Da Goddess

Let’s get the peeves out of the way first.

At the hospital the other night: in the waiting room, a family had two small children with them. One was a baby who was intermittently fussy and then unsupervised the rest of the time. (Would seem to go hand in hand, no?) The other child had an unrelenting cough. Apparently, the parents had informed folks earlier that it was “just asthma”. It didn’t sound like an asthmatic cough to me. And if it had been, why were they not giving him his inhaler. I was angry because the last thing anyone in that waiting room needed was to be exposed to illness that could then be passed along to a newborn. When the family finally left (after HOURS OF EXPOSING EVERYONE!!!) we all breathed a huge sigh of relief and grumbled about the parents’ stupidity and lack of consideration of others and of their son’s health.

Babies R Us: Lady M desperately needed a smaller size for her breastpump. We ran over to Babies R Us to get what she needed, only to find they don’t stock the small size. You have to order it online. Now, with all the research and push to get new mothers to breastfeed, and the extensive stock of supplies for such at Babies R Us, wouldn’t you think they’d carry all sizes? “You can order it online,” said the very sweet clerk. I tried to keep the steam from blowing off the top of my head as I replied, “but that doesn’t help her now, does it? She’s in pain and she’s having to do all sorts of insanely things to pump at this point.” The woman agreed with me and recommended we try area hospitals’ breastfeeding stores. As it was after 5pm, none were open. It truly angered me that Babies R Us wouldn’t at least keep a couple boxes of the small shields on hand “just in case”.

Infant clothing manufacturers: Whatever happened to the onsies/bodysuits that snapped up the front center, from crotch to neck? These little onsies were lifesavers when LD was a baby. The only ones I can find online are over $15 EACH. Ridiculous. If anyone has some left over from days gone by, please let me know. Or if you know where we can get some, please please please please let me know!

Butting heads: King Arthur’s ex-wife has been a doll and has been doing so much for Lady M as she gets settled in at home. However, after I changed Baby E’s diaper, I was going to swaddle her again and was told I was doing it wrong. That was after I was supervised changing the diaper. Now, I know she’s just being a concerned grandmother, but after years as a pediatric nurse, nanny, and a mom, I think I’ve changed more diapers than she has, as well as swaddled more babies. I took a subtle deep deeth breath and let it slide, all the while wanting to show her how to really bundle a baby. The moment past and all was well afterwards. Still, that, in addition to the next item, it was a bit of a vexatious day that left my back knotted even more than it should have been.

Grumpiness: For some reason yesterday was one of those grumpy days for King Arthur. I truly felt invisible or, alternately, wanted to BE invisible. One minute he would act as though my input was ridiculous and unimportant, and the next minute I was incurring the wrath of Khaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan. I ended up feeling surly as well as hurt. It wasn’t pretty. I finally said a prayer, asking for patience and grace and we managed to work in a laugh or three.

Now, on to the praises.

Corel: I was finally able to get in touch with someone who helped me get PaintShop Pro X5 installed on the new computer. All that’s missing is the Nik plugin and I’m simply awaiting the customer service agent’s response to my email. She’s been an absolute angel. I am grateful.

Medication: while I have a limited supply of my pain meds, I’m grateful to have what I do. I was carefully rationing them the past couple weeks, but I finally said, “fuck this” and took what I needed, when I needed, and have been feeling a bit better. I know there will be hell to pay when I run out, but this respite from excruciating pain has been quite welcome.

Prayer: it may seem a bit trite, but I’ve found that praying for guidance in times when I feel things getting to me has been, literally, a Godsend. I’ve found more peace in prayer in the past couple weeks than I have ever experienced in my entire life. Funny how the simplest solution is always the last thing you try.

And with that, I’m off to finish packing. We’re heading to Vegas for Ren Faire with friends, old and new, with a couple other very fun events planned. A CD release party tonight and Human Nature on Sunday. While the preparations for this trip have been fraught with disaster, we’re all looking forward to it.

So now I’m outta here.

I wish you a relaxing and beautiful weekend, my friends.