It's Official!

So a lot has happened the last few weeks... the most exciting one happened today, so I knew I had to update. I'm going to go chronologically backwards, hope you don't mind!

This morning I had an interview with one of the managers of the unit I've been working on for the last 6 months. The interview was for a RN new graduate position. I was nervous about the interview and if they'd offer me the position, even though I had heard nothing but positive feedback from the nurses I worked with and some of the other staff. I was worried the pregnancy might cause a strain on their decision to keep me, even though I hadn't told anyone at work yet, it is getting pretty obvious. I walked in today and felt very relieved and the manager I interviewed with asked a bunch of questions and explained the process of new grad orientation and what they expected. She seemed to be trying to drive home a point that if I knew of anything like a vacation or otherwise (I wish!) that would conflict with completing the orientation in it's entirety, that they would like to know and may adjust my start date. (I thought to myself holy guilt trip, man!) I let her know that I was a very responsible person in regards to attendance and in the 2 years of nursing school, I only missed one day (due to Bruno breaking his leg), and that I had nothing planned or that I know of that would conflict with the orientation process. And then I added that I am pregnant and I'm due towards the end of April, but that a 12-16 week orientation would hopefully be complete before I needed time off. The manager acted very excited and said congratulations. It felt good to get it off my chest and let them know, but then I felt like I might have just shot myself in the foot too! Long story short... they called this evening to officially offer me a position! Woo Hoo! I'm officially and Extern II, and I start with orientation on December 29th. Once I test and get my license, I will officially be an RN and my pay will increase! Can you hear the cha-ching sounds in Tom's ears?? I can! LOL!!!

Soon, I'm gonna know a whole lot more about stuff to do with the brain!

I graduated from Phoenix College on Friday, December 12th. It was a great night with family and friends. Aunt Sue and Aunt Carol were able to make the long trek to be there. Monique along with her mom and dad came by as well. Some of Tom's family even showed up to show their support, Nancy, Tom and Myra. After Graduation was the after-party at Graham's Central Station where all of my girlies got together and celebrated with friends. I, of course, was a designated driver so the girls, and Tom, were able to have a little more fun (read: drinks) than they normally would! We closed the bar/club and then headed over to Filiberto's for some late night sustenance. After driving the girls home, I think I crawled into bed around 4:15 am. Crazy, but we had a great time!

Just before Graduation... Gina, Jacki, Me, Sarah, and Anna (not pictured - Sara)

The whole fam damily showed up, I felt so loved!

Me and Monique, isn't she pretty!

Me and Tom, he's so proud of his soon to be money-maker! LOL!
He'd still love me if I wasn't making any money, right? =)

At Graham's they have a karaoke section... here we were trying to sing I Will Survive, we were horrible, not to mention I only knew the chorus!

Congratulations Graduates and soon to be future RN's!!!
We don't scare you too much do we? Oh, wait, did you hear us trying to sing?

Jacki and Anna giving "Hank" some lovin'! I think I actually look pregnant here!

Jacki has a friend, Ty, who is INCREDIBLE at country dancing. He dragged me out onto the dance floor and spun me around... it was fun, but I am no where near ready to try it on my own!

Sarah even convinced Tom to dance with her, aren't they cute?

We had our "big" ultrasound on Friday, December 5th. Most people call this the big ultra sound because it's normally where they find out the gender of the baby. Well, we're being difficult I guess and don't want to find out, so we just got to see the baby and get some measurements. Heart rate was 149, and baby was estimated to weigh 11 oz. We got to see a long femur bone, the four chambers of its pumping heart, a cute set of hips, a little wave of the hand and the cutest button nose ever. Unfortunately, this imaging place wasn't as hip as the last place, so we didn't get a CD or any 3-D images. Frankly, I was only slightly impressed with one of the images, and I had to scan that to get it on the computer. So... here's "Hank"...

I can't believe Christmas is Thursday, of this week! I'm not ready for it, but guess, I'll have to get ready pretty quickly. So Merry Christmas to all, and if you are travelling, I hope you travel safely. I hope you get to enjoy the holiday with your loved ones!

A few things...

Just a quick update, so I don't forget about stuff!

Sunday, November 30, 2008 - Felt the baby move for the first time. Tom had been awake for a little while and I was dozing off and on still. He came in to check on me and got back in bed for a little snuggle. While laying there talking, I felt a little poke on my left side, but wasn't sure what it was. About a minute later, I felt the same thing and said something to Tom. He got excited and asked if it was something he might be able to feel, I said I don't know. So he put his hand where I said I felt it and left it there for a while, but I couldn't tell if I was feeling anything else with his hand there. Later in the afternoon, I laid down for a nap (I'm working a night shift schedule right now... more on that later) and felt the movement again in the same area. So... we have a mover and a shaker! I'm so glad I finally was able to feel the baby, I was worried we'd go into our ultrasound on Friday and hear bad news, but I'm reassured now that all is well in baby land!

Preceptorship - UGH! Night. shift. Need I say more??? Oh, yeah, it's floor status patients, when I like my sicker ICU patients. Blah! I was worried it would be horrible. It's not. The patients are pretty nice for the most part, we take 5 patients at a time and that gets pretty busy, especially when we don't have a nurses aid. They are yucky patients too... at least I think they are kinda yucky. Kidney and liver problems and/or transplants, so they have a lot going on and their baseline is to be sick for the most part. I visited my floor(Neuro ICU) where I was working the last 6 months. I missed those patients and the staff I worked with. Neuro patients are for the most part healthy, but have a bleed in their head. Not as complicated and yucky as some of the other patients out there. DISCLAIMER: I'm generalizing here, not *all* patients are a as I've described. Maybe I've idealized the situation, hmmm, I dunno. But I like the Neuro ICU better. The night shift hasn't been that bad to transition to, it's coming off of it, I'm not so sure about yet. I hope to work weekend nights once I have the baby, so I guess I better get used to it.

House - Tom's been remodeling the master bathroom, he's doing a great job between all the holiday festivities and my needing time to sleep during the day. It's a little slow going at times, but I think he's about ready to rock and roll on it and we may be buying tile this week. Next project is to scrape the popcorn/acoustic ceiling in the master bedroom, fix a few spots and then paint. After that's all done, we can move back into the master bedroom, get our guestroom in order and start working on the nursery!

I don't have time to post pictures, but I wanted to give an update. Hopefully on Friday I'll be able to update with pictures from the ultrasound, we are going to a different office for this ultrasound and I don't know if they will give us the images like the last time. I hope they do, then it will be easy to share with you!

Can you believe it's already December?? Holy Cow! or should it be Holy Reindeer? LOL!