Adult? Can I adult?

So change has been the name of the game lately. And that might actually be the understatement of the year.

In the past two weeks, I have ended my career with NSLC, moved to a new city, started my first nursing job,  AND bought multiple major pieces of furniture (as in the over $300 kind). Am I an adult  now or what?!?!

Obviously, a lot of changing going on and I'll be the first to admit it's been a wee bit stressful. Okay a lot bit stressful lolz. I keep reminding myself how pumped I am to have taken this big ole leap and moved here on my own for a job I already love and how proud I am of myself that. If you would have asked me for years ago if I would have moved out of Arkansas, I would have said heck no! Now don't get me wrong, I know it's probably going to be difficult somedays, but I know nothing but growth is going to come from it and I could not be more stoked.

So amidst all the chaos, I really want to start using this blog to chronicle my first year in my new city and my first year as a nurse. Why not start right this very second?!

First off, totally sold on working here. Why you ask? Because, a true sorority girl's dream...I can wear t-shirts to work! Not only can I wear t-shirts, but I can wear any t-shirts I want! Bring on the superhero/spongebob/frozen shirts! And who doesn't love wearing scrub pants? It's like pajamas with pockets!

Okay, real talk, this job is going to be an insane rollercoaster! Like the kind that goes topsy turvy and you feel like you're about to fall out and goes upside down and side ways and backwards and the whole shabang. I think my experience so far has been a perfect example of the ebb and flow of emotions I'll most likely experience in these next few months. I go from one day in class playing with one of the incredibly adorable therapy pups and making bead necklaces to the next class talking about dying children for 4 hours. The good is going to be really good and the bad is going to be really bad. Babies with congenital heart defects have a super long road ahead of them. These are some sick little babies with some sick little baby hearts. The most adorable, cute, precious, tiny sick little babies of course--nothing is going to stop me from loving on them as much as I can while I'm taking care of them!

So I had my first day on the floor this week. What is totally amazing and I didn't fully appreciate until this week was the opportunity I have to spend my first month on the cardiac step-down unit as opposed to jumping straight into the CICU. The abbreviations, the doctors, the medications, the charting, the conditions, the procedures, the policies. Literally everything is new to me. If I would have started straight in the unit LOL totally would have floundered around like a fish out of water LOL. It's awesome having the chance to get used to how things work and how things are done and what these kids start to look like when they're on the path to going home. I'm pretty sure no nursing school anywhere spends as much time on pediatric cardiology as I would have needed to be fully prepared to jump straight into work on the unit. But thankfully, the support for new graduates is INCREDIBLE at this hospital!! Literally everyone I meet is so friendly and will do anything to help me out. It of course helps that I have to wear this yellow ribbon on my name tag that is the not so subtle way of letting all the staff know "I'M A NEWBIE" without having to broadcast it to parents and visitors and such. I'm tempted to keep wearing it longer than we're supposed to so I have an excuse for not knowing the answer to something haha

So my first patients were the cutest little bundles of cute. LOL that at first when I looked at their charts I thought my patients were 14, 7, and 10. LOLOL more like 14 days, 7 months, and 10 days. Aka BABIES! They were all so tiny and such little troopers and the perfect first day patients. It was so bizarre, I kept feeling like I was in nursing school and I would need my precepting nurse to sign off on things and such, but NOPE! I could do things all on my own. Which is #terrifying. Overall it was an awesome day and I never once felt overwhelmed or lost or up the creek without a paddle which is way better than I thought I'd feel so I'm calling it a win!

Alright, that's all for now folks. Time to go take a nap or fall asleep before 10 or something.