Thursday, September 24, 2009

No rest for the weary...unless you have a fever or cough!

WOW has it ever been a busy day, week, AND month! I can't even remember the last time I blogged. We started our OB clinicals last week. It started out very busy. On Thursday, we took a tour of the facility, did our orientation packet (which involved a 57 question orientation test) and then met with the staff on the OB unit. On Friday, we met at 6:45am, got our patient information, then went to work. My day started immediately because my patient was due for a C-Section by 7am. It was an incredible experience, from scrubbing and gowning up, to holding the newborn in my arms after the doctor took him out of his mother's abdomen. Although it was kind of disgusting, it was also incredible. Seeing the father cry as I showed him his new baby boy, cleaned then assessed him was a flood of emotions. I have seen a baby delivered vaginally before, but never through C-section, and never as a student nurse. This time, I was involved, and it felt great to help bring a new life into this world. On Monday, we had our 2nd health promotion exam, another one down, and three more to go! I passed the first two, and I'm doing pretty good in the class. Hanging onto an A, so I'm happy! I'm doing good in clinicals too. The only class I have to study harder for is Adv. Anatomy and Physiology, which I have a C in so far, and we have to pass it with a B. It's a very hard class!

Today would have marked the 2nd week of our OB clinicals, but unfortunately, me, two other girls, and my clinical instructor are ill, so clinicals were canceled for today, and tomorrow is our college system's staff meeting, so no class either! I felt pretty crappy earlier, but this afternoon I felt a little better. My dad bought me a brand new saddle the other day, and I was so eager to try it out! Sooo, I worked with my mare today, tried the new saddle, and rode for a while. It's been quite a journey for me and my horse, ever since the incident last year. But we are both earning each others' trust again, and both becoming more confident. With my busy schedule I don't ride as often is I would like, or should, but this week I have managed to ride 4 days! Today, I got her into a canter. I HATE cantering too, mind you! I really like my new saddle. I didn't have to punch any holes in it because the stirrups are perfect length, the seat is comfy, and my mare makes it look very flashy! And it looks great on her as well. Here's some new pictures I took earlier of my new saddle. And the best part...it matches my bridle! *grinz*.



I hope the weather is nice tomorrow, there's a lot I want to do, granted this cold or flu or whatever I have doesn't wear me down much more than it already has. I also have a lot of studying to do. We have an Adv. AnP quiz on Saturday, then Monday we have our 3rd health promotion exam! Saturday evening is the barn dance, and I am very excited about that. I haven't had much time or energy to do anything non-school related, so it's going to be a nice break from living, eating, and breathing nursing. I am happy the 2nd season of Fringe has started, the 2nd new episode airs tonight! I should probably get going and do some studying before I get too engrossed in the visual-auditory stimulation of the television! Take care everybody!

Saturday, September 5, 2009

Thank God for small favors!

It's been a hell of a busy start to the semester, even though we're already like three weeks in! It's so hectic, I mean we just go with the flow because our schedules can change from one minute to the other. Some days I don't know whether I'm coming or going, but so far I haven't lost myself...yet! On Wednesday we had our first exam in health promotions, which is a theory lecture class. Mostly it's focused around OB and Peds care. It's not very difficult, it's just a lot of information to cram in our brains in such a short period of time. The way second semester works is our semester is broken down into halves, and thirds. The first nine weeks of our semester we have one theory class, and the second nine weeks of the semester we switch to the opposite theory. The clinicals run concurrent with a specific theory class. So we have Health Promotions with Clinical Care Across the Lifespan, then Health Alterations runs along with Med/Surg and OR. But then the Lifespan Clinical is broken in half... Community Clinicals and OB/Peds. The last third of the semester is the med/surg and OR clinicals. Yea it's not as complicated as it sounds! I'm in the promo/lifespan right now, and lucky enough to have the community clinicals first. So far I've been to a clinic, cardiac rehab, a neighborhood resource center (where my group provided foot care to the people in the community), and the GI lab. Yea, those last two I didn't find very attracting either. Normally I would have Adv. AnP on Saturdays but because of Labor day, we have today AND Monday off, WOO HOO! Thank God for that because yesterday after I got home from my clinical I was sick. I feel good now... probably because I slept for like 14 hours! Looks like it'll be a nice weekend too. I don't have very much homework to do because I worked ahead, so I just have two assignments to do, then I can be lazy for the rest of my weekend! YAY! And my cousin is coming over so her and I will probably make some mischief. I think my county's fair is coming to town this weekend too if it hasn't already. We'll most likely go to that as well. My dad took me to the other county fair last week, but it was small and very uneventful. Anywho, that's about all the new things that been going on here, and I'm getting tired again so I'm going to go relinquish my consciousness for a few more hours.