Baby Pics

I'm not one of those Mom's who's willing to post baby pics really....I only feel ok with posting the more abstract ones that could be any baby. It just creeps me out for some reason...so here are some for you to enjoy without getting too up close and personal.

We are in the midst of shattering our previous bassinette sleeping record, she's been down now for about 70 minutes which is a great feat for us. I have hopes that some day she will do this at night so M and I can once again sleep in our bed upstairs at the same time!

A has been out for a few walks in the stroller and was a little baby rockstar on our trip to Baby's R Us to get a sleep positioner to help us transition her into the bassinette. Next up, a trip to Costco by the end of the week for more diapers. Yes, we've nearly gone through 192 newborn diapers since 7/15/10.

Baby Y!

It's been awhile since I posted but it is for a good reason! Baby Y graced us with her presence on 7/15/10 at 313pm.

I was really lucky with the birth. I started having contractions at 2am, went to the hospital around 12p and was found to be 8 cm dilated already, started pushing around 230p and delivered at 3pm.

Of course, I opted for the epidural which was so wonderful! One of the midwives suggested that since I came in almost fully dilated and had been able to manage the pain, I should try natural childbirth since I was so close anyway. Hell to the No thank you very much.

I'm so glad I got the epidural...I can't say that enough.

So we are home now, adjusting to being parents of an insatiable newborn. The breast pump is the key to getting any kind of sleep and I'm slowly building up a stockpile so that eventually I'll be able to leave the house! M and I have been taking turns getting up at night to feed her since we now have the bottles.

Baby Y doesn't like sleeping anywhere but on either one of us so we haven't been able to transfer her to her bassinette yet so that means taking turns either staying up with her in the middle of the night while she sleeps or taking light naps on the couch while she sleeps. It's true what they say to new mothers, you'll never sleep soundly again. If we are on the couch and I'm snoozing while she sleeps, if she moves or breathes more deeply I'm suddenly alert and readjusting her position, my position etc.

Here's to hoping we can use the bassinette sometime soon so we can both sleep in our bed at the same time!

Hair Cut At Last

I was desperate to get my hair cut before Ms. Y arrives; I imagine it will be difficult to extricate myself from the house for 2 hours for quite awhile. I called and my stylist couldn't get me in on a Saturday till 7/24 which I was sure, would be after she was here but I took it anyway and they added me to her cancellation list.

Delightfully, I got a call earlier this week that she could take me this Saturday at 330. When I got there, I noticed the door said they were only open till 3, but I was sure they told me 330. Guess what? She stayed open for me!! I love her. She apparently only works every other Saturday and saw that I was also on the cancellation list so she figured I must really need to get in. To add to her awesomeness, she dried my tshirt in the dryer after I got stuck in a massive down pour on the way in to the salon. She also informed me that she was actually going to charge me less for cut (I have curly hair and it has to do with getting relicensed to be able to do the cut that she's been giving me for nearly 7 years, she hasn't done it so she doesn't feel like she can charge for it), and she gave me a sample of some new oil that she thinks will help with the curl vs. humidity battle that is waged throughout summer.

In return, I tipped her based on the previous cost for the cut and then some for being so accommodating. She told me that she would be willing to stay open for me in the future, given the fact that I'll have a little one soon. She is so wonderful!!

I can never tell much about the cut till I wash it and style it myself...today we will see.

Knit Jones, MSN, FNP

Yes indeedy, I passed the boards! I was soooo relieved and am really enjoying rejoining my life, already in progress.

The exam was a challenge especially at the beginning. I had heard that they will stack harder questions at the beginning, I guess to just shake your confidence? Anyway, I found that to be true. The first 20 questions were hard and I felt like I was getting most of them wrong. Then I regained my confidence and stride and hit lots of questions which were really obvious and I started to feel a little better. I decided to go through all the questions and go with my gut and then go back through and review all the questions. Some of the ones I was stuck on, I read with a clearer head the second time through and would notice a word or phrase that helped me decide on an answer with a clearer rationale for choosing it.

I was surprised to see very few medication questions, I had thoroughly reviewed antibiotics and their coverage and didn't get a single question about them. I can't say that I felt like I got a lot of questions in one particular area...a few thyroid questions, a few cardiac murmur questions, some growth and development, some female GYN, headaches, abdominal pain. There were also some on follow up...what interval would you follow up, would you follow up or should you refer? I would say the difficulty was on par with the reveiw questions I had done but there were a few that I had not encountered any of the terms and really had to guess including one about identifying a breast mass. The choices were fibroadenoma, papillomatosis, mammary ductal etresia, and ductal papilloma. I had no clue at the time but looked it up when I got home and the correct answer would have been fibroadenoma.

Even after the secondary review, I finished with about an hour to spare, luckily test taking time frames have never been an issue for me. I was so so happy to see that I had passed, I started shaking and my eyes welled up with tears. This is truly the end of a very very long road. I was emotional for the rest of the day, I am back to my mantra of 'I can't believe it's over'.

I can finally focus on the remainder of my pregnancy and getting things ready for baby Y. I hope she gives me a little time to enjoy my new found freedom!

Day of Reckoning

Tomorrow's the big day...the day my entire graduate education comes down to but...no pressure or anything.

I am taking the FNP certifying exam tomorrow, 9am sharp. Just got the confirmation email so it must be happening. I'm surprisingly calm, although, as I'm writing this post I do feel like I have butterflies in my stomach..or is that the baby kicking?

I have extensively studied for this exam, I go overboard when it comes to things like this. I started reviewing during the last semester of grad school. I have listened the Fitzgerald review cds many times over. I have used about 5-6 review books, read umpteen sets of guidelins and have done 4500 review questions. I have to keep in mind that this exam is to determine the safety of an entry level nurse practitioner, I'm not supposed to know everything about everything.

But like I said, I'm actually very calm about the whole thing, relatively speaking I'm sure. I have devoted basically 2 days every week to studying for the entire day and as the day approached I began studying on lunch hours at work as well as evenings and weekends.

Wish me luck Knit Jones-ers....here's to hoping I can help my school keep their 100% passing rate!