perfect + perfect = PERFECT!

This past weekend was my birthday as mentioned previously in my last entry. I had a wonderful day, made a little $ at a rummage sale, then grilled 2 perfect NY strip steaks and 2 bacon wrapped filet mignons on my birthday present... a new grill! The evening was spent with Justin, Aubrey and my mom/dad. PERFECT!

To make it even MORE perfect, my mom CLEANED my house! If you know me, I am a clean freak. But with the heavy load of school this semester, some things have to be left until after the semester...my floors and dusting were just a few to name. You know I'm swamped when I can just 'let' the cleaning go!

And to ADD to the above 2 perfects... my mom is staying down here with us until after my finals! To take care of Aubrey and the bare necessities that take up precious study time! What an amazing mom! What amazing parents I have!

reflection

3 weeks left of the semester and i'm done w/ school for the summer! So exciting, but it's crunch time! Time to omit my social life and buckle down for the home stretch! My parents are down this weekend. Grandpa is driving back to IN on Sunday and leaving Grandma to babysit Aubrey while I dig in the trenches for school. I'm so RELIEVED to have them here and to have her for the last few weeks! I'm so excited to one day be a nurse! Excited that I wish i didn't have another year of school, but scared to death I ONLY have one year of school!

Well, this Saturday is my birthday. Excited? Maybe, who doesn't like to be acknowledged at least once a year? One year shy of 30... people say turning 30 was the hardest year for them. Hm...I'm not sure I will feel the same. I think I will look back and reflect on ALL I have done in my 20's! I think the older you get, the more educated, dignified and classy you get! I think it's called 'being seasoned'. Because we should continuously learn, so each year, we know more than the year before, have experienced new and different experiences than in the past and get to deal with whatever life brings our way.

A gas grill is on my birthday list this year. Usually it's just a gift card for a massage or a salon. But this year, I want to be able to grill out!!! And not have to rely on Justin's charcoal grill he got free from the church campground that doesn't cook any type of food thoroughly, even after 30 minutes! :)

Reflecting on my upcoming birthday, I sat at my desk here in the nursing home tonight, observing couples where one partner lives here in the home and the other lives at 'their' home. The ones who struck me tonight were a couple who look fairly young, maybe 60 if that, I believe his wife has suffered a stroke. She understands what is going on and what you are saying, but she can't talk. She is in a wheel chair. Her husband is faithful to come everyday when he gets off of work. Today, I think was a hard day for him to handle. He brought her down to see the birds and look out the windows. He is a quiet man, but cordial. Probably works in a factory. I always tell visitors 'goodnight' or 'have a nice evening'. Tonight when I told him to 'have a nice evening', I didn't get a smile and a 'same to you'. His eyes looked sad, he just nodded and walked out. I thought 'how difficult a situation like that must be! what will it be like in 40 years? Will I be in a nursing home and Justin at our home or will it be the opposite? Please Lord, let it be the opposite!' But whatever situation it is, I hope we will always have the strong committment and dedication these husbands and wives have to whom ever is a resident in this nursing home!

randomness

Here it is again! Thursday! Time for me to blog... but I don't really know what to say! I guess i could just say a lot of randomness:

It's been a good week.
Nothing exciting happened on the Pediatric floor. And if it did, I missed it!!
I met with my instructor about needing motivation for the last 4 wks of the semester.
Motivation = NOT wanting to re-take this semester (a.k.a. May 15th, 2010 IS GRADUATION DAY!)
She told me I will make a great nurse!
The weather is beautiful today, sunny and 68, the heat is off at our house and windows OPEN!
I am wearing teal, spring green and strappy black dress sandals to celebrate the warmth!
My mom made it home safely from a wonderful week of staying with us.
I miss my mom & dad. But mom/dad will be back next week for my birthday.
My birthday wish = a gas grill!
I love my husband and little girl!

And that's that!

exhausted

It is day 4 of my mom being down here... and it is going by too extremely fast! The time she is spending with Aubrey is priceless! She keeps telling me that Aubrey is leaving her 'with so many wonderful memories'. I appreciate so much that she came to spend a week more less with Aubrey, b/c Justin and I certainly have not been around to be much company! I didn't realize until this week just HOW busy we REALLY are!! And to that I say 'I AM EXHAUSTED!' I am exhausted with laundry, dishes, picking up around the house, feeding animals, being mommy, being wife, being a nursing student! I just want one day to sleep! One day to not have to think about the hustle bustle of life! My header may read 'simply life' but what you don't read that is 'between the lines' is 'Simply CRAZY HECTIC BUSY Life'. And yet, I would be bored to tears if I didn't have all that I have on my plate. I keep telling myself, 'this too shall pass...it's only for a season!' I think I need to engrave it on my forehead!

This week I was on the Pediatric floor for clinicals. Not quite sure how I feel about being with sick little kiddos. I stand on neutral ground. I was so NERVOUS to do ANYTHING...and we're CHILDREN'S PASTORS, in charge of over 300 Nursery - 5th grade children at our church. I stand in front of the kids and teach lessons and act silly weekly...and yet I couldn't walk into a sick 2 week old babies room w/o my Instructor for the first time yesterday. Sick kids make me nervous! Maybe it's not the kids I'm afraid of, I think it's the parents. I am excited though to go back next week... maybe I can play some catch or blow a bunch of bubbles with a sweet child who needs to have a few minutes to NOT think about his or her exhaustive, hectic, sick schedule!

it could be worse

Well, here it is Thursday evening! Upon reflecting on my week, all I can see is SICKNESS! I've been so sick all week, head, nose, throat, congestion, stomach, grumpy intestines, no voice... you name it, I've had it! At least that's what it feels like! But my voice is slowly making a come back and I'm on the road to recovery! In the words of my mom ''it could be worse!''

I managed to survive my clinical day yesterday up on the Post Partum floor with all of the new mom's and babies. I have to say right now, if I HAD to choose somewhere to work as a Nurse, this might just be the highest ranking pick! I enjoyed the OR, but I am really enjoying taking care of the moms and babies. For some mom's just the most simple suggestion on how to hold the baby while she feeds him or her makes me the heroin! She acts as though I am a sight for sore eyes and just gave her the BEST advice she's ever heard in her life! I love taking care of them!
Next week I start my 4 week rotation on the Pediatric floor. I'm a little nervous, I don't know how I'll handle really sick little kiddos. My mom thinks I will do wonderfully because I am already in the 'kid' field at Church, plus she says I 'just have a way' with the kids. We'll see how much of a 'way' I have with them next week!

Speaking of my mom, she's coming to visit!!!! Sunday she will fly down to stay with us for the entire week. Sunday Aubrey and I will road trip to Kansas City to pick her up at the airport! I'm so excited. For future reference, in our house and our speech we refer to my parents as Grandma & Papa (what Aubrey calls him, still waiting on a creative name for Grandma from her) so I am not speaking of MY grandma/grandpa. Anyhow, we love it when Grandma & Papa visit. This time though, Papa has to stay home (don't start feeling bad for him, he lived down here the summer I had Aubrey, it was great! Now it's Grandma's turn) It's hard living 10 hours from home, especially the older I get and now that we have Aubrey, I just want to be closer to family. If only we could cut out our 6 acres and move it to Indiana on a spatula! Oh well, at least there are trains, planes and cars to get us to our loved ones! In the words of my mom '' it could be worse'' :)

heart ache

Here are a FEW of Aubrey's 18 month pictures. She is getting so big! I cannot believe how grown up she is. Time flies by... at every stage I want her to stay that age, but she continues to be more fun the older she becomes! Parenting is SUCH a heart ache!

By the way check out www.carterphotos.wordpress.com Sarah Carter is the one who did Aub's pictures, if you like them and want her to do some for you... let her know!

special delivery

The day I have been waiting for ALL semester... a clinical day spent in Labor & Delivery (L & D)!! Yesterday was it... 5:45 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. I shadowed two nurses and observed 3 deliveries and assisted in the measurements/care of one of the newborns! The first delivery was at 7:09a.m., they came into the hospital at 6:05 a.m. and baby girl was born at 7:09a.m.!! Mom was, in her husband's words 'Sheera'! She had no pain medicine until afterwards, wasn't enough time for it to take effect beforehand. All I heard out of her were a few grunts and a squeek. About 20 minutes of pushing, baby was here!

Now all semester every girl in the class has been concerned about the only GUY in our class rotating through L & D. He puts up w/ a lot from us in class, but a woman in labor? Him and I were in the first delivery yesterday morning and i'll have to say he did a GREAT job! He was really interested in helping take care of the baby, which is the 'Star' Nurses job. I placed him behind me against the wall, JUST in case he should pass out, the wall could catch him, and I wouldn't have to! I told him to 'watch his facial expressions'...i didn't want him making a 'grossed out' face so mom in labor could see! As the baby is coming, I look over and he's bent down trying to find a better view around the Dr so he can watch the birth! Then he was right up at the warming table with the star nurse taking care of the baby! He did wonderful! And later admitted he thought it was cool, but will stick to his original plans of becoming a Nurse Anesthesist and just give these ladies their epidural!

HE did fine....everything is over, Dr. is taking care of mom, nurse is taking care of baby, mom and dad are overjoyed, I have tears in my eyes b/c it is SUCH an amazing experience and priviledge to be in the delivery room! And then it hit me! All of the sudden my skin went ghost white, I felt like it was 100 degrees in the room, I was seeing stars, everything was looking darker and my legs were getting weak.... I was on the road to passing out! WHY? I HAVE NO IDEA! Nothing grossed me out, I kept moving my legs and didn't lock my knees....I just knew i HAD to get OUT OF THE ROOM! But how was I going to do that with weak legs...I don't know, I just DID! I slipped out quietly and made my way to the nurses desk and sat down, took some deep breaths, looked at the floor and kept telling myself 'DO NOT PASS OUT...DO NOT PASS OUT!!' I went and sat in the bathroom for a while and ran cold water over my hands/wrists. Once back out at the desk one of the other nurses saw me, my color being more white than a ghost, and took me back to get some orange juice and crackers. She asked me if I ate breakfast. What kind of a question is that?! OF COURSE I ATE BREAKFAST! I don't LEAVE the house w/o food! It had only been 2 1/2 hours since I ate, but she said that was just enough time for my blood sugar to start to drop. So my instructor found me and said that with some people, it just happens. Even though I wasn't conscioulsy thinking anything, chemically and subconsciously my body PROBABLY couldn't handle the situation of another human in so much pain.

Then I was just mad at myself! How rediculous is this?! A NURSE who ALMOST passes out....I can't be doing that?! So I made it a goal to observe as MANY deliveries as possible and overcome this crazy thing! And I watched 2 more births! NOT a problem with either of them! Watched the whole thing and felt fine!

The sight of a baby being born is unlike anything I've ever experienced! My baby being born was an amazing experience, she was a c-section, but it's different when you're JUST observing! I had tears in my eyes with each delivery, performed deep breathing techniques and even held my breath and 'pushed' when the mom's did! The human body is so intricate and detailed! God is AMAZING for creating us the way He did! How it all works blows my mind! As much as I liked being in L & D, I don't think I want to make it my occupation. I would rather work on the new mom and baby floor, after all of the most critical stuff is over! :) If someone asked me to be a part of her labor and delivery, I would be there in a HEART BEAT...but for it to be my profession, no thanks! Maybe at a later time.