Aethelia Marie was born today!

My niece, Aethelia Marie, was born today via cesarean section. Time of arrival was around 8:35 am. She weighed 6lbs 5.2oz and is 18 inches long. She's a cutie!

Krista and I stopped by around lunch time and visited for a while. Marianne was having a slight allergic reaction to something, but otherwise was feeling fine. Aethelia slept most of the time we were there even though we harassed her a bunch. She did show her eyes for a little bit, but not long. I totally spaced out and forgot to take even one of my two cameras with me. But believe me... I'll be taking pictures of her. I have to practice so I can get some decent ones of my little one here in a few months!

Congratulations Shane and Marianne!

I'm responsible...

So with the weight of the state boards testing behind me, I felt a weight being lifted from my shoulders. Good feeling, but it didn't last for long.

Yesterday was my first day back at the patient bedside, and my first day practicing with my RN license. Note I said practicing! I didn't do that on accident, I wrote that on purpose. It's the art of practicing medicine and/or nursing. Nursing is ever evolving and changing, based on evidence and new regulations, so things change all the time. A few things had changed since I'd last taken care of a patient. Learn. Evolve. Move on. Right?

As far as some of the other feelings I had throughout the day... Holy cow was it weird to sign my name with an RN behind it. It felt so freakin' official, I almost couldn't do it. Then I tried to log into the charting system and there on the top of the screen it said, Shaunna RN.

RN.

I'm a freaking Registered Nurse now, Holy COW!!! I've waited so long to get to this point in my life. I think it never really hit me that it would ever actually happen, but it has. Everything I say and do in regards to my patient(s) is my responsibility. It just got worse when they gave me access to the Pyxis machine, where the medications are dispensed. Holy Cow... another freak out. Granted I'm familiar with the Pyxis machine, I've been in an out of them the entire time I was in school, just always under another nurses name and supervision. This time it was under my name. I was so freaked out the first time I was in it, on my own, that it kicked me out and printed a little report sheet that I had a drawer open for too long. Get it together, right?? This is what I've worked for, it's inevitable. I guess I'm just taking it very seriously and want to make sure everything is correct, because if it isn't, it could be my license on the line. EEEEEKKKKK!!!

I'm sure it will take a little bit of time to adjust to these new feelings/responsibilities. Can I just say how thankful I am that I am on orientation through almost the end of March, working with a seasoned nurse and attending classes that reinforce the content I will see on a daily basis. Someday soon I'll be on my own and I'm sure I'll have a some internal freaking out, like I had the last two days, but it will get better, I'm sure of it. Otherwise, they have meds for that right? LOL!

Great News!!!

I'm officially a licensed Registered Nurse! I took my board certification test (NCLEX-RN) yesterday morning, and today I have a license number! I passed!

I know it's kinda hard to see, but this is what the official online verification looks like!

I don't think it has really hit me yet... I feel somewhat relieved, but there are so many things happening and changing in the near future, that it seems trivial to rest and relax for even a day.

I began my new nurse orientation last week, and it has continued into this week. A lot of computer training and also a lot of presentations where they have thrown power point after power point at us. I feel bad for all the trees they've killed. Supposedly our hospital is going paperless in regards to the patients charting next year. I wonder if they've considered going paperless for the training process. Maybe I should suggest it!?!?

I will actually be back at the bedside next week, which I'm excited about. It's kinda scary, now that I have a license and all, but I can't wait to get back into the swing of things.

I will have to buy some new scrubs, as I wore what used to be a very comfortable (read: baggy) pair, and they were tight around the middle. Too bad they didn't make me look all cute and pregnant, just fat and uncomfortable. I wonder if they have any decent maternity scrubs out there... the hunt is on, if you know of any stores/websites, pass them my way!

As far as the rest of our lives... we've been busy.

The holidays flew by pretty fast. We tried to tone it down a bit this year and I think we were pretty successful. In lieu of gifts, we had my nieces and nephews stay the night the Saturday before Christmas. It's always fun when they are around. Tom and I took them out to see a bunch of Christmas lights around town. That is one of my most favorite memories from my childhood. Aunt Sue and Uncle Bob taking me to see some of the coolest houses in the valley! We saw a bunch of cool lights and even walked through a few places. We even ran into Santa!

Christmas Eve, we spent doing some last minute shopping, both Tom and I were surprised you could actually find a decent parking spot at, ::gasp::, the mall! That evening we had dinner with Tom's dad and step mom. It was nice to sit down and talk with them. After dinner, Tom and I got home and started chopping. I volunteered to bring Guacamole and pico de gallo to Aunt Sue's get together the next night, and it made for some busy work. We were good kids and got it all chopped and put away by 10:00pm so Santa could still visit if we'd been good enough!

Christmas morning we went by Jon's house for the exchanging of the gifts... The adults participate in a white elephant gift exchange, and that's pretty fun. We had our traditional chorrizo and egg burritos with homemade biscuits, hash browns and tons of bacon and sausage! Super yummy!

Krista had asked me to take a few pictures of her family for Christmas, in hopes a good one would come of it. This one is my favorite of the bunch, I haven't shared them with Krista yet, but she'll get to see them soon!

After Jon's we ventured over to the Clapp residence, where we did our annual visit with their family. It's always fun to catch up with them. Hunter is so cute and he's getting so big! Then we stopped by my parents house to chat for a little bit, but I had guacamole to throw together, so we hurried on our way back home. More chopping (of the avocado's), and stirring and adding a pinch of this and a squeeze of that and then it tasted soo good, we were ready to go. Tom's mom joined us for a trip up to Tramanto to see my Aunt Sue and Uncle Bob. They always throw such a fun party. Their house is amazing and set up nicely for entertaining. It was a long day, but really nice to spend it with the people we love!

Tom had from Christmas Eve through January 5th off. He spent a lot of it working on the master bathroom remodel that has eveloped his time since November! (I'll put together a separate post with pictures of that later on... maybe when it's done!)

It's been a whirlwind of a month, but it's been worth it!