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Thursday, July 14, 2011

Awkward and Awesome Thursday.

AWKWARD. 

{To set the scene: me, my nurse, another nurse and a nurse preceptor all leaning over a baby's crib in the NICU. My nurse is pregnant. The other nurse is not.}

Nurse practitioner: "So... do you know what you're having yet?"

Five second eye conversation between my nurse and me as we glanced at each other before looking up. 

Me: Oh crap. please tell me she's talking to you, please tell me she's talking to you.

My nurse: Oh crap. please tell me she's talking to me, please tell me she's talking to me.

We both look up to see the nurse practitioner looking over at the other nurse. Who is most definitely not pregnant. Who cannot have any more babies. Who is very, very sensitive about this topic. 

Other nurse (tears already welling up in eyes): "I'm not pregnant." (pause). "Actually I can't have any more babies." Heads for the bathroom.


Nurse practitioner (eyes super wide): "I am so sorry." Starts apologizing profusely, following after the other nurse. 


Me and my other nurse (still having silent eye conversations): Oh dear Lord. That was awkward.

AWESOME. 

I can't really get into the details of this story, but let's just say there has been a very frustrating, demanding family in the NICU and that the physicians and the nurses are pretty much at their whits end with these people. So the dad wanted to do something he wasn't allowed to do. He called the front desk and was told no, I'm sorry, you can't do that right now. The secretary told the whole unit that he had called and we all knew what he wanted. So then, not five minutes later he called back up to the front desk to ask to speak with his baby's nurse. He asked the nurse if he could do the same thing he had already called to ask if he could do.

Pause to note that this nurse has had a really, really rough day and this family is leaving the NICU the next day.

Dad: "Can I do this thing that I've already been told I can't do."

Nurse: {Pauses, pinches bridge of nose}: "You're going to do whatever you want to do."

Dad: "Excuse me?"

Nurse: "You're going to do whatever you want to do." Hangs up. Inwardly, we all cheer.

Let's just say our patient satisfaction level didn't go up that day, but it was still awesome.

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

When is it rude?

Today I was in Banana Republic and wanted to try on a skirt (I didn't buy it, don't worry Brandon) so I went back to where the fitting rooms are. Awkward encounter goes like this:

Me: "Hi, I need to try this on."

Too-cool dude with his too-cool hipster glasses: "I'm sorry, you have to have a reservation to use the fitting rooms."

My joking radar was totally off and I thought this guy was serious. I kind of looked around and awkwardly said, "Oh... um..."

Too-cool dude with his too-cool hipster glasses: "I was just kidding." Cracks a grin.

Me: (awkward laugh, trying to be polite) "Oh... haha.. ha... ha..."

Too-cool dud with his too-cool hipster glasses: (smiling): "Did you think that was funny."

Me: "Ha, oh yeah."

Now here's where it got even weirder.

Random super-pushy girl who works at the store that apparently saw me standing in the dressing room doorway and decided to come see what I needed: "HI" (very loud) "DO YOU NEED A DRESSING ROOM?" takes my skirt from me, completely ignoring too-cool dude with his too-cool hipster glasses. "HERE YOU CAN GO RIGHT IN HERE WHAT'S YOUR NAME?"

Me, darting quickly into the open dressing room. "Krista, thank you."

Super-pushy loud girl: "YOU'RE WELCOME KRISTEN LET ME KNOW IF YOU NEED ANYTHING ELSE OKAY KRISTEN?" (I guess this was directed to too-cool dude in his too-cool hipster glasses "KRISTEN IS IN DRESSING ROOM NUMBER TWO OKAY?"

TCDWHTCHG: (mumbles) "Okay." (louder). "Kristen, it's a good thing we had an opening, huh?"

Me: (pulling skirt on over my jeans to decrease the time I had to spend in the dressing room): "Good thing!" (Skirt was cute but not cute enough to deal with the crazy).

Super-pushy loud girl: "KRISTEN HOW'S IT GOING IN THERE IS EVERYTHING OKAY DO YOU NEED ME TO GET YOU ANYTHING KRISTEN?"

Me: (internal debate, should I correct her on my name or not? do i or don't i? don't.) "Yeah, great, thank you!" (pull skirt off, put back on hanger ASAP. leave dressing room, hand skirt to TCDWHTCHG. "Thank you."

TCDWHTCHG: "Did that not work out for you?"

Me: "Nope, thanks though."

Super-pushy loud girl: "OH DID THAT NOT WORK OUT? I'M SORRY KRISTEN IS THERE ANYTHING ELSE YOU'D LIKE TO TRY ON KRISTEN?"

Me: (backing slowly out of the store): "No, thank you so much for your help!"

TCDWHTCHG: (grins) "Don't forget to schedule an appointment next time, Kristen!"

Super-pushy girl: "COME BACK AND SEE US KRISTEN!!"

So my question is this... at what point during that exchange would it have been appropriate for me to correct the pronunciation of my name?

Thursday, July 7, 2011

Awkward and Awesome Thursday

AWKWARD. 
- So there was a baby in the NICU who was born earlier this week but wasn't named until today. When the mother was telling us the name over the phone, the nurse had to ask her to spell it because, well, let's just say the name was interesting (see this video for an example, or just to laugh) and had lots of apostrophes. Someone else in our little pod heard the name and then looked over at the only person that was the same race as the baby and says, "Why do your people always have to do that? Why can't you just name your kids normal names?" EEEKKKK. The person she said this too was someone that came in the NICU ever so often to do screenings on the babies, so it wasn't like a joke between friends.  My eyes got really big and I had to turn away because I just couldn't handle the awkwardness.

AWESOME. 
- This actually happened yesterday but its still awesome. Brandon made dinner from beginning to end and the only help I provided him was directions over the phone. It involved using the stove AND the oven, so he gets points for complication! I am so proud of him and I think he is secretly very proud of himself also. He may not be so proud of himself when he realizes that this means I KNOW he KNOWS how to cook. Awesome!

Monday, July 4, 2011

Come Run with Me: Fourth of July Edition

This morning I decided to bring my little camera with me to show you all one of my favorite loops to run. 

And it is the 4th of July and one thing Texas does well is patriotism. 

Here's the start of my run, heading out of my neighborhood.


Then down this very boring street.


First flag sighting.


Into one of my favorite little neighborhoods. 


So quaint and pretty.





Sprinkler!




These are probably only half of the flags I saw. I only took pictures when there was no one else around.



Here's a statue that lives in front of a pretty sketchy warehouse. Any guesses as to what it is?


I have no idea. 

Almost home! 


 I love the Fourth and I love celebrating our country and the men and women that fought and continue to fight to keep us free. 

Happy Independence Day! 

Sunday, July 3, 2011

Lessons from the NICU

Let me tell you a little trick that will save you a lot of time, effort and frustration in the future. I don't remember who taught me this trick (I'm sure it was my mother) but I'm honestly astounded everytime I meet someone that doesn't know how to do it. Or chooses not to do it. It's a neat trick, that's all I'm saying.

Well, maybe it's not so much a trick as it is something you should just DO, but regardless... here it is.

When you are changing a diaper, it is imperative that you first open up the clean diaper and slide it under the baby's bottom (under the dirty diaper) before removing the dirty diaper. This way, as soon as you remove the dirty diaper you can close up the clean diaper.

Closing up the clean diaper quickly is very important. This is not a process you want to take your time with. I'm sure you've all heard of little boys that think that as soon as they are free and naked they should pee all over the place. I have found this to be the case but you can halt the pee spray by closing the clean diaper quickly, thereby preventing everything in the near vacinity of the baby from getting covered in pee.

Today... well... today I had a new experience. I was changing a little girl and as soon as I pulled the dirty diaper free she... and I am not exagerrating in any way, shape or form... shot poop out onto the second diaper. I've never ever seen that happen before. It literally shot out of her like water from a fire hose. Thankfully I had the second diaper ready and was able to contain the mess. When I thought she was finished I got a third diaper ready and carefully removed the now dirty second diaper.

Guess what happened?

If you guessed that she shot more poop out, you would be correct. If you guessed that it was an even greater amount of poop than the first time, you would also be correct.

So I waited for her to finish up, got my fourth diaper ready and carefully slid the third diaper away.

Thankfully she was finished this time and didn't shoot any poop out.

So, the moral of the story is... have your diaper ready unless you want to be the victim of an enthusiastic pee sprayer or poop shooter.

Saturday, July 2, 2011

Not gonna lie.

I'm pretty impressed with myself today. You see, as I sit here typing this, I am staring at these pretty things:


And I have the sweet satisfaction of knowing that I made them. Our office is pretty bland... the paint color is BORING and, let's be honest, when you're trying to fit the massive amounts of books that two full time students own (especially when one of those students is a seminary student) along with their desks and other various necessities, function is far more important than fashion. Embarrassingly enough, before I made these cute little curtains we had a single sage green panel over the window to block out the light (we face directly west so in the afternoon the sun is killer- I had to wait until after 7 to take these pictures so that it wasn't burned out). I really wanted to do something to get a little color in there without it being too girly. Here's the print close-up:

Crap, I just realized I have this hanging upside down.
I found this fabric at Hobby Lobby and loved it, but I have a habit of thinking I'm crafty when I'm really not. I left the fabric there on the first trip but then yesterday decided that I was just going to get it. I followed these instructions for no-sew curtains and after about an hour (which I spent multi-tasking by also watching "The Adjustment Bureau") I was the proud designer/creator of those cute little curtains.

Now, I'm not deluding myself into thinking they are some great work of art, but as my first real DIY project, I'm pretty happy with how they turned out.

Just for fun, here's Brandon's desk/work station/command central:


It's intense in here sometimes.