Baby smiles!!

I've been surfing the Internet looking for baby coupons and freebies when I came across this website that made me laugh!! It is great for new dads, moms and babysitter wannabes. It even has videos on how to change a diaper, how to bathe a baby, how to burp a baby, how to feed a baby, how to dress a baby, and even how to place a baby properly in a stroller!!

We have quite a bit of dirt in our back yard, and the other day, when Casey was scratching he was shaking off a cloud of dust. So, because the dogs come in the house and I didn't want half the back yard's dirt in the house, I decided to give Casey and Koko a bath, in the bathtub. Yes, I dared the adventure again!! This time Koko was being the funny one trying to avoid the water and at the same time not touch Casey who was wet. She voluntarily went and got in the tub when I told her to, but once there decided she didn't want to be wet. Casey on the other hand, followed Koko into the tub and sat and let me wash him. Seriously no wiggling, no playing, no fighting, just sat on his rear while I sprayed him down and soaped him, and then wouldn't get up off his rear when I was ready to wash it!! I'm sure they are giving me good practice for my children!! During the wrestling match/water fight I could feel the baby moving quite a bit. It almost felt like she was trying to get out to join the fun, which wouldn't surprise me in the slightest. All in due time little girl, there will be plenty of opportunity once you are big enough!!
She has been really active the last week, moving, poking, and kicking. All usually when I'm trying to sit still or fall asleep. The other night I could have sworn there was more than one in there for all the jabbing and rubbing I could feel. I LOVE IT!!! My dad was teasing me and told me the reason I can feel her so much is because she is trying to sign to me. Too bad tactile sign language doesn't work so well with the feeling I have on the inside of my uterus!
I finally am starting to show. . . a tiny bit. I have a bump that looks more like I've gained a little weight (which I've actually lost not gained) than that I am almost 6 months pregnant. I am still wearing all my "normal" clothes.

(Yes these are self phots!!)

Another month with lots of adventures!!

It seems as if it were only last week that I updated, and it's been a month!! How time flies!!
This last month has been a busy one, mostly because I was working two jobs. Part time at the job I have had since we moved here to Las Vegas, and part time at the new one that I have been hoping will be a better job. The old job had some things I didn't like that were becoming more and more disagreeable and leaving me feeling more like slave labor and less like a nurse. We had accepted a relocation reimbursement and sign on bonus that we wanted to make sure the new job would be better, before deciding to pay it back. So I went to part time at the old job and started at another hospital Per Diem. I started at St Rose Dominican Hospitals, Catholic Health Care West, as a float pool nurse mid January. Basically I tell them when I am available, and they call me that day between 5:00 and 5:30 am to let me know which of the three hospitals and which floor they need me on. By mid February I knew I was in a better place, and February 19 was my last day at the old hospital. So for about a month I was working four 12 hour shifts a week. Now I'm back to whatever my body will tolerate through the rest of the pregnancy. Nice thing is I only have to work two shifts a month to stay on the payroll and can call as late as the night before to pick up shifts.
Just after that job transition. . . the weekend after, Kyle and I headed to San Diego to spend the weekend for his cousin's wedding. While we were driving down to San Diego, I thought my stomach was not agreeing with something I ate. It felt like it was churning, but I wasn't feeling like I was going to throw up or have diarrhea, which has happened off and on pretty often since I became pregnant and more often when I am in the car for long periods of time. Odd thing was the churning feeling would start about a half hour after I would sit down in the car and stop when I got up. I finally realized I was feeling our little girl move for the first time. What an odd way, but well, all I have to say is she's like her mom. . . When I sit for more than 30 minutes, she starts wiggling and gets more and more aggressive the longer I remain sitting. I'm not one that does very good sitting still for more than a half hour. Good thing I do a lot of walking at work, or I would be in big trouble!!
NOTE. . . Through the rest of this update there are darker brown underlined words referring to different things. . . if you don't already know, if you click on these words they will take you to the website referred to.
As I have been registering for baby necessities at Target, Babies R Us, and Walmart, I have been comparing items on-line to try to find what will fit our little girl's needs with the highest quality and lowest price, I have found some really cool websites. One shows very graphic pictures of what the fetus looks like during fetal development and describes week by week what is happening with the baby as it develops. There is another website that shows how big mom's belly is on average through the pregnancy. Though I am almost 6 months pregnant, I am only showing about as much as the 3 to 4 month pictures demonstrate. I am still wearing all my own clothes and only occasionally after eating have to unbutton my pants. Another website has fun animations of different medical procedures that may happen through pregnancy, ie. ultrasound, epidural, c-section, amniocentesis, etc. which has been fun to share with my students from the Deaf School in California who have been emailing lots of questions about pregnancy and medical procedures. I know I am learning through all of this. Over the last 10 years as a nurse, OB/GYN has been the one aspect of nursing I haven't spent much time involved with or learning, studying, or working. I know alot about the baby aspect, but the pregnancy side has been a fun adventure :)
While we were in San Diego, we took the opportunity to go to the Wild Animal Park before the wedding. After walking up and down the hilly paths for a couple of hours my hips were letting me know they needed a break. Which has been another fairly recent pregnancy experience. The following are some of the animals we saw and how close we were able to get with them in open habitat space.

Map of the park

Elephants (Is one feeding the other or playing dentist?)

Giraffes (some of my favorites.
I love how graceful they are even thought they seem so awkward.)

Lion

His Pride (Lionesses and Cubs)

Cheetah (who would
look away every time I snapped the photo!)

Ruffled Lemur (These guys would hold still
and as you tried to snap a photo they would take off!!
There are actually two in this photo.)

Warthog (As ugly as Pumba,
but didn't seem to smell as Disney portrays.)

The wild things I'm related to :) can you see
the tail on the light blue one?? L-R Linda (mom in law),
Trek, Sam, Kelsey, Brandon

Rachel (far left) and Kyle (right) snuck into the shot. Only heaven
knows what animal Bryce (dad in law) is chasing
More Photos

We spent half the day at the park and then headed to the Hotel to change and go to the sealing at the San Diego Temple. It was a beautiful day to spend outside!!

Yankee Doodle isn't coming to town. . .but our little girl is!!

Today was our official ultrasound. . . we are having a girl!!! Just one :) We are excited!! Kyle couldn't wait for the appointment to finish to tell EVERYONE!! After the ultrasound, I went to the bathroom, and half the people in his address book knew before I was done. I dropped Kyle off at work, went to the store and ran into a couple of the girls he works with and they already knew because he had posted it on Facebook!! We are both excited to have her here. Next task, pick a name :) Too bad for Kyle. . . It's not a boy so he can't try for Yankee Doodle any more! We are due July 4, 2009 so Kyle's still rooting for a patriotic name. Any suggestions??

I am feeling much better. I haven't thrown up in a week, but now I have an insatiable appetite!! If it keeps up, I will easily gain back the 25 pounds I lost at the beginning of the pregnancy!

Our first ultrasound

Today I went for my 16 week checkup with the doctor. While he was doing the fundus check (where he presses his fingers into my belly to feel where the top of my uterus, the fundus, is) he had a funny expression on his face. He then asked me, "Are you sure of the date of your last menstrual period?" I said, "Yes". "Did you say multiples run in your family?" "Yes." "We need to do a quick ultrasound. Your fundus is where it should be at 20 weeks not 16." So off I went to the waiting room to wait for the ultrasound tech to have a quick break. While in the waiting room I called Kyle and told him what was going on. He informed me he was on his way over. (My doctor's office is across the street from where Kyle works.) I was called in to see the ultrasound tech just as Kyle got in the building, but she didn't have time to wait for him to come up to the 3rd floor. She did a quick ultrasound and said, "Sorry I'm so rushed!" Handed me a piece of paper and showed me where I needed to wait for the doctor. When I looked at the paper I realized I had a picture of our baby in my hand! The doctor came out a couple of minutes later, looked at my chart, and came up and said, "I was wrong. Just one baby, and you are right at 16 weeks according to the baby's measurements." We had a brief conversation about what could cause my uterus to be how it is and set an appointment for next month for the "real" look at the baby's anatomy (heart, brain, lungs, etc.) and find out the baby's sex if the baby will cooperate. I walked out into the waiting room, handed Kyle the ultrasound, pointed out the baby's parts, and shared what the doctor told me. As we walked out of the building Kyle turned and said, "I'm glad we are not having twins." When I dropped him back at work he was excited to take the pictures of our baby with him to show off.
Looking at the top image you can see the baby lying on it's back with knees and great big belly sticking up in the air with it's little arm down the side of the body. The bottom image is a face on shot. You can see the outline of the skull and it's knees.

I am excited for this new little one that will be joining our family!! We are starting to look for furniture and baby supplies. Wow!! They can be expensive!! If you know of anyone getting rid of some or selling some let us know. . . if we can't use them, I have a couple of friends in the area that are looking for baby stuff too.

A chance to post details has finally been found!!

We have been blessed tremendously in the last 6 months!! A great job for Kyle, a new dog, an awesome house, a baby on the way, and a better job for me!!

Kyle is working for LasVegasSun.com as an online editor and for the Home News covering hyper-local news. Kyle really likes his job because he gets to do a bit of everything. His primary job is editorial work and loading the stories and work of others on-line. He also has covered and written stories, taken photos for stories, and done some video work. (Click on the blue word stories and video to see samples of his work.) We live about a half a mile from his work, so quite often he enjoys walking to work. One of my favorite things about his job, is that I have RARELY heard him complain about it. Usually he comes home with stories of the work he is doing, or his awesome co-workers.

As I have shared in the past, after moving to Las Vegas we adopted a second dog, a Yellow Labrador Retriever, and named him Casey. Casey was a lot of work, especially at first. After a couple of months with us he is much better at following commands, behaving, and not jumping up on us. He still has his moments, but he is a quick learn. Koko, our Australian Shepherd is a great teacher!!

Also as previously shared, we bought a house and I think we are almost settled in. We are enjoying our home, and though we have found a few dead scorpions upstairs, we can't find much to complain about. (Really I think the scorpion idea has become more of a topic of conversation than a concern.)

We are pregnant and expecting on July 4, 2009. Kyle's parents are excited to tell people that they will have a grand baby and not just grand dogs =) I would occasionally get sick during my first trimester, but basically felt as if I wasn't pregnant. The first few weeks of the second trimester have been a little more difficult. I have found my stomach is sensitive to some of Kyle's favorite foods (garlic, melted cheese, Togos, greasy foods), and I have had days where nothing will stay down. All in all I'm doing well and Kyle says I'm starting to show.

Job wise for me has been a bit of a roller coaster. We were blessed for me to find a job very quickly, which offered a generous sign on bonus and relocation reimbursement, which was an awesome blessing at the time. The job seemed great at first, but the more time I have spent at this particular hospital, the more I realize they are about the money and not the patients and staff. (The patients are taken care of and get better, I've just seen better care at most of the other hospitals I have worked in the past.) Nurses at this hospital have been laid off and nurse to patient ratios have been climbing. I've watched as nurses are burning out, they are more frequently calling in sick, and rarely have I seen the hospital find appropriate coverage for sick calls. They say they call the agencies to get additional coverage, but I have never seen an agency nurse working in this hospital. I just don't feel like I'm in a place where I can give the care to patients that I want to give and I know they deserve. So I started looking for something that will make me feel like a nurse and that I am giving the patients I am caring for the best care. I start orientation next week for a Per Diem float pool position working for another hospital, while working part time where I am, until we see how things go. The new position pays more money, has more flexible scheduling, is closer to home, the hospital has set nurse patient ratios which seem appropriate, and seems like it will work better with our lives once the baby comes. Only time will tell.

All in all we are doing well, we are greatly blessed, and don't have much of anything to complain about. There are days I wish we had the cockroaches back, because with two dogs there is a lot of poop to be scooped, but chasing the cockroaches back out the door. . . .I'll keep what I've got!!

Update to the maiden name/middle name drama

The week before Christmas I decided to take another chance trying to register my car and see how things panned out with the maiden/middle name drama. I had contacted California to get my name updated on my registration, but had not seen the new registration. I decided to take my chances and went to a different DMV. I walked in, got in line, and waited. When it was my turn to go up to the customer service representative, I handed her the required paperwork, my drivers license, my California license plates, and my California registration. I then asked her if she needed to see my marriage license or my social security card to verify the name change since California had not sent me an updated registration. She said that would be a good idea, took them verified the name and birth date, and as an after thought said, "Since your drivers license has Suzanne Hansen on it, I can go ahead and put that name on your Nevada registration." She then finished the paperwork and handed me my Nevada license plates and registration.
So much for hard fast rules that can't be flexible and not taking names from social security cards :)
As I was leaving I told the woman that I had been told I couldn't have my maiden name as my middle name in Nevada, even though I had it legally changed with the Social Security department, and asked if she knew why. She told me there was a law or ordinace passed a year or so ago that only last names can be changed in Nevada and the only middle name that can be accepted is the middle name listed on a birth certificate.
Moral of the story is . . . if you don't give your daughter a middle name with the idea that her maiden name will become her middle name. . . don't let her move to Nevada or it can't happen!!

Exciting News!!

Kyle and I informed family and close friends around Thanksgiving and are now making a formal announcement to everyone we know, WE ARE PREGNANT!!! Our baby is due July 4, 2009 and Kyle has it in his head that we should name the little one Yankee Doodle. I am sure that won't happen!! Name suggestions are welcome :) The holidays and transitioning from one job to another have kept me very busy. I'm posting this quick note. . . with details to come in the near future!!