fridays.

waking up way too early

+

silly bandz

+

my average speed due to traffic

=

pediatric rotation in baltimore

-kelsie.

my science fair project.

ellie and i had a late night last week working on this. ryan even helped me make that awesome flowchart. we're all pretty proud of how it turned out. 

-kelsie.

fern friday.

it's been raining here for the better part of this week. it makes for good study weather but it also makes for GREAT nap/snuggle with ellie weather. 

i hope you have a weekend where the weather is exactly how you like it!

and, if you're interested, here is a really amazing story about midwives in afghanistan (found here).

-kelsie

fridays and babies.

(this picture is probably going to surprise you. most people who see the fern in real life are shocked by how small it is which is so funny to us. it's maybe 10" tall. i hope this doesn't disappoint you or make you think less of my green thumb)

i've been doing terribly with fern friday lately. this is mostly because i am at the hospital alllllll day on fridays this semester. however, i am not complaining because of these reasons:

two fridays ago i watched a couple of babies come into the world. it was incredible and made me remember why i'm in nursing school.

this friday i sat in the nicu and fed cute, sick, tiny babies all day long. 

next friday i'll watch some c-sections.

i love nursing for a lot of reasons. one major one being all of the different things you can do as a nurse. for example, this week i spent one day feeding a baby that was holding onto its life by a thread, and another day was spent on a psych ward speaking to suicidal and homicidal patients. i'm so grateful school makes us experience all types of nursing. it makes me respect and appreciate nurses even more. 

although this semester has been crazy busy, it has been so validating to me. i have been loving my time with obstetric patients even more than i thought i would. it's the happiest place in the hospital... and i love that.

-kelsie.

268 days...

until i graduate nursing school. in some ways i CANNOT wait and in others i want to delay it as long as possible. i LOVE school. i mostly always have. and i REALLY love my nursing school girls. they bring me donuts, we go trapeze-ing, and this weekend we're going to an amusement park. 

this semester i'm taking an obstetrics (ob) course, pediatrics and psych. i'm so excited for my ob course i could burst. i looked at the syllabus and was so excited about every topic. i skim through my book all the time and constantly have to warn ryan not to look or else he might see a picture of something that would scar him eternally. we're about as opposite as we could be sometimes. 

so anyways, i'm certain there will be a lot of nursing related blog posts this semester. and, i hope to be better about posting in general. thanks for reading this little blog and for being a part of our life.

-kelsie.

what i learned at work today...

we had a meeting today where we got some advice from other nurses. here's a synopsis:

1. do three things as a nurse: drink water, pee, and have a bottle of wine ready for the bad days.

2. you have to laugh about it.

3. you won't be a perfect nurse. you're human. if you were a robot, nursing wouldn't be what it is.

4. everyone dies eventually.

5. we all put our pants on the same way.

6. wear a pedometer.

7. don't take it personal. people are at their worst when you see them. 

8. if you have to sit on your couch for five minutes to get some courage before work - that's ok.

9. always remember why you started nursing, but remember you can't save every life.

 10. nursing is a good and difficult, satisfying and frustrating career that you will love more and more.

it was a good meeting. a meeting i needed.

-kelsie.

mother. baby.

i had the best day. i got to work on the mother baby unit at the hospital. it was a wonderful, happy place where babies are swaddled and snuggling with their new family. it warmed my heart and validated my desire to become a nurse midwife. i love the happiness and the nervous excitement from the new parents. i love being there to answer questions and i love watching the woman become a mom.

i'm so grateful for this passion God gave me. i love it. 

in light of all this baby talk, here are some awesome pictures that have been making the blog world rounds:

the blog is called mila's daydreams and her mom creates these "dream-scapes". too cute. 

hope you're having a good week, friends! 

-kelsie.

work.

i've been so blessed this summer to have an amazing internship at georgetown hospital. i'm working on an adult oncology floor. i've struggled with the sadness and pain the patients are experiencing and am having to make a concerted effort to not bring that sadness home. i have a tendency to imagine the patient is me or ryan or my mom or someone close to me. i'm trying to learn the healthy way to be empathetic. it has been good for me to recognize how much this is part of nursing.

but some days are so good. some days i am so affirmed in being there. some days the patients are responsive to the little things i can do for them. some days they tell me amazing stories and some days they tell me they like my hair. some days i think that maybe they forgot about the pain and sadness in their lives for just those few moments we were talking. those days are so encouraging. they make the hard days worth it. 

 -kelsie.

cheez-its and diet cokes.

that is what got me through my first ever night shift. really healthy, i know. 

a night shift is a nursing right of passage. so, i am one step closer to being a full-fledged RN. 

(perhaps i should someday talk about other nursing rights of passage. they're plentiful and plenty interesting)

i'm off to bed at 8:30 in the morning. my body is quite confused, but i think i'm going to be just fine. one more night shift tonight and then i'm back to days for a while. i'm grateful that this internship is rotating my schedule so i can see how my body handles the lack of sleeping consistency. 

i hope your next sleep is as restful and rejuvenating as i hope my next sleep will be.

-kelsie.

friends.

school has been pushing me to the edge these past few weeks. it's making me tired and grumpy and generally blah. i'm hoping once this week is done i might be able to catch my breath. but i feel like there is a greater chance of that happening once i take that last final exam in may. 

it's not too far away.

but in the meantime, i'm grateful for my nursing school friends. 

today was a test day. that means at lunch we all spout out whatever we know and hope that we will remember something. our test was on the gastrointestinal system. we were discussing things that an average group of twenty-something year old girls would generally not discuss. ever. much less at lunch. but we laughed and cringed and we're going through it all together. and that makes it better.

-kelsie.

circus!

i'm going to trapeze school!

(just for two hours - nursing school is driving me crazy but i'm not to the point of joining the circus... yet)

i'm going with some great friends from nursing school... and trying to convince my friends who are afraid of heights to come master their fears.

(that sentence is meant for you kerry and katie)

we're not going until the end of march but i just can't wait! 

the circus has been on my mind. which is strange because i hate clowns. but the latest anthropologie catalog has me even more excited about trapeze school. just look at these great pictures!

 

  

  

  

(that's me!)

anyways, ryan's mom got me a gift certificate there for christmas which i still haven't used (!). i want to find the perfect thing to spend the money on. it just might have to be circus-themed to celebrate my trapeze school endeavors.

-kelsie.

all images via here.

hello.

i've been quite the busy bee this week. i cannot believe thursday is almost over. here is some of my week:

 

(image via here)

on tuesday night we had an all church celebration. the church we go to has several different locations so it was really neat to have this whole community together for one night. i am so beyond grateful for our church and its heart for missions and for this city. ryan and i are really excited about their vision.

church met at the lincoln theater which is in an area of dc we have really grown to like. it was the first neighborhood we have been in that excited both of us. we're hoping to find an apartment there and i just can't wait.

wednesday i had clinicals. things were going great until i got a migraine. i get a migraine like once a year. i threw up in a church parking lot. it was really frustrating. 

today i had clinicals again. they were going great and i did not get a migraine. my patient was alert and able to have a conversation with me (which was a first!). i liked her and i think she liked me. she got to go home today so i think she liked everyone.

one other exciting thing about today - it's above freezing, the sun is shining and the snow is melting! i think spring might actually come. 

-kelsie.

donut love.

 

(honestly i'm amazed i could keep these around long enough to take a picture)

the best thing happened today. i woke up with a case of the mondays. that was not the best thing. but then, i got to class and my friend, kerry, walked in with a box of goodness and she was headed for me. that was the best thing. 

she brought me donuts to school! fresh, warm, amazing, delicious donuts. 

my case of the mondays was no more. 

last week i confessed my obsession of donuts to kerry, and how i saw these donuts on food network. i was excited to discover they are around here! kerry said i since i haven't had any yet, i was really missing out, and that she even has a t-shirt from there. 

she woke up early and drove out of her way to bring me some decadent donuts. she's the best. 

thank you kerry!!!!!!!!!!!

-kelsie.

guess what.

school started.

the beginning of the semester makes me insane stresses me out. ryan can testify to this. i love nursing school, but geez, it's intense sometimes. i mean tomorrow we have to go to boot camp. seriously. that's what they call it. to make sure we won't kill someone. this is good i guess, but i hate that they call it boot camp. couldn't it just be called "let's just make sure you didn't forget everything over winter break camp"? that sounds much less stressful.

here's what i'm taking this semester:

gerontology - studying people over 65... it seems like it will be more interesting than i thought

adult health - this class by itself would make for a stressful semester. i can't think about it without breaking a sweat

context of nursing - this class is about......????????? i was in this class for 2 hours today and i'm still not 100% sure

research - this class is about research (!) we get to pick our groups so that makes this class bearable

clinicals - these will be long days but i am with some great friends who will make it fun

i'm already dreaming about summer.

-kelsie.