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I had a OB appointment yesterday and Mike actually went with me. He has been trying to go with me when he is home. My appointments are so exciting at all. The grouchy nurse tells me to drink water and eat NO SALT or the other nurse is nice and the doctor dashes in measures me, listens to the heartbeat and tells me to come back in X amount of time. But now, I get checked and after Mike freaked out at my first visit where they did a pap smear and stuff he said he wasn't going again when they do that! He did fine. I told him they don't have me put my legs in stirrups, that they are just bent up on the table and somehow that seemed to make all the difference to him. So any progress from last week? My cervix is softening now and his head is starting to engage. Mike asked about a million questions about when this boy is coming and the doctor listened and very nicely explained that he wished he could tell him for certain, but he can't. However, barring any unforeseen circumstances, it won't be in the next week. I know Mike is really worried about being on a train and getting here in time. He just sounded more worried talking to the doctor than he has when he talks to me. It was actually kind of funny to listen to them talk because I know them both so well. Mike says he doesn't trust doctors, but in the end he was hanging on every word he said. I basically got patted on the head and told see ya next week!

I have kind of good news and news that shouldn't be good, but feels great to me! First and most important, my co worker's baby doesn't have leukemia. That is good news. There were several things that have been ruled out, but we still don't know what is wrong with him. However, it is being taken seriously now. He had a bunch of blood sent to the Mayo Clinic and now she is waiting to hear. I don't know how they can get enough blood to do all the studies they need when the patient is only 13 pounds. It seems like we have to take tube after tube of blood to do normal tests. He doesn't have that much blood!!

So I feel a tiny bit guilty for this news that is making my life better. My charge nurse is having surgery on Monday. I'm very sorry she needs to have surgery. I am very happy there is a nice laparoscopic surgery that can help her problem. It is just wonderful for me that right now is when she is having her surgery. She says she will only be off work for about a week and then she can come back, but not lift anything. She is the only person in our entire department tha would be allowed to do that. I don't want her to have any complications, but things are never quite as simple with her as they would be with someone else. She has already been off for 6 weeks or so this year with various health problems. Again, she is the only person in the department that this would be tolerated. It doesn't matter what your doctor says. The thing is that her time has been broken up into several chunks of time. She has a lot of health problems. Anyway, back to how this impacts my life. Again, it is unfortunate that she has to do this, but I am glad her problem can be fixed with surgery. It is very unlikely that she will only be off for one week. Maybe someone who is extremely healthy could manage, but that isn't the case here. My FIL boss had this same surgery done earlier this year. He is about five years older than she is only he is extremely healthy and in very good physical shape. He tried to come back to his office the second week after his surgery and he could only make a for a few hours a day. So again back to me, I may not have to work with her again until I come back from maternity leave!!!!!!!!

Just this past week I have had two coworkers come to me and voice their concerns for me about the assignments she makes for me. I was really surprised by one of the people. She generally isn't very nice to me and she volunteered to do extra work so I could avoid being exposed to xrays in that room. I was surprised and that was very nice of her. The unfortunate thing is that I then had to go to another room and that room was also taking xrays. In the first room I could have been slightly farther from the xray machine which is the key, but... that is what she does. The other person said that one day she heard someone question the charge nurse about the assignments she made and said shouldn't we try and do something different. The charge nurse said that every woman that continues to work in the department when she is pregnant signs an agreement that she knows she will be exposed to certain things. The whole fucking point is that she is supposed to try to avoid or limit our exposures as much as she can. She is just such a bitch she actually puts you in more risk. This is apparent to most people who pay attention to what is happening around them. Sometimes certain coworkers have been nice enough to volunteer to change assignments with me or do something that I shouldn't. Isn't that terrible? All of us in the department have to bend over backwards to accommodate her many issues, but she is a total bitch about helping most of the rest of us. There are only a few people she willingly helps and if you really have a problem or emergency she might help you, but rest assured, you will pay. So I do so much enjoy working with her and I can't wait to see how this next step in my life affects how she treats me! Again, I don't wish ill health or surgery on her, but the timing works well for me.