Joys of Breastfeeding

So there are many things I didn't expect about becoming a new mom. I always heard about the sleepless nights, changing the millions of diapers, and I also heard about the joys of breast feeding, but not quite everything. (By now, you must realize that some people might not want to continue reading this!)

I got in on some of those really fun things I had heard about. Cracking, bleeding, and pain that "makes your toes curl" as my old boss Lesli stated. But the thing I was most surprised about was what let down felt like. I kept having what I thought was an abnormal sensation as I'd walk around the house. I couldn't figure out what it was, and I kept grabbing my chest. When this happened once and my Mom was right there to watch me do this, I finally told my mom, "I keep feeling like someone is hooking my chest up to jumper cables." Now all be it, that it's a slight exaggeration, I literally felt like someone was sending electrical current through me. Man what a great sensation! Thank heavens for Moms, she pointed out that it was probably my milk letting down.

NOT AT ALL what I had IMAGINED. So you soon to be new mothers out there, be aware or beware, how ever you see it, that it could happen to you and it doesn't necessarily coincide with a crying baby (all though it does usually happen then too)!!

Induction and Birth!! Finally.

Sorry this is very long and if you don't want to read it all I so understand, but I really wanted to remember all the details. My sister-in-law, Brittney told me I needed to write it all down so I don't forget, cause it will be a treasure to me. And after having been through it, I'm sure she's right!!

So on Monday I had a meeting at the hospital (a way to get some hours and not have to work on the floor). So after the meeting I decided I would go talk with the Birth Place nurses about the possibility of getting induced on Wednesday evening if I could talk Dr. Minudri into that morning at my appointment. I wasn't totally sure that was what I wanted, because I really didn't want to have to be induced, but thought it work the best for Chad and his rotation.

I was reassured that since it was after 41 weeks on Tuesday, that it was totally reasonable to be thinking about an induction. This was a relief to me, cause I wasn't really uncomfortable, but Chad and I have plans to go home to South Eastern Idaho the last 2 weeks of July! We wanted her to be old enough to be able to get the Dr. visits in and be older to have a little immunity from the bugs that come around more people.

So I got a call on Tuesday from Birth Place telling me that when I was penciled in to be induced that they had c-section scheduled and didn't feel like they could safely do Pitocin on Thursday. So my options were to either come in that night(Tuesday), or wait until Thursday night and have pitocin on Friday. So after talking with Chad we decided to go in on Tuesday night. Crazy!!

So I had got this message after having been at the grocery store and doing errands all afternoon and having a cement slab poured that morning. I totally didn't have the house clean. I then found out we needed to be at the hospital between 5-5:30 pm. Only about 2 hours away and I didn't know when Chad would be off from his rotation. I didn't think that I'd go in till later that night. So I was running around the house trying to clean up the mess I had left out from trying to finish sewing my breast feeding cover, and more burp clothes and get all the groceries put away and dinner made so we could eat before going in. Needless to say I didn't get all of that done and we didn't get into the hospital until 5:45pm. Chad didn't get home until about 5:25 and we had to bring dinner with us we were running behind.

A picture of me before I got strapped down!!

So we arrived at Birth Place and I was so worked up that when they placed me on the toco monitor, her little heart rate was up to 170-180. She had been around 145-155's. So they had us hang out to see if her heart rate would drop a little lower. And she didn't right off, so I got to get the IV early and get fluids to see if I was dehydrated and also had to get oxygen. With that her heart rate came down, but Dr. Trihn did a check and said I was like a 0 and basically was not progressing at all and that the cervix wasn't effaced at all. She was a little worried and gave us a few options. ( First of all I was so sad to have gone backward. I was at least a 1.5 the last 2 weeks visits and the cervix was softening. But this was the first time to see Dr. Trihn, so she didn't have anything to compare to, She also felt that I was narrow in the pelvis) Option #1- Start the cervadil and if the contractions that comes with those, if she didn't do well with them, we'd have to have terbutaline injections to stop the labor, and then we'd do a c-section.

Option #2- We could do a stress test, so start pitocin (which is short acting IV medication) and see how her heart rate did under the stress of contractions. If she does well we could do the cervadil and know that she should do well, if she didn't do well, we'd end up doing a c-section. And option #3- we could do a c-section if we didn't want to stress the baby.

We were a little scared about all the options, but decided that we'd start the pitocin and do the stress test to see how she did. Well she pasted and about 10pm we started the cervadil. But I had to be on the toco monitor the entire night, cause we scared Dr. Trihn. So our wonderful neighbors Renay, Garret and Gabe came in and brought dove ice cream bars and helped us pass the time. It was great to have them.

Gabe trying out the rocking chair. Making the time fly.

We did well all night and just had to be repositioned frequently to get comfortable and also readjust the monitor to have her heart rate picking up on the monitor so they could detect a problem.

So we decided that Chad should still go into the Vet hospital and do at least part of his rotation that day, since we would even start the Pit until 10-11am. So off Chad went that morning to continue with rotations and not have to take 2 personal days, with the hopes of having a slow day and being able to come back to the hospital earlier than usual.

So they usually keep the cervadil in for 12 hours, but Dr. Minudri came in about 9am and he was very positive and happy with how well we did all night and the contractions that were happening from the cervadil were "picture perfect" so we chose to pull the cervadil an hour early and just immediately start the pitocin to go continue using the regular contractions that I was having. So at that check I had dilated to a 3 and was 50% effaced. YEAH That was exciting to hear. So by 10 am we had started the pitocin and I finally started to feel more crampy with the contraction and could start to recognize them without feeling my stomach to see if I was actually contracting. And Dr. Minudri said whenever I was ready for an epidural or there were other pain med available. So I was doing pretty well, but got to be more than I wanted to handle and so I got some IV pain med to take off the edge off around 11 am. My nurse did a check just to see where I was and was at about 3.5-4. Chad got to come back for the rest of the day at 12am, just right before Dr. Minudri had come to check on me. When he check he said that I was a 5 and thinning more. By that time I decided that I would be up for an epidural and they called to make arrangements for one of the CRNAs to come do it. So I got another bag of fluids to help booster my blood pressure for the pain med that would be coming.So I got another bag of fluids to help booster my blood pressure for the pain med that would be coming. I was so glad that Chad was able to be there when Ed Winterbottom (the one CRNA that is from our Stake) came to do my epidural. We had a little hard time getting it to thread and ended up having to try again, and it made Chad a little lightheaded to have me poked a few times. It was funny though, because when the epidural was being threaded, Ed warned me that there would be a heavy feeling that usually comes in one or the other leg. It was just a second later that my right leg jumped. It's crazy to have things just happen involuntarily. But it was nice to have some better pain control, because the IV pain med, just made me lightheaded but it did take the edge off the contractions for a little bit. Oh and the pain med started my streak of vomiting. I was up using the bathroom and got nauseated and ended up vomiting in the whirlpool tub in the bathroom. I'm not sure if it was from being in labor or if it was the pain med. I ended up throwing up 2 more times by the time the baby came. But I'll take one day of nausea rather than 3 month+ that can come with pregnancy.

So from 1pm-about 6, I was shifting myself in bed and being rearranged to keep the epidural coverage as even as possible. But by about 6, I was feeling lots of pressure with the contractions that wasn't being covered by the epidural and I was feeling like I wanted to push. Hawa, my nurse, started telling me try to breath through the contractions and not try to push until Dr. Minudri got back. By this time I was really just trying to work through the contractions and I really lost track of time. Dr. Minudri got there and I started pushing. I was getting so tired and had to even ask how long I had been pushing for, which had almost been an hour. All I could think was "how do women push longer than this!" I felt like I was totally out of gas, no push left in me. Dr. Minudri was really great though to be encouraging, but finally told me that not too much progress had been made with the last 2 contractions, which is exactly what I needed to hear! So with the determination that the comment brought out in me, 2 more pushes later she Kherrington was born and Chad got to go cut the cord!

I was relieved to feel her on my stomach as they cleaned her off and being able to focus on her for the moment and not anything else, except for the shakes that I had been having off and on for an hour that much more intense after the birth. We were a little afraid that she might have some respiratory problems, cause we thought maybe my amniotic fluid was meconium stained. Hawa had even brought in the warmer that was portable and lives in the nursery just in case. But she had no problems and had to be suctioned very little. What an amazing experience! One that I'm glad to have over for a while.

I was relieved that Dr. Minudri informed me at the point where I felt like giving up, that if this wasn't my first child, that she would have already been born. That gives me hope that the next one might not be as hard. Here's to WISHING!

So at 7:20 pm Kherrington Lynne Christensen was born and didn't get weighed and measured until a good 30 minutes after ( 6 lbs. 12 ounces & 19.5 inches long), since she was laying on my tummy. I remember first thinking she had a little bit of a cone head, but it quickly resolved, and I was amazed at how beautiful she looked, the cutest little features I've ever seen and dark hair. I'm sure most people think that about their babies, but she really looked pretty unscarred by the birthing process!!

So here I am with the puffy cheeks, how many liters of fluid did they really give me!! WOW I'm chubby! This was taken on the 2nd!!

Chad with his new little girl!!

Look at how excited he is!!

Isn't she cute in the hat Grandma Christensen crocheted for her

with the cute flowers mom added!!

Our little Lady! Kherrington Lynne Christensen, 6lbs 12 ounces- 19.5 inches long on July 1st.

1 week and 1 day past her due date of June 23rd!!

So it took until about 12-1am on the 2nd for me to finally get up out of bed finally and that was probably on the 3rd try. I just about fell out of bed the first time on Nicoline and Chad, cause I totally felt like I had one really strong leg, but when I went to put weight on it, it was not going to take any weight at all. Thanks heavens they caught me. Here a slide show with pictures of the hospital stay and going home pictures.

Schwan's man

So I'm not sure how many of you know about the Schwan's man, but since I've married Chad I've come to know more and more about the Schwan's man. Within the first few months of our marriage when Chad would come grocery shopping with me we'd walk by the ice cream section and he'd always say, "We need to get some GOOD ice cream!" So I would go on to tell him to pick out whatever kind he wanted. "Oh they don't have good ice cream here, we can only get GOOD ice cream from the Schwan's man." Well with living in a such a small little apartment and not having lots of room in the freezer we only bought a 1/2 gallon once.

So recently Chad has been back on his Schwan's man kick again. (I'm sure the Barnes' are just laughing hysterically at this time, cause we told them about Chad's obsession with Schwan's man very early in our friendship, probably ever since Chad's birthday that Oct '06 when we met them a few months earlier. They had never heard of Schwan's ice cream and Chad had to tell them how wonderful it was and how they were missing out. I don't remember if they ever got a chance to taste any?) So anyway, I just about started laughing at loud when Wednesday evening Chad answered the door and the Schwan's man addressed Chad by name and asked him if there was anything we wanted. Now I'm not sure if it's just a sales man thing to know who your customer's names are, or that Chad and I have been ordering ice cream enough lately that he knows Chad on a first name basis!! He has been coming by every 2 weeks for the last few months!! And we have the cute little neon orange stickers on the calendar to mark the every other Wednesday, just so we don't forget. Chad was disappointed a few weeks ago that my Dr's appointment was so late in the day on a Schwan's man Wednesday that I might not be at the house when the Schwan's man would come so we could get our ice cream we ordered! Good thing though, Chad made it home early enough from rotations that we got our ice cream order anyway. I'm sure that Chad counts that as a blessing for sure.

I have to admit though, I've gotten quite fond of the the great ice cream and the chicken cordon bleu and chicken Parmesan entrees they sell too. It's just nice sometimes to not have to cook anything for dinner. So we have a few in the freezer to help appease those urges when the baby comes. So if you haven't had the opportunity to taste Schwan's ice cream, Chad and I urge you to try it!!! And if you need recommendations of what to try first. We can do that too!!! But try at your own disgression, cause your husband's might start getting very excited when they see the Schwan's man truck where ever they might see one!

Dr. Update from Wednesday

So I though I better tell that I totally had predicted what would happen at my Dr.'s appointment on Wednesday. I am exactly the same 1.5 cm and now she's moved back up and Dr. Minudri couldn't even feel her head like Dr. Richard's could the week before. So she's sitting in limbo (well, on her head). But she hasn't quite got it figured out that she has to stay down there for her to eventually come out. But I'm realizing that it doesn't do any good to stress about it, so I'm doing project time at work so I don't use maternity leave now just waiting for her to come. I won't worry about her coming until next Wednesday when I have another check-up, then I'm going to want to be induced so we can go home in a few weeks from that.

Dr. Minudri told me that most people come a week before or after their due date and that she isn't overdue until 42 weeks. Who knew?!! Look at all the things I'm learning. So if she hasn't decided to show up by herself this week, we'll talk about induction!! Crazy I hope she comes on her own.

The other really cool thing that happened to us on Wednesday is that a girl that lives across the street, that we just met because she took her cat into the Veterinarian hospital while Chad was on, gave us 2 boxes of girl clothes. They are moving and had tried to get rid of them at the neighborhood garage sale last week and still had two large boxes left! It outfitted us for the next 2 years I swear! It was so nice. Look at the blessings we're receiving for having Chad in school. We met a neighbor that we've never met before. Amanda is so nice, I haven't met her husband yet, but hope them the best in where ever they decide to go!!!

The other thing that I enjoyed about Wednesday was that I got to have lunch with Chad. We met up and got some Chinese food from Safeway and drove to our favorite place, Lawson Gardens. We spent the entire hour just eating and talking and catching up on Derik's (nephew) life. It was good to hear from him!! We're still sad that he isn't taking his vacation to come see us!!

So here are some pictures from the last time we went to Lawson Gardens, (End of May). I just thought some pictures would let you see why we like it so much!! The Flowers!!

Change of mood

Okay I'm finally up from getting about 3 uninterrupted hours of sleep!! It was Heavenly. And so know I have the rest of the day to do whatever I want!! Chad told me yesterday that I need to hop on the elliptical and go for it!. We'll see if I'm that desperate or if my patience has come back.

(I finally added pictures to the pregnancy update/father's day post if your interested in picts.)

So yesterday I got in the mood where I just wanted everything set for the baby and I went to work. Sort of what I guess would be nesting? Anyway the changing pad for our changing table finally came and so I went through the room and organized everything. When I was done with that I tried pulling out anything I need to get done. So I still have a few craft and things that I got out yesterday that I could work on. And I know I need to take advantage of that while I can. I still have my nursing cover to make for breast feeding, and I have some more cloth diapers to make into burp cloths too. And that's all baby oriented. I even have a table runner, (that will go on my piano) that is 4th of July themed that I need to sew, and I also have a chalkboard to finish for a gal. Thanks to my sister-in-law Stacie for getting me hooked up with the cabinet doors. (Oh Jen that means we can make you a chicken wire photo holder!!!)

I also have finally made a blog that I'll have come up on search engines to sell some of my leftover crafts, that I need to get pictures posted so I can get some of this stuff out of my house!!

So I could work on that too. See my options are endless really.

Chad got home last night and was in his own nesting mood.!!HEHE I'm sure he'll love that I called it that. He just wanted to organize and do things the in the baby's room and I'd already done it. OOPS! Didn't think he'd like to do that after being on rotation all day

See I have tons to get done before this baby can come. I'm in no rush right!? I have also been meaning to get some pictures to show everyone how well our tomatoes and peas have done. We also did plant a few stalk of corn too a few days ago and they haven't come yet, but I'm interested to see how they do in our home made garbage can garden!!

So here are our little row of peas. Not nearly big enough pea patch to satiate Chad and I, but we have enjoyed getting a few pea pods to munch on. Yesterday I got 4 good sized pods off for us to share!!

So here are our homemade garbage can gardens. Right now it takes up lots of patio room, but by next week we're supposed to have the rest of the patio poured!! Hooray!!

So this puny little plant is what happens when you let the tomato plant sit in too little of a pot for too long. We're still wondering if it's going to survive.

These next two pictures are close ups of the cherry tomatoes and early rise tomato that are actually on the plants now. I can hardly wait to eat them. But we're going to have tons of cherry tomatoes, so anyone want to call some dibs now?

Here is a picture of the one type of flower that we grew from seeds that sprouted. Little Purple Pansies!! Reminds me of the Primary Song!!

And here are some Gerber daisy plants. I've never really payed much attention to what the plant is supposed to look like, but since they aren't flowering, they don't look like Daisies to me.
(They are the ones right next to the stones)

So Chad and I decided that the flowers aren't really worth trying to grow on your own. much easier to just go by the pony packs and plant them. Then you get immediate pleasure out of how your garden looks and it's easier. The things we pay for conveniences.

Labor? Yeah right!!

So it's about 3 am the day after I'm due, and I've had the worse night. I haven't been able to sleep. I've been up to the bathroom like over 4 times and I'm so warm, even with the fan on. So finally I'm downstairs getting another glass of water hoping that when I get back up stairs that I can breath when I lay down I'll be able to breath. For some reason I'm overly stuffy tonight. Oh can we say Chad's not having a hard time sleeping, I can't get him to stop snoring!!! Which I am glad for cause he has to work/rotations tomorrow and I don't. I get to go to the Dr. so he can tell me that I'm still at 1.5cm!! Woe is me! Sorry for the downer blog, just hate it when I can't sleep!! I know I know, It's just getting me prepared for all those night time feedings, but you know I think I'd be okay getting up that often if that was what I was doing right now.
So I guess now that I'm past my due date that my good attitude about still being pregnant is out the door. I thought I was doing so well, but if I was sleeping right now....I know I wouldn't be so Eeyorish.

Pregnancy update and Father's day

So after that crazy Saturday with my exploding man at work, I started contracting to the point that some of them were a little uncomfortable. But nothing amounted to anything really consistent. After a few days (June 10) I went in for my scheduled appointment with Dr. Minudri and I had dilated to 1.5 cm and had softened some. So I guess it got me a little of somewhere. The Doctor then went on to say that anytime she wanted to come it would be fine. So that got us really excited and we realized that the last two weeks that Chad has been on Small Animal Community Practice would be the easiest time for him, for the baby to come.

But to no avail, this last week (June 17) with Dr. Richards, I was still about 1.5 cm. So not progress really at all. I had talked to my mom a little about her pregnancy with my oldest brother, Brek and she said she was over a week late. So I'm just convinced now that I'm going to be late, just like my labor prediction had said.

These pictures were taken on the 14th of June, so 10 days before the due date.

Chad had been telling me for the last part of this week, that it would be perfectly okay with him, if I went into labor on Sunday, cause he's excited to meet her and so he could get out of this evenings weekend rotation of being in the ER or ICU. He wasn't very excited at all to go in on Father's day.

So this morning I gave him his father's day gift(Boring shirts and ties, but it was what he asked for) and made him German Pancakes for breakfast. He was having the hardest time yesterday coming up with what he'd like for his dinner, so I just ended up making him steak and baked potatoes!! Oh and the one request I got, Coconut Cupcakes for dessert!!! Just can't wait til he gets home to have dessert.

So a pretty uneventful Father's day as I sit here waiting for her to come to really make a true father's day for the first time for Chad!!! Wish us luck and hope that she comes by herself no later than this week, cause we have a trip to go home at the end of July and we want her to be old enough to be out camping and around lots of family!!!

Mom & Dad Joos' visit

So it was great to have Mom come for the baby shower and Dad finally got to go fishing up here. It's been something that he's been wanting to do since we moved up here. So on Friday he spent time down in Orofino and wasn't really successful, but no one else that was around where he was.

So on Saturday we had appointment to do a temple session at the Spokane temple. When we arrived there, guess who could't find her recommend. Yeah it was me. So we were late and didn't get to go in the session that we signed up for. After a call to Bishop Udy by the temple president, we ended up going to the following session. What a dork, but I was so glad that we were able to go after driving all that way.
So here is a picture of us at temple grounds and this is at about 36.5 weeks
Mom and Dad's first time to the Spokane Temple. First time they had been to a place that required an appointment. It was a great time!!! Thanks for the visit!!

Baby Shower May 29th

So I have some amazing co-workers (Renay and Brenda) that threw me a great baby shower. It was on the 29th of May and I'm just now getting to blog about it. So sad, but everyone has spoiled me and the baby like crazy and I had to blog about it. Brenda made the cutest annoucements that had ladybugs on it, since that is the theme we have in our nursery. And then this is Renay house where the shower was held. She had little ladybugs hanging from the ceiling.

We had a brunch, our new favorite thing to do for baby showers since we did it for Brenda's shower last year. We had so many yummy things to eat. Crepe's (Something that I've had a kick for the last half of my pregnancy. Especially with strawberries!!) and quiches that were so good I've never had any better. It was great. I appreciate all the hardwork that they put into this. I really had so much fun and loved being around all these great friends!!!

Upper Level-Katie Everman-Druffel and MJ in the baby carrier, Anna Henderson, Brenda Munson, Me, Brenda Joos (my mom), Anita Parrott,

Lower level- Renay Hillman-Vance, Lincoln Munson, and Cecily Montgomery.

So my Mom and Dad were able to come up so my mom could come to the shower and my dad got to go fishing!! Just what he'd prefer!! That Friday was PALS and a few other things that made a few people not able to come, but I was impressed with how much people are thoughtful and made sure to get gifts there anyway. I really work with amazingly caring people. Something that I will surely miss when we move.

The man that exploded!

So there is so much for me to catch up on blogging about, but I figure I need to write about my experience last weekend at work before I forget all the details.

So on Saturday I had to work which means I was 37.5 weeks along in my pregnancy. I was having a steady morning with a discharge order for one of patient right at the start of the shift. I usually am pretty fast about getting all the paperwork done and really did jump on it fast and let my patient know when a good time a right could come pick her up. I though everything was under control and so I sent the other nurse in the unit I work in to eat some breakfast since one of her patients was just taken to surgery. So I'd really not have many patients I needed to watch (3). Well that what I thought.

So shortly after I sent Cindy to eat breakfast, my other patient(who had his bladder removed due to bladder cancer and had a illeostomy) called complaining of not feeling well. (He was trying solid food for the first time that morning since surgery) So I thought, we just pushed this a little fast, it was scrambled eggs though. So usually a nice soft food to start out with is great, but I pulled back his table and saw some drainage on his gown. So I thought I better investigate....So I pulled back his gown to see a full JP (Jackson Pratt) drain. (Basically it's a depressed bulb hooked to a tube inside his stomach area to drain out blood and other stuff out of the surgery area). So I went and got the container to empty the drain and when I popped open the little tab to empty it..It started spouting out!! I was so surprised. I hadn't had that happen in all my years of nursing. I even told him, "I haven't had that happen to me in the 8.5 years I've been a nurse." I also noticed that his other dressings had more drainage on them than they had earlier. I figured I better go double check what I had for an order to either change the dressing or reinforce them. My patient then started telling me that his abdomen really was hurting!!! I could tell because he was getting up pacing the room because it hurt more to sit or lay down!! He has a history of asthma and had been having quite a strong cough, which is a good thing to do after surgery to move air throughout the lungs and avoid getting pneumonia, but I kept telling him it wouldn't hurt as bad if he'd take a pillow and squeeze it against his stomach as he coughed. Well I hadn't had very good luck getting him to do that all morning.

Well off I went to find this man some pain med... I knew he was horribly uncomfortable. So I got the rest of his morning meds with them, cause he was running a high blood pressure and should probably get his blood pressure meds, right. Well after giving him the Demerol he stood back up and was starting to pace a little as I was preparing and scanning the rest of his meds, when he told me he was going to be sick. (BTW, I never like any patient telling me that) So I jumped to the closet where we have basins and dumped whatever the rest of the contents were out and rushed to get this basin to him. As he turned around on the other side of the bed to grab the basin, I heard this POP POP SquiSH!! and simultaneously saw his gown ballooned up to rival the pregnant woman that I've become!!

At that point I realized a few things: 1. I had a pretty good idea what had just happened. 2. I didn't have anyone in the unit that I could yell for. 3. I hadn't put on my Vocera badge that I usual put on every morning that makes me connected to the rest of the employees in the hospital. 4. I had to get some help some how and take care of my patient!!

So I had the patient lay down on the bed, cause he was still talking and being coherent!! And I used his phone to call the Clinical Coordinator (House Supervisor). So she got there shortly after I pulled back my patients gown and saw intestines peeking out from under the dressing that used to be taped on all 4 sides!! Wow I really hadn't seen that one coming from the my first clues, and I sure didn't think that anything that drastic would happen before I could get his pain under control and take a look at the dressing myself.

I'm just amazed at the team work that comes from working in this little hospital as I had the hospitalist at the bedside and he never left, and two nurses(Cindy and Nikki) assisting me at the bedside while the Clinical Coordinator (Sandy M) contacted the surgeon on call and a 2nd OR crew to come do surgery. It ran very smoothly and patient did well and maintained that high blood pressure clear through. (I never thought I'd be so happy to see someone hypertensive.) Within about 40 minutes we had him intubated and sedated/paralyzed, while the surgeon came and placed his intestines back in in abdominal cavity for transport to the OR, where he under went a major antibiotic washing and they remade his illeal conduit too (the first one was looking a little dusky in color). I was amazed though to see the intestines and how they were filled with air and fluid and that I could see some of the fluid in the intestine as the surgeon placed them back in the abdomen. (Sorry if that grosses anyone out.)

Later I asked the hospitalist and the surgeon how many times they had seen this happen and each of them had said about 3-5 times in their careers. One is a retired gentleman that just does on call surgeries for us and was in the army (I think). The hospitalist had seen most of his in his residency.

So far the outcome is good and my friend is on the recovery. He was extubated on Monday and he took a few steps at the bedside yesterday!! We've come to be good friends and he told me that I needed to be his nurse everyday. "If I've got to be in here, so do you!" he says. Well he gave him self the name of the exploding man (and okayed me writing this blog) as I talked to him about the thoughts that he had as this happened to him. I felt bad, cause I can imagine that would be the worst nightmare to have to live through and then have to live through the increased pain that comes with another major surgery in such a short time frame.

Recently I've had some really sick patients come my way and people have started labeling me as a problem child or a poop magnet. But I'm so excited that with the last 3 ventilated patients that I've helped take care of...they all got better. Well the other 2 have gone home and this one is on the mend.

This was definitely not what I expected to have happen to me coming to work on Saturday, but what an interesting experience I won't be forgetting anytime soon!!! I hope I didn't gross anyone out. I just wanted to keep some of the details for my memory sake, cause hopefully I don't have to see that again.