Birthday Nurse

Friday was my day to work with my "other" nurse. I think it's been really good for me to have two main nurses that will let me work with them. J teaches me a ton every time I work with her, and then N makes me go out and do it on my own...and I ususally surprise myself with the confidence I come away with. Friday we had a carryover induction/cervidal from the night before. This was her second baby, and she was bound and determined she didn't need an epidural b/c she hadn't gotten one 18months ago with her first baby 'till she was 9cm, and by that time it didn't really help her. She was about 3 when I came on, and the doc came over and was denying any pain. Then the doc came over and broke her water...and then it started hurting. I figured it was gonna be a long day, especially after we started Pit and they weren't just "natural" contractions anymore. I figured I would be spending the bulk of the day in by her bed helping her through it. All t...

So I got a little more taste today of what it was like to be "on my own." I felt pretty independent, with someone right there if I needed anything, but the nurse that I worked with (it was J's day off) was awesome about being there when I needed her, but otherwise saying "let me know if you need anything!" I did a PIH eval almost totally on my own, 2 recoveries really on my own, and I got to do a lot of a labor with minimal assistance. Well, probably more assistance than I realized, but I really did feel like it was "my" patient. I'm sure that in a few months I'll be wishing that I had someone to help me and check up on me, but right now, I'm kinda enjoying the somewhat-independence. All then nurses are great at encouraging me about everything, but N is great about saying "see, you know how to do this." "You know more than you think you do." I need to hear that, and hearing if from more than one person is what really s...

How uncreative of a title is that...but at the moment that's all I can think of, so I'm sticking with it. I don't know why I'm so exhausted, but I'm getting ready to lay down and take a nap that I've been thinking about all day. I think I may die when I actually have to work a 12 next week...maybe I should try getting some sleep the night before and see what happens. I worked with a different nurse since J wasn't there today, which was totally ok but I'm ready to work with J next week. I really enjoy working with N though, she says it like it is and she's great at making me feel like I'm the one taking care of the patient, not just standing in the shadows. I was more than a little bummed and worried about how the day was gonna go when things didn't start off too hot with 2 missed IV sticks. The first one was totally crazy and bled fine until I tried to draw labs, then it clotted or something and I couldn't even run the fluids though it. ...