Life

I seem to have posted more about diabetes and work-related things recently. I think that's mostly because those are the things I tend to need to vent about. Which is great and all but doesn't really make for a thorough blog of my life. There has been something brewing in our house recently and I thought I'd let y'all in on it . . .

Okay, a really quick update on work . . . sorry I can't help myself! I have stopped my days schedule and I no longer have to stay in Jacksonville 3-5 days a week! Thank the Lord! I have switched to the schedule that will be my regular schedule from now on, which is all 24 hour shifts. Before you freak (like my mother, who just about had a heart attach!) I really think this is ideal. It's bad enough that I found my dream job 2 hours away but the part that makes it bearable is that the hours are flexible and allow me to work really long shifts several days apart from each other. For example, I leave my house around 5:30am to get to the NICU in Jacksonville about 7:30am. I work until 8am or 8:30am the next morning and drive back home.

And, yes, it can be miserable. If I don't get any sleep? If the babies don't stop rolling in? If there are really sick babies already in the unit? It can be awful. But it's only 24-25 hours and then I go home. If I didn't sleep I can always grab a few hours in the call room after my shift before I hit the road. And the best part? I only do that 3 days every two weeks!! I get 3 to 4 days off in between my shifts. How awesome is that? Last Friday was only my second of these types of shifts and it's been rough. But I can already tell I'm getting used to it and it's really nice to be doing what I love (babies!) and still get to live in the city I love and have enough time off I actually get to see my husband!

Speaking of my husband, we actually have some big-ish news. No, I'm not pregnant! (That's what our families have been asking us for the last several years every time we say we have news!! Geez, desperate for grandkids much?) But this time that's not too far off! We are officially trying! That may not be exciting for anyone but me but I've been waiting my whole life to be a mom and I work with ridiculously cute babies all day long . . . knowing I'm that much closer to having one of my own just makes me grin!

We have done a lot of preparing for this moment. Brad's preparation has mostly been mental. C'mon, he's a man and I think they are genetically predisposed to get nervous when the subject of babies comes up. But over the last year, Brad has become more and more excited about the whole idea and it's been so much fun for me to watch. My preparation has been more physical. You already know that I went on the insulin pump in hopes that it would give me the best control of my blood sugars during pregnancy. I already had a great A1C but my doctor thought I'd be able to keep on top of my sugars more easily with a pump during pregnancy. It was a bumpy road getting used to a different way of managing my diabetes. But I think most (*most*) of the kinks are worked out and I recently had some lab work done which came back looking beautiful so I think my oven is about as ready for a bun as it's gonna get!!!

I probably won't announce my pregnancy super early on the blog or to anyone else. I've been working in the NICU for many years now and I've seen what can happen and it's made me more than a little superstitious. So I'll just let everyone stew a bit and go on thinking we are still trying until I'm sure that little bugger is stuck. (I can just hear my mother now. . . "OMG, I'm going to be a grandma! . . .Wait, y0u are HOW far along??")

Anyway, that's my big life news. We are trying to make a baby and we are SO happy and SO nervous about it at the same time. I'm 27 years old but some days I still feel like a kid playing at being a grown up and the idea that I could be a mom soon is bananas.

Other than that, I have a fun family-filled week planned ahead. My brother, Adam, and his fiance, Lacey, are going to be in town this weekend visiting. They live in Ohio and I never get to see them so I'm so happy that they'll be here. Coincidentally, Brad's family is also coming into town this weekend because is cousin (an amazing artist) will be participating in the Winter Park Sidewalk Art Festival, an art festival featuring artists from all over the country. It's held on Park Avenue, a beautiful part of Orlando and we went this past fall and had a blast. Now we get to go and support a member of our family!!

I love getting both sides of our crazy family together so I can't wait for this weekend. Plus, Michael and Megan (Brad's cousins) just had a baby last year who we haven't met so I'm excited to see him! Which will NOT help the baby fever but will be fun anyway!

~Layne