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September 24, 2002
Monday, September 23, 2002
WELCOME TO THE WORLD NADIA ISABEL!!!!
This entry is dedicated to my friend, Lea, who gave birth to the most beautiful little girl on Saturday, September 21, 2002. Before I talk about her baby, I want to say a bit about her…
I “met” Lea about two years ago when I began keeping a preconception diary. I am not even sure if I have the story straight, it’s been that long. She began posting on my board and mentioned that she, too lived here in Washington. After that, we just started emailing each other quite frequently. We became friends, even though we had never officially “met”. She knows my entire journey through preconception and pregnancy and of course now with my little boy. I have also followed along with her journey… I wept when she had a miscarriage last year… and wept again when she announced her pregnancy at the beginning of this year. She shared her pregnancy journey with me and it was so very fun to follow along with her. She even ended up seeing a doctor in the same practice that I had used!
She knew she’d be delivering at the same hospital I did. In fact, it is the same hospital I am also employed at as an RN. Near the end of her pregnancy, I mentioned how ironic it would be if she was actually there, having her baby on a weekend that I was working and wouldn’t it be cool if we could finally meet. She agreed and wrote down my phone numbers at work. Well… it actually happened! At 5am, just two hours prior to the end of my shift on Saturday morning, Lea called me to tell me she was there, just two floors up from me! I told her I’d pop up on my way out to see her. I was actually a little nervous about visiting her… we had communicated via email for nearly two years, but had never even spoken on the phone, and here we were meeting in person! I had never even seen a picture of her, so I wouldn’t have even known it if I had bumped into her in the hallway!
I headed up (quite reluctantly, I might add… she was still in the labor & delivery and hadn’t even delivered yet!) I knocked on the door and walked in and got to meet Lea for the first time! She is such a beautiful person. She was sitting there on her bed, her family around her… not a hair out of place and looking spectacular… you never would have guessed that she was in active labor! I chatted with her and her family a bit and then left. I came back the next evening (this time on way IN to work) and visited her before she got discharged.
She has the most beautiful little girl I’ve seen in a LONG time! Nadia Isabel weighed in at just over 8 pounds. She has a head full of silky dark hair and the most beautiful complexion ever. Her cheeks were so pink and rosy and you could tell she was just as healthy she could be. Again, Lea astounded me… she looked fabulous and you never would have guessed that she had been through active labor just the day before. I got to meet the rest of Lea’s family and they are all so sweet. She’s got a beautiful family!
Thank you Lea for being my friend, for sharing your life with me, and for all the support and encouragement you’ve shared with me over the past couple of years!!!
The Rest of My Weekend
After working all night long and visiting Lea on Saturday morning, my intention was to go home and crash for a couple of hours. But when I got home I realized that if I went to sleep, I would probably be worse off. At 11am, the three of us left and picked up a friend and then headed into downtown Seattle for a Seattle Mariners baseball game at Safeco Field. It was Ethan’s first baseball game! I try to go to one game a season, at least. The atmosphere at Safeco is so fun… 45,000 screaming fans… a GORGEOUS day… not a cloud in the sky (very un-Seattle-like!)… about 65 degrees and sunny! We had a GREAT time! I love baseball! I never used to like baseball much. I think it’s because I just never really understood the sport. Now that I understand it, I’m addicted to it!
After coming home from the game, it was nearly 6pm. I knew that I couldn’t nap then… it was too late. So by that point, I had been up since the morning before and I was really dragging. We fed Ethan and then as soon as I put him to bed, I crashed out. I slept until 9am Sunday morning. I got a GREAT night’s sleep, but because I had slept so late, I knew I wouldn’t be able to nap that day and I had to go back to work that night.
I started my shift at 7pm. I found out I was going to be the charge nurse that night… my first shift being the charge nurse on my own (I had had two nights of orientation with another charge nurse two weeks prior). I was nervous. It was a horrible shift. Generally, we have a nice mix of patients on the unit… most are pretty stable with a handful of REALLY sick ones. Not so on Sunday night. Most of our patients were really, really sick. To top it off, we had three NEW nurses on the floor and one of them was sinking fast with her assignment. So there I was, trying to keep everyone happy, trying to help out wherever I could, and trying to do staffing and make assignments that were fair. I was short about 6 people for day shift and it was a real challenge finding people to work (yes, the nursing shortage is REAL!) By the end of it all, I was HORRENDOUSLY exhausted. I haven’t felt THAT tired since I was pregnant last year. I couldn’t even keep my eyes open and had to talk to my husband on the cell phone all the way home (something I hate doing while driving) in order to keep myself awake. Luckily, Ethan was ready to eat when I got home because I was so busy that I hadn’t pumped all night… OUCH. The two of us crashed for a couple of hours. My loving husband took the afternoon off and came home and I crashed the rest of the afternoon!
So here it is, Tuesday morning and I’m feeling much more alive! I hope this coming weekend goes better! I have much to do today… my kitchen is a mess (ok, heck my whole house is a mess!) I laundry piled up to my ears. I have a ton of fruit and vegetables and cereal that I need to make for Ethan. And I’ve got some cookies to bake for an elderly woman in our church. Do I have my work cut out for me or what????
Before I close, I’d like to include a couple of links. The first is to Jenny W’s pregnancy diary entry this week:
http://pregnancytoday.com/diary/jenny2/092202.htm
And the second is to my baby diary entry this week:
http://babiestoday.com/diaries/christinah/092402.htm
My prayers are with Jenny, Brent, Reilly, and Paige… I won’t rehash the story here. Please read the entries!
I hope everyone has a stupendous week!
~~Christina
P.S. I sent in a picture to be posted on the index page, but I have no idea how long it will take to get posted!
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