Angry Updates

Read at your own risk, just sayin'

So... 39 weeks and 6 days. This past week has been pretty awful. I think I've done a pretty good job of being mobile and active during this pregnancy and really haven't let anything hold me back. I'm still working, I'm actually going in tomorrow. And I ran around and played a little soccer yesterday. Yea, take that pregnancy.  

There's just a few things that really bother me about being prego. I mean there's the obvious discomfort of being huge, the whole being super emotional thing, and the toll that being huge has on your self esteem. Did I mention being huge sucks? Anyway, there are a few other things that haven't bothered me until recently. I went to the gym and three pregnant women came in after me. I was on a bike, which are conveniently placed right at the entrance, so anyone else that comes in has to walk right past you. And of course at 9 months pregnant, you can't really hide that belly. Well, every one of those ladies walked past me and stopped to talk to me. . . just like they knew me. . . like we had been friends all our lives. .  . awesome. I'm not a super social person. I actually don't really like meeting new people. And I don't like talking to strangers. I don't even like talking to people that Michael knows that I don't. What can I say, my mom taught me well. So these people talking to me like I'm their best friend is really not ok. What makes them think it's ok to be my best friend just because we're both pregnant. Petty, but it bothers me. Then wherever I go people, strangers and friends, only ask me how I'm feeling or something pregnancy related. People that I've known all my life, or for a really long time, don't ask me how work is or if there's anything new in my life, they just want to know about my pregnancy. Now I realize that it is a pretty big part of my life. But seriously? I mean is there nothing else about my life that interests anyone? We went to a barbecue yesterday and everyone that came asked the same question... How are you feeling? I take that back, they asked that or said No baby yet? Obviously. Today I had 4 people ask me if I've had the baby yet. Why in the world would I have a baby and not tell people? I mean not being pregnant anymore is going to be so exciting that facebook will immediately know. And I've already got a text chain set up so everyone I know will know as soon as this baby meets the world. 

Ok, those are the things that bother me. I've really enjoyed how much closer Michael and I are with the thought of having a baby. Our relationship has definitely expanded. I've enjoyed how much closer I've gotten to certain people, thanks for sharing all your knowledge and experience. I've enjoyed how much of a challenge this whole thing has been. I've always been active and not being able to do as much physically as I think I should be able to has really taught me a lot. I've learned more about myself and how much I can take physically, emotionally, and spiritually and in all areas I've grown. No pun intended. It's been an adventure and we've done a lot to prepare our house, our selves and... well... mostly our house... to have a baby. I know there's a lot of things that really just plain suck about being pregnant, but in the end you get a baby and that's what it's all about. Just like the hokey pokey. I'm so excited to be a mom and for Michael to be a dad. He's a pretty cool guy and the combination of our personalities is definitely going to make our little Wampler a  very awesome person. And we're excited for that. I'm excited to see him and to get to know him. I'm excited to introduce him to his dad and to the rest of his family. I'm excited to teach him to play soccer and how to read. I'm excited to love him. I know it's going to change my life and nothing will ever be the same again, but this is getting old and change keeps things interesting. So yay for babies!

In all honesty, I thought if I wrote this whole blog about pregnancy and future babies that it might make me go into labor.... no luck yet but I'll keep you updated.

Cedar Ridge Animal Hospital

No baby yet... sad :( 

Since I'm in the veterinary technician (vet tech) program at BYU-I, I am required to do 2 internships. The first one has to be at a clinic, is 200 hours long, and must be between your second and third semesters in the program. It was my time to get out and really learn whatever it is they're teaching me. (Not that I don't have amazing teachers, but the program is new and how much can you really learn in a classroom?) So I looked around at the different clinics in Rexburg and the surrounding areas thinking that I wanted to work at a clinic that offered services to both large and small animals, which is commonly called a mixed practice. I like horses and am surprised with my ability in handling them... there seems to be quite the size difference... And I like cows, I grew up with them and never was afraid of them. Being pregnant kinda changed my mind about that. The really cool thing about BYU-I is their amazing livestock and agriculture programs. The school owns about 50 horses, a whole bunch of sheep and cows and people from the area bring their sick animals in to the school for a discounted rate since they wouldn't have taken the animal to a clinic otherwise. So we see a lot of stuff. Probably 2 weeks before the spring semester ended I still didn't have an internship and I was supposed to start it in 4 weeks.... So I went to class that day, like any other, and found out we were going to be working with cattle. Cool! I don't know a lot about the medicinal things that go along with them and I was genuinely excited. We, each of the 15 students in the lab, were able to use a Frick Speculum. A Frick Speculum is a hollow metal tube about 20 inches long and 1.5 inches in diameter. We put this in the cow's mouth and partially into the back of the throat so we can administer pills or pass a tube through to the rumen (stomach) without the cow chewing the tube off and eating it. This was pretty crazy.

 We also did venopunctures from the jugular and gave thorough physical exams. The most important part of a physical exam on a ruminant animal is inspecting the rumen. Cows eat, that's about all they do and that's the most important part of what makes them so important. So if you don't look at the rumen, you can't really tell how well the animal is doing. There's a couple ways to do this: 1. watch the abdomen move. The rumen makes kind of a churning motion, like a washer machine, and it's important to make sure this is being done. 2. look at the animal from the rear and tell her shape. Is she a pear, an apple, or a papple? They should look like a pear. 3. administer rectal exam. This is why I no longer want to work with large animals. If you get a sick cow in, you give a physical exam and 9.9 times out of 10 you give a rectal exam. Awesome. And everyone in our class had to do it. They made it "safe." The cow was in a chute and there was no possible way for it to kick or squash you at all. And you wore a glove.... I mean a full arm sleeve that had a glove attached on the end. I probably could have put my head and my whole other arm in there too! So you put this glove on, you put some lubricant on your hand, and you stick your hand (& ENTIRE ARM) inside the cows rectum. Yay. It's just as gross as it sounds and they are alive and can move everything in there that you can imagine and they DO NOT appreciate what you are doing to them, I mean for them. So I decided to do an internship at a small animal clinic.

I went to Cedar Ridge almost the next day, gave them a copy of my resume, talked to the vet personally, got a tour of the clinic and agreed to start on August first. Yep, it was that simple. I was super nervous I wasn't going to be able to find one in the area and that I'd have to drive a good 40 minutes just to get to the next biggest town where there were more options. The doctor I work for is Dr. Reed Hanson. He is a very nice guy. He went to vet school in WA and has an awesome sense of humor. There were 5 other girls that worked there when I started, now there's only 4. Jalene works the front desk and helps minimally in the back, she's the designated receptionist and bill collector and likes it there. Britni is the head tech. She's been there for 6 years and knows everything about that place. She actually grew up with Michael and her dad coached his baseball team when he was little. Crazy! Jaylean is the groomer. She is probably my favorite. She's laid back, but keeps a tight schedule and is booked a month in advance because she's so awesome. I really like how she handles the animals that come in and she does a great job of not traumatizing them, but trains them to do well with the grooming process. Briana is an assistant in the clinic and she helps out with grooming alot in the summer. She's my age and is going to school too, so that's pretty cool. She lets everybody know what she's thinking and even though she looks like she's 12 she doesn't get pushed around. The fifth person's name is Amanda, ironic right? 2 B's, 2 Jaylenes, and now 2 Amandas??? I fit right in! Amanda was a tech and had been there for 2 years or so and it just didn't work out anymore. Sad to say, but I'm ok with that. It worked perfectly for me. She got fired and I got hired to take her place! Dr Hanson had planned on hiring me to help with grooming anyway and would probably have let Amanda stay until after I came back from maternity leave, but she pushed it too far and I got hired as an assistant right away.

Ok the difference in technicians, technologists, and assistants. So many terms! An assistant is someone who works at the clinic helping the vet with whatever he needs. A technician is an assistant with an associates degree and is licensed/ certified with the state. A technologist is an assistant with a bachelors degree and is licensed/ certified with the state. So I'm an assistant for now and when I graduated, pass my NVTE and keep up my continuing education credits, I'll be a technician. 

My internship was awesome. Cedar Ridge offers boarding, grooming, and all the medical services of a clinic. So we see a lot of animals whether they are actually sick, there for an appointment or surgery, or not. Grooming brings in about 6-10 animals a day, depending on if Jaylean has help bathing dogs. Boarding brings in about 5-15 dogs and 1-3 cats a week. Techs are in charge of keeping all the kennels that we keep the boarding animals in clean. This can be quite the task some days. It gets done first thing in the morning and right before you leave at 5. All the animals get fed and watered twice daily, unless the owners request otherwise. They also get let outside for playtime twice a day. Sometimes we let them out more if we're not slow during the day, but it doesn't always happen. Big dogs can only play with big dogs and the same for small ones. And you have to pay attention to who is spayed or neutered and who isn't and keep the ones not fixed away from everyone else. Just in case. When a dog goes home, you have to clean the kennel, or is it's really dirty you move the dog and clean the dirty kennel. There's a hose and a bucket of bleach/ dawn water and a giant scrub brush. It's kinda intense. But I've never appreciated the smell of bleach more than after a night of a bunch of dogs crapping in their kennels. It's the simple things really.

More excitingly, I get to do tech stuff. So I draw blood, we use the cephalic and jugular veins most often. I place IV catheters, give fluids under the skin, give dental cleanings, give lots and lots of shots under the skin and in the muscle, make microscope slides of blood or ear cleaning samples or tissue samples, keep track of inventory, shave and scrub animals for surgery, assist in surgery, intubate dogs, position animals for X-rays, give oral medications, clean ears, and other stuff too. 

Cute doggie!

Some cool stuff I've seen: 

-A cat came in with acne on it's chin. No joke, pimples, and we popped them, just like pimples. 

-Orthopedic surgery. Hook got stomped by a cow and broke his femur into 3 pieces. We put a pin through the middle and parallel with his femur to hold those 2 ends together. We took some wire and wired the other piece to rest of the femur like a puzzle piece and secured it with 2 more pins that went perpendicular to the first. Intense, difficult, time consuming, and happened on my first day there. I love my job.

-A beagle had puppies, so the owners brought the 5 puppies in to remove the dewclaws, which we recommend to be done within the first 72 hours of life. It's just easier and way more humane. The owner brought the mom in as well because she just seemed like she was still in labor. This is 2 days after the fact. We took an X-ray and found 2 more puppies! One of the puppies was folded in half and had already died by the time we took it out and the other had a clef palate and we put him to sleep. But now the mom is gonna live! 

-Just the other day I did a dental cleaning on a dog, I think a Chihuahua mix. I took the cleaner and the second I touched this tooth, it fell to pieces! It was way gross. Pus came out and blood and it smelled. So I pulled the rest of the tooth out. Gross.

-We did an exploratory surgery on a Golden Retriever to find out what a lump on the abdomen was. To our surprise, we found roughly 2 feet of completely hardened intestine. They're supposed to feel slippery and soft like jello. This felt like a rock. And it was all cancer.

-Cystocentesis. This is where you stick a needle from outside the abdomen into the bladder to remove and collect urine. This is pretty cool. And kinda crazy. Most animals would have to be sedated for you to be able to do this, but this guy was so sick he just let us do whatever. 

And there's been lots of other stuff that's been cool, but I'm sure seeing it is much better than having me describe it. All in all, I absolutely love what I do. In fact, I even contemplated not finishing school and just working at this clinic as long as I could. But since I don't want to live in Rexburg for any longer than I absolutely have to, having a license would look really good on a resume and the only way to get that is through school. Plus somebody said something about how important it is to get an education and I like most of my classmates. So I'm gonna finish school. And get paid more after that. And I'm going to continue working at Cedar Ridge for as long as we live here. I'm taking 4 weeks off for maternity leave and I'll be taking classes so that I can still work most days at the clinic during school. So if anybody wants to be a full time nanny from January to July and maybe even after that.... you just let me know!

ps. Just thought I'd throw some color into this post. I think the pictures I added make it a little more interesting.

Mesa Falls

It's been over 2 years since Michael and I have visited Mesa Falls. So we decided to go one more time, just the two of us and savor every bit of the time together, uninterrupted by children, that we can. Lucky me, I really enjoy his company and lately our schedules have been pretty dumb. I work days and he works nights, meaning I stay up really late every other night to spend time with him and try to catch up on the sleep the days between. It's dumb and I'm sure not the least bit healthy, but you do what you can. It's pretty crazy thinking how close we are to having our lives change forever. I know marriage has changed us, but adding something we created to the mix is something else. And for future reference it is not ok to tell people that are about to have a baby how much it changes your life and how hard it is and that you should be scared. Yea, I've had people tell me that. Thanks, like I'm not already freaking out in my head that this is really happening, and soon, but you want to add all that to it too? Crazy! Anyway, here's our trip to Mesa Falls with Michael's parents and Brenda back in July 2009 when I came to and help him move to Tennessee.

What a handsome man! 

Let's take a moment here and appreciate how skinny I am. Best shape of my life right there. 

I told you Brenda was with us!

We were a bit more adventurous that time and climbed all the way down to the bottom. This is the lower falls that are in the background of the first picture. Look at how uncomfortable we are on that rock! Can you tell we were getting engaged in a month and a half?

So what I liked most about this last trip to the falls was the spontaneity of it. Michael and I both had the day off and spent most of it sleeping and laying around. Finally Michael asked if I would like to go to Mesa Falls and of course I said yes. By the way, every time I go to type Mesa Falls I want to put Mesa da Falls instead.  Ok, so here's pictures from this time around. 

The view on the drive up.

 Upper Mesa Falls

Lower Mesa Falls

In other news.... I am 38 weeks pregnant. We're having a boy and will probably name him Tyler, but we're a little unsure at the moment. To my knowledge, he has never had the hiccups, which I think is weird. I haven't had any contractions yet, but have experienced the whole back labor thing and that sucks way bad. I had morning sickness my entire first trimester. It went away with the second but sadly came back with the third. As far as cravings go, I haven't really had any. Well, other than mountain dew... 44 oz almost every day for a while. That's gotta be healthy right? And nachos from Taco Bell. Not any other nachos, Taco Bell nachos. For a long time I didn't want any sweets. And if you know me, you know that's a big deal. Here lately I've been wanting a lot of ice cream. But just this past week. Oh, there was one time that all I wanted was peanut butter M & M's and red grapes... At the same time.... One of each in every bite. Awesome. I've done a pretty good job of staying busy and feel that I'm still very mobile, even though every time I get off the couch Michael makes a bear growling noise at me. I worked at Bambino's until the middle of July. I started my internship in August and now I'm working at that clinic. And I try to go walking after all of that too. My house is super clean... I suppose that has something to do with nesting. Let's see, what other questions are there about pregnancy.... My feet are huge and so are my ankles. They swelled about 2 weeks ago and haven't been their normal size since. I've gained about 50 pounds and went from a 26 inch waist to a 40. I weigh more than Michael and I'm bigger around than he is. I don't own a single item of maternity wear, yes I'm still squeezing into pre-pregnancy pants (lucky for me I like low rise pants). Although, I only have one pair of jeans that fit, but that's why I work at a vet clinic so I can wear scrubs. Most of my shirts still fit me, but I got some Down East basics shirts and they have been a life saver. I can't see my feet when I stand straight up, but I can reach them. Most importantly, I'm ready to be done being pregnant. Who knows if I'm ready to be a mom, but if I'm ready to go through labor.... That's gotta say something right? So here's a picture of me all huge, and here's to hoping my next blog will include a cute little baby!

I'm huge. 

Taut... Tauf... Tautafanus... The Zoo

I've always wondered why the zoo in Idaho Falls is called what it is. It's the Tautphaus Zoo, a place which children love and want to visit, so let's make the name as difficult to read and say as possible. Dumb.
And we're starting over. Craig and Janet (Michael's parents) asked me Friday night if I would like to go to the zoo with them and Christopher (Michael's brother) and Jane and Megan (Chris's kids, well 2 outta 3). Laura (Chris's wife) was on vacation and we had to do something to keep those kids entertained! So the zoo it was. I hadn't been there, it only costs 6 dollars, and I'm trying to get all the exercise I can lately so maybe this baby will happen a little sooner. How could I say no?

Jane loved having the map. She was pretty good at navigating. Notice how many ponytail holders she has? Apparently she wanted 3 pony tails and settled for 3 pony tail holders instead. 

This is a serval and they are super cute! Probably about the size of a cocker spaniel. I had never seen one of these before!

Pelicans! It's really not fair to have them at the zoo, since you see them all over the place here, but since I'm not from here... Awesome!

Something that really impressed me about this place was just how close all the exhibits were. Not just in walking distance, because we really didn't walk that far, but the cages weren't super deep and all the animals were really close to you. That really impressed me. I'm sure it's just a space issue and that's the most logical way to set it up, but bigger zoos seem too concerned for the well being of the animals to be worried about what the customers want. 

On another note, with all these pelicans there were loads of ducks, some with blue bills, and swans and fish in the water. Jane wanted to feed them, of course. So she took the food from the gum ball type machine, threw it in the water and immediately went to see if she could get more food out. She didn't care a bit about watching the ducks and fish eat the food, she just enjoyed turning the knob for the food!

See what I mean about close? Craig asked one of the zookeepers how the animals handled the winter. The response was lengthy, but something like this: The lions and tiger have heated dens that they sleep in, but are open. They often go out and spend a lot of time outside though, even in the snow. The zebras and all the other animals that are from warm climates don't get any help with staying warm. They have adapted and do just fine being outside all winter. That's pretty cool. 

Jane wanted to sit on the tiger, but only if her dad would sit with her.

Isn't that a cute face? Megan loved that goat. 

Aren't they just so weird? I was actually really surprised with how nice these goats were. Maybe I just have a predetermined mindset that all goats are evil....

Megan taking her turn leading us.

River otters! They are so cute! Megan absolutely loved them. They were super active and kept jumping in and out of the water, it was quite entertaining. 

Lemurs! Chris and I had a conversation about how cool it could be to have a tail. Then we discussed what kind of tail we would like to have. He chose a monkey tail. I chose a lemur tail. You get all the balance and ability that you would with a monkey tail, but the black and white stripes will never go out of style!

Lack-o-motivation-itis

Haven't blogged in a long time. And I probably won't blog again after this one for a long time. Let's face it, I'm no good at this and I definitely don't have the motivation to write out everything that happens. I'll do my best. This isn't the end of blogging.
In other news, we went to the Eastern Idaho State Fair yesterday. It was awesome. But I worked that morning, had a doctor's appointment and a WIC class, so let's just say I did a little too much in a day. We went to the fair with the intention of getting awesomely bad for you food and people watching. Michael immediately went to the Aberdeen Education Foundation booth, not because he knew everyone there, but he wanted fish. Not just one fish, not even just two fish, but three fish! The lady even asked him what he wanted and his response... the most I can get! Good thing his fish came with fries! Then we walked around for forever and found all the animals. Which to be honest, ended up being the highlight of my night. There were Clydesdales and huge chickens and a cow with HUGE horns and a buffalo and a goat with curly horns and goats and sheep. The goats and sheep really aren't that exciting, however, there were baby pygmy goats and they were the cutest dang thing ever. The petting zoo stuff is all free, but you can pay 50 cents to feed the animals, but enough people had dropped the food that I just picked that up off the ground and fed it to them. It was so cute! The little baby goats just licked it right out of my hand. Best day ever. There was a sheep there, he was actually quite deformed. It was a boy, that's for sure, but he also had very well developed girl parts... attached to his boy parts... I didn't get a picture of that, figured it might be a little inappropriate. So use your imagination. Oh! There was this other goat that had 4 horns! After the animals we walked around some more, got a Tiger Ear, which kicks the pants off funnel cakes any day. It's a fried scone with cinnamon and honey butter and is the best thing that ever happened to me. Well, technically Michael is because he introduced me to them. Then we people watched for a while. That's always fun. And here's some pictures of the evenings frivolities.

Do you see the emu in the background?!

These are the people we went with. Michael, of course, and our friends Katelyn and Jenny. Don't worry, Katelyn doesn't always look like that, she was just standing up. Oh look! Michael's smiling, he enjoyed this part too! And now he wants a miniature toy teacup pygmy goat.

Baby Buffalo! He was kind of angry. 

I'm gonna go ahead and add a tiny section of pictures of things I really enjoy. We take drives sometimes, and spend time together and it's really fun. Our latest, most common destination has been to the elk ranch just outside of town. This inspires us to learn more about having an elk ranch.... And there's a bunch of muskox too. We don't want those, but they still look cool, kinda like buffalo with big fluffy tails. 

Muskox

Elk

And this is the cutest puppy in the world  that we should have adopted and let get away.... In Michael's defense, he was a little terror. But super cute.