My 24 hours of waiting... best lesson in patience EVER!

One year ago today I was sent to the hospital to be induced. I was originally due on August 4th and after carrying my baby for an additional 3 weeks, my doctor decided it was finally time to go ahead and induce me. When Chris and I got to the hospital, I was exactly 43 weeks pregnant.

We arrived at 7am and were sent to a holding room while other patients who were there for scheduled C-sections were taken care of. Around 8 or so Dr. Trotter came in and said that the medication for induction was not at the Shawnee hospital and they would have to send someone to get it. There we waited yet again. The medicine arrived in the 10 o'clock hour and it was administer immediately.

After about 4 hours, I was not making any progress. At one point Dr. Trotter thought about sending us home and then come back later in the week. Fortunately, we did not do this. I pretty much had a "Kellie" fit as my mom would call them and said "No, I will not leave this hospital without a baby!" Both my -in-laws and my parents had driven 6 and 7 hours to see this and we were not leaving without a baby. So... at about 5 pm, Dr. Trotter broke my water. Then the story really begins.

I basically continued down the same path and didn't progress very much if at all. I was able to get the "Meds" and that made it a lot easier to rest but still nothing. After about 23 hours or so of actual delivery, the nursing staff and Dr. Trotter monitor my blood pressure as well as Natalie's heart-rate. My blood pressure was dropping way off and poor little Natalie was STUCK inside. She had twisted diagonally inside and was not able to move. Her heart-rate fell WAY TOO LOW for about 2 minutes. Dr. Trotter came in and said, "I think we will need to have a C-section". This was something I NEVER wanted to do so I was very upset. He left the room and as Chris comforted me, we prayed. Less than 90 seconds later he came in all dressed up and I asked "OK, when are we going to do this? Tomorrow..." He smiled and said, "NOW!" The nurses took everyone out of the room and then got Chris and I ready...

After 24+ hours (Well... really 43 weeks and 1 day) of waiting... Dr. Trotter cut me open and got her out in less than a minute. There she was... my beautiful and perfect Natalie Grace.

She is the most perfect gift from God. More on her later!

Welcome to "Davistown" was a big hit... Best 1st week of school ever!!!

I decorated my room this year with a theme of Baseball. I used Cooperstown, NY as my motto and just changed it to "Davistown". I then made all kinds of walls and areas of my room to go with this them. It was a HUGE hit. I did have to do some explaining with some little kids (and 5th grade girls) but overall it was an amazing success. Big thanks to my sister Allison and all of her help and creativenss for this room. I had the basic idea but she added so much to the room and I cannot thank her enough.

Also for the first time in my 5 year teaching career, I will have a student teacher. I am excited and nervous at the same time. it is kinda like being on display and observed each and every day. I had an AMAZING experience with my student teaching with one of the best directors in the state of Oklahoma. i know I will NEVER be able to live up to her expectations but I just feel really weird about it all. She seems so nice and really exctied (which is always good) but I am just nervous as what to do and how to use her. If you are an experienced band teacher or have had a student teacher observe you, some advice please.

To top all of this off, when I got home I saw Natalie playing on the floor. She smiled really big and then stood up and walked towards me in the doorway. She started saying ma ma ma ma over and over and then finally put her arms out for me to hold her. It just doesnt get ANY BETTER than this!

Overall, It was a GREAT first day of school. As mentioned before, it was my best day ever. I am really excited about the upcoming year.

Weekend thoughts

Thanks to my beautiful and creative sister Allison, I have nearly completed my classroom. This will be the most creative and unique classroom I have EVER had. I have gone out of the "box" so to speak and gone with a baseball room in the music classroom. I know, I know... this is not common since "athletics and band don't get along". I love baseball and I want to express my self in my room. I will post pictures soon.
I went to my first day back yesterday at school and had a great time. It seemed much smoother and less boring than usual. I was able to get alot done actually while I was up there. It was also great to see other teachers I have not seen all summer. Everyone seems to have lost weight. Why cant I lose some??? I have been trying to diet and exercise but I am going to step it up a notch! I am bringing out all the stops. I will be smaller and weigh less by September 18th. This is the day of my grandma's wedding (Sounds kinda weird but I am totally excited) and that is the next major thing in my life.
I am going to enjoy the rest of my weekend off before the busy week arrives!

School starts in 4 days

The past week has been such an amazing roller coaster of events. I have took a trip to Houston to see and Astro's game and then Galveston to see the beach. This past weekend I went to Dallas to go on my family semi-annual shopping trip. This time my mom, sister and I shopped at the Outlet Mall in Allen, Collin Creek Mall in Plano and the Village at Allen/ Fairview. This was so cool because in all of our semi-annual shopping trips, we had never been to any of these three malls. The outlet mall in Allen was great. I found several thing, especially for Natalie. Then when we went to the the Plano and Allen malls, I was able to find several things to wear back to work. I LOVE LOVE LOVE these trips and must continue to do these. Thanks mom and Allison.

Today, my sister helped me decorate my classroom. I am trying to keep a general theme of Baseball and MLB in my room. Today we made banners and signs to hang up and then got out all of the packed and stored equipment. I cannot wait to see the finished classroom tomorrow. I will post pictures as soon as I can.

I have to report back on Friday and I am so sad to have to leave my Natalie Grace. We have had SO MUCH fun this summer! She has grown up so much. In just 2 weeks she will be 1 year old. Wow, how time flies! I love you Natalie Grace!

Baseball Theme in my room

I decided this afternoon on the drive home from Houston that I am going to decorate my band room in a baseball theme this year. I think I will have the words to "Take me out to the ball game" all spread out around the room. I will have a wall of all of my music information called "The World Series of Music". I will also have a corner that will be the "Skipper's Dugout- Mrs. Davis' baseball travels". This will be an area that I will display a map, pictures and other info about my travels around the US to see MLB games and stadiums. I have purchased some motivational posters and other baseball decor as well. Outside my room I am going to have a banner stating "Welcome to Davistown- the Grove Wildcat Band Hall of Fame". This will be a take on "Cooperstown" where the MLB Hall of Fame is in Cooperstown, NY. I will have the location where the students get their instruments out at called the Bullpen. These decorations will allow me to have a central theme (a + in education) as well as be cross-curricular (Map) as well. I am very excited but worried I wont be able to pull it all off by next Friday!!!

The Davis Mini-vacation 2010

This past week Chris went down to Houston to help his parents move from Lubbock to Conroe. He met them on Tuesday and began to help them unload their moving truck into their new 3200 sq feet home. In the meantime, Natalie and I spent the mid week with my parents in East Texas. This was great because it allowed Chris to help his parents without Natalie getting in the way. After the truck was unloaded and several boxes unpacked, Chris and his mother came up with the idea of taking a few day vacation in Houston and Galveston. This sounded awesome to me. I have to go back to school in a few days and I am in desperate need of a last minute de-stress or.

We got to Conroe on Saturday and spent the rest of the day with Chris and his family including his sister from Dallas and brother from Baton Rouge, both of whom were in town for the weekend. This allowed this to see Natalie and catch up with Chris and I.

Then on Sunday Chris took me to see an Astros game at Minute Maid Park in downtown Houston. If you know me, you know that my family and I travel around the US to see baseball stadiums. I have been to all except those on the West Coast. But up until Sunday, I had not been to Minute Maid Park. It was awesome! It was only the 2nd "new" stadium (one I had never seen) Chris and I had gone together to see- the other being RFK Stadium to see the Nationals in 2008. This was extremely special to me and I thank Chris greatly for taking me and Jackie and Dan for watching Natalie.

On Monday Chris, Natalie and I went to Galveston to go to the beach. This was awesome because Natalie had never been. Chris and I really thought she would be scared to go into the water but we were WRONG! She LOVED it. She sat down in the sand and crawl out into the ocean and just played and played and played! She loved the tide coming in and the waves splashing on her. She would look at Chris and I and smile and laugh. It was too cute.

Thank you Chris and Dan and Jackie for making this happen. I feel so much better and I had a BLAST!