What the Heck...I still don't get it!!

1 down 51 more to go

andyirish — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 16:20:01 +0000

well my first full week as a firefighter is done. i haven’t saved any lives yet…that won’t happen till about december when we are done with all of our training. we have however gotten lots of equipment and clothes. i also found out that i will only be working 2 days a week. (24 on 24 off 24 on and then 5 days off) pretty awesome. so if any of you guys come up here we will be able to hang out.

we are still waiting for our house to sell. I guess a few people have looked at it but no offers yet. I really hope that happens soon.

also, for those who want to slide down the pole…sorry we don’t have any. they don’t really build firehouses with poles any more…sorry. I have done it though in baltimore…it’s pretty fun!!

friday we start the fire academy. it is a 12 week program so it is going to be very intense and hard to be away from my family during the week. but we will have the weekends off.

51 more weeks as a probabtionary firefighter.

Time for work

andyirish — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 02:16:47 +0000

tomorrow is my first day at my new job…and i could even say it is my first day at a job that i don’t make my own hours/rules since 2004. should be interesting, but i am looking forward to finally having some structure to my time and not just “hmm what should i do now so people think i am earning my money.”

moving day…well tomorrow

andyirish — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 18:37:00 +0000

the house is just about packed up…way to much crap. I even had a garage sale and i still have things i will never use. oh well…that is the fun of moving. almost like a shopping spree – hey look what i found!!! anyways, got my final offer of employment. I start on the 1st of august and then go to the fire academy on aug 15. it should be a good time…though very difficult. my email and phone number will be the same. I am sure i’ll change the number sometime, but i’ll do that later.

i hope i have a big enough storage unit!!!

Isaac Daniel Memorial

andyirish — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 16:47:37 +0000

Still Here

andyirish — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 02:51:33 +0000

Just wanted to update you all that we are still in the hospital. we had a scare about a week and a half ago. it seemed like sarah was going into labor and then it just stopped. we are now at 22 weeks and 5 days. the big week is 24, so we are getting close. even if we make it nothing is guaranteed but at least if we get there we give Isaac a chance.

the other big news is that i just got called from the fire department that i interviewed with and they offered me a job. so we are going to be moving up to the seattle area. it is a huge opportunity and we are way pumped.

the down side is that sarah is going to have to stay here…at least we hope she will still be here at that time. we can’t transfer hospitals as it would be too dangerous at this point. some come august 1 i will have to do some communiting. we have to start figuring out what to do with our house and all that stuff.

so there you go…big news for us and yet we are still just waiting.

need a miracle

andyirish — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 16:26:37 +0000

we went in wednesday for our 20 week ultra sound. we were really excited because we were going to find out what we were having. the good news is we saw a nice big package…it’s a boy!!! we were then hit with some pretty hard news. though he is healthy and growing just perfectly sarah’s body might be rejecting the pregnancy. her cervix has started to dilate and the amniotic sac has traveled down into it. because of this there are a few things that may cause the pregnancy to terminate. one is if the bag of waters breaks due to the fact that it is falling into the cervix. Also, if sarah continues to dilate she will go into labor and the baby will be born. Or if bacteria gets to the baby and an infection starts sarah’s body will fight the infection and terminate the pregnancy. Since the cervix is dilated approx 1-2 cm bacteria may be able to get into there.

So what have we done. We have done blood tests looking for infection. We have done what is called an amniocenteses, which is where they stick a small needle through sarah’s belly into the amniotic sac and draw our some of the fluid. We then tested that for signs of infection. All these were negative. So that was positive. Then we went into the OR to attempt to stitch the cervix closed. Once we did that we waited till morning to see if the cervix was still closed…well it wasn’t…actually it was pulling against the stitch and in order to prevent injury to sarah we took the stitch out. so now we are in a waiting game.

As of this moment, he is healthy and growing just as he should. we have been in the hospital since wedesday and will be here for a few more days to see if sarah is stable…that is no change in the cervix and no signs of infection. if those are alright we will go home and be on bed rest until the baby is born. right now we are at 20 weeks. we need to get to 24 in order for the baby to have a chance at life, however he may have life long issues. if we can make it to 28 weeks then they can give him some steroids and he has a great chance to live a healthy normal life.

Isaac Daniel Irish is his name…Isaac because we have offered him to God just as abraham did. and daniel for sarah’s brother. Please pray for isaac and sarah!!! we are in need of a miracle!!!!

Sarah is on bed rest now. that means she can’t do anything. now with a 2 year old that is going to be very difficult. but we will do whatever we have to do here. please pass the word around to people that you know and ask God to do something great here…but if HE wants Isaac then give us strength to be alright with that.

will work for food

andyirish — Wed, 28 May 2008 19:54:48 +0000

it seems like my life is full of tests lately. you want to work for us…take this test!! i have tested for 2 fire departments up in the seattle area and am awaiting contact from one of them. their application deadline is tomorrow. so if i scored high enough i have to go take another…you guessed it…test. i am still working on the application for the other department. both of them would be great. I would have a job that I would absolutely love and still have the opportunity to be with my family. it would allow my wife to be a mom instead of a working professional. unfortunately it is a wait and see game. fire depts don’t hire that often because people just don’t leave that job because it is so good.

my third application is to an ambulance company – AMR. I used to work for them in california. they do the 911 transport here in my county so I will be a paramedic on the ambulance. Many people start this way. get their feet wet in the field while they continue to test for fire departments. though it is by far not my first choice it may just come to that…hey gotta make some money…even if it isn’t quite the amount i could make with a fire dept. and they are always hiring.

anyways, i’ll keep you all posted as to what is going on. I will be going up to seattle this next week for yet another test. test, test, test!!!

unofficially official

andyirish — Thu, 22 May 2008 20:43:48 +0000

yesterday i returned from the beautiful land of sacramento (and by beautiful i mean not beautiful) where I successfully completed my final test in becoming a nationally registered paramedic. that’s right…i am completely done and in a few weeks i’ll have my certification cards in my hand. so until then i am unofficially an official paramedic. which means i know how to save lives…i think!!!

it was quite a journey, and hopefully it will pay off. I have applied to a few fire departments so we’ll see what happens from here.

One More Test

andyirish — Mon, 19 May 2008 17:17:34 +0000

Hey all…I know I have disappeared off the planet lately, but I have been busy. I have returned from my paramedic internship in Baltimore MD and have passed my written exam to be a nationally registered paramedic. My last test is on wednesday. Unfortunately I have to fly to Sacramento to take it because that is the first one offered. However, when I am done with that I will be a Certified Paramedic. I have started applying for Firefighter/Paramedic Positions…mostly up near seattle since that is all that is available for me right now. besides I need to get a job because currently I am unemployed. Our church has basically stopped meeting and so I am out of a job. which is fine because it has been our goal to become a paramedic and do that for our income…but the timing is pretty rough as it can be difficult to get a job with a fire department. but we’ll see.

so there you have it…everything in a nut shell.

oh yeah…in-n-out for dinner tonight!!! YES!!!!!

Ebayer’s Beware

andyirish — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 21:40:20 +0000

So I was given some cash from someone for finishing the classroom portion of my paramedic program – at the top of the class mind you. And because I am going to Maryland for my internship I thought I would by a GPS unit for the car. My family out there is lending me one. So I started searching ebay and found one for a few dollars cheaper than the rest. BAMM!! Bought it. A few days later nothing. No communication or anything from this seller. Well it turns out he was stealing a couple thousand dollars from fellow ebayers. Went through paypal and got all my money back but still, it was a pain in the but. Thankfully it all worked out…hopefully they put that guy in jail…but whatever.