Certified Nurse Midwife

I know I do not post here very often, but exciting things don't happen very often, and I have no idea if anyone even comes to look at my blog any more. My day to day life seems pretty dull to me, especially because I have been in school for so long (seems like forever). None of my kids remember a time when I wasn't in school studying for something. They have no idea who Mommy is when she doesn't have her nose in a book. I started my pre-requisites for nursing school in January 2010, when my twins were not even a year old. My now 5-year-old was conceived during my first semester of pre-requisites, and my almost 3-year-old was born about two months after becoming an RN. My goal from day one was to become a midwife, even though it seemed like that day would never come.

It took six and a half years of blood, sweat, and many tears. These last few semesters of midwifery clinicals nearly broke me entirely. There were times when I wondered if I really should be doing this. I was beaten down so hard that I thought I would never graduate, even after spending all of that time and money. But, after eight months of clinicals, I did graduate (finally!). I got my congratulatory email from my school the day after my birthday last week. But even though that gave me my master's in nursing, I still could not call myself a midwife. Not until today...

Today I passed the AMCB (American Midwifery Certification Board) exam which makes me a CNM (Certified Nurse Midwife).

I took this selfie right after getting into my car after passing the exam. I studied my brains out over the last week, and it paid off.

I wish I could tell you that I'm done with school, but there is one piece left for me to accomplish. I am going to do my school's 9-month DNP program for my doctorate. Once that is finished I will be 100% done with school, and then you'll be able to call me Dr. Kahn. (I've always wanted to be called that. See 90's Nickelodeon TV show Salute Your Shorts if you don't know why.)

My next step is to find a midwifery position in my area, though that is proving to be somewhat difficult. I have interviewed at several hospitals, but most (if not all) places want someone with at least some midwifery experience or at least some labor and delivery RN experience. I have neither. In the meanwhile, I will be working at Roxbury Community College as a maternity clinical instructor for their nursing students and hopefully will pick up some doula clients to keep improving birth on a small scale even if I'm not working as a midwife (yet).

Licensed to Heal

I sent out my application for my nursing license the day before my last post here. They give time estimates on the website on how long it may take for you to receive your authorization to test, and I wasn't expecting to receive it until this past Wed at the very earliest. I got my email with authorization the day before that! So I logged in and scheduled my test. Luckily someone had canceled their appointment, so I was able to get a test date just two days later (Thursday, which was yesterday). Woo! Everything went so quickly, that it was almost a blur. I knew I was ready, so that wasn't an issue. I just ramped up my studying a bit.

The night before the exam I had one of those dreams where your alarm doesn't go off, you get up too late and miss everything. That was horrific. I was so relieved when I awoke from the dream and it was only about 5:15am. Ugh! I wasn't planning to get up till 6... So I figured I would get a bit of last-minute studying in and then I left on a very early bus to get downtown.

I got to the test center extremely early (7am for an 8am start time), and I was first to get registered when they opened at 7:20. I started the exam some time around 7:30. I got nervous after the first few questions because I had a feeling I had gotten them all wrong, so I took a deep breath and calmed myself down. Then I got into my groove. 

The NCLEX isn't like other tests. First of all it gives you harder questions when you get one right and easier ones when you get one wrong. Also, it doesn't matter how many you get right. It wants to know that you can answer questions at a certain level. Once it's ascertained where your knowledge/comprehension level is, then it knows if you're going to pass. Third, the test doesn't only have multiple choice questions. It also has "alternative-type" questions like "fill in the blank" (which are math questions), put in the correct order, choose all that apply, and ones with pictures. Our Kaplan review teacher told us that all alternative-type questions are above passing level, so if you get them then you know you're on the right track. Every time I got one of these alternative-type questions, I did an internal cheer. It really kept me going because I knew that I was above passing - and I had a bunch of them! 

The NCLEX has between 75 and 265 questions. If the system has figured out your knowledge level after 75 questions then it shuts you off - pass or fail. If it hasn't figured you out, then you keep getting questions until it does. At 265 it shuts off regardless, and then I think it takes an average of your last 60 questions or so to figure out if you pass or not. I started getting excited when I neared 75, because I had a feeling it would cut me off. I knew I was above passing because of all of those questions, and as soon as I hit the button after answering question 75 I got the blue screen telling me I was finished. YAY! At that point I don't even think it was 8:15 yet, and I was very excited.

I knew that it would take about 3 business days for me to get official notification of passing, but once again someone is working over time at the Massachusetts Board of Registration in Nursing because the next day (today) I got my license number in an email with my official letter from the state. Even though I knew I had passed, it was still incredible to see the congratulations from the state in writing with my license number. So that's it! I'm officially a registered nurse!!! Hopefully I'll be able to start an online BSN program in August and then midwifery school about a year from now. My journey has just begun.

Mother's Day

There were many times in the past when I never thought I would get to celebrate Mother's Day in any fashion, let alone with a brood of children running around the house. This morning I was woken up by Chana & Dovid yelling "HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!" as they ran into my room. Once Tzipora was taken out of her crib, she was encouraged to come in and do the same, but instead she told me to go back to sleep. hehe When Shmuel got home from synagogue, he surprised me with a card and flowers. Unfortunately I've been suffering with a cold for the past several days, so I couldn't smell the roses. Oops. But it's the thought that counts, and they're gorgeous flowers.

As for my cold, it's been getting worse and worse, and the sinus pain became so unbearable that I called the doc today. And when I say unbearable, I mean it. I took two Tylenol around 4:30am...didn't work so well. Caved and took a Percocet around 9:30am...worked better, but still in pain. Took a 600mg Motrin (yes I have a prescription for it) a little after noon, and FINALLY my face does not feel as though someone has taken an ax to it, though it still hurts somewhat. The doc prescribed antibiotics for a sinus infection. Ugh. Not how I wanted to spend this week, but hopefully I will start to feel better asap. I have waaaay too much to get done in the next two days, and feeling this sick does not bode well for me getting any cooking done. Besides, I'M GRADUATING ON FRIDAY and need to be at my top game. :-) No, I'm not valedictorian because I screwed up my GPA last semester by getting an A-, but I did pull all A's this semester and will be graduating with highest honors (3.96 GPA!) I was also inducted into Phi Theta Kappa, which is the community college version of Phi Beta Kappa, the honors society. And at the honor's assembly for people on the President's and Dean's lists I had someone who was insanely impressed at the fact that I had pulled off President's List while being pregnant. Then she found out I already had 3 kids, which floored her. lol Eh, I couldn't do it without Shmuel and Michelle. They make it easy for me to get good grades.

Now I just need to take my NCLEX, get my license and find a job...somehow. How I'm expected to find a job at 7 months pregnant is beyond me, but I have to at least try. Because I need about 6 months to a year of nursing experience before applying to midwifery school I'm considering doing a (relatively) inexpensive and (relatively) short RN to BSN online program. It would make it easier for me to get into midwifery school, I'd have less of an application process, and it would mean I'm still a student for another year (yay for being in deferment on my original student loan and getting a break on my taxes!) But oh how much I just want to be DONE!

Squishy Baby

We got to see our cute little baby girl on ultrasound today. Yep, she's still a girl, no doubt about it. Shmuel got the eye of doom when the ultrasound tech showed us the tushie shot. I went "yeah, that's a girl" and gave him a look. The ultrasound tech was like "yep, it is...you have a girl already?" and I nodded. She asked "do you have only girls?" And I shook my head...one lonely boy. Poor Dovid. Well, he will just have to remain outnumbered for now.

She is definitely a cutie, though. I think she has the Chana B pouty mouth going on here. Can't wait to see who she looks like!

While the main part of the ultrasound at 18 weeks is usually to check growth and structures, our ultrasound had all that plus an in-depth look at baby's heart. A week or so ago I checked her heartbeat with a doppler. I had done a lot more exercise that day than I usually do - out shopping and cooking. When the day was over and hadn't felt the baby as much as I had the previous days, I was worried and used my doppler to find the heart rate. I could tell that the heartbeat was somewhat irregular and incredibly fast - somewhere between 210 and 240 bpm or so. I made sure to rest extra and then retested in the morning. No longer irregular, but still definitely over 200. So I checked again that night, same thing. At that point I would have sworn it was going above 250. The next morning it was regularly irregular. Like going beat, beat, small pause (repeat) - almost like a missed beat, but maybe not quite enough time for one. But this time it was super slow - like 110.  The day after that I was finally able to go to the midwife's office, and it was around 150 but still regularly irregular (beat, beat, beat, pause, repeat). Since we already had this ultrasound scheduled, and since there's nothing they can do about it so early, we waited the week to see what her heart looked like structurally and to determine what (if anything) was causing this irregularity.

Fast forward to today, B"H her heart looks structurally normal. We could see that it was beating irregularly, and everyone from the ultrasound tech to the MFM doctor agreed that her heart was having what's known as PAC's (premature atrial contractions). The doctor explained that most likely it's because all of this baby's "wiring" is brand new and hasn't matured enough yet. So, we're going to keep a watch on it. I'll have another ultrasound in two weeks to check that and also check my cervix again. (Cervix was looking fine today.) I was also given permission to go back on the beta blocker I was using to control my migraines before pregnancy. This might even help the baby get her heartbeats on track, but the big side effect that they want to check for is IUGR (growth restriction). I use the lowest dose, so hopefully it won't affect her, but they need to make sure anyway, and I'm not going to turn down a perfectly good ultrasound opportunity.

In other news, I just started my last clinical rotation of nursing school, and it's on the maternity floor at the hospital I go to. So far I've only been on the floor one day, but I actually got to participate in a birth (and hang with the mom postpartum). It was pretty sweet, and probably the best clinical day ever.

Passover Keeping Me Busy

Sorry I have been so terrible about posting, but Passover, among other things, has made life a bit crazy. I'm just about to start my last clinical rotation of nursing school. I get to spend the next 5 weeks on the maternity ward where I'll be delivering this baby! YAY!

Speaking of this baby, we've had some concerns over the last week and hope to get some answers at our fetal survey ultrasound this Friday. I'll keep you guys informed on whatever happens.

And now, for the newest belly pic. I do actually look bigger than I did 2 weeks ago, so that makes me happy. Enjoy!

Oh For Goodness Sake!

I haven't posted in almost two months!!! I can't believe that... I've just been so crazy with school lately that I don't even have time to think. Not too much excitement has been going on here. Tzipora had her first birthday just a few days after my last post. She's still not standing on her own (which obviously means she's not walking yet), but there's still time for that. She is saying a few words, though. Her first word was "hi," and she says it all the time now. It's so adorable! She also says "yeah" in response to basically any question. Every once in a blue moon she'll say "beep" in response to you saying "beep" at her, along with the requisite beeping of her nose. She also says "uh oh," and she does it pretty frequently as she's always throwing things around and "uh oh" it's now on the floor. :-) Those are the only four words she has...no "mama" or "dada" yet. *sigh* But compared to what the twins were saying at almost 14 months she's verbose (to take a word from my father).

The twins are cute as ever. They're going to be three in just under a month, which is unbelievable. I actually have to plan a party between now and then, and I don't know what on earth I'm going to do about that. They are completely obsessed with Blue's Clues - I think Chana wants to marry Steve. They also love Harry Potter - not so much the movies or the books, which they've had little, if any, exposure to yet. Rather, they are HUGE fans of A Very Potter Musical. If you love Harry Potter, then you need to watch this. You will FOR SURE love it. It's "Totally Awesome."

Somehow the twins have now gotten over their overwhelming fear of the bath and they actually enjoy it! In the past few weeks there have even been days where they've scammed TWO baths out of us in one day by getting Brittany (the nanny) to give them one during the day and then getting Shmuel to give them one at night (without him knowing they got one earlier). Silly kiddos... Now if they can only convince Tzipora that they're fun we'll be all set. She screams bloody murder if you even say the word bath in her general direction. My children are unreal...

I've started taking my Metformin again in the hopes that it will help me with my appetite, which is unreal without it. And the next time I get pregnant, I'm going to stay on it for my whole pregnancy. See, I've noticed that my first trimester is usually just great in terms of the amount of hunger I feel, but as soon as I stop the Metformin at the beginning of 2nd trimester my hunger is OUT OF FLIPPING CONTROL and I eat everything in sight, then I gain 50 lbs and feel like a cow by the time I give birth. Then of course I need to lose all of that extra weight. I'm still about 15lbs above my pre-pregnancy weight (which is about 30lbs more than I should weigh anyway). Now that I'm on the lowest dose of Metformin (500mg QD) I've already noticed that my appetite is more like that of a normal human being rather than the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal. (Fifty points if you know the reference!) Unfortunately I'm still a bit hungrier than most people would be - it's very difficult for me to go more than 2 hours without eating something, but I also tend to eat very small bits at a time - maybe 100 to 250 calories at a time. So it could be normal, I guess. But anyway I can't tolerate more than the lowest dose or it makes me viciously nauseated, so I have an appointment with my Gyn at the end of this week to see if he'll give me an extended release version of Metformin which might settle better in my stomach and allow me to take my prescribed dose (500mg BID aka 1000mg). But so far so good. Since I restarted the Metformin at the beginning of January I already lost the 15 lbs I gained while I was off of it from July until then. I'll update my weight loss ticker weekly at the top right of this page so you can keep track...and keep your fingers crossed that I can get this weight off!!! No more babies until I can at least get back to my pre-pregnancy weight - which shouldn't be difficult as it's only 15lbs and I have no TTC plans for at least 6 months. But it would be even better if I could lose 30 or even 40! Because I'm so short my ideal body weight is about 110 lbs, so that's only 45 more pounds to go. But I'll be happy anywhere under 125, honestly (but not under 100!!) If I can weigh less than my best friend (yeah, that's you Melanie), then I will jump for joy. If I can weigh less than my hubby, then I will kiss the ground. :-D

Ok, I have a test in school tomorrow that I'm slacking off studying for, so I'd better get back to it. If you guys are still reading my blog, please comment so I know you haven't forgotten about me!!!!

It's Official!!

I have an A for the semester!! I've successfully completed my first semester in nursing school and my 4.0 average is intact. *does a little jig*

In other news, I've taken up knitting as a hobby. I can do it while I read books and watch TV, so it doesn't take up any extra time. It also gives my arms a workout and I'm really proud of the things I've done so far. My first project was a scarf, and it took me over a month to do it because I used needles that were pretty small and yarn that was average sized. Next time I'll use big needles and thick yarn!! My second project was a baby hat, and it also turned out really well. That only took me two days to do. I'm already making my second one! I've opened an Etsy shop called The Knitting Midwife and put my first item in yesterday evening. Let me know what you think, and please add me as your favorite!

Why Not To Teach Your Children That Mommy Kisses Cure All...

First I want to apologize for being MIA for nearly two months. Life is crazy hectic around here with school, work and being sans babysitter every once in a while. But hopefully our babysitter issues will be a thing of the past starting next week! In any case, here is one reason why not to teach kids that Mommy Kisses cure everything...

Dovid has a diaper rash at the moment, and during his change this evening he was saying that it hurt. And then continued along with "Kiss it! Kiss it! Kiss my bottom!" Shmuel and I nearly died laughing. So there you have it...Mommy Kisses cure everything except diaper rashes.

On another note, I am still on my way to getting an A in my nursing class, even though the class average is about a 77. (You need a 75 to pass the course...anything below is an automatic fail.)

Nursing School & Being a Doula

There's so much reading and memorizing that I feel as though nursing school is kicking my butt... However, so far I have passed every skills test on the first try, gotten 100% on my first two lab quizzes (the third one I messed up on, but so did almost everyone...luckily lab quizzes count for very, very little), and I got a 90% on my first exam!!!!! (The mean score on that first test was 80%.) I am really psyched, especially since the professor doesn't like me so much. See, I have to miss lab for the Jewish holidays and they had to make special arrangements for me to make up the lab time on other days. So that kind of turned the whole department against me. Then, when all heck broke loose earlier this week, I had to leave class right after the exam on Monday in order to get home to take care of the kids. She noticed I was gone and made a comment to the whole class today about "people leaving class early and thinking they don't notice". Yeah, I know that was totally directed right at me...but it was either that or my 2 1/2 year old twins are now in charge of the baby...not happening, not safe and illegal! Anyhoo, she can now eat it seeing as I got a fantastic score on the exam. I'm just going to prove her wrong all semester so she realizes that I'm a fantastic student. (I remind myself of my sister and a certain incident with a high school English teacher...ahh the memories!)

Now then, as for all heck breaking loose... Our fantastic day care provider is currently pregnant with twins and unexpectedly went on bed rest Monday morning. I had someone covering her for a few hours in the morning, but she was scheduled to come in to work in the late morning. But then she got admitted to the hospital! Oooooops! Our babysitter for the morning had a class (that she missed), so she couldn't stay too late, which is why I had to rush like mad to get home right after the test. Anyway, we found someone that evening to take over for our pregnant day care woman...who worked for a day and then said she got another job offer and was taking it. So she basically told us at 6pm that she could not work the following morning. OMG!!!!! That is not cool in the ultimate sense. So Shmuel had to stay home from work, pissing off his boss - who basically told him he is REQUIRED to come into work tomorrow or else. So we spent half the day today interviewing new candidates and B"H found someone who fits the bill. She has an agreement with us that we need at least a week's notice if she finds a new job, and we'll give her the same if we find a live-in.

Speaking about pregnant women, I had my first experience as a doula last Friday! My very first client gave birth to a beautiful baby girl, and it was one of the most amazing experiences in my life. If I had any doubts about my choice of careers, they were all put to rest. I actually teared up when the baby was born, and I didn't even cry when my own daughter was put on my chest! It was so beautiful. If you are pregnant and live in Boston or know someone who is pregnant and lives in Boston, send me an email and I'll tell you all about what I can do to help during your birth. :-)

Hippo Birdie Two Ewes...

Well, really Hippo Birdie Two Mees, but that's beside the point. Today's my birthday...YIKES! Another year has gone by, and I don't know where the time went. It's been a crazy year with having the baby and being in school, but I've still managed to keep my 4.0 average. :-) We can't celebrate my birthday today because the fast day of Tisha B'Av starts tonight, and for the past 8 days we've been in a type of mourning because of the upcoming fast day. So my present (and cake) will just have to wait. Although my hubby was sweet enough to bake brownies for Shabbos in honor of my upcoming birthday. :-D What a guy! Speaking of such guy, here's a picture of something I consider to be my birthday present...

Déjà vu

Here are all of the random things that have been going on lately:

First off, I'm really sorry I've been so bad about posting lately, but things got entirely messed up when the person who was supposed to be coming to live with us bailed. What a disaster! So we're still looking for someone to come and live with us...preferably someone who is honest and won't run away without saying goodbye.

As for the déjà vu, I have mastitis. :-( At the moment it doesn't seem to be as bad as when I had it with the twins, but it stinks nonetheless. I'm on antibiotics and will be taking tylenol round-the-clock to keep the chills and aches at bay. My mother-in-law is here this week, so she's a bit help and is teaching the twins to whisper because I'm not feeling well. It's super cute.

I finished my microbiology class on Tuesday evening, so I'm officially done for the summer. I'm almost 100% positive that I've pulled off another A, so I'm one class closer to valedictorian. :-) If I become valedictorian in two years, I will make sure that someone video tapes it so I can show you my speech.

I took my doula training class last week, so now all I need to do is attend births and I can get certified!! So if you live in the Boston area and are pregnant, get in touch with me so we can work together. :-) I have a whole doula bag full of labor supplies, and I'm also in the process of becoming Hypno-Doula certified with Hypnobabies. That means that I will be certified to work with women who are doing childbirth hypnosis of any type.

Tzipora had a visit at the Harvard Developmental Research Lab yesterday where they put on this cool electrode hat to measure the electrical impulses on her scalp while she watched a video screen. The study has to do with numbers and how infants process them. Isn't she a cutie?

So, now that you're all updated on my world, what's going on in yours?

Happy Blogoversary to Me!

I almost forgot my own Blogoversary!! Yipe! I can't believe I've been blogging for 3 years...it's just unreal. My whole life has changed so drastically since that first post. I began posting as an infertile woman who didn't know if she'd ever get pregnant period, and now here I am a mother of three - one of whom was actually conceived naturally!! I've seen so many miracles since I began blogging, and I feel so fortunate to have the amazing family I've been blessed with.

Speaking of family...how about a few updates?

Tzipora has started baby-led weaning and is doing great! She's getting the hang of it much quicker than the twins did. She's had carrot and sweet potato...even some asparagus, although I don't know if she's actually swallowed any of that. She can now pick up carrots, bite off a little piece and swallow it. She doesn't do it all the time, but I've seen it happen.

I've been trying to have Tzipora practice sitting more, but she's not so good at it. She more just flops over. She'll sit fine in the Bumbo or if I prop her against the couch, but with no support she just goes "wheeeee!"

Chana and Dovid are cute as ever. They talk in full sentences, sing songs, love having us read books, and can't get enough bubbles. They also enjoy playing with water - provided it's nowhere near a bathtub.

We were supposed to have a new live-in helper come last week, but unfortunately she's sick in the hospital and we aren't sure when (if?) she'll be joining us. I'm super sad about it because she's such a sweetheart, and it pains me that she's been hospitalized for so long. We're all praying that she gets better really soon so she can get out of the hospital and, of course, come live with us.

I have just one more week of summer school and then I get a month break until nursing school starts. I'm really, really excited about it!!

How are things with all of you out there in bloggy-land? I've had a few of my fellow bloggers post BFPs and such relatively recently, so I know there are some of you out there with good news... I'd love to hear more good news in comments!

Cuteness of the Day

First of all, Tzipora rolled over two more times over Shabbos, so now we know that her first time wasn't a fluke. :-) She's getting much better at tummy time, and doesn't cry as much as she used to.

Now for the super cuteness. Dovid is getting so much better at speaking and even uses full sentences. But who knew that he was bi-lingual!? He sneezed this evening and afterwards said "gesuntheit" without prompting. LOL I always say "gesuntheit" instead of bless you, so it's not like he's never heard the phrase before...I just never realized he had learned it. Yay Dovid!

The twins have their next Early Intervention assessment on Thursday, and I don't know if they're going to qualify for another six months. They've made such amazing progress in everything! I'll make sure to let you know.

Now, for the *real* news. If you've read this far, you get a nice "surprise." Now get your minds out of the pregnancy sphere...I am *not* pregnant...not even a little bit. But I am OFFICIALLY ACCEPTED INTO NURSING SCHOOL!!! Yay! :-D

Checkups for Everyone

The baby had her 1 month checkup earlier this week, and I had my 6 week checkup today. The baby weighed 8lbs 15oz and measured 20.75" at her checkup. She gained a little over 2 lbs in just under 4 weeks! That's perfect!!! The pediatrician said that she looks great and is developing right on target.

As for me, my favorite midwife was working tonight (you know, the one who delivered the baby). I was SOOOOO happy, because she doesn't work every Thursday evening, so it's the luck of the draw to come in on her night. Anyways, she told me that everything was healed and looking great. I'm in tip-top condition...except for the fact that I might be anemic. She took a CBC, so we'll find out tomorrow if that's the reason I'm super tired and dizzy. I should also start taking my placenta pills, but especially if I'm anemic.

I have my first test of the semester next Monday, and I'm feeling pretty good that I'll do well on it. I got 100% on my first lab quiz last week, and hopefully I'll do that again on tomorrow's quiz. I just have to study really hard for it. It's on the heart, so I need to make sure I keep my atria and ventricles straight...and all of the little valves and such.

And now, for something funny. I was at Costco the other day, and in one of their main displays they were selling bathing suits. I was like "Bathing suits in this weather? What are they thinking?? We're going to have snow on the ground until September!" LOL Silly Costco.

Did I Tell You....

That I got a A in both of my courses this semester?? I knew I had an A in Anatomy & Physiology, and I was pretty sure I had one in Human Growth & Development, but I was still nervous that my professor might do something weird and give me less than that. Nope! My 4.0 average is intact!! :-)

As for the baby, I got all excited last night when I started to have "real" contractions. You know, the ones that hurt your back and front and all the way around... As soon as I laid down to go to sleep they started and came probably 5-7 mins apart until I fell asleep. I woke up again a bit before 4am with the same thing - contractions about 5-7 mins apart. I fell back to sleep around 5am and then woke up before my alarm around 7:15. I got up, had a few contractions...and then they stopped. Bah humbug! I did notice that I might have passed a weensy bit of mucus plug and that I had a small amount of pink/red on the toilet paper (kind of like when your period is thinking about coming), but that stopped too. All day I've had these same kinds of contractions but with no pattern. I can tell that the baby has dropped WAAAAAY down...I mean she is so far down I swear she's coming out my toes. But having one real contraction per hour just doesn't cut it, you know? lol The midwife I usually see is actually in labor & delivery tonight (woo hoo), so I'm going to call around 7:30pm and see if she wants me to come in and maybe do a membrane sweep or something to kick my body into gear. I just don't want to be doing days upon days of having completely irregular "real" contractions...that would be a bummer. I'll keep you guys updated if anything happens!

Goings On

Not too much happening here. My mom and her boyfriend have been in Israel for the past week or so, but they're on the flight home now. All four of us (Shmuel, the twins and I) were all sick with a GI upset this past weekend. My mother-in-law is coming on Sunday. And....I'm almost full term!! Yay!! Every time I see the midwife everything seems to be normal, so that is a relief. No idea yet when Baby #3 will make her appearance, but you can be sure that I'll blog/Facebook/Twitter during the whole birth. :-) I got to take a tour of the birthing center in the hospital tonight, and that was fantastic. It was my first time up there, so I'm glad I got to see it before the "big day". Shmuel couldn't come with me since he was taking care of the twins, but it's ok because I'll be able to direct him to the right elevators even when I'm in labor.

School is almost over, too. This is the last week and then I'm done for the semester. Yay!! I have to take my last Anatomy & Physiology exam on Wednesday (which I'm supposed to be studying for now), but I shouldn't have to take the final exam since I have an A average.

We think Dovid may have a reflux disorder, and he's going to see the gastroenterologist on Monday. After getting sick a few weeks ago with a GI bug, he's still throwing up almost every night (overnight, so you don't see the puke until morning). We think he only throws up overnight when he has acidic foods for dinner, so we've been avoiding them (oranges, tomato sauce, etc.) Poor baby!! I really hope the doctors can figure out what's going on and fix it.

By the way, if you haven't guessed in my baby pool you'd better do it now. I'm going to close the pool on the 16th, when I turn 37 weeks, so you don't have much time!!

Keep Forgetting to Post

Yes, it's been over a week since my last post. I'm sorry but life just sort of gets away from you. In any case, things over here are interesting as always. :-)

I had a midterm exam in Human Growth and Development which was a complete nightmare / joke. First of all, the exam questions were repetitive, so you kept second guessing yourself. Second of all, many of the questions had multiple plausible answers, so if you guessed wrong, that stinks for you. Also, several questions were about material that was not covered in our book nor was it discussed in detail in class...so there was no way we could have known about it. Then, once I got my exam back all corrected, the professor had marked several questions wrong that were clearly correct.

For example, do any of you know how many days after ovulation a blastocyst implants into the uterus? Probably most of you (former) infertiles and many fertiles know that this happens 7-10 days post ovulation. It says so point blank in my Anatomy and Physiology textbook, and it's more ambiguous in my Human Growth and Development text (saying that it starts around 5 days and could go until 16 days after ovulation). The possible answers for this question on the test were a) 2-6 days; b) 8-12 days; c) 10-14 days; d) 12-16 days. Who can tell me first what is wrong with these answers? THEY OVERLAP! Plus the fact that, according to our text book, b, c and d could all technically be considered correct. According to every single RE, OB/Gyn and infertility expert out there - and my A&P text book, answer b is the "best" answer. The prof marked it wrong and insisted c was the answer...and refused to give me credit.

Here's another example. What is the baby called right after it implants into the uterus? An embryo, of course. I got marked wrong for that even though my Human Growth text book says so VERBATIM... The prof says it's something called a "cytoblast" (which I've never even heard of and isn't in my text book). He wouldn't give me credit for that one even though the text book he assigned says I'm right. (By the way, a cytoblast is the nucleus of a cell...and has nothing whatsoever to do with this question.)

On another question which seemed to me to have two plausible answers, he couldn't give me a good reason (any reason at all really) why my answer was incorrect.

These are just some of my "favorites". I'm planning to have a meeting with the dean next week and some of my classmates may come with me as well, since the vast majority of people failed the exam (I didn't) in all of his 3 classes. Seriously, when almost all of your students fail an exam I don't think it's because the students are all slacking off...

The twins are doing great. Chana has actually put together a few two/three word sentences! One was "No, mine". hehehe The other was "pick me up". She also asks specifically for her sippy cup (saying "cup cup cup cup" and going to the fridge). Also cool was the other day when after a bath I asked Shmuel if he had brushed her hair. He said no, and I turned around to see her running her fingers through her hair. She knew exactly what I was talking about!!! Dovid's language skills aren't even close, but they are getting better. I've heard that boys can take longer than girls for these things, so I'm not too worried.

Both twins can go up stairs really well now, and early intervention is beginning to teach them how to go back down. They're going to have their follow-up assessment in a few weeks, so we'll see if they still qualify. I'm almost positive that Dovid will qualify for speech, and both will probably qualify for self care (feeding, toileting).

That's all for now! I have another cervix check tomorrow, and then that's it. If that ultrasound comes back all good, then my cervix will officially be labeled "competent". Woo!! The baby moves a lot, which is so reassuring, and I'm definitely getting bigger. I'll have another belly picture taken on Thursday as I will be crossing the line over to 30 weeks!!! That means I'm about 3/4 of the way finished with this pregnancy. How insane. It's gone by super fast, and I can't believe that I'll have this baby in less than 3 months and could be as soon as 2 months from now. ACK!!! :-)

Really Super Cool Story

My Human Growth and Development professor had been out for the first two weeks of class, so today was the first time I got to meet him. He's a good teacher, and we had a great class. People were participating in discussions, it was lively, etc. He's also Black, like many of the teachers and most of the students at my school, but I couldn't tell what country he was from or even whether he was from Africa or maybe India or something. Anyways, after class I needed to tell the professor that I wouldn't be in class on Friday due to the Jewish holiday. I figured I'd get a questioning look and "what holiday is this and why do you need to be out?" Here's how it really played out:

"Hi. I just wanted you to know that I won't be in class on Friday because of the Jewish holiday."

"Oh, you're Jewish?"

"Yep."

"Wow, so am I!"

That was SOOOOO not what I was expecting. My jaw dropped to the floor and I said, "Really??"

So he asks me, "Do you know what a Falasha is?"

I reply that I do (it's an Ethiopian Jew), and he tells me that his mom is a Falasha (meaning he is) even though he doesn't really practice Judaism now. But of course that it's ok for me to miss class because he understands.

Wow...just wow. Flabbergasted and floored doesn't even cover it. I've actually always been fascinated by Black Jews (and even more especially Falashas), so this was even cooler than just having a regular old Jewish professor. So flipping amazing, and so fantastic. That was the shocker of the day, folks. :-)

Pictures!

I finally figured out how to take awesome pictures of the twins...I just needed to change the shutter speed on my camera and now there's no more blurry photos! Enjoy!! Oh, and I got an A in Biology 2!!!! So I'm still at a 4.0 and going strong.

Almost Done!

My first semester back in school is almost finished! I've done all my work for Statistics, got all 100%'s on my tests, handed in my notebook and did my final presentation. I still have another two biology classes and one more chemistry class next week, and then finals week the week after (just biology and chemistry). I'm a bit nervous about the biology final, but I'm pretty confident that I'll do well on the chem final. So far I've been getting close to 100%'s in both classes (labs, tests, quizzes, homework), and in biology I have a ton of extra credit that will help me get an A for the course. I'm hoping to graduate from RCC with a 4.0 average as valedictorian, so I'm basically on my way!!