I swear I'm still alive

As it turns out, my free time (and, thus, blog-writing time) has taken a hit these past two months due to the following combination of factors: working full-time, going to school full-time, getting married in less than two months, and going house-hunting.

I still love work. I've become more independent these past two months. Lately, my major goals have been to do as many labor checks and triage assignments possible, since that's the majority of cases we see on night shift. It looks like I'll make the switch from days to night shift sometime around the 28th of this month. Then I'll have a couple of weeks to orient on the mother-baby unit, and then they're releasing me on my own.

How scary is that?!?

A huge compliment

One of my patients asked me what my married name will be so that she can request me to be her labor and delivery nurse when she has her future babies.

It makes me feel like I'm doing something right. I absolutely love my job.

So. Tired.

My poor little blog has been quite neglected for the past month.   

Between school, my RN residency, orienting to my unit, wedding planning, and trying find time for the rest of my life... I'm exhausted!  

It's one step forward

One and a half steps back. At least in terms of my technical skills. Take, for example, cervical checks. For every elusive cervix I find, there's one check that I'm not sure about. And those gosh-darn IV starts. Let's just say after having four days off, I've been a bit off my IV game.

Things are still going well, though. I find myself spending much more time with my patients in their rooms. It seems like many of the more experienced nurses think it's because my patients are needy, but I get such joy from answering my patient's questions and helping them try different labor positions. 

I've had a couple of kind of scary delivery moments that made me very thankful that I am still orienting to the unit. Each day, though, I strive to be more independent than the day before. My preceptor says I'm doing a great work. I'm just trying to keep it up!

I have officially been baptized

in amniotic fluid.

I consider this a labor and delivery rite of passage.

In other news, I am much more confident in my ability to find the elusive cervix in the early stages of dilation. Effacement (thickness) and station (how high -- or low -- the baby's head is in the mom's pelvis) are coming along nicely, too.

Now if I could just master the consistent IV start and the best way to communicate with physicians, I'll be set!

I can't believe I get paid to do this

Seriously, it boggles the mind.

I love it. Love love love love it. In fact, I will probably be so sad when I transfer to the mother-baby unit. Or, maybe I'll appreciate the break from the excitement of L & D. Either way, it sounds like I'll have plenty of opportunity to float between the two units.

Everything is different from the hospital I was at this summer, but the nurses are supportive and seem to genuinely operate as a team. My preceptor is wonderful, with many years of labor and delivery experience and a wicked sense of humor.

I'm happy that much of what I learned this summer is starting to come back to me. I have to brush up and practice my skills, but I have all the confidence in the world that those will improve over time.

And, I just got paid today and found out that even though I am working day shifts during my training, I still get paid my night shift differential. How sweet it is!

An Orientation Wrap Up

My orientation was cut a day short, thanks to this freak winter storm weather we've been having. I haven't had much trouble commuting to work, although I have to drive much more slowly thanks to the ice and snow.

Our little orientation session with the hospital's legal counsel scared the bejeebers out of me in terms of what types of documents can and can't be used in a court of law. (Diaries and, I'm assuming, personal blogs can.) I haven't shared shared any personal patient details from my clinical experiences so far, but I am going to be doubly sure to be careful now.

As for the rest of my orientation wrap-up, I have continued to enjoy being the sole RN in the group. I also got my work schedule for the next couple of weeks and had another little tour of the unit from the manager. I met my preceptor, whom my manager described as being "A tough girl. Good teacher" which kind of has me shaking my shiny new nursing boots.

It's unclear whether or not I'll be starting in labor and delivery or on the mother-baby unit. I guess I'll find that out Monday morning, weather permitting -- which I sincerely hope it does, because after only two days of this I already have cabin fever!