It's Positive!!!

Lester and I thought it would take forever to get pregnant so we went to the fertility doctor who prescribed the usual and instructed us to take a baby test (thank you dollar tree) before filling them.  So I unwrapped in the usual fasion, peed all over my hand in the usual fashion, cleaned up mess, and waited for the usual negative symbol to appear.  And it did... but then, there was the faintest slightest most exquisitely small line perpendicular to the usual one. 

And so it began, as a slight faint purplely flowery line... and has, within 1 week, turned into a nauseating, swollen, fat, stretch-marked, starving state of what my mother says is a healthy pregnancy.   We'll see.  I know it is a beautiful thing and I am so very happy and this is exactly what we wanted, but I cant quite see through the nausea right now, and my boobs are giant and hurt so bad and I cant sleep for some reason and uHHHH.  Breathe.  This too shall pass.  All I know about preganancy is what I've seen my sisters and friends go through and what my mother tells me... I recall nothing from medical school except it sounded like a state of disease.  Dear Lord help me through this, help me through losing my abs, my /1/2 way decent butt, my tiny boobs, my selfishness, my naps, my long lazy sunday afternoons of reading and cleaning leisurly. 

I realize that all of my besties have been through this.  Monica and Laurin loved being pregnant and dont recall any nausea at all, though Laurin nearly died and had to have liters of fluid drained off her belly every week. I've seen Becky labor and it looked horrifyingly painful.  Bri vomitted in the bathroom every morning and at work sometimes.  And my mother... I cannot even compare anyone I know in present day fertilityland with my Mother's feats of pregnancy.  EIGHT TIMES, that is 6.6years of being pregnant, gave birth 8 times WITH NO EPIDURAL.  WENT home to MORE CHILDREN every time.  So I realize you guys have lived through every complaint I can dream up, and I am so glad you still empathize with me.  That is nice. 
Also p.s. we are still getting the dog - I think we're going to name her Nancy, I hope Laurin's mama is ok with this, but I love that name~!  and I cannot think of another one. 
Here she is!  We get her around Valentines day!

Becky and Brad in da house!!!!

Bradley Wayne and Rebecca Joy drove to Indy to visit Lester and I!  I love them to bits.  We ate lunch at TexMex which is our favorite taco place, then we went to the Indiana State Museum, then to Carmel - I've never been and Becky needed a dress for a Christmas Party. 

 Indiana State Museum, we watched an IMax movie - this famous explorer, Shakelton, in 1916 took 27 men with him on an epic journey to antarctica but the boat got caught in the ice on the way there and they spent 17 months trying to get back... in ice and snow and hurricanes  -- with no Gortex or fleece...  It was amazing that any survived, and they all did.  

Carmel Arts District -- very cool, I had no idea anything existed beyond 465

Got in a little trouble with the law... for being awesome 

How can you not look up this statue's skirt? - I did... she has plaster panties.

It was a fun day.  Then L-diggs and I went to the pet store to love on the poor puppies there.



Love the fall in Indianapolis

This is Dr. Franco, the Anesthesiologist! You might be wondering, why is she taking pics of herself at work:  the top one was for my husband so he could see me in my garb, the second was the look I wanted to give my little brother for telling me he's taking 3months to travel to Indonesia, a maternal sort of disconcern - but instead I look a little constipated. 

I love my job.  I love setting up my room in the morning, drawing up the drugs, thinking about the patient's physiology and how I'm going to give a smooth anesthetic, what is the worst thing that could happen and what will I do if it does. I love seeing my classmates during the day, because we all started out very scared, but now we're all sort of growing into it. 

One thing that totally amazes me is how much people trust us -- that really most people have no idea what Anesthesia is, or we're about to do to them -- but they just trust... and it reminds me how much people trust each other in general. 

Of all the bad stuff that goes on in the world, I still get in my car every day - have no idea how the engine was built or runs, I drive it on a road where other people are driving and could kill me at any second.  I fly on planes that somehow stay in the air, seriously, how does a giant peice of steel "take off" and float like that???  I use computers whose function still baffles me.  And I still really dont know what the internet is... is there a central computer? No idea. 

But I trust that my car will turn on magically every day, that the 'gears' will run, that no one will hit me as we drive toward each other and pass within arm's distance of each other, that the email I send in the morning will reach my sister. 

As I'm pushing 'white stuff that burns' into someone's arm that will travel through their veins to their heart, that will then pump it into the arteries that reach their brain I begin to think.  This tiny little lipid soluble molecule will diffuse across the blood brain barrier and enter the brain's vast capillary network and diffuse across these capillaries to reach the neurons - there it binds to little receptors on neurons.  When it binds these receptors it makes the neurons retarded, unable to transmit messages and the patient will 'fall asleep'.  It does not bind forever luckily, and the patient will wake up in 8-10 minutes if I give nothing else.  Most patients have no idea this is what is happening... but they dont need to know.  Just like I dont need to know exactly how a plane works to fly.  I can trust other people.  And this is nice to know... of all the gun shots and stab wounded people that come in that make me begin to hate people... in general - humanity is good... and we depend on each other's knowledge and skills to live the lives we live.  And this makes me want to be the best doctor I can be, so that people's trust is well placed. 

While some people may be bastart coated bastards with bastard filling, I do believe most people have a creamy nougety center...

That's my deep thought for the year.  Now onto our first 5 months of marriage! 

Dinner with Bri, Jake, Laurin, and Ryan at Brugge - fun.

Going to the doctor.  Loved it.

Salsa night at Adobo - tequila time!

IronMan race in Muncie with Carlos.

Fall festival in Fort Wayne, Olivia and Leah.  It was awesome because Lester and I accidentally both wore black v-necks, dark jeans, saucony shoes, and now our hair color is exactly the same... we are becoming one literally...

My mama and papa at the fall festival - love them.  My Dad is so tan from being on Lake Erie all summer.

I am so very lucky.

Childrens Museum Madness

Becky brought the kids down on Wednesday and we went to the Childrens Museum, which, I did not know was so AMAZING.  I would like to get a pass and go every weekend.  Here are some highlights.

Planting Flowers, she could be my daughter, no?

Reba and Angie

I learned that HoolaHooping is very hard as an adult -- Ellen was kicking my rear at this, despite my concentrated efforts.

Sorry - I don know how to rotate videos... but this is SO adorable, Henry interacting with a Bear puppet. 

I'm the Mom

Focus

You and Me both Gilly

what happens in vegas...

The ridiculous deal we got on expedia should have made me suspicious of this "resort" much sooner than it did.  In keeping with my "dont-clutter-your-brain-with-things-until-they-really-matter-like-checking-on-the-limo-service-for-your-wedding policy, I only became worried while flying out to vegas that our $5.00/night delux resort might be a camp ground.  But we arrived, and it was a very nice hotel... but it was definately newly opened (used to be the old Ritz Carlton, (charles?).  The 'concierge' was 15 years old and didn't even know how to get to the strip, or that the Hoover Dam was 15 minutes away, or that Celine Dion lived up the road.  These were things we picked up along the way.  Also, it would ahve been nice to know upon our arrival, not 4 days into our 7 day vacation that there is a free spa that is amazing and has magical water healing rooms with fresh cucumbers ready to make you look 10 years younger. 

Even Lester loooooved the spa facilities, even though they were gender specific, and I'm sure he missed me during his magical water time.  I was waiting in the lobby when he first came out and he looked like he had been in a coma for a year.  It was my favorite thing about the vacation, although my massage lady was also pretty entertaining.  She was very mystical, herbal, spiritual, and was telling me all about essential oils during my amazing massage.  She could have been telling me anything and I would agreed just to get her to like me so she would keep giving me the best massage of my life.  She was a master, and was referring to the muscles with their anatomical names, I thought 'she really knows her stuff'.   I think I reached nirvana at one point.  Howeverthe misty fog of pleasure began to lift when, in response to a question about a pain in my upper back, she said "ah - that is where your intestine is" I said, oh you mean like the accupressure site?   She said "No, your intestines go all de vay up your back.  I vent to the Bodies Exhibit at ze Luxor and I saw that ur intestines go allllll the vay up here.  You must have eaten sometink very bad, so you have back pain".  

After this I couldn't get back into my state of complete surrender and openness to healing. I think I love to think that massage therapists/alternative medicine people have special powers that can cure me of everything.  I want to believe this, if only for a few minutes of incense and essential oil of lavendar bliss.  I just shouldn't speak to them, it ruins the illusion- like talking to the stripper after his 'act' about his studies... 

Below is our breakfast at the resort -- it was amaZING... yes I brought my own tea and they were cool with it. 

The pool, which closed at 8pm -- and was always empty, except for a kid here and there.

Smartest decision of the week? - Getting a rental car. Thank you Hertz and Lester's sense of direction.

The Hoover Dam -- the amount of concrete it took to make the dam could build a 2 lane highway from San Francisco to NYC.  That's a ton of conrete.  The tour guides at the Dam all make "damn" jokes like "... i cant remember, but I laughed.

Next to the resort was this little village with adorable restaurants, and this was a very fun night.  The piano man here doubled as an accordian player and played for us at our table, so we got up and danced.  It was one of my favorite parts of the whole trip.

David Copperfield show.  It was AWESOME... before the show he came by and stole our Popcorn and walked around eating it and chatting to people, then gave it back to us.  I felt weirdly honored.

Kill me now, the sushi was SO good.

The Bellagio room of magical sunlight and flowers.

That is all.  It was really fun.  People were saying that Vegas was a weird choice for a honeymoon, but I think the above sculpture explains that, yes, it is a "weird" choice, but sometimes weird is the essence of GLORIOUS.

Balcony Garden

I have a new ambition.  I would like to have an herb garden, a medicinal garden, and a 'wicked plants' garden.  I'm reading this book "The weed that killed Lincoln's mother and other botanical atrocities".  I have yet to learn which plant killed her... suspense!!!  Here is what I have planted so far.

Basil, Mint, Rosemary.  The rosemary is planted in the pot of the plant that I bought Lester 2 years ago when he moved into his new place, a housewarming gift.

"Million Hearts", Dischidia Ruscifolia.  Grows native in South Africa, now its in my garden in Indiana.

Chamomile, I planted these from seeds and this morning is the first they poked above the surface!  So excited to see them, so tiny.



My birthday roses  - Lester bought me the MOST beautiful 2 dozen roses, and they just keep getting bigger, I've never seen roses this large.


Last night I checked on my brood before I went to sleep, and the cilantro still had not popped thru the soil.  HOW EVER this moring - a mere 9 hours later - I found this little guy - a FULL 2 inches tall.  Incredible... I should have had a time-lapse video recording. It would have been phenomenal.
Becky said after I told her the above story that I really need to have a baby.