Dropping???

Doctor/Doula Update:
At our last doctor's appointment (Tuesday 9/1) we discovered that I am 50% effaced! No dilation yet and the doctor said that he was pretty much at the same station, maybe half a station lower. But still, this made Evan and I very happy and very alert to the fact that we still have yet to pack our hospital bags and get the carseat installed (but we still have 4 weeks til the due date so no hurry, right?). We had wanted to go to Oak Island for the long Labor Day weekend, but eventhough the doctor said he wouldn't tell us "no," we pretty much gathered that much from him and have decided to stay put this weekend and focus on preparing for this little boy to show up.

We have a meeting with our backup doula next week at the house. She's going to come over to make sure she knows where we live and can get here when we're in labor as well as do some labor prep stuff with us. And we're supposed to have our hospital tour next Tuesday night in our childbirth class. I'm very excited about this - I think it'll give me quite a bit more peace to know where we'll need to go when the time comes and what the rooms are like!

Belly Update:
Belly shots are on the post below, and while I can't see it in the photos so much, I definitely feel that Oakes has dropped a bit. Evan commented on it last night and my assistant at school told me this afternoon that she's noticed a drop just since yesterday. They say the baby drops 2-3 weeks before labor with a first child, so we'll see! :) I've also felt a major shift in where he is: I can breathe better, I don't have as much of a "shelf" on top, he's no longer under my rib cage, and his movements now are causing a whole new category of feeling in me and are much lower than before! Any thoughts from you all when you look at the photos? Like I said, I really can't see it in the photos but I do think it's beginning to happen. Evan is convinced Oakes is going to be a September baby, and I think he means mid-September.

School Update:
We were supposed to have an interview today for my position but the lady took a job elsewhere. So the interim position is posted and we have one of the potential candidates set up to substitute for me next week while I'm at a workshop for two days (at the Grove Park, to boot!) so we'll see where this lands us. I spent quite a while staying afterschool today working on a general lesson plan setup for the next 2 months. I've realized this is not easy. At all. So after feeling burnt out on that, I brought the rest of my lesson planning stuff home to work on this weekend. Joy! Hopefully I can get it all done tomorrow so that I can enjoy Sunday and Monday a bit.