New Blog

Hello People!

I wanted to let all of you know that I now have a new blog:

http://elizabethsreality.blogspot.com

18 Weeks and Counting

I have been pregnant the last 18 weeks and have not told a lot of people about it :-) sorry people. Unfortunately this exciting announcement has been dampened by a difficult pregnancy.

This baby is a complete surprise to us. Before I even new I was pregnant I had strange bleeding. Soon after this I found out I was pregnant and the Doctor had me come in for an ultrasound at 6 weeks to make sure everything was okay. At this time they diagnosed me with a subchorionic hemorrhage. In easier terms it basically means that there is a bleed where the sac attaches to the uterus (later this area because the placenta). They put me on bed rest for a week which I strictly obeyed.... okay, okay... I actually did the bed rest thing for almost three days and then went on a vacation to San Francisco with Brett, Kensie, Amy and Chuck. We had planned this vacation long before to visit my Aunt Jodi and Uncle Jeff. This sounds horrible I am sure but I honestly got more rest there with so many people willing to watch Kensie the tornado. When we did go out and about we rented a wheel chair that Brett got to push all over San Fransisco. I told Amy and Jodi they were not aloud to release any wheelchair photos until I had told people I was pregnant. At this point I was only 7 weeks along and I was told because it was such a large bleed that the chances of me miscarrying were very high. Because of this we only told a select few I was pregnant.

At 10 weeks I had another ultrasound and the doctor told me the subchorionic hemorrhage had healed. He said, "It looks like you are going to be one of those people where this heals and you have a great pregnancy". At fourteen weeks I started to bleed a little bit so the doctor scheduled the big ultrasound for 18 weeks instead of 20. So last Tuesday I had the 18 week ultrasound which showed about 6cm of blood down by the cervix. They believe the subchorionic hemorrhage has not healed, and now the edge of the placenta is slightly torn away from the uterus. At that time the doctor put me on bed rest for two weeks. Well, the next morning (Wednesday) I woke at 5:00am in a puddle of bright red blood. Brett took me to the ER and the baby was okay. We were there about 3 hours and were finally able to go home. On Friday I woke in another puddle of bright red blood at 4:00am. We spoke with the Doctor on call and I went into the clinic when it opened at 9:00am. They did another ultrasound and the baby is still doing great. They have done labs to make sure I have not lost too much blood and so far I am okay. I woke up one more time Saturday night in a puddle of blood but the baby is moving and doing well.

Now you are pretty much updated with my pregnancy so far. I am on bed rest for two weeks but if I do not bleed for one week then I can slowly increase my activity. I have an appointment next week just to check the babies heart rate and then in two weeks they will do another ultrasound.

Now you know the real reason I am updating my blog... I am bored to death and have nothing else to do :-) I am doing okay however and I am just grateful that we are blessed with so many family members close by willing to help out. I am sure you are all wondering one more thing...

It's a Girl!!!

Confessions

So I am obviously not perfect but I want to confess some things. I am terrible at keeping in touch with people. I have many family and people I consider good friends that I have not spoken with for awhile. I am bad at returning phone calls, texts, and e-mails. Please do not take it personally. I am sorry, please have patience and don't give up on me.

While I am at it, I am bad at updating my blog (if you haven't noticed), face book drives me crazy, and I rarely check e-mail. I think I must have been born in the wrong century because I am just not computer savvy like the rest of my generation.

Hmm... I think that's enough for now

Graduation!

GRADUATION!

As every one knows I graduated on May 7th. I am obviously way behind on blogging this event but I was on a strike against bloggong for awhile. I started this post right after graduation but for some reason it would not let me down load the pictures I wanted. GRRR, I was very upset! For some reason it has finally decided to let me down load pictures again so the stike is over.

May 7th was the College of Nursing Convocation. This is the ceremony I had family come to...

This is my nursing class

Friends

McKensie had a hard day, she was very tired and crabby

After graduation we all went to Macaroni Grill... Amy's funny face

Katie and Kensie are not nearly as enthusiastic as Kristen




Presents!

I got an I-pod with accessories, and money from family...

Thanks everyone!!!

May 8th was the University of Utah Commencement. I told my family they did not need to come to this because it would bore everyone :-) but Brett and my Mom still showed up...

I am officially University of Utah alumni! Yippy!!!

What You Have Missed...

Well it has been far too long since my last post so I want to catch you all up on our lives. My life has been the typical school, homework, and clinicals. Brett has been working hard to provide for our family and has recently started a cleaning company that is doing well. Then of course there is McKensie, she is 18 months old, growing like a weed, and is healthy as can be. We have had no more seizure scares so far.

Here is a little bit of what you have missed in our lives since our last post (most of the pictures are of Kensie... but that is who everyone wants to see any way. No need to bore you with mine or Brett's pictures, we look the same as we did the last time you saw us :-)

Fall

Winter

Easter!

What the Easter Bunny brought!

Kensie is such a little girl. She LOVES dresses and pretty things. The moment she saw the dress she wanted to rip her clothes off and put it on. She didn't care about any of the other stuff in her Easter basket until I put the dress on her...

And she loved the purse too

The Easter egg hunt... Kensie had so much fun. As soon as I helped her find the first egg she caught right on and ran around the yard until all the eggs had been found. When she found her first egg she did a little victory/happy dance, SOOOO cute!

Hopefully this gives you a little idea of what has been going on with our family. I finally GRADUATE on May 7th (tomorrow)!!! I am studying for the nursing boards and trying to find a job. I know everyone says that there is a nursing shortage and so nurses can find jobs in this economy (which is true) but many hospitals (especially the good ones) have hiring freezes. The not as desirable nursing positions are the ones that are available. It's okay though, I will keep searching for a job and keep you updated on how it is going.

Fried brain... Want some? I have plenty!

I have officially finished the 3rd semester of nursing school at the U... only one more to go! According to many people, the second and third semester are the hardest. Hopefully this means I am good to go and next semester will be easy compared to what Ive been through so far... we will see. I am a little skeptical but hopeful. Now that I have time to relax and reflect over the past few months all I have to say is that my brain got fried and I literally did not function very well.

Here is an idea of what school has done to me as evidenced by a couple of dreams I have had this semester:

Dream #1: I contribute this dream to the guilt I feel about leaving McKensie.... mixed with guilt about the poor neglected Bailey (our dog).

NOTE: I want to state that what I am about to tell you is fictional and only took place in my dream, I would never do this to any child!

I am out with friends and family. I don't know what we are doing but it is important and fun. Kensie is at home in the dog kennel (which in my dream seemed perfectly normal and an every day part of life). In my dream I could see her playing in there with toys perfectly happy, and peering out the door every once in a while. Although Kensie was used to being in the Kennel during the day I was getting a little worried because she had been in there for six hours and had never been in there that long before.

Talk about WEIRD! I can't even tell you how strange this dream was, it seemed perfectly normal that Kensie was locked up alone in the dog kennel... YIKES!

Dream #2: This dream I contribute to my maternity class mixed with some pediatric patients I had in the hospital one day.

Brett and I are at home alone (I have never seen this house before in real life, but in my dream it was our home). I am pregnant and due any time. I go into labor, but because the beginning of McKensie's labor was very slow I told Brett we didn't need to go to the hospital yet...BUT all of a sudden I realize the baby is coming right then and yell to Brett to call 911. Brett ends up delivering the baby on his own in the living room. It is a little boy but he isn't doing well, he is blue and not breathing. Instead of finding out what is wrong and helping the baby I just keep saying, "we have to do Apgar scores, we have to do Apgar scores!!!". Finally the baby is okay, (although I don't recall us doing anything to help him). Brett and I look at the baby and say affectionately, "Awe.... he is a little down syndrome baby". After a few minutes I think I am going into the third stage of labor (giving birth to the placenta). Brett looks and says, "it has hair, do placenta's have hair?" in reply I say, "hmm, I don't know". Finally we realize that it is not the placenta, but in fact another baby. TWINS! Brett delivers this baby as well which turns out to be another little boy. He is very healthy and Brett sets him on the floor where he crawls off and up the stairs.

What the??? Dreams are psycho, especially if you add the stress of nursing school on top of them.

Note: placenta's do not have hair!

Go Utes! It must be said that Brett is a die hard BYU fan. However, I get to dress McKensie each day and am a student at the U so I must be faithful. SO... here is what Kensie wore for the big game day...