Thursday, May 13, 2010

Productive

Productive according to the lovely wickapedia is: # Capable of producing something, especially in abundance; fertile
# yielding good or useful results; constructive
I had to laugh about the fertile part as I sit here eating my anchovie filled olives. No this post isn't going to be about my weird prego cravings but because of a past post I do need to mention one other. I'm a big time coffee drinker I believe the darker, the hotter, the better and only a touch of sugar. I cant stand nescafe for the most part unless its with desert. Oh but now every morning I'm thankful my husband turns off the pot before I have to smell it. I then fill my coffee cup with cold milk, and a teaspoon and a half of nescafe AND A LOT OF SUGAR. I don't even know who I am anymore. Man these olives are good...
Ok on to more important matters. The other day I headed out of my house with a prayer for peace and control of temper on my lips. (She hulk has been visiting some days because she doesn't like the heat) My plan was to drive around looking for houses and then around 12 head to the seguro. Both of these plans can be quite frustrating but seem to be getting more and more rewarding the more I do them. The house looking went ok. I did find this lovely gated community and the security guard insisted on showing me around when he saw me putting the number into my phone. We of course cant afford anything remotely touching this lovely block of real estate, but it was fun to look. And I did quite well with the conversation. The great thing was he obviously realized I was American because he kept translating the pesos to dollars but apparently didn't realize I'm not to fluent in Spanish even when I was talking to him. I say that because you can always tell, you can see the recognition on their faces and they stop talking as much. But I never saw it and I kept up pretty much with everything he said. So although I didn't find to much in the way of leads for a house I felt it was time well spent.
Now off to the seguro for vaccines and questioning the nurse about getting prenatal care. We showed up at 15 till 12 on a wed which is normally not to slammed but for some reason this day it was. I think I recall Leslie saying Monday was teachers day so maybe they were closed. Anyway.... I went to my normal door to turn in my booklets and it was closed so I stood near by to be sure I got mine in before anyone else who might come after me. Then a lady thankfully told me this nurse was at lunch and I needed to go to a different door. Ok no problem and I turned in our books, but this was a new nurse that I hadn't seen before so I was a little nervous about how this would go. I have somewhat of a repor with the other nurse because she sees us every time and is very patient with me. We ended up waiting till almost 130 before getting to see the nurse. Halfway through this wait my normal nurse came back and took half the books, so I wasn't sure which one had ours. But no biggy I was just sure to listen at both doors. Its not to hard to listen because they always studder on my name and you can hear the stress in their voice when they are trying to say it and they never even attempt my madden name Seyer. Anyway during that time my girls ran around or sat on my lap and actually it was fine because it felt good in there they had on the air and for sure it was much more comfortable than at home. The girls hadn't played that well in awhile because hot kids make grumpy kids. When we got called in the nurse was as relaxed and good with me as the other one. I was due for my second half of the tetanus shot and I was sure to let her know I was pregnant. I was pretty sure it was ok for me to have it but I wanted to make sure she knew. At this point she went to ask the other nurse just to be sure. When she came back she was even more pleasant, apparently the other nurse recognized my photo in my booklet and filled her in on the fact that Iv only been here a little while and that I had no family here. Bob you were right they really do remember me. So of course I got the typical Que deficil para ti, and so on and so forth and it was fine, I was just happy to be carrying on a conversation. I got my shot, wt and ht taken and blood sugar tested. The girls got their polio drops. I did get the scoop on the best place to go get my uniform for the red cross so I plan to do that with in a week so I can get going with that. Her comment about me volunteering there was that all I would see is dead and dirty people. She was laughing about it ( in a good way) and it made me laugh. I also asked her how to go about getting my prenatal care going and she actually walked me over to the counter and explained to the lady that I needed an appointment to see the doctor. She told her I needed it as soon as she could give it to me. Imagine my surprise when the girl gave me an appointment for later that evening. Luckily it was late enough to be able to get the girls home fed and put down for a nap. The whole family went with later that evening because hubby likes to be at any dr appointment which is nice, nurses I can handle but doctors are sometimes a different story. Basically she did a light check up and proscribed some vitamins. She also wrote out scripts for us to go to the hospital to get blood and urine test and an ultrasound. I might be going tomorrow solo to get those scheduled, but for sure hubby will want to be around for the ultrasound. She said its best if we can get them done before we see her again in a month, but if they don't have any openings before then that its ok. It seems that I will be seeing her for my appointments then an OB who is stationed in the hospital will be doing the delivery. She seems like a good doctor although she is new to our town and is from Guadalajara so when the question of if they give the epidural came up she wasn't sure. Her response was that even in Guadalajara they only give it if its medically necessary, which with my first it was but with the second it wasn't and I didn't get it till like 15min before I started pushing. (sorry for the details but this is a big deal to me) She suggested I ask when I'm getting my tests done at the hospital. I'm all about getting the epidural but I'm also about having a little money in the bank. I think I'm going to go through with the seguro even if they don't have it. So that's it for now till I go for the testing and that should be loads of fun.
All in all a productive day wouldn't you agree... in all meanings of the word. ;)

8 comments:

  1. Keep us posted on how things go at the seguro. My husband's sister is a nurse at one and she said they don't give epidurals except in very rare circumstances. Thus, most women opt for a c-section to avoid the pain. I don't know about Guadalajara, but here in Veracruz it's expensive to give birth at a private hospital with an epidural, according to my SIL. Best of luck w/your appointments & ultrasound!

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  2. Amanda,
    I am so proud of you! You are doing a wonderful job of assimilating. I assure you that you are going to be a special pet with the people at IMSS. You will find out, if you haven't already, that life in Mexico can be very sweet.

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  3. Glad to hear the seguro gives good service :) The main complaints I hear in Cancun is about the waiting, but that's about it.

    Good luck with everything! Sounds like you've become very independent in Mexico :)

    Would you judge me if I told you your sardines and olives sound good? And I'm not even pregnant...

    (My fave midnight snack is thinly sliced roast beef with dill pickles)

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  4. Hi Amanda--I was thinking that when you go to volunteer with the Red Cross you might want to bring some gloves. I'd imagine the Red Cross here doesn't have much of a budget for gloves, so that's why you'd probably want to bring your own. You can get a box of disposable gloves at a farmacy or medical supply store. Most farmacies have them. For some reason they don't sell them in pairs, but as individually wrapped singles, at least over here where I am that's how they sell them. I have found that at most clinics, even at private ones, they don't use gloves. BTW--Congratulations on your pregnancy!

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  5. Leah- Thanks for the info from the sister who is a nurse, it helps to confirm my fears and then to move past them.
    Bob thanks as you know its taken time but Im getting there. And your right I very much like life here. My husband and I were talking the other day and I expressed that even if given the choice Im not sure Id want to go back.
    gringation Really the waiting is the only bad thing but now that my Spanish is getting better I have fun talking with people there so its not to bad.
    Gail thats a great Idea and I think I will get them.

    And last and certainly lest Anon-look dude if you cant even show a face don't try to rip on my blog. I have over 70 readers and most of which I now consider my friends. I will be the first to admit that I am an horrible speller and I'm ok with that fact. I have a degree and had a wonderful career and feel this in now way makes me less intelligent. Just know that I don't allow stupid comments on my blog, so either quite being a hatter or stop reading if it bothers you so much. I'm ok with people disagreeing with me but if your doing it in a sarcastic way or one that is obviously trying to start an argument after this I will not give you the time of day.

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  6. I have 4 adult children--2 boys, 2 girls. The boys are pretty awful at spelling. The older son is a PhD candidate in Theoretical Astro-Physics. I suppose you could literally say he is a rocket scientist. He gets his PhD this coming December. The younger son has a Masters degree in Public Policy and is now a Senior Carbon Market Analyst for Bloomberg in NYC. They've both been a disaster at spelling since they first picked up a crayon in kindergarten. It's obvious, however, that poor spelling has not impeded their advancement in the academic or career worlds.

    Not to leave out my daughters--they both have fantastic advanced degrees as well, but they are perfect at spelling, and the point being made here is that bad spelling is not an indication of a lack of success or intelligence. However, posting hateful and hostile comments on a blog site can indicate a serious lack of many things.

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  7. Amanda, I too am so proud of you! You are accomplishing more and more each day, and you're doing it all on your own! BRAVO!!!

    As far as having a baby through the Seguro, it's not that bad. I gave birth to Jack at our Seguro. The cost of having a baby at the Seguro compared to having one at a private clinic will knock your socks off. I was told (5 years ago) that we would end up paying about 7 or 8 thousand pesos for a simple delivery. Epidurals, getting induced and anything else is extra.

    Well at the Seguro, I was induced and the whole thing cost 690 pesos! :)

    Sadly, the Seguro doesn't offer Epidurals unless it's a medical emergency. But you'd be amazed at what your body can accomplish when you know that you don't have the possibility of any anesthesia.

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  8. Leslie I am not fully prepared to not get the epi, I know so many women have done it before me and Ill make it through. ;)

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