Expired Cheese

Helllooooooo outtt thereeee!!!

Wow, it has been a while.  I realize that I have been neglecting my blog for over a week and I apologize! I moved and have not had internet, it has been awful, being cut off from the world, and online shopping, haha  I'm only kidding.

So first:
The Big Move:
Sarah and I packed up our stuff and moved across the street to another building called the old orphanage or also know as "The Dorm", oh that takes me back...  We ended up getting help from a man to move our stuff, I don't know his name but I think he was a ghost buster... The day before we moved, our good friend and buddy from the housing department (I have spoke of her before), I think I'll nick name her Beatrice, had been her usual helpful self.  When we asked who could help us move she suggested maybe the Ghost Busters... Hey cool!! they live in St. Anthony? Wow thanks Beatrice!   (I hope that T-Rex never has to meet this woman!!)
Moving on, the apartment is actually really great.  It is really small, a lot smaller than the last one but Sarah and I feel a lot more comfortable and at home here.  We each have our own room, there is living room (which contains our kitchen table), bathroom and kitchen.  The kitchen is probably the worst part, it is really small with limited counter space, but it is our home and we love it.  It took us a few days to purchase all of the necessities but now I think that we have just about everything that we need. I love my room, I have some pictures on the wall of friends and family, I still need to print off more and more recent and of the whole family.  (If any friends or family want to send along pictures in the mail so that I can have pictures of everyone that would be awesome!!  I also was thinking that I want to do a collage of baby pictures of friends and family to put beside the cradle, I would really love for you to send maybe one of those along too! :)).  I have baby's cradle set up beside my bed, I love having it there, even more excited for it to be occupied by a precious little baby! :)
I think that is all for house stuff for now...

Work:
Work is going really great!! I love it a lot, I am working on the maternity unit, which includes paediatrics as well as post-op and long term, pretty much everything... it is the "OBS, Peds, and overflow unit", so they say.  I think it is great, I not only get to be surrounded by precious little babies all day but also my other favorite people, "Seniors".  I very much love working with geriatrics, I think that "older people" are so funny,  and honest and I dunno, just the best!!!! :).  I love sitting and talking with them about their life, comforting them when they are feeling down.  It can be lonely growing old, I like to try and listen to their worries and feelings :)
I feel like I'm learning a lot at work, it is really crowded though a lot of the time because there are nursing students, LPN students as well as me and another grad nurse.  So it is kinda frustrating at times, but its also fun to meet new people and all learn together! :)  I just don't get  a lot of one-on-one with the preceptor.  I am signed up to take a course in mid June, it is a neonatal resuscitation type course, I can't remember exactly what it is called but something like that.  I'm excited to take that, it is basically teaches you what to do if the baby is unresponsive and birth.  The hospital is paying for the course and provided the course materials so that is great :)  I have been working monday-friday, 8-4 but starting June 6 (my birthday) I will be doing 12 hr shifts, I am pumped about this!!

Baby T-Rex:
Baby is doing great!!!  I had the appointment with the public health nurse last week.  She basically asked me questions about family medical history that would put baby at risk of anything.  Also about my needs, baby's needs.  I found out that I might be eligible for this food thing where I get like 60$ a week for groceries, because my income was so low last year, I still have to call to get it. We also talked about baby blues and postpartum depression. I got a lot of books and stuff about nutrition and breastfeeding, things like that.
I am growing slowly but surely, I have felt Rex move a little bit. mostly when I'm laying down in bed, it feels like baby is brushing up against my belly.  Pretty cool, I love it when I can feel baby move!!  I have not had much of an appetite lately, its kinda weird. It kinda feels like it did back in February and March when I was kinda sick feeling all the time.  Its not too bad tho, I still eat, I just don't really like ne thing that I am eating :(.  Also as of yesterday I have had this weird achy sort of pain along the right side of my back, in the middle.  I don't know if it is baby or if it is just a muscle cramp.  All I know is that it is not the best feeling. I will have to ask about it when I have my next apt. on June 8th.
My ultrasound which was supposed to be on May 29 was moved to June 7th, and then while I was writing this they called back and changed it again to June 10th.  So as of now my ultrasound is June 10th.  I am now getting anxious, they keep moving it further away!  Sad face! Oh well, either way it will be awesome and I am so excited!
I don't know if I've gained any weight yet but I am positive that I have, my belly is definitely expanding a lot.
I am now in St. John's to write my RN exam, it is on June 1st in the morning, it goes from 8am-12pm.  I am very nervous but I believe I will do fine, at least I had better!!!!!!!!  I also did a little bit of shopping for baby Rexie.  I still don't know if I am having a boy or a girl (I have decided that I might not find out and rather keep it a surprise), so I have just been buying things in yellow and green, just a few things that will do me the first couple weeks :)  I got some really cute baby blankets, one of them has a frog, I love frogs!! haha!  I think that that is all for T-Rex.

Fun and Leisure:
I havn't been doing a whole lot outside of work. Sarah and I were invited to a birthday party for one of the girls who works in ICU.  There were all people mostly my age there, between 20-30 years, probably about 50 people all together.  I had a really great time and met a lot of girls that were so nice!!

Another night I went out for supper with about 10 people who I work with, one of our Doctor's is moving so we had a good-bye thing for him.  It was really nice to see some people outside of work, I really enjoyed myself.
The next night Sarah and I and 4 other girls went out of town to eat at a great seafood restaurant that is "down the shore" a little bit.  Nikki, one of the girls that we started with is from down that way and wanted to take us there.  The food was great! After that we went for a drive all the way down to where L'Anse Aux Meadows is, which is where all the Viking stuff is. What a beautiful area!!  We saw all the little communities on the way down and I got a lot of great pictures!  It was so awesome!  It was late and cold so me didn't go out exploring or anything but I am definitely excited to go back in the summer and see all that there is to see!  Maybe if I get any visitors this summer we can go check all of that stuff out, it really was so beautiful, I am very excited to go back!!

I think that is all for me now, if anything comes to mind I will add it!

Okay Lyra and T-Rex outtt!!

Because when the forecast says rain and the doctor says pain you just keep on givin'er...

Oh heyyy didn't see ya there.. 

It is sunday afternoon, just having a bit of lunch and studyin away for my RN exam.  It is on June 1st, ugh, I have A LOT to study.  Kinda sucks but as soon as it is over I will not have to write it again... yayayayay! I booked my flight and my hotel in St. John's for when I have to go write the exam.  I booked to go a day early because apparently one time a girl wasn't able to make it because there is only one flight a day from here to St. John's and it was canceled due to weather, I didn't want to take any chances. So I leave on May 30th and return the 2nd.  Annnddd if all goes according to plan then I will know if Rexxie is a baby boy or baby girl so I can maybe buy some cute little outfitssss :) And a new cell phone which I need before I can change my number to a local one... because I have to like press numbers on my phone, including some of the ones that don't work.. ne way its a huge hassle, annnnddd since I have a PO Box as a mailing address I can't order a new phone offline because Telus doesn't ship to PO Box's...  go figure.  But ne way.. it is sweet because work pays for my flight, food, hotel and cabs, so yay free shopping trip :)  I am looking forward to that, besides the exam that determines my fate.. :( 

This pic is me right now, eating and studying and blogging :)  

Since I wrote my last post the other St. FX nurses and I signed up for this supper that was organized for the nurses at the hospital to celebrate nurse's week.  We all thought that it was a good opportunity to meet some of the other nurses, you know see and be seen.  It turned out to be really fun, the food was good, and prizes were awarded (I didn't get one :( sad face), and we got to be in a bog group picture that will be in the nurse's union flyer or magazine or something like that.  COOOLL!! 

After that Sarah and I went for a little walk around the town so that I could take some picture and stuff.  Across the street from where we are staying is the harbor so we went down there and got some pics, I thought it was really creepy down there, I think I have a phobia of waterrrrrr... and apparently it is really deep... eek that scares me!!  3 people have gone missing from the town in the past couple years and they think they must have fallen in the water.. dear God, please let that not be me, Amen. 

That is also where Mr. Polar bear drowned 15 years ago, and now he is in the public library to scare all the poor nurses who look for places to study... 

 

Also this week Sarah and I have been trying to figure out our living situation.  We were told when we came that we would be getting our own apartments, eventually and that we wouldn't have to move more like 3 months.  Turns out we will probably have to move this week coming.. which sucks. We are having some problems with people in the housing dept. not being very helpful, they say that when we move this week we will be moving into a double again, it is "tiny" so the woman says, the rooms "don't have enough room for a double bed, haha", and that there is so other place for Sarah to move into from there.  So we have been trying to explain that I have a baby on the way and will need my own place but the lady says, "oh well I don't think there is a place for ya"..  okay??  And, when asked if we could have help moving our stuff to the new place there wasn't ne help offered for that.  OKay... sweet.. NAWT!!  And when we asked why we couldn't stay where we are now.. where we are happy we were told that there is a pharmacist coming and she is pregnant so she needs a double apt. ...  well thats funny because I thought that I was too, but apparently not.. ??  

So this whole situation is kind of stressful, I'm trying not to worry and just trust that everything will work out but its kind of hard and frustrating when it feels like people aren't taking you seriously and don't care about your situation. I have decided to go and talk to a women in the human resources dept. that I was speaking with over the phone before I came and try to get some answers through them because I really don't want to go back to the housing dept.  the woman is really rude and really seems not to care :(  

I was thinking about maybe trying to find an apt. of my own that is not housing that the hospital offers but there really is nothing in the community available, there are new duplex's being built one finishing in June and the other Sept. but there is a waiting list for both :(  and it is farther away from the hospital so I would have to buy a car and it would be a lot more expensive to live.. :(  Sooooo, ugh, this all kinda sucks but I have decided to just think positive and take things one day at a time and try not to worry about anything, cuz we definitely don't want to stress cute little T-Rex out!!  Positive energy only! :) 

Here are some pictures of my apartment now, I really love it and since I will be moving soon I figured I would share it with you :)  

I am also starting to hear talk about how hard it is to find child care here too, especially where I'm a nurse  and will need child care through the night...  eek.  Apparently there was a nurse who had a baby and couldn't find child care and so she had to take an extended maternity leave and then ended up needing her mom to take care of baby when she went back to work because there was nobody else.  Sooooo..  here is another thing that I am kind of starting to worry about too.  I know it is a long way away at this point, but I do feel like I will have to start looking soon, maybe get my name in some places because there is probably long waiting lists for child care as well as everything else.  I really hope that everything works out!! :(  I am starting to realize how far away I am from all my friends and family, and how much that is needed when having a baby.. :(  It makes me really home sick!! :( I know the best thing to do is not to worry and just do what you can do and trust that things will work out.. so that is what I will do. I think that when I have my apt. with the nurse on Tuesday night I will raise some of these concerns with her and see if she can help. I actually met her at church today, so that is sweet she seems really nice and I think that she will be a good resource for me! Also I will start working on the maternity unit tomorrow and I am sure that will give me a lot of connections and support as well. So I will wait and see what happens :) 

Though there are a few things that I have concerns about I am still really happy, I am so excited to start on the floor tomorrow and really get into the nursing aspect of training. :)  I really hope that I will like my co-workers and they will like me too :)  I get my shipment of stuff which has most of my belongings on tuesday so I am excited about that too :). 

I took a picture of my supper the other night, mostly to show Corey that I am eating healthy :)  I made chicken alfredo with spinach, broccoli, peppers, mushrooms and onions... yummmmmyyyy :)

Things coming up this week:  1. Work begins in OBS

2. I get my stuffffffff, finally :)

3. Hopefully get something in the mail from Corey!!! <3 :) 

4. Healthy Baby Club- learning about pain control and positioning during labor. 

5. Appointment with public health nurse

6. Moving to a new apartment

7.  Maybe baby T-Rex will start moving around in there :) 

Prayer Requests: 1. Living situation; that I will find a place that I am happy living, close to work and not too expensive

2. Child care :) 

3. That baby T-Rex will continue to grow and develop properly and will be perfect in every way :) hehe 

Okay that is all for now!!!   Much love, 

Lyra and T-Baby!!! :)

Everything is wonderful in dinosaur land...

Hello!  Sorry no new posts for the last 2 days but the site was down :(

So I have some updates, but no new pics so the posts will be a bit barren, but..  oh well this one is about beautiful, sweet little T-Rex so really there need not be any pictures cuz just the thought of the little angel is enough, right??  haha :)

So I'm writing this post in retrospect because the blogger was down for a few days but this is for Wednesday, May 11, 2011.

I had an appointment at the prenatal clinic, yay!  I was so excited before I went, to see if I finally gained weight, and hopefully they would use the doppler so that I could hear the heartbeat, and basically just reassurance that everything is going okay and most importantly that baby T-Rex is safe and healthy and growing all that good stuff! :)

I got to the appt. which was with a obstetrician and a midwife, turns out midwives are the ones that attend deliveries here, so that is pretty neat :)  I'm am very anxious about the whole labour and delivery thing, but hopefully as it get closer I will get some... information and prep talk stuff that will lessen the fear a little bit.   So at the appt. I gave a urine sample, pretty standard, everything checked out there :) And then I got to hear baby's heart beat, awww, I was so happy!!  For some reason you always just like so be sure little baby is still tickin in there, I could listen to that sound all day I think and be just so in love :)!  The midwife also felt for my fundus and that was good too! :)  Yay everything great :), I still really havn't gained any weight, maybe a pound er so, but they didn't seem too concerned, I think that by the book I should have gained like 6-8 lbs by now but... oh well, everyone is different I guess :) I have been eating plenty, that is for sure!  I have my next appt. scheduled for June 8th and my ultrasound May 29!! Sooooo excited, I hope I can find out if T-Rex is a baby boy or girl :)  I can barely stand the anticipation :)  I can't wait to see baby again, I remember the first time I was so in awe, love at first sight :)  I am going to ask if I can have a picture of the ultrasound but I heard that sometimes they don't want to, dunno why, but hopefully since I work there I will have an in! :)  I will keep you all updated on any news on that :)

I also had a referral to a "Healthy Babies Club" and to the family resource center, both just across the road.  I have an appt. with the nurse from family resources on May 24, I don't know what it is for, but she called today to set up the appt. and said it was an assessment, so I think she is going to make sure I'm a fit parent and that I have everything I need, so that sounds good :)  The Heathy Baby Club happened to be that night so I went, it was good... It was really nice to meet other expecting mothers in the community.  There was supposed to be a guest speaker but she couldn't make it which was kind of unfortunate. Next week we will learn about pain management and positioning during labour, so I think that will be beneficial for me.  I'm really excited to go!! :)

So there ya go, T-Rex is healthy and safe, and Momma-to-be is happy and healthy, but starting to really miss home and everyone who isn't here, which is pretty much everybody :(

I hope all of you are safe and healthy and all that good stuff. I've been really enjoying hearing feedback from friends and family about my blog :)  I'm glad that people are enjoying it and actually reading it! :)  It seems that readers are not able to comment, at the end of each post there is written "0 comments" if you click on that I think you can comment, I may be wrong.  If not then I would love to hear from you, updates on everyone and your thoughts and feelings, so my email that I check is x2007stt@stfx.ca or PRIVATE msg me on fb if there is anything about baby stuff, just cuz I like to keep privacy, but ne thing else is fair game for the wall!
Love you all and I can't wait to hear from you!

ps. I think I should also give updates on Corey too, just incase some of you are wondering about him and havn't talked to him :)  He is good, safe and happy :)  He is working in Alberta for a company that repairs oil rigs. He is living with his boss, his wife and son, along with another guy from work who just moved in this week.  Up until this tuesday Corey didn't have the safety course that allowed him to go out on the jobs so he was doing work on his own in the shop, not too fun, but he is learning lots :)!  Since tuesday he has been back out on the field, so that is a lot better for him, today he is going to work about 15 hours!!  He is working so hard, I am so proud of him! :)  From what I can tell he is doing well, I wish he was here but right now it is really important for the both of us to get our finances in order, although I've been asking around here for jobs, :)  I would LOVE for him to be here with me and Rex, and I think he would too, but I am very happy for him and support everything he does! :)  I love him so much, he is the best :)  He is very supportive of me and always makes sure that I am taking care of myself, eating right and getting enough sleep :)  If you would like to send him a msg his email is corey.betts@hotmail.com

Okay so that is all for now!

Love,

Lyra and T-Rex :)
oh wait wait, I just remembered, I felt some weirdness in my tummy today :)  I dunno what it was but I think there was a tiny bit of movement today :)

St. Anthony!!!

Well after all the build up and excitement.... I finally made it to St. Anthony. I arrived on March 7, 2011. I flew out of Halifax at 6:30am that morning to arrive at the St. John's airport to get the connecting flight to St. Anthony.  I had been told by many who have flown to small airport in NFLD before that the plain would be a 4 seater  and that it would be one of the most terrifying experiences of my life...  but I learned long ago to go into new experiences with no expectations and with an open mind.... so that is what I did.  The plain ended up being a 38 seater, and I actually just slept the whole way, it all went off without any problems or anxieties... YAY!  I traveled with 3 other girls from my nursing class, we all discussed all the possibilities of what we would find once we arrived in St. Anthony, it was actually kind of fun to imagine this seemingly far off land that for some reason we had all decided to take employment.

We were greeted at the St. Anthony airport, aka the St. Anthony shed, by a shuttle and it's driver, Danny.  He was really funny and entertained the 4 of us the 35 minute drive into town. I'll try to remember some of the interesting facts that he shared during the drive...  Human population of Newfoundland and Labrador is approx. 500 000 people, population of Moose is 160 000.  WOW!!  Apparently they brought 4 moose over from New Brunswick in 1904 and they numbers grew from there.  Besides his shuttle service Danny also runs a Moose sighting tour, where he takes tourists around so that they can see moose... hmmm cool.  Driving into town there was a set of stop lights.. he says "Dere e ownly one set a top lights in Staintny and dey're oways green."  Well there ya go.

                                                 Danny and I! :)

He also pointed to the part of town where the polar bear was seen a couple weeks ago. Turns out Mr. polar bear wanted to make some friends in Friendship park...

Anyyywayy... We all got settled into our apartments, I had a single place originally but the next night I moved into a double with my friend Sarah.  It is such a nice apt.!  And we were temporarily placed in the "Old Hospital" which is attached to the one where we work, so we don't even have to go outside to go to work.  Co-op is right across the road and the church that Sarah and I went to on Sunday is just a 3 min walk... talk about a convenient location!!

Monday, May 9 was my first day of work.  Basically we were given tours of the hospital, introduced to some people, took part in treats to celebrate Nurse's week. It was a good day! :)  We also were able to give our preference as to what unit we would like to work, I said maternity... so we will see!!  Eventually we will be trained other floors but until fall we should be keeping to one mainly.  Sarah and I also were able to request to be on the same rotation so that we will have the same days off, this will be great so that on our days off we will be able to plan fun things to do! :)

Today was the second day, it was pretty boring, just general hospital orientation so a lot of different people came to tell us about... what they do and all that, a lot of confidentiality and safety talks, the usual orientation stuff. I found out that I got my placement on the maternity unit, yay! I just hope that this was a good decision, and will not make more nervous about labour and delivery... :)  The unit is a combination of obs, gyn, labour and delivery and pediatrics, as well as over flow beds for if other units are too full.  When we had the orientation and we went into the delivery room just the sight of the bed gave me anxiety... THAT IS WHERE MY CHILD WILL COME OUT OF ME... ahhhh!!

So now finally I have brought the blog up to date.  It took me a little while, blogging takes a lot more time than I thought... So today I think I am 16 weeks and 3 days (according to my last ultrasound). I have an apt. at the prenatal clinic tomorrow morning, I am so excited!!  I will give up dates tomorrow night when I get home!! I am pumped!!  I will put my first belly picture up tn as well.. but just to warn you I'm really not showing all that much so don't get too excited, but I have been eating a lot and very healthy, drinking lots of water, taking my vitamins, getting enough exercise, avoiding all the bad stuff (not even having coffee when I was falling asleep during orientation!!).  So I'm sure everything tomorrow will be great and I will have only good news for you all tomorrow!

That is all for now!  Missing friends and family all around the globe... hoping that everyone is great and healthy and as happy as I am :)