Toby & Maddux Life Update

This is the only belly photo I have taken. This is me at nearly 32 weeks (tomorrow) with Toby taken today. Trust me, he is bigger than I look. He loves kicking me in the back of the ribs and lungs right now and I am oober sore. Especially since yesterday when he kicked one rib so hard I felt a crack.

We have about 8-9 more weeks to go. My OB belives Toby will come late just like Jesse did. So I am assuming 9 more weeks, that way if he actually comes all on his own I can be happy about it instead of expecting it. I need all the time we can get anyway. Jesse Sr isn't done with classes until April 30th and I am due April 26th. So we will see what happens.

We got Toby's dresser yesterday and I really like it. It's made of oak by a local furniture maker and it was close to the price we paid at Babies R Us for Jesse Jay's particle board dresser.

Only two and a half more weeks of working both jobs. Hopefully I will not stress out about the housework piling up and just focus on work AND sleep only. It's difficult with Jesse Sr knee deep into student teaching and he has no extra time to help out around the house either. Hopefully Spring Break will get here soon and we can catch up and prepare for Toby's arrival...

Which reminds me, we are changing Toby's name slightly. We will still call him Toby, but his official name will be Tobin David Maddux. I love it!

Jesse Jay's 17 Month Check-Up

Jesse Jay had his 17 month check-up. It was nice because Grandma Sharon (my mom) was in town to go to the appointment. So we went today.

It started out with a med student evaluating Jesse Jay. I wasn't too concerned as I had to do the same thing once upon a time... and she was really nice. She thought that he looked like a pretty normal kid. Then the nurse came in and gave shots, which of course Jesse Jay didn't love. We declined the H1N1 vaccine since his doctor is very certain he has already had the actual swine flu, but did give him his scheduled vaccines AND a seasonal flu vaccine. The most adorable thing, my mom started crying because it was more than she could handle watching the little guy be held down and hurt.

Then the doctor came in. He was clearly irritated he didn't get to examine Jesse before he was all worked up. And the first thing he wanted to look at? His ears, which he hates. Which made Jesse wail even more. Shots and two ear checks was a little more than my monster could take. Then the doctor snapped at him and gave him some speech about how his behavior wouldn't get him out the door any quicker... which I pretty much didn't love.

But once Jesse Jay calmed down he showed us his growth curve. He is in the 90th percentile for height and about the 60th for weight. He now weighs 25.8lbs.

After his appointment, my mom took us to Olive Garden. Jesse Jay has started transitioning to booster seats and loves it. Going out to eat is pretty much the only time we give him chocolate milk, which again- he loves. Then we went to the mall and picked up some final clothing items for Toby and mom (grandma) HAD to buy Jesse Jay a toy. She got him a bathtime pirate set that he wouldn't let go of. It was adorable!

Now we are all relaxing at home. I have to work a 12 hour shift tomorrow and I am working both jobs starting next week. Pray for our sanity. Luckily it will only last three weeks, but being this pregnant makes that kind of hard.

The Week at a Glance....

My mom is in town from late Valentines day until early morning this coming Sunday. It's been great having her but her trip has already started on a more eventful note then we intended.. a sickness swept through our house.
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This weekend, my family and I all had some form of a viral "plague" so to speak. Jesse started vomiting Sunday night and I followed the next day. Sunday Jesse Jay had a 3 day fever and a few minor bouts of "spit up" that have now since resolved.

I had to call in to work Tuesday as I was still actively sick at 7 am. I tried to get in naps when I could, but the uncomfortableness of being pregnant made it hard to nap for more than 2 hours at a time without bad body cramping. Luckily, grandma came to the rescue and not only helped me with keeping hydrated, but watched Jesse Jay so I could just rest and get well.

Today I was able to make it in to work. Luckily I only had a half clinic day and a quick basic life support class/renewal that had to be done. The few things I did today were enough to take me down to a very tired and sedate level. So not at 100% yet, but definately doing better. My body aches an exceptional amount, probably from all the retching. I think I pulled some muscles in my chest because it definately hurts to take a big breath.
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I had my first training session at Saltzer last Saturday. Besides the usual, getting to know your surroundings and the people you work with- I think it went very well. I really like the other providers I met and everyone seems to be in a generally helpful attitude. And everyone is sympathetic to me being much slower than they are. Hopefully I will be able to speed up in the next few weeks and not be such a slow-poke. But I made a few good diagnoses and gained some small amounts of confidence with peds patients.

I work all this weekend and start full-time time next week. I will be doing part-time at my current position until March 15th. So no days off until February 27th. So I am exceptionally glad to be over my sick!
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Jesse Jay is busy cracking me up these days. He is starting to pick up words like crazy. And he has this fun happy dance he does when I see him. He giggles so hard he snorts. And he follows me around like a little duckling. He is such a BOY too. He loves his boots. They are his favorite shoes. I am pretty much smitten with him.
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I am now 30 (and a half) weeks pregnant with Toby. My OB says she thinks I will go late with him since I had to be induced with Jesse Jay. As much as it pains me to say this, I hope she is right. Jesse gets done with student teaching April 30th. I am due the 26th. But I remember how ready I was to have Jesse from week 37 on. And I remember how disappointed I felt when he didn't come all on his own.
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So a lot is going on the next few weeks. I think we will survive. But I need to be good about getting lots of rest and taking care of myself to get through the extra work.

MY Neighbor is Better than YOUR Neighbor....

So after all my whinning and theatrics, we have been rescued by our neighbor. Dave (my neighbor) is an electrical engineer. Jesse went over on the chance he might have an idea and it would help us figure it out. He wasn't at home when Jesse went by, but his lovely and oober nice wife assured him she would send Dave over once he got home.

Dave showed up around 7 pm with a big smile, a helping attitude, and a big tool belt. He asked a couple questions and figured out the problem in 5 minutes tops. Little Jesse was in awe of him the entire time (and I think envious of his drill that made cool sounds). Apparently the guest room had a socket with a wire loose. He acted like it was no big deal, but I assured him he was MY super hero (as far as electrical maladies are concerned).

He told me if it ever happened again not to hesitate and just knock on their door. My neighbors rock! I am going to bake them cookies and write a thank you card!

I am super happy that it was something small, and even more grateful and feeling so blessed to have such phenomenal neighbors. I love my house, again.

Electricty... E-lec-tricity.....

My emotional capacity to handle stress this weekend has been zero. So naturally, this weekend I have been bombarded with a bunch of minor little stressors that I am sad to say have caused me to react like a heathen, but alas.. it's true.

Today we found out that the lights in Jesse Jay's room, the bathroom and the guest bedroom were out. No big deal, we had a problem just like it last year and we figured that out just fine. It was a lightbulb in the front that had broken, got water in it, and everytime we turned on the breaker it started a fire that would retrip the breaker. We replaced the bulb and all was well. So we tried to figure it out in the same pattern as last time to discover, it wasn't the same problem. The braker isn't tripping and half the lights on the same circuit work, and the other half are out.

Jesse has gone and tested all the light sockets and only one turns up abnormal, saying the wires are switched, but nothing has changed. We haven't put in a new light, hung up anything new, or changed a thing. It makes no sense. Suffice it to say my sister (an electrician) has pretty much told us we need an electrician. A lovely, but seemingly needed expense.

Here in lies the dilemma, how to get someone here. One of us would have to be here and we both work. Jesse is student teaching and can't miss any days. I am getting close to switching jobs and every day off is PTO for the transition period. I have a little wiggle room, but no one will call me back so I can see if I can take the day off to figure this out. And even if I do, there is no guarantee someone can come tomorrow.

Basically, I really want to cry. I am frustrated, and other then the former owners son being an electrician, I don't know who to call. This sucks.

Luckily, we live right behind a school and we just turned Jesse Jay's blinds slightly to do a poor man's night light until this all gets figured out.

Did I mention that this sucks?

The Pager Saga

I have been on call the past three weekends. It's the most call I have had to take consistently ever, but I am essentially paying my dues. Since I will be transitioning and training for my new urgent care position at Saltzer in 3 weeks, I won't be able to take call late February through my last day. So I offered to take the pager now to account for me not being able to take it later.

I have been on edge because of the pager. I am not a person who does well with call, I came to find out. I have never been more irritaed in my life then a couple weekends ago when I was paged by the ER for something at 3am that our group doesn't even do, let alone know anything about. I was paged so much this week that I thought I might lose my mind. It wouldn't bother me if the calls were legit, but they often are not. And some of them are from people who cannot fathom why we won't come in on a Saturday and see them for something non-emergent.

So I have been super crabby and anxious about "the pager" going off. So much that when it went off at 430 today my husband (looking ever so irritated) quickly said, "I cannot wait to never hear THAT THING again." It's pretty funny in retrospect that it even makes my husband insane, but a little more irritating for me in that I am the one who actually has to deal with it.

But I find all these irritations to be a good thing. I thought I really knew who I was as a provider. I thought I knew what I liked and disliked. Now, being a mom, a lot of that has changed. When I am at home, I want to be at home. When I am at work, I am at work. I don't like to muddy the waters and mix the two. I like knowing within an hour of when I will get to go home. I like being good at my job, but I love being able to be a good wife and mother.

So despite the insanity of switching jobs in the third trimester of pregnancy, I am looking forward to this change. I know God has laid all of this out and it's my job to be obedient and follow.

The Second Haircut and Life Updates

Jesse Jay got a second haircut. I know, didn't he just have one like 3 weeks ago?? Yes. The above is the newest haircut. It's shorter and much more managable than the first was starting to get. So since Melinda and I were getting our haircuts yesterday, we asked Maya to trim the little guys just a tad shorter. Luckily, despite it being short he does still have some curl to it!

He is growing a lot and babbling a ton. He is pretty reluctant to speak a whole lot, and is quite stubborn about communication. He prefers to whine until we figure out what he wants and vigorously shakes his head yes when we figure it out. It's so frustrating to know he can learn to speak, he just really doesn't want to. He is fine with "this," "that," "mama," "dada," "yeah," and "hi."

And he keeps freaking me out with all of his toddlerisms. The other day I came home and my husband told me that the little guy had spontaneously grown very dark freckles. Knowing a little about medicine, I looked closely (and doubtfully- freckles don't grow THAT fast) and realized they weren't freckles at all. They were tiny petechiae (broken blood vessels) all over his cheeks. He had cried and screamed so loudly when my husband put him down for a nap, it caused the blood vessels in his cheeks to burst. If you google petechiae you get all these scary diagnoses like leukemia... etc. So even though I knew better, I had to call my pediatrician and be reassured. So even medical mommy freaks out. If it was anyone elses child, I wouldn't have been concerned, but because he was mine... well, I worry. This is why I try and avoid treating and diagnosing my own child. I turn into a freak.

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Jesse (Sr) starts student teaching at Birch Elementary tomorrow. He woke up today at 530am. I couldn't figure out why he was so adamant to be up. Later on he told me he is super excited about student teaching. How cool is he? I am excited for him and I am certain he will do a great job! Hopefully he will be employed this summer for the 2010-2011 school year.

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Meanwhile, I am feeling very pregnant. I feel more achy this time. So I battle a lot with back pain and such. And Toby hits really hard. Last night I let out a brief yelp that scared my husband because he had kicked me so hard that it hurt and scared me. Like a brief ripping sensation.

It's also time a came clean with the things that have been going on with me. I got an unsolicited job offer from Saltzer Medical Group. This group is literally down the street from where we live. We prayed and considered it for a long time and finally decided to make the switch. Starting at the end of February and beginning of March I will be phasing out from the Spine Institute and I will be headed to the Urgent Care at Saltzer. I am very excited about being so close, working less hours, and having more time as a mom and wife. I will miss my coworkers at the Spine Institute terribly however.

So we have a lot going on the next few months. Jesse teaching, Little Jesse growing like a weed, Toby's impending birth at the end of April, Me switching jobs. We are praying a lot, and relying on God. We appreciate any prayers you can give us as well.