Not So Bad

The pipe between the engine and the muffler is broken, but not for long. Not as pricey as I thought it would be. Thank goodness.

This weekend Brian got to visit some friends while the girls and I hung around the empty garage. We cleaned it, sprayed spiders, rode bikes, painted chairs pink, put away laundry, and danced our tooshies off.

All-in-all, a good weekend.

Showing My Age

As I was driving home from class on Friday, I pulled up behind a suped up Chevy that was all decked out in Corona advertisments. The whole thing was yellow and it had a Corona symbol tinted all over the back window. I heard some loud revving and rumbling. My first thought was, that suped up car must have one of those mufflers that makes it crazy loud, like young people like to do. I turned down my music (which admittedly had the bass and volume cranked loud enough to make my car shake), only to discover....oh, shit.....that's my car!!! I'm the one driving around the clunker. I drive through the shopping center parking lot, pass my house, and straight to the auto shop. Do not pass go, do not collect $200. They didn't have time to diagnose it on Friday and aren't open on the weekends, so we'll have to wait until Monday to find out what's wrong with. Hopefully it's nothing too expensive, but we've owned it for over seven years and have done little more than oil changes, new tires, and possible brake pads. Needless to say, it will probably be a doozy.

HAPPY, HAPPY, HAPPY

BIRTHDAY to BRIAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Moving On

My OB class is officially over. Thank goodness. I am moving on.

My almost 16 year old niece stopped over for a quick visit earlier this week in between home and grandmommy's. We had a fun morning taking the little girls for a walk around the lake, playing at the park, then off to the pool in the afternoon. A very busy day, including Autumn's first speech therapy session and Abigail's participation in another early childhood development study. My niece has grown up into such a fun young lady and she is so great with the girls. It was a real treat to have her. Doesn't hurt that we got to crank up Fergie in the car on the drive up Wednesday night. Good times.

Last night was the annual MOMS Club banquet. My friend had it at her house and it was such a relaxing evening; complete with a dip in the hot tub. It was a little bittersweet, as I feel I've outgrown it and likely won't renew this fall. I was a member for four years, was Administrative VP (ran service projects), was President, hosted and participated. The little ladies and I have made a lot of really great friends. I'm sad to close another chapter, but I am happy we have made some friends for life. I am also excited to see what kindergarten brings our way.

I keep thinking I will get some down time at some point this summer to reflect and relax, but I have to admit to myself that I don't think that is going to happen. I will just have to take advantage of the few rare moments.

At School We Call That Emesis

Well, Brian had a relaxing, no responsiblities, game playing, book reading Father's Day...until Abigail complained of a "cold tummy" and went Linda Blair on her room. I swear I didn't feed her pea soup for dinner. She is feeling much better now and I will be calling the carpet cleaners in the morning.

And, yes, during the process I taught Abigail that at school we call it emesis and measure it, but at home we can just call it barf or vomit or throwing up. Enlightening my child one day at a time.

Happy Father's Day, Brian. Go Team.

Full Circle

So we went over to check out my in-laws new home here in town. We pulled into the neighborhood... I racked my brain trying to remember which MOMS Club friend I'd visited here. Passed the pool and park, so familiar. Brian (he's the Prince, but I'm tired of subbing names) says, "I think we went to a birthday party in this neighborhood." Hmmm....Brian hasn't taken Abigail (the Princess) to many parties, so I can't imagine I'd have forgotten. We turn the corner onto their street and see their driveway...LIGHTBULB!!

Brian and I looked at that exact house four years ago when we first moved to the area. We loved that the kitchen opened to the family room, but it was not big enough overall to accomodate a home office and tiny, loud children. I swear the world gets smaller and smaller every day. No doubt the in-laws have good taste if they picked a house that we thought was a contender ;)

The New Grad

The New Graduate

The Family Photo- I posted two pics.

It took a collective effort to get all of us to look at the camera at the same time.

HAPPY GRADUATION, PRINCESS!!!

ME...ME...ME...MEME

(Post rules at the beginning of the post. Answer all the questions. Tag 6 people, go to their blog and leave a comment to inform them that they’ve been tagged and asking them to read your blog. Let the person who tagged you know when you’ve posted your answer.)

1. What were you doing ten years ago?

Wow, ten years ago I had just graduated from undergrad. I was living with my parents looking for a job in biology or environmental sciences. I was getting ready for our big fourth of July party (aka drunk fest) at my parents house and probably partying some with my little brother and his friends. I don't think I could have reflected on a less interesting time in my life, it got way more interesting after that summer.

2. What are five things on your to-do list today?
the day is almost over, so I'll list what I scratched off of my list today.

a) Wrote 3 papers (still need to organize the references, but I'm 90% done).
b) Slept in until 9:15 am. Delightful.
c) Cooed over the Father's Day gifts the girls made at school (but do they really need to send peanuty candy bars home to the dad of a little girl with a peanut allergy?)
d) Hiked from the designated UVA parking lot to the Health Sciences Library and back. It's not short.
e) To do: eat ice cream, cookies and chocolate covered caramels. Dessert trio...yum.

3. Snacks you enjoy?

soda (yes, I drink it mid-afternoon as a 'snack'), lattes, cookies, pears, and grapes.

4. Places you've lived...

Annapolis, MD
Brunswick, ME
Monterery, CA
Agana, Guam
Fairfax, VA
Rota, Spain
Newport, RI
Charlotte, NC
College Station, TX
NOVA
Charlottesville, VA

5. What are 5 things you would do if you were a billionaire?

a)Buy a big, freakin', brand-spanking-new house
b)Buy a lakehouse retreat (within 2 hours of home).
c)Share the wealth
d)Only work part-time after I graduate.
e)Sign the girls up for dance and swim class and not fret over the money.

I now tag...Mighty Shamrock, Minus Apathy, Stay-at-Aum Mom...my blog world is small. I don't have six.

Pounding Pavement, Papers, and Pre-school

This morning I am back on a day schedule for the rest of the summer. Thank goodness. My time in OB confirmed that NICU is the place for me. Don't get me wrong, I loved being able to provide laboring support for the mom's and teaching how to breastfeed, but there is a lot of sitting around waiting. I would go batty. I also got to witness "active management" of labor, i.e. give everyone pitocin and sign them up for a c-section if they don't progress at the "1 cm an hour" rule. It was horrible. I'm not a home birth person; I like having the security of MDs on hand should something go wrong, the option for some pain management, and a day or two or recovery. But labor doesn't need to be actively managed, just periodically monitored while the mom is actively supported. And don't freak out over one late decel in 3 hours, the baby recovered, the baby is fine, let the mom labor. If I landed a job on the OB floor, I would be hitting my head against a brick wall daily. Can't do it.

That was a huge aside related nothing to the title of the blog. Back to topic. This morning I dropped the girls off at school and headed to walk my usual circuit around some neighborhood lakes. Felt inspired by a friend to run it, instead. Heck, she's running 5ks, the least I can do is try to pick up the pace. It felt AMAZING!!! Ran the whole thing only to discover my "3 mile walk" is likely only 2 miles. I ran the loop in about 20 minutes and I know I don't still run a 7 minute mile in VA humidity with lots of hills. I just feel accomplished that I challenged my mind and my body.

Speaking of challenging my mind, I have to write 3 papers in the next two days. The challenge is surviving the torture that is writing papers. The topics aren't difficult and none require much research, I just loathe writing papers. I do not get a good educational return for my investment. My classmates feel like they are getting a break this summer, I feel overwhelmed. Just shows that while the experience is the same, the interpretation can be completely different.

The princess graduates from pre-school tonight. Complete with red caps and gowns, musical numbers and snacks. Pictures to come.

Love to Learn

Last night's clinical was rockin' awesome. I dreaded the 12 hour shift (7P-7:30A) and the potential for another sucky OB clinical. I was so happy to be proven wrong. Met my new preceptor in L&D. She is a great teacher and I got to see it all.

Here is all I got to do or see that was new from a nursing perspective:

Started an IV (I love sticking people, so wrong).
Watched adminitration of an epidural, spinal and general anesthesia.
Watched a non-pharmacological vaginal birth.
Watched an emergency c-section (PTL). (reminds of how much I enjoyed NICU)
Coached and supported a mom with break through pain with her epidural (apparently the failure rate is ~1:20 and at that point the mom can't reposition well to help manage the pain).
Held back some hair while someone vomited.

I'm sure there must have been more, but that's all I can think of. Way more than I ever got in the newborn nursery. Came home and didn't think I'd be able to fall asleep (even though I was up for almost 24 hours), but I crashed. Totally overslept and freaked out that I was arbitrarily late getting the girls (usually get them at 4 and I woke at 4:15!!).

Just one more shift on L&D and one shift in a doctor's office. Is it summer vacation yet?

Smiles!

Baby Bumblebee

The Cutie Patootie

The Beauty Patootie

Here is the girls version of the Bumblebee Song:

Light at the End of the Tunnel

Well, I won't get my hopes up, but after a carefully worded letter to my clinical faculty/professor, I will hopefully get to see some babies be birthed in the near future. I will probably still be on night shift and, with my luck, C-ville will be hit with a never before seen dearth of babies. But, I have a small glimmer of hope.

And the Pixie said 'Mommy' for the first time today. (We've been stuck on 'mama'. Granted it was specific, but not very refined.). Life doesn't get better than that.

Again....

Seriously, I've been avoiding the blog because I just don't think people can stand hearing me rant anymore. I can't stand hearing me rant anymore. This summer semester really fuels the negativity. In addition to 'gouge-my-eyes-out' boring clinicals, we have to take a culture and health class. I thought it would be neat to learn about how different cultures approach health and wellness.....NOT. It's really a class about how racist we all are and a history of all the mistakes we've made. And I've never met judgier people than I have since working in the hospital, it's disgusting. But how about a class that teaches solutions and explains how to provide culturally specific care while providing equal care. If you treat every patient the same, they say you aren't being culturally sensitive. Treat everyone according to their culture and now you're being racist. Throw me a bone people. I just want to help keep you healthy.

Sleep, Please?

There has been little sleep in my recent past and it does not look like there will be much to be had for the 10 days or so. Friday night was my first OB clinical (1900-0330). I have to surprisingly admit I was bored out of my skin. I was really looking forward to this rotation, but a less than stellar preceptor (again) and learning that a majority of my time will be spent in the newborn nursery has made me start counting down the days until it's over. From a mom perspective, it was great to see so many healthy babies (overlooking the ones in withdrawal). But I felt more like a babysitter than a nurse. Change diapers, take temperatures, give bottles.... My preceptor didn't even explain all the stuff she was doing, but after observation I realized she wasn't doing anything I didn't already know how to do. I will try to jump in on a birth during Monday nights shift to try to salvage the experience.

My Friday all-nighter was followed by a Saturday all-nighter at my friend Becky's. Retro attire (and a few outfit changes courtesy of Becky's closet), dance music, summery drinks and good friends. It was a blast. Followed up by a morning of coffee, bagels and the "morning after movie" Footloose. I was shocked she had never seen the movie before. Dancing and 80's, what's not to like!? A fun time was had by all.

Autumn has a fever and super swollen lymph node, so I'll be juggling the little one while trying to do homework and rest before night clinical tomorrow. It's always going to be something.

We're off to ride bikes and use up some of that kid energy. If only I could siphon off a little; I'd be more awake and they'd sleep like a rock.

Crazy Busy, but Oddly Relaxing

After a weekend of washing cars and playing endless hopscotch, it was back to the books today. I've already got my second exam tomorrow. Last week my teacher mentioned that prenatal exams did not improve outcomes. I found that suspicious and found a great article that looked at 10-freakin-million births. Turns out prenatal care does improve outcomes, although it's still debated exactly how many are required to decrease mortality (3 appointments are not enough, but the typical U.S. 14+ may be a tad excessive). Disappointingly, a lit review revealed my teacher was correct in stating bedrest does diddly-poo to help delay preterm birth. The risks of bedrest likely far outweigh the benefits, but it's currently the only hope.

On a fun note, I have clinical Friday night (hello babies!), then a kick-ass party Saturday at my friend Becky's. This definitely calls for some dancing shoes and a sleepover. Can't wait!

Birthing a Baby-To Each His Own

A quick aside before I jump into my rant. The Pixie woke yesterday with a cough. By the middle of the night the poor thing was wheezing and having retractions. The Prince took her to an appointment first thing where her O2 sats were in the low 80s. She got hooked up with some nebulized albuterol and prednisone right there in the office. Sats back up to 98. Serious illness, but the Pixie is just as bouncy and chipper as ever. Now, the rant....(I've given you fair warning).

So, my little cohort runs on the crunchy side. I wouldn't say we're judgmental, but we're definitely opinionated. At any rate, The Business of Being Born documentary keeps getting mentioned, so I decided to download it from trusty Netflix. I went in knowing Ricki Lake created the film because she was dissatisfied with her first hospital birth and sought a water birth with her second child. No doubt, there was going to be a bias. But I found it so sensationalizing and judgmental (ironic, no?).

The result is to perpetually divide women. Breast or bottle, co-sleep or crib, working mom or SAHM, medicated or unmedicated. I'm not sure why we allow ourselves to continually be divided by these topics. Even the terminology used in the film was judgmental (natural birth for the unmedicated non-hospital births vs. ? ...robot births ? And to suggest that women are passive followers of their health care providers, are you serious! I think it's time to stop pointing fingers and accept that each of us has our own approach to motherhood and are capable of deciding which interventions we would like to pursue.

I am all for promoting low intervention births and reserving OBs for the really complicated pregnancies and labors. But, I also know that all of the interventions performed are not all doctor driven. I think a lot is patient driven; the patient's desire for an induction or a c-section or to not feel like their bottom is going to explode.

At the end of the day, I felt empowered to experience labor (pain and all), but that doesn't mean my decision is the right one for all women. At the end of the day, we are all mother's, regardless of how much we felt. Who are we to judge and impose our views onto others. I feel providing everyone with an unbiased education to help each new mother make their own decisions would benefit us all.

I Survived

What a day. Took the girl's to Bodo's for breakfast bagels...wait. My day actually started in the middle of the night when the Pixie got up a bijillion times because of a newly developed cold. Now, where were we...bagels. The Princess went to school and the Pixie and I returned home to have an hour and a half speech assessment. The entourage was hardly in the door before they were nodding their heads "we can't understand a word she says, either". So the Pixie is having a little trouble being "intelligible". She should be about 62% intelligible and is hovering in the low 30s. She has many of her own words for things, strings together 6+ words, can be told to go upstairs to retrieve socks and return not only with socks, but ones that match and her shoes to boot. So, we qualified to have someone come visit us twice a month and work with us on speech. Hurray. I know it will be a slow road, but I feel I've got a victory.

Then is was off to a Doctors appointment of my own (while trying to cram for my online exam). Off to the library to minimize my distractions and accomplished a 98% on the test. Darn well better considering I've squeezed out two little feti of my own.

Then I grabbed the girls, we played at the park and now it is bath time. A very productive day, all in all.

Blurry

I kicked off summer session on Monday with our OB class. Thank goodness I've already got the first hand experience because there is over 600+ pages of reading, 12 hours of lecture, and countless articles to absorb before our first exam tomorrow. What a whirlwind. The exam is online (closed book) and is accessible any time between 0900 and 2100. Thank goodness it's flexible because Autumn has her speech assessment in the morning and I've got an appointment in the PM. Nothing like overextending one's self. Wish me luck.

Camping at Big Meadow

Living near the Blue Ridge makes it very convenient to go camping, hiking and enjoy some breath-taking views. Some friends and I went camping this weekend. This was not the typical roughing it that I did back in high school (pup tents, hot dogs, and marshmallows). We had burgers, bacon, chips, s'mores, pasta salad, eggs, sausage, juice, coffee, bagels, cream cheese, trail mix, apples, oranges. beers, mudslides.... Well, you get the point. It was worth the effort because the whole trip was delicious. We were right on the ridge and could see spring green treetops all around us. We saw dozens of deer, but luckily no bears or skunks. I have to admit, it was too cold for me. I had a great time, but I know I would double my fun if it were warmer.

I recall someone peaking their head in the tent remarking on the rosy pink sunrise, a must-see. Sorry, it was too cold for me. Besides, I have seen many sunsets and they aren't that different, just later and in the opposite direction. Once I heard coffee was on then I was happy to leave my warm cocoon.

After we packed up, we went hiking to see the waterfalls. They were raging with all the rain we've had lately. I could hike every day. The rugged trails, the butterflies, caterpillars, and groundcover...just stunning.

Can't wait to try again later this summer. Are you in ladies?

Bacon, Baked Beans and Burgers at Big Meadow Restaurant.

Sitting down for a delicious meal.

The view from our campsite.

Did I mention the birthday pudding that Becky and Marie brought for Sharon and I (the birthday girls). A candle right through the foil. LOL.

EDIT: Here's another pick of all six of us at the Falls.

The Birthday Photos

Papau's Poundcake has been a birthday tradition for the kids since they were born. The Princess has never eaten it because sugar and sweets have not been her thing. And thank goodness, I've always used real almond flavoring which we have discovered she is allergic to (tree nuts and peanuts). Abigail decided on Birthday Brownies and Pudding in lieu of cake and was excited to help decorate.

mmm...homemade brownies (have you clue how many mixes have-or are processed with-nuts! ).

The Princess making a wish.

The Pixie working very seriously on that pudding.

The BFFs (Becky, Marie, Me, and Sharon).

Me and the Prince that made all the May birthdays incredible.