After I graduated in May of 2008, I took the summer off to be with my newborn son Brady. A nameless company paid for my schooling so I knew I had a job with them when I was ready. Everyone tells you to work on med/surg for 2 years before working anywhere else and that's where I was headed. The nurse recruiter told me about the part-time job on Orthopedics. Huh? Orthopedics. I think I remember learning something about traction at some point in nursing school. She reassured me it was a med/surg floor so I would get other experience as well and that I would be trained for orthopedics. I agreed to take the position because it was only 2 days per week. Well, I am so glad I did! I loved the people on the ortho floor and even though the work was HEAVY it was fun. And I even met my bestie Tracey. It is nice to take care of pts. that were medically cleared for an elective surgery. Basically that means very, very few codes. Four and a half years later, with our 3rd son on the way I decided I needed something new. Partially because my father-in-law watches the boys. He was getting to our house at 6am and working until the hubs picked up the boys at 3pm. And let me tell you he was exhausted. Steve said the house would be a wreck, nothing packed, boys didn't sleep, papa all disheveled. It was getting to be too much. And then papa asked out of the blue if I was going to be a SAHM when the next bundle gets here. So I think he was ready for a break too. I could be a SAHM but I don't think we would be able to save for college and do all the things we do. And disclaimer: I have a little shopping habit. Anyhoo, After only looking for a few weeks something popped up for 19 hours a week in the PACU. I was working 24 so less hours was great. And it was evenings which would mean shorter shifts for papa. I applied for it thinking they will never call. I didn't even have 5 years of seniority, But they did call and I interviewed. And scared as hell, I took it. If you asked me before baby #3 was coming, I would have told you I had 0 career aspirations, yup Zero. I wanted to do my 2 days a week, not learn anything new and not have any challenges. Nursing is my side gig. I turned down ever being the charge nurse or training new nurses. I just wanted to do my time and come home. So this PACU thing was something I never saw coming. My preceptor Patty was great, super laid back and very, very nice. And the people, meaning the older nurses who everyone warned me about were ok too. There's a saying in nursing that they "eat their young" and the PACU was going to be a shark tank. And with the exception of 1 nurse it was untrue. I also think its how the new/young nurse handles herself and I made it clear I was there to learn. Teach me everything! because these nurses are so incredibly knowledgeable. There is something that needs to be said about experience. Experienced nurses are the ones that you want taking care of your critical loved one. So when companies try and kick the old ones out it makes me angry. Even the company I work for doesn't offer any step raises after 20 years to nurses. Stupid if you ask me. And most of these women have been nurses since before I was born.
The PACU so far has been great. Am I terrified every time they tell me I am getting a pt.? Yes. Am I constantly asking myself if I forgot anything? Yes. I have work dreams now where I miss the subtle changes in pt. condition and the pt. turns serious. Because these pts. in the PACU turn bad quick. I don't know when I will be comfortable down there. Taking 3 months off after the next baby is not going to help the comfort factor either. And then there was the bump. And not the one I am sporting these days. Bumping is something that sucks but happens. It happens for a variety of reasons but has a trickle down effect throughout the hospital. A nurse was displaced, took someone's job, who then took someone else's job who then took mine and now I had to take someone else's. You still with me? My 2 day a week job with 10 hour shifts now belonged to someone else. My option was to take the only person below me in the dept. who worked the same number of hours but over 5 days a paycheck, instead of 4. The job is 8 hour shifts, 2 days 1 week (yay) and 3 days the next (boo). I promised my family I would never work more than 2 days a week. But to go back to a floor almost 7 months pregnant didn't seem appealing at all. I am not killing myself in the PACU like I was on ortho. No more support hose and motrin after a long day. Which was nice and besides I can't even take Motrin now anyway. It was accept her job or get laid off. So I accepted. The 8 hour shifts seem nice and short but that 3rd day yuck! I have to remind myself that working ortho I would miss entire days of my boys lives. They would be asleep when I left for work and when I got home. And those every 3rd weekend shifts I would say goodbye to them Friday nights and not see their faces till Monday morning. So this is better I tell myself. I am home every single day when they wake up with bed head, crusty eyes but are so darn happy my heart smiles. And now I only work every 10th Saturday so we have been having some seriously fun weekends. I want my 2 days a week back so bad but until I can get it I am going to stay where I am. The weeks I work 3 days I will try not to be bitter. I will remind myself that I see their faces everyday now. I will tell the mom guilt to go away, take a hike. I will suck it up. I will carry on!
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