WOW...It's Been A While

I have lots of people ask me if I'm not going to blog anymore and well the answer is yes I am going to blog, I have just been so overwhelmed that everytime I sit down to do it I have so much to catch up on it I get overwhelmed about what to write that I just don't. So I'm going to try to play catch up and I'll try to make it short but we will see how that works.
So the last post Blaine learned to ride his bike. After that things got really crazy around here with me starting to work night shifts and going to school.That was pretty much the whole month of November and the first of December. My mom turned 50 on November 5th so my sister, brother and I threw her a birhtday party and we got her a hotel room and concert tickets (on the floor)to the New Years Eve concert of Lynard Sknyard and .38 Special in Nashville. She was couldn't believe it. She was so excited to go then at the last minute the concert got cancelled but she still can't believe we did that for her.





On December 15th I FINALLY graduated college with my nursing degree. I have been going to college for over 5 years for a 2 year degree. Along the way I have gotten several certificates and a CMA degree. But long at last I have finally accomplished a long awaited goal. I have always known there was a reason that it has taken me so long to get this degree and it is all about Gods timing. Not mine, even though I didn't like it or understand it I always knew and believed there was a reason God has done things a the way he has and I am forever grateful for the things I have exprienced and the people I have met along the way. God has taught me many things along the way and for that I am truely blessed. This is the only picture we have for the night because my camera batteries went dead everytime my mom took a picture but since it was my camera she didn't know thats why it shut off everytime she took a picture but we finally got one at Texas Roadhouse after my pinning ceremony.

I decided that since I was only 2 months from delivering the new baby, and I knew I needed to spend the time studing for my nursing boards I decided to wait to accept a job until after the baby was born. So for the rest of December and most of January I spent studying for my boards, getting ready for baby and all other kinds of things that happen to pop up along the way.
I had decided to take my board on either January 27 or 29. Well everytime I went to the website to register I had something come up whether it was something around here and I would turn the computer off but alot of the time I just kept hearing this voice in my head "no don't schedule it yet." So when I realized I really needed to get it scheduled before the baby was born those 2 days were full and the next avalible day was February 5th. I was a little upset because it was so close to my due date and I didn't want to risk the chance. So after a few minutes of being upset I realized that everything happens for a reason and there was a reason that I wasn't suppose to take the test on that day so I was happy with that thought. So everyday I prayed that God wouldn't allow me to have the baby until after I took my boards. Well if anyone remembers that the week of January 26 was the week we got that horrible ice storm. So even if I would have been able to take my boards that week I would not have been able to get there to do it. That would have meant that I would have to reschedule the test and it would have been several weeks before I could get back in to take the exam which meant that I would have already delievered the baby. God is so awesome in the way he does things. Even though its not what we want He ALWAYS knows whats best, we just have to have faith and trust in Him. So I took my boards on the 5th of February and I had also been praying that God would give me questions that I knew and that I wouldn't recieve the long version of the test (265 questions)Well they tell you if you are getting hard questions you don't know that means that you are doing a good job, if the questions are getting easier that means that your not doing so well. I was getting so nervous during the test because I knew most of the questions so I knew I must be doing horrible. Then my computer shuts off at the minium amount of questions (75). I was in shock, I was sure I failed considering I knew the last question. I walked out of the room and I thought I was going to get sick. When I got to the car I remember that I had been praying for God to give me questions I knew and I also realized that everything happens for a reason so if I did't pass there was a reason that God hadn't allowed me to pass and that He has a plan so that made me feel a little better. I found out the next day that I was a Registered Nurse! God is so awesome!
On February 8, my sister-in-law, sister and mom had a baby shower for me. We got all kinds of stuff we need and lots of cute outfits! Here is a picture of me at 38 weeks on the day of the baby shower.


After that I had just been waiting on our new little one to join us. Final on Saturday, February 21 our little man decided he was ready to come join us. On Friday, I dropped Blaine off at his dad's then I went to walmart to get some basic groceries we need since I knew if I would be induced on wednesday if he hadn't decided to come before then. Well I while I was in walmart I start having some stomach cramps, nothing to bad but I just felt tired. When I got home I was having more contractions but nothing that was timable just pretty much constant cramping. Well I decided to go to bed and rest because I had a feeling that I would go into labor in the morning. (I already figured it would be a day that I was home alone; Blaine at his dads, Dustin at work) I slept off and on throughout the night and the next morning I was still cramping but they contractions start to become regular late that morning at lunch time. I decided to call my mom and give her a heads up and to tell her that I wouldn't be going to my brothers game that night that even if I didn't have the baby that day I wasn't going to the game feeling the way I was. So my said she was going to get ready to come down and get me and I told her no because I was going to wait for the mail to get there and then I was going to go to Babies R Us because I had a $5 off coupon for every Dreft or Tide I bought. And for any of you that know laundry detergent is expensive especially baby detergent so $5 off is a deal. I was also going to take the trash to the dump. My mom said alright but I'm still getting a shower and coming down to get you. So at one o'clock I decided to call the dr. and let her know that I was in active labor and that I was going to go the hospital to be examined. Well that conversation was a little akward considering I was talking to my own Dr. and it seemed like she had no idea who I was. Then she said she thought I could wait at home a little longer if I wanted. My mom showed up at that time and then I had a really strong contraction and I figured that God was giving me a cue that it was time to go to the hospital so thats what we did. So we got to the hospital at 2 and when I got there I told Dustin not to leave work until I knew for sure that they were going to keep me and not send me home. The nurse told me I was 6 almost 7cm dilated and my bag was bulging. She said that we aren't going to examine me again until the got an IV start because she was afraid that as soon as my water broke that I would have the baby. So they got me into a room got an IV started. Dustin showed up at 3 and they were trying to get me an epideral but the blood the sent down to the lab had clotted and they couldn't use it so I had to wait until the drew my blood again before they could start the epidural. Final around 3:25 I got the epidural which the anestheologist had a c-section to be at at 3:30. As soon as he cleaned up his stuff the dr came in and broke my water which basically only a little bit came out then everything went south for a while. They put oxygen on me, the babies heart rate dropped, mine dropped and my blood pressure dropped; everything went south. So for me, my last semester of nursing was OB and Pedicatrics I knew what was going on and I got a little scared after several minutes when everything they tried didn't seem to get the babies heart rate up. So final the dr said when I broke my water that I was at 8 to 9cm dialated and that by now I should be at 10 so she told me to push which I did for 3 contractions then he decided he wanted to come out right now. I forgot to say that the dr wasn't even in scrubs yet, they didnt even have the cart of insturments that they use to deliver a baby in the room so I had to wait until they brought the cart in to finish delivering the baby. So at 4:06pm Bryce Walker Minks was born. Dustin made it there with an hour to spare (the whole time I was pregnant that was his worst fear that he would be stuck at work and he wouldn't get to be there when he was born) He was 8lbs 5.5 oz and 21 1/2in. long. He cried so loud that you could hear him at the elevators, which is a pretty big accomplishment if you knew where we where.

He had some trouble feeding the first two days and on Monday morning it just seemed like he figured it out and he just chowed down. I was so thankful he final figured it out. I was getting worried and so was his dr. She was excited when she came to see him that he finally started to eat. Blaine is pretty excited about Bryce. He wants to help do everything which is nice but sometimes overbearing when I'm trying to change a diaper and he wants to do it. But I am very thankful that he wants to help and that he likes holding him and feeding him. It's really sweet to watch Blaine talk to Bryce. I pray that they will be close and have a great reletionship.

His hospital pictures can be viewed at either stmarys.org or mckevanportraits.com; search for Bryce and the password is Bryce.














So 4 almost 5 hours later here is a brief run down of the last several months. Now hopefully I can stay on top of blogging.