Outfits

As far as I can remember, I have never been very interested in dressing up. I am sure that, as a child, I got excited about Halloween costumes, being a scary witch one year, a "bunch of grapes" (bunch of purple balloons) or "bag of jellybeans" (bunch of multicolored balloons) other years, but I imagine that I was more excited for the candy than the cosutmes :). However, since then, I have found "dressing up" to be rather a chore. I have artfully dodged about four Halloweens in Sac, by either being on call, or far, far away on vacation and thus have escaped from trying to drum up an imaginative costume. I prefer jeans and comfy fleece sweaters to "hip" outfits, avoid changing more than once a day if I can help it, and definitely value comfort (and warmth) over fashion any day. I had not thought about purchasing a new "dress" for our wedding rehearsal dinner (just thinking I would rewear a sundress I already have in my closet) until the suggestion was near-mandated by my dear mother and (far-more-trendy) sister (who already has a new smokin' dress!) in discussion this past weekend.

Which brings us to the issue of outfits.
While I may not enjoy dressing up, I don't think my sense of style or coordination is all that horrific. K initially wanted to wear a brown suit to our wedding; however, this was very quickly vetoed. And, if I recall correctly, Serena (who is our go-to fashion consultant) agreed that that was a poor fashion choice. While we are on the "brown" topic, I don't think navy and brown should ever be worn together (which, believe me, has been debated to death), nor do I think cardigans and vests are cool. But back to wedding attire... The latest suggestion (not mine), was to have the groomsmen wear red shirts with silver ties (to match our chosen "colors"), which upon much discussion (i.e. me saying, "that sounds ridiculous!") was amended to red shirts with black ties (a bit unconventional, if you ask me, but I could live with it). However, due to some difficulty getting red shirts to match the red bridesmaid dresses, the plan may have to be abandoned altogether to the simple (but elegant, original) plan of black suits, white shirts, and red ties. Apparently, another wedding outfit may have been purchased this past weekend by a certain groom during his bachelor celebration... which is a suit of a different color. I still think black is best, but this is still being debated... (and, Serena, we welcome your input).

For more on crazy outfits... turn to this past weekend's event, the 100th annual Bay to Breakers footrace in San Francisco. I am not entirely sure how this event got so crazy, but in addition to serious runners (for the 12k/ 7.5 mile course), the race (really a "dress up event") consists of lots of odd participants in fairly weird costumes (or, uh, absent costumes... i.e. people running nude!). There are also people dressed as "salmon," running the opposite direction (upstream). I had never been able to see or participate in this race until this year, but was lucky to get the chance to witness it with Wai Kiu, Hanh, Mason, Kelvin, and Medina. On average, between 70,000-80,000 people run this every year (with the record about 110,000 in 1986), about 40,000 of which look really bizarre, and I believe it!

We were initially (despite my dress-up aversion) going to dress up " a bit" and look like Asian tourists, but it was rather cold (50) to start and we ended up just putting on regular running clothes with layers. The numerous other characters definitely made up for our lack of color and imagination. Mason initially was not too thrilled with being in the stroller, but despite power walking, and not running, the majority of the course, we made good time and finished (famished) in about 2 hours.

Group at the start (Medina left us in the dust on his way to a good time!)


Can you see the tortillas flying in the air, flown like frisbees? (this, too is apparently a Bay to Breakers tradition)


Can you tell that I took this while running? :)


Mason's first Bay to Breakers! (not sure if you can tell from this pic, but amidst all the chaos, he lost one shoe.... which no fewer than 100 people pointed out to us. We just told them it was part of his costume)



"Trashbag person" (this really was a walking person in costume, with a "helper" adjusting!)


Guys on Stilts


Guy from "Up"


Randomly decorated building front (w/ furniture)


Buffalos by Golden Gate Park


Home stretch: Ocean Beach (0.5 miles from the finish line)


We had to backtrack about a half-mile to get our medals....


... and then about another mile to get our t-shirts ("Forget it," we said)
We were sooo hungry and had a wonderful Chinese meal with Hanh's family, who picked us up from the race end, before returning to Sac (where we changed into clean outfits).

Now, who knows some good places to get a new dress?

Random May Updates

I haven't had much occasion to blog lately. Here are a few random snippets of what's going on in my life...

Goodbye, Chiefdom
Last Friday marked the last day (and night) I would have to spend as "OB Chief" on Labor and Delivery. I still remember (and it seems that it was not that long ago) how I spent many a workday (/night) timid and overwhelmed in triage, and it is truly amazing that I have completed my months at UCD being partly "in charge" and hoping not to be involved in too many interpersonal conflicts. I am currently on the "MIC" (maternal infant care) rotation, taking care of FP moms and babies and so I am still on L and D quite a bit. However, I'm trying to lay low, and trying to avoid getting sucked in to see random triage patients or put in orders on random people.

Rather than watching others do deliveries which is sort of what you do as chief, I hope to get to do a few myself this month.....which may happen if there aren't any more precipitous deliveries onto the bed!!

Lesson duly learned: never leave the room when you have a multip in active labor without an epidural.

Last week, a continuity patient of mine/Randy's came in in labor towards the end of my day. She'd had a relatively fast 1st delivery (which I'd missed b/c I was out of town). This time, she'd labored at home with her doula for most of the day. She wouldn't allow me to break her water and progressed steadily from 5 --8 cm.... but it wasn't quite time to push yet. The nurse asked me to come to the room as the patient wasn't able to hold back from pushing.... and, in the 10 seconds or so it took to complete our conversation, the baby was definitely coming...
I didn't glove fast enough and didn't really feel like barehanding the baby... so, at 11:00 at night, the baby delivered itself (en caul [in the bag]), and I laughed at how useless I felt or how I just spent several hours "hanging out" to watch a baby deliver itself (and without lacerations). The patient didn't need me at all!!! But it was about the spirit of continuity, right? ( Wasted bed delivery #1).

Today, I admitted a patient with ruptured membranes who'd had precipitous labors in the past (her last baby delivered on the gurney between triage and her room). She at first wasn't contracting but then got really uncomfortable... and was progressing at a very normal rate. I joked that I should just stay at the bedside so as not to miss the delivery (and her continuity provider was also notified to stick around!), but I made the mistake of turning my back when she hadn't changed much from 6 --> 7 cm in 30 minutes... and walked around the corner only to hear the staff emergency alarm go off. Sure enough, 1 minute later than my exam, head was crowning, and I bare-handed my first baby head, although there were plenty of other people in the room to help (Wasted bed delivery #2). Again, this humbled me as a provider in that really, how often do people need you for their deliveries? Babies have delivered themselves without obstetricians for centuries!!! Natural labor really is the best. But I still felt a little cheated of a potential delivery and still very much want to catch some babies this month.

Social outings
... have been few and far between in the past month. I always feel so out of the loop on L and D.
This past weekend, I got to go to Davis to meet Shabu, Serena's new shih-tzu puppy. While he is not 100% housetrained yet (no accidents on me, though!), he is just the cutest little thing. I so so want a dog... and am thinking a doggie might make a great birthday present for me and the big 3-0 in November [hint for Kelvin]...
Sorry the picture is so miniscule--- blame the Mac which doesn't save things well



Allergy hell
I thought I had bad allergies in Richmond, when the yellow tree pollen coated our dorm windows. I thought I got a bit sniffly in Rochester, MN summers.
But NOTHING I have ever experienced compares to the misery of this past week in Sacramento. I am a heavy springtime antihistamine user-- it used to be Allegra, then Costco loratadine, and occasional ($$) Zyrtec (which works the best). Since moving to Sac, I have had to add on daily flonase nasal spray which, albeit weird feeling at first, works quite well. However, this past week, I have barely been able to open my crusted, swollen eyes, due to the severe ocular allergies I seem to have. For the first 3 days of this week, people at work asked me, "WHAT is wrong with you?! You look awful!" I tried to hide my red, itchy, swollen eyes/eyelids with some fake glasses I have. The eye itching seemed to be antihistamine-eye drop-resistant. It was Visine-resistant. I could function marginally at work (it was actually a relief to be indoors... the bike ride with blowing pollen really destroyed me). However, I would come home from work after a brief stint outdoors and lie on the couch, unable to see or do anything, holding ice cubes on my eyeballs until I fell asleep and the whole cycle repeated itself.

Here is a rather tame picture of what my eyes resemble.


I was considering getting some goggles to protect me from the deadly pollen. However, this has been my savior:


I think the regular (BID) use of these antihistamine eye drops has really calmed things down. By Wednesday night, I actually felt well enough to go to "Wine Wednesdays" for a post-work tasting. Thursday, I was able to put eye makeup on again and feel like a regular person. While I have been avoiding the outdoors like the plague, today I ventured out for a run. I may pay for it tomorrow, but I have decided that I can't live inside like a sickly hermit for the next 2 months. If Zaditor fails, I hear that Patanol eye drops may be life savers. And maybe I'll need some goggles.

2 months left!
It is now after May 2nd, which means that there is fewer than 2 months until the wedding! This is incredibly hard to believe. We are excited. I am especially excited to have the big day over with, just to have more free time not sucked up with the "planning." We are very disappointed that several out of town friends can't make it, but are excited to celebrate with those that are coming!
This week, we went to the Sac County Courthouse to get our marriage license... and so now, there's no going back on the name change unless I feel like forking over another $88 (which I'm too cheap to do)....
We have our hotels for our Bali-Malaysia-Singapore trip, as well as some more specific plans like hiking volcanic Mt. Batur. We are getting gifts galore which are filling my living room.
It's starting to feel real!


Here's to a work-free, allergy-free and stress-free weekend!