Rats!

Was it Charles Schultz that said there is no reason to ever have to say anything other than "Rats!" when something bad happens in life? The quote goes something like that....

Let's apply this principle to my day:

5:17 am after deciding to sleep for another hour - "Rats! My phone alarm is going off again, I thought I set it to only go off once."
6:00 am - "No time for a shower this morning. Rats!"
7:20 am - "Rats! My car won't start, I wore out the battery.... RATS!"
8:40 am - "We can use our Bible for the Bible quiz? Rats! I don't have my Bible!"
10:00 am - "Rats! My Pharmacology test is in half an hour!"
10:30 am - "This test has nothing to do with what I studied. RATS! RATS! RATS!"

(current time) - "I got a 72% on the test."


"Rats!"

Mother Baby Week 2

Yesterday was my second of three 12 hour shifts on Mother Baby. I had "couplet" responsibilities, which meant I took care of both Mom and Baby. Last week I only had a Mom and helped with a new baby admission while I had some time.

I was again responsible for vital signs and a complete assessment of my Mom in the morning; this meant waltzing into a room and having, not just to wake up a sleeping new Mommy, but her husband, a brand spankin' new Daddy, as well. But I'm always pleasantly surprised at how well the new parents take to being woken up around 7:50 am. This is a good sign, because just wait till you get home, new parents!

This Mom was a C-section because of Failure to Progress, meaning that she didn't go into spontaneous labor on her own. She was 40 weeks and 3 days, so just past her due date. She was induced with Pitocin and taken to the OR. I think she was a section because the baby was 9 lbs. 12 oz.... but I don't know. I probablly should have. Since she was a section, she needed a second assessment in the afternoon in stead of just one in the morning. Between assessments I quick charted on her, which I think I've mentioned before?... it's basically just a quick check to ask about pain and make sure the patient is safe. I was able to give Mom some Motrin throughout the day for pain.

Her Baby was rolled from the nursery by the doctor before I could do an assessment and taken to Mom so Mom could try feeding. I wasn't able to do my first assessment until 10:00, and I did it in the room with Mom and Dad watching because I don't think they wanted her taken away to the nursery. You could tell they just wanted her to stay in the room so they could hold her and get to know her.

I felt the fontanels, or soft spots, listened to the heart, lungs, and belly, took her temperature, checked out the umbilical cord, felt the little soft tummy, noted that the baby was pink, checked her diaper (poor Dad found the "blow out" before I got to do the assessment, he was such a sport. He picked up the baby and I heard "Eeaaaa" (how do you spell that noise?) and he revieled a poopy finger), and noted a little Sacral Dimple at the bottom of her spine. I also cleaned the Dimple out, there were leftovers of the "blow out" in there. The doctor wanted to do an ultrasound later to check for any spinal cord abnormalities. I also checked the baby's muscle tone and movement (she moved just fine, so there probablly wasn't anything wrong with the spinal cord). And one perk of the job was that I got to pick up the little one. That's only everything I've been waiting for! It's fun to be the one to pick her up, wrap her in two blankets, and deliver her to Daddy's waiting arms. So cute. Baby got three full assessments during the day and at least 2 "quick charts". I got to give her Erythromycin gel in her eyes twice during the shift because she was having some yellow discharge.

Another great clinical day. One more to go, and clinicals are over until next year! That's the Senior year, by the way ;)

Happy Easter!

"And in case I don't see ya, good afternoon, good evening, and goodnight!"

Beautiful Creation

The best feeling comes after taking a nursing test. I step out of the classroom and I feel like Dorothy, coming out of her house after it landed in Munchkin Land (taking the test would be a twista! a twista!). It's like seeing color for the first time. Everything is beautiful. You see little munchkins sleeping in giant flowers, giant round lollipops, pink bubbles that turn into good witches from the North.

I drove home after my test on Wendesday (84%... good, Mom!) and started doing the mound of dishes flowing from our sink and countertops. But outside the window the sky was so blue, and the clouds seemed much more appealing than the bee I almost grabbed that was hiding on a dirty spoon.

As I was walking back inside, I stopped to take a few shots of some pretty flowers outside our house. The colors were amazing, and they were just beginning to open.

The next day, I had to run home before heading to the hospital to get my patient information because I had forgotten my lab coat. On my way back out to the Jeep, I noticed that the flowers had opened up completely, so I ran back in the house, and got my camera.

I was on my way out this afternoon to turn in an assignment for OB class when I noticed that it had rained. The flowers had closed back up, but still looked so pretty.

The little rain drops looked like bits of sugar, which may be why I'm so drawn to them. I miss surgar, but we have a love-hate relationship at the moment.

There's something about flowers. It's like they draw you close to them so you can appreciate their intricate beauty. You can't take a picture of a flower without making it a close-up!

Mother Baby

Yesterday was my first of three Mother Baby clinicals. For 3 consecutive Mondays, we spend a 12 hour shift taking care of both Mom's and Baby's needs.

Yesterday, I was only responsible for my Mom (next week I'll care for a baby, then the third week for both Mom and Baby). At 8am I took her vital signs, checked her belly, rated her pain, changed her sheets, and charted my assessment. This was her third baby, so she was pretty self-sufficient. I "Quick-Chart"ed on her (re-assess and document her: pain and where the pain is/how it feels, location in the room, what she is doing, who she is with, if her call bell is in reach, bed low position, IV site is working, ask if she needs anything to drink) every 2 hours and whenever I entered her room. Later in the afternoon, I checked her belly again.

Since my patient was doing just fine, I was able to help with the admission on a newborn. The Labor and Delivery floor was packed with 5 C-Sections, one of them being twins! We got a section baby and a few of us got to help our instructor assess the baby for admission. Since it was a section baby, her lungs were a little "juicy" because she wasn't squeezed coming out (like normal delivery babies are). She had a couple short periods of respiratory distress where she was grunting and flaring her nose, but she was okay. We listened to her heart and lungs, took her temperature, blood glucose, head circumference and length. We also had to rate her on the Dubowitz scale, which assesses her gestational age and neurological function: we look for her reaction to light and sound, movement and muscle tone, reflexes, and behavior. We could see how she sat in Mom's tummy; she was most comfortable on her back with the legs both to one side, right leg crossed over the left. She was such a lady. We had to re-take her vital signs every 30 minutes. A few of us got to bathe her, and I was able to measure her head and length, take her foot prints, give her a vitamin K shot in her leg, take a blood glucose, and put on her first little diaper.

All babies get a natural increase of Vitamin K on their 8th day of life. Vitamin K helps your blood to clot. Do you know what else happened on the 8th day of life in Biblical times? That's when the little boys would be circumcised. God made sure they would have a surge in the clotting factor for that day! I love learning little things like that.

All in all it was a fun clinical experience. It's neat to get the babies in the nursery fresh from a C-section, then have Mom rolled up to the window when she is out of the OR and see her expression as she looks at her new baby for the first time! I am looking forward to these next two Mondays!

Hopkins Update

So last night, I get another call from Johns Hopkins. Again, it was the NICU nurse manager that interviewed me for the CNA position. He called to say that, because of the economy, most of the floors in the hospital are having budget cuts and are therefore required to cut back on new hires. This wasn't too much of a surprise for me (except for the fact that I was already told that I got the job) because the floor that I was on last year isn't hiring any new people... at all.

This doesn't mean that I no longer have a job, but it does mean that I may be transferred to another floor that is able to hire more CNAs. Right now, they are going through all the applications of the people they have already hired (like me) and are going to pick 6 people to work during the summer in the NICU.

"So you're telling me there's a chance...?"

I'm guessing I will get a call later on in the week, or sometime next week, to let me know where I'll be this summer. It all depends on what the other applicants look like on paper, or whether they were previously employed by the NICU.

I'm okay with wherever I end up, as long as it's at Hopkins. I'll put my time in anywhere in the hospital, then work my way to where I want to be once I graduate.

I've nothing to say, except:

APRIL FOOLS!!!!!! HAAAA HA HA!

It's so literal! Has it ever been so literal?

Was that mean? I didn't mean for it to be mean. Matt once told me it was snowing outside on April 1st when I was little. Then he laughed at me. THAT was mean. But this?

The Lake House

Next year, 6 of us will be living in this house:

It's 10 minutes closer to campus than I am now! This is the living room, unfortunately the fire place doesn't work.

Here's the kitchen:

This is the hallway off the living room that leads down to three bedrooms and a bathroom. My bedroom is the door straight ahead, just slightly to the left.

It's pretty tiny, and I'm going to try to pull the carpet up and see if I can't store it downstairs, then put it back before we move out. It's really gross. But hey, it's my own room, right?

Here's the sunroom and the deck:

We will have access to the tennis court, "beach" area, and lake!

Here's the backyard and lake, just over the fence:

There are lots of gnats outside. I guess we'll need a couple of those blue light zapper thingys.

Here't the basement where we'll put the TV and games. This is where we'll all hang out.

And the laundry room/storage room:

That's it! It's pretty spacious, and I think it will look a little more "alive" once we all start to decorate it. It's hard to believe this will be the last place I stay in Lynchburg. I'll graduate from here!