Calm after the storm

Its over! Phew! The testing has ended. Now we wait. I enjoyed Davenport, IA more this time than last. Perhaps it was the company. Jesse and I stayed in a casino hotel that turned out to be really nice. We had a relaxing time leaving the hotel only to eat and when I went to the testing site. It was nice to board up with my honey and have some time to review the material before going into the test. Oh and we got to borrow a parent-in-laws car... a MINI COOPER! I love those cars. Zip around town in one of those baby's and let your hair down sometime. Its fun. :-)
Day 1: Arrival to test site 8am. Sequestered in room one for 40-60 min. I was called up in the second testing group. I recognized one person from the last site. A fellow who was a practicing doc working on passing his part IV to be able to practice in Florida. Last test he was next to me during the x-ray portion and was completely stressed out and unable to rein himself in. He was a shaky, sweaty mess. I thought to myself... ah crap I hope I'm not next to that guy again. Turns out I wasn't. Fate in my favor! Woo Hoo! I get to the radiology room line up with my back facing the view box and take a deep breath. Begin. Each station is 4 minutes with 15 sec between to move to the next station. Three cases through I'm thinking... not too bad, I can do this, Rock and Roll! This test is mine. :-) There are two out of ten that take me the entire time to deliberate the best choices from the options but mostly I'm feeling ahead of the game. Then... it's over. I feel exhilarated this was the portion I was most dreading and had spent most of the past couple months studying. So to have it over was a huge relief. And, it was only 10:30 in the morning instead of noon like I was told. We were sequestered in a separate room for a half hour more then let go.
Jesse and I headed out for PIZZA for lunch on the Illinois side of the river. It was delicious. Happy girl when I get my hands on some tasty pizza.
Study time for day two. I had gone through the ortho tests a couple times and hadn't looked at the adjustments for a while. Neuro, heart, lung exams.... reviewed while watching wedding singer. Nice! We had dinner at a little water front area in Davenport. Grilled cheese and tortilla soup for me. Yum. Back to the room and headed to bed.
Day two: Arrival to test site 7am. Poor Jesse had to drop me off since he needed the car for check out at 11. I was told I wouldn't leave the room we would be sequestered in until around 4:30pm. (That is exactly what happened.)
We had to get checked by security and our lunches inspected. They didn't let me bring my library book in but, luckily someone brought a couple movies to pass the time post test.
The test lasted over two hours. 25 stations 5 min each with a 1.5 min between for passing time. I started at station 5 which is a history taking station. Moved through the ortho/neuro/exam stations to the adjusting stations and back to the last two history stations and all the post encounter stations. Relief again. This time I didn't have the pounding headache I had ending the last exam.
Sequestered for several hours while we wait for other groups to go so we don't give them a heads up on what to expect or call our friends in California and spill the beans. Its all very regimented. However, I rather liked the Davenport site over the Atlanta site. Maybe its the mid-west that has me feeling more comfort.
We watched a couple episodes of The Office, Tommy Boy, and part of The Hangover. I was glad I had opted to buy a piece of chocolate cake in celebration. I even licked the cellophane clean. :-) We were let go at 4:30. Jesse picked me up and we headed back to Elgin, IL.
Joel (father-in-law) made us pizza and a salad for dinner. Pizza again. Heck Yeah! Yum.
I headed to bed at 9pm and slept until 10:30am! Holy Cow! How's that for recuperation?
All in all I feel I did well. We'll find out for sure end of June!

Growing out hair

Updated photos from last month. I can definitely see a difference! Yay! Its a small difference but still it can be seen. Its hard waiting to see a change in a month. I feel like the last cut was so rigid. But... at the time I felt rigid. Blech I'm over it. There is quite a ways to go but we are to a good start and as Mary P would say... "well begun is half done."

Tomorrow Jesse and I are headed for our vacation in IOWA! Where for half of the time I will be strutting my chiropractic doctor skills for the evaluation that is named Part IV boards. This time the outcome shall be much improved and the sun shall shine and the birds shall sing! Oh you better believe that will happen.

Thats the story

5/9
So remember when I said a change was brewing. Well, could have said... Mark my words. The news is
We're Expecting!
and I always follow it up with Holy *^$@!
Waves of joy, anxiety, overwhelming awe, giving way to anxiety again.
Whats to be anxious about?
1. stretch marks
2. Will I feel claustrophobic with a huge belly
3. I have a person depending on me for life
4. I'm building a person. I've never done that before. Will I do it wrong?
5. Its coming out of where? Oh MY!!!
6. So many decisions... a whole new world to think about
7. $$$$$$$

5/11
Just made a toad in a hole for lunch. Its when you have half a bagel and put an egg to cook in the middle. I ended up under cooking it and it was runny... well a lot runny and it totally made me feel nauseous! Blech. Yuck! Ewwwwe!
Had my first hormonal cry break today. Was on the phone with my mom and after we hung up I just felt overwhelmed and had to cry big fat tears. The feeling passed and then all was well.
Feeling tired. Just read a blog from a woman who has had three miscarriages around week seven. I'm only at week five now so that made me feel... scared.

5/17 (six weeks)
Woke up feeling queasy today. No doubt I need to drink more water and improve the quality of food I'm eating. I ate a lot of heavy food over the past week and I think my kidneys are having trouble filtering which leads to nausea. I'm about six weeks along. Feeling tired and wondering if others can tell by looking at me. First pair of work pants put back in the closet today. Unable to button them. Luckily I have looser pairs to move into thanks to my mom cleaning out her closet a couple months back and me snagging some essential pieces. Stepped on the scale. It was two pounds less than I thought it would be. I'm loosing weight instead of gaining. Weird. I've been eating like a champ. Tobias (as Jesse and I call our little one) must be packing it in. Seriously the quantity going in and out are not proportionate at all. This is not like anything I've experienced before. Also... the queasy went away after I had a banana and an egg this morning. Of note: I don't miss the taste of coffee but, I miss the morning ritual and smell of a freshly made french press full.
I'm noticing a heightened sense of being tense in dangerous situations. Specifically, driving. I have become hyper aware and hyper paranoid of accidents. Also, my body is physically rejecting food that might be dangerous like raw chicken and raw eggs. I've been trying to get in good sources of protein and the precooked form makes me feel blech. After its cooked much better. So my bodies protective mechanisms are in FULL ALERT!!! Survival of the fittest bread into my being now revealing this inner source of knowledge I had no idea was there.

5/20
Taught two cycle classes this week so far. I have one scheduled for tomorrow also. After my class last night I had some spotting which, really freaked me out!!!! But, everything I read said that is normal and today I called the ob office and they said that can happen after exercise and with dehydration. So I'm going to hydrate!!!! and chill out during my cycle class. Phew. I'm still concerned but I feel more at ease. This whole mommy thing can set off quite the alarm.

5/22
Just opened the fridge to get ingredients to make a breakfast smoothie that quickly turned to dry hurling into the sink. The best part is "I'm too sexy" was playing on the computer.