hope for the best but expect the worst

now, this is what i want every baby born at our community hospital to look like while i am there this afternoon. note the excellent tone, screaming cry, and just cyanosis of the hands and feet (that’s called acrocyanosis, and it is normal). i only have to be there for 5 hours, but they will be the scariest 5 of my residency career thus far. this is because unless the attending decides to stay in the vicinity (and they typically do not), i will be sole person responsible for resuscitating any newborn baby that doesn’t coming out looking like this picture. eventually, if things are bad for a number of minutes, a respiratory therapist will arrive to help out, but those minutes are going to feel like decades if there is a floppy blue baby in the room.

and though floppy and blue is bad (as is tiny, floppy, and blue), i live in even greater fear of the ‘floppy, blue, and giant baby covered in greenish stuff’, otherwise known as a meconium delivery. not only do you have to intubate them (stick a tube into their trachea) in order to suction, but you have to do this with them having a mouthful of the stuff. and you kind of need to do it FAST, before they try and gasp and fill their lungs up with it.

equipment that i hope not to have to use:
yes, i am nervous. i don’t have nearly as much experience as i would like dealing with this stuff. now, it may very well be a (wonderfully) boring afternoon with no deliveries at all (THAT WOULD RULE), or all completely uneventful ones. but there is no way of knowing, and maybe that is what is the most painful. um, wish me luck!!

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poll results!!: the official counts are in! 14 votes for bad hair, and only 8 for looking pretty in the PICU. i will honor these results and wait until the end of august to have it done. this is probably for the best, as not only is it costly, but it takes hours and i need to be enjoying all the free ones i have before all hell breaks loose. thank you all for voting! i was very impressed at the turnout.

7.18.08

run: 5.27 miles total, at 0.5% incline. 10 minute warmup @ 9:13/mi, 3 miles @ 8:00/mi, and 10 minutes cooldown @ 9:13/mi. the tempo segment felt challenging but comfortable. i feel like i’m making progress!

reading: i spent very little time at work yesterday and as a result did lots of reading and work on my presentation for monday. since i am going to focus on hypoglycemia, i reviewed all the etiologies and the basic workup. i love how it all makes so much sense!! endocrinology rox.

cooking: still i have no creation to present! we went out with 2 friends (double date) to panzanella, which is becoming quite our frequent hangout. we drank sauvignon blanc, and i had a great salad: greens, tomatoes, chick peas, bacon, goat cheese, and croutons. and then josh and i shared a lemon tart which was summery and made me really happy. tonight though we will be frugal and health-conscious and i will cook!