28 and a half weeks!

By popular demand (Judy!!) Here is an updated belly photo. Yup it was taken at work :)

I'm currently 28 weeks already! time is going by fast and there is still so much to do. I'm living in my new apartment and I love it. I am just getting started on my babies room but I still have a long way to go. I can't wait till its all done! Mike and I finally finished our registry at babies r us and we also ordered a crib. Hopefully its as nice as I think it is. Now we are hoping we get it and can put it together next week! So far the pregnancy has been really calm and I haven't had any problems besides some with my back. I've been really lucky! As she's getting bigger its getting harder to breath. While giving report at work the other morning I was practically panting cuz I had just taken the stairs. Oh the joys of pregnancy :) But I do love feeling and watching her kick and move around in there. Its pretty much the coolest feeling ever! Moving off of the subject of baby, one of my good friends and coworkers passed away last week after a really short battle with esohpageal cancer. It was really sad and happened earlier than anyone expected. We are thankful she went peacefully, quickly and without a lot of pain. Don't ignore pesky little health problems!

Hunting

So for the last few weeks I've been looking for the 'perfect' place to live. Its not as easy as I'd hoped! Everything I have found is either to much or to shabby. Its extremely frustrating! And its all about location! I've found same extremely expensive yet crappy apartments priced just for the neighborhood. Than a decent place thats cheap but located in a bad neighborhood. Yes. Its not fun. Hopefully I find a place before the little peanut arrives!! Other than that life has pretty much consisted of work, sleep and other boring activities. Nothing to exciting. I did join the gym, I'll take it slow and easy right now but just enough to stay healthy. Hopefully I can stick with it and not lose my motivation to fast. Thats about it for now!! Take care!

Belly Pic's

Ok so I haven't posted belly pics. I know. I'm sorry! But to be honest I haven't been taking any. I always forget to do it when I have the time to do it and remember that I want them when I'm to busy to take the photo's! I took some last week (which are on my friends camera still) and so I took some more tonight since I have time to post them. This is me at 21 weeks, 22 weeks tomorrow. I put up a few for ya all to get the full impression of my big ole belly! I'm starting to grow out of my clothes but I'm still able to wear all my jeans as long as I let them sit under my belly. Enjoy the pics!!

New pics

Here are the latest ultrasound pics! Our little GIRL is due on Jan 3rd and she measured EXACTLY to her due date which is pretty cool. She wasn't a fan of the ultrasound probe and kept kicking and trying to push it away. When she did finally settle down she was happy to show off for the camera and gave us a few cute poses... sadly we didn't get to pick which pictures to take home with us! Guess we'll just have to settle for the creepy ones where it makes her look more like an alien than a little girl. So far things are going perfectly well, both baby and I are healthy. I'm keeping busy being back in Rochester and love working full time again at the Clinic. I missed it here! I'm in the process of finding a new home and in the meantime I'm staying with some good friends. Things are pretty hectic for me these days but are going great!

summertime photo's

Two posts in one day! I surprise myself sometimes! Just thought I'd add a few pics from the cousins lake house. Enjoy!
Errin

Moving Day!

So today is yet another moving day. I must admit I've gotten a lot better at it this past year! The amount of 'stuff' I can fit in my little itty bitty trunk is truly an amazing feat. Mom would be so proud to see it :) I'm almost done, just my computer left and a few random items. Than the clean up begins. Once emptying out all my things its always a bit of a surprise to see how dirty things are... I mean I'm not a super messy person or anything but hidden in corners and behind dressers things always seem to accumulate. Like a few random bobby pins and hair ties in the bathroom cupboards or under the bed (how do the bobby pins get under the bed?!?). I've only been here 13 weeks and I still have a lot of cleaning to do. Plus I still need to clean out the fridge. I tried to keep up in that area so it shouldn't take to long. Tonight I stay with the family for my last east coast bbq and tomorrow I start the drive... the long LONG drive. Only one more move after this into a town home I hope to find and than hopefully I can settle into my own place for awhile. Cuz to be totally honest, moving is exhausting even without having to move all the furniture!!
Errin

Catching up!

Ok so apparently I'm not what you could call an 'avid blogger' but I'm working on it!! I can't believe its already time for me to be packing up again. The 13 weeks went by so fast. I leave Sunday night, I'll make a stop for one more night at cousin Jill's and than start the looooooong drive home. I'm hoping to accomplish it in two days with one night at the hotel but realistically I'll be requiring 2 nights in the hotel. I wear out so fast these days! I'm pretty bummed that my summer in Salem is over but I am really looking forward to moving back to Rochester at the same time. I've missed everyone!! I'm definitely excited for some summertime bbq's with the girls. I've missed a lot this summer away including Justin's wedding and 'baby' sister Tena's big trip to Europe.
I spent this last weekend up at cousin Jill and Marty's lake house in New Hampshire. Its a very nice place they have right on Lake Winnipesaukee, its the perfect little get-away from reality. The lake is HUGE and very nice. We took the boat out a few times and I was pointed out Adam Sandlers lake house... its quite large by the way. We spent all day Saturday lounging on and off the boat in the water and trying to keep with with the little ones followed by a bbq and some s'mores. All in all I spent all weekend relaxing, eating and catching up with friends and family. Makes it hard to come back for my final 3 shifts of work! I'll have to post a few pic's from this weekend, I didn't take very many though!
All in all my summer has been pretty great out here I just wish I'd had had more time. I love living downtown Salem and spending my spare time on the beach. I've met a lot of great people and will be sad to leave. I will also miss my family out here. I'm already trying to plan a trip out here next summer. So that's what I'm up to, I'll try to post again later!

A Random Travel Mix Slide Show

Life Changes

This whole 'growing up' bit is not really what I had in mind! Suddenly those loans I took out in college that would be easy to pay off once I had a real job no longer seem so trivial. My real job with a real paycheck don't seem impressive anymore when I try to figure out how to pay off my school loans, car loans, rent, utilities, cell phone bill and all those other pesky bills every month. What once was thought to be a HUGE paycheck somehow seems to look like less and less money each month, even with the raise! Yes, in all honesty this isn't quite what I had planned! I make ends meet and I know it'd be much easier did I not have this addiction for travel and fun. I remind myself, as I look at my insignificant savings account, that as I get even older I won't have the opportunity to hop a ferry into town (Boston) or swim with Beluga Whales (my next planned adventure coming soon). I've been enjoying my 20's and you can tell with a look into my bank account!
As I'm growing up my conversations with friends are changing as well. Its no longer "Did you know so and so and so and so are hooking up?!?". Now its "Did you know they are having a baby? And they just bought a house!". Goodbye long nights of partying in the clubs for fun, we now find ourselves going for a walk or having a simple dinner before running home to bed. Our girls night out doesn't consist of a limo to the all night dance club, but instead we get a table and order ONE Margarita so we can head home before 11... we need to work in the morning! Calling in sick isn't an option anymore. Its kinda strange how all these changes snuck up on me.
So I've enjoyed being so young but my responsibilities are starting to add up and are beginning to outnumber the adventures. So I guess its time to start counting my penny's a little more carefully and say goodbye to Coach purses, weekends on the beach and all nighters with friends and instead say hello to monthly bills, weekends of overtime and bedtime at 9... Yup, growing up and responsibility isn't as cool as I thought it'd be when I was 7!

An old note reposted

I wrote this a few months ago and sent it to a few of my friends. Do to a few requests I'm posting it in on here. Enjoy!


So I don't know if I would call this a "note", its more of a crazy woman's sleep deprived ranting. I'll start off by saying I really enjoy being a Respiratory Therapist. Its an amazing and rewarding job. Sometimes the little things add up, you need to blow off a little steam and than go back to work feeling a little better. So if you are offended in anyway by this rant of mine, I must admit that at this moment I do not apologize but I probably will later.
I would like to point out to you all just how selfish and stupid people have become. When I care for people in their 20's, 30's and 40's I am always shocked and amazed at how rude, bitter and completely selfish they can be. I'm sure you all have seen it. Now for a little background I would like to tell you that I work in a hospital and care for people of all ages from newborn to geriatric. No one is better than anyone else, but some are sicker than others. At any point from 11pm-7am you are likely to find someone like myself along with one other respiratory therapist caring for the respiratory needs of the entire hospital (approximately 300 patients). On some nights we maybe slow whereas others we may be emergently called to several area's at one time. Its absolutely necessary to prioritize. Obviously patients who are not breathing come first. Right??? Well according to my younger (and healthier) patients this point is in fact incorrect. Let me introduce you to a fictional but ever so realistic patient... Miss X.
Miss X is 34 years old and came into the hospital for a gastric bypass. Like oh so many others she is overweight and admits to never trying to work out, she believes that bypass is a 'quick fix' to her problems. Wrong. After surgery she discovers that her wound and staples in her stomach hurt, eating makes her ill, medications make her woozy, we can't completely treat all of the pain and we expect her to do her own personal cares when possible. What a shock for our young and oh so incompetent friend. She begins to realize that this 'simple' surgery has many drawbacks. Miss X goes home only to return a few days later with pneumonia and an ulcer on her buttocks, it hurt to take deep breaths so she didn't, in fact she didn't do anything while home... not even move herself into a restroom. Now that she has returned she blames the hospital for not giving her the correct treatments. I am required to treat her. One of her medications is Albuterol to help treat her pneumonia and this is due at midnight. At eleven thirty a 56 year old woman is brought into the emergency room and is in respiratory arrest. I along with the ER staff stabilize her. My coworker is called rapidly to another patient in the Intensive Care Unit. I stay in the ER with the woman who unable to breathe without the assistance of the respirator. I take the patient to CT scan then back to the ER where she progresses to go into cardiac arrest and we struggle for yet another hour trying to keep this woman alive. None-the-less when I am finally able to see Miss X it is now 2am, I am 2 hours late. I apologize for being late while setting up her medication, Miss X is hostile and complains about my tardiness. She states that its because of people like me that she is in the hospital. I keep my cool and try to explain my situation in the ER (in my head I am screaming... "did I make you eat all those extra Twinkies lady? Did I make you lazy? NO!"). Now granted, if Miss X had been in any respiratory distress I would have been sympathetic and would have somehow figured out how to get her the medication sooner. But Miss X was in no distress and was in fact sleeping comfortably when I arrived. A late Albuterol treatment has little to no implications on her current condition. Miss X demands to see my supervisor and shouts "I am just as important as your lady in the ER and I deserve the same timely attention she gets". I am astonished how someone could be so unkind and uncaring about another human-being who is dying. When she began to make personal comments on my work ethic I finally walk out of her room. Maybe I am incorrect in feeling this way, but people like Miss X royally piss me off.You come to the hospital to get better, right? Well apparently that's not so. So many people, like my Miss X expect their hospital stay to be comfortable like a hotel, easy and pain free. That is not the case. You are sick and being sick is hard work, we will do our very best to make you comfortable and well but it takes time and patience to heal. Here is my take on 'hospital etiquette'
- Do NOT refuse needles because they hurt, or medications because they taste 'yucky'. You come to the hospital to get better. Refusing help is just stupid.
- The previous point is followed by this... we can't make you better until we know what's wrong. Do not expect us to know what is wrong by looking at you. Tell us your story and let us do our tests
-Do not come into the hospital expecting service you would receive at a 5 star hotel. Not going to happen. We also have many other patients needing the exact same things at the exact same time.
-Be considerate if another patient is needing more immediate critical care.
-Yelling will not make us do what you want faster. In fact it may slow us down just to spite you (unless you really do need immediate care).
-Its hospital food... seriously you should know better than to expect gourmet food! Seriously people, get a grip
-Do not expect surgery not to hurt afterwards because no matter what... you WILL hurt at some point
-Gastric Bypass is NOT an easy surgery or quick fix.
-If you are able to yell at me... you are not dying. Remember that.
-Don't complain about your roommates gassy state, its embarrassing for them and they really can't help it.
-I'm not trying to hurt you when I am drawing blood. In fact I'd rather not cause you pain because I am actually a nice person trying to make you feel better...so don't give me that look!
-Be considerate, don't smoke in the bathroom while wearing oxygen. I don't care if you want to die but personally I don't.
-Oh and if you somehow get away with smoking in the hospital, don't attempt to cover the smell with cologne or perfume. It doesn't hide the smell and makes a nauseating stench that only makes your smoking more obvious. Plus your smoking and cologne may push someone over the edge and literally kill them.
-Always bear in mind that the hospital staff are professionals and you are not. When it comes to your lungs, I am smarter than you.
-Please do your best to warn me BEFORE you throw up. I know its not always possible but please at least attempt to aim your projectile vomit in another direction. I'm really sick of cleaning that nastiness off my shoes.
-Don't ask for a breathing treatment because you can't sleep. It's not going to help unless you have reactive airways.
-Don't act crazy for attention, don't spit, bite, scratch or yell at us. If you do you'll end up in the ICU with a breathing tube down your throat just so we don't have to deal with you. Trust me I've seen it.
-And my final note to you my friends is this, absolutely do NOT push the "Code Blue" button because no one is coming fast enough to answer your call light, if you do this I WILL come and hurt you...

So reading this you probably think I hate my job. Actually I love my job. I love making people healthy. I like playing with the kids as I give them their medications. I enjoy the adrenaline rush you get when saving a life. Its a real upper to one day be doing chest compressions on a patient and later have them thank you for saving their life as they walk out of the hospital. This ranting of mine was a long time coming and now I feel better. LoL thanks for letting me vent! Now to bed so I can continue to kick ass and save lives tonight.

Whale Watching

So to end our weekend in Boston Mary and I decided to do a whale watching tour. The sun was out, the weather was calm and the whales were out playing! We couldn't have asked for a better whale experience. We saw 3 types of whales, Humpbacks, Minke's and Fin's. Here is just a sampling of some of the whales we saw.



They see the one in front often I guess, her name is Etcha Sketch.

There are 4 whales in this photo. Momma and her baby in front and than 2 adult whales in the back.

Smile pretty for the camera!
This whale was either waving at us or doing fin rolls.
Eating.
I really seriously thought the whale was going to knock over their boat! If they weren't having a panic attack I'm guessing they got some great photo's!

Right at the dock is the New England Aquarium. I thought these harbor seals were adorable!

Boston

So this last weekend a fellow traveler friend from MN, Mary, drove up from her assignment in Connecticut for some weekend fun. To save money we veto'd the hotel idea in downtown Boston and decided to take the local ferry that runs between Salem and downtown Boston. Ends up it was really inexpensive and a lot of fun so we took it back and forth all weekend. It took about 40 minutes to get into Boston but it's a fun relaxing ride where we got to catch up on each others lives. Plus who knew the ferry would serve food and 'adult' beverages at so early in the morning?!? Once in Boston we turned into complete tourists with our camera's out and ready. We even bought the Boston sweatshirts! To get an idea of where things are at we booked a ride on one of those trollys where you can get on and off at the different stops. We also did the freedom trail walk. The food was great and the weather was perfect, well a little chilly but nothing the sweatshirt couldn't fix. All in all it was the perfect weekend! Here are some pics...

Mary enjoying her bloody mary and chips for breakfast... the breakfast of champions!

It was the perfect day for a ferry ride. Nice and sunny!

Boston from the water, it was a little windy that morning.

Another shot of Boston from the water.

Boston Public Gardens

Boston Public Gardens
Boston Public Gardens
Cheers! We had lunch and had to try their 'famous' burgers.

Walking the freedom trail.

Revere's gravesite

Old North Church
Inside the church, all the pews are little cubicles which helped the families stay warm in the winter.

What are YOU looking at?!?

Mary and I after a long day exploring enjoying our dinners.

The Good Life

Salem is a pretty awesome place to live. I'm loving the atmosphere and being so close to the water! Its also nice to be close to some of the family that I don't see often. Jills kids are so cute! Carly is full of smiles and energy and Colbie is just pure energy! They are both a handful for Jill and Marty but they keep things under control like the pro's that they are. Work is good and I'm enjoying my coworkers. I'm pretty excited to be learning new medical practices and techniques. I've been out and exploring a bit here and there around the area and its been a blast. I haven't done quite as much as I've wanted due to the sour weather but thats all about to change according to the weatherman. Tomorrow I go out exploring a bit further north of Salem and I'll be sure to bring my camera. Next weekend Mary and I are taking in Boston for the weekend, look out here we come! Also I'm pretty pumped to learn that while I'm here one of my coworkers may take me out sailing. I've always wanted to get on a real sailboat!
So my life has taken a spin for the crazy these days and I'm not sure how to keep it under control but I'm doing my best. The best laid plans... you know the quote! So I'm taking life one day at a time and following my life motto that things always work out in the end. So far so good! I'm looking forward for my adventures to come and further blogs will follow. Here are a few recent pics, enjoy!


You don't see random witches on the street in MN in May, well occasionally you do.

The Salem Witch Museum. I fit right in!

I love how the streets end at the water downtown. I need to get a waterfront apt I think! Any donations for me?

I love springtime smells and colors!

Choppy rainy lovely day.

Lobster cages.

I found this house in Marblehead. Its pretty cool looking, but made creepy looking by making it fuzzy and b&w.

Its built right into the hill. I really am curious about what it looks like inside!

Little Carly! Cute chubby cheeks and a body that never stops moving.