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...