"Donna Metler" wrote in message
...

The last day of school was yesterday-and I'm hitting major depression.
I've
wanted this baby for a long time, and I've known since Brian was born that
when I next got pregnant, I would be leaving teaching pretty soon after
the
pregnancy was confirmed, rather than waiting until the baby was born. But
this morning, when I woke up and realized that until December, when
"Cuddles" decides to make his/her appearance (and I certainly hope he/she
WAITS until December!) I literally have NOTHING to do.

Oh boy oh boy do I know this one.

I gave notice in January that I'd be leaving in June because we were TTC. My
boss said, "But what if you aren't pregnant?"

I said, rather fliply, "Well, I better damn well reduce my stress level
then, hadn't I?"

Oh boy.

So we hired my replacement just before I found out I was pregnant. And the
miscarriage means that I've left work for all practical purposes 2 weeks
earlier than planned.

I didn't expect to be leaving work because I stopped being pregnant...but my
work is all about babies and while it was bad enough to read about
complications and other people's birth stories while pg, it is a million
times harder to read all that stuff 6 hours a day while recovering from a
miscarriage.

So what am I going to do with myself?

Step 1: Clean house
Step 2: Garden
Step 3: Work on sewing projects with my mother (projects include a
sling-friendly diaper bag, sling-friendly nursing clothes, really
comfortable maternity underwear, and baby clothes that don't get grown out
of in 3 weeks. Hopefully we'll be making patterns for some manufacturers to
take to market.)
Step 4: Write a book (no I'm not kidding...I'm working on a book on
babywearing with Jeni from www.thebabywearer.com .)
Step 5: Help with founding national nonprofit organization (yes, really...
see www.nineinnineout.org for more info.)
Step 6: Plan babywearing conference
Step 7: Develop marketing campaigns for various projects.
Step 8: Set up a schedule of babywearing workshops for 2005.
Step 9: Wish I could go back to work so I could get a break now and then...

I guess my point is that you make of your time what you will. You could add
to my list, "Read science fiction novels," or maybe, "sleep as late as I
want to," and definitely, "make saving money my pet hobby, via home-cooking
and shopping sales."

My suggestion? Take a week as a vacation, a complete vacation. Do *nothing*
not critically necessary to your well-being. Then take stock. What have you
been putting off until you have time?

Jenrose