A good read......

One of my attendings is adopting a beautiful little girl from China- I'm so excited for her!!!! Check out her website!

http://www.myadoptionwebsite.com/myrachel

New Belly Pics....

21 weeks




20 weeks

19 weeks

18 weeks

Yeah, not that exciting.......but I'm posting them anyway!

In MORE EXCITING NEWS....I am finished with my 2nd month in the NICU while I've been pregnant. Yay. Lets just say seeing all the possible things that can go wrong on a daily basis is not so fun while you are expecting. I'm just glad to be out of there! I'm now on the wards as the third year chief, so basically I am still working on figuring out my role.

I get (am forced haha) to start weekends in the PICU this weekend, and I'm dreading it!!!!!!

Oh, and I got a new camera for my birthday- so we will actually be able to take pics of the new baby without changing the batteries out every 10 minutes.

A few more pics from the weekend......

We all had a fun last night together at the Sea Captain's House.......

Rebecca and Chris

Heather, Stacy, Zach and India

Auriano, Heather, Patrick and I

Christy and Greg
Rob and Laura

Matt and Kelly

SC AAP- Myrtle Beach

This July my class of residents all attended the SC American Academy of Pediatrics meeting in Myrtle Beach, SC.

It was a busy weekend, but we had a little time to hang out and relax as a class.

Me with my Quality Improvement poster presentation.

Too bad i'm standing in front of the only interesting graph.

My class- we clean up nicely :)

me, Jess, Kerry, Christy, Emily and India

Jess and India

Patrick, me, Laura, Rob, Jonathan and Kristy

Jess and I

Christy, Emily and Heather

Kristy and Jonathan

Beach!!!!

Patrick always likes to take pictures of the seagulls....

Indoor "Cookout"

Patrick and I again.

End of the Year Party

I'm finally posting some late pictures....but hey, better late than never, right?

Anyway, so the final event of residency for the third years is our end of the year party at Furman- where we plan a huge skit/roast to honor/make fun of all of our grads. This year was no exception- I think it was the funniest so far in my years here!

Jess, Matt and Jen

Patrick and I during dinner

Our first year- soon to be second year class!!!

My awesome class of second years! Hard to believe we only have one year left!

Jess and I (and Baby Coles- don't worry, I won't hold our baby like this!)

All together after the skit

Sarah and I during the skit playing Angie and Melissa

Not the best picture, but our graduating third years!

The culmination of our residency competion....of course the winner is the "House of Nelson"

Just found out today!!!! We were totally surprised but very happy to see that all is well with our baby boy! He's very healthy and everything was as it should be! He's about 8 oz right now.

He was very cooperative as far as finding out the sex, but definately wasn't too keen on posing for pictures!!! These were the best we could get!!!!

This doesn't look that comfortable to me......

Obviously......

Another crazy position.......

new belly pic...and update...

17 weeks, 3 days So, I'm finally starting to have a belly....

Other than still feeling sick off and on, things are going well. I had my 17 week doctor's appointment on Monday, and things are fine- we got to hear the baby's hearbeat again.

As of July 1st, I'm now in my final year of residency! Yikes! Very scary for several reasons-

1. I am now the most upper level resident around! When did that happen? I feel like i just started!!!

2. I have to actually FIND A JOB this year.....I guess after my 24 years of school/training, it is about time....haha.

Anyway, I'm back in the NICU again this month....so far i'm one call down, 6 more to go. I have realized that I don't really mind working in here during the days (other than the constant stress worrying about our baby brought on by being here) but the nights really wear me down. Hopefully this month will be a little less hard on my body than the one I did in the first trimester when I was really sick!

I promised more pics from all the end of the year stuff...but right now i'm trapped (aka working) in the NICU on call, so those will have to wait a few more days!!!