A few more...

Here's 10 more signs you might have small children, courtesy of Melaniek at A Volunteer Firefighter's Wife!

Top Ten Signs You Might Have Small Children

10. You have a tub full of bath toys, a step stool, and a potty seat in your bathroom, complete with a basket of kids books for bathroom reading pleasure.

9. A whole playlist on your iPod is dedicated to kids Bible songs, songs from Elmo, Sesame Street and Dora.

8. You look forward to naptime, not only because it's quiet and maybe a time when you could get housework done, but also because you could take a nap!

7. Your work locker is loaded with your kids pictures and priceless pictures of Mommy in her "nurse clothes".

6. You don't think twice about stepping over gates and opening cabinet locks everyday.

5. You could recite the entire movie Cars because you have seen it, oh, a million times.

4. You sing the Hot Dog Dance song in the Shower.

3. You look forward to the Imagination Movers because they are the closest thing you see to adult men during daylight hours.

2. You tuck your patients in bed. I had a laboring momma who was returning to bed after going to the bathroom. I didn't think much about it, but I pulled the sheet and blanket up to her shoulders and made sure it wasn't wrinkled. She looked at me, smiled and said "You're a mom, aren't you?"

1. When giving report, you tell the oncoming nurse that your patient "Just got up to go potty".

Progress Report - Pregnancy #5

I'm finally starting to actually feel pregnant. I remember feeling that way from the very early beginning with my last two pregnancies and I've been waiting to feel that way this time around. "Morning Sickness" has started in, although it isn't horrible.With Isaiah and the m/c, I was nauseated all day, everyday, with lots of vomiting. I really only feel a bit nauseated at times, more of a sour stomach feeling than anything, and it's mainly in the evenings, which works well since I go into work at 7pm. I'm still a bit crampy on and off and for a day or two I had convinced the crazy part of my brain I had symptoms of an ectopic pregnancy...that is until the nurse part of me realized it's just round ligament pain. Man, I'm annoying like that! My pants are getting snug(er) and I can't suck my stomach in as much. It's amazing how much faster you start to get puffy your 5th time around.

I'm starting to enjoy the fact that my co-workers (except for 2) don't have any idea I'm pregnant. It's almost like a little game. Because I work OB, everything has to do with pregnancy. Feeling a little sick? You must be pregnant. Feeling tired? Gassy? Heartburn? Irritable? Hot? Well, you must be pregnant. Friday night, a few people asked if we were going to have anymore, if we were trying. "Oh, someday we might have another(in October)" "Well, we aren't trying per se (the deeds already done)" Then I just laugh to myself. It's been fun. Husband thinks I should deny all the way to delivery. "No, I'm not pregnant, I'm not sure whose prenatal record that is or why my abdomen is huge". And then after the baby is born, I can say "See, I told you I wasn't pregnant!". Really, I am easily amused.
Sunday night, one nurse did call me out. She is notorious for this. I'm not sure how she does it, but she always seems to know when someone is pregnant, usually before they tell anyone. We were sitting at the desk as it was S-L-O-W and she looks at me and says "You look different, you're glowing, are you pregnant? When was your LMP?" Yep, only an OB nurse would ask "when's your LMP?" I told her, "No, I"m not pregnant" but I guess my face gave me away because she was relentless until I couldn't lie anymore. And there was another nurse and a secretary at the desk. I told them under no circumstances could they tell ANYONE because I didn't' want to tell anyone until at least my sono on the 18th, but probably not until later than that. Well see. She's not good at keeping secrets, but she understands so maybe my secret is safe for now.

A Couple Videos for your Viewing Pleasure

I've never posted videos before, but I stumbled across these while playing around on the internet today and I thought they were pretty funny




And since I did work in critical care for awhile, I found this entertaining and educational:

Advanced Directives

Do you have a Living Will? Do you have a Power of Attorney for Healthcare? Well, you should. Anytime someone is admitted to the hospital, we ask them if they have an Advanced Directive. Most women of childbearing age don't have this, and feel they are too young to think about end of life decisions, and who will make them if they are unable. By default, those decisions would fall onto the spouse and they think that said spouse will know what they would and wouldn't want done. In a situation like that, your family members are hurting, may be in denial, and may not know what you would want. Make it easy on them, put it in writing. I urge everyone, especially the young and healthy to think about what they would want done, to what extent they want their life extended if they are in a situation that they can't make that decision themselves. Think about it. No one plans on the unthinkable, but the unthinkable can and does happen. Here is a very poignant post as to why you should think about this.

Something I love about midnight inductions..

...Is that sometimes they are already in labor when they come in! My midnight induction the other night was a multip, and just 3 cm when she came in, but her cervix was thin and very stretchy. Hmmm, maybe I'll just take my time admitting her, and recheck her in an hour before starting pitocin. Wouldn't you know it? 6cm. WooHoo! Thirty minutes later, her water breaks, she asks for the epidural and she delivers before the end of my shift. Gotta love that! It's great to be able to admit someone and see them through to delivery. Especially someone who thought she was in for a long induction of labor. She had said she was induced last time, that it took 18+ hours and she pushed for 2. Not this time. She had less than 6 hours of labor and only pushed a couple times! She was thrilled, I was thrilled, and her doc was quite surprised when I called her for delivery but was happy she delivered so quickly and easily. Isn't spontaneous labor awesome?!?!

First Status update for pregnancy #5

In an attempt to be more positive, I'm going to go ahead and start keeping a record of how things are going during this pregnancy, like I started to last time. I'm actually feeling pretty good, which of course adds to my worries...ahh, the neurotic-ness of nurselochia.


Aversions: no food aversions, but after a diet cola, it does make me just the slightest bit queasy.


Cravings: I was craving oranges, radishes and salad a few days ago...strange, I know! But it's better than craving, oh, cheeseburgers or Blizzards from Dairy Queen.

S/S: Really, I'm not having all that many symptoms, but I try to remind myself that I didn't have ANY with Jacob, outside of being tired. I am pretty tired and I've been going to bed about 2-3 hours earlier than normal, and feeling more tired at work. My energy level is definitely the major s/s. Every now and then, I feel a bit nauseated, but nothing too horrible. I am peeing all the time, but I do drink a lot in general. I was up 3 times today while I was trying to sleep, which was annoying. I noticed today that for the first time the ladies were sore, which they hadn't been. After having mastitis a few times while breastfeeding Isaiah, and having nursed for a total of 5 years, it's hard for me to really know sore breasts because really, I've had much worse. I'm pretty moody and as with my other pregnancies, smells stand out more. I've been again trying to rid my house of the "odors" that no one else seems to notice. I am also a little crampy on and off, and while I know cramping is normal in early pregnancy, it freaks the hell out of me. I don't remember being crampy with the kids, just felt "more aware of my uterus". I was crampy with the m/c, so any little cramp worries me. They are never really painful and I'm not bleeding so that's good. When I was pregnant with Clara, they asked me at my first appt if I was crampy, and I guess I did say yes, which led them to check my progesterone and put me on a supplement for the first 12 weeks. I don't know much about progesterone levels in early pregnancy, but I also thought I was 9 weeks, and was only five weeks when I went in (thanks to breastfeeding and irregular periods). So maybe that was a factor. Who knows.

Running: I'm obviously not training for a half-marathon anymore, but I am trying to keep up my exercise. I haven't been running since last week since I worked all weekend, but I plan on going tonight and doing 3-4 miles on the treadmill. But we'll see if I can drag myself out to the gym tonight.