Alixandra

Yes, I look at the BabyCenter board daily, even if I don't post that much(ususally someone else has said exactly what I was going to say.) My screenname on BBC is MysonBobby. I got most of the information for my posts from the board, with the links and everything and that is where I have learned about car seat safety. I also agree with the travel system thing. I got an Evenflo one and the car seat wasn't that great(back adjuster which was a PITA, before I knew any better) and as I said it was outgrown at 3 months old. The stroller was big and bulky and heavy. It really wasn't that useful but it beat the cheapo umbrella stroller I had(and used once Bobby was 5.5 months old) that I had to bend over to push. It was a nice stroller and I know Bobby liked it but the only time it was really useful and I was happy to have it was when I travelled with him after he outgrew the infant seat. My Britax Roundabout (which btw I would never buy again, it was outgrown by height at 2.5 by current standards but made it to 3 going by their standards at the time. I would have bought a Marathon)fit perfectly in the stroller. The plastic around the sides and front of the stroller held the seat firmly, like the seat was made to fit in it. I could put Bobby, in his Roundabout on top of the stroller and then push the stroller and put my diaper bag/backpack in the basket under the stroller. It was very firmly set in the stroller so there was no worries about it falling off(I made sure of that before I even tried it with Bobby in the corificeat.) I loved being able to do that. Funny thing is that the Roundabout fit the stroller better than the infant seat that came with the sroller did. It was still a huge PITA and I was not too crushed when Bobby outgrew his Roundabout and started travelling just using the airplane seatbelt(Huskies are not FAA approved, they are simply too big.) I could use my Chicco Capri to get Bobby through the airport, which was much easier but it was worth it when he was younger to carry the corificeat because I know he was safe and comfortable in his seat. the stroller wasd th ebteer part of the travel system and even that I didn't really like due to the weight and bulk of it. Next time(if there is one, as I'm currently divorced and single) I'm skipping the travel system and buying a car seat and a stroller and not buying a travel system. I will prolly get a safeseat and a stroller frame to use and then buying a lightweight umbrella type stroller to use once the frame and safeseat are outgrown. If the safeseat doesn't fit in my car I will be getting a BLVD and a nice full size stroller since my experience with Bobby showed me that the smaller infant seats are a waste of money for me. Sadly, you don't know what size child you are getting until they are born or what size they will get to and how quickly once they are born. Bobby was born at 6 lbs 13 oz and 19 inches long and was 'small'(that term is relative obviously) until about 2 months when suddenly he hit one heck of a growth spurt(went from the 10th percentile in height to the 90th in a month) and got really tall and long in the torso. Just remember the best seat for you is one that fits your car properly, one that will be used properly everytime and one that you are totally comfortable using and installing/uninstalling in your car and other cars properly if ever has to be moved between vehicles. It also doesn't hurt if your child likes to ride in it as well(even though that doesn't have to happen.) Bobby will be in his Husky until he outgrows it, even though he hasn't given me a problem for about a year. About a year ago(at 3) he was giving me huge problems and not wanting to sit in his seat and wanting to sit in the regular vehicle seat using the seatbelt, which was NOT going to happen. I was so sick of the fight so finally one day(when I had time) and he had climbed over the Husky I put the seatbelt across him in the regular vehicle seat. Well, the shoulder belt cut across his face and neck and the lap belt was more like a belly belt, he looked very uncomfortable in it. I looked at him and told him he didn't fit and had to ride in his Husky. He hasn't given me trouble since. I will say that I wasn't going anywhere with Bobby in a regular seat belt(even if it had fit him), I did this just to make him see he needed the Husky and in hopes that he would quit giving me trouble about getting into it before we went anywhere, which worked. Taryn

Either side is equally safe as far as safety is concerned. When Bobby was first born my parents had installed it behind the driver's seat thinking it would be easier for me to get him in and out so I wouldn't have to go to the other side of the car but I really didn't like it because I couldn't see him. I had a very scary experience with him on the driver's side of the car. My MIL watched Bobby while my husband(now my ex) and I worked on Satudays(the only day that we worked together.) Well, we had gone to San Antonio to visit my husband's dad(the only time I ever met his dad, and the only time my husband saw his dad is the 8 year were were together, 4 1/2 of those while married, and the first time he had seen him since he was around 16.) We show up at MIL's house(late on a Fri) and she had a horrible stomach flu. I think it was a Corona virus that was going around at the time. Well she had not informed us of this and it was too late to for one of us to call into work so we had no choice but to leave Bobby(who was 3 months old at the time) with her for her to watch him. That Sun she called me to meet her in Hillsboro(the 'halfway point' between Temple, TX(she was a MICU nurse at Scott & White) where she lived and the Dallas suburb we lived in) to pick up Bobby. So I pick him up, MIL was feeling better by this point. On the way home(it was a good 90 min + drive home from Hillsboro), Bobby starts fussing and screaming about an hour into the drive. I figured he was just being cranky so I start trying to soothe him a little by talking to him, being unable to see him as he was strapped into the corificeat right behind me. All of a sudden, I hear a huge retch followed by a puking sound and the smell of soy formula vomit fills my car and then total and complete silence by a child who has never in his life been quiet in the car(he grunted non stop, even when sleeping, for the first 3 months of his life.) Now, as I said, I had no way of seeing him and I'm driving down the highway going 65 or 70 mph (can't remember what the speed limit was along that stretch of road.) I don't know if he choked on his vomit and now can't breathe or stopped breathing or something else is really wrong with him for some other reason related to his vommiting. I could not get off the freeway quickly enough and I was at a stretch of road where there wasn't an exit for a few miles(I was in a construction zone so the road had no shoulder or I would have pulled over at once), I was very distracted trying to get Bobby to make any noise or trying to see if he was moving at all, the last thing my mind was on at that moment was driving. I get off the freeway, stop at the gas station which was the earliest point where I could safely stop my car, hop out and rush to the backseat of the car, fearing the worst but hoping for the best, and find Bobby perfectly fine, albeit covered head to toe in vomit. I ended up changing his clothes in the bathroom of the gas station and taking him home where I spent the longest 24 hours of my life taking of a very sick 3 month old who can't even keep Pedialyte(ped told me to give him that since formula certainly was not the thing to give him) down and is having explosive diarrhea. I ended up calling my husband at work frantic and he came home and I called the ped at least 4 or 5 times during the night worried sick about Bobby. MIL had been nice enough to share the Corona virus with Bobby. I didn't catch the virus but my husband did(still not sure how that worked considering I was the one who took care of Bobby while he was sick.) Yet another reason why I didn't feel too guilty about 'giving' now ex-MIL the Norwalk virus last week when she flew down to visit Bobby. I ended up installing his convertible corificeat rearfacing obviously, once he had recovered, on the passenger side of my car. He had finally outgrown the infant seat by height(and as I said he weighed 11 lbs, most children outgrow infant seats by height before they do by weight.) That way I could always see him in the backseat to make sure he was ok. That experience was the scariest experience I ever had in my life, and even now with Bobby forward facing his corificeat has always been installed on the passenger side of my car. I still have nightmares of what might have happened had he stopped breathing or been really ill and needed immediate attention, had I got the car off the freeway fast enough that he would have been fine, would I have not totally lost my head in the crisis thus rendering myself perfectly useless to him, etc. I prefer the passenger side, it also makes it easier to retrieve dropped bottles, pacifiers, toys, etc and eaiser to hand toys, cups, bottles, etc to the backseat, even when the seat is rearfacing. It also enables you to see the child in the backseat if nessesary. Also, there is no safety difference between installing the with LATCH vs the seatbelt. It is whichever one gives you the tighter install and whichever one is easiest(and most comfortable) for you. I have never ever been sucessful installing a corificeat using LATCH(and I have tried to in no less than 4 cars with LATCH), I prefer the seatbelt. I can get a rock the car solid install with any of Bobby's seats(in just about any car) using the seatbelt and it, to me, is a lot easier than messing around with LATCH, which I find a total PITA. I can get Bobby's current Husky rock the car solid install in less than 2 minutes. The last tiem I tried to install it with LATCH(in MIL's minivan, I have a 1997 car, so pre-LATCH) I messed around with it for 10+ minutes before giving up and taking the 2 minutes to get it rock solid installed with the seatbelt. Also, just so you know corificeats expire after 6 years. They are no longer safe to use due to the plastic deteriorating. Here is a crash test involving a 10 year old corificeat. Notice how it fails to restrain the dummy and the harness actually rips out of the harness slots on the seat. http://home.comcast.net/~dcbsr/test/Britax_GMTV_Check_It_Fits_Child_Facing_Forwards_ten_years_old_seat.mpeg Car seat positioning, as to which side, as I said is a personal preference thing. No side is better than the other safety wise. Some people think it's easier to get the baby out of the car on the driver's side. I never found that any easier and I liked being able to see Bobby while I was driving and stopped at a red light or in traffic or just to take a quick glance back while driving to make sure he was ok. Also I really like it now since it's colder and I can put Bobby in the car and buckle his harness inside the car and not have to stand outside and do it. I could also do this when his seat was rearfacing by climbing into the backseat and then climbing into the front seat using the space inbetween the seats, I couldn't do that when he was right behind me because I had to have my seat moved forward a little too mcuh. I will say I'm not a short person. I'm 5'6" and at this moment about 104 lbs(I lost weight due to having the Norwalk virus last week)normally I'm around 108-110 lbs, but when Bobby was rearfacing I'd say I was around 110-120 lbs so I am thin but I'm certainly not short and I can do it no problem. I also liked it because I could have my seat a little farther back and I really didn't like being that close to my airbag. It was also more comfortable for me since with the seat behind me my legs were a little cramped when trying to drive. As I said it's a personal thing and most people don't know which they prefer until the baby is actually born and they are actually using the seat with the baby getting in and out of the car fairly frequently. Taryn

Yeah, I understand the not fitting in the car thing. I drive a 4 door Saturn SL-2 and even getting Bobby's Evenflo infant seat with the handle down to fit was a nightmare. The main thing with the Graco either the snugride or the safe seat(and I think the keyfit might also but I can't remember the manual would say if it can) is that the carry handle can be kept in the upright position instead of having to be put down. Most manuals for seats say that the carry handle has to be in the down position in the car since the handle is not reinforced and in an accident it could shatter and injure the child. That is another reason why the keyfit is liked because it is a smaller seat and can fit in situation where a safe seat might not. The reason I would try to get the larger safe seat to fit would be that the regular infant seats can be outgrown when the child still needs to be reclined at a 45 degree angle(like my son at 3 months old and 11 lbs) where as an older child(6 months+) doesn't need that much of a recline as they have much better head control. However most convertibles, even at a 45 degree recline will fit if you can get an infant seat to fit. Most smaller cars just aren't corificeat friendly as far as getting them to fit and still having a useable front passenger seat. Putting the seat in the middle might help but I know that in some cars this isn't allowed or you can't get a good fit. Also most cars do not allow you to use the LATCH anchors the middle seating positions. The car's owner's manual should say if this is allowed. The problem is that years ago infant seats were made to fit in carts and now that they have realized that that is not safe they have changed it but no one seems to realize it since almost no one actually reads the seat's manual. I think they need to put this warning on the seat itself so that people realize that this is not a good or safe option. Taryn

It actually says in all infant seat manuals NOT to ever put the seat on top of a shopping cart because it is dangerous if the seat were to fall or the cart to tip, which is very easy due to the cart now being top heavy due to the infant seat being there. In my opinion one of the best infant seats there is would be the Graco Safe Seat (sometimes referred to with a step 1)($129.99 without a boot, and $149.99 with one at BabiesRUs)- it is an infant seat that is good to 30 lbs and 32 inches tall so it will last 90% of children until they are 1 and possibly longer. I know several people who have these and they love them and they do fit in any car seat frame/stroller that a Snugride will fit in. One person I know has her 18 month old in this seat and he still fits comfortably in it. It is also super super easy to install and install correctly and has a built in lockoff in the base and is one of the easiest corificeats to install correctly. Trust me the price is worth it when you consider that most children never even make it to 6 months in normal infant seats either outgrowing them by weight OR height(they have outgrown the seat once there is 1 inch or less of hard plastic shell above their head) long before the age of 1. My son(he's now 4 and in a harnessed seat that goes to 80 lbs with the harness, Britax Husky, now called the Regent) outgrew his Evenflo infant seat by height at the age of 3 months when he weighed 11 lbs, he would have made it to at least 14 months before outgrowing the SafeSeat by height and that is going by 'standing' height which really doesn't say if he really would have outgrown it by then or if he would have fit in it longer, as each child carries their height differently. The Chicco Keyfit is another highly recommended seat due to ease if installation and ease of use and the fact that it has a 4 lb starting weight when all of the others that have a 5 lbs starting weight. It also has an infant insert for babies under 11 lbs so it helps preemies and other small babies fit better in the seat than other seats without the insert. It sells for $149.99 at BabiesRUs. Personally unless I had a preemie or a small baby I would go for the Graco over the Chicco but that is just my personal preference as my child only made it 3 months in a traditional infant seat, so logic says that my next child would most likely also be long torsoed. I will also say that the longer a child can rearface the better, the AAP recommends a child rearface to the rearfacing weight limit of the seat because rearfacing is a lot safer than forward facing. Her is info on why rearfacing is safer: http://www.car-safety.org/rearface.html In fact if we could all ride rearfacing we would all be safer. There was a study done that showed the between the ages of 1 and 2 children who were rearfacing were 4x less likely to die in an accident than children who were forward facing. Here is ther link to said article http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9916868 Also the bare minumum for forward facing is at least 20 lbs(even though most new seats have ther ff weight beginning at 22 lbs, check your manual to find out what it is on your convertible seat) AND 1 year, it's not an either or thing both have to be met but longer is better. Be sure to read the manual since some seats also have a minumum height requirement for forward facing. Also their feet touching the back of the seat is perfectly fine, there have never been any reports of leg injuries due to that and even if there were I'd rather my child have a broken leg than a broken neck. Broken legs are fixable broken necks aren't but as I said there have been no reports ever of a child breaking their legs due to rearfacing with their legs touching the seat. Here is an album of children rearfacing past the age of 1, I think there are a few 4 and 5 year olds in there. http://www.cpsafety.com/articles/RFAlbumAll.aspx My own son rearfaced until 18 months which is when he outgrew the seat he was in by height for rearfacing. Had I known better I would have bought either A Cosco Scenera($40 at Walmart or KMart) which had a higher shell and 35 lbs rearfacing weight limit(the highest there is) it also forward faces to 40 lbs and this is about the cheapest car seat there is and it comes highly recommended by people who know their corificeats. My son had the identical seat under a different name and it lasted him forward facing until he was 3(which is when he outgrew his other more expensive forward facing seat and was moved the his Husky) and he has a long torso. I might have also bought either a Britax Marathon($269.99 at BabiesRUs), Britax Boulevard($299.99 at BabiesRUs, it has true side impact protection and an infant body pillow insert), or a Britax Decathalon(284.99 at BabiesRUs, it just has the infant insert pillow) all have very tall top harness slots(17 inches) and all rearface up to 33 lbs, and with the deep shell almost all children would be able to rearface in them to 33 lbs(including my really long torsoed skinny son, who just reached 33 lbs 5 months ago), and forward face to 65 lbs which is very excellent, it lasts most children until they are around 5-7 and ready(weight and maturity wise) for a belt positioning booster. I would have gone for one of Britax seats as they are the best seats there are to buy and they really do last the longest out of any corificeat you might buy. There is also the Fisher Price Safe Voyage Deluxe which is a stripped down version of the Marathon(it doesn't have a few little features like easier lock offs for the seat belts and las a dififerent harness adjuster but it's the same seat and sheel as the Marathon made by Britax but with the Fisher Price name) that rearfaces to 33 lbs and forward faces to 55 lbs, it sells for $179.99 at BabiesRUs. There is also the SafeGuard, which I wouldn't buy even if I was made of money, it costs $449.00(http://www.safeguardseat.com/child/index.htm) simply because it wouldn't last any longer than any of the Britax seats I mentioned above, but it's said to be a really nice seat. The Cosco seat is mentioned because I understand that people are on budgets and you can't get any better seat on a budget than a $40 seat and it is better liked than any seat, which are all more expensive) other than the Britax ones(and the Fisher Price which is recommended to those who want a Britax but can't afford the Britax prices) I mentioned. These are actually the only convertible seats we ever recommend to people on the car seat safety board at BabyCenter because these 3 seats are the best. Also never ever ever buy one of those 'all in one' seats, they have very low harness height so most children outgrow the harness by height(as you can not use the very top harness slot it is for booster use only) on average at age 2 or 3 and they make really bad boosters. They are never the last seat you'll ever buy and a total waste of money. Also, the longer your child is in a 5 pt harness the safer they are. That is why Bobby is in a Britax Husky(which is now called the Britax Regent) which is a seat that uses a 5-pt harness to 80 lbs. %-pt harnesses are safer than regular seatbelt which is why racecar drivers use them. Ok, I have written a novel but I think corificeat safety is very important and as healthcare professionals I'm sure you agree with me that anything that can help save a child from injury/death in a car accident(which is the leading cause of death for children under age 15) and keep them safe in cars is a very good thing. Still, sorry for the really long post. I hope it was informative and gave some of you further information on corificeat safety, I know I didn't know half as much of this when my son was born and when he was young and I really wish I had. Taryn

Here is the car safety board at babycenter.com http://boards.babycenter.com/n/pfx/forum.aspx?webtag=bcus9421 They will answer all your questions and give you good advice on everything and also give you links to other site with good information. Personally I have little to no faith in Consumer Reports since they seem to change their minds on seats that have not changed in the least going from top rating to poor rating over the course of a year and giving no reason why their opinion of them changed. Also, anyone who has ever used an Evenflo Triumph(one of their top rated seats last year) can tell you it is damn near impossible to install the straps twist like mad, it only rearfaces to 30 lbs(as oppossed to most others that rearface to 33 or 35 lbs), and has a very short shell so children outgrow it long before 4 years and 40 lbs which is the absolute minumum that anyone should put a child in a belt positioning booster even though the longer you wait to that the better. If you ask about consumer reports on the car seat board they can all tell you why they don't trust them either. Just check out the car safety board, trust me you won't be disappointed at their advice. Taryn

I was given Stadol because they didn't want to give me an epidural yet. It was early in labor(about 5 hours before I had my son) so my son had no bad effects from it but still, never again. My husband said I was cussing like a sailor and I know I had to have been cussing really bad for him to say that since I have never watched my mouth around him. All I remember is thrashing around screaming in pain because it did nothing for the pain. They later told me it wouldn't lessen the pain it was just supossed to make not care that I was in pain. I still cared that I was in pain I just didn't care what I said about it. I don't remember much while I was on it. I do remember kind of 'coming to' while they were giving me my epidural, I was already draped over the nurse and I was still really out of it. I remember the nurse telling me if I had a contraction they would stop and let it pass. Well I got hit with a monster contraction and the bp cuff inflated at that exact moment which only got me more upset and they wouldn't stop(husband informed me later that they were inserting it when the contrax hit and they couldn't stop.) I remember wanting to bite the nurse for 'lying' to me. Luckily, I had come to enough to realize that would be a really stupid thing to do and it wasn't the nurses fault that all this was happening and all that biting her would accomplish would make her mad at me, hurt her and make the rest of the nurses mad at me as well. I also realized she had not lied to me(notice the quotes around 'lying'), and I only had felt that way at that exact moment in a drug induced haze. I decided instead to just cry on her shoulder because it hurt so bad. I still don't know why the bp cuff inflating set me off or why I had such an animalistic reaction to thinking that the nurse had 'lied' to me(which as I said before she hadn't.) I also (still) worry(4 years later) what would have happened had I not 'come to' somewhat while they were doing the epidural, would I have actually bit the nurse for what I percieved, at that moment, as an injustice in my hazy drugged up mind. The feeling that came over me was scary, thinking about it still scares me 4 years later, I hope I never get that feeling ever again. I felt so out of control until it wore off and I really didn't like that feeling. I remember telling my doctor before I started pushing that I never ever wanted Stadol again in my life. Even admitting how I acted and what I felt on Stadol is embarassing to me, and I worry that people might think of less of me for even saying how I felt. I think they(the doctors) need to tell you ahead of time that it isn't going to make your pain go away. Had I known what it would have actually done I wouldn't have let them give it to me. Like I said the feeling that came over me was frightening, and so not me. It makes me wonder if it puts the L&D nurses at risk of getting injured. I mean what if the next person this happens to actually does bite someone and even worse what if they have AIDS or some other infection that can be transmitted via a bite, not to mention the human mouth has a ton of nasty bacteria to begin with. The only other person who knows how I felt is my now ex-husband(and I only told him about it over a year later) because I've always been too ashamed and embarassed to admit it to anyone else. Please don't think less of me, as I said I don't know why i reacted the way I did, it is totally out of character for me. Taryn

With a pt who doesn't have dementia you can and do have to bring them back to reality when they get off track. About 9 years ago my boyfriend at the time and I were living in Vegas and boyfriend's mom's ex-husband's stepfather(George) who was in his 70's mother(Molly) was 94 was living in a LTC facility and she was still very sharp and with it. One day Nick (boyfriend) and I were at George and Sandy's(his wife) house and the phone rang and Sandy answered it. It was Molly who had called up(she had their phone number memorized and used the phone by herself) and she was all upset because she thought the George had visited her earlier that day and didn't say goodbye when he left(he hadn't visited her that day yet.) Being that she was with it most of the time Sandy was able to tell her that George had not visited her that day and whenever he visited her when he left he ALWAYS would tell her goodbye before he went and that George was coming to visit her later that day. Molly understood and was very happy that George didn't leave without saying goodbye to her and she could also look forward to seeing him later that day. Lying to her would have been wrong as she was of sound mind, but if she wasn't, say if she had dementia, then 'lying' to her and having George apologize for leaving without saying goodbye(even though he did no such thing) would have been the best course. We all, George, Sandy, Nick, his little sister Chrissy(16), his mom and I all went to visit her that night. She was a wonderful lady and as I said she was still sharp as a tack even at her age. We loved listening to her talk about what her life was like when she was younger and we loved seeing pictures of her when she was a young woman. She was a beautiful woman and she still was, older and wiser, but still a wonderful pretty woman. I was very sad when she passed away a few months after this. Now that approach worked because she did not have dementia and was able to be brought back to this reality. If you had tried that with my grandma with Alzheimer's in the same situation she most likely would have tried to attack you or otherwise become violent becuase her reality was not ours. Different residents require different approaches. It all depends on what their mental state is. Non demented patients can be brought back to our reality without much problem but demented patients can't and if you try chances are you are going to end up with a violent resident who is at risk to injure themselves or others. Taryn

I was induced at 39 weeks for PIH. My doctor wanted to induce me at 38 weeks but luckily the way things worked out I was induced at exactly 39 weeks. When I went in the night before to have my cervix ripened they were super busy, I think I spent an hour in the waiting area waiting for someone to come get me to my room. I was already contracting when they took me back so I got to spend the night at the hospital since I was already there(can't ripen the cervix of a woman already contracting) and they got the pit started at 6 that morning. I had my son at 5:15 that night. I remember my doctor having the nurse text her husband(she was fully gowned and gloved so she couldn't) as they were having a disagreement over who had to pick their 3 daughters up at daycare. I remember her saying "Tell him I have a woman who is fully dialated and pushing and have another one waiting for me when this one is done."(and she did right after I delivered the placenta she had to dash off to deliver another baby.) I also spent the night after I had my son in a labor room as all the PP rooms were full, didn't make any difference to me, the PP rooms were larger but that wasn't that big of a deal. I will say they were extra full as the only other hospital in the city had suddenly quit delivering babies so now they were taking all labor patients for a city of 192,000(as of 2000 and I had my son in 2002) people. She seemed to like to induce everyone at 38 weeks for some reason, I guess it was easier for her as she wouldn't have to get out of bed in the middle of the night to deliver too many babies that way. I was a primip and I have a feeling that if she had tried to induce me at 38 weeks(when my cervix was closed up tighter than Fort Knox) I would have ended up with a c/s. It was ok being induced and since I did have a valid reason for being induced(I was on bedrest for the last month of my pregnancy due to my bp) it was nice that my parents could come into town for the birth and everyone knew when the baby would arrive. Most of my doctor's patients were wealthy, well to do people, who schedule every last detail of their lives(and I certainly wasn't any of those) so I think that also played into it. I could tell the nurses were way over stretched with everything going on suddenly they were getting almost double the number of deliveries, they just didn't have the room for everyone. They tried to reschedule me for the next week(my actual due date) at the doctor's office but I told them I had everyone coming into town(neither my parents nor my MIL was local) for this so it really couldn't be rescheduled. They understood that and they also weren't too thrilled about my bp and decided to try to and reschedule a 38 week woman who was being induced because she wanted to instead. Even if I had consented to having it rescheduled I wouldn't have made it to my due date, as I said I was already in early labor when I got there to be induced so I would have wound up at the hospital that night or the next day anyways. Taryn

I had my Mirena inserted Dec 02 and was not on my period so they had to open my cervix slightly to insert it. Yeah, it hurt but felt nothing like labor pains. I had had my son in Sept that year so labor pains were still fresh in my mind. It was great after spotting for a week or so I had a period every 6 months. I had one in early March(just in time for my birthday) and in late Sept(just in time for my husband and son's birthdays) ironically enough. My period only lasted a day and all I needed was a panty liner. I got it removed in July since I was getting a divorce and no longer wanted it, since I'm not planning on dating or having sex with anyone for quite awhile. The removal was easy and totally pain free and I spotted for about 3 or 4 days which was fine by me. I will however say my first period after the removal was horrid. I went with Mirena since my periods were already really heavy and I have always had severe cramps with them. The first period I had after it was a normal period for me but after not having one since Dec '01(I never had a regular period after having my son) I had forgot what they were like. If someday i decide to go on birth control again I will prolly get another IUD since I loved the Mirena so much. It was also highly reccommended by my OB/GYN as she had one herself. Taryn

I have a friend whose last child was 14 lbs at birth. It was a natural childbirth, no meds and lady partsl. Her child is now around my age(27) and was born in a military hospital and she says she thinks that is why he was born lady partslly instead of via c/s. She is a rather large woman(she is still almost all muscle, she is not fat) and she said she had a nice tear and episiodomy but other than that it was fine. She said she got to return all the cute newborn clothes and dig into her older children's 'bigger' baby clothes. I think she said he wore size 6-9 months at birth. All I could say when I heard this was OUCH!!!! Taryn

I ended up having to go last week for severe nausea, diarrhea, mid-ab pain(8/10 a lot worse than early-mid labor pains.) Vommitting, oh I wish I could have vommitted I think it would have made me feel better. Sadly, I'm a retcher and a heaver and when I vomit or even attempt to it is a whole body experience and a very painful one at that. The one time I got violently ill at work(about 2 years ago non medical environment) I had the co-workers who heard me freaking that I had an ulcer or something because I retched and heaved for a good 5+ minutes before I finally got up about 1-2 Tbsp of the coffee I had drank 5 hours prior and it was nicely streaked with blood. I didn't have insurance so I didn't go to the ER. I felt too sick to go to the ER and wait for 10 years to be seen at the county ER, so I went to my PCP who treated me well and got me somewhat back on my feet. I ended up getting insurance, going through a million and ten tests and got my gallbladder removed as it was the source of all my problems. This time, I was having pain and symptoms very similiar to a gallbladder attack but knew that wasn't possible(I never had gallstones so I knew it wasn't that I was passing a gallstone.) I had been nauseous for over a week, hadn't been severely nauseous unable to eat or drink for 3 days at this point, so I knew I was also dehydrated. Called my PCP in TX(I'm currently living in IL) hoping she was the one on call since she had helped me the last time I went through this and might have some advice other than go to the ER. She wasn't, her partner was who told me, before I could even say what was wrong with me, to go to the ER. I didn't want to so I waited a good 2+ hours before going trying to do anything to get relief. I was exhausted but in too much pain and the nausea was so bad I couldn't sleep. No matter what position I was in I was very uncomfortable. I felt like I was dying(even though I knew I wasn't.) I took Reglan and it didn't even touch the nausea. Finally, I gave up and went to the ER, expecting to maybe be sent back to be treated sometime in the next week, since n/v/d and non right side ab pain are not serious so I knew I was in for a long wait. Luckily, it wasn't that busy so I didn't have to wait but maybe 30 mins in wr to start getting treated. I will say first thing I did once I was in the back was to politely the nurse(and yes i said " could you please see if you could get me some anti nausea meds since I am really nauseous and feel really bad?") for some anti nausea meds, and she did get me some, Zofram, which didn't work. She then started my IV with fluids since I know I was dehydrated, and gave me a diff anti nausea med(can't remmeber what, I was kind of out of it due to the pain), which also didn't work. They finally gave me that really lovely, nasty concoction, a GI cocktail, which gave a terrible stomach ache until it finally kicked in. It was heaven, I felt like once I got home I might be able to sleep. I was sent home with a script for some Phenegran suppositories and I slept while I waited for my dad to get back with them(I was sick and couldn't drive) and told to get a stool sample. Still wasn't feeling better by Thurs so went to my local PCP who had the ER report and gave me some more Reglan as I had run out and sent me to the lab to pick up the containers for a stool sample. The entire time I have had to keep telling everyone that I hate spinach and wouldn't eat it if you had a gun to my head so it isn't spinach related e coli. I will say I dislike going to the ER and avoid it if at all possible. The only other time i have gone to the ER as an adult was for a fever of 103.4(or something like that) 3 weeks after giving birth to my son, turns out I had mastitis. Taryn

If you have a 'pimple' in your perineal area that starts growing, weeping, and gets really hot and painful you should prolly go to the dr and get it checked out since chances are it's staph. LOM didn't and ended up losing his member and testes and ended up with a nasty case of sepsis and a nice long stay in the ICU. I really kind of felt bad for him since he really was a sweet guy. Taryn

This is a case of the truth being stranger than fiction. He wanted a divorce and got a girlfriend the next day(I have a feeling she had been on the side for a while) after he told me he wanted out. I really could have cared less that he had a girlfriend. In fact, I preferred her to be there since it kept him out of my hair. I can't remember that last time we slept in the same bed, he snores loud enough to wake the dead(which is why Barb was wearing earplugs) so I have slept in the living room on the futon or couch since way before we decided to divorce or Barb entered the picture. In fact, my son had referred to the couch as 'mommy's bed' for as long as I can remember. I only stuck around after he wanted out because I wanted my son to finish school before we moved. He got the V because he doesn't want anymore children(we have an almost 4 year old) and she doesn't want kids either. His family even agrees that his decision not to have any more kids is a smart one considering he has never grown up. His family was also very embarassed by his behaviour. Also, I divorced him, not the other way around. I had wanted to divorce him for well over a year but didn't because I wanted to try and stay with him for the sake of our child. Wasn't worth it at all. I swear on my grandmother's grave that every word of the story is true. Taryn

I had mine out at 25 and I went in at 6 AM to get everything done and was out before noon. I spent several days on the couch watching TV. I will say if you watch TV do not watch anything that will make you laugh, that really hurts. I turned on a George Lopez special I had DVRed and everytime I laughed it really hurt(not as bad as the gallbladder attacks though.) I will say I didn't have stones, mine was chronically inflamed and scarred and the surgeon could see the scarring with his naked eye and said that it looked really painful and didn't look like the gallbladder of a 25 year old. The surgery wasn't that bad, worst thing I had was some nausea but Reglan took care of that. I was back to my normal life in a week and that included taking care of my 2.5 year old, which obviously involved some lifting of a 25-29 lb(I think, can't remember how much he weighed, but it was under 30 lbs) child on my part. Taryn

This wasn't a patient but my idiotic ex-husband: Don't have a vasectomy and take 4 vicodin in 3 hrs, no matter how much pain you are in. If you do, do not get up to go to the bathroom while everyone is asleep. If you must get up to pee do not sit down on the toilet for no good reason, 'just to see if you can.' You WILL get dizzy and you WILL pass out and you will hit your face on whatever happens to be in front of the toilet(in his case a bathroom scale) and you will have to walk around with a scraped up face and have to listen to everyone laugh at you and think you're an idiot. Also, no one will hear you fall and come to your aid. Taryn