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By John, on November 7th, 2011
I don’t know exactly how long I’ve been gone but it feels like it’s been a while. Sure, I could look at the calendar in the bottom left corner of my screen and do some simple math (my peripheral vision has betrayed me and it’s two weeks) but it makes the first two lines of this post moot. Ok, so it’s moot. I don’t care.
Work has been interesting. I fly around and move people from spot to spot. For the most part, nothing interesting happens. Once in a while we’ll have something break on the jet that slows down our day and causes us frustration. Occasionally weather will play a factor into what is going on. This job is so much different from my last job. Every flight matters. Every person or thing I transport needs to be at a set location and time.
I’ve been flying a shuttle mission lately – it’s a real killer because of how the crew rest breaks down. You wake up at alert and then have a 15 hour work day. When you land you’re set to fly again in 22 hours. You’ve been awake for 18 hrs and now you have a choice to make. It’s 22 hours of time to kill. Do I just go to sleep now? Will I be able to sleep later? When I wake up I’m going to have a 15 hour day. If I fall asleep for the first part of the day I’m going to have at least a 29 hour day. My choice has been to sleep now and then sleep a little later. You live in a state of sleep deprivation. I did two of these back to back. I got back last night from the second trip and fell asleep for 12 hours. I work up, ate, and did some work stuff and then fell asleep again for another 5 hours. I guess I was a little tired.
I really like my job.
Don’t you love how vague I have to make these blog posts? I can’t share what I’m moving, when I’m moving, or where it is being transported. I guess you’ll just have to use your imagination.
I really miss being home with Jessica and Sawyer. She sends me videos and pictures almost every day. I’m missing out on quite a bit of him growing up. He just had his two month checkup along with his shots. He’s up to 12lb 7oz and he’s doing quite well. He didn’t like the shots… he cried for almost two days straight. Jessica had to deal with him, by herself, for two days straight (over the weekend). She was quite worn out from the whole deal. She told me that I had to be around for the second round of shots. She doesn’t want to do it by herself and I can’t blame her. It’s gotta be rough – I want to be there for the both of them.
By John, on October 28th, 2011
It’s late October and the snow has started to fall. Luckily, the ground isn’t cold enough for any significant accumulation. The forecast could turn for the worst at any time. It’s expected to snow for the next week but there is a significant amount of rain mixed into the forecast. When it does start to really come down (and it will) it could get interesting around here. I know that there will actually be a building shoveling schedule that will come out at some point – I actually prefer this to all other types of exercise. Sure, there are probably more shoveling related heart attacks than any other winter outdoor chore but I’m not worried. My joints are slowly falling apart but my ticker is doing fine so I’ve got no worries.
In other news work should be strange – fly every couple of days and then sit and wait to fly. I should get ample time in at the gym and ample time studying. I’ll also spend ample time goofing with the blog as I do every other deployment.
By John, on October 27th, 2011
I’m off on the other side of the planet for the next few months. I’ll be gone just long enough to miss all of the major holidays. It’s a downfall of my occupation. It could be much much worse (army, marines, navy). If you visit often, you can expect an influx of new material. Lots of new material. I’m going to have too much free time on my hands.
By John, on October 14th, 2011
And I have one – there are thousands of others (literally) but I’m just going to upload just one.
By John, on September 10th, 2011
I arrived home at 1130pm on the 21st of August from a trip to Afghanistan. Jessica woke up at 6am to go to the bathroom and woke me by yelling… “uh John, I think my water broke” and I responded “are you sure you didn’t pee your pants” with her responding “uh, pretty sure I didn’t.”
In my jet lagged and freaked out state I remembered to put on clothes and get the dogs fed and kicked out the back door. Jessica didn’t have a bag packed because the boy was a few weeks early. He was nearly four weeks early and we thought that we had plenty of time remaining; we didn’t. As I drove to the hospital both of us were laughing and talking as the stress hit us. Jessica started sending text messages and engaging the army of support that was vital to our sanity and survival. Cassy and Alice headed to our house to do some laundry and pack a baby bag for us – we simply hadn’t had a chance to get to it and we didn’t think that we would need it for a number of weeks. I made a quick call to Jessica’s parents and talked to Joe and said “so Jessica’s water broke and we’re on the way to Madigan” and that was about it.
We found some decent parking (surprising for the destination) and headed upstairs to Labor and Delivery triage. As we walked down the hallway we crossed paths with a few doctors. They took one look at Jessica’s wet pants and said “I think she is going to have a baby today” and we responded with a nervous and excited laugh.
We went to triage and they confirmed that yes, Jessica was going to have a baby soon. They soon shuffled us over to the birthing unit and one of the birthing suites. About an hour after arrival the first of the contractions started and Jessica’s day started to get a little worse with each one. They put her on a drug to help speed up the contractions along with magnesium and penicillin because we were waiting on results from a test that hadn’t yet come back. Adding to the “fun” was the fact that she had preeclampsia. Soon after the family began to arrival and we all did what is to be expected – we laughed and talked loudly. Soon after the TV came on (at the approval of Jessica) so we could watch some game shows and sports center. The nurse was quite frustrated with us as he thought that our presence and noise would upset Jessica. Telling Jessica what to do upsets Jessica – she’s quite used to the noise.
As our day progressed the docs came in and out and continued to check on her progress. They took her off the drug to speed up contractions and let her body do the work for a while. When we approached 9 hours of contractions and they spacing wasn’t regular enough to satisfy them they put her back on the drug and Jessica started to suffer. If you ask her, the word suffer hardly describes what she was going through.
Soon after the drugs started to kick it came the time for the epidural. Jessica was in quite a bit of pain and most of it was centered in her lower back. An epidural is passed through a catheter that is slid through a small gap in her spine. She has mild scoliosis and has a little twist in her lower spine which complicated things immensely. I don’t do well with needles so Becky stayed in the room with her while I nervously paced the hallway. Outside the room I could hear her screaming at the top of her lungs. At one point, a few nurses stuck their heads out from around the corner to figure out what was wrong. “Epidural” I said and they gave me a supportive smile.
Inside the room the resident anesthesiologist was attempting to find the correct spot to put the catheter while the attending looked on. After a few unsuccessful attempts the attending took over and got it in the right spot. When I returned to the room Jessica looked spent. Shortly after the drugs hit her and she was feeling much better about well, everything. We were watching the external contraction monitor and watched as she slept through contractions that would have previously had her crying out loud.
We returned to the waiting game while she rested. At about 8pm they came in and determined that her body was ready to deliver but they wanted gravity to help assist things along. They sat her up in the bed and told her that they’d be back in an hour for some pushing. At 930pm the whole team arrived in the room and we started the most difficult part of the whole process. I was at her right side and helped hold the oxygen (which she felt was suffocating her), assisted her in holding her head forward, and gave her words of encouragement. At only one point did I choose the wrong words. I told her to “breath through the pain” – I thought she was going to kill me. I meant to use the stuff she learned in yoga. It didn’t come across like that. Later I told her “that she could easily do this because putting up with me was far worse.” The nurse nearly fell over laughing – she hadn’t heard that one before.
Jessica would push through each contraction and then would pass out in between them (something that still amazes me). After about an hour of pushing she had finally done enough and the boy was finally freed from his prison. Not knowing exactly what to expect, what I saw scared the crap out of me. He was blue, his head was really misshapen, and the cord was wrapped around his neck. I cut the cord and then they stuck him on Jessica for a second at which point she uttered “he looks really weird”. As we hadn’t heard a noise from him the nurse took him to try to get him to breath. I left Jessica with Becky and headed over to the boy. Soon after he had a cough and a cry and his color rapidly started changing from blue to bright pink. I thought for sure he wasn’t going to make it through the whole thing. I turned around and they were still working on Jessica and all I saw was a lot of blood. I was worried on two fronts.
Soon after everyone came into the room to check on Sawyer and to see how Jessica was doing. We did all right. My brother in law, Jeff, asked me how I felt. The only word I could utter was “overwhelming”. Now he’s almost two weeks old and aside from a little bilirubin issue he’s been a healthy baby boy.
We’ve got pictures but I’ll deal with that at a later date – getting this done has taken long enough.
By John, on September 3rd, 2011
He arrived a little early on the 22nd of August at 2234hrs. He was 6lbs 12oz and 20.5 inches tall.
This is the first opportunity I’ve had to post something. I’ll do something more legitimate later.
By John, on August 17th, 2011
I’ve been working quite a bit and by work I mean flying people and cargo all across the planet. I haven’t made it to across the Pacific ocean yet but I’ve crossed the Atlantic quite a few times in the past few weeks. Since I started this job and really started flying (about 2 months) I’ve racked up something like 45,000 miles. I’m using Google Latitude to help track where I’ve been and I can’t always update my location but it helps to provide a rough guess.
Long legs (such as ocean crossings) can be quite boring. I have plenty of time to read and study but you’re often so tired that you really can’t get into anything and hope to remember it. I’m sure that I’ll figure out a way to manage my sleep schedule better as I get some more experience. Without a doubt, this is the most rewarding job that I’ve ever had. Everyday I work, I know I’m doing something that matters. I’m really glad I made the switch.
I’m in Germany right now on yet another trip but I expect this one to be the last for about a month while we wait for the boy to arrive. I’m sure he will take his sweet time but I know that it will give Jessica piece of mind to have me around while we wait for him to show up. I can’t wait for the pregnancy to be over – I’m sure Jessica would agree.
Unfortunately, I’ll only have about 2 weeks after the boy is born to be around and then I’ll be hot to get back on the road. Adding insult to injury is a 60 day deployment (the shortest deployment I’ve ever had) that will make me miss all of the major holidays. There are quite a few firsts that I’m going to miss – at least I’m not in the Army. I’ve got friends that will miss most of the first year of their kid’s lives. That simply sucks. I’ll be glad when these wars are over.
By John, on July 31st, 2011
On the 23rd of July I borrowed a truck and went to the lumberyard. Over the next 48 hours, with the help of my in-laws, we put in a wood fence that enclosed the back yard. Numerous trips were made to Lowes and Gray Lumber to get all of the necessary components. We put in over 220 feet of fence all with wooden posts that we put in the wonderfully rocky Washington soil. It was an expensive endeavor.
We got our brand new washer, dryer, and fridge delivered to the house. Our new bed, that has already made an astounding difference in our sleep quality, was delivered.
We moved from one house to the other in less than 12 hours.
Most of the house is unpacked save for the piles of stuff we don’t readily use. If we’re like everyone else, we acquire quite a bit of seasonal stuff that is seldom used.
I’m in full on house updating mode right now. In the last 24 hours I’ve installed blinds in 3 rooms, knocked down a popcorn ceiling and put some primer on it, pulled off a bunch of old wallpaper, installed a new light and medicine cabinet in the bathroom, and replaced the locks in the house. Next on the docket is continuation of the baby room and installing more smoke detectors.
Luckily, or unfortunately, funds have run dry for a while (because I refuse to use any more credit) so as soon as Sawyer’s room is complete I won’t be doing anything for a little while. We’ve got quite a bit more planned for the house.
The short list (oy!)
1. Remodel master bathroom (new sink, vanity, floors, and paint)
2. Remodel guest bathroom (new tub, tile, vanity, sink, floors, and paint)
3. Paint all interior walls
4. Knock down all of the popcorn ceiling in the rest of the house and repaint
5. Replace entire kitchen (save for the appliances) – remove a wall, expand it, and replace the floors
6. Replace the stair runners and railings
7. Add additional slats to front porch to prevent small people from falling out
8. Landscaping the yard (includes removal of over 100ft of 3ft high rock wall to be replaced with brick/stone)
9. Removal of one fireplace and all of the brickwork
10. Buying furniture for our new house (this is an easy albeit expensive project)
Regardless of what other people might say, owning a home isn’t cheaper than renting.
By John, on July 19th, 2011
It’s final. The paperwork has been processed and we own a house.
I’ll put some pictures up later instead of trying to explain it.
It’s got quite a few positives
1. decent commute (for both of us)
2. there isn’t anything wrong with it
3. it’s a decent sized place (2000 SF)
4. it was perfectly priced
5. it’s nearly move in ready (save for a fence for the dogs)
The only downside is that part of the house seems rather dated (late 70′s in the Kitchen). I’m not to worried about it because we have a plan to take care of it and bring it up to date. It will also give me an opportunity to buy some more tools (much to Jessica’s chagrin)
By John, on July 11th, 2011
Weather can ruin hours of careful preparation. We were scheduled to stop in Kansas and pick up some stuff and then fly direct to Germany. We landed, loaded, and fueled only to find that it was too hot to takeoff. We were simply too heavy and the air wasn’t dense enough at that temperature to get the lift we needed (it was 107 degrees). So, we sat around and waited for the sun to go down and the temps to drop. The sun did go down but the midwest is known for rapidly changing weather and we got thunderstorms. Nobody wants to fly in a thunderstorm because planes don’t react well to lightning and extreme turbulence. We sat on the ground too long to takeoff so we stayed in Kansas overnight.
The next day we de-fueled (because it was too damn hot again) and changed our plan to make a fuel stop in Newfoundland. We stopped for an hour or two to fuel and pushed on to Germany. We had a mechanical malfunction and were delayed for a while in Germany but we eventually made it to England. The trip was planned so close that anything could have put us off the plan. We had excessive heat and thunderstorms to blame.
I haven’t been here for a few years and not much has changed save for a few new buildings. It’s bizarre to be back here. Never did I think that I would be back on this base. We’re headed back home today via a stop on the east coast but I have a 21 hour day ahead of me.
More than anything else, the military has taught me to roll with the punches. If you don’t, you’re going to hate life.
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