usually when people find out you're pregnant they are extra nice to you. or this is what i hear anyway. seats magically begin to appear on buses and extra hands show up to help you lift heavy things. for the most part, i've found this to be true. extra snacks find their way to me and helping hands are voluntarily available. it's been nice but also a little hard for me to allow help from every end because i try to maintain my independence overall. but this past saturday i was caught off guard when someone was a complete dick to me because i was pregnant. what kind of ass backwards shit is that?
so here's what happened.
but first some background info: i'm an x-ray and ct tech. when i work the weekend swing shift, it's just me and one other person doing the work. the other person i'm working with happens to also be pregnant, so we're just two women working very physical jobs while simultaneously housing and growing real life human beings. our job is to take x-rays and ct scans for the radiologists to read. we call patients over from the ER and someone brings them to us. when we're finished, we call them back and someone comes to bring the patients back to the ER. keep in mind these patients are on gurneys or wheelchairs and there is a ramp from the radiology department to the ER. very often, the ER is busy and when we can, we will bring the patients back to the ER to help them out because we try to be helpful and not petty.
this past weekend was a crazy real example of how global warming is showing it's face. san francisco reached upwards of 100 degrees, which is UNHEARD of. this meant that patients were coming into the ER left and right because of heat related issues. almost allllllllll of the patients were elderly (i'm talking 80+ years old) and dehydrated. this meant they couldn't move themselves. this also meant that we then have to move patients from their gurney to the ct or xray tables. these people are dead weight and we're in america, so of course plenty of them were upwards of 180lbs to boot. as i'm now five months pregnant, i can feel the baby move around in me and straining while moving patients from place to place is getting harder. saturday was CRAZY BUSY so everybody was frantically trying to get things done in the hospital.
exchange over the phone with the ER:
me: hey it's regina, can i have a pickup (patient pickup) in x-ray please?
ER nurse: we're really busy, can you bring them back for us?
me: no, i'm sorry. it's really busy here too and we're both pregnant so we can't keep pushing people back.
ER nurse (with attitude): well sorry you're pregnant. it's going to be a long time before we can get to them then. they're going to have to wait a long time...but sorry you're pregnant!
me: oooooookay. they'll be here when you're ready to send someone.
WHAT IN THE MOTHER FUCK? sorry you're pregnant? as if my being pregnant is a nuisance? it isn't in my job description to bring patients back to the ER you Asshole. have we done it in the past? yes. but considering you're a nurse, you do know that pregnant people are supposed to provide nurturing environments for a human being to develop don't you? sorry [sarcastic as fuck "sorry," that is] it's a shit show over in the ER and you are all running around trying to catch up with the influx of patients but if it's busy over there then it's fucking busy over here too. the busyness in the ER directly correlates to the busyness in radiology you twat! the two of us pregnant women are handling our shit by doing all the x-rays and cts in a timely manner so your side can handle your shit! don't take it out on me because you don't like that pregnant women shouldn't be pushing gurneys and wheelchairs up ramps with 200lb patients on them. didn't you come out of a mom once upon a time? last i checked, mothers are the only way people even exist on this planet. don't you hope that your mother wasn't asked to strain herself when she was growing your insensitive-not-understanding-dick-of-a-person-self?
the worst part is i'm pretty certain i know who he is. he's usually a pretty nice nurse. i'm sure he was just struggling to keep up with the patients and was reaching for a helping hand. and usually i would. but right now i can't, dude. i'm physically working and physically growing another person at the same damn time so don't be a fucking prick. it just makes you look like an asshole, Asshole!
