NAS: Day in the Life

After a winter break NAS is back!!  Excited to get the new year going and linking up with @Jumping in Puddles for a Day in the Life post.  Now I have done a week in the life post and another day in the life post from the summer as a nanny but I have yet to do one as an RN.

So a little disclaimer.  This day is still in my temporary job so this isn't what I will be doing everyday but just yesterday I accepted my full time permanent job in the WomanCare Birth Center aka the Labor and Delivery unit (eeek!!).  Right now I will just be orienting to Labor and Delivery but will gradually also orient to Triage, OB ICU and learn how to circulate in the OR. Also, I can't go into much detail about my work day because of HIPPA but I will give you what I can.

With out further ado....

(I wrote most of this in live time....)

5 am.....Alarm goes off.  Is anybodies else first thought when their alarms go off is when is the next time I can sleep in our is that just me?

Shower, coffee, dressed, make-up, hair, breakfast, Bible time.

6:00am.....Leave the apartment and drive to my parking lot.  Normally I can push it to 6:10 but we had snow overnight and I want to leave time for the rights to be bad.  Thankfully they weren't too bad and people were driving appropriately-not so slow, not like a maniac.

6:25....Park and take the shuttle to the hospital.

Get my scrubs out of the scrub machine. Change into my scrubs.

6:55 Clock in.  Today I am working in PMU, Prenatel Monitoring Unit.  I head downstairs and get situated.  Yesterday, our OB charting switched over to a new system so today should be interesting actually getting my hands dirty with it.

9:30-11:55....6 NST, non-stress test, including two sets of twins.  Simply put a NST reassures us that a baby is happy and healthy in utero by looking at the babies heart rate for at least 20 minutes.

12:45....Lunch time!  Ceasar salad and leftover chicken from Chinese with my parents.  Also chips, given to all the nurses to help soften the blow of switching OB charting. 

1:15-3:41.....Three more NSTs including talking to the cutest big brother and a twins mom who got sent upstairs to the birth center to be induced because we were not reassured by one of the twins.  

Quickly change out of my scrubs so that I can make the shuttle.  I will return them tomorrow because tick, tock.

4:05 Make the shuttle, get to my car, drink a protein shake and Swiss cheese for dinner while I drive over to the house I nanny at. 

4:25 Arrive at the twins house. 

Load the bottles in the dishwasher.  Play with and keep entertained any twin who is awake.  Around 6 their mom starts giving them baths and I get them dressed .  Start feeding them at 7 and they eat and fall asleep quickly.  I guess I did a good job at keeping them entertained.  

9:30.....Leave their house and head home.

And here I am sitting at my apartment putting the final touches on this post so I can get to bed.  I did my best at showing you a typical day but honestly my days are never really typical. 

Sorry I didn't include any pictures.  I should have atleast gotten a selfie but alas I did not.

Now the "required" questions.   

What is your favorite part of the day? On this day, I love being with moms especially the great ones that exude joy.  But I also love my days off or the days I don't work my other job and have some down time.  

What is your least favorite part of the day? I think a lot of people would agree with me that the worst part of the day is when your alarm goes off and you realize you have to get up.  After I get going I am very chipper but at first I just think about when is the next time I can sleep in.  

Are you making any changes to your daily routine now that the new year has started?  Honestly no.  I wish I could say I would would be working out more but honestly when I get up at 5 and don't normally get home until 9:30 working out most days just isn't going to happen .  The biggest change to my schedule will involve starting my job and working two 12 and two 8 hour shifts rather than five 8 hour shifts.

Don't forget to link-up with the other NAS ladies @ Jumping in Puddles.

Week in My Life

Well over at Team Whitaker, Kathryn is hosting a #weekinmylife link up and being the nosy-in-other-people's-daily-extraordinary-ordinary lives I was happy to join the party.  Technically you were supposed to do a post a day for the week but all these busy moms are showing me up.  In the meantime this single lady who just works a 40 work week is going to do one lump post.

Before I jump into Monday lets back up a bit.  I worked Friday night from 7p-3a, drove to Cleveland and got to my parents house about 5am and slept until 9ish, woke up and got ready for a 11 o'clock wedding.  The wedding was a beautiful extraordinary form Latin High Mass.  After Mass, I grabbed lunch with my parents, we went back and slept for two hours and then moved over to cocktails and appetizers at about 5:30.  That night I slept at my parents house but had to for leave at 8am in order to work from 11a-7p.  I got off work about 7:30 and went to adoration before Mass at 9.  I tell you all this because I went into my Monday running on a less than ideal amount of sleep.

#livingmyfiat The Bride and I.  Made all the sleepiness worth it.

So Monday.  As part of my job we have class every Monday.  On this Monday I had class from 8-4:30.  We learned about the hospital's Pitocin protocol, video conferenced in the for the systemwide Ebola meeting, and learned a bit about epidurals from the chief of anesthesia.  I can't even remember what I had for dinner on Monday but I am sure I crashed pretty hard.

When I was eating my morning breakfast and reading scripture I noticed this and laughed.  Life as a Catholic nurse. Spread the Gospel not communicable diseases.  

Tuesday I worked 7-3.  I wish I could tell you lots about my job but, well, HIPPA.  I can tell you I had some of my favorite patients and the day went well.  I paid my credit card, set up my student loan payments and sent some money to NET ministries so I remember feeling like I just spent a whole lot of money.

I also had dinner with two of my friends from work.  You want to hear this crazy.  The first two girls I met at my job were friends in high school with my roommate from last year!  It is such a small small world.  We want to periodically go out to dinner and try restaurants that none of us have been to.  It was an enjoyable evening venting and sharing our jobs.  As a bonus we found a restaurant with some great fries!

Wednesday wasn't all that different expect I know I made pasta and garlic bread for dinner and that I went to bed about 8:30.  When I was falling asleep at 8 I just gave up.

I posted this on the 'gram asking how many of these my fellow nurses eat.  I found out that I am pretty sure the nurses eat more of these than the patients do.  

Wednesday was also the three year anniversary of me intenting to my household.  This is the actual day three years ago.  What a crazy adventure and blessing it has been.  I love people's reactions.  

Thursday was my first of two days off.  Ahh deep breath.  Because I went to bed so early I woke up about 6:30.  Still sleeping in compared to my usual 5am wake-up.  I started the morning with some french press coffee and pumpkin pancakes from Trader Joe's.  I putzed around on the computer before I finally convinced myself to work out.

Putzing and crocheting

My working out wasn't my normal run, but Soul Core Yoga.  I will do a full review once I do it a few more times but already I can tell you it will be a rave.  Want to combine prayer and exercise in a very really, concrete way?  Soul Core Yoga is the answer.  As you are doing various yoga poses the leader also guides you through praying the rosary. In addition, the work out is perfect-challenging without being impossible.  Right now I only have only bought the Luminous mysteries but I will be buying other mysteries!

Shower followed before I walked to Mass.  Once again I was probably the youngest person there by at least half a century.  Came back home and made myself a lunch of an egg, bacon, and cheese sandwich.  Next I went to Target to look for a garmet rack that they said they only sold in online but with nothing else to do why not make a trip to Target.  They in fact only sell it online but I did come out of the store with two tunics that I think will get tons of use this winter, a Minnie Mouse costume for my Goddaughter, and some Christmas gifts.  I get to check out and realized I left my wallet on the couch.  The very kind cashier suspends my order, I run home and grab my wallet (of course there is construction) and come back.  The only reason I only actually went through all that trouble was because I still had two more stops (and lets be honest I really liked my purchases).  Next up was Trader Joe's to grab some yummies and pick up some produce for my bro.  Finally I had to go pick up stuff for the Color Run.  Unfortunately I signed up for it before I knew my work schedule and I am working the day of the run but I wanted to pick it up because I still might sell it or at least I get a free t-shirt out of it.   The idiot I am didn't know the pick-up location was on the other side of the tunnel so I sat in the beginning of rush hour traffic.  At least it gave me an opportunity for patience.

I got home, made hamburgers, laid around and watched Gilmore Girls before I went to bed.  I would call that a successful day off. 

Now you want a donut.....sorry. 

Friday morning after getting confused about what time it was I headed to Steubenville, an hour later than I had planned due to said confusion but hey we roll with the punches.  I had already enjoyed a delicious donut at the donut shop I had finally tried out down the street.  After noon Mass at Franciscan I had lunch with a friend and spent the afternoon at the house of the family who I babysat since I was a freshman in college.  I had missed them so and it is always crazy to see how much all the kids have grown.

After dinner, I headed back onto campus for a talk by one of my graduated household sisters about porn and the overwhelming love and mercy of Christ.  She works for the Culture Project (that picture of the two red heads, household sister and household brother, I am a lucky woman) and spends her days traveling to middle schools, high schools and colleges spreading the chastity message.  Before heading back to Pittsburgh, I caught up with another household sister who was in town for a few days.  We lamented and celebrated all the struggles and joys of life on the otherside-after graduating from Franciscan.   How good it is for the soul to spend a day bathed in the richness of genuineness.

Kuddos to all of you who made it to the end of this long winded post.  My weeks can be all over the place but I am blessed to be living the life I have been given, to be living my fiat.

Day in the Life 12-20-12

I like to keep myself busy.

6:55 Woke up, took a shower and got ready for the day.

8:00 Mass. Gospel reading was from Luke 1, the Annunciation. Love it!!

9:00 Breakfast with the best friends. Quailty time with each other while eating French toast and loaded egg cassaroles made by Stacey. Planned our futures, discussed the upcoming wedding, dreamed, reminisced and vented about roommates and our families.

2:00 Is it 2:00 already? Time just got away from us. We were wondering why we were getting hungry again.

2:23. Errands for my mom.

3:48 Big grocery shopping trip. Got all the food for Christmas and 20% food perks.

6:18 Driving home and had to go an alternate way because there was a bad accident at the corner of my street. Called my mom to make sure it wasn't here. Now I just hope whoever was involved in it is ok.

6:23 Home and putting groceries away. Don't you just love my lock screen.

6:56 Groceries away, cold beer, checking out this talked about Amish Mafia and thinking about some cookie making. Saw the hilarious Jello pudding commercial about the end of the world occurring tomorrow. Clever jello, clever.

8:22 Made two batches of cookies with National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation in the background

11:08 Signing some of the family's Christmas cards, then off to bed. Hopefully some scripture and Jesus of Nazereth before I dooze off.

Thanks for joining me for a day in my life.

Live joy.

Day in the Life on Fall Break.

So this past Thursday was the first official day of fall break, or as it is officially called All Saints Break because we are a passionate Catholic University and make sure to remember that even if it is a secular holiday it probably has a Catholic origin (Valentines Day, St. Patrick's Day, Christmas, Halloween...).

The morning started with coffee, TV, and laptop time with my roommate.

She will really appreciate that I found it necessary to put this picture in the blog but then again this was the better of the two.

She still had to go to Mass but I had been to Vigil Mass the night before in one of the dorms.

At 12, I went to a late brunch in the caf with some household sisters.

How good it is to spend unhurried time with my sisters enjoying good coffee and good conversation.

Next up was some shopping at Goodwill and Gabe's.

At Goodwill I found some great Christmas glasses that will make a perfect gift for my mom for Christmas and at Gabes bought a tan sweatshirt material poncho. I could get the glasses out of my car and pull the poncho out of my closet to take a picture but that would mean this post wouldn't be published for another 4 days.

Soon after this we went to our household's advisor's house for some All Saint's Day celebrating. We played bored games, watched Oliver and Company with her family, ate pizza, and partook in some of her famous margaritas. Mmmmmm.

Being the day after All Saints Trick-or-Treating of course there was massive amounts of candy consumption.

Most of these are from telling all the Laffy Taffy jokes in the basket.

And course what would it be without some more Angel fun.

Live joy.