Going to the Principal's Office

Yesterday was the day I decided to drop the "I'm going to have a baby" bomb on my principal. This was a pretty intimidating prospect, but obviously something I needed to do. Now, my principal has been very supportive of me thus far in all my undertakings, but as an nontenured employee, and being relatively new in the building, I feel like I need to be cautious. So all day long I would prowl around in the office and wait for a chance to talk to her when no one else was in her office. When the opportunity struck, I'd sneak in and start by asking her for something else. "Uh, Paula, can you sign this for me?" Then, I'd look at the clock (no idea why) and chicken out. I'd stall, then get all awkward and shaky and say "Okay thanks, talk to you later!" She must have known something was up, because I normally talk to her several times a day, but I'm also usually a lot more calm. It doesn't seem like it should be that hard to do, right? But I guess I just felt like there should be some formal or more eloquent way of breaking this news than to just stop in and blurt it out.

Anyway, after about 8 attempts to tell her I finally did after after school once most of the other faculty had gone home. A good friend of mine who works with me threatened to drag me in and tell my news for me, so I figured I had better get it over with :) I think I said something like "Paula, I think it's about time that I tell you that I'm pregnant," and braced for whatever reaction came. Luckily, she squeeled, jumped out of her chair and ran around her desk to give me a giant hug. She was thrilled! She even praised me for choosing November as a time to be due because it will line up with my vacations well. (Yeah-- we totally planned that... ha!)

I did reassure her, also, that I would not be seeking to take more time off than the alloted 6 weeks (for a regular delivery) or 8 weeks (for a C-section). Maternity leave before tenure really sucks. If I had tenure, I could take up to 2 years off without my job being placed in any kind of jeopardy. But as I stand now, I get 6 or 8 weeks and have to use my Sick Time. This is unfortunate but Brian, who IS tenured and has tons of sick time, will probably take some time off after I return to work so that baby stays home a little longer. Our predicted daycare situation (that's for another post) helps as well, because we won't have to drop baby off at a big generic daycare.

Hooray for finally being able to share this news with my work people! We even got a cute little gift from Brian's co-teacher today. It's nice to be able to tell people and get more excited!