Austin seems to be feeling better after his upper respiratory infection that he had last week. yay for that! He was 20lbs with clothes and diaper on at the pedi for his sick child appt last week. Gaining fast! He did not sleep well at all during the night all last week...and he is still not sleeping through the night yet after this all started. :( I know I should feel lucky that he slept through the night so early on (4.5mts) to begin with! He has been waking up between 4:30-5:30 give or take the last couple of nights which is an improvement over early on last week.

Class officially starts today but I dont go down to Indy again til the 31st. We just lost our Monday sitter today. :( Kelly was going to be watching Austin every Monday while I was at clinical starting in Sept but she texted today to say that she will have to be on campus every monday ..she didn't know her online class had all the quizzes & tests scheduled for Mondays on campus. Oh well, not her fault. Just not sure what we are going to do now ...so I'm back to stressing out!

Andy has a interview tomorrow at 1pm for the loan officer position that he applied for within his credit union but at the Huntington branch. Wish him luck!!! :) He is very excited about it and we really hope he gets the position!

We are also in the process of seeing if we can get approved to refinance our house to lower our house payment since the rates are lower than when we first got our mortgage. We will know soon...probably later this week.

Happy 8 months to Austin Jacob!!

Time is flying by like always. Crazy!! Austin is a happy little boy who is learning and growing all the time.

He now:
~is usually able to catch himself if he starts to fall backwards while sitting up
~rolls both ways easily
~spins around on his belly to get what he wants
~scoots backwards on his belly
~gets on his hands and knees a few times a day (just started this a few days ago)
~tries to climb you if you're on the floor next to him
~eats breakfast and dinner like a champ :)
~sleeps 8:30pm-7am (with the exception of the past 4 or so nights where he's been getting up at least once a night:( )
~says dada!! :)  (since July 31st)
~gives kisses (he's been doing this for awhile..not sure if I mentioned it in the 7 month post)
~tried puffs on Sunday & then again last night (we break them up into about 4 pieces...so very, very tiny and he likes them so far)

Loves to play...especially on a blanket on the floor where he can sit up and be surrounded by his toys! Likes to be outside, go on walks with the doggies, go to the zoo and to the grocery store (he's a ham for the other shoppers!).

No teeth yet, which is fine by me and his doc. He bites everything though!! Likes to shake/rub his gums back and forth on his teethers ...silly boy!

Wearing 6-9 months clothes and we are moving into 9 month sleepers this week. Some 6 month stuff still fits...just depends on what it is. :)

I am still breastfeeding Austin...this is an accomplishment! Only 43% of breastfeeding mothers make it to 6 mts and then only 22% make it to one year! One year is my goal. :) It certainly takes dedication, patience, and trust in your body to provide.

Tired of being so stressed out. Why does no one want to take a chance and hire a previously terminated employee?!!? I've tried several places that aren't even remotely related to nursing positions and nothing is happening!!!

Had a quick doctors appt today since I felt that Austin hasn't been acting his normal self...the fill in doc claimed he was ok. Austin's pedi is on vaca. Anyways... he weighed in at 19lbs 4oz! Holy moly! What has this baby been eating?! Haha...what have I been eating is the better question. The nurse didn't tell me the percentile but I bet he's still in the same 50% range. Might have to look it up. Just thought I would share! We measured him at home with a tape measure and he was 25.5in this past weekend. :) Growing boy. :)

Happy (belated) August readers!

Didn't feel like blogging yesterday since it was a Indy class day...and class went an hour longer than expected which put me leaving at the start of Indy rush hour (4pm). Guess I better get used to that since class will be 9a-4p in the fall on the Wednesdays I have it. Sorry for that rant...

Anyways...

Andy applied for a loan officer position at the branch of his credit union that is in Huntington. This would be a good opportunity & pay raise. He is starting to get bored being the head teller in New Haven. Prayers that he gets it! :)

Not to much else to say....well, I take that back, I have A LOT of complaining, worrying, stressing, etc that I could vent about right now but I'll take a rain check!

Getting closer to getting the babysitting days & people worked out. A little less nervous now thankfully. Also thankful that clinicals don't start til Sept 12th. Class starts Aug 31st.

Austin is regressing a bit in the sleep department lately. We've been trying to get him to not nap on me. Its a work in progress. Also having to do a formula bottle the last 2 (or maybe 3?) nights. Makes me sad. :( I hope its just a growth spurt...I don't want to give up breastfeeding. He is still a very happy boy most of the time. :)

Andy may be applying for a new position within the credit union.. he's still a bit undecided. It would be more money but its at a further branch.

Prayers for peace and wisdom would be much appreciated.

So, of course after I blog about Austin sleeping til closer to 8am he starts waking up between 6:45-7am consistently since then. grr! Oh well. He wakes up happy so that's all that matters!! :) This is the one thing that is consistent with babies...as soon as you think you know their schedule ...it changes! Gotta just roll with it.

I was able to get all my assessments done at Methodist yesterday (the NNP had to change my day from Tues to Wed)!! Yay for them having 34 babies to choose from!! I was there from 8am-2pm so it wasn't bad at all...and my lunch was free (not to tasty pizza but that's ok). That hospital itself is ginormous...used to be the 10th largest hospital in the US believe it or not but its not as big as it used to be due to some construction improvements and the fact that most adult rooms are single only (versus double). The NNP that I was with has been there for 38 years....talk about some experience with the neonate population!! :) They have 3 NNP's and I spoke with one of the neos that was there yesterday and he said he'd like to hire more and would like to start going through the possibility of having night coverage (more sleep for the neos..but more job opps for NNP's). So maybe that'll be a potential job location after I graduate...we'll see.

Sorry so long! Still VERY anxious and nervous about how the whole clinical and class issue is going to be resolved as far as who will be watching Austin and on what days, etc. I tear up every time I think about how much I'm going to be away from him for Fall and Spring semesters. Just going to have to have a countdown as soon as each semester starts. :( Just have to tell myself that 1)It'll be worth it in the end and 2) in the fall semester I will be with him more days then I'm away from him.

Happy 7 months to Austin!! :)

He is growing up to fast! So blessed to be spending time at home with him everyday... very much enjoying it while I can. Austin has been moving his bedtime up a lil bit on his own...he is now going to sleep closer to 8:30pm instead of 9 most nights. He also sleeps closer to 8am now instead of 7. Going to feel bad when I have to wake him up earlier on class/clinical days next month. :(

No teeth yet but he still chews on anything...especially likes his cold teethers and anything rubbery (like the bath toy type toys).

Loves the zoo, we've been 3 times so far and he really likes to "talk" to the giraffes! :)

Sits on his own for longer periods of time. Scoots backwards now when he's on his belly. :) Rolls over to his belly while sleeping now which makes mommy nervous!

Finally got news of where I can do my assessments (with 3 weeks left of class). I'll be going to Methodist Hospital in Indy. Wanted to go to Ball Memorial but the NNP wasn't returning my professors calls so she thinks she's on vacation. Luckily these 10 assessments shouldn't be a big deal at all to get done and if there isn't enough variety when I go on Tuesday then I'll go back on one of the weekend days so that Mom won't have to take another day off. Glad my professor has been understanding about all the hospital drama here in Fort Wayne. Still makes me mad but I've gotta move past it. Not totally sure where clinicals will be for fall/spring.

Still trying to work out babysitters for fall semester and working on my anxiety about it all. God has a plan.

Some good news and some bad news to report.

Austin's eye doctor appt went well yesterday. The doctor does not think he needs surgery, glasses or patching at this time. He said if we notice his eye turning in more than 50% of the time then we should come back sooner than our next appt, which is in January. He did some tracking exercises, checked his reflexes with the light, dilated his eyes and measured them. We were there for a long time but it's worth it since I didn't want to let this turn into a big problem. His eye didn't turn in at all while the doc was looking at him of course. It really doesn't happen all that often but better safe than sorry! He thinks his skin near his eyes just might be covering part of the sclera (white part). His eye measurements were normal for age so that's good too! :)

The other piece of good news we received deals with Andy's student loans. We/he got approved to put them in deferment for a while due to our financial hardship. Yay!! That'll help out since our savings account is getting low!

Now for the bad news....

Spoke with a lawyer earlier this week and he wanted me to try to talk to Lutheran Hospital on my own to see if I can get my file cleared without having to pay him for his legal assistant. Finally got an answer today from Lutheran and the lady stated that every person terminated will have a no rehire tag on their file for the whole network of hospitals. She said that by law they couldnt tell me not to apply for positions ...so even though I wasted my time since no one in the network could hire me they were following policy. Frustrating!! Wish that Parkview Hospital would take a chance on a terminated person or at least interview me to hear why I was terminated!!! I'll be calling the lawyer back to update him and see if theres anything else that can be done and whether or not he thinks suing for lost wages is a viable option.

Sorry so long!

Still waiting to hear back from my professor about clinicals. She is supposed to be working on placements for us (5 girls total) this week and next week.

Happy July blog readers! :)

This past week was stressssful for me. The short story of the drama is that I will not be able to do my spring semester clinicals in Fort Wayne (was going to split time btw Dupont and Lutheran). The compliance officer at Dupont made the decision & said me being terminated was to big of a risk for me to come in as a student. :( Very upset!!! I even faxed him paperwork from the judge saying I didn't violate HIPAA. Parkview is not an option since they don't have a NNP to be my preceptor.


This also a big reaon why I can't obtain a RN position lately...there is a no-hire tag on my file for the Lutheran network of hospitals (thats a lot of hospitals) and my termination does not appeal to other potential employers it seems to appear. I was not made aware of this tag on my file until about 2 weeks ago.
So it looks like I will be commuting both semesters now. This is actually going to be quite difficult. Clinicals in the fall are 2 days a week with a 6 hour class every other Wednesday and then Spring semester is 3 days a week with class every other Wednesday. Plus all the driving, studying, ...and taking care of Austin! So even if I had a job it would have to be a weekends only type job!

Ball Memorial in Muncie is looking to be a good option for Spring semester since it'll be a little closer during the worst of the weather. I'll know within a couple weeks where I'll be going for both semesters.

Just pray for me. I'm having a lot of anxiety about how I'm going to handle all the driving and time away from Austin. Also running into a little trouble finding enough people/the right people to watch Austin during all this since my mom cannot take 2-3 days a week off in the fall and then 3-4 days a week in the spring!

So stressed out!! Too many things to list...just pray for wisdom and strength.

Austin had his 6 month appointment this morning with the pedi. :) We LOVE her! So glad I found a doc that I feel comfortable with. Recommend her to anyone who lives in Fort Wayne. :) Stats are to the right but I'll list them in this post too. Weight: 17lbs 7oz (50th%); Length: 24.5in (less than 5th%); Head circumference: 17.25in (50th%). I had the nurse measure his length twice since I could not believe that was all the more he had grown and is now basically falling off the growth chart! His doc wasnt concerned she said its one of 2 things: he either is about to enter the 6 month growth spurt or he is going to be on the shorter side like me. He's always been in the 5th% for length so its all still within his normal range.

Developmentally he is doing fantastic she said! He goes from sitting to standing (while holding her hands) with minimal head lag which is actually a 9 month skill so we are impressed. :)

He has one stubborn eczema spot that is not clearing well on it's own (did I ever mention he has eczema?..oops--I don't think I ever have since we weren't completely sure). So we are going back to using Aveeno baby soap & lotion and will be trying hydrocortisone for 2 weeks. We had been using Johnson & Johnson since we had gotten some from shopping before he was born so we were using that up ...guess that was a bad idea! I've read that it can be more irrtating since it's fragranced so back to Aveeno we go. Fine by me...I love Aveeno much more! :)

He also is going to be visiting the opthalmologist to get his eyes checked and measured. You may have noticed that his right eye will occasionally turn inwards in some of the pics of him on facebook. His doc just wants to make sure it isn't going to turn into a lazy eye. It always looks fine at his appts and usually we don't notice him doing it at home but we are just going to stay on top of it since vision problems run in my family.

No change in his hemaginoma so we will just continue to keep an eye on it. No teeth yet either which is perfectly fine. We also got the ok to start solids twice a day and to practice more with the sippy cup. :) He will remain on his Zantac twice a day for now ...she said we could trial him off the bedtime dose within the next month or two if we thought he was ready.

I think that's it ..sorry so long & detailed!!

Austin is 6 months old today!! Crazy!! He has changed and grown so much these past 6 months. No official stats yet...he has his 6 month appt on Monday morning. He is sleeping from 9pm-7ish am now with catnaps throughout the day. Sometimes he will take a nap that lasts longer than 30 minutes but usually he powernaps!

He's tried all the stage 1 fruits & veggies...he gets oatmeal and a jar of food each evening around 6pm. The stage 1 jars are starting to seem like not enough food! We will likely get the go ahead to move to twice a day and stage 2 at his pedi appt. :)

Austin started rolling from back to belly yesterday. He sits up very well but falls over when he gets tired so we don't leave him alone when hes sitting. He is learning to drink from a sippy cup...still would rather chew on it right now. I am still breastfeeding...yay!!..made it to my first goal! :) He eats about every 2.5-3.5 hours during the day. Loves to be outside and go on walks in the stroller. Recently started giving the "open mouth baby kisses" to mommy & daddy. He also pulls my hair and then acts disgusted when he gets it in his mouth...haha!

Think thats about it on new stuff. :)

Cannot believe our baby boy will be 6 months old tomorrow! Insane!!

He rolled from his back to his belly this morning!! :)

Had a phone interview today for a prn position at Ball Memorial in the Mother/baby unit. It was just with HR so the questions were kind of generic. She said she will forward her notes to the nurse manager. Tried to call Parkview North again (Jess suggested I try again)...it just kept ringing..no one picked up. I have to call the NICU and ask for the nurse manager so its almost like the operator connected me to the wrong place! Got busy and forgot to try again later in the day. I can only be on the phone when Austin is sleeping so that they don't hear him!

So much stuff to do for summer classes. A lot of it is not very time consuming but there is certainly a lot to learn! Luckily there are ZERO papers to write!! Yay for that! Most of it is enjoyable to read about since it all pertains to the neonatal population. :)

Austin has been such a good boy! :) He is verrrry chatty! Posted new pics on facebook tonight. Looking forward to seeing my cousin Amy's twin boys this coming Sunday at her parents house since they are in town for the week/weekend. Zeke & Eli are 6 days older than Austin but they were born 6 weeks early. It'll be cute to see the 3 of them together. Haven't seen them since January 2nd. Hopefully Austin does well on the roadtrip!

Doing homework after Austin goes to bed is working out well so far. It's time for bed though...he wakes up at pretty much the same time every day so I have my own personal alarm clock ..lol!

Happy (belated) June!

No new news on Parkview  ...or anywhere else for that matter.

Classes are going well. Gets hard to do school stuff during the day with Austin since he still naps on me most of the time and isn't a fan of entertaining himself for long! Working on doing stuff after he goes to bed. Still need to set up a few days to go to Dupont to work on some class stuff if I don't get a NICU job soon.

Austin is doing well! :) No teeth yet but he certainly has his fussy, teething days. He can mostly sit up on his own now with very little help ..each day he can sit up for a tad longer than the day before. He has tried all of the stage 1 fruits & veggies now. Loves dinnertime for the most part! :) Sleeping from 9ish pm to 6:30-7:30am. Yay! He goes back to the doctor on the 20th for his 6mt appt.

Spoke with the Parkview North nurse manager this morning. She has 2 part time nights positions left to fill and her assistant is supposed to be calling to arrange interviews end of this week/begining of next. Please pray that I'm selected for an interview. :)

After all this time (Feb. to now)...the Dupont job has fallen through and I'm not getting it.

She said she's very upset about it and is not sure why they ended up saying no. I guess
Lutheran didn't have anything bad to say about me so who knows. I personally think a nurse manager should be able to decide who she wants to hire! Heck she is the one managing the nurse!!

She did say I should be able to come in and do my assessment assignments on the infants (since I'd be going through the NNP & Neo's) but we'll see if I can get a job elsewhere first.

So now we are praying super hard about the Parkview & Parkview North NICU jobs. There are 3 available at Pk Main and I think 2 or 3 available at Pk North. I've spoke to the nurse recruiters at both hospitals and have a letter of recommendation from my good friend Jessica who works at Pk North.

God has a plan...just hard to wait.

Sorry for the lack of blogging. Just been busy/same old, same old.

Classes started Monday and are going well so far. I have neonatal/newborn assessment and Procedures in Neonatolgy. Yay! :) Went to Indy Wednesday for a 6 hour class. Blah..went by fast but its hard to be away from Austin for so long with the boring drive added in too! Have to go again next week on Tues and Thurs then again on June 6th. She wanted to get in all our lecture stuff for assessments early on so that we can spend the rest of the summer doing our assessments on infants..10 in total on different (gestational) age ranges. Then for the other class we have a bunch of online stuff to do and will meet in early August to do hands on procedures in a skills learning lab. (not on real babies that day though..that'll come in the fall!)

On the job front...getting so ridiculous. Never realized how much a persons patience could be tested! The dupont nurse manager had a mtg on Monday to discuss/confirm hiring me with her manager and was supposed to call me. Well she still hasnt. Talked to my dupont nicu nurse friend and I guess the nurse manager gave her notice (to quit) this week. Great! :( Well she told my friend that she is adamant on hiring me before she leaves so I am giving her til 3pm to call me and then I'm gonna call her! I have too much time and energy invested in getting this job!

Talked to the Nurse recruiter for Parkview Main (competing hospital for my out of state readers) and he is sending my application to the nurse manager in the NICU. Andys boss is his cousin so she gave him my resume. You really do have to know someone to get in anywhere it feels like. I also have a letter of recommendation going for me at Parkview North and talked to that Nurse recruiter yesterday.

THIS IS CRAZY!!! I just need a job!!! Dukes never called back or returned my email that I had sent (by request as a followup) so I'm assuming they picked someone else for that adult ICU position.

I've applied everywhere!! Including non hospital places. Dang Fort Wayne and its bazillion nursing schools that have so many graduating at one time! Well that...and my termination is always a red flag on applications. :(

Ok vent over.

Austin is doing awesome! :) I swear he has grown an inch in the last week because suddenly all of his 3 month sleepers are getting to short in the legs! We only have four 6 or 6-9 month (depending on the brand) sleepers so I might have to get some more soon! Had to move up to the 6-12 month socks this week too. Growing so fast! He is currently loving his exersaucer and being outside (brief amts of time and out of the sun). Still likes to catnap for me...sleeps great for mom. He sleeps from 9/9:30pm to 6-7ish am!! No teeth yet (thankfully on my part) but I don't think it'll be too long because he really bites down hard on his fingers and his teethers lately. :)

Wow this turned into a long post. Sorry! I'll update later or tomorrow on what I hear about Dupont.

I had a great first Mothers day! Love Austin soo much!! Love Andy too of course! :) Austin did very well at his baby dedication & lunch afterwards.

Andy & I celebrated our 3 year anniversary yesterday. :) We went to Applebees for dinner and then DQ for dessert while my parents watched Austin. Looking forward to many, many more happy years together!!

Earned a A- in both classes this semester bringing my total gpa to a 3.6. :)
Summer semester starts Monday.

A part time nights NICU position was posted yesterday for Dupont!! I applied & called the nurse manager. :) She said the prn one should be posted soon now that the part time one was up. I told her that I was interested in the part time one also so she is checking on permission to hire me for that one...she has permission to hire me for the prn one I guess. She is suppose to be calling me back soon. I hope! This has been a long, crazy waiting process.

Happy Mother's Day to all the momma's out there!! :)

Happy Nurse's Day!! :) Can't wait to start working again...I miss taking care of the tiny babies so much! Although nothing compares to taking care of Austin! :)

I hope everyone has a great Mother's Day weekend! Austin's baby dedication is also on Sunday morning. :)

Gotta finish my case study today (yeah, I've been slackin') and submit it and then spring semester will be done!

Austin has averaged 10 hours of nighttime sleeping each night for the last 3 nights!!! Let's hope this trend continues. He wakes up super happy. :)

But with this new nighttime schedule he appears to be on a nap strike!! Cat naps or no naps the last two days....hmm...

I have a interview tomorrow afternoon at Dukes Memorial in Peru. It's for a prn position in the medical/surgical ICU...not ideal at all but I need a job so I'm taking the interview. It's 70 miles from my house. Why can't Dupont just post that darn position?!?

Happy May everyone! :)

We like our new couch! :) Much more comfortable and it seats more people now. Attempting to train the dogs to stay on a blanket only when they are laying on the couch.

Got my hearing date for my unemployment benefit appeal. Its May 13th. But then today when I was on the unemployemt website it wanted me to fill out a form to resume my benefits...so I did but I don't know if that was just a standard computer thing or what?? Who knows.

My fabulous friend Jessica wrote me a letter of recommendation for Parkview North! She works there in surgical admissions but knows the NICU nurse manager and the NICU educator so she gave them a letter of recommendation about me. So maybe I will have a better chance at getting an interview in their NICU. Last I checked they had 3 spots that were open...they arent on the website anymore but they may still be open. Still waiting on Dupont also.... I have of course been applying at other hospitals and other positions but no calls yet. Need something fast!!! If I don't have a NICU job by the end of May then I will have to get some strings pulled so that I can go in to a NICU to do my assessments for one of my summer classes. Stressful to think about. My advisor says she can set me up at Methodist to do the assignments ...nice ..but I don't want to drive 2 hrs each way to do assessments for free.

This upcoming week is the last week of spring semester! Yay! I have my scholary project paper due on Wednesday, a final big case study due Friday and my adv. pathophysiology final to take by Friday. Whew! Summer classes start May 16th so I get a whopping 10 days off.

Austin is doing great!! We've tried cereal 3 times now and he's steadily getting better at it!!! :) His baby dedication is this coming Sunday, on Mother's day! :)

Rain, rain go away! It's been raining everyyyy day! We need a break from it! The dogs would really like to start going on walks!! They have cabin fever!

Our couch is finally going to be delivered on Wednesday!! We ordered it a loooong time ago and it was originally supposed to be in April 1st. In hindsight we prolly should have saved our $$ since I ended up quitting Community North but we can't go back in the past. I'm excited about it!! Salvation Army is coming to take our old couch and chair. :)

Austin had a great first Easter! He got spoiled & loved on by all the family!! :) See facebook for pics! :)

The end of the semester is coming up fast! I have one more quiz to take on Thursday for Patho and then I'll be studying for my final which is May 6th and working on my final big case study due that same day. I also have to finish up our Scholarly Project group paper which is due May 4th. I'm sooo happy this is the last paper I will have to write/co-write for my masters! Less than 13 months til I graduate...who's counting?! :)

No new news on the job front but it is only Monday so stay tuned.

Hopefully I'll hear back this week from the judge on when my unemployment hearing will be.

That's all for now. Looking forward to Abbey, Gracie, & Gregory Jr visiting tomorrow afternoon! :)

Austin had a great pediatrician appt this morning. :) He weighs 14lbs 5oz (50th percentile), 23 1/4in long (5th percentile), and his head measured 16.5in (40th percentile).

She wasn't worried that he no longer wants to roll from belly to back. She said sometimes babies just choose not to anymore..haha! She was happy with his supported sitting, his weight bearing on his legs when held in the standing position, and the fact that he controls his head when she helps pull him from laying to sitting to standing. :) He's a good boy! I'm glad we work on all this stuff at home!

She said we could start on cereal if we wanted but it wasn't necessary yet since he's breastfed. Might try it and see how he does. :) He tolerated his 2 shots well. :)

Got my "Determination of Eligibility" letter in the mail today and my unemployment claim was not approved. Dang it. So now I have to file for an appeal and have a hearing with the administrative law judge. Hopefully he/she rules in my favor and the process doesn't take weeks (it could take 8-10 weeks).

What would be really great is if Dupont would just approve that position so I can start working there!! I've been applying for jobs while waiting since we need money! God is in control but it's hard to be patient.

Hmm...the unemployment homepage is not showing anything new...guess I will have to call them in the morning to see what's up.

Austin had a good 4 month birthday yesterday. :) His grandma (my mom) & I took him to get his pictures taken with a real bunny. He did really well!! No smiles for the camera though..stinker!

This semester is almost over!! 3 more weeks! Crazy!!

My unemployment was approved!!! ....I think..

It's not showing anything under "Issues delaying payment" where before it was saying "Voluntary Quit". Not getting my hopes up yet since in the payment column it is only showing one week of payments left which is all I had left before I started at Community North. I'm thinking/hoping that after I file my work search on Saturday/Sunday that it will reset the system and show me how many weeks I am eligible for.

I've been applying to jobs since that is a requirement for umeployment collection (minimum 3 jobs per week that you have to list) while I am waiting for the Dupont job to be finalized which seems to be taking forever. What the heck?!

Stressed out. Too many things to list. Ranges from lack of money to school issues. Lots of things in between. Also feeling guilty that I quit my job before the dupont job was completely "signed & sealed".

Andy's grandpa passed away this morning. His sister said he was peaceful so that's good. Prayers for comfort for the family...especially his grandma. Andy's grandparents had been together since they were 13 and had always done everything together.

Hospice nurse said Andys gpa has a few more days possibly. After a somewhat mean/demanding phone call from Andy's dad we are going over there soon.

Hoping to somewhat keep the peace. His family is ridiculous with the guilting. You should have seen some of texts Kerry sent to him & then was cranky with me yesterday evening when I tried to stick up for my own husband.

Who promoted her to the visitor police?! I've been calling her that for awhile...she likes to keep track of who visits the grandparents! Makes me embarassed to claim them as family after the way his sister, mom & dad have been acting this week.

Andy's grandpa is hanging on & doing ok. He is on morphine and oxygen around the clock now. He can talk somewhat. Andy's sister is keeping us updated.

and...she is also driving me crazy! Andy too. She has been trying to guilt trip him into visiting. She said that their grandpa won't know that he cares if he doesn't visit. How rude of her! Andy is really struggling with this since he does not want his last memory of his grandpa to be of him in pain and looking/feeling so sickly.


Then his mother  called and left him a voicemail telling him that he had no choice but to go see his grandpa. It's a requirement in her mind. Her & Andy's dad were supposed to arrive home in the middle of the night last night...they were in Florida on vacation.

So now Andy has been completely stressed out since Wednesday night when we got the first call from Kerry about his rapidly declining health.

Prayers for Andy & his family. His grandfather has been on hospice care for ALS and had a very rough night. The hospice nurse says he does not have long. Pray for a peaceful passing and comfort for his family.

Feeling fairly overwhelmed lately. I'm doing the bare minimum each week for school lately and that sucks! My grades aren't suffering since I am able to look up answers to quiz questions that I don't know but thats never a good idea!! Afraid when the time comes that I won't know anything. I keep saying that I'm going to wake up before Austin and work on my reading more but he's still somewhat unpredictable on when he wakes up and I've been sick this week so that doesn't help. Excuses, excuses I know. Blah.

Hopefully this summer when Austins schedule is more predictable I can really focus. Lets hope. Like today...its 3:30ish and Austin has barely napped. Tried the car ride trick and it worked but then he woke up about 10 minutes after we got home. I really try to make every day consistent so that he will be in a routine but he only naps well 2-3 days out of the week. :(

Refiled for unemployment today since the Dupont nurse manager still has no idea on when the position will be posted and she claims she doesn't know if she continue the interviewing process before the job is posted. Hopefully my claim gets approved so that a little bit more money can be coming in while we are waiting. This process with Dupont has been going on for 6 weeks...thought it would take 2-3 maximum. Yeah I thought wrong!! So did the nurse manager I guess. We are not drowning money wise but I don't want to get to that point obviously. Theres only so much in our savings!!

Theres my rant and whining for the week. Sorry for the negativism but this week so far has been a struggle for some reason.

Happy April! ...feels like yesterday that I was saying Happy March!

Class got cancelled today because my professors doggie isn't doing well. Luckily she remembered that I live out of town so I knew about it before I even started getting ready. Hopefully her dog pulls through!

Talked to the nurse manager at Dupont today...we talk about once a week. She's frustrated that the approved prn spot is still not posted. Finally just asked if she could continue the interviewing/hiring process before its posted. Shes going to ask her manager (who is on spring break) and call me back Monday or Tuesday. Prayers that her manager doesn't care! My mom thinks it might have something to do with the "equal opportunity employment" rule and that's why they have to post it online first.

Austin is being his usual charming self. :) ...and drooooling up a storm! Might be time to break out all the cute bibs we got at the baby showers!

Go Cubs!! Andy stayed home for opening day today ..but they are currently losing. :(  They were winning for quite a while though.

Our couch which was supposed to arrive at the store tomorrow has been backordered til April 23rd. :( Major sad face! :(

We've already been waiting for what feels like forever! I am not a patient person as most of you know! Maybe it'll come in earlier than what they estimate.

Registered for my 2 summer classes and my one fall class this morning. Clinicals (2 days a week) start in the fall & only one class is required for it (6 credit hours though)! Then I'll have one 6 credit hour class plus 3 days of clinical in the spring....leading to graduation May 13 (I think), 2012!!

Austin had a bad stretch of waking up several times a night this past week or so but slept from 10:15pm til 7:45am last night! Yay! :) I actually got up and showered before he woke up ...need to try to do that more often. Makes the morning go a bit easier. :)

It's getting more and more difficult to focus on and finish school work when Austin is awake and active!! He only took a hour & 15 minute afternoon nap today...and I held him for part of it (my fault). I hate doing school stuff while hes awake ...don't want him to get lonely..yes that's silly to think. Oh well! Just a quick vent about time management and my lack of it lately! At least he likes his playmat so I can sit here next to him for about 25-30 minutes and do case studies/study for quizzes/work on my research paper.

All About Me -- A to Z    ...this survey was on a blog that I read so I thought I'd fill it out for fun. :)

A. Age: 25
B. Bed Size: Queen --- which sometimes is not quite big enough with 2 dogs!
C. Chore you dislike: Cleaning the shower

D. Dogs: Two! Lacy (almost 3) & Larry (3)
E. Essential start to your day: breakfast :)
F. Favorite color: Blue or pink

G. Gold or silver: Sliver

H. Height: 5'2"
I. Instruments you play(ed): Piano, clarinet, flute (not sure if I remember much anymore though!)
J. Jelly bean flavor: any fruity ones

K. Kids: Have 1 -- Austin Jacob & hope to have one or two more!
L. Lucky number(s): hmm... 3 I guess

M. Month: June :) or December

N. Nicknames: Ash, Squirt, Babe, ....theres lots more!

O. Overnight hospital stays: One...when I had Austin -- was in the hospital from Wednesday (2:14pm) til Saturday noonish :) Very memorable stay!!
P. Pet peeves: Negative people, those who litter

Q. Quote from a movie: ...too many to name although most are from Gilmore Girls

R. Righty or lefty: Righty

S. Siblings: One younger brother, Alan

T. Time you wake up: Largely depends on Austin!
U. Underwear: Yes!

V. Vegetables you don't like: hmm..
W. What makes you run late: thinking I can get ready faster than what is reality!

X. X-rays you've had: teeth, lungs, right wrist
Y. Yummy food you make: cookies, cupcakes :) My baking is far better than my cooking!!
Z. Zoo animal favorites: ostrich!, penguin, polar bear
 
Your turn! :)

Feeling in limbo right now....

Dupont job is still not posted. Talked to that nurse manager today and she doesn't know when it'll be on the site and she can't move forward without it being a official position. Grr..

Nurse manager from Community called and wants to work something out with me. She has offered me a prn position where I would have to work 24 hours per 6 weeks plus one minor holiday. She doesn't want to lose me as an employee since I am experienced.

Don't want to go back to Community but I also don't know what's up with the delay in the posting of the position at Dupont.

Prayers would be greatly appreciated. :) I want to work at Dupont!!

I quit my job at Community Hospital. It was just too much. Too much driving, too much stress being away from Austin that long, not enough sleep, etc! Should have listened closer to those who told me that it would be too much!

I spoke with the nurse manager at Dupont on Thursday and she said that the prn position has been approved and should be posted online any day now. She said she doesn't want me to slip away & that I should call her as soon as I apply. :) Hopefully it happens really soon!

Andy could potentially be transfering to another branch for a open loan officer position (his branch just isn't getting enough business for them to have a loan officer). This is something that he wants to do and it's the "next step" career wise after being a teller then head teller. :) The position is also a few dollars an hour raise. :) I'll keep you updated!

Austin is such a great baby!! :) He wakes up cooing! ...even at 4am. :)

Happy St. Patricks Day! and.. Happy 3 month birthday to Austin (yesterday)! :)

Austin is changing so much all the time. Bittersweet! It's exciting to experience everything that he does but the time is just passing so quickly ...trying to enjoy every moment with him! :)

He will smile pretty much anytime now. :) Hard to get it on camera since its so fast though! He still is not wanting to roll over from belly to back but that's ok ...we'll keep doing tummy time. Cousin Camden is rolling...so of course I'm being a competitive mommy! I think its because Camden is super skinny and long so its easier! lol!!

He coos a lot! Likes to talk to mommy, daddy, grandma & poppy. :) Also likes to talk to himself in his mirror, certain toys, and the ceiling fan. Also coos during and after his bath! Loves to stand up when someone is holding him. Chews his hands a lot...and even sucks his thumb several times a day! Uh oh!! ;) Also will hold onto some toys if you place them in hand and he contines to bat at his toys on the playmat. :)

Not sure how much he weighs since we don't have a doctors appt this month but I would guess 11.5 lbs...should get on the scale with him to get a better idea. :)

Today has been great so far!!!

Talked to the nurse manager at Dupont & she said that the part time spot is going to be filled internally...but..as soon as she gets the prn position appoved she is going to hire me!!! Talked to my friend that works there & she said girls are always posting hours/call time that they want to give up so it should be easy to work 24 or so hours a week. Prn spots usually require just 8 hours a schedule. Plus...I can float to Lutheran & St. Joe's NICU. :) So hopefully she can post the position online soon.

No cavities at the dentist today. Woohoo!! The staff was in love with Austin! :)

Got a 95% on my reasearch class assignment! There's only 3 projects for that class so it was a lil nerve wracking! So I now have a 90% in that class and a 93% in advanced patho!! Yes I am being an attention seeker right now but I've been so stressed out so it's good to have a great day! :)

Austin Jacob is cute as always & such a great baby! :)

Austin & I had a ton of fun today at Danne's with her, Abbey & Jill plus...Wyatt, Jade, Gracie, Gregory Jr, & Noah. Love all the babies/toddlers!! :)

Back to work tomorrow. :( Really not sure how long the adjustment process is going to take! Calling Dupont either Wednesday afternoon or Thursday morning for an "update" like she requested. She should be completely done interviewing people by then and hopefully she'll want to schedule me for a peer interview....or just offer me the job! Let's hope & pray!!

Not feeling like doing schoolwork lately...that's no good! I was in such a good groove so hopefully that's just temporary. There's just so much to do around the house sometimes and it's incredibly easy to get distracted by my sweet little boy. :)

Time for bed! Gotta get up at 3:45am .... blah.

Happy March (a few days late)!!

Austin is doing great! :) "Talks" to his toys all the time now. Wish we had a 3 month appt so I could see how much he weighs...might just have to get on the scale with him. :)

This past weekend we ordered a new couch (yay for tax return $) from Ashley Home Furniture store. We really needed a new one and they were having a sale so it was 15% off. :) We looked around and talked to some people & this store appeared to have the best price and quality for what we wanted to spend. It is a popular couch...and won't be in til April 1st. Crazy! It is brown leather (fake I believe) with light brown stitching. The pillows are attached so hopefully they won't get so out of shape like the pillows on our couch right now. I looked for a picture on their website but couldn't find one so I'll post one after it arrives.

I started on the unit Tuesday. It was great to be taking care of the babies again but being away from Austin for 16+ hours was very hard! I work again on Saturday. Still really wavering on this whole working far away thing. :(

Talked to Dupont again this morning. She said her boss has one more person for her to interview this coming Tueday and then she will start the peer interviews. She told me I am still in the running and to keep calling back for updates. She posted a part time weekend position so I did apply for that also and she is supposed to be posting some prn positions. Still praying that I get something!! Gas prices are killer right now with the recent increase...so this commute to Indy is going to start costing more than we budgeted.

School is going well. :) Not much to report on in that area.

Very ready for Spring to be here. Tired of bundling up myself & Austin everytime we go somewhere. I loved the snow while it was here but it's time for 50* and up weather!

Very excited to go to Muncie on Monday to see Abbey, Danne & Jill + kiddos. We have 6 kids between the 3 of us now!! We are just staying in at Danne's new house and hanging out....it would be insane to take them out with the youngest one being 6 weeks and the oldest being 2!

Hospital orientation went well. I'll start on the unit on Tuesday. Doing Tuesday & Saturday next week. The drive to Indy on Monday & Tuesday was yucky ....had freezing rain monday and snow on tuesday!! 69 cleared up around gas city both days though. Indy never got as much snow/ice crap as we did this week thank god. Was late both days ....7 mins Monday and 12 minutes Tuesday. Had no problems on Thursday. Luckily hospital orientation was just 2.5 days. Thank goodness I left somewhat early both days since I was somewhat prepared for it. Stinkin' weather! The drive home on Monday took 3 hours.... won't even type how I felt after that seeing how it should have only taken 1hr and 45 mins.

Ok enough ranting about the weather which we have no control over!

Still in "neogiations" with Dupont. She keeps telling me to call her every couple days since she is interviewing in house peeps. Well I talked to my "inside contact" today and she said that the nurse manager told her that she would for sure hire me as a prn status since that would be easier to replace after I graduate. She is also a little hesitant on how it would look if she hired me after Lutheran fired me. (Lutheran & Dupont are in the same network for my out of state readers.) For goodness sakes take a chance on me!!! I love being a NICU nurse and would make it worth your while to hire me is what I feel like screaming!!! But I won't, I will be respectful & call her on Monday as she asked!

My case study for adv patho is due tonight and I'm taking my midterm tomorrow morning. Wish me luck. Not at all worried about the case study...those are easy ..just time consuming. The midterm is over a lot of stuff though ... Once I get through patho stuff I gotta work on my other class..it's getting neglected since adv patho is so time consuming!

What's new is Austin's world... hmm.. he decided that he only rolls over for his doctor! :) He hasn't done it again since he did it twice for her! Oh well. He will when he's ready. He gets cuter by the minute & is so into the world around him. We watched Baby Einstein on Wednesday afternoon and he was cooing at the tv! Smart little boy! Still working on taking naps next to mommy instead of on her. I love, love, love to hold him but I know he needs to be able to sleep in his bed/pack n play/couch and not get into bad habits.

Lots of anxiety about starting my new job for some reason. New hospital, new charting system, new staff, new doctors, new boss....luckily the beds are the same and most of the equipment should be the same. Not looking forward to the drive but at least the worst of the winter weather is over. Just going to try to make the best of it while I continue looking for a NICU job here at home.

Speaking of which....I've applied for 4 NICU jobs recently! 3 at Parkview North and 1 at Dupont. I had a phone interview for the one at Dupont earlier this week. She said she has to talk to the girls in house that want the spot (if there are any) and that she may be calling me for a in person interview soon. She also said she will be posting some weekend positions. She did say she is hesitant on moving forward with the interview process since I will be done with school in 15 months but....she said she has a lot of inexperienced staff on night shift so I would be as assest. They currently have to call in a more experienced nurse if there is an impending micro preemie admit! INSANE! And a complete liability considering the fact that most nurses are not required to go in.

Prayers please that I can get a job close to home. I know it's all up to God.

Forgot to include some things in Austin's 2 month post. :)

Likes:
~bathtime
~having books read to him
~talking to mommy & daddy
~swinging in the swing
~looking in the mirror

Dislikes:
~having a wet or poopy diaper!
~waiting to long to eat...he's become impatient!
~being put down for too long when he's awake...sometimes he's ok if he can see/hear you or if he's on his playmat

What can Austin do now? :)
~smile
~coo
~roll from tummy to back if his arms are propped under him
~track a toy or mommy/daddy with his eyes
~still the best snuggler ever! :)

Austin had his 2 month well baby appointment today with his 2 month immunizations. He weighs 10lbs 8oz (25th percentile) and is 21 inches (5th percentile) long now! His head measured 15.5 inches (25th percentile). He is going to be short at the rate he's going..but thats ok with me! I'm short too! The strawberry hemigoma near his left eye has not grown anymore, thank goodness, so we will just be keeping an eye on it.

She increased his Zantac to 1 ml twice a day  (this medication is weight based) and said he can stay on that dose until he's 4 mts old unless it appears to not be effective and then she will increase it again. We might try weaning him off of it after his 4 month visit. Sleeping/napping on the incline are working for his reflux so we are going to continue doing that. :)

Developmentally he is doing great! He rolled from belly to back twice for her when she propped his arms under his chest for him. He also did well when she held him up to stand....straightened his little legs out and put some weight on them! Obviously he won't be standing anytime soon but they have to make sure they can straighten their legs. :)

He had three combination vaccines (thankful that some vaccines can be combined--theres 5 maybe 6 they get at this age) and then the oral rotavirus vaccine. Silly nurse didn't bring another nurse in the room with her so she had to do each one individually instead of them doing two of the three at the same time. Oh well. He calmed down as soon as I was able to pick him up.

FYI for those who don't have children yet or those that have small children...they don't recommend giving tylenol before vaccines anymore. It has been shown to weaken the immune response in the body. I knew this beforehand but wanted to pass it along to those that might not know.

Came home, fed him, gave him tylenol and now he's sleeping. :) Such a snuggler.

Happy Valentine's Day! I'm lucky & have two valentines this year! :)

Austin has his 2 month well baby appt & immunizations on Wednesday afternoon. I'll post about his stats later that day!

Not a whole lot to report from our house...but my goal is to blog at least once a week. :)

Austin had his first crying fit this morning. Lasted about 15 minutes and started when I was in the shower. I had him in the bouncy seat in the doorway of our bathroom so he could hear me and whatnot but he still started to get fussy so I hurried my shower but by the time I got out he was full out crying with tears.  :( Not sure what the deal was but he continued to cry even after I picked him up. Hasn't cried that loud since he was born! I think more of his personality might just be coming out. Andy thinks he is going to be demanding & impatient like his mommy. Uh oh! He has been super clingy the last few days which doesn't really bother me...just hard to do things one handed sometimes! He hasn't been a fan of the moby wrap lately...I think he gets to hot.

Well that's all for now. Gotta do some more reading/studying/homework before Austin eats again. :)

Happy February everyone! Got out the red, pink & white hand towels with hearts on them for the bathrooms yesterday. :) Yes I'm a dork!

Had my post partum appt yesterday. Not completely healed yet so I am on activity restrictions for 2 more weeks. I am also 7 lbs under my pre-pregnancy weight now. That's exciting! I think it has a lot to do with breastfeeding. That and I had gained a bit of weight when I was on fertility meds before I got pregnant. Just need to tone my belly before summer!

As far as classes go...soo much reading for my patho class....what did I get myself into? The to do list never ends for either class. At least the reseach class doesn't have a lot of reading...just searching for articles for our group paper right now. We are in groups of 2 for that class so that's nice. :)

Really not looking forward to the work orientation...wish I could just orient part time. I think the 3 days a week is going to kill me along with classes and hmwk/studying. Just trying not to think about it too much since I still have 3 weeks before it starts!

Let me end this post on a good note...Austin has slept 6 hours straight at night for the past few nights. :) He also gave me a HUGE smile today when I picked him up after I got dressed/ready for the day this morning!! He is my perfect lil peanut! The Zantac also appears to be helping him. He still spits up or has symptoms like he's refluxing if he is laid flat right after a feeding but he no longer gets a red face or acts like it's hurting him. Yay for meds that work.

My little peanut is getting bigger! He will officially be in size 1 diapers today...we have one newborn sized one left to use. We tried him in size 1's two weeks ago but they were still pretty big. They are still bigger on him than I would like but he is getting the newborns pretty full with pee and sometimes it leaks out the top so we gotta make the switch. :( 

He is also growing out of some of his newborn sized clothes! Some brands (gerber) run smaller than others and some outfits fit snugger than others. On the other hand, the brand Circo (one of the target brands) runs bigger. Some of the pants/leg lengths are a good inch longer than Carters! Luckily it's only a handful of things that we decided were too small this week. Slow transition will be better for me! Of course, the 0-3 month size stuff is still long and most of it is loose. He's going to be short I think....all of his newborn pants are still perfect or have a lil room left at the end of the legs!

He is so animated in the evenings and at bathtime now. :) Love it!! Also likes music, any kind, and being read to. :)

Classes are continuing to go well. Advanced Patho is a lot of reading but going to Indy for lecture days is helping a lot...learning stuff that is specific to the neonatal population. The second (and final) evidence based research class is a tad boring right now but should become more interesting soon now that we will be starting our research for our paper. So excited for the summer semester already...I am taking 2 classes again: Assessment & Procedures and a diagnostic class. (2 classes is considered full time for graduate students due to the amt required for each class)

A little interesting fact about my class ...there are only 4 of us in the NNP major that are graduating at the same time. It's certainly not a popular thing to major in! But the other speciality class sizes aren't huge...not exactly sure on their numbers though.

Sorry for yet another long post!! It was quite a rambling one too!

Had Austin's weight check appt this afternoon and he is 9lbs 1oz and 20.25 inches long! :) I asked the nurse if I could see his doc or the NP due to some questions I had about possible reflux. Well since we didn't have a appt we had to wait to see his pediatrician...which was fine..would rather wait for a lil bit then schedule another appt.

After talking to his pedi and telling her the symptoms of silent reflux that I thought he was having she decided that we could try Zantac twice a day for a little while to see if that helps. Bascially Zantac lowers the acid content of the stomach so that when he does reflux it won't burn his throat and continue to cause the irritation and inflammation that is currently going on. She also hopes that once his throat gets a chance to heal that the congested/junky sound that he has will go away.

She then noticed the hemigoma (red spot) near his eye and asked me about it. I told her that yes it was new since his 2 week visit and she said it will go away by the time he is one. I wasn't worried about it since I knew thats what it was but it was nice that she noticed it. :)

She did a complete all over check on him since he was undressed anyways from being weighed and said he looked and sounded great! Commented on how well his butt looks for being a breastfed baby that poops a lot. Made me feel good about always using aquaphor (or store brand) with each diaper change!

Sorry that this turned into a super long post!

In other news, classes are going well still and I am starting to get into a routine of reading/studying/doing hmwk during Austins afternoon sleepy time & once Andy gets home from work. Not really looking forward to going back to work (mostly due to the drive)...still have just under 4 weeks so I'm enjoying every moment and trying not to think about Feb 21st yet.

First week of classes went ok last week...didn't get even half the amount of reading done that I wanted but oh well! Trying to get into some sort of routine with school work and taking care of Austin. It's proving to be a bit challenging.

Having the new (used) laptop helps a ton because it can sit on the couch next to me and I can do some stuff (my advanced patho class has most of the learning stuff online through a program) one handed while holding/feeding Austin. Thank god for the Boppy too!

Any ideas for better time management?

Happy one month birthday to my sweet baby boy! :) Austin is changing every week and is alert for longer stretches of time now. Loves his playmat and loves to be talked to! Sleeping and eating well. :)

Austin's weight check went well today. :) He is 8lbs 5oz ..so he didn't gain a whole lot from last Monday (goal is 3-5oz a week for this age group) but the doctor was happy with it. I think he is just going to be a little boy. We will go back Jan 25th for another weight check since his next regular appt isn't until Feb 16th and they like to keep an eye on breastfed babies weight. Fine by me..I like that they are cautious. :) Weight checks are complimentary anyways in case I do want to take him in more often than scheduled so that's nice too! She also said it's ok to let him have the one stretch of 5 hours that he's been wanting to do at night now. So that's good! :)

Happy 3 weeks to our lil boy! His cord finally fell off today! yay! Now we can do a tub bath for the next bathtime. :)

Austin is doing better and better with breastfeeding...still has his times where he doesn't really want to eat/work at it so I have done a bottle here and there...especially at night. I think he would sleep longer than 4 hours if we let him. He is somewhat putting himself on a schedule. He is almost always awake around 10am to 12pm and then sleeps pretty deep from 1ish to 3 or 4pm. He is then wide awake for daddy around 7-8pm. :) I'm sure this is not set in stone and will change next week! We think his hair gets a little lighter with each bathtime...which is about every other day or every third day right now. His current favorite thing to do is poop...seriously! He also loves his playmat, looking at himself in the mirror, and having anybody talk to him ..especially me, his daddy and my mom. :)

Austin had his 2 week well baby appointment today. Couldn't get in on his actual 2 week birthday and then they were closed Friday for NYE. He was 8lbs 2oz so he is back to his birth weight! This puts him in the 40th percentile for weight. He was 19.5 inches long...20in at birth but the nurse said they measure fast so it's not a big deal. His length puts him in the 25th percentile...lil shorty! :) His head was 14.5 inches which puts him in the 40th percentile.

Since he is back to his birth weight his pediatrician said we could stop the 1oz formula supplementing after breastfeeding and he will just go back on the 11th to be weighed to make sure he is still gaining. :) Hopefully now he will take both sides when he eats! He is allowed to go 3-4 hours now during the day and 4 hours at night. But he could of course eat more frequently since breast milk is easier to digest.

His cord has still not fallen off! She said the way it lays is preventing the underside from drying out completely so she put a little bit of silver nitrate on it and said it should be off within a week now. She thought he looked great and thinks he is a healthy little baby. :) Of course she loved his hair!

Told me I could start the vitamin D drops...but the nurse in me had already started them. Just going to start doing small amounts of tummy time to help with head control and keep him on track developmentally. She is a great doc!

I can't believe today is the last day of 2010. Insane! It's been quite a whirlwind year. Lots of ups and a couple downs for us.

~Fertility treatments til March
~Lost my job in April :(
~Found out I was pregnant in April :)
~Went to Florida for our one year anniversary in May
~Struggled with pretty bad "morning" (all day) sickness til 22 weeks of pregnancy
~My 25th birthday in June ...kinda a milestone :) quarter of a century old!
~Alan & Cassie's wedding in August!
~Baby is a BOY!! in August
~Andy took over as head teller in October
~Accepted my new job in November
~Andy's 30th birthday in November!
~Andy got a raise in December and will soon start taking some classes to become a loan officer by April 2011
~Austin made his arrival December 16th!! :)

Looking forward to what 2011 has in store for our family. :)

I've missed blogging and I bet my readers (all 10 of you) have missed me. :) Or so I hope! We've been very busy!

I can't believe 2 weeks have already gone by since Austin was born. Things have been more busy than I thought they would be. I, naively, thought I would give birth, breastfeed on demand and lounge around with my baby boy all day. :) I wouldn't change being a mother for anything though. I love it!

We were told that every baby loses weight and I learned in school that up to 10% is ok. Austin never got that low but lost weight after he came home which is a no-no in the Pediatricians eyes so we had to make some adjustments to our feeding schedule on the 4th day of life. We've have to breastfeed every 2 hours during the day and every 3 hours at night and then give 1 oz of formula afterwards. This takes a lot of time! My sink fills up with bottles fast! We had 3 weight checks to monitor him and go back on Monday for his 2 week well baby visit. Hoping to be able to stop the supplementing at that time or at least cut back on doing it after every feeding! He is doing much better breastfeeding which makes his momma happy. :) It's amazing how a mother can sustain her infant's life just by doing that.

In addition to the weight loss issue Austin developed viral pneumonia which was diagnosed on Christmas Eve. :( No  matter how careful you are and how much hand sanitizer you have people use your baby can still get sick very quickly! Not fair! So we've been more stingy on who holds him this past week. He seems completely over the pneumonia but we certainly weren't expecting our baby to get sick in the first week of life. Hopefully the continued breastfeeding will give him more antibodies during this cold/flu/RSV season.

So that's why there has been a lack of blogging! That and the disrupted sleep pattern is catching up with me. I will try to blog more so that I can keep a record of what's happening in our lives and keep everyone updated. Makes scrapbooking easier if I stay on top of blogging/picture posting.  :)

Austin's Birth Story!

Woke up with pretty intense back pain/labor at 5:45 am on 12/15 which steadily progressed to contractions in the front around 12pm. Back and front labor contractions got intense enough to where it was hard to walk around by 2pm so we put our stuff in the car and headed to Dupont Hospital praying that this was for real and not false labor!! Andy had a half day so he had been home since 12:30pm. :)

We were admitted into Labor & Delivery triage at 2:14pm and I was 2cm dilated and 50% effaced. The monitor showed contractions every 2-4 minutes apart and Austin was tolerating them well. Dr. Lorenc was called and updated on my status (he wasn't on call that night :( . The nurse decided to have us walk to see if I would continue to progress. This is standard...but was it was hard to walk while having such bad back labor pain! (hopefully the second baby doesn't do that to me) So we walked for 30ish minutes and then I was checked again and found to be still 2cm so they left me on the monitor for 15 minutes to monitor Austin's heart rate and my contractions and then I had to get up and walk for another 25 or so minutes. After this Dr. Lorenc was called again to be updated and he decided to let the on call doctor come in, examine me, and determine what to do since it was after hours. She (Dr. Thomas) decided to admit me since my contractions continued to be 2-4 minutes apart and I was in quite a bit of pain.

I was admitted into my room at 5:30pm. An IV was started. I got my epidural at 6:30pm. I did not do as well with the epidural going in even though they numbed the spot. You can still feel it or at least the pressue of it. It was very hard to stay still and I was crying quite a bit which didn't help matters! Then I had to lay on one side for a few minutes and then the other side to spread out the medication. Also had to keep rotating sides every hour or so to keep the epidural effective. Didn't know that you had to do this with an epidural but it makes sense.

The nurse then broke my water at 6:45 pm...which was painless but kinda weird since small amounts of amniotic fluid would leak out with contractions! I was 3cm when they broke my water and 70% effaced. My parents were then allowed to come in and visit. :) My mom couldn't believe I was about to talk through my contractions and text people. Texting was a nice distraction because I still felt a lot of pressure! At 9pm I was 4cm. At 10pm I was 5cm.

Sometime after 10pm I was feeling increasing amounts of pain but didn't say anything because I figured it was part of the labor experience. Finally asked my nurse about it and they called the anesthiologist back into my room. My epidural had been turned off by accident! Yikes. So he got that all taken care of and gave me a large dose of pain medicine. At first I was worried about the effect of pain meds on Austin but epidurals only numb nerves so Austin was quite protected and safe. :)

At 11:15pm I was 8cm. So...3 cm progress in one hour!! Woohoo!! At 12:30am I was 9cm. This is when we started really trying to guess when Austin would make his debut! :) At 1:30am I was 10cm! Time to push. My parents, Andys mom, and Andy's sister were cleared out of the room and a bunch of stuff was brought in along with an extra helper for my nurse.

I started pushing at 1:45am and the nurse said I was doing great but then I started to get scared of the burning pain! That hindered my pushing even though she tried to talk me through it. The on call OB, Dr. Hanson, came in and gave that area a couple shots of lidocaine to help me and then decided to just stay in the room until I delivered. Normally the OB doesn't come in until you are closer to delivering. After that it was a little more bearable to push but still an unreal kind of pressure. I was able to reach down and touch his head when it was partway out. Andy looked just once and decided that was all the more looking he would do! lol! Austin's head was facing to the side so after they delivered his head Dr. Hanson delivered one shoulder and then the other. That's when I tore..boo! He really didn't think I would but oh well...Austin is worth that extra amount of pain. Andy was an AWESOME coach and did a FABULOUS job!! I pushed for an hour and 20 minutes.

Austin came out screaming at 3:03am! Andy cut the cord! They placed Austin on my chest for a minute before taking him to the warmer bed to be assessed and dried off. He weighed 8lbs 2oz and was 20 inches long. Could not believe he was so big! He is perfect and I am so in love with him. He is a great combination of the two of us. :)

Stay tuned for the birth story....   :)

38 weeks today! 14 days to go...or less we hope! Had contractions Friday night and last night..nothing consistent or timeable and they went away...booo.

In other great news...my cousin Amy gave birth via C-Section to her twin boys Friday night. She was admitted for low blood count levels on Friday and they decided to go ahead and deliver the boys that night. Both are in the NICU and the neonatologists are estimating them to be 34 weeks gestation instead of 35 like we thought. Ezekiel Lee weighs 5lbs 10oz and Elijah Arthur weighs 2lbs 11oz. Elijah has had IUGR (growth restriction) the entire time so they knew he would be smaller. Both are under phototherapy lights, in isolettes and being fed through IV's/tube feedings. Amy is going to get the opportunity to attempt to breastfeed Ezekiel tonight possibly. She has been able to hold him twice a day so far and is unable to hold Elijah at this time.

They live in Michigan (about 2 hours from my house) so I've not seen her or the babies yet. Eagerly awaiting pictures though!! Pray that they continue to grow and thrive and will be able to come home by their due date (mid-January). Amy did not end up needing a blood transfusion so that's great and she is scheduled to be released on Tuesday. :) Congrats to Amy & Curtis!

OB appt went well. Weight was down 1lb...totally normal. Blood pressure and urine were fine. I am now measuring behind this week (and last week) but that's a good thing because it means that his head is moving further down into my pelvis...yay! (just causes some presssure!) His heart rate was 159. He was moving around though...hence why it was slightly higher than usual. :)

TMI....

I'm 1cm and 50% thinned out. Still have a soft cervix. Dr. L also "stripped my membranes." I didn't even get a chance to ask him his opinion on this procedure! Guess he isn't against it. Very painful! You have to be somewhat dilated and fairly thinned out for the Doctor to even attempt it so it's not like he is "jumping the gun" or something. It has about a 50/50 success rate in starting contractions within 24ish hours-3 days so we'll see. But I'm assuming since he felt it was a good time to strip me that things may be about ready to go. He said I do need to be patient and he will come when he's ready. It's just hard to wait especially when everything is sore! He said (again) that labor will prolly happen before my next appt but we all know how good his predictions are!

Next appt is December 16th at 3:30pm...so not looking forward to an afternoon appt...greatly increases the odds that the office will be running behind!

I think Dr. L has gotten all of our hopes up...lol! Everything is basically the same for me as far as how I'm feeling...

My lower back is very sore and my lower abdomen is also very sore. Continue to have the "lighting crotch" pain when I stand up or if walking for a long period of time. For those that have never been pregnant....it's something fabulous to look forward to...not! lol! My feet & lower legs are now puffy for most of the day instead of just in the evening (this is a new development which I think I might mention to him at Thursdays appt). Boo...good thing I'm not working right now otherwise having shoes on for long periods would prolly hurt.

I know this is selfish but it would be really nice to have him within the next few days so that I get to spend as much time with him as possible before I start my new job on Feb 21st. Hopefully my body has made even more progress by Thursday's appt. Pray for a smooth, easy delivery and a healthy, happy Austin when the time is right.

No updates to report on yet. Still having lower abdominal pain and lower back pain. The L&D nurse I talked to said it's most likely from my cervix thinning out. We'll keep everyone updated.

OB appt went well. :) Austin's heart rate was 145...so consistent lately! My weight was up 2lbs from my appt 2 weeks ago. Blood pressure was fine. My GBS test came back negative so I don't need antibiotics during labor. Woohoo...one less thing to remember! He said I don't need to take my Brethine anymore for contractions and that the hospital won't stop labor anymore if I do need to go in.

TMI warning ....

I'm 1 cm, 30% thinned out and have a soft cervix. So I've made good & normal progress for how far along I am! Dr. L said Austin's head is very low and that I could deliver anytime now. He predicts within the next 7 days but he, of course, can't see into the future. I hope he's right though!

Next appt December 9th at 8:30am.

Happy Birthday to Andy today!!! :) He's 30!!

I hope everyone enjoyed their Thanksgiving holiday. We were with family the whole day which was nice. :) We had 3 thanksgiving dinners to attend so we certainly had more than enough food to enjoy. It was great seeing a lot of our family.

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

I am very thankful for my loving husband Andy, my awesome, supportive family & friends, being pregnant with my first Austin, my new job, and having a nice cozy home. :) God is great!!

Love all of you!

I have another UTI (2nd one this pregnancy & so far in my life). I have to be on a different antibiotic this time since I'm so close to being full term & the normal one they use can increase jaundice levels in a newborn if taken too close to delivery.  :(

Drink more water peeps (pregnant or not)...even if you think you drink enough...drink more! UTI's cause preterm labor and even mild dehydration causes contractions. Had to have the "lovely" Brethine again last night....in the shot form since I was having a decent amount of contractions on the monitor.

Austin this week. Running out of room! Typically fetuses at 35 weeks weigh between 5 to 5 1/2 pounds and are around 18 inches long. :) Have a great week everyone!

Changing up the blog a tiny bit. :) Started a column to the right that shows pictures of the books that I'm currently reading...from the library so they most likely won't be new releases! If anyone wants reviews on the books I can start posting them. I'll update the list as I finish/start a new book. Wanted to try something that I see in other blogs that I follow.

Talked to my new boss (love being able to say that) and the additional hours she wanted for me got approved so after orientation (6 weeks since I'm an experienced NICU RN) I will be working two night shifts a week! The hours will be 7p-7a...technically 7:30am since we give report at the end of the shift and you don't get paid for your half hour lunch break. As of right now my start date is Feb 21st since that is the hospital wide orientation start date. If it gets cancelled (if they don't have enough new hires to fill it) then the next start date will be March 7th. Kinda hoping Austin is born in mid-Decemberish so that I can get as much maternity leave with him as possible!

OB appt went well this morning. My weight was up 3lbs from last time....but I had my boots on...so who knows how accurate it was! BP was good and urine was negative. Austin's heart rate was 148. :) He did my Group B Strep swab test and I'll know those results at the next appt. If it's positive then I'll get antibiotics during labor. Told him about my mild contractions (?) that I had Tuesday night and that I took my Brethine. He said that as long as it stops after the first dose then I'm ok but to call him/office if it doesn't.

TMI warning:

Austin is head down and Dr. L could feel his head when he checked me...said I was a fingertip dilated and my cervix was medium softened. So basically I am not closed but not quite 1cm yet. The cervix goes from firm to medium to soft. I looked up what a "medium consistency cervix" is and according to the pregnancy website it means that I'm anywhere from 30-50% effaced (thinned out). Dr. L didn't tell me and I forgot to ask! He would know the exact % though. So we are having progress here!!

Here's a link that helps explain things somewhat. Or you can ask me if ya want more info. Click here!

Next appt is December 2nd and then I'll go weekly til he's born!! Sorry if this blog of appointments is a bit detailed ...I just want to have a record of the details of this pregnancy because I know the details of it could fade fast after he's born!

The Nurse Manager at Community North in Indy finally emailed me back! She can offer me slightly less than part time right now and will know if her request for additional hours for me will be approved by Wednesday. The plan is for me to work 2 12 hour shifts (7p-7a) a week (which would be part time). If her request isn't approved then I will be working 1 8hour and 1 12hour shift a week (which is slightly less than part time).

The pay is more than $3/hr more than I was making at Lutheran Hospital for my base pay. The shift differential (since this is a night shift position) is a million times better (well 2x better) than Lutheran too. :) I will start in early March! Yay!!! I can't wait to be back in a Neonatal ICU!

34 weeks today! 6 or less weeks to go and 3-4 (depending on who you ask) weeks til he is considered full term. Crazy!! We have everything ready...as far as I know....lol! His diaper bag is packed and my hospital bag is started but won't be finished til much closer to his due date. :) Going to install the car seat closer to 36-37 weeks.

Been in a cleaning mood lately....which I guess is good! Passes the time and the house stays clean. :) I see the OB on Thursday...looking forward to what he has to say.

I feel like this blog is turning into a "job update" place.    ....Sorry guys!

I talked to the nurse manager at Community North on Monday. We discussed how the part time position would work with me having a newborn, a bit of a drive and school/clinicals. She seemed satisfied although still a little nervous about me making the commitment to drive. Good lord peeps....I don't understand everyones obession with driving. Maybe it's because we moved 3 hours away from 90% of my family so I am used to driving/being in the car? Sorry ....went on a slight tangent there.

Anyways she said she would call me later in the day or Tuesday morning. Well neither happened. I emailed her yesterday morning just asking about the status of the job and kindly letting her know I am still interested.  Nothing. Hmm. I understand that hiring someone is a big decision but I am just confused on what's taking so long.

If it's meant to be then it's meant to be. God is in control as Andy & I have been taught several times.

In other news...Austin is doing well. :) No more L & D visits. Can't wait for Thanksgiving so I can see and spend time with family. Our family is very into the holidays. :) Also can't wait to see my brother and Cassie! Haven't seen my brother since September...and I haven't seen Cassie since my baby shower.

Had a great weekend with my family!! :) We love to shop!

The nurse manager from Community North called & left me a voicemail Friday and wants me to call her tomorow to discuss possible ways the position could work out with me having school/clinicals and traveling. I would so love this job ...but I won't be able to start it til after maternity leave now since Dr. L doesn't want me traveling after 34 weeks. Hmm....I really thought she had decided to go with someone else but I guess I am still "in the running" for the position.

I also have an interview tomorrrow morning with St. Joe Hospital's ER dept here in Fort Wayne.

Austin will be here in 7 weeks or less. Insane! :)

OB appt went well. Austin's heart rate was 138 and he's head down. Dr. L didn't check me this week but probably will at the next appt. Weight was up 0.5lb & he was fine with that.

Also said no traveling after 34 weeks...coming up soon! He wrote me a script for terbutaline (brethine) to take as needed if I have any more contractions before I am full term. It's a drug commonly used for asthma patients to relax their airway but it also relaxes the uterus. Next appt is Nov. 18th. :)

Registering for Spring semester today. Excited to be taking classes that will go towards my NP (even though they will be tough ones)! This semester was just 2 electives.

Happy November (2 days late)! :) Christmas flavors came out yesterday at Starbucks...haven't tried any yet but I bet they will be yummy like every other year!

Andy has a half day today!! Woohoo!! :)

Still no word from Community North Hospital....so I'm assuming she went with someone who was either 1) not pregnant or 2) lived closer. She really made it seem like she was going to hire me after she checked my references. I really hope my former boss didn't say something stupid to her!

32 weeks today! :)

Had a great weekend! I hope you did too!

Saw some friends Friday night, spent time with out of town family on Saturday, and did a little shopping (for breastfeeding stuff) & relaxing today. :) I see the OB on Thursday so watch for a post about how my appt went.

Have a great week everyone!!

Added a poll about guessing Austin's weight to the right side of the blog. I tested it out and you have to "vote" twice basically...pick your answer then click Vote. If it doesn't show up then click the link that says "vote in this poll" and select your answer again. :)

Nothing very significant to report. Austin's head is still quite low so they want me to go to L & D if I have 4 contractions in an hour or if they are 15 minutes apart. Had to see the NP today since my Dr was out of the office for the afternoon. She thinks the pain could be his head pushing down or against my bladder but isn't entirely sure. No strenuous activity for now. She's guessing his weight to be right around 4lbs right now based on feeling his position on the outside. That is right on track with his gestational age so that's good. Also said that Dr. L would check for dilation and where is head is at the next appt. The internal exam I had last night was not fun so I'm glad I didn't have to have it again this afternoon!

I had trace amount of protein in my urine but my blood pressure was ok so they will recheck that again at my regular appt next week on Nov 4th. They check the urine every appt...it's real fun to try not to pee on my hand now since I can't see anything with this belly!!

Prayers that Austin stays put for at least 6 more weeks!

We had a bit of a scare last night. I started having lower abdominal pain that would not go away with laying down so we headed to the ER and were sent up to Labor & Delivery. They hooked me up to the monitor & I had 2 contractions in an hour. The monitor also showed that I had an "irritable uterus" basically meaning that it was tense and "unhappy" about something. Austin was moving most of that time and his heart rate was variable going between 138 up to 160's with my tense uterus/contractions.

I also had (and still have) a fever...they tested me for a UTI and it was negative so they are not sure why I had a fever with no other illness symptoms. They checked me and I'm not dilated and Austin's head is low. Hopefully that means there is less chance of him turning now. I have an appt at 1:45 this afternoon at the office ...I'll update after that if there is anything significant going on.

Baby Shower # 2 with Andy's family went well yesterday. :) Got some more stuff for Austin's room and other necessities. We now have almost everything that goes with his "room decor"...just need the matching hamper which I'm going to get this week/weekend before they sell out!

No word yet from Friday's interview but it's still early.

Looking forward to seeing Abbey, Gracie & baby Gregory on Wednesday!! Also have a fun filled weekend planned!!! :)

Interview went really well yesterday at Community North in Indy. Took me an hour and 45 minutes to get there. I should know early next week I think. :)

Our dresser/changing table combo unit finally got delivered to Babies R Us yesterday so Andy & I picked it up after dinner last night. We also put it together!!! Andy did 90% of the work but I helped by reading the directions and handing him the screws! The lady at the store told us that it came pre-assembled when we ordered it. She must have either been high on something or thinking of another dresser because it was NOT pre-assembled. LOL! But we had fun putting it together.  :) Pictures to come soon!

OB appt went well. Got to hear my results from my 28 week lab draws. My glucose was 115 so I did indeed pass the Glucose Tolerance Test...the cutoff is 140 he said. My hemoglobin from that lab draw was 11 so I don't need to take iron pills. Yay! And of course my syphillis test came back negative.

Austin's heart rate was 138 today. :) He is head down laying on his left side with his butt near the top of my uterus and his legs & feet resting on my right side. Crazy how well the doctor can tell a babys position while you are laying on the exam table! But he still has plenty of room to become breech or transverse (side-lying) if he feels like it according to the Dr.! I'm up 15.5 pounds from my prepregnancy weight...might start taking my shoes off before they weigh me! lol But then again...you are supposed to gain more near the end since that is when the baby gains the most of his/her weight.

Next appt is November 4th. :) Every other week appts in November and then every week in December til he is born!

My unemployment extension was approved. Whew! I've been approved for 20 more weeks (if needed). Just thankful that I can still receive it even though it's 60ish% of what I used to make....lots of misconceptions out there of what unemployment is and where it comes from. Please don't hesitate to ask me questions if you don't understand ...better to ask than assume that I am living off the govt!

Still job searching of course and have an interview on Friday.

No call today from Lutheran's ER nurse manager so I'm assuming that I will not be having the peer interview. Bummer. Maybe Friday's interview in Indy will bring better news. I'm sure God knows exactly what he wants me to do...it's hard to be patient. No word yet on whether my unemployment extension is granted or not. I'll keep ya updated.

In happy news... I see the OB again on Thursday morning. :) I also have the Coak side baby shower on Sunday. :)

Thank you for your continued prayers on my job search.

Please continue to pray that I either am offered a job very soon or that my unemployment extension is granted. I filed for the extension this weekend and it could take up to 21 days before a decision is decided upon.

Community North Hospital (just off of exit 1 in Indy) called me today to set up an interview for a part time nights position in their level 3 NICU. :) It's Oct 22nd @ 1pm. The nurse manager is out of town from tomorrow til the 21st so that is the soonest that I can interview. I would so love to be back in a NICU! Prayers that God leads me to the job that is right for me and our growing family. :)

I had an interview today with Lutheran Hospitals Emergency Department. I think it went well. I shadowed for an hour afterwards and it is a fast paced unit which I think I would like. :) The nurse manager will be calling those that she wants to schedule for a peer interview on Monday. Keep on praying. :)

We ordered our dresser/changing table combo unit tonight at Babies R Us!!!! Saved $75 with my coupons for being a rewards member. :) It should be here in 7-14 days...although the lady said it rarely takes the 14 days. Pictures to come, of course, once it's here and assembled in the nursery!! Then I can finally put away clothes & blankets and set up the lamp and storage basket for diapers! Yay!

Sorry I'm so dorky about baby related items..lol :)

Had our 3D ultrasound this morning! Austin was asleep during 90% of it but did wiggle here and there and open his eyes once! So stubborn! He is head down with his face looking up. Feet up by my right side towards my ribs...his favorite spot. He had his face very close to my placenta...which is just under my belly button (really hinders the picture taking since it's in the front). One arm & hand was up by his cheek and the other was straight down at his side. He is also still a boy! Heart rate was 149.

Austin weighed in at 2lbs 15oz which puts him 1 day ahead on measurements. The tech thinks he has Andy's nose & mouth. But in one or 2 pictures his nose kinda looks like mine. We'll see. :) He does have hair!! He did one little smile/smirk for us at the end. :) Since he was not moving around a whole lot we mostly got half face and feet shots. She did get some 2D shots to somewhat make up for his lack of movement! He is extremely cute!!!! The first picture is the one where he is somewhat smiling. :) Second picture is feet. Third picture is a face shot with his arm/elbow on the left side. :) Enjoy. We have 23 pictures in all ...just wanted to post a few!

I had a fabulous time at my baby shower yesterday!! The whole day went really fast and I loved seeing everyone. Austin got a ton of presents and is so very loved already. :) Tomorrow we get to see him in 3D ...so excited for that!!

No call yet from the OB office so it might be safe to assume that I passed....hmm.. I hope so! Hopefully that also means I'm not anemic (that was one of the other lab draws Tuesday) because I've heard the iron pills can do a number on your stomach!

Got my 28 week labs drawn today. Hope that I pass the glucose test. They said they would call within 1-3 days if I failed it. If I failed...then I have to take the 3 hour test. The drink was not bad at all. Got my Rhogam shot after my labs and that hurt!!

3D ultrasound scheduled for Monday at 9am!! Kind of a bummer that they only do them at 9am because now Andy will have to go into work late. The scheduling lady said they do them before they start their day with other appts since by paying for the elective US you get 30 minutes of time. I hope he's awake for those 30 minutes!!!

28 weeks today...start of my 7th month of pregnancy! Got the Tide Free & Gentle laundry detergent today to start washing his clothes, blankets & bibs soon!!

This semester of classes is going quickly too! My NICU class will be done November 1st (more of an intense review course than an actual class) and then my project for my independent study class is due December 1st. It'll be nice to have all my classwork done before it gets to close to his due date. :) Plus we are busy every weekend now this month ..schedule fills up fast...some of it is just stuff I'm going to but we all know Andy will be watching football every weekend from now til early February. I'll see most of my blog readers in 6 days!!!!

Happy October Everyone! :) Have a great weekend!