Strange thought of the day: While posting insurance payment, my imagination is wandering, and I am imagining the clinic as a living organism and what different departments/positions would be. So far I have Central Supply as the blood stream, one of my jobs is like a kidney or liver, the other would be like a synapse. The doctors are grey matter. Right now I think there is a bacterial infection, and its causing a kidney infection. Ok, I have to stop this now.
I am so behind in the movie department. So...I'm starting a list of movies to see. I need all the help I can get, so TT, Val and Carrie are putting in suggestions. This is it so far:
Empire Records
Terms of Endearment
The Evening Star
The Score
Boogie Nights
Circle of Friends
I'm open to most any suggestions.
Word(s) of the day: FOSSA
Lexie log: November 30, 2002: Lexie was due to be born five days ago and I had been on maternity leave for about a week. I was going a little stir crazy and kept thinking the slightest little thing might be a contraction. My last OB visit to Dr. Katherine Brown, M.D. was about a week earlier also. She had me a little nervous about my progress. I was already starting to dilate, but Lexie wasn't budging. Dr. Brown told us that Lexie was already a good size and my hips might not wide enough for her. She told us to come back in a week or so (memory foggy here) if I hadn't gone into labor and she would induce. She warned us more than once that a C-section seemed highly possible. Grammy was staying in the RV out in the coldesac. She had been there for a couple days. I'm pretty sure she drove me from work my last day. We had an remote intercom system setup between the house and the RV. Every morning we would beep her to tell her we were up. On this day we went to Noble Woods Park on Baseline.
Is was crisp winter weather. Grammy took a picture of Daddy and I standing on one of the wooden bridges. On the way home we picked up something for dinner, I think Subway, and a movie or two. My memory is patchy from here on, but I still remember a lot. We had started watching Nine Months (1995 comedy Hugh Grant, Julianne Moore), and my best friend Tracy called. I told her what we were watching, and she freaked out and said that was what she was watching the night Sierra was born. I was really uncomfortable in bed and about 11:00pm I started having cramping feelings. I thought I was having bad gas pains. As soon as Frank caught wind that I was in pain he leapt out of bed and we both started rushing around the house like headless chickens. I kept going back and forth thinking stomach cramps, and buckling over in the hallway. Frank kept asking if he needed to beep Grammy on the intercom, and I couldn't decide. Never having had contractions before, I really didn't know. We started writing down when they started and ended and to see how far apart they were. I remember I was spending the hole time in the bathroom doorway and the office sitting at the desk. We finally decided to page her. Then she added to the milieu and pandemonium. She took over the timing job, but it was soon clear that no-one was calm enough to do it very accurately. Talk about hyper. At some point, I really didn't give a darn how far apart they were, just that they were really starting to hurt like hell. I was so extremely nervous and excited. I remember the car trip up T.V. Highway to Tuality Community Hospital in the middle of the night. The roads were all but deserted. Grammy was holding it together as best she could, but still a nervous wreck. Daddy was hyper and excited, and a little worried I think. I think I liked going into labor in the middle of the night. Not so many people running around and all the noise. The hospital was quiet and peaceful, for that I am grateful. They put us in a tiny little pre-delivery room to check to see if this was it, or if they should send me home. I was so scared they would send me home and I would have to wait out the pain. They checked us write in! I was already very very dilated by the time I showed up, just no water broken. I can't remember who called Tracy, but she showed up pretty darned quick. For some bizarre reason, I remember that she was wearing something like a black corduroy overalls with a white shirt. She brushed my hair and put it in a pony tail for me. This was all much later though, at least it seemed that way to me. Time was a blur. Grandpa Dale showed up pretty quick too. Pain was really becoming an issue for me. I cussed like a sailor. I was scared to death of having an Epidural, but my pain threshold must be pretty low because I broke down and yelled for one. I wish I would have asked right away, next time I will. Here is the downside to going into labor in the middle of the night; the anesthesiologist is at home in bed. I think I kept saying (yelling), "I can't do this anymore." I don't know what I must have been thinking, how was I supposed to stop? Delirium. The truth is that I was a lot farther along than I thought, I might have even been better off with out one. By the time the anesthesiologist showed up, I didn't think I was going to be able to hold still long enough for them to put it in. I was terrified. I started having the urge to push, which should have been my clue that we were close, but no. I asked the anesthesiologist if it made any difference that I was starting to want to push, and she said no. Later I mused that she was just saying that because she had to get out of bed to do all this and she wasn't going to stop now. As soon as the epidural started taking effect I was soooo much happier. That's when the camera came out and spirits lifted. But...The pain numbing of the epidural also stopped the urge to push and Lexie's flight plans were delayed. Dr. Brown wasn't available and for some reason I can't remember the name of the doctor who delivered her. I do remember that he was just about to retire. I believe that the late epidural complicated the progress. Had I had it earlier, it would have been wearing off around the time I needed to participate. Any who... by now it was getting to be late morning December 1st. The doctor said that if I didn't make any progress by noon or 1:00 we would be moved over to the C-section room. Then, as the epidural started to wear off more, things picked up speed, but Lexie hit a speed bump. Her big ole head just wouldn't budge. Time for the vacuum. Boy did that ever freak Frank out. I was just in a state of shock. There was some missed communication between doc and nurse and they released when they shouldn't have. It all worked out in the end though. Beautimus little vacuum headed Lexie was born about 12:23 or somewhere around there. Almost ten pounds. I can't even describe the next two days, but I'll probably try at a later date. Now, it's time for me to go. It's Lucas' birthday today, Tracy's son. I was right there when he was born. Lexie, Daddy and I are going to his b-day get together tonight.
Today I'm grateful for Frank and Lexie, Tuality Hospital, Dr. Brown and Dr. almost retired, Dr. Brown's nurse, Tracy Sierra Lucas and Dana, Mom and Dad, Mom Keller and the Keller family, grilled cheese, really good stretches that make you dizzy, and sandals.
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