Hospitals Part 1

I live in a small town, called Carlsbad, right by the hospital.  When I first moved here three and a half years ago I had heard nothing but horror stories about this hospital. Every person my husband and I had talked to had a very bad experience with delivering here. Now, I'm not just talking about rude staff but life and death stories. Everyone keeps telling me to just make the 80 mile drive to see the doctor in Roswell. This isn't too bad for us because when I had my son 6 years ago the hospital was just over 60 miles away in Southern California with really bad traffic. My luck had me go into labor when everyone was getting off work and it took us probably 2 hours to get to the hospital.

Anyway, I think it is standard  here that when you become pregnant the doctors do not want to see you until you are 12 weeks. My first bad experience with the doctors in Carlsbad was when I was, what I thought, 8 weeks pregnant and started bleeding. I go in to my appointment and they did an ultrasound and found out I was only 6 weeks, not 8 weeks, and it was implantation bleeding. So I finally see the doctor and the first question he asked me was how big was your son when you gave birth. I let him know he was 9.8 lbs and 22 inches. Before he even examined me he said, "Oh, well you will have to have a C-section or be induced, you cannot have babies that big." How does he know what I can do? He hadn't even examined me and when I had my son he was sunny side up and I pushed him out with no issues what so ever. Mind you, my OBGYN that delivered my son also was my mom's OBGYN for all 3 of her kids and delivered me. He knows big babies run in my family and my mom and I have the same type of body and know we can handle it. I was told by multiple people the doctors in this town will give any reason or excuse to do a C-section.

So, I chose to pick a different doctor in Roswell because many people have recommended him to me. I love my doctor because he reminds me of my original OBGYN. He isn't concerned at all about me delivering a big baby. He says we will see when the time comes. The only difficulty I have is it is 80 miles away and 2 weekends ago I was having severe back pain and my heart was racing. I called the doctor on call in Roswell and she was concerned and didn't want me driving all that way if I was in early labor (31 weeks). Her advice to me was to go to labor and delivery in Carlsbad and she would have my medical records ready to send over as soon as I got there, all I had to do was just sign a release form that the hospital in Carlsbad would have to give me.

I got to the hospital and asked the nurse right away for a release form to sign and that the doctor in Roswell was waiting for me to sign the release so they could send over my records. She tells me, "That isn't necessary lets find out what is wrong with you first." She has me pee in a cup and she puts the baby monitor on me and says right away oh you are having contractions. While she is hooking me up I get 20 questions about why am I seeing a doctor in Roswell and not in Carlsbad and she lectures me since I live right behind the hospital.  She says, "I will keep you monitored for 15 min." She leaves and another nurse comes in 15 min later and tells me she is my new nurse and grabs my pee to test it and leaves. She comes back 20 min later to check on me and says. "Well it doesn't look like you are dehydrated but drink this large glass of ice water, maybe it will stop your contractions. Your pee was off a little but you probably didn't use the wipes we gave you to clean yourself good enough." Mind you, I used all three wipes and this isn't my first time peeing in a cup. I told her about my records and she also said it wasn't necessary. She checks me and I am at 1cm but said that is normal. She leaves and comes back and says, "The doctor said I can give you medicine to stop the contractions but let me check your blood pressure and heart rate." I have already been there for over an hour and my blood pressure was perfect but my heart rate was 122. She said she can't give me the medicine unless my heart rate drops because they want your heart rate to be between 60-100 beats per minute and the medicine makes your heart rate rise and they don't want it to go past 130. So they continue to monitor me and about an hour later she tells me my pains are just pregnancy related and I am contracting because my uterus is irritated because the baby is growing. I've been there for about 3 hours now and a new nurse starts to come in and check on me. By this time they shut off the monitors even though I am still contracting. They leave the finger monitor on for my heart but she keeps having to come and shut it off because the heart rate alarm keeps going off. She finally tells me, "There is nothing we can do since we do not have your medical records and you are not seeing one of our doctors. You are having normal pregnancy pains. Go home take Tylenol and use a heating pad and call YOUR doctor tomorrow morning." I told her she could have got my medical records but you guys refused to let me sign the papers. She said, "It doesn't matter there is nothing we can do for you."

To Be Continued......

Crockpot Not so refried beans

I apologize ahead of time because I do not have exact measurements. I just threw things in the crockpot and my husband loved it. Now, my husband doesn't like the traditional ham and beans for dinner. I tried to mix it up because we were tight on money and I didn't want to go to the grocery store.

 

2 lbs dried pinto beans

1 onion diced

2-4 Jalapenos (your preference)

1 package of bacon cut in bite sizes.

Salt to taste

Pinto bean seasoning to taste

Water to the top of crockpot

 

I put all this in the crockpot the night before, around 6, and cook it on low. Check the water the next morning and stir. It starts to get thicker. When it is almost dinner time stir again. The beans will eventually be more consistent with refried beans. I make them to put with my burritos or in a bowl with some cheese on top. So good.


Here is the beans I made for tonight's dinner. I added a tad too much water but I like it like that. My husband likes it a little thicker.



30 Weeks

As of Friday I am 30 weeks pregnant. I have a feeling these are going to go by so slowly. I had a big doctors appointment where I had to take my glucose test and I passed just in time for Thanksgiving. I also had to take the darn Rhogam shot. The shot itself didn't really hurt it was afterwards that did. It was so sore for a couple of days because the serum is so thick. They also did an ultrasound and he's still a boy and measures on the larger side, as expected, but my doctor doesn't seem too concerned.

I think he looks like his brother.

 

On a not so good note, in the beginning of the pregnancy I got the PUPPS rash on my back really bad but they never itched. Now I am getting them back with a vengeance and, even though they are little, they are everywhere and itch so bad.

 

They don't look like much but don't let them fool you. I have them on my belly, arms, back, butt, legs, and I even had one on my face. The itching is worse than bug bites or even chicken pox.

 

I want to leave you on a good note so I will leave you with this picture of my yummy ice cream from last night.

 





Bow Winner!

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Thanksgiving Traditions

I love to learn the Thanksgiving traditions of my friends and to see how different or the same they are. My Thanksgiving has pretty much been the same my whole life and I loved it. I have continued the tradition to my family.

Every year my mom would do Thanksgiving really early around 12 or 1. She would get up super early to put the turkey in the oven. We always had the traditional Thanksgiving food and we would just eat it through the day. My mom's reasoning for this was because every year she went Black Friday shopping. Back in the day though, the stores actually opened on Friday around 5 but the time got earlier and earlier. My  mom would always take a short nap before she would go because she got up super earlier to start our Thanksgiving feast. Those naps started going away when stores started opening up earlier. Of course we would watch football and hang out with friends and family. We would go visit our grandparents as well.

Now that I have my own family and live out of state I like to do the same as my mom. I cook dinner really early and we eat throughout the day. I also go Black Friday shopping. This is the first year I will not be cooking or going shopping. We will be having dinner/lunch at my sister in law's house and watching the game there. I did not really see anything that was worth taking my 30 week pregnant self Black Friday Shopping for. The only major thing I wanted to get was on sale at Target and it was only 11 dollars more than the Black Friday deal so I figured it would save me the trouble and bought it.

Now I know a lot of people do not believe in Black Friday shopping because it is on a holiday that should be spent with family. The thing is, when my mom did it she was with family. There would be a big group of them. My aunts, sister, and close family friends would all go sit outside the store and drink coffee and hot chocolate and people watch and visit. They always met new friends and had funny stories when they came home. My sister was the only one allowed to go since she was older.

Please let me know what your traditions are and how you like to spend your Thanksgiving.

Keep a look out for the winners to the hair bow giveaway.

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Baby Shower

My friend Sarah threw me and awesome baby shower. My family lives 900 miles away and she made the day extra special for me. Here are a couple pictures and a funny video. Sorry this is so short but I am exhausted today.

 

 

Mitchell Loved his big brother gift.

 

 

 

 

Funniest baby shower game.

 

See you guys tomorrow. Thank you for stopping by!