Not To Worry... I am alive!

*sheepishly looks around and waves*

Hi there... Sorry things here got busy. By busy I mean very busy. I have two professional licenses the nursing license had to be renewed at the end of March and I remembered on oh... March 30th... 1 day before expiration. Dodged a bullet there huh. The second is my paramedic license and that is due to expire at the end of October.

Now here's where it gets tricky. The credits I used for my nursing generally do not translate to credits for EMS. Talk about huge suck fest of time and money. The state I live in also as of January 1st changed the requirements for me to maintain my license. I have to have 10 practical credits in specific categories. Getting those credits has been a challenge. Yes - some of my nursing certifications - ACLS, PALS, etc have been able to translate into some practical credits, but we have been a LONG way away from the magic number of 10 and well the magic number of 45 which is the amount of lecture and practical credits I must have to get my license renewed.

So a dear friend and I went to the EMS Expo this weekend... From Thursday on I was living and breathing and eating EMS from 8 a.m. until at the earliest 6 p.m. The practical credits have been the most interesting because well a trauma and medical management class resulted in me having to "come out" to the proctors as I draw the line at lifting and carrying a 200 + pound man down some stairs with a guy who has a bad back and my friend - let me just say my poor friend got the raw end of the deal here as the guy who was assisting her stunk as in BO - not cool and was in his 60's and had the "bad back". I would do it if I had to, but this is not a situation I would find myself in anytime soon - or at least it's highly unlikely. I did however crawl under a line of chairs to simulate a confined space entrapment and the instructor when I was going to be a good sport and crawl back under to get out said - don't you don't have to because you're pregnant...

This openness that I was truly not completely comfortable with lead to interesting conversations that I still haven't quite embraced completely - talking openly about being pregnant. I did talk with one of the educational associates and we bonded as she is about to become a grandma for the second time and her daughter had 2 miscarriages back to back before becoming pregnant with this child. So there are some interesting things you learn. I also learned that one of the instructors I have known for years "can't" have children. We were in a lecture about how to communicate with children and how to take the stress out of the having these pediatric calls and he was relating a conversation he had with a neighbor child when she asked "Why aren't you allowed to have kids?" Can't in her mind = not allowed - totally different connotation huh. He explained that he and his wife were unable to have children. He didn't go into details in the classroom, but it was interesting to know that infertility is out there in our daily lives and some people are out of the closet and others are not. Definitely makes you think. It makes me thankful I've been open about our difficulties. D after hearing of our exploits said - "I'm glad you decided to refrain from the rope course as well as the declining to carry a 200+ pound man down some stairs." He knows that I a) do not view pregnancy as a disability and if this was something I was doing on a regular basis - as in what I used to do when I worked EMS, then it would be a totally different story... however I don't do that anymore and now my lifting of patients has decreased significantly as my patients are now mostly kids rather than adults and well weight wise they are smaller - so this would not be something I would normally do. Ultimately I felt like a slacker... granted I know it was the right thing to do, but it didn't make it any easier for me to say - "I can't do this because."

Because the because part is there, but I still live in a bit of denial... heartbeat - check present and accounted for... showing - that seems to be the constant question from in laws and my mom - no... again I'm up about 8-9 lbs and yes my body shape is changing, but I just look like my normal fluffy self with bigger b**bs. So it still feels surreal. I know I'll eventually have to go - oh yeah this is truly happening but for now we're still in a bit of lala land.

*In other news... both D and a friend of my parents had this weird/uncomfortable thing happen... My dad's birthday was on Friday... last week D came home and said "I almost s*it myself last night while watching the weather" Uh... okay honey why? The weather channel announced - "And here's *insert dad's full name* with the weather* " D startled and thought no they did not just say dad's full name? Sure enough they did... it freaked him out a bit and he didn't want to tell my mom. So nothing was said. However a friend of my parents told my mom today as she was washing dishes and heard "And here's *dad's name* with the weather" she dropped the dish she was washing shattering it as this was on Friday and she is very familiar with dad's birthday as her daughter's birthday was Saturday so a day later and turned - granted she knew in her mind that dad was not there, but sometimes we all wish that it wasn't true that he was still here and it brought him back for her just as it did for D. My mom surprisingly enough took the news of the other SC well... shockingly well. She had to tell me the story of the friend and I had to break it to her that D had had a similar encounter and it had startled him for a bit. I fear she's now watching the weather channel in the hopes of getting a glimpse of the other man so to speak.

Ultimately never a dull moment here right?