Finally, My First Real Birth

Shaun and I are both back to our regular schedule of school. I'll talk more about what else is going on and my thoughts on everything that happened, but for know I am going to tell you about my exciting day at clinicals! 

I am 5 weeks into my Labor and Delivery rotation at Mountain Vista. This week I finally got to see my first vaginal delivery! 

I arrived on the floor at 7am and was assigned to a mom who was 4 cm dilated and just about to receive her epidural. I walked into the room just in time to watch the epidural being placed. The mom looked like she was in a lot of pain! Fifteen minutes after she received the epidural, she was chatting up a storm with all of her nurses. It was funny to see the almost immediate change! She progressed rather quickly and delivered the baby at 9:45 am. It was amazing to get to be right there in all of the action through the whole birth! Without getting into much detail...it was a interesting to watch the experience that the mother had during the actual birthing process.  I am definitely in no hurry to experience that kind of trauma! haha. But what made it all worth it was to watch everything that happened after the birth. Once the baby was out, both the mom and dad were so happy to finally meet their baby girl!  It was a lot of fun to get to take care of the mom after the birth, help her breastfeed, give the baby its first bath, change the baby's first diaper, and everything else that we did ("we"- meaning my fellow student and I). 

I thoroughly enjoyed the whole experience and I am excited to do it again! 

The miracle of birth is so amazing! I love Labor and Delivery! 

The News that changed our lives.

Thank you all for your prayers! God is good and we are all doing fine over here at the Palmer house. We had a very big scare last week. If you want to read the whole story in full detail, I would suggest going to my husband's blog (click here). He is a much better writer and took the time to write the whole thing out. 

Shaun was not feeling right a few Thursdays ago and went to the Doctor. The Doctor decided that he should go in to have some blood work done and a brain MRI, just to be safe. Well Friday we got a phone call that no one ever would want to get. The Doctor told Shaun that he had a large lass in the back of his brain. My heart sank to my stomach; I was terrified. I immediately broke down in to tears... How could this be happening? Why my husband? Why this at such a young age? All of the worst thoughts flashed into my brain.  We spent the weekend in shock...what was this going to mean? how big was the mass? will he need brain surgery, chemo, radiation?  am I going to have a husband in a few years? I know it sounds weird, but we were scared out of our minds! All weekend we could do nothing but wait. We couldn't talk to any Doctors to get our questions answered. That was the hardest part....waiting. We spent the weekend crying, praying, reading the bible, going to church, talking with friends and family, and wondering what was to come. I've never felt the way I felt that weekend. It was the worst emotional pain that I had ever felt. It was so hard to be the strong wife for my husband, when I knew that I was just as scared as he was inside. 

Well, Monday came along and it was time for me to try to go back to class. All of the while, Shaun spent the day trying to see a neurosurgeon. That afternoon he was able to see one at Barrow's Neurological Institute. That neurosurgeon referred him to see a different surgeon who would know more about the certain mass that Shaun had.  The next two days Shaun spent waiting to get into the next surgeons office. All of the waiting was extremely hard for the both of us. Thursday, we were finally able to see the Neurosurgeon. She showed us his MRI pictures and explained to us what it was. It is either an Arachnoid cyst or a Dandy-Walker Malformation. Both are congenital, meaning it has been growing with Shaun since he was born. She said that there is no reason why Shaun should have surgery right now. It is not putting extra pressure on his brain and isn't causing any problems. His brain has been used to it being there and has grown around it. She said that all we can do is monitor it and make sure that it does not grow anymore.  This is the best news that anyone can receive, after finding out that there is a mass in their brain. We are extremely grateful that all we have to do is watch to see if anything happens. God is AMAZING! He knew exactly His plan for Shaun and I through the whole thing. It was amazing to see His work throughout the week. 

Thank you again for all of your prayers, phone calls, meals and notes of encouragements! It was such a blessing to hear how many friends, relatives and people who didn't even know Shaun who were on their knees every day praying for him. It was one of the things that encouraged us in our time of pain. Even though that week was such a rough and exhausting week, we can now look back at it knowing that because of the suffering that we went through it grew our faith in Christ.  I can honestly say that I am not the same person that I was over a week ago. 

PLEASE PRAY

Hello Family and Friends, 

I am writing my blog today with a heavy heart. Shaun and I found out some devastating news on Friday afternoon. 

Words can not describe all of the feelings that I am feeling right now. 

We will be going through a lot in the months to come. 

We are not in a place where we are telling everyone what is going on; only close family and friends know. All I am asking for is your prayer right now. Please

We know that this is God's plan for our lives right now and will continue to trust Him through this journey. 

Please pray for:

-Doors to be open/closed where needed

-Strength

-Wisdom and understanding

-That our hearts would fill with peace...knowing that God is in control

-All of the Doctors/Nurses that will be involved

Thank you again. 

Jeremiah 29:11 "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future."

Romans 5:3 "Not only so, but we rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy spirit, whom he has given us. "

First week of Clinicals

Last week was the first week of my clinicals in this new semester. As ya'll know I am doing obstetrics and pediatrics this semester. My mondays are my pediatric clinicals and wednesdays are spent in the Labor and Delivery department at Mountian Vista Medical Center. This Hopspital is clear on the other side of the city on the way to New Mexico (just kidding...but it feels like it.) It is a gorgeous hospital! It is only a year old and looks like a day spa! The labor and Delivery department is large and spacious. I love it. It is a huge upgrade from the hospital that we were at last semester.

So last wednesday I spent the day in postpartum. I really enjoyed it! It is fun to see all of the families who are super excited about their new little one. It is one of the few areas in the hospital where most of the patients are happy (instead of being sad because they are sick). 

The only out of the ordinary thing that I got to see was a procedure done called a blood patch.  This is because an epidural was done with the birth and it caused the spinal fluid to leak out of the spine, causing the brain to have pressure and ache. A blood patch is where they take the patent's blood and reinsert it into their spine, where the epidural had occurred 2 days ago. When the blood is inserted into the epidural space it creates a clot that patches the hole in the matter around the spine. This keeps the spinal fluid from leaking; therefor the patient instantly feels better and the headache goes away. It is really neat! I enjoyed watching it. 

Overall the day was fun! All of the new babies are so tiny. I forgot how small newborns are! They are so precious. I enjoyed getting to do newborn and new mom assessments. Hopefully in the next few weeks I will be able to witness a live birth. I look forward to seeing the miracle of birth. I'll be sure to tell ya'll about it! :-)

I haven't had a pediatric rotation yet. That will happen tomorrow. Hopefully it will be a good experience!

Cutting expenses...literally

Well we all know the economic status of our country and if you haven't heard from my husbands blog....the restaurant that he works at is closing its doors. This means that my husband is out of a job. We are continuing to pray that God will open a door where he wants Shaun to work at for the next year. 

As college students, we are always trying to save money every place that we can. A few months ago Shaun decided that he was going to buy an electric hair shaver. He was tired of spending $15 per haircut just for them to shave his head all one length, when he could buy a decent trimmer for $25. Well I am proud to say that I have cut his hair 3 times now and each time I am getting better and better. I was really hesitant in the beginning because I do not have a steady hand, but I just got done cutting his hair for the third time and I must say I did a pretty great job ;)  

So if any of you are looking to cut costs somewhere, this is a great way to do it! Now just in case you are all wondering.... I have NO plans for Shaun to start cutting my hair in the near future! I still plan on spending a small handful of money to get my hair done. :-)

Spring Break '09 - MY LAST SPRING BREAK!

Last week was my spring break. It went by so fast! I thought I was going to get so much done, but in the end it just flew right by. 

The first weekend of my break, Shaun and I went on Vacation. We went on a 4 day adventure with the Palmer Family to San Diego. We stayed at one of their favorite resorts, Paradise Point (which was also our honeymoon location). We left on Thursday and met up with the family.  We all stayed in beautiful rooms with a beach front view! We spent the weekend going shopping, enjoying the weather, walking on the beach, riding bikes and going out to restaurants.

My favorite part was waking up in the morning to see the gorgeous view out our window and then taking a morning walk with my hubby around the island! 

It was such a relaxing weekend. Shaun and I have been extremely busy with our school this past semester. It was nice to get away from our busy lives of work and school. 

We also enjoyed being back at the same place where we had our honeymoon. It brought back all of the memories of that exciting time! We can not believe that it has almost been 2 years since we were married! Time sure does fly when you are having fun...

We got back from San Diego and my boss at Fox Sports Grill needed me to work because it was the first week of March Madness and we were short staffed. I spent the rest of my week off working at the Grill. It wasn't my favorite way to spend the rest of week off, but I didn't mind. 

Well I am back in class. This morning I started a new semester. This next 16 weeks I will be in a Labor & Delivery and Pediatrics Rotation. I get to spend Mondays in a peds clinical and Wednesdays delivering babies. I am so excited for this semester!  I think this is going to be my favorite semester!

Oh and I just realized that this past spring break was my last college spring break EVER! In just less than a year I will officially be Natalie Palmer - Graduate Nurse and if all goes well and I pass the NCLEX exam (my licensure exam) I will be Natalie Palmer RN! Woohoo!

Babysitting

Shaun and I got the chance to babysit our little nephew this past friday night while his parents went to a Chris Tomlin concert. We played with him for a while, fed him, and put him to bed. It was fun.  We pretty much think we have the cutest nephew! He is such a good baby. He also has some wonderful parents. We love them a lot! 

Here are some pictures of our night...

His smile is so cute!