The Greene Life....: 11.2009

11.19.2009

Do's and Don'ts for New Dads

Listen up, daddies-to-be: When it comes to delivery room etiquette, the mama gets to make the rules. (You don’t have to agree with them. Just accept them.) Take a few hints from these real new-dad blunders and you’ll be on the right track.
DON’T: Go to sleep.
My husband took a NAP...and to make matters worse, SNORED!!!!! --annam829
DO: Push through it.
Yep, labor is likely to be exhausting to you too. But, hey -- you stayed up 48 hours straight in college, and you can do it again now.
DON’T: Forget the camera.
He left both cameras in the car. Our daughter’s first moments are recorded on his iPhone. --nark
DO: Use it wisely.
Discuss paparazzi privileges with your partner in advance. Some women are cool with being photographed in labor, and others want only “after” pics. Either way, you’ll probably want to capture at least a good first family photo and some shots of the fresh, new kiddo.
DON’T: Lose it.
He turned white and the nurse had to stop helping me to get him get to a chair, and she took the oxygen off of me and gave it to him! --mel41g
DO: Prepare.
Go to childbirth class, and keep your eyes open during the videos. Read up on delivery. Learn about the stages of labor, and get informed on the different forms of goo, needles, and medical equipment you might encounter. If you can seriously prepare, you’ll be far less likely to require smelling salts come D-Day.
DON’T: Leave your ringer on.
He was taking calls from work while I was pushing!!! --goillini823
DO: Forget the phone.
If your partner agrees, go ahead and send out a general update or two to the fam, but keep it to a minimum. And once pushing begins, turn that sucker off.
DON’T: Whine.
During pushing, he put my leg down and stretched, saying his arms were getting sore. Are you kidding me?! --Soter1
DO: Zip it.
This is one time where your lady has every right to any pity that’s going around. Whether you’ve got a paper cut, a sprained ankle, or a dislocated hip…the one pushing out a baby wins. Suck it up for just a little while longer.
DON’T: Stare at the flat-screen.
Before I started pushing, he was watching basketball on the TV in the labor room. When we had to switch rooms mid-labor, he freaked out because our new room was missing a remote. I was not amused. --AmyCC1980
DO: Help her focus.
Childbirth educators stress the importance of support and touch in labor -- it can even help things progress more quickly and smoothly! Pull up a chair, touch her hand, tell her how great she’s doing (say it a thousand times if you need to), and keep eye contact with her -- not the TV.

~From Thebump.com~

11.18.2009

Because dogs are part of the family too...

So love of my life, Snow, our littlest pup is a very adventurous dog. Some mornings he spends the entire time outside exploring the backyard, as if it has changed in some form in the last 12 hours. Typically, he is the hardest to come inside because he is wandering the yard looking for the best place to go potty or just being inquisitive and exploring. Well, Sunday Husby and I got home from bowling and noticed he was acting strange. He quickly went outside and took his time doing his business, but then suddenly darted inside and cowered in the kitchen with his tail wrapped around his behind. Usually this means he did something wrong (our dogs have very guilty consciences and end up ratting themselves out before we find the disaster). So I grab and notice he has a mess on his behind (which happens time to time), so I get Husby to help me since one needs to hold him down and the other needs to do clean-up. When he wipes away the poop, I realize there is blood. So now I get concerned thinking pup has bloody stools, so Husby takes him into the tub and gives him a bath to clean the area and see where the blood is coming from. After his bath, he notices a wound beside Snow's butt, and so we apply pressure hoping the blood will clot and life will be ok. The rest of the night, Snow snuggles in one of our laps and doesn't make a peep or fidget. He shakes when he cold and when he is nervous/scared/in trouble, so he does that a bit, but otherwise it looks fine. Husby takes a look at it again and thinks maybe Snow dragged his bum along the grass and got scratched by a burr or along one of the coralline rocks and scratched it, so we put him to bed. Monday, the wound is still there, still open and oozing a bit, so I wipe it off and left him go outside which he fights me on. I eventually have to stand outside for him to come out the door on his own and he quickly pees and runs back inside and to his house (usually I cannot get him to go to his house willingly, so I think something is up, but rush to leave for work). We keep cleaning it and watching it but it doesn't look too terrible and we notice Snow keeps trying to lick it and get at it, so we spend Monday evening (after getting home from our whirlwind shopping trip...post to come) keeping him distracted from it so he will let the wound heal. Tuesday morning still looks puffy and irritated but we chalk it up to him messing with it, so I don't worry too much, especially after Husby tells me not to worry, it'll be fine.

Well, yesterday when I got home, I noticed Snow was still favoring his bum and was passing up food and water and really did not want to be outside, so I picked him up to look at it and I notice it is oozing even worse today. Thinking it is still due to him disrupting and maybe it is bothering him because it is healing, I gave him a washcloth bath and cleaned up. When, Husby gets home and really gives him a bath, he realizes it the wound is now double in size and almost mimics a spider bite (We have tons of burrows that look like spider dens and we are in a residential area, but not too far from the park/preserve, so now I turn into super uneasy, worried Mom mode). Husby researches pictures of common spiders in our area and what their bites look like which leads us to think maybe he had gotten bitten by a Brown Recluse Spider (if you are interested in what a bite from these looks like, you can research it, but I will summarize your search to tell you that these bites can be serious to humans, so imagine it on a 5 lb. Chihuahua). I immediately locate an emergency clinic in our area and we rush him off to it. An hour or so later, and a $200 vet bill later, Snow had an anal gland abscess, and it ruptured. He had to get a haircut, a scrubbing and cleaning and then a shot of antibiotics and we were sent home with 7 days worth of antibiotics (2x/day) and told to clean the wound daily with antibacterial soap. So needless to say, last night was a long evening and Monday night was a long evening and tonight will be long and then my new specialist doctor's appt. is Monday and most likely a pre-op appt. and then surgery on Tuesday....so we will see how this week goes.

11.16.2009

Thanksgiving Day Menu

Appetizers:
Pepperoni & Mozzarella Wrap Snack bites
Cheese & Crackers

Main Dish:
Deep-fried Turkey (Southern Style)
Cornbread Stuffing
Sweet Potato Casserole
Mashed Red Potatoes
Heinz Gravy (no more homemade gravy after last time's drama)
Homestyle dinner biscuits
Jellied Cranberry Sauce
Green Bean Casserole

Dessert:
Home-made Pumpkin Pie
Vanilla Ice Cream
Green Fruit Salad

*This menu of course does not include anything our European guests bring to dinner, so there will probably be additions. They are currently visiting their families back home (England), and said they would try to bring somethings back from Europe to share (and us to experience), as well as, possibly cook a dish or something.*

Recap

So it has been a busy last 2 weeks and this and next week are going to be even more hectic.

1. Saw the 3rd Orthopedic doctor since my accident in May this past Monday (11/9). He quickly suggested arthroscopic surgery to repair my shoulder. According to him, I have a trauma-induced impingement in my shoulder where the bursa is being smashed between my two bones in the joint like between a rock and a hard place. This is because I have no more gap/room in my shoulder joint. The surgery will involve them reducing the swelling by either removing part of the bursa or shaving each of the joint bones down to make room. Also, he thinks I may have a tear near my rotators cuff (which is something Husby, the physical therapist, and my family doctor thought may have occurred due to my earlier symptoms).

2. My workman's comp nurse is trying to pull a fast one over me and not cooperating on getting my paperwork and authorization filed so I can have surgery soon. I'm on to her and so is the doctor's office...and well, let's just say I have a lot of time on my hands and will be calling her everyday until the authorization is sent to the surgeon's office.

3. I am hoping to have the shoulder surgery done the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, that way I have the longest gap of time for recuperation without affecting work, Husby's work, Teaching, Grad School, Husby's travels for work, and life in general. This means Husby will be doing all the cooking for Thanksgiving for us, and his 2 European coworkers. He is brave and insisted he will be fine to do everything.

4. My reproductive specialist/ Gyn doctor changed practice effective Nov. 1st, 2009 and unfortunately, I am not allowed to see her any longer because her previous practice states she must sign a contract to not see patients from her old practice at her new practice for at least 2 years. Thankfully, a family friend (who is my old Dr.'s administrative assistant) got my file and referred me to a new doctor, which I promptly called this week to schedule an appointment with.

5. New doctor's appt. is next Monday and the office is close to Husby's office, so hopefully he will tag along for moral support and give me his vibe of the new doctor. I am almost out of medicine and am still having the severe side pains and wacked cycles, so hopefully he can prescribe something or do further testing to determine the root of the problem, and start off BC to TTC.

6. Snowie hurt himself somehow last night. He has a small cut on his behind, like he dragged his butt along a rock or something (they all tend to do that time-to-time when they go #2 and feel like that missed something or left something). It was bleeding last night and we cleaned him up and bathed him and Husby tried to hold pressure on it, but puppy was not having it. This morning it still looked pretty bad and was oozing, so when I get home I may need to consult with the vet if it is still oozing or bleeding. Poor puppy!

7. As if that all is not hectic enough, I have not yet started Christmas shopping for anyone. The one small gift I bought Husby he did not like...happened to see it in the store and he stated he didn't like the look of it, so tonight we are returning it (I'm making him return it and explain his fickleness to the store clerk).

8. Grad school is driving me nuts. The current class is sooooooooo boring!

9. My final big project at work is suppose to start around the 1st week of December and I am needed around the 18th (so hopefully shoulder is operated on next week, so I am healed enough to work the 18th or else major problem).

10. We decided obviously not to go anywhere for T-day and instead split Christmas and New Year's between the Mom's....Christmas at my Mom's, New Year's at his. Hopefully this still works, but as of now that is the plan.

So excuse me if my blogging becomes scarce in the next few weeks as it is quite hectic here.

11.02.2009

Spooky Dining Set and New Table

So earlier I wrote about our recent furniture purchase. Well this weekend we were able to pick it up. When we got home I realized I really did not like the fabric on the chairs (even more dislike compared to when we were in the store). So, we decided to immediately recover them with the blue fabric we had picked out. So off we went to Joann's to find our fabric. Thankfully, it was on sale (50% off), so Sunday Husby started putting the chairs together and recovering the chairs. Below is the before and after photos with close-ups of the fabric.