(Sometimes, when we are stuck inside on cold days, it is dreamy. Other times, not so much.)
It had been an icy cold day, a frustrating day, when my husband got home from work. He took one look at my face, and told me to get out of the house for a while. I started to do one last thing – putting laundry away – then stopped myself, put my coat on, and left.
I saw the glowing light when I got into the car telling me I needed gas, but I figured I wasn’t going far and I could get some on my way home after I ran a few errands. I drove to my first stop and headed into the store.
I let my mind wander while I picked up the things we needed, along with a few things we didn’t.
When I got back out to the car, it wouldn’t start.
I almost texted my husband an SOS.
When I look at that face, I don’t see the face of a warrior. A survivor, maybe.
I was going to share my birth stories here.
One of the ways I got ready for having my babies was reading other people’s stories. I especially enjoyed the ones where the woman would feel a little “off”, and then deliver a baby 15 minutes later.
In my experience, the travel home is easier on the kids than it is on the adults. The kids have traveled recently, so they know what to expect, and they haven’t been sleeping well. They look forward to things like the meal, juice, and the movie. They are able to sleep when they’re bored.
For us parents, we’ve also been sleep deprived, but we have to be available for help with food, toileting, and making sure none of our kids are kicking the back of someone’s seat. In our case, we typically drive to my parent’s house not far the airport a day or two before we leave on our trip. On the way home, we drive straight back home. This means our return trip is always hours longer than the trip there.
Our return flight was boarding a little after six a.m., and my husband and I got up with less than three hours of sleep. We made it to the airport without any trouble, thanks to the generosity of family and a friend who were willing to wake up before dawn to help get us there.
When the woman who was checking boarding passes saw us, her lips pursed and went off to one side as her brows lowered in annoyance.
(Photo Credit: Kimona Paramour Photography)
The end of our trip to Tobago was amazing. It’s easy to be adventurous when your time is limited. I can be up for anything with only 72 hours left to go. Until we have our plane tickets in hand for our next trip, which we hope to make in about a year, we can’t know for sure when we’ll be back.
Every chance we have to do something special needs to be grabbed and squeezed for all it’s worth. We can recover when we get home.
Disclaimer – If you are grossed out by medical stuff, skip this post. I keep it pretty clean, but it still might make some people feel queasy.
It’s a word you hear a lot in nursing school. It’s the key to passing the nursing boards. It takes years of experience to really make those judgements with aplomb, and even then, you can walk in for a shift and things start getting thrown at you that make those decisions for you.
At work, we shake our heads when we come across a patient or family who ignored stroke symptoms, or difficulty walking, or a deteriorating mental state, for weeks before seeking medical care. By then symptoms that might have been relieved with prompt treatment are now a dire situation, and options are more limited.
In reality, we are making medical judgements about our families and ourselves all the time, although for most of us the consequences aren’t as grim. Does that cough merit a trip to the pediatrician? Is that knock on the head something serious? Do I really need to schedule a physical, or could I go another year? I feel fine!
