Catch Up

So...its been way too long since I wrote...I have been so busy I can't keep up!

As for Ashlynn update, she's great! Tomorrow makes 26 weeks and its gone by so fast! Its been awesome! The back pain has gotten so much better and I've had lots more energy! Daniel helped get the Christmas decorations down from the attic and helped put the tree up, but I put up the decorations in the house, the ornaments on the tree, the snow village, and the outside decorations! WOW! At Life Choices today I got to hold a model of a 26 week old developing baby ( I hate calling them fetus). It was so cool to see how big she was and how much she weighs! I know by reading what she's doing, but seeing and holding it was just incredible! I'm looking ginormous..more and more everyday, LITERALLY! But we are so blessed to be able to experience this! Daniel has been so incredibly supportive and more than I could ever ask for in a husband!

Ashlynn has been flipping, flopping, and kicking all of the time! Of course I feel her, but Daniel, Donna, and my parents have been able to feel her too! :) I can see her moving around in my belly too, which is so neat! I can't wait for it to be even more so everyone can feel her! Some pregnant women get irritated when people touch their belly, but I think its precious! I love whats going on in there, and want to share with everyone else too! Friend, family, or stranger!

As for school....I finished my last day of Peds clinicals today. Kind of bitter sweet. Its hard spending so many hours in clinicals and not being able to get paid for it, but I LOOOOVED working with Lisa Martin and the children! I did not care for Pediatrics in Nursing school, so I expected the same in this semester, but I was so wrong! I Had such a good time playing with the children! Unless my Adult clinicals blow me out of the water, I will probably try to stick with Peds! Or at least try to do lots of Peds in family practice. My final is next week, then I will have a lot of time left over! We start back January 20th, so what a break! :)

As for work....I LOVE! Working at the hospital isn't my favorite, but it works. I always dread going in for a shift, but once I get there its not that bad. I really enjoy the people I work with! I work 1-2 days per month, so I can suck it up, right? I haven't been able to work at the day school since July. Every time they need me to fill in, I have something else going on. I feel bad that I haven't been able to help out, but they're all so fabulous there they understand. As for Life Choices...where do I start?! It is the most rewarding, enjoyable, and blessed job ever!! I get to work with incredible women and make an influence on great girls in our community. Everyday that I get to work, I love it even more! Sometimes seeing that baby on the ultrasound really makes all the difference in the world! Of course we have awesome ladies that visit with the girls before I see them and they tend to build great relationships with them! Then I get to come in and do the fun part...look at babies! I feel that with my Women's health clinicals I learned a lot to help the girls at the clinic. I hope that I can make a difference in the lives of these girls and their unborn babies!

Daniel and I just got back from a 10 day vacation and it was fantastic! We took our camper up to Petit Jean and camped from the Friday before Thanksgiving through Thanksgiving lunch with his family, then went up to Branson and camped and hung out with my family. It was so nice to get away! We are so glad we bought our camper and enjoy getting to use it! It even has a little second back bedroom with bunks for kids on down the road! ;) Hope they like it too!

Thats about all that I can think of...my brain is kind of crazy today! :) I'll try to post again soon!

Just Deal With It

So there are so many obnoxious things that come along with pregnancy, but its all for a good reason, right? I've been having these back pains for A WHILE! The one I've had the most I know is normal, but before my last appointment, I was having a different pain in my lower back. It was more sharp, stabbing, than what I expected with pregnancy. I figured I would ask my OB/GYN about it at my appointment, and I asked if it was just something I would have to "deal with." She said "yep, you're just gonna have to deal with it." Unfortunatley, Daniel was there for that appointment, and has loved to torture me with "just deal with it" everytime I have a complaint. FOrtunately, he laughs after he says it, and I do too...

So other than the back pain, heartburn, feeling like a whale, and other assortments of pregnancy woes, things have been fantastic. I am so happy to be pregnant and can't wait to bring Ashlynn into this world.

I've been pretty healthy, and so has our Princess, but being in my Pediatric clinicals, I knew that there would be extra germies I was exposed to. My preceptor is fantastic and made me wear a mask every day in the clinic so that I wouldn't have as much direct exposure to the germs. She kept me from going into see the patients with flu as well. IN addition to the clinical precautions, Daniel and I have watched where we go, trying not to be around a lot of people in small spaces, etc. But...even with all of that, I got the flu! :(

Yes, flu...most likely H1N1 since thats about all thats going around at this point. I was really nervous because of all of the pregnant women in ICU and dying from complications, etc. However, my wonderful OB/GYN called me in some Tamiflu on a SUNDAY so I could get better. She probably regrets giving me her cell phone number, but she is incredible and I couldn't ask for a better doctor! I also did my Women's health clinicals with her and was able to learn so much!

Daniel did NOT use the "just deal with it" while I had the flu. He was as sweet as could be. He gave up golf so he could stay home and take care of me. He's so wonderful!

Monday I have my next OB/GYN appointment. Daniel will be out of town and the parents and in laws aren't coming, but, my best friend, Holly gets to go! I'm so excited that Auntie Holly will get to see little Princess! She's already spoiling her and she's not even here yet! :)

Hope everyone has a fantastic weekend!

Life as of Now

Things are going fantastic right about now! Ashlynn is doing fabulous! I'm 19 weeks prego now and actually starting to enjoy it (other than the rounded out face and the feeling ginormous part). I'm at that phase where you can tell I'm pregnant with my baby bump, if you KNOW I'm pregnant, but it could easily be mistaken for a gut! :)

Clinicals are great, I've been playing with kids doing my Peds clinicals with Lisa Martin and love, love, love it! I'm really starting to put Peds up at the top of my list. I think being pregnant makes me love those kids even more...now if I just had the knowledge base I need and could do exams and know whats going on, we'd be in great shape! It will come...

Daniel is being so fantastic through everything! He is a huge help when he is home and I appreciate it so much! He already loves little Ashlynn too! He will put his hand on my belly and talk to her! So sweet. He already painted her room too! We have bedding, decorations, and have picked out the furniture, and will order it this weekend! I'll have pictures of it later!

Thanks for keeping up, we are so blessed!

ITS A GIRL!!! We found out today (almost completely positive) that we're having a girl! We decided on the name Ashlynn Dianne! We can't wait to meet her! We were going to be incredibly thrilled one way or another, but now we can't wait for our princess! She's going to be such a rotten little Daddy's girl!!

Catch up

wow! Its been almost a year since I've posted. I guess its because I couldn't remember which email and password I used! Here's a brief catch up!

1. Daniel is not at the airport anymore. He graduated from Flight School and is working as a Field Operator for Packers Plus, which is in the Natural Gas Industry. He's great at his job and provides wonderfully for our family! Sometimes he is home a lot, sometimes he has to travel as far as Virginia, but its all worth it in the end!

2. I am no longer working in "the poop clinic." I wanted to leave for a while, and Daniel finally talked me into it. It has been the best decision in my life! I am able to spend a little bit more time on school for now!

3. I'm working as the Nurse at Life Choices, where I do ultrasounds and pregnancy tests for girls and women. I think it is the most rewarding experience I have ever had in my entire life. Its a Christian Pregnancy Resource Center, and we work to counsel the girls against having abortions, and sometimes seeing the ultrasound makes all the difference in the world. Its incredible and I love every second of it! I love the women I work with and the women we serve!

4. I'm also working pool at Geriatric Psych at Conway Regional. Its okay, nothing compared to Life Choices, but it pays the bills. I'm also working pool at Faulkner County Day School filling in for their amazing nurse when she can't be there.

5. I'm in clinicals now for my Masters! I'm doing my Women and Childrens clinicals this semester and have already learned a lot. I am with my OB/GYN, Amy Johnson for the first part of the semester and will be with Lisa Martin for my Peds soon. Dr. Johnson has been an amazing preceptor and I know that Lisa will too! I'm so fortunate to be working with such great women!

6. I'M PREGGERS! Yes, thats right! 15 1/2 weeks along now! There will be more posts about this, but I thought you needed to be caught up on the rest first. We are so incredibly excited and can't wait to find out the sex! Hopefully we will know this upcoming week!! PICTURES TO COME!!


Thanks for reading, I promise to post more now! :)

Katelin