Merry Christmas to All!

Let's just call it an innocent start to my day. I went to work yesterday, grabbed some hot apple cider and cookies to share with the staff and was making a phone call while there to let my coworkers know that I wished to share some holiday cheer with them. As I was on the phone, I gazed downward

only to discover I had put on one black boot and one brown boot.

I screamed. I could not believe I...me...the shoe person...the DNR president...OMG.

I have to say, it brought on some good laughs and before long the clinic was informed of my mistake. Pictures were taken. Offers to make a brown and black bracelet to match were made. And I went the full 12+ hour shift with mismatched boots.

Don't get me wrong. I made every attempt to make changes. I actually have a spare pair of shoes at work, bummer, at the other clinic. I thought about wearing someones snow boots. No. To my surprise, there are not a lot of other people in the world who look down at people's shoes so none of my patients noticed...or they may just not have said anything and just left the clinic being very unsure about their diagnosis from the crazy lady with one brown and one black boot! I did call Todd who had already started his Christmas break. He went into my closet and began to describe the different kinds of black boots I have...didn't know I had that many!...Is it this with the pointed toe? With the midcalf length? with the thick heel? no,no,no...finally he found it but claims he ran out of time. From the laughter that followed, I think not.

So the day went pretty smooth except for that minor problem and I was on my way home. I began to get excited that is was nearing Christmas day. I recalled looking at a photo earlier in the day on my desk of Jordan and I when I was 8 and 1/2 months pregnant. We had gone to Portraits Today to have some professional photos taken. I really cherish them. Jordan is kissing my pregnant belly in a lot of them.
My pregnancies were pretty easy. Except for some back pain and sleepless nights, I rarely felt sick...usually a quick 4:00 pm reminder for about 5 minutes. And I must remember that with my first pregnancy, I was in denial for about half of it. I looked like I was carrying a basketball in my belly and was able to run til the day of delivery. But that day was rough was my first. Doc had stripped my membrane in the morning. Went for a little run to get things going. Then it was off to work. Toward the evening, I started to contract. So in between patients, I would come out of the room, lean over the desk, my nurse Sharon would rub my back and I would do some breathing. I only had one more to see and he was a guy complaining of pain. You can imagine my response, of course, professional. I actually needed to send him off to cat scan and called the doc on call to take over for results. I then drove home. On my way, I pulled over to throw up my tomato soup I had for dinner. When I got home, I told Todd I thought this was it. Called the hospital who asked me how far apart...I don't know, I'll call you back...since it was not a minute later that I got another (though I didn't time it) called back and told them I was on my way. It seemed that we found a very bumpy road on the way in. It was the way we always took but I had never noticed how bumpy it was. Me, wanting to be the hero, decided to do things naturally. Back labor...intense...Todd was left with little arm hair left as the only relief was a blazing hot shower as he massaged my back. The next day at 5 am Jordan arrived with a little help from suction. Beautiful, perfect 8 lbs, 3 oz...it is amazing that anyone can see that beauty in spite of the blood and coning of the head from the journey through the birth canal. I had lost a fair amount of blood, about 2-3 pints though doc decided I could build that back up on my own...something I would not advise others to do who wish to breast feed. I was able to breast feed Jordan for 9 months but that first week I probably had starved him a little.

So all of that on my ride home...seems like yesterday though it was almost 9 years ago. And why was I thinking about that? I honestly wonder how Mary did it. How could she ride on a camel through the desert? Was she is labor? Did she thrown up? Was she exhausted? Was Jesus colicky? And if so, I hope they had chiropractors back then!

Well, Merry Christmas to you all! Jesus is the reason for this season.
Love to you,
Paula