Getting There

I am feeling a bit overwhelmed. 

This is Elizabeth's last week in the public school, after which she will be home and home schooled for the rest of 8th grade, and I do not have all of her books yet and she is asking for assignments!

The baby is due in 18 days, give or take...

The house is a mess...

And I still have billing to do before I can leave my job. 

I seriously thought that the baby was coming this past Friday.  I had been feeling a little 'weird' all day with contractions that came and went and by the time I got home, they were pretty strong and regular.  So, after dinner, I went to he grocery store (yes, still contracting) for milk and stuff that they would need here if I went to the hospital for 2 days, and then I went out for a walk to see what would happen, and, as expected, the contractions increased in intensity and duration. 

So I kind of felt like I was at a crossroad.  I felt that if I kept walking and pushing myself, the baby would probably come,

BUT... then I started thinking...

It is late, and if I go into labor now, I will be tired and so it will be all the more taxing.  All my other babies were delivered in the morning or early afternoon, when I had slept at least a little while the night before, and I felt that made it so much easier.

And then I got to thinking about my weekend.  I had 2 Pampered Chef shows scheduled, and I didn't want to miss those both because I didn't want to let the hosts down, even though I know that they both would have completely understood, but also because I have not yet submitted a show this month, and so needless to say, I am pretty far from reaching my sales goal for the month.

I had also promised Elizabeth that I would take her to a Dana Jorgensen concert on Saturday evening.

So, I decided to shower and see if I could at least rest first, and then, if the contractions continued, I would go to the hospital, but if not, well, then, I would just wait for another day. 

And they stopped...or at least calmed.

Besides, Elizabeth said that this baby is not allowed to be born until February because then in our family, we will have birthdays in February, March, April, May, June and July.  This baby apparently is not allowed to disrupt the pattern. 

(And Jimmy is calculating how many more kids we need to hit all the calendar months...)

Anyway, there's no baby yet.

I have told my whole family or our decision to homeschool Elizabeth, and although it did not go over well, it was not as bad as I thought it would be, but that may be partly because my dad answered the phone when I called rather than my mom, and he is not as vocal as she is about things.  The conversation lasted about 3 minutes, at the end of which, when I said that this did not have to be a permanent decision and that we would re-evaluated at the end of the year, the comment was, 'I sure hope so!' 

I was only able to leave a message for my sister, and didn't get her call when she called back, but her message said that 2 of her students had also left the school this year due to pretty much the same issues as what prompted our decision to remove Elizabeth. 

My brother just said, 'wow'. 

So, there's not open opposition, but I am not feeling much support from that front, and I feel all the more pressure to be sure that Elizabeth comes out of the gate running and not only doesn't fall behind, but excels.

I'm not really sure what Jimmy's parents feel.  This must be such a foreign concept to them that I am not sure that they really understand what it means until they have seen it, so we will see as the days go by and Elizabeth remains at home.  

On the other side, though, we have seen an outpouring of support from our church family and our friends, for which I feel incredibly blessed. 

I just wish that I could push 'pause' for a little while and have a few days to catch up on things!