Aren't you glad you're not teaching? NO.

Now that y'all know I'm pregnant, I can post about all those pregnancy things.

I have had so many folks say to me, "Aren't you glad you're not teaching while you're pregnant?" (FYI, I'm on sabbatical to write my dissertation this semester) and, surprisingly, my answer is a resounding NO. I LOVED teaching while pregnant. I was treated like a goddess in my school. Kids rubbed my belly, never tired of asking me questions about my pregnancy, and were so unbelievably kind to me it was pure heaven. My co-workers were awesome, too, but it was the complete compassionate treatment from even the craziest and most thugged-out of students that really made it an amazing experience.

Once, as I was walking down a crowded hall (our school was built in 1890 as an elementary school so when passing occurs the halls are way too crowded due to the size of our huge high school kids), a notorious gang-banger (whom I barely knew) saw me struggling to squeeze through the students and hollered, "Yo! Move out! The pregnant teacher is tryin' to get through!" and he parted the students like Moses parting the Red Sea. No lie.

One of the many reasons I was so bummed to be pregnant now is that I'd never experience that kindness and curiosity from the students again. Granted, I'll go back to work the last week in August and teach until my due date on September 21 (no maternity leave in the Department of Education--those bastards), so I'll get a few weeks of preferential treatment, but I'll miss the many teachable moments that came from being in the classroom while growing (like clarifying that babies don't have gills like fish).

Photo: My AP class in February 2007, me five months pregnant.