Studying and Doula-ing

Well it is time for midterms- I have 3 exams in the next 4 days. School is a lot different when you know your future depends on making good grades. I've done a lot of work today and now I'm waiting for my redbull to kick in so I can keep going!

Exciting news for this entry: I'm FINALLY on the calendar for being a doula at UNC hospitals! I did my training back in July and have been trying to get settled with UNC for volunteering. It took me 4 months to jump through all the hoops at Duke just to hang out with sick kids, and 3 months at UNC. A couple vaccinations, many orientations, and a TB test later, here I am. I get to shadow a labor and deliver nurse on Oct 24 and then I'm on call starting on the 27th!

I wanted to say some funny comments about how excited I am to meet women this way, since, you know, they will be so nice and laid back, but I'm not feeling very funny so here's a picture instead. I feel like I've been a walking dictionary for pregnant women for a few months now, so I'm glad I finally get to gain some experience (and get lots of patient contact hours).

I've heard many hilarious and terrifying stories about doulas having to kick out moms, mother-in-laws, deal with hysterical fathers, and such. I was worried about having to deal with that until I noticed that every single doula is extremely calm and soft-spoken, so if they can conjure that kind of authority then hopefully I'll be able to as well!

 Alright I will get back to work now. Dave is on fall break so I'm pretty upset that he gets to play guitar hero and hang out with his friends while I'm trying to memorize 8 chapters of medical terminology and teach myself chemistry. Fortunately he also gets to be the house keeper until I'm done on wednesday :) and then my parents will be visiting. Can't wait for my fall break!

Wedding Day Bloopers

So the last post was a summary of the oh-my-lovely-wedding version of the big day, but here are some of the unfortunate happenings, from no-big-deal to total breakdown:

Last minute details:

I made these wedding programs the day before we left for Asheville. Other last minute details: right before rehearsal dinner I went to Michael's craft store to buy a garter, a flower girl basket, and our cake topper. We didn't get our marriage license until the day before the wedding either.






We were supposed to have rhino cake toppers instead of the "S" but our order got lost. The lady shipped them to me anyways (and gave me a refund) but they didn't get here until February. But I really liked the big S and it was only about $7!

What I hated the most:

The church we got married in allows anyone of any religion to get married there. They have one rule only: you can't remove religious symbols. Apparently, the gigantic fake Christmas tree counts as a religious symbol. And apparently "remove" means you can't even scoot it over to the side. I love Christmas lights and real Christmas trees, but I didn't want a 15-foot fake tree in every single one of my New Year's Eve wedding pictures!






Wardrobe problems:

To make my dress fit my short self, they had to cut the metal ribbing in half and trim it. They didn't solder it back together, so it was digging into my ribs all night long. My skin was actually bleeding by the end of the night. I still have little scars on my skin!

I was so excited and honored to wear this gorgeous brussels lace veil that belongs to Dave's side of the family. We noticed right before pictures that the comb we had it attached to was way WAY too small. Instead of spreading out beautifully like in this picture, it looked like a skinny line of tulle going straight down my back. I yelled "Call Maryann!" and my awesome aunt picked us up some hair clips. Katie and Rachel played around with it just seconds before we walked down the aisle. I was afraid the whole thing was going to fall off!










The Reception (Apparently this is where my attitude changed from laid-back-troubleshooting mode to I-WILL-F***ING-KILL-YOU mode)

Our Big Entrance:

We decided not to do our first dance immediately as we entered the reception. This is because I thought it was dumb for us to dance, then stop dancing and invite everyone to eat, then have everyone dance later. So what was going to happen when we entered? I spent forever trying to figure out how to make it flow, and we all decided that dinner would be served at that point. It turned out that the hors d'oeuvres weren't right or there weren't enough or something, so dinner had already been served when we showed up. My initial overreaction towards anyone involved was "TRAITORS!" I knew everyone was expecting us to dance and we would instead just be standing there awkwardly. That's pretty much what happened...

We never talked about how we were going to do the garter toss, and I got really upset when Dave started jumping around. I was saying "stop it!" in this picture. I felt completely objectified and cheap :(

We also never planned who was going to drive our car away... so we had our big exit, got in the car, and then... oh... no one is in the driver's seat. Katie was trying to get her things out of the back, no one was coming to drive us, and all the guests were standing there waving goodbye. I starting BAWLING uncontrollably. Dave yelled at Katie to go get dad, and he finally came over to drive us away.


Afterwards:

Happily ever after? No, it just got worse. The hotel had cancelled our room since Dave had 2 hotel rooms under his name (supposedly they thought it was a mistaken double-booking). I also had no idea where my after-party dress was (I wasn't planning on wearing my silk ballgown dress in a bar for new year's eve). I had no clothes to change into, and remember my skin was bleeding from my dress. Dave was off trying to find our Jamaica bag, which was also nowhere to be found, while I was trying to get in touch with my parents to find out where my glasses were. We weren't even together when the clock struck 12:00!

But besides us not getting to the after party (which was apparently yucky anyways), everything came together eventually. We found our Jamaica bag, and my mom had already gathered all our things from the church, including my glasses. We were on our flight to Jamaica the next morning and were glad to finally relax (if it weren't for the jellyfish stings and 24-hour DJing)

Blog!

I'm finding that it is really hard to share the details of life with everyone I'd like to be in touch with. Being so spread out and busy really throws a wrench in our plans to catch up, so I figured I'd go ahead and make a blog since I really enjoy reading other peoples' blogs! Of course, others have babies or wedding updates so ours might be less exciting, but I'm confident that it will serve at least as a procrastination tool every now and then.

For anyone WAY out of the loop, Dave and I got married on December 31, 2011 in Asheville, NC. I got to have my big poofy dress, a freakin' awesome wedding party, and tons of family and friends. 

Two of Dave's groomsmen, Tim Dennison and Alex Leo, performed our song "January Wedding" (by the Avett Brothers) for us. I wish we had recorded it because I was so excited to hear them play, but I don't remember a thing! Dave and I are still upset that we weren't able to be just "guests" at our wedding. I didn't eat a thing except the half bite of cake and the sip of champagne required for the cake cutting and the toasts. Most upsetting, we didn't get to see all the people we love for more than about 8 seconds each (if that!).

Dave had a great bachelor party at an Asheville mountain house, but acquired a nasty rope burn on his forearm/elbow pit from being tied up by his friends (that's what they kept telling me at least). 

With the wound, he was a baby about getting in the water in Jamaica, and probably also because he was stung by a sting ray last summer. We overcame that fear and went snorkeling only to be attacked by a huge cloud of jellyfish!

We were happy to resume normal life in Durham, NC. We live in a great apartment that is just a mile from Duke's campus and have the two sweetest kitty cats in the whole world! Here is Amos trying to be photogenic while Finnick is lounging.




Dave is about to start his second of three years at Duke's seminary. After spending years preparing for the LSAT and applying to UNC Law, I decided that was not the route I wanted to go. I quit my job at the law firm and signed up for biology 101- the first of a long list of prerequisites for Physician Assistant school!


So there is our quick update. Now I just have to make sure we don't just sit around Durham being boring because then I won't have anything to write about.