All Wrapped Up!

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A lovely,if I say so myself,!'"pea pod" necklace inspired by "distressing delilah" aka Jenn but made by me! maybe more to come! nana1

WORKING MOMS HAVING IT ALL !! ??

There has been much said in the past few days about working moms "aka" career women.Perhaps I missed the "point". If we took a poll ,a real poll, I think perhaps we might find a goodly proportion of moms would love to stay at home ,be the first line inflence on what their little ones are exposed to all day,teaching nurturing,wiping the tears of seperation that inevitably fall ,making sure the whole family is not exposed to every flu,virus,cold ,intestional bug that is surely lurking in all the day

care environments no matter how careful the provider. The fact is the majority of moms have no choice,even when day care eats up half of what they make,they must work! Many of the mothers I work with are single,some the only source of a medical insurance plan for the whole family,which as we all know is a HUGE WORRY these days!!I see these women every day they get calls to make sure their kids got safely to the bus stop,then back home and "in" safely after school,babies who spike temps,or from frustrated dads who cannot understand some special way his child pronounces a food or item the child is crying for!! We have moms who pump breast milk every day on "break" to keep the supply up,and themselves comfortable!!

Parents juggle shift work to keep from shelling out the very high cost of day care,and so many of them barely meet coming and going,puting another strain on the families future beyond the economic!

Of course there are brilliant women out there whom without we would not have the example and pathways paved for our daughters who derserve and need to emulate.The very best thing a parent can do for a child but daughters in particular is to encourage,support,and do all you can to enable them to get the education they will need for the future,to empower them with self confidence and knowledge that their families and their country stand behind them,and our government especially is working towards the day when not only insurance coverage,but safe and affordable day care is out there,to recognise the gift "non working" moms are giving their families,for there ,these so many years form our "liberation" no actual salary attached to being a "stay at home mom" which is priceless.I could go on but I think we all know the issues moms face every day,and I for one would like a "team" in Washington who will stand up for us and help put into place the real needs of our greatest resource and investment,,,our families!!

Lyn-E-Bug !!

It's a girl thing !!

A creation of a girl thing just for us,from the talent of Jenn,my Delilah ! No doubt a new friend she encountered while on a recent run,isn't she just beautiful??!!!

Too long gone!!

I cannot let the day pass without a note about Elvis.As this is the anniversary of his death,I think of him,never really needing an excuse to remember !I love to shut my eyes and just listen to the beauty of his voice! Most people are surprised to hear I love Elvis! I get the "he was a druggie" "he could have got help" negative statements from people who do not care to think,or find the good he did besides his music,Elvis loved people of all persuasions and gave much to his community to help those from where he lived ,and this is continued today through Lisa Marie and her mom.Priscilla,as people from all over of every age continue to visit Graceland and learn about his life and the great turn music took as a result of his talent,as well as others of his time! I have been to Graceland 3 times myself !,as well as learning about Elvis you will see and hear much about the history of our country and the changing world of the 50's and 60's,on the premises you see period cars,a real diner of the time where you can enjoy lunch,hundreds of pieces of not only his life but gifts from presidents,kings,political,and influential persons of the era on display in the museum.A tour of his plane "The Lisa Marie"is a treat,and fun for the whole family,the home and gardens are beautiful!While in Memphis you can partake of some of the BEST barbecue food in the country! Then walk that food off by visiting probably one of the last 5 and dime stores in the U.S.! After that be sure to walk downtown and learn some of where our "blues" music originated,and marvel at the way music has changed and not changed over the years! This is truly a trip to make if you have the chance!!

Sissy-my silly cat!!

It is very hard to get a shot of Sissy,she just does not stay still !! She is a funny litt;e being,showed up in our driveway one night during a storm,some neighbors knew her and had been feeding her however did not want to keep her,the animal "shelters" were too full to take her,so here she stayed !She can "fetch",loves anything round,and will "steal"grapes from a bowl whenever she can! !! With sooo many pets not being adopted I could not resign her to that fate.I do love the "little" bugger!!

Who"s There??

My little "scaredy cat likes to go outside in the morning while I do chores /weeding etc around the house.He requires the door be open just enough so he can get back in quick should anyone come nearby!! Which is what he has done here,when he saw a neighbor walking!! Anyone of male gender will send Tuck straight to his closet hide-a-way where he is "safe".A sad kind of carry over from his days of being abandoned as a kitten at a rosdside service station,where he hid in empty boxes,until my son came along and rescued him,that was over six years ago!

CHOICE-YOU DECIDE?

My job as a Nurse is to care for the patients who come to my unit.I am charge of a busy labor and delivery suite,part of our ,we care for a lot of types of Expecting moms' those who want to have babies and those who do not,sick moms,healthy moms and everyone in between.On our unit this week was a 21.3 week gestation gravida 2-0 who was high risk because of her age and an "incompetant"cervix from her previous loss.She was advised to have a "circlage"which is a stitching of the cervix to hopefully prevent it from dilating and hence loosing the pregnancy.This woman did not comply with the advice of her MD,she arrived on our unit at 3 cm dilated with a "bulging bag of water",will she loose the prenancy?,most likely yes,should she try to save the unborn fetus untill viability is favorable? She could try,we have methods and drugs that could possibly get her to the 22 week age of gestation where our NICU will give the baby a fighting "chance",does that mean the baby will be OK? No a myriad of problems can and will arise leaving you with a child that will never be "normal" and may not live despite the heroic measures we have available.The prognosis for this woman did not look good.She chose to actively induce the "evacuation" of uterine contents,due to non viability of the "prenancy".This produced another problem on our unit!!! Nurses at our hospital do not have to participate in the "administration" of a "terminating" pregnancy.but was this a "termination"??? Or the quickening to the inevitable for the sake of the "mothers" welfare?? After a lot of discussion and a DR, who was not happy with our nurses,as charge of the unit I became the only one who would be in the room as the md inserted the"CYTOTEC" that would help to finish dilating the cervix enough to let the fetus pass through.Did I consider this my "Stamp of Approval"? NO!! certainly not,it is painful for all of us to see this happen,The woman proved to have dilated to 5 cm with the "bag" very much protruding through the cervix without the drug,however the MD and she chose to go ahead,so she would contract and the "birth" would happen quicker.
This is exactly what happened,and the baby was delivered,with a weak cry a heartbeat that although would not support his little body,he kicked his legs and moved his arms,and the wonderful nurses that did not "JUDGE" this woman ,but simply were there to care for the pt.' took this tiny life and wrapped and held him and as APRIL the nurse who did this all said " they sang him to HEAVEN.
There was much debate about the right or wrong of this on our unit,I cannot say this would have been my choice,or the choice of many of the Nurses who would not help care for this pt. obviously,would it have happened anyway?? Yes,from my 24 yrs experience and too many same situations to count,it would have the same end.
Should the CYTOTEC have been used?? Should the mother have hastened the inevitable?? The choice was not mine to make or judge that day,but to care for the pt. who made the choice,many there did not agree,the best thing to do would have been to get that CIRCLAGE placed immediately when the DR. advised,then to follow closely with your care untill you can deliver with the best outcome and knowing you have done all you could to keep that precious life going.Why did she not do that???!!! None of us will know that answer,those of us who cared for the "baby" and he was in every way a "baby",and watched as he struggled for 90 minutes,to leave this world he had entered,we are the ones who wrap,take pictures"in case the mom ever comes back to want" and then go home and cry and dream of these babies,it never gets any easier no matter how many you see,we will continue to do what we pledged to do,without judgement,and pray for those who make their own decisions,right or wrong.