LPN Graduation

Well...  today I graduated from the LPN program.  While I'm very glad, (and happy that I finished before going into labor!), it still hasn't quite sunk in yet.  My last day of my preceptorship was Tuesday.  I didn't expect fireworks or anything, but we got to 9:00, and I kind of said to my preceptor, "Well... I have my hours in" and she filled in my evaluation and said thanks and I said thanks and then I left.  

I keep on wanting to say "I'm done!"  But it's like "I'm done with my LPN... except I still need to take boards." Or, "I'm done with school...until I start the RN program in June."  Closure is never as clean as we think it will be, is it?  I'm ok with that.  I think I often deal with things better when they just kind of... fizzle out.

Today we went into school to do some final paperwork, and then have a graduation luncheon, and it was such a special time.  The food was amazing...and the cheesecake! Fantastic.  My sweet classmates and instructors all had a card and baby gift for me.  I still don't know how all of the best people ended up in my life.  God has definitely blessed me above and beyond anything I could ask or imagine.  

So now what?  On my way home, I treated myself in true Stephanie fashion... by going to the library.  Then I came home, and the dogs were actually excited to see me.  Jynx came running, chugged a bunch of water, went outside for a few minutes, then came in and puked on our newly refinished hardwood floors.  "Congrats, Mom!" Nothing says "You're going to be a nurse (and a mom)!" like making me clean up puke.  I guess this is what I signed up for (on the nursing end...I'm still not sure I officially "signed up" for parenthood...)

Tonight, to celebrate, Tim and I are going out for a really nice dinner I'm working a 12 hour shift.  So my real celebration will be a nap this afternoon.

I'm still not quite sure what to do with myself.  Last night I kept sitting there thinking "shouldn't I be studying something, or writing a care plan, or journaling about my clinical experience?"  Nope.  None of that. 

I know what some of you are thinking. "Well, Steph, maybe you should start getting ready for that baby to come.  Throw some things in a bag for the hospital...wash some baby clothes...GET A CRIB."  Don't worry... I have comforting words for those of you that are concerned.  The nursery is painted (almost... it needs another coat), we now have a car seat (it's in a box in our living room, but what matters is that we have it), and we live 4 minutes from the hospital, so it's not that hard for Tim to run home and get things.  I figure he might want to come home and shower anyway.  Everything I REALLY need for labor is in my purse (chapstick).  They also supply a few things at the hospital (like a gown, and ice chips).  I'll get around to packing a bag...eventually...probably.

See how prepared we are? We're so good at this parenting thing...

I've been comforting myself with the statistic that first time moms with a complication-free pregnancy who are left to go into labor on their own on average go to 41.5 weeks, which would put us in mid-January.  I'm very comfortable with mid-January.  However, about two weeks ago, I started feeling crappy (nauseous, mid-back cramps) and was worried I might be in pre-labor.  I didn't want to call the doctor and have him put me on bedrest (I had clinicals to finish up!), and I started to feel better, as long as I drank gallons of water and kept my blood sugar up.  I saw the doctor for my regularly scheduled appointment on Wednesday, and asked him about these symptoms.  He said they could be contractions, then looked at my belly. "You see this right here?" he said "This is a Braxton-Hicks contraction."  Oh.  Good to know.  That's been happening a lot.  For awhile. He also said I'm far enough along that if I go into labor they won't stop me (really?  are you sure?  isn't it still early yet?) and said "Maybe you'll have a Christmas baby!"  He must not be on-call for Christmas.  I don't think he was saying I'm going to go into labor anytime soon, but it wasn't a reassuring "you've definitely got a few weeks left."  So who knows? (God knows... duh.)  We shall see.

So now I just work twice a week, do what we can to get a nursery together, and see when this kid decides to show up!  In the meantime... here's what you can do to help.

Do you have any name suggestions?  
Let's try to keep this positive.  Please don't say "Whatever you do, don't name them (blank)," because what if we really liked that name?  That makes it awkward for everybody.

As always, thanks for reading. I love you guys...

I'm still alive and Baby's still kickin'

Hi Friends!  It's been over two months since I last checked in, but I wanted to stop by and let you know we're still here.  It feels like life might start to slow down a bit, but then... we're having a baby.  So maybe not.

Here are some updates, if you're interested,

Nursing School

School is winding down!  I just have 45 hours of clinical scheduled (no more classes) before I'm done on December 11th!  Done with the LPN program, that is.  I'm not really letting myself feel like I'm "done" because I still need to take boards, then start the RN program in June.  But the break will be much appreciated!  Two weeks ago it felt like school was trying to kill me, but I've slept some sleep since then, and I'm feeling better about life.

I'm continuing to work as an nurse aide at the hospital, scheduled for 1 or 2 12 hour shifts per week, so that is good experience and reminds me of why I'm doing what I'm doing.  I work with some really great nurses.  Also, I super-appreciate how flexible they are with my school schedule.

In other news, God unexpectedly blessed me with two scholarships!  Praise God from Whom all blessings flow!

House

Egress window installation

"How's the basement coming?"  Well kids, it's coming!  We removed another wall, and had an egress window installed.  Tim is steadily working on re-arranging/ re-plumbing the maze of various ducts and pipes that are hanging from the joists.

My family, all in one place!

My whole family came a couple of weekends ago, and Dad and Tim took down two dead trees on the west side of our house, while my mom and sisters (and Sapphire) had a lovely baby shower for me.  We now have a lot more firewood...and sunlight streaming through our windows. :)  Thanks, Dad (and everybody else).

We had our hardwood floors refinished as well.  No, we did not do this ourselves!  We're not that crazy.  We're happy with the results, and preparing for the procedure to be done involved a LOT of cleaning, pitching, and re-arranging, that we're still recovering from.

Tico guarding All The Things we stored on the porch while the floors were refinished

Baby

"How are you feeling?" Pregnant.  Most of the time good, but sometimes baby likes to roll over and kick me in the diaphragm, which is not so pleasant.  Tying my shoes is quite a chore, but one I'm still able to accomplish.  

"Are you ready?" HECK NO, Techno!  Is anyone every really ready to have a baby?  But besides that, I have no bags packed for the hospital, no clothes washed for baby, and the nursery hasn't even been started.  Am I stressed about this?  It depends on the moment, but my stress is exacerbated by innocent questions from well-meaning people.  I can tell myself that everything is going to get done and be ok, but when someone asks me "so do you have the nursery all ready" and then gives me That Look when I say "Nope, we haven't even started it yet..." I tend to become filled with self-doubt and feel like I'm a mess that will never have my act together.  Which I am, but I'm ok with that... most of the time.

"Boy" votes won at the baby shower

As I said, I had an adorable baby shower in early November, and I have another one coming up in a couple of weeks, so we do have some baby essentials... they're just all stacked neatly, still in their packaging, in the dining room.

So many baby things...

Dogs

Toby has officially gone to live with Sapphire, and for the most part, things are going well.  We've been to visit him, and he's come to visit us, and we're all happy to see each other when we do.  I think Jynx misses him the most.  It looks like he's going to spend Christmas Eve with us, so that will be nice!

I think Jynx and Tico have figured out that something's going to be happening, and they're not quite sure how they feel about it.  I hope everyone gets along once Baby shows up...

Thanksgiving

Due to my work schedule, we were unable to travel for Thanksgiving, which was kind of a bummer, since we can't travel for Christmas either.  However, we were blessed to be able to celebrate with close friends, and we're still working through the piles of leftovers. It actually wound up being the most relaxing Thanksgiving weekend I can remember.  Since I was going to be working, I allowed myself to just sit and rest the day before and after my shift.  Thanks to leftovers, cooking was unnecessary.  Plus, I was way behind on sleeping, so I let myself sleep when I wanted to.

Other Happenings

Me & Lisa, after our excursion to The Moving Target

At the end of October we got away for a weekend to Chicagoland for Tim's cousin's wedding.  On the way I got to visit with Lisa, which (as always) was a much-needed, therapeutic laugh-fest.  We had a great time visiting with Tim's family as well, who were kind enough to shower us with baby gifts.

Family time! #BTTJDNMA

When we got home, my cousin Ariel and her husband Jan came to visit for a few days. (Remember when Kelly and I went to visit them in Germany?  Yeah, good times.)  They've moved to the states for now, and were finishing up a Grand Tour of the western part of the nation before settling down to real life and adulting.  Their visit was a lot of fun, and a huge blessing.  

Ariel & Jan (when they lived in Germany-- I forgot to get a picture this time around)

So now we just need to get a Christmas tree, do our Christmas shopping, send Christmas gifts, get ready for a baby (how do you even do that?!), and see when Baby decides to show up.  I'll probably do a fair amount of Christmas baking in there, too.

How are you doing?  Are you ready for what's around the corner?  Two years ago, going to England was just around the corner for me.  Last year, nursing school was just around the corner.  Now, parenthood (aka Permanent Life Change) is peeking at me from the new year.  I can't imagine what I'll be anticipating this time next year, but whatever it is, I'm sure it's God's best for me.