Hello 2012

This will be my last valiant effort at blogging

Ava & Jackson will be 9 months old Sunday. I can't believe it. They grow stronger, smarter and quicker everyday. Such a blessing they are.

I decided to take a leave of absence from graduate school. Oh yeah, you guys weren't aware of that, were you? I'd been working hard for my Masters in Nursing since Aug 2010?? I only have 3 semesters left, but I lost it. I lost the drive. I dreaded class and clinical. I lost the passion for learning. I was bitter and tired and angry. So. I told my instructor. She encouraged me to take a LOA rather than quitting. So I did. I turned in all my paperwork yesterday and I already feel like a 100 pound weight has been taken off my chest.

For the first time in merely 9 months, I'll be able to enjoy my childrens infancy. I can be a part time stay at home mommy... and I'll love it. I know I will. I'm excited to take them for walks, go to the park and go the pool during the week in the summer.

Untitled...

Getting back to it. That's right. I'm going to start blogging my heart out. A nice release and hopefully update friends that I haven't seen in F-O-R-E-V-E-R....

Just incase you haven't seen me in a while-- thats my new body :) hehe.

Tisk, Tisk, Tisk.... I know, I know...

I admit, I suck at blogging. I thought it would catch on rather easily, but, let's be honest-- my life is rather dull and I really don't have anything to "blog" about daily/weekly... or heck, monthly for that matter!

So, I figure if I update this once every 3 months--that's a huge accomplishment. Soooo--here we go.

The wedding plans are being finalized. The wedding invites are stuffed and now I just have to get in the mode of writing out the addresses. (think pretty handwriting Laura!) My mom FINALLY found a dress.... in Saint Louis. Yes, we drove 4 hours to STL to find her a dress. Apparently KC's dress shopping scene isn't good enough for her. (Ok, ok, in her defense, NO one has clothing in size 0 for her...making it difficult to imagine a pretty dress when it's 14 sizes too big).

About a month ago, I moved in with the fiance'. Of course, I thought this would be "wierd" and like, "ooooh gross, I'm living with a boy.... forever!" But... it isn't. I love it. I come home from work, just in time to see Kevin leave-- ( I pack him a brown sack lunch & kiss him goodbye). Uhh, are we the Cleavers? Umm, anything but that!

My 3 dogs smell up the house. I think Bath & Body Works know me by name because I bought out the store one day... De-stinkifying the house is merely impossible.

Brewski (AKA PEANUT) is now over 20 pounds. Yup, I nursed him back to health and now he is a fatty :) Then of course, Bailey and Barley are sweeter than ever-- they love being a big brother and protect Brewski from taunting squirrels.

Umm. To back track, I'm still working the grave shift. Working nights kick my butt... I have dark circles and my eyes are a permanent shade of red.... but hey, I love it. The girls are great, the babies are challenging and the pay--- ah, can't complain.

Welp. Time for change of shift. AMEN, AMEN. Maybe I"ll continue this lovely update after a few hours of sleep....
... and that's a maybe... don't count on it :)

Last Night of Orientation

Okay, so I have been working so hard these past 4 months... I have been reading and racking my brain to saturate everything I learn on my floor... Finally, I'm done.  However, last night was a true test of my new found ability..

Okay, so there is a 2.8kg, 2 week old baby in with apnea spells.  MRI shows minor infarct to parts of the brain, otherwise within the normal limits; truly, she looks like a healthy baby. (and let me tell you, she CRIES & POOPS like a healthy baby!) 

However, for some reason during/after all feedings she totally checks out and tries to die on me! (5 times last night).  She'd brady down into the 70's (normal is 120-180 typically for neonates) and saturations would PLUMMET within seconds to the 50's (and yah, normal is 95-100%)!  Her eyes would roll back in her head, be totally unresponsive, blue lips, dusky skin and limp.

Lets just say vigorous stimulation was applied with O2 blow-by several times.  And with that, thankfully, she'd come back to life all disoriented and exhausted.  Crazy baby.

Yesterday they did a video EEG on her and captured a good spell during the test; they decided she only had central apnea.  (I say Bull-crap)

So that was baby number 1.  My 2nd baby recently received a tracheostomy.  Last night, after a feeding, my preceptor & I decided to change his trach ties and clean the site.  (Ok, lets back track, TRACHS are the only thing that made me almost ralph back in nursing school--).  So as I'm cleaning the site, he starts to get all worked up and decides to PUKE up his food thru the trach site like projectile vomit across the room.  Luckily & amazingly, he seemed to miss my scrub top by like 5cm, or else I would have been going home smelling like curdled milk.  Gross. 

Needless to say, he was a bundle of joy.  

Happy weekend to all!

2008 Wrap Up

Happy New Year!  Here's a quick 2008 year in review: -Graduated from Nursing School

  - Kevin & I got engaged

  -Passed boards (oooh yeah)

  -Started CMH orientation August 11

  -COMPLETED orientation Jan 03!!

HAPPY 2009 to ALL~

Happy Howl-o-weeeeen!

Tonight is not only for the goblins and goons that haunt the street-- it's for lesser scary pumpkins and bumble bees....