Unfounded fears

I've been threatened with my life if I every post pictures of another blow out. I'm not posting pictures, just posting about it! :D The bambino and I went to to Wally-World today to get some much needed groceries. If you were to open my fridge, you'd see...1) milk...2) that's about it. So yeah, it was a much needed trip. Anyways, I knew it was the bambino's naptime, so I took my Moby wrap, which I pretty much love, and slid him in it to do our shopping. In spite of the cart that would not steer straight, I managed to get almost done before BamBam started to stir. He made his little grunting noises, then I heard it.

*insert suspenseful music here*

He pooped. And not just any poop. This poop was all the poop since Sunday some time. He's gotten in to this bad habit of saving his poop for several days then letting it all out at the most inconvenient time (to be changed and cleaned up). A wedding rehearsal, Wally-World, Sunday school...yeah, not so cool. Anyways.
I spent about 2 minutes hoping that it wasn't a lot, just like, the overflow (graphic I know!). However, the smell....need I say more? The smell made it clear that it was not, and could not be contained in a Huggies size 2 diaper. My 11 1/2 week old son will not be deterred by a mere diaper. Oh no! I peeked at the fabric covering his back, *whew* nothing was showing on the outside layer. I lifted that one up, uh oh...I saw some wetness...not good. I skipped right to looking down the back of his shirt. OH MY GOODNESS!
I should not have done that...the smell was worse than the sight! I calmly replaced all the fabric and decided to finish up shopping. I mean, he was already dirty, it had already leaked out and on to my wrap. It's not like I was going to save something from getting dirty, was I? *shrugs* I think my imagination went into overdrive after that. Every little look from other shoppers was a "ew, what's that?!" Every little laugh was "she's got poop leaking out!"
I was trying to remember if I had some clothes in the car that would fit him, and all I could think of was this "super baby" out fit under his seat. It was, well, still is, a new born size. Yeah, I don't think he'd enjoy being stuffed in that so much...so then, I was at Wally-World, right?! They'd have some clothes on sale that I could use to get him home in. Yeah, not so much. NOTHING! It was either way too big (think 24 month or 4T) or way too small (think preemie). Or, it was girls clothing. I wasn't THAT desperate yet...I found nothing.
Well, in the end, I wrapped him up in a receiving blanket so he wouldn't get any residual poop on his carseat. We came right home and I dumped him in the tub. He was probably thinking, "wait, it's not bedtime yet!"

You know, I almost *almost* didn't bring a diaper bag. *almost*

Oh, big news! This wedding I was at this weekend, I was a bridesmaid in it. I hung out with the bride and the other maids, so I left the bambino with my parents a lot. Thursday night was the rehearsal and dinner and Mark wasn't going to be in town yet, so I left the bambino with my parents for the night. That night HE SLEPT THROUGH THE WHOLE NIGHT! Did you catch that?! Oh, you missed it!? He slept through the whole, entire night! It was probably about 9 or 10 until 6. Yeah, he was up at six, but that's ok (my parents are early risers) because he didn't wake up to munch at 2 or 3 or 4! Sure, he wouldn't do it for me or his daddy, but he'd do it for gramma and grampa. I was happy, but concerned that it was a one night stand thingy. It wasn't he continued to sleep through the night even when I stayed with him. That's the big news! My baby is sleeping through the night! Right before I went back to work. I had nothing to worry about, I guess!
Another milestone we reached was my first day back at work. It was a good day to start on. I only had 5 patients, two of which left the floor before I got there. One of those never came back, the other didn't come back until 1130. I was hoping things have changed for the better. Not so much. There were two new people (at least two) hired since I've been gone. One just got off of orientation; the other is still on it. But it wasn't as bad as I worried it would be.
I guess this post is long enough, besides I have to go start dinner else we might end up eating pancakes...AGAIN! :)

Unbelievable!

So yesterday, MCM and I were headed out to our last class. Scrounging around the room for something to wear, I spotted a pair of pre-preggers jeans I was *sure* would still be wearable. Of course I'd have to use my little tummy band to keep them up and closed, but I could do that. The reality? I couldn't pull them up past my butt. Did you hear that!? My hips are growing?! EEKK!

Thankfully, I found a pair of preggers jeans right in front of my face, so I wore those. And guess what. THEY. STILL. SAG. I give up, I cannot win here. I'll just have to live in my PJ's and MCM's shirts.

And speaking of his shirts, that was the other half of the ensemble I wore out. MCM's long sleeve T-shirt he never wears. And if I kept the sleeves pulled up, it didn't look too big. With the sleeves hanging past my knuckles, it was hard to pretend it was my shirt.

Sad isn't it?

In other news, we got our stroller and carseat (Thanks, Mom and Dad!) put together. We do have to get it installed and checked, but I'm really not in a big rush to be driving around with an empty carseat in the back.

Thing One took this picture at BabiesRUs while we were getting the stroller. I'm not sure what's up with my face....but you can see my ever-expanding belly.

I'm 34 weeks in that picture. Now, I'm 35 weeks, 1 day. I've got a Doc visit coming up on Monday, and I think after that I go every week.

I've got my FMLA paperwork filled out, and today is the day I can submit it. For some reason I can't submit it earlier than 30 days. Whatever.

I finished Bobbie Jo's quilt, the star one. It looks pretty cool. I only made it half the size that the pattern was, and it's bigger than his quilt, but not so small that it won't work on a twin bed when he moves out of the crib.

There you have it, an update. And at the rate I'm going at, it'll be the last one until: "Going to the hospital!"

Week 30

Yeah, it's time. Here's some pictures from today. I've had to revert to wearing regular t-shirts, rather then the in-style baby doll T's. They just don't cover the belly. And this one is getting tight. *sigh*

I keep on getting asked if I'm ready to have the baby...NO! I'm not! I'm happily pregnant, feeling great, and usually can pull of the cute preggers look! There are times when I feel huge, when my back hurts, and I just want to lay around like a couch potato.

I had another doc's appointment this week. Guess what!? Doc didn't mention my weight; and when he did the fundal (uterus) measurement, his non-verbals indicated I was smaller than he had anticipated. Meaning??? This low-calorie stuff they have me eating is too low-calorie. But he would never ever say that, cause that would mean he was *gasp* wrong or something.


I've been able to schedule my work hours differently. Instead of working three 12-hour shifts, I only work one 12 and then I have three 8 hour shifts. I like that a whole lot more. Yeah, I have to go to work more often (thus getting up earlier more often than not), but I don't work as late. I have a whole lot less stress at work, though too.

Yup, that about sums it up.

Baby Update

I finished up the last, the truly last bit of painting in the baby's room. And I even cleaned up the mess that was left. Then I was tired, so I sat in the glider for a while. Man, that thing is comfortable! I really don't have anything specific to write about, but I know it's time to update.

I'm having a hard time putting my socks and shoes on, the bean bag is in the way :D I did manage to paint my toenails about a week or so ago. I don't know if I'll be able to change it myself though...wanna come have a pedi-party??

Brendon is really learning his moves in there. I think his favorite spot to poke some appendage out is right around my belly button. I can almost always find him there. My co-workers are really excited about my pregnancy. They rub the belly for luck, for a good shift, for any reason really. And he kicked Renea. He also likes kicking my badge. I have a beaded necklace that I wear it on. It ends up sitting right on top of my belly. It is kinda heavy from the stuff I have on it, so when he kicks, it bounces back. I think he can feel it, because he'll do it once...then do it again....then again, just right there. Kinda funny, no?

I'm starting to get excited, like really, really, really, really excited. But the more I get excited about having him in my arms...I also get more and more apprehensive about the birthing part. Like, what if I forget everything I've learned and I freak out?!


I just saw this scroll across the bottom of Discovery Health. "Drinking three or more alcohol drinks daily may result in involuntary muscular movements, says Spanish researchers." Maybe they're on to something???

Wordless Wednesday (with a post)

I did a lot of work on the quilt I started a while ago. Unfortunately, I don't think it'll go good for a boy or the bedding that MCM and I picked out. But if I just quit now, it'll be added to another pile of unfinished projects. Besides, I can't go buy more material until I get this out of the way.

And I did some work on the garden today too. I walked out to check the mail and I really didn't want to go back inside. And then I remembered that my dad had dug up some bulbs and I still needed to plant them. So I did that, and got a good dose of warm weather, sunshine, fresh air and dirt. At least, when the cold weather sets back in tomorrow, I'll be at work running around keeping warm...heh..

I bought myself some flowers. Not for any reason, certainly not because MCM does, cause he does :D I just though that the dining room looked better with fresh flowers in it. When my tulips bloom, I can add those. I won't have any greenery though, besides the leaves...oh well...

I think Bobbie Jo has invited a friend over and forgot to tell me. He bumps on one side of my stomach, and immediately bumps the other side, while occasionally kickboxing with my bladder.

....I forget...

So much pressure to blog, sheesh. Whatever. Here's a picture of the Bump. I took them Monday, I think. I can't be sure of anything these days. I'm really suffering from baby brain. Speaking of baby brain, I was shopping at Wal*Mart today, you know, for groceries and food and food and stuff. Here's the thing, I set my wallet in the trunk while I load the groceries, and stick the keys in my pocket, just in case. But not today. Today, I dropped the keys in the trunk with my wallet. Today, I forgot the keys weren't in my pocket. Today, I locked my wallet, my keys, AND my phone in the trunk...before I had unlocked the doors. I briefly considered throwing myself at the feet of a stranger to let me use their cell phone...then I remembered that stores have phones too...So I walked back through the door to the customer service, all the while flipping back and forth between sobbing and and laughing my head off...I called my Knight in Dr Pepper Pants to come save me. But since they were in the wash or something, he didn't come wearing them. At least, he did come, right?

I think that's it. I can't be sure any more these days...

*sigh*

I hope it gets better. I've got good help from my coworkers though. Most of them are parents, completely understand, and laugh with me when I cannot remember their names.

Mom, if you come visit you can see it for real!

Random information

So, gasoline is quickly becoming the cheapest staple of an American family these days. I have a picture of it's price taken from a gas station that is right out side of our apartment complex. MCM and I have been monitoring it, watching the number change almost daily. Today, it read $2.09 for the regular unleaded. I know someone mentioned on their blog that it's under two dollars somewhere. Who was it that predicting gas to be 5 bucks a pop soon...?

MCM and I went to an "American Heritage Band Concert and Dinner" put on by the school associated with out church. It was overall ok. One of the songs they played was the Armed Forces thingy. And usually, the band director says if you've been in once of these services (and so forth). Tonight, I think the director got a little excited about it. He went on, after saying please stand if you've been in one of these services, to say if you have a spouse, if you have parents, if you have siblings, if you even have grandparents (and so forth). What was I to do?? I have a grandfather who was in the Navy, a brother who's in the Marines, and a brother-in-law who's in the Army. I guess I was going to be playing popcorn during the song. So I stood for the Marines, and I sat back down. I thought about standing for ArmyBoy, but then decided that MCM could. Well, he didn't. And it was halfway through. I certainly wasn't going to stand late, because they were going to look at me and think, what did she start day dreaming already? But I popped back up for the Navy. I think my legs got a work out tonight. I can skip the gym right??

I'm headed to work this weekend and I wish I had a podometer to show you how many steps I take all day long. And I wouldn't even use it on the trek to and from my car. See, background info, the hospital is building a new tower dedicated soley towards orthopedics. Therefore, they've doomed the whole visitors' parking area on that side of the hospital, pushing the visitors' spots to meld with employees' spots. There is one row that no one knows for sure if it's visitor parking or employee parking (I avoid it, just in case). But that all means that we employees have to park in East Bulgaria. We even have to have stickers to ensure cooperation. Needless to say, we pretty much start our shift winded from the trek over.

After almost a year of talking about it, we've finally bought a bed frame :D I was feeling particulary blue one evening and MCM decided not to surprise me with it later, but throw it at me that night. He's like "I bought a bed" and my thoughts were just a mess of "we already have a bed" and "did we have money for that" and "you what!?" He was just planning on picking it up when I was at my class (which I forgot to go to *oops* ) and all. It's dark wood...and...nice.

That is what's been going on over here.

Does old-fashioned mean counrty/hillbilly/redneck?

Today was "Old Fashioned Sunday" at church. I was thinking, like 1700-1800's dress and stuff. Sure, there was the occasional person wearing the long dress with apron and bonnet. But the guys. I guess, to the ears of men it was "wear any thing flannel with overalls Sunday". Seriously, 8 out of 10 guys we wearing flannel shirts and overalls. The other part had like old suits with skinny ties or whatever. But the message was good, and the food...oh the food. What would a good Baptist service be without food :) They turned of the big lights and we had kerosene lamps placed strategically around the room. Tomorrow, I'm headed to Virginia Beach to see McCain and Palin speak. Originally, we were gonna leave about 7ish. The thing doesn't start till 10 anyways. But "driver" thinks that's going to a ton more people there than planned, so we're leaving at....ready?...5:45AM. That's 4 hours and 15 minutes before the thing starts. Minus about 30 minutes for travel...I guess I'd better find a good book, remember my pillow, and charge my iPod and camera tonight. So I'm headed to bed. I cannot believe that I am getting up VOLUNTARILY on a day off, before the sun even has *thought* about coming up. I must be insane! But I'll have some good pictures to show!

Uh, who broke the knife?

I wasn't planning on just being lazy all day today, really. I had great plans. I was going to return the evil handmixer (the one I had ran away when we moved, so I got another one but that's another story). I was going to weed the garden and rediscover the flowers I planted. I was also going to do something else, but I forget. Unfortunately, life had other plans. I woke up about 3ish with a migraine, but for some reason staying in bed instead of taking some drugs seemed like a good idea...until this morning when it was still hanging around when MCM left for work. And it was still around when I dragged myself out of bed to shower. And it was still around when I met MCM for lunch. When it finally slunk its sorry little self off between 3 and 4ish, I had this weird burst of energy. I'm not saying all this for some pity, but to show you what I found when I was doing all the stuff I tackled.

It's a knife...broken in half. I *know* my brownies weren't that hard! I'll have to ask the hubs when he gets home. I think I know what happened though.

The further away the peanut butter is from the top of the jar, the more pressure you have to exert on the instrument getting the peanut butter out. Between the broken knifes and rust spotted forks, I think we'll need to buy a new set of fake silverware before our one year anniversary....

Die with dignity!

Two bugs! Two of them! One of them was alive! One of them was a roach! I screamed, not as dramatic, cause I'm alone, but I screamed out of frustration. These. Things. Will. Not. Go. Away. No matter what I do. Time to set those little poison things out. I don't relish finding dead roaches on the floor, but it sure beats finding an alive one under my laundry basket! Ever notice that the dead ones are always 'belly up' with their legs up and exposed? If I ever was an awful thing like that, I hope I'd at least have the dignity to keep my legs underneath me...

My prince wasn't home to save me, BUT he did ride to my rescue with his Dr. Pepper pants, on Saturday. First, I left my lunch at home. So he brought it to me before I started work, at like 640. As the day went on, and Hurricane Hanna came closer to Hampton, MCM came a second time to rescue me from a difficult situation. I was cold, as in "my hair follicles were tired after being so tense all day long" cold. He brought me a long sleeve shirt. No, he wasn't wearing his Dr. Pepper pants, but it was the middle of the day, so that's ok. Go check out my etsy shop, sugarberry07(dot)etsy(dot)com and see the new cards and stuff I'm putting on there.

I have a clean house!

So, I broke down and did the mounds of laundry that threatened to take over my hallway. It's funny, the only time I think I have almost too many clothes, is when I'm putting them away. I don't mind the putting away part, it's the trying to sort them all and fit them in the drawers I mind. MCM says he's not a 'clothes-in-the-drawers' type of guy, meaning he'd rather step on them than stuff them in a drawer. But when it's hard to determine what's dirty and what's clean (I refuse to perform the sniff test) I just gather them all up in one BIG pile and wash them all. Yeah, it's extra work, but it's only me and him, so a few extra shirts don't make a difference. All of that said, I washed, folded and put away clothes. I even put clean sheets on the bed! I've done a load of dishes. I had someone come fix my hotwater heater, and they're working on getting my bathroom light fixed. I feel all productive and homemaker-y {{big grin}}

I took some boxes out to the car, and a fly got in! It's driving me nuts! Buzzing and swooping and all. Anyone got a fly swatter to share? Hopefully it will die soon. The last fly lasted 2 days. The one before it, like at least a month! I don't think I could stand it.

I'm off to work for a few hours.

My Hero

My husband wants me to blog. He practically begged me to blog...so, what to tell you about? I could tell you about the two awesome IVs I started today, but you'd only appreciated that if you've ever tried to start one. I could tell you about the spoiled kid in the hospital who rings his call bell ALL. DAY. LONG. but it means nothing unless you have nightmares about call bells. I know!

MCM and I went shopping the other day, Friday I think. We went to Bed, Bath & Beyond. I like that store. We looked at the fine china (I only got one setting, so it's worthless unless we can both eat at the same time), but we had problems. The one they have record of me registering for has blue on it, and I'm pretty sure my one setting has no blue on it. I was going to check when we got home, *someone* forgot to remind me.

But we did manage to buy a new toaster! It's a great toaster! Nothing at all like the piece of poo we have now. The heating elements/timings are all messed up, so unless it's on the lowest setting, it completely chars the item being toasted. AND this new one is made espeically for bagels! The inner coils get hot, while the outer ones don't. AND this new one has wide slots! Now, my chunky bagels don't get stuck, and I won't get electricuted trying to eat breakfast!

We also bought a small fan. Guess who's part polar bear and thinks if it's not 20 degrees outside, it's hot?? Don't look at me, it's not me. Yeah. *looks at him* The best part about this fan, is that it's silent. Not just quiet, I can't sleep with quiet; it has to be pretty silent, otherwise it keeps me up. I'm serious! Little noises keep me awake. Like, hearing my own breathing bugs me. I've gotten somewhat used to MCM's breathing, if we're not facing each other.

One year for my birthday/Christmas, I asked for an alarm clock. That's all I wanted, an alarm clock. My mom's stepdad got me one. A little background on this guy. He had this shelf, called "The Tacky Shelf." All things, every things. So he bought me an alarm clock. Not just a simple digital alarm clock. It was a face and arms, with real bells and a wind-up-thingy. And it ticked. IT TICKED LOUDLY! I struggled with it for about 4 months. I tried everything, even hiding it under a pillow, but I still heard it! Then we went on vacation. I left it home. I could just imagine the baggage people (we took a boat to Carriacou from Grenada) going berzerkers over hearing a loud ticking! Anyways, after being not wound for a week, and my sleep being silent, I did my best to 'loose' it. Actually, I think I still that little bugger somewhere...

Two years later, I put an alarm clock back on my birthday/Christmas list. I got the on I still use today. Silent, digital, electric, battery back up, with a snooze :)

It's barely 9pm, and MCM's already knocked out on the couch. I can't blame him though. Sunday after work, I was just as pooped (it was my working weekend).

I like Pirates of the Caribbean. There's so many funny ironic lines. *laughing at the movie* Jack Sparrow cracks me up, "You smell funny." "Why is the rum gone...but why is the run gone?" "Elizabeth, I would never have worked out between us. I'm sorry, darling."

Anyways, I have a blasted staff meeting to go to. It's the time that makes it so...annoying. 730 am, or 730pm. And it's always on a Wednesday. Stinks for me cause of church, so I have to go the super-crack of dawn meeting. I mean, yeah, by 730am, I'm usually in the middle of muck on the floor, but not by personal choice, y'know? Anyways, I'll be bringing myself some breakfast, I'm thinking a chicken biscuit from Chik-fil-A. Want some?

Oh, I have you to tell you, MCM was a hero today again! He found a roach on the bathroom floor, almost dead, but still moving his legs. But still, he saved me, and destroyed the roach!

Mondays...not my fave

At the hospital, there are busy times and there are slow times. On Monday, it's all busy times. Here's what a "normal" time line would be...

(I say "normal" because NOTHING ever goes as planned out, especially when it's in regards to health care)

0635-0645: Arrive at hospital, stop at locker and load up pockets and drop lunch off in fridge

0645-0715: Get report, check charts, attempt to wake up so I appear awake when I wake up patients

0645-0715: Organize all my papers, answer the phone, look up lab results, find out who gets what meds when

0715-0750: Meet and greet my patients, wake them up, apologize for waking their delightful sleep on their comfy hospital beds (yeah, right! (about the comfy part)), do my morning assessment (breakfast usually arrives between 0730 and 815ish),

0750-0830: Pass meds and help sit up/get out of bed for breakfast, eat my own breakfast

0830-0930: Set up for baths and chart my morning assessment and anything else I can, talk to the daughter who always call about Mama

0930-1100: "Stuff" like calling docs, implementing orders, perhaps discharging people, maybe getting report on a patient being transferred to me, passing noon meds, sending people off to tests/procedures

1100-1330: Various jobs like answering call bells, potty breaks (for me), potty breaks (for the patients), perhaps getting report a new patient being admitted, maybe discharging someone, fetching water, snacks, bedpans, dressing changes if needed, answering phone calls, calling docs, implementing orders...doing stuff that needs to be done before I go to lunch, dodge all the extra 15 bodies around the nurses station, look for lost charts, talk to the daughter called about Mama, even though she called this morning, set up people for lunch, get some out of bed for lunch

1330-1430: Take half an hour to for lunch, and cover for the other nurse to eat, answer call bells, think about threatening to take call bell buttons away, pass afternoon meds, potty breaks (for patients), wonder where that new patient is that I got report on at 10, getting patients back from tests and procedures, dodge all the extra 20 bodies around the nurses station, talking to family members who insist that auntie didn't get bathed all day, when I personally bathed her this morning, but she's confused so she doesn't know what she's saying, reassure the family that's upset because granny is restrained and explain that she was pulling at her Central Lne (and if she pulls it out, she could bleed to death before someone stopped her), explain to "loony tunes" that he can't get out of bed because he'll fall cause he has no legs from the thigh down.

1430-1630: Enjoy the solitude of not having more than 4 extra people in the nurses sation, discharge someone else, finally get that admit from the ER, then realize that half the stuff they said they did (labs, etc.) wasn't done, pass late afternoon meds, draw some labs, restart some IV's, send for more tests, get more ice water and snacks, attempt to make some patients realize that they don't have to press the call bell every 5 minutes, I will not for that they're here

1630-1730: Finish up charting, check labs I drew, call doctors, find out who's coming in tonight, set up patients dinner, get some out of bed for dinner

1730-1830: Pass evening meds, tell the patients that between 6:45 and 7:15 I will be giving report and to try to keep off the call bell until we're done, get charts ready, fill out report papers, empty out pockets of extra trash I carry for no reason...

1830-1845: Anxiously await the next shift's arrival, try to keep busy so I don't check my watch every 2 minutes

1845-1915: Give report, and leave the hospital



Wow, that makes me tired already....for a Monday....take all that goes on, divide it into maybe three groups: start of shift to middle of shift, middle of shift to late afternoon, afternoon 'til end of shift, AND mix them up, like a deck of cards in the hands of a toddler. In each group these things are continuously going on:

1. patients leaving for and coming back from tests
2. paging doctors again, and again, and again
   
3. avoiding the extra 7-20 people at the nurse's station
4. discharge and admit patients
5. get orders off charts and do them
6. restrain myself from hiding call bells from select patients
7. convincing patients who are confused to stay in bed
8. potty breaks for every patient every half hour (because they're convinced they *might* have to go poo)
9. givng pain medication, telling every one how long they have to wait before they can get more Dilaudid/Morphine/Vicodin/Percocet
10. talking to patients and family members, explaining that the doctors have no schedule, have to see about 20-30 other patients today, and will be in before tonight
    

There's no promise about breakfast for me, and lunch will be when I can breathe, be it 1200 or 4pm. I run to pee when it threatens to soak my scrubs....

That about sums it up for a Monday. There's just no way to take a picture of, it'd have to be one of those time lapsed photos, then compare it with a "normal" Sunday. Nothing happens on Sunday, except for two weekends ago, when everything happened. I guess it keeps it interesting. I mean, that's why I picked hospital nursing versus a doctor's office or something, the variety. How boring would it be if you could predict what would happen. I mean, it'd make it easier, I guess, knowing that there'd be nothing to make your lunch happen after 4pm...

About half of our full time staff is leaving in the near future (one person has already left), two nurses are preggo, so they'll be out, soon, as well. One doctor was commenting on the fact the Diane left two weeks ago, and asked Laura when she's leaving (December), looked at me, and said "When are you gone?" I was like "Yeah right, I'm stuck." Not literally stuck, but I'll probably be here at least 2 years or so. I mean, I wouldn't know where to go!

Mornings and Cooties

Did you know how much I despise mornings and waking up? Like, always. When I was little my brothers and sisters would take great delight in getting up super early, like 5ish to play games and stuff. I was the one who liked to say in bed. I remember this one time, we, as a family, had played Monopoly one evening. About 11 or so, we called it quits. Dad would make unseemly deals with those who were going bankrupt and the game would just go on and on. My little brother, Marine, had so much fun, that he woke up super early the next morning, like 5 or so and was like, KL, let's go play Monopoly again. I was having none of that, so he got Blondie to play with him...get this, they were like 9 and 6 or something, could barely read, and had no clue what to do. They played for hours though. Thing 1 and Thing 2 liked getting up early too. They usually kept each other entertained in their room. Their favourite things to play with were 1) beanie babies, or 2) plastic bottles. Yeah, like shampoo, sprays, empties, fulls, anything plastic. Thing 2 especially liked this game. She'd group them up in families in the bathroom and play house, make them talk, walk and such. We'd frequently have to raid her room before we'd shower or bathe.

So back to early mornings...I like sleeping. MCM is a morning person. Saturdays are a conflict of interests. This morning, about 6ish, while I was still reveling in the sleep, He was awake...paying more attention to me than I wanted. I tried everything, fake sleeping, moving away, huffing, grumbling, and bartering. He was persistent. I finally got him to let me sleep until 7:15. AFTER all this he decided to go downstairs so he wouldn't wake me up. AFTER I was already up. AFTER I couldn't go back to sleep again. AFTER I started getting hungry for breakfast. Wasn't that considerate of him? I love him, so it's all good. That really only happens on Saturdays. Weird, I know. Sundays he sleeps later, at least 630 or 7.

I went to a friend's baby shower today. Here's some pics. She's about 35 weeks, having a little girl. Can you imagine all the pink?

It's kinda funny. When I was in high school, all my friends were getting boyfriends/girlfriends and going out. When I was in college, all my friends were getting engaged and married. Now that I'm *whispers* an adult (SHH!!) */whisper*, everyone's having babies and such. There's Rebecca, Devon, Susan, (someone else), a doc at work, a nurse at work, a physical therapist at work, a pharmacist at work, a dietician at work, two more nurses at work...I think it's contaigious, so I'm going to just wear a HazMat suit to work from now on. That'll protect me from baby cooties, and bodily fluids too!

Speaking of babies, Noah, who I mentioned a little while ago, is doing pretty good. I forget what I had mentioned, but here's the scoop. Before he was born, the docs were concerned about his kidneys not working right. After he was born, he was peeing pretty good, but they ultrasounded his kidneys and found out that one of them was pretty much just a mass of cells, not a kidney, and the other was trying to overcompensate for it. They took him to surgery a few days ago to remove the mass (it was 10 cm!). The biopsy came back benign, but it's a type of fast growing benign tumor, so they'll have to keep him under watch. During surgery, they found out that his diaphragm (the muscle under your lungs that helps you breathe), wasn't entirely intact. They fixed it, attaching to the back of his abdominal cavity. Currently, he kidney is working well, with no reflux (backwards flow), and he's eating well now that he's got some extra room in that tummy. I think he even got to go home today! Here's some pics from my cell phone that I took a the day after he was born.

The Plight of the Shortage

There I was, going through Wal*Mart getting dinner food, when I got the phone call telling me that census was down on our floor and I didn't need to come in. Because of that I'm sitting here, blogging, eating lunch, and watching movies with the good intention of folding clothes and later, making cookies. We'll see. I think I'm going to be looking for another place of employment soon, unless the atmosphere at SCH improves.
Sunday was just awful. There were only two of us, with 6 rooms apiece. No secretary to do chart stuff and all the paperwork that comes with arriving/discharged patients. The CNA we had was new and unaccustomed to computer charting, though I hope she'll catch on quick.
Think of all the bad things that could go wrong in a hospital-just about all of them did! I started with 6 patients, while the other nurse had 3, though one was coming. That one that was coming, came about 10am. We discovered that she had discharge orders written at 8am...so she didn't have to come, she could have been discharged from her previous room.
The docs came around and discharged like 2 of Kim's remaining 3 patients, at the same time she go 2 more assignments to her empty rooms. In the hussle and bussle of sending out patients, she accidentally grabbed the prescriptions for one of *MY* discharged patients. Fortunatly, I was able to run down the halls, exit the elevator and catch the ex-patient just before she left. We got it all straightened out. Then, my patient that was going home, decided she liked the hospital and the attention she got, that she didn't want to be discharged and kept making excuses as to why she couldn't go home. First, I don't have a ride, then I can't go to the bathroom myself, then I don't have any money. We finally got her out of there by 630pm. One of my patients was having trouble, right about the time I was gonna go to lunch. Bummer. I didn't get lunch until about 345, and I had to tell Mark to go home and eat by himself :(
All day long, I had no time to chart, or enter orders (something the secretary would do), so I had to stay late, like 815 to finish charting and enter those blasted orders.
If we had a secretary, like we're supposed to, I could have gotten other things done. If we had more nurses, I wouldn't have had all 6 of those patients. One had fallen twice, a little foggy in the head. One was getting a unit of blood, had a private sitter (such a blessing, I tell you what! She did potty things, food things, keeping-in-bed things). One was an alcoholic with pancreatitis. One was another alcoholic with pancreatitis. One was a big woman with breathing problems. One was another alcholic with pancreatitis. Hmm, something sounds skewd. I guess the 4th of July sent everyone's pancreas on edge from their drinking and now it's rearing its ugly head.
The staffing issue isn't just today, or even just recently. Since they've opened 3 James and took half the staff from 3 York, we've been struggling to stay afloat. The general medical-surgical floor has that kind of ratio 6 to 8 patients per nurse, but the type of patients we get (normally) are more serious conditions-heart attacks, cardiac caths, strokes, and the like. The ICU have 2 patients apiece, and our floor is considered a step-down from ICU, so it stands reason that we should have a lighter patient-nurse ratio, no? Anyways.
The clothes are chanting my name, cheering me on. I must go

Found me how?

I have a confession. Several, probably, but only one comes to mind. I've been peeking on who's visiting my blog. I use stat counter, and I was playing with the links to see what they were for, and I found one that keeps track of the searches that bring you to my blog. Some of them are wacky, and some of them are funny. Here's a few:

brain inner photos
Apparently, someone is an aspiring brain surgeon....

marriage license mayhem
Nope, no mayhem, it went rather well, actually.

are meteorologists always correct
I submit that they are not!

wachovia college access account
To you who are considering opening one, please don't!!

not cut out for anything
I beg to differ! Have you asked Mark about the cooking?

krystina mcmillen
Alright, 'fess up, who's googling me??

learned from tv house m.d
Nothing realistic, unfortunately

do you peal cucumbers?
You can, if you'd like to waste your time on dumb vegetables!

water in brain swimming
Is this similar to having water in your ears?

inner brain paper
As opposed to??

brownies do aerobics
Actually, YOU are supposed to do the aerobics after you eat them.

how to get my brain working
You have to first open your eyes, and attempt to wake up. Mornings, I dislike them too.

/get my brains together and start working in icu
You wanna know why they call it the ICU? It's cause of the gowns. I've seen too many butts as people sit back down in bed, or get up from bed, or chair, or the toilet, or just walking.

right brain is overworked
Time to switch on the LEFT!

ran over the median
Yeah, no. I ran over a sign, but managed to stay on my side of the median. My sister, on the other hand, ran over a deer. Yup. With my dad's car. Yup. On Rt 3 (think of one of the busiest roads in your town). Yup. Didn't even slow down. Nope. Not the first time for the car, either. Nope. I was the first. Yup.

the innerworkings of my brain by krystina mcmillen
Now do I have a right to be paranoid? Know any bodyguards for hire??

when was the first balloon on a bottle invented with vinegar and baking soda
No clue, but I can tell about moldy food.

my headaches feels like someone is squeezing my brain a little to tightly
I bet if you asked nicely, the one who is squeezing would stop...

can i deposit a check for my mom at navy federal
Only if you hold an account with them. Same with Wachovia. And Bank Of America. And probably any other bank you can think of.

wachovia vs bank of america
I've saved this one for last. 'Twould seam that my blog is very popular for this topic.



They say medicine is the best...hang on....laughter is the best medicine. It's been a long day. We signed the lease on our new apartment. Tomorrow, my dad, Bethany, and Sarah are coming down to help us transfer our stuff. We're using a dump truck, remember? Only, the meterologists are calling for rain and thunderstorms tomorrow. Local stations say tomorrow afternoon; online stations say tomorrow night. We'll see who is right and who is dead.

What?? Have you never seen one of the best movies of all times? One 'friend' put it this way. "You don't ever want to watch the Princess Bride with the Haders. They sit there and quote it all!" I mean, I can't help it if it's been our therapy sessions while out away from civilization??

It's been a long time since Mark and I have stayed up late. But I think tonight's the night. We were wiped out from...I don't even know. We fell asleep about...6ish maybe...I slept until 730, when I realized I could catch Jeopardy! tonight. Mark slept until about 830 or later. I went in to see if I could get him up, but he was having fun with some train dream...so I let him be.

Time for food, or ginger ale, which ever is handy.

All Things Bright and Not Necessarily Beautiful

I have no excuses for why I haven't blogged in while, except I'm fickle and change my mind a lot. I didn't feel like blogging. But just in case I've got pictures. Facebook is so much more agreeable at uploading pictures. Anyways. It was Mark's birthday Tuesday. I made him a cake, chocolate, with chocolate icing. It's totally gone. It was gone yesterday. We did take to a little get-together Tuesday night with the Mallorys, they ate most of it! One of his birthday presents was a cordless drill, a DeWitt, 14.4 volts. He is so excited about it. His parents sent him a Sears gift card. My parents are just a little late.

We went to Sears last night. He was in heaven; I was in Lala Land. As I was coming home from work, he called me and was like, lets go to Sears tonight, right as soon as you get home. So we did. He got a ton of his kind of toys. He got a cotter key remover (have no clue what it was), a drill bit set, a screw driver set...and something else. He wanted this remote control car we saw, but it didn't come with the battery thing (supposedly the same one that powers Craftsman tools) and the battery alone was like 70 bucks!! That was more than that car!! So, no, we didn't get the car.

I've been working extra at work. Bring on the overtime, baby! Also, there's something called "add a shift." Basically, it's a cry for help. "We're so short on staff, we'll pay you extra to work over time." I succumbed. Bad things always happen on the days you volunteer. Always, always, always. I just realized that today. Right after shift change and report, it happened. Bad things happened. I shipped the one it happened to off to the ICU. Only uphill from there, right? Right. But all that didn't get straightened out until about...9am. So from 730 til 9, I was regretting my volunteering. But it got better, much better. I sent one of my other patient's home.

Funny story here, but first, a little background info. We have this little team in place in the hospital called Medical Response Team, or MRT. It can be used as a noun (Call an MRT), or a verb (Lets MRT her). Usually when it's a verb, it's "mert" instead of noun M-R-T. Got it? So I got this phone call from the IV therapy nurse, "What was the name of the patient that was MRT-ed, this morning, in 345?" I was only half paying attention and I heard "What was the name of that patient that was murdered, this morning, in 345?" I tell you what, my heart stopped and I thought I would never breathe again. I had to replay it in my mind and for a few seconds, all I could say was, "uuuuhhhh."

Then, a little bit later, we found out that on the other end of the tower, there was a situation needing a Code Silver, a potentially dangerous situation. I tell you what, these family members think it's fun to bring their problems to the hospital bed of their sick people. They were even going to be calling the police to come here. The staff that was down there...picture this, 4'10" Manager, Pregnant Nurse (about my size, but with a baby belly), Teeny-tiny Nurse (like a bean pole, half my size). Those three were the front guard for this family feud.

We're going out for some bonding time with Indiana Jones.

the radio's installment

This is a...what's it called...out of print? No. Like when they don't make it any more, or something like that? Yeah, that's what I meant, but I guess I totally blew that moment.

These are my tools. I should have had Mark's hands in there too, but I didn't think about it 'til now. I think they were invaluable tools. I never could have done it with him. Oh yeah, notice the dark chocolate? A very necessary necessity. When I get frustrated, I use it :)

The initial incision

Oh, I'm sorry, it's sideways. I forgot I had a few that were like that. Turn your head. Or your computer, which ever is easiest.

Whoa look at it's guts!

Good-bye old. Can you see my toenails shining? I painted them right before I went over there.

Hello new.

My wonderful husband using his muscles to crimp those nasty crimpy things.

They make a pretty good picture, dontcha think?

I took over the part of the taping, so it would be even and nice. I know it's not going to show, but just the fact that I'd see it all ugly and stuff...it drives me nuts!

Don't ask.

Beautiful, no?

I was waiting for Mark to come back and help me out, so I decided to see what it looks like in the middle of my car. Nothing to get excited about.

Remember what I said about that chocolate?

Almost finished...

All done! Doesn't it look sniffy and cool? I just forgot to plug the lighter plug back in.

I think we make a pretty good team.

Partying and Working

This is one baby who's growing up fast! McKenna is 13 months, and the biggest flirt ever! Don't be alarmed that she looks a big drunk or something, it's just the strawberry juice. She was in heaven with them. Those and sitting on her granddad's lap. She even managed to wipe her face on his shirt once or twice.














See that bit of strawberry poking out? That's not even 1/10 of the monster. It was probably as big as four of her fists. She devoured like 2 1/2 of them before moving on to juicy watermelon, which she ate by breaking pieces off then putting them her mouth. The poor strawberries just got shoved in...and up her nose it looks like there.













Did I mention that Wonder Woman from the last post also help head up this conglomeration of graduates, family, and friends? See that big strawberry on that plate? That's the one she was eating in the previous picture. The one that's half gone in her mouth was about that size as well. It's pretty much squishing that piece of watermelon. Oh, that's my brother Nick taking pictures with Bekah and Dad whilst McKenna munches away.








Now, I accomplished something that I had never tried before. I grilled. Not just "dad, let me flip them" but from start to finish, with the exception of lighting the grill. I have to admit, it was pretty fun. Now I know why guys like it so much. The flames, the smoke, the flames, the food, the flames!









You can kind of see some of the flames here, but that's nothing compared to what it was real life. Oh, yeah baby! Talk about flame broiled, those patties were basking in the flames! The hot dogs didn't fare to well, but I had never done it before, so how was I supposed to know to put the hot dogs on when the hamburgers were almost done?


Mark's playing X-box Live right now, and when I upload the pictures, it messes it up, so you'll just have to be patient to see the rest of the pictures tomorrow. I'm excited about putting them up here.

I can blog about my most recent accomplishment, since I can't blog about the previous recent one.

Today was my very first day all by my onsie on the floor as a nurse. All by myself as in, no one checking behind me to make sure I've charted on time, no one looking to see if I've given all the meds, no more "I'm Krystina, I'll be *one of your nurses today*." Nope, it was, "I'm Krystina, I'll be your nurse until this evening." I have to be honest, the day started out as very suspicious for a bad day. I woke up at 6:2somthing. Normally I'm up and stumbling about at 5:55 and out the door by 6:2something. Do you get the picture now?? Yeah, it was not a good start. Mark, he was so helpful and sweet, asking what he could do to help me get ready. He didn't have to work today, but he was up anyways. He toasted and cream cheesed a bagel for me :) I did make it to work on time though, well, on paper at least I clocked in at 6:45. But it turned out ok. Four of my five rooms were occupied. They all contained very nice people. I let one of them loose before 11am, so I had three peeps and two vacancies. I was praying all day that I wouldn't get two admissions. It doesn't sound like allot, but two admissions in one 12 hour shift is enough to make it a bad day. I think I had other people praying too, cause those two rooms sat empty with not even a prospect to fill them until about 6pm. Then was when IT happened. I realized that the new patient had the same last name as one of this neighbors. That wasn't going to fly. Can you see the confusion?? It's bad enough when there's two with the same names on one side of the tower, but on the same side of the hall, next to each other?? No way, Jose'! But I put him in the other empty room, that made him across the hall from same name guy. It all worked out. I have to go to bed, my husband is turning out the lights on me. I'll post the rest of the flaming pictures tomorrow, along with the radio fiasco.

What I can do, What I can't do

So much has happened since I last posted, how will I ever catch up? I don't know. I probably won't and you'll miss out on all the funny things that happened since...whenever I last posted.

This weekend, Mark and I did some car work. He worked on his air conditioning unit, and I worked on replacing my radio. No really, I did it mostly by my self. You'd be so proud of me! Working like I knew what I was doing :D I have a few pictures that I got with my cell phone. So I'll post them when I finish typing, so that blogspot can mess up my paragraphs.

I ran into a few snaggles along the way. Ok, maybe more than a few. I used Mark's electric screw driver to remove the face plate around the radio and stuff. Impressed yet? Mark had to come and rescue me. I wasn't able to get the plate off, it was snapped in place, and I was afraid to break it. Passing that hurdle, I, all by my onsie, took the radio out and disconnected it. Then I was stumped. But these things always come with some directions, right? And they'd be helpful, right?

Wrong. Now I know why guys throw the directions away. I threw them away (read, I threw them into the backseat in case I did need them after all). It came with these plastic boxes with wires sticking out connected to nothing. Weren't they supposed to connect something, rather than dangle like octopus legs?? I guess I was mistaken. I called my backup. He came riding in on his white horse with...you get the point. He said all the wires are supposed to connect to each other. What the-?!? He brought these boxes of....wire connectors?...or something. Sure, he made it look easy when he crimped the thingy on the end of the wire. I was thinking, "Oh, just like crimping beads with jewelry making, huh?"

Wrong, again. I can start IV's, I can draw blood, I can attach a 12 lead EKG to a chest, I can interpret EKG rhythms, I can't replace a radio. I'm flawed!! I couldn't crimp those things to save my life! My poor little arm muscles, they were worn out. And I had only done 2, there were like 12,549 left. And you know what else?? Not all of them had a matching wire to be connected to! I was shocked! I did about half of them before I had to surrender the crimping tools to my husband. He did the other half in about 1/16th of the time it took me to do the other half. But I couldn't figure out, where the black wire attached to. I guess that's why I'm not an electrician.

We decided to see if it worked. I turned the car on, pressed the power button...nothing. turns out, I blew a fuse playing with the bazillion wires. Imagine that. Still didn't work after we replaced the fuse. Mark worked his magic and connected it to an outside power source and that proved it did work, at least outside the car. Inside the care was another story. We were both frustrated. Neither of our projects worked. His AC was still broken, and my radio was...not. I put the old one back in (no wire connecting, this time, just snapping parts together), in hopes that it would work....

Wrong, again. We drove home, him with his uncold air conditioning, me with my silent radio. My whole life of driving flashed through my head during the 3 minute drive home from the shop. How will I be able to drive more than 10 minutes without getting bored or sleepy?? How will Mark and I take long road trips?? We'll have to...t-ta-talk.

Then, Mark had this great idea that there must be another fuse that I had blown. Great, now I'll forever be known as the wife who blew both fuses in the car, trying to change the radio. Sure enough, he found it. Yay, now my old radio works! If only we had thought of that while were still at the shop.

I do have this plan to go over to the shop later today for attempt #2. I'll still have to figure out how to get it mounted in the car...I guess I'll trip over that hurdle when I get there.

Now for pictures...I think they turned out pretty good. I'll try to remember to take some today. I don't want people gawking at me, so I'll be over there later today, about 3ish, after most everyone else is gone. So perhaps by tonight you can see my new cool sounding radio :)

Gotta run!