Graduation & Jobs

Well, gang. I did it. I graduated. I finished my 5th and final semester of nursing school and while part of me is really, really, excited, the other part of me is terrified. Let me start off by saying I was inducted into Sigma Theta Tau, the international honor society of nursing, and graduated with a 3.6 GPA. I was in the top 30% of my class. That impresses me, because God knows I had to work really hard to keep my head above water. It didn’t seem like anyone else needed to work nearly that hard to pull off the same grades, but, dammit, I did.

My hard work paid off. The last few weeks of nursing school were filled with evenings receiving award after award, going to scholarship banquets, award ceremonies and just overall recognition for being awesome. Before you roll your eyes at my mightier-than-thouness, please understand I say this with a heavy dose of disdain. I have no idea what to do with all of these awards. Do I frame them and make a wall of awesome? Do I use them to roll sushi on the particularly tough Monday afternoons? Do I stare at them and wish I was still in nursing school because now I have no idea what to do with myself? I mean, seriously? What do I do with these?

I thought about putting them on my resume, but I can’t imagine what prospective employers would want to do with knowing I attended the National Student Nurses’ Association convention and learned how to apply for this very job. I mean…seriously (I have to say that so far every employer has loved that)?

As I look back on the final year of nursing school and reflect on each of the accomplishments for which I was awarded, I am reminded of really happy moments that I know I will miss in the near future. I will miss my cohort. I will miss my faculty. I will miss knowing exactly what was coming up next. Now that I’m finished, there aren’t words all over my calendar anymore. They have been replaced with TV shows. I had to find something to do. So, like a good nursing student, I started job hunting.

I began applying for jobs in the early part of the final semester and landed 2 amazing offers. Both before I had even graduated or taken the NCLEX. One offer is located in our local healthcare system and the other in a very well known and cutting edge facility that anybody would be CRAZY to say no to. That is…unless, of course, you are me. Guys, I think I’m going to be that one crazy son of a bitch that unlike any other able bodied and clever human being, decides to work at the local healthcare facility over the 100 best places to work facility. Here’s why I’m crazy:

Option A: Local healthcare facility. 5 minutes from my home. Easily $10K less than Option B per year. Smaller, home-feeling, facility with access to Labor and Delivery (YAY!). 15 minutes from my son’s school. Across the street from my husband’s job. Staff is known to me. Director loves me (and I love her). Flexible hours.

Option B: 100 Best Places to Work facility: 25 – 35 minutes from my home. $10K more than Option A per year. Big. No L&D. 45 – 55 minutes from my son’s school. Unknown staff. Excellent resume builder. Doing same thing I would be doing in Option A. Hours not flexible as Option A.

I am so seriously struggling with this. I have been agonizing over this. I have exactly 24 hours to give my answer and I still don’t know what my answer will be. I feel a tremendous since of loyalty to Option A. But I know, on paper, Option B is the more clever choice. I wish like hell I had someone else to make this decision for me. I wish I could say that I’m enjoying my time away from school but all I am doing right now is agonizing over this potential career changer.

So, I’ve promised myself I would come back here and not only update the world on where I am at now, but also remind myself why I became a nurse. I became a nurse because I was extremely inspired by my Labor and Delivery nurses, lactation nurses and the OR team that worked my c-sections. I fell in love with the OR on the way, because I love the atmosphere of the OR, but my first love will always be babies. There are absolutely 0 babies at Option B. Additionally, how much is my family worth to me? The time spent in traffic driving for an hour only to get home in just enough time to watch my son fall asleep may not be worth it. At least not at this point in his life while he is so small.

Also, let’s think about this. Have you read my About section? You know that part where I say I have been “doing the latter for over 12 years”? About that: the reason I was in business for over 12 years is because of the golden carrot. The golden carrot was the big wad of cash that was dangling in front of my face all of the time. That fat wad of cash (and knowing I was working for Fortune 100 company) kept me from exploring who I was and working within my passion. MONEY and STATUS kept me a prisoner for so long. And here it was again, dangling in front of my face as if God is challenging me to say “Are you sure?”. I thought I was, God. I thought I was sure. And then you put this opportunity in front of me that people fight over. YES! I am sure. But, am I stupid?

Sigh. The good news is that it has put me in a position to ask Option A if they can do anything to match Option B. As a new grad, I gather this is absolutely unheard of so I’m not expecting much, but my recruiter absolutely understood my predicament. It’s difficult to choose between what you want to do and what money is trying to force you to do. I didn’t come to nursing for money. I came to nursing because I wanted to love what I did. I wanted to love it. That’s why I’m here. If I don’t love it, then why do it? I made great money in business. Great money. But, it didn’t fulfill me in the least bit. I want to be fulfilled.

In other news, I should probably mention that I just received my testing eligibility from the Board of Nursing and am waiting patiently on the ATT from PearsonVue. That makes things feel awfully real! Oh! And my classmate and I were the speakers at our Pinning Ceremony. It was a hoot!!

Wish me luck tomorrow as I pray for guidance towards the correct path. I’m accepting all good juju!!

Wait…what???

 

My sweet dad told me yesterday that I was “smart enough to be a doctor if I wanted to”. How cute. He thinks that was a compliment. This nursing degree was, easily, the hardest thing I have ever done in my life. The brevity of information you’re expected to retain is overwhelming. The time I’ve spent away from my son is time I will never get back. The back to back 12 hour shifts that I’m not getting paid for is exhausting and in this program we do over 1000 hours of that. I reckon, yes, I’m smart enough to be a doctor but I would submit to you that maybe somewhere deep down doctors are smart enough to be nurses, too.

Shoes.

Ok. I admit it.

I totally followed the crowd. I bought the $137.00 pair of Dansko Professional XPs a month before I started nursing school (pictured at the top). I was excited. I had asked my nurse friends, and my bartending friends – both of whom spend a good bit of time on their dogs (feet). They raved about them; I’d even go as far as to say they idolized them. But me? I had no idea. My job required me to sit 7 hours of the day — something I could comfortably do in a 4-6″ pair of heels. This whole “comfy” shoes phenomenon was new to me. So, I did what any other n00b would do and I asked people “in the know”.

There is a certain…ok, I’m not going to sugar coat it, exaggeration of awesome in the fields where I sought my advice. Everyone works the “longest hours ever” with feet that hurt really really bad when you’re looking for advice on a good pair of shoes. So, I went with their advice — their tiny feet advice. I was getting advice from people who wear size 5 to size 7 shoes with perfect arches. Dudes, I wear damn near a size 11 and these shoes are heavy as hell. My feet are so narrow that my feet didn’t know what was going on – but you know what? I suffered through it. I suffered through it because these shoes were $137.00. I refused not to wear them. But now that I only have 2 months and 29 days (who’s counting) left, I have decided enough is enough. I’m actually doing 12 hour shifts now and my the health of my feet are important.

I have long been wearing compression stockings (shout out to TCS; cutest CSs ever!), so I didn’t need any help there. I decided to go on the hunt for some cooshy, light tennis shoes. And not expensive Nikes, just some $50 shoes. I found Skechers with memory foam inserts. Blessed be these shoes. I praise the shoe gods from whom all shoe blessings flow for these shoes. Stepping into them felt like stepping into a fluffly cloud full of awesome in comparison to the hard and unforgiving Danskos I had previously worn. I got sucker punched into buying arch inserts — I wore them and regretted it. I have flat feet – arch support just bruised my poor flat feet. I took those suckers out and just enjoyed the flat memory foam. I can’t believe it took this long for me to switch. If anybody wants some ridiculously overpriced Danskos, I have some for sale…ya know, for $100 that isn’t even worth it. Size 42!

-HN

Bringing it all to a close

The first month of the last semester of nursing school is almost over (You may have to read that three more times to understand what I just said). I did a great job on my Exit HESI, and thank goodness I did, because I studied so so so hard for that thing.

This, coupled with my nothing-lower-than-a-B grades mean I get to choose a specialty for my final clinical rotation. I chose Labor and Delivery as my first choice, and the OR as my second choice. Having already spent 3 months in the OR over the summer, I’d like to give another specialty a try to help make the decision much easier when I leave school and become a full fledged nurse.

Let’s talk about that for a minute. I feel absolutely and completely torn. What the hell kind of nurse do I want to be? I love Labor and Delivery, and I love the Operating Room. Do I have to know right now? What if I pick the wrong thing? What if they don’t like me? I’ll be 33 years old when I graduate – not exactly a spring chicken, but not even a toe in the grave just yet. Does that mean I’ll have less time to switch teams once I do choose what kind of nurse I want to be? All good questions, sure, but are they pointless? Considering the fact that the job chooses where we get to be, and not our preferences, I think it’s a little pointless to fret like I am. Is it indecision, or is it fear of the med-surg floor that I can’t get over. Nothing about me wants to be a medical surgical nurse. Nothing. I know that sounds ridiculously spoiled to you seasoned nurses who did your time in the trenches before rising to the glory that is your preferred specialty. I totally get it. I know.

I learned an awful lot about med-surg in our clinical rotations. You know, things like I don’t want to do this, and I don’t want to do that – and man are these nurses miserable or what, and nobody respects their nurse manager. The patients are so sad to be here and the nurses don’t want to be here either. Skill wise I learned a lot, too, but it was grossly over shadowed by the horrowed experience of all those around me – and their constant complaining that they hated their jobs.

I feel too old to be miserable. I’ve already done the misery – that’s what brought me to nursing. I don’t want to do it again. I have a young family and I want to add another member to that family; if I have to be away from them, I want to love what I do. What’s wrong with that? I can hear my seasoned nurse friends telling me that if I want to be a nurse, I have to have the skills and the only way to get the skills is to do med-surg…but I disagree. I disagree because I believe in change and evolution. I think a new era of nursing is arising and I think we are seeing people struggle in specialties as new grads, or new transitions, when previously, you came into a specialty an absolute badass — and we can’t handle that it isn’t true anymore. The fumbly nurses are not only in med-surg anymore — they’re coming into your specialties and by the time they’re done with that specialty, they are absolute specialized badasses. I totally get it, seasoned nurse. I get it. Why does this new grad get to waltz right into what took me years to accomplish — and then do it being paid leaps and bounds more than I ever had when I started. I get that. I have that same feeling sitting in class with accelerated nursing students who just 2 semesters ago I was helping to interview to determine if they would get in to our School of Nursing. It’s called hating. I have to call myself out on this pretty frequently. It’s tough. So, I get it.

Not quite sure what I’m going to do about your feelings towards what I want for my life, though. It will be hard to know you don’t like me or are unhappy with my decisions, but that’s just it. These are my decisions to do with my life. I am going to try my damndest not to disappoint you, though, seasoned nurses. I’m going to try my damndest!!!

In other news, I have been looking into Graduate Nurse residency programs here in town and some of them are absolutely amazing. They’re going to be great to get rid of that culture shock when people are going through the same thing as you just out of school. I’m praying I get one of the specialties I’ve requested. I have some certifications I’m working on and hoping to have done before I graduate to make me an even better candidate. At the end of the day though, I just want to be happy – with a handful of coworkers I can call my friends and mentors. Is that too much for a girl to ask?

 

New Year Reflections

Happiest of New Years, WordPress readers! I am so thrilled to announce that I am a Certified Lactation Counselor as of December 11th, 2015! I just found out this week and I couldn’t be more excited. What a great way to go into the 5th and final semester of nursing school.

But, I have to be honest. I ran into a little bit of a wonderful experience that has made me feel torn about what my 2016 future may hold.

You see, 2 months ago I sent an email to my Nurse Manager from my OR summer externship to check in — ya know, see how things are and let her know how I’m doing. No different to what I have been doing since I was in the externship. I loved my experience there. Everything about it – the people I worked with, the hours, the management. Sure, there were things that I would like to have seen improved morale wise, but improvement is an opportunity in my eyes. At any rate, we met over coffee (actually, she had tea) and chatted. And then, something amazingly unexpected happened; she told me she had put my name forward for one of the nurse residency programs here in the area for when I graduate. How exciting!!! I knew I had some soul searching to do…because the next few words that came out of her mouth had me thinking on my toes “I mean, that is, if you’re still interested?”

Sigh. Am I still interested? Of course I’m still interested! I LOVE the OR!!! …but, I also love Women’s Health — I just became a Lactation Counselor and have plans to pursue that. But hell, who says I can’t have both? I can very well have both. She just offered me a shoe-in for a nurse residency program that is highly competitive. A foot in the door – and not just any foot, but a foot in a specialty area that new grads don’t just walk right into at a hospital that everybody wishes they could call their nursey home. Am I interested? Hell yeah I’m interested. So — how did I answer her?

“Yes, of course!! That is wonderful. Thank you so much. What do I need to do?” That’s how I answered her. I, of course, told her that there were two things I was passionate about — The Operating Room, and Women’s Health. To my relief, she also loved Women’s Health and told me that whenever she had the chance to float to help out in another unit, she always chose women’s health. Ahh. A common ground. Listen, I’m no idiot. I recognize fully that I have a 3 year old who is about to start school soon. I recognize that my husband is broody and ready for another child – as am I. I fully recognize that the OR is going to have amazing hours, less weekends and less holidays – especially at this particular unit. And I recognize that nursing is a wonderful journey full of different paths that can be traversed at any given time.

This is not business.

This is not business.

I have to remember that nursing is NOT business. I don’t have to be an accountant, or a market researcher or a sales person. I get to be a nurse in a  wide variety of positions and specialties. I can switch and change my mind at any time and at 32 years old — I’m still relatively young and have another 30 years of work ahead of me.

I once met an OR nurse (DNP, CNOR at that) who was also…a Certified Lactation Educator. She did them both. I like that. I sat on a student panel to talk about my OR externship and expressed to the group of seasoned OR nurses that I went into nursing to become a Lactation Consultant…and I still want to achieve that dream. But, I’m in love with the OR and will find a way to marry them. An overwhelming supportive sigh of “awwww” came from these nurses who assured me I could do both. That was a great feeling.

Somehow, I’m going to pull off both of these things.

Watch this space.

In other news, the final semester starts next week. I’m ready to get this over with — I’m also not looking forward to all of the clinical hours and having my nose in a book again. On top of that, I have the final push of potty training my son, we’re down to one car, my husband is nursing a bum foot and I have to start registering L.D. for school. Another great reason to accept all the help a resilient nurse manager is offering me. I have plenty to think about!!

What is in your 2016 plan?

 

 

Labor and Deliver Me

Guys. I found my happy place. I mean, c’mon. We all knew where it was but I am so happy that I actually found it: Labor & Delivery. So, we all know I am in love with the Operating Room. That hasn’t changed. I LOVE the OR. Even more exciting than the OR is being able to have some serious autonomy in labor and delivery. But, you know what’s so beautiful? L&D has it all. An OR, autonomy and sweet little babies. My job would require me to read strips, make some serious judgment calls, prevent hemorrhages and recognize emergent situations way before the doctor is even on site. That is some serious autonomy. It doesn’t hurt that the end result is a beautiful brand new life. I love that.

Bonus? I get to teach. I get to teach Childbirth Classes, sibling classes, breastfeeding classes. So many great great classes. I love that, too. Now, every amazing thing comes with a downside, and I’ve seen this downside more than my fair share of times…circumcisions. I am not against circumcisions. I’m not particularly for them either. This is truly an area where it is totally up to mom & partner to decide the best for their family. HOWEVER, I AM A FIRM BELIEVER IN ANESTHESIA AND A DAMN GOOD SURGEON. I cannot stress enough to you parents out there to make sure you understand that local anesthesia is NOT a given in circumcisions. Don’t send your little dude back there without knowing anesthesia use of your surgeon. There is no worse sound on the planet than hearing a newborn scream. Nothing worse. While that makes me want to vomit in my mouth, it has also strengthened in me my first resolve as a nurse –advocate for the tiniest of patients by making sure parents are well informed about what happens to their children when they are ushered away.

Now that that is out of the way — let’s get down to how in the hell I’m going to get on an L&D floor as a new grad. It’s damn near impossible. I am hoping to make moves that will make it not so impossible, but…I appreciate that it is damn near impossible. To be in the recovery room and circulate through the OR, you need to be ACLS certified — OK, check. I will have that on November 30th!

To teach childbirth classes, you better know a thing or two about breastfeeding – CHECK, I will have my Certified Lactation Counselor credential on December 11th.

I joined the Association of Women’s Health, Obstetrical and Neonatal Nurses, but I’m having trouble finding the active chapter here at home. I will have to keep searching for them because they have to be out there somewhere!

I am also going to look into a STABLE certification, a NRP certification and take a Fetal Heart Monitoring class as well. Basically, I am doing everything in my power to become an amazing candidate right out of the gate. I am pray it all works out and hoping I can really make a difference in the lives of others the way that differences were made in my young family’s life.

Wish me luck!

 

3rd Semester – IN THE BAG!

3rd Semester of nursing school is complete! I did it. I have to say that I am feeling more and more nursey every day. My clinicals are starting to make a little more sense, the drugs are starting to be remembered and at the same time I feel like I know nothing.

This semester I took Adult Health II (Med-Surg), Nursing Ethics, Nursing Science II and Perioperative Nursing. I got 3 As and 1 B. Unfortunately, the B was in a 9 credit hour class, so my poor GPA has fallen to a 3.28 from a 3.5. I am super bummed about that. I was so close. At any rate, I have to somehow pull 3 As out of my ass for next semester in order to be a 3.5 and achieve some dreams I have to be inducted into Sigma Theta Tau and also be a good contender for graduate school.

It’s funny. I came into nursing school wanting to be a lactation consultant. Part of me still wants to do that. But, the other part of me has truly enjoyed perioperative nursing and even more so loved cardiovascular surgery. I witnessed a nurse practitioner assisting in cardiac surgery and I thought – wow, I really want to be here. Really really bad. So, I called up UAB who has an NP-RNFA program. The catch? I would become an Acute Care Nurse Practitioner – Registered Nurse First Assist. Wow. Talk about specialized!! I’m not sure what all that exactly entails, but I know that the acceptance is closer to a 3.5 so, yet another reason I need to keep my 3.5 GPA.But, hey, I passed my Adult Health HESI!!

So? How did it go this go-round? I made a pact with myself not to stress. Not to let stress get to me the way I did last semester. While this semester saw me a lot more relaxed, a lot more calm and a lot less worried about everything. I did run into some hurdles. First, Little L was sicker than he has ever been before. Fevers, the flu, and 2 staples in the back of his head. My poor little guy couldn’t catch a break. My husband found a way to pay over 800 hours worth of video games which was very difficult to swallow when I had just come home from work, school and picking up my son. He quit school in favor of work which is never good. Sigh. I didn’t have as many “friends” this semester as I have had in the past – both in and out of school. The folks I had had clinical with for a while were in different sites so we didn’t see much of each other. We made up for it in the end, though. School wise? I was very very busy. I sat on the board for the Student Nurses Association, went to 3 conferences – 2 student and 1 professional. I joined both the AORN and AACN (perioperative and critical care) and I’ve made contacts all throughout the professional team.

Today, I can’t believe I am 4th semester nursing student but I am ready! I get to work with children (i’m terrified – don’t wanna see sick babies) and in OB next semester. It will be nice to see if I can truly handle it or not. We shall see.Oh, about those interviews, I got the externship at the hospital closest to my house! It’s one of the city’s newer hospitals and I am absolutely thrilled to be working there this summer. As I went for my pre-employment screening, I also scored a contact to get some IV and sticking practice in the outpatient screening center. They do X-Rays and phlebotomy there so it would be a kickass place to get some practice. I want to be REALLY REALLY good at sticking people, as terrible as that sounds.

At any rate – I’m looking forward to being active in AORN, AACN and my final year of SNA. I am planning to pump out 4 As next semester and get that 3.5 I need to be a contender for both Sigma Theta Tau and grad school. I’m planning some fun little jaunts with my little family to get back in the normal swing of things. Everyone keep their fingers crossed for me!!!

An interview!

Right?!

Well guys…I am almost 2 months into my 3rd semester and, well, what can I say? Shit’s getting real. Forgive my french, but it is. In only 2 semesters, I will be expected to know everything I should know and they’ll give me a license if I pass a test. What the?

To soften the blow, I’ve taken a perioperative elective and as a result have applied to 2 perioperative externships. Good news is I got both interviews! Bad news is I have no clue which one to pick. At any rate, I am going to the first interview tomorrow. I’ve picked up my suit jacket and heels. I’ve straightened my hair because for some reason I get more jobs with straight hair than my naturally curly hair ::side eye, America::.

As far as school goes, my 3rd Semester so far has been my most relaxed (in stress terms). My family life is less stressful because I’m less stressed. I went into this semester promising myself that I would not stress about school or my family life. I would always put Loxley first, I would fit school in where I could and must and I would have a plan b, c, and d and MOST importantly, a study plan. My grades have tremendously improved (not that they were bad before). I am cookin’. My son is doing great in school and other than normal freak mom out ailments, he has been relatively healthy. My husband has a new job he loves, but still obsesses over video games. So when I’m not looking at the back of his head as he goes to work, I’m still looking at it because all he does when he’s home is play video games. But, it’s not a strip club, so I suppose I’m happy.

I’m just taking life as is and that’s working for me. My work life would otherwise be stressful if I hadn’t decided not to let it bother me. I was rated the worst I have ever been rated in my entire life in the 12 years I have been there at my end-year performance review. And it was for reasons that weren’t my fault – I was just an easy scapegoat because a) I’m not a manager b) i’m not a financier and c) I work casual part-time. All really good ways to put me down. I’d truthfully be crying right now if I didn’t already have my plan B and C in place.

I am doing an awful lot. I’m working, I’m in school full-time in a degree program where a test average less than 73 kicks you out of school, I’m the primary caregiver of my 2.5 year old son, I’m the Chair of a Student Organization for Nursing Students (likely to become award winning at that!) and I’ve just taken up an intramural sport with my fellow classmates. In short, I’m crazy. But, I’m happy. I still manage to steal little kisses from my sweet boy and take quick jaunts to Disney. I manage to do things that make me happy and in only 2 short days I’ll be 32 years old.

That brings me to my next point…how I’m treated in clinicals. You know, I feel sorry for you 20 – 24 year olds. The way some of these kids treat me at clinical is…embarrassing. And I think if I were a young adult I would be so upset. But at 32 years old, they don’t phase me. When they find out that I’m a married mother and 32 years old at that…their jaws hit the floor and I’m automatically treated with so much more respect. It’s incredible. This whole nurses eat their young is one thing…but I wonder if it’s for the young only. I’ve seen and done far too much to be eaten in only one bite. It would take a good amount of chewing for me to be eaten, and so much more for me to even care about someone else’s bad attitude. I know I look young, especially in my scrubs with my hair pulled back and barely any make-up on. I’ve always looked young. But damn the way you are TREATED when you look young!!! It’s terrible. I’m used as a PCT all the time in clinical. Nurses are always trying to get rid of their students despite the fact that you’re supposed to be watering your little baby nurse to help him/her grow. C’mon man!!

This totally became a rant. I must have needed it 🙂

See y’all on the flip side!

I survived 2nd Semester!

I’m going to be 100% honest with you, here.

I have no idea how I did it. I have absolutely no earthly idea how I passed 2nd Semester. It was hell. Complete and utter hell. Lectures were one thing while tests…well, tests were something entirely different. I had teachers that had no idea what they were teaching us and clinical sites that made me wonder why the hell I started pursuing this field in the first place.

But you know what? I did it. I survived it. I didn’t make my straight As like I wanted to…but I didn’t make any Cs either. What’s super hard to accept as a nursing student is anything lower than an A. That’s because, unless you paid for your seat in your school of choice, you competed to get here got dammit, and that means you had good grades. Nursing school has a way of making sure that you forget exactly where you came from. They are here to humble you, because I’m telling you I have no idea how in anybody’s name you’re supposed to learn every single thing they throw at you, and go out there and save lives within a year’s time.

I digress.

The end-of-semester tests (HESIs) show me that my efforts were not in vein. Somehow, I retained something because i’m passing those HESIs which are meant to prepare you for the NCLEX. I suppose that’s a good thing.

Now that 3rd semester has started and I only have 2 semesters left after this one…I’m feeling pretty good. Afterall, I get to do more in the OR this semester, and next semester is all about mommies and babies! You know I’m excited about that!

I’m certainly not the bright-eyed bushy-tailed excited pre-nursing student that I was last year. No. I know what I’m in for now and I actually shed a tear before this semester started.

Let’s do this!

I survived 1st Semester Nursing School

 

Well, well, well…I prefer to make it a habit to update my blogs at least once a month, if not once a week. Yeah, none of that in nursing school. I believe the last time I updated I was excitedly telling you all about my new gadgets and gizmos of plenty as I prepared to embark on my nursing school journey. What I didn’t tell you is that it is the hardest damn journey that ever was. Nursing school is one of those things that just…isn’t easy. You are ramsacked with an unfathomable amount of information, tested on it constantly and then bamboozled into thinking you might actually be a good nurse someday who remembers all of this. HAHAHAHAAHAHA. Not true.

But, I would never trade the experience for the world. I have learned more in the past 3 months than I knew possible. My son had a successful, albeit sickly, transition from the home to daycare and he is thriving there. My mommy guilt that I was certain I would experience only came once when he was the last child picked up because a class ran longer than I expected. Otherwise, he has made it easy on the whole family. Love that kid.

I took 5 classes last semester: Family and Community Nursing, Health Assessment, Nursing Competencies, Clinical Nursing Practice, and Socialization to Professional Nursing; wrote 1 paper, took probably 50 tests, 4 or 5 walkthroughs and 2 HESIs. Who knew you could accomplish so much in only 12 weeks? But, I did. And I did it with a 3 As, 1 B and 1 P (pass).

When I look back at the semester I can’t believe how fast it went. I’ve started some extremely value friendships, made some pretty impressive professional connections and most importantly, I’ve found a career space where I truly belong. I get to hold hands with people for a living. I get to take care of someone for a living who wants my help. That means so much to me personally and to my soul.

The fact that I’m working while I’m in school gives me perspective that I’m finding is completely invaluable. There is a distinct difference in sitting in an office 9 – 5 crunching numbers for a boss who says things to you like “because you worked so hard, I was able to spend time out on the boat with my family”. Um, where do they do that at? Where do they tell people thank you for not spending time with your family so I could spend time with mine? Yeah, I’m in the wrong business.

On the other hand, I’m being thanked for bringing a coffee, or bringing pain relief, or just holding a hand or rubbing a back.

Nursing school is hard, but it is worth every single blood drop, sweat drop and tear drop.