Monday, March 7, 2011

A very nice weekend, and good heart news

Thankfully, this weekend came and went with a lot less emotional volatility than last weekend. :) I feel back to my old self again.

Friday evening started things rolling nicely with my belly dance class. We're learning a new choreography for the hafla in early April as well as a performance at an international student event at a local college that same weekend. Now that I know that my gown costume fits nicely and looks cute on my pregnant form, I feel a lot more at ease about the events. And the choreography is super fun. We're using canes as a prop, the first time I've ever used one. Shockingly, despite my usual clumsiness, I find that I can wield it normally and not risk taking anyone's eye out. As long as I have a decent-sized circle of safety, that is. Mike always smiles when he walks by our guest room and sees me twirling my cane around in there, practicing. We went two full hours on Friday evening, and though I was tired by the end, I wasn't particularly achey, and I felt just great. Emotionally charged (in a positive way) and creatively sated. My right hand was all red between my thumb and index finger from swinging the cane, and I felt proud of it. :) This is why I love belly dance so much, and it felt good to feel "like me" again when I'm dancing.

I'm much more aware of my body this pregnancy as opposed to last time, and that can be both good and bad. Last weekend, it was bad. This weekend, it was good. Yes, I'm lugging around an extra 17 pounds and I have a definite pregnant belly tucked under my shirt. But I'm still ME. I know this doesn't sound like anything all that revolutionary, but it was a huge breakthrough for me this weekend. It's easy to feel "lost" in one's pregnant body, and to forget what you used to look like and what your physical abilities used to be. This weekend, I got back in touch with those things, and it felt marvelous. I'm very pregnant, but I'm still Tiffany and I'm still a dancer. That was our self-help, touchy feely portion of the blog...

On Saturday, my nesting instincts kicked in like they always do and I dragged 2 bags of newborn items out to unload and place carefully into our changing table/dresser unit, soon to be re-located to the nursery. Whenever it is that the nursery actually exists, that is. Fast forward to a whole lot of squealing and teary eyes as I pulled out teeny tiny little newborn sleepers, onesies, caps, booties, and outfits. So, so precious. Since we didn't find out Hank's gender prior to his birth either, I have a ton of neutral colors and can re-use all of it. They grow so fast out of that newborn stuff, so it held up pretty well despite being washed whenever there was a poo explosion (coined new term: "poosplosion.") Which was, you know, multiple times per day.

I did some further cleaning/re-organizing in the guest room, and that room is pretty much ready for us to bring the office furniture down when we're ready. Probably that won't be until late April or early May. We'll see.

Sunday, I had Children's Liturgy of the Word, and as happens more often than not (unfortunately) it was a tough crowd. :) I need help from any of you who have worked with young children. This age group is about age 4 through 8. The children at the upper portion of that bracket are no trouble at all. But the 4-6 contingent are *very* challenging to keep focused for any length longer than 5-10 seconds, I am seriously not exaggerating. Now, obviously, I understand that this is perfectly normal for children of that age. I just feel a bit like I'm totally wasting my time since I'm constantly having to stop my lesson to keep them corraled or from talking to their friends while I'm talking. I've never formally been trained as a teacher of young children, and thought maybe some of you would have some tips. I do try to keep them involved by asking questions, referring to the poster illustrating the themes of the week, etc. What else can I do? I'm on duty again in 3 weeks, the 3rd Sunday of Lent.

And finally, this morning, I had an appointment with my cardiologist. I've had a small heart murmur from birh, which was eventually diagnosed as a mitral valve prolapse. Not a big deal. But in pregnancy, with your heart working harder than ever given your increased blood volume, they like to keep an eye on it. Happily, my heart sounds great. When I had Hank, the recommendation was still for antibiotics before and following surgery or any kind of invasive procedure. This included dental work, and vaginal childbirth (or cesarean, obviously). Thus, when I was admitted to the hospital, they immediately hooked me up to an IV drip of antibiotics, which stayed firmly in my hand until a full 24 hours following delivery. To say that I hated this would be the understatement of the day. It ties into my biggest complaint about my hospital delivery: I felt like a caged animal. I couldn't walk more than a foot from the bed in any direction. It even interfered with nursing Hank the day following delivery. I really, really want my experience to be different this time, and this antibiotic issue was key. I was thrilled when I asked her about it, and she confirmed that I would not need antibiotics this time. Their recommendation has changed. I figured as much, since they no longer advised that I take antibiotics prior to dental work, but I just wanted to be sure. This made for a happy Catholic Librarian. She's going to write to my obstetrician so that they're aware.

Another week begins, and I'm feeling optimistic. Next week, I'll be 30 weeks and a mere 10 weeks from my due date. I'm feeling good. :)

2 comments:

  1. I was a first-grade teacher, and even I might have trouble with a group of mixed ages like that!

    One thing that I used to find helpful was to hand out coloring pages or mazes before starting a story, read-aloud, or lecture of any kind. They're too young to take notes, and they really need something to do with their hands. Any kind of art project is good. If you aren't supplied with crayons, bring a basket of old ones.

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  2. Hi!

    I found your blog while searching for Catholic Librarian Associations :)

    I teach CCD on Sundays to preschool age children. My group is pretty small (thankfully) but I still have issues keeping their attention.

    I've noticed that when I want them to really pay attention to one thing, I'll talk about (or show a cartoon) about that concept first. I also tell them to "pay attention because I will ask questions after."

    Throughout the whole class, I keep reminding them and asking them about the main topic of the day (Prayer, the Eucharist, etc.)

    I'm not a trained teacher, but I hope this helps :)

    PS- The videos I use sometimes are here:
    http://www.youtube.com/user/SabbathSchool

    I'm not sure if they're Catholic, so I review them first.

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