accessorize

For the past couple of weeks, Leah has been accessorizing! Oh, I am so proud. She wants to put on every necklace she finds, and she also wears her bumble-bee antenae's everywhere. She definitely has her mother's sense of style.

This outfit would make Aunt Katie proud. Skirt, cool necklaces, legging... All she needs now is some boots!

Oh, and she also has a fascination with toothpaste. Don't worry, the cap is on.


Our sad little remnants of snow on a sunday morning.

ramblings of a frustrated ER nurse

Okay, this post has been a long time coming. I have always wanted to write about my experiences at work, but I have never sat down to do so. I'll probably write a post like this every once in a while, mainly because I think I'm interesting and funny :) This one is entitled:

Chest Pain Syndrome

So, you're sitting there in the ER waiting room because you have been running a fever for a few days and you are sure you have swine flu, and these dang elderly people clutching their chest and arms have been going in before you! How dare they! They were just wheeled in the door with their oxygen tanks, and the ignorant triage nurse decided that their condition warranted an immediate bed, while you, poor you, suffering from chills and a cough are left in the waiting room with the rest of the undeserving masses.

Suddenly, you think to yourself.... "Ah ha, what if I suddenly come down with chest pain! Then, I'll do a bait in switch once in the room, and the stupid doctors and nurses will certainly fall for it!"

(Of course, you incorrectly assume that no one before you has tried this, and you are unaware that the doctors and nurses actually have medical knowledge).

So you come up to the desk oh so pitifully, holding your chest and doing your best "I'm hurting" face. You say with a certain amount of well rehearsed fear in your voice: "My chest has been hurting a lot, and I'm having a hard time breathing".

Brilliant plan?? NO! THIS IS NOT A BRILLIANT PLAN! Let me tell you why.

Reason number 1:

- If you are under 35 with no history of heart problems, the triage nurse is merely going to do a quick EKG, check your O2 saturation, blood pressure, and heart rate, and send you back to the lobby with a reassuring "well sweetie, your heart looks fine and your oxygen level is 100%. We'll call you as soon as we get a bed." You will then be on the ER blacklist of people to never believe.

Trust me.... Us nurses are not as dumb as we seem, and we never forget a face.

Reason #2

- If you are over 35, even if you swear to the Dr. that you no longer have any chest pain, he or she will still order a slew of diagnostic tests to run, because no Dr. in his right mind will risk missing an MI (myocardial infarction, or heart attack. Yes, I like to use abbreviations, I think they make me sound cool)

Reason #3

- These tests will be expensive and time consuming. Instead of a flu swab we are doing chest x-rays, blood work, IV insertions, medications (nitro, aspirin, Lopressor, etc... nitro, by the way will give you a massive migraine that the Dr. probably will not give you anything for, because, after all, we don't want to stress your poor heart)

You will remain in the ER for hours, and chances are the Dr. will want to even keep you overnight in the hospital just to make sure you're okay. If you decide to leave we will mark in your chart that you left AMA (against medical advice), and good luck getting insurance to cover this ridiculously expensive visit.

Reason #4

- You will now have the diagnosis of Angina in your medical record, meaning you can no longer get a clean bill of health from your insurance. Your premiums will most likely go up.

Reason #5

- The Dr. will probably not address your actual reason for coming to the hospital. When you tell him about your earache, or toothache, or whatever, he will say "First let's make sure your heart is okay. Then we will worry about the rest." (Oh, and btw, it takes 4- 8 hours to officially rule out a heart attack)

All this to say, resist the temptation to fake the chest pain ( And yes, I have had numerous patients do this). You don't want to be the patient that cried chest pain if your massive heart attack suddenly hits you. Nor would you want someone who does not need it monopolizing a cardiac room and valuable resources if your mother or father is the one having a true heart attack.

rainy day

The other day it was raining, but it wasn't very cold, so after 30 minutes of Leah crying by the door, I decided that it was alright to go out and play. I put on her super cute rain coat, and she put on her bumble-bee antenaes, and we spent some time splashing through puddles and playing in the mud.

finally finished!

I finally finished this quilt that I had been working on since June. Okay, I actually finished 95% of it in september, I just never go around to putting the binding on, mainly because I didn't know how. My mom was able to show me how to do it last week, and now it's finally all complete. I wanted it to fit on a twin bed, but it is probably only big enough for a toddler bed. Oh well, I still like it!

Please don't look too closely, or you will see all of the major flaws :)

Leah seemed to like it too!

She almost took a nap on it, even though she had just woken up.

Our day

Here are the things that we do on a typical day:

Swinging in the baby swing that is way to small for her

We like to climb up and down the stairs. She can pretty much climb up and down on her own, and does not like for me to help her. Look how proud she is!

Playing in the park wether it is cold......
Or warm

Rocking in the chair in her room

And climbing on that chair

Playing outside in her mittens. She loves to play in the mud too... real fun

Climbing on her little tower slide we bought her

Or trying to climb on her tower slide

Last but not least, playing with mommy's clothes and her lightning Mcqueen car.

Another thing we do ALL DAY LONG is read. She brings me books constantly! Like constantly. I think I have read green eggs and ham about 1000 times already. I love the fact that she loves me reading to her and I hope that this lasts long enough for me to read the chronicles of narnia and Harry Potter to her. Yes, I said Harry Potter, because I love it and think it's awesome!

24

Oh Jack Bauer, how I have missed you these last 6 months.... Anyone who knows me knows how much I love 24, and, more specifically, Jack Bauer. I could write a post about how Jack is a great reflection of the Christ figure, (J for Jack, J for Jesus, hello?) but I think it's a bit sacrilegious, and I may get struck down. Anyways, after the 4 hour season premiere it seems like 24 is back with all it's typical 24 plot:

- we have the CTU director who stupidly refuses to listen to Jack, and is proven wrong

- Meddling cops who almost ruin everything

- annoying tech people who always think that their ways are better (oh wait, now we have drones instead of satellites)

- the innocent, framed person who almost gets tortured for nothing (in previous seasons she would have been tortured, unfortunately now the president "forbids it".... weak!

- The once in a lifetime multinational event that is sure to bring world peace

- a nuclear weapon on the loose

- a personal crisis that has nothing to do with the main plot, but is sure to cause a lot of trouble

All we need now is the midseason twist, a mole in the white house and in CTU, and an American who is behind everything, and we will have it all! Oh wait, Kim needs to be kidnapped, and she has to do something incredibly stupid. I think that one difference is that we now have a gentler, tamer Jack (okay, he did axe someone in the chest, which was awesome), but I still think he is, for now, more mild than he was. I know this is probably good for him, but I miss the old Jack who said "somebody get me a hacksaw" after killing a suspect in cold blood. Oh well, wether we see a mild Jack or the former Jack, I still love 24 and always will.

moment of insanity

So in a moment of insanity that lasted several hours, I contemplated doing something that I swore to never do: cloth diaper. I don't know what came over me... maybe it was seeing how cute some of those bumgenius diapers are with all their lovely colors, but I actually thought about it and even went online to check them out. Then I realized that those cute diapers would be filled with poop; poop that I would have to wash, and I quickly overcame that moment of pure craziness. To all my cloth diapering friends: keep it up, I don't see how you do it :)