The Waiting

...is the hardest part! Ok, so I have that Tom Petty song seriously stuck in my head now... Oh well! Today was the second-to-last day of school, and we had our big Promotion ceremony for the 5th graders (who are going on to middle school next year). Promotion is sort of my "thing." It's basically a graduation ceremony, only we don't use that specific word (since they're not technically done with school yet, and we don't want to give them the impression that they are!). I've been leading practices for the past few weeks, and making sure that all the little details were taken care of (the room arrangement, slideshow, all the awards, etc.). Luckily, I've had a really superstar team of volunteer parents this year, and everything went off without a hitch! This was especially relieving because, as of 6 pm last night, we were still having technical difficulties with the slideshow. I had to leave to go home, and one of the parents involved finally figured out a way to fix it at around 7:30. Long story short, they had used some songs they'd purchased off the internet which were, of course, licensed to be used only on their home computer and not the one at school. It's a little more complicated than that, but it ended up working out just fine in the end!

So Promotion went really well, except for the fact that I was on pins and needles the entire time, waiting to hear from Kori! Yup, my pregnant friend/coworker was induced yesterday, and I thought that for sure she would have the baby overnight. She said that she and her husband would send out a mass text message when the baby was born, and that I was definitely on the distribution list. I was checking my cell phone obsessively all morning! Finally, right after Promotion, I saw that I had a new *voice* message from her (I was so excited!!). I had been up on the stage presenting awards, and had missed the call. She said that she was 4 cm dilated, 90% effaced, they had just given her an epidural (which she was loving) and the nurses predicted that she was about to enter the "active labor" phase. I couldn't believe that she hadn't had the baby yet!! She sounded completely exhausted. So then I was waiting... and waiting... and waiting for an update. At 1:00 this afternoon, I got the following text message:

No baby yet- tonight most likely
So, that's where we're at now. I'm hoping that she has the baby fairly early tonight, and then I can go and visit her tomorrow. It's really weird-- I have totally been living vicariously through her this entire pregnancy. She told me the same day that she got the positive pregnancy test- I'm pretty sure I was the first person (after her husband) to find out. For months before that, we were both charting our periods and would consult each other daily to compare charts. So I feel really emotionally invested in this whole thing, and I hope she has the baby really, really soon! I am DYING to see what her little guy looks like! And I am really curious about which name she'll pick (she had settled on one along time ago, but was having second thoughts when I talked with her last week). Ooooh, I can't wait for him to get here!!!!

(On a side note... the day she told me she was pregnant, we figured out when her due date would be-- July 3rd. I said, "You know what? I bet you're going to have the baby on the day of Promotion!!" I was joking, but now I wish I had put some money on it... Who'd a thunk it??)