Thanks, Ginger.

Apparently a guy two floors above her died like six weeks ago and they only just found him. And her apartment is all maggot- and horsefly-infested.

A world of ewwwww.

Ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww.

I was the only one of my 4 sibs to be born in a hospital. I'd love to do a home birth, if only for the comfort of being able to sleep in my own bed afterwards. (But then, the idea of a water birth is also immensely appealing to me, and I doubt I'll be living anywhere big enough for a hot tub in the next few years. So we'll see.)

Most of my college experience has ended up in depressive relapses and me sitting in a corner of my room unable to move.

This time will be much MUCH different. In the good way.

I promise.

Apparently a guy two floors above her died like six weeks ago and they only just found him.

Oh, dear. That's... ugh. And also, EW!

Waiting patiently to hear how Toto's appt went...

Apparently a guy two floors above her died like six weeks ago and they only just found him. And her apartment is all maggot- and horsefly-infested.

Ugh. That is awful.

brenda, I feel for your boss. Somehow, one tends to think of maggot and fly infested apartments as part a CSI-type fiction, not real life. Ugh.

sj, better to try than not try at all. And we'll all be here to hold your hand whenever you need it. It's good that TCG is supportive, even if he doesn't totally understand.

Bev, is this the picture you were looking for?

Oh, brenda. How awful. Yeeeesh. I just found myself imagining myself in your boss's situation. It involved never returning to my home, and having to get all new stuff. Ugh.

Dave caught a glimpse of my previous post, and now I think he left for work worried about me. I'm not sure he gets the whole depression/anxiety thing really. He is being very supportive, but he doesn't seem to understand why if I am smart enough and I have the time for it, why I am even worried about school at all.

There have been a couple of tricks that have worked for me to some extent, sj (I am fighting anxiety, myself). One way is to try to see the anxiety as the same sort of feeling I would get before I went on stage (I did some singing and acting in high school and college, if you've never been on stage, this might not be useful to you). That's the sort of thing that energizes a performance, so when I'm going somewhere and start to get that "Oh I'm dying, really, I need to curl up in a ball" feeling, I've started to treat it the way I used to treat pre-appearance jitters--as something that was going to make me more alert and energetic.

A lot of times, I'm not fooled, but sometimes it works. Also? What Cashmere said. People who don't experience it seldom understand, no matter how much they love you, and no matter how hard they try. Scott is probably better at understanding my issue than my mother is (or at least he's more likely to be comforting in what he says and does). My aunts who have the same problem are the best ones to talk about it with.

They didn't talk down to me, explained things clearly, and felt more like partners in the process than anything else.

I'm so, so glad to hear this. That's exactly the way it's supposed to be.

It makes me really sad when I hear horror stories about hospital births. Being present as a caretaker during such a profound event is a privilege, and that part of it shouldn't ever be forgotten by MDs or RNs or anyone else, no matter how complicated the medical situation is.

A friend of your dad's or a baby's dad.

The baby's dad. My dad has some pretty uncouth friends, but thankfully none of them are that gross.

Does anyone know where I could get something along the lines of a "Hot Fella a Day" calendar? I want to get my mom something pretty to look at for her hospital room (ideally something I could mail there, since I probably won't be by until next week). She can't have flowers, she's rolling her eyes forever at the "cute" fake-flower/stuffed animal stuff folks have brought by. I know she likes looking at cute fellas, so I'm thinking she'd get a kick out of something like this. (Although I shouldn't give her anything above a PG-13 rating, nekkidness-wise. For my own emotional comfort.)

Suggestions? She's a big fan of Tom Selleck.

Oh, brenda. How awful. Yeeeesh. I just found myself imagining myself in your boss's situation. It involved never returning to my home, and having to get all new stuff. Ugh.

That and a full-body scouring.

The baby's dad. My dad has some pretty uncouth friends, but thankfully none of them are that gross.

Thank goodness for small favors. I was even more creeped out when I thought it was a friend of your own father. Ugh.

It makes me really sad when I hear horror stories about hospital births. Being present as a caretaker during such a profound event is a privilege, and that part of it shouldn't ever be forgotten by MDs or RNs or anyone else, no matter how complicated the medical situation is.

I had great and horrible (with "horrible" = the babies and I were fine and healthy when it was over, so not truly horrible in any real sense) experiences while giving birth, in the same hospital, using the same OB/GYN practice. Most of the people though really did seem aware of the import of the event.