Back At Work

Well, I finished my first week back to work and am getting ready to start my second week on Thursday. My work week is Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights. I work twelve hour night shifts from 7:00 PM - 7:30 AM. I am fortunate that I have a career in which there is flexible scheduling that allows me to work only three days per week and still be considered a full time employee. There is a downside however, it is very difficult to work 36 (37.5) hours in three days.

My first night was exhausting, though not TOO busy. I worked in the NICU and had two babies who thought that they were feeling much better, thank you, and they needed to scream all night long. The poor nurse whose babies were next to mine just kept helping me go put pacifiers in mouths and turning the babies, etc. One of my babies wasn't allowed to eat at all, and she was VERY unhappy about that, and didn't care that I can't override the doc's decision on the matter. The other baby could eat an ounce and a half every three hours, but he preferred to sleep when I put the bottle in his mouth. He then would get mad about an hour after he got his feeding through his tube because I wasn't feeding him. Newborns are hard to reason with. LOL!!!

I should be grateful that my first night wasn't too busy though as EVERYTHING changed while I was gone. Well, not everything, but close enough. The intranet site changed and I couldn't find the link to the program where we clock in at, thankfully a nice day shift nurse helped me out with that one. The admission database is now done on the computer, so I got to practice that on my second and third nights as those were the nights I got admissions. Our medication administration records are now computerized as well, so I had to remember to chart my medicines on the computer. None of the programs are complicated, it just took a while to figure out as I had my training on this back in August. The "go live" date for the new programs in the hospital was 11/2, I went into early labor on Halloween, so I missed all the excitement, but I also had almost six months go by from when I last used the programs.

Being a nurse is one thing, I didn't forget how to do that while I was out, but when there are MAJOR changes during that time, it does make for challenges upon my return. Thankfully they didn't change the IV pumps or the PCA pumps or any of the patient care equipment while I was gone :o)

I can say, I am glad to be back at work..........................I think. I do love my patients, and I had a great group this past weekend. The patients were great and their parents were too, which ALWAYS helps. I was also fortunate enough to work with sympathetic nurses who gave me the time and space I needed to work on getting a groove with all the new procedures. I only had a run in with the pharmacist, but he is a jerk to everyone, so I won't take that personally and the day shift charge nurse on Sunday morning. I don't know what her problem was, but she seemed to take the fact that they were short staffed out on me. I don't care though, I don't have to work on her floor for another few weeks, so she will be over whatever was bothering her by then.

Enough rambling for tonight.

One More Week

I went to my OB yesterday for my six week post-natal checkup and received a clean bill of health. He checked my abdomen and my incision and said all was well. He did NOT do a pap smear which did not hurt my feelings at all. I love my OB, he is a great guy. Now, since he didn't do a pap, I will have to see my primary care physician, but that is okay since I have a few other minor things I want to see her for as well.

I return to work one week from tonight, almost to the minute. As I look at the computer's clock it say it is 7:08 and my shift starts at 7:00, so it is almost exactly one week. I have to admit that I am well past ready to go back. If I had gone out on maternity leave when Sofia was born, I would still want more time, but since I went out over a month early, I am ready.

I work in the flex-pool, which means I work on almost every floor in the hospital, so I am assigned to the NICU my first night back. I am excited about this as the NICU is my favorite, but also because I know I won't overdo it with lifting or anything. No baby in the NICU is going to weigh anywhere near what my ox of a child weighs. She measured out in the 90-95% range for height and weight at her one month check-up, so those teeny-tiny babies will be a piece of cake.

Well, I have to go and fold laundry (exciting I know.) It is okay though as Olivia has her Season One Wonder Woman DVD in playing, so I can watch and fold at the same time. These are the WW2 episodes and we are working our way through the season. Olivia is very glad Santa brought these for her.

Law & Order

Since shortly before Christmas, I have been watching reruns of Law & Order: SVU and Law & Order: CI on USA. I have even caught a few new episodes on NBC of both shows. I never watched either show because I never liked the original Law & Order. I know this places me in a minority, but I just never enjoyed Law & Order. Now, I need to clarify that I really enjoy SVU and, though I will watch Criminal Intent occasionally, I don't like it as much as SVU.

One of the main things I like, that is important in any television show is chemistry amongst the cast. This is what I found missing with the original Law & Order, and my lack of interest in that show is why I never watched any of the spin-offs. The cast of SVU has tremendous chemistry, I really love Richard Belzer and Ice-T as Munch and Fin. I like the lead actors as well, but Munch and Fin are my favorites. Now, I understand that Richard Belzer has played John Munch on six different shows, including the original Law & Order, but I had never "met" the character before December.

As I said, I enjoy the show and the chemistry of the entire cast. Christopher Meloni, Mariska Hargitay, Dann Florek, Diane Neal, B.D. Wong, Tamara Tunie and the aforementioned Richard Belzer and Ice-T are a wonderful group of actors and I truly enjoy the show.

Enough rambling for tonight.

What's In A Name?

Just having had a baby, the thought of naming a child is still on my mind. It is an issue I feel strongly about as well. As a pediatric nurse, I come in contact with a significant number of children. Unfortunately, I come in contact with a lot of children with terrible names. I am sure some people who read this might think I mean ethnic names, and I can say that, to an extent, that is true. However, that is not completely true. As for ethnic names, I took care of one poor baby whose name included the letters j, q, v, and z. I could rant for along time about just that name, but I won't. I read an article on msnbc.com this past fall that showed results of a study that linked success with a person's name, and the results weren't good for someone who's name was ethnic.

But, let me move away from ethnicity as that is not the main focus of my blog today. My major issue is the large number of baby boys who are not being given strong male names. When a parent names a baby boy they need to think if it sounds feminine, if it does, please move on to the next name please. Now, my husband has a good friend named Jody. Jody is a guy, unfortunately Jody has a girl's name. Kelly is a girl's name, yet I went to school with a guy named Kelly. There are a couple of male country singers named Tracy, in my experience Tracy is a girl's name. And this was from "my" generation. The situation has gotten worse, not better.

There are some unisex names that are traditionally unisex and, that is not the problem in my mind. Sam can be short for Samantha or Samuel. I have known both a Toni and a Tony. But there seems to be an "asexualiztion" of male names. Why don't we want to give our sons strong men's names? There are a lot of good men's names to be had, such as George, John, Stephen, Samuel, Adam, Thomas, Christopher, James, David, etc. Why do we want to be "cute" and name our sons Brody or Taylor or Jordan, Brayden, Hayden, Carsen, etc? I could go on and on. Yes, many of these names aren't necessarily associated with girls, but they aren't strong men's names either.

My husband's name is Thomas. My ex-husband's name is Timothy. When I think back over the men I dated, I think of another Timothy, a Dean, a Bryan, and other names that are masculine. The closest to a feminine name I can think of is a guy named Jamie that I dated, and his given name was Jamie, not James.

I just think we need to name our boys with boy's names and our girls with girl's names.

Happy Anniversary!

Today is our 5th anniversary and I am truly blessed. I am married to the best husband, father, lover, and friend I could have ever wanted. Thomas is the absolute best. He is great to me and to our children. The last five years have been great, we have had our ups and downs like everyone, but I can honestly say that the good so far out weighs the bad that the bad is hard to remember sometimes. I am looking forward to the next five, ten, twenty years with this man. I want to watch our children grow with him, I want to spoil our grandchildren together, I want to enjoy everyday and not waste a single minute.

Very Busy

Well, it has been quite a while since I updated my blog. I usually blog in the evenings, but this has become a time for Sofia and I to spend time together. Right now she is in her swing, Drew and Olivia are watching an animated episode of Superman recorded on the DVR, and Possum is "vacuuming" with his toy vacuum that Santa brought for Christmas. Thomas is at work, so I am taking advantage of everyone being "entertained" to blog.

I guess I should update everyone on what has been going on around here. Sofia is now a month old, she turned one month on Wednesday. I surely don't know where the time has gone. She spent the evening of her one month birthday in the ER. She has finally caught the cold that everyone here has had. I wasn't so worried until she started to run a low grade temp late in the evening. I called her pediatrician (whom I adore) and we were told to go have her seen since she is so young. Of course by the time we got to the hospital her temp had dropped to 100.0. I took her to the hospital that I work at since I trust them there, I wouldn't work anywhere I wouldn't bring my children. The hospital's standards are to not do an entire workup if the temp is less than 100.4, which I knew when I brought her in. Her temp had been 100.3 at home, so we were borderline. I am glad she didn't have to go through the entire workup and she is doing much better now. I still have to use the nasal bulb syringe routinely, which she hates, but otherwise all is well.

I am looking forward to going back to work. My first night back is January 26 and I am ready. Well, I am more mentally ready than physically ready at this point, but I am sure I will be up to the task physically in a few more weeks. I know I am ready to have the income again. The short term disabilty is a joke as it is just 50% of my take home pay. Living on half my salary has been a challenge, but we have managed. I am ready to not have to "manage" anymore though and to know that all our obligations will be met.

As for everyone else in the house, Drew goes back to school next Tuesday and though he says he isn't ready, I am sure he really is ready. He has been enjoying school this year and his progress reports were all A's and B's, so he is doing great. Possum is, well, Possum. He is a three year old boy, what more can I say? He is a good boy though and is having fun with his new Christmas toys. Now, Olivia, is doing well too. She ADORES her baby sister. She will go to where ever Sofia is and just stare at her. When asked what she is doing, Olivia says "I'm lookin' at her." Now don't get me wrong, Possum and Drew love their baby sister too, but Olivia is enthralled.

Thomas is working tonight, as I said, but we are ready to have things back to normal in that sense too. I am SO ready for him to be the one staying at home caring for the day to day household management. To be fair, he is ready as well. He likes his job and does very well, but his real job is home and family, and he is SUPERB at it.

Well, I think I am going to end here for tonight. I hope anyone reading this is doing well. The picture above was taken Christmas Eve.