I had my monthly doctor's appointment today. The doctor couldn't find a Doppler to listen to the heartbeat, so he decided to do a quick ultrasound to visualize the heartbeat. We saw it right away and Jonah was bouncing around, like usual. The doctor asked me if I'd like to see his face and of course I did! He moved the probe around on my abdomen, then paused and asked me, "Um, do big noses run in your family?"

So Jonah Blair Hove is a good name indeed! I still think he will be very cute, although now I have moments when I worry I will give birth to a giant nose with tiny arms and legs attached.

Everything else is going fine. School is keeping me pretty busy, especially now that I'm studying for the NCLEX (the nursing boards). I'm scheduled to take it on April 25th, one day after I turn 30 weeks pregnant. I hope I can reach around my belly far enough to take the exam!

I had a wonderful, wonderful trip home. The only scheduled event was a baby shower, which left lots of time for sitting, visiting, and playing cards - all things I didn't do nearly enough of the last time I was in Missouri.

The baby shower was so much fun - my mom and her friends executed the classic pooh theme to the letter - I can't imagine a more beautiful event! It was fun to be able to ooh and ahh over tiny baby things for a couple of hours among women who were just as excited as me over tiny baby booties. Here, this picture can double as a shot of my lovely shower and my 24 week belly photo. As you can see, Jonah has done some growing!


Speaking of babies, I finally got to meet my six week old nephew, Scott, who is just the most adorable, hugable baby you've ever seen. He even tolerated me playing with him and my new baby clothes. I'm a little... inexperienced at dressing babies that are so small and floppy and his mother had to come to my rescue but we did eventually get him to model one of Jonah's new outfits.

Since I've been back, I've hardly stopped moving. The apartment had to be cleaned - Kevin wasn't so great at keeping it clean on his own. There were several loads of laundry that had to be washed. And of course, there was my schoolwork waiting patiently for me. The school work has been taking a little longer than usual since I have to stop ever 3.5 seconds and blow my nose, but I did finally finish that kidney paper I've been working on for over a month! Now I just have a test and a quiz coming up on Monday to study for and I will be all set.

My cough turned into a head cold, which has not been the most fun thing. Fever, chills, congestion - the works. Luckily, since I'm pregnant, Kevin has been particularly doting. He's so worried about me and the baby being sick that he won't let me do anything for myself. I keep reassuring him that we're fine - it's just a cold, but secretly I think it's sort of sweet that he's so worried. And if he wants me to kick up my feet while he runs around cleaning and bringing me hot tea, that is just fine! I will enjoy it for as long as it lasts.

I'm feeling a little better today. This morning I got onto Kevin for eating in the rocking chair (which has always been against the rules) and he said he'd been doing it for three days with me sitting right next to him. The simple fact that I finally noticed must mean I'm on the mend! I'm keeping up the rest and fluids and I was able to eat breakfast this morning, so I have high hopes that I'll be mostly healthy for my trip home in a couple of days.

I guess my luck ran out. I was struck this afternoon by a bug that had me sleeping all afternoon and now tonight is keeping me up with an annoying, hacking cough that I am not allowed to take any medicine for. I'm drinking some hot tea, which helps for about 0.4 seconds. The overall virus seems to be pretty mild - no fever, no congestion, no puking. Hopefully it will stay that way and this irritating cough will go away soon.

I had a dentist appointment this morning, which Jonah was not a fan of. I think the buzzing sound of the woman polishing my teeth particularly scared him because he did not stop rolling over the whole time it was on. I think he can definitely hear now because he seems to respond to our voices. If he's kicking a lot, I can talk to him for a little bit and he usually stops. Kevin's voice has an especially calming effect on him. He always sits still and listens when his dad is talking. Let's hope that continues!

Spring break officially started at 5pm today, but I won't get much of a break until I fly home next Thursday. I've got some clinical hours to make up Monday and Wednesday and I've got a nice long paper to write about renal function over the weekend. It will be busy, but that just means I'll enjoy my time home that much more!

I can't believe it's already March. It doesn't feel that way - we got a couple more inches of snow last night. It wasn't much and I should have gone to yoga this morning anyway, but I overslept so instead I'm sitting on my couch eating Cap'n Crunch. That's kind of like exercise, right?

This week has been so long and so busy. I've been making up clinical days which I find exhausting. I've been going to bed around 8:30, which gives me just enough time to eat and see how Kevin's day was before I hit the sack. Hauling around a very active baby all day just takes it out of me! Now it's already the weekend and so I have two days to study for two pretty important tests. I'm glad I bought three boxes of Cap'n Crunch yesterday. I will need fortification as I study. Lately that one particular cereal is the only thing my tummy can tolerate. Isn't it awesome when morning sickness makes a surprise return at 22 weeks after two whole months of freedom? At least I had the two months off! And it really isn't as bad this time around - more like random bouts of it instead of that awful constant sickness I had my first trimester. I've been trying to eat as well as I can and take my vitamins and get lots of rest because I am determined to make it through the rest of flu season without getting sick - so far so good! This is pretty impressive considering I spent at least 16 hours a week getting up close and personal with sick people. I'm still loving clinical, even if it does make me tired and expose me to all kinds of gross germs (the other day I had a woman just narrowly miss me as she started vomiting in the sink I was washing my hands in).

Enough rambling - off to study as much as I can in the next 48 hours.