Sigh of Relief

Yesterday morning couldn't have started off any better!  I received a phone call from the doctor's office before 8AM and immediately upon hearing the nurse's voice I could tell she had good news.  They were hoping to see my hcg level double, but instead it nearly tripled!!  I misunderstood though; I thought they were testing the progesterone again and they hadn't.  That was a bit disappointing, but from what I understand, if that level were dropping rapidly more than likely the hcg would as well, so all indicators seem to be pointing towards the encouraging side.  Now we have to wait 1 1/2 weeks and pray for a heartbeat at our 7 week ultrasound.  I am still extremely cautiously optimistic, but we are both breathing a big sigh of relief regarding this good news.

Another recent sigh of relief (not that we were too worried) was MJ's speech and hearing evaluation shortly before our trip to St. Louis for Easter.  I was so impressed with Keystone AEA.  They did a great job working with him and I was so proud of the way he cooperated.  He did not qualify for speech services at this time.  He fell within the range of normal verbal skills.  He was on the low end of average, but the speech pathologist did not seem overly concerned in any way.  She provided me with some great tips to use at home, and MJ really is trying more and more words.  She also really encouraged us not to worry about pronunciation at this point.  The little bit of a surprise was that while MJ did pass the majority of the hearing evaluations, he failed the hearing test on his left ear.  He's at a high risk for hearing problems due to the extreme amount of antibiotics in the NICU, so I guess it wasn't a complete shock, but neither of us have felt like he has any issues with hearing at all.  There's a possibility that it could be a fluke, so we'll be going back in 6 months to have it retested. 

One last sigh of relief came yesterday as I completed the final phase of my interview process at Clarke University.  I spent another 3.5 hours with them.  It has been one of the longest and intense, but yet best interview processes that I have ever been through.  I have such a great feeling about Clarke's education department and can really see myself fitting in there.  My gut is beginning to speak to me louder and louder though and I am feeling like it's probably not the best choice for me at this exact time.  The good news is that I have been very open and honest with them and they have with me as well.  I feel like things could not have went any better, and regardless of the immediate outcome I have a good feeling that somewhere down the road, if we stay in Dubuque, Clarke will become the place for me!  They have not made a decision yet, but I have a feeling I will probably be hearing from them next week.  In some ways I am hoping that the job is not offered and then I'm not faced with the decision.  Of course it would hurt the ego a tad, but I am really relaxing about it a bit more and having faith that everything will fall into place.

We are sooo incredibly ready for a weekend!  After traveling last week, the pregnancy news, and all that's been going on with work, our home is need of some TLC and we could use a little down time too.  Mat and I have a nice date planned for tomorrow and I have been daydreaming about it all week!  Our favorite sitter is coming over at 4, so I know MJ will be beyond excited to see her and we'll be very ready for some time to unwind.  Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!!