Monthly Archives: February 2015

We have been blessed with the best travel companion, a three year old Newfoundland. She isn’t a barker, she gets us out for two short walks a day, she loves to go anywhere with us, if she can’t get out she lays down quietly and waits for us to come back, she loves her kids and is always there for a hug if you need one. She is going to be spending our next assignment at Grandma and Grandpa Sherman’s house because in Hawaii dogs who are new to the island have to spend two months in quarantine so we have decided acreage with other dogs to play with is a better option. We just told the kids she will not be going to Hawaii with us they are sad but relieved that we can FaceTime call her on Grandpa’s iPad.

We made it back from Fallbrook yesterday with very little heavy traffic which was a miracle on a Friday afternoon. There was plenty of time for me to take a nap, Chad to go grocery shopping, and the big kids to do some sewing (felt only). I felt fairly rested going into work after the busy week which was another miracle. The unit was busting at the seams full and didn’t overflow which was another miracle. It was a good night to have four nurses on and we had them, few. After tonight we will be in single digits, the time is sure flying by fast.
For those of you who have asked we will be in Salem for a few days in the middle of the first week in March. I’m not sure how it will play out. We get home late on the 2nd and will fly out early on the 5th. We have to change up all of our packing to get ready for air travel. We are starting to make preparations like a dog grooming appointment, getting Myra settled with my parents and considering what all will have to stay on the mainland.

After going to bed at 6:00pm last night I was pretty rested come morning this morning. Chad still beat me up, because I was checking email and responding to a few text messages but was able to get the bed made and have a nice warm shower before breakfast was ready. Chad surprised me with GF pancakes and sunny side up eggs which if you know me you will know sunny side up eggs have a special place in my heart. It was delicious and a wonderful way to start the day. After some coffee and orange juice (I’m telling you it was the breakfast of champions Chad is too good to me) we headed to the salon to get Caleb’s hair cut. He has been growing it out for a while so that he could have a padiwan braid but it was just getting too shaggy so it was time to get it cut.

Grandma insisted in paying for the hair cut even though we told her it was our turn to bless her. If you know my grandma there is no winning these kind of arguments, so I turned to the lady and asked if they sold gift cards there and got one for her for the cost of her normal hair cut! Score!!! It made her smile and she didn’t argue with me one bit about it.
We headed back to the house then got elbow deep in sorting through the garage to figure out what would be in the garage sale we are working on to help clean out the garage before we leave.

The kids worked polishing silver and eagerly did any other jobs they were assigned. Grandma had wanted to do something for the girls too like she had done for Caleb so we took them in to get their hair cut as well. Eve was first since Hannah was a little hesitant.

She was opinionated and charming as usual and won the heart of her hairdresser.
The. We watched Hannah get only a trim.

The hairdresser gave the girls each one strand of tensile tied into their hair. Eve’s was purple (she has already pulled it out) Hannah’s is turquoise but is hard to see with the length of her hair.
Chad and I get to go in a Valentine’s date kind of dinner and a movie out!!! Happy early valentines to you the best husband ever!!!!

At exactly an hours drive we felt that a trip to Balboa Park would be a good activity for today. I have been there before but it has probably been close to twenty years. We weren’t going to do The San Diego Zoo today which is the main attraction but there are a lot of museums and little shops also in the park. GPS took us to the southwest corner of the park which looks like any other park. There was only a thin strip of park along the freeway. We walked around a bit trying to find the indicated trails that did not happen to start in the direction shown. Lunch was a win at Evolution.

After lunch we played at the playground for a shoe time before we found the nature trail that had a bridge over the freeway to the main side of the park.

It was a gorgeous day with gorgeous plants and warm sunshine, but there was some frustration in the air.

we didn’t find what we were looking for on the other side of the bridge either. Hannah’s shoe broke and we were getting far enough from our car I just wanted to go back. We were almost to the bridge when my foot found uneven ground. Before I knew what had happened I was sprawled out on the ground. My pants were ripped my palm and knee were bleeding and I had a rolled ankle. The kids were slightly worried that I was going to die, but after their fears were squelched I decided to continue on bare foot since the Danskos were for even ground and would aggravate my strained ankle. Chad helped me up and we continued on our way.

See it doesn’t look like much. I feel it though. Mostly in the small bones on the top of my foot. We made it to the car, drove around the park and checked out all the museums from the car. I doubt we will go back this assignment, but it is on the list for our next CA assignment.

My uncle then grandparents lived in the town of Fallbrook when I was growing up. The plan today was to finish the paperwork for the new position, walk down and have lunch with grandma at work, then walk around town seeing the houses that we spent lots of time playing at as young children visiting most summers to get in our family time.

Lunch from the Major Market was delicious, they have the best sandwiches and the company was even better. It was a whopping 75 degrees and the sun felt like it was beating down. We put our jackets in the car and headed up the street. I say up because the house my grandparents lived in was up a hill, a steep hill, we walked up and took a look at it. Then in up the hill even further to the back fence of camp Pendleton.

The birds were out in full force and singing the most beautiful songs. There were also beautiful plants and flowers. A humming bird hard to see in this picture was perched on a branch not too far from our head.

We walked from grandma’s and grandpa’s old house (Uncle Richard’s when I was Eve’s age and I do remember that) to Uncle Richard’s old house which looks a lot different than it did when he lived there. After those stops we enjoyed walking through the shops downtown.

We had to try the avocado fudge that was advertised at one of the shops. Milk chocolate with walnuts and dark chocolate chili peanut were the flavors we picked. Unknown to me Chad also picked out suckers that were chili and sandia (watermelon) flavored which were a big hit all the way around.

The fudge was very good, a bit softer than the original deal. The low stress of just wondering around all day was a welcome day of recuperation. We are really just trying to soak up all the family time we can. We don’t have any family where we are headed next.

Caleb’s quality time with Grandpa this week have given him a new love for working with his hands in the shop. I hope he remembers this time with his great grandfather forever.

We are kind of in disbelief that our time here with Grandma and Grandpa Lawhead is almost through. We are looking at two more visits after this week and that thought is heart breaking really. But all good things must come to an end we just hope we make it back here for another assignment before a few more years pass. We are however getting more and more excited about our next assignment. It was the kids pick this time and they chose……….

Hilo Hawaii with a start date of 3/9/15 and a length of thirteen weeks. I’m guessing there will be no week long road trips on this assignment.

Showing a little team spirit for our home team the Seattle Seahawks!

Jill, Ashley and I got to celebrate the Super Bowl with team colored scrubs, lots of food, and an all nighter! It may have not ended ideally but it was a good game and we had a fun night despite the final score.

“Your the best mom!!!”
“It’s from Ricki at work!”
“Thank You Ricki!”

As L&D RNs we try very hard to get the provider to the hospital in time for delivery of a baby, but not so early that people are standing around watching the minutes passing by thinking about the extra time they could have spent getting those other things on their to do list done. Experience helps us determine for individual pt’s about how much time we have. In this run of shifts I had a mom having her first baby, the provider had said that they felt like she was going to be pushing for “hours” and need a vacuum so we were to call him when she was close. In the mean time we were to let her labor down until she felt the urge to push which is exactly what we did. With one push it was evident that she was quite effective in her efforts, so it wasn’t going to take long. The provider was notified. The ETA was 20 minutes. The provider guaranteed that the pt was not going to deliver before he got there, “it wasn’t his first rodeo.” I hung up the phone and returned to the pt’s room to a bulging perineum and small crown. The emergency light was pushed and with barely time to get gloves on the baby came flying out. No biggie it wasn’t my first rodeo either, but after the cord was clamped and cut the pt had a gush of blood I put gentle tension on the cord to see if the placenta was ready to deliver and the cord completely broke off. I had seen that happen only a time or two with providers. This one was a new one for me, it stressed me out. I am so thankful for providers. In this litigious world we live in it is amazing to me that anyone is willing to take on the responsibility of all this life or death decision making that just falls in their laps.
It turned out fine.
Caleb is having fun at Great Grandma and Great Grandpa’s house I got these picture from him yesterday.

I also got a call from a cute little four year old boy, in the middle of my night sleep, to show me his new toothless dragon and tell me about the big boy shows he wants to watch like the turtles and Sponge Bob Square Pants but he has to be 14 to watch those. It was the longest quality time talk I’ve had with my Cyrus man. He was so darn cute, although I was a little relieved when his daddy discovered he was face timing Aunt Sarah because he convinced hime to let me get some more rest via redirection. I did finally get back to sleep (for some reason I was not sleeping well after 1200) for a short time, Chad came in to get some Ibuprofen for a headache and the girls snuck in behind him and took the opportunity to dog pile on mommy. Chad surprised us girls with a sushi dinner and then I got a surprise four year old mermaid/fish guest appearance when I jumped in the shower to get ready for work.
I am super thankful for my coworkers and central monitoring, it makes it possible to watch the strips of both my labor patients, although I was glad to be getting off shift because they were both on pit and an epidural and delivery were to be in my near future had I needed to stay on an extra hour or two. Now here I sit, in my car ready to head into the house and hug and love on my girls with cake from Ricki for breakfast…yep I so am feeding them cake for breakfast this morning. It’s one of those kind of days. I’m sure their Sunday school teachers will appreciate it.