Grace

Yup, it's official, we're having a baby. And we are so excited!!  It wasn't necessarily our plan to wait 6 years but that's the way it worked out and I'm glad to be done with school so I can focus on this baby.

She will be a girl and her name will be Grace.  Zach didn't have any intuition about the gender but I was pretty sure from the beginning that she was a girl.  Her projected birth date is January 28, 2013.  For posterity's sake I thought I'd record a few thoughts on my experience thus far.

My pregnancy so far has been, I think, pretty typical.  I started getting pretty nauseous at about 6 weeks and stayed really, really nauseous until about 20 weeks.  I puked a lot and Zofran didn't help a lick.  All food was disgusting to me and I had to force myself to choke things down.  Somehow I made it through my last rotation of school, orthopedic surgery!  My preceptors were heaven sent.  They were very patient and always made sure that I ate when I needed to and sat when I needed to.  Despite being sick I never missed a day, never showed up late or left early.  That was another huge blessing.

I've started feeling much better over the past few weeks but I've found that I can't push myself nearly as much as I'm use to.  I have to sit down a lot more often and if I don't eat about every 2 hours, my blood sugar plummets and I'm out for the afternoon.  Food still isn't my friend at all but I'm grateful that I'm to a point where everything doesn't make me sick.  My bedtime has moved way up.  If I'm not in bed by 10:00 PM, I'll throw up.  That has taken some getting used to.

On a positive note, I am feeling much better and starting to recognize my limitations so things are looking up.   For the past week or so I've started to feel her kick and move and I LOVE it.  Mindi gave me some little shoes the other day and I can't wait for her to wear them.  I've been pretty good at not buying everything but I am so excited for this little one to come.  She'll have an amazing dad, who can't wait to meet her as well.  Zach has been amazing!  He had a hard time not being able to help while I was living with my parents so I think he's trying to make up for it.  I can't dote on him enough.    

I still have a hard time believing that I'm going to be a mom.  Despite being so sick, I didn't really believe I was pregnant for a long time.  I would still doubt it but I've seen the pictures.  She's in there and I can't wait to meet her.

PA-C

(The past two years I've put up a fake family picture.  This time it's a real one!  The sign says and baby!)

Well the past year has flown by.  I'm finally a PA-C.  That means that I completed my 2 year masters degree.  15 months of sitting in class all day and studying all night with a little time left over for my wonderfully supportive husband.  That was followed by 12 months of working all sorts of hours in different medical specialties for free.  I liked some specialties more than others but feel very blessed to have had the experiences I had.  My surgery rotation was with a cardiothoracic surgeon.  I don't like surgery but it was such a privilege to see and touch a beating human heart.  I discovered that my passion lay in family practice and that is where the majority of my rotations were.  I got to watch several c-sections and see those beautiful babies take their first breath.  I don't think there is anything quite like that.  I appreciate so much my wonderful preceptors who helped me realize that it was ok not to like certain parts of medicine (surgery, ER!) and I will forever be grateful to my last preceptors who worked with me during my first months of pregnancy and being horribly sick and never made me feel uncomfortable or bad about having to sit down! (That might not sound like much but it meant a whole lot to me)  I'll never forget some of the patients I was able to work with.  I know it's hard to have a student come and see you but they were so kind and patient with me and helped me learn what I needed to learn.  I could not have done it without them!  So thank you!

PA-C also means that I passed the PA National Certification Exam.  Getting to graduation is only part of the process.  It all comes down to whether or not you can pass this one test.  I studied for a good month after graduation and sat through a 5 hour test!  When I found out that I passed all of the emotions and stress and hard times of the past two years kind of disappeared and it all became worth it.  I don't want to do it again mind you but I did it and it feels good to accomplish something hard.

A very special thank you to my family for all of your support!  You guys are the best!  And to Zach who got me through it all.  I could not have done it without you!    Now on to bigger and better things!!