Nick, his garden, and his hoe

I think that about says it all.

16 weeks and dance conventions

Well, today we are at 16 weeks. According to "His Boys Can Swim" our baby is about the size of a small stud finder, or if you want to go with the food thing, it's about the size of an avocado. I'm still not having many pregnancy symptoms, which I am definitely not complaining about! I'm still a bit more moody and emotional and I'm still pretty tired all the time but other than that, nothing. Not even a belly. Here's a picture of my belly today. Please excuse Nick's old shorts that I'm wearing...I just woke up a few hours ago and haven't made it to the shower yet. :)
While I will admit that my belly is noticeably larger then it was pre-pregnancy, it still looks nothing like a 16 week belly. It is also at what I feel is the annoying state of a pregnant belly where none of my jeans fit anymore (with the buttons done) but if I walked into a store to buy maternity jeans they would look at me like I'm crazy. Also, I can't do some things that I could do before. For example, we went to Jump, a dance convention, last weekend. I was pretty excited to take class from Doug Caldwell and Mandy Moore amongst others. When I was taking class I felt retarded because I couldn't do some things because I could feel my skin stretching. It's not like anything was pulling inside, I could just tell that my range of motion with my back was less and the skin on my abdomen wouldn't let me go as far back as I'm used to. It was no big deal in the student rooms but in the teachers room, where there are only 10-15 people dancing, I felt like saying "I'm pregnant people, I normally can do much better then this, I swear!" Oh well, I know it's not a big deal at all. I'm just saying that a little bit of a belly would have explained the situation. The rest of the convention was fun. It was great to watch real competition again. I still feel like the people up here have no appreciation or even an understanding of what I do... but I suppose that's a whole other blog entry.

Here's pictures of my two side kicks. Daisy and Minnie have been following me around nonstop for the past few weeks.

13 (almost 14) weeks

It is now 13 (almost 14) weeks. Since the last update we have had another ultrasound which was part of the first trimester screen for downs and Trisomy 18. They look at the nuchal translucency which is pretty much a space on the back of the neck. If the space measures above 3mm (at 12 weeks in a pregnancy) there is an increased risk for downs, etc. Our baby measured 1.95mm which is slightly above average but still well within normal limits. Together with my age and family history they calculated that the chance of having a baby with these genetic issues went from 1 in about 750 to 1 in over 10,000. Now the cool part was the super high tech US machine they had. Nick said it looked like a space ship...I'm not too sure about that but it was definately way more intense than the one in the regular OB's office. The only thing that they saw that could be a potential problem is that my placenta was posterior and low lying. Apparently this is very common in the first trimester. As the uterus grows, the placenta should migrate up and away from the cervix. They just said that they wanted to keep an eye on it just in case it migrates down instead and turns into a placenta previa. The heart beat was 159 bpm which is one of many reasons why Nick thinks it's a girl. We go back to see Dr. Dixon at the begining of May and then to see Dr. Willis at the end of May. That's the appointment where we will do the mega ultrasound and where we'll be able to find out the sex. I asked why we were going to the high risk OB's to get the mega ultrasound and Dr. Dixon's partner said that once they see you (even if it's for an optional test like what we did), they like to see you back for that one to follow up. Plus, he said that Dr.Willis' machine was much more advanced than the one at Dr. Dixon's office so we'd be able to see more. Works for me. Well, that's it so far. Still not much of a belly, just feeling kind of chunker.

I feel great.

Recently, a lot of people have been asking how I'm feeling. I always tell them that I'm feeling great because for the most part that's true. Other than the occasional bout of nausea, I really am feeling physically fine. About two months ago Nick and I were reading part of a pregnancy book that talked about moodiness and that some women feel like they are having PMS times ten. Well let me tell you....I kind of laughed at that at the time but this is ridiculous. I feel like the ongoing theme of my third month of pregnancy is "Really, why are you still talking?" I was always moody (in case you haven't noticed) but I'm going to go ahead and correct What to Expect When Your Expecting and say that it's like PMS times 100. And the sarcasm has reached all new heights (now who would have thought that was possible). Oh, and it's not all the time either, it's completely random. I could be sitting here happy as can be and someone will say something or do something that triggers some little switch in my brain and all of a sudden Bristin (Bitch Kristin) is out full force. I just get annoyed with people. And I feel bad because most of the time it's people I really like. Sometimes they don't even say anything that should be annoying but for some reason I just have a problem. For example, we went to competition last weekend (which was a lot of fun). The girls did great, everyone scored well and I had a great time with Hayley and Katie, the other two teachers I went with. I really like 99% of the parents too (you know there has to be that one or two that means well but drives you crazy). However, by the end of a day and a half if I heard one more country accent I was going to scream! I usually kind of like everyone's little accents, especially the kids. But seriously people, your not fixin anything and it's a car, SUV or truck, not a vehicle. What else am I annoyed with? I'm annoyed that my patient is on 60mcg of Fentanyl/hr and 3mg of versed/hr plus the additional 2mg of versed and 2mg of Vec I'm giving him every hour and he's still trying to come off the bed and extubate himself. That is super annoying and now I'm getting annoyed with everything else around me too. Oh, and I'm irritated that I don't have a belly already. I'm almost in my second trimester, I want a freaking belly! And not the 'this is Kristin chunker, have to wear my fat jeans but you can't tell I'm pregnant at all' belly. I want a real pregnant belly or no belly at all! I know that that's not realistic but I don't care, that's what I want. Also, it's always that right when I wake up or at 7am after working for 12 hours someone asks me how I'm feeling. Really? Do you really want me to tell you how I'm feeling? Because let me say, I am feeling fan-freaking-tastic. I've been awake since yesterday at noon and I've been in an ICU avoiding all these nasty germs and dealing with all these nasty parents for the past 12 hours plus I have a 45 minute drive home ahead of me. How exactly do you think I'm feeling? That's why I always say that I'm feeling great. Just focus on the physical, it could be a lot worse I suppose. I could be puking my brains out but I'm not so that's good. I feel bad, I'm trying not to be mean but I feel like some of it kind of just slipps out. And it's not all the time either. I'm going to go ahead and say that 80% of the time I am perfectly happy. And I know that when I'm being crazy, I'm being crazy, but I just can't help it. So if I've been mean to you in any way, I'm really sorry. Please accept this glimpse into the psychotic mind of a pregnant woman as a heart felt apology. It's all I can muster up at the moment. Hopefully this won't last for the next 6 months. I am totally looking forward to the promised bliss of the second trimester. We shall see.

Introducing...baby Weaver!

Alright, here it is... I know that I told some of you that I would start posting baby stuff here after the first ultrasound. Well, as most of you have heard, we've had some family situations since then. So I'm a little late. Sorry. So without further ado.......introducing.......baby Weaver!!!!! I know, your excited! And please don't worry about the dark spot on the head, apparently it's just artifact from the US machine. (I asked Dr. Ross about it at work and he told me not to be a spaz). Is that how you spell spaz? Anyway, I'm 11 weeks as of today (Wednesday) and the due date October 14th. We went to meet Dr. Dixon three weeks ago, he was really nice and funny so I think we will get along well. He said that everything looked wonderful. The baby was just the right size and it was even squirming around when he was doing the ultrasound. I actually left the good picture at my mom's house (oops) so these pics aren't the best. Dr. Dixon was trying to get a profile view but the baby, in complete Nick and Kristin fashion, was being both stubborn and tried to do the exact opposite of what he/she was told. What a lovely glimpse into our future! Maybe next time it will be more willing to cooperate and we will get to see a profile. I go to get another ultrasound on April 2nd to look for evidence of spinal cord and certain chromosomal abnormalities. It's an optional test so I was leaning toward not doing it but when I asked Dr. Dixon about it he said that since I already had the appointment scheduled, it's always fun to get another ultrasound. The next one in his office won't be until around 20 weeks (until then he will just check for a heartbeat with a doppler). So that is our super exciting news. I haven't really felt that sick at all. Just a little queasy if I don't eat every few hours. I've been pretty tired too but nothing like the complete exhaustion that I hear people describe. I think night shift prepared me for that because I'm tired all the time, pregnant or not! Hopefully I will follow in my mom's footsteps who apparently was a perfect pregnant person (obviously). Oh! and I have been taking a picture of my (nonexistant) belly for Katie to add to the chart she's making to see how fat I get. Maybe when I wake up tomorrow I'll post this weeks picture. Until then here's one of the proud parents to be (it's from last June but I just found it on the computer).

Not So Gnocchi

So I have really been wanting gnocchi and pink sauce for the past week or so. I love gnocchi, it's one of my favorite things to get at an Italian restaurant. And a few years ago David, Lori's husband, had a cooking class for us where he made gnocchi. So I thought, I have nothing else to do tonight, why not, I'm going to try to make gnocchi. Need I remind you of my not so hot cooking skills? Didn't think so. Anyway, I got my (3) potatoes and boiled them with no problems. Then after I took them out of the water, I took a wash cloth and rubbed the skins off. So at this point, I'm feeling pretty confident. I was like, "hell yeah I can cook, you don't even know." OK, so far so good. Next came the mashing of the potatoes. I read online that it works best through some kind of pasta machine thing that I didn't even know how to pronounce the name, let alone what the thing was. So I scratched that idea. Then a few other websites said to use a fork to mash up the potatoes. Again, I'm mashing them up, no problems, feeling good. OK, now's the tricky part. Adding the flour. David said to use 1 part potato to 3 parts flour, but all the stuff I read online said that the amount of flour is different based on so many variables so it's better just to do it by feel. Problem #1. I was scared to add too much flour because I was sure that my gnocchi were going to be heavy and nasty so of course I added too little. But I'll get back to that later. As I was mixing (kneading?) my dough my confidence level was dropping but I was still feeling pretty good. After all, I'm almost done, right? Here are some pictures of my dough and the gnocchi that I had already cut. Pretty much once you get the dough to the perfect consistency (whatever that is) you roll it out into long rolls (like your making spaghetti with play dough) and then cut the roll into little nubs. You drop the nubs into boiling water, a few minutes (seconds) later they float to the top and voila! you have gnocchi. And by "you" I mean literally, you, not me. I got mushy potato nasty. And...this is why I don't cook for anyone else but myself. You know I ate it anyway, and I saved the rest of what I didn't eat too. I'm going to try to do something with it tomorrow I guess. I suppose it wasn't a total loss because I was kind of hungry and now I'm pretty full. And, like I said, I wasn't doing anything anyways so might as well make some nasty gnocchi.

Things that are pretty annoying right now

First is a dog named Daisey. As previously discussed, she is deaf (for the most part) and her new thing to do is to whine. She's always been a pretty vocal dog even before the deafness set in so I'm not entirely surprised that she chose whining as her method of torture for me. Oh it can't be that bad, you say? No, this is not just every now and then whining when she has to go out or something like that. This is constant every time she exhales kind of a whine. At first I was kind of concerned. The nurse in me was thinking "does she have stridor? is there something wrong with her airway?" Oh no, that's not the case either. The dog is perfectly comfortable laying on her pillow (yes, that's right, I said "her" pillow) and whining. The only time when she doesn't whine is when there is someone else other than Nick or myself with her. Which I think she does so that other people won't believe us when we complain about it. She's that smart. And so far her evil plan has worked. I realize that she probably likes how the vibrations feel on her throat but this is rediculous. I'm currently weighing the pros and cons of a shock collar.

The second thing is our bread machine. Everyone knows that I do not enjoy cooking. If I could eat bread and pasta with butter and parmesan for the rest of my life, I'd be a happy girl. So, knowing my love for bread (especially the home made kind), Nick got me a bread machine for my birthday a few years ago. Of course I was intimidated by it and so we hadn't touched it until a few months ago when Nick wanted to try it out. Let me tell you the bread that he makes in that machine is increadable. I have tried a few times and for some reason my bread is just not as good. So today, I really felt like some fresh bread. I brought out the machine, followed the directions perfectly. I even sprinkled the ingredients into the bucket thing just like Nick does. And how does my bread turn out? Crappy! I just don't understand why I can't do this! It shouldn't be that complicated. You put the stuff in the machine and three and a half hours later, you have bread. Apparently that is a little too complicated for my cooking skills. Here is a picture of my nasty bread. BTW, it actually tastes pretty good and I'm still going to eat it!