Random Thoughts

I am so not into taking pictures or blogging lately. Sorry. I started back to work. It has been nice to only work 8 hr shifts. I feel like I am missing half of my brain. I seem to have forgotten all passcodes and door lock combinations and I don't know where anything is. There are some new policies and I am slow at charting and I could go on and on. My patient last night was psychotic. Luckily, she delivered within 45 min and I got her upstairs to Post-Partum as fast as I could. Did you know it is against our hospital's policy for a patient to keep her own placenta? My psychotic patient threw a fit because she wanted to take her placenta home and bury it so she could plant a tree over it. This is granola-ville California!! She can't do that? I personally think it is gross, but whatever.

The tooth fairy is visiting Julia for the first time tonight. She went to the dentist today and begged her to pull her wiggly little tooth on the bottom. Julia had been working on it for weeks to no avail. The dentist kindly abliged and helped Julia out by numbing it with orajel and pulling it. She was so excited. Natalie also had her appointment and was very brave while the dentist removed her spacer. Tonight, I checked on the girls as they were sleeping.... And I found a note next to Julia's pillow. It said, "Dear Tooth Fairy, Could you please give my sister Natalie money for her spacer? Sincerely, Julia" (Only it was written in very mature handwriting for little JULIA to have written... ) I wonder what the tooth fairy will say to that... :)

Julia has changed career choices for when she grows up and states she wants to be a car cleaner. She recently helped me detail my car with armor-all and a Q-Tip. Yes, I know I am crazy... but it felt so good to get that Q-Tip all in the little cracks and have all that dirt come out. It was that or buy a new car. My 99 Rav4 is still running strong with close to 189K miles and I am broke so having a SPOTLESS car makes me feel almost like it is a new car.

Not a good day...

It has been a rough day. I've been calling my OB's office since Tuesday asking for a refill on my Zofran (anti-nausea) medication. I won't run out until Saturday-ish, but I am going back to work Sunday night and I really need to have it refilled by then so I can function. I finally got the refill ordered today, Thursday (2 DAYS later), and sent to the pharmacy, but apparently my insurance won't pay for the medication unless I have my Dr send a special note to authorize my need for more than 15 pills a month. (I take this medication 2-3 times per day!) The medical assistant at the OB's office assured me that my MD will return from his vacation Monday morning and work on the special authorization then. I tried to explain that I have to function Sunday night for 8 hours and then sleep all day Monday and then function Monday night for 8 hours. She stated ever so kindly that first thing Monday morning my MD will solve my problem. The problem will start Saturday when I run out of Zofran and I start throwing up until I get more Zofran!!! I begged for the OB covering for my Dr to please write the special note to the insurance co. She said it has to be from my OB & not the on-call OB. (I don't believe her!!! And I plan on asking my OB if this is true!!!) I cried all afternoon. Solution to my problems.... Pay $5 per pill and get a two day supply of Zofran until my MD returns from Vacation. Anyone have any Zofran around you can spare??

It's Going to Be a BOY!

It is a boy! At least we are pretty sure it looks like a boy. We are very excited. Natalie & Julia think the sonogram pic looks like an alien. I'll post it later. :)

Half Way There!!

Today I am exactly 20 weeks pregnant. I am so happy to be feeling better. So much has happened in the last few months & I am so behind on blogging. I'll just start with the now & catch up the last few months later.

Today we (as in Ben, Natalie, & Julia and I) will be going to the ultrasound appointment that hopefully will tell us whether we're having another little girl or boy.

I am ready to go back to work on July 12th. I'll just be working part time or about 20 hours a week.

We'll keep you posted on results of today's ultrasound. :)

The Joy in My Journey

We are expecting Baby #3 November 17th 2009. I've been a bit of a recluse these past few weeks. This news has turned my world upside down and brought me to my knees literally worshipping the porcelain throne. The nausea and vomiting have been unrelenting. I was very sick with Natalie & Julia... or so I thought. It is much much worse this time. My Doctor took me off work for a few weeks and at this point I don't see how I can go back. I've had three trips to the ER for IV fluid hydration. When you go 24-48 hours without holding any food or liquid down, it is the only thing that helps. I've lost 15 pounds! That last 15 pounds that just wouldn't come off for the last few years is now gone.

The joy in my journey thus far..... we tried for two years for this one. We are so grateful that we get the opportunity to have another child in our family. We are very excited. Also good news that it is just one kid and it looks healthy so far. (Which is more than I can say for myself.) We have wonderful family support and a great branch of the church bringing in meals and cleaning my house these last couple weeks. My husband does everything. He's not working right now. (Yes God has very amusing timing.) So he spends his day getting the kids off to school and to their various activities and looking for work and of course, taking care of me. This last week has been better. I can hold at least one and sometimes two meals a day down. I am living on Gatorade. I can keep 1-2 quarts a day down these last few days. I am 11 weeks along and that means 25% of the way there!!! I am starting to see some glimmers of light at the end of my tunnel.

The Lion

Natalie won 1st place in an art contest for the whole county. Her painting then went on to state to win 2nd place! We are so proud of our little artist. Natalie used black marker and watercolor pencil. The art contest was sponsered by the California Federation of Women's Club. Her painting is titled "The Lion." Way to go Natalie!!!

Neonatal Nursing Class

I went to another class this week on Neonatal Nursing. It was really good. I loved the instructor, Margaret Crockett. She had a great way of explaining things. Learned about Hyperbilirubinemia in newborns and how/why it happens. Critical levels can cause life long severe brain damage but can be totally prevented. Also learned about sepsis in newborns and how to calculate the ANC and I/T ratio in a newborn CBC. This basically teaches us when to call the Doc and ask for blood cultures and antibiotics on a septic baby. Also learned about RH incompatibility and ABO incompatibility. It was a super awesome class. I stayed awake and was eager to soak in all this new knowledge. The smaller hospital that I work at requires some baby knowledge in addition to Labor & Delivery. I really enjoyed this class.

I'll be flying to Dallas in the morning to see my Dad. So far the Chemo is working. He is much more sick with the #4 dose that he had a few weeks ago. He has dose #5 scheduled for Monday. Dad says that he has missed several days of work and has really slowed down over the last few weeks. But his repeat PET scanned showed all tumors were shrinking. (There was one tumor in his abdomen that was the same size or slightly larger, but all others were looking good).

Ben's been interviewing for jobs and keeping up the girls' busy schedule.