Thursday, A Long Day

My day today began at 5:00am when I decided to hit the snooze button 7 times. I started getting ready at 5:28am and was out the door by on minute before 6. I was planning to stop by Dunkin' Donuts for a bagel but accidently took a really slow route (which I never ever take to get to work, boy I guess I was really tired!) and ended up just heading straight to 95S. Once I got to work, I finished taking my medications and headed out to wash my hands, under my fingernails, and up to my elbows. It's 7am.

Head into the nurse's station and print out the census. 31 patients. 14 empty bedspots.
Check the census to see who is receiving formula and who is receiving breastmilk. Go to bedspots of babies of whom we don't know which feeds they are receiving and figure it out/place breastfeeding info packets at the bedside. It's 7:20.

Check the emergency equiptment: 3 emergency bags, 3 crash carts, transport monitors are plugged in, transilluminators for IV access uses are plugged in, EKG machine is working and full of paper and electrodes, defibrillator is working and has pedi-pads, adult pads, gel, and paper. Sign my name, It's 7: 35.

Walk around to see if anyone needs help. Help take pictures of a baby, ones that look really nice. Our printer is broken. Head over the the NICU offices to put the pics on the computer but the printer paper doesn't work, too grainy; not as good as they should be for the parents. Go to Labor and Delivery to use their printer, pictures look nice. Receive info from the L&D nurse on professional photographers that give their time to capture last memories; God is good, I've been trying to think of ways to ensure beautiful pictures for families, and He layed out my day so that I could pass such info along to our nurses in the NICU. Place pictures in memory box. I've stopped looking at the time.

Notice a baby de-saturating, turns out she spit up, so I change her shirt and blankets while I talk with her. Run an IV through tubing. Start to make name tags for babies who don't have one yet. Almost lost my goldenrod color crayon, which is the perfect color for winnie the pooh and lions. Watch and listen as doctors make rounds. Go to the storage closet down the hall and get a pop-top isolette, grab an incubator, two IV poles, and set them up in empty bedspots 32 and 14. Grab some fruit from the cafeteria. It's 11am.

Grab the elevator key and run to open the elevator for a baby going to the OR. Help prepare a baby to go to MRI. Each of the 3 IV lines need extension tubing so the metal IV pole can be outside of the MRI room. Run down 3 floors to MRI to grab 9 packs of extention tubing, run back up to the floor and run the fluids through. Un-plug the baby's bed and IV pole, grab extra blankets and diapers, get suction tubing for the baby's breathing tube, get the emergency bag, call the nurse practitioner and let her know we are leaving for MRI. Help the nurse, Nurse Practitioner, and two Respiratory Therapists to MRI. It's 3:00.

Get back from MRI. Its 5:00.

Put 15 or so sets of vital signs in the computer; we took vital signs every 5 minutes while at the MRI procedure. It's 5:20.

Go to "lunch" break until 6.

Re-stock emergency bag with what was used at MRI; a 1mL syringe, a needle, and some syringe caps. Help by getting vitals on 2 babies. It's 6:55.

Go to my locker, head down the escalator. Go home. It's 7pm.

Get home at 8. Exhausted. Don't even feel like typing full sentences.

And Matt didn't save me any pizza for dinner. "Not a slice", he said.

That's ok, I can't have pizza anyway.