babies being born

I am currently on my maternity rotation, which I was really excited for. It is so short (only 5 weeks), but so far I have already had a wealth of experiences. The whole rotation has such a different feel for it. After the med/surg rotation, dealing with people just getting out of surgery or with serious medical conditions, and then telemetry where I was in the Intermediate Surgical Intensive Care, and the Surgical intensive care. Here we dealt with people who suffered a severe trauma, which was pretty intense. My most memorable patient was one that was hit my a motorcycle. He was on a ventilator and was sedated on a propofol (diprovan) drip. Does this drug sound familiar to anyone?
Needless to say labor and delivery, and postpartum has a wonderfully different feel to it. There are still some disturbing aspects with how the hospital runs things, and I am continually reminded why I will not have my baby in a hospital setting. The nurses in this unit have been around for way too long. They say it is difficult to get a job in maternity because no one ever leaves it. Needless to say on two of the days we were there, it was very slow and the nurses spend the majority of their time at the nurses station gossiping, painting nails, reading magazines and eating cookies. Is it any wonder they are all overweight? They also spend a ridiculous amount of time making fun of their patients, I'm sure this is a coping mechanism, but come on.
My first day in L and D I observed a c-section. I did not know the patient but was able to go in and just watch the process. It was pretty fascinating to see the baby come out that way. Most fascinating of all was being able to see the entire uterus sitting outside this woman's body, whoa! She had her tubes tied afterward which involved tying a string around to ends of the fallopian tube and then cutting off the tube between the strings.
Later that day I saw another c-section. It was a patient I had been working with all day. She was a young mother (only 20) and was being induced because her baby was very small and not getting proper nutrients from the placenta. Inducing means they give you a drug to "ripen" your cervix and another drug to force contractions of the uterus. This patient received these medications early in the morning and was on a drip all day of oxytocin (which is the hormone that causes contractions). They continually increased the drip of oxytocin throughout the day saying that continued contractions would assist with dilating (the patient was only dilated 3cm). The problem with this is that when there is no recovery time from contractions the baby essentially has no period of recovery. When contractions occur the baby and umbilical cord are squeezed, and no nutrients (glucose) and oxygen are able to get through. This can put the baby in distress. The patient never dilated any further and eventually they called it and took her in for a c-section saying it was a "failed induction". Really? Imagine that. Ugh. The patient was very worried about the c-section thinking she might be able to feel something. I had her almost convinced that she would be able to breast feed, and now with the c-section I am quite sure she won't follow through, because it does make it a bit more difficult. The baby came out fine, and very healthy.
Yesterday I was able to follow a family through the entire birthing process. It was a young couple (both doctors) having their second child. The woman had an epidural, which had to be done twice. Ouch! She was able to get some pain relief from her contractions which is what she wanted. She did not receive any other medications, and once her cervix dilated 10cm she began to push through the contractions. I was surprised at what a huge role the nurse plays in this process. The doctor is in with other patients and does not come in until the head is crowning. I had one leg and the husband had the other. He counted loudly for her through the contractions while she was pushing. I began to see the baby's head, his hair was sticking out! Soon after the doctor came in and finished the process. It was so amazing! I cried along with the family. After the assessment of the baby the woman was able to breast feed immediately. I assisted them with moving up to the floor and thanked them for letting me be a part of their experience. It was truly amazing. I see why nurses never leave!
So the part I don't like, the nurses themselves who have been there too long and don't seem to care about what they are doing, the overuse of interventions, the lack of privacy and ability to make decisions (though you can make your own decisions, the nurse might get smug with you because she knows what's best), the ridiculous amount of c-sections.
I think this is a job I would love to do to get some experience and if I got brave enough, to go back to school for midwifery.
Right now I am thinking very seriously about travel nursing and hope that it is an option for me when I graduate.

Goodbye Vacation, Hello Madness

My two weeks went by way too fast. I am glad I chose to stay near home despite really wanting to get out of town and visit some friends and family.
Week one I enjoyed some serious me time. Spent a day shopping and getting a mani/pedi and haircut. I came home later and went out for a cup of coffee at my favorite new coffee shop down the street. I went to the beach two days in a row with my friend Sarah. She introduced me to boogie boarding. I cannot believe I have waited so long to take advantage of this fun. Got a tan and really enjoyed leisure time on the beach. Sarah is the best beach buddy. She packed us a lunch both days. Delicious veggie sandwiches, yogurt and fruit. She had beach chairs and boogie boards. It was the perfect setup. I still cheated and went for some mango water ice. The second day we couldn't resist the taco stop. There were definitely more days in there. I did something I enjoyed every day, though at the moment I can't think of what else I did.
This past week was a little lazier. I spent a few days kicking back in bed with netflix. Watched some good and some crappy movies, but enjoyed every minute of it. Then I headed to the shore with some of my friends. We spend 3 nights and 4 days. The first two were perfect. We played on boogie boards (thanks to the loan from Sarah), and laid in the sun reading trashy magazines. Casi and I woke up in the mornings to take walks and get coffee. We searched for shells and took pictures. I almost took home a hermit crab by mistake!

We got a bit of rain the next two days, but still managed to enjoy the beach time. Ate good dinners, had good drinks and good conversations.
Now it is back to school tomorrow. I spent today trying to get ready. Buying groceries for my breakfasts and lunches, getting my folders together. I printed the syllabus for the class and discovered I was supposed to have read 5 chapters for lab class tomorrow. What the heck! It is definitely back to the grind. Needless to say, I skimmed the chapters and will deal with the rest tomorrow. I miss my break already.

Birthday fun

Well, I turned 31! I know it's not that old, but the reality is that once you hit 30 people stop saying "Oh you look older than that" and start saying "wow, I would have never guessed you were that old. I think that actually started around 26. Needless to say here I am at 31, working on a bachelors degree (my second but still), and bouncing around from town to town. I would say it's actually a pretty good life :)

Jovan is finally learning about the importance of birthdays in my family. My mom always blew them up into big events and made us all feel very special. Jovan is fine with just ignoring his birthday all together. So over the last few years I've had to "train" him on how to get excited for my birthday. When I got home from school that day he had a chocolate cake waiting for me on the kitchen table! This year he planned a dinner at a traditional Moroccan restaurant called Marrakesh. They serve a 7 course traditional meal. We weren't sure when we first arrived if we were at the front door or the back. There were no people coming or going from the front door, and right down the street there were a lot of people standing outside another restuarant laughing and enjoying themselves so we figured that must be it. We were wrong. Actually it was the abandoned door, which was locked. You ring the doorbell and are escorted to your seat by a very nice gentlement. We went to a room filled with bench seating and small stools around a small circular table (knee high). Ordered a couple of drings and the food began. The seven courses is $25 per person which I found to be a very reasonable price. We had so much food, including honey lamb pieces and spicy chicken (I can't at all remember the real names). Jovan insisted on cleaning our shared plate so he was so full by the end that he could hardly move!
The next day we went to the Philadelphia Folk Festival for a full day of music. We saw the Decemberists and Iron and Wine, and many others. We had a wonderful day, and a little too much to drink :)
Here are some fun folks we saw at the folk festival.








Iron and Wine


and happy, drunk us :)

I am now on a 2 week break from school and have a long list of things I want to do while I'm on break. Meanwhile I sit here in bed on my first day off at 10:30am! That is actually on my list. Other things on my list include catching up on some movies (Harry Potter for starters!), Reading a book at the park, chilling pool side with a friend, a trip to the shore for a few days, laundry (booo), and being there for some old friends from Texas who are in town for medical reasons and dealing with a lot.

I'm just happy to have surived my first semester of Nursing School, and to be kicking back for a bit breathing in and out every once in a while.

Very Necessary Venting Session

This will likely be of no interest to anyone but myself, but I need a venting therapy session so here it goes.
Nursing school is less than a month away. I know that I will be in a whirlwind of classes and clinicals for a year and may not have any sort of personal life. I know that it will be difficult and stressful. That being said, knowing that does not mean I will not have the right to complain, moan and groan at necessary times. Though I also reserve the right to resume optimism and say that "everything is going to work out."
So you would think a 3 weeks before nursing school would be an exciting time and a good chance to let loose and relax. Uh, not so much. Right now I am finishing off the last two prerequisites which are Biochemistry and Microbiology. Yes, I saved the two hardest classes for last. To top it off, my Micro teacher is an evil woman who doesn't want anyone to succeed. We are in the last week of school (my final is Saturday) and we have 3 tests left to take. Yes, that's correct, 3! One is a take home which means that this week while I should be studying for my final, I will be working on this take home test, studying for Test 4 and studying for a cumulative final (with no study guide). "Just read over all your notes from the semester and you should do fine," says evil teacher who wants no one to succeed.
Meanwhile I have a test tomorrow in Biochem and a final in about a week. My biochem teacher thinks we are graduate students and need to memorize every last thing in the book. Therefor I am trying desperately the night before a test to memorize the Citric Acid Cycle and all it's components as well as Glycolysis and all it's components. This may not sound like much, but trust me it's rediculous.
As I am complaining about all this I am thinking, "just wait to you start Jefferson, this is nothing!"
Oh and I failed to mention that while I am busy freaking out about all these tests (and I just had one Saturday), my boyfriend is turning 30. Tomorrow is his actually birthday but I did not have any opportunity to plan something nice for him. We BBQd at his friends house and I bought some hamburger meat, etc, which was about all I had the energy to do. Tomorrow I will bake a cake and order pizza for dinner cause it's his favorite and I don't have the energy to cook anything.
I am also 2 weeks away from quitting my job! This is good news. The problem is that along side all the other stresses in my life I am meant to be catching up on all my paperwork. If it is not complete I will not get my PTO payout. I have no time to deal with actual students since I have to spend every working minute imputing case notes and other nonsense wastes of time. Meanwhile I know my coworkers would really like some help in dealing with the every day business in the office, not to mention the daily crises that come up with students. I am not a good coworker and have left all the decision making to them. My attitute about it right now is, you are going to have to figure out how to do it without me eventually.. might as well start now!
I am starting school in 3 weeks and haven't quite figured out how I'm going to pay for it. Surprised? I am still waiting to hear back about the private loan I applied for to supplement the other loan money I'm receiving. This is going to be one hell of an expensive year.
I think that's all the venting I have for today. I must go to bed so that I can wake up at an ungodly hour and try to study for biochem!

Blogging mobile?
This is a test. why would I want to blog from my mobile phone? Well the answer is simple. I am supposed to be studdying right now for a very difficult test and this has provided me with some quality avoidance time. This and looking up other possible apps I can download on my blackberry curve. **sigh**

Getting Back Out There

Looking back at my "racing" days in Seattle, I had no idea just how out of shape I have become since moving to Philly. It's amazing how quickly this can happen in the blink of an eye. I guess this blink lasted about 1 year. Everything about my lifestyle has changed since I moved to Philly. I went from walking 5 days a week at least 3 miles a day, running 3-4 days a week (training for a half marathon and getting in LOTS of miles a week), and spending most of my working hours on my feet running around in the shelter to driving the car to work and back, sitting behind a desk for at least 7 hours per day, and sitting in class for 10+ hours a week. I have a bike and did a lot of riding last semester, but I have given that up during the winter and thanks to my crazy school/work schedule which has me driving across town twice a week.

So I joined a gym. Despite having no extra time in my day to do much of anything, I am going to squeeze this into the schedule. It is a must! My goal: To lose about 10 lbs and get back into good "running" shape. This means I must give myself a strict schedule and find a way to stick to it. Right now the plan is to hit the gym daily for at least one hour. I started that process today and couldn't believe how winded I became on the treadmill! Little by little I am going to do this! I know I can, I have done it before. I deserve me time, and this is how I am going to get it!

Wish me luck.