Why I have a job...

About an hour into nursing school, we were informed that the market was flooded with nurses and new grads would have a difficult time finding a job. This was pounded into our heads from day one. By the start of second semester, I decided maybe it was time I started looking for a job...so I could have a foot in the door. I briefly looked, but nothing came of it. I became concerned. I started praying. And I decided to start fasting. I fasted every Sunday for over a year. After a lot of thought and prayer, I decided that a job was not right for me, but maybe volunteering was. So, I applied at four different hospitals. One hospital was extremely rude and I decided I'd rather die than work there. There were no openings at another hospital and one other wouldn't return my call. I finally had some luck with Community Regional Medical Center. I started volunteering basically taking discharged patients from their hospital room to their vehicles and running labs and stuff back and forth. It was pretty dull. I didnt' feel like I was making any progress towards getting an in. And then, there was a new opportunity opening for "cuddlers" in the NICU. I signed up! I interviewed and got a position (volunteer) and started doing that job. It was hard. Nurses were not very cool about letting us hold their babies. But there were a few who were receptive. Whenever I got a nurse who would let me hold her baby, I made conversation and let them know I was a nursing student. After several months, I got tired of not being able to hold babies very often. Then, a nurse stopped me in the hallway, asked if I was Michelle Edwardson, and if a particular supervisor had found me yet. I was sure she was mistaken. I left the supervisor a note and gave her my contact information. I heard nothing from her, so I made an appointment with the Director. My intention was to get her to talk to the nurses and let us hold the babies! However, when I walked in her office, I heard myself say..."I want a job. How do I go about getting one?" She offered to create an extern position for me, which she did. Unfortunately, it didn't work out since my school didn't have a contract with that hospital. I was very discouraged...very discouraged. But, I kept volunteering. Meanwhile, a very coveted position came up at Kaweah Delta Hospital as a student nurse intern. I knew it was an opportunity to get in the door. I did NOT want to work at Kaweah Delta, mainly because they start at 6:00 AM and I live an hour away. Not cool! Getting up at 3:45 in the morning for school clinicals twice a week AND working as an intern would have been VERY difficult. However, I had an in! The position was in a unit where a former instructor of mine worked and she offered to give me a recommendation! So, I applied and got an interview. I prepared A LOT for the interview. I knew all the answers to all the questions they could ask. And when I went for the interview, I CHOKED! Really choked! Like I've never choked before! What the...? In the end, I was sad that I didn't get the job because my interview SUCKED! However, I was RELIEVED not to have to drive down there an extra day or two every week because I knew my family would have taken the brunt of that deal...and it wouldn't have been pretty. Fast forward to graduation. I graduated! And I took the boards three days later. I made an appointment with the Director of the NICU the day after I took my boards. I made the appointment and planned on asking how to get a job there. However, when I was greeted by the Director, she basically sent me to the nurse supervisors. They explained the terms of the job to me and I had a job! Just like that! No interview. No stress. Just a job. Five days after graduation. Unheard of. Blessed. It was no accident things happened as they did. It was no accident that I started volunteering at this particular hospital. It was no accident that they created the NICU cuddler program when they did. And it was no accident that I befriended the nurses that would eventually ask the supervisors to hire me. Heavenly Father cleared a path for me...right where I needed to be. When I went to nursing school, pediatrics was of interest to me as was labor and delivery. But NICU is where I belong. It's where I fit. I feel so blessed to have been directed along this path and given such a huge blessing of a job in a really difficult economy for nurses. Fasting works. And Heavenly Father has a plan for us. Whether we know it or not, he does. We're really just along for the ride. Now if only I could relax along the ride...life would be a lot more pleasant!

I can do hard things...

A few weeks ago I started working night shift. Anyone who knows me knows how much I like to sleep. I like to go to bed early and sleep as long as I can. It's my hobby. Sleeping. Can't get enough. Literally. Being a new grad ane new on the job, night shift is just one of the rites of passage. I don't have a choice. I will have to do it until a shift opens up on days and my name comes up on the "list" of "Please move me to days people". I am somewhat of a whiner. Really. But I've been trying to keep this all in perspective. My kids are generally gone until 4:30 p.m. School gets out and then they are involved in sports activities so they are gone all day. I can literally come home and sleep from 8:30ish to 4:30ish. Plenty of sleep. Technically. Except that I'm an insomniac at night and even worse trying to sleep in the days. I spend my nights at work fighting to stay awake and fighting even more to remain mentally alert. It's an ICU people! These babies are sick and they need a nurse who is awake and competent..neither of which I feel at night at work. I loved my 5 weeks orienting on days. It was soooo busy. All the different people are in and out..doctors, speech therapist, occupational therapists, respiratory therapists, ultra sound techs, x-ray techs, parents, family members, etc. etc. All the procedures happen during the day. All the craziness happens during the day. The days go by FAST! Nights, on the other hand are the opposite. There is always a doctor somewhere in the unit, but that's about it. No excitement. No procedures. No nothing. Which is exactly why lots of nurses really like to work night. You do what you have to do and generally have plenty of time to read, be on the internet, text, whatever...all of which are big no no's during the day. No one is there at night to enforce the rules so no one cares. Which....is exactly why I'm bored out of my mind all night long. I can't do all those fun things yet because I am orienting and someone is looking over my shoulder. I just try to keep moving so I don't keel over in the middle of the night. Anywho..that's not what this post really is about. I've been trying to get my family on some sort of regular routine when i work nights. I have really wanted to be better about scripture study with them so I have started reading it to them over dinner before I go to work (I rarely it what they're eating and when they're eating...so it's not a big deal to do it that way.) Tonight we were reading in first Nephi about when the Lord told Nephi to go back to Jerusalem and get the plates and he basically said, "I can do hard things." Many times I expect my kids to do "hard things." It's just part of life. It made me realize...working nights is hard. But I can do it. And I think I will be more blessed if I do it without being such a whiner. So...good things about nights...More $. We are trying to pay off Rick's student loan and the second on our house (which we got when we initially purchased the house to avoid PMI). A couple more months and we'll have that second on our house done with. Sweet. The more money I make, the faster I can do something more fun with the money than paying off stupid debts...Fun stuff...like get Carter braces and save for missions... Rick is amazing. He handles everything when I am working. When I work nights, I can get the kids from practices, go to their sports competitions, fix dinner, and do all the after school stuff. I head off to work and they only have another hour or so before they're in bed anyway (where I wish I were headed too...but boo hoo for me). If one of the kids is sick, they can stay home with me. Even if I'm sleeping, I'm here... I'm tired all the time whether I work nights or days. Might as well get paid more for being tired. I'm an insomniac. If I'm gonna be awake, might as well get paid for it, right? Once I am on my own without a preceptor, I can read and do other things at night to keep myself awake. Anywho, the point of this is that right now I have to do a hard thing. It sucks, but I can make it suck less. This is a temporary situation, not permanent. I am going to keep this in mind next time I have to make my kids do something hard. It sucks. But it's doable. So suck it up and do it (talking to myself here, not the kids...).