Okay, well today was my "official" first day on the job in OB. Like I said in my previous post - HOLY HANNAH!!! Although I haven't taken my RN boards yet, I do have my temporary license and can work as an RN . I must admit it's a little scary... Although I am still orienting (especially in Labor and Delivery), I do everything an RN can do and am signing everything "S. Wolf RN". As one of my fellow nursing students said, "I'm just used to always being the 'nursing student' and that the other nurse was ultimately responsible, so if there were any discrepancies I was ok, you know?". I'm fairly confident about working in Postpartum but there is SO much to learn in L&D. Things can go bad fast and there are so many nuances about the doctor's preferences that you have to learn... And not only are you responsible for baby's outcome but for mom's as well. I'm working again tomorrow - hopefully I will learn more every shift. The nurse that I worked with today has been an OB nurse for one year and still feels like she isn't as confident as she would like in a lot of things. I found that at 31 weeks pregnant, I certainly am getting more tired than working 12-hour shifts not pregnant. Plus, I don't sleep at night so that just makes it worse.
For those of you wondering, I have talked to my mom in Alaska every couple of days. They are working 12-14 hour days and are exhausted. My mom and dad usually work in different offices so they have usually only been seeing each other before work and late after work. Mom's hand is hurting - probably from using it too much. She sounds really tired - especially of having the cast on and not sleeping. We miss them so much and really worry about them working so hard...
If you know Steve and Andrea, you might know that Andrea's best friend's baby has been at PCMC in the PICU for over a week now with Pneumoccocal Meningitis. He has really had a rough go of it and I know that he and their family could really use any thoughts and prayers. Here's their blog... http://www.charliecooperjackjack.blogspot.com/
I'm going to post some pictures tomorrow. Better get some sleep and get ready for a long day again tomorrow.
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