Another month has almost passed, and - news-flash-- I'm still terrible at being a regular blogger!
I went to Seattle again. Such a good time, as always, and beautiful weather the whole time! Wendy planned a fun weekend for us- we went to the mountain town of Leavenworth and went to their Oktoberfest. Beer, brats, gorgeous scenery- we had so much fun!
Back to reality:
I think the "honeymoon phase" has worn off at work. It's not all grins and giggles anymore. Things got very real last week and it sobered me up a bit. After being off for a whole week to go to Seattle, I came back to admit a 24-weeker. The baby weighed only 1lb 1.4 oz, and is obviously pretty sick, considering he was 16 weeks early. He basically looks something like this:
I was terrified to be responsible for his tiny life and it made me really question whether or not NICU is the place for me after all. Luckily, after some time, and a few *slightly tearful* phone calls to my parents and others, I have decided not to give up on it quite yet. Since I admitted him, I will be one of his primary nurses (meaning every time I work, I will have him as a patient). I'm guessing he and I will get pretty close, considering the NICU standard is that preemies usually stay until their due date at the very least. His due date is in the first week of February. While I am still feeling overwhelmed by him at moments, a week later, things are going pretty well. But I am far from feeling comfortable with working in the NICU. Again, just more motivation to get through school so I can have my pick of jobs (but who knows, 2 years from now- NICU might just be my pick of jobs!)
For the last 6 nights, we have had 2 babies total. 2. Which means only 2 nurses are needed each shift. Which means I have had 2 day work weeks for the last two weeks. Awesome! There are perks to the high stress career of life-saving!
I am looking forward to the weekend, when my parents are coming to stay for a night and experience my life in the city.
"Big City, Tiny Babies" has never been more appropriate!
This was the spread BEFORE other people got here...we may have gone a little overboard. But my friend Lora came, and we haven't seen each other in YEARS:
And some Urbana gals were in attendance, which is always fun:
It was a nice night, and we are already planning the next one (which trust me, is easier said than done because we are busy ladies!)
It was beautiful (albeit a little chilly), and I learned a lot about the buildings I see all the time. I tried to take a picture of the three of us:
To be fair, mom did warn me that I was aiming at the aisle the whole time...But the lighting was beautiful and the rest of the pictures turned out pretty good:
That night we went to Revolution Brewing Company, one of my favorite neighborhood places, that has amazing food and beer! The next morning we went to Lula Cafe for brunch, another neighborhood favorite. So much good food! And really nice to spend time with two of my favorite people!
So I have become an old lady. A crazy old lady with cats. Who takes pictures of her cats. Really just one though. There is this cat, Box (Ok, so her name isn't actually Box, it's Sox, but when I first read her name tag, while in the midst of saving her from the certain death of being violently eaten by a dog who was passing by, I thought her name was Box), Anyway, Box is like a neighborhood cat, except she has a collar with a tag, with a phone number, so someone probably owns her. But she wanders all around and sometimes sits on our back porch and meows, and looks all skinny and sad...so then I give her a little bit of cat food I bought at Walgreens...but LOOK HOW CUTE (even for a cat):
Back to reality:
