Deadlines....

I've come to the conclusion that with every baby we've had, we've had deadlines we've hoped to meet. This baby is no exception. Sometimes those deadlines work out and sometimes they don't....

With Brynn, I was due November 10, 2001. I was teaching first grade at Mapleton Elementary. I had signed a full year contract with the knowledge that a former teacher would be returning from an LDS mission at the end of November (which actually ended up being the beginning of December). I was hoping and praying that Brynn would be 2 weeks late so that with Thanksgiving Break my students would only have a substitute for about 1 week. Nearly perfect! Even though this was my wish, I prepared sub plans for the months of October, November and early December. I layed the sub plans out each night before going home and made sure my room looked ready should a sub need to come in and take over the next day. Toward the middle of October this routine started to get OLD! I was tired of all the detailed notes I had to leave every night. On Monday, October 22nd I was stressed out! I had parent-teacher conferences coming up on the 25th and 26th, I hadn't received the forms for each child yet, so I couldn't start filling them out until October 23rd or 24th. Every Monday afternoon we had faculty meeting until usually 4:30 or 5:00 p.m. I thought to myself, "I'm not going to leave sub plans out tonight. There is no way I am going to have this baby soon, and I'm too tired!" But I left them out anyway and went to faculty meeting. I distinctly remember sitting in the meeting thinking..."What would I do it my water broke right here? I could tie my jacket around my waist (what waist?) and walk out...I could wait until everyone leaves...never mind it won't happen..." As luck would have it, the principal let us out 30 minutes early, which typically NEVER happened. It was a miracle! I went straight home and within 15 minutes of walking in the door my water broke! Thank heaven he let us out early! Brynn was born at 4:55 a.m. the next morning....so glad I had set those sub plans out! I dictated information about each child to my mom who filled out the paperwork and my long term sub carried out the conferences. My deadlines....down the drain! But in the end, it was a blessing she came early because of some health risks. Funny how sometimes those things just work themselves out.

With Abby, I was due Christmas Day 2003. Joseph finished finals on December 18th. We decided last minute, after much persuasion from my mom, to let our parents fly us home for Christmas (we were too poor) . The plan was to fly out on Christmas Eve, We crossed fingers and booked the flights, and then told our doctor we NEEDED to have the baby as soon after the 18th as possible. He didn't want to have to come in on Christmas Day either, so he agreed that as long as I was "ripe" he would induce labor on the 19th. We just had to make it past Joseph's finals on the 18th. Everything worked out as planned, we made it to our deadline, my mom flew in to Spokane on the 18th to watch Brynn, Joseph finished his finals the same day, and Abby was born at 2:31 p.m. on December 19th. Mom flew home the 23rd and we flew to Utah December 24, just in time for all of the Christmas festivities with our families. Deadlines met!

With Aaron, I was due May 22nd, 2006, May 22nd happened to be 1 week after Joseph's law school graduation in Spokane, Washington, and 1 day before he started the Utah Bar Review course at BYU Law School in Provo, UT. We "labored" over the decision of where to have the baby...should he take the review course on tape in Spokane or should I be induced again and then make the move to Utah shortly after the baby's birth, or should we move to Utah right after graduation and have the baby there. Dr. Maughn suggested it would be safest to induce rather than risk having the baby enroute to Utah. So again, we had some deadlines we needed to meet. Joseph needed to finish his finals (can't remember the exact date) and I REALLY wanted to be able to attend graduation on Saturday, May 13th. When we made it past finals, I breathed a sigh of relief, when we made it past graduation I breathed a HUGE sigh of relief. We had been though 7 years of schooling together. This was a day I did not want to miss! The next day was Mother's Day, we celebrated together and I went in on the morning of May 15th and had Aaron a little after 1:00 p.m. We moved to Utah on May 18th. Deadlines met!

Baby #4 due November 2nd, 2008. First of all, it would be nice to make it past Brynn's birthday on October 23rd. Next it would be nice to make it past Halloween, who wants a Halloween birthday? And really, I would prefer not to have a birthday on the day after Halloween. My mom will be flying in the evening of November 1st and staying for 1 week until November 8, so perfect scenario November 2nd, my actual due date. I have already been told in no uncertain terms that an induction is not an option (unless I am at 42 weeks). Will my luck be that I WILL be that woman who goes 2 weeks past her due date? Will I deliver the week AFTER my mom has already gone home?

Then there are always those universal deadlines. Will my laundry be done? Will everyone's sheets be washed? Will my floor be scrubbed? Are the windows clean? Is the floor vacuumed? Are the toys picked up? Is there enough food in the refridgerator for my "leave of absence?" I must admit, I've gone to bed a few nights thinking, "Please don't come tonight, I'm too tired to do my nightly pick-up." And so again the question....Will all my deadlines be met?

I don't really think the baby will come early. I'm feeling too good, tired, but good, and isn't there some unspoken rule that you have to be feeling miserable to go into labor? But, here's to hoping that I will have him while my mom is here. As I sit here and write I can't help but think of the conference talk a few years ago, "But If Not...." by Elder Wickman. His talk was about things with far more significance than meeting deadlines, but a phrase he used still applies "all things must come to pass in their time." So with all of this being said, isn't it funny that even if deadlines aren't met, everything seems to work out anyway? Having that baby in your arms, brings everything into perspective and you wouldn't have things any other way.