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My 2010 Recap

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Hello everyone! I am glad to be back writing for BoA after being absent for so long. So much has happened in my life lately, that is pretty amazing to realize that 2010 is gone!

2010 was a pretty amazing year for me. Here is a quick recap: I unexpectedly got pregnant in January and, before we knew I was pregnant, we had already made plans to go to Spain and Morocco. Fortunately, the trip came at the perfect time during my pregnancy (when I was 4.5 months along) and it was safe for me to fly. We had a fantastic time and we will wait until my baby is a little bit older in order for the three of us to go again.

Then, in August, my high blood pressure (this was not preeclampsia) landed me at the hospital for the next 18 days, before my beautiful, healthy baby boy was born after 32 weeks of pregnancy. I was four weeks short of what is considered a full term pregnancy, so my baby had to stay in NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit) for about three weeks before we could bring him home. Fortunately, he was always very healthy and never had any complications, so the doctors allowed us to bring him home a lot sooner than expected. Now he is so big that, at 4 months old, he is wearing clothes of a 9 month old baby.



I was also very happy that I lost all of the weight that I gained during my pregnancy only 2 weeks after giving birth. For what I've seen with other people, I feel like I had a really quick recovery.

During those 18 days at the hospital before my baby was born, I befriended some of the nurses and realized that the fetal heart rate monitor is the most ancient and archaic piece of machinery I've ever seen. It's pretty inefficient too! How can a hospital that charges $14,000 dollars a day for only taking my blood pressure and draw some blood have a piece of machinery that looks like the oldest Macintosh computer? Hard for me to believe they don't have something more sophisticated in place.

I am so grateful for having great health insurance that allowed me to pay only a couple of thousand dollars after a bill of almost half million dollars. At the same time, I don't understand why hospitals still have to charge that amount to a patient after receiving so much money from the insurance company. The hospital got around a hundred and fifty thousand dollars from my insurance company ... why do I have to pay a couple of thousand still? I wish I could declare bankruptcy so they don't get a dime, however my income disqualifies me from that option and basically from any other kind of financial assistance.

Also during those days before my baby was born, I noticed that one of the nurses was kind of anxious. She told me there was so much activity on Labor and Delivery (that's how the area was called), that it was probably a full moon. I found that comment very interesting, so I asked her if that phenomenon was real. She told me: "well, they say there's no change in activity, but the truth is that YES we coincidentally have a lot more activity during the full moon."

I have heard the usual skeptics say that looking at hospital statistics they notice no changes in activity. But I think it depends on what they are looking for ... they are maybe expecting to see if more babies are being born during full moon and I don't think that's necessarily the case. You can have a lot of new patients on Labor and Delivery during full moon, but people go there for many different reasons (not only when giving birth).

I found this interesting article (also from a nurse) that reminded me of my conversation that day.

If the same nurses are telling you that, indeed, there's more activity during full moon, who are you going to believe? The person who works in the field or the typical debunker?

During maternity leave, I started watching some new shows like "Fact or Faked" and "Brad Meltzer's Decoded." For some reason, I don't enjoy Decoded much. It's still on my DVR schedule to record every week, but the people in that team seem unfriendly somehow. Also, some of their statements are not exactly brilliant and, after I finish watching the episode, I always end up asking myself: Was that all? I still enjoy more watching Ancient Aliens than Decoded.

When I started watching the previews of Fact or Faked, I thought that I would not like it, but I was wrong. I think it's surprisingly entertaining, even if their methodology is not always the best. I was pleasantly surprised that they revisited the old case of Jonathan Reed and basically the investigator told Reed that he was a fraud! I applaud him for doing that! Most UFO fanatics will criticize such a move, but I am always happy to see some critical thinkers in action and not just fanatics in the topic.

Anyway, I hope everybody is having a wonderful start of 2011! It always makes me wonder about the not too distant 2012. Not because of the events, but because of the crazy people out there. But no matter what people believe or do, I just hope they conduct themselves in a peaceful manner.


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