For Want of a Flu Shot

If you live in Cook County, IL and want to get vaccinated against H1N1, good luck. It seems like it's been nothing but lines and problems and people being turned away when trying to get the vaccine that no one can get enough of. I know they've been having trouble, at least around here, getting enough of the vaccine in to fill demand, to the point where even healthcare professionals have had to wait.

Brandi's been pretty worried, understandably so, about getting the shot. We've got a 3-year-old, as well as a 4-week-old at home, not to mention her father, who has a compromised immune system. We do not need this germ in our home period.

It's been in the news that hundreds of people are turned away at the vaccination clinics, and then we found out you have to make an appointment. There are numbers set up, based on where you live to schedule a vaccination appointment. I've been calling. And calling. And when I'm done calling, I call some more.

Last Friday, when I was able to get onto the automated system, I waited on hold for an hour and 45 mintues, being told every couple of minutes that my call would be answered in the order it was received. Finally, I couldn't wait on hold any longer and I had to go. Then Monday, Tuesday and today I've been calling, getting a busy signal every time. Eventually, I called the County's Department of Public Health. The very friendly woman there gave me another couple of numbers to call after taking my address. I would imagine that there are a lot of hysterical people calling into these numbers, so for the woman who answered to be pleasant and polite was very nice, and not what I was expecting. I proceeded to call the numbers she had given me and got back onto another automated system where I sat on hold. I was loathe to leave the phone while on hold, but nonetheless, there were times when I would have to run to another part of the building and drop something off, or check with someone else for something.

After a little over an hour, finally, I got a ring. I snatched the phone off of speaker phone to make sure I didn't miss the person on the other end. I told her that I wanted to get the shot for Brandi, Logan and myself. She asked how old Brandi is, and when I told her, her immediate response was "She doesn't apply, you can't get the shot." Right now the only people getting the shot are in the high-risk category, which, among other factors, includes parents/caregivers with children less than 6 months old, children 6 months to X (I don't remember what age) and people with immunity issues. "Wait, wait, wait," I told her, "we have a four-week-old and a three-year-old at home, we apply."

So she took my information, and now we're all set. What an ordeal. At least now, come Monday afternoon, we won't have to worry so much about H1N1 invading the home any more.

Any Day Now

Brandi's official due date for the baby is now 12 days away. She went a day late with Logan, but is getting a lot of contractions now, some strong enough and close enough together to actually look at the clock last night. She doesn't seem to be to stressed about the wait, but the anticipation is killing me. And any time I ask her how she's feeling, I get a one-word response, which is usually "tired." I'm sorry, but at this stage of the game, a one-word response isn't going to cut it. I need details.

At least this time around, work is much closer to home, and home is much closer to the hospital.

Baby Update

We went to the doctor today for Brandi's 20-week check up. They did an ultrasound and then took a couple of measurements and sent us on our way. This new doctor is great when it comes to seeing us on time and making customer service a priority.

Everything looked to be right on track. The baby is measuring everything right where it should be and we're still on track for the September 30th delivery.

The one thing we wanted to find out today was the sex of the baby, and of course, the baby wasn't cooperating. Looks as though the baby is already showing my smart-assness, which is a good sign. The baby had somehow gotten itself into a seemingly impossible position where his/her feet were above his/her head. Add to that the cord was in the way, and the baby's hand was covering up its privates. Apparently, baby is modest. So we'll be going back in a few weeks for another ultrasound and hopefully the baby will be cooperative. It was nice to see that everything's coming along well and that the baby's fine.

Here's Brandi showing off her baby bump.

Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes

Big things going on here at TTBC. I think most of my regular readers will know what I’m talking about, but for the rest of you here’s the scoop. Last week I talked about waiting, and now the wait is over.

First off. My lovely wife is pregnant again! She’s due on September 30, give or take, and while we had a couple scares early on, everything appears to be ok. The last doctor visit showed everything to be on track and there was no cause for concern with the initial screenings. For purely nerdy reasons, I’m hoping the baby’s born on September 28, because then we’d have a birthday exactly every two weeks for a month and a half. It really doesn’t matter to me when the baby’s born as long as it’s healthy, but I think we’d have a good rhythm established if it turned out that way.

Secondly, I got a new job! This is such a relief to Brandi and myself. I’ll be working full-time at the library now, and while I’m supposed to work 40 hours a week, I was warned that for managers it’s more like 50, which is still 10 less than I’m working now. The call came yesterday after I’d gotten home, and I told my boss this morning. She didn’t want to see me go, but took the news well and wished me luck. I’ve still got a couple weeks to finish up here, finish my assignments and tie up loose ends, but I’m looking forward to the new opportunity.

I hope everything’s going well for all of you.

Good News Part 2: The Reveal

So today we had my wife's birthday party (as the resident UCF whippersnapper I wont say how old she is so I don't get any more flack about being young). I've been working my ass off for the last two days to make sure everything went right for her and everyone had a good time. There was a secondary reason to the party that I hinted at a couple days ago. I have great news to share, but Logan said it best, so I'll let him explain.

We found out two weeks ago and my wife wanted to use her party as the occasion to let everyone know. After she changed him into that shirt, it took a while for anyone to see because he wanted me to hold him, and of course his shirt was blocked by his oafish father and Logan's duck. We're very excited. So far, everything seems to be going ok. We had some worries last week, but things seem to be all good now. We're going to the doctor in a few weeks for the first ultrasound. She's due in March (around the 13th). We'll see how many more gray hairs I have by then.

Everyone was in attendance to get the news, except my parents because they decided to go out of town this week. Too bad for them.

We've been talking about when we'd try to have number two, and we're so happy that it's here. I love Brandi so much, and am glad that we are growing our family.

I would say that I need to start storing up on my sleep now, but with Logan around, that's not going to be possible this time.