I AM A NURSING STUDENT

2009-05-21T18:21:00.000-07:00

Psychiatric Nursing

Kind of ironic, don't you think? Just when we are all at the point of losing our minds with nursing school, they throw in Psych nursing! Too funny. The very first chapter is on stress LOL!!!! I think we are already very well versed on that subject. Experts even. After defining it and telling how stress and our environment interact, it goes on to explain ways of positively dealing with stress to become "adaptive" rather that "maladaptive" and guess what one of the ways of helping was? Writing in a journal or diary. Yay! Look at me, adaptive actions without even reading psych yet. I'll be damned lol! So that first chapter was OK. Got to the second, all about history of psych nursng and was getting sleepy. I decided, "Why not use my adaptive resourse and hop onto blogger?" So here I am on a Thursday night with only a four more days of semester break.
I haven't gotten nearly the amount of work I had wanted to get done, but I'm OK. We had a great two weeks. Last week, we went to Atlantic City for four days, three nights! We had a blast! I never spent so much time down there. It was an experience, for sure. We ended up only spending a little bit on gambling after Jamie won at poker on the last night there. Most of the money we spent was on food. It was so expensive to eat down there! But anyway, we had fun for our five year anniversary. I still love him like it was our first year, though. He and I have both grown so much since we have know each other. I think we push each other to do bigger and better things. He is my biggest champion, my reassurance, my best friend, my partner, and I couldn't be here without him. He has knowingly and wholeheartedly accepted my goals even though it affects both of our lives and it is just one of the reasons why I love him. Our lives have been crazy for the last couple of months (with personal stuff, I have to explain because our lives are always crazy) and it doesn't look like it's going to calm down but he always reminds me that's why there are two of us as partners. When one is down, the other picks them up. I don't quite know what happens when both are down :) Anyway, I thought I'd get a little sentimental for awhile.
In other news, my brother and I took the kiddies down to the beach today. it was cold and windy but we all had fun. Something about the way the kids run in the sand with the ocean behind them makes the world stop for a second. They were awesome! Until, of course, we got to the car and had to go home. They were a handful before we got lost and after, well let's just say they were ready to sleep and I was ready for earplugs :)
So I guess I should get back to reading about psych history. Gotta go into the school tomorrow and do some make-up stuff and then it's Memorial Day weekend. Hot dogs and hamburgers all weekend long! Bye!
Mary

2009-05-11T13:16:00.000-07:00

Maternity is DONE!!!!

A little sad, but a lot happy!!! Maternity is done and now we move on to Psych nursing. Thank goodness this semester is over. We had much too many crazy life happenings this semester! Passed my last maternity test and my final - Yay! The HESI was today and I passed that too! Last semester, I didn't pass the HESI by like ten points. The partying the day before and hangover the morning of may have had something to do with it, though. So, anyway, this one was fine. I ended up doing well for the total of the semester and now we march toward a different line of patients and the summer.
In life, Syd is going to be down here for two whole months in the summer. Then we go back to court and see if we can keep full custody. God willing, we will. Now that the semester is over, I'll go and try and fix this mess of a house. I try and go through each room and spell out on a to-do list what I would like to have done. I'll get as much as I can done before I go back. Har got really sick today with a 102 fever. I gave her some Motrin and and hour later she wanted to come down and play. So she feels better now. I was all in nurse mode - swabbing her down with cool washcloths, having her drink fluids, and had the Motrin and Tylenol ready haha! Mother's day was yesterday. The kids made cards with J and we had my in-laws over for dinner. It was such a nice day. On a sadder note, my little puppy Squeak died on Saturday night after we found her not breathing and totally limp. J tried very hard but she didn't make it.

RIP Squeak - We will all miss you very much

I'm really glad this semester is over because it's been one thing after another. Hopefully, next semester will bring good fortune with it. Hey, wishfull thinking but maybe I can speak it into existence.
I watched this documentary on home births and midwifery last night and it was so neat. It really made me lean more toward labor and delivery. I think the only thing stopping me from totally committing to it would be the lack of constant work. Most of it is waiting. In order to get some of that, though, I could always pull a shift in the ER per diem if I wanted to. We'll have to see. Birth just seems so very amazing to me. Those midwives are pretty neat nurses. I can totally see why they do what they do. If you get a chance check out the documentary. It's on Showtime and was made by Ricki Lake. It's full of facts about how America is so high in mortality and morbidity rates because of the way we push births along to be on a "schedule". It tells about us being the only country that when births moved out of the home and into the hospital, the midwives didn't move with them. Pretty interesting when you look at the statistics and hard facts. Even more interesting when you've seen it firsthand in the hospital. Very cool stuff. OK, enough stalling - I've got to cook some dinner and start on laundry.
Lots of Blessings,
Mary

2009-04-15T14:23:00.000-07:00

Who Says Life is Easy

I am still surprised when life sneaks up on me. It happens at about halfway through the semester. I become so absorbed in pathophysiology of diseases, nursing interventions, and clinicals that I don't see things under my nose. A couple of weeks ago my mom got sick (she's better now) and now my step-daughter isn't doing so well right now. It takes big stuff to jerk me out of this stupor and now I'm worried that I'm too far out of it. I hope I can concentrate on the both and successfully pull home life and school life to a happy ending. When it rains, it pours right? I think I'm in the middle of a thunderstorm. I just need to keep focusing on what I need to, in this moment, and try to move back and forth between the two.
I still worry about being a good mom. I still worry about if I'm learning this information and can actually put it to practice when I'm helping people. If I can't help the people in my own family, can I possibly be of help to the people who are depending on me to keep them alive? Did I take on too much doing this school? I wish there were multiple choice answers to my questions, just like on my exams. How do I keep my loved ones safe A. B. C. D. Choose one. Sometimes I feel like even if I had choices I'd pick the wrong choice.
It's not just nursing school, after all, it's the journey of life. Isn't that what I'm trying to protect? So in the middle of maternity, where I'm seeing new life every week, I find myself trying my damndest to protect the lives of those around me. I feel like they're not supposed to be the people I'm learning about. My family should be on my side and patients should be on the other. It's a whole different ballgame when those lines cross. It involves a whole lot of emotion and more worrying than before I started school. Now I know what can go wrong. I've seen the pictures, I've heard the teachers talk about it. A little bit of knowledge is a dangerous thing. I've come a long way to be this scared, but I don't think it's going away anytime soon. So while life is smacking me around a little, and always at the worst of times, I need to remember that I'm not in control of everything and that my plans make God laugh. All I can ask is that he's watching over my loved ones and the loved ones of whoever is reading this.
Lots of Blessings
Mary

2009-04-11T06:55:00.000-07:00

Maternity Test, Presentation, and FINALLY some FUN

Hello all! We had our presentation last week and it went fairly well! We had an awesome booklet that H put together and a powerpoint presentation behind us. One at a time, we got up from our seats and talked about our topics, all having to do with post-partum issues like breastfeeding and exercise. It went off without a hitch. No one messed up and the teacher even said that she wished she would have video taped it as an example for the incoming class. H even brought her pregnant sister and a pregnant friend so we had actual bellies to teach! It was great! So we're all pretty happy that it's over now!
Immediately after the presentation we had to start studying for the next test. It was this past Monday and I got a 90! Yay! I studied all weekend and the got together with H and went through all the powerpoint handouts to make sure we understood all of them. So we were pretty happy when we went over the test and did well. Others didn't, though, and so some drinks were in order. We went out and had a great time! The alcohol was flowing :) After tests are the only time you can actually let loose, so it felt great! Although getting up the next day @ 5 for clinicals sucked!
Clinicals this week weren't as great as last week or the week before. I was on the postpartum unit and I find it not as interesting. I kind of feel like I'm intruding on their personal time. I remember all these nurses in and out when I was in the hospital with my kids and it was annoying. This time I feel like I am annoying! You have to go in and assess the mom and the baby which is pretty cool but it's when they first wake up and they may have had a baby a couple of hours before. Poor things :( At least in the other units they were giving birth, laboring, or the baby's were in the NICU and I was keeping an eagle eye over them. So I don't really think that post-partum is my thing.
So that was my week in a nutshell!
This week we have lecture for 2 hrs on Monday, we have off from clinicals on Tuesday, a simulation on Wedns., and 3 hours of lecture on Thurs. I'm going to listen to my lecture now and pull out my powerpoints and go over them, while my kids are enthralled with Wall-E that the Easter Bunny gave them! Happy Easter to all!!!

2009-03-30T18:10:00.000-07:00

Group projects, Maternity Clinicals

Well, it's been an interesting week! The last post was the day before my first clinical experience on the Maternity flooor. I got lucky and it was my day in the NICU!!! It was amazing. The babies on that floor have the most heart in the whole hospital. There were twins, one was 1 lb 4 oz. and the other was 1 lb 7 oz. The legs are the width of a finger and they only get fed 1 cc of breastmilk. They are amazing! The one may have to get surgery to fix an open ductus arteriosis, which is supposed to close when the baby is born, but has stayed open since the babies were born at 25 weeks. I watched the nurses care for the babies and they were so skilled. It really made me want to work in the NICU. The babies are cared for in some of the same ways as the adults are, they get suctioned, NG tubes, constantly moniored VS, etc. The hospital has a highly skilled NICU, so all the babies that are high risk go there. We are very lucky to have the experience of doing our rotation there. So, I guess you've figured out I really like it. Tomorrow, I get to go to either labor and delivery or the postpartum unit. Very excited!!
There was a story inserted here, which I took out, I didn't realize anyone actually read this thing that wasn't a previous work employee :) I shouldn't single people out on the internet so while everything was the truth, I'm deleting it.

Friday we did a physical assessment video that took all day. We got there at 9 in the morning and organized everything until 12, got lunch, and then taped. It took til 5 in the afternoon. My partner's friend passed away so she was kinda out of it and everytime you put the camera on, I would start cracking up. It was a hot mess :) But, it's done, and thank goodess! No more videos for the rest of the semester. This one is a whole grade for the physical assessment class, though, so hopefully we hit on all of the points and got an A.
Well, the test is coming up on Monday so 6 days left. Wish me luck! Have to go study now. Hopefully, I'll get a chance to write again this week!
Lots of Blessings!
Mary

2009-03-23T18:26:00.000-07:00

Spring Break is Over - Back to Reality

Well, the heat has been turned back on! The good news is that I have everything completed that I need to have turned in for the next two weeks. The bad news is that the teacher that we have for the first half of the information is done on Thursday @10 and the teacher that I really have a hard time concentrating on is starting @ 11. I really like my teacher right now, she is straight to the point about what is important and doesn't go off on long tangents. Oh, well. Can't have everything you want, right? So I was up at 5 and I stll have some Miller CDs to watch. For those of you who have never heard of Miller CDs - They are tutorials that go through many different topics. For example, Reproduction is what we are doing now. The woman teaches different segments about 20 minutes each on different topics. They also come with a thick stack of review questions. My school has them on hand for us to borrow. Anyway, they seem to be helpful and NCLEX questions are always great tools. Just a little aside, for anyone who is taking the NCLEX in 2010 like me, the questions are going to be changed and re-evaluated. It was announced at the NJSNA (Student Nurse's Association) convention at one of the reviews. So the importance of that is you will probably want to take an Nclex review because those are the people who study exactly what % of the questions are on certain topics. Then they teach a review concentrating on those areas but giving a broad review of all areas.
SO tomorrow I start on the Maternity floor. I will be in the nursery all day and so to prepare for newborn assessment, I reviewed all the video clips of newborns in my physical asssessment class. I am really excited! I wanted to go into nursing because of the experience I had giving birth to James (If you haven't read it, it's in August 2008 and named This is th Reason) and to get back to the place I started is really going to be a validation of why I'm working so hard. That's the theory, anyway. One of the clinical days when we arrive, our instructor will tell us it's our day in the NICU, so any day I could be going there. I'll have to tell ya how that turns out tomorrow :) Doesn't mattter though, I'll be playing with babies all day! I can feel good energy acomin'!
So we had clss from 8-10 this morning, a concept map class (we have to learn a whole new way to do them) from 10-11, and a physical assessment class from 11-1. Then my friend and I helped another girl with her concept map. tried to watch the CDs at school and then came home. Once I got here I straightened, made dinner, got the kids in their PJs, watched the videos for newborns, and now ot's time for Miller CDs again. No wonder I'm pooped. It's been a long day! To any future nursing students, get used to regular infusions of coofee!
Lots of Blessings!
Mary

2009-03-20T14:26:00.000-07:00

Papers, Concept Maps, Case Studies

Good afternoon! I'm in the middle of cooking dinner and I thought I would get a quick post in. Nursing school never fails to amaze me. When you are getting ready for it, it seems so overwhelming how much you do BEFORE you start the actual nursing classes. When you're actually doing the classes, it's just a never-ending list of to-do's. The reason I bring this up is that I was reading another blog about how nervous people are before they start applying to nursing schools. I'll admit, I didn't go through that because I had an epiphany and knew this is what I was supposed to do. But, a word of advice, when you actually get here it's just busy. Not Oh-my-God-I'll-never-make-it-through hard, just really busy. Some of the information is difficult, don't let me fool you, but it becomes a long list of things that you check off as done. If I looked at my whole semester and what I had to get done, I would have a stroke! I need to take one section at a time. Mostly, one test at a time. Then I break down all the assignments I have to turn in , do all the notecards (flashcards) for the info I need to know, and then I study. I think most of the info is definitely able to be learned, I think you just need to keep focused, let some steam off a couple of times a semester, and remember what you're doing it for. This spring break I have done OB math problems, reading, a communications paper, concept maps, milestones for a physical assessment class, and listened to my lecture on my iPod. It sounds like a lot but I paced myself and by Sunday night, I'll be prepared for the next two weeks. But in those two weeks, I'll be completing things like my notecards for the next test. If you keep up with the work, it will not overwhelm you, but if you get behind it is very difficult to dig your way back to tbeing on top of your work.
So, in closing, nusing school is hard. It takes time away from your social life and family life. If you keep up with it, you can find amazingly rewarding experiences at every clinical day. Even when you feel stressed and tired, those days when you help people or when you learn something you've never done before more than make up for the amount of time you put into it. Hope this helps someone someday :) Lots of Blessings, Mary

2009-03-18T08:58:00.000-07:00

Spring Break

Hi all! I haven't been on here in so long and so much has happened, I don't know where to start. Right now, I'm on Spring break so I have a little time. You may wonder why I didn't write when I had a month off for Christmas. Well, the answer to that one is pretty simple. My house was so disgusting that if it didn't get cleaned and straightened out, I would have moved out leaving my husband and children all by themselves. And yes, it took me a month. Very simple answer right? Anyway, I miss writing about the craziness of nursing school. So much has changed in my life though, so let me start there. Jamie's business is blessed everyday. He has been supporting us all by himself since August and we have been so thankful that he can. Our little Rosie had puppies! They're quite a handful but in a couple of weeks they will be able to go to their own homes. The little white one is going to my mom and we're thinking about keeping the black and white one. She's too cute to let go. Hold any judgements about having another dog in this home, please. Nothing anyone can say could be worse than the reaming out I'm giving myself :) Jamie and I are going back to court to try and get custody of Syd, so we may be looking at a new dog and a teenage addition to this home. I can feel the bulging seams as I sit here. But thank God, all the same, life is good. Nursing school life is a totally different story, and that's what this blog is about, right?
We are a little over halfway done our second semester, and it's about as insane as you can get. The first semester was hard, really hard, but this semester will break a person's will. The first test was so hard they threw out 6 questions. This test they threw out another 6. It's unbelievable! We had this past test's material taught by 1 teacher. The difficult part of that is the teacher is very hard to understand. What she teaches you is, mostly, on the test but in a different sense then how she taught it. They added on an additional clinical day and an additional class. So the past 6 weeks of clinical and school have been like this
Monday 8-10 class 10-11 lecture Get patient and do care plan until 1 in the morning
Tues - Clinical til 3:30 Tweak care plan for following day
Wends - Clinical til 3:30 Pass out dead
Thurs - Class 9-12
Friday - meet at school to try to figure out what the hell happened to us this week

It's been a blast. We were on an Oncology floor for clinical and there were some great learning opportunities. It was aweful though because the nurses hated us and wouldn't teach us. I would have thought maybe I was reading them wrong and it was just me, but my clinical instructor by the end was telling our school to never send a clinical group to that floor again. I had good experiences, though. I suctioned a tracheostomy patient, cleaned a trach, did a dressing change, did a dressing change for a central catheter (big deal because if you do it wrong the patient could get an infection go straight to the heart), took out a Foley catheter, and learned to work independently. It was very rewarding to have confidence in my clinical skills now.
We're now in Maternity, and the rest of the semester should fly by. We no longer have to get our patients because we won't know who is going to have a baby. Monday night I will be able to SLEEP!!!!! Yay! We are going to do a couple of twelve hour days so we only need one clinical day that week, the following day we have off. We also have to work on a presentation for clinical which should be interesting. Our clinical group has many different personalities to say the least. This should take a lot of patience.
I thought Maternity would be easy for the lecture but it's not turning out to be so easy. We have a little while before the test, though so I'm going to wait until it's closer to freak out. This week is going by way too fast, I need to get working on my list of to-dos. It was so nice to vent on here again, it made me realize why I did it to begin with. Now, I am off to tackle some nursing stuff. Hopefully, I will begin to have a little more wiggle room and post here again.
Lots of Blessings!!
Mary

2008-09-08T18:20:00.001-07:00

Well, we weren't allowed to do the co-president thing, so I decided to be the Treasurer. Counting money is something that I can do! It's not something I often do -- But that's another story ;)
So I have been crazy! This junk does not let up! They keep cramming and cramming us - I feel like I'm going to poop a list of the steps of assessment in the nursing process. I haven't took my nose out of the books unless it was to change a diaper, straighten my house (there's a difference between that and actually cleaning), or show my kids and husband that I am still alive and still do love them. I can't figure out how but somewhere yesterday, after making 160 notecards and having my family over for lunch, the 20th cup of coffee actually did it's job and I got 3 loads of laundry washed dried and folded. How's that for an accomplishment? I won't say that it's put away yet, but hey I'm trying.
Today I went to lecture, got one of the three labs done for this week, did my communications paper and submitted it, and did my written medical terminology paper. This is how my days are now. That was just my day too - Now I have to get out my text book and start reading for Friday cuz we start new material. Oh and did I mention that J's away in Louisiana til Friday on a job site? Oh yeah, this is just how I function best. Throw a couple of Harley-won't-go-to-bed nights in there and I have a recipe for the nut house :)
There was a girl today that was so nervous about everything and I'm all like - She needs to calm down. Everything's fine!!! Have a glass of wine (Works for everything Lamaine)! After she left, me and one of the other girl's were like "What's she so worried about? This is hard but it's not like it can't be done" Well, we sat there for a couple of beats and she took her calendar out. We started looking at beyond this week and next to see what's in store. Ummm... now I know why she was hyperventilating. She actually was forward thinking. She saw that in the next few weeks there are one to two projects due every week on top of clinicals and on top of lectures and on to of exams. Have you ever passed by a cop speeding and had him pull out behind you? You know that feeling in your tummy that says, "Well, I'm sorry to inform you, but now you're officially fucked." That is exactly what happened to me sitting at that table and staring at a calendar that reminded me of flashing lights.
Gotta get my nose back in my books now.... Maybe if I keep going I can bullshit my way out of a ticket. My chest certainly isn't going to help me with that one anymore ;)

BTW - If anyone was wondering I'm not going to say lots of blessing because I used the f word, referred to poop and boobs, and I think I threw a bullshit in there too. Wouldn't wanna be a hypocrite now. Gotta keep up the integrity

2008-09-03T20:35:00.000-07:00

FUN WITH A DUMMY

Hey! So I've been up since 5:15 this morning and it's now 11:50. I have to get up at the same time tomorrow and be in the lab. I haven't stopped running or reading or taking care of the rest of my crazy world! So what better time then spilling it all out here in my blog that I found out does get read by my girls @ my old work and a couple of my friends. Gotta love the loyalty!! :)

So here's the thing. The dummy's look like men. But when you pull back the blanket it's a vagina. Pretty real looking, too. And not that I'm judging the people that want to look like men and have womanly parts (?) but on a dummy, can we get one that's like neutral? Come on - There's people like that everywhere! You can go to Walmart and find someone that you can't figure out if it's a girl or a guy. Any Walmart - Anywhere in AMerica. I can guarantee it. So why can't we have dummy's that are like that? End rant.
We had to do a bed bath on the shim dummy. With the vagina that should have been a penis. It would have been easier if it was a penis, you know. And we video taped it. You gotta see this - It's freakin hilarious! We had to stop and redo it at parts so when I re-watched it, I would say put up the bedrail - Then I put the bed rail back up. I would say "I'm going to wash my hands now.... and it would take me a full minute to get back in the frame. And I wasn't even actually washing my hands.... Very funny stuff :)
Just got done my reading for the week! Yay! I finally caught up haha! The next step is to get next week's assignments done. Then the week after is clinicals. I should know by Friday where I'm going to be. I thought it was def Psych ward for me, but now it's all messed up. I think that they don't quite know what they're doing either, to be honest. You would think that they haven't been doing this for over a hundred years! Yes over a hundred years. So you would think they would be able to organize a class right? Nope. And double nope for organizing how we're doing our labs. We went up and down between three levels today five times. For an hour here and forty minutes there. Then back down again. I think they're trying to slim us down. Thinning the herd LOL
K - I'm done blowing off steam now I need to get some sleep. I'll post Friday where my clinicals are. Lots of Blessings ~ Mary

Oh yeah and I'm trying for co-president of the class with one of my clinical girls. Let's see how this one pans out ;) I should put a poll of when ya'll think I'm going to fall over and pass out. Can't stay there for long, though. My lab partners would get my BP and start a saline drip! Then it's back to getting some more enema training LOL!

2008-08-30T05:50:00.000-07:00

First Week of School - Completed!
I am officially done my first week of school and I must say that it was a lot harder than I thought it was going to be. I have been reading these textbooks non-stop for a week now. When I'm not in class, I'm either reading or listening to my recordings of the lecture! They say that the first two weeks are very intense and they are not lying. I thought it might just be me, and asked the people in my class. The consensus being that it is very extremely and totally overwhelming. Well, at least I'm not the only one LOL!
I am on my way to my sister's house to hole up in her basement to do most of the reading for next week, I hope, and have her watch my kids. That way, I can crawl out - play w/ Har and LJ - then crawl back in. I won't have to feel like I need to do a load of laundry in between. I was so excited that we had four days off in a row, but then yesterday me and the two girls I'm paired with have signed up for a video for Tuesday. That means I have to go in anyway :( Well, looking at the bright side, it might be three days of reading textbooks, but it is three days off!
Happy Labor Day to all! Rest and Relax for me OK?!
Lots of Blessings ~ Mary

2008-08-23T10:30:00.000-07:00

Orientation

So The second and third day of orientation were good! We met and had a luncheon with our "Big Sister" so we could get an idea from the students point of view how it was going to be. I think the concensus was that it's "the hardest thing you'll have ever done and you'll never see your family or be able to work when you're doing this." So I guess it's gonna be hard haha.
We got a tour of the hospital and we got to see all of the units. We'll actually be going to the O.R., which should be awesome! I have to admit this is so different from my desk job, I was a little shocked at being there. It's like I was in someone else's body. Have you ever had that feeling like you just couldn't be where you were? That's what happened. Well, anyway, it was pretty cool after that wore off. The rest was pretty much how to handle stress, how very very hard it was going to be, and introductions to the NURSING 131 class. That was interesting. We found out that we'll have either Tuesday or Thursday off. One day a week. The rest we'll be working our behinds off :)
So I got all my stuff @ Walmart today - pencils, pens, all that fun stuff I need. I also got a voice recorder for the lectures. I have big plans for that thing. I hope to walk on the treadmills while listening to it. It will be such a big letdown if it's not as cool as I"ve made it out in my head to be. Now I'm taking a break from the last 100 pages I have to read of my Fund. of Nurs. It's very hard to read, not at all like the A & P books I'm used to. They had pics and diagrams - very up to date. This is up to date on material only. It's taking me so long to get through it. Well, partly that and partly because the kids were nutty today.
We went to the beach for Family Beach Day yesterday and they got all exhausted and haven't been themselves all day. It was Har's bday yesterday and James' is tomorrow. The day was great! They had a blast in the water, Har ever went out really far with me and jumped waves. James stayed up at the beachfront. Then they went on all the rides at the pier at Seaside and we all had dinner. It was a great day, all in all. Sometimes I can't believe how blessed in family I am. Well, better get back to the reading. I've procrastinated long enough. Lots of Blessings! Mary

2008-08-19T14:57:00.000-07:00

Here We Go!

Well, a lot has happened in the last couple of days. One of them being that I am now unemployed :( My last day at work was Friday and the girls threw me a great cake party and luncheon. They know me so well, they had pizza and wings. What more could a girl ask for?!?!? I will mis my Refund Unit girls so much! Hopefully they stop by here and catch up with me. They were great at venting and being girl's girl's. If you don't know what that means, it's when women don't get catty with each other, they build each other up and make each other feel good about themselves. I can't tell you how many times I talked to those girls and felt a million and a half times better about whatever it was that was buggin me. I will miss them very, very much.
The next day, Saturday, was the kids birthday party. Har and LJ had sooo much fun! All their cousins were there and they had cake, balloons, toys -- In other words, they were in heaven with the angels for a half a day! They each had their own cake and each got sang Happy Birthday to by the whole room. Their immediate family from both sides came. I couldn't handle inviting any more people, the house was bulging at the seams as it was :)
From that point on I was non-stop studying. I took some time off to hang out with my niece and nephew who are only down once a year yesterday, and then I got right back to it. I stayed up until 1 in the morning last night preparing for orientation today and had to be up at 6. Everything was in order and I was set to go!
So this morning the alarm went off and I got ready and got the babies ready. Off we went but this time when I dropped them off, it was different. I wasn't going to work, I was going to school. And man was I freaking out. I couldn't describe why it was different, it just was. I was five minutes late getting there, for those of you who know me that is great! I walked in and I heard this loud rumbling. I went to the auditorium and no one was in there, so I followed the noise. I walked into the classroom and it was like a different world. About 40 people were milling about talking and asking questions. The room seemed like it was buzzing. I was so excited! I've been going to school for two years, but this was it! This is what I was waiting and praying for! There were a lot of people there. Some I knew and most I didn't, but it really didn't matter. We were all in the same boat. It was all new and you could tell we were all nervous. The day went great - It was fixed with speaker after speaker. We had lunch in the Cafeteria (nice by the way) and got our own lockers and mailboxes. I was so happy to be there, it kind of felt like a culmination of everything I worked so hard for, all the paperwork and classes, I was now a nursing student. And we looked like it, too. When we walked around the hospital in packs, it was laughable. We should have been wearing huge signs that say FRESHMAN STUDENTS HERE -- PLEASE DON"T GIVE THEM A NEEDLE YET!!!!! LOL
All in all, it was a great day and I can't wait to go back tomorrow. There will be a luncheon where we'll be paired up with a senior and I'll just bet the person I get paired up with is 19. I just bet haha. Well, I have to get the kids into bed and start reading my assignment for next week. Lots of Blessings ~ Mary

2008-08-13T12:36:00.000-07:00

This is the Reason

I hope everyone's week is flying along. Mine surely is. Everyday this week I've been so busy that I haven't really felt the weight of leaving work. Until I just packed my desk up. I am LEAVING my JOB. I have empty drawers and all. I'll truly be a 27 year old college student. Ugh. Why was I such and idiot when I was 18?!?! I soooo should have done this back then. Now I have to put my family at financial risk. I guess hindsight is 20/20, though. So there goes my desk job and here comes a full time student nurse :)
Well, the family from Alabama is here and they are great! I met J's cousin for the first time and she is so nice. His uncle is a riot, too. It'll be sad to see them go.
I have Har and LJ's B-day party this weekend. I haven't been able to concentrate on it so it's a thrown together thing. It'll be great though. The kids just wants cake. Har keeps askin "Is it today?!" She doesn't have any concept that it's this weekend. I just can't believe my babies are going to be 3 and 2.
I looked at pictures of LJ in the incubator in the NICU the other day and started to tear up. He's so big and strong now! It's amazing how such tiny babies have such big wills. J was remembering his breathing, how he used to have a completely caved in ribcage every time he breathed out and then it would expand out so big, all for one breath. It was so rapid, too. We thought he might not make it. Now he's healthy as a horse and is running and learning and so loving. When he's not saying no to us, of course.
I wanted to devote a little about LJ's NICU stay because it solidified my choice that I had already made, going to school for nursing. When I first went into the NICU I was by myself and that nurse was an angel beside me. She guided me to look at what the numbers on the machines were and how he was good and what was bad, instead of the lifelessness of my pneumonia plagued 6 hour old baby. She told me what the tubes and IV's and wires were, instead of treating me like I couldn't handle information. When I found out that LJ couldn't be touched, she snuck a couple of moments where I could hold his hand, easing the agony that I had sitting next to him. She shared my sentiments that a mom needs to touch her baby and every baby needs a mother's touch. She gave me enough to survive on. In the following days when I visited all the time and called when I wasn't there, the nurses never complained or sounded bothered. That was so comforting to me, after all, they had my baby boy. They gave me hope and comfort and told me it wasn't my fault, which I desperately needed to hear. Those things are why I want to be a nurse. I've been on the other side, now I want to help people going through those moments of helplessness and of feeling completely lost.
After retelling that, I think I'm ready to pack up the rest of my desk now. Have a great night.

2008-08-11T10:33:00.000-07:00

LAST WEEK AT WORK

Hey all!
This is my last Monday at my job before I start school. I am so excited and so nervous at the same time. I was at my sister's house helping her move this weekend and I didn't get a lick of studying done. We have family from Alabama (who I am ecstatic to see BTW) up all week so I am going to have to squeeze the studying in around visits.
I started on the abbreviations from my medical terminology and I really think I'm reading Greek! Some look so innocent on the notecard and then you turn it over and it's a word I can't even pronounce. I had one card that said - ABK. I was trying my hardest to come up with something that would fit those abbvs., arterial blockage maybe? Then I flip the card over haha, Amputation below the knee. I can pronounce that one but it took me by such surprise. Amputation below the knee? Are there that many of these that they need an abbreviation? That's what I'm dealing with in my future career. Amputations. I get squimish over big pus filled pimples and now I'm going to have to see something that requires a ABK. That's probably going to be worse than a pus filled pimple.
The other day a woman at my work had one of these nasty pus-y things on her side that was hurting her really bad and she came to me and said, "Aren't you going to nursing school? Could you help? I can't get to this thing and it really hurts." Well, I'm all - Of course I can help! Don't you know who I am???? Please come over here and let me see and I will magically make it disappear because I am the best nursing student in the universe!!!!!
Well, she came to me alright and showed me a nastyness on her side. Eww. I have now already convinced her I would take care of it. She showed me the needle she had for me to work my magic on her and I nearly swooned. Yep - Swooned like in the old days where you put your hand on the forehead and look up at the ceiling. Well, it all ended up good, I fixed her up and off she went. I won't mention that she had to do the squeezing. I was NOT getting hit with whatever was coming out of that thing! Double Eww.
I tell you this so you understand that next week I will begin my nursing school and will not be dealing with minor pus things on someone's side. I will be dealing with big ABK's. Now if you excuse me I'm going to crawl under my covers now. So much for super hero nursing student.

2008-08-06T13:08:00.000-07:00

Update on the gardening - We have a lot of tomatoes and I haven't made sauce because I'm too busy. They're starting to go bad. I remembered that I didn't like radishes after the first batch came up. The corn is very tiny. The pea plants died (although I will have to tell about my ten beautiful peas that Har, LJ and I ate. They were quite yummy). The container I planted the cucumbers in is too small and I have no cucumbers to pickle. My last and final hope is my green bean plants. They just flowered so the green bean should be next. I'll cross my fingers that one of these damn veggies actually goes right.

I think I will try again next year and be a little more organized - How did I know this was going to happen :)

Also, I have changed the name of my blog in order to chronicle my nursing school adventures. I'm giving the address out in an e-mail so people can hear what I'm up to for the next two years when I start ignoring calls. I also made some changes like adding a button click thingy on the bottom of the blog where people can subscribe. If you click on it you can access it quickly. Cuz I know how ya'll can't wait to read my posts.

In honor of my first posting under my new name I would like to give you a glimpse of what must be completed BEFORE I get to orientation on the 21st.

Five hundred pages in Fundementals of Nursing
14 chapters in Math for Meds
Medical Terminology book
One math test
One medical terminology test

Did anyone catch the medical terminology book? THE WHOLE ENTIRE BOOK --- This is before the semester even starts! Oh crap, making tomato sauce is sounding extremely fun right now. I think they're trying to kill us.

2008-07-22T10:18:00.000-07:00

Well, the anniversary party turned out great - There was lots of food and fun. It was a surprise to my in-laws and they had many people show up to celebrate them. The day before it Jamie decided to fix the dining room. He went nuts finishing it and didn't have time to put the last stuff up.. like the light or the last coat of paint. So it was half way nice. The front porch I straightened and Jamie just pulled the curtain down over it anyway. The yard was fine... James and I mowed it on the riding mower, which turned out to be very fun! Now I can forget all the stress of it and actually say it was fun and it was enjoyed by everyone. The food was delicious! We had pulled pork, meatballs, macaroni and potato salad, and hots dogs and hamburgers.
Now I'm focused on getting my nursing school started - August 15th is my last day at work and August 19 is my first day starting at SF nursing school. YAY! I got my uniform - which also had my stethescope and shoes in with it. Everything fits nicely and I am IN LOVE with my stetescope! Har and I were like I was one of her playmates! I would listen to her heart and then she would listen to mine - It was very cute! Gotta get back to work now - Bye!

2008-06-27T12:54:00.000-07:00

Oh my God - The anniversary party is in three days. I had to take off work Wednsday and Thursday and my house still isn't up to par. The porches are cluttered, the garden sucks, and I still have so much to cook. Oh crap!
I was so exhausted all week. Monday I was up cleaning til 11:30, Tues I was up til 1:30 in the morning, Wednesday I redid James' room (so cute by the way), Yesterday I got fitted for my uniform for nursing school, and tonight I have to paint. Tomorrow Christy is coming over and we're all teaming up to finish the house. I think I just might lay down on Sunday night and never wake up!
I'm so stressed I can barely feel - anything! Boy I hope this goes off w/o a hitch because if one person says anything about my house, I'm sending them to Jamie and saying "Talk to Big shot construction man over there. He can do a railing and make a new porch, and refinish a whole dining room. It'll be done in no time"
And what makes it worse is my mom-in-law thinks I'm crazy for doing this and really wants to say "Maybe you shouldn't have a picnic with your house like it is." But she has no idea I'm doing it for her and dad.
Anyway, I'll do another disaster post when I get back on Monday. Wish me luck :)

2008-06-23T09:20:00.001-07:00

It's been a hectic past couple of weeks and has no signs of slowing. Last Thursday I went to a concert - Pearl Jam - who I loved when I was younger. I found out I was old. There were about a trillion teenagers there that were annoying me, I had four beers and got drunk, the music was to loud, I had to pee so badly I made Gina pull over to the side of the road, and woke up with the worst headache I've had in a long time. It turns out that if you relax for a little while and settle down with your family, having "fun" kind of sucks. I had an alright time but they didn't play enough good music for me to really get happy and I missed my kids.
Plus, I had to wake up the next morning, after driving around Camden until after 1 in the morning trying to get home, and leave for camping. I wasn't even packed! I was a wreck haha. I packed like I was leaving in a week. I would put a couple of things into the suitcase, then lay down. I would grab the toothbrushes, then lay down. It was aweful. Syd came in and was all -- "Are you OK?" I was all - "Oh yeah, just the music was to loud and I have a headache from that." I could feel my nose growing as I said it but I couldn't very well say, "Well Syd, I once drank rum for a whole week in a row in the Dominican Republic on my honeymoon and had not a slur but nowadays I can't have four beers without falling down the steps and splitting my head in two with my own two hands to get the heart that's beating in it, out." That wouldn't have worked quite so well as the music being to loud or set as good an example.
Well, what really snapped me out of it was the coffee J got me and the Motrin 800 I took before leaving. :)
I did get packed and out the door. We took the extended version of the trip as we always do when I am following my father. The trip should have been about an hour away - It was only twenty miles from Atlantic City - but my dad got us a little lost. So we drove - then drove - then drove again until we arrived at the state park two and a half hours after we left the house. Jamie came down Saturday and brought relief for Syd in the way of my niece Amanda because you know, camping is so boring and there's no ipod or tv. All in all we had a wonderful trip. It was relaxing when the kids weren't screaming or falling - side note James almost fell into the fire, he's OK but very scary stuff right there. It was calm and lots of food and lots of family. So good, almost to good. When you get home from something like that, it's disappointing. Back to the grind, back to the cleaning, back to planning an anniversary party at my home for Sunday. I guess it's like coming back to the loud music of home instead of the peacefulness of the forest. Although one day I will long for the loud music that I have right now. My children's screams and giggles and laughs. That's the music of my blessed life. I love camping and I can't wait for us to go again. :)

2008-06-17T11:00:00.000-07:00

It has been so long since I last blogged, I don't even know where to start... I have two beautiful babies (well, they'll be two and three in a couple of months) and a wonderful stepdaughter. Harley is growing up so quickly - she's smart and funny and the perfect little helper. James is SUCH a boy :) He's rough and tumble, a go-getter, and extremely persistent. He is also the most adorable little boy I've ever laid eyes on! He is just getting into the sentence stage and can't quite annunciate the way Harley did, but all in all he understands everything that she did at that age. They play and get along great most of the time - and I mean MOST of the time being maybe 10% - the other 90% of the time they both want the same toy and are screaming at the top of their lungs. All you mothers out there with one baby or toddler - don't even complain or judge for that matter. Once the second one comes along - Boom! - A whole different ballgame. So when you see me at the store looking quite unwashed and far from the calm, perfect, patient mother you are (which I used to be too) keep it to yourself, please. Lest I will sic these children of mine on you :)
Seriously though, you moms of toddlers that are close together know what I'm saying. It's hard being everything to everyone. You have to spread yourself thin trying to make sure everyone is totally loved and mannerful and not biting the child next to them. It's a full time job in and of itself. Speaking of full time employment, I work for the Motor Vehicles in Jersey and I will be quitting in a couple of months to start school to become a nurse. Actually, Ive been going to school full time and working full time since James was first born. Talk about spreading yourself thin :) But I've come to the point where the classes are all during the day and i won't be able to work while I go to school. So this should be a big change, a nervous stressful oh my god what am i doing change. But we're doing it and stickin' it out. So I thought what better way to rid yourself of fear than writing it all out on the internet and get it off my chest. So I should be back here a lot.
In all my willy nilly free time I have taken up gardening. I planted a whole packet of tomato plant seeds and guess what, I've got a whole lot of tomato plants lol! I have 18 of them to be exact. I also planted radishes, corn, cucumbers, carrots, peas, green beans, and lima beans. I planted them all on the side of my house and the kids like going out and checking them every night. So, I've decided since I have to leave behind my steady paycheck just as food prices are going to soar from flooding and jignormous gas price hikes, I am going to make my own tomato sauce. Tomato sauce and maybe pasta, too. That way I can freeze it and save lotsa moolah of food. Hmm, there's probably going to be some good posts from that I can feel it. I figure I can freeze the peas, green beans, and limas. I can pickle the cucumbers. I'm not quite sure how the radishes and carrots are goingt to come out, though, so I'll keep updating.
In two weekends, we're having my entire in-law family to my house to have a 40th anniversary party for my in-law parents. We have so much work to do on the house it's really not funny. I have to paint and fix and organize. Hmm, I think there'll be some good stories from that too. Well - Gotta go back to the craziness and actually live the life I have :) Lots of Blessings

2006-03-30T06:50:00.000-08:00

My name is Mary Roach and my husband, Jamie and I live in Burlington, NJ along with our daughter, Harley-7 months, and bun-in-the-oven. I also have a step daughter (who doesn't like the step part of that) who lives in Harrisburg and comes down every other weekend. I saw this website in a magazine and thought it might be nice for our daily or most likely weekly goings on to be somewhere for our friends and family to see if we don't see them all the time, especially since Harley has updates almost daily!
Jamie and I were married May 28th, 2004 and six months later moved into our first home. A few days later, not even all the boxes were unpacked, we found out the news of our first pregnancy. Shocked and excited we told everyone a little while later.
Harley's pregnancy went off without a hitch. I walked everyday to and from the train station and got lots of excercise. I didn't show until the end of the fifth month and only gained a total of around twenty pounds. She was born August 22nd, two days before her due date. I was induced and got the world's most wonderful drug, an epidural. I pushed for twenty nine minutes and our baby girl was born. We did not know what she was (not because of choice, she wouldn't show us anything in the ultrasound) so the actual moment the doctor said "Its a girl!" was an amazing time. I had thought for sure that she was a boy. Good thing we had a girl's name ready to go.
Her big sister, grandparents, cousins, aunts, uncles, and friends of the family all rushed in to see her for the first time. Good thing they all fit, there were lots of people that wanted to give her lots of love. The first couple of months were a big blur as any parent knows. But we did take lots of pictures for me to look back on.
Just as we were settling into our new and-a-baby-makes-three life (don't get me wrong we have Syd every other weekend but that isn't anything like taking care of something 24 hours 7 days ya know?) and up comes Christmas! My favorite time of year! So we have a nice get together at our house for the Ehrgott's on Christmas Eve. Christmas morning comes and we have breakfast with the Roach side of the family and the day goes wonderfully. Harley had a beautiful first Christmas. The next day we find out we forgot to open one present. The kind that comes in a EPT pregnancy test box! Haha... we planned on having them close together but my hormones hadn't even returned from Never Never Land yet! So now I'm in the race for the closest set of Irish twins in my family with my mother and sister. Yeah, I know, we're fertile people! The closest is a year and four days. I don't think I'm going to win but we'll see.
So here we are in March, halfway through our fifth month, and almost halfway through this pregnancy. Hopefully, I'll be able to catch my breath next time. Who am I kidding? I'm gonna have a newborn and a one year old! I won't be able to catch my breath for a long time haha. I just went to the doctor's for this baby last week and scheduled an ultrasound for April 20th. I also heard the heartbeat which is always an amazing sound. Maybe we'll be able to see what the sex is this time.
Harley is a very beautiful baby. She's always happy and smiling, except the day after shots, and now reaches for you when you pick her up. She is seven months and can sit by herself and plays. She's eating some table food and loves veggies and meat. She has her two bottom teeth that look so darn cute when she smiles it'll make anyone smile. She says hi and waves at people but no ma or da yet. Of course, you put in all the effort and come last. Better get used to it right? She just started to take baths in the big tub and has soooo much fun in there. The first time she went in, there were all of these bubbles and she was smiling away until she looked down and saw that she no longer had a bottom part of her body! She let out a big wail until I pushed the bubbles aside so she could see the rest of herself. Now her favorite game is picking up the bubbles and trying to hold onto the running water. She still hasn't figured out why her hand keeps going through it! Her Christening is on April 30th and I'm very excited about it. I've found a dress I would like to order for her. We're going to have a party for her at our house afterwards. It'll be nice to see everyone from both sides of the family. Some haven't even met Harley yet! The invitations are going out tomorrow afternoon so I gotta get on the house and start making it pretty. Hopefully, it will be nice out and we can set chairs and tables up outside. The garden should look great around that time.
Sydney is getting so big. She is almost five foot tall and is just so beautiful. You can see so much of Jamie in her. She really is just one sweet girl. She recently got the lead in Alice in Wonderland for her school play and is studying her script hard. She is also playing softball again this year and is the pitcher! She practices every other Saturday morning, when she's not with us, for three hours. She is doing better with school. She was having a hard time with some of her classes but they are all back on track with A's and B's. She misses everyone down here dearly and enjoys her time here, spending most of it on the computer or phone with Amanda, her cousin! Uh-oh sounds like the teens are creeping up on us! We are in the middle of finishing her "beach theme" room up. She helped paint her dresser and antique her handles to it this past weekend. What we didn't finish I'm going to get done this weekend because her friend is going to come down with her next time. She is extremely excited about it and I have to make sure we have some fun stuff planned. We also have our family picture planned for the next time she's down so it will be a busy busy one.
Jamie has stopped working for Resilient Plus and started working for himself. He's doing well and is hoping to soon get his own work van. I am too so I can have the car back :).
I guess that's all right now - hope that gives a good look into our lives and what's going on with us. Bye!