Week 26 and Lafayette?

Okay, most of you know that Nathan and I are making an attempt at leaving behind this land of old ladies, cops, and college students, more commonly referred to as (but not always spelled) Natchitoches. I have applied for positions at the Lafayette, St. Martinville, and Opelousas offices. St Martinville had 2 positions open, but one has been filled, and the Lafayette boss lady, while perched on her broom, told me that I don't have a chance in her office because she doesn't like hiring siblings (that's where my sis, Kelley, works). So that leaves Opelousas and the other St. Marttinville position. Both are temporary, but that's what I am now. Both are about a 30 minute drive from my parents' house. I've still been very hopeful because as a transfer I should get priority on the applicants list. Well, today the boss lady of St. Martinville (who knows my sister) asked my sister to ask me to send her my 2 most recent performance reviews. It doesn't mean I necessarily have the job, but right now it's looking REALLY good. And it's so nice to finally be getting results out of this whole thing, because Ive been working at getting one of these jobs for over a month now, and not hearing anything at all and I'm sick of not knowing where we're going to live 2 months from now. Transfers are supposed to be easy, damn it! So wish me luck! I think this might be it!

Now pregnancy talk. Last week I checked and the average 25 week fetus weighs about 1.5 pounds and is about 12 inches long. No complete strangers have reached out and touched me yet, but one of Nathan's coworkers definitely was almost creepy with the rubbing. She's a sweet girl though, so I didn't slap her hand.

I had to get two sets of blood tests done recently, one for the RH neg thing (me O neg, Nathan A pos equals me getting stuck with needles) and the other for my glucose (gestational diabetes, anyone?). The RH neg test is just a simple blood test and maybe a shot, and the glucose test means I have to fast, draw blood, drink something too sugary for any sweet tooth, wait an hour, then draw another blood sample. They didn't explain this very well to me and they were sending me to a lab in the hospital instead of doing it in the office, so what I remember them telling we was to go to the lab for a blood test and you'll get a shot, you need to fast. You can go whenever you want to before your next appointment.

Then, at the end of my appointment they drew blood for the RH neg thing, and I asked if that was the blood test they were talking about, and they said yes. So I figured I was done and needed to fast when I came in for my shot. I got a call from one of the nurses a couple of days later and they told me I need to give a new blood sample right away because the lab screwed up with the first one and it has to be done before I get my shot which has to happen it this tiny window of time. So I leave work early and drive to my Dr's office in Alexandria to give them my blood. The first try was a dry hole, but they got it on the second. Then a few days later I go in for my shot so that I meet that window and when I get there the lab had apparently screwed up again and I needed to give a new sample. Thankfully this time, they made the lab do it right away so I wouldn't have to drive back again. So they drew my blood a third time for this one test and said said, "why don't you go to lunch while we wait for the lab, and then we'll give you the shot." I said, "don't I need to fast for that?" They said "no, you must be thinking of the glucose test." I said "oh, when do I need to do that?" They said "soon, but you need to fast for it." I said "I have, so I'll just do that instead of eating while we wait for the lab." They liked that idea. So I went downstairs where they do the glucose test and they stuck me, got a dry hole, and stuck me again for a good sample. Then I drank my nasty drink, and an hour later gave another sample. I went back upstairs where my lab results were waiting, and got a shot in the rear. *sigh*

A few days later I get a call from one of my nurses and she tells me that my glucose is slightly elevated, so we need to run another test. This is like the first glucose test, but instead of 1 hour it's 3. I manage to find a lab in Natchitoches I can use so I don't have fast as long or take as much time, if any, off of work. Thank God. So I get there and find out, that the test is like the first, but 3 hours long, AND I get blood drawn right up front, and once every hour. Making it 4 times. My veins are still pretty bruised up from my last adventure, so the phlebotomist and I decided to just leave a needle in my arm instead of trying to poke new holes. So she drew my blood, taped the needle to my arm and gave me a larger dose of that awful drink. An hour later we try to get blood, but the hole went dry. So we gave up on the leaving it in thing and she found a new spot. Over the course of that test we found 2 more dry holes, so I got punctured a total of 6 times, and the first time we left then needle in for an hour. *Sigh*

I sincerely hope that it will at be a while before I need any more blood tests. I think my nurses are out to get me.

Sorry that took so long, here's a shadow shot for your dedication.