LIFE....or something like it: 01.2009

January 21, 2009

C-section X 3

On Monday I finished up my OB-Gyn rotation. Admittedly I was a little disappointed that I had not been to many deliveries and hadn't been to ANY c-sections. I did a lot of OB care in the office but just hadn't had many opportunities to get to the deliveries. I looked on the OR schedule that Monday just to see if anything interesting was coming up during the week. Lo and behold, one of the docs had a c-section scheduled for Tuesday morning....and it was to deliver TRIPLETS!!!

I had already planned on leaving Tuesday morning to drive to Phily for end of rotation exams, but I figured that if the doc would allow me to come to the delivery, I would be able to get on the road a little late.

A little to my surprise, he said "yes" and almost jumped at the opportunity to have me along (of course not forgetting to tease me about a little brown nosing since technically my rotation would already be over).

As I tried to get ready for my trip to Phily on Monday night, the incoming snow storm loomed. I had decided that even if it snowed like crazy I was still going in for the c-section. When would I get this opportunity again....maybe never.

Tuesday morning came, I still hadn't packed for my trip, and there was about 4 inches of snow on the ground (enough to literally put NC in a state of emergency). I dodged crazy drivers the whole way in to the hospital at 7:30 only to find out, once I'd arrived, that we'd been pushed back until 10. At that point I climbed back into the car, went home to pack and then hurried back to the hospital.

The surgery was probably the bloodiest goriest thing I have ever witnessed. It was bloodier than any trauma I had in the ER or as an EMT. But in the end, there were these 3 perfect babies pulled out one by one. Each little one looked up at us as it entered the world with confusion and anticipation. Each little one started screaming loud and clear just as it was supposed to. They were all 3 perfect.

In the end, mom wanted her tubes tied (this was #5, 6, & 7 for her). And the doc let me do the honors. All in all it was an incredible experience. Then I had to leave and drive to Philly...

Big moments, hopefully not forgotten

I'm horrible at journaling. I must have tried at least a hundred times over the last 15 years to start journaling but for some reason it just never sticks. I read about all these historically famous people and how journaling changed there lives, or at least you can read about the changes in their lives in their journals. Either way, I always regret the fact that I've never stuck with it.

Over the last 6 months or so, however, there have been some incredible things happening in my life as I have been doing my rotations. Patients I've met, procedures I've done, etc. and looking back on it, I am really sad that I haven't had a daily record of what I've been doing.

Okay, here's where I have to admit that Grey's Anatomy has a huge part in this resurgance of regret about not journaling. In the show Grey's Anatomy, Meredith has recently found all of these journals that her mother kept while she was a surgeon and is reading through all of these incredible experiences her mother had.

Back to the point. I figured I could at least blog about this stuff so later on down the line there is some record I can look back on. Somehow blogging life experiences doesn't seem so difficult. Maybe because I feel like there's someone out there reading it and not just me writing it down to myself.

So, next post is going to begin with my most recent big moment from rotations. And hopefully over the next weeks and months I will add more that happen and also reflect back on some that I hope I can still remember from the last 6 months.

January 06, 2009

Jeremy's Big 3-0

December 20, 2008

On Saturday we celebrated Jeremy's 30th birthday with dinner at Bonefish Grille, and then cake and games back at our house. It was a fun evening with good friends.

Jeremy and me at dinner

Andrew, Cindy and Sus at dinner

Laura and Bobby

Me and B-Rad

Andrew, Rob and B-Rad eating cake back at the house...mmmm cake!

Sus and Vervega

Sus, Jay and Meredith

Laura and Angie (and the Christmas tree)...all 3 looking cute.

Me and dream bobby

Class Christmas Party

December 18, 2008

On Thursday we had our annual sunday school class Christmas party. Of course, there was the traditional white elephant gift exchange. Some great gifts (and some not so great gifts) were circulated. I ended up with a Starbucks gift card which I was very happy about.

Richard ended up with the faux gold plated last supper...a treasure I found when helping a friend move about 5 years ago (Thanks Michael) that has shown up as a white elephant gift every year since.