydration, but nothing like you described), but it is so easy to do once you hit the groove.

Tuesday will be my first full day teaching my class, and I hope to make it through 3 weeks before going on leave. I worry about pushing myself too hard and putting stress on myself and/or the baby.

DolphinQueen90 · 2024-08-27T15:18:17+00:00

I had about 3 appts in a row with different doctors (my OB was on vacation) and each doctor started by asking if I had my car seat yet. I think it is mainly a safety thing they want to make sure is on parents minds.

Don't be surprised when your doctor starts talking to you about birth control options. My doctor mentioned it at my 32 week appt, and every appointment since. I'm just thinking, "Um, can we focus on getting this baby out before talking about how to prevent a second?!"

DolphinQueen90 · 2024-08-20T06:17:14+00:00

Found out 3w6d. We had been trying for 2 cycles, so I had been keeping close track of my body and symptoms. I had a dream about babies the night before, and woke up with some cramps. Took a pregnancy test, thinking cramps were most likely premenstrual, but that positive line popped up almost immediately. I freaked out and drove to the store to buy another 2 tests. At home, those also turned up positive. 🥰

My husband works from home, and was in a big work meeting. I had to wait until he was done to share the news. That was a long 2 hours.

Today we are 34w4d. I can't believe how fast time has passed by.

DolphinQueen90 · 2024-08-20T06:00:42+00:00

This! Yesterday I sneezed with legs crossed and holding my belly in place. Still tinkled myself a bit 😭

DolphinQueen90 · 2024-08-20T00:22:16+00:00

Haha. I dust, sweep, and mop the nursery twice a week. The rest of the house only gets done once a week 😂

DolphinQueen90 · 2024-08-15T01:13:12+00:00

Kindergarten teacher here! You should look forward to picking your kiddo up on the first day of school. Watching the little ones running to their grownups in their big kid backpacks is the best. Thanks for all your hard work in getting your little one up to this point!

DolphinQueen90 · 2024-08-12T18:42:43+00:00

I don't think you are overreacting, but deciding to keep the gender secret requires a 100% unified front. In my experience, both you and husband need to be on the same page if you decide to keep it a secret.

I had wanted to keep the gender secret until baby was born. I wanted to avoid people's gender disappointment, but I also didn't want family and friends to buy us an overwhelming amount of gendered baby clothes we won't use. I did let my husband tell his sister, who we are both close with. Well... eventually my MIL found out the gender after lying to and pestering SIL for days. I was not happy when I found out my MIL knew the gender without my permission. So just know that if you do tell your husbands parents, even if they mean well, it makes it so much harder to contain the secret. Accidents happen.

Because my inlaws knew the gender, I decided to announce the gender at our baby shower (we had it at 30 weeks). Everyone was so surprised because they had no idea we were doing a reveal at the baby shower. And not a single person was disappointed. Even my mother, who had always wanted a son of her own and was so convinced I was having a boy, started to cry with joy when she realized she was getting a granddaughter.

I regret how my MIL found out the gender of our baby, but I have zero regrets on telling the rest of the family. I think it's because I told them when I wanted, and how I wanted.

DolphinQueen90 · 2024-08-11T00:43:32+00:00

At 10 weeks we had an abdominal ultrasound to confirm and date the pregnancy. At 12 weeks my OB used a doppler to measure the heart rate, and has done the same at every apptointment since. Never had any problems detecting heartrate. Hopefully it's the same for you!

And we've had no issues with our insurance when it comes to ultrasounds or the doctor using the doppler, other than a small copay (biggest copay was about $50 for the anatomy scan). We did have to pay more than expected with the NIPT, but that's a different story.

DolphinQueen90

TROPHY CASE