An update! 10/02/2009
Well we made it safely back to Arkansas! We got here to Fort Smith last Thursday. So now heres the plan: Justin has two more tests to take. The Comp – which he cant take until January 14th – and then after he passes that he will take Step 1 – which will be sometime at the end of February. Then after he gets his Step score back we will apply to clinicals somewhere. We will be applying to a few places! They include Atlanta (our #1 choice), Roanoke, VA, Wisconsin, Chicago, or New York City. Those are the main places in which you can stay for all two years of clinicals. If we don’t get to stay at one of those places for two years then we could just be moving around the two years of clinicals. We plan on being somewhere starting clinicals around May. We will just have to see how it all goes with the baby! Who is due to be here March 20th! Before we left Michigan we had our 13 week appointment. Everything looked great! The doctor just did a portable ultrasound so no pictures but it was amazing to see how much he has grown in just 4 weeks! We got to see the heartbeat – which was strong. So we are VERY thankful for a good report! Our next appointment is here in Fort Smith with Tommy Wood (someone who I have known my whole life!) So it will be cool that he will be delivering the baby and that the baby will be born the same place I was! The appointment will be October 20th and I will be 18 weeks. So HOPEFULLY we will get to find out the sex of the baby!! As you can probably tell from the blogs – we think it’s a boy! We will be in El Dorado the next two weeks and then back to Fort Smith for two weeks and then back to El Dorado for two weeks (Get the picture?) Sorry I don’t have any pictures to post – I haven’t been very good at taking them lately! How are you feeling? 09/11/2009
 Our first ultrasound - 5 weeks, The baby is that little dot towards the bottom left of the black circle. I know it doesnt look very exciting but when its your 'dot' and that 'dot' is in the right place - it is VERY exciting!!!  The second ultrasound - 9 weeks. Can you believe how much he grew??? The most popular question I have been getting from everyone is “How are you feeling”? Well let me explain the past couple of months for you. The first thing I noticed was how emotionally up and down I was. The first “break down” I had was in Branson. I was helping my Dad cook dinner and I was in charge of the fettuccine alfredo. I was filling up a pan with water and he tells me – “Your putting to much water in there”. And I had to go into another room because I was bawling and I just COULDN’T stop!!!! It was so weird. Those still happen every once in a while. Like today. This little old lady came in to Sams and was describing an issue with her membership – and was telling me her husband had just passed away in July. I had to ask her to hold on because I felt the tears coming and there was no stopping em!!! It just made me so sad that she was all alone and she was so precious. Then I started getting nauseous. But thankfully no throwing up! I just felt nauseous the majority of the day and didn’t hardly ever want to eat. I actually lost a few pounds. This “phase” lasted about 3 – 4 weeks and finally stopped at about 9 weeks. Lately I have just been very “empty” feeling. Like not soon after I eat my stomach is already growling! It drives me crazy. I feel like I need to be eating all day. And if I don’t keep food and drink in my stomach I feel very faint and get really hot. ALSO lately my nose has been crazy sensitive. Ill smell something and Justin will be like “What? I don’t smell anything!”. And last night Justin made tacos and I couldn’t hardly stay inside. I almost threw up and while I was in the apartment I had a towel over my nose. It smelled horrible to me. We had to open all the windows to get the smell out. Oh and I pee ALL the time. I was under the impression that this didn’t happen till 6 months or later – when the baby was big. Apparently not. And Ive had a little heartburn but nothing a couple of Tums cant handle! (Again – something I expected to happen WAY later). So thats the latest! Thanks for askin! We have our next checkup (with a doctor that we LOVE) next Tuesday – the 15th. I will be 13 weeks. I am very anxious to see how much the baby has grown and to hear the heartbeat again. Please pray that we have a healthy baby and that this pregnancy goes smoothly! We have some exciting news!!! 09/07/2009
We are pregnant!!!!! As of tomorrow I will be 12 weeks! Almost done with my first trimester! We are VERY excited!!!!! Justin and I found out on Thursday, July 16. We were scheduled to leave for Branson that night. I woke up super early (6:30 am) because I was so excited about our trip. I have always heard the best time to take a pregnancy test is in the morning. Well – we had been trying for two months so I thought – Ill take one just to make sure Im not pregnant so I can have some good wine this weekend. Well the test turned positive instantly. At this point Justin was still half asleep. So I took the test over to him and just said “Look”. I started freaking out and I was like – I really think the test is wrong because it turned positive instantly – so I must have done something wrong. Justin assured me that wasn’t the case. But somehow I had to pee again so I took another one. But this time I did the sticking the test in the cup thing. Well – instantly positive again!!!! But then I figured it was wrong again because I reread the instructions and I had stuck it in there too long. So lots of emotions that morning! And Justin had to go to class all day and do a presentation!! So while he was at school I took a THIRD test. Positive again. So I figured it was official. And it was! All three times! Below are some reactions we got when we gave the news!! We HATED having to tell Lou Ann and David over the phone. But I COULD NOT have been with my parents all weekend long and not told them! And we weren’t going to see everybody again until the end of September. So we decided that we were just going to tell our parents. But then by the end of the weekend – being with my whole family – it was SO HARD not to tell them. Especially for Dad – I think he had the hardest time keeping it quiet! We had professional pictures done at Branson of the whole family and for the very last one the photographer said “On three say Justin and Liz are pregnant!!!” So she got everyones reaction in a picture!! Havent seen the picture yet but when I get it Ill post it. Enjy the videos! Trip to Branson!!! 07/21/2009
This past weekend we got to go down to Branson! My mom and dad didn’t even know we were coming! The Branson trip had been planned for the whole family since the beginning of this year. Justin and I were not going to be able to go because we couldn’t afford it. BUT about a month and a half ago my Aunt Patti called and had found a way for us to go!!! So Thursday at 6:30 pm we flew out of Flint (a bigger town about 45 minutes away) and got into Northwest Arkansas (by way of Atlanta) about 10:30 pm. Aunt Patti had her car there waiting for us and then we drove down to Fort Smith and stayed with my brother and sister in law. Then the next morning we stalked my dad after his meeting – waiting for him to leave and go home!!! When he finally went home we showed up and surprised them!! Dad was on the phone when we got there – so not much reaction from him but below is the video of mom when we surprised her. We had a GREAT time and really hated to leave! Later I will post some pictures of the trip. I Love My Parents! 07/12/2009
Try JibJab Sendables® eCards today! The cute town of Frankenmuth... 07/09/2009
One of the cutest places weve ever been to is a little town called Frankenmuth. It is a little german community about 15 minutes from Saginaw. They actually call it :Michigans Little Bavaria”. Our neighbor – Marge (who might just need a post all her own) kept asking us (with a very heavy northern accent) – “Have you been to Frankenmuth yet”? So we finally took the trip over there just a couple of weeks after we moved here. First stop was the Bavarian Inn. It’s a very authentic german restaurant – referred to us by Marge. It was so cute. The waiters and waitresses were all dressed up like the picture below. (Really they were!!!) I had chicken cordon bleu and Justin had some type of beef platter.   After lunch we walked around downtown. Some pictures of Frankenmuth are below.    And this was just ONE side of cheese! There were three sides!   This is CHOCOLATE!!! This is at a fudge shop downtown. Our 4th of July!!! 07/05/2009
Happy day after 4th of July day! We were sad not to be at the lake this year but thankful to get to see some fireworks – unlike last year! We started off the fourth by running around town doing errands. BUT to make it kinda special (since it was the 4th) we took Ellie with us. We tried to find her a new shirt to wear (because her old 4th of July shirt said Old Navy 2007) but everything was too small for her!! So frustrating. So she had to stay in her usual 4th getup of a red bandana collar (w/blue tag) and red, white, and blue lay. We had also planned to make 4th of July cupcakes together. Homemade icing and all. It was SO much fun. Since we are so poor we have to think of creative (fee/cheap) things to do together. Like instead of going to the amusement park like we REALLY wanted to do. So cupcake decorating it was. So after about 2 hours of cupcake decorating it was time for a traditional 4th of July meal. We had hot dogs (in the microwave though because we don’t have a grill) and baked beans. Oh and cupcakes for dessert. Baked beans are one of my new favorite foods. And they don’t even give me gas. Then we packed our cooler bag (whoever got us that purple cooler bag – THANK YOU! We have gotten a lot of use out of it – its great!) and headed off to the fireworks. They started at 10:15 but we got there around 8:30. We took snacks and cards thinking we would need to be entertained since we were there so early. We were wrong. It was crazy out there. We were in a park type area by the river. So it was all grass and cars were everywhere. But these Michiganians are crazy. People think Arkansas is redneck. They need to come to Saginaw, MI. There were fireworks going off EVERWHERE. In the middle of cars (off of cars), in the GRASS, underneath powerlines, underneath trees. All kinds of fireworks – not just good ol sparklers. Speaking of sparklers, there was one point where this kid beside us lit FOUR sparklers at once – in his hand – and freaked out and just threw them in the grass – mid sparkling. I freaked a little. But the fireworks really were great. We were pleasantly surprised at how good they were. I hoped you all had a great 4th of July!!! Enjoy some of our pictures!  Justins batch of cupcakes  My batch of cupcakes  Jenny and her dog Cosmo came with us. And Ellie of course!  Notice all the smoke and FIRE around us?!  Yes - I am wearing a sweatshirt!! It was about 65 degrees! IN JULY!!  Trying to get Ellie to pose. She was more interested in giving me kisses (and people watching)  Cant have a 4th of July post without a fireworks picture! Our move to Michigan 07/02/2009
Our ride up here was LONG!! It took us about 14 hours – which we spread out in 2 days. We left my apartment in Little Rock on May 5th at 8:00 am. We had movers come and load up our moving truck the day before, meaning the only thing left in the apartment was our mattress. So we woke up at 6:00 and loaded the mattress up and then poor Justin had to hook the rental truck onto the car trailer. And then load the car onto the car trailer. I say poor Justin because 1.) the trailer was very frustrating to deal with in an apartment community. and 2.) because I am a horrible mover. You would think since weve moved 5 times in the last three years I would be a pro! But NOPE! I get very attached to each place no matter how long Ive been there so the move is usually pretty emotional for me. And I never have a lot of patience when it comes to packing and loading. Below are pictures throughout our day of moving…  Justin underneath my car hooking it to the car trailer  Can yall believe Justin drove this? I was very impressed!  First stop - Missouri!    Below are some videos I took while we were on our road trip. As you can tell – I got a little bored! Illinois was the worst. The speed limit was 55 mph on the interstate!!! And we had to go through some construction. Im BACK!!! Are you excited?!? 07/01/2009
Im baaaaack!!!!! I have decided to start blogging again! Justin has been begging me since Christmas (seriously) to start writing again. So six months later…. Here I am! So let me give you a quick update…. Justin and I have been living in Saginaw, Michigan since the beginning of May. He is doing his Intro to Clinicals (5th Semester) here and will be done in August. When he is done we will stay in Michigan until he finds out where we will go for clinicals (Novemberish). Then HOPEFULLY we will be wherever that is for the next two years. Everyones number 1 question to us has been – So how do you like Michigan? Well – the weather is GREAT. Right now its in the mid 80’s with about 40% humidity. The people here are a lot nicer than we thought they would be but someone needs to teach them how to cook good BBQ and Mexican food. One thing that we love the most so far are all the free/cheap things to do on the weekends! I will post pictures and more on those later. The town we are in – Saginaw – has about 70,000 people. It has lots of little old houses and buildings and the area we are in (called the Tri City area – consisting of three towns close to each other) is called the armpit of Michigan. So as you can imagine by its nickname its not the nicest place ever but definitely better than Dominica or Miami (in our opinion). But if you really want to know what its like then come up here and see us!!! This week I will post more picture/videos about where we live, the trip up here, etc. so keep checking back!! Last Round! 01/15/2009
Okay, this is it... I’m in my LAST semester on the island of Dominica! Liz hasn’t updated the blog in a while, and since we can both write here, here’s another shot on my part.   Bad news #2: We had the opportunity to go see a specialist eye doctor in Oklahoma City one day. The bad news is that he diagnosed Liz with an eye condition we kind of feared she might have. Her brother Rob has the same eye condition known as Retinitis Pigmentosa (or RP for short) For those who don’t know what RP is, here is some brief info: Retinitis pigmentosa (RP) is a group of genetic eye conditions. In the progression of symptoms for RP, night blindness generally precedes tunnel vision by years or even decades. Many people with RP do not become legally blind until their 40s or 50s and retain some sight all their life. Others go completely blind from RP. Progression of RP is different in each case.  Above: Normal Vision  Above: A patient with severe RP We do not know the inheritance form that Liz has right now. She will go back to OKC for further testing. Hopefully it is the recessive form like Rob’s. Also, we do not know how fast it is progressing. That is something we won’t be able to find out for another 3-5 years when we are able to check progression with the baseline report we received over break. We look at this situation as an opportunity to grow and learn together. While it’s not something anyone wants, we feel that God has given us this hurdle in order to help us and others. Since there isn’t a current cure to stop the progression of RP, we are going to do our best to learn about the condition, stay up with the current material, and use our experience to help someone else if at all possible. Right now, Liz doesn’t have real serious symptoms. She was diagnosed with an early-moderate case. She has lost some peripheral vision (which she doesn’t really notice), but she has significant night blindness.  Above: Winner Winner Chicken Dinner!  Above: Good sports... Finally, we would definitely appreciate any prayers you can give us. Living apart for 4 months, living on loans, going to med school (4th semester is no joke so far), caring for a sick dog, finding a part-time job, living with an eye disease and learning my Dad’s mother isn’t doing to well with her health has put a lot on us. It’s definitely something God can handle, and we ask for His strength daily. We thank you for your support and keeping us in your prayers. 4 more months and I will be back home to my wife! Also, we don’t know where we will be for 5th semester (for those of you who are wondering what we are doing after Dominica). We might be in Miami or Saginaw Michigan. Hopefully it will be Michigan, but that decision is up to some faculty members or random selection, nobody really knows? | About Me...I'm the wife of a med school student.. We have one dog (Ellie) and are currently living in Saginaw, Michigan. This is our blog about Ross University, island life, med school life, etc.!! ArchivesSeptember 2009 |
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