A lot has happened since December here in Laramie!
I realized I never posted about DBS Part Two, but really all you need to know is life has been 100 million x better. The pacemakers went under my clavicles, and have healed nicely although I will have permanent scars that will be reopened every 2-5 years depending on battery life. I went for numerous programmings, and it was intense! Day by day I returned back to near normal functioning. I am going to write a story for Dr. Vansickle's success stories once the NCLEX is finished. I feel bad for skipping over all that awesomeness, but hey! I'm "fixed!" My talented Aunt made this medical necklace for me - I think it's pretty awesome, and everyone just guesses it's a really cool nursing necklace haha!
Slowly but surely I was walking better, and getting all my energy back!
We also got word that cats were allowed in our apartment complex again, and our landlord told us right after my second surgery as a sorts of "Christmas Present." Juno could return from the awesome in-laws who took her in. We were so excited, I totally think animals are little healers :) Of course my family came out during the healing period, and I was super blessed to have my mom to help for a few weeks after the actual implantation surgery.
Amazingly, I was healed up enough to continue my fourth semester (and last of my ASN degree!) Thankfully instructors made it so my preceptorship was last, so my pacemaker-popping-out-on-accident days were long gone and I was totally healed by mid-March. I did my community health rotations first! After my preceptorship at Ivinson Memorial Hospital on the Medical Surgical floor, my friend and awesome preceptor gave me this clipboard with "RN" already behind my name. It felt so good to have someone believe in me, and I gained a lot of confidence after working the floor there!
We had quite the snow and road closures this year which made driving to Cheyenne a little crazy this last semester. My mom didn't believe we couldn't get fresh produce when the roads closed and were landlocked, so I snapped this photo mid-March at Walmart.
Definitely not California!
Austin had been cooking up some amazing meals and getting creative with the food limitations, and made this awesome little number... Vietnamese Bun!
Nursing school and law school for Austin and I seemed to fly by, and then it was time to start figuring out the whole ... well crap what are we gonna do after we graduate?? Haha! So I had been applying lots to Nurse Residency programs in Wyoming so Austin could still be in Wyoming to take the Bar Exam. We figured I would have the job first because the Bar is crazy difficult, and it takes forever to get results back. Nurse Residencies usually have a two-year commitment, so we decided that I would have the opportunity for further training and begin my career considering I would be "done" first.
We decided it would be best for us to move out of Laramie, and I got an interview with Sheridan Memorial Hospital for the Operating Room (OR) nurse residency position, and got it! We were so excited to find this out as it was my number one choice and exactly what I wanted to do! Something in Critical Care! The only contingency is I do have to pass the NCLEX which is making me sick (one more week!) or else I can't continue with Sheridan's program as you must have an RN license in hand. Positive vibes, right?
Here's a photo of Sheridan from the hotel we stayed at the night before!
Graduation happened! I'm sure the facebook newsfeed was flooded about that... but yup! Two professionals!
Aaaaand we also found out to our surprise that I was pregnant! No idea haha!
Yeah, there are three pregnancy tests (two pictured) because Austin was in such shock that he said, "I hope you have more pee in you cause we are gonna buy more tests!" LOL. So... I did and they don't lie. The thing about them is that claim they make, the 99% accuracy, is for the positive sign lol. But I let Austin do his thing. Anyway I was shocked and excited, and Austin was... shocked. Then excited hahahaha!
We got an ultrasound to confirm, and have had another since.
So not that I didn't take NCLEX studying serious before, but having a third member of the family meant it was getting SERIOUS. Haha! So since then and until the end of this week, we have been the lamest two people on the face of this planet because we study all day long lol!
We did take a break to get baby stuff one day cause we were both going insane! A friend of mine was selling her old baby stuff for ridiculously cheap, and we also made a Denver trip where we found a lot of big ticket items for ridiculously cheap and/or discounted prices.
I think this lamb I got was more than the pack-and-play we found brand new at Baby's R Us.
I always knew I wanted to get our baby a lamb because of some serious symbolism it has with me. When I was nine and going through a rough home situation, I had a very spiritual dream I don't share, but when I woke up I found my stuffed lamb and blanket by my side ( having not remembered putting them there before sleeping) and as clear as day a voice said to me, that I was a lamb of God and would always be protected, and the blanket was his comfort and companionship. So needless to say, there is a lot of meaning to this little guy than meets the eye. Mom's first present to baby!
I also have been working on a quilt as well :) It has been slightly on the back burner because of intense studying crackdowns, but I have until November ;)
Here are the week-by-week bump pictures, I started showing very early because who knows why and also my fluid sack is three times the size it should be... or I'm just giving birth to a watermelon lol. The first photo is 8 weeks!
And the 19th week....
Some of you are probably confused because we have said over and over that we couldn't have kids, and that we were an adopting family. Let me explain.
The type of dystonia I have is genetic and it presented when I was 13, and wasn't diagnosed until I was 18. At the time, (2008) dystonia was not well researched and the data for genetic dystonia gave children to dystonic patients a 50% chance of getting it, and research supported (at the time) it would be 10 x worse than the parent. When I got married to Austin, he was aware and had been to my neurologist appointments where they stated to "stop trying to have children." We even at the time, had the okay from the church to "decide" what to do if we got pregnant on accident at the time. Now that was a hard thing to hear. So adoption became our only hope at having children.
In 2013, (late 2013 when I found out) dystonia research had been rolling, and new data came out that the original statistics were incorrect, and that yes the child has a 50% chance of getting the dystonia gene, but it was a 15% chance the gene would be "activated" and no evidence suggested it would be worse. We decided that was low enough to "risk."
We had already changed a lot of our life plans according to the adoption plan, I was starting nursing school, Austin law school, but the news was exciting! Unfortunately during the last few years I had lost my menstrual cycle (we still don't know why, it was suggested that my body was under severe distress with progressing dystonia.) Basically we had one chance one year, and two the next year. And nothing happened.
This was a blessing in disguise because as I started my nursing career in mid 2015 as an LPN, and the dystonia progressed to the point where I was bedridden and had trips to the ER. I was blessed to be a candidate for DBS surgery, in which obviously you cannot undergo and also be pregnant! So there was that... held off for the chance to get my life back and healthy!
Brain surgeries are interesting. Your brain controls well.. everything! And if you stress out your body and brain by going through some crazy surgeries, your body isn't going to act normal. So it is usually expected to not have normal lady functioning for up to six months, and not to be surprised for up to a year.
WELL... not true AT ALL FOR ME LOL. I think the surgery helped my dystonia symptoms so quickly, and I had huge success with being relieved! My doctors were amazed as well haha! They assume it was because my body was so relieved after being programmed that things returned to optimum functioning haha!
We shall see as I still haven't ever had a menstrual cycle since last October, but needless to say this baby is a MIRACLE! Who knows about the way he or she gets siblings, but this kid is going to be so spoiled and loved!
We will find out the gender on the 30th of June should baby cooperate :)
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