General chatter while we wait (and commentary on the "pull out method")

[Flueky88]

Shae yeah I get you now. I did a lot of 1 to 3 day iv therapy of solumedrol for MS pt's having an exacerbation. I actually was talking to one of our nurses and she did exactly what I wanted for a pt in the past. That made me feel less crazy for asking. I understand it's not common though.

Anyways, glad bleeding stopped. I hope it was just a fluke. How did your exam go?

Dobby that sounds unpleasant having both. I haven't been tested but I've heard how uncomfortable the nasal swab is. Hope it's negative for you.

Presentation went well. I tried to keep it mostly interactive so it has a bigger impact and less boring. Talking about the requirements of a Medicare required document, yeah. Most topics in home health are pretty dry though. Now to do it again on Thursday.

Tye selfish part of me had hoped my waters would break before the presentation so I didn't have to do it. Oh and to make things even funnier.... I had forgot to mention to the audit team I wouldn't be on DIBS call caus eof the presentation. Whelp then it was speculated maybe something had happened and one of the girl's husbands whom I've never met dreamt I had my baby on Tuesday/yesterday :rofI: I ended up emailing our team why I wasn't on the call.

I wonder how J is doing.

 

[shaescott]

Dobs I’m glad the test was a bit easier. I haven’t had much difficulty with the nasal swabs but the last time I was swollen from allergies so it was much more unpleasant and the nurse couldn’t get down as far as she wanted.

Flueks oh that’s so interesting, I had no idea they did single infusions like that. I learn something new every day! I’m glad the presentation went well, and that’s funny that people dreamt you had the baby and decided it was true

AFM had an exam yesterday. Praying I did okay because I didn’t do as well on the first one and I really can’t afford to fail this class and have to re-do this year.
Re: diaphragm acquisition, I have a consultation appointment in a week. I found out the PP near my school only had the one size fits most diaphragm and considering my mild cystocele I really prefer to have one fitted so the doctor knows it fits properly, to improve efficacy. So I called one near home and they said they do the fittings but I need a consultation first. So they took my insurance and scheduled the consultation (it’s telehealth) and we’ll see what happens with that. Hopefully they won’t say I can’t have one due to the mild cystocele, I know 1 of the 2 fitted diaphragms is good for poor vaginal tone and prolapses so fingers crossed on that. I could definitely use some pelvic physiotherapy but idk when I’d find the time with school.

 

[DobbyForever]

Flueky lol that's funny. I'd totally jump to that same conclusion, and I'd be handing out the welcome baby card as your email rolled in Not selfish at all! We all have those moments of wouldn't it be nice to not have to do this thing at work. Glad it went well! I'm sure everyone appreciated the engagement pieces.

I agree. I hope J is good.

Shae yikes! That's unpleasant. I don't mind it either. It's not fun, but I'll take it over the throat swab any day haha. Keeping my FXed you get a good score on it. I'm glad you got the consultation! Hoping they agree to it and it all works out and soon. That's such an interesting idea of one size fits most.

I'm definitely sick. My nose friends are yellow this morning. But it feels like a common cold, so really hoping my test comes back neg. I voted this morning just in case I have to stay home on Tuesday. Gotta say, I am not mad about this new process of voting. As pitch meetings likes to say, "It was super easy. Barely an inconvenience."

 

[DobbyForever]

Got a little worried that my test results came in so quick. Last time I tested they said you only get results in a day if you're positive. But it's neg so woot woot!

Just in time to clear my conscience about taking A to the school's pumpkin patch. They did a great job of spreading out the days/ pumpkins so people can social distance. I went early today, so we had it to ourselves hehe.

Also got my text message that the post office has my ballot, so no more worrying about whether I got duped by a fake ballot box.

 

[shaescott]

Yeah I hope J is okay and that her lil bean is sticking.

Dobs I’m sorry you’re sick but glad it’s not COVID! I’m glad you got to go with A to the pumpkin patch, that’s so cute and I’m sure you’d have been sad to miss it. I did early voting at the town hall because I was worried about mailing it in, and now that I’ve seen the stuff about fake ballot boxes I’m glad I saved myself the stress! I’m glad they got your ballot! I’m saying “glad” a lot lol.
Exam did not go well I’m hoping I can do better on future ones so I don’t fail :/
Re: one size fits most diaphragm it’s definitely a cool concept! It’s supposed to be including women who’ve given birth, not just those who haven’t, and it basically says if you’ve previously been fitted with one below # measurement or above # measurement it won’t fit you. It’s got a range. But I did see one study that showed it was less effective than the fitted diaphragm (likely because the fitted one is precise) and the fitted one can be better for vaginal tone issues.

 

[DobbyForever]

Haha I feel you. I use glad and hope a lot on this site.

That makes sense. Still cool to think about. Either case, it's good you were able to get a fitting appointment. Better safe when you have the option.

Sorry about the exam Are there any study groups or like office hours that might help? I don't know how nursing school works or how competitive your classmates may be.

And right?! What has the world come to?! We talk about "The Voting Rights Act Address" in our reading curriculum as part of our government unit with the guiding question, "Why do laws continue to evolve?" And this is some Jim Crow era level bull. Absolutely ridiculous. I'm sorry. I honestly don't care who people vote for. Everyone is entitled to their own opinions as to who represents them best, but let the people vote.

I'm definitely glad. I made the decision not to take A to usual farms this year. Partially because he won't keep his mask on and partially because he's hard to manage by myself in a setting like that. The director was sweet and she came out with us to take a couple photos of us. Had to channel my inner ANTM and smize with my mask on haha. I also got my certification results back, so I'm officially Level 1 and Level 2 Google Educator Certified. They'll still have their halloween parties in the classrooms with the kids, but parents can't come. I have some activities to do at home tomorrow and I've pre-bagged candy to leave out with some hand sanitizer, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't sad that my mom isn't a part of our Halloween.

 

[shaescott]

Happy Halloween everyone!

Dobs congrats on the certifications! I’m glad they’re still having classroom parties so the kids still have some kind of celebration. And that was nice of the director to come out and take pics of you two! I’m sorry about your mom not being involved though

Re: studying, the girls in my program really aren’t competitive at all, they want to get high grades but it doesn’t bother them if other people do better, at least not enough to not study together/help each other out. My clinical group shares class notes if one of us misses it and we’re thinking of doing a zoom study session. My best friend also suggested we do a study plan together, which seems smart. I think my biggest issue is lack of motivation/procrastination. I just want to sleep and eat all day, not do work. I’m upping my depression meds cuz of that lol, pretty sure I shouldn’t take 2 naps during the day when I slept for 12 hours at night. I haven’t been to the gym in a month due to lack of motivation. I can’t stick to a schedule even though I do well on a strict routine, I just go “hm but napping would be awesome” and there goes my afternoon when I was meant to write a paper. If my friend and I have a study plan together it might force me to stay on schedule. Fingers crossed.

Re: voting yeah I agree, it doesn’t matter what side someone is on, voter suppression is never okay. All American citizens have the constitutional right to vote and I think personally that purposefully impeding someone from voting should be a federal offense (and honestly it probably already is). Putting out fake ballot boxes is absolutely criminal and disgusting, trying to make people’s votes not count, registration purging, and election misinformation (like telling people Election Day is the 4th) are truly terrible. Hopefully that’s not a controversial opinion because I feel like it’s really not political, it’s just “all citizens should have the right to vote without being impeded during the process”.

I would say that I hope they have as long of an early voting period in future years as they did this year. Early voting made my life way easier because I live and vote in MA but go to college in NH and driving home to vote on Wednesday and then back to school in the same day is a fat no from me.

 

[shaescott]

I can’t believe the election is tomorrow. I need to go buy some wine or something cuz watching the results roll in is going to be stressful af. Especially since they may not be finalized for several days, which is extra frustrating. I’m an impatient woman, waiting is not my strong suit. Love and anti-stress vibes to everyone, no matter who you support.

I had my exam review with the professor today and essentially I’m a dumbass who can’t read I should’ve done better than I did, really. I need to stop rushing and read more carefully and let myself consider the options for longer than I have been. And studying more wouldn’t hurt lol.
Ex-roommate announced she’s having a boy and I’m honestly a little less jealous now I wouldn’t be super upset having a boy I just would prefer having a girl, baby boys are adorable and cuddly but I worry about when they’re older and raising them to be respectful good men. Also I’m crap at coming up with boy names lol.
Consultation for diaphragm is on Wednesday. Fingers crossed for me they won’t say my mild cystocele makes it a definite no without seeing it irl. I’m pretty sure my vaginal tone is shit compared to a few years ago cuz I used to be able to use the heaviest kegel weight in the set and I tried the lightest today and it isn’t falling out but it isn’t moving up either so that’s lovely. Luckily one of the main fitted ones is good for poor vaginal tone lol so fingers crossed it’ll work out.
I’m honestly mentally a wreck these days for a number of reasons, so I upped my meds (in consultation with my NP) but idk if it’ll work or if I need a different med. We’ll see. It might just be that with my stress levels rn this is the best I can get, which would suck ass but that’s life.

 

[pacificlove]

Hope everyone is doing ok, staying healthy.

Pretty,our restrictions on this side of Canada are down to your household plus safe 6 for inside gatherings. For us that's close family here in town.

Dobs, glad to hear your swabs came back negative.

We just found out that a family member in Europe had covid. She's a physiotherapist in a hospital. She wore a mask, but her client did not. At the time her hospital did not require patients to wear masks in their own rooms. 20 minutes of treatment was all it took. Surprisingly, her spouse did not get it although he still got tested and quarantined. Hospital policy was changed right after... Just Doh!!

 

[shaescott]

PL sorry about your family member getting COVID. Hopefully she recovers quickly without any lasting effects.

None of my patients have been wearing masks in their rooms, only during transport like to radiology for an x-ray or something. As students they don’t give us COVID-positive patients but it’s always possible they were a false negative, there was someone on Friday on the unit the nurses mentioned finally tested positive after several negatives when they’d suspected for a while it was COVID. We wear both masks and face shields on the unit but not N95s or anything.

My dad is having flu-like symptoms today including fever so prayers please that it’s just a little bug and not COVID cuz that would really suck. I was home this weekend and he woke up with the symptoms today. I don’t have a fever and hopefully I don’t get one.

 

[Flueky88]

Dobby so glad it wasn't covid. That's what s so bad about this time of year, so many colds and flus but covid is similar. Glad I'll be on leave during most of it. I'm sorry your mom still isn't present in yours and A's life.

Shae I hate to hear that about your exam. I failed my first OB, peds, and psych exam. It happens. I liked doing a study group as I found it more motivating. Also as you mentioned before, taking more time to think about the question. Exams are hard because basically all the answers are right but you have to pick the best one. At least that's how ours were. In any case, I have faith you can do it. I'm glad your NP upped your meds.

Oh and hope diaphragm fitting goes well. I've actually been doing pelvic floor therapy and it's really helped, much less stress incontinence and less pelvic pain. I'm kinda at the point where not much helps though just because of baby's positiin and uterus size. Once I'm cleared post partum, I want to go back so maybe I can get on the trampoline without peeing myself.

Pacific I'm not sure what the policy is for our hospitals. In labor and delivery apparently it's more about which OB or midwife is seeing you. The nurse told me there are only 2 that are picky about it. I'm just not sure how well I could labor with a mask on. I'll try to wear when staff are in, but not sure how well I'll be able to keep that up. In an case I'm sorry they tested positive, hope for a swift recovery.

AFM, went to L&D Friday evening as I thought my waters started leaking. Nope just a lot of watery discharge. I was having some contractions, just not regular. No cervix changes since 36+1 so was a bit disappointed with that. I even had them check Monday and it was the same. Been losing bits of plug since Monday so hoping she makes her appearance very soon.

I did early voting about 2 weeks ago, I'm ready to find out results but it's just a waiting game.

 

[DobbyForever]

Following but exhausted. Just wanted to say thinking of everyone

 

[shaescott]

Flueks sorry no labor yet have you thought about Amazon priming some pH strips to check if fluid is vaginal fluid (pH of like 3.5) or amniotic fluid (pH of like 6.5)?

So I had my consultation today and turns out they only have the one size fits most diaphragm but they do fittings for it to ensure it’s the right fit and to teach you how to put it in, so that’s what’s gonna happen. I have my fitting on the 21st.

 

[Flueky88]

Shae that's a good idea. Unfortunately prime is taking like 4 days to get to me. I go for appt Monday and plan to request to schedule an induction for next week if she doesn't arrive before then. I hope you do great on your next exam. If I didn't say it before, your professor was very rude with her f/u with you on your exam.

AFM still plugging along. I thought yesterday might be the day but I was wrong sadly. I'm really hoping for it to happen before Monday. If not thought, it'll be what it'll be

 

[shaescott]

Flueks ah that’s too bad about prime. Hopefully you’ll go into labor before then!

I’m glad we finally have an answer on the election, that was very drawn out and stressful.

 

[DobbyForever]

Fluek sending lots of baby having vibes your way!

Shae hope the fitting goes well and the one size does fit.

And agreed. That was painful watching them repeat themselves over and over for five days on the coverage sites.

Sorry need to vent.

Got into it pretty majorly with my family over more of the same: double standards, got tired of them taking jabs at me. So that was fun. My grandparents invited us to visit them for Thanksgiving and Christmas. I don't really want to go. I don't want to drive to LA with A by myself, I'd have to figure out how to dog proof their yard/ deal with the dogs, it is an exposure risk for them because I'd have no way to quarantine A (they don't particularly seem bothered by that though), and honestly I am just so tired. I really need those days off work but daycare is open days to recharge. Thankfully, I have four of those this month.

A starts in clinic speech on Wednesday. I tried to move him to the kaiser closer to me (15m vs 30m) but they wanted to restart the whole referral process! I don't mind the distance, but we'll hit commuter traffic on the way back. Before, we'd just stay at my mom's and have dinner I'd give him a bath there then let him fall asleep in the car on the way home. She said we could. If he stayed in the backyard. And didn't touch anybody. Like hard pass. He was so upset the last time we did that to change his clothes after Halloween. It's just one day a week though so it is what it is. I need to ask her if it's possible for him to receive services but run a simultaneous eval with the center closer to me.

 

[shaescott]

Dobs sorry about the family problems and the distance issue with the speech services asking a toddler not to touch anybody is rough, it’s really not fair to ask that of you and A.

Okay can someone tell me if it’s morally wrong that I’m hoping I have an oopsie with this diaphragm even though I’m going to be actively preventing and doing everything correctly to prevent the pregnancy? Like I wouldn’t sabotage anything, that’s definitely wrong cuz SO hasn’t consented to that. I just kinda hope God is like “lol you thought this would work? Nah” and I end up accidentally preggo but I am making the active decision to use a less effective method while at the same time hoping that causes an oopsie even though I’ll be using the method perfectly and in conjunction with NFP/FAM. Which is why I’m wondering about the morality

 

[DobbyForever]

My moral compass doesn’t exactly point north lol so I’m not gonna weigh on there I will say that it is totally normal and valid to be excited about the possibility of an oops. I’m trying to think of a similar scenario of like you wouldn’t seek it out buuuuut if it happened then no complaints. It’s something you want but logically can’t have, so hoping it falls into your lap (avoiding graphic jokes lol) is not wrong. I think the line is when you start lying and like tell him it’s on but it’s not. Theeeeeen we’re getting in shaded territory pack a jacket. No judgement. Most people I know under 30 got pregnant in less than due north ways. Myself included cuz I think deep down I knew my ex was lying to me about ttc and just figured I’d go the alternative and I had no intention of going the alternative so I mean... yeah. Maybe ask someone else

 

[shaescott]

Dobs yeah telling him I’m wearing it when I’m not is definitely shady and I’m not going to do that, I won’t lie to him about the amount of protection we’re using etc. It’s more the issue that I’m specifically choosing to use a less effective method knowing it’s less effective with the intention that maybe it will give me an oopsie. But still using it correctly and no deception involved.

As for you, he consented to unprotected sex, him assuming you wouldn’t end up with a baby was on him, not you.

 

[pacificlove]

Shae, it takes two to make a baby... You have chosen your method of how to prevent, so can be for himself. It's a mutual agreement of that to do. My two cents..

In news from us, my puppy is finally baking. Should be born around early January!

And in more news, my sil is pregnant. They told us days after she found out. Very excited for them, I am just glad it's not me who's pregnant, haha because I am over that.