Don't blame me you silly yankees don't know a good cut of meat... Go eat your tofu! <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif" alt="" />

possum...the other white meat...ya'll are too much....i live on possum point...i need a copy of that trailer living ad...lol

Obviously a person of good taste and class! <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Well I'm surprised you're not serving up a yummy helping of ardvark, or whatever the heck those ugly creatures are you got down there are called.

Seen one right smack in the middle of the road driving to Dallas one day. Stupid, slow south western type animal couldn't even get out of the middle of road!

Dang, wish I could think of what those things are called.

T'aint tofu for me either, it's alaskan wild salmon. And when I got some extra grocery money, it be Lox!

Prolly don't even know what Lox is, do ya poof head?

Pep, please forgive me, as I know you hate it when the threads degenerate to this kind of thing.

Just can't help myself today.

Interesting thread though.

When I had my baby, it was a full moon and thirteen moms checked in to deliver.

Mostly what I remember about the nurses that night was begging them to "just throw me out the window". And I think that is what made them order a baby class for me before they would let me leave with my baby. I guess they thought I didn't quite have the mother quality thing down yet! LOL

Oh and I do remember the doctor telling me when I pleaded with him to "just pull her out", that unfortunately babies didn't come with handles!

Oh and all night long after 23 hours in labor, 12 of them hooked up to a dialating machine, and also a monitor up my yingyang to monitor her heart rate, they kept bringing my baby into my room for me to take care of her. I would of course immediately get up and wheel her right back down to the nursery!

I don't think those nurses liked me very much.

Weaver, are you thinking of armadillos?

Oh thank you Cameo! Yes that's what they are called.

Good grief, only a silly yooper would not know an armadillo from an aardvark! And they even let these people drive! <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif" alt="" />

<img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Usually, parameters are set up in advance, which much be reached before an epidural is given. The nurse tells the physician when you are ready, although the MD is the one who actually calls the anesthesiologist and orders the procedure. Certainly no one thought Dr. Wonderful-Who-Will-End-My-Pain will talk to a lowly nurse, did they? <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/eek.gif" alt="" /> Nurses don't determine if an epidural is given, but they DO tell the MD when his pt. is far enough along for one, and they dole out IV narcotics getting there. A nurse can also tell a physician, "You know, Dr., your pt. isn't 4cm yet. She's been the same for hrs. because she's so tense she's making my teeth ache. Feels like there's plenty of room, though, so how about letting her get that epidural early so she can relax. I'll pit her out, if she needs it, but if we don't do something that baby's still going be in utero when it's time to start kindergarten!" And you get your epidural quicker, which makes you very happy. Because of the noble nurse. That's why people need to be nice to us. (Actually, a primary motive is getting you [generic "you," not personal "you," obviously] OFF MY LAST NERVE, which you've been riding for hours like a jockey in the Kentucky Derby...but since what works for you, works for me, why not bless us all at once?)

I am always amazed when (usually first-time) moms-to-be come in, 1 cm dilated (or less), in early labor if in labor at all, and tell us, "My Dr. isn't HERE? But he SAID he'd meet us at the hospital!" <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/ooo.gif" alt="" /> Sure he's going to meet you here...hours from now when there's actually something for him to do. In the meantime, he's home, safely tucked in bed, and hoping you piddle around until morning and don't make him get up in the middle of the night. <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Well, it's much more fun to sit here in my pj's TALKING about working, than it is actually going to the hospital TO work, but my frolicking time is over. Let's just pray that 9 months ago, more people were reading books than You-Know, so there's at least a chance we might have a pleasant night. My feet are rebellious peasants by the end of 12 hrs, regardless--but if those 12 hrs. were spent in endless trotting back and forth to answer lights and minister mercy...oh, my word. t&l <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />

Th,

It's so much easier to discuss "labor" when not in the midst of it - thanks for clearing things up for me!

Maybe this isn't so odd for you to hear, but with my 2nd son, the epidural only sent anesthesia to 1/2 of my body! So one side got allllll the meds, and the other side got none.

I thought surely I could stand labor if it's just pain on one side, but no - the pain wimp that I am, it was too much. (I have accepted that I have a low threshold for pain). I was simply unable to focus, or pay attention to anyone until the epidural worked equally on both sides of my body. Once they resolved the problem I immediately relaxed, followed instructions and delivered. And of course I've forgotten how many hours it took the other side of my body to work that was soooo numbed!

Hi Mel, Hi Weaver!!

<img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/mad.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/mad.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/mad.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/mad.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/mad.gif" alt="" /> Nine months ago, nobody was reading books, unless perhaps it was the Joy of Sex...in Braille. My new job doesn't staff as well as my regular one, and we have to do babies besides. People, get a hobby (not THAT one!). Play golf. Volunteer at the hospital. Sew. Paint. I don't care. Watch TV!! Oh, well, at least I have job security, don't I? <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

As far as your unilateral epidural, my initial guess (and the simplest explanation) would be that once it was placed, you were positioned on one side (and probably hoped to fall asleep). Gravity pulled all the anesthetic down to the bottom side, leaving your upper side unaffected. If you got complete pain relief only after they turned you to the other side, and let you stay that way for awhile, then you can pretty much assume that was what happened. You are not alone. Women generally don't tend to do well with labor pains on one side when the other is pain-free. If you whined, you would be in plenteous company, believe me! <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

Good night. Have a lovely day. My definition of a lovely day is a day I don't even know I had, but usually I can't sleep that well. Maybe today will be different. To each his own. My definition of a lovely day at 18 was certainly different than the one I've got now. <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif" alt="" />

So, Pep--where is Lalaland? Are you in SoCal? How much personal info are people supposed to divulge on this site, anyway? Is it entirely discretionary, so that one can be either completly identifiable, or absolutely anonymous? We live east of SF up here in the north, so if you're in L.A.L.A.land, we're not going to be passing each other by on the freeway very often! <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" /> I'm at work and my pt. is 6 cm, contracting like gangbusters, and not feeling any pain. She has the cutest dimples and she's still laughing a lot. Getting somebody like this is winning the labor lottery, let me tell you!! <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> t&l

LaLa Land is Los Angeles. Home of fruits and nuts....

Graduated from San Jose State with my BSN a loooooooong time ago before Bill Gates was out of diapers. SJ was at that time the "prune capitol of the world" ... before it became the "dot-com outrageous real estate price capitol of the world"...

I came of age in Santa Cruz the "hippie-capitol of the world" when Ken Kesey and his electric koolaide acid trip bus wandered the mountains .... and if you don't understand this reference, that's OK ... I don't either ... I forget why ... LOL

Pep

And places like Dublin and Pleasanton were nothing more than pasture land with grass and cows and rattle snakes ... and no one stopped there except for gas on the way to the Sierras. Now, it's really a pretty place to live ... with expensive housing !!!!

Pep

Did you trip on any of that acid? <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/eek.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Susan <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" />

Dublin and Pleasanton, in addition to being very expensive, are giant parking lots every morning and afternoon. A few years back I did a some traveling contracts in San Jose and Mt. View, working the night shift...so I was always driving against the heaviest traffic as I passed through Pleasanton and Dublin, and little rural Tracy is now home to some of the best traffic jams in the area. Especially in the AM, on the way home, I would see bazillions of cars backed up on the freeway, and going nowhere fast, and I could never figure out how the commuters could stand it! When I'm on the freeway, I expect to be moving somewhere, not bunged up from here to Christmas with a bunch of other commuters sharing my destination and my predicament! <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" /> Even against traffic, it took 2+ hrs.to drive each way; I would never, ever, on my life have been able to tolerate it if I had had to drive slow besides. These folks who drive 3 or 4 hrs. each way each day are Spartans, very tough, and doubtless have enormous bladders, too, since once you're in the mess, you don't dare take time to get off the freeway for a pit stop. City dwellers, I salute you. On MY road, 5 cars at a time is a traffic jam. I LIKE living in the country, even if it means I have to drive 30 miles or so every time I want to go someplace or get anything besides food (and if I want CHEAP food, I have to drive to get that, too). <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Tonight I spent some time visiting with Neak's younger sister, Wmninshoo. We talked about some of the stresses and burdens we are going through as a family, Neak's being only one of them. Even for Christians, troubles aren't any fun, and lately it's seemed like if it weren't for our bad luck we wouldn't have any luck at all. <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" /> She offered me a variation on a saying that somebody on the MB site likes to put in their posts: "What doesn't kill you only makes you stronger." The version Wmninshoo had read just really fit my mood, which, I must confess, has been more "up" at other times than it is right now. It goes like this: "What doesn't kill you...only postpones the inevitable." Sigh. If we had know when we were kids what it was going to be like to be a grown up, we wouldn't have been in such an all-fired rush to get here, would we? <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />