I need a break from the internets...
Because if I see one more effing headline about J0n & K@te I am going to throw my laptop and myself off the roof of my house. Okay, maybe just the laptop. See, the roof isn't that high up and I'd probably just break an arm or a leg and that would be unfortunate. But, seriously, I can't take it anymore. Even my beloved Salon has featured stupid headlines about these people. So, if you don't see me on the internets you'll know it's because I boxed up my laptop and buried it in a closet. Someone please call me when it's over and it's safe to surf once more.
5.28.2009
Picture time...
We finally got a new camera and we finally uploaded the photos taken thus far. Not that we take very many. That's bad. And we really do need to branch out beyond pics of the dog. Just how many photos of the dog do we need anyway?
Isn't she cute?
Cherries! In my backyard! Now, how am I going to reach those?
Crazy-looking plant from the backyard. Anyone know what this thing is?
Tree? (Come on, I had to. Even if I didn't want to, you all would make me do this for the rest of my life. Also, I don't know what the hell that baby head thing is--there are 2 at the front entrance of Boston's MFA.)
We finally got a new camera and we finally uploaded the photos taken thus far. Not that we take very many. That's bad. And we really do need to branch out beyond pics of the dog. Just how many photos of the dog do we need anyway?
Isn't she cute?
Cherries! In my backyard! Now, how am I going to reach those?
Crazy-looking plant from the backyard. Anyone know what this thing is?
Tree? (Come on, I had to. Even if I didn't want to, you all would make me do this for the rest of my life. Also, I don't know what the hell that baby head thing is--there are 2 at the front entrance of Boston's MFA.)
5.26.2009
No babies!
There were no babies to be born on Saturday night and I'll admit to being disappointed. There was one mom in L&D but she wasn't in labor; she was being treated for a kidney stone. There was one baby in the nursery and only one post-partum mom would allow a student to provide her care. Durr. A wasted evening at clinical.
That being said, there is no schedule for babies and it's either feast or famine, as they say. Unfortunately the famine seems to occur during our clinical hours and the feasts occur at 3 am after we're gone. Also, it's unusual for a patient to refuse student care so there we were doing a big group study session in the family waiting room because there was nothing to do. Maybe this coming weekend?
That's all that's exciting in my life. Hoping to see a birth, studying for exams and the usual life maintenance. And tennis. Lots of tennis. Did I mention that I beat Michael twice?
There were no babies to be born on Saturday night and I'll admit to being disappointed. There was one mom in L&D but she wasn't in labor; she was being treated for a kidney stone. There was one baby in the nursery and only one post-partum mom would allow a student to provide her care. Durr. A wasted evening at clinical.
That being said, there is no schedule for babies and it's either feast or famine, as they say. Unfortunately the famine seems to occur during our clinical hours and the feasts occur at 3 am after we're gone. Also, it's unusual for a patient to refuse student care so there we were doing a big group study session in the family waiting room because there was nothing to do. Maybe this coming weekend?
That's all that's exciting in my life. Hoping to see a birth, studying for exams and the usual life maintenance. And tennis. Lots of tennis. Did I mention that I beat Michael twice?
5.20.2009
You know what's funny...?
Being asked to address "sexual activity of the pregnant woman and her partner" (male in this case) on an exam and having to list sexual activities on the test. Yes, that's right, I had to write down sex positions on an exam. How many people can say they've done that?
The other funny thing is that our maternity book provides little pink and blue figurines in sex positions to provide a visualization of the position. Hi-larious. Even better than that is in our geriatrics book there are color illustrations of the elderly getting it on (this is in the coping with the aftereffects of cardiac events chapter). It's like it's straight out of the J0y of Sex. Full on nudity, I tell you. They're really funny, too, b/c the man always has his hand on the woman's breast no matter what position they are in and both their eyes are always closed; they look like they're asleep. Older people have active sex lives, as do pregnant women and their partners, but it's just so amusing to have it laid out there so explicitly in a text book. It's like the kama sutra issue from C0sm0 but for pregnant women.
Being asked to address "sexual activity of the pregnant woman and her partner" (male in this case) on an exam and having to list sexual activities on the test. Yes, that's right, I had to write down sex positions on an exam. How many people can say they've done that?
The other funny thing is that our maternity book provides little pink and blue figurines in sex positions to provide a visualization of the position. Hi-larious. Even better than that is in our geriatrics book there are color illustrations of the elderly getting it on (this is in the coping with the aftereffects of cardiac events chapter). It's like it's straight out of the J0y of Sex. Full on nudity, I tell you. They're really funny, too, b/c the man always has his hand on the woman's breast no matter what position they are in and both their eyes are always closed; they look like they're asleep. Older people have active sex lives, as do pregnant women and their partners, but it's just so amusing to have it laid out there so explicitly in a text book. It's like the kama sutra issue from C0sm0 but for pregnant women.
5.19.2009
Springtime explosion...
It's very much springtime here and headed quickly toward summer. The trees are green, roses are blooming and grasses are starting to turn "golden" as the state motto goes.
The produce at the market is once again bountiful and delicious but my daily allotment of time to spend in the kitchen has been overtaken by school as usual. Still, I'm finding time to try new recipes per my "try 3 new recipes a month" goal. So far this month I made caramel chocolate matzah crackle and mock spanish rice. Next up will be this yummy quiche. What's not to love about hashbrowns and a cheesy quiche all in one dish?
As for gardening, I have purchased a bit of everything in the herb department and will be transplanting everything later this week into a large pot. I also have some tomatoes and a pepper plant to transplant. Unfortunately I already killed the cilantro. Don't even ask me how I managed to do that. Unlike Alissa, we don't have bunnies around here to eat our veg but we do have a rotten brat of a dog who likes to tear around the yard like a maniac and I swear to Ogg if she touches my potted plants I'm going to sell her to the monkey house.
I'm excited to note that our cherry tree has actual cherries on it and I can't wait to pick them. Most of them are out of reach so I'll have to enlist Michael to do the picking. Our landlord told us that peach trees only bear fruit every other year so we should get peaches this year. I'm not so sure about that since the tree looks a bit sickly but who knows? I'm no expert on fruit trees so we'll see what happens. I'm been thinking about buying a citrus sapling but haven't decided which would be best. They're not cheap and I don't want to buy more than one at this time. What do you think: lemon or lime? Lemon is good for fish, garnishes, lemonade, yummy desserts like these lemon bars, hummus and well, almost anything but limes are good too. Limes for guac or spritzing over mexican dishes or limeade. Maybe the lemons would be better?
It's very much springtime here and headed quickly toward summer. The trees are green, roses are blooming and grasses are starting to turn "golden" as the state motto goes.
The produce at the market is once again bountiful and delicious but my daily allotment of time to spend in the kitchen has been overtaken by school as usual. Still, I'm finding time to try new recipes per my "try 3 new recipes a month" goal. So far this month I made caramel chocolate matzah crackle and mock spanish rice. Next up will be this yummy quiche. What's not to love about hashbrowns and a cheesy quiche all in one dish?
As for gardening, I have purchased a bit of everything in the herb department and will be transplanting everything later this week into a large pot. I also have some tomatoes and a pepper plant to transplant. Unfortunately I already killed the cilantro. Don't even ask me how I managed to do that. Unlike Alissa, we don't have bunnies around here to eat our veg but we do have a rotten brat of a dog who likes to tear around the yard like a maniac and I swear to Ogg if she touches my potted plants I'm going to sell her to the monkey house.
I'm excited to note that our cherry tree has actual cherries on it and I can't wait to pick them. Most of them are out of reach so I'll have to enlist Michael to do the picking. Our landlord told us that peach trees only bear fruit every other year so we should get peaches this year. I'm not so sure about that since the tree looks a bit sickly but who knows? I'm no expert on fruit trees so we'll see what happens. I'm been thinking about buying a citrus sapling but haven't decided which would be best. They're not cheap and I don't want to buy more than one at this time. What do you think: lemon or lime? Lemon is good for fish, garnishes, lemonade, yummy desserts like these lemon bars, hummus and well, almost anything but limes are good too. Limes for guac or spritzing over mexican dishes or limeade. Maybe the lemons would be better?
5.12.2009
First day on the maternity ward...
Admit it. You're here to find out about the babies, aren't you? I must tell you: they are cute. Precious, in fact. Wee bitty things that you want to munch on and smell their little baby smell. It's true. Those tiny feet and that hair that reminds me of the baby ducks Judy used to hatch in her kindergarten classes. OMG, total cuteness.
But first, the hospital. It's a small facility in the Mission but has free parking in the garage on weekends (score) but the cafeteria is closed on weekends (which is either good or bad depending on how good their food is). The nice thing about weekend night clinicals is that the traffic is generally pretty good unless there's a Giants game. What's especially nice is that this hospital tries to avoid medical interventions during L&D as much as possible and has a 3% c-section rate (c/s). 3%. That's totally unheard of. They do c/s if they need to but they don't permit scheduled c/s which I think is great. They have mostly nurse-midwives on staff but there are OB-GYNs around, too.
It's a nice facility and the post-partum rooms are relatively roomy and have a pull out couch for family. They do "couplet" care so the baby rooms with mom and the nurses care for mom and baby simultaneously. The NICU is a level 2 so really premature babies and really sick babies get transported across town to the other facility which is a level 5. There were 2 babies in the NICU this weekend and they were tiny. The nurses are nice and our clinical instructor is great. Also, this part of the hospital feels less contaminated by MRSA and C. diff than med-surg floors which was nice. I came home Sat. night and didn't even take a shower before going to bed. Normally, I'm in the shower within 3 minutes of walking in the door. Still, I never wear my scrubs in the house.
So, my assignment for the evening was to do the well-baby assessments. I assessed every newborn on the ward and changed diapers and talked to moms about feeding. Newborns are funny little things. They really don't like to be messed with and absolutely hate having their temperature taken. All but one of the babies was eating well and I changed some very wet diapers. I got a rather full meconium one just 2 hours after birth. Good lord, that stuff is sticky. And I managed to avoid being sprayed in the face. Did you know that diapers come with little lines on them that change color when the baby wets in them? What a brilliant idea! Except when the pee just runs up their backs it's kind of useless but still. I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that some of the adult diapers have the same thing. Which is nice for the same reason and allows you to preserve their dignity a little more.
This weekend I'm on post-partum duty so I'll be assessing moms for lochia and breast stuff. The week after I'll be doing a turn in L&D and NICU. I hope someone gives birth while I'm there but I have no control over that. Chances are I won't see a c/s birth but maybe. Either way, it's all really neat. They want us to do the teaching with the moms but for all the reading and classroom discussion on breast feeding, I still feel like I don't know what the hell to say. I know what I'm supposed to say but it seems so weird to teach someone how to do something I've never done before. Then again, I've had to teach someone how to clean his colostomy bag and I sure as hell don't ever plan to have one of those.
All in all, it was a good weekend and I'm looking forward to going back on Saturday. Stay tuned.
Admit it. You're here to find out about the babies, aren't you? I must tell you: they are cute. Precious, in fact. Wee bitty things that you want to munch on and smell their little baby smell. It's true. Those tiny feet and that hair that reminds me of the baby ducks Judy used to hatch in her kindergarten classes. OMG, total cuteness.
But first, the hospital. It's a small facility in the Mission but has free parking in the garage on weekends (score) but the cafeteria is closed on weekends (which is either good or bad depending on how good their food is). The nice thing about weekend night clinicals is that the traffic is generally pretty good unless there's a Giants game. What's especially nice is that this hospital tries to avoid medical interventions during L&D as much as possible and has a 3% c-section rate (c/s). 3%. That's totally unheard of. They do c/s if they need to but they don't permit scheduled c/s which I think is great. They have mostly nurse-midwives on staff but there are OB-GYNs around, too.
It's a nice facility and the post-partum rooms are relatively roomy and have a pull out couch for family. They do "couplet" care so the baby rooms with mom and the nurses care for mom and baby simultaneously. The NICU is a level 2 so really premature babies and really sick babies get transported across town to the other facility which is a level 5. There were 2 babies in the NICU this weekend and they were tiny. The nurses are nice and our clinical instructor is great. Also, this part of the hospital feels less contaminated by MRSA and C. diff than med-surg floors which was nice. I came home Sat. night and didn't even take a shower before going to bed. Normally, I'm in the shower within 3 minutes of walking in the door. Still, I never wear my scrubs in the house.
So, my assignment for the evening was to do the well-baby assessments. I assessed every newborn on the ward and changed diapers and talked to moms about feeding. Newborns are funny little things. They really don't like to be messed with and absolutely hate having their temperature taken. All but one of the babies was eating well and I changed some very wet diapers. I got a rather full meconium one just 2 hours after birth. Good lord, that stuff is sticky. And I managed to avoid being sprayed in the face. Did you know that diapers come with little lines on them that change color when the baby wets in them? What a brilliant idea! Except when the pee just runs up their backs it's kind of useless but still. I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that some of the adult diapers have the same thing. Which is nice for the same reason and allows you to preserve their dignity a little more.
This weekend I'm on post-partum duty so I'll be assessing moms for lochia and breast stuff. The week after I'll be doing a turn in L&D and NICU. I hope someone gives birth while I'm there but I have no control over that. Chances are I won't see a c/s birth but maybe. Either way, it's all really neat. They want us to do the teaching with the moms but for all the reading and classroom discussion on breast feeding, I still feel like I don't know what the hell to say. I know what I'm supposed to say but it seems so weird to teach someone how to do something I've never done before. Then again, I've had to teach someone how to clean his colostomy bag and I sure as hell don't ever plan to have one of those.
All in all, it was a good weekend and I'm looking forward to going back on Saturday. Stay tuned.
5.07.2009
Back to the grind...
Spring break is officially over and it's back to school for me and my classmates. This session starts with 5 weeks of maternity followed by 5 weeks of peds and 10 weeks of research class concurrent with maternity and peds. My first clinical rotation starts this weekend (Sat and Sun 3-11pm - blarg, it's not the Sat night I care about, it's Sun. At least it's only 5 wks) so by Monday there will be an update on all those moms and babies I'll be seeing over the 2 days. At least the only diapers I'll be changing are those of the neonates.
I really am looking forward to a little change in curriculum. It'll be so nice to do a rotation where (almost) everyone is healthy and excited to be there. But seriously, this class is going to kick my butt. The amount of information we need is massive (I can hear the collective "duh" from all the moms already) and we are cramming a 15 wk course into 5 weeks. Jesus. Let's hope I can remember it all. Stay tuned.
Hefk, I'll be cognizant of where my badge is hanging at all times.
Spring break is officially over and it's back to school for me and my classmates. This session starts with 5 weeks of maternity followed by 5 weeks of peds and 10 weeks of research class concurrent with maternity and peds. My first clinical rotation starts this weekend (Sat and Sun 3-11pm - blarg, it's not the Sat night I care about, it's Sun. At least it's only 5 wks) so by Monday there will be an update on all those moms and babies I'll be seeing over the 2 days. At least the only diapers I'll be changing are those of the neonates.
I really am looking forward to a little change in curriculum. It'll be so nice to do a rotation where (almost) everyone is healthy and excited to be there. But seriously, this class is going to kick my butt. The amount of information we need is massive (I can hear the collective "duh" from all the moms already) and we are cramming a 15 wk course into 5 weeks. Jesus. Let's hope I can remember it all. Stay tuned.
Hefk, I'll be cognizant of where my badge is hanging at all times.
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