Nursing School Graduation

The graduation ceremony was beautiful. we walked into the the classic graduation song. we started off by hearing from a few important people in our experience in nursing school. one of those included a teacher i have great admiration for. she taught me more than just the art of being a nurse. she taught me maturity, cooperation, honesty, and what it means to be completely compassionate regardless of the situation. she gave a beautiful speech for graduation.

after she spoke we heard from a few of what we would consider the "head" of the program. most we saw very little ...basically they make the program run.

  I fought really hard not to have to wear the white hat for graduation. none of the classes before us had to so why should we. ultimately i was the only one who didnt want to wear the stupid thing. I was going to just not come to graduation but i didn't think that was fair to my husband who worked very hard to put me through school and i didnt think it was fair to my family. so i sucked it up and went to the pinning ceremony and wore the stupid white hat.

Recieving my awards for Valedictorian and class secretary

 

 

after the pinning ceremony  we stood with our oil lamps and candle and recited the Florence Nightingale pledge that goes like this:

I solemnly pledge myself before God and in the presence of this assembly, to pass my life in purity and to practice my profession faithfully. I will abstain from whatever is deleterious and mischievous, and will not take or knowingly administer any harmful drug. I will do all in my power to maintain and elevate the standard of my profession, and will hold in confidence all personal matters committed to my keeping and all family affairs coming to my knowledge in the practice of my calling. With loyalty will I endeavor to aid the physician in his work, and devote myself to the welfare of those committed to my care.

I haven't been proud of myself for very many things in my life. When i was 18 and graduated high school I made a list of things I wanted to accomplish before I turned 25. One of those things was to graduate from a nursing and become a nurse. I accomplished that with flying colors. I received 2 awards as well as my diploma. those awards include a special accommodation for being class secretary and VALEDICTORIAN!! Yes you read that right I had the highest GPA in the entire class. I couldn't believe it when they called my name I thought for sure there was someone else that had done better than me. For that accomplishment I was so PROUD of myself.

 He was my study buddy, my support, and most of the reason I kept going when there were times I was ready to quit! He's so amazing he got me flowers and even snuck my best friend out here from utah. she spent the weekend and we had tons of fun laughs together for the whole weekend. I still can't believe he surprised me.

 

2 wonderful years

 On September 20th I was officially married for two years. I cant believe how the time has flown by it seems like yesterday that we were planning all the details and Anthony was newly baptized. so much has happened in the last two years. Some were wonderful things, others not so great, and some tested our marriage and our relationship. After 2 wonderful years I'm elated to say that I'm definitely more in love then I was the day I got married.

For our anniversary Anthony took me out to a surprise dinner to the Cheesecake Factory. He even got us a private table with reservations he is such an amazing guy. One of the things he loves to do is to not tell me anything about where we are going and what we are doing. He loves it!!! I have to admit that I don't love it but I know that it makes him happy. after dinner we just took a nice stroll in the cool weather until my back could no longer take it.

We kept it simple this years since we have Madison on the way, we didn't do gifts but it was a wonderful and nice to just have the time to spend with one another.

2nd Trimester

so before i forget about the second trimester so here's some of the things i Loved and Hated

Loved:
Feeling Madison move around and get stronger every day was a true joy
finally having enough of a baby bump that people didn't think i was just fat or chubby
doing my registry and finding all the fun things you need for your baby
making the baby shower invitations
planning the baby shower with my mom

Hated:
the pain in my hips from stretching
the feeling of not being able to breath
not sleeping for hours on end in the middle of the night
the difficulty relaxing before I went to bed ( I spent a lot of time in a warm shower to relax)
the extensive amount of stretch marks I'm gaining
The three trips to the ER I had
The midnight runs to the bathroom

I love my baby but I'll be glad to have my body back!!

30 Weeks

Slightly Disappointed

Since there are so many woman in the ward that are pregnant it is kinda taking all the fun out of being pregnant especially since its my first time. I also happened to be the only one with this as their first baby. I have waited a long time to have this baby pretty much my whole life. I think it is such a divine calling to know that the Lord trusts you with one of his spirits. I'm going to admit that i do like a little attention and I was kinda hoping more people would care and be interested. I know that some truly do care. they ask how I'm doing and truly want to know the answer but, most don't really want to know how you actually feel. Unfortunately, with so many and three of us due on the same day I cant blame them. I think the most disappointing comment i get of all is " you don't even look pregnant" which is like what are you saying I've always been fat!! I'm not uncomfortable by any means as far as being pregnant and "large" because in reality I'm not that large. Last time I checked I only had gained 9 Lbs which in 7 months makes me feel pretty good since i was totally freaking out about gaining too much weight and being totally huge. but it makes me feel like I was huge before i got pregnant when people say that I don't even "Look" pregnant. So for those who say I don't look pregnant here's the comparison:

14 Weeks & 26 Weeks

who's the pregnant one??

I know Anthony will be a little upset that I told this story but its something I think needs to be put in our family history. The other day I really wanted dessert (not something uncommon) so we got in the car and headed to Cold Stone. Unfortunately Cold Stone was closed when we got there. so we trucked our selves down the street and went to Golden Spoon. I ordered chocolate ice cream with M&M's which I have to admit I think is decently normal. Anthony ordered tart mango frozen yogurt which is not uncommon ( he does love mango) so here's the wired part ... for his toppings he choose Reeces Pieces and Sour Gummy Worms. Did I mention that reeces pieces are filled with peanut butter!!!

And they say I'm the pregnant one...ha I doubt it!

Absolutely Perfect

Yesterday was amazing! Normally Tuesdays consist of running around with Anthony to get all the chores done before he goes to work on Wednesdays. When we woke up we realized there really wasn't a whole lot to do for the day like there usually is. It was going to be very hot and I decided I did not want to stay home at all because that meant sitting in front of the TV in a hot chair and trying to relax. I searched the internet for something to do indoors, that wouldn’t cost us a bunch of money, and we could be back in time for our car seat safety class at 6:30. But it seemed like everything I came up with was going to be expensive besides going to the beach (which was outside) or we wouldn’t make it back in time for our class. So Anthony came up with the idea that we should go see a movie. usually I’m not a big fan of movies and being pregnant I have to be honest sitting through a movie can be difficult sometimes but as I pondered this idea...I thought its brilliant. We can run our errands and still make it to the movies in plenty of time where there was always too much air conditioning and be back home to grab some dinner and go to our class.

The day turned out to be absolutely perfect. we got done with all of our chores so early that we decided to go out to the mall where the movie theater was early, grab some lunch, walk around, and just wait for the movie to start. We grabbed movie snacks from the sweet factory since the only popcorn I will eat is kettle corn (NO BUTTER) and headed for our movie. We saw The Twilight Saga: Eclipse which for the most part was a good movie. I definitely could have lived without all the overly dramatic love scenes but whatever. Anthony held my hand and cuddled with me through the whole movie (which he doesn't do often since I'm always hot and he is always even hotter together we just make each other miserable). It was like dating all over again. We go out on dates every Friday night but for whatever reason they don't have this huge spark in them or at least not like yesterday. I love my Husband more and more every day and am so grateful for our cute little date days they make my world go round! What an Absolutely Perfect Day!

26 weeks

We were laying in bed this morning before Anthony had to go to work and he was rubbing my tummy and kinda talking to Madison. She decided to say hello with a really big kick right in the center of my tummy. it was really neat we truly enjoy the little moment we have with our sweet baby. someone told me yesterday to remember that I was the closest thing to heaven right now. I never thought about it but they are probably right. This sweet baby is truly in limbo between the pre existence and the mortal world. that is amazing and special to me. it defiantly makes me want to sit, reflect and truly feel the spirit that is growing inside me. only 94 days to go!

Fun Times

So Madison has started moving around a lot in the past week or so. Enough that I feel her playing and kicking almost all the time. She defiantly gets more active when daddy is around or when music is playing especially if I am enjoying the music. I completely love when she moves around it's so fun to know she is in there and playing like a happy little baby. I've tried to put her to sleep by rocking in the rocking chair when its really late but I have to tell you this little baby is on her own time schedule because I can rock for hours and she is still all over the place.

Her new favorite thing to do is to push on me from the inside. Not the most comfortable feeling ever let me tell you. Sometimes its so uncomfortable I have to stop what I'm doing and kinda push back where she is pushing on me to get her to stop or at least move to where I'm comfortable enough to keep doing what ever I'm doing.

I look forward to the weeks that come ahead because I know these special experiences I have with my sweet baby are only going to get better. Only 15 weeks to go!

Sick Sick Sick

Okay so as much as I want to enjoy this pregnancy, especially since this is my first. But so much for that fantasy. so far this pregnancy has been much harder then i ever expected it to be. The first trimester was the scariest because anything could happen to the baby and its just one of those things. So I held out faith that it was time for us to start our family and stayed very quiet about the fact that there was something growing inside me. I don't get morning sick really so it was pretty easy to hide it. Once we finally told my family we we're so excited to tell the world. Things seem to go pretty well until recently. I had a little congestion and a couple of colds but nothing that seemed unmanageable. Then the kidney stones, UTI, and Kidney infection. To date the total number of kidney stones is 7 the first two were unmanageable and i had to go to the ER. A gracious ER doctor gave me some pain medication so i could manage the kidney stones on my own. And with the pain meds and a warm shower they did become manageable and i have not had to go back to the ER (so grateful). Now its been almost 3 weeks since I've had a kidney stone episode. But along with the Kidney stones came another UTI. I thought I could just flush it out with water and cranberry juice but I was so wrong. So Monday morning i called the doctors office after struggling so badly with the symptoms I begged for medication. They were amazing and had me some medication within a couple of hours. With only one dose of medication I felt like a whole new person.

I'm so over being Sick though this pregnancy...I would have welcomed morning sickness if this is how to avoid Kidney stones, UTI, and other ailments. The depressing part is when i'm not preggo i rarely get sick I'm decently healthy so hears to hoping that things get better and i do get to enjoy the rest of this pregnancy.

Precious Moments

Last night we were lying in bed and the baby was being extremely active. when i say extreamly i mean pretty aggressive and seriously strong kicks. so since she was being so active i thought it might be a good time for Anthony to try and feel the baby kick his hand.

I moved his hand down on top of where she was kicking. He said he didn't feel anything. So i pushed his hand down into my stomach and waited a few seconds. she graciously kicked his hand several times and he felt it!

Daddy's thoughts:

"Ok so right before we hit the lights to got to bed, i was rubbing my
wife's stomach and she stopped my hand and pushed it into her belly, a
few seconds go by and i understood y she did it, our baby girl kicked
me, she did it a few times. AWWW first of many to come"

Prenatal Peek

Since they weren't 100% sure the baby was a girl we decided to have an ultrasound done at a place where they specialize in gender determination. so we booked an appointment and anxiously waited the week to find out if we were going to be having a girl or a boy. I prayed the night before that our little one would not be shy. we invited my grandparents to go to the ultrasound with us. it was a long drive out to the place because of the excitement of the whole situation.

we got there and i filled out a couple of legal sheets that said that in no way do they determine the health and well being of the baby just gender determination. we walked into the room and i sat in this really comfy chair that i have to say i wish they had this type of chair at all ultrasounds instead of the cold hard table. they put the image up on a large screen TV for Anthony and my grandparents to see.

Well needless to say we had no need to be anxious anymore because the second she placed the wand on my stomach and there was our little one's behind showing HER LADY PARTS!!

so needless to say we are elated that we are having a little GIRL.

Ultrasound #2 boy or girl?

We had an ultrasound of the baby done some time ago ... sadly I have been very sick so I have not been able to update this blog. It was the first ultrasound we had that the baby didn't look like a little blob. The ultrasound took much longer than we expected and they don't let the rest of the party with you in while they do the measuring and then they let you in to see the ultrasound image and watch the baby on the screen. The technician said he wasn't sure of the baby's sex that he thought it was a girl. Since I can somewhat read an ultrasound and pretty much know what I'm looking at. I was 99% sure that it was a little girl. We decided we wanted to be sure so I looked up a company called prenatal peek. They do gender determination for a small fee.

So here are the stats for baby Dayton that we know about from the ultrasound
- It currently weighs 217 grams (which is a little small for her age)
- As far as they can tell her heart and other organs are doing very well and developing normally
- Even though it’s small they did not change my due date (happy mommy)

We will know more in 1 week when we have the ultrasound done for gender determination.

Another Doctors appointment

On the 22nd we had a doctors appointment for the basics weight, BP, measurements, heartbeat etc... i have to say at this particular doctors I love the morning appointments. I don't think a lot of pregnant women are morning people but I happen to be a decent morning person soooo i try to always take the earliest appointment they have. we always get out of there so quickly they are very efficient.

This time:
My blood pressure was much better. its still higher than normal but nothing to be majorly concerned about like last appointment (I think it was high because the MA put the blood pressure cuff around my lower arm instead of my upper arm.) I'm use to seeing BP's of 110 and under but I'm not really complaining about a 130/80

we were going to tape the baby's heart beat for every one to hear but i failed to charge the batter to the camera. (talk about feeling awkward) oh well next time. I also love the fact that no matter how many times they listen to the HB they are amazed (not startled this time) at how strong it is.

The doctor came in and i have to say i was very thankful that i did not have to strip down to nothing and wear paper clothes this time. all he wanted was to measure the baby belly. last time the baby was measuring about about 17 CM which was a little big but nothing to be concerned about. this time the baby only measured 17.4 CM which means in two weeks it didn't grow much at all. so the doctor decided to do the ultrasound early instead of 20 weeks they will do the ultrasound Tuesday the 29th and I will be 18 weeks and 5 days along. The upside of them doing it early is we will get to know the sex of the baby that day too.

I don't care if the baby is a boy or a girl i just want to know its healthy and has 10 fingers and 10 toes, a healthy heart, and a developed brain.

Moving and Shaking

Felt the baby move for the first time on June 12th. felt really wired almost like butterflies or a gas bubble. It only happened for a couple of seconds. Can't wait to feel more.

Baby Dream #2

I finally had a long detailed dream about the baby. I went into labor in the middle of the night. I woke Anthony up and told him that I thought the baby was on its way. I asked him to check "down there" and he replied to me with a surprised look "I can see the head". I told him to call 911 and to get some towels, warm water, and a shoe lace. I was instructed to not push at all so I laid back and began to deep breath as much as I possibly could. The ambulance made it to our home (or where ever we were) and I made it to the hospital before the baby was born. Anthony held my hand and I pushed the baby out. I remember seeing the baby's head come out and Anthony telling me she's here she's here. the next thing I remember is looking into her face. she had lots of hair and her face was very round and a little scrunchy. When they weighed her she was exactly 6 lbs and 0 ounces. This is the last thing I remember. It was pretty detailed and it was interesting to hear that it was a girl. (I know there are no guarantee's when its a dream but this is the second dream I have had that our baby is a little girl)

I truly hope that this is not how my baby is born but it was interesting to have some part or an alternative idea to the story.

16 Weeks doctors appointment

Today was a totally different experience as far as doctors visits. Before today my OB/GYN was always a woman. Since we have recently switch insurance to Medi-cal I had to pick a new doctor and most are male. So I took a recommendation from the doctors office I have been going to. Unfortunately it was a male. so needless to say I was a little nervous...OKAY OKAY A LOT nervous. Then I was really hoping that they wouldn't have to do a lot of blood tests again and luckily since I sent my medical records over they did not have to draw blood (One Happy Mama). But I still had to have an internal exam :( I was totally disheartened but I did it because I knew it was important for the baby. The baby is apparently a little big for its age...which makes me nervous since I would prefer to have a normal to small sized baby (I REALLY DON'T WANT A C-SECTION). The baby is about the size of an 18 week old fetus and I'm only 16 weeks along. After the internal exam to measure the baby the nurse places the fetal heart Doppler on my stomach. She heard nothing at first then she moved it slightly to the side and the baby's heart beat came in so loud and fast it startled the doctor and the nurse. It startled the doctor so much he stopped what he was doing and quickly turned around to see what was going on. Next week they are going to draw blood to do the testing that detects spina bifida and down syndrome...time to start praying that everything is healthy. P.S. my blood pressure was high this time not sure why but its troubling me.

Cravings and Dreams

My current cravings are:

Teriyaki chicken wings
Hamburgers
Top Romen (yes i know its bad for me but i still really want it)

Crazy Dream #1
This is the first dream i have had about the baby and it was short sweet and to the point. i had to laugh about it so here goes...
I had a dream last night that I went out shopping and was buying a diaper bag for the baby. I purchased a blue one and later that day i had a baby girl and realized I had bought the wrong color diaper bag.

The First Trimester

I have been lucky to not have major pregnancy symptoms. I was especially lucky to not have morning sickness or nausea hardly at all. The hardest thing to have to deal with was the constant worry of weather we would make it to 12 weeks or not. But here we are we have successfully made it a full 12 weeks with no scares, complications, or heartbreaking miscarriages.
At 10 weeks we got to see our sweet baby and its tiny heart beat. There was nothing more precious than that sound on the screen and to watch our tiny gummy bear move around the screen.
As far as they can tell the baby is healthy and strong. We got to see our baby again a week and a half later when they did an "official" ultrasound where they measured the baby and checked the heart rate and the heart valves. The heart rate was running at 156 beats/ min which is really good and very healthy. On top of the heart rate being healthy the baby measured exactly where it was suppose to be down to the day which can be considered uncommon.
We both would like to be blessed with a little girl but it is too early to tell that. we have quite a few weeks before we know there is a race track buddy or a shopping pal. No matter what we will love what the Lord gives us. We know that the Lord knows the best and that in the long run he knows much more than we do.

some things i really want to remember about this pregnancy:
- I'm exhausted all the time
- I knew I was pregnant before the pregnancy test came back positive
- My breasts are the most uncomfortable thing possible
- At 12 weeks i could still fit in my regular jeans but my shirts were getting tight
- I crave hamburgers and sometimes one is not enough
- I'm scared to death to gain too much weight, i want to only gain the weight necessary to support my baby
- Anthony has sympathy cravings and eats things he doesn't normally eat like raisins
- Anthony's goal is to loose all the extra weight he has while i gain the weight
- Even though nobody else see's it I do have a small baby bump
- Everything gives me heartburn sometimes even water gives me heartburn (this kid better have a load of hair)
- I have the worst acne I've ever had in my life
- Anthony says that the gas is almost unbearable
- Constipation sucks
oh and did i mention I'm exhausted!!

Tender Mercies

I have been meaning to write this down for a while and just keep getting distracted. Since we got married in 2008 we have lived out of a mini fridge that had a freezer that didn't keep anything frozen. Well after two years we had finally grown out of the mini fridge. That poor fridge trucked on and held so much but after being called to the primary and the many demands that come with that as far as treats and food, plus the need to be able to hold food for more than a couple of days we had to do something different. My best friend was moving out of state and offered to let us have her fridge since she was moving into a fully furnished apartment. So we delightfully trucked over to her mom's house and picked it up. Much to our surprise we were given the wrong fridge. She told me to pick up a white freezer on top fridge/freezer. When we got there we were given a brown/beige side by side fridge. We used it and was grateful for a full size fridge. Much to our surprise our food kept spoiling before we could eat it. So we had a Sears come out and tell us if the fridge even worked or if not if we could save it or was it better to buy a new one. we found out that the freezer part of the fridge was 30 degrees and should have been around or below zero. The refrigerator part of the duo was measured to be running at 45-50 degrees and should have been below 30. So until we found a new fridge we decided to use the freezer as a fridge and go without a freezer once again. I decided we could not live like this for long so I began searching craigslist daily to find a fridge that we wanted and could afford.

The Lord in his tender mercy led me to the perfect fridge. it looked used but not abused and was only $75 bucks. I called the number on the add and asked if the fridge was still available amazingly a man replied yes that several people had called about it but never came to pick it up. I told him I would be there in 20 minutes with a truck to pick it up. I didn't expect to find a perfect fridge but from the picture it looked in good condition. when I got there the fridge was perfect. It was decently small but for the two of us it was perfect. Stainless steal on the outside and well taken care of. But the inside was a disaster. But for $75 dollars it was a steal the fridge was probably worth 200 bucks. It was made in 2008 and didn't have a dent in it. So after 3 hours of cleaning and scrubbing we had a brand new clean fridge that still had some of the original protective taping on it.

I feel so blessed and watched after. The Lord knew i was desperate and the fridge wasn't a want but a need and he provided.