My first day in a children's hospital and my first pediatric patient! So far so good. My first patient was a teenager, really sweet and cooperative. In the first few minutes I was on the unit, I could see major differences already from the adult world. First of all, the unit was huge! Large, never ending hallways. Everything is very colorful as well. In the lobby, there was a collection of toys and an infant bouncy seat. One thing that caught me off guard was how quiet it was. I made mention of that later in the day and my instructor quickly told me that is exactly when things get crazy, when you mention how slow or quiet it is. Point taken. Another big difference was the first interaction I saw the nurse have with my patient. She went into the room and started doing a quick assessment in the dark and whispering. I was told from a previous student to always remember that you are in a hospital, not a hotel. I brought this up with my instructor and she explained in the peds world, we are a little more forgiving. Maybe a parent is sleeping at 7am (when the shift starts) and that parent has to go to work in a bit. Maybe the child hasn't slept all night and is now finally sleeping. My instructor summed it up this way; at the start of your shift, eyeball your patient, if he/she is sleeping, check to make sure you see a regular respiratory rate, pink lips and that the child is safe meaning side rails are up if they are in a bed. On that same note, if you have a teenager, they would sleep all day, so at some point, you wake them up.
My nurse was friendly enough, but anytime I asked if there was something I could do for her she said promptly, "nope" and would walk away. I got the impression she was not in the mood to be teaching a student. Hopefully that was just a bad day and she will feel better next week OR I just won't be paired with her again. The other students had kids of various ages. I saw some kids who looked pretty sick, some who had been in an accident and were on the mend. When I walked by one room, I saw a little guy sleeping and he looked so innocent and peaceful. Why do kids look so angelic when they sleep? It makes me want to hug them!!
I successfully completed day number one, well I hope I was successful. We do not have to do care plans this rotation (hooray!!) just a few sheets to fill out during the day and then just a one page summary of all that we did emailed to our instructor before Thursday. She so kindly said she will probably respond with questions and feedback. Great ;)
I am off tomorrow so my plan is to get as much info in my brain as I can before my parents arrive! Hope this goes well!!
Tuesday, January 28, 2014
Saturday, January 25, 2014
Spring Semester is Well Underway!
Well, I am in the thick of this new semester. Gearing up for my first exam this coming Thursday. How is it exam time already?!?!
The first week of the semester was overwhelming! I got through it, and now find myself at the end of the second week already. Time is flying! Week two was getting our group together to get started on the presentation we have coming up. We are the first group, and thankfully have the presentation just about complete. We have a date this Friday morning to do a run through of the 75 minute presentation. Sounds so fun...riiiight. At least we will be done with this project and not have to worry about it the rest of the semester! That is what I keep telling myself. We have also had more peds lectures and I love them! I love learning about kids, more about the well child, but I am getting excited for my first day in a children's hospital. Back to week two...we had Monday off for MLK day. We then were preparing for another snow storm. Apparently they are now naming winter snow storms...this one was Janice. Weird. Anyway, Erin got the call Tuesday morning telling her school was closed. Not a single snowflake had fallen at this point. The forecast was saying heavy snow beginning sometime between 9 and 11am. We were expected to get anywhere from 6-12" of snow! I got up and headed to school at about 7:15 that morning. I didn't see a single flake. Many schools in the area had closed or announced they would have an early dismissal. I go to class, and the professor makes a light joke about the impending snowfall. She also made a comment on how we were in an auditorium without windows so we were sure going to be in for a shock at the end of our three hour lecture. I was checking my phone and my email to see if the college was going to close. To my (not so) surprise, we got an email a couple minutes before lecture ended stating classes after 11:30am were cancelled. It was about 11:04 when I got the email. At the end of class, I quickly got out of there and headed to my car. There was already about two inches of snow, so I had to clear my car. As soon as I would clear it, it was already getting covered. Whoa! I left the parking lot at 11:18am to head home. I was prepared for a long commute. Typically, this time of day I would make it home in under a half an hour, sans snow. It's a bit over 12 miles from school to home. Well, the roads were AWFUL, it was basically a white out. I went about a mile and never went over 15mph...so I started eating my lunch I had packed. After about an hour, and maybe a couple miles into my drive, I was realizing this was going to be a lot longer than I thought. It ended up taking four and a half hours to get home!!!! There was so much snow, and traffic. In those four and a half hours, I never went over 15mph. I was at a dead stop for who knows how long, multiple times in that journey. I also chugged my entire water bottle, so about two hours in, I needed to pee. I also had to keep my defrost on full blast or my windshield would freeze and I couldn't see. I was sweating like crazy and tried to peel off as many layers as I could. That may have been the worst car ride of my life. I really wouldn't wish that on anyone and really, really hope I never have to experience that again! My dad kept texting me, which helped my sanity. My wonderful Erin also shoveled a parking spot for me too. When I came inside I just threw my stuff (sorry Erin) and let off some steam. I also realized, once I was home, just how stressed I had been. I was shaking. Whew, so glad that is over with!! At one point, during that hellish commute, as I was sweating and trying to think of anything but peeing my pants, I looked to my right and saw a bunch of people in the freezing wind and snow, waiting for a bus. I was at a dead stop at this point and stopped counting after I had watched the traffic light turn green about 15 times and I didn't move an inch. I was so grateful that I was in my car, sweating, and not stuck waiting for a bus that may not have been coming. It can always be worse.
Needless to say, we also had a snow day on Wednesday. I was supposed to go to the hospital for orientation. Instead, I got some work done and ended up going to bed ridiculously early Wednesday night. I was in a major funk; probably due to major stress and exhaustion. I slept well and got up ready to face the day on Thursday. Friday, we had our orientation for clinical, including a math test, which I was in a panic about. Erin, the amazing teacher that she is, stayed up with me Thursday night going through practice problems. I couldn't have passed that test without her!! Glad that is over with. The orientation was interesting, we got the run down of what our days will look like in the hospital. My instructor, who still intimidates me, is great. I know I will be learning a lot! I am nervous for my first day in the hospital, but I am actually excited! I can't wait to see pediatric nurses in action! I also hope I get assigned to an infant or toddler for my first day...we shall see!
This weekend, I am focusing on studying for my first peds exam. I went to a test review session and feel pretty good at this point. I have a lot to study, but I know my child development, so I feel I have an edge. I mean, my first degree was in child development, so I should know this stuff well! It's all the illnesses and disorders and the child immunizations that are tripping me up. Must. Study. More.
I have a few more days to prepare and I need to make the most of my time. This week my parents are flying in and staying with Erin and me. My sister is doing her doctoral defense on Thursday! So proud of her! I need to get my studying done so I can relax and enjoy time with my family. I am also missing my first ever class to go to the defense. I spoke to my professor and got it all okay-ed so I feel good about it. I can watch the lecture that I will miss online :) I can't believe I am eight months into this program and have yet to miss a single moment of school! Woo!
Next up, Peds clinical!
The first week of the semester was overwhelming! I got through it, and now find myself at the end of the second week already. Time is flying! Week two was getting our group together to get started on the presentation we have coming up. We are the first group, and thankfully have the presentation just about complete. We have a date this Friday morning to do a run through of the 75 minute presentation. Sounds so fun...riiiight. At least we will be done with this project and not have to worry about it the rest of the semester! That is what I keep telling myself. We have also had more peds lectures and I love them! I love learning about kids, more about the well child, but I am getting excited for my first day in a children's hospital. Back to week two...we had Monday off for MLK day. We then were preparing for another snow storm. Apparently they are now naming winter snow storms...this one was Janice. Weird. Anyway, Erin got the call Tuesday morning telling her school was closed. Not a single snowflake had fallen at this point. The forecast was saying heavy snow beginning sometime between 9 and 11am. We were expected to get anywhere from 6-12" of snow! I got up and headed to school at about 7:15 that morning. I didn't see a single flake. Many schools in the area had closed or announced they would have an early dismissal. I go to class, and the professor makes a light joke about the impending snowfall. She also made a comment on how we were in an auditorium without windows so we were sure going to be in for a shock at the end of our three hour lecture. I was checking my phone and my email to see if the college was going to close. To my (not so) surprise, we got an email a couple minutes before lecture ended stating classes after 11:30am were cancelled. It was about 11:04 when I got the email. At the end of class, I quickly got out of there and headed to my car. There was already about two inches of snow, so I had to clear my car. As soon as I would clear it, it was already getting covered. Whoa! I left the parking lot at 11:18am to head home. I was prepared for a long commute. Typically, this time of day I would make it home in under a half an hour, sans snow. It's a bit over 12 miles from school to home. Well, the roads were AWFUL, it was basically a white out. I went about a mile and never went over 15mph...so I started eating my lunch I had packed. After about an hour, and maybe a couple miles into my drive, I was realizing this was going to be a lot longer than I thought. It ended up taking four and a half hours to get home!!!! There was so much snow, and traffic. In those four and a half hours, I never went over 15mph. I was at a dead stop for who knows how long, multiple times in that journey. I also chugged my entire water bottle, so about two hours in, I needed to pee. I also had to keep my defrost on full blast or my windshield would freeze and I couldn't see. I was sweating like crazy and tried to peel off as many layers as I could. That may have been the worst car ride of my life. I really wouldn't wish that on anyone and really, really hope I never have to experience that again! My dad kept texting me, which helped my sanity. My wonderful Erin also shoveled a parking spot for me too. When I came inside I just threw my stuff (sorry Erin) and let off some steam. I also realized, once I was home, just how stressed I had been. I was shaking. Whew, so glad that is over with!! At one point, during that hellish commute, as I was sweating and trying to think of anything but peeing my pants, I looked to my right and saw a bunch of people in the freezing wind and snow, waiting for a bus. I was at a dead stop at this point and stopped counting after I had watched the traffic light turn green about 15 times and I didn't move an inch. I was so grateful that I was in my car, sweating, and not stuck waiting for a bus that may not have been coming. It can always be worse.
Needless to say, we also had a snow day on Wednesday. I was supposed to go to the hospital for orientation. Instead, I got some work done and ended up going to bed ridiculously early Wednesday night. I was in a major funk; probably due to major stress and exhaustion. I slept well and got up ready to face the day on Thursday. Friday, we had our orientation for clinical, including a math test, which I was in a panic about. Erin, the amazing teacher that she is, stayed up with me Thursday night going through practice problems. I couldn't have passed that test without her!! Glad that is over with. The orientation was interesting, we got the run down of what our days will look like in the hospital. My instructor, who still intimidates me, is great. I know I will be learning a lot! I am nervous for my first day in the hospital, but I am actually excited! I can't wait to see pediatric nurses in action! I also hope I get assigned to an infant or toddler for my first day...we shall see!
This weekend, I am focusing on studying for my first peds exam. I went to a test review session and feel pretty good at this point. I have a lot to study, but I know my child development, so I feel I have an edge. I mean, my first degree was in child development, so I should know this stuff well! It's all the illnesses and disorders and the child immunizations that are tripping me up. Must. Study. More.
I have a few more days to prepare and I need to make the most of my time. This week my parents are flying in and staying with Erin and me. My sister is doing her doctoral defense on Thursday! So proud of her! I need to get my studying done so I can relax and enjoy time with my family. I am also missing my first ever class to go to the defense. I spoke to my professor and got it all okay-ed so I feel good about it. I can watch the lecture that I will miss online :) I can't believe I am eight months into this program and have yet to miss a single moment of school! Woo!
Next up, Peds clinical!
Wednesday, January 15, 2014
Overwhelmed...Again!
The spring semester has begun! You would think, after beginning numerous new courses, starting two previous semesters in this accelerated nursing program, I would be prepared for the first day of a new semester. Wrong. I went to school on Monday, knowing we had a long day of lab, meetings and lecture and still I left thinking I am doomed to fail and so overwhelmed I almost wanted to cry. With that said, I came home, whined to Erin, ate some dinner, did a workout, watched a show and went to bed. Way to start strong, Katie!
I had to remind myself, and I am still reminding myself, the beginning is always overwhelming because we get a run down of everything we will be doing over the course of 15 weeks. I am lucky as I only have 17 credits this semester, whereas a lot of other students have 20. I do not have to take research, so I have a lighter work load this time, hooray! Despite that, I am still overwhelmed. On the other hand, I am learning all about kids, so that is wonderful!! So far, in the first two lectures, I have been spot on with infant, toddler preschool and young school age development which is a bit of a confidence boost. Adolescents scare me and I feel less familiar with their stages of development. I am looking forward to learning more about caring for children in the hospital. I can't wait to learn tricks from the seasoned nurses. My favorite professor is also teaching us again for some of the peds lectures. She is great, very thorough, demanding and really intimidates me. She is also my clinical instructor, which flat out scares me. I know I will be learning a lot as she will keep her expectations very high. My clinical group is composed of the the seven (including me) that will be taking the service trip over spring break. Briefly looking over our schedule/syllabus for clinical, it seems as though our instructor has incorporated some of our prep work for the trip into our clinical requirements. This is great! We will be doing well child screenings on the kids on our trip, but also required to provide teaching about health promotion, safety, and nutrition. Our instructor also informed us, when she asked the school what they would like us to focus on with the kids (4th graders-8th graders) they quickly responded. It looks like we will be teaching the students about puberty! Awesome, that won't be awkward at all!! We will get some guidelines to follow, as the school is Catholic. More to come on that later :)
In addition to my pediatric and OB clinical and lecture, I also have Leadership. This class seems interesting and like a lot of work. We have group projects, which I am not a huge fan of. What is most challenging is finding times to all meet up. Our first meeting is right smack in the middle of my one day off this week, 2pm on Friday. Not awesome, but it's what ha to be done. My group is the first group to present. We have to teach the entire class for a total of a 60 minute lecture/presentation followed by 15 minutes of a Q & A with the class. We have two weeks to prepare. Awesome. The plus to being first is we can set the standard AND once we are done, we don't have to worry about it the rest of the semester! I am still nervous, per usual. Another aspect of Leadership is the clinical part of the course. We finish our finals a week before the semester ends. That final week we will be doing a total of 60 hours (in about five days) in the clinical setting. I could possibly have five 12 hour shifts in a row! We get to rank our top two choices and we are placed by our GPA. We were told this is the one and only time our GPA will play a role. I am worried. Not so much about my GPA, it's not the best, but I am positive it's not the worst! I am worried because we were told yesterday there are 220 students to place and there are only 24 pediatric spots. Hmmmm. We were also told if we choose peds or OB for our #1 choice, do not put that for our second choice because it is so limited. I now have the dilemma of deciding do I put a specific unit/hospital I would like for pediatrics OR do I say I want to do labor and delivery. I have no clue as of now! I almost wish I could experience both peds and OB before making the decision, but I will only have had my peds experience before I have to make that decision. I will be interrogating all my friends who are in OB first to hopefully make my decision a tad easier.
Speaking of my friends in OB, all of the people I hung out with since the beginning of this program are in OB first. This means our class times do not match. I am in the morning sessions and they are in the afternoon. Yesterday I almost felt like the first day of school all over again. I know a lot of people in my class, but they aren't my buddies! I am sure I will be making new friends fast, it's just a bit lonely at the beginning. I like to sit in the front (yes, I am that student) as do my friends. I find it helpful and to keep me focused. I sat near the back once and was so distracted by the amount of computer screens (a lot on Facebook or playing games) so if I am in the front, I only have my screen and the professor to look at.
Two days in and I am already stressing about the work load, studying, projects, assignments and of course clinical. I am also SO excited to be learning about kids, and babies and even more excited to see pediatric nurses in action. Hopefully I do not let my nerves take over!
One last thing, one of the guys in my class was saying yesterday; now that we are over halfway through, we can count down to graduation instead of how long we have been in the program!! Only 195 days until graduation!!!!!!
I had to remind myself, and I am still reminding myself, the beginning is always overwhelming because we get a run down of everything we will be doing over the course of 15 weeks. I am lucky as I only have 17 credits this semester, whereas a lot of other students have 20. I do not have to take research, so I have a lighter work load this time, hooray! Despite that, I am still overwhelmed. On the other hand, I am learning all about kids, so that is wonderful!! So far, in the first two lectures, I have been spot on with infant, toddler preschool and young school age development which is a bit of a confidence boost. Adolescents scare me and I feel less familiar with their stages of development. I am looking forward to learning more about caring for children in the hospital. I can't wait to learn tricks from the seasoned nurses. My favorite professor is also teaching us again for some of the peds lectures. She is great, very thorough, demanding and really intimidates me. She is also my clinical instructor, which flat out scares me. I know I will be learning a lot as she will keep her expectations very high. My clinical group is composed of the the seven (including me) that will be taking the service trip over spring break. Briefly looking over our schedule/syllabus for clinical, it seems as though our instructor has incorporated some of our prep work for the trip into our clinical requirements. This is great! We will be doing well child screenings on the kids on our trip, but also required to provide teaching about health promotion, safety, and nutrition. Our instructor also informed us, when she asked the school what they would like us to focus on with the kids (4th graders-8th graders) they quickly responded. It looks like we will be teaching the students about puberty! Awesome, that won't be awkward at all!! We will get some guidelines to follow, as the school is Catholic. More to come on that later :)
In addition to my pediatric and OB clinical and lecture, I also have Leadership. This class seems interesting and like a lot of work. We have group projects, which I am not a huge fan of. What is most challenging is finding times to all meet up. Our first meeting is right smack in the middle of my one day off this week, 2pm on Friday. Not awesome, but it's what ha to be done. My group is the first group to present. We have to teach the entire class for a total of a 60 minute lecture/presentation followed by 15 minutes of a Q & A with the class. We have two weeks to prepare. Awesome. The plus to being first is we can set the standard AND once we are done, we don't have to worry about it the rest of the semester! I am still nervous, per usual. Another aspect of Leadership is the clinical part of the course. We finish our finals a week before the semester ends. That final week we will be doing a total of 60 hours (in about five days) in the clinical setting. I could possibly have five 12 hour shifts in a row! We get to rank our top two choices and we are placed by our GPA. We were told this is the one and only time our GPA will play a role. I am worried. Not so much about my GPA, it's not the best, but I am positive it's not the worst! I am worried because we were told yesterday there are 220 students to place and there are only 24 pediatric spots. Hmmmm. We were also told if we choose peds or OB for our #1 choice, do not put that for our second choice because it is so limited. I now have the dilemma of deciding do I put a specific unit/hospital I would like for pediatrics OR do I say I want to do labor and delivery. I have no clue as of now! I almost wish I could experience both peds and OB before making the decision, but I will only have had my peds experience before I have to make that decision. I will be interrogating all my friends who are in OB first to hopefully make my decision a tad easier.
Speaking of my friends in OB, all of the people I hung out with since the beginning of this program are in OB first. This means our class times do not match. I am in the morning sessions and they are in the afternoon. Yesterday I almost felt like the first day of school all over again. I know a lot of people in my class, but they aren't my buddies! I am sure I will be making new friends fast, it's just a bit lonely at the beginning. I like to sit in the front (yes, I am that student) as do my friends. I find it helpful and to keep me focused. I sat near the back once and was so distracted by the amount of computer screens (a lot on Facebook or playing games) so if I am in the front, I only have my screen and the professor to look at.
Two days in and I am already stressing about the work load, studying, projects, assignments and of course clinical. I am also SO excited to be learning about kids, and babies and even more excited to see pediatric nurses in action. Hopefully I do not let my nerves take over!
One last thing, one of the guys in my class was saying yesterday; now that we are over halfway through, we can count down to graduation instead of how long we have been in the program!! Only 195 days until graduation!!!!!!
Friday, January 10, 2014
2014: New Semester, New Clinicals!
It has been exactly three weeks since my last post. I am happy to say I have had a wonderful break, a lot of relaxing time, a lot of family time, and a lot of time with my Erin! It has been so great having this long break between semesters. I even took a long break from my laptop, which my eyes certainly appreciated.
In a nutshell, here is a summary of my break. The first weekend of break, we hosted Erin's family in our home for an early Christmas. In usual Katie and Erin fashion, we had A LOT of shopping and errands to run the day before everyone came over. It took longer than expected, so my usual late night baking, was a legit late night of baking! I was up until 3:30am the day before the family came over. Not well planned at all on my part. I made a cheesecake (mint chocolate chip), fudge, peppermint bark, Oreo truffles and Erin made the yummy pretzel, kiss and M & M treats. I knew it was a late night when I put the cheesecake in the oven at 1am and grabbed the oven rack with my bare hand. It was awful, but luckily no lasting effects!
Erin's family came over the next day and we had fun! Way too many appetizers, per usual, a delicious butternut squash dinner, and the medley of desserts. We exchanged gifts and enjoyed watching baby A play as well as all three pups that were here! When everyone left and we cleaned up, we put on a show to watch. It was about 7:45pm and we were barely able to keep our eyes open. We went to bed at eight that night and slept until nine the next day!! Whew!
On Christmas Eve, we made the drive with my sister to my brother and his girlfriend's home for dinner. They made a delicious Korean pork feast for us. Delicious. We then got up Christmas morning and made the long drive to Kentucky to spend time with our cousins as well as my mom. Sadly, my dad had to stay home to work. We spent a few days eating delicious food and treats, playing with A and E, our four and almost two year old cousins, and watching them jump on their new indoor trampoline! We also stayed up at night playing games and laughing until it hurt. We also watched way too many YouTube videos. It was great! Saturday, we got up, had breakfast and got back in our cars to drive home to Michigan to spend the remainder of our trip with my dad. So once we got to Michigan, we had already spent about 14 hours in the car. We were able to make a short visit with my gram, shop a bit with my mom and visit some friends. We were also able to visit with the family I used to nanny for, who have six kids! It was so great being able to catch up with them and to see how much the kids have grown. On new years eve, we loaded up my sister's car and headed back to Philly. In total, we spent about 1,500 miles/23 hours in the car for that trip! If I don't have to make that drive anytime soon, I am totally ok with that.
New years eve consisted of having pizza for dinner, watching Being John Malkovich and barely watching the ball drop at midnight with my Erin and my sister. Are we really that old and boring?? NO way, we were just exhausted from all the driving (we will go with that!). The next day, we decided to skip the Mummer's parade, drove to Erin's parents to get our pup Jackson, and just laid low. Erin got her school work done and was mentally preparing to head back to school on Thursday, January 2. I continued to not even think about school or work (despite the emails already coming in about the upcoming semester!!). In my mind, I wanted a full three week break! What was also frustrating, was the fact that my grades were still not posted!?!?! My friend did let me know that grades were due on Jan. 2, so hopefully soon!
January 2, Erin went to work, and I think I just did some cleaning and relaxing. It's been awhile, I don't really remember. There was word of a storm heading our way. Oh that's right, I must have blocked it out, I went to the store to get some food. We hadn't been home for about 8-9 days, so we had no food, zero fresh veggies or fruit! So, I went to the store. Big mistake. I forgot how panic ensues out here when there is the treat of a huge snow storm (about 3-6'' that is). The shelves were bare!! Apparently you need mass quantities of bread, milk and lettuce to prepare for said snow storm. People were also oblivious to anyone around them. It was so frustrating. I really get annoyed when people do not make themselves aware of those around them. It was absurd and just rude. People leaving their carts in the middle of the aisles, even when I politely said excuse me REPEATEDLY. I was about ready to start plowing my cart through and being a jerk myself, but I held back, barely.
Anyway, we had a good amount of snow fall and later that night, Erin got the call, no school for her on Friday!! We spent all of Friday in our sweats, catching up on Dexter and Scandal. It was pretty great! I made another batch of homemade bread. Maybe it will be my snow day ritual :)
The rest of the break was pretty uneventful, which is always welcomed. We went out to dinner with some friends, had a lunch date with just the two of us, I finally saw my grades (I'm officially a senior!!) and started going through the syllabus and lecture schedule for my two classes. This past week I also attended two information sessions. One was extremely helpful (and terrifying), it was all about interviewing for an RN position. I will have a lot of prep work in my future. Oh that reminds me, I also started going through practice NCLEX questions. I did better than I thought I would do! I have a lot of work in that area to do too!!
Today, the last weekday before my semester starts, I did a test drive to my clinical site. Of course it was freezing rain. I was pretty nervous on my way back. It took me a total of three hours, when in reality should have maybe been barely two hours! At least I think I know where I am going! I did miss my exit and have to back track a bit. Good thing I have GPS, because I have zero sense of direction!
My poor Erin is sick with a bad cold. I made chicken soup today, which turned out pretty good. So good, I was eating it when it was boiling lava hot and singed my tongue. Awesome. Hopefully Erin gets better quick! It is no fun being sick (or having a sick wife!).
The rest of the weekend will be me reading over more material to prep for what I hope to be my best and favorite semester: pediatrics and OB!! Watching some of the videos has me so excited and anxious to learn more. Head to toe assessment of an infant and child; check! I hope my brain is like a sponge and soaks all this info in and I ace my exams and retain EVERYTHING!!!! I can't wait! Before either clinical experience, I have a strong feeling I will love OB and really want to go that route. I mean I love babies and I will love talking about all the beautiful things about all the new babies that I could see come into the world! To be apart of that special moment with families seems surreal. I want to be that nurse that moms and dads remember! A girl can dream, right!?
I have rambled on long enough. I guess it is time to finally put away all the Christmas decorations. I need the kitchen table back for my desk!
Here is to a great semester, lots of learning, hopefully only happy tears, and good grades! Halfway done!!
In a nutshell, here is a summary of my break. The first weekend of break, we hosted Erin's family in our home for an early Christmas. In usual Katie and Erin fashion, we had A LOT of shopping and errands to run the day before everyone came over. It took longer than expected, so my usual late night baking, was a legit late night of baking! I was up until 3:30am the day before the family came over. Not well planned at all on my part. I made a cheesecake (mint chocolate chip), fudge, peppermint bark, Oreo truffles and Erin made the yummy pretzel, kiss and M & M treats. I knew it was a late night when I put the cheesecake in the oven at 1am and grabbed the oven rack with my bare hand. It was awful, but luckily no lasting effects!
Erin's family came over the next day and we had fun! Way too many appetizers, per usual, a delicious butternut squash dinner, and the medley of desserts. We exchanged gifts and enjoyed watching baby A play as well as all three pups that were here! When everyone left and we cleaned up, we put on a show to watch. It was about 7:45pm and we were barely able to keep our eyes open. We went to bed at eight that night and slept until nine the next day!! Whew!
On Christmas Eve, we made the drive with my sister to my brother and his girlfriend's home for dinner. They made a delicious Korean pork feast for us. Delicious. We then got up Christmas morning and made the long drive to Kentucky to spend time with our cousins as well as my mom. Sadly, my dad had to stay home to work. We spent a few days eating delicious food and treats, playing with A and E, our four and almost two year old cousins, and watching them jump on their new indoor trampoline! We also stayed up at night playing games and laughing until it hurt. We also watched way too many YouTube videos. It was great! Saturday, we got up, had breakfast and got back in our cars to drive home to Michigan to spend the remainder of our trip with my dad. So once we got to Michigan, we had already spent about 14 hours in the car. We were able to make a short visit with my gram, shop a bit with my mom and visit some friends. We were also able to visit with the family I used to nanny for, who have six kids! It was so great being able to catch up with them and to see how much the kids have grown. On new years eve, we loaded up my sister's car and headed back to Philly. In total, we spent about 1,500 miles/23 hours in the car for that trip! If I don't have to make that drive anytime soon, I am totally ok with that.
New years eve consisted of having pizza for dinner, watching Being John Malkovich and barely watching the ball drop at midnight with my Erin and my sister. Are we really that old and boring?? NO way, we were just exhausted from all the driving (we will go with that!). The next day, we decided to skip the Mummer's parade, drove to Erin's parents to get our pup Jackson, and just laid low. Erin got her school work done and was mentally preparing to head back to school on Thursday, January 2. I continued to not even think about school or work (despite the emails already coming in about the upcoming semester!!). In my mind, I wanted a full three week break! What was also frustrating, was the fact that my grades were still not posted!?!?! My friend did let me know that grades were due on Jan. 2, so hopefully soon!
January 2, Erin went to work, and I think I just did some cleaning and relaxing. It's been awhile, I don't really remember. There was word of a storm heading our way. Oh that's right, I must have blocked it out, I went to the store to get some food. We hadn't been home for about 8-9 days, so we had no food, zero fresh veggies or fruit! So, I went to the store. Big mistake. I forgot how panic ensues out here when there is the treat of a huge snow storm (about 3-6'' that is). The shelves were bare!! Apparently you need mass quantities of bread, milk and lettuce to prepare for said snow storm. People were also oblivious to anyone around them. It was so frustrating. I really get annoyed when people do not make themselves aware of those around them. It was absurd and just rude. People leaving their carts in the middle of the aisles, even when I politely said excuse me REPEATEDLY. I was about ready to start plowing my cart through and being a jerk myself, but I held back, barely.
Anyway, we had a good amount of snow fall and later that night, Erin got the call, no school for her on Friday!! We spent all of Friday in our sweats, catching up on Dexter and Scandal. It was pretty great! I made another batch of homemade bread. Maybe it will be my snow day ritual :)
The rest of the break was pretty uneventful, which is always welcomed. We went out to dinner with some friends, had a lunch date with just the two of us, I finally saw my grades (I'm officially a senior!!) and started going through the syllabus and lecture schedule for my two classes. This past week I also attended two information sessions. One was extremely helpful (and terrifying), it was all about interviewing for an RN position. I will have a lot of prep work in my future. Oh that reminds me, I also started going through practice NCLEX questions. I did better than I thought I would do! I have a lot of work in that area to do too!!
Today, the last weekday before my semester starts, I did a test drive to my clinical site. Of course it was freezing rain. I was pretty nervous on my way back. It took me a total of three hours, when in reality should have maybe been barely two hours! At least I think I know where I am going! I did miss my exit and have to back track a bit. Good thing I have GPS, because I have zero sense of direction!
My poor Erin is sick with a bad cold. I made chicken soup today, which turned out pretty good. So good, I was eating it when it was boiling lava hot and singed my tongue. Awesome. Hopefully Erin gets better quick! It is no fun being sick (or having a sick wife!).
The rest of the weekend will be me reading over more material to prep for what I hope to be my best and favorite semester: pediatrics and OB!! Watching some of the videos has me so excited and anxious to learn more. Head to toe assessment of an infant and child; check! I hope my brain is like a sponge and soaks all this info in and I ace my exams and retain EVERYTHING!!!! I can't wait! Before either clinical experience, I have a strong feeling I will love OB and really want to go that route. I mean I love babies and I will love talking about all the beautiful things about all the new babies that I could see come into the world! To be apart of that special moment with families seems surreal. I want to be that nurse that moms and dads remember! A girl can dream, right!?
I have rambled on long enough. I guess it is time to finally put away all the Christmas decorations. I need the kitchen table back for my desk!
Here is to a great semester, lots of learning, hopefully only happy tears, and good grades! Halfway done!!
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