Wazup with the NY Nelsons

So... Peter's on an anesthesia rotation. He'll be doing this for the next few months. Instead of taking call and working with patients in the oral surgery clinic, he spends his days with the anestheologists in the hospital. They have a variety of cases and surgeries, so its always new and exciting. He's learning how to perfect his skills at putting someone to sleep and the vigilant monitoring it requires. Sometimes it can be loathsome and tragic - as was the case last week. He calls me to report that he assisted with anesthesia for two VTP surgeries. I naively asked what that stood for. Voluntary termination of Pregnancy. My jaw dropped and my eyes immediately started watering. WHAT did you just say!? Yeah, pretty horrible. Especially considering the fact that we waited so long for Miss Sydnie and we never knew if she was ever going to come. People are killing babies in their tummies and we know folks, ourselves included, who'd willingly take them into our arms and our lives. Peter and I both had a good cry. The good news is that he often gets home much earlier than he normally would (afternoons even). We'll take it!
On happier topics, I am throwing myself into my Young Women calling. We are doing a Readers Theatre based on the parable of the 10 Virgins for New Beginnings in two weeks, and I still have to finish writing it! Its all in my head and its been there for two months. Now I must get it out of there and onto the paper. The theme this year is "Arise and Shine Forth." I'm also polishing up a Jeopardy game in Power Point based on the New Era for 2012 that we will play with the youth tomorrow night. Peter is the Young Men President and we love working together. As usual, Peter throws himself into his calling and is making a real difference in the lives of the boys.
Cousin Nate Eaton and lovely wife Erica visited NYC last weekend. We had dinner with them at a diner in midtown before their show. They are both so fun and excellent conversationalists. Welcome to the family Erica! We love adventures into the city. In fact I went to lunch with a colleague from my old job at Prisma on Monday. We ate at Brother Jimmy's BBQ. Yummy. Syd loves to get out. Often her only request is to talk to her, take her outside, and to see new things besides the walls in our apartment. :)

Killing us with her cuteness!

My baby is four months now and I've turned into the typical obsessed new mother. How can I not? She's a little piece of heaven right there in my arms! The smile, the cooing, the facial expressions... four months is an awesome age.

Baby Sydnie is a lovely, mellow, social and patient person. So far. She's the embodiment of CHILL. We are spoiled, we know, don't worry we are repeatedly told this and we are aware that not all babies are this sweet and kopasetic all the time. And we are grateful every day.

Here are some recent pics. I love her sideways glances in the carseat shot. If I remember correctly, she was skeptically observing Daddy as he acted like a monkey.

We went to AZ over Christmas and blessed her on December 26, 2011 in Scottsdale. Tons of family were present; we got some great pictures!

We are getting used to all of this quality time together since I quit my job (halelujah sweet freedom)! Life couldn't be more domestically sweet for us right now.

Super Syd!

Here she is! Our gorgeous little baby Sydnie Jolene Nelson. She's already a month old, born on 9-21-2011. She weighed 6 lbs, 9 oz and was nearly 21 inches long. At our one month doctor visit, she weighed 8 lbs, 13 oz, so she's growing well...as you can see in the progression of pictures. We are predictably, blissfully in love with baby girl. She's an angel, sometimes sleeping 6-7 hours at night. We are spoiled, but so is she!

Paco puts the smack down

Now that our ambitious Dr. Nelson has begun his residency, he's more official than just an intern, however, he's still the new guy and subject to abuse. Por ejemplo: he spent the month of August up at Westchester Medical Hospital Center in Valhalla. The chief resident put him on call two days in a row, and then every third day/ night for the entire month. Its a high trauma month, meaning they get extreme cases from all over the county, nearly 24-7. Consequently, he didn't get much sleep and was logging nearly 100 hours a week. Working over 80 hours as a resident is against the law, so he was basically set up to fail, no matter what he did. He agonized over the situation all month. Should he lie about the hours? He'd done some of that at Brooklyn and at St. Luke's, but the difference was how much the chief resident cared about him... and the fact that he was hoping to get into those other programs, thus more likely to take hits for the team. At Westchester, the chief brazenly didn't put himself or the other chief resident on the schedule. At all. By dumping most everything on Peter, and not seeming to care, the chief had clearly communicated his interest in cruising through his final year by abusing the underlings. Peter, though, was pushed to the edge, and finally said something to the program director (who was unaware of the situation b/c he works down in the city full time and doesn't provide much oversight up in Valhalla). Everybody had to report their hours personally to the director and he had to approve the upcoming months' schedule. Mission accomplished. Feathers were ruffled, but Peter remained unmoved and happy with his choice. Oversight will increase and the other underlings (called GPR's = General Practice Residents = basically ppl just out of dental school who have to do one year in a hospital to get their dental license in NY) received a copy of the law from Peter to prevent future abuse. When the chief finally stopped giving him the silent treatment and the stink eye, Peter asked him, "are you mad at me, or are you mad at yourself?" Ouch. Someone got SPANKED!
Isn't it disturbing to think that there are senior residents with years of experience trying to get out of working (ie. attending to vulnerable patients with oral/ jaw problems) by passing it all on to the new, inexperienced residents? Wow, this whole world is changing my paradigm on healthcare.

Anything Goes

Ah, the price we pay for cheap theatre tickets.

Yesterday morning, I got up at 5:30am, took the 6:03 train to Grand Central Terminal, walked to the Steven Sondheim theatre (4 blocks) , and got in line (6:49am). I was the 2nd arrival and the girl ahead of me got there at 6:30am. Yikes! Another girl joined us at 7:05am, and others trickled in over the next couple of hours. By 9am there were 25 people. At 9:30am a guy came out and announced that there were only 9 "rush" tickets. That means that only a handful of us early arrivals were getting tickets. Yippee! At 10am when the box office opened, I bought my two for $30 each. Last row on the upper level. I texted my friend Sara, told her we were on and went to work. Exhausted. Seriously, what was I thinking!? 7 months pregnant and my feet ached. It was hot and humid morning, and I didn't get much sitting or walking time while in line - mostly just standing. Ugh. Oh well, my energy recovered as the day went on and by 6pm, I was excited about the show. Met Sara for a quick salad and the show started at 7pm.

Anything Goes was excellent. No wonder it won the TONY for best revival. Sutton Foster is extremely talented - her dancing, singing and acting were all superb. Joel Gray was darling and so funny! The tap dancing numbers were explosive. "Blow, Gabriel, Blow!" When we got out at 9:40pm-ish, I ran to the train station to catch the 10pm train to Yonkers. What a day! I do not regret the "price" I paid to see this show, esp knowing that when Sydnie comes, my ability to do things like that will be limited!

"Very Passionate about Ward Clerkdom"

So, the new ward clerk says to the outgoing ward clerk: "What was the name of that former clerk you were talking about who had the great system of keeping track of things? I'd love to talk with him about some ideas." To which the old wark clerk responds: "His name is Peter Nelson. He just moved to Yonkers. He is a super friendly guy and very passionate about ward clerkdom, so I think he would love to explain his system to you." Awww.... ain't it the truth. Thats our Paco! [The above quotes were taken directly from an email exchange].
Peter and I moved out of a very large ward in Manhattan to a very small branch in Westchester county. On a good Sunday, there are 30-40 people at church. In RS, we have about 8-9 sisters total, including the presidency. We combine with EQ regularly for the third hour, about 50% of the time. We haven't gotten callings yet, but we're speaking in two weeks. This will be a new and different adventure for sure. And if Peter finagles correctly, he may get to employ his passion for ward clerkdom in our new branch. And that, for Paco, would be "livin' the dream."

Pictured here, he is taking a break from oral surgery & clerkdom to enjoy the park adjacent to our old digs.

Over-advertising

Friday, August 5, 2011
Dear Great Courses Customer Service Department:
Last year, I made one purchase from your company and since then, I have been inundated with marketing & advertising materials. I am happy with my product, and I like and appreciate what your company is all about.
However, I think you should know that the excessive amount of advertising I have received literally pains me – as it wastes paper and cheapens your products. It saddens me to see so much paper being wasted and the environmental consequences. Further, there’s a desperation communicated in the repeated outreaches to “capture” me back as a customer. I would have much more respect for your company and your products if I received significantly less advertising. Again, its excessive, desperate, wasteful and repulsive. Your over-advertising has turned me off to your company and your products, rather than the effect I’m sure you’d wish it to have. In all honesty, at this point, the more you advertise to me, the less likely I am willing to purchase anything.
Kindly note my request to be removed from your mailing lists, your email lists, and any other list I may be currently on (niche/ marketing/ target individuals, etc). I know where and how to find your products and will reach out to you on my terms when I am ready and interested in making any further purchases.
Best Regards,
Allison Nelson