Message
PS And do a get the pumping bra. It's the only way to ensure that pumping is actually hands-free, regardless of what pump you get!
I recommend the hands-free. Even in a separate room, you can make cell phone calls (work related, or personal catch up calls, which moms always have a ton of, whatever on or off the clock you are doing during the time) you can read, turn the pages of a magazine, or issue brief or book. You can eat your lunch, make notes from your morning meeting, write a letter to your BFF/husband (some are both, lucky that we are 
What I am saying here is this: you can and will do a lot with those free hands! Do it! It allows you to totally relax if you are free to, or do stuff that needs to get done that will weigh on your head and prevent you from relaxing, anyone. (Which, btw, is bad. Tense prevents full let down, less production.) In the end, do whatever relaxes you most, this will lead to the best use of your pumping time. Tip: bring a picture of your little sweetheart, studies show it promotes let down!
PS No, 15 was so not realistic for me. That is why the hands-free was great. I did a full half an hour and almost always used the whole of it to org my work and feel prepped to get back to my desk. Best of luck and go nursing mom, go.
What I am saying here is this: you can and will do a lot with those free hands! Do it! It allows you to totally relax if you are free to, or do stuff that needs to get done that will weigh on your head and prevent you from relaxing, anyone. (Which, btw, is bad. Tense prevents full let down, less production.) In the end, do whatever relaxes you most, this will lead to the best use of your pumping time. Tip: bring a picture of your little sweetheart, studies show it promotes let down!
PS No, 15 was so not realistic for me. That is why the hands-free was great. I did a full half an hour and almost always used the whole of it to org my work and feel prepped to get back to my desk. Best of luck and go nursing mom, go.
The solution is:
Get a car seat, get a spare, take it with you in ALL vehicles. Period. Always convenient? No. Always safer? Yes.
Get a car seat, get a spare, take it with you in ALL vehicles. Period. Always convenient? No. Always safer? Yes.
Read the VA law, did not read through to the (ridiculous) exemption. "The law applies to anyone (i.e. parents, grandparents, babysitters, friends) who provides transportation for a child in any vehicle manufactured after January 1, 1968. Public transportation (taxis, buses), regulation school buses, and farm vehicles are exempted."
I stand corrected. Apparently kids in VA can be jeopardized, so long as someone is directly profiting from it, such as a taxi or bus. Promote safety prominently on the site, then give a huge exemption category.
It is sad how little children rate in this country. The UK site is preferable, and has an exemption for hired cars, as well, then puts in bold that the driver of the car is responsible for ensuring all passengers are secure. I am sure that note on liability goes a long way. I see no such note in the VA law.
It is obviously up to the adult, who, hopefully, has love and good sense on their side. Can't afford a car seat? There is a number to help you get one. Get one. Getting wet in the rain while out in the stroller? Get wet, get home safely in one piece. I am genuinely surprised, and saddened, that this is actually an issue raised here.
I stand corrected. Apparently kids in VA can be jeopardized, so long as someone is directly profiting from it, such as a taxi or bus. Promote safety prominently on the site, then give a huge exemption category.
It is sad how little children rate in this country. The UK site is preferable, and has an exemption for hired cars, as well, then puts in bold that the driver of the car is responsible for ensuring all passengers are secure. I am sure that note on liability goes a long way. I see no such note in the VA law.
It is obviously up to the adult, who, hopefully, has love and good sense on their side. Can't afford a car seat? There is a number to help you get one. Get one. Getting wet in the rain while out in the stroller? Get wet, get home safely in one piece. I am genuinely surprised, and saddened, that this is actually an issue raised here.
Sorry, this is the UK site, the US site was beneath this. Similar information, safe insistence on a car seat. Here is the US site, at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration: http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov.
Third topic on list at far left, Child Passenger Safety.
Please read information, keep a copy handy in your car and be safe with your child and all children.
DO NOT spread this misinformation! It is a law in ALL states and applies to cars, regardless of whether the car is used as a taxi or not. It is a state safety issue and is taken very seriously. AndB, taxis, as a business, are likely to be aware of the enormous liability. YOU CANNOT HAVE A YOUNG CHILD IN A CAR W/O A CAR SEAT!!
http://www.childcarseats.org.uk/law/index.htm#kids311
http://www.childcarseats.org.uk/law/index.htm#kids311
You need to take and install your own car seat. Taxi drivers will not take you otherwise, it is against the law and risks their license.
Congratulations graduating to OB and best wishes for a healthy, happy pregnancy and baby! I love IVF success stories, thank you for sharing. Rest lots, exercise as much as you can. It helps tons- as does the water. Really, they push the heck out of it, but it really does help.
We left CFA in early 2007 (still wrangling over billing, it makes me wonder how long they will "let" us ignore them) and left GW in summer of 2005. What lingers for me over the CFA practice is Dr. Sack's tacit approval, at least acceptance, of his staff's incompetence and the very real economic and emotional impact it had for what was evidently many people. Many people in emotionally challenging times and, very likely, economically challenging, as well.
I, too, have heard how difficult it is to get good admin help. Pay them more and train them, train them, train them. Better pay will invariably lead to better staffing pool choices. All employers, especially doctors, and in particular REs, are responsible for their staff and the experiences of their patients at their hands.
We left CFA in early 2007 (still wrangling over billing, it makes me wonder how long they will "let" us ignore them) and left GW in summer of 2005. What lingers for me over the CFA practice is Dr. Sack's tacit approval, at least acceptance, of his staff's incompetence and the very real economic and emotional impact it had for what was evidently many people. Many people in emotionally challenging times and, very likely, economically challenging, as well.
I, too, have heard how difficult it is to get good admin help. Pay them more and train them, train them, train them. Better pay will invariably lead to better staffing pool choices. All employers, especially doctors, and in particular REs, are responsible for their staff and the experiences of their patients at their hands.
Pizza, no doubt about it.
I like that idea much better!! He has had zero television and video, but I am happy to forego that issue in order to get this in him for the ten day cycle.
Thank you so much- I would so very much rather a non-threatening method to achieve this thing. I cried after the physical hold episode this morning. And haven't really stopped crying over the perforation. It felt like I was hit in the stomach. How did this happen, so fast? So adding physical insult to literal injury (and anxiety, guilt, sadness) was feeling way too much to bear.
Thank you so much- I would so very much rather a non-threatening method to achieve this thing. I cried after the physical hold episode this morning. And haven't really stopped crying over the perforation. It felt like I was hit in the stomach. How did this happen, so fast? So adding physical insult to literal injury (and anxiety, guilt, sadness) was feeling way too much to bear.
Thank you, all- it appears that brute force is the only option. Big sigh. Thanks, especially, for the last post. The placement of the syringe, speed of transmission, and parental hand/body placement is soooo helpful. Not heartening, but helpful.
What is heartening is that it is this hard for all kids. He takes the Amoxicillin with a smile, and the Tylenol, and the Benadryl. No problem. But this, no way.
What is heartening is that it is this hard for all kids. He takes the Amoxicillin with a smile, and the Tylenol, and the Benadryl. No problem. But this, no way.
Let me start by saying I have a healthy, happy, beautiful 15 month old son and my husband and I are over the moon for him. Let me add we went to three different area groups and left two for two different, equally crummy reasons.
CFA- I do NOT recommend. CFA billing is a nightmare, we left the practice because, in my opinion, backed by years of their inability to reconcile their own billing invoices, their incompetence rises to the level of negligence. The billing was horrible AND inaccurate and without answers when pressed for specifics. Portions of the protocol were covered by insurance, other parts were not. They did not have the competence to bill both, so incessantly pressured all to take the "package deal" where you pay one fee and receive no itemized bill required by insurance for reimbursement. You received different answers from different people in billing and different answers from the same person on different days.
I finally took the issue with CFA to the DC Insurance Commissioner who informed me they were balance billing- the practice of which the DC staffer told me was illegal. I was talking to a mom at the Building Museum's play area back in November and we began sharing about our children. She has two, both from CFA and Sacks. I said I had gone to Sacks for ~ 1 1/2 years and loved him as a physician, but that the negligence of his billing office was stupefying and had caused my husband and I terrible stress and heartache. She said the exact same thing- loved Sacks as a doctor, and that his billing was "a nightmare". This is a direct quote- nightmare. Given that her two were older than my little guy, it made me sad that Sack's billing office had been so terrible and nothing was done to change it so that my husband and I could be spared that same experience. I had loved Sacks as a doctor, but lost some respect for him when my husband and I went to him about the billing office and he said he "did not get involved with billing". He did agree with my read on the BCBS policy, that it covered blood work and sonograms and urged me to take it up with my insurance. That was a part of the issue- the majority of the issue is that his billing staff billed us for procedures never received, told me I was a Clomid patient when I had never taken the drug! I told billing to correct the error, even if it had no economic repercussions, I did not want any medical file to be inaccurate as it may be needed or used for reference and could affect future medical choices made on my behalf, etc, etc. Nothing- I checked back three separte times and the reference was still there. They also billed friends of ours for cryo storage for an embryo that had long been successfully implanted!!! IUIs were covered in part by our insurance, but needed a prior auth. One of the nurses, who I felt was great, said she would call and do that for us, no problem. Insurance denied the claim, saying there was no prior authorization. I asked the nurse about the issue, thinking there had to be some mistake, and she told me that BILLING TOLD HER SHE WAS NOT TO DO THE PREAUTH. This is how very, very bad things were for us at CFA. We had continued to stay despite the billing because of Sack's great care. However, that Sacks said he did not "get involved" with his staff's performance and its impact on his patients disappointed and, frankly, shocked us. You work hard to develop a relationship of trust with your RE. We finally left. Without a child, without any respect for the practice, and without any invoices that reconciled across months. It was horrible, horrible, horrible. We are now working through BCBS because CFA is contracted with them and there is, hopefully, some recourse. However, fertility is the wild west so far as regulation and oversight is concerned and it is making many, many people many, many dollars and I have no faith BCBS, the fox, will take charge of the henhouse.
Fertility is such a personal type of treatment, personal and so emotional. Once I had heard the same horror stories about his billing from a patient that had gone before me, I no longer recommend CFA or Sacks.
Fertility issues are a terrible heart break to endure. You are not lucky getting lucky, able to get pregnant by rolling around after watching Leno, checking a EPT stick three weeks later. It is not an easy time- by the time you go to IVF you have already been through some hell. Adding insensitive, incompetent staff to the mix is too, too much. It is money we are talking about, a huge stressor on a good day. And, in an IVF experience, it rarely feels like a really good day until you get to deliver and hold your child, knowing they are really here. To me, having staff that is so negative, obstructionist and just plain incompetent added to the IVF mix is just plain cruel. That is my experience with CFA.
I would recommend GIVF in Fairfax. It was a drive for us, but in this journey, nothing matters but the destination, so we were all in. GIVF was professional, kind, supportive (and the waiting room is lovely. I know it seems small, but the money given over to fertility places yields lots and lots of profit- show love for you patients and put it back into the environment that they will have to share during their stay with your practice!! I have heard that CFA finally updated their waiting area, it was pretty grim. GW's was infinitely worse- miniscule, and streamlined to treat you like a widget on a conveyor belt, lining women up to change into gowns in two changing closets (with material curtains, no doors, no privacy) and then lining us up to wait outside a door in a drafty gown to go into the single sonogram room. Awful, awful. WONDERFUL nurses at GW, loved, loved them. Doctors- no. I told one of them they needed to go into radiology. Not much bed side manner there, and I needed a lot, honestly. I hyperstimulated after conception and lost at ~ nine weeks. I was not an easy patient, but the set up left much to be desired and the doctor was not "there". He got as human as evidence the whole time when I lost. He rose to human, he did not reach great heights. I do not recommend GW, unless they have new MD staff that have joined in the last two+ years) It is worth the drive for the atmosphere, ease of treatment, billing that will will part to you and part to insurance (lo and behold, BCBS covered bloodwork and ultrasound that CFA billing claimed they would not, the basis for CFA's REFUSAL to even BILL BCBS for it!!! Looking for the case up front from us.)
This is dredging up really painful crap for me, but if I can prevent one woman from having to endure any of this, it is worth it. It is also worth it to get the help you need to become the parent you so very want to be. Good luck in all your efforts and stay positive, hang with the happy peeps in your life, and get all the support and love you need in your journey.
CFA- I do NOT recommend. CFA billing is a nightmare, we left the practice because, in my opinion, backed by years of their inability to reconcile their own billing invoices, their incompetence rises to the level of negligence. The billing was horrible AND inaccurate and without answers when pressed for specifics. Portions of the protocol were covered by insurance, other parts were not. They did not have the competence to bill both, so incessantly pressured all to take the "package deal" where you pay one fee and receive no itemized bill required by insurance for reimbursement. You received different answers from different people in billing and different answers from the same person on different days.
I finally took the issue with CFA to the DC Insurance Commissioner who informed me they were balance billing- the practice of which the DC staffer told me was illegal. I was talking to a mom at the Building Museum's play area back in November and we began sharing about our children. She has two, both from CFA and Sacks. I said I had gone to Sacks for ~ 1 1/2 years and loved him as a physician, but that the negligence of his billing office was stupefying and had caused my husband and I terrible stress and heartache. She said the exact same thing- loved Sacks as a doctor, and that his billing was "a nightmare". This is a direct quote- nightmare. Given that her two were older than my little guy, it made me sad that Sack's billing office had been so terrible and nothing was done to change it so that my husband and I could be spared that same experience. I had loved Sacks as a doctor, but lost some respect for him when my husband and I went to him about the billing office and he said he "did not get involved with billing". He did agree with my read on the BCBS policy, that it covered blood work and sonograms and urged me to take it up with my insurance. That was a part of the issue- the majority of the issue is that his billing staff billed us for procedures never received, told me I was a Clomid patient when I had never taken the drug! I told billing to correct the error, even if it had no economic repercussions, I did not want any medical file to be inaccurate as it may be needed or used for reference and could affect future medical choices made on my behalf, etc, etc. Nothing- I checked back three separte times and the reference was still there. They also billed friends of ours for cryo storage for an embryo that had long been successfully implanted!!! IUIs were covered in part by our insurance, but needed a prior auth. One of the nurses, who I felt was great, said she would call and do that for us, no problem. Insurance denied the claim, saying there was no prior authorization. I asked the nurse about the issue, thinking there had to be some mistake, and she told me that BILLING TOLD HER SHE WAS NOT TO DO THE PREAUTH. This is how very, very bad things were for us at CFA. We had continued to stay despite the billing because of Sack's great care. However, that Sacks said he did not "get involved" with his staff's performance and its impact on his patients disappointed and, frankly, shocked us. You work hard to develop a relationship of trust with your RE. We finally left. Without a child, without any respect for the practice, and without any invoices that reconciled across months. It was horrible, horrible, horrible. We are now working through BCBS because CFA is contracted with them and there is, hopefully, some recourse. However, fertility is the wild west so far as regulation and oversight is concerned and it is making many, many people many, many dollars and I have no faith BCBS, the fox, will take charge of the henhouse.
Fertility is such a personal type of treatment, personal and so emotional. Once I had heard the same horror stories about his billing from a patient that had gone before me, I no longer recommend CFA or Sacks.
Fertility issues are a terrible heart break to endure. You are not lucky getting lucky, able to get pregnant by rolling around after watching Leno, checking a EPT stick three weeks later. It is not an easy time- by the time you go to IVF you have already been through some hell. Adding insensitive, incompetent staff to the mix is too, too much. It is money we are talking about, a huge stressor on a good day. And, in an IVF experience, it rarely feels like a really good day until you get to deliver and hold your child, knowing they are really here. To me, having staff that is so negative, obstructionist and just plain incompetent added to the IVF mix is just plain cruel. That is my experience with CFA.
I would recommend GIVF in Fairfax. It was a drive for us, but in this journey, nothing matters but the destination, so we were all in. GIVF was professional, kind, supportive (and the waiting room is lovely. I know it seems small, but the money given over to fertility places yields lots and lots of profit- show love for you patients and put it back into the environment that they will have to share during their stay with your practice!! I have heard that CFA finally updated their waiting area, it was pretty grim. GW's was infinitely worse- miniscule, and streamlined to treat you like a widget on a conveyor belt, lining women up to change into gowns in two changing closets (with material curtains, no doors, no privacy) and then lining us up to wait outside a door in a drafty gown to go into the single sonogram room. Awful, awful. WONDERFUL nurses at GW, loved, loved them. Doctors- no. I told one of them they needed to go into radiology. Not much bed side manner there, and I needed a lot, honestly. I hyperstimulated after conception and lost at ~ nine weeks. I was not an easy patient, but the set up left much to be desired and the doctor was not "there". He got as human as evidence the whole time when I lost. He rose to human, he did not reach great heights. I do not recommend GW, unless they have new MD staff that have joined in the last two+ years) It is worth the drive for the atmosphere, ease of treatment, billing that will will part to you and part to insurance (lo and behold, BCBS covered bloodwork and ultrasound that CFA billing claimed they would not, the basis for CFA's REFUSAL to even BILL BCBS for it!!! Looking for the case up front from us.)
This is dredging up really painful crap for me, but if I can prevent one woman from having to endure any of this, it is worth it. It is also worth it to get the help you need to become the parent you so very want to be. Good luck in all your efforts and stay positive, hang with the happy peeps in your life, and get all the support and love you need in your journey.
Help, please! My child developed a rapid-growing bacterial infection in his ear and perforated his eardrum. We are heartsick that this has happened and are desperately trying to get the nasty tasting Augmentin into his 15 month old system twice a day. We are on day three, and it is getting progressively harder. My husband and I have done the following, all of which worked once and failed at the second use or did not work at all:
PS It is already flavored by CVS for the $2.99 fee- flavor is so not working)
mixed with juice and yogurt as a thin smoothie (in bottle) (worked once)
on metal, "big guy" spoon imitating mom and dad (works for veggies, not for this medicine)
mixed with yogurt (worked once)
mixed with pudding (worked once)
in chocolate milk (bottle) (worked once)
held him down, lulled into security on changing table with bottle of juice *horrible, barely worked
PS It is already flavored by CVS for the $2.99 fee- flavor is so not working)
mixed with juice and yogurt as a thin smoothie (in bottle) (worked once)
on metal, "big guy" spoon imitating mom and dad (works for veggies, not for this medicine)
mixed with yogurt (worked once)
mixed with pudding (worked once)
in chocolate milk (bottle) (worked once)
held him down, lulled into security on changing table with bottle of juice *horrible, barely worked
The first response made me smile knowingly. "Not likely to start a war" has no clue. It is all a question of how you define it. For my mom, it would not be a "war" in the traditional sense between mother and daughter, there'd be no "going on and on". But there would be upset, none the less. She wouldn't make a comment about introducing myself into things, she would just purse her mouth and shut down, get all obvious and sad and say not one flippin' word. Nothing that will hurt my mother's feelings is "easy" and truth invariably hurts my mom's feelings. Your mom sounds similar to my mom in law in her direct responses. She criticized our driveway, more than once, as a disgrace- this is a direct quote. The state of the American public school system is a disgrace, the lack of outrage and action over Darfur is a disgrace. The term is ridiculous in this context. It is a really long drive and would be several thousands to pave with blacktop- which we did not have. I told her, with a big smile, that we accept checks. It was the last time she mentioned it, at least to me.
I do believe they mean well and have love in their hearts. They do not hear themselves and, my ten cents, are from an era of near zero promotion of introspection and self-awareness. They just do not get it.
I do believe they mean well and have love in their hearts. They do not hear themselves and, my ten cents, are from an era of near zero promotion of introspection and self-awareness. They just do not get it.