Today

Today I had what is called "Clinical evaluation" where each student meets with their clinical teacher (the teacher who takes you to the hospital and is in charge of you while there, who makes sure you know how to take care of patients, quizzes you throughout the day on meds and other treatments, assesses your ability to perform tasks like shots, catheters, IV's etc). So we all meet with our teacher individually and discuss how our semester went. They can talk about the good things you do, but they can also talk about the bads :(
So my teacher says to me that I definitely do a great job with Women in labor/postpartum. She told me that she would love if I came back and did what is called "Leadership" where senior students spend 2 days leading the newer students. You can pick a field for leadership, so she said I was welcome to come back for that. She also said if I needed any kind of reference for a job to let her know.
I almost cried when she talked to me because she was so positive and said that I truly did well. I was so happy to hear that because Labor and Delivery is what I have wanted to do ever since I decided I want to be a nurse. If I can't start out in L&D I am fine with that, and if I find something else I truly love, then that will be great, but Hopefully L&D will turn out to be where I am and that I will truly love it.
Anyway, just thought I would share my happiness!!!:)

Just one of those days...

So I haven't updated you all in a long time. Mostly it is because most of my days are about the same. I haven't had anything too interesting to blog about.



UNTIL TODAY!





Now, let me give a little bit of a disclaimer, warning, red flag, what have you. This post will contain stuff about being in nursing school. This stuff is a little icky for some people. I have past the point of knowing what "TMI" is to normal people. I really don't know if anyone COULD tell me TMI these days. Ah, nursing students. Anyway, just beware and if you get to a point you can't continue, trust me I understand. Hopefully you can grin and bare it because, this post is all about my day, and it is a treat!!!!!









The day starts out at 0530 am. The alarm goes off, but C is feeling extra tired today. She hits the snooze button that she knows gives her another 7 mins. She drifts back to sleep, and at some point must have hit snooze again. She looks at the clock again and her eyes see 0545. Immediately she thinks it says 0645. (Now in her mind, C knows that she MUST be on the floor of the hospital BY 0700.) C jumps up and yells "OH CRAP" (let's just pretend that is what she really said)and scares her husband that something is really wrong. Flashes of no shower and running in the hospital fill her mind. After the strange, unexpected screams of C, her husband says "WHAT??? WHAT"S WRONG???" to which C answers automatically "I AM GOING TO BE LATE!!!!!!!!". C gets up and starts running, but passes a clock on the way and notices that it is only 0545 and that she has at least 45 mins before walking out the door is necessary. She takes a death breath, forgets about the drama, and goes on with her routine of "primping" to go to the hospital.



Fast forward to about 0830.



C has been assigned a patient that is in labor. This patient has had 2 previous babies which means, delivery is probably going to happen quickly. The 1 thing about this patient that is NOT looking good in C's position is that the patient does not speak a lick of English. "Great" she thinks... this will be interesting because C knows that her Spanish is about as good as her ability on the basketball court, which is: don't send me in when you need the ball to go in the hoop, thanks. So, C goes on with the labor and just smiles at the patient and hears the nurse say over and over "Muy Bien" (which luckily she knows this means the mommy is doing "very good"). So the patient needs help holding a leg. Well C loves when babies are born, so C grabs a leg with enthusiasm and adds a few "Muy Biens!!!" of her own! The Dr comes in, which means "We are about to see a baby folks!!" So, C holds a leg and watches as the beautiful baby comes out. NOW, usually C gets a little teary eyed because this mommy is about to see her baby she has carried to 9 full months in her belly. As the baby's head comes out, something happens that no one expected, and no one would like to have happen. Out of nowhere, C catches a glimpse of amniotic fluid that "splashes" out (and we will just pretend that splashes is a good word to describe what really happened) and lands directly on C. On her arm, her shirt, and C can even feel a nice wet spot on her lower shin right near her ankle. At the same time as this lovely surprise happens, the baby "slips right out" (how you like that image???:) and is brought into the world. C missed the teary eyed moment, because she was focusing on the fact that out of the entire room, the fluid landed on her. The Nurse looks at C and says (gently but in a way that C knows it means "right now"), "You can go ahead a change". SO C makes her way to the locker room to change into another pair of green surgery scrubs that she truly appreciates being told to change into them every day at Labor and Delivery "because nurses tend to get a bit messy up here".



Fast forward to a little bit later, when C is clean and dry.

There is a patient on the floor that needs a "urgent C Section" which is not as serious as emergency, but it does mean "quickly". C is told she and her BFF can go in to watch the C Section. THIS IS GREAT!!! C gets to see a C Section and a V birth all in one day!!!!! C heads to the OR, dresses in the blue accessories (hat, booties, and mask) and heads on in to the OR. "WOOO HOOO" she thinks!!! C and her BFF get a get spot, right near the end on the table to see EVERYTHING that happens to get the baby out. Good right????? Maybe not.
The room is crowded and tiny. Not anything like those lucky Surgeons at Seattle Grace on her favorite show Gray's Anatomy".
The C sections begins. The first cut is made. C thinks "hmm..." But, she keeps watching. C is surprised to find out that there are alot of things she didn't know about C Sections, having never seen one before. There is a lot of cutting. Just to make sure no one passes out while reading this, we will stop at "LOTS OF CUTTING PEOPLE!" So the cutting goes on, and on. and on. AND ON. C feels a little more strange with each cut. she thinks that she can handle this, they must be getting close to the baby. and on and on.. and on.. AND ON!!!! The cutting lasts for who knows how long, because C is starting to see stars. C is starting to feel a little nauseated, but she thinks, "I can make it through, the baby is almost out!!!" The surgeon (who might we mention, is a little "Under Experienced in C Sections") gets to the uterus. The uterus (a little educational moment now) is filled not only with a baby, but also that same substance C is quite familiar with Amniotic Fluid.) Well it turns out, that when you cut open something that is filled with fluid, allllllll that fluid will come out and spill all over everywhere. SO that is exactly what happens. At this point, C knows throwing up is not an option, and someone may need to catch the throw up, then C herself when she passes out, cold on the surgical tray with ALL the sterile tools for surgery. Thinking that this would NOT be the best option, C is able to say to her teacher and her BFF that "I NEED TO GO". So, the teacher grabs that student and escorts her gently from the room and helps C to take a seat. C already feels like a "big winner" for having to leave the C Section, but she sits on the seat and decides that if throwing up is in her future, she should probably move to a place that is designed for such purposes, i.e. a toilet. So she says to her teacher, "I think I may need to throw up." So, off C goes. People ask her in the hall if she is ok to which she mumbles something about "first time seeing a c section......" and makes it to the locker room she had earlier visited, only this time for a different purpose. She finds a seat, and sits down to collect herself. After a few minutes, C is fine, No upchuck, and she is still conscious. Well at least she is not laying somewhere on the floor where a team would have to come to her rescue. She manages to get back out to the unit and finds her other classmates, and begins to tell about her day.


C feels like her day is done and that it is probably not one that she is too elated about. C looks at the clock and sees that it is around 0930am.

A little late...

Ok, so I am a little late on this... BUT it's still a good story, so I'll share it with you!!

Ok, so my husband and I got married on March 29th, 2003. So this year was 6 years for us. Our 2 kids are almost 3 (July) and 1 (May) plus I am in nursing school. Our life is soooo busy it is unreal.
My husband is an electrician. Lately he has been working at a hotel where they are renovating a ton. He has been there off and on for a year. He has made friends with all the staff. He has a key that goes to every room because he does so much work there, there is no point in issuing him a new one all the time!!! He really likes doing work there and he likes the people alot. But needless to say, we are both busy.

So our anniversary week was a normal week for us, busy. So I knew it was our anniversary, but we usually don't do too much... Maybe go out to eat or something like that. So on Monday, my husband told me he had something planned for Friday night. I was like, ok. In my mind I was thinking "Oh sure, we will have someone watch this kids and go to dinner." So he asked me a couple of days later "Where would you want to go if you could pick" and I said "Melting Pot". So he said that wasn't what he was expecting, but interesting. So on Thursday he told me we were going to Melting Pot. Well I've never been there, but if you know my husband, you will understand that Melting Pot isn't his cup of tea. He doesn't like cheese and for dessert, he wouldn't be dipping anything in chocolate especially the strawberries. SO on Friday I told him it was no big deal, we could just go somewhere else that night. SO we ended up going to PF Changs. Well PF Changs is right near the hotel he has been doing work at and he is always wanting to show off his work. Well I am not a huge fan of walking around and looking at things he has been working on, but I thought oh well it is our anniversary, so I will just go and be nice. So we got there and walked around. He wanted me to see the pool and the workout room because the workout room is awesome. They have TV's on all the equipment. So as we were walking down the hall to the pool, he said
"This room right here is the nicest one in the hotel apart from the presidential suite".
So when we walked back from the pool he said
"Well here, let me show you the room" and I said
"NO WE CAN'T JUST WALK IN THERE!!!"
There was a sign on the handle and he had been using his key to every door on the other doors, and I just KNEW someone was in the room. He was like
"Oh no, there isn't anyone in there, I checked" and I said
"NO YOU DIDN'T CHECK, WE WALKED STRAIGHT IN!!!" and he said
"Cathryn, there isn't anyone in here, I asked them"
"UM, WHEN DID YOU ASK??? DO NOT GO IN THERE" and he opened the door and I was totally picturing someone standing naked behind the door... lots of screaming, us running out of the hotel because they were pissed... etc. So he opens the door, and we went in and I was still saying stuff about how we weren't supposed to be in here, there was a sign on the door... blah blah blah and he said
"CATHRYN no one is in here because I reserved it!!!!!!!!" I was shocked!!! The first thing I said was
"What about the kids??????"
Turns out he had been planning it for over a month. His mom kept the kids for the night. It was AWESOME!!! I got to sleep in a huge comfy bed with no kids!!!!! I missed them, but it was nice for us to be away for a night. It was probably the best thing he has ever done for me. You know when you get a surprise, but you sorta have an idea that something is up? I had NO CLUE, I was so shocked, that made it even better!:)
So just wanted to share that story because I still think it was amazing!
I can't WAIT to go there again.... Hopefully we can get away sometime this summer for a weekend or something.
Anyway, we have been married for 6 years!!!!!!!!!!!!! AAHHH it is crazy!

Update on SCHOOL!

Ok, so I haven't talked about school in a while here, so here is the news!
I am now in "intermediate" Nursing classes. They all last about 7-8 weeks and there are 5 of them. I took my first one which was Behavioral Health which is basically mental health. It was awesome. I realllllly liked it. I had AMAZING teachers who I love DEARLY! They have been great to me. So supportive and helpful on more levels than class. I am so happy I had that class first because I am hoping it will help me in the future as a student and eventually a Nurse. I ended up with a B in the class, which I am more than stoked about. I am so happy I did not end up with a C in the class. Nursing school is sooooooo hard for me. I just don't always have the motivation to study because I am so tired. I want to just come home and see my beautiful babies. I want to have fun and not worry about grades. So, I have to FORCE myself to study and work on assignments. I can not wait for all this to be over and for me to be WORKING in the hospital.
So the class I am in now is a Adult Nursing class and it will be over in early May. It is waaaaay harder. I am going to be on a Cardiac floor in the hospital which will be hard but a great place to learn.
I still have another Adult nursing class left and a Pediatric Nursing class and this summer I have Maternity!!!!! I am SOOOOOO excited for maternity. That is what I reallllllly want to do. I could end up not liking it, but I really hope I love it like I think I will.
In the pediatric nursing class, some of the students end up on a Pediatric Cancer floor which will be incredibly sad, so I am not sure how I will do with that. I am terrified to do Peds because I have my own 2 kids and seeing sick kids will break my heart. Both Adult health Nursing classes are reallllllly hard, but I am hoping I can pull through and do well!!!
Sorry if this bored you, but if anyone is interested, now you know what my track is like ahead of me. I will update once this nursing class is over (if anyone is interested)!!!!!
BTW, I have not mentioned the gen ed classes I have been taking.. I have had an A&P 1 and I am currently in A&P 2. I also have had a Medical terminology, and now I am in Psych growth and development. I have a Microbiology class this summer, and an English class this fall!!!! Then in Spring of 10 I have the last nursing class, and graduate in MAY!!!!! WOOOO HOOOOO CAN"T WAIT!!!!!!!!!!

Small problem...

Readers BEWARE:

THIS POST IS ALLLLLL ABOUT POTTY TRAINING A 2 YEAR OLD. IT INVOLVES WORDS THAT MAY BE DISTURBING TO SOME. THE INFO IN THIS POST MAY MAKE SOME UNCOMFORTABLE. IF YOU HAVE ANY ISSUES WITH POTTY TALK, PLEASE SKIP THIS POST AND CHECK BACK LATER WHEN MY POSTS DON'T CONTAIN WORDS THAT HAVE TO DO WITH BODILY FUNCTIONS. THANK YOU AND PROCEED AT YOUR OWN RISK!!!!




I have a slight problem with the potty training....
My son gets grossed out very easily. I mean, all the time. When I suck out Lori's nose (you know, snot, cold, nose sucker... gross.. but still) he GAGs and almost throws up. Same thing when I change her diaper if there is poop, or if he even thinks there is poop in it. I usually have to yell "THERE'S NO POOP NOAH, IT'S JUST PEE" or "DON'T LOOK AT IT NOAH" (if there is poop). So now on to the potty training issues...
So on Monday, Noah pooped in the potty and when he looked in the toilet and saw it, he said "What is that???" and he looked scared. So I just said it's your poop, good job, blah blah blah, he got his treat, and we went on with the day!! So the next morning he pooped in the potty again, almost gagged when he saw it, but I distracted him and we moved on. WELL NOW he refuses to poop in the potty. Earlier I put him in underwear and he peed in them twice and I was out of underwear, so I put a pullup on him, and he POOPED right when I put it on him... I think it was about 3 minutes before he went!!! So I guess he is so totally grossed out, he refuses to look at it in the potty.
SOMEONE HELP ME!!!! My son is starting to refuse to go potty at all and I think this could go way bad. I just dont know what to do. Does anyone have any suggestions????

Accomplishments

YIPEE I am really happy right now.... Reasons will come shortly, first let me update.
This is spring break for me. I am in Nursing school, and I have a whole week off. During the last semester and a half, my life has been CRAZY!!! Noah is going to be 3 in July and Lori will be 1 in MAY (I CAN NOT BELIEVE IT). I am in 3 classes, 2 other than nursing. So when I am not at school, I am doing one of 3 things... Studying, Taking care of the family, or SLEEPING!!!!!!!!!!! Needless to say, my house has been a disaster area. I do not have the time or energy clean the house. We are lucky if we have clean laundry (well more like folded clean laundry... I do start loads and then just leave them in baskets because I don't have time to fold them...) and clean dishes. This would be the reason my dear friends haven't been invited to our house in so long!!!
Anyway, on to the happiness..
Bryant took off this whole week so he could stay home and help me clean up. We want to go through things and throw stuff away and put things away. Today we got our bedroom done and our front living room. We got everything so good, I was even able to eat dinner at my TABLE!!!!!!! WOOOOOOOOOHHHOOOOOOOO!!!!!:)
So yesterday, I decided that while I was out of school, we should potty train Noah. He started yesterday and has only peed a tiny bit in his pullups and has been peeing in the potty. Well today he POOPED in the POTTY!!!!! I am so happy. He is doing reallllllly good, so I hope this means he will continue to do well. He goes to preschool tomorrow, so I am not sure how that will go... But we will see!!!!!:)
Anyway, I am really pleased with my spring break so far!!! Alot ACCOMPLISHED!!!!

SNOW DAY!!!

So it snowed yesterday/all night... Which I am SOOO happy about! I had a test today in Psych that will now not be until 2 weeks from now, because next week is Spring Break!!! (We only meet on Mondays) I ALSO had a test that was supposed to be on Thursday but we were supposed to finish the material today. I am hoping that test will be postponed as well!!!:) Noah went outside and played, and we let his "friend" Sunny (our lab mix) play out side with him. It was so funny:)