From the patient's point of view...

I'm not used to being a patient, and I suppose at this point in time in the pregnancy, I'm not much of a patient... but I did have my first prenatal visit with my doctor last week. Sitting on the exam table and being -on the other side- certainly is something that takes getting used to. My doctor is awesome, though, and makes me feel totally comfortable. We talk through everything together. I had some questions for her, all of which I have answers conjured up in my own head for my patients, but I wanted to be an unassuming patient and ask her opinion. I asked how she felt about prenatal massage, how late into the pregnancy she thought I could travel, and her opinion about some screening tests and returning to work after maternity leave. She's a great clinician, but also gives a very personal perspective having just come off of maternity leave herself - that's why I had to wait until 13 1/2 weeks to see her! But she's well worth waiting for.

So far, since I've entered the second trimester, I've felt great! This is such a relief, because I wasn't a big fan of not having any energy to do anything during the first trimester. I can eat pretty much all things now, which makes my taste buds very happy. A couple of things I was bummed about, however, came up at my doctor's visit:

1. I found out my blood type was AB negative. No one should really be upset by this, but I was, because I know that it means I'll need Rhogam shots at 28 weeks in the pregnancy, and possibly again after the baby is born, depending on the baby's blood type. I'm not a fan of extra blood draws and shots - I just don't like needles! I actually was absolutely sure that the lab must have made a mistake, because of course I would remember if my blood type were negative, so I had my doctor order a blood type again (speaking of subjecting myself to more needles). Apparently I really am Rh negative! So be it - but I'm still trying to figure out how I managed to end up with such a rare blood type and be Rh negative all at the same time. My mom is AB positive and my dad A positive, so they both must have a recessive (negative) allele, that got together to make me who I am today. Tim is O positive, so we have a 50/50 chance of having a baby that is Rh negative. A little lesson in genetics... I actually got pretty nerdy and started drawing all sorts of Punnett squares to figure out what all the options were, and how I turned out this way! I know - I'm a bit of a geek! Anyways, this really shouldn't have any implications, but if the baby has a different blood type from me, I'll need a Rhogam shot and the baby might be at higher risk for jaundice. I'm sure it will all be fine... but I really didn't want to believe or accept this. This is definitely one of those things that confirms that I can't totally let go of being a clinician myself, and I need to try to do so... if I were a normal patient, I would have just accepted the news the doctor told me and moved on... so now, several days later after lots of return to college biology, I'm moving on! I'm sure my family and friends are thankful!

2. I'm anemic :(. The second piece of news that my my doctor shared with me that I wasn't so excited about was that my blood count was low. It wasn't horribly low, but I started taking "GI friendly" iron supplements. Anyone who's taken iron knows how important it is to take friendly iron! I've often been a little anemic, and my hemoglobin wasn't terribly low, but my doctor thought it was a good idea to be proactive in building up my stores, so I'll be ready at the time of delivery. I'm pretty sure that this time around my counts were low, because all I ate were carbohydrates for about 8 weeks during the first trimester. I don't eat red meat to begin with, and my regular doses of leafy green veggies were out for a long time. So now I'm taking my iron and eating my normal diet, and hoping that the extra pills will soon be history.

I'm starting to get a little pooch in my belly, which is kinda fun, but kinda not at the same time. The baby is about the size of my fist now, but big enough to make things push up and out a tad. It's very cool to think about why my belly is starting to bulge, but I'm definitely not ready for maternity clothes. So, I'm rotating through about 4-5 pairs of pants that still feel comfortable enough to wear... I'm not interested in walking around like some of my patients with my zipper undone! I'll have to do some shopping soon... cuz I can't wear my PJs to work!

It's fun to start thinking about things for the baby, likes diapers, back packs, strollers, a crib, etc. I found a really neat thing online called Wishpot, where we can make a wish list from all different stores online, which is like a registry. It's a great idea, so everything can be streamlined all on the same web page. Someone was a smartie who came up with this idea! Fun!

So that's the wrap up for now of me from the patient's point of view... I don't have any photos yet, but we'll have to start doing that in the next few weeks. It's still incredibly amazing to think that there's a human life growing inside of me! We definitely need some photo documentation of this miracle!

A Season of Change

To everything there is a season,

a time for every purpose under the sun.

A time to be born and a time to die;

a time to plant and a time to pluck up that which is planted;

a time to kill and a time to heal...

a time to weep and a time to laugh;

a time to mourn and a time to dance...

a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing;

a time to lose and a time to seek;

a time to rend and a time to sew;

a time to keep silent and a time to speak;

a time to love and a time to hate;

a time for war and a time for peace.

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

It's still settling in - Barack Obama is the next president of the United States! I'm listening to his acceptance speech as I write this. I'm moved by his words - he brings hope and vision to a country that is in need.

I couldn't stay awake on Tuesday night to watch the final results, but I felt good about going to bed when I knew that all Obama had to do was win California to become the next president of the USA. I felt confident in that news, and headed to bed, but then kept waking up throughout the night thinking "could it really be true?" And sure enough, it's true! It was confirmed for me, too, when my friend Rachel sent me a text page saying "Yay!!!" -- thanks, Rach :) Even though you woke me up, I'm glad you helped me rest more peacefully.

When I got up Wednesday morning, I was filled with excitement and pride. I brought a radio into the bathroom to be able to listen to NPR while showering. Most of what I was listening to reminded me of the above scripture from Ecclesiates. The words I heard coming from Obama brought tears to my eyes. I also heard an interview with an African American woman who is 109 years old and never believed she would see this day come. She was the daughter of a slave, and she spent the early years of her life in a country that permitted oppression and segregation. How incredible it must be for her to be alive today! How incredible for all of us!

Something else I heard on NPR referred to a young woman who refused to vote for Obama because he didn't put his hand over his heart during the singing of the national anthem. I did some reading about this, and the long and the short of it is that sometimes Obama puts his right hand over his heart and sometimes he doesn't. I don't fault Obama for doing this, and I recognize a plethora of bigger issues and factors that should have been considered in choosing where to cast your vote (fortunately millions of others thought so too). In fact, I firmly believe that if we're going to pledge our allegiance to anything or anyone, it should be to God and His Son... not to a flag or a single nation, but to the Father of ALL nations. Despite his own recent surge of controversy, I think Ray Boltz said it well in his song "Pledge Allegiance to the Lamb."

I've spent a lot of time travelling all around the world and had several encounters with folks who aren't big fans of the USA. It's often been far from pleasant. I remember living in Spain and trying to hide the fact that I was an American, because I didn't want to face the negative attitudes and comments about our country.

After this monumental event in our country, a new sense of pride wells up inside of me. I'm excited to see how the world's perception of our nation and our leadership may change. I'm hopeful for the change that has been promised. I'm encouraged by the energy and enthusiasm that our new leadership brings to the table. I'm thankful for a leader who seeks to unite and not divide. I'm anxious to see how our foreign relations improve all over the world. And I look forward to a day when we won't be involved in war, and peace will be more of a reality.

To everything there IS a season and THIS is the season!

Sea Bands saved my life and much, much more - an update!

It seems like it's been forever since I last wrote any blog entries... Certainly some updates are long overdue, but I'm happy to announce that I'm finally at a point where I can sit down and share some words.
Right after we were in NYC visiting our friends Jennifer and Seth, I started to feel super sick - not only was I plagued with a bad upper respiratory infection and sinus infection, but I also had a new sense of nausea and extreme fatigue overtake my body. As it turns out, growing a baby inside your body takes a lot of energy and sucks a lot of life out the momma in the beginning of the process. That's right! We're growing our family, and I'm pregnant!
I'll be 13 weeks tomorrow, and I finally am starting to feel a little more like myself - able to stay awake past 8 o'clock, able to eat some foods other than carbohydrates, able to not wear my Sea Bands (which saved my life over the past two months - literally - highly recommended) and still function on a day to day basis and able to sit down and write a blog entry. This past week has been a good week all in all. I still tire more easily than previously, but I feel like life is coming back to me bit by bit. I ate salad every day last week, which was a beautiful thing!
I'm reading a book that my friend let me borrow when she knew we where thinking about starting a family - it's called Twice Alive, and it's about spirituality of pregnancy and mothering during the 1st year. I haven't gotten very far, but what I've read so far has been real and 'right on.' The author talks about how the first trimester causes many women to resent this beautiful new life growing inside of them, because you feel so tired, often sick, and not yourself, that it's extremely difficult to enjoy the amazing miracle that's occurring inside your body. I can't say that I've reached resentment, or even close to it, but I have often been incredibly impressed by this process and how it has affected me - in ways I never could have expected, both bad and good. I have to admit, though, that I'm very anxious to experience the second trimester, when I hope to have an energy burst, feel the movement of a new life inside of me, watch my belly grow, and much, much more!
It's a very interesting process to finally be in the shoes of my patients that I've taken care of for so many years. Now the experiences that I spoke to them about with a certain 'voice of authority' as their doctor is taking on a whole new meaning for me. Now if only I can heed all of my own advice, I'll be doing quite well!
So the pregnancy is certainly the biggest news around here these days, but lots of other things have been happening. My grandmother's death was hard and painful, yet incredibly beautiful all at the same time. I had the honor of sitting with her and my mom when she died, and also got to tell her about her future 7th great grandchild before she died. Watching my mother cradle her mom and sing to her in her last moments was one of the most special experiences I've had. I see people die all the time in my line of work, but this was the first time that I was with a family member when they died. It will not soon be forgotten.
In the middle of October, I travelled to Arizona for a conference with my partner, Rachel. It was a conference on colposcopy, which basically is the procedure that women have to go through if they have an abnormal Pap smear. Rachel's husband said it best when he asked "So, you're going to a conference all about cervices?" And that's just what we did - 3 days chock full of cervices. I have to admit that it seemed to be a bit much by the end. We did have a little diversion, however, when we escaped down to Nogales, Mexico for an afternoon and evening. It was just a little over an hour from Tucson. Interestingly, we just walked straight through the gate to get to Mexico, but had to wait 1 hr and 23 minutes in line to get back into the USA. We got some great pieces of pottery, though, so it was all worth the trip. Not to mention that I have an on-going love affair with Mexico, and feel right at home whenever I'm on Mexican soil!
Tim and I also are on a Missionary Support Team for our friends Ralph & Deb, who are planning to serve with YWAM in Germany starting in the Spring of 2009. We just had their big kick-off fundraising event last weekend, ARToberfest - check out www.ralphdeb.blogspot.com - which was a lot of fun, but a lot of work. I think we're still recovering from the weekend! But it was all worth it. We're blessed to share in the vision and ministry that God has laid on the hearts of Ralph and Deb. I've also transitioned to supporting Deb & Ralph with all of my jewelry sales from ZiZi Designs. Jewelry making has definitely slowed down as has the rest of life with my pregnant state, but I'm hoping to be able to pick up the pace a bit over the next several weeks, since we have two shows this month.
I'm sure that many other things worth sharing have occurred since my last post, but it's hard to re-cap all of that now. I often thought to myself, "oh, I should write about that on the blog," but couldn't get myself off the big cushiony chair to do so.
Oh yeah! It hasn't helped that both my laptop and desktop computers have had their hard drives crash in the past couple of weeks AND my computer at work went bizerk. Fortunately, Tim's is still working, and he's kind enough to share with me when he's home from work. I was almost afraid to touch his computer, but that might be superstitious, and I certainly wouldn't want to succumb to that! But seriously, how can one person have three computers go bad on them in two weeks? Sure is a good reminder of how dependent I have become on technology - I'm nearly paralyzed without all my computer stuff! And, a lesson in needing to regularly back up my stuff on a regular basis.
Anyways, enough of an update for now. As we approach this new season of life, we're thrilled and can't wait to see how the story unfolds. Looking forward to exciting times in the days to come! Blessings to all!

Grandma has gone home...

My grandma died on Tuesday at 95 years old. We held the funeral services yesterday in Dallas, PA. Although sad times, these are also times of joy and celebration, for we know that Grandma lived a good life, and we know she's home with her Father and reunited with her hubby in heaven. These are some thoughts shared by my dad in an e-mail to family and friends earlier in the week, on the day Grandma died.

Along The Golden Streets

Along the golden streets, a stranger walks tonight,
With wonder in her heart, faith blossomed into sight.
She walks and stops and stares, and walks and stops again--
Vistas of loveliness, beyond the dream of men.
She who was feeble, weak, and shackled to her bed,
Now climbs eternal hills with light and easy tread--
She has escaped at last, the cruel clutch of pain;
Her lips shall never taste its bitter cup again.
Oh! Never call her dead, this buoyant one and free,
Whose daily portion is delight and ecstasy!
She bows in speechless joy, before the feet of Him,
Whom, seeing not, she loved, while yet her sight was dim.
Along the golden streets, no stranger walks today,
But one who, long homesick, is Home at last to stay!
-By Martha S. Nicholson

12:42 this afternoon (Tuesday, Oct. 7), Judy’s mother, Dorothy Bergstrasser, was called home to be with the Lord. She struggled and suffered long, but died peacefully with Judy and Kirsten present with her.

Judy was able to embrace her and sing the beautiful hymn of invitation, “Softly and Tenderly.”

Softly and tenderly Jesus is calling,
calling for you and for me;
see, on the portals he's waiting and watching,
watching for you and for me.

Refrain:
Come home, come home;
ye who are weary come home;
earnestly, tenderly, Jesus is calling,
calling, O Dorothy, come home!

She relaxed in the presence of the Lord and He took her home.

Arrangements are not yet finalized but we are hoping that visitation will be at the Curtis Swanson Funeral Home, Rt. 118, Sweet Valley (Hunlock Creek) from 10:00 AM to Noon on Saturday, October 11, with the Memorial Service following immediately at the Funeral Home.

We are grateful for her strong faith which confirms our Christian hope and her eternal home in the Father’s house.

We covet your prayers in the days ahead.

Hula-Hooping in NYC!

Despite my stuffy, icky nose and upper respiratory junkiness, coupled with overwhelming fatigue (being post call didn't help), we escaped to NYC this weekend to see some friends - Jennifer Gwen and Seth James. We had a great time... I just kept falling asleep at the dinner table - nothing against the company, which was fab-u-lo-so. :)

We spent most of the day on Saturday in Central Park, romping around and seeing all that there is to see in the ginormous green territory of the Big Apple. We found a guy teaching people to hula-hoop, while he played his bongo drums, so we joined in. Check out some of the photos. I'll try to post more when I have more energy!

Aren't they so adorable! Or maybe they found a great photographer!?!?

The girls are back in town!

It's been a great, L-O-N-G weekend! Not only did we have an extra day off, but also we had a very special visit from Cristy and Amber. Cristy's in the States on a brief break from her work in Malawi, and Amber came from NYC, having just gotten back from a summer in Kenya. Plus, I took today off, I'm on call tomorrow night (so post-call on Thursday), and we're heading camping on Friday! I didn't take any time off all summer, so I was ready for a little break! And a good break it has been, indeed!

We had a fab get-together on Sunday night with lots of friends and a feast-ful of food.

One of the best moments was having a bunch of us girls together (5) on a bed, which crashed to the ground when I shifted my weight to the same side that everyone else was already sitting on - oops! Fortunately no toes were smashed!
Stephanie, Heidi, Cristy, Amber, Acacia (dog-type) and I went on a great hike on the horseshoe trail on Monday morning. Only three of us were hacking! Somehow we decided that Amber had TB, Heidi had Pertussis (whooping cough), and I had some other strange communicable disease, maybe Hanta virus or something... that's what happens when you get a bunch of doctors together for some fun!

On the way home from hiking we stopped to get some fresh produce for dinner on Monday night - I was doing my best to pick out the best sweet corn in the bunch!

In the afternoon, we went to the Long's Park summer arts and crafts festival, where Amber bought a beautiful, wool rug, then was trying her skills as a Kenyan woman, carrying her load on her head!

Having my girlfriends around has been wonderful - I love having friends that you can go without seeing for months on end (sometimes even if they live in the same town - dreadful - sigh), and you can pick up right where you left off the last time you saw them! What a JOY!

Maureen and Saif are married!

A wedding celebration at Felicita Gardens in Harrisburg - Maureen and Saif are now married! We had another excursion weekend, as we headed to a little paradise just outside of Harrisburg - who knew?!?! We were honored to bear witness to the ceremony on Friday night and to join in big time bbq fun on Saturday! The gardens where the ceremony was held were gorgeous, and the weather perfect. Maureen was a beautiful bride, and the two families united cultures, languages and religions across many miles and bodies of water.

We had some time to meander through the gardens and get some great photos, dance a little, and even get in a game of bocce ball!

Here's a sampling of a few pictures; a slide show will follow later!

A trip to Mt. Gretna with my nephews

My nephew has been visiting for the week with Grandma Judy and Papa Roy. Tim and I adopted him for an evening on Wednesday night. We took him down town to Spyro Gyro's for Greek food with some friends (his choice off the menu was not saganaki or souvlaki, but rather a cheeseburger :)), and then he spent the night at our house. We all slept in the tent in the backyard. Tim left us early to go to work, and Isaac and I got ourselves together, made sandwiches and packed lunch for 6 people and headed out to meet up with Grandma Judy, Grandma Martin, Tristen and Gabe. We made our way to the lake and beach at Mt. Gretna, just as they were opening for the day. Tia (yours truly) was smart enough to put sunscreen on the nephews, but not on herself, so she came home a little sun burnt, but a good time was had by all. The boys played well together, enjoyed the water and the beach, the picnic lunch and a treat at the Jigger Shop afterwards. Isn't summer great? Too bad it slips away all too fast...

An anniversary getaway to the Poconos!

Our lives are busy - busy enough that Tim and I both forgot that it was our anniversary this year! And not just any anniversary, but our first anniversary. I was on call the weekend before our anniversary, we planned a meeting at our house the night of our anniversary, and I was on call the Friday after our anniversary. Eek! We were able to laugh off our forgetfulness (chalking it up to wedded bliss), feeling like every day is like our anniversary.

So, even though it was a bit of a challange to get everything coordinated, we were bound and determined to get out of town and do something fun, just the two of us, to celebrate our 1st anniversary. We packed up the camping gear (leaving only a few important things behind, like the sleeping mats and the camping coffee percolator), put our bikes on the bike rack, and headed to the Poconos. It took us forever to get there on Saturday, because we kept stopping about every 15-20 minutes to check on the bikes, since it seemed that our bike rack wasn't holding them quite tight enough - and after all that trouble, we ended up never riding them while were on the trip! We arrived to Hickory Run State Park, where we set up camp. It's a large State Park with lots of things to see and do. We had a little rain (but not enough to ruin our time), some great food cooked on the grill, wonderful camp fires, a trip to a boulder field, some noisy camping neighbors heading out to the races at 4 am, and a little excursion down the Lehigh Gorge on whitewater rafts on Sunday.

I thought a rafting trip in the Poconos would be somewhat reminiscent of our honeymoon, whitewater rafting in Costa Rica, but we quickly learned that we were a far way away from the class 4+ rapids of the Pacuare River. First, we arrived to this huge operation with people scattered everywhere, then we went to get our life vests. When I asked where our helmets were (coming from the experience of nearly losing my husband on day three of our marriage in the middle of a ginormous rapid in Costa Rica), we were told that we wouldn't need them; only the folks who traveled alone in kayaks used them. Huh? No helmets? Then we got paired up with a family from eastern Europe, who said they had done this before. They all wanted to be in charge, at the same time, and didn't have the commands down to guide the team of rowers. Previously, I had only rafted with a professional guide in each boat. This outfitter had four "guides" on kayaks corraling the herds of rafters - there were probably 40 or more rafts in our group. Again, a very different experience from rafting in Central America. After running into several rocks and losing two of our fellow rafters to the river, Tim finally took the guide's seat in our boat, and the rest of the ride was smooth sailing. All in all, we had a fun time, had nice weather, and got out on the water. We had several things to laugh about during the day, and we dreamed of being back in Costa Rica, at our favorite honeymoon spot.

It was a short, but much needed, getaway, and we came home with sore bodies, but refreshed minds and spirits. One year down, and a gazillion more to go.

Celebrating Grandma!

Today would have been my grandparent's 72nd anniversary! and tomorrow is my grandmother's 95th birthday!!! Amazing to think of being on this earth for all these years. I had the opportunity to see Grandma today, bring her a card and flowers, and get her two glasses of her favorite - Country Time Lemonade - in the cafe. She downed that lemonade like it was her job! She didn't say much today, but made it very clear that she wanted some lemonade. I got her to almost smile to take some pictures with me today, which was a treat. Happy birthday, Grandma! We love you!