Lots and lots to talk about!

First of all, Chase has a touch of a cold :( Poor little guy! He has been sick twice his entire life, including now, so not too bad seeing as he is almost a year old, but I still feel bad for the little guy. It does seem to be getting better though. He doesn't side quite as stuffed up as he did the other night. He still has a little cough and has a little congestion, but less so I am figuring that it is on his way out. He also got another tooth in. Now he has 3 on top and two on the bottom!! No teeth for 8-9 months and here gets five over the course of one month. His walking is really good now and he is able to walk over somewhere, turn around, crouch and pick something up, and come back. Still not perfected yet, but if he has the opportunity, he walks 90% of the time vs. crawling. He can also stand without using anything to pull up on, but he has only done that a handful of times so far.

Now, in my neck of the woods, things are going pretty good. I am getting a fat refund check so I don't have to work as often, which is nice so that I can spend more time with Chase. School is going pretty well, I am about a 1/3 of the way done the semester = a 1/3 of the way until I graduate! My supervisor at work recommended me to the higher level supervisor for this nursing leadership type internship through Main Line and they really think I should apply. It is supposed to be a really good opportunity and they think I make a really good candidate. I have to call MC about it and get the details. I don't have a lot of extra time to give, especially if I am not being paid (don't know for sure, but it is an internship and it might not get me any bucks) but a once a week committment or something that isn't too crazy is definitely doable, especially if I can get it on my resume. Also, apparantly I already have a job at Riddle, so that takes the fear/panic/nervousness about whether or not I will find a job in a hospital! My dad said that MC was telling him that everyone is requesting me to work on their floor as an aide and that I am doing a really good job! I like when I hear that because I know that it will only help my career in nursing if they know that I am a hard worker, eager to learn, reliable, and develop good relationships with my coworkers and my patients.

And last, and kind of least for the day, my diet :( I did really bad the last two days. I don't know what is going on. The first 20 something days I was so good and stuck to my diet it so well. Since then I have had like 5 cheat days. I guess part of it has to do with the fact that I am actually doing well. I see myself and I see how much smaller I am and I am letting up on myself a little bit. I have achieved a very good weight loss to this point, and much faster than expected, and I guess I am letting myself have a day or two of self indulgence. I don't know. I do know though, that when I do let myself have a relaxed day I tend to overeat, to the point of feeling sick, and I can't do that. If I am going to let myself cheat a little I need to not eat more than I would on a non-diet diet, I just need not restrict myself. It is like it is one or the other, be good on my diet or gorge on my diet. Night time is the problem though, I will be good all day and then at night just throw in the towel. So all my hard work from the day is worth nothing...? I just need to refind my motivation...off to look at some Victoria's Secret Models, at least they are good for something!

Had a good day yesterday!

Yesterday was a good day. I had my 4th nursing test and I thought I got an 86 but when I looked at the grade book online it said I got a 90 so I will take that. I have an 89 average in the class right now, but my grade will be more like an 84 because I am gonna lose 5 points for absences, but I won't argue it. I still have a higher grade than most kids in the class after I lose my points. Plus I did the math and I only need a 40% on my final to pass...I think I can handle that!

After my test I got to go to a BBQ that one of my nursing classmates threw and it was a good time. It is kinda cool to be able to have a life, enjoy college, and have my handsome little guy too! I didn't drink, but got to play beer pong (someone drank for me), toss around the football, hang with my friends, and show off Chase. It was kinda neat that he came because everyone wanted to see him and he was the entertainment for the ladies! Not to mention the fact that everyone there has been in class with me 3-5 days a week for the whole Fall and Spring semesters and they have seen me grow so it is like they are Chase's family by default.

Here are some pics from the BBQ!

Who said you can't play beer pong with a baby on your chest!


Chase and mommy!


So the kid likes a beer or two, he takes after his dad!


Chase and his girlfriends Mindy and Gabby!

After the BBQ I came home and took a nap for a little bit. At some point Matt brought Chase down to eat and next thing I know I wake up and it is 1:30 in the morning. I slept pretty well last night and tonight we are gonna start transitioning Chase to sleep more in his cosleeper and less in the bed. I also started babywise today...maybe not quite exactly the way the book says but at least the eat wake sleep cycle. We aren't quite exact on the schedule and I give him a little rock/bounce and the pacifier before he goes down for a nap. He is so little yet and I don't want to make him completely cry it out quite yet. Now hopefully at 8-10 weeks he will start sleeping longer periods of time...only 3 weeks to go! Then when he starts going longer between night feeds I will transition him from the cosleeper to the crib. I like the cosleeper because I can just pluck him out and feed him without getting out of bed whereas with the crib I would have to get up. Now I have a month to get his sleep habits in order before I return to work so we will see how it goes!

I suck

I totally suck at this blog thing. I guess I will do a quick update.

1. I had a baby.
2. It was a boy. 8 lbs 5 oz and 21 inches long. Born on 3/26 at 8:38.
3. I had a successful VBAC.
4. He is a month old now.
5. He has rolled over several times from belly to back, he smiles at you when you smile at him, he can hold his head up for short periods of time while upright, he is the most handsome baby ever!

Officially third trimester

Yesterday was the day, the day where I have graduated from a second trimester preggo to the elite and coveted third trimester! What an honor! Even better, it was on Christmas so I had a double dose of awesome. It was like getting presents for getting to the third trimester.

Overall, Christmas was good. Got some great gifts (diapers, sheets, diaper bag, reed diffusers, scrapbook stuff) and some dinero and gift cards. The money will definitely come in handy for getting any additional baby gear that we will need. It is currently put aside for after the shower so that we don't get two of anything but can get anything we may need.

As of now I am still feeling pretty good. I have gained about 23 pounds which isn't too bad and I am still pretty mobile and as a plus, I can still see my feet and my ankles are still smaller than my calves!!!

I think Chase has gone through a bit of a growth spurt too. I was ridiculously hungry for a few days and now Chase has gotten super strong with his kicks. I just can't wait to meet my little man!

I just wanted to finish off with some pictures, here is one with four generations on my mom's side. My mommom, mom, me, Sam, and little Chase.

Here is a picture of Matt and I with a painting my mommom gave me. It used to hang over her parent's bed and we are naming Chase's middle name after my greatgrandpa Alpha, my mommom's father.

Zig a Zig ah

If you wanna be my lover. Okay, enough with the Spice Girls, but I needed a fun title to start off with.

I am officially in the double digit countdown! I have 99 days to go until Chase's due date! Woohoo! Very exciting. These next few months are going to be very busy with school and work, doctor's appointments, birth classes, and the like, but good as well. I meet with the pediatrician tomorrow so that should be fun. I think, overall, everything is well. I have a nice little break from school, I am healthy, and I am happy! What more could a girl want? (besides winning the lottery!)

Schools out for summer...

Okay, maybe not so much for summer, but it is out for Christmas break. I just felt that a title that mimics that song "Schools out for Summer" would be much cooler than a title that mimics the song but says "Schools out for Winter Break" It just doesn't flow the right way. But anyways, in response to school being out for break, I must say, WOOHOOBIE! (and yes I did say woohoobie, where this words exact origin is from is unbeknownst to me, but it does give me the opportunity to say both woohoobie and unbeknownst, so that makes for an interesting blog in itself.)

Now back to more important topics, my pregnancy! Well in reality I don't have much to update on concerning my pregnancy. I am 25 weeks and 1 day today, so that is a good thing! In 5 weeks and 5 days I will be the farthest along pregnancy-wise that I have ever been. It is scary to think that something like an arrythmia could happen again, but luckily the echo was good, the doctors are on top of my care 150%, and I know that if I get any inkling or feeling of something being wrong that the doctors will take care of it in a heartbeat. And that is the goal, that heartbeat, and it remaining regular and healthy in our little guy. I also wanted to update that we have scheduled our c-section date. Now before you go on to say, "Hey wait a minute, I thought she was going to VBAC...?" I advise you to hold your tongue! I am going to VBAC or at least do what I can to try. What we all have to understand is that with a VBAC there are certain limitations and rules that need to be adhered to to prevent anything bad from happening. Some of these are not using drugs to progress labor and the like. The reason we have to schedule a c-section is that sometimes things don't always go as planned. I may, for example, not go into labor, or the baby may be breach, etc etc and they like to have a scheduled section so that if medically necessary a cesarean can be performed without rushing around like a bunch of fuddy-duddys trying to organize a surgery. So as I said, hold your tongue, because I am the Little Engine that could and will be the Little Engine that Did...have a VBAC!

Now back to Christmas break. As fun as pregnancy is and as interesting as my babblage is, there is nothing like the start of a break from school!! I am excited for Christmas, I am ecstatic that I will get to see family, not to mention the fact that when I do go back to school I will only have about 9ish weeks of pregnohood until I get to meet my little man! I think over break I will start to look into books that are specifically about birth to start to mentally prepare myself for my unmedicated birth. Yes, I did say unmedicated! Now don't get me wrong, if I have to have a c-section than bring on the drugs, but seeing as I am trying to have a vaginal delivery, I am shooting for a drug free birth. Hey, you remember that phrase, "drug free's the way to be" Well the same applies here. Epidurals can make it medically necessary for other interventions such as catheters, IVs, complete bedrest, and I am really feeling that is not the way to go. Not to mention the fact that they can lower mom's blood pressure, cause late decelerations in the baby, make it more difficult to push, and increase the need of a c-section. I already did the c-section thing and if I can do ANYTHING in my power to reduce the chances of a recurrence, than I will!

Well I have so much more to say, maybe not so interesting, and I find it amusing that I start out talking about Christmas break and get right back into pregnancy...I guess pregnancy is more interesting after all. So with this I bid you all farewell, I am off to shower and to go to work and to enjoy the sheer bliss of Christmas Break (or at least the start of Christmas break!)

Fetal Echo.

Well today was a very good day! We had our fetal echocardiogram and according to the fetal perinatologist, "Everything looks good!" He checked the chambers of the heart and the blood flow, as well as some of the larger veins and arteries. He did say that there is always the small chance that he missed something, but from what he saw it all looks good. According to Dr. Carlson and Dr. Gerson, they say Dr. Bhat can find about 90% of abnormalities in the unborn baby with an ultrasound. Pretty damn good if you ask me! The nurse kept saying throughout the echo that he was a "beautiful baby" and that "all baby's should look this good" I don't know if she meant it or was just trying to be nice, but I prefer to take the first of the two options and have the reassurance that we are going to have a damn good looking kid!!!

I also took my NSG 109 final today and got a 96, woohoo!! I also got a 95 on my book report. Tomorrow I will study for my 311 final. I also got done some of the assessment tools for the work-from-home job opportunity, here's to hoping it is enough to allow me to quit Riddle for my last year of school and to be able to work from home for extra money and to stay home with my family!!!!!

Busy day tomorrow.

I have lots and lots to do tomorrow. Nothing to fancy or anything, but still a busy day to say the least. The day starts at nine, where I will meet with my clinical teacher and get my grade. Next, I take a final for my one class. At ten I have a class for an hour. Next it is off to Lankenau (again) to get the fetal echo, keep your fingers crossed that is goes smooth as molasses. I will update tomorrow with the findings of the echo. Lastly, to top it off, I work from 2:30 until 11! So very busy indeed, but at least I will get to sleep in on Tuesday, seeing as school is nearly over. Then on Wednesday, I have my nursing final and a funeral to attend. Two funerals in two weeks do not make for a good time. I just need to make sure to study hard tomorrow and Tuesday and lets pray that I kick some nursing final butt. I did well on all of the unit tests so I just hope that I remember a good amount of the information and that a refresher/review is all I need to get my brain a'churning!

On a final note, I wanted to update some of my pictures. I got my Christmas cards made today and the majority of them are in the box waiting to be mailed. Here is the picture I used for the card.

And here are some 24 week and 4 day belly pics!

My 24 week appointment.

I had my 24 week OB appointment today and it went well. Too sum it up:
~ I have gained 20 pounds
~ My blood pressure was 110/60
~ My uterus is measuring perfectly for 24 weeks.
~ Chase's heartrate was 150-160 and he was moving around quite a bit while the nurse was checking the heartbeat.
~ I have my echocardiogram on Monday.
~ My next appointment is on December 28th.
~ I will do my glucose screen at next appointment as well.
~ We are good to go in terms of trying for the VBAC and will furthur discuss the details around 35-36 weeks pregnant.

All in all it was a nice and reassuring appointment. I think I am most excited though about the VBAC. Dr. Gerson seems super supportive and I feel it is really important to me to have my health care provider be supportive of my labor decisions because I am the patient and I have a right in determining the type of birth I want to have. Now granted, I will do anything necessary to ensure the baby's safety, but I can do that while making the birth choices as well. My goal is to be powerful in birth and to let my body do the things it was designed to do. My mom had two natural, drug-free births and I feel confident in myself and my mindset that I will be able to do the same.

Woot!

~Got a new electric toothbrush and I L-O-V-E It!!! My teeth feel so clean and smooth and fabulous!! I just wanted to share in the awesomeness of an electric toothbrush!
~Also wanted to add that there are only 5 days of school left including finals.
~I have my doctors appointment on Friday, hopefully we will get to see the baby again.
~My three year anniversary is on Thursday and on Saturday we are going to a nice dinner and movie.
~Christmas is 20 days away.
~Work is done for the night.

As you can see, I have a lot to Woot about today! (totally a good thing after the hectic/long/exhausting day I had, but nothing a nice shower, a snuggle with my doggy, and laying in bed can't fix!)

24 Weeks!!!!

I am 24 weeks pregnant, now it is only by two minutes, but it counts! I can't believe I only have 16 weeks left and only 14 weeks of work left! Woohoo! Sounds like a good time to me. I still don't know how we will do it with work and school and parenting, but I know that God WILL take care of us and God WILL ensure our safety, happiness, and well-being. Now you may ask how I know this and the answer is simple, God KNEW we could handle the loss of our dear baby Amaris and he KNOWS that we will handle parenthood and everything else for that year until I have my nursing degree. I know it in my bones and in my heart and in my soul because I KNOW that God doesn't give us anything that we can't handle.

I have my last full week of school today and I have to admit that I am completely and utterly relieved. It is nice to know that I will have a few weeks off to enjoy my family and friends and though I have to work I will have the benefit of sleeping in, and thats worth it in itself!

Overall, I guess I don't have anything crazy to report on. We did have Uncle Johnny's funeral today. I wasn't able to go to the memorial because of school, but was able to go to the "reception" afterwards. Now I am not too sure if reception is the right term, but it was basically a chance for the family to get together and reminisce and eat lunch so whatever that is called I am not sure, so reception it is. It was nice to see the family from Florida, though not exactly an ideal circumstance. Everyone kept telling me that we have to come down and visit after Chase gets here and I think I will take them up on the offer. It will be fun to bring him to Florida and to let him see the ocean and feel the sand between his toes, not to mention all the loving he would be getting from the family!

I guess I will leave on a good note and say that I am so excited for Christmas and so excited to just have some family time for a few weeks! Also, I must include the newest edition to the belly gallery!

Almost the Weekend!

I am just glad to say that it is almost the weekend. I haven't been feeling well all week and I am just looking forward to being able to relax. I am also looking forward to seeing some family this weekend. They came up from Florida for Mom's cousin's funeral and though a sad reason to get together, it will be nice to visit. Mom is setting up our get-together so I should know details tomorrow. As for the weekend, I think that is all that is going on. Just hanging with some family and resting, sounds like a party to me.

Trucking along...

Let me start by saying that I am so glad that school is almost over. Only 2 weeks to go! So many countdowns I have going in my head right now. The count down until school is over, countdown until Christmas, countdown until the start of maternity leave, and the countdown until Chase arrives!!! So much to look forward to!

I scheduled to meet with a pediatrician today, the appointment is on December 18th. He is my little sister Molly's pediatrician and my family seems to like him. I guess I will have to wait and see if he lives up to our standards! I guess I will have to start compiling my list of questions for the doctor.

As of right now, there isn't too much going on. Just some end of semester bullshit and then the beautiful amazingness of Christmas break!! I have so much to do already over the break between birth classes, doctors appointments, and work! Besides that, I also want to start working on my book again. I think I am going to purchase dictation software because I feel I will better get my words out and stay more motivated to complete the first draft if I don't have to type it all!

I guess that is all that is really happening now, Matt and I have our 3 year anniversary on the 6th of December, next Thursday! I think we will go out to eat the following weekend and just have some together time, maybe rent a movie or something good.

I guess I will just finish with saying that Matt and I have been really good lately and when I say this I really do mean it. We have just been happy and laughing a lot and just having a good time together. I really think that Amaris sent Chase to us to fill that little space that only a baby could and that he will only bring us closer after he makes his debut.

...

I am going to win the lottery in the near future. That is all.

Thanksgiving!

It is that time a year again! Yes, you know the one! The fun time when we get back to back to back holiday!!! First we get hit with the tastiness of Thanksgiving, than shortly after comes Christmas, and finish it off with some New Years fun!! Oh, I love this time of year, it's all about family and friends, giving to others, and eating! Yes, I did say eating! Oh I love this time, not so much for the presents and the days off from work, but for the delicious foods! I love all the turkey and mashed potatoes and gravy, it is all so fabulous and it tastes even better at these times of the year. So with this blog I say cheers to the holidays and cheers to family and cheers to eating until you can't eat anymore!

It's my Birthday!!

22 years ago today, November 19th, at 6:10 am little Chelsea made her entrance into the world, weighing 8 lbs 9oz and measuring 21 1/2 inches long! Today is a mini tribute to me! (And that is totally allowed because it is in fact my birthday!)

Me and my daddy!

You'd be crying too if she stole your binky!

I'm a nudist on the inside.

My evil, trouble-making side!

Aunt Gemima ain't got nuttin on me!

I'm a big sister now!

**To be continued tomorrow!**

Long time, no blog!

Again it has come down to the fact that I am totally slacking on my blog, and as a result I am not getting the precious documentation of this pregnancy! My new goal is to at least blog twice a week, that way I won't be missing a thing!

So here is a quick update on everything! I guess I will start with all the dates. I have my next Dr's appointment on the 7th of December, I will be 24 weeks pregnant! I have an echocardiogram on the 1oth of December to make sure baby has a nice, strong, and anatomically correct heart! Keep your fingers crossed that it is a-okay! On January 5th I have my birth class, it is a prepared childbirth class that will last most of the day and I am really looking forward to doing this with Matt. On January 8th I have follow-up appointment at the Gyn-Oncologist to make sure that the spot on my cervix hasn't changed. Finally, on January 17th I have my second childbirth class, Advanced Comfort Measures, to learn about the use of massage, heat, pressure, and other methods of comfort during labor. I am motivated to have a drug-free birth so I want to learn about every and any other methods of pain relief to make this goal a reality. I believe my shower will also be in January, but the date is yet to be determined, but I am certainly excited about that!

As for baby, he is doing very well. And yes I did say he! For those that don't know yet, our little baby is going to be a boy!!! We had our "big" ultrasound on November 2nd and our little guy is looking great!! His heartrate was 161 and he looked to weigh about 11 oz! That is a very big boy for being 19 weeks and 3 days pregnant. Both the tech and the doctor said he was looking great!

Meet Chase Alpha Kalesh!

A lot of other great things have been going on too. Chase has gotten super active over the last week and has been kicking up a storm. He is active a good 4-5 times a day and last week, on Saturday, Matt felt Chase move for the first time! It was a wonderful thing! I really think Matt is ecstatic for our little guy. He is looking forward to teaching him about baseball, taking him to the lake, and all of the other stuff that dads like to do with their sons!

I did have a little scare though on Thursday. I was having too many braxton hicks contractions and they were uncomfortable. On top of that I was having some nausea and low back pain. I put in a call to my doctor and he told me to go home and put my feet up. He also told me to drink plenty of water. If they didn't slow down then I would have to go to labor and delivery. Luckily they stopped and everything was okay, I figure it was related to exhaustion, over-activity and dehydration. As long as Chase is okay, than I am okay!

I have also been thinking a lot about our impending labor and delivery and have decided that I will be going with the VBAC as long as the conditions are okay (i.e. baby is in the right position, there is no medical need for a cesarean, etc.) I have also decided to go without an epidural. I have been reading a lot about epidurals and feel it isn't for me. My mom delivered me and my sister drug free and I can do the same. Epidurals can have some adverse affects on the baby and I don't want to take that risk. They can lower my blood pressure, decreasing the baby's heartrate; they can make it more difficult to push effectively; and the epidural meds can get into the baby's system as well, just to name a few. I don't want to take those risks and I KNOW that I am strong enough mentally and physically to do it the way women have been doing it since as long as baby's have been born. I want to focus on meditation, breathing, and the use of heat/cold, massage, and pressure to assist in my labor relief. I guess we will see how it goes!

School has been good as well. Clinicals have been pretty interesting and so far this semester I have been able to give a flu shot and a catheter, pretty neat if you ask me!! I am just glad that I am doing well in both the lecture and the clinical portion, I like to do awesome and I like to do better than the others in my class. Sounds silly, but I want to prove myself as a hardworker. There aren't many other kids (if any) in my class that can say that they work full time, go to school full time, are pregnant, and kick ass in class!! If it sounds like I have a big head about this than I apologize, but I hate hearing the other kids in my class complain about how they have it so hard when all they do is go to class during the day and get drunk at night!

Also, my birthday is on Monday so that is fun. I had dinner at my dad's this evening. It was very good, he made baked chicken, mashed potatoes, and green beans!!! Tasty if you ask me! Tomorrow Matt and I will go to my mom's for a birthday dinner as well. I have to work on Monday, but I will have off Thursday for Thanksgiving through Sunday. Friday we are going to Washington DC to meet Kathleen and her family!! I am so excited for that! We haven't decided what we are going to do yet, but either way it will be nice to get out of West Chester and even nicer to meet one of my homegirls!

Lastly, I am really excited because we have been getting some work done on the nursery. Tomorrow we will be moving a bunch of boxes upstairs and I hope that the room will only have the computer and desk left down there and I know Matt's mom wants to get rid of the desk and we can probably fit the computer upstairs if need be, so woohoo!!! After that I will vaccuum, we are going to paint, get new carpet, take care of the mold issue, and then I can start to decorate and get the baby furniture!! Very, very exciting!!! Our little Chase will get to have a little room of his own!

So I guess this is all the updating as of now, I will leave with some updated belly pictures because I have grown since my last update!

16 weeks 5 days!

18 weeks 4 days!

19 weeks 6 days!

He has my heart!

20 weeks 5 days! My new dress!

I'm back!

Okay, no excuses now, I need to journal and I need to do it more frequently!!!
I guess I have a lot to update on!

First of all, the Philadelphia Zoo. I had an awesome time with all the girls. They were all so amazing and it was so cool to finally be able to put a "real" person to all the posts. Now don't get me wrong, I am not saying they were unreal, but it is nice to actually get to talk in person and really interact with the girls. And oh my goodness were the babies adorable, they were so cute and chill and awesome and I just wanted to hug and kiss them all! It was just sad for everyone to leave, but hopefully we will be getting together again!

As for baby, everything is going well. Baby has been super active lately, I started feeling movement around 12 weeks, but I would only feel it every few days. Than it eventually moved to every other day, than once a day, now I feel the baby move several times a day and it is awesome. I feel so connected to baby when I can feel him/her thumping around in there. I had my 16 week appointment on Friday. Everything went great! I am only up about 4 pounds, but when I weighed myself today I was only up 3, so it is in that ballpark range. My blood pressure was perfect too. My uterus was mearuing perfectyl and baby's heartbeat was right on at 160, a nice reassuring heartbeat according to Dr. Gerson. If we go by the heartbeat theory, than baby is a girl, but we will see in about three weeks because my next ultrasound is in that time! I haven't scheduled it yet, but I am going for Wednesday, November 7th. I will call on Monday and see what they have! I also asked about a fetal echo at the appointment and we will schedule one with Dr. Bhat between 22-24 weeks so lets cross our fingers that everything is okay! He also said our results from the sequential screen were "perfect" and that they don't normally see such good numbers from only the first half, they usually see numbers like that when all parts were complete and the numbers calculated, pretty awesome!

School has been good, clinicals are definitely more interesting at the Middle School, I actually get to do nursing related tasks. I get to see the students and give medications for pain, ice, examine injuries, etc. so definitely pretty cool.

All in all, I think everything is going really good! School is good, baby is good, I am feeling great, Matt's good! I am definitely feeling the good!

My 15 week and 5 day belly pic!

My Painted Belly at 14 weeks and 5 days!

The Philadelphia Zoo Part One!

Tomorrow I go to the zoo to meet four of my fabulous ladyfriends from EB. This is so very exciting because I love these girls and I tell them things that only a priviliged few are able to hear. I hope it all goes well, I am sure it will. I can't wait to hug them and talk to them, in person! I can't wait to see their little babies and make them laugh and smile. I can't wait to take millions of pictures and I can't wait to make memories with these wonderful women! I will update tomorrow after our visit. Plus, we are getting cheesesteaks from Geno's, there isn't a better way to top off a day!

On another note, Sue got to hear the baby's heartbeat today, I brought the doppler in and we messed around with it while I was on my dinner break. I have listened a few more times lately and baby's heartrate is consistently 168 and I even thought I heard an acceleration in the rate during a period of increased activity. I think the baby was increasingly active because I heard movements over the doppler. I could be wrong, but I think this is a good sign. I remember they were looking for accelerations in heartrate that corresponded to increased activity while I was in the hospital for Amaris.

I also got the test results back from my sequential screen, well at least the first part. Baby has a 1 in 8600 chance for Down's Syndrome and a 1 in 10000 chance of Trisomy 18. The nuchal scan was good too! It was 1.2 mm, which is really good, less than 2.8 at 13 weeks is good so 1.2 is really good!

I also did the drano test. According to the drano God, I am having a girl. I hope it is right because I am really praying for a little girl. I have all those cloths for one, and most of the EB girls in the area have boys so I need to even out the hormones and at least I know she would have a good group of boys to pick from ; )

Drano: Round One - Green

Drano: Round Two - Green

School is good. Clinicals are definitely interesting and I am bored in lecture as always. At least I have a working project for the term paper! Yay, one less thing to worry about. Only 11 more weeks to go until winter break!

I guess all is pretty good now. I am in the second trimester, baby is good, mommy is good (for the most part), glad it is the weekend and if Matt is late tomorrow I am going to kick his ass (and then feel even better)

This is bad...

I have only posted twice in all of September, that is pretty pretty bad. Well I guess I have lots to update on. First, I finally heard the heartbeat, finally. I was looking around and couldn't find it and felt this little twitch and went to that spot. At this spot is where I found that little pesky heartbeat, going at 168 beats per minute!

Then I went to my doctor's appointment on Friday and I got to see the bitty baby and the nuchal scan was good. Baby was jumping all over, twisting and kicking and flipping, it was fabulous. I also got my bloodwork and had my general appointment, I go back the 12th of October.

As for school, everything is good. I passed my skills review and my medication test. I also took my nursing test and will find out how I did on Monday. I also start my first clinical on Tuesday. I am in a community setting at a senior center working with Alzheimer patients, I think it will be a great learning experience.

So I am thinking that's the most of what's going down, I am going to try and make a better effort to update, but it gets hard sometimes with work and school, but I will do it! I know I can!

Edited to add: I am going to post new belly pics soon!