My Pregnancy Journey

I love being pregnant! It has been quite a journey, one that, as much as I'll be so happy to meet baby, I'll be a little sad to leave behind!

I was really suspecting I may be pregnant on Super Bowl weekend, February 6-7, and fortunately we were making a run to town on Monday Feb. 8, so I didn't have to wait long to buy a test to confirm - and it was positive! We were so excited!

So, I chose my health care provider, a midwife in Elko, and scheduled my first appointment for Monday March 8 - at eight weeks pregnant. We got our first ultrasound.


Looks like a little lima bean huh?

My next appointment was at twelve weeks...

...and just so happened to be the day before my 30th birthday!

Here's me at 16 weeks:

At my 20 week appointment, we got a second ultrasound - the doctor who did it said we had a "gorgeous baby", and everything checked out! Mom and Dad were in town visiting, and got to go along! We're very careful to make sure everyone knows we do NOT want to know the sex of the baby. So far, so good!

We didn't take a pic of me at 20 weeks, but I then went home to Alabama for three weeks, and Mom took this 21 week pic:

I'm starting to show!!! For the first time, people were stopping me to ask when I was due, touching my belly, talking about my being pregnant.

She also got artsy, and took some pregnant belly pics...

We joke that this is my "trailer bride" pic... (hey, I did live in a trailer for a year!)

And while I was home, she did two more ultrasounds on me! A 2-D, and a 3-D. I hope they don't find ultrasounds cause some sort of adverse effects, because this poor baby has had more than its share!

Before I left AL, we took a 24 week photo:

Once back in Nevada, I REALLY started to grow! On August 2-4, we took a camping/hiking trip with my five Haas Hall students and the five YCC kids to Great Basin National Park. On August 2 I was 29 weeks pregnant, which just so happens to the be the day we hiked to the ancient Bristlecone Pine Grove and Wheeler Glacier. Here I am in front of one of the world's oldest living organisms:

FYI - 29 weeks, that translates to 7.5 months pregnant. And I was feeling it! Within the past couple weeks I've finally started to feel pregnant - it's hard to bend over and put on shoes (I no longer untie, just slip my tennis shoes off and on), and I had to stop a LOT on this hike to take a breather! Of course, we WERE at 10,000+ feet elevation! I'm still incredibly lucky though... never battled morning sickness (save the sick feeling the wood-burning stove smell gave me for about a 3-4 week period), not having trouble with heartburn, still have lots of energy... no complaints here!

This week we went in for our 30 week appointment, as we now are going every two weeks, and had yet another ultrasound. Baby measured right on target, weighing in at 3 pounds 10 ounces - and we got a great look at its little cute face!

Field Ecology of the Great Basin Desert

I was fortunate enough to be the science teacher at Haas Hall Academy for 3.5 years, from 2006-2009. It was a GREAT experience, I LOVED my job, LOVED my school, LOVED my faculty, and LOVED my students. Rod even had the opportunity to coach PE there for 1 semester, after he graduated and before he got his new job, and was pretty fond of the place too. It will always hold a spot in our hearts! So, when we learned we were moving to Nevada, we started thinking of ways to maintain a relationship with HHA. We decided to offer a summer class titled Field Ecology of the Great Basin Desert. We just hosted the first one, from July 28 - August 4, and it went off wonderfully!

I drove to Salt Lake City on the 28 to pick the five participating students up from the airport: Zoe and Eli Barton, Cayenne Buell, David Halperin and Katherine Magoulick. They all seemed excited and in good spirits. We stopped on the way back to Ruby Valley for a Burger King lunch and to buy a week's worth of groceries. We also stopped to take photos of a dead porcupine on the road - they were excited about everything, and it was contagious!

The first morning they participated in a Leopard Frog survey - we found five. They are considering listing it under the ESA.


That afternoon they got started on their individual research projects. Eli and David were going to examine mosquito larvae densities, but after not being able to locate any, instead, compared species diversity between habitat types for aquatic invertebrates.

Katherine looked at how soil crust varied as you moved linearly away from roadways.

Cayenne and Zoe looked at whether people attempted to avoid or hit a snake in the road, using fake snakes for models.

They had some interesting results, including this man who got out, retrieved a fishing pole and approached the snake with it, before realizing it was fake!

Their fake rattlesnake

It wasn't all work and no play. They went fishing one afternoon, got a refuge tour, toured the fish hatchery, visited Fort Ruby...

...went wildlife watching, and road cruising at night looking for snakes. Zoe, our budding herpetologist, couldn't get enough of that! Rod let them watch him process a rattlesnake one night too.




And finally, they were able to go on a 2 day field trip with the YCC crew to Great Basin National Park. We had a really great time! We hiked to an ancient Bristlecone Pine grove, the oldest organisms on earth, and a glacier below Wheeler Peak, the second highest point in the state.

I felt really pregnant for the first time! That hike was pretty tough!

We also were fortunate enough to have Bryan Hamilton, the park biologist, come talk to us and even take us tracking two of his transmittered snakes! Very cool.

We (Rod, the 5 HHA students and I) headed out at 5:30 am from the park to get them back to the airport. All -in-all, I think it was a great time! Maybe they'll drum up interest from their friends and we can do another next year!

On the way back to Ruby Valley, Rod and I stopped on the Bonneville Salt Flats to get a closer look.

Our First Visitors to Ruby Lake

Mom and Dad flew out to visit us in late May/early June, and we were so excited to play hosts! They flew into Salt Lake City, the nearest airport to us (4-4.5 hours away), rented a car and drove out to Ruby Valley. They arrived on Friday May 28 in early evening. We had a busy time planned for them - just how we like it!


Mom had packed an entire carry-on suitcase full of plants, and I was fortunate to have their help in some of our yard beautification projects! They don't let grass grow under their feet - Mom and I got to work right away planting flowers out front! And even though it was almost June, it was COLD!




Here is the water feature I'd already installed in the flower bed, we just planted around it! I've had birds drinking and bathing from it, including a Lewis' Woodpecker, Yellow-headed Blackbirds, Brewer's Blackbirds, and Lazuli Buntings.

Rod had to contribute to the flower bed too with his own personal touch!

Dad, aka "Durvish Dad", helped around the house too, from washing cars to planting vegetables in the garden to hanging birdfeeders.

Saturday, their first full day, we headed to Lamoille Canyon, also in the Ruby Mountains but about 1.5 hours away. It was absolutely beautiful. We couldn't get that high up into the canyon, however, due to heavy snow pack covering the road.






We did get really close to a porcupine, who seemed completely unconcered with our presence...



... and we saw a whole herd of mountain goats!

Sunday we got up and headed towards the Utah border to Great Basin National Park, a little over 3 hours away. To do this, we headed south to Ely and traveled on Highway 50, the "Loneliest Highway in America".



However, we all agreed that the road taking us south out of Ruby Valley and through Long Valley was MUCH lonelier!




We did pass a small group of "wild horses" on the way.



These are very controversial out here. The BLM and the Humane Society of the United States are always fighting about these horses. They are truly feral horses, that have been living free on the open range for decades. There are many facets to the issue - from them not having adequate water or food on the open range and thus starving, to the case that they are destroying habitat, to the possibility that they are competing with native wildlife as well as cattle. As an ecologist, I totally see a case for the fact that these are non-native introduced species that shouldn't be here as they unnaturally alter the ecosystem and affect the wildlife living in it. However, for every feral horse out there there must be HUNDREDS of cows, so it seems ridiculous to me to take on the issue of eliminating horses for the minimal damage they may be causing, when the effect on the environment from cattle is astronomical. Until grazing is addressed, talking about the horses seems absurd.

Here we are, at GBNP!



We drove up Wheeler Peak scenic drive (at over 13,000 feet, it is the second tallest peak in Nevada) and debated hiking to the top, but here's what we encountered:



Hmmm... maybe we'd better not. Instead we found a lower elevation trail - Pole Canyon:



We stayed at the Silver Jack Inn, which was really a trailer converted into very simple rooms.




And we ate at the Lectrolux Cafe - an eclectic little restaurant/bakery/gifty shop that I loved!



Here, we celebrated Mom's birthday!



Monday we headed back to Ruby Valley, and Tuesday I had an OB appointment in Elko. While there, we visited the Northeast Nevada Museum and saw the original Pony Express cabin, which used to sit on the south end of the refuge.



We also ate at The Star - a Basque restaurant/hotel started one hundred years ago as a safe haven and socializing spot for Basque sheepherders who had settled the area. The food is served family style - cabbage soup, salad with a creamy garlic dressing, bread and butter, and french fries for all - plus whatever main course (usually a garlic-laden meat such as steak or lamb) you order. (Except for me - I just do the sides!)



We spent Wednesday - Friday bumming around the refuge. We got a tour of the Gallagher State Fish Hatchery, where I spotted a bird never before seen in Nevada (see following post). We planted my vegetable garden. We drove the refuge auto loop (more than once). We hiked Cave Creek trail, and walked the dogs around the refuge roads.



Dad hiked up to the top of the mountain behind our house. Mom helped me do some baby preparation. It was nice to just spend time together.

When driving the auto route, this Killdeer frantically hopped up and down, capturing our attention and luring us away from her nest - which we weren't sure about where it was located, but upon further investigation Dad found the four small speckled eggs, right in the middle of the road.

We also got some great looks of a Short-eared Owl!

Saturday, Mom, Dad and I headed to Salt Lake City, leaving Rod behind for a long three weeks by himself. We toured the Mormon/LDS Temple Square area in the middle of SLC. We had two very nice "sisters" who gave us a tour, and learned a lot about the Mormon religion. It was a great week!