Graduation Day!!!!

HMMM... WHERE WERE WE? Oh, yeah, I stopped in the month of May I believe! So here I am just a few weeks along and completing all requirements to obtain my Masters in Social work (MSW). Let me tell you there were a lot of tears for me, I REALLY DIDN'T THINK I WAS GOING TO MAKE IT! When it came closer to graduation I couldn't decide what to wear so I figured I would pick the shoe then get my outfit.

FAIL! Do you know how quickly my mother turned into a overbearing grandmother? "You aren't going to wear those heels with my grand baby in there! You better wear some sandals." Clearly my mother had a temporary lapse in who she was talking to because I always "step out" on occasions. We really went back and forth with this in the up and coming weeks of graduation. She finally compromised with me and allowed me to wear heels, provided I wore a shorter heel. (See the purple heels above? It was the same ones in black.)

Yes my graduation was here, I know you're hating right now! LoL

My mom, grandmother and I after commencement. My older sisters, Shawan and Nelva taking me out for a bite to eat. Me and Isaiah were hungry!

I was not happy about it but had a change of heart when all of my friends thought I was working it out in my shoes. It was a real big ego booster lol. This is a short post but here is officially when I went from Stilettos to flat feet; after that it was all sandals and sneakers for the duration of the summer. My mother is a warden! :-) Just kidding! Take a look at my shoe game after my mother was finished with me!

How to lose a gynecologist in one visit...

One thing that everyone knows about me is that I am an extremely picky person! I like what I like and "That's it!" (Youtube S*** Spanish Girls Say, to see why that's in quotation marks). Like I was saying, I'm particular with any and everything so why would that be any different with my gynecologist? I had only seen this particular doctor once; new insurance carrier plus my old doctor retired. I wanted to stay with a female doctor and decided to try my mom's doctor. For the duration of my blog the gynecologist will now be referred to as the "box doctor" as that is what my mom, Theresa, and I call it. Any way, I went to the lab to take the test and once the results were confirmed was scheduled to go back to meet with the nurse for counseling. How it all went wrong so fast... The nurse was the rudest health care professional I had met to date (all that will change when I catch you up on recent events). For a first time mom she made me feel horrible. Her questions were medically necessary however her judgements were not. And with that, I decided I would not be going to that establishment again! So how do you find a new gynecologist without telling everyone your big secret? Well it just so happened one day at my internship during lunch my supervisor Rosanna and her co-workers Mercedes and Naomi were talking about pregnancy and I cracked! I just wanted to share my good news with someone I suspect lol. Well Rosanna gave me the hook up to the best doctor I have ever met in my life: Dr. Carmen Rodriguez. I swear I am not joking, this woman turned out to be a God send (see later posts on her). It just so happened that Rosanna's best friend Janet works in this office and she called her up immediately to get me an appointment. Janet gave me her cell phone number, scheduled my appointment and was just so friendly. At my first appointment I felt like I was given the rockstar treatment. Dr. Rodriguez took her time and explained everything to me while she conducted my first ultrasound. She made sure I was comfortable and sent me off with several samples of prenatal vitamins and info on my pregnancy. Isn't that what every first time mom wants? Screw the other doctor that I never even got to meet with, Dr. Rodriguez won hands down on my quest to find a new obstetrician! What confirmed this even more for me was that when I walked back into the waiting room one of my friends from church was there waiting to see the doctor. She told me the doctor had delivered her son and that I would absolutely fall in love with this woman. I know this sounds crazy and you NEVER hear people talk about their doctors in such a way but they weren't lying, Dr. Rodriguez is AWESOME! The next day I actually had to go back to see her because I began bleeding out of nowhere and me, being the hypochondriac that I am, needed confirmation I wasn't having a miscarriage. I in fact was not having a miscarriage and Dr. Rodriguez was again able to calm me and make me feel like the most important person in the world. Moral of this post: FIND A GOOD GYNECOLOGIST! How do you do this? You ask a friend of course! Your friends won't steer you wrong...Well I can't speak for you but mine know better! Seriously, you can't just have anyone looking at your box and checking on your bun in the oven. Speaking of bun's in the oven, look at mine starting to grow below!

Just a quick update

I know you all are waiting for all my stories on my pregnancy, how Isaiah came into this world etc... I have to apologize to you all. Right after I started this blog I got word that my health was not in the best condition after delivering Isaiah. I will be going back into the hospital this weekend for an operation on my left leg. Hopefully I will be able to put some more posts up before this happens but I wanted to give you all an update. Isaiah is doing quite well and is receiving the best treatment in the hospital. Please continue to keep my baby in your prayers as I know it helps lift him up. We will both make it with your continued love and support. Thank you all! More posts to follow! Cherise & Isaiah

DC Chillin'...? Or DC Illin'?

Our journey begins in April 2012 when my Aunt Judy and I hopped in the car and took a trip to Maryland to visit my cousin Teri, her husband Tesfa and their new bundle of joy Nathaniel. Picture a nice spring day, lots of traffic and very few stops at rest stations because "I like to move it, move it!". Okay, a little corny, I know but seriously that's where it all began. We made it to my cousins house after several hours of driving; it didn't matter how many rest stations I avoided we got caught in holiday traffic. Once we were settled and had met my new little cousin we were trying to figure out what we were going to eat for dinner. For some odd reason I had no desire to eat although I had no issues with my appetite on the trip down. When the food came, I was suddenly repulsed and wanted nothing to eat. I wasn't nauseous but the sight of the food was absolutely disturbing to me. I didn't think much of it and figured I just needed to sleep. The next morning I decided to forgo breakfast as I still had no appetite. I wasn't feeling sick, the sight of food didn't bother me, I just didn't feel hungry. My cousin and Aunt pressed me to eat but I refused. After several hours of me refusing to eat I gave in and purchased a burrito from Chipotle that made me feel like a cow after eating it. Later on that evening I again avoided dinner but still didn't understand what was going on with me. My cousin and her mom were fussing over the baby and I decided to go to the craft store as I am an DIY girl and was working on a project for my best friend's wedding. Once I left the craft store I saw a Target nearby and decided to go for a browse. Somehow I decided there was nothing I needed except some Chapstick and a pregnancy test. I'm a fan of don't ask don't tell, but I will tell this as I'm sure you all have the same question going through your minds at this point: Yes, I was chosen as the next person to have an immaculate conception (Just kidding, God please don't strike me down! But don't ask cause' trust I won't tell!). I drove back to my cousins house and snuck into the bathroom and took the test...Very surreal seeing the lines confirm my pregnancy. Not wanting to tell my cousin or aunt, I had to hide the test (I didn't want it surfacing in the garbage can. Gross, I know, but I think about these things!) I immediately texted my mom who was so happy she texted back "I just want you to know I'm at work with a stupid smile on my face." My mom has been begging for grandchildren for a few years now. Geeze, woman I'm only 27! She told me not to jump to conclusions and that she wanted me to confirm it with a doctor as soon as I got back to New York. I felt bad not telling my family but I didn't want to ruin their happiness as Nathaniel was only a week old; I didn't want to steal the kids shine! Plus how did I know I was pregnant? I mean besides the fact I was about 2 weeks late, which meant nothing due to the immense stress I was under working, interning and trying to finish my last year of grad school. It could be nothing right? Well obviously there wouldn't be a blog if that was true! So I just enjoyed the rest of the trip and kept my secret to myself. Here are the pictures from my DC illin' I mean chillin' trip. That's all folks!