Autumn Day in the Life

Oh my, how much has changed since my last Day in the Life update.
Here's a review from last Tuesday


0515 Hear Jate start to stir. Check the clock to see the time. We'll count this as sleeping through the night
0520 Husband is now awake and is checking his phone
0530 Apparently he was waiting for me to tell him when to get up and change our baby who is happily babbling
0531 Contemplate if I want to get up and brush my teeth, or stay in bed. Staying in bed wins over dental hygiene.
0540 Husband returns with Jate and hands her over to nurse. I really love that I don't have to get out of bed to feed our baby.
0541 I reflect that this is the time I would be leaving for swimming and wonder if I ever will swim in the morning again. Until she starts sleeping later, I don't think it will be soon. I check the current temperature on my phone, which reports that it's 48 degrees. My personal rule is that I don't swim if it's under 50, so I would have missed this morning anyway.
0600ish drift off for a little cat nap
0630 Alarm rings. Jate is asleep on the bop.py. Gently transfer her to her bassinet
0645 Finished showering and return to the bedroom. Apparently Jate woke up about ten minutes after I put her down. Husband is having her do some tummy time on the Bop.py.
0650 In the kitchen. Boil water for Oatmeal and cup of Mother's Milk tea. Turn on the Kurig. Feed the cats.
0653 Bring Husband a cup of coffee, since he's entertaining Jate
0655 Sit down for breakfast and check emails, Facebook and blogs
0705 Throw breakfast dishes in the dishwasher, wash last night's pump parts
0706 Place Jate's bottles into the carrier bag (aka, my old lunch bag). Carefully test for potential leaks. We use Joovy Boob bottles, which are really good, but you can't over tighten them, or else they will leak. This is what happens when you spend two hours touring bbB with the registry consultant. You become so paunchy that you revert back to adolescence. Tee Hee-Hee. It's called Boob. We'll take it.
0710 Return to bathroom to dry hair, put in contacts and apply a little makeup. Bring ipad along as I need it to keep track of time.
0730 Husband starts to work on getting Jate dresses for the day
0745 I finish getting dressed while Husband fastens her into the infant seat. Next I round up my purse, my keys, my pump bag, my gym bag, my lunch bag, Jate's bottle bag, her day care bag, my water bottle and my phone. Husband brings Jate out to the car, as the bag lady can barely fit through the door. Really glad we have the attached garage for this purpose.
0753 Ready to depart. Press the button to open the garage door before backing out the car.
0758 Arrive at day care. Sign in and fill out her daily report card indicating when she woke and when she last ate. Hand over her bottles and cloth diaper supplies for the day.
0800 Kiss her one last time before placing her in the arms of the attendant.
0802 Back in the car to leave for work.
0823 Arrive at my desk. My medical assistant picked up a cup of coffee for me. "It was supposed to be on your first day back, but today was the first morning I had any extra time." she explains. Dude, she has three kids to get ready each morning. I'm amazed that she makes it to work every day! I'm truly lucky to work with someone so organized and so thoughtful.
0825 There is a quiet room near my desk, which has been established as the official pumping room. I plug in the pump and attach the tubing, so we're all ready to go. This only takes about thirty seconds, but it will feel like it's saving me minutes later.
0830 Log in to my computer at exactly 8:30 as I'm sure some bean counter is keeping track of this.
0835 My medical assistant and I do a run-down of the patients on the day's schedule. She informs me that we received a request from a primary care provider to see a patient with a "possible miscarriage." Records were faxed. She was seen in the ER last week and there was a small questionable gestational sac seen in the uterus, and she had a large 8 cm adnexal mass. Her HCG went from 3385 to 4350. Seriously, why did this primary care provider wait this long to refer her? I have to squeeze her into my schedule today. It always seems that ectopics come in around a long weekend.
0840 I send an email message to a patient I saw yesterday. She had yet another miscarriage and I wanted to check in to see if she made a decision about her management options. I closed the message with the words, "I hate that you have to make these decisions."
1002 I have a break from 10:00 - 10:15 for pumping, but I'm already behind. I haven't even seen my 9:45 patient. However if I don't pump now, I won't get another chance to do so this morning. My medical assistant notices that the 9:45 patient needs a second trimester blood draw. It will make good use of her time, but I'm still going to be even further behind.
1005 While pumping I check my patient emails. The miscarriage patient would like to use misoprostol and she does want to do products of conception testing. I leave a message for the rep at XYZ lab inquiring about their hours for the holiday weekend. Just before I left for maternity leave, we decided to stop using XYZ's brand of NIPT. This call could be awkward.
1015 Finish pumping. Managed 6 ounces.
1100 Notice that I have a voice mail on my mobile phone. I gave the XYZ rep my personal phone number, because after three years I still have no idea how to use the voicemail on my desk phone. The lab will be closed on Thanksgiving, but open on Friday. They do have an after hours storage area, so if the specimen goes out on Wednesday, it will be fine to sit for a day and then will be processed on Friday. I email this info to my patient along with the misoprostol instructions and I call the meds into her pharmacy.
1115 I was hoping that my 22 year old annual GYN patient would no-show. No such luck.
1205 Finally finish with my morning patients. I catch up with Co-worker. We were supposed to go to her house for dinner over the weekend, but she cancelled as her kids were sick. She reports that they have croup on top of a cold. Really glad we gave the dinner a miss.
1225 Heat up my lunch and scarf it down as I finish my charts from the morning.
1307 Remember that I added the potential ectopic patient into my schedule at 1:15. Quickly get set up to pump
1310 Notice that the patient arrived early to complete her paperwork as instructed. Will only pump for 10 minutes, whatever I get during that time is what I get.
1320 My medical assistant finishes rooming the patient. She reports that she had been trying to get pregnant for a long time.
1325 There is a single viable intrauterine pregnancy measuring 6 weeks and 1 day. The adnexa mass is likely a hemorrhagic cyst or an endometrioma. I suspect it has been present for a while. It's a Pre-Thanksgiving miracle! I'm not sure what to make of her low rising quant. We'll see her back in one week
1415 Check my patient emails. The miscarriage patient sent a message thanking me for being so responsive and she wishes me a Happy Thanksgiving. It's really satisfying to know my work is appreciated. It still always amazes me that some patients can be so gracious even when they are going through something so difficult.
1645 Finish with my patients and I only have a few phone calls to clear. I'm going to make it to the gym! It's another Pre-Thanksgiving miracle!
1650 Complete my charting as I pump. Change into my gym clothes.
1715 Gather the milk from the fridge and head out of the office as quickly as I can.
1728 Arrive at the gym in time for warm-ups. This is a rare event.
1730 There are wall balls in today's WOD. My legs still hurt from the last time we did wall balls. I went back to using the 14 pound ball, (I was using the 10 pound ball while I was pregnant) my what a difference 4 pounds can make!
1850 Back at home. Quickly change out of my gym clothes as Jate is waiting to be fed. I feed her while Husband prepares her bottles for the next day and washes my pump parts.
1915 Prepare dinner. Microwave leftover Sheppard's Pie and serve with salad. It's technically a home cooked meal.
1920 Shovel down dinner as Jate plays on the playmat
1935 Draw a bath for Jate while Husband cleans up the dinner plates.
1940 Jate enjoys splashing in the tub. She's almost getting too big for the infant insert, but she can't quite sit by herself long enough
1950 Dry Jate off with her duck head hooded towel. I'm convinced that the reason for having kids is so you can use the duck head hooded towels
2000 In the interest of time, I read her stories while we nurse
2020 She's drifted off asleep. I recently read that I'll have to stop letting her fall asleep while nursing once she gets teeth. I inherited bad teeth from my father, so there's a chance she could get that from me. Then again, I'm not a good role model for dental care.
2025 Successful transfer to her basinet
2030 Pack my pump bag and Jate's day care bag with some extra clothes and cloth diaper covers. Discover that Husband has packed my lunch for me. I spend Sunday afternoon cutting up fruit and vegetables into small containers, so I can quickly pack lunch each day. I check his work and only have to change a few things.
2031 We would normally go to bed at this point in time, but we watch our local basketball team continue their winning streak
2200 Go to bed. This is now defined as 'staying up late'
2300 My alarm goes off. Time to go pump.
0200 The pump alarm goes off again
0430  Now the Jate alarm is going off. Husband and I are both exhausted from staying up so late. We decided to play the 'let's wait a few minutes to see if she goes back to sleep' game.
0545 Apparently, it worked. We all fell back asleep. Time to start another day.