5 Weeks In

One more week of class to go and then the rest of my internship is just regular shifts with my preceptor. I am really loving my job! It is super busy sometimes, but it's the kind of stuff that I thrive on. I love getting things done and being productive in measurable ways.  I also like the fact that pretty much every day I encounter something new. Also, there are four levels of ICU nurses at this hospital, and I will always have room to learn new things.

So let me think -- 5 weeks in, 11 to go. I can't believe it's that SHORT a time to go but I also have learned tons in the last 5 weeks.

The family is adjusting pretty well. The neighbor (who is pretty close to our open windows) said she thought the baby must be settling in better and I know she means she hears less squealing! Some days it's tough, of course, both for me and the family, but it's working out. Today is the first day in a 5 day weekend, which happens semi-regularly since I work 12 hour shifts. Working days I leave the house at 6am or so and return usually by 8pm. I've been biking ~6.5 miles there and back. There are showers and scrubs available at the hospital so I try to just roll out of bed (after the last nursing session, which I set the alarm a little early for!) and get on my bike and shower and get dressed there. I always buy a cup of coffee. Always. It's the thing I think about as I wake up, and then multiple times while I'm on my bike. It's a necessary indulgence. NECESSARY!! I don't know if it really wakes me up that much but it makes me feel like I've made up for having to get up so early.

Why I bike:

•  It takes me 20 minutes by car anyway and it only takes me about 35-40 to bike
• It leaves the car at home for the fam, which since I'm gone 14 hours is a really good thing for them! 
• it uses less gas for commuting
• I get exercise in on my work days and don't have to go running or biking at separate times

Today I bought a used bike trailer for $40 that is in pretty decent condition. We took it to the park immediately. I think I'm going to just make a list of places we take it and try to figure out how long it's paid for just from gas I'm saving. There are lots of parks (and the library) that are just a bit far to walk to with Tass on foot and the trailer seems like the perfect solution for me. Porter has plans for an even more useful bike-transporting device but it'll take us a while to save for it and then he'll have his kid transporter that's set up for him and I'll have my own bike I can use. We can even bike together, then! 

It seems like forever since I've written. Even my writing voice sounds different to me as I read it back. Sentences aren't quite coming out as I intend. I really feel I am changing in a multitude of ways. I have always felt somewhat childish. Even in a group of adults I felt like I was pretending. But gosh, I have done CHEST COMPRESSIONS on people and I give people drugs they would never ever take at home, and if you collapsed on the floor in front of me I'd know what to do. I went out to grab some food after work, before meeting up with the family for something at church and I was looking around at all of the people around me. I thought "Someone here is going to collapse eventually, which will it be? Who will be hospitalized? Who will have a sudden stroke? Heart attack?" It's going to happen to someone, sooner or later. The good thing is that whereas before I was so nervous about doing CPR or anything like that, even with training, I now feel confident I would perform satisfactorily. Also, while I was at work Porter was near a location "in the field," so-to-speak, in which birth was imminent. I don't know how close the woman was, but it sounded like things were moving. Isn't that exciting? But anyway, to make a long story short I feel as though I'm in more of an adult phase of life. Not totally adult. But close.