Mac and I spent the Thanksgiving holiday down in Southern California visiting all of our extended family. Since leaving for college, I haven't traveled "home" for Thanksgiving, opting instead to go for the longer Christmas break. But I'll be too preggers to travel at Christmas and so it was Turkey Day with the relatives this year.
Our plan was ambitious, but well crafted to include visits with anyone we are even remotely related to. First it was Thanksgiving dinner with the Smiths (22 people), then we were off to Lake Arrowhead after dinner to spend a few days with the Siechert clan (15 people), all of whom were camped out at my aunt and uncle's three story mountain home for a couple of days. Saturday we were down the mountain again and off to my grandma's for an early Christmas celebration. Afterwards it was dinner at Mac's with my immediate family so that everyone could catch up and all the grandparents-to-be could talk about the baby. Finally, we had a Sunday visit with Mac's uncle who couldn't join us for TG due to a recent quadruple bipass and then it was dinner with my aunt and uncle who we hadn't yet seen due to work conflicts. Whew!
Highlights of the trip included two surprise baby showers (one at the Smith Thanksgiving and one at Arrowhead), lots of cards and games with the cousins including a whopping four dollars of winnings at Texas hold'em (the Smith card sharks cleaned up as Mac came away with an extra six bucks. My dad was the only other winner from our high stakes five dollar buy-in game), and the very successful Proffitt family new gift exchange (we drew one name only this year).
With the Thanksgiving rush behind us, we are now looking forward to a quiet Christmas at home!
Wednesday, December 1, 2004
Tuesday, November 30, 2004
Dr. Smith to the Rescue
Last Tuesday morning, I was sitting at PDX when an announcement across the hall caught my attention:
"Is anybody in this area a doctor? We have someone in need of assistance."
Since I wasn't actually in that gate area, I thought I'd give any other MD around a chance to respond first. No luck. About a minute later the same announcement could be heard in our gate area. After a few seconds of hesitation, I presented myself to the gate attendant as "Pam, a doctor," careful not to mention that most of my patients are already dead.
They directed me across the way where a passenger had had a siezure while loading onto the plane and had fallen backward causing a bloody gash in her scalp. A nurse, medical assistant and gate attendant were already in attendance and were applying pressure to the wound.
The nurse filled me in. "She's had a siezure, but I already cleaned out her mouth and scanned her with the her vagal nerve stimulator." I had heard of these, but didn't know they were routine. Had I been the first to see the scanner on her bag I would have thought it was a magnetic security card.
"Is she continuing to sieze and do we have anything to put in her mouth if she siezes again?," I asked thinking I could contribute.
"Do you mean a bite stick? Nobody uses those anymore!"
"Yeah," the medical assistant chimed in, "they don't help and people end up with chipped teeth." He then handed me a pair of gloves, "here you go, doctor." Though this action was meant to be helpful, it made me feel about two inches tall as the gate attendant needed no help applying pressure so I just held the gloves impotently.
When the paramedics arrived they had many questions for "the doctor."
"How long was the seizure?," "Was it tonic-clonic?," "How did she hit her head?." After each question they looked at me expectantly, but since I hadn't witnessed the event I had to keep directing them to the nurse, who saw the whole thing.
The paramedics then took over putting all their equipment to use, taking her blood pressure, pulse, and applying bandages. I just stood there, lamely holding my gloves. After about 5 minutes more of this complete ineptitude, I slunk off to the bathroom and back to my seat across the hall, feeling like a complete waste of human space.
A decade of medical training and I was as useful as a pumpkin! Perhaps next time the passenger will need an emergency bone marrow biopsy!
"Is anybody in this area a doctor? We have someone in need of assistance."
Since I wasn't actually in that gate area, I thought I'd give any other MD around a chance to respond first. No luck. About a minute later the same announcement could be heard in our gate area. After a few seconds of hesitation, I presented myself to the gate attendant as "Pam, a doctor," careful not to mention that most of my patients are already dead.
They directed me across the way where a passenger had had a siezure while loading onto the plane and had fallen backward causing a bloody gash in her scalp. A nurse, medical assistant and gate attendant were already in attendance and were applying pressure to the wound.
The nurse filled me in. "She's had a siezure, but I already cleaned out her mouth and scanned her with the her vagal nerve stimulator." I had heard of these, but didn't know they were routine. Had I been the first to see the scanner on her bag I would have thought it was a magnetic security card.
"Is she continuing to sieze and do we have anything to put in her mouth if she siezes again?," I asked thinking I could contribute.
"Do you mean a bite stick? Nobody uses those anymore!"
"Yeah," the medical assistant chimed in, "they don't help and people end up with chipped teeth." He then handed me a pair of gloves, "here you go, doctor." Though this action was meant to be helpful, it made me feel about two inches tall as the gate attendant needed no help applying pressure so I just held the gloves impotently.
When the paramedics arrived they had many questions for "the doctor."
"How long was the seizure?," "Was it tonic-clonic?," "How did she hit her head?." After each question they looked at me expectantly, but since I hadn't witnessed the event I had to keep directing them to the nurse, who saw the whole thing.
The paramedics then took over putting all their equipment to use, taking her blood pressure, pulse, and applying bandages. I just stood there, lamely holding my gloves. After about 5 minutes more of this complete ineptitude, I slunk off to the bathroom and back to my seat across the hall, feeling like a complete waste of human space.
A decade of medical training and I was as useful as a pumpkin! Perhaps next time the passenger will need an emergency bone marrow biopsy!
Monday, November 22, 2004
Dreams
In the last couple of weeks, I have been having all kinds of weird pregnancy related dreams:
- I actually had twins, but Mac and I argued over the sex of the second one (he thought it was a girl, I thought it was a boy).
- I came home from the hospital with a plastic doll instead of a baby.
- I got a "preview" day, where the baby came out and we got to hold it and check it out, but then it had to go back in.
- We took the baby to the snow and its feet started turning blue. We couldn't get them to warm up because she kept kicking off her booties and blankets to expose her feet.
- The baby came while we were on vacation and we didn't have any stuff and we had to try to borrow everything.
- I went out binge drinking with my high school best friend, not remebering that I was pregnant until the next morning.
Then last night I had this weird monster montage that had nothing to do with babies. Go figure...
- I actually had twins, but Mac and I argued over the sex of the second one (he thought it was a girl, I thought it was a boy).
- I came home from the hospital with a plastic doll instead of a baby.
- I got a "preview" day, where the baby came out and we got to hold it and check it out, but then it had to go back in.
- We took the baby to the snow and its feet started turning blue. We couldn't get them to warm up because she kept kicking off her booties and blankets to expose her feet.
- The baby came while we were on vacation and we didn't have any stuff and we had to try to borrow everything.
- I went out binge drinking with my high school best friend, not remebering that I was pregnant until the next morning.
Then last night I had this weird monster montage that had nothing to do with babies. Go figure...
Small potatoes
My victory was short lived - today I got hit with over 100 new spam comments. What I really need is a way to block ceratin words in comments (say "wonder112" and "bob"), which would circumvent the whole changing IP address issue.
JD - I am ready for your help on this one.
JD - I am ready for your help on this one.
Saturday, November 20, 2004
Say what?
Recently people have gone from telling me I am getting really big to saying I am not that big for someone who is seven months pregnant. I personally like this latter vein of remarks much better than the former, but I must say some people have an interesting way of being complimentary.
On Wednesday I got two very similar bizarre remarks. After saying I was seven months along, one guy said to me, "Well, you're not a house yet." Not knowing what to say, I came up with something equally stupid,"Yeah, I am more like a condominium." We both (pretended) to laugh and I walked away. Later that afternoon, a woman said to me, "Wow, by seven months I was a tank!" Having curtailed one conversation with a come-back stupid simile, I decided to try again, "Yeah, I am more like a Hum-vee." I am blaming my stupidity on pregnancy; I don't have an excuse for the other two.
The other comment I got three times this week was "You don't look pregnant from the back." I didn't make any responses to this one, but a myriad of smart-alec remarks ran through my head:
-"That's 'cuz my uterus isn't in the back."
-"Yeah, my butt has always been big so it is hard to tell."
-"You can't tell a person has a cleft lip from the back either."
-"Um, do you remember that I used to have a waist, even from the back!"
But I just smiled, and tried not to waddle as I walked away.
On Wednesday I got two very similar bizarre remarks. After saying I was seven months along, one guy said to me, "Well, you're not a house yet." Not knowing what to say, I came up with something equally stupid,"Yeah, I am more like a condominium." We both (pretended) to laugh and I walked away. Later that afternoon, a woman said to me, "Wow, by seven months I was a tank!" Having curtailed one conversation with a come-back stupid simile, I decided to try again, "Yeah, I am more like a Hum-vee." I am blaming my stupidity on pregnancy; I don't have an excuse for the other two.
The other comment I got three times this week was "You don't look pregnant from the back." I didn't make any responses to this one, but a myriad of smart-alec remarks ran through my head:
-"That's 'cuz my uterus isn't in the back."
-"Yeah, my butt has always been big so it is hard to tell."
-"You can't tell a person has a cleft lip from the back either."
-"Um, do you remember that I used to have a waist, even from the back!"
But I just smiled, and tried not to waddle as I walked away.
Friday, November 19, 2004
Yo Triumphe!
Starting a weblog came with rapid positive reinforcement: new comments! I was so excited when I got my first couple of comments; they serve as an affirmation that people actually are reading. I was so caught up in getting comments that I gave my mother-in-law and my dad specific instructions on how to leave a comment when they tried to make a web-log related remark to me directly (over the phone - gasp!). But then the bubble burst ... I got my first blog spam: coolbob wanted to let me know about my on-line poker options.
From there the spam went up exponentially, mostly pushing on-line poker and popular prescription drugs like propecia, prozac and prevacid. On Monday when I was hit by 15 new spam messages, I was ready for war. Instead of invading an oil-rich nation, I had Mac teach me the ins and outs of IP blocking and I quickly black-listed three addresses. I have now gone four days without a single piece of spam! I admit I am a little disappointed that the spammer doesn't get a pop-up window saying, "your banned, mother-f#$%er!" (possibly followed by a large dose of genital radiation to prevent reproduction), but for now I'll be content with my little triumph ... until the next spam wave hits.
From there the spam went up exponentially, mostly pushing on-line poker and popular prescription drugs like propecia, prozac and prevacid. On Monday when I was hit by 15 new spam messages, I was ready for war. Instead of invading an oil-rich nation, I had Mac teach me the ins and outs of IP blocking and I quickly black-listed three addresses. I have now gone four days without a single piece of spam! I admit I am a little disappointed that the spammer doesn't get a pop-up window saying, "your banned, mother-f#$%er!" (possibly followed by a large dose of genital radiation to prevent reproduction), but for now I'll be content with my little triumph ... until the next spam wave hits.
Thursday, November 18, 2004
The Big 3-0
Today I started my thirtieth week. I have rapidly come to the conclusion that there is no real need to make it all forty weeks; lung maturity is acheived by 35 weeks. Everything after that is just time for the baby to fatten up, making it harder to get out at the end. So my all Chinese food diet starts Dec. 18th. Anyone up for a labor inducing death-march hike that morning?
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