Well, it appears that we are having another girl! Poor Aaron, I guess it's his luck in life to be surrounded by beautiful women:) He was hoping that this baby was a boy, but hopefully, we will have better luck next time! My Doctor believes that since Cecelia was born weighing only 4 lbs, 4 oz, that she may have suffered from intra uterine growth restriction or IUGR. Because of this, with this baby, she wants us to have ultrasounds every 6 weeks from now on to measure the baby's growth. And, if she starts to fall off the growth chart, then she would want to induce me early. I'm happy with this and that my doctor is being proactive instead of reactive. I also had to have some blood work done to test me for clotting disorders (if my blood is too thick, then the baby isn't getting adequate nutrition, since the baby is getting all of her oxygen and nutrition via my blood). I plan on having them reconfirm the baby's gender at each ultrasound.
For now though, the baby is weighing 11 ounces and measuring 8 inches long. Meaning she is in the 75th percentile for height and weight. She is also in the vertex position; head down and in the fetal position. Which is great since that is what she needs to be in for delivery. I'm so glad that we held on to many of Cece's cutest clothes so we have a little bit to start off with.
We just had parent teacher conferences for Cecelia. They went great. She is reading at a second grade level and her math skills are "phenomenal". So proud of her! She is having a musical at her school next week. They will be performing The Sound of Music. I anticipate hearing lots of yodeling! LOL
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Sunday, March 13, 2011
So I actually LOVE working overnights! I thought I would hate it and be sleep deprived but I have had no problems so far. It helps that I have a completely supportive husband who is a hands on dad too! I like that it is so quiet at night and that I have time to actually learn instead of if I worked on day shift, I would be sooo busy that it sometimes is hard to learn.
Cecelia lost a front top tooth! She looks like a little jacko lanturn:) Here's the story: Yesterday, Cecelia and I decided to go see the Justin Bieber movie. We invited my cousin Megan and her daughter Tealyn with us. The girls are less than a year apart and have fun together. So after the movie we decided to head back to Megan's house so the girls could play SING IT on the Wii (which was so much fun by the way). Well Megan has a 1 year old son who had just gone to bed. At one point the girls were having so much fun that Cecelia was screeching and I instinctively put my hand over her mouth to silence her so she wouldn't wake up the baby.Well...I bumped the tooth that was already very loose and it was ready to come out. So my cousin talked Cecelia into letting her pull it out with a tissue. I will put up a picture but for now the computer is not cooperating!
Oh, and I have to include this before I forget. Stanley has become extremely protective of me and my stomach. He has always been my little man, constantly following me around the house, and wanting to go where ever I go in the car. Suddenly, Aaron is no longer allowed to put a finger on my belly without Stanley jumping to my defense. We have made a game about this and it's quite funny. In fact, as soon as the computer wants to upload I'm going to post a video of Stanley freaking out. It's hilarious!
Cecelia lost a front top tooth! She looks like a little jacko lanturn:) Here's the story: Yesterday, Cecelia and I decided to go see the Justin Bieber movie. We invited my cousin Megan and her daughter Tealyn with us. The girls are less than a year apart and have fun together. So after the movie we decided to head back to Megan's house so the girls could play SING IT on the Wii (which was so much fun by the way). Well Megan has a 1 year old son who had just gone to bed. At one point the girls were having so much fun that Cecelia was screeching and I instinctively put my hand over her mouth to silence her so she wouldn't wake up the baby.Well...I bumped the tooth that was already very loose and it was ready to come out. So my cousin talked Cecelia into letting her pull it out with a tissue. I will put up a picture but for now the computer is not cooperating!
Oh, and I have to include this before I forget. Stanley has become extremely protective of me and my stomach. He has always been my little man, constantly following me around the house, and wanting to go where ever I go in the car. Suddenly, Aaron is no longer allowed to put a finger on my belly without Stanley jumping to my defense. We have made a game about this and it's quite funny. In fact, as soon as the computer wants to upload I'm going to post a video of Stanley freaking out. It's hilarious!
Saturday, March 5, 2011
I'm beginning to feel the baby move! Actually, just last night, I felt the baby kick externally. I thought I felt the baby kicking and put my hand to where I thought I felt the kick and sure enough....3 kicks in a row! I just wish Aaron had been here because he specifically asked me to tell him when I felt the baby kick so he could try to feel for it too! He is soooo sweet! I can't wait till next Tuesday when we find out the sex! Aaron had originally wanted a boy but at this point he says that he really doesn't care as long as the baby is healthy. Cecelia however would like a boy. She says because a sister "would take all of her toys and clothes". She has a slight complex about her possessions. I think this stems from the fact that for most purposes Cecelia is an only child about 85% of the year. Cecelia and Kiley have to share a room and Kiley takes home almost everything she receives as gifts from us and family. That means that Cecelia must share all of her possessions in addition to her room with Kiley when she is in town. Which is fine, she should share. However, when Kiley is in town the girls often fight over items because Cecelia has a hard time sharing everything all the time when she's not used to it, and Kiley believes that since she is never here she should get to play with whatever she wants and not have to share with Cecelia. On top of that, the girls are just over 2 years apart in age and are sisters. And sisters will be sisters (they will fight, no matter how sweet and innocent they can be at times)! To say the least, the girls have some unfortunate family dynamics that they must deal with. We wish that it wasn't so, but Kiley moving, never would have been our choice but we must deal with dynamics that it now leaves. We are hoping to find a 4 bedroom home and that having the girls have separate rooms will alleviate some of the needless arguments but until then, Cecelia still would like a brother over another sister:( I don't care what the sex is either way, I just want to know so that I can start shopping for the kiddo! Although we have decided to try and stick to neutral colors and themes when buying the bigger items because we would like to be able to save and reuse everything for the next baby as well. I'm already thinking ahead to the next one! HA!!! Poor Aaron:( My belly popped out about 2 weeks ago. It seems like it happened overnight! All of the sudden we both agreed that I suddenly looked obviously pregnant. Which is fine by me because I was kind of self conscious of whether people thought that I was pregnant or just overweight!
Cecelia is back in swimming lessons (in addition to gymnastics). She's happy to be back in. She's a pretty good swimmer and it's definitely a self esteem booster for kids when they can excel at a sport. Last week I went to Cecelia's school for her 2nd grade classrooms "Writer Celebration". Parents were invited to come to the classroom and be present while the kids read stories that they had been working on and proofreading and adding to for a few weeks. Cecelia wrote her story about a fiasco that occur ed when a little boy in her 1st grade class was asked to give all the kids a squirt of hand sanitizer in preparation for the teacher to hand out cupcakes to celebrate another child's birthday. It turns out that the boy grabbed the hand soap instead of sanitizer and the kids didn't notice it until almost all the children had it on their hands and were rubbing it in! Everyone chuckled at that story!
My best friend Rachel is getting married in September and I'm the maid of honor and Cecelia is one of the flower girls. I've been a little busy getting measured for my dress (not fun seeing as how I will be 1 month post partum and not really sure about how large my breastfeeding boobies will be), I've had to get Cecelia measured for her custom made dress as well. I'm also planning her bachelorette party with the help of another best friend who is the maid of honor. We're planning a weekend in Kansas City. Shopping, manicures and pedicures, laying out and swimming, a nice dinner out and then heading out to the power and lights district....imagine me 7 months pregnant having to be the designated driver for a bunch of drunkies! LOL!
Our house has just finally gotten over a terrible cold. I think that I got the worst of it. I didn't sleep well for over 4 nights. Which totally sucked since I started my new job that same week. All is well now though:)
Sadly, I just found out that our beloved pediatrician will be moving out of state this summer. Our pediatrician's husband works as an intensivist in the ICU and he shared that they were moving back to his wife's (our pediatrician's) home state to be close to her family. We absolutely love our pediatrician and I'm very sad that I now need to seek out a new one.
Cecelia is back in swimming lessons (in addition to gymnastics). She's happy to be back in. She's a pretty good swimmer and it's definitely a self esteem booster for kids when they can excel at a sport. Last week I went to Cecelia's school for her 2nd grade classrooms "Writer Celebration". Parents were invited to come to the classroom and be present while the kids read stories that they had been working on and proofreading and adding to for a few weeks. Cecelia wrote her story about a fiasco that occur ed when a little boy in her 1st grade class was asked to give all the kids a squirt of hand sanitizer in preparation for the teacher to hand out cupcakes to celebrate another child's birthday. It turns out that the boy grabbed the hand soap instead of sanitizer and the kids didn't notice it until almost all the children had it on their hands and were rubbing it in! Everyone chuckled at that story!
My best friend Rachel is getting married in September and I'm the maid of honor and Cecelia is one of the flower girls. I've been a little busy getting measured for my dress (not fun seeing as how I will be 1 month post partum and not really sure about how large my breastfeeding boobies will be), I've had to get Cecelia measured for her custom made dress as well. I'm also planning her bachelorette party with the help of another best friend who is the maid of honor. We're planning a weekend in Kansas City. Shopping, manicures and pedicures, laying out and swimming, a nice dinner out and then heading out to the power and lights district....imagine me 7 months pregnant having to be the designated driver for a bunch of drunkies! LOL!
Our house has just finally gotten over a terrible cold. I think that I got the worst of it. I didn't sleep well for over 4 nights. Which totally sucked since I started my new job that same week. All is well now though:)
Sadly, I just found out that our beloved pediatrician will be moving out of state this summer. Our pediatrician's husband works as an intensivist in the ICU and he shared that they were moving back to his wife's (our pediatrician's) home state to be close to her family. We absolutely love our pediatrician and I'm very sad that I now need to seek out a new one.
Friday, February 18, 2011
What a busy month this has been for us! Earlier in the week we had our 16 week checkup. Baby is doing great. Heartbeat was in the 150's. My blood pressure is phenomenal (96/60) and my weight is only up 2 pounds. I was concerned about this lack of weight gain, especially because Cecelia was born so small, and I DO NOT want that to happen again. However, my OB has reassured me that we will continue to monitor the weight and anticipate about a pound a week weight gain from now on. We also scheduled our ultrasound!!!!!!!! I for one, am very excited to find out the baby's gender so that we can start buying things for him or her. We scheduled it on a day and time that works so Cecelia can be there. She is so excited and as I begin to show more and more, she has began to talk to and kiss my belly, especially telling it good night when she gets tucked in. We plan on getting the optional 3D which will be so neat (we didn't get that with Cecelia).
In other news, I took boards this week. I thought I failed them! The NCLEX is just one of those tests that makes you feel so unsure of yourself and you have no idea how you did. Everyone that I have spoken to tells me that everyone walks out of boards feeling like they failed! After a grueling 48 hours and 2 minute wait my unofficial results were posted and I was allowed to pay to see them! I PASSED!!! I only got 75 questions (which is the minimum), the maximum is 265 questions, and I am so glad that I didn't have that many. My nerves were already frazzled at that point. What a relief!!!! I can't even begin to count the number of hours that I put into studying for my license exam. I took over 3,000 practice questions with countless hours of reading in the bath tub and in bed at night. It definitely was one of the happiest moments of my life! I start orientation on Monday. Very excited to start working and receiving a paycheck. Although most of my income will be put into savings over the next few months as we anticipate putting down the 3.5% down payment that we need for our first time home buyers loan.
In other news, I took boards this week. I thought I failed them! The NCLEX is just one of those tests that makes you feel so unsure of yourself and you have no idea how you did. Everyone that I have spoken to tells me that everyone walks out of boards feeling like they failed! After a grueling 48 hours and 2 minute wait my unofficial results were posted and I was allowed to pay to see them! I PASSED!!! I only got 75 questions (which is the minimum), the maximum is 265 questions, and I am so glad that I didn't have that many. My nerves were already frazzled at that point. What a relief!!!! I can't even begin to count the number of hours that I put into studying for my license exam. I took over 3,000 practice questions with countless hours of reading in the bath tub and in bed at night. It definitely was one of the happiest moments of my life! I start orientation on Monday. Very excited to start working and receiving a paycheck. Although most of my income will be put into savings over the next few months as we anticipate putting down the 3.5% down payment that we need for our first time home buyers loan.
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Today was our 12 week prenatal appointment. My blood pressure was 102/50. Absolutely perfect! My weight is up 1 lb from pre-pregnancy ( I lost a few pounds during the first few weeks, but gained it back). Babies heart rate was approximately 150 (by fetal doppler). I checked my e-mail tonight and received a message from a sonographer Professor at Methodist. Apparently, they are looking for volunteers who will be between 17 and 36 weeks between February and April...so I volunteered. Who wouldn't? Free ultrasounds, extra opportunities to see your little peanut and added reassurance the little one is doing o.k....where do I sign up?
I also went to Methodist Hospital to fill out my new hire paperwork, do my health screening, and get my parking permit, ID number, and ID badge. Pretty excited to see my picture with RN, BSN below it! I still have yet to get my ATT and am getting annoyed at this point! I need to plan! I'm such a planner!
I also went to Methodist Hospital to fill out my new hire paperwork, do my health screening, and get my parking permit, ID number, and ID badge. Pretty excited to see my picture with RN, BSN below it! I still have yet to get my ATT and am getting annoyed at this point! I need to plan! I'm such a planner!
Monday, January 10, 2011
Job Offer
I feel so blessed today! I interviewed for a position within the Intensive Care Unit at Methodist Hospital a few weeks ago and I heard back from them today! I had no idea that I wanted to be an ICU nurse a few months ago, however, when asked to give my preferences as to where I wanted to precept at, I thought that precepting in the ICU would give me a lot of experiences that I did not receive during school clinicals ,plus I also thought that it would help me pass boards. Once I began precepting though, I absolutely loved it! ICU nurses are so knowledgeable. They are the types of nurses that save lives, know their stuff, and can work on any other floor with ease. I also love that the nurse to patient ratio is 1:2. Typically you are given a fairly stable patient or one who has orders to transfer, and your other patient will need more intensive care. I like this because it allows the nurse to be with her patients more than say on a medical/surgical floor where you can be given anywhere from 5-8 patients at a time. The position that I was offered was full-time for overnights. This will be a transition for me but I'm confident that I can handle overnights. I have worked occasional overnight shifts at Brookestone and have done o.k. I would be more hesitant to take an overnights position if Aaron didn't work the schedule that he does but since he doesn't have to be at work till 1:30 in the afternoon, once the baby is here, he can watch the baby during the day while I sleep till he has to leave for work. And of course, Cecelia will be in school all day. In addition, I only have to work 3 overnights a week, so I will still have 4 days off each week. So for now...I should get back to studying for boards. I still don't have an authorization to test, apparently only 2 girls in my graduating class have gotten their authorization to test so far:(
Thursday, January 6, 2011
The last few weeks...
Christmas was amazing this year! I think everyone got exactly what was on their wish lists! In fact, Cecelia actually burst into the bathroom when I was taking a bubble bath the day after Christmas and screamed "My Justin Bieber CD came with a poster! Now, I really did get everything I wanted" I'm glad that we are able to do so much for the girls. I know that we are truly blessed and am appreciative of all that we have. The most precious Christmas present that I have ever received was from Cecelia this year. She made me (well technically us-Aaron and I) a "Love Jug", a little "jug" (which is actually a clear Crystal Lite container), decorated with hearts and such. Inside, there is about 15 little slips of colored paper, and on each slip of paper, is a little heart felt message about how she loves us and how she is so happy and why she is so happy (like how we give her lots of hugs). I love her so much! She melts my heart!
I was having some weird pains on Christmas Eve and Christmas day, which caused me to spend the majority of the festivities lying on the couch, which alleviated the pains. They were very inconsistent and varied in location so I just chalked them up to being benign ligament or uterine stretching. Then suddenly I woke up the next day and my nausea was completely gone. This caused me to worry because I had been extremely nauseated (no vomiting) but fatigued and nauseated for the past 2 weeks. When Monday rolled around and I still felt great I called my OB and voiced my concerns (when there is a sudden loss of pregnancy symptoms, it could be a sign of miscarriage. And since you can miscarry and not start bleeding for up to 2 weeks, I was nervous). So I went in and had another ultrasound done! Of course there was cardiac movement on the ultrasound. And the baby had actually grown over 3 millimeters (at this point, the baby should be growing about a millimeter a day). Oh well, I would rather appear to be a worry wort (which I am), then to wait until my next scheduled appointment, worrying about the baby! Sometimes having the education in health care that I do, and having the knowledge of everything that can go wrong, causes me to be a hypochondriac! I do this with everyone in the family. Last winter, Aaron had migraines for weeks straight and after I told him everything that could be wrong...from allergies to a brain tumor, he was so scared he went in for an MRI. Cecelia has had enlarged lymph nodes her whole life. When she was two I discovered them and rushed her to the Doctor thinking she had leukemia and requested a cbc. Blood work came back perfectly fine but I once again looked like a hypochondriac! Oh well, I would rather have the knowledge so that I can advocate for myself and my family within the health care system. Look at me rambling! HAHA
We told the girls about the baby on Christmas Eve. I got out the ultrasound pictures and a handmade Christmas ornament that my friend made me for Christmas (it's of a me with a VERY big belly and it says "Baby's first Christmas". Kiley knew right away and Cecelia quickly realized what we trying to show them. Of course Cecelia wants a sister and Kiley and Aaron want a boy. I'm happy either way. We are planning on having 1 more after this one so hopefully we can get 1 of each. Cecelia has been much more understanding of my fatigue and nausea now that she knows about the baby. Cecelia returned school on Wednesday and was so excited that she was going to be a big sister that after telling her teacher the knews, she asked if she could make a class announcement. She then proceeded to tell her class that her mom was going to have a baby and that it's the size of a catalope (I had mentioned to Aaron that at this point in the pregnancy, my uterus is the size of a small cantalope). I love kids! They say the most precious things!
New Years Eve was pretty uneventful around our house. We got takeout and I was in bed by 9:30 (my new bed time since I've been pregnant and tired). Aaron and the girls stayed up till midnight and were in bed by 12:01:)
Aaron and I have been busy talking, and searching for homes. Right now we are in the process of applying for mortgage loans and would like to get prequalified, so that when the perfect home comes on the market this spring, we will be ready. Although we arent quite ready to buy yet, it's been fun discussing what each of us really wants in our first home and looking at what's out there right now.
I have been studying a little here and there for boards. I still have yet to recieve my authorization to test so I haven't been able to schedule a day to sit for boards yet. I always have worked best under pressure so without a date yet, I have seemed to find many other ways to fill my now school less days.
I was having some weird pains on Christmas Eve and Christmas day, which caused me to spend the majority of the festivities lying on the couch, which alleviated the pains. They were very inconsistent and varied in location so I just chalked them up to being benign ligament or uterine stretching. Then suddenly I woke up the next day and my nausea was completely gone. This caused me to worry because I had been extremely nauseated (no vomiting) but fatigued and nauseated for the past 2 weeks. When Monday rolled around and I still felt great I called my OB and voiced my concerns (when there is a sudden loss of pregnancy symptoms, it could be a sign of miscarriage. And since you can miscarry and not start bleeding for up to 2 weeks, I was nervous). So I went in and had another ultrasound done! Of course there was cardiac movement on the ultrasound. And the baby had actually grown over 3 millimeters (at this point, the baby should be growing about a millimeter a day). Oh well, I would rather appear to be a worry wort (which I am), then to wait until my next scheduled appointment, worrying about the baby! Sometimes having the education in health care that I do, and having the knowledge of everything that can go wrong, causes me to be a hypochondriac! I do this with everyone in the family. Last winter, Aaron had migraines for weeks straight and after I told him everything that could be wrong...from allergies to a brain tumor, he was so scared he went in for an MRI. Cecelia has had enlarged lymph nodes her whole life. When she was two I discovered them and rushed her to the Doctor thinking she had leukemia and requested a cbc. Blood work came back perfectly fine but I once again looked like a hypochondriac! Oh well, I would rather have the knowledge so that I can advocate for myself and my family within the health care system. Look at me rambling! HAHA
We told the girls about the baby on Christmas Eve. I got out the ultrasound pictures and a handmade Christmas ornament that my friend made me for Christmas (it's of a me with a VERY big belly and it says "Baby's first Christmas". Kiley knew right away and Cecelia quickly realized what we trying to show them. Of course Cecelia wants a sister and Kiley and Aaron want a boy. I'm happy either way. We are planning on having 1 more after this one so hopefully we can get 1 of each. Cecelia has been much more understanding of my fatigue and nausea now that she knows about the baby. Cecelia returned school on Wednesday and was so excited that she was going to be a big sister that after telling her teacher the knews, she asked if she could make a class announcement. She then proceeded to tell her class that her mom was going to have a baby and that it's the size of a catalope (I had mentioned to Aaron that at this point in the pregnancy, my uterus is the size of a small cantalope). I love kids! They say the most precious things!
New Years Eve was pretty uneventful around our house. We got takeout and I was in bed by 9:30 (my new bed time since I've been pregnant and tired). Aaron and the girls stayed up till midnight and were in bed by 12:01:)
Aaron and I have been busy talking, and searching for homes. Right now we are in the process of applying for mortgage loans and would like to get prequalified, so that when the perfect home comes on the market this spring, we will be ready. Although we arent quite ready to buy yet, it's been fun discussing what each of us really wants in our first home and looking at what's out there right now.
I have been studying a little here and there for boards. I still have yet to recieve my authorization to test so I haven't been able to schedule a day to sit for boards yet. I always have worked best under pressure so without a date yet, I have seemed to find many other ways to fill my now school less days.
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