三十二個星期！

Yeah... that's 32 weeks!

Um... Kirstin's water broke at 32 weeks. And then Rigby came shortly afterwards. I seriously can't believe Colton's already this close to being here but at the same time I can't believe I have around 8 weeks left to go. It's an awkward conundrum how half of me thinks time is flying by too fast and the other half of me wants time to fly by even faster.

My friend Mallory and I had a joint baby shower a few weeks ago; she was originally due July 20th. THEN... her doctor moved her due date up to July 14th. THEN... she found out that her baby will be here on the 10th at the latest. That's next Sunday, dangit. This is the girl that I've always considered to be just a few weeks further along than I am!

I. cannot. wait. for. this. baby.

I was so ready for my cold to go away this week. Yeah... it never did. It's a total bummer to be a speech pathologist with absolutely no voice. However, I made it through another fantastic week at IMC and I'm loving this job (okay... externship. I definitely don't get paid). On the down side... I don't get the fourth of July off and Spencer's whole family will be in town living it up while I'm doing cognitive evaluations, dysphagia treatments, bedside examinations, and modified barium swallow studies. I hope I don't have too many new traumatic brain injury patients (for their sakes, not mine) but I've heard horror stories about the patients that get admitted as a result of independence day theatrics. Fingers are crossed!

So speaking of the in-laws, they're coming to town tomorrow night! This week is going to be quite the extravaganza:

Friday evening, our family's going to meet Emily's family. Emily is Chase's girlfriend; we've spent a TON of time with her but we've never met her family. I'm excited... and food will be involved :)

Saturday = day of craziness. First of all, it's Spencer's birthday! The hubs is going to be a whoppin' 25 years old (he's such a baby, right?!) and I'm excited that a fun day is planned. DeRue and Kirstin are throwing me a baby shower at noon and apparently, plans are on lock down. I'm strictly forbidden from helping with planning and setting up and cooking and such so I'm pretty excited to see what they have in store. It'll be so fun to celebrate the behbeh with all my friends! M'kay, so after that's over I'm sure there will be all sorts of fun birthday hooplah with Spencer and his family. Finally, we're going to STADIUM OF FIRE! This show is supposedly awesome every year and this year will be no different. There will be dancing, singing, fireworks, David Archuletta and Brad Paisley! I'm basically stoked.

Sunday, our nephew Rigby is getting blessed (which is the main reason why Spencer's family will be in town). Babies make me happy, church makes me happy, and family makes me happy so I'm sure it will be a fantastic day.

I'll miss all the festivities on Monday but Spencer gets the holiday off and will join his family and James' entire family in Mount Pleasant. I don't know all the details but I've heard it will involve a pancake breakfast, a parade, a baby contest and another impressive bout of fireworks. Shoot... I hope I at least see some fireworks on my commute home from work.

AND... my mom got her plane ticket! She's going to get here on August 27th and I am so excited. I miss my family like crazy right now. We figured out how to Skype on Spencer's iPhone so we finally get to talk to Jeff, Becca and Paige in England (Spencer's computer has all but bit the dust and mine doesn't have a web cam). I don't think my family will all be together again until we're in D.C. for Christmas so I'm pumped to get a little bit of family time in before December!

Anyhoo... I'm off to zumba. This momma keeps eating chocolate and cookies so I'd better get in my daily dose of fitness. Here's a picture of me from this morning. I look like crap and am still ridiculously sick but focus on the cute baby.

Today an older man that I work with said, "When are you expecting that thing to pop out?" After I told him, he said, "Are you diabetic? Because I'd expect a pregnant girl as big as you to be diabetic." Wow.

At Emma's wedding one of her uncles came up to me and said, "Does the temple know that you stole their basketball?" I thought it was funny. P.S... that's definitely an outie belly button.

We love you all! Till next time...

Attack of the internship

So after all the fear and anxiety of beginning my first internship at Intermountain Medical Center, my first week is over and done! And here's the verdict:
I really do love it! I've been trying to psych myself up for this for MONTHS. After reassuring myself over and over again that I AM trained and prepared for this internship, I finally believe it. It's definitely hard and challenging but I'm really enjoying the work, the people, and the atmosphere. After my first week, here are some high (and low) lights:

• My supervisor is fantastic: she gives me the basics and then throws me to the wolves. She gives fantastic feedback... and best of all, she's FUNNY!
• Ten and a half hour shifts = cankles.
• My patients are darling. I can't go into specifics but I think working with (most) geriatric patients is an absolute riot. Not all my patients have been elderly but a lot of them are and so far, they're my favorite!
• I got to do a complete beside swallowing evaluation... IN CANTONESE. Heck yeah.
• This comment: "Um, you can't mean that you expect THAT baby to stay in for another two months?"
• I spilled a spoonful of apple juice on one (very understanding) patient.
• I saw some very unique cases that my supervisor told me she's NEVER seen the likes of.
  
• It's ironic that an explosively pregnant woman has to spend so much time in radiology (don't worry, I double up on the leads and stay the heck out of the x-ray's way).
• An old man may or may not have tried to kiss me.
• This comment: "Are you sure you're not having twins? Because I had twins and you're already bigger than I ever was!"
• I want to make a shirt that says this: Yes, I am. 7 months. August 30th. Boy... because I'm sure I say those four things more than anything else.
• The IMC cafeteria is delectable. AND cheap.
• I need to find a temporary wedding ring because mine is tearing my gloves to pieces and is currently covered in the Avagard hand sanitizer I have put on 20 times an hour.
• I contracted a WICKED cold on day one - I've been trying to battle it with major medications and a TON of sleep--as in, I get home at night and immediately fall asleep (we're talking 8:00/9:00). It's divine but I'll bet Spencer's pretty bored.
• This conversation with a 23-year old male tech: "Wow, you must be ready to pop any day now."--Me: "Hah, I wish! I still have two more months to go."--Male tech: *squirming* "Oh, I didn't mean 'day,' I just meant that you're really pregnant."--Me: "Thanks?"
• Barium simply cannot taste good, even if it's "flavored."
• Stairs are my friend, and in a 14-story hospital I get to hike up lots of them.
• Commuting isn't really that bad when you only have to do it 3 days a week.
• An internship that lasts all day is a GREAT way to escape the sweltering 90+ degree summer weather.
• I really could be happy doing this job for the rest of my life (after the behbehs are old enough to go to school).
  
• I survived!

I'd give you a Spencer update but with all my sleeping I haven't seen too much of him this week. He's still working hard, looking good, and taking good care of me.

I was sicker than dog (and swollen from a long day at the hospital) when I took this picture, but here's little man in week THIRTY-ONE!


The three of us love you all! Till next time...

Holy Smokes! Week 30!

I can't believe this baby will be full term in about 7 weeks. Holy moly, we are so excited!

This was me this morning (yes, I actually defied gravity and hovered sideways):

Check that sucker out! He's a big boy but man, I love him :)

And just for fun, this is what I see when I look down at my feet:

Can you see my toes? If you look REALLY hard you can see them... wait, no. No, you can't.

This week has been wonderful:

• Spencer's been training his female counterpart at work and continues to impress me with the time and effort that he puts in for his new job.
• I'm officially done with ALL classes. Yeah. For the rest of my life.
• Lyndsey Hansen threw Mallory Peterson and me a joint baby shower on Saturday! Several of my good friends were able to come and brought AMAZING food and some really awesome baby boy gifts. (diapers, onesies and pacifiers, oh my!)
• I start my internship on Monday and I'm officially in "terrified" mode. I'm sure the excitement will return but probably not until after that first day/week/month/whole internship is over.
• Chase turned 27 and all the Cornett kids went out for delicious Indian food. It's my favorite... and it makes the baby dance!
• I resisted Cheetos. High five.
• ALL my backlogs at work are caught up: storage, theses, damaged books, FastCats, etc.
• It's been in the 70s and occasionally 80s outside. How perfect is that?!
• We scored some free groceries.
• My house is clean!
• Sure, it hasn't happened yet but this is what I have to look forward to this weekend: Emma and Kyle's wedding, playing with the sister, and a pool party/bbq!
  
• Spencer finally shaved. HE might not think this is wonderful but I assure you that it is :)
• Guess who's become a CHAMPION at eating all her daily servings of fruits and vegetables? This girl.
• Still no stretch marks (hallelujah)
• Utah state reimbursed us for what we've spent on BYU health coverage since I became preggers.
• Spencer and I didn't run out of milk before my weekly grocery store trip. We chug that stuff so that NEVER happens!
  
• I brushed my hair every day this week. That may sound gross, but it's a significant milestone.
• DeRue will be glad to know that Spencer and I went to Babies-R-Us and updated our registry. That store makes me so excited :)
• I wore high heels to church. Because I could.

Honestly, I don't have any horror stories or bad experiences to talk about... unless you count the pre-internship terror as a horror story (which I do, but that's a personal battle). I can't believe how fast time is flying by but I know it's about to pick up even more once this internship starts on Monday. Before you know it, Spencer and I will have a behbeh!

P.S... this funny video got me through studying for my VERY last final EVER! Enjoy:



Till next time...

Woof... what a week!

Holy Moses, where do I even start? How about here:

I feel pregnant... oh, so pregnant... I feel pregnant, and heavy, oh yay!

This was the first week where I've actually felt pregnant. Here are some examples for you:

• Zumba on Monday about killed me. Really. I almost died.
• I'm pretty sure I have shin splints and plantar fasciitis at the same time.
• While walking, I frequently trip over my own feet and occasionally full-on biff it (there are bruises to prove it).
  
• I can't "scoot" by anyone or through any skinny places anymore.
• My dysphagia teacher asked me if I was due in a couple of weeks (yeah... if a couple = 11).
  
• My cute baby plagues me with constant Braxton Hicks contractions--they don't hurt... they're just there.
• Water retention has arrived! It's not horrible but my ankles aren't quite what they used to be.
• I've gained about cough*twenty*pounds. It's right on track, but boy... I feel it.
• I. Am. Hungry. All. The. Time.
• I take pee breaks about every 45 minutes. It makes my two and half hour classes REAL fun!
• I have a baby shower this Saturday!
• I think my love for cardio-fitness runs in the family because little man is a mover and a shaker.
• My doctor told me there's pretty much no chance our baby will be breech (yay!) and pointed out how baby's head was straight down and forcefully pushing against my bladder.
• I'm taking a birthing class BEFORE my next doctor's appointment.
  

It's all really new to me and some of it isn't pretty but it's fun! Here are two pictures... the first is from yesterday before zumba and the second was taken this morning--it's week 29!!!

I couldn't flip this picture... I tried!

"Proud-of" Accomplishments:

• Spencer is amazing and LOVES his new job with Calloway Labs. They finally found his female counterpart (because he can only test males) and Spencer will start training her next week.
• I will be done with classes FOREVER in just a few days!
• My backlog of theses at work is up-to-date! (If only you knew how awesome this truly is).
• I made chocolate-chip peanut butter cookies and they lasted longer than 24 hours.
• Zumba/yoga/cardio classes are still happening every day but at a MUCH lower intensity.
• Spencer's volunteering on campus doing research with his environmental biology teacher.
• Spencer and I planned every meal this week and actually stuck to the plan.
• So You Think You Can Dance started up again last week... It's not a personal accomplishment but I'm pretty excited about it.
• I'll say this now because Game 5 happens tonight but The NBA Finals are 2-2 right now and the next game' is in Dallas. We REALLY hope the Mavericks win it.
• I learned that the part of little man that likes to stick out and move around all over the place is actually his little bum :)

How I Became the Worst TA of All Time:

It all started this morning. I had my Doctor's appointment at 9:15 and when I got out of the office I checked my phone and had FIVE missed calls and voicemails. I saw a bunch of phone numbers I didn't recognize so I decided I'd better listen to my messages. Sure enough, I had a couple from frantic students asking me to call them back as soon as possible and wondering where their final exams were.

Wait, what?!

I am a teaching assistant for Dr. Fujiki's ComD 636 class - all about the multi-cultural aspect of speech-language pathology. This entire semester I've been in charge of grading quizzes and make-up papers for all the students in my class. A few days ago, I met with Dr. Fujiki and he asked me to be in charge of distributing the final exam via email and making sure that the students finished the final within a two and a half hour time limit.

*The following conversation has been modified. The quotations are not completely accurate but the conversational content is true.*

"When should I email the final out?" I asked Dr. Fujiki.
He replied, "The last week. Thursday--during their normal class time"
"Okay. Finals Week. Thursday. 8:20 to 10:50 a.m. Does that sound right?"
"Yes," said Dr. Fujiki. "Let me know if you have any questions."

Well apparently, by "the last week" to two of us had very different interpretations. I figured this meant next week on Thursday because... well... next week is the "last week" before the semester ends. In addition, next week is finals week and originally the class had their final exam scheduled for next Thursday. At the same time, Dr. Fujiki figured this meant the last week of class. By his interpretation, "Thursday" translates to TODAY! More specifically, this morning. Ack.

So basically, I had a ton of frantic students calling and emailing me because they were up at 8:20 this morning prepped and waiting for the final exam that they never got. Needless to say, I felt HORRIBLE. I had to call Dr. Fujiki... in the morning... on his cell phone... while he's on vacation... in California. Student of the year award, right?! We got the whole situation straightened out and realized that miscommunication, not forgetfulness, was to blame (thank goodness). So much for being a communication disorders major, eh? As a result, I've been sending the final out on an individual basis and making sure each student gets two and a half hours.

For a little taste of how pleased the students were, here's what one of them put for a status update on facebook this morning:

"worst final ever: the one you we all show up early in the morning to take, and then it's never sent out... we demand blood"

Um... I think some students are going to be getting some "I'm sorry" cookies from a very neglectful TA next week.

Luckily, I'm a Cornett... which means I have a tough skin. I won't let it bother me TOO badly. And other than that little incident, I'm doing great! I start my internship in a week and half... I'm definitely terrified but I'm even more excited. Now I just have to tell my internship coordinator that I'm preggers... and that I'm due 4 days after I finish my internship. YIKES!

The three of us are loving life... we hope you all are, too! Till next time...