Lemon Baby

14 weeks and it's a lemon!














The belly is really starting to show now! It still goes back and forth, though...small in the morning and big at night. Soon I know it will be there to stay, LOL!

The baby's head still makes up more than half of it's body but it's still cute :-).

13 Weeks!

We've got a...

Peach!

I can't get over how much it looks like a REAL baby, LOL!

Belly...

Well nothing too exciting this week. Just that much closer to being in the second trimester...one more week! Work is going great. Luckily I get to sit a lot for charting and in between cares but standing next to an incubator for long periods of time (or when another nurse steals your chair!) starts to hurt! I'll definitely need a maternity belt of some sort once this belly actually gets big enough to weigh me down, LOL! Right now I don't have trouble falling asleep but I am starting to notice that I toss and turn quite a bit and wake up when I accidentally roll to my back or tummy so I got a pregnancy pillow! It's a Snoogle and very comfy! You can use it many different ways so it won't be a waste after the baby comes. I also got an "I Love My Bump" shirt the other day HAHA! Brant hates when shirts say things like that but I think it's cute...can't wait to actually have a "bump" to wear it with ;-).


Last night I was watching 19 Kids and Counting and Michelle was able to hold Josie for the first time. I cried like a baby the whole time, LOL! Not only am I emotional now but seeing parents in the NICU each day just gives me a new perspective on the little things in life.

PS...I kind of went crazy with the pics this post but I really like it...it's fun to look at :-).

Baby Arnold

As many of you already know...Brant and I are expecting our first little one September 15th, 2010!!! We are now 12 weeks and 2 days! We found out at 12:45 am on January 7th and have been SO excited ever since. We have chosen to go to a Certified Nurse Midwife (CNM) instead of an OB/GYN and will be delivering at The Birth and Women's Health Center here in Tucson. After going through our L&D rotation in nursing school, I knew exactly what I wanted my pregnancy and childbirth experience to be. I do not feel that I am sick and need a Dr., so a midwife was really the best choice for us. Brant was a little leery at first and really wanted me to be in a hospital. You can deliver at the hospital (TMC) with a midwife but I felt I would be at a much greater risk of having unnecessary interventions done. Now that we have met two out of the five midwives in the practice...Brant feels much more comfortable and is very excited! We chose to wait and announce it to the world mostly because I know too much for my own good and was worried, LOL! But now that we have seen the baby and heard the heartbeat I feel a lot better!
At our first appt. we were able to get a quick peek of the baby on an ultrasound. They normally don't do this but because it was too early (7w 5d) for a heartbeat to be heard through the doppler, she did a quick scan for us. I cried, LOL! The baby was so tiny but you could see the umbilical cord and our little one just floating around. At this appt. (12w 2d) we were able to hear the heartbeat just for a quick second. She said it was definitely there and sounded good! The baby is still low and was apparently hiding out behind my artery so it was a little tough, LOL! It is truly amazing to know something so tiny is actually growing inside of me :-)! Brant is handling everything so well and has been pretty amazing I must say! He has been doing so much around the house (especially now that I'm working) and gets so excited even over the little things. Since 4 weeks he has been rubbing lotion on my belly...not sure if he's being sweet or just trying to make sure I don't get stretch marks, LOL!
As far as how I have felt...not too bad! I had all day nausea starting just before 6 weeks and lasted until 9 weeks. I will take nausea over throwing up any day. I haven't been too tired...during the time when I would have been most exhausted I was sitting around at home, LOL, so I didn't really notice. My body has actually been surprising me. I thought for sure by now I would be completely showing and need my maternity clothes, LOL! But some how I actually lost about 7 lbs from the nausea. I now have gained almost 2 lbs back which the midwives are very happy about. They don't really like to see wt loss especially when you didn't start out over wt to begin with. While my belly is just starting to show I don't really need my maternity clothes just yet but they are just so darn comfortable that I wear them when I can HAHA!
Being pg at work is actually going quite well. My manager took the news very well and I can have 3 months off if I want! There are 5 of us pg right now so she deals with this a lot, LOL! My preceptor just came back from maternity leave so she knows exactly what I am going through.

Well enough of my blabbing...here are some pics!

The night we found out!

Second test...I took about 6 or 7, LOL!

4 weeks

5 weeks

6 weeks

7 weeks

8 weeks

9 weeks

10 weeks

11 weeks

12 weeks

Pictures...

Here are some pictures pictures taken by the photographer at graduation...

Blessed...

To have an amazing family...

A wonderful husband...

The best friends a girl could ask for...

To have graduated from college...

To be working as a NICU nurse as a new graduate...



This year has brought so many amazing things to our life and I could not be more thankful!

Life goes on...

Life has changed so much in the last 4 and 1/2 years. I was watching junior year’s cheer slideshow and cannot believe the flood of emotions that came back as I watched. When we were there nothing else mattered. We thought cheer was the most important part of our lives and that we might stay there forever…or die there…which ever came first:-). When I talk about it with people now I realize that I may have been terrified to tumble but I am not scared of life and I am so proud of the places I have gone since that time. I had my first NICU interview today and when the manager was speaking to me about why I wanted to work there I almost welled up with tears. I knew my junior year of high school that I wanted to be a nurse and that I would work in the NICU. Everyone told me that I would change my mind but I am knew what I wanted. I get to be apart of shaping an infant’s and their parent’s lives…I get be an advocate for not only their care but the quality of their care and I couldn’t think of anything better for me. When getting into college the pre-nursing adviser told me that I may want to think about a second major because the College of Nursing was highly competitive to get into…I told her no…that I would be graduating from U of A as an RN and there were no other options. Sitting in my interview today brought everything together. It is amazing what I now feel is important in life compared to in high school. The typical interview question was what do you feel your biggest accomplishment is? I do feel that being the first person in my immediate family to go to and graduate college is a major accomplishment but as I reflect, however, it’s not just an accomplishment…it changes your life. College has shaped who I am. I do not feel that I am better than someone who has not gone to college but it has made me a different person. I cannot wait to walk across that stage on Friday and know that I am finally done…for now ;-). I can honestly say that nursing school was not as hard or as scary as I thought it would be. Most people think I am crazy for saying that but I truly believe in life you make things as easy or as hard as you want them to be. I also think cheer prepared me more than I will ever know. When I was accepted to nursing school I thought to my self, “So you’re telling me I just need to attend class, go to clinicals, and study for tests...not practice Monday through Friday at 5am in the summer, Monday through Saturday for three hours during school, or throw my self backwards repeatedly for four straight years?!? Then I’ve got this:-).” People may think that is a ridiculous comparison but I got through nursing school without ever once thinking I was dying…so I guess it worked for me:-).

Lately...

So much has been going on the last month I have not had any time to blog! Here's what has been happening lately:

-Meg and I have been doing LOTS of photo shoots
-We have driven back and forth to Phoenix a million times
-Saw New Moon at midnight with Jess and Maria
-My baby brother turned 16 and got his drivers license
-I have applied for about 9 RN positions...waiting to hear about interviews
-We found out that we are going to have a *nephew*...so excited for Meg, Mark, & baby Mason
-We had a WONDERFUL Thanksgiving
-I finished my thesis!!!!
-I've been getting everything ready for graduation
-I am almost done with classes...just doing final evaluations now
-I will defend my thesis on Friday the 4th
-Brant and I decided we are going to Seattle for our graduation trip in March!
-Best of all...I graduate in 17 days!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!