John Partin, Certified Professional Engineer

We are so excited--and I am so incredibly proud of John! We received notice today that John is now a certified Professional Engineer. The road to get to this point was a long one that involved alot of effort on John's part. During his senior year in 2003, John had to take the Fundementals of Engineering (FE) exam. Once he passed that, which only took one try, thank goodness, he had to wait for four years of industry experience before he qualified to be able to take the Professional Engineer exam. This year was the year he qualified and he began taking preparatory classes at the end of May and completed the classes in October. The class prepared him for taking the exam due to the fact that he was tested on all aspects of civil engineering, not just constructional in the transportation industry. Once he completed the classes, he took the 8 hour exam on the 26th of October in Raleigh at the McKimmon Center on NCSU's campus. We then had to wait until today to get the final results! What a road but it will be so worth it! John gets his official certificate at a ceremony or by mail if he chooses. Also, he will be getting his own personal stamp and seal. Along with all of those fun things, the State of North Carolina will also be rewarding him with a raise. Hip Hip Hooray John! I had to do some bragging!

We are at 30 weeks!

Baby Partin is now 30 weeks gestation! Only 10 more weeks to go--although, mom is guessing it will be 11 since I was one week late. According to all of my reading, the baby is starting to go from a reddish color to pink since it is gaining lots of cute baby fat. Also, it is close to 4 lbs. and 16 inches long--trust me, I can tell!

I have to give my friend, Tabitha, a shout out--she gave me a gift certificate for a pedicure which is PERFECT! With the baby's growing size, I don't think I have been able to reach my feet for a couple months! How perfect is it that this is also the cartoon for the week? We hope you are all having a great Holiday and are looking as forward to Christmas Eve tomorrow as we are! I have been busy baking and cleaning the house for guests! Have a great one and we will check in again with a post soon!

Another Baby Partin and Mommy Picture



















Week 30 Cartoon

3rd Anniversary-December 18th

John and I went away to Sapphire Valley this weekend to celebrate our third anniversary. Sapphire Valley is between Highlands and Brevard, for those of you who are as geographically challenged as I am :). We enjoyed an easy drive and arrived at around 9:30PM. On Saturday, we slept in, went to Highlands and shopped, and ate at a great restaurant, The Library, for dinner. Today, we slept in again (which is not as common as it was during our college years) and then took it easy getting home. It was nice to have a relaxing weekend without the hustle and bustle of things to be done. The picture is of John and I as we were leaving. On a side note, I would just like to make a small request that everyone just say a small prayer for an unspoken prayer request. Things have been extremely trying lately emotionally and I just need some prayer warriors. I would appreciate it! I hope everyone had a great weekend!

28 Week Update!

As of yesterday, I am officially 28 weeks pregnant!!!! I visited the doctor and completed, as well as passed, my gestational diabetes test--so no diabetes for me! My feet have really started to swell so the doctor has advised me to stay off of them as much as possible--my response, Doc, do you know what I do for a living? Luckily for me, John purchased a great pair of Danska shoes as an early anniversary gift so that has helped a little.

In addition, Doctor Louk measured my belly which has measured in at a whopping 31 cm. Apparently, my belly should only measure in at 28 for 28 weeks so the doctor is concerned that I may be having a big baby. He asked what I weighed when born, which was 9 lbs. 13 oz. He has warned me that we may have to do another ultra-sound to find out how big the baby is close to my due date and look at our "options". When asked what the "options" were, he replied with the dreaded words "cesarean section". I was delivered via C-section but I was really hoping to give a vaginal birth. However, I was informed that there would probably be less sutures if I had a C-section and those of you who know me well, I don't handle pain like a champ thus, C-section might sound like a plan to me! Also, I will need to get the Rh injection this week.

Some have also asked what I think the gender is at this point--to be honest, I have no clue. Yesterday it felt like a boy and today a girl, so who knows! I will say that I finally had a dream in which the baby had a gender--it was a boy! Does that mean anything?

I hope you are all having a great holiday season thus far and enjoy the cartoon! It could not be more right on for 28 weeks--it is from http://www.baby-gaga.com/ for the 28th week of pregnancy. I will hopefully be posting a picture soon of the belly or what I like to call, my 31 cm bag of popcorn! At times, the baby moves in a manner that my whole belly jumps like there is popcorn popping :)!

Prayer Request

I just wanted to request alot of prayer from all of you out there who we are close to and who are always so supportive of us. We have a family in our church that is in desperate need for healing prayers. They have experienced a devestating loss of which was unexpected. Please, if you have a moment, pray for the family that the loss has affected. Thank you so much!

Wishing you a Happy Holidays!

Hi friends! The Partin Family wanted to wish you a Merry Christmas, check it out! http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1149234971 John dances really well, doesn't he?!?!?

It's beginning to look alot like Christmas....

We finished decorating our home for the holidays today! The last step was getting our Christmas tree up and decorated! I always love decorating the home each year for the reason that I usually forget what items I bought at really low prices post-Christmas the year before and am pleasantly surprised as I unpack. This year, I had quite a few new things that I wanted to show off! Enjoy the pictures and I hope you are getting into the spirit as much as I am!

As far as baby-news, I am now in my 7th month and am 27 weeks along. I had an appointment this past week and the doctor said the heartbeat was 150 and that the baby is very "wiggly" and active! My response: "You're telling me!" Things are going well and I am excited!

Happy Thanksgiving!

John and I enjoyed Thanksgiving with the Partin Family this year! We enjoyed the traditional spread and got to spend lots of time with Chad, Anna Ruth, and Baylee who visited from Florida for the week. Baylee has grown so much and is talking alot! On Black Friday, Elaine, Melissa, Anna Ruth, and I headed out and shopped until I could not feel my feet any longer. We had a great time and I am thankful to have had great in-laws to spend the holiday with! I think I am starting to hear Christmas Bells and in celebration, I purchased "Christmas with the Rat Pack" CD. I hope you all stuffed yourselves with turkey and enjoyed your Thanksgiving as well!

It's a Play Date!

Sally, the Powell Family Labrador Retriever, is visiting Lucy (our German Shepherd mix) this week! Lucy and Sally always have such a good time together--they enjoy chasing each other, playing tug-of-war, and racing to each other's breakfast/dinner. This evening, I was having an after-dinner snack and both of the mooches thought they were entitled to a bite--it made for a great picture!

Happy Birthday, John!

Today is John's 27th birthday! We were thankful that today was also Veteran's Day (thank you, vets!) because we both had off and kicked off the day by sleeping in! I then got up and made french toast per my hubby's request. John received lots of fun presents and we relaxed for the day! Tonight, we went to the Melting Pot and ate a very yummy Melting Pot feast. I wanted to make sure to take a picture of the baby and I so that John and Baby Partin can always remember what we looked like on Daddy's birthday as we are pregnant with our first child, so please see above! By the way, Baby Partin gave his/her daddy a very cute "I love Daddy" bib for his birthday :)! I hope you all have enjoyed this beautiful day as much as we have.

On a pregnancy side note, I have felt like Baby Partin's personal punching/kicking bag! I woke up and lied in bed as we played games of I push on you and you push back. He/She is getting big and strong! Everything is perfect and we are really getting excited to see our little one!

The pathology results are in!

Well, after being as patient as I could be for the last couple weeks, I had my doctor appointment with both the dermatologist and the OB/GYN today. The report from the dermatologist is that I have PUPPP which is just a rash that occurs to some women randomly and is of no harm to either the baby or me! They have me on a medium-strength steroid cream that has been effective. This occurrence should completely clear itself up after the delivery of Baby Partin. According to the doctor, he rarely sees it reoccur in second, third, etc pregnancies! Yay--since we want 4, right John??? He is replying with a very enthusiastic "Ha ha, funny funny."

As far as my appointment with the OB/GYN, the baby is doing FANTASTIC! The womb is now stretched from about 2-3" below my bust to about 2-3" above the unmentionable region. Doctor says that the baby is very active and had a heart rate of 150 bpm. Any ideas if it is a boy or girl?

On a complete side note, I found this cartoon which is SO fitting! I am dying for a Diet Mt. Dew!

We finally did it!

Well, a lot of you have been asking, and we finally bit the overwhelming bullet and registered for Baby Partin! I will say that I have never felt so overwhelmed and lost as I did trying to figure out what breast pump and accessories that I needed. I think John and I stood in that section of Babys 'R' Us for about 30 minutes before a new mother/store employee came over to help us. We must have looked pathetically lost! Oh! And oh my goodness, there is a WHOLE WALL for BOTTLES! I mean, how difficult should it be to pick out a bottle for a baby? Apparently, there are many things new parents should consider when picking out a bottle! After two and a half hours, we wrapped up at Babys 'R' Us and went home! I also registered at Target from home this evening! So to summarize, we have nothing, we do not know what to do with the stuff we registered for, and we are registered at Babys 'R' Us (www.babysrus) and Target (www.target.com).

On a side note, Baby Partin is getting large enough and kicking hard enough that John has been able to feel it and I have been kept awake at night :). Oh signs of the things to come! We are having a great time however, March is quickly coming and we are very anxious!

Oh! The picture for this post is the 22 week cartoon featured on www.baby-gaga.com. Please note: I am due on March 5th and have NO CLUE what we are having! Just a funny ha ha for the week!

Waiting on the results from the skin biopsy...

I went in today to get the redness/rash of my belly looked at by a dermatologist. They did a skin biopsy that has left me with a few stitches and they are currently hypothesizing that it could have one of three different causes. Unfortunately, the doctor thinks it may be the worst of the three called Pemphigoid Gestationis. All I know right now is that if it is PG, it can soon begin breaking out from a rash into blisters primarily on my belly and back and it will not clear up anytime soon. In fact, PG is an autoimmune disease brought on by pregnancy in 1 in 50,000 women--essentially, the cells that protect my baby are attacking my skin. In addition, it will rear its ugly head everytime I have a child according to online medical websites. With respect to our baby, there is a 10% chance that it could be passed on and the baby could be born with awful blisters. Right now, I am praying that the results will come back that I have PUPPP which is a rash that goes away on its own after delivery and that the results do not show that I have PG. Please please please lift this situation up in prayer, if you have a spare minute. I hate to ask to be prayed for but I am in much anticipation and worry until I find out the results on Monday/Tuesday.

I had to share this picture!

I was sent this picture along with some other hilarious animal pictures but this one SCREAMED at me! Not only is it perfect because John and I are Wolfpack fans, but it definitely illustrates John and I. So I have decided that one scenario this could possibly be illustrating is me going on and on and on until the point where John shuts me up OR I am making sure John does not go on to say something he will regret. Based on how you know us, we will let you decide which scenario is displayed. Enjoy!

Why is my belly turning red?

Ok, so this may be too much information for alot of you, but I have found out something really interesting this weekend! I started getting little red bumps that have broken out all over my growing belly and they started itching like crazy. I looked into it online and it is called PUPPP which is essentially a pregnancy rash. There is really nothing they can do about it (although, I currently have the OB GYN office looking into it) and it does not go away until the baby is born, interesting enough. Apparently, only 1 in 300 pregnant women get the rash and 70% of those women have a boy! There has been some research done and "they" say that it has something to do with the male fetal DNA acting as a skin irritant to women sensitive to whatever changes it causes. Also, "they" say that it is not harmful to mom or baby so that is why no more research has been done--personally, I say that "they" have not experienced it before!!!!! So....until I have this baby, which could possibly be a boy or a girl really, I will be itching like crazy! What a way to spend my last four months of pregnancy (I am now 20 weeks along)! Although, to give my friend Katie McWilliams some credit, at least they aren't multiple kidney stones--I am so glad you feel better, Katie!

http://www.parentingweekly.com/pregnancy/pregnancy_information/PUPPP_pregnancy_rashes.htm

And he is at peace...

I just wanted to thank everyone for the prayers for my grandfather. Sadly, he passed away this morning at about 11AM. My mother spoke to him by phone about 10 minutes before he passed--we believed his heart stopped again while in the hospital. Please continue to pray for my family as we make preparations according to his wishes. Also, if you will pray that we only remember those moments that had a positive tone and forget any negativity that was encountered in his final months. We are grieving but are blessed that he graced this world for 82 years. Thanks again.

Prayers Needed!

I just thought I would use this tool to enlist some prayers from friends and family. My grandfather is in the hospital again but in this case, it is not just for medication tweaking and to get him back on track with respect to diet and water retention around his heart. The doctors have informed us that his kidneys are failing significantly and we know from past experiences that when the kidneys fail, so does his heart. When I visited him with my mother on Saturday, we witnessed him having another heart attack but this time, his heart stopped completely for the first time. Luckily, the hospital staff was excellent and were able to do CPR to regain a heart beat. He is still in the hospital until further notice which could be indefinitely. I should also add that he requested and signed a DNR form should this happen again. I just ask that friends and family pray that God's will be done and if a miracle falls under His will, he improves and if not, that his decline be peaceful, uneventful, and without pain.

Also, if you could pray that others relatively involved in this situation maintain a maturity that assists in maintaining peace and stability rather than some behaviors they have recently exhibited, that would also be appreciated. At this point in his life, he needs to reflect only on the good in his life presently and in the past. I pray that nothing steals us from positive moments of love, reflection, and respect in the days to come.

On a side note, my late grandmother's birthday is in a day or so and he laughingly told my mother and I that he is looking forward to "sneaking up" on her. I am glad that he sees the light of rejoining my grandmother among all of this uncertaintly and sadness.

Our Baby at 18 Weeks!

Today we got to see Baby Partin at 18 weeks! We went to the doctor and had a 45 minute ultrasound. It was really exciting and definitely confirmed that this child is its father's child. Baby was cool, calm, and collected with one arm propped behind its head and the other alternating between reaching out and grabbing its toes and waving at us by opening and closing its fist. At one point, it sighed/yawned as if to say, "I am so glad to meet you mommy and daddy but honestly, I am bored with this and would love to go back to sleep :)." Another confirmation that this is John's child is that its knee came very close to its nose on many occasions. Funny story, when John was in high school, he was doing the high jump in track and his knee came up and broke his nose. So.....first the cravings for orange juice and now the knee to the nose. If that weren't enough, our little baby's head is the size of an 18 week 6 day old baby rather than a baby that is exactly 18 weeks old. We can thank Daddy for that and I am sure I will be "thanking" him when it comes time to push!

But, the baby is completely healthy and everything is completely normal! They moved our due date from March 2nd to March 5th. We have the name picked if it is a boy but are struggling with a girls name. Any suggestions? Also, we have a very cool 15 minute long DVD of our little one...let us know if you would like to come over and see it!

Welcome to our Blog!

After some thought and consideration, we thought it would be a great idea to start a blog now that there are so many changes in our lives as a new family. John and I will celebrate our 3rd anniversary in December and have loved our time together both in marriage and in dating for now 7 years. This past summer we moved from the Raleigh area to Sophia (near High Point) in North Carolina. We think the area is beautiful and are glad to be closer to family but are terribly homesick for our friends back in Raleigh! Our careers are taking off, however, and God has blessed us abundantly. He has provided us a beautiful home, a wonderful church family at Emerywood Baptist, dependable and generous state-funded incomes, and now a new addition to our family. We are expecting our first child on March 5th and are anticipating the day we can meet baby partin face-to-face. I hope you all enjoy our updates on how work, family, home, and our pregnancy is doing! Above is a picture of our new home--we would love for you to come visit!