Welcome to the World

PERRIN TIMOTHY PODUSKA
February 12, 2009
7 lbs 15 oz., 21 inches

 

Perrin has arrived. He has been so lovable and fun. And Finn has been very happy to have a baby brother around. Everything went perfectly and we were blessed to have the doctors that we had. The recovery has been smooth and much better than any other operation because we have a permanent memento... a cute, squeezable memento.

A HUGE THANK YOU for all the help and love people have shown... especially to those who have brought our family dinner (and when I mean family, I mean the WHOLE family; it has been a huge task and we appreciate it so much!): Thanks to the Robinsons, Farnsworths, Gages, Roberts, Ashcrofts and Badals. You all are awesome!

P.S. Note to Krista: Caleb and his family love the blanket so your plot to get in with the Poduska side totally worked! (Football is the way to their hearts)

I love it when the villain is a good guy!

I love those movies where the villain, in the end, saves the day and turns out to have been a good guy all along. My experience with the high risk specialist was like those movies. After hearing the ominous stories from nurses and patients alike, I was expecting my appointment to be like meeting Dr. House in real life. Don't get me wrong, the guy is not a chit-chatter kind of guy, but I wasn't feeling in the mood for chit-chat anyway. I wanted answers.

So he sat down with me and went through my medical history and the problems with this current pregnancy, and he did so very thoroughly. After consulting with him, he was convinced that I was in no need of the special services offered out at Fresno and that Clovis Hospital was more than capable of taking care of my special needs.

The best part was that he didn't say "I'll get a message to your doctor"... instead he yelled at his nurse "Get her doctor on the phone!" (which might be why the nurses don't care for this doctor). He immediately got on the phone with my referring doctor, gave him some special instructions with regards to my care and ensured that my c-section date remained the same! Happy Day! He got stuff done, including getting me into another specialized doctor (that is not pregnancy related) that I have been waiting months to try to get into. At the end of it all, he looked at me and asked if there was anything he was missing. I felt like I was disappointing him in that everything had already been taken care of by that point... he was ready to do some more problem solving.

Long story short, everything has resolved and we feel very blessed to have so many doctors looking after the welfare of me and the baby to come. And thank you to all of the people praying for us throughout this pregnancy.

How to completely STRESS OUT a pregnant lady

A Guide for OBGYNs

Step One: Just three weeks before her c-section date, call her and tell her that she is suddenly too high risk for you to oversee her delivery and that she has to see a different specialized doctor from then on out.

Step Two: Send her to a specialized doctor that is NOTORIOUS for having incredibly bad bed-side manners (but who really is "very brilliant"... or at least thats what everyone says to soften the blow)

Step Three: Oh yeah, make sure she knows that she can no longer deliver at the hospital of her choice. She has to make the trek out for her 3 appointments per week to downtown Fresno (nevermind whether or not she will be able to get that kind of babysitting arranged) and deliver in a completely unfamiliar hospital that can't get her in for a simple tour before her delivery date.

Step Four: Even though she and her husband have arranged everything for a specific c-section date (getting off work/school, getting babysitting figured out, etc) make sure you let her know that she no longer has a c-section date and it is all up in the air until she can see the infamous specialist (and since it has taken 1 1/2 months to make an appointment with him in the past, what are the odds that scheduling a convenient c-section date is going to go very well for her).

Step Five: Don't bother to tell her yourself, just have your assistant call her and completely change her birth plan with a 3 minute phone conversation.

My OBGYN could have written the book on this. I am trying to find the bright side to all of this.... which is that the baby will be well taken care of, and that is the most important thing. If anything were to happen, thats the place you would want to be, but who wants to think that they will need to use those services for their child?! After all the preparation and expectations of it (being cut open is not an easy thing and I have been having to prep myself for it), the sudden changes have completely thrown me for a loop and stressed me out.

So, I have to rearrange me expectations and get my priorities straight: having a successful delivery where the baby and I both make it through safely. I am just going to have to let the irksome details slide by.

Rockin' Christmas

No, Finn doesn't have his driver's license quite yet. Caleb, his mother, and I took Finn to see the Christmas lights at Peach/Alluvial... so Finn took the wheel on Caleb's lap when we got there. Problem being that he had access to the radio, and Finn loves music. It did not take long for him to figure out how to crank up the Christmas music so he could dance. I don't know where Finn got these particular dance moves, but this is what he does every time he hears music he likes. He has so much personality (too bad nobody at church can see that side of him due to his extreme rejection of nursery, anyone involving nursery, or anything having to do with nursery... it has been a long few months at Church.)

The baby is coming!

The fact that we are having a baby feels a little more real now that the c-section has been officially scheduled. For any who are interested: our baby boy should be entering this world at noon on Feb 12th. It will be a special Valentine's Day!

There is a reason for the Lollipop

I thought I would add my pictures of Finn to the zillions of blog photos online capturing the cuteness of children dressed up for Halloween. Finn was a skunk. Its the first time I actually sewed a Halloween outfit and I was sure it would be all for nothing because Finn cried everytime he tried it on and it was way too much work for him not to wear it! But we bribed him with a sucker and he magically seemed totally fine with his Halloween costume.
We had a blast this year!

Check the Opinin Section!

Irene has written an article that was put in the Opinion Section of the Fresno Bee that is Pro-Proposition 8. Read Wednesday's Business Section where the Opinion articles are and check it out. Way to go Irene!