Several have been asking about the new job. I am really liking it. There have been a few bumps in the road, but I think it will work out great. It is definitely a new world taking care of children. My first night at work was pretty uneventful. The children were nice and happy and medically stable. The second night was completely opposite, and I had the very same kids. One of the younger ones, a 5-year old beautiful girl was not very stable when i got there. We had to do many things, labs, tests and such and it was very busy, and her situation continued to decline. We ended up taking her to the ICU for more monitoring where they found she had to be rushed to emergency surgery. I got a call the next day that she had passed away. This all hit me very hard. Not to mention my other patient (whom I played GO FISH with the previous night)was yelling and screaming at me and wouldn't take her medication. It didn't make things any better. To say the least, it was a very hard night for me. I cried some, and learned a lot. I know I have a long way to go!
My last shift on the unit was terrific. I was in charge of the care of a 17 day old little girl who had surgery about a week prior to fix a problem in her heart. I got to hold her, smell that new baby smell, feed every 3 hours, rock her to sleep, and change diapers. I had a great time....and I filled my canteen so I don't have to feel baby hungry. I felt like I made an impact that night. She had notoriously been a very fussy baby, but for me she slept the whole night and ate about twice as much each feeding as she did for anyone else. I think these little ones need our affection and nurturing. Especially when their parents are not with them all the time, as this little one. I am so glad that I can feel effective doing things for these children that they can't do for themselves and never repay me for.
