My handy-man

Projects completed this week at the house, by my husband, on top of his 55 hrs at the hospital:

• Two month old couch screwed back together after randomly breaking two weeks ago (due to being stapled together (For real?!?!) )
• Projector screen hung in the living room
• Projector mounted on the opposite wall
• Standing in line with me for over an hour while I waited to get a court date assigned for the ridiculous expired tag ticket I received last month
• Kitchen light/fan fixture replaced (after the ugly glass cover fell from the sky off the old fixture last night on our dinner guests, nearly killing them and revealing the haphazard wiring puzzle beneath)

The deadly old fan

Our lovely new fixture

What would I do without him? And thank you Jesus that he still somehow finds the energy to take care of me after caring for really sick and crazy people all week in the ER!

Six months ago today...

we were about to start a wedding and our lives together. Where has the time gone? It feels like it was just last week.

Special Delivery

Yesterday I delivered my first baby. At 1502. His name is Levonn, and he weighed in at 7lb 7oz. Amazing.

I've helped so many moms get to the point of delivery - spending hours caring for them, coaching them, medicating them, and pushing with them - only to get that new little head to just about be poking out and move aside for the doctor. I love my job, it's why I wouldn't be in any other profession. The entire labor and delivery experience women go through is amazing to share in. However, there are times when I feel just a little bit jipped about standing by while the doctor takes the glory of the moment I've worked so hard for with my patient.

Yesterday I got to share in that glory. I was caring for a patient of Dr. Vuong's, a spunky asian doctor we all love. When he came in for delivery I stepped aside to stand by until the baby came out. He got all gowned and gloved up and as the baby was crowning he told me to get some gloves on. I was a little confused, and had a glimmer of hope for what was to come, so quickly slapped some sterile gloves on and stepped beside him. Dr. Vuong stood by and talked me through everything while I delivered slippery little Levonn and clamped his cord so Daddy could cut it.

I love my job.

Mini Vaca

What a great weekend we've had!!! Scott and I were both getting a little burnt out I think and this weekend has been exactly what we needed. Two days of no hospital work and time with each other, along with some of the best weather we've had all summer.

On Friday evening Scott actually was able to leave the hospital at the reasonable hour of 7:15 pm. Only a 12.5 hour shift that day! A date night with just the two of us was in order to celebrate. We tried Byblos - a fun Mediterranean restaurant on Magazine Street. Delicious. We've heard rumor that they have belly dancers there on Thursday nights, so we shall have to return and see someday. It was so nice to be able to sit and talk, and talk, and talk. How I've missed having the time to do that with Scott since residency started. These precious moments are few and far between and I treasure them.

Saturday morning we slept in together - also a rare treat - and then went to the pool with a few of our friends. There was barely a cloud in the sky and almost no humidity. We all caught up on each other's lives, sipped homemade Mimosas, and ordered lunch to be delivered poolside from a near-by restaurant. Can life get better? Oh yes. If you include an afternoon nap with plenty of cuddle time and a long walk on the levy at sunset with the pup.

This morning we slept in again and then decided to try out a new church. Church hunting in NOLA has been rather slow, and although it was good to worship with others this morning, this church was not quite what we're looking for. There were choreographed dances to the worship songs, with teenagers leading from the stage. It was awkward to say the least, and distracting. One more to check off the list.

I experimented with a new recipe for BBQ marinade sauce and worked on a rack of beef ribs for the afternoon. Scott hung his beloved new projector screen and fixed our couch - an entirely different bag of worms. We then took the ribs over to Anne's condo and laid out with her at the pool and BBQ'd. It was completely relaxing and so nice to be able to spend time with her, as we haven't done that in a while.

The Courtyard outside Anne's door with the pool in the background

MMMM, ribs, sweet potatos, and zucchini on the grill

My sweet hubby and I with dinner

Anne and I sitting down to our feast

Tomorrow morning it's back to the grindstone, but for now I'm happily curled up next to my husband, excited to have a snuggle buddy other than the dog for tonight.

Insatiable Itchies!

This week I experienced fire ants for the first time. As my friend Brandi says, "They are tiny workers for Satan himself," and I completely agree with her!

I was walking the dog and paused to pick up one of her poops she so kindly decided to deliver directly in front of the school down the street from us. As I was finishing picking it up I felt piercing stings all over my right foot and looked down in horror to see I was standing directly in a nest of ants with them COVERING my foot and beginning to crawl up my ankle! It was as if they rallied in anger, loaded the whole nest onto my foot, and then let out the war cry to all bite at once.

So, there I was doing a one-footed dance in the school yard, trying to hold onto the dog leash (with Ariyah tugging to move on to new smells), and not toss the bag of dog poo all over the myself - all the while one handedly trying to frantically wipe the ants (that are now crawling up my hand and arm as well) off of my foot. This whole time they used every last second to chomp, chomp, chomp in spite of my cursing at them and smashing as many as I could. Needless to say, they got the best of me.

I reacted bad - my whole foot basically turned into a swollen, red, bumpy, itchy mess that is impossible to satisfy. One nurse at work told my to try toothpaste. I sat at the nurse's station slathering it on and it helped for a few. Then the itch came back. The next nurse told me "No, no, it's deodorant you're supposed to use" I was desperate and rubbed my stick of deodorant all over the top of my foot and ankle when I got home from the hospital. No help there. I woke up in the middle of the night clawing the skin off my puffy foot. Ohhhhh, how good that felt! Hydrocortizone, Benedryl, and spray on Wal-Dryl, purchased by my wonderful husband, along with time, have proved to be my best friend here.

Four days later and they are finally clearing up. Since that day though, Ariyah has been itchy as well. I checked her for fleas and didn't find any, so I figured maybe the ants got her too. This morning she woke up and sat scratching every possible place she could reach for about 10 minutes. Scott checked her over again and found a flea on her belly!!!! Off to Pet Co we went. We've sprayed down our whole house, run the Roomba twice, and doused her in flea spray. Now, here we sit in our smelly, chemical-filled house clawing at our ailments. Why did God create these awful little insects again????

It's all in the eyes

Scott is working his sixth night in the last seven days - aka about his 78th hour in the last week. This means that, for the most part, I've been sleeping alone.

The other morning I woke up in somewhat of a panic wondering why my body felt so heavy and I couldn't move my legs. I was in that semi-conscious state of ridiculousness we find ourselves in somewhere between sleep & alertness and as I came to, I realized. Nothing to worry about, it was just our 50+ lb puppy sprawled out across me.

You see, when Scott works nights I don't make Ariyah sleep in her kennel. She's more alert and watchful when she's out of it. This makes me feel safer because she'll bark when she hears strange sounds & will hopefully make a ruckus if someone comes sneaking through my door at all hours. I let her sleep with me a few nights and then Scott found her stretched out alone across the bed Monday afternoon when she was uninvited, and he didn't like that. I know this sounds like a double standard but we somehow forget our puppy doesn't understand the difference between invitation-only, occasional bed sleeping & sleeping-between-your-sheets everyday bed sleeping. To her, we've let her do it twice so why shouldn't she do it anytime she pleases? Therefore, due to all the hair in the bed from the pup, & the fact that she's going to double in size within the next six months, he laid down the law that she was not to sleep there anymore.

Since then I've been as stern as I can manage - but somehow she's sneakier than I thought and I've woken up with her next to me (or on top of me) every morning he's been gone. Tonight I'm being extra tough - in an effort to honor his request - and she's been extra persistent so far. She got half her body up and I yanked her off while scolding her. Then she tried just two paws on the edge. I yelled at her. Now, in her last valiant effort, she's pulled out the trick card and is using her big, beautiful, sad, brown eyes.

How does anyone resist those?! Someone help, I think I'm about to cave....

Firsties

Yesterday was my first day at the new job. I felt like a kid going to her first day of Kindergarten again - just a little nervous but also so excited! Everyone was so friendly to me & so far I am liking the unit. I oriented with Dionne, who was also working as charge. We had just been in to check on our first patient, who was quietly resting in bed after her delivery, sleeping the remainder of her epidural off. We got back out to the front desk and the unit secretary said that the patient just called out for her nurses. Weird. I said I would see what was up, and walked back into the room (mind you it had been about 90 seconds) to find the patient standing in a crouched position over the toilet. How she got there on her epidural legs, I have no idea. However, the next overwhelming sense I was hit with was the stench in the room. I walked closer to her and discovered that she had explosive diarrhea not only IN the toilet, but also down the side of it, and all over the wall behind her. Guess the pregnancy constipation is over for her.
Welcome back to Labor & Delivery and all of it's glories, Megan.