Lately: I have been sick with the crud (Yeah! Crud!) and I've been trying to rest up. I'm also working on my last minute assignments due at the end of the term for school.
Bear with me. I do have more post ideas coming up soon!
Working day shift this weekend. Am I crazy? Yes, I must be. I signed up for days for the weekend. What was I thinking?
It's crazy busy, as usual.
I had a nice first time momma give birth to a hefty size boy yesterday. She only pushed for 30 minutes! Excellent job!!
I'm going to end it at that, so as not to drag the negativity from the day into this post. I'll save the confrontations and issues for another post, another day.
Here's to beautiful births!!!!
I survived my first time officially in "Charge"! What started out as just the first four hours of the shift, ended up being the full eight hour shift in charge. It just made more sense when the 7pm nurse came on, and things were still so insane.
Yes, our Thanksgiving was a very busy and full time on L&D this year. It usually is, for some reason!
Evening shift, which is usually staffed with 9-10 nurses, had only 7 nurses scheduled - including me, the brand new charge nurse. The unit was full. We had 3 patients that would need to be one-to-one with a nurse right from the start. That left 9 other patients to be divided up between 4 nurses (including yours truly - the charge nurse almost always takes an assignment on my unit). One nurse, unfortunately, needed to take 3 patients. The off-going charge nurse helped me determine how to make assignments...........then I was on my own.
Patients came in. We got a transfer. Very few were sent home. I called in the on-call manager and gave her the transfer. We did a c/section right at the midpoint of the shift. Through it all, I managed to juggle it. I even got several nurses to get their dinner breaks before the middle of the shift!
Another c/section was called just before 11pm, and I figured out the staffing for that as well.
All in all, it went well. I was very open to suggestions from other nurses as to how to best divide up assignments and switch things around as we had acuity level changes. Some patients that were "easier" assignments became one-to-one for nursing care, and everyone managed to help each other. I ended up taking 2 "easy" stable pre-viable preterm patients, as well as being the 2nd RN at 2 births, helping with patient checks, starting an IV, drawing some labs............
Holy crap. It was busy. Of course, now that I successfully managed to coordinate everything for a full eight hour shift, I'm going to be assigned as a charge nurse again in the future. I proved myself more than capable......with no training or orientation on how to do it.
I'm off to go finish cooking my Thanksgiving turkey dinner today. I think it's well deserved!
Guess who is going to be taking the charge nurse role in just a few days? Guess who has never done charge nurse before?
No orientation. No training. Just - "you're the most senior nurse that day, would you like to take charge?"
It's now or never folks. I accepted.
Perinatal Care Outcomes
I'm actually happy to see the Joint Commission put out these Perinatal Performance quality measures.
- Elective delivery
- Cesarean section
- Antenatal steroids
- Health care-associated blood stream infections in newborns
- Exclusive breast milk feeding
Go ahead and read through the data that they will be collecting, starting in April 2010. No doubt that this *should* help change some practices that occur in hospitals. Or else, the 'bad docs' will find ways to document around the items that will be collected. But note: they will also be looking at nursing documentation!
Yep, that's Mr. BadAss himself - Rusty - my four legged beast of a big baby. He was a little perturbed at my audacity to actually take his picture. Can you tell by his body language?
Ugh. So much for not counting calories. This is what I normally have (or the equivalent of) each day when I head in to work:
I either need to quit - cold turkey - the horror! Or switch to this instead:
I did a little teaser a while back about my first tattoo story. Well, here we go!
I have known for years that I have wanted to get a tattoo. But, what to get? Where to get it? Do I time it during a significant period in my life? All important questions.
I wanted a tattoo that had meaning. I wasn't going to get just any old tattoo, just to be "cool", you know!
It just so happened that my goal of a tattoo by my 30th birthday came and went. No tattoo.
35th birthday came and went. Still no tattoo.
What do you know? A tattoo party, hosted by one of the nurses was in the works. The perfect time! I'd have moral support for the pain, it would be a party-type atmosphere, and it was a very reputable tattoo store with great, experienced artists.
I was ready! Time to tattoo!
But, the design? What to get? It had to have meaning..........
After much soul searching, and picture searching, I found what I wanted. I tossed several ideas around in my head, but somehow, this one was perfect.
A lotus flower - symbolic of rebirth
A butterfly - also symbolic of rebirth.
Rebirth - my life is changing, from being the experienced L&D nurse, working towards my goal of being a nurse-midwife. Rebirth. Yeah, that fits!
Colors? My favorite two: purple and pink.
The site? My right lower calf. Easy to show off when I want to, or cover it up when I need to.
The finished work:
The pain wasn't that bad, to be honest. It burned, but that was it. It itched like crazy during the 2nd week, when it was scabbing and peeling. But now? It feels fine!
(And no, there was no alcohol involved until after the tattoo was done.)
After a rather slow weekend, then a crazy week, I am glad to be off of work for 3 days. Well, that really includes today, which is almost over.
Got a good workout in today: 30 minutes on the treadmill (varying speeds and inclines), followed by 25 minutes on the exercise bike. I wish the bikes had better cushions for my sore behind though!
I've put on a few pounds lately. I'm now range from 154-157 lbs. My goal weight was to try and stay as close to 150 as possible. My pants are getting a little snug again. Not good! Fear of regaining the weight after losing it has been a big concern of mine. When the weight started creeping back up a bit, I knew it was time to go back to the gym.
Yes, I am a very bad girl, and have not been going to the gym for the past several months. I wax and wane in my gym attendance. Some months I do great - going 2 to 3 times per week. Other times......nothing. Well. No more of that nothing. I went to the gym twice last week, and then only once this week. I plan on going back again tomorrow. My goal is 2-3 times per week, for about 45-60 minutes each time.
I've been sitting on my butt too much when I'm at home. Either I'm at the computer: playing games, working on school work, reading emails, reading the news. Or I'm sleeping. Or working. Yeah, that's about it for my life lately. Something tells me that this is the typical life of a grad student.
I am happy - no, ecstatic - to announce that we have had not just one, but several vaginal breech births on my unit in the last few weeks!! FINALLY!!! Doctors are opening up to the idea that offering a vaginal birth, in the case of a breech presentation, is a viable option. Yes, even on primips!
Unfortunately, I have yet to actually witness any vaginal breech births. Someday, with the way we are on the increase of vaginal breech births, I will get my wish to see one!
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