...just in time for the big game...

...So, Guess what my husband is getting for Valentine's day this year?? I have to admit, I really like having a bigger TV, even if it takes up most of our living room now. The picture doesnt really show exactly how huge this sucker is. We knew we wanted a new TV eventually, and I'm glad we crossed that off the list. Next up? New furniture, which will probably happen a lot closer to new house (as you can see, we've already got a lot crammed into our little 700 sq feet! I've already found some furniture I really like @ JCPenney!! Not my first choice for furniture options, but I saw this and this and love them both!!! Both sets are from their "Linden Street" line and the more LS things I see, the more I love! So we'll see what we get next- Have I said I'm ready to move enough times yet????

We have a face to face interview scheduled the weekend of Valentine's day (not my first choice, but oh well...) with a church in Dayton (Mt. Belvieu) TX @ Old River Baptist church. This is the church that Jordan's talked to by conference call already. They're flying us down for the weekend to interview with the pastor & personnel committee. So be praying for us! 

Check out my beautiful Preggo friends!!

Arent these gals gorgeous!!!???

There's something in the water!! I think I can almost honestly say I'm the only person I know who's friends with me who isnt pregnant, trying to get pregnant or already delivered. On top of my friends, there are 6 girls in L & D on the day shift who are now expecting and I think another 6 on night shift too! I'm totally thrilled for my sweet sweet friend Carey who's now expecting as well!!! Dont tell me to jump on the bandwagon too- I've already asked my hubby about when we can expect to be expecting- to which he replied, "haha, no." 

Funny thing I heard today @ work: A patient's family member comes out of the room and goes, "um, her saline bag is empty (note- we dont use saline. ever.) and her OxyContin pump is beeping. "

Uh, can I sign up for an OxyContin pump too?

Pure Hilarity

So I'm at work yesterday... 

And already, here's a side note: To all pregnant ladies: When your elective induction falls on the day of a major ice storm and it takes you 3 hours to get to the hospital due to closed roads and horrible ice-induced wrecks, STAY HOME. Inductions can be rescheduled, and it's not worth your life or your baby's life. Seriously, we had 8 inductions yesterday. There was half an inch of ice coating my car and every road between me and the hospital. Every Last Induction Was At The Hospital On Time. Idiots. Half of the staff, however was not there, which made for a great day. 

...back to the story.

I get this call: *ring ring* 

Me: Labor & Delivery, this is Hollie

Preggo: Hi, um, yes, I was, um, calling to talk to a nurse, um, I have a question.

Me: Go ahead

Preggo: Oh. Ok. Um, this morning, when I was using the bathroom, um, I had some bleeding.

Me: Ok, how many weeks pregnant are you?

Preggo: I'm a month. 

Me: Okkkkk, describe to me your bleeding, was it bright red, was it brownish, was it a lot, was it very little?

Preggo: Well, it was a really really light pink, on my tissue when I wiped

Me: (After explaining the idea of implantation spotting... what a concept.) Who is your doctor?

Preggo: Well I just got approved for Medicaid... blah blah blah... havent made an appointment yet.... blah blah blah

Me: Are you having any pain?

Preggo: Well no, but the last time this happened, I did have a lot of pain and I ended up having a miscarriage. (I at this time, resist the urge to tell her, your last 4 week pregnancy didnt end in a miscarriage, it ended in a period. That's what happens during your 4th week.) But this time, I'm not having any back pain like last time.

Me: Well that's nice. 

Preggo: I felt the baby move yesterday! 

Me: (Laughing a lot on the inside) Um, How far along are you, again?

Preggo: 1 month. I'll be 2 months along next month!! (genius. Seriously, GENIOUS.)

Me: Okaaaaay. Well, you have 3 options. Number one, well, who did you say was your doctor again? (because she couldnt shut up about medicaid long enough to give her doc's name)

Preggo: Dr. So&So (the names have been changed to protect the innocent)

And the rest of the conversation plods on until I finally convince her to either call her doctor or go to the ER- not labor & delivery, as we dont care for babies the size of a fingernail. 

This person procreated. 

A euphemism of sorts

Ok, so I started to write this really long post about Jordan's euphemism for the job search being like a courtship, but it got long & boring, so I deleted it. 

SO! In the spirit of the evening's festivities (we're having friends over for steak- yumm!), here's a little recipe I've found. As a disclaimer, I am a picky picky eater. I don't really go for veggies much, and that includes cooked carrots. So at Christmas, when I heard we were having cooked carrots as a side dish to our main meal, I was pretty disappointed. I resolved myself to get a normal-sized portion and swallow them down whole if necessary. And boy was I delighted to try them and looove them! I've even made them since Christmas and they're on the menu for tonight too! Deliciousness!

Black Pepper Glazed Carrots

1 lb baby carrots

2 tbsp butter

2 tbsp brown sugar

pinch of salt

fresh ground black pepper

Cut baby carrots in half. In a saute pan, melt butter with brown sugar and salt. Stir until well incorporated and smooth. Add carrots and toss to coat thoroughly. Apply lid to pan & cook on mediumish heat for 15min. Remove lid, and add pepper to your liking. Toss carrots. Serve!

Self-Inflicted Torture

Ok, so this week in running, I took my training schedule and.... interpreted it in my own way. Basically, this means I hardly followed it at all. I did successfully run my first 2 days, 4.5 and 3 miles, no problem. My third day of running also happened to fall on my third day in a row of working. Those of you who dont work 12 hour shifts, just dont know what that third day (in a row) does to a person. Anyway. My second 4.5 mile run turned into a 2 mile run. I was disappointed, although I was also completely exhausted. After a restful friday, I was "scheduled" to run 7 miles on Saturday. For reasons, I dont remember off hand (as my hips are screaming at me), I pushed myself to run 8 miles instead. And I did. I ran 8 miles. 

So according to my mom, whose been running a little longer than I have, when you start adding a lot of distance to your runs (ie: 8+ miles), then after running you must take an ice bath. I understand the reasoning behind this; it reduces inflammation, relieves soreness and helps to speed up the recovery of your poor muscles that have been shredded to bits. I get it. Was it one of the few most painful experiences of my life? YES. Oh MY Gosh! I am a glutton for punishment! I was literally screaming --loudly-- trying to get used to sitting in ice cold water. Jordan got a good laugh out of it, as did my mom & sister, who I promptly called to complain to. My feet were cramping, my toes were purplish, tears were rolling down my face, I was laughing and screaming at the same time, and eventually, the ice melted and I got used to it. Will I ever do it again?? Mom says it gets easier after the first time. I sure hope she's right.

And I thought the worst part of distance running were those horrible tasting powergel packs.

Anyway. Enough with running! Jordan and I are so ready to be finished with apartment living, we are about ready to pull our hair out. It seems like May cannot come quickly enough. I seriously want to start boxing stuff up already. Jordan has a conference call with a church either tomorrow or Tuesday night, and we met up with a guy Jordan knows who is going to recommend him for a college minister position at a church in our area. And with the job opportunities I've already mentioned, there have been little/no changes. Such is the norm with ministry jobs..... they take forev-er.

Week 2 = Done

Running schedule this week (in miles): 4 - 2 - 4 - 3.5

Completed

somedays

Some days my job is wonderful. And some days it's ugly.

Tuesday, I had the privilege of helping my neighbor and good friend Mendy deliver her little boy. It was so wonderful being a part of their special day, helping her through her labor process and rejoicing with her when her precious boy arrived! She did so well, and at one point (after delivery), turned to me and said "well that wasn't nearly as hard as I thought it would be!" We should all be so lucky! Seriously though, with as many trials as she & Josh faced during her pregnancy, I wish her labor could have been completely effortless, if only to take the burden off of them for just a little while. So almost effortless (as in like 4 pushes-- almost unheard of with first-time moms) is pretty awesome. It was all pretty awesome. 

Jeshua David

Love those blue scrubs.

I think I was increasing her Pitocin here... 

And then there are other days. I run (literally) to make things happen fast for patients who are critical; babies who are critical. Patients who come in with non reassuring tracings and blood pressures that can hardly sustain life. Moms who seemingly reflect symptoms of HELLP and are going downhill quickly. Emergent C-sections with babies who are too early and victims of poor placental perfusion (among other things). Arriving in the recovery room with a joyful family, glad that their baby is delivered- regardless that it's relying on a machine to breathe. Getting labwork back and learning what drugs your patient took prior to coming in, which of course she denies ever taking. Somedays I just want to scream. 

Week 1 = done

Running schedule this week(in miles): 4 - 2 - 4 - 6.

Completed.

Untitled

So I finally got my hair done again. My girl's been out on maternity leave since October, which seems like an eternity ago. The sad thing is, she's been back at work since December 7, and I haven't had a free day to visit her since, which was complicated only slightly by her drastically reduced work-week; thursdays & fridays only. But I shouldn't complain about that, as she wasn't planning on coming back to work at all. Babies seem to do that to people. Anyway, halfway through my appointment, she gets a phone call from a relative saying her grandfather has passed away. Things kinda went downhill from there. So I'm sitting there in her chair with dripping wet, freshly colored but not yet cut hair. She's sobbing hysterically in the back room. I don't know whether to get up and reschedule or sit through the awkwardness that followed. In hindsight, I probably should've rescheduled. I told Jordan about this and asked that he not get mad that I gave her a huge tip, to which he agreed. 

I feel like I'm getting the crud that Jordan had last week, which sucks. I'm supposed to run 6 miles today, so I hope I get to feeling a lot better here pretty soon. I didnt sleep well, and for it being a Saturday (and I'm technically on-call, but haven't gotten a call yet), I've been up since 8. 

So probably one of the least fun parts of my job, is the exposure to all things yucky & germy. And yesterday was no exception to that, as I got stuck with a dirty needle. I was drawing cord gasses and while changing from the needle used to draw them to the top that's made for the cord gas syringe, I stuck myself. I felt a stick and thought, 'dang, that hurt'. And then I pulled off my glove and saw my finger was bleeding and thought, "%#$@!@$!!!" So then started the chain reaction of filling out paperwork, notifying the higher-ups, having blood drawn, peeing in a cup, filling out more paperwork, and then more paperwork, making out an incident report, and getting a tetanus shot. Now, as a result of me, myself, and my stupidity, we are now using needles with safety mechanisms (as the original cord gas needles did not), which are like 2 inches long, making cord gas draws even more tricky.

For the record, I never knew that "moshing" was also referred to as "slam-dancing," which is considered a contact sport- and thus, can transmit Hepatitis C. Stay out of the pit, kids.

Isn't it just totally crappy when you stick up for someone without their knowledge and then later that same person comes back to throw you under the bus? People can be really hateful sometimes. Do you know what else is disheartening? Telling people something you're enduring and having to listen to horror stories relating to your problem. For example; when Jordan was having his gall bladder removed; probably 85% of the people we told had nothing but horrible things to say about their own experiences. I was telling a coworker the other day about Jordan and myself and his call to the ministry. So she proceeded to trash-talk youth ministry, saying her brother was a youth minister for 12+ years before he grew to hate it and left the church and now cannot get a secular job anywhere because he has "no experience." She then told me that Jordan should seriously reconsider his decisions. It really changed my perception of this person, whom I've always really enjoyed working with. 

Anyway. (this post is turning into a gibberish, mish-mash of random ideas) Since we're sorta on the topic of jobs, things are really moving in good directions for Jordan and his quest for a ministry position. We've recently been emailed by a church outside of Mobile, AL, asking for a face-to-face interview ASAP.  We've been contacted by Warren Baptist (for all you Augusta folks out there, that's the Warren you all know & love). We've gotten an email from a church outside of Denton, TX that sounds promising, and also from Round Rock, TX, which I think I may have mentioned in an earlier post. Jordan was telling me last night that he has recently become very excited at the thought of taking a ministry job, not because it marks the end of his schooling (19 years later), but because he is completely stoked about carrying out what God has been calling him to do. It's really fascinating being able to see what God is up to these days and how this is all coming together. After receiving news from this church in Alabama the other night, he was so excited, he didn't go to sleep until close to 3am. 

New Year

I had meant to write my "new years" post... on January 1. 

oh well!

Anyone else make a new year's resolution?? After years and years of swearing off resolutions, I finally this year decided to resolve to change a thing or two. I'm hoping the mere fact that these changes were made as "new years resolutions" wont ruin the intention behind them, as most often, resolutions waste away to good intentions within the first few days of the new year. So what's my resolution, you ask?? Simple. I resolve to take better care of my body. Cheesy and over played, I know. It'll be something that I can work on here and there all year and hopefully transform myself from a couch-dweller to a health-nut. First things first? A new skin-care regime. I've been using the clinique 3 step skin care.... yellow moisturizer and all. For since as long as I can remember (ok, maybe just since like age 13), I've only washed my face once a day. Gross, I know... but thankfully, I've always had fairly good skin, save for the few well-timed (aka PMS-related) breakouts. To prolong the life of my fairly good skin, I am determined to take better care of my skin. No more going to bed with the day's makeup still hanging around. Maybe I can prolong the life of my pillowcase too.

In addition,  I am still running. In fact, this week I've actually started an official training schedule. I'm excited to know that I'm pretty much on track and dont have any catching up to do. I'm following the Cowtown half marathon training schedule- I've got 8 weeks left until it's race day! In keeping with the "better me" resolution, I hope to run 3-4 days a week even after race day is over. Maybe if I can find enough other races through the year, I'll stay on track, because I have good reason to.

What other things am I looking forward to this year???

-Babies!!! Our next door neighbors are due this month. The Stranges are due in March. The Whittens are due in April. The Lowrys delivered Saturday night. The Crawfords are due in May. Melissa & Brandon are expecting # 2 in June. There's something in the water!!! I'm throwing a shower for sweet Catherine and her boy-to-be Carter in February, which I am really really excited about. I know she keeps up with this blog, so I cant say much about what's going to happen, only that it will be so so so fun. I'll help out with a "sprinkle" for Michele- it's her second baby, a girl- her first was a boy. So we're doing a small get together for some sweet girly goods. I'll probably have some part of a shower for Stacy later this spring. Lotsa lotsa lotsa babies! Dont ask me when we're gonna get knocked up- I dont know. Maybe later this year, maybe next year. We'll see. Lets just get through seminary first.

Which just so happens, wont take much longer. It's hard to believe that our journey here at Southwestern is ending in May. I'm not too worried right now about the big changes that will take place after graduation, but I'm sure as the time grows closer and we start talking about where we will serve from this summer on, the nerves will be jumping. I dont really have a reason to be nervous, I'm just by nature a worrier. It's something I struggle with often- I think it stems a lot closer from my control issues than anything, which I also struggle with. But God's been faithful so far, and I can rest easy knowing he'll continue to care for Jordan and I as we move into the next phase of our lives. First things first, Jordan's got to finish this I-term.

I am thrilled to be visiting New York City in April! Baylor has this great education fund for it's employees that I'm finally going to put to good use. Two other nurses (whom I love), a midwife (whom I also love!!) and myself are going to an OB conference- and the education fund is paying for our airfare, hotel, and conference dues!!! We're all staying together.... for a few days longer than the conference lasts. Its my first trip ever to NYC and I am super super excited. I love the girls I'm going with and we'll have enough time for sight-seeing, eating, broadway, and most important.... SHOPPING! I gotta work some extra days here and there between now and then- so I can make sure and have plenty plenty plenty of shopping money! 

I need something from my faithful readers: your favorite Bible verses. I'll tell you why later- just post a comment with the whole verse or just the book/chapter/verse. Thanks!!!