Dogwood Festival Pictures

It was hard to get good pictures at the festival due to all the people around.  I mainly took photos of the cool downtown buildings and scenary. 

     To leave the downtown area you have to go through this giant traffic circle, one lane so its not that complicated.  In the middle of the circle is this interesting building, obviously old in architecture I had assumed it was part of an old train depot.  It looked just like where they would have the ticket sales booth and benches for passangers to wait for their train to come through.  As we drove by, Anthony and Stephanie gave me the accurate history lesson.  That area was the center of Fayetteville's commerce at the time, and the particular "building" was where they would auction off the slaves to the highest bidder.  When most of downtown Fayetteville was destroyed during a skirmish in the Civil War, that part of the auction area survived as well as a few market building along Hay Street.  This little northerner assumed wrong, auction block, train station, you know same thing ;)

Legacy Pictures

Check in desk, Chrissy's area

View of the cool ceiling :)

Well patient waiting area

Sick patient waiting area

Front desk area

Check out, Celina's territroy

My desk

View of the nurse's station from the lab

Lab

Desk in the lab

Entrance from the waiting area

Exit into the waiting area

Back hallway, patients rooms on right, on the left is the "treatment room" and the stairs to the break room.

Stairs to break room

More stairs...

View of the stairwell from the break room

Kitchen/dining area of the break room

Tv/couch area of break room

Picnic area out back, soon to have a picnic table!

After the stress from moving I went home in a horrible mood.  I decided to make myself some comfort food and sleep all night.  I did just that and woke up feeling much better.

Proof that I know how to use the food chopper thing Cody bought.

Mini meat loaf with piquant sauce, home made mashed potatoes and gravy, green beans.  Moodiness be gone food!

Day one million and one...

    Realistically I've stopped counting.  Its been about a month and a half.  The more I count the longer it seems this thing is going to be, its gets depressing and overwhelming at times.  All I know is it seems that Mitchell has been gone FOREVER, even though the calendar says otherwise.  Lying bitch.  I downloaded a countdown ticker to my phone, to count down the days for me, until the glorious homecoming.  This is hard to do when you don't have a set date for the return.  Could be sooner, could be later.  With the Army, you never know.  What I DO KNOW is that every day that goes by is a day closer to him being home, that is all that matters.  I have to look at it that way, it seems more optimistic, makes the whole 'journey' a lot easier. 
     Since I've last posted I have had my first prenatal with the actual doctor.  I am very impressed with him, and saddened I had not met him before I chose to transfer the rest of my prenatal care to Womack.  His name is Dr. Liffrig, he is a retired Major, and has been birthing babies and taking care of army families since the dawn of time.  He still has plenty of vim and vinegar though!  He nicknamed my little baby "lil trooper" since Daddy is a paratrooper.  His nurse was very friendly and sympathetic to my situation, her husband is also downrange, he is one of the groups that got stuck on the last 12mo deployments.  I am very greatful that ours is not SUPPOSED to be that long.  I got to HEAR the baby's heartbeat at the appt, where as at the ultrasound I only saw it.  I wish I hadn't been so awestruck, I would have thought to record it to send to Mitchell.  The nurse found it right away, midline, and it was the loudest, steadiest heart beat I've ever heard.  It averaged between 158-160BPM.  I never thought that it would catch me that off guard, having used the doppler to locate fetal heart tones millions of times in the ER and in nursing school.  None of that prepared me to hear my own baby's heart.  Still no tears, but nonetheless it was magical.  I picked up some free prenatal vitamins from the pharmacy while I was at the office, might as well, its free!!  I also scheduled my next prenatal appt, this time it will be at the OB/GYN clinic in Womack, with a midwife.  Had I known when I was given the choice to stay at the family practice until 30wks, or switch to Womack for more continuous care now, that I would be seen by midwives, I wouldn't have said yes.  I have nothing against midwives, I'm just a worry wart and a nurse, and I've seen too many botched cases handled by midwives riding through the ER.  I would feel much more comfortable and at ease with an MD by my side.  Too late now.  I will let them follow me for my prenatal care, up until labor.  The minute labor starts they better GTFO and find a Doc quick, or they will be hearing some very unkind words.  Give me a mirror, hot water and some blankets, I'll deliver this baby by myself!  Ok, I'm not that bad ass, but I'm very determined to have a doc near my cooch and not them.
     Legacy moved into its new building Friday.  The building was not ready for us, but we moved in anyways.  I am not looking forward to tomorrow at all.  Not only are we in a new building with a completely new layout, but we are also switching from paper charts to a new electronic medical record that none of us have used before, and got little practice and training on.  We also have a FULL schedule tomorrow.  Yesterday some of the lights weren't working, the phones still aren't working, and our computers are networked incorrectly. This was very well planned.  Somedays I catch myself wishing I wasn't pregnant so I could enjoy a nice burning hot bath with a glass of wine.  Now I have to find my stress relief elsewhere, and I refuse to let myself eat it away.  Even though the job can be stressful at times, I am still glad I accepted it.  It was far better than Sandhills ever was, and I have made some really good friends there.
     Stephanie, her husband Anthony, daughter Lacey and I went to the Dogwood Festival yesterday evening. I met her at their house and she drove us into town.  The Dogwood Festival is a big to-do where they block off the streets of downtown Fayetteville for vendors and music and carnival rides.  Several big name bands were to appear for concerts this year, Gretchen Wilson (not my thing) and Eve 6.  I was hoping to catch Eve 6 but they didn't start until 2100 and downtown Fayetteville is not somewhere I want to be alone late at night, even for a free concert.  It spells trouble, especially with all the disapperances going on lately.  We walked by all the vendors, had to skip the carnival rides, had a good time chatting with friends.  We stopped by Beef O'Bradys an eatery off Hay St.  Nothing sounded appealing, so I got a grilled cheese, can't go wrong there.  Oh, yes, yes you can.  The cheese was the most horrendous thing I have ever tasted!  I ate the crust, and that was it.  Best part of it, 9 fucking dollars for a grilled cheese.  ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!  It tasted like grilled moldy barf, with a hint of chewy rubber.  Since Stephanie and I couldn't very well go around to all the wine tasting booths we got bored fast.  We decided to drop by her sister-in-law Candice's house where we met up with some more of my coworkers.  Celina and Ben, Chrissy and Travis, Melissa and Sam (family friends of Stephanie's) and Candice and her hubs were all there, children running about.  We had a nice time, hanging about the house just chatting.  We meant to only stay for an hour or two, but ended up staying until around 1130!  I didn't get home until midnight and when I did I washed my face and passed out!  Even though it wasn't a fancy outing, it was nice to get out of the house and socialize.  I'm definitely deprived of that.
     Lots more to write about, not enough oomph to do it. I'd like to touch on more of the emotional side of this deployment, especially being pregnant.  I find it interesting the reactions I have.  I hope to catch up on that bit in another post.  I want to do it, not to stress out my husband, but so he will be able to truly see into my mind, see whats going on.  More later :)

"D" day on Devil's Field