I Give My Time

So I'm sitting here at the James Cancer Hospital volunteering. I love the fact that I do this--it makes me feel good about myself. It makes me feel like I'm contributing to society and doing something useful with my time.

What do I do here? I sit at a desk and play online for about 1 hour and 40 minutes of my time. The other twenty minutes every other Thursday I talk to patients' families, update them on surgeries, send family members to rooms to find the patients... The most frustrating thing, however, is trying to keep track of these family members. They wander off and don't mention anything and, of course, the doctor chooses that moment to call or come up here. I then look like a moron because I don't know where the family went. *sigh* Oh well, I do it and try to do my best at it.

Of course, tonight there was the family who has been up since 3 a.m. I feel for them, I really do, but please don't take your frustrations out on the volunteer staff. It's not our fault that your mother doesn't have a room yet and has been in recovery for 3 hours instead of the 2 hours that we tell you or the 1 hour the doctors tell you. The nursing staff doesn't tell us why she's been in there so long, either. I am not employed or schooled in the medical field and have no answers for you besides what I've been told. Please be patient and know that if something were really wrong, someone would tell you. But I can't say all that. I can be sympathetic and try to get as much information as possible for these people. So I do.

1/30

Well, here I am, starting a new blog. I love to write out my thoughts because, quite honestly, I think too much and no one wants to listen to it all! So here it is. I'm not sure what all this blog will contain, but I do know that it will all have at least a little to do with ours plans to have a baby. It seems to be the only thing on my mind recently, so everything I do and think have something to do with those plans.

I started another blog sometime last year: http://buckeyechik.livejournal.com/ I'm discontinuing it and starting this one. Hopefully I'll be better about writing here. :)

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1/31

I just wanted to talk about the things I've already started doing to prepare my body for getting pregnant.

~ I haven't had any caffeine besides a sip here and there of pop or a Hershey's Kiss for almost 2 weeks. My PCP is adamant about the negative effects of caffeine on a baby, so I plan to not drink caffeine again until at least the 2nd trimester, if I'm really jonesing for a Coke Zero. I have some Caffeine-Free Diet Coke stocked up--why the hell can't Coke Zero come out with a Caffeine-Free version?

~ I started taking prenatal vitamins about 2 weeks ago. The first week, I had NO problems with them, but after buying a bottle and taking them, I've started feeling nauseous. I felt bad after dinner Tuesday night and then again after dinner last night. I didn't take one last night. We'll see if I continue feeling nauseous. If so, it's not the vitamins and I'll start taking them again. If I do, I'll get rid of these vitamins and try a different brand or maybe some Flintstones.

~ We've been to the gym 3-5 days a week for the past month now. I feel very happy about it and am glad to be getting into better shape. I know how much of a toll carrying a baby may have on my body, so I want it to be prepared. I also would like to lose a bit more weight before getting pregnant. My goal was to be under 200 pounds before getting pregnant, but I'm losing VERY slowly, if at all, so I just might not make it.

~ Lastly, I scheduled an appointment with a prospective OB/GYN. She's in the same clinic as my co-workers' OB. I just want to chat with her about the medicines I'm currently on (3 different ones for allergies) and whether those will be safe to continue taking once I'm pregnant. That appointment is February 17th, so we'll see what Dr. Rohl has to say to me. I'm also curious what she'll say about weight gain. I'm actually pretty healthy for 225 pounds, but I know I'd be healthier if I were lighter. Also want to know about exercise once I'm pregnant. I don't think I'll be able to continue the intensity, know that some exercise is always good, but I don't want to cause myself to miscarry or do anything that might harm a potential baby.

All that said, we're still looking at waiting until late April to start trying. If my cycles revert back to 28 day cycles like they used to be then I think our first cycle trying would start April 13th. If we conceived then, the baby would be due sometime in the middle of January. If we conceived the next cycle, the baby would be due middle of February. We just don't want to start trying, actually get pregnant the first cycle, and have the baby due around the holidays. Even with conceiving during the 4/13 cycle, baby would be due 1/18/09, theoretically. That's a little close to the holidays for my comfort, but I'm okay with it. I'm just ready to start trying :)

Of course, I know everything everyone says--we may not conceive right away, we could miscarry...I'm well aware of all the risks and things. Too aware. I'm a worrywart and read too damn much sometimes. Thus the preparations beginning in January for possibly starting to TTC in April.