I'm Back

Thank you all for the kind phone calls and e-mails of support after my miscarriage. I am doing fine, and we are wasting no time in trying again. We are still planning on doing IVF in February, so stay tuned. I am back to my blog and hope to be better at keeping it updated. I have started off with two blogs today in hopes of making up for lost time.

My Job

I get a lot of questions about what I do, so I decided to do a little blog about my job. I graduated from nursing school in 2002, shortly thereafter I passed my state boards and I am a Registered nurse. I worked on medical floors in two different hospitals for three years and wanted to learn something new. I was introduced to dialysis by one of the nurses(doing what I do now) at the hospital I worked at. When a patient's kidneys fail, it is often not forseen and the patient will end up in the hospital. While in the hospital Davita, the company I work for, provides bedside dialysis as long as the patient remains there. When the patient is doing better and released from the hospital, they will go to their outpatient dialysis clinic. I only do hospital (acute) dialysis. I provide in hospital dialysis for anyone from medical patients to ICU(my favorite) patients and although I havn't done it myself yet we occasionally do treatments for patients in Labor and delivery, post partum and the OR. I love my job! I love all the awsome things I get to see and be a part of. This is the machine I work with. I love all the buttons and gadgets-technology is pretty cool!





I work four days a week. Two to three days are "regular days", in which I will run two patients making it a 9-10 hour day. One to two days a week I am on call for 24 hours for emergencies. I can work a full 24 hour day sometimes if it is busy, just yesterday was a 17 hour day for me. It can be very tiring but also extremley rewarding. So thats what I do.

Sisters

I was made aware that it was recently Sister's Day. I know it's one of those obscure lame holidays but it got me thinking of my two sisters and how thankful I am for them. And in the spirit of Thanksgiving, this blog is for them. I don't think three more different individuals could have been brought together as sisters and yet have so many similarities. For those who have sisters, they know that they arn't always your best friend, but when bad things happen they are the still the first ones to help you pick up the pieces.

First for my sister Trish, the oldest, the steel magnolia-a little cheesy but true. Trish is the one who works well in crisis mode. While all of the rest of our heads are spinning deciding what to do next, she's one managing the dilema and delegating assignments accordingly. Sometimes I appear less than appreciative of this, but I know its all out of love and her "duty" as a big sister. Because she thrives in intense circummstances I tend to forget that they are just as hard on her as everyone else. She has dealt with such incredible losses and in my estimation has done so with great courage and has set a such a good example for her daughter. You are an inredible Mother, I love you Trish.





Second, for my sister Becky. My go to girl. I hope everybody has someone in their life who is their "what would_______ do?" When faced with a dilema, I often ask myself what Becky would do. She is such an example to me. She puts such thought and care into every decision and tries so hard to be the best person she can be. She is an incredible Mother, her kids are the happiest I've ever seen. She is always on the run and has something fun planned for them, they are going to grow up having the best childhood memories ever. She is a shoulder to cry on when I need it and my biggest cheerleader. I love you Becky.





This picture is from our sisters retreat this summer in Palm Dessert. From left to right is Trish, our cousin Cheryl (like a sister so it's cool), myself, and Becky. Pictures of the three of us together are few and far between, so thanks Becky for this one!

Halloween Engagment

We all know by now Sara is engaged. But what most of you don't know is that it wasn't truly official until I approved the groom. We had an engagment party last night at the Potter house, the guest of honor, Andrew Ostler. The day preceeding the party was spent carving pumpkins, snacking, decorating and yelling at Sara and Andrew to get a room. All in all Andrews application to marry Sara was approved. He's a great guy and luckily deserves my wonderful cousin. I had to duck out early from the party due to a long drive home, but was lucky enough to spend the whole day with the Potter clan and it's soon to be newest member. Things about Andrew I like....

1. Can tell a dirty joke with the best of us.
2. Will do anything Sara wants including wearing a Micky Groom's hat for the engagment party.
3. Chose to carve Andrew "hearts" Sara on his pumpkin.
4. Makes my cousin the happiest I've ever seen her.

Just a little photo op of Sara and the boys cleaning out pumpkins. Note: Thats why I'm behind the camera!

Counting My Many Blessings!

Ok I'm trying to write this with hands shaking, so forgive any typos. As most of you all know from my last blog Tom and I have been trying to concieve a very long time. We were on the verge of an IVF cycle and filling out adoption paperwork. Well yesterday I recieved the long desired 2 lines on a home pregnancy test(which I took at work and had to come home early due to a freak out). Needless to say it was a very sleepless night. Early this morning I made the trip over to see my Reproductive Endocrinologist and blood was drawn. At aproximatley 11:30 this morning we recieved the call we have been longing to hear for 4 1/2 years "you're pregnant". My heart is so full and I am so filled with gratitude, I can hardly contain it. I am cautiously optomistic. This is just a first(albeit HUGE)first step for us. My levels are a little low and I have already started progesterone injections. This could be a miscarriage or just a very early pregnancy. My doctor will re-draw levels on Tuesday. For those of you who don't know much about turners syndrome, this is nothing short of a miracle that we were able to concieve at all, let alone without medical intervention. Whatever the outcome of this pregnancy is, I will always be grateful for it and cherrish it every minute it lasts. I will keep you posted as the days progress and hopefully there will be a new Stanley in July :)

Indescribable!

Tom and I had our very first appointment with our adoption social worker today. I am still in a state of surrealness. I did not feel the way I thought I would. I thought I would be nervous, I was not. I am in such a state of peace. Peace I have not felt in these many years since we have been trying to concieve. Our social worker is a perfect fit(she's also a therapist!)She had a way of making us feel so at ease. I found out more about Tom's feelings on the idea in 2 hours than I have in the last year. Many of our questions were answered and I am feeling more and more that this is the route that was meant for us. We do plan to give one round of IVF the old college try in February, but if it's not successful, we will have all the paperwork in order to proceed with adoption. As a bonus, my company will reimburse about half of our adoption fees, a pretty big perk! Thank you to all of you who have been so supportive during a time in my life I have needed it most. On the lighter side, there is a TON(I think literally a ton)of paper work. I posted some pictures below. It's pretty incredible some of the things they want to know. Everything from "How would you describe your sex life?" to "what do your parents look like". We'll see how it all goes, for now I'm just excited to be getting somewhere. Love you all.

High School Flashback

Starting a little off the topic, look how freaking long my hair is getting! I have not had my hair this long since Kindergarten. I love it. Growing my hair takes the patience of a saint and the endurance of a marathon runner. It grows soooo slowly, but Tom is liking it long and so am I, so we'll see how far I get this time before I chop it off.





I took a road trip with me myself and I to see my Dad and Vikki. Tom was expecting a call back from Sears, so it was just me and the Scion on the open road. I left on Friday, it took me three hours just to get out of LA-I hate traffic! It was very surreal going bacck to the town I went to High School in(it's been 9 years). I even ran into my Biology teacher, who remembered my name-I was quite impressed. It was a very laid back weekend. The girls went shopping, cooked, and watched movies while my Dad worked on tileing the master bathroom. The highlight was my new 6 dollar shirt from Target-love it! I wanted to post a few pictures of the weekend, but we really didn't do anything exciting enough to warrent pictures, so here is one of me on the road on the way home.





I came home on monday night, luckily no traffic.The drive was great, long enough for some reflection and alone time, but not so long I was going bonkers. My friend Donna had a birthday on Monday, but we all met up for dinner on Tuesday. Note:Kyle looks so happy because he has everyones cash!





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Onward and Upward!

Well this is my first grown up blog, so here I go. Things are good! As soon as October started to roll around, things started looking up. It all started with my cousin announcing her engagment the end of September. Who doesn't love a wedding? Especially when the person is practically a sister. It's amazing how happy it can make you watching someone you love so much so happy. My weekends off are now spent buying pretty dresses, talking about cake filling, and planning parties...its so awsome! I should be getting my yearly raise sometime this month, thats always a blessing. Tom had a second(repeat) interview with Sears on Monday, and we are feeling fairly confident we should hear soon. Church is being attented more frequently and Tom and I plan to be back at the temple in the Winter-I am sooooo excited! I have currently lost 14 pounds in the last six weeks and plan to keep going.Everyday is a struggle though, why must food be so good? Everywhere you go, there she is, the tease! The best part about all of this is I have enough on my plate to keep me occupied until February when we take the big plunge and do IVF. I hope things keep going the way they are, it been a while since I felt things were going my way! P.S here is a picture of my cousin and her adorable fiance!