Acceptance and a baby shower.

Tom officially got accepted into medical school!! He is now apart of the DCOM class of 2018! We knew he would probably get it but it is so nice to not have to worry about it or think of back up plans anymore. In August he will begin his first year of medical school but won't have to take the med school classes he took this last year, will be so nice to have some classes out of the way. This semester he is taking some really cool classes that will help make him a great doctor. He is taking prosection where he gets graded on how well he dissects a human body. He is taking a class on reading x-rays, MRIs, etc. He is also taking a few other classes for his masters and neuroanatomy. I am so proud of him and all that he is doing for us, I am lucky to have such a smart, hardworking teammate in this life. We are both excited for him to earn his masters degree and start his first year of medical school this fall.


The day after we found out he got accepted my Tennessee family threw me a baby shower. It was so much fun and made me feel so loved. That morning it had snowed several inches so honestly I thought no one was going to be able to make it, but to my surprise my friend's house was packed with people! We had various breakfast foods, friends wrote Tom and I a piece of advice, and then we played several games. The first game we played was to guess the price of several baby items. Then we all had to guess the flavors of baby food by their appearance and smell. Finally we opened gifts, I felt so spoiled by all of our friends, there was very little we needed to buy the baby after the shower. I am so grateful for all my friends here and for the love and support they have given us and our little girl.


This week has been wonderful for us, we are so tremendously blessed! Our future is very bright with a lot of exciting things to come.

Nursery

Some people have asked to see pictures of the nursery so I thought I would put them up here. We still need a dresser and everything isn't as organized as it should be but we will get there. Colors don't match perfectly but we made do with what we had on a tight grad school budget. It is so exciting getting her room set up, makes me more anxious for her to get here!

 Can't wait to add one more thing to our nursery...a sweet baby girl!

Exciting things and a trip to the hospital

Tom and I had a wonderful Christmas and couldn't be more excited about this new year. We visited Tom's family in North Carolina and usually the boys will hang out together and the girls will cook, craft, or shop. Over the break I took full advantage of my time and made lots of things for the baby. I made hair bows and  a frame to hold them, crib bumpers, a nursing cover, burp cloths, and a pillow for the nursery. It was so fun, I love crafting and sewing. I feel myself growing and getting better at sewing every time I make something, I love that feeling, very encouraging feeling.

Craving: I still haven't had any really strong cravings....Tom may say differently. I love ice cream all the time though. I could suck down a milkshake any time of the day!


Symptoms: People say all the time that the second semester is like the honeymoon semester, I couldn't agree more! In some ways I feel like I'm back in my first trimester minus the nausea. Lately I have felt tired again just like my first semester, I have non stop heartburn, and my hips and back are starting to ache. Sleeping has also become quite challenging. Between being so hot all the time and having the most vivid dreams imaginable it makes it hard to sleep. That and the trouble it now takes to roll over :)   I have constant Braxton Hicks but I will discuss that in just a minute. Lots of symptoms and getting to the point where I am ready for her to just be here...out of me, but I know every symptom is worth the little angel coming our way.

Weight Gain: I have gained about 16 pounds now and the baby is 4 pounds 8 ounces as of yesterday!




So now there is much to tell about our little adventure to the hospital. This Thursday I began to feel a lot of contractions. They were very consistent at four minutes apart and were pretty painful. This lasted a couple hours and slowed down enough so I could fall asleep, although they woke me several times. Friday I was still having contractions but now they were about nine minutes apart and not quite as painful. Since the frequency and intensity slowed down we decided not to go to the hospital. Saturday I woke, to you guessed it, more contractions. Since they had been going on for several days we decided to play it safe and go to the hospital. I am glad we did because shortly after they became very intense and about two minutes apart.....not fun! They checked my cervix and made sure my water hadn't broke, both were fine thank heavens. The contractions wouldn't stop so they became worried about preterm labor. They gave me an IV and some muscle relaxers, both did nothing. Then they gave me procardia, which is a heart attack medicine but they also use it for preterm labor. That stopped my contractions that night. Most relaxed I have felt in such a long time. They took my monitors off (felt amazing) and let me sleep. Hooked me up again in the morning and I was still contracting but they weren't very big, I guess they weren't very worried about it because they let me go home. Everything looked good with the baby and I didn't have any infections or anything like that. I still am having about a contraction every hour but they aren't very painful, just sometimes annoying. Today I have an appointment with my regular OB so I hope he will shed some light on the situation. The other doc said sometimes this just happens and to come in if they become regular again. Sucked that it happened but very glad everything is okay and the baby has more time to cook.

 Here is a profile picture of the baby at 30 weeks. Fun to see her nose, cheeks, and lips so well. You can also see a little foot up by her head. Who do you think she looks like? I hope she looks juts like her dad.

Sugar, spice, and a very busy med-school hubby.

It seems like so much has happened since I have last blogged. I will start out with the most exciting news first...the baby updates.

Here she is at 20 weeks, they though she was sucking her thumb here.

Craving: While I still haven't had any crazy strong cravings, the type where I force Tom out of the house at midnight to fetch me something, I have really be craving sweets in general this last week. Most of the time I can't fight the urge to resist but always feel guilty when I divulge and eat unhealthy foods.

Gender guesses: No more guessing here, its a girl!!! The last few ultrasounds she has had  her ankles crossed but this last time she stretched out for just a second and we caught a glimpse of the gender. We are so excited to have a little girl. Tom is a little nervous about having a little girl, already thinking about her dating and things like that. It is so cute to already see him so protective and loving. I get so excited when I see hair bows, think about dressing her up as a princess for Halloween, and teaching her how to cook. It will be so fun to have a little girl!

Symptoms: Really most of my symptoms have subsided, for now. Wahoo! Occasionally I get heartburn, I wonder if she will be more like mom and have lots of hair as a baby. A couple days ago my stomach kept getting rock hard and felt extremely tight. I wasn't in pain at all, just was uncomfortable. After talking to several people I believe they were Braxton Hicks Contractions or something similar. Guess its a good thing that my body is preparing for the great feat it is about to accomplish. Also, feeling kicks regularly. I love feeling those little jabs, just can't wait for Tom to feel them!

Weight Gain: I have gained 4 pounds! My stomach is starting to get a couple stretch-marks, battle scars! My baby bump is starting to become much more apparent, very exciting to see the baby is growing. Baby weighed 11 ounces at our last appointment, can't believe she has so much more to go, I can't even imagine.

Names: Right now Tom and I both like the names Aubrey and Emily, we have lots of time to change our minds though so we will see if they stick.

Forgot to take a picture at the Halloween party but here is my Halloween costume this year. the mirror made the lettering backwards. Do you get the costume? :)

In other news I have started teaching at Cumberland Gap High School. I am teaching 9th grade physical science. The class sizes are very small, my smallest only has 15 students in it, it is awesome! the subject is very fun, even though its not my strongest area. The job is through December and possibly longer. It feels so good to be productive and help students learn in a fun way.

Tom is doing fabulous as always. He has been studying so hard, had nonstop tests lately. Still hard for me to be independent sometimes. Tonight I wanted to do nothing more then cuddle up and watch a movie with my best friend. I go into his office and he is studying so hard. To see him work so hard helps me realize the goal we are both working towards and so I then walk right back out of his office. He is so awesome! Doing really well in school and gaining immense amounts of knowledge. I am so impressed and proud of him, and he even finds time to take the trash out and sometimes make dinner for his working-pregnant wife. I am a very lucky woman.

This coming weekend we are going to North Carolina to see Tom's family. I cannot wait!! It will be so fun to be with everyone, be in a big city, and talk with everyone!

Here Comes Baby Woodson....

Tom and I have wanted to have a baby for a long time now so this post is especially exciting! We found out in July, while staying with Tom's sister, that we were pregnant. Both of us could hardly believe it. The first ultrasound at 7 weeks, when we saw the baby, is when it became more real for both of us. I love our doctor, he is so kind and compassionate. Every time I have gone to see him he does an ultrasound, which I love. Every time we do an ultrasound he says, "Wow! Your baby is SO active, that's good, healthy." Every time we have seen the baby it has been doing flips, waving, kicking and stretching. Tom and I already feel so much love for our baby and are so excited to be parents.


Craving: So far I have generally craved salty things which is weird for me, normally I have the biggest sweet tooth. Specifically I have craved cinnamon (I smell it at random times of the day and have to have it), apples, carrots, cheese its, and corn-dogs (which I try to avoid).

Gender guesses: Tom thinks its a boy. I am 100% sure that I have no idea what it is.

Symptoms:  In the first couple months I was nauseous all the time (but only threw up once, thank heavens), had to go the bathroom every hour, and my breasts were unbelievably sore. Now those symptoms have gone away and I am hungry all the time, tired more often, and lately have been getting really bad headaches. Really my symptoms haven't been all that bad, sometimes it even doesn't seem like I'm pregnant.

Weight Gain: So far I haven't gained any weight but have actually lost about ten pounds. I know the baby is growing though because some of my pants don't fit anymore. I have also bought a couple maternity shirts and LOVE wearing them. Right now I am at the awkward stage where you can't tell if I just have a lot of fat going on or if that is actually my baby bump, so I love the loose maternity shirts that fit well and cover up so to speak.

We go in for another appointment in a week and a half and are hoping we can beg the doctor to take a guess at the baby's gender. Life is great and am so happy to soon be a mommy.

9 Week Ultrasound

12 Week Ultrasound

Getting Started...

For months, and probably even years, I have had so much anxiety and fear of what medical school would be like for Tom and for us as a couple. Naturally, I have heard horror stories over the years. Stories of  never seeing your husband, statistics on increased divorce rates, the works. Now Tom is a couple weeks into school. Granted our experiences are probably a little different because he is doing the masters program and not taking all the first year med school classes right now, but I can honestly say for us it has been nothing but a happy experience. Alot of times I was terrified of Tom going to medical school and sometimes would even ask him if he really wanted to do it. It has been so much more wonderful than I could have ever imagined! I have felt our relationship has been strengthened in so many ways already. I think that God has blessed me greatly in that I have made wonderful friends already and haven't felt lonely.

Right now Tom has been studying anatomy pretty much sun up to sun down. It has been fun to help  him study, its a fun way to get to squeeze in more time with him. He does get stressed every morning that there is so much material for him to memorize, but by the end of the day he always feels good about it. I have gotten good too at recognizing when I need to pull him aside when he is really stressed and give him a hug or back scratch so he can regroup and keep going with a fresh mindset. I have been so grateful that so far he likes to study at home!! I try really hard to not bug him while he studies (largely because I don't want him to say this isn't working I'll just study on campus). Just knowing he is here in the house and seeing him when he takes a snack break is awesome. He is doing so great, and I have become so incredibly proud of him these last few weeks. That to me is a fun thing about marriage, you always find new things to fall in love with in the person you married.

I have been keeping busy with exercising with friends, housework, supporting Tom, and other things like that. We have put a lot of work into the house we are living in now and I still need to do some more. It is so nice to actually live in a house! I also would like to start subbing here, just need to put in my application. That is one thing I have really missed so far...Teaching. That and having bigger stores and restaurants in town

I haven't taken any pictures here really but will have to post some as soon as I do. So far our experiences here have been nothing but happy and fun, I hope the next few years have the same trend!

Tennessee or Bust!

Day 1/2

So we made it to Kansas City which marks the half way point in our cross county journey. In a few days we will head to North Carolina to see the majority of Tom's family before heading to Tennessee. We have decided to stop along the way to North Carolina to see several tourist sites. That will really help break the trip up and will be really fun for us. 

So first thing I want to write about is all the (now funny) disasters that have happened along this trip. In Wyoming we pulled into a hotel at about 2am to stay the night. Tom and I both agree that it was the nastiest hotel either one of us has stayed out. Then after a few hours of sleep we made our way to Missouri. The wind through Nebraska was ridiculously strong, so strong it ripped Tom's brand new bike off the bike rack. Luckily, the driver behind us swerved and missed it.  Tom walked the highway and found the bike, it was amazing, only the wheels were really damaged. We made it to Missouri and in helping Tom's grandma prepare to sell her house we ended up pulling a whole bunch of poison ivy.   

The view from Tom's grandma's house.

Day 3

Lately things have calmed down and I now have nothing but positive things to say.

We got Tom's sweet grandma all moved, caught a few fireflies, and headed out the door to St. Louis, MO. There we saw the arch and rode up to the very top, I have never done anything like that before! We ate at the best root beer restaurant ever! It was so so good! We finished the night off by looking over the Mississippi River. Tomorrow we head to the country music capital of the world, Nashville, TN. It has been so fun to road trip cross-county with my mother-in-law and husband, I am seeing and experiencing so many new things!

Inside the St. Louis Arch

Mississippi River

In other news, we just got Tom's orientation schedule for his program and purchased him a bunch of scrubs. He is getting set for school, it is very exciting. Only a few weeks left!