I knew when I took this job that they were wanting me to cover staffing holes in two different labor and delivery units, but since I was only scheduled at one facility and had not yet even been asked to go to the other it was the farthest thing from my mind this morning when I got the call that I was to report to AMC for my scheduled shift today. I headed out a lot earlier because I had not yet even been in the hospital or on the unit, and I had no idea where I was going except that I was to be on the 4th floor. I found the employee parking lot and followed all the other scrub-wearing people into the hospital and to the elevator. They lead my right to it with out even having to ask. One of the other people in the elevator got off at the same floor and I could follow her into the unit. She got me set up with the codes to the doors and the location of the break room. I checked out a phone and keys and got to work. What a fabulous unit they have over there, and fabulous people. It might be the most perfect set up I’ve ever seen if they had two identical ends and were LDRP. I loved the double beds, the kitchenette complete with little table and chairs in each room as well as the sink perfect for baby baths and the pullout stock closet access able from each room. They must have been forewarned that I had not been on the unit before and gave me the easiest assignment (seriously I might get spoiled here) I loved my mommies and the opportunity to give solid breastfeeding help and be able to stay in the room for the entire feeds.
By the time I am done with this traveling thing I will have the perfect setup for a LDRP unit in my head. I got loooooots of ideas today. At 1:00pm I was notified that I was needed back at Theda Clark at 1:30pm so I reported off and headed back to home base to take a super nice labor patient. Some day I will tell her story changing all the names and identifying details but obviously I can’t now. Thank you Jesus for a beautiful day, the opportunity learn new things, and a great first experience at AMC.
The bad news…my beloved stethoscope that I have had since 2002 got a crack in the rubber tubing today. Chad replaced the diaphragm after it visited Honduras and the humidity and it’s 12 years of use had ruined the seals. I was sad to think it was now done for, but you can actually just buy replacement rubber tubing so I will get to keep my nursing school stethoscope going strong although it will not be boasting too many original parts.

Sleeping in felt great as we have been up pretty early and out pretty late for the last several days. 8:30 rolled around and we all started crawling out of bed, unashamedly I was the last one. My stomach was on the fritz as it usually gets after several days in a row of traveling, so opting to stay very close to the bathroom and in comfy clothes I passed up an opportunity to visit the library and instead stayed home and sorted our ever mounting paper and book piles trying to find the carpet in our room. Finishing up that project just in time to here my brood coming in the back door. Eve and I did some school as the big kids worked on their math and Chad worked on lunch. Eve is getting a hang of this whole E and V writing thing and the value of letters, writing, and words. She wrote her name for the first time today and in typical Eve fashion it had to be rainbow.

We read about the Boston Massacre and the Boston Tea Party. Then the kids wrote short summaries of the events in the book. Caleb walked Myra. She got a little extra excited from running and pulled as she accelerated out of his hands then she took full advantage of her freedom. She has a lot of good qualities with only two faults that I can think of. Her taste for a nice poopy diaper is one that has gotten a lot better in the last six months and the fact that when she is given even a sliver of an opportunity for freedom she takes it and runs like the wind. You would think that she doesn’t like being with us but I know that is not true and I’m not at all sure how to curb this bad habit. Luckily it has happened only three times so far here in Wisconsin the other two times I had just got home from work and she ran right to me or right to another dog where I could quickly grab her collar. This time she made it to the last house before the main road where some college age boys grabbed her for us. We thanked them and walked back to the apartment. We try not to chase her but people often panic when they see such a big dog running toward them so we can’t do what we could in Salem and just wait for her to come back.
We enjoyed the butternut squash and green beans fresh from Michael and Kristen’s garden for dinner and then the kids headed out to play. Caleb eventually joined the girls but not wanting to get too muddy he opted to be the water supplier.

Needless to say all three kids have bought themselves a bedtime bath/shower.

As family spreads out so far these days, I have a first cousin who lives in Indiana whom I haven’t seen for 25 years. A little nervous but mostly excited we headed to Knightstown Indiana to attend his church this morning, he’s a pastor, and to have lunch with his family after service. I appreciated the message straight out of the gospel of Luke also I enjoyed watching Michael in his element. The congregation was very welcoming, Michael must have warned them that we were coming because they were all on their best behavior ;0).

Lunch was a delicious homey meal of turkey, mashed potatoes, and green bean casserole with zucchini chocolate cake and or strawberry rhubarb pie. We were in heaven. We have quite a handful of kids between the two families, and I think we have all the names straight. The kids were all the right ages with Caleb getting along well with Cora and Olivia. Hannah and Naomi were like twins, Josiah and Eve ran around enjoying the toys and the excitement going on around them. We adults talked about all kinds of things catching up on the last 25 years. As we talked we eventually made our way to the garden. It turns out that Michael has quite the green thumb but it must be a whole family project as they grow so much of the vegetables that they eat. We did a few taste tests, I can’t resist fresh produce, it turns out that Serrano peppers are not nearly as hot as Tabasco peppers. Michael’s wife Kristen is in the medical field as well and is a certified lactation consultant so we had a lot in common as well. Catherine (Michael’s mom) came over too. She was friendly and we really enjoyed our conversation with her as well.
We were reluctant to leave but it was getting late and we had a long drive ahead of us to get back to our apartment in Neenah so we said our goodbyes.

With a bag of produce from the garden in one hand. And the kids in the other we packed everyone back in the car and headed out. With Indiana in the middle of the country we don’t plan on letting another 25 years slip past with out getting together again.
Goodbye Knightstown.

Thank you Michael, Kristen, Catherine, Cora, Olivia, Naomi, and Josiah for the very fun day!

After spending the night on the outskirts of Toledo Ohio last night we decided to ditch our previous plans of visiting the Indiana Capitol building as there is likely to be another opportunity to do that. Instead we headed back to the River Raisin Battlefield for the Star-Spangled Banner event. We had a lot of fun and learned so much by talking to the representatives dressed in uniform representing each of the wars from the French and Indian war until the current conflict in Iraq.

The gentleman in the red and blue coat is from the French and Indian war the other two are from the Revolutionary war.
These next gentlemen were from the Civil War.

There was Calvary men and a private from the Spanish American War that we did not get individual pictures of.
Next we talked to a gentleman who served in Iraq at the end of a long military career. Another soldier was there from Desert Storm and the Vietnam war. Then there was a soldier representing WWI and a marine from WWII.

there were several jeeps there from Vietnam Era to WWII

we loved learning how equipment, weapons and rations had changed over the last several hundred years.

They all lined up for a group shot from the oldest war to the most recent.
French and Indian to Iraq.

The French and Indian representative was in the movie “Last of the Mohicans” and definitely gets the best dressed vote.

After enjoying all the booths at the event we tried a second time to find a park on the banks of Lake Erie. We did find three all of which were fee parks $7-$9 so we drove into one anyway and took a few quick pictures and left with out parking. We were kind of bummed at it’s Inaccessibility.

Michigan and Ohio were very pretty.

But, so is Indiana.

Good night from Indiana

Driving from the tip of the mitten to the cuff Lansing is smack dab in the middle.

We saw some fall colors here and there not as much as I had hoped and we passed it all while we were on the freeway and I was never quite fast enough with the camera, still, the foliage was beautiful. The Capitol was very accessible and parking was easy to find.

We got to there about a quarter after the hour and thought we had to wait until on the hour to take the tour, but come to find out unlike the other capitols we have been to they have books that are a self guided tour and then you return to the tour counter and they answer any questions that you have that the self guided tour book did not answer. Chad made a good tour guide and It was really nice to be able to see the Capitol at or own pace.

Michigan is the Dave Ramsey Capitol. They did levy a tax to pay for the building but they were very conservative with their funds. The marble in the building is actually cast iron and plaster painted to look like marble, the dark walnut is pine that is stained really dark, the walls are hand painted and textured stucco the gold
Is mostly just paint all though the stars in the top of the dome are gold leaf and platinum.

there was fossils all over in the limestone flooring.

For the tour we were encouraged to lay down on the glass floor and look up at the starry night dome.

I loved the flags that completely surround the first level of the rotunda.

The building, house and senate were all quite beautiful and to think that it was built for 1.4 million 1/3 the cost of the other Capitol buildings of it’s era. The other two Capitols built by the same architect are Texas and Colorado. I found this quite interesting because the Colorado Capitol is so awesome because it is all made from Colorado materials and Michigan is awesome because of it’s theme of making a classy beautiful building on a conservative budget.

The etched glass was awesome, there was a pane for each state.

All of the door knobs have the state seal on them.

The Supreme Court was pretty awesome too. I loved the carpet.

ic

</a The youngest governor in American history was the first governor of Michigan at the young age of 24. 24!!!! That sounds crazy until you find out that he was the territorial governor before that at the ripe old age of 19.

He died at the ripe old age of 31.
Being so close we wanted to see Lake Erie and maybe stay in Detroit so we headed East. Then we decided although we were only maybe 30 min. Out of Detroit it was Friday rush hour And those big cities are never as fun as you think they will be. So Around Monroe Chad, keeping his eye out for a park to eat dinner at, spied a sign for a national battlefield. It wasn’t far so we decided to check it out. It was a National Park. Our first since Chimney Rock near the New Mexico Colorado boarder. We stamped our past port book and then looked around as we waited for the fiber optic light up map presentation on the war of 1812 and more specifically the battle of river raisin. I don’t think I realized before this trip that the war of 1812 was the British taking a second attempt in taking back this country back. After the revolutionary war they never truly left they just went farther north and kept their strongholds in the Great Lakes. After the light/map demonstration the ranger encouraged us to try on the dress up clothes as part of our learning experience and then he took a few pictures for us. Even though at that point it was after 5pm and he needed to close.

The park outside had a lot of signs that told details about the war.

So I guess it’s Toledo for the night…

We did see Lake Erie but no public parks to get out and enjoy it. I didn’t take pictures of the blue between the houses. It looks pretty much the same as Michigan and what we saw of Huron.

Mackinac Island is located in the Michigan straits (the water ways that connect Lake Superior, Lake Michigan, and Lake Huron. It technically is in Lake Huron albeit the very tip. It was our first view of this lake. We came across the Mackinaw bridge that connects the UP to Mackinaw City on the mainland.

Mackinaw City is home to Historic Mill Creek Discovery Park and Colonial Michilackinac (set up like an old fort and who identifies it’s self with the motto “My, how times haven’t changed.” As well as a number of unique attractive lighthouses. We don’t exactly have the time or money to stop at all the historically significant locations and seeing all of these sights it makes me want to find a UP or Northern Michigan assignment sometime. We only could pick one for the day so we chose Mackinac Island. It was afternoon when we got to Mackinaw City leaving us less time on the island than we had planned. We purchased the ferry tickets not remembering we had moved into another time zone and we had even less time than we had thought, but honestly us Oregonians were freezing the weather had all the suddenly dropped from the seventies to the forties over night. The day time temperature was hovering at 48 degrees with a breeze that felt like it was coming strait off of a glacier so we weren’t dressed to walk around in it too long anyway.

Mackinac Island is approximately 3.8 square miles and has an eight mile perimeter and what makes it a top choice of places to visit in Michigan is it’s historical significance and is such a novelty because…”it had banned motorized vehicles (besides boats) for more than a century and remains a living Victorian community.” Visiting an island stuck in the Victorian era seemed like and educational opportunity we couldn’t just pass up. Wikipedia has this to say about Mackinac Island: “In the late 19th century, Mackinac Island became a popular tourist attraction and summer colony. Much of the island has undergone extensive historical preservation and restoration; as a result, the entire island is listed as a National Historic Landmark. It is well known for its numerous cultural events; its wide variety of architectural styles, including the famous Victorian Grand Hotel; its fudge; and its ban on almost all motor vehicles. More than 80 percent of the island is preserved as Mackinac Island State Park.” It was a main center of fur trade during the early years in American history, is home to a large British fort used in the war of 1812, it didn’t end up being a big player in the revolutionary war even though it was being explored by Europeans namely French before the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Massachusetts, but to be honest our main attraction to the island was the ban on automobiles. For the kids the ferry ride was the very best part and two their credit it was pretty awesome.

At 8 miles around we could easily walk the whole way if it had been warmer I would have been sad that we didn’t have enough time to do it. We didn’t really have time to see the fort either but we did enjoy the horses, carriages, and the thousands of bicycles. The street next to the harbor was lined with cute shops mostly selling their famous fudge. We picked a slice to share for later and continued our window shopping. We found a butterfly shop that was linked (not physically to the Butterfly House on the island, a butterfly sanctuary with all kids of exotic butterflies and moths. They had beautiful artwork, watches, necklaces, and bracelets as well and displayed and other novelty items made with the beautiful wings of these butterflies. We talked to the cashier for quite a while as she told us about the butterfly house. I was captivated by the mental picture that was created by the description of a large display window where you can look in and watch the butterflies wriggle free from the hundreds of cocoons that had been so gently pinned to the wall.

At the end of the row of shops was a beautiful park and the walkway leading up to the British fort.

Being a little nervous about the time (as always) we headed back a little but earlier than we necessarily needed to. But it’s all good, the shops were closing down for the evening and the thing that was begging us to visit the most was the fort and that needed several hours.

Eve was trying to sneak the fudge out of daddies pocket.

Eve was too busy looking around to see the pole straight in front of her.

Sweet knot right in the mitre of her forehead.

the sun setting through the Mackinaw bridge.

We enjoyed our fudge and drove around the tip of the peninsula to see the Old Mackinac Point Lighthouse that we had seen from the bridge heading south.

It was built in1889 and is called, ” Castle of the Straits.” Less than a mile from this quaint light house we stumbled upon a nice little hotel with reasonable rates that allowed pets but if you ask us the best part of the whole deal we will tell you the HOT TUB!!!! After enjoying the scenery in the elements it was such a luxurious treat to sink into the extra hot hot tub.
Good night from the mitten.

We have to take advantage of the long breaks from work to see the things in our area (6-8 hour radius) that are the farthest away. We had been planning on taking a trip over the UP and down through Michigan into Indiana for our first long break. A patient had recommended two stops one being the Peshtigo Fire Museum, the other Mackinac Island. We just so happened to be driving through Peshtigo so we made that our first stop. Peshtigo was the sight of histories deadliest recorded fire with the estimated death toll of 1,200 to 2,500 (Wikipedia numbers). Here is an excerpt from the museum brochure, “Fiery hell descended on Peshtigo the night of October 8, 1872, mutilating northern Wisconsin with a livid scar of death and destruction still unequaled in the tragic annals of the world’s great fires.
Within a few short hours the lives of 800 persons (this is the number of towns people who were killed it doesn’t count farmers and out of town folk or the big boatload of lumber workers who had just come in to work in the lumber mill that day. There is no way to know the exact number.) were snuffed out in an inferno of flame and terror. A flourishing saw mill town was leveled to a desert of smoking ashes, its streets strewn with the blackened bodies of men, women and children. Miles of rich farm and wood lands were scorched into desolation and littered with the seared corpses of burned victims.
And yet, for decades, the horrors of the Peshtigo fire remained forgotten in history, obscured by the more widely known holocaust that devoured a part of Chicago that very same night in one of fate’s grim coincidences. Chicago reckoned its toll only in the number of its homeless survivors and it’s gutted buildings, while Peshtigo measured it’s losses in stark figures of dead and injured, and total destruction.

The museum was in an old church, one of the first buildings to be rebuilt after the fire.

The volunteers were very helpful in filling us in on the history and events of the fire and showed us a few of the everyday items that survived the fire. The people who survived were those who heard the church bell (fire alarm) and lived close enough to make it to the river. They stood in the river all night with the smoke clearing and heat cooling enough for them to come out late in the morning of the next day.

the museum was filled with era specific clothing, household items and furniture. There was a side room with a kitchen set up and a back room with boats and lumber equipment is that day and time. The kids favorite part however was the basement which was filled with tools, butter churns, ovens, old (very) wash boards wash machines and vacuum cleaners. So fun to see.

I thought I took more pictures of the inside of the museum although I always feel weird about doing that, but it turns out I did not. So here is a picture from the brochure.

the cemetery was also of interest. There are buried those lost in the fire. With a large number of them unidentifiable they made a mass grave.

The day after the fire a man was found looting the dead bodies for their valuables and was sentenced to be hanged on the spot but after searching through the rubble and ash no rope was found uncharred, the man begged for mercy and it was given to him.

in 1620, a tiny ship battled the waves. It was the Mayflower. One ship that had huge historical significance. The Mayflower was a very small ship, that was crammed with pilgrims, most of which were wet and/or seasick. As they were sailing on October 1st a cry went up, “Man overboard! Man overboard!” everyone rushed to get on deck. There, hanging from a rope he had grabbed on the way down, was John Howland, “Help!” He cried. Suddenly he felt something snag at his clothes, and was hoisted up into the ship by a long boat hook. We get this historical account from one of the pilgrim’s journals. One of the historians decided to figure out which Mayflower was the Mayflower that carried the pilgrims across the Atlantic, and figured that it was the Mayflower owned by Christopher Jones. It is 102′ long and 25′ wide at its widest point. On top was the deck. Lower down was the gun deck, where the pilgrims lived while crossing the Atlantic. Below that was the cargo hold. There was 102 pilgrims aboard in 1620 when they left Plymouth England, and one of the hardest decisions for the pilgrims to make was to choose which one should be the leader. The one they chose was William Brewster. The pilgrims actually had two ships, the other being the speedwell, but it sprang a leak and had to turn back. Finally they set foot on land. It was bitterly cold and there was already snow on ground. It was surprising they survived their first two winters. They were not the first to settle in North America, so why do they dominate history?
-by Caleb

Five shifts in a row isn’t too bad, and some how I ended up with the best assignments pretty much every night. And one of the nights (an extra one) I was sent home after five hours. Slept all night and was able to spend all the next day with my family before going back to work. This is what I love about nursing and 12 hour shifts. The amount of time you have to spend with your family. I had my first Spanish speaking patient since leaving Oregon and my first trips to the NICU. Now for a long stretch off from work….the best reward to those long stretches on.

Hannah drew these pictures unprompted. I though they were pretty great so I’m going to share them with you.
The first two are
1. Eve floating in the amniotic fluid in my belly/ Eve being born. (I’m always surprised by what the kids remember)

2. Eve in the sink as Aunt Stephanie gives her her first bath.

3. Hannah holding her new baby sister/ Eve learning to crawl in her crib

4. Big four year old Eve