I’m a nurse. I have officially only had the title since 2007. I’m married, have three grown children who are all married, and have (at this time) seven grandchildren who call me nana. In reality, I have unofficially been a nurse for much longer. Though my husband and I are ”empty-nesters” we have a golden retriever dog and an albino pet rabbit.

Nursing is what I have wanted to do, felt called to do since I was just a young girl. If you interview a young, fresh nursing student, the first thing that comes out is that they want to ”help people”. As a person of faith I would say we are called to serve as Christ did, but I have long felt that I wanted to serve in a professional way.

There are so many reasons I choose to make my thoughts public, rather than writing in a journal. The truth is, I actually have an aversion to journaling. The idea that someone will one day come along and read my innermost personal thoughts strikes deep fear in me! Will they like me if they really know me? How will I defend why I wrote what I did if I’m not there in person to read the situation or their reaction?

I have learned many things over the course of my life and I just want to share some of those things with you. Medical things, household hacks, nursing things, and family things. I’m currently learning so much about living a balanced life, taking better care of myself, and loving and serving people better. Sometimes I just want to share my latest experiences or encounters with others.

I am currently working in two very different positions, one is in a local Hospital as a Labor and Delivery nurse, the other is at an Assisted Living Facility nearby, as the facility nurse. Poles apart, these two positions are complete opposites of each other, and they are extremely fulfilling. It’s my hope that you will enjoy these writings.

#nurseblogs, #nursenana, #hacksfromanurse,

Be yourself; Everyone else is already taken.

— Oscar Wilde.

I worked at the hospital today. I am primarily a Labor and Delivery RN and this was my weekend on. We nurses in the childbirth center are usually able to work other units within the childbirth center when the need arises. This weekend was one of those times, the NICU had a high census and needed many nurses. Labor and Delivery had only a few laboring patients and only needed a few, so since I am cross-trained, I was ”floated” to use my skills caring for a couple preemies. There can be alarms, alerts, and sounds going off throughout the day and we need to learn what each sound means so we respond to the babies appropriately.

I had a couple of tinies today. Adorable. Itty bitty diapers and itty bitty bottles to feed them. They have tiny BP cuffs too, that would wrap around my thumb. They get fed every three hours, and just before they get fed, the nurse warms the feeding, does a complete set of vitals, assesses the baby, changes the diaper, rotates the pulse oximeter to the other foot, and measures the abdominal circumference. All this care is clustered so that in between feedings the baby can just rest and grow, without overstimulation.

These little ones are still learning to take a bottle. They are often young and small enough that they can only do part of a feeding by bottle and the remainder goes into a large syringe on a pump with a tube that goes through the nose down into the stomach, passively nourishing the baby while they sleep so they can grow. Overstimulated preemies often lose weight instead of gaining.

I have enjoyed the last couple days in the NICU with the little ones. In Labor and Delivery, I don’t often get the chance to hold babies, or feed them, it’s my job to make sure the parents do. I was given the opportunity to bottle feed until they fell asleep and had to finish their feedings passively. I watched one try to eat in his sleep, but he started to dream, and I laughed out loud at the faces and smiles he made, he was sleeping too heavily to suck on the bottle. What sweet day for me!

#nurseblogs #nursenana #nicunursing