Quick Update

I may seem like a total blog slacker, but I did do a post which I can't seem to finish because it has a video of my cute kiddos and stupid Blogger won't upload it. So I did write, you guys just haven't see it. So there.

Here is some random updates from the home front:

1. I am finally feeling better! YAY! I figured out that I need to eat by 6:30 each morning or there is big, big trouble. Now that I figured that out, my weekends have been more productive (I was throwing up all Saturday and Sundays - it was tons of fun). My back is still causing be trouble, but I have my man slave to help with that, and I still hate me some vegetables.

2. I bought a doppler. Or rather I am renting one. Best $20/month I have ever spent. I was really feeling stressed (and that's not good for the baby AT ALL) about Nugget's health so I bought one and the first time we heard that sweet sound it was amazing. Alleviated all my fears. I don't use it every day, actually I've used it only once since getting it last week, but for someone who has had a miscarriage, you KNOW the worst can happen and anything I can do for myself to enjoy this pregnancy I will do.

3. We were eating out almost every night because I don't have the energy to cook after work nor does anything really ever sound great to me. So one of us would just pick up food on the way home depending on what I wanted to eat that very minute. Not good on the wallet. So we've started doing Dinner's Ready which is so simple, healthy and tastes amazing.

4. Nesting began last weekend. Our house was a disaster so I scrubbed from top to bottom after church. First time I felt the energy to do so and now little things out of place or disorganized are driving me insane. We've started the nursery so that is helping but man, man slave better get used to cleaning and fixing and de-cluttering!

4. For our four year wedding anniversary, Jason bought me/us a 3D/4D ultrasound that I enjoyed last Saturday. It was to check on Nugget's health as well as the sex. Well, we found out and we are having a very hyper, very cute little BOY!!! We've named him Noah Jackson and we are absolutely obsessed. I have pictures of our rejoice-0ver-a-penis party but no time to upload so I will someday. Here is a bad picture my dad took on his iPhone.


Knowing and seeing him move and suck his thumb and yawn and mess with his little wienie has helped my bonding so much. I really was not bonded at all with him, I must admit, because I was so terrified of losing him. But now I am so in love - he is the cutest baby I have ever seen! It totally transformed McSexy as well, because he really for the first time understood that there was a HUMAN inside of me. HIS human. HIS baby. That night after the ultrasound and our penis party, he said, "This was the best day of my life!" He also said (write this down hubbands!), "I am more in love with you than I have ever been. You are absolutely amazing for growing Noah. It is a miracle." He rubs and kisses Noah all the time and went crazy clothes shopping! Plus, he realized with all that kicking that the little guy was doing that I really was in pain! The tech said he was super hyperactive! Lol.

We are very excited, albeit still non-stop busy, and so thrilled. It sometimes seems that this is really going to happen for me now :)

What is a fetal pole? Can we dance around it?

Such was the response of my dear friend Becky when she received this text message from me at around 10 this morning -

"yay! 126 bpm heartbeat! lots of growth, fetal pole!... VERY GOOD NEWS!"

So we received our answer. Nugget is growing (must have been all those extra tacos I've been stuffing myself with) and has a strong heartbeat. I gasped when the ultrasound tech immediately flipped the screen around and pointed to a small flicker on the monitor. IS THAT MY BABY? I was not expecting anything at all, but I am so thankful for seeing growth and a tiny heartbeat.

I am also thankful that my St. V ultrasound was a much better experience than in the past and not just because the results were positive. In the waiting room, I was starting to have a little panic attack, immediately around the corner came the sweetest therapy dog (Gladys) that I have ever seen (besides Woodykins of course). Her owner brought her over to me, and as I began to pet her, I IMMEDIATELY felt calm. Gladys seemed to intuitively know my turmoil and she literally put her paw on my shoulder and nuzzled into me neck. I was covered with a wave of PEACE and knew I could make it through. In addition, the ultrasound tech was a guy and he was 5 million trillion times better than any u/s tech this far (remember PHILLIPA? rrrrrr). He talked us through everything, said how good it looked and how excited he was for us! I loved him and am thankful that God knew I could not handle another sullen, annoying woman.

I sincerely think that the progesterone saved baby Nugget. They are dating me at 6 weeks 4 days. So on or around March 21st, we are expecting little

Noah Jackson

or

(tentatively) Delilah (Lilah) Kate

Thanks be to GOD (and thank you all for your fervent prayers!). Today is a good day!

You need a good laugh?

So, recently I have been trying laugh therapy (as prescribed by myself) to help me feel less stressed (more on that later). Here is one site that literally made me laugh out loud and feel better about my days!

Thank goodness for goofballs, eh?

Baby's Named a Bad, Bad Thing

Baby Names of the Day

I am sick. First time of the school year (yea!), but sick nonetheless. Sadness.

Because I am sick doing nothing, I have plenty of time to think about things that are not relevant in my life right now. Like babies. And baby names.

My new favorite baby name is Noah. Boy name, obviously. It means rest, comfort. I like it because of the associations with animals. Like the Noah who built the ark. Jason likes it because the bad-ass dad from Heroes is named Noah.

I don't have trouble coming up with boy names, just girl names. Well, I have girl names, but Jason and I disagree on most girl names. He is SET on Hannah. I am not set on Hannah. I like it, but I am not freaking in love with it. At least we have a ton of time to decide since we aren't even pregnant yet.

Encouragement

It seems that recently, a fair amount of people have been negative about Jason's decision to leave engineering (a fairly lucrative and stable career) to pursue medicine. Our families are reasonably supportive, they just don't want us to leave Oregon. It is disheartening when neighbors and acquaintances respond with, "What!? WHY???" and it makes us question if we are making the right choice. Jason always responds to naysayers with these points:

1. He believes his gifts are elsewhere (as in, not in sitting at a desk and coding). He is a very compassionate, gregarious, soothing person, and he has a servant's heart. He wants to serve people and affect change in a more tangible, moment-by-moment way. He enjoys a fast paced environment where he can move around and be confronted with new situations and problems.
2. He needs the opportunity to establish deeper relationships. Engineering, at least software, is a pretty isolated job. He has meetings and does work within a group, but mostly he sits at his desk coding.
3. He (we) value education for education's sake. It is important to him to pursue even higher education, and he is not motivated or interested in getting a Masters or Ph.D in computer science. As a teacher, I know that should he pursue higher degrees in engineering, he probably would not be successful because of this lack of interest.
4. He is not happy in engineering and dreads the thought of it as his career for the next 30 years.

People still insist that he is crazy, though. When I think deeply about it, I get stressed as well, mostly because I am so afraid of being dirt poor for so long during med school and residency, having to move away from my support network of family and friends, and never seeing him or having him to support me in raising our children. Because we are starting later than some, and Jason can't quit work to go to school full time until he starts med school, the journey will be especially long for us.

It is funny (and amazing) how God redirects you and offers you peace in the midst of stress or adversity. Upon opening my computer, I found this post from the Lives of Doctor's Wives blog. It was exactly what I needed to recommit to this medical journey. I know Jason and I have a stronger-than-average marriage, have excellent communication, and are committed to meeting eachother's needs. The horror stories you hear of absent doctor husbands or of wives being left after the stress of training is said and done, those men are not my husband. They are men who choose from the beginning that family will always be second to career. They are men who are egocentric, selfish and proud - who are unwilling to serve their wives and love them more than they do themselves. It is not medicine that breaks up the marriage in that case, it is the marriage itself, doomed regardless of career choice.

Anyway, just thought I would share that blessing. A bit of encouragement when I needed it most :) I am thankful for blogging, for it has offered me a support network of women who are going through or have been through what I will be going through :)

Baby Name of the Day: Long time since I have posted an idea. Right now Jason and I like Chase. Not sure of the middle name but would like to do a family name from my side...

Post-Graduate Life

Since finishing my worksample, I spent this past weekend doing absolutely nothing. Jason was sick on Saturday, so we basically sat around the house. I have been very fatigued so I tried to sleep most of the day, but to no avail. Same Sunday. Tried to sleep, couldn't. The most productive thing I did was clean Alice and Hazel's cage and take the dogs to the dog park. We had Laura's Pittie Diesel, and it was his first time at the dog park and he did fabulous. Extremely well behaved and kind to the other dogs. Two dogs got into a fight right next to him and he backed away, ears back, and laid down, pretty much terrified. That was the real test. Pitties hardly start the fight, but they always end it.

Today, however, I taught all day, went to the gym, went to the library to get my kiddos a video on westward expansion, and then cleaned the house. We are trying to get ready for camping on Friday, and I am hyper-organized, so of course I have to start the week before. That's all. I do have a teaching tidbit of the day, however:

Me: Elliot, I really enjoyed reading your persuasive letter. You have excellent voice in your writing!
Elliot: Really?
Me: Yes!
Elliot: Oh. I didn't know I had a voice.

Ta da!

Baby Name of the Day: Delilah. Jason loves it, as do I. However, I would want to call her Lilah, and Jason doesn't really care for that nickname. It means "delicate." I am not sure a girl of ours will ever be delicate, but at least it has a nice meaning. What do you think?

Royal Playa Del Carmen

Alrighty, people! We have figured out our vacation! We'll be going to the Royal Playa Del Carmen in Playa Del Carmen, Mexico. I can't believe it, but we found a five-star all-inclusive for a VERY good price! We plan to travel the beginning of August! Yea for us! It is a bit more than we wanted to pay, but there was not ONE bad review on Trip Advisor, and the pictures look phenomenal. We could have moved across the street to the Royal's sister property that allows children and is cheaper, which also had excellent reviews, but #1, the Royal has more restaurants (which is VERY important to us!) and #2, a better beach and #3, no children. We figure this will probably be our last trip without kids, and our last trip for a long while, so we better go all out! I am so excited. You can check out the reviews here! I feel sort of guilty about spending the money, but for once I am going to say it - after a year like I've had, I DESERVE IT! It won't stop me from feeling a bit bad about the money, but we need to do it for us. We've had a rough year and will have a rough couple more with Jason's schedule and job hunting for me. So yea! Happiness.

Baby Name of the Day: These are Jason's contributions. He had a dream or something, or just decided while he was conscious, that these are his top girl names. Hannah Elizabeth, Nancy Lynn, Emma Jane. Pretty good mixes for a guy to come up with! What do you think? He thinks we are going to have all girls, and we both would love twins or triplets (I know, we are crazy) so maybe we'll actually get to use all of them (or at least some combination!)

Allergies, Graduation and More

I am dying of allergies (I know I don't look like it in the graduation pictures because I am so freaking beautiful anyway). One good thing about medical school is that we potentially might get into a school without a season from hell (May-July in Oregon). Last night I had MAJOR issues and stood in the shower for 15 minutes with my eyes open under the water to flush out the pollen. We are going to go to the pool in a few minutes, so hopefully I can make it without a run to the hospital. I don't think I have been to the hospital for allergies since college days in Corvallis, and I plan to keep it that way.

I graduated yesterday! Yipee. For graduation, Jason is buying us a vacation wherever I want. He loves all-inclusives, but I think it can be much cheaper to get a vacation house somewhere and just half cook/half eat out. I think it is more budget friendly to pack an extra bag of PBJ fixin's, chips, nutri-grain bars and fruit to cover breakfasts and snacks and then eat out lunch and dinner. Rental houses are private, have kitchens and are a great option. We might want to see if any couples want to travel with us next December and go in on a house. We are looking at Bermuda, Hawaii and the Bahamas. Any takers?

Anyway, J is back with the dogs so we are heading to the pool. Wish me luck!

P.S. Baby Name of the Day: Jackson. Jackson Cannon, Jackson David. Does JackSON FurgiSON sound weird? We would call him Jack or Jackson. Jack is after my grandpa on my mom's side whom I never met. What do you think?

Baby Name of the Day

Man, I wish I could remember to post my Baby Name of the Day the first time around. Here it is: Adam. I have ALWAYS loved this name for some reason, not sure why. I think it sounds like a strong name for a boy yet someone who is nice and smart. It is cute for when he is little, but also professional for when he gets older. It is not popular or too overused, but far from weird. It also meets Jason's and my traditional side. What do you think?