Wednesday, January 31, 2007

Long time, no write

Oh dear its been a while since I posted anything. I have been in shock from the beginning of school and trying to keep track of eight different classes and my part time job. On top of that Paul and I have been sick so things have been a little crazy. I am excited about my classes though, and get to learn lots of new exciting things and get lots of hands on experience. Here is a little peak into my semester...

-Principles of Instruction/Curriculum Design
-Measurment in the Behavioral/Health Sciences
-Applied Behavioral Methods (basically a class learning a statistical analysis program, luckily I learned it in undergrad)
-Spanish for Healthcare Professionals
-Prevention of Mental/Behavioral Illness and Mental Health Promotion
-Intro to Epidemiology (Epi for non-epi people)
-Intro to the US Healthcare System (another required core class)
-Community Needs Assessment

Its probably way too much, but I would rather get a lot of units done before the baby comes. Then I should only have 3 or 4 classes left to take before I can graduate. I am really excited about being a stay at home mom when the baby comes, and I don't want to be in too many classes after that. But anyway I am excited about this semester. I may even get to design a curriculum for the SBC public health department as an assignment for a class, possibly with Avian Flu preparedness for county employees and doctors in the area.

So what will I do with all this school work? I really don't know at this point, or know if I will even use it in the next ten years. But when else would I do it? At the very least I would be really happy consulting part-time for non-profits in our area, even if it meant getting paid very little. Maybe I could help them conduct needs assesments and design health education curriculum? Or just help them evaluate their programs. I don't know, but I don't feel too stressed about it, if God wants me to use it, I will.

Baby News: Paul and I are getting really excited for next friday, Feb 9th! Our ultrasound is that day and we are really hoping we can find out the gender and start calling this baby a name besides "It". Hopefully baby isn't too shy. We also want to see the baby move around and see if he/she is healthy. I certainly feel the baby move around all the time now. It's such a pleasant feeling, too bad it can't stay so pleasant. Anyway I definitely can't wait until next friday!

Pregnant News: Feeling great. Going through massive transition into crazy-hungry woman. While I hadn't gained more than a couple pounds total, I think that will have changed at our next prenatal on Monday. I have mostly just grown around the waist. I think it grew 2 inches in 2 weeks which is nuts. It feels so stretched and Paul and I are in disbelief at its rapid growth. The rest of my body has not changed though, so my clothes no longer fit and maternity pants are annoyingly baggy. I would post a picture, but its from a week and a half ago and it just looks completely different. I am still getting exercise by walking to my shuttle, but I am definitely making up for it! Its also been freeezzinngg, so I feel like a bundled rolly poly walking outside in the morning. There may be ice storms tonight...

Anyway thats all for now. When I stop being embarassed about it, I will tell a really dorky story about going to the ER last week....

TO BE CONTINUED!

Wednesday, January 10, 2007

Late Night Worries

Its funny the things that keep you up at night. I mean its normal to worry about becoming a parent and about your baby, but tonight I am up with the strangest concern...

How do I dress a baby for 90-95 degree heat with 90% humidity when he or she comes in the summer?

I mean, if it was freezing like it was today (35 when walking to school) I can totally picture bundling up a little newborn in hats and a warm jumper with booties. But 95 degrees? Thats hot, I don't even know how to dress myself for that weather. Ick. I guess I won't be outside that much anyway, but what if I have to walk to the grocery store or something? What about going outside in general? Ok I guess just a tshirt onesie (is that what its called?) will work just fine and I can gauge how the baby responds. Or just not go outside until late October.

This is ridiculous, the baby will be fine. Women in Ghana walked around with their little babies attached to them with a cloth outside all the time, and it was the same weather as summer in Atlanta. Time to get sleep.