What I Learned In School Today

My current nursing class is Maternity and Woman's Health. Today we
talked about the labor and delivery process. It was very interesting.
We watched a video showing a c-section and a vaginal birth. The baby
that came out vaginally looked fake. The delivery just didn't look
real-it was cool but freaky.

That isn't the thing I learned today that was interesting to me today,
however. Did you know your pelvic bones have a shape that makes
delivery of babies easier or harder? I didn't until today. This new
information led me to think about my own pregnancy and delivery. I had
a C-section and I always assumed that it was decided because my labor
that they were trying to induce wasn't progressing. Now that I have
more information, I'm wondering if I have a funky pelvic bone that
isn't as conducive to vaginal delivery. I wonder if they took a look
at Will's head size ((which is large) and that with my pelvic size
Made them decide: 1- to try and induce labor and 2- to have a C-
section if I didn't progress within a certian amount of time. The
option, after trying to induce labor for 2 days was c-section now or
later.

Another thing I learned today is why women who have c-sections usually
have them with all their kids. I won't go into gory details but it's
dangerous and babies as well as moms can die and it may make mom not
able to have kids ever again. I think I'll stick with the c-section
and let go of my dreams of normal delivery. I don't want to die, lose
the ability to have more kids, and I sure do t want my baby to die.

The Beginning of The End

It is official, Ladies and Gentlemen. Today is the beginning of the end, or at least that is what I am calling it. Today I went to the first day of class in my last semester of nursing school. Well, actually I went to the Matriculation ceremony, where the Juniors are welcomed into Nursing school, and to Senior orientation where I learned about my books being online. I'm way excited about my books being on my computer and online. I can put a search topic in and it will search all my nursing textbooks because they decided to allow us to have ALL our textbooks from my whole nursing career. I think that is great. I am totally pumped about the study advantage this will give me (I'm such a nerd).

Right now, while I am waiting for my books to download, I am blogging rather than studying for tomorrow's Maternity class. What a way to start the semester! Go Me.

Hygiene Kits

This morning at 11:02am (don't you love modern technology that can tell you the exact moment you received a phone call?) I got a phone call from a member of our Relief Society Presidency. She told me that the Kansas City metro was going to have about 1000 refugees from Louisiana beginning this afternoon and they were collecting hygiene kits this week to hand out to those who ran from the hurricane (i'm so out of touch I didn't know they evacuated because of a hurricane). I made a list and decided to go to the store Tuesday and get a few things to add. Then the Bishop announced in church that we were only supposed to get our hygiene kits together but we were not asked at this time to donate anything.

This was news to me. Not the part about not donating our kits, but that we were supposed to have hygiene kits in our 72 hour kit at home ready to go at a moments notice. Obviously we don't have all our ducks in a row, but we are working on it. I knew we should have things like deoderant and toothbrush/toothpaste I just didn't realize there was a hygiene kit we were supposed to have. Sometimes I feel so behind.

Anyway, in RS today we were told that they were collecting hygiene kits and the Bishop had been fed misinformation about collecting the kits. I am going to go Tuesday (because that is when I get money) and get stuff not only to donate but also for us. Then we will have Water, tuna fish, a first aid kit, and a hygeine kit in our incomplete 72 hour kits. I really should get cracking on those, huh?

My Stephen King Affair

I realized it has been at least a week since I have blogged. That got me wondering what actually has caused the lapse. Was it because I didn't have anything to blog about? No, because Will and I have had many adventures over the past few days. Maybe my days have been so full of life before my last semester I have totally forgotten? No because I have commented on my friends blogs and kept up to date on reading them. The answer must be that I have been so obsessed with Stephen King that I have not taken time to do anything else. King has this Dark Tower series that has seven books. I started reading them when I was in college the first time (around 1997 or so) and was totally hooked. I cannot recall when my love affair with Stephen King actually began, but it must have been in late high school because anything creepy used to totally freak me out and I wouldn't watch or read anything like that. Actually, that isn't true. I used to read Christopher Pike when I was a kid, so I guess creepy things were interesting to me. I went through a phase where if I hadn't read or seen it already, and it was creepy, I wouldn't watch or read it. Silly I know, but it's true.

Somehow, in my college years, I got over that fear. It must have been a combination of dorm life and Rhia. Rhia and I went to see The Blair Witch Project together in the movie theaters. Remember that? It gave me a headache but I was freaked out until the end. The end left me cold. Anyway, I digress. So, I became obsessed with these books, The Dark Tower series by Stephen King. The first book, The Gunslinger, was published in 1978 for the first time. However, King had been working on it since his college days. It's an interesting story of how he found these books and characters and wrote them over a span of at least four decades. I borrowed the books from good ole' SFA's library one at a time and devoured them. The first four books had been published by then, and I read them all. I also bought them as I found them at the book store. I am pretty sure I bought the first three books used. I had to wait, with the rest of the world, until 2003 to read the fifth book, but after that, King finished them right in a row and the seventh and final book was published in 2004.

Sorry the story ended up being so long. The point is that I have begun reading these books again and Matt is right, I am obsessed. He has called me an addict at least three times since I started reading the books again. I am halfway through the third book, The Waste Land. If anyone out there is a Stephen King fan and has not read these books, I highly recommend them, but the recommendation comes with a few warnings:
1. These books are addictive
2. There is plenty of bad language, so if you don't like bad language, don't read them
3. There is also lots of blood, guts, and gore (which I really like), so be warned.
4. These books are highly disturbing (as Stephen King can be) and I have had one huge nightmare so far. Oh, and they really arn't for Sunday reading (which probably means I shouldn't read them at all, but let's face it, i'm not that strong)

School starts again Tuesday and then I cannot be quite as obsessed as I would like to be, but we all have our trials, right?

I just found a website for these books. It is http://www.stephenking.com/DarkTower/
Check it out.

Our Omaha Vacation

Since very few of you are interested in a play by play of The Ware Family trip to Omaha, NE that happened over Tuesday and Wednesday of this week, I'll give it to you anyway, but in numbered format to make it easier to skip over.

1. We got up out of bed, got dressed, went to the gas station, and got on the road.

OK, for real now. The condensed, numbered Omaha vacation:
1. Drove to Omaha. Stopped outside of Nebraska City where William entertained himself in some cars at the gas station.
2. Had lunch with Suzzanne and walked around the Old Market for a while.

3. Went to dinner at The Amazing Pizza Machine where we had pizza, played games, and had way too much fun.
4. Wednesday morning. We sat around until 1pm or so and watched TV/ Movies and took naps. It was awsome. Oh, and William Discovered the joy of the guitar. He was playing and singing for us. It was awsome!

5. We went to Target with Suzzanne so she could get her new glasses (which took waaaay too long) and then went to visit our friend Shawn Harwood. She is so pregnant she's going to pop any day. It was great to see her and visit for a bit. Her son was so cute.

6. We were going to have dinner at this place that we had seen on the TV show Diners, Drive-In's, and Dives. It looked fabulous but was closed. Turns out it is only open for breakfast and lunch. We will have to check it out some other time.

7. We ate at a Mexican restaurant in the Old Market and then went to the Gene Lahey (sp?) mall and sat enjoyed the outdoors for a few minutes.

8. After it began to get dark, we decided to go back to Suzzanne's house where she made chocolate mayonnaise cupcakes to celebrate my dad's 65th birthday. See previous post for pictures from that event.

9. Thursday morning were un-tearful farewell's as Suzzanne was going off to work. It was the last time we will see her until she gets back from graduate school in a little over a year. We had a great time in Omaha and will miss our great friend Suzzanne.

Happy 65th Birthday Dad

For those of you who don't know, my dad died on August 17, 2005. A few days ago we...... what do you do when you remember somebody's death day. You don't really celebrate, but I can't think of a better word. You get the point. ANYWHOO, yesterday was my dad's birthday. August 20th. He would have been 65 years old. Matt, Will, and I were in Omaha visiting our friend Suzzanne who is moving to Nottingham, England in four short weeks for a full year to go to grad school. In honor of my dad's birthday, Suzzanne made cupcakes. She made chocolate mayonnaise cupcakes (totally awsome) and orange cream cheese frosting. It was a perfect celebration. Dad's favorite color was orange and one of his favorite people, besides me, was Suzzanne. I miss my dad, but he would have appreciated the celebration!

Family

In our little group of friends we talk about the family we choose rather than the family you are born into. I love the family I was born into

and I love the family I choose.

I even love the family I married into,

but sometimes I just want to leave it all behind and live on a deserted island just me and my husband and my beautiful son for a couple of weeks. Doesn't that sound great?

I love my family, but they sure do drive me crazy. Why can't everyone be exactly the way I want them to be all the time? Why can't I be the way I want to be all the time?