Well, you asked ;-)

Yesterday, my mom asked The Question. No, not how her granddaughter is doing, or how my DH is doing.

No. She asked about Sarah Palin and if I liked her. ::shudder::

See, my mom and I are polar opposites on things political---which is why discussions of politics rank up there with religion and taxes as Things We Do Not Talk About. We used to try and talk politics, but it degenerated into an argument pretty quick (with my mom's famous capper, "Well, you're young. When you're my age, you'll be a Republican." Uh, mom, I'm a married thirty-something with a toddler. How old do I have to be before I get a right to my own opinion? :-/)

Anyhow, she asked. And I told her about all the things that make me very uneasy about the choice of Sarah Palin as a VP. It's purely a mental exercise on my part; I haven't voted Republican for...well, ever, so it's not like I'm finding reasons not to vote for a candidate I wasn't going to vote for anyway. :)

My mom expressed shock at all of the things I told her, things which have been all over the news lately and which shouldn't be a shock to anyone not living in a cave since 2000. Which made me wonder---if my mom, who is a card-carrying Republican (except when she voted for Bill Clinton twice ;0))---didn't hear this stuff, who else has been drinking the metaphorical kool-aid? Hopefully, not the rest of the country. :-O

For the record, I don't think Sarah Palin is evil. I don't think she's a bimbo. Do I think she's absolutely the wrong choice? Yes. Do I find her views on pretty much everything to be scary? Yes.

And do I worry when it seems that people are drinking the kool-aid yet again? Yes. Please, America, wake up. Choose the candidate of your choice based on the issues, not on chromosomes or how much they're (allegedly) like you. Your country deserves better.

Where Were You on 9/11?

I was at home, ironing my slacks for work. I heard CNN announce there was a fire at one of the World Trade Center towers, and I'm ashamed to say now that I wasn't too worried. Then.

So I got in my car and went to work. I didn't listen to the radio that day because I was in the middle of an email argument with my then-boyfriend and I was trying to think what to say to him later on.

I logged into my computer and I still didn't know how much the world had changed. BF shot me a nasty email in response to mine (to this day, I can't remember what we were arguing about, but it hardly matters---we split later that week) and asked me if I'd seen the news that morning. I replied, "What, about the fires at the WTC?" He emailed back: "It's not a fire. Turn on the TV."

And then, and only then, did I notice how quiet it was. People were sobbing quietly but there was a strange stillness to it all. I watched in shock as the second tower fell, as the man jumped out of the building, as all of NYC was coated in dust and horror and as our world changed forever.

I can't watch the films now, but I don't have to. All I have to do is close my eyes.

9-11. Never forgive. Never forget.

At long last...another Blog Roll post :)

I'm a little behind *ducks* so I'm cherry picking at the moment...:O)

The blog roll post for Aug. 23 was this: "Looking back, what minor event in your life has made a major outcome in how things turned out?"

What? I get only one? :-P

Well, here goes.

I have a daughter. She's healthy, happy, and whole...but it almost wasn't that way.

I had a perfectly normal, boring pregnancy for the most part. I did all of my prenatal visits, took my vitamins, was more careful with what I ate, etc. And I never felt more wonderful in my life. :)
(No morning sickness either...please don't hurt me. :-P)

When I was about 18 weeks along, my OB mentioned I should take the AFP test to screen for Down's Syndrome and spina bifeda. No, I told her, it wouldn't make a difference in whether I chose to continue the pregnancy, so why take it?

But I also trusted her medical advice. So, I took the test. The odds came back at 1 in 86...which is pretty high for woman my age. DH and I were stunned. My OB said, gently, that I'd need to have another ultrasound and an amnio to confirm the results...but she also mentioned that the AFP test itself had a high error rate.

The first level 2 ultrasound I got at 18 weeks had to be repeated (DD was jitterbugging all over the screen, so the tech couldn't get any measurements.) The tech asked me to come back, and again, I almost didn't. Not because I was afraid the AFP test had been correct, but because it really wouldn't have made a difference to us at the time.

But I came back, mainly because I had to know. DH had bronchitis, so he waited in the car. And I got up on the table and the tech pressed the wand into my belly. I watched DD move around on the screen, saw her heart beating and her brain inside her head. Then I realized that the tech was really quiet. I asked her what was wrong and she said--probably violating all the rules about what ultrasound techs are and aren't allowed to say---"You're dilating."

Yeah. Not what I was expecting at all. She got the doctor to confirm the results, and I went that night into the hospital for emergency surgery to close my cervix. I spent the next nine weeks on bedrest until DD was born at nearly 31 weeks. It was a near miss, to say the least.

DD made it, of course, but if it hadn't been for at least three choices on my part, the quick eyes of an ultrasound tech, and the skills of her doctors, she wouldn't have.

The irony that the one prenatal test I almost didn't take is the one that ultimately saved her life is something that hits me now and again. How do you account for serendipity like that?

Roseola: 1 Baby: 0

Yesterday, DD came down with a rash all over her chest and back and neck. So, today, DH and I took the wee one into the pediatrician's office. Turns out, the rash is called roseola, which is a rash caused in response to a viral infection. The good news is that it's neither contagious nor dangerous nor itchy. The bad news: DD still has a major case of the cranks. At least the rash should be gone in 3-4 days....we're hoping the cranks go away sooner. :)

My mom wants photos. Don't ask me why. DD is miserable, cranky and not really at her best...and if it was me, I sure wouldn't want photos of myself when I was sick. So...no, no photos. After some thought, I did send her an email link to a picture of a roseola rash, if she's concerned about the diagnosis....which I hope satisfies her curiosity.

This thing about photos..it's weird. We have a lot of photos from DD's weeks in the NICU, because those were also the first days of her life. Now that she's healthy and happy and, well, a normal kid, I don't see us taking pictures of her when she's sick. I was sick a lot as a kid and there aren't any pictures of me from those times, and I'm glad.

So, if DD discovers my makeup one day...yeah, there will be pictures. You betcha. But when she's sick...nope. :-)

What it takes to make you feel helpless

Thursday night, my daughter started running a fever, her very first. I should probably mention that she's nearly two and thus far (aside from coming ten weeks early) has been the picture of health.

So, her dad and I were a little freaked. Her dad called the pedi Friday night when nothing we did seemed to help and the message was that, basically, we were doing all we could, that we'd just need to let the fever run its course, that some OTC meds were fine, but the fever itself wouldn't hurt her, just make her miserable.

And lo, it did. The first OTC med we tried didn't actually work, which ended up being a shock. So we called the pedi again (bless you Dr G for your patience with newish parents :)) And she told us that everything was still in the "no reason for concern yet" zone---which was reassuring, since we both had visions of us rushing her to Children's Hosptial. Last night she was up and down and up again, but her fever finally broke around 2am.

We think she's on the mend. Maybe. We hope. But I haven't felt so helpless since she was a wee thing in the NICU. :-(

Tales of a Convention Junkie

Okay. I admit it. I'm a mature, thirty-something woman. I vote, when I remember to do so. I read the paper and I try to stay informed. Last week's DNC was the first convention I've watched since 1992.

And wow. I'm not a fangirl (or maybe I'm just in De Nial :-P) I wasn't originally an Obama supporter---I used to support the candidate now known (in my mind, at least) as Skunk Boy. Then he backed out...a good thing, as it turned out. And I considered supporting Hillary, before the whole "I was under fire in Bosnia thing" and her politics turned so egotistical, self-righteous, and...well, mean.

I did catch Obama's speech in 2004---as I recall, I was channel-surfing, and I just happened to catch it. Even then, I thought he was going places fast---I just didn't know how fast.

So I watched the entire convention with my husband and my baby (who clapped when everyone else did :) And for the first time in a long time, I felt hope---not the kind of hope you feel when the magician does a trick and you hope it's real, even though you know it can't possibly be. The kind of hope where you think that yes, we can be better than this, that we don't have to settle for leaders who think the Constitution is a kleenex, that we can aim for the best of our ideals and still be pragmatic about the hard work that needs to be done.

I have hope. And so I say it now...yes, I support Obama.

Where Everybody Knows Your Name...

..or, why it's maybe a bad sign that the nurses at my doctor's office know me by my first name. ;-) Which got me to thinking---how do they know me? Out of all the patients they must see, why do they remember me? Is it my hypenated name (either name is unusual, both names together are beyond unique)? Is it my daughter (hey, she's fairly memorable :))? Or is it just me? I know I always remember people because they either drive me bonkers or because they were uncommonly nice. I hope it was the latter and not the former that caused the nurses to remember me. :)

In other news, I'm feeling better, which comes along with not having a tube sticking out of my back. :) And life is slowly getting back to normal, especially since our computer is also back up and running.

Life is good. :)