Closure

I went back to my OB again on Friday (my 9th appointment in 8 weeks) and I’m beyond pleased to report that I am finally whole. At my previous appointment she had suggested taping the wound shut to see if it would close on its own. I was all for such an experiment because I’d had just about enough of the gauze routine (as had Nurse Jim). And the plan actually worked. All hail the miraculous powers of adhesive!

Leaving the doctor’s office without having to make another appointment felt completely surreal. I almost started crying with relief, but decided that would be overly dramatic. So I pulled it together and merrily pushed Max’s stroller out to the parking lot, practically skipping with elation.

I can’t properly express how fantastic it is to no longer be a patient. Because before the seroma there was the pregnancy. And before that there was two and a half years of infertility treatments. So I could stand a little vacation from doctors. Not that they aren’t great and all, but seriously. Enough already.

Computer Woes Redux

It turns out that all was not 100% OK with my computer. For some reason it wouldn’t accept new memory when the repair guy tried to do the install–something to do with the location where Banjo’s golden goodness hit the memory slots. This means I can’t upgrade to the Leopard operating system, which means I still can’t use my new iPod. Sigh.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m thrilled the old beast is working at all, but the inability to upgrade means I should really think about buying a new computer sometime soon. I’m thinking about the 20 in. 2.4 GHz. I’ve decided that I’m not going to plunk down for a tower, and a major advantage to the all-in-one model is that it sits on the desk, far away from the pee zone.

Double Digits

It’s official: Max hit the 10 lb. mark.  We went in for his 2 month appointment yesterday and he was 10 lbs. 1 oz. That’s only in the 25th percentile, but he’s been gaining appropriately since birth so that’s all that matters. He’s in the 50th percentile for height, so if anything he’s long and lean.

He is starting to smile more and more, but it’s difficult to capture on film. Here he is at the tail end of a grin, with his anchorman hair in full effect. Is it wrong that I hope his eyes stay blue?

 

Disaster Narrowly Averted

Three bits of advice:

1. Back up your files

2. Back up your files

3. Back up your files

You would think a graphic designer would know better than to have only one set electronic files. And in fact, I DO know better. That’s why I bought an external hard drive over the holidays, so I could save all of my freelance files. And my emails. And my photos. And my web bookmarks. And my tax information. Of course, things got hectic right after Christmas when I was distracted by Max’s impending arrival, and I never got around to backing up my hard drive. But I was planning to tackle the project this past weekend, before taking my computer in for its long-awaited upgrade. Really. I was.

It’s probably somewhat obvious where this story is going.

I came downstairs last Wednesday morning and was greeted by the loud whirring of my computer‘s fan. It struck me as odd, but when I reached down to turn off the power, I noticed something far more disconcerting. A puddle of dog pee. That’s right. Banjo pee’d right on my computer. And thanks to the hip perforated metal cover, the golden shower sailed right into the case. Right onto the motherboard. I didn’t know whether to scream or cry, so I ran around like a chicken, wringing my hands and cursing the clock, since I knew no one would be at the Mac store until at least 10 am (it was 7:30 am at the time) to either reassure me or inform me that all hope was lost.

Of all the things in this house Banjo could have pee’d on, he picked the most expensive, vulnerable thing. It occurred to me that it was actually kind of funny in an awful way. But I was in no mood to appreciate the humor.

I finally had the sense to fire up Jim’s laptop and find a manual for my computer model. I was beyond relieved to discover that the hard drive in a G5 is located in the top rear of the machine, far away from where Banjo relieved himself. So I calmed down, a bit. Of course it would be horrible to lose the computer’s processing ability, but to lose the hard drive would be devastating.

I took the computer to the wise geeks at Mac Shack later that day and while they couldn’t promise anything, they assured me that my data was most likely OK. But they wouldn’t know for sure until they could examine everything. Unfortunately their repair timeline was 3-5 days, so I spent the rest of last week and the weekend in a state of agitated limbo.

Low and behold, I received a call yesterday informing me that my computer is up and running. Relief doesn’t begin to describe my feelings about the situation. I feel like I’ve been given a second life. And believe me, the first thing I’m going to do when I get the computer plugged in is back everything up. And then I’ll assemble some kind of pee shield because I’m not going through this again.

I’ve missed my poor computer; it’s funny how attached I can become to inanimate objects. But I guess it should be no surprise when this particular inanimate object contain so many pieces of my life.

Tidbits

I had to laugh when the doctor told me last Wednesday that my seroma should finally be healed up in “about two weeks,” because that’s what she told me the first time I went in. FIVE weeks ago. But I figure, if she keeps saying “about two weeks” eventually she HAS to be right. The really weird thing is that it’s starting to feel almost normal to have a hole in my stomach.

The home nurse taught Jim how to do the wound care last week, so he now officially carries the title: Bravest Husband Ever. I’m not so sure I could manage if positions were switched. It’s pretty gross. And about the most unromantic thing I can think of. So he MUST love me.

In other news, Max has started making noises that can’t be classified as crying or screaming—cute coos that sound like a small dove. And he’s even given us a few genuine smiles, none of which I’ve been able to capture on film, of course. Unfortunately he’s also picked up a bit of a cold, and has been extra stuffy at night. So as soon as the phone nurse helpline opens after lunch I get to make another “paranoid new parent” call. I just hope I can keep him at a dull roar in the background. The Screamapillar is in full effect today.