Just a quick update!
I found out that next fall I will be working in a pediatric medical-surgical unit at the hospital right next to my apartment! Pretty excited!
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Thursday, April 22, 2010
And That's How We Got Published.
Today I was in the stabilization area of rehab and it was pretty cool for a couple reasons.
Background on the unit: After patients have completed their stay in detox, they are strongly encouraged to join an inpatient stabilization program. Many patients take this advice, however some choose other stabilization programs for various reasons (cost, closer to their home, etc). In this particular unit, patients stay for about 14 days and begin the AA or NA 12-step process. Their days are filled with a lot of different group sessions and activities to help them evaluate ways to change their life but in a group, or milieu, setting where they can bond with others and form social networks that will help in the long-term success of their recovery.
The first and primary reason it was awesome was that about four of the patients I had worked with previously in detox had now made their way over to stabilization. The most touching of these was the gentleman I had worked with a lot last week (giving meds, the TB injection, and general care). When I last saw him he was very groggy from all the detox medications and was not fully aware of his surroundings. This week he was much more alert and seemed to be responding well to group therapy. A sad part of his story is that as he came out of detox they realized he might have more severe memory loss than that which is expected with substance abuse, so he will be going to the gero psych unit later to be tested for dementia. Overall though it was really nice to sit in on a couple group therapy sessions and see just how much better everyone was looking than the last time I saw them.
The second reason it was awesome is that I had my first moment of realizing that even as a student, we have the power to effect institutional change. One of the sessions today covered the symptoms of acute alcohol and narcotic withdrawal. A majority of the patients in this session were not aware of the continued symptoms, such as hallucinations and tremors, and were greatly relieved to know that what they were experiencing was normal for their situation and not a sign of additional psychiatric problems. After openly confessing what they had experienced, many of them realized that they were not the only ones going through these symptoms as they had previously thought. My partner and I had a lengthy talk about how horrible it would be to not understand why or be told what to expect of your recovery until this late into the program (about a week after finishing detox). After talking it over with our clinical instructor, the both of us decided to create a simple document that either the nurses or the counselors can hand out to the patients during detox. This way they a) know what to expect and for how long and b) have a hard copy that they can reference since memory retention is a problem for recovering addicts. My partner and I will have to present this to the head of detox and what not, so its not official yet. However it's really cool to know that the two of us will be creating a document that has a very high chance of being used in a hospital for years and years, especially since it would be impacting a unit that has a lot of room for growth towards more therapeutic and positive patient care. And that's how we got published!
Until next week!
Background on the unit: After patients have completed their stay in detox, they are strongly encouraged to join an inpatient stabilization program. Many patients take this advice, however some choose other stabilization programs for various reasons (cost, closer to their home, etc). In this particular unit, patients stay for about 14 days and begin the AA or NA 12-step process. Their days are filled with a lot of different group sessions and activities to help them evaluate ways to change their life but in a group, or milieu, setting where they can bond with others and form social networks that will help in the long-term success of their recovery.
The first and primary reason it was awesome was that about four of the patients I had worked with previously in detox had now made their way over to stabilization. The most touching of these was the gentleman I had worked with a lot last week (giving meds, the TB injection, and general care). When I last saw him he was very groggy from all the detox medications and was not fully aware of his surroundings. This week he was much more alert and seemed to be responding well to group therapy. A sad part of his story is that as he came out of detox they realized he might have more severe memory loss than that which is expected with substance abuse, so he will be going to the gero psych unit later to be tested for dementia. Overall though it was really nice to sit in on a couple group therapy sessions and see just how much better everyone was looking than the last time I saw them.
The second reason it was awesome is that I had my first moment of realizing that even as a student, we have the power to effect institutional change. One of the sessions today covered the symptoms of acute alcohol and narcotic withdrawal. A majority of the patients in this session were not aware of the continued symptoms, such as hallucinations and tremors, and were greatly relieved to know that what they were experiencing was normal for their situation and not a sign of additional psychiatric problems. After openly confessing what they had experienced, many of them realized that they were not the only ones going through these symptoms as they had previously thought. My partner and I had a lengthy talk about how horrible it would be to not understand why or be told what to expect of your recovery until this late into the program (about a week after finishing detox). After talking it over with our clinical instructor, the both of us decided to create a simple document that either the nurses or the counselors can hand out to the patients during detox. This way they a) know what to expect and for how long and b) have a hard copy that they can reference since memory retention is a problem for recovering addicts. My partner and I will have to present this to the head of detox and what not, so its not official yet. However it's really cool to know that the two of us will be creating a document that has a very high chance of being used in a hospital for years and years, especially since it would be impacting a unit that has a lot of room for growth towards more therapeutic and positive patient care. And that's how we got published!
Until next week!
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Driving That Train, High on Cocaine
Holy Cow. If you would have asked me a week ago if I would have ever considered a day working in detox "awesome" I would have laughed. Guffawed even.
I won't go too into detail as I've recounted this to many people already, but last weeks shift in detox was everything I don't want to be as a nurse. Sloppy unprofessional dress, combative language with every patient, and no interaction besides going into the room to give someone meds then leaving and returning to Farmville on facebook. Everyone hits burnout in their given profession at sometime, but I hope its never as bad as what I saw last week. Lordy.
However, today was a different set of nurses and that changed the atmosphere tremendously. Also, with a better concept of things I was able to do in detox I worked on being more vocal about things I could do, which helped so very much. The two main things I involved myself in were observing psychiatric assessments and administering medications.
What I love about psychiatric assessments is that it gives you a chance to really understand how someone became so involved in drugs and/or alcohol that they reached a point of dependency. It puts a face to notes like "drinks a fifth of vodka every day" or "has 29-36 beers a night" and humanizes addictions that can affect everyone and anyone. The assessment that struck the closest to home for me today was a young man who had spent a significant amount of time in the military and had been deployed to Iraq twice. His heavy drinking began when he entered the military and continued to get worse once he left for medical reasons and because of boredom from unemployment. None of his medical conditions were that surprising: PTSD, tinnitus from being to close to an explosion, anxiety and depression. The one that I thought was most interesting was that his chronic psoriasis, in his case tied directly to his stress levels, was only completely cleared up two times in his life: both of his tours in Iraq. He explained that while its stressful over there, and the cause of his PTSD, you don't have the same kind of stress like you do here (i.e. financial, relationships, etc). You have an assigned duty and you know where you are going to be and what you are going to be doing at all times. Anyways, I was most touched by this particular patient because of how young he was and because I am always fascinated by people who have life experiences that are so completely different from mine. I hope he is able to get his life back together and recover from his addiction.
To end on an exciting note, today was my first day EVER of administering medications!! I felt like a real nurse and am so in love with using the automated medication carts. Nothing beats flashing lights, popping drawers, and getting your fingerprint scanned! I also got to administer my first tuberculin skin test which was frightening and exciting at the same time. The patient had super thick skin which made the process difficult and extra scary, but in the end he had a bubble under his skin so my job was successful!
I am absolutely pooped now, and my time in detox is over. Next week I'll begin a two day stint in the stabilization aspect of recovery. Until next week!
I won't go too into detail as I've recounted this to many people already, but last weeks shift in detox was everything I don't want to be as a nurse. Sloppy unprofessional dress, combative language with every patient, and no interaction besides going into the room to give someone meds then leaving and returning to Farmville on facebook. Everyone hits burnout in their given profession at sometime, but I hope its never as bad as what I saw last week. Lordy.
However, today was a different set of nurses and that changed the atmosphere tremendously. Also, with a better concept of things I was able to do in detox I worked on being more vocal about things I could do, which helped so very much. The two main things I involved myself in were observing psychiatric assessments and administering medications.
What I love about psychiatric assessments is that it gives you a chance to really understand how someone became so involved in drugs and/or alcohol that they reached a point of dependency. It puts a face to notes like "drinks a fifth of vodka every day" or "has 29-36 beers a night" and humanizes addictions that can affect everyone and anyone. The assessment that struck the closest to home for me today was a young man who had spent a significant amount of time in the military and had been deployed to Iraq twice. His heavy drinking began when he entered the military and continued to get worse once he left for medical reasons and because of boredom from unemployment. None of his medical conditions were that surprising: PTSD, tinnitus from being to close to an explosion, anxiety and depression. The one that I thought was most interesting was that his chronic psoriasis, in his case tied directly to his stress levels, was only completely cleared up two times in his life: both of his tours in Iraq. He explained that while its stressful over there, and the cause of his PTSD, you don't have the same kind of stress like you do here (i.e. financial, relationships, etc). You have an assigned duty and you know where you are going to be and what you are going to be doing at all times. Anyways, I was most touched by this particular patient because of how young he was and because I am always fascinated by people who have life experiences that are so completely different from mine. I hope he is able to get his life back together and recover from his addiction.
To end on an exciting note, today was my first day EVER of administering medications!! I felt like a real nurse and am so in love with using the automated medication carts. Nothing beats flashing lights, popping drawers, and getting your fingerprint scanned! I also got to administer my first tuberculin skin test which was frightening and exciting at the same time. The patient had super thick skin which made the process difficult and extra scary, but in the end he had a bubble under his skin so my job was successful!
I am absolutely pooped now, and my time in detox is over. Next week I'll begin a two day stint in the stabilization aspect of recovery. Until next week!
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
It's okay if he bleeds, just use some toilet paper.
That was my advice as I prepared to shave my client's face today with a single blade disposable razor. I only needed two toilet paper squares, but in all honestly I probably didn't do the greatest job either as it is terrifying to shave someone's face with a blade so terribly crappy.
Today was my first day in the gerontological nursing setting. This term we have two clinical rotations, the other being in psychiatric nursing (Thursdays).
Moment of honesty: I have a strong aversion to working with elderly patients. It's nothing about them specifically, but its mostly because I don't like confronting the very real possibilities that occur as our bodies age. Luckily, medical research has made enormous strides in recent years that has shown us that a) significantly improved rehabilitation techniques following such events as falls and strokes and b) there is a ton of preventative medicine you yourself can engage in during your younger years to prevent diseases commonly associated with old age that don't need to be.
That being said, this term is my chance to begin assuaging my fears of aging and feeling more comfortable working with a population that will inevitably be in any aspect of medicine I choose to specialize in (I suppose with the exception of peds or maternity for obvious reasons).
My clinical site for gerontological nursing couldn't be more awesome: Pike's Place Market overlooking the sound. This not only enables some awesome window watching of ferries and barges floating by, but gives residents access to a plethora of walking adventures. The facility is very basic assisted living, so most of the patients are in relatively good health.
My morning started off with some basic wake-up prep work so that residents could make their way down to the cafe for breakfast (which is a popular meal among the elderly, nearly everyone I talked to said that breakfast was their favorite and that they've gained 20-30 pounds since moving in). During this wake-up prep work, I learned a couple of seemingly universal lessons:
And that concluded my first day in gero. I survived, some of my fears have been lessened, and I think it should be an interesting term at both clinical sites!
Today was my first day in the gerontological nursing setting. This term we have two clinical rotations, the other being in psychiatric nursing (Thursdays).
Moment of honesty: I have a strong aversion to working with elderly patients. It's nothing about them specifically, but its mostly because I don't like confronting the very real possibilities that occur as our bodies age. Luckily, medical research has made enormous strides in recent years that has shown us that a) significantly improved rehabilitation techniques following such events as falls and strokes and b) there is a ton of preventative medicine you yourself can engage in during your younger years to prevent diseases commonly associated with old age that don't need to be.
That being said, this term is my chance to begin assuaging my fears of aging and feeling more comfortable working with a population that will inevitably be in any aspect of medicine I choose to specialize in (I suppose with the exception of peds or maternity for obvious reasons).
My clinical site for gerontological nursing couldn't be more awesome: Pike's Place Market overlooking the sound. This not only enables some awesome window watching of ferries and barges floating by, but gives residents access to a plethora of walking adventures. The facility is very basic assisted living, so most of the patients are in relatively good health.
My morning started off with some basic wake-up prep work so that residents could make their way down to the cafe for breakfast (which is a popular meal among the elderly, nearly everyone I talked to said that breakfast was their favorite and that they've gained 20-30 pounds since moving in). During this wake-up prep work, I learned a couple of seemingly universal lessons:
- TED hose, or compression stockings, are terrifying to put on anybody but especially the delicate skin of the elderly. Especially if they are yelling at you that you don't know what you are doing and to get the regular nurse before you rip their skin off
- Some patients are very comfortable with their nakedness. One of the patients was just hanging out in his chair, free as you please and not a care in the world. Part of his care plan was to put lotion on his back because of dry skin and the other student nurse I worked with teased me because I lotioned him up before even putting his pants on. What a treat that must have been for him.
And that concluded my first day in gero. I survived, some of my fears have been lessened, and I think it should be an interesting term at both clinical sites!
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Staples and Sheet Cake.
Today was my last day in the OB clinical rotation. Holy cow has time flown by. Every day presented new challenges and opportunities, but today was an overwhelming day of big things.
The day started out with me completing a head to toe assessment on a mother and a baby while my clinical instructor watched. I was so terrified. All term the only thing I wished for when this moment came was that I wouldn't have to palpate a woman's fundus who had undergone a cesarean. Well, guess what. I did. And I felt terrible doing it. However, I passed the test and my mother wasn't in too terribly much pain so that was a success. Win!
I was then shuttled in to the "circ room" to watch a little tiny baby boy loose a little tiny piece of skin. Luckily for the baby, he slept through the entire thing. Even the giant lidocaine shot into his pee pee. If you didn't think about what was being cut, it wasn't so bad. But every once in awhile my mind would suddenly shift to "Oh mah gawd what are they doing!" Plus, the foreskin left over on the clamp when it was all over was kinda creepy looking. In the end, it only affirmed that I personally think circumcisions are unnecessary. I surely wouldn't want anyone cutting me in the nether regions. However, no judgments shall be passed to those who have them done.
The second major highlight of the day was that I got to remove staples from a cesarean patient about to go home. At the start of the term staples grossed me out. Then I saw them removed and felt better about them. Today, I full on pulled them out. It was actually a more traumatic experience than I would have hoped for. Because of different cultural traditions, my client was very vocal about pain. It's not that the staples being pulled were traumatically painful to her, it's just the way that that particular culture tends to express pain. Even knowing this, it doesn't help when its your first time and you are terrified to have a woman wailing and crying with every staple. It especially doesn't help when it makes her husband not trust you even more. My resource nurse said I did everything fine and did a really good job. So huzzah to me!
Small side notes:
-I got to remove a Foley catheter, no big deal but a first time is a first time
-I got to do discharge teaching which made me feel official but it was also awkward because it mostly felt like I was talking to myself.
-The closest I ever came to seeing a vaginal delivery is watching 16 and Pregnant on MTV. Damn. So, if you know anyone delivering vaginally hook me up. Cause it would be nice to know what it looks like.
The day ended with a surprise fiesta hosted by our faculty nurse. She bought a Costco cake. I got the corner piece with the most frosting. Today was a good day.
And so concludes my first term of clinical rotations. No more crowning head, next term is all about psych patients and "pits and pubes" with the elderly, as my faculty nurse so tenderly put it.
Stay tuned....
The day started out with me completing a head to toe assessment on a mother and a baby while my clinical instructor watched. I was so terrified. All term the only thing I wished for when this moment came was that I wouldn't have to palpate a woman's fundus who had undergone a cesarean. Well, guess what. I did. And I felt terrible doing it. However, I passed the test and my mother wasn't in too terribly much pain so that was a success. Win!
I was then shuttled in to the "circ room" to watch a little tiny baby boy loose a little tiny piece of skin. Luckily for the baby, he slept through the entire thing. Even the giant lidocaine shot into his pee pee. If you didn't think about what was being cut, it wasn't so bad. But every once in awhile my mind would suddenly shift to "Oh mah gawd what are they doing!" Plus, the foreskin left over on the clamp when it was all over was kinda creepy looking. In the end, it only affirmed that I personally think circumcisions are unnecessary. I surely wouldn't want anyone cutting me in the nether regions. However, no judgments shall be passed to those who have them done.
The second major highlight of the day was that I got to remove staples from a cesarean patient about to go home. At the start of the term staples grossed me out. Then I saw them removed and felt better about them. Today, I full on pulled them out. It was actually a more traumatic experience than I would have hoped for. Because of different cultural traditions, my client was very vocal about pain. It's not that the staples being pulled were traumatically painful to her, it's just the way that that particular culture tends to express pain. Even knowing this, it doesn't help when its your first time and you are terrified to have a woman wailing and crying with every staple. It especially doesn't help when it makes her husband not trust you even more. My resource nurse said I did everything fine and did a really good job. So huzzah to me!
Small side notes:
-I got to remove a Foley catheter, no big deal but a first time is a first time
-I got to do discharge teaching which made me feel official but it was also awkward because it mostly felt like I was talking to myself.
-The closest I ever came to seeing a vaginal delivery is watching 16 and Pregnant on MTV. Damn. So, if you know anyone delivering vaginally hook me up. Cause it would be nice to know what it looks like.
The day ended with a surprise fiesta hosted by our faculty nurse. She bought a Costco cake. I got the corner piece with the most frosting. Today was a good day.
And so concludes my first term of clinical rotations. No more crowning head, next term is all about psych patients and "pits and pubes" with the elderly, as my faculty nurse so tenderly put it.
Stay tuned....
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
A Crowning Head...of sorts.
I can now officially say that I have witnessed a c/s. While I think that its amazing that they can do it as quickly as they can based on years of perfecting techniques, I kind of hope that I myself don't have to get any. It was still a very moving experience and I had to fight back tears, but it also felt sterile and impersonal. With vaginal deliveries there is more of a tension built up through all the pushing and it feels more intimate. But it was kind of weird to just be like "snip snip pop! baby here!" Ideally, I would like to have vaginal deliveries with no epidural so that I can be fully present in the moment and to not risk endangering my babies, but given the track record of women in my family I'm won't be allowed to delivery vaginally. Anyways, aside from the smell of burning, it was still a neat experience and Baby Boy did very well!
The rest of my day was spent working in the neonatal intensive care unit, or NICU. It was a fairly slow day as my set of twins were stable as was the baby girl I was also assigned to. The parents were there most of the time so that limited my ability to really interact with the babies, but it was educational nonetheless.
I got to see what a 28 week baby looks like as one had recently been delivered in the L+D unit. It's scary how underdeveloped 28 week babies are. Just for reference, a baby is considered at term when it has completed 37 weeks, or the start of the 38th week. That's ten weeks pre-term. That's 2 and a half months. That's not supposed to happen. But, so far baby was doing just fine. It was kind of cool because they had a catheter an artery in the umbilical cord because they can get blood samples this way without continually having to poke the baby with needles. Since this little bebe had a long stay ahead of her I thought this was neat!
Aside from the c/s, the highlight of my day was getting to take vitals, change a poopy diaper, and feed and snuggle an at term baby who was in the NICU because of high bilirubin levels. He was absolutely adorable and the sweetest little boy in the world. He was even more adorable because when the bili bed was turned on (light therapy to help rid him of excess bilirubin) he had to wear these foam sunglasses to protect his eyes. Baby's first stunner shades. I like snuggling and I like babies, but I know I won't be ready for quite some time!
Well, I'm super wiped. These days take so much energy out of me! Next week I'm in L+D again so maybe I'll get to see some more babies being birthed!
The rest of my day was spent working in the neonatal intensive care unit, or NICU. It was a fairly slow day as my set of twins were stable as was the baby girl I was also assigned to. The parents were there most of the time so that limited my ability to really interact with the babies, but it was educational nonetheless.
I got to see what a 28 week baby looks like as one had recently been delivered in the L+D unit. It's scary how underdeveloped 28 week babies are. Just for reference, a baby is considered at term when it has completed 37 weeks, or the start of the 38th week. That's ten weeks pre-term. That's 2 and a half months. That's not supposed to happen. But, so far baby was doing just fine. It was kind of cool because they had a catheter an artery in the umbilical cord because they can get blood samples this way without continually having to poke the baby with needles. Since this little bebe had a long stay ahead of her I thought this was neat!
Aside from the c/s, the highlight of my day was getting to take vitals, change a poopy diaper, and feed and snuggle an at term baby who was in the NICU because of high bilirubin levels. He was absolutely adorable and the sweetest little boy in the world. He was even more adorable because when the bili bed was turned on (light therapy to help rid him of excess bilirubin) he had to wear these foam sunglasses to protect his eyes. Baby's first stunner shades. I like snuggling and I like babies, but I know I won't be ready for quite some time!
Well, I'm super wiped. These days take so much energy out of me! Next week I'm in L+D again so maybe I'll get to see some more babies being birthed!
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
¿Comprende?
Day 3 was so ridiculously overwhelming, but it was also really good too.
I was assigned to the mother-baby unit which is where mother's go after they have delivered but before they are discharged from the hospital. It's a recovery unit of sorts. I was paired up with a really good resource nurse who had been working int he field for about 7 years or so, so that was helpful because I was tres nervous about my first day in Mother-Baby.
I worked with three families all together, but really only interacted with two of them. The first of these two was one of those "if you had waited one second longer the baby would have been born in the hallway" situations. Mama and baby were super comfortable and mostly healthy. The baby was really jittery, which we first thought was because of low glucose. But, we later found out that the mother had smoked some during her pregnancy and so baby girl was going through some minor withdrawals. It was sad to see both a mother who didn't fully realize what the consequences of her actions would be as well as seeing this tiny, helpless infant who was in pain and had no idea why or what was going on. Fact: The placenta doesn't protect the baby from really anything other than holding in all the amniotic fluid the baby pees out. Everything you do to yourself you are also doing to your baby!!
The family that I worked the most with and felt like I bonded with was a Mexican mother who spoke little English. Although I took five years of Spanish in middle/high school and one year at UO, I am super insecure about my abilities, even though they are way more there than I would like to admit. So, no, I never spoke Spanish to her but I regret it now. There were a lot of times where I almost felt myself slip naturally into conversation but because of insecurity, I held myself back.
It was cool though over the course of 8 hours to see how we bonded and how much more comfortable she became with me. I felt like we understood each other well even though we weren't speaking the same language. At times it was almost like I understood her better than the RN which was kinda neat. She had two grown sons who served as translators (MAJOR RED FLAG. YOU NEVER HAVE FAMILY MEMBERS TRANSLATE!!!) because she didn't want to use the translator services as reported by her night nurse. It worked out just fine, but it really wasn't an ideal situation in that sense.
I got to watch a woman's c/s staples being taken out today, which was good because staples freak the heck out of me. This helped me get over my fear of looking at them. Staples should be in paper, not in people. Blech. No me gusta.
I also got to feel a fundus (the top of the uterus) for the first time today. It was nice and firm and in the midline, but it's also weird to be like "I am touching someone's uterus through skin" Just surreal, but also neato!
Pretty slow week as far as cool stories to tell, but it was a big week for me in realizing my style of acclimating to new situations.
Future Goals:
-Get over the nastiness of staples
-Speak Spanish even if minimally
-Make sure to buy those cute mitten things for my babies. So stinkin' adorable!
Have a good week!
I was assigned to the mother-baby unit which is where mother's go after they have delivered but before they are discharged from the hospital. It's a recovery unit of sorts. I was paired up with a really good resource nurse who had been working int he field for about 7 years or so, so that was helpful because I was tres nervous about my first day in Mother-Baby.
I worked with three families all together, but really only interacted with two of them. The first of these two was one of those "if you had waited one second longer the baby would have been born in the hallway" situations. Mama and baby were super comfortable and mostly healthy. The baby was really jittery, which we first thought was because of low glucose. But, we later found out that the mother had smoked some during her pregnancy and so baby girl was going through some minor withdrawals. It was sad to see both a mother who didn't fully realize what the consequences of her actions would be as well as seeing this tiny, helpless infant who was in pain and had no idea why or what was going on. Fact: The placenta doesn't protect the baby from really anything other than holding in all the amniotic fluid the baby pees out. Everything you do to yourself you are also doing to your baby!!
The family that I worked the most with and felt like I bonded with was a Mexican mother who spoke little English. Although I took five years of Spanish in middle/high school and one year at UO, I am super insecure about my abilities, even though they are way more there than I would like to admit. So, no, I never spoke Spanish to her but I regret it now. There were a lot of times where I almost felt myself slip naturally into conversation but because of insecurity, I held myself back.
It was cool though over the course of 8 hours to see how we bonded and how much more comfortable she became with me. I felt like we understood each other well even though we weren't speaking the same language. At times it was almost like I understood her better than the RN which was kinda neat. She had two grown sons who served as translators (MAJOR RED FLAG. YOU NEVER HAVE FAMILY MEMBERS TRANSLATE!!!) because she didn't want to use the translator services as reported by her night nurse. It worked out just fine, but it really wasn't an ideal situation in that sense.
I got to watch a woman's c/s staples being taken out today, which was good because staples freak the heck out of me. This helped me get over my fear of looking at them. Staples should be in paper, not in people. Blech. No me gusta.
I also got to feel a fundus (the top of the uterus) for the first time today. It was nice and firm and in the midline, but it's also weird to be like "I am touching someone's uterus through skin" Just surreal, but also neato!
Pretty slow week as far as cool stories to tell, but it was a big week for me in realizing my style of acclimating to new situations.
Future Goals:
-Get over the nastiness of staples
-Speak Spanish even if minimally
-Make sure to buy those cute mitten things for my babies. So stinkin' adorable!
Have a good week!
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