Our main local hospital has a fast track staffed by mid levels. Unfortunately it hasn't seemed to fix anything, though I think it's a great idea in theory. The area is very low income and low education, and everyone seems to think they need an ambulance ride and an ER visit for their cold. It's a huge huge problem.

There is a jazz band playing Friday night at the bar/restaurant I do marketing for. I really want to go. DH hates anything like that, and I don't want to go alone. I realized I don't have anyone to even ask to go with me. There are only two other females in my company, and neither are really friend material for various reasons. I am polite but that's all. We are Christians, but work Sundays so don't attend church. DS6 cannot be left with babysitters due to autistic behaviors, so that eliminates any evening groups such as MOPS. DH works 70 hours a week and, frankly, the nights we are home together he is preoccupied with his hobbies(tonight he's at the firehouse; I haven't seen another adult in 48 hours). My kids' schoo doesn't really have anything for parents. I live in a super small town where things are just plainly limited and people have been friends for decades. I was homeschooled after moving here at 14, and we didn't do any activities in this town, so I didn't get to meet and make friends with the locals. This isn't really a JAWM. I need to get out and meet people; I just can't think of how.

I have depression and anxiety that is significantlty worsened by lack of sleep. It was this reason alone that I didn't go to nursing school in the last year(I went back for business instead). The homework I could manage, and even working on a regular night shift wouldn't be horrible, but when it comes to clinicals you're at the mercy of the coordinator. I couldn't manage a 5 am clinical time right now.

I believe in miracles, for I have seen many. Sometimes the miracle is life; sometimes the miracle is the healing and restorative power of a mother's love.

Oh sweet baby. I am praying for all of you.

It must be going around. DH took to bed this morning complaining of "chills" and hasn't been seen since. I was sick with a miserable GI bug all last week, and still managed to go to work until I passed out from dehydration.

I've heard from several parents of med school applying children this year that they are all getting rejected. Maybe competition is particularly high this year, though med school has always been selective. These are all academic and extracurricular superstars, too.

Praying for your sweet baby.

Just....thank you to the OP who started this and to everyone who responded. I'm having a really hard day and this is exactly what I needed.

Yes. It feels like all of them. And today it's really bothering me.

Skimming through it, I feel like this is a rabbit hole I'm about to fall into.

Between the holidays, a busy work schedule and a week long head cold, my house has fallen apart and I haven't cooked a real meal in a month. I need some inspiration to read while at work tonight(busiest night of the year, but I have hope). Hit me up with your favorites!!

I live near a large Amish and old order Mennnonite settlement. In fact, my best friend's family grew up Amish and is Mennonite; my sister married a young man whose family had left the Amish church shortly after he turned 18, and the baptized members of his family were shunned. Their wedding was filled with ex-Amish guests, many of whom had turned conservative Mennonite. Without fail, every single one of my friends and family who have left the Amish and Old order(horse and buggy) Mennonite communities call it a cult. Though in a different state than FaithManor, the stories I have heard from them are very similar. Now it is all dependent on their church's bishop; some are more liberal than others. I gather that many of the local Bishops here tend toward the conservative side of things.

Dear in-laws: Thank you for being so gracious and arranging your Christmas around our work schedule. I know that our lifestyle of 24 hour shifts and both parents working is so completely different from the 8-5 M-F job and SAH/homeschooling mom lifestyle you raised DH in, and I know that your lack of vocal disapproval of our two income public schooling non-church going life is part of the reason you had to leave the patriarchal church that had been your home for thirty years. I also really appreciate that you took our three hellions for the rest of Christmas Day so we could work our scheduled shifts, even though I'm sure chasing after three little kids is not how you wanted to spend Christmas. I really appreciate it. Dear Mom: I know holidays don't go how you always thought they would. I understand you grew up in a time and a place filled with large families who never moved far away from the population 800 village you all lived in. I know your Christmas memories are filled with loads of cousins and food and family. But please try to understand that three of your four married daughters have married a paramedic, a firefighter and an active duty military officer, and we have all moved to follow our husband's jobs. No matter how we try, we cannot all manage to be in the same city on the same day, especially as we all have young children and each of us has at lead one special needs child. Please, please, stop with the guilt trips.

You have to list all of that. I don't know why you wouldn't? I do agree that in some states the paperwork is ridiculous. Ambulances and Emergency rooms tend to treat the people who have fallen through the cracks, because we are required to treat everyone regardless of insurance status. I've met a lot of people who would qualify for Medicaid, but the amount of paperwork is really onerous for them--so they don't get it, then can't afford their medication or preventative care, and wind up very sick and in my ambulance. When I ask why they went off their diabetes/epilepsy/blood pressure meds, it's always because they can no longer afford it. The process to get Medicaid can be difficult and complicated, especially if you are dealing with outside stressors. Even in 2005, long before ACA, I found it difficult enough that I gave up--I was emotionally and physically exhausted and simply couldn't handle the reams of paperwork required for one person. I'm conservative generally but I strongly believe in a single payer system.

DH, who hates presents and spending money, bought me a brand new sectional AND Garth Brooks tickets.

Honestly, there probably isn't much they will be able to do at urgent care. Viruses just need to run their course, and if a zofran didn't really help they won't have much else to give him. Let him sip ginger ale and Gatorade. If tomorrow he still can't keep anything down and it's been over 24 hours, call and see if they want to evaluate him for dehydration.

We camp in the state parks. I don't know of any that allow winter camping, even primitive camping. I know all the ones really local to me are completely shut down right now, not plowed or de-iced. The one wild land area local to me listed on that website would be impossible to camp at right now. It's on dirt roads way out of town, and is snow and ice filled. I know people snowmobile and cross country ski in the winter, but tent camping there would be foolish right now.

I was given a day for discharge, and then the nicu called a few days before and said I could take him home as soon as I could get there.Best. Day. Ever. We also prepared for a baby who might not make it through birth. I did have tentative funeral arrangements and things prepared for that, because I knew if the worst happened I did not want to be trying to plan in the middle of my grief.

We got denied by a well known Christian health share--because my husband was born with a correctable heart defect and has not had an issue since it was fixed 33 years ago. I'm sorry. Health insurance sucks.

My worst fear was not bonding with Caden. My others were born by c section but were never once out of my sight(we used a hospital with no nursery and all care was done at mom's bedside). Sometimes when he was in the nicu, I did feel like a bystander, a little. Honestly, though, once he came home, I was very clearly mom. -And remember, those weeks in the nicu are weeks he isn't even supposed to be here. It is likely he will come home around his due date, and for all practical purposes he will be a newborn. I took my maternity leave when Caden came home and went to bed with him, basically, for two weeks---just like I had with my others. Even though he technically wasn't, he was a newborn, and I treated him just like I'd treated my others as newborns. By the way, I worried that he would feel like a stranger. But the moment I saw him and was immediately able to gently touch his head and hold his hand, all my mommy instincts kicked in. That was my baby, even if I hadn't even seen him his first two hours and couldn't hold him for a while, he was mine. 100%. And right now, he's climbing all over me as I type, giving me slobbery neck kisses. Strangely enough, he's definitely my most attached child out of the three of them.

We did have placental issues, though I didn't realize the full extent till later. It began to seperate from the uterus at 15 weeks and generally began to die. It's probably what triggered labor. He was a good size though and I think the steroids really helped his lungs. He has some speech delays now, but overall is doing pretty well. You can do this.

I had a 28 weeker with a moderate stay in the nicu. My other kids were not allowed as they were still seeing cases of RSV and flu, even though it was spring. Like most younger preemies, he was tube fed breastmilk until he was mature enough to gain the suck-swallow-breathe reflex. They do mix the breastmilk with high calorie formula. Preemies need a high calorie count. You won't need a wrap for kangaroo care. Some people basically slide the babies right into their shirts; I took my shirt and bra off and wrapped both of us in a large hospital gown worn backwards. Pumping is a pain, but it's what I had to do. Baby couldn't breastfeed until six weeks old and even then I couldn't be there at every feeding.

I can almost guarantee that if someone saw her, the police would be called and either they would deem a mental health problem or she would just be forced to move on. They wouldn't just ignore her in the summer, but it will be even worse in the winter. Upstate New York is not the place for a long winter bike ride.

It would still involve rural backroads, but I was thinking a shorter distance you might be able to hang out in the general vicinity, such as Rochester, as the trip wouldn't be too long. also there is pretty good cell phone coverage in that whole area.