Who I Used to Be / Animals: Part 2

Go figure things got away from me and I slacked on the blog...I'm back for another try. This is a good post for today because I have been feeling, once again, like being a mother inevitably means losing oneself. I am in a very different place than I was when I felt this way before. Shortly after having Oliver, while in the depths of severe post-partum depression, I felt like I was gone. I could never do anything I enjoyed ever again. The baby would become my only hobby.

I now realize that this isn't true. I can still do so many of the things I enjoy doing. Sure there are limitations on when, and how long, but I can still fit things in. The loss of myself that I am starting to feel now is the loss of the capable, talented, smart woman I used to be (nevermind attractive...that one might be gone for good). I used to work and get a paycheck. I was a valuable asset to a company and a valuable asset to my husband. I helped sick and injured animals...I was valuable to them and to their owners. I had skills that not just anybody has. I was challenged intellectually and physically...my mind was engaged and active.

These days I have "mommy brain" so bad that when I get OFF the highway I stick my hand out to take a ticket from the toll worker when I, in fact, have one sitting on the dash to give to him. My "purse" consists of diapers, bottles, toys and various teething relief supplies. I have yet to be successful in spending one whole day at home with Oliver. He requires so much activity and stimulation that I am often on-the-go. This leaves such little time for anything other than packing and unpacking his things, washing them, driving to and from activities, feeding him, diapering him and soothing him in between all of this. When he naps at home, I clean. Most of his naps happen in the car so I rarely get to "sleep when he sleeps." At home, we sing songs (I sing songs and make hand motions while he crawls around demolishing the apartment), play with blocks (I stack them as fast as possible because he feverishly knocks them over), read books (I try to read while Oliver tries to close the book), or play outside (I sit in a chair while Oliver crawls around from toy to toy only to eventually end up on the concrete playing with non-toys). Needless to say, there's not a whole lot of mental stimulation going on here.

I feel I have digressed. Back to the animals...and to finish up this post so I can eat dinner (at 8:55pm - Yay!) So...before having Oliver I worked as a Veterinary Nurse in an emergency/critical care hospital. Before that I worked in a different animal hospital that did wellness, surgery, critical care and emergency during hours of operation. My job included many different tasks in the areas of patient care, radiology, laboratory, anesthesia, surgery, and much more. Following are just a few photographs of animals I helped care for. I enjoy looking back at these because it reminds me that I am still capable, still talented, and still smart and someday I will have the opportunity to show it.

***CAUTION: Some of these images may be graphic in nature! If you have a weak stomach, you may not want to look!

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A fluffy pomeranian with a broken leg.




This is what happens to a dog's foot if you do not come in for the required bandage changes.




A whippet impaled with an arrow.




His Radiograph.




Two basset hounds accidentally dragged behind a trailer...their feet were largely degloved and their bellies scraped raw.




A pit bull puppy thrown out of a 3rd story window. This was in the news a lot and the puppy was ultimately adopted by one of my co-workers.




Me with one of the tiniest and cutest dogs I have ever seen.