Saturday, April 23, 2011

This weekend at work I....

*Took 15 minutes to comb a giant knot out of a lady's hair. When her doctor came around she told him how it was the best thing ever that I combed out her hair. He mustered a half-hearted fake smile and left. Then we joked about how he just "didn't get it".

*Got yelled at several times by a patient's son. I kinda had fun seeing how kindly I could respond to his degrading comments. Sometimes I'm an actor at work. Probably the rudest human I've even encountered.

*Spoke to my patient in a microphone all day due to his extreme hearing loss. To top it off, he was also confused, although pleasantly.

*Gave a billion medications by mouth, by IV, by nasogastric tube, by other such tubes, and by an orifice that shall not be named (coughcoughbuttcoughcough)

*Ran around like a chicken with my head cut off, finally caught up, and then got shipped off to another unit to meet 3 new patients, then proceeded to do the chicken with no head thing for the rest of my shift.

*Floated to Methodist's ICU, the trauma ICU, and the general medical floor. That's a lot of floating.

*Quickly got the right people in the room before so-n-so hit 'dial' on his phone to call our CEO and demand better care. *Rolls eyes, but tries to put self in their shoes*

*Only had to give one bed-bath, score.

*Ate a chocolate covered Peep and stole 2 packs of saltines and a diet Sierra Mist from the 'patient's only' food stash on 5Dom. However, this was necessary, as I was physically shaking from low blood sugar.

*Charted for 45 minutes of my 60 minute break

*Spent a good 10 minutes explaining to my patient that I am indeed trustworthy, despite his suspicions otherwise, and that I would not abandon him. Then spent another good 10 minutes listening to all the other staff members who are NOT trustworthy. *Rolls eyes for real*

*Assessed several wounds, ick!

*Listened to 7 set of lungs ranging from crackly to clear.

*Only took care of one actual ICU patient. But enjoyed my 3 floor patients.

*Was told to be left alone more times than I can count. But was also told that I was appreciated.

* Was a care taker, med giver, advocate, reassurer, care planner, dressing changer, house keeper, therapist, active listener,  family members psych issues taker-carer of, doctor conflict resolutioner, phone caller, back rubber, hair comber, IV puller-outter, colostomy emptying maniac, and much more :) teehee.

And.....I still have 12 more hours to go tomorrow! I better go to bed.....nah, not yet.

Monday, April 18, 2011

Happy 2nd Birthday Audrey Joanne!

2 years ago at just this time, Chris and I were in our hospital room waiting for Audrey to be born. We got there around 9:45 ish, so I'm sure by this time we were finally settled in. We were supposed to try to sleep. I think Chris got a little, but I couldn't really sleep, because my contractions were getting more and more uncomfortable. I think I decided to get an epidural around 2:30am and Audrey was born at 5:17am! The whole night was a blur. I remember lying there watching, ironically, the movie "Baby Mama" on TV. A short while after my epidural the pain started to get really bad. All the sudden it was time to push and about a 1/2 hr later, we had our Audrey. She was so perfect! Then it was first shots, first bath, first time seeing her family members and so on. And now here we are, 2 years later! Time seriously flies!

We had a wonderful birthday party for her yesterday. Today she keeps saying, "robot party?" And tomorrow, or in 15 minutes rather, is her actual birthday! It wasn't my turn to put Audrey to bed tonight, but Chris said, "Don't you want to be the one the puts her to bed that last time before she's 2?" And being so sentimental I said, "Oh yeh, I have to!" So I did :)

We love our sweet girl so much and are so proud of her. It's a joy to watch her grow and learn. We'll have to see what tomorrow brings. From what I've heard about tomorrow weather predictions it sounds like someday we'll be saying, "Remember how much snow we got on Audrey's 2nd birthday?" Bummer! We'll find something fun to do, but I do know it involved chocolate chip pancakes in the morning and Culver's ice-cream with Grandpa and Grandma later on :)

Here's a few pics of our sweet one....
A Few Hours Old







Our Little Family









One Year Old!



















2 Years Old! (almost)















Putting my girl to bed the night before her b-day!

Saturday, April 09, 2011

We Almost Have a 2 Year Old!

It's crazy to think that Audrey was born 2 years ago. On one hand it feels like we've had her forever and on the other hand it feels like she was born yesterday.

Her day of birth was so memorable. I had worked 12 hours and then went to a dinner for Chris' newly engaged friends. Then, while meeting someone new at the dinner, my water broke, right there at the restaurant. Now, knowing Audrey's personality, it's really not surprising that she decided to make this dramatic first sign that she was ready to enter the world.

I still remember when the nurse handed her to me. She was perfectly quiet and all her features were tiny and delicate. She stared with big, searching eyes up at Chris and I. She just stared and stared and I marveled at how perfectly made she was. I tried to hard so take in the moment so I could remember it later and I still do. We just kept saying, "Oh wow."

And now that tiny newborn is a busy, busy toddler. How it happened so fast I'll never know.
Audrey has the most active mind I've ever seen. She is constantly going from one thing to the next. She's not one to sit quietly, not even in the car (this makes traveling of any distance a challenge). She's talking more and more each day. Some things new things she says are, "Audrey do it" and "Oh goodness sakes!" She is saying lots of 3 and 4 word phrases, like, "Mama play too?" "More snacks please" "Go to Grandma's House?" and so on. She's able to communicate many many things now!

Audrey is also started to really play pretend and also to really wants Chris or myself to play with her at all times. She likes to put her babies in the baby crib that she has and tell them to "take a nap" then she moves them to the play highchair and looks them in the eye and says, "Baby eat? Ok!" I love how she pretends to talk to them. Just recently she has been saying, "No baby....sit in corner!" Then she sits them in the corner. Apparently they were disobeying. :) She still loves to color, play with her kitchen, play with playdoh, listen to music, and watch videos on the computer. She also requests several times a day to, "Go to Grandpa-Grandma's house?" If she's at her grandparent's house, she's basically in Audrey heaven.
Audrey also loves to play with her Daddy. Often during the day she'll just look at me and say, "Daddy?" Then I'll say, "Where is Daddy today?" and she'll say, "Daddy at work!" The two of them are quite the pair. They spent most of their quality time wrestling around being silly.

Mostly Audrey is a good girl and goes with the flow of her daily routine pretty well. But she can definitely be a feisty girl. She knows what she wants and she doesn't give up easily, but neither do we! She usually sits in the corner maybe once every two days when she does something naughty. She doesn't like it, but when I tell her to go, she does, and she stays there until I get her (usually!) I'm trying to teach her to say "yes mama" and "I'm sorry" I know right now it may be meaningless to her, but if she can learn the process of what to say, then soon enough she can understand why she's saying it!

I remember hearing once, maybe at our pre-natal classes, that it takes 2 years after having your 1st child to feel like being a parent is the new normal. Well it's almost 2 years and I still feel like I'm trying to get used to it. Sometimes not being free to be me and do what I want to do is really hard. Sometimes this living room feels like a prison and the weeks get long. Sometimes I go for days without being by myself (minus her 2 hr naps and being at work). Sometimes I miss sleeping until 10, then going shopping, meeting a friend, watching TV, and then being bored of all things! But all the work and all the sacrifice is completely worth it. Being a parent is the hardest and most rewarding thing I've ever done in all my 27 years. I don't think anyone can explain it to you until you've done it. I love that little girl more than anything and she bring such joy and pride to my life. I thank God everyday for blessing us with Audrey.

I'm so excited for the nice weather to come, to get out of this house and find new, fun things to do with my busy toddler girl :)

I'm also excited for next Sunday, her birthday party, and next Tuesday, her actual birthday!

I love you Audrey Joanne!

Audrey on the new slide at Grandma's house!
Audrey meeting Dora at the Mall of America last week!

Audrey likes to sit on the potty!

Playing pretend with her baby :)