Browse Category: work

My Other Family

For the past month, we’ve been at work without our manager who has been on extended sick leave due to her battle with breast cancer.  We all knew that she wasn’t feeling well but not exactly how badly.  She had treatments last year too and came back just as strong and we were expecting the same this time around.  Then on Monday morning, we were called in for an emergency meeting at lunch and were told that she had passed away on Sunday night.  It was such a shock to all of us since she was the type of person who didn’t want to worry us with details and kept a lot from us on purpose.  So the rest of the afternoon was spent grieving and coming to terms that our fearless leader wasn’t going to be returning to us after all.  We were all in tears and most of us took the rest of the day “off” with a minimal workload and time to process.  This is a photo of Sue having some “Janie Time” back in June when she was only 10 weeks old.  Sue was a great person, awesome therapist, and I learned so much from her.  *sigh* I’m going to miss her.

This evening, a bunch of us met up at our other manager’s house after work for a little “family time”.  She’s been out due to hip surgery too so it’s as if all the birdies at work haven’t had their mamas around for almost a month.  I took off work a little early in order to hurry home to pick up Kumquat and then headed back over the bridge to Alameda.  I had thought about not bringing Kumquat but I’m so glad that I did.  I think we all needed some “baby time” to lift our spirits.  It was like she was a “therapy baby” for all the girls and made everyone smile.  Steph brought her buffalo chicken dip and we ordered Indian food for dinner.  We all sat around the table talking and laughing as we usually while reflecting on all the funny times we had with Sue.  I think we’ll all heal in our own ways but this was a nice start.  We just need to remember that we really are a family at work and that we’ll get each other through it in the end.  I feel so lucky to be able to spend most of my waking days with such great people.  Kumquat had a pretty good time tonight too. 🙂

Happy Giants Halloween!

It’s Halloween AND Giants Day today!  Wow.  That’s a lot of stuff going on in the city. Mirian even took Kumquat to the parade that went along Market Street this morning in hopes of catching a glimpse of the World Series Champions.

I wore my tiger costume to work today but we didn’t do anything special once I was home.  As usual, there was no trick-or-treating in our building so we still have a huge bag of candy here for us to enjoy.  Heh Heh.  Kumquat didn’t wear her elephant costume today but she gets to wear it tomorrow for a special storytime at the library.

It was a quiet Halloween night for us…just Kumquat and her two pumpkins…next year we’ll take her outside.  Promise.

Liquid Gold

It’s Day Two of my 5-day course on Lactation and Breastfeeding.  It’s not for me personally since my little fatty is well-fed and eats like a champ but it’s training for work.  Being in the Bay Area where more and more mothers are breastfeeding, it’s something that can’t be avoided when I’m working on feeding with the babies at work.  So, I’m using my annual $750 education money and my 5 education days to take this course.   Perhaps I can use the hours toward getting a certification as a Lactation Consultant one day.  Could it be a part-time job for me later on when Kumquat needs me at home more?!  Anyway, the photo above is my milk on ice since I still need to pump while I’m away from home and my ice pack wasn’t doing enough to keep the “liquid gold” chilled.  Pretty weird that I have to pump in the corner of the room while I’m listening to all the anatomy and physiology of breastfeeding.  I sure hope they don’t get the bright idea of using me as a demo.

By the way, the course is being held next to Berkeley Marina at HS Lordships restaurant, which has a huge ballroom upstairs with a 270-degree view of the bay.  We also get a full Vegas-style buffet complete with crab legs, prime rib, and a huge assortment of desserts.  The view is so nice but makes home seem so far away.  OK.  Gotta go now…they just put out the veggies and dip for our afternoon break.  Heh heh.

running on fumes

Sorry for the lack of posts this week.  I’ve been surviving work on half a tank of gas and running on fumes by the time I get home.  As soon as I’m home, it’s baby duty for me and by the time Kumquat goes to bed, I’m practically asleep in front of my laptop.

It’s been three weeks since I returned to work and each week seems to drag longer than the previous.

Kumquat has been waking up at 3 or 4 am most nights and we had one morning when she cried for 2 straight hours until my alarm went off for the morning.  That work day was NOT fun.  I’m also in the middle of a transition at work where I’m training a new hire to take my place while I’m going to be working on a different service starting next week.  I’m sure all that has contributed to this sapped feeling I had all week.

Luckily it’s Saturday morning now and I just spent an hour and a half playing with Kumquat and she actually let me sleep for 6 straight hours last night!  Aaaaah…life is good again.

Jes has been doing great as Mr. Mom.  He seems to have the routine down quite well and even makes dinner most nights!  He also managed to get both of them on Muni and BART and then my hospital shuttle so that they could meet me and the girls for Happy Hour on Thursday night.

It was really fun being out with everyone and having the husband and baby along too.  It was the best of both worlds.

Last night we also went out for a little evening outing.  After feeding Kumquat at 7, we packed her up in the stroller and walked to Super Duper for a tasty hamburger.  Afterward, we headed over to La Boulange at the mall and hung out with a bottle of wine while Kumquat slept.  We were back home by 10:30 and I had a good Friday buzz.  That was a nice way to end a rough week.

Dinner and a Movie

On Tuesday, Jes and I had our first date night.  We never really went to see the movies before Kumquat was born but my mom is home to watch Kumquat and watching a movie is one of those things that you can’t really do with a 3-month-old.  For dinner, we went to Urban Tavern.  We shared French Onion Soup, Arugula Salad, Pretzel and Sausage, and Meatloaf Sliders.  All were pretty good but the big glass of wine that I had with it was even better!

We then walked to Metreon and watch The Dark Knight Rises.  Since dinner was mostly small plates, we got an order of nachos that came with two containers of jalapeno peppers.  Yum.  Paired with an Icee it was perfect for such a fun movie.

I had a great time and it was nice to go out as just the two of us again but when we got out of the movie it was nearly 11 pm and I was missing my baby girl.  I even said it aloud to Jes, which confused him a bit.  It seemed that I had a mini moment of panic and actually insisted that we take a cab home instead of walking.  I don’t know what had come over me.  Was it the fatigue catching up to me?  Was it hormones?  Maybe I’m just not aware of all the different emotions that come with this rollercoaster called Motherhood.  I guess I’ll just chalk it up to the stress of my first week back at work.

Well that kinda sucked.

Kumquat woke up hungry and crying at 4:30 am this morning so I fed her and tried to put her back to sleep.  Ten minutes later she started to cry again and Jes got up to wrap her back up and placed her next to me in bed.  It was nice.  She was all bundled up and happy and I got to snuggle her while she was wide awake.  I think I fell back asleep before she did.

At 6 am, my alarm went off and I snoozed.  When I woke up again and looked at the clock it said 7:28!  What?! That’s the time I was supposed to leave!  After scurrying into the bathroom to brush my teeth and change, I went back into the bedroom and saw Jes’ clock that said 6:34.  WUH? Apparently my clock was playing an evil trick on me.  So I had plenty of time after all.

At 6:55, I sat on the bed watching Kumquat sleep.  She looked so peaceful but I knew that I had to feed her at 7 before leaving for work.  She actually slept through the whole feeding and I was able to place her back on the bed without a single squeak from her.  When I kissed her goodbye for the day, I got a bit choked up.  However, I think having her asleep made it a little easier than if she was smiling or crying.

So I left.  I was on the Bay Bridge driving to work when my eyes started to well up in tears and I had my moment.  I was a mess but got myself back together by the time I pulled up to the parking structure at work.  When I arrived at the hospital it was a bit surreal.  Had four and a half months already gone by?  Sheesh.

After stopping at Employee Health to get my annual TB test, I walked into the gym and found a box on tissues on my desk.  Aw.  How thoughtful.  I was greeted by Teresa and Stephanie and they did their best to greet me without making me cry.  Of course I did anyway.  Those tissues sure did come in handy!  After a greasy bacon and egg sammich and some lighter conversation with my buddies, I checked in with my manager and suddenly got tearful again.  My manager actually got tearful with me too.  Aw shucks.  Once I got hand-off from the therapist that was covering for me, I was off to the races with a full caseload!

Once I got started with my day, I was feeling much better.  My mom sent me a photo of Kumquat doing her morning Tummy Time and I got updates on my BabyConnect app each time Kumquat pooped, ate, or slept.  Both were very reassuring.  Sounded like things went smoothly on Jes’ first day as Mr. Mom (with a little help from my mom).

Pumping at lunch was a little awkward but it was just me being self-conscious.  Working at a hospital is one of the best places to have to do this since 1) everyone around me is so knowledgeable/helpful, 2) we have hospital-grade pumps available for me to use, and 3) all of our past “new moms” have done this and one even gave me her “Do Not Disturb” sign to use on the door of one of our clinic rooms.

By the end of the day, I lost count of how many welcome-back hugs and greetings I received.  I was also back in the groove of things and surprised that my clinical skills had come back so quickly.  Before I left, my co-workers even congratulated me on a job well done on my first day back. I guess if I had to return to a job, this was one of the best situations I could have hoped for.

When I got home, Jes was out on a walk with Kumquat.  When they came home, I said “hello” to Kumquat and she gave me a big smile.  Aaaah…that just made my heart melt.  After showering all the hospital off of me, I got to spend the next 3 hours playing with my little lady until bedtime and it was plenty.  I guess everything is going to be just fine.  Jes will be ok, Kumquat will be ok, and I’ll be ok.