The Random 11

This must be the week to be tagged in blog stuff!  Michelle tagged me in "The Random Eleven" and I thought it would be fun to participate!

The Random Eleven

The Rules:

• Post these rules
• Post 11 random things about yourself
• Answer the questions set for you in their post
• Create 11 new questions for the people you tag to answer
• Go to their blog and tell them you’ve tagged them
• No stuff in the tagging section about you are tagged if you are reading this. You legitimately have to tag 11 people!

11 Random Things about Me:

When I was a little girl, I used to use whole boxes of band-aids on my baby dolls and my life-size big bird doll.  My mom says she always knew I would do something in the health-care field.  Lo and behold, I'm now a NICU nurse!  I guess my mom was right!

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I love to travel.  I was fortunate to grow up in a family with grandparents who took the three grandchildren all over the world.  I enjoy skiing in Beaver Creek, CO, swinging in Central Park, and learning about the cultures in Italy, England, and the Caribbean.  And because they instilled this passion in me, I have studied abroad on my own in Brussels, Belgium and am up for the adventure of having to move to Germany in a few years for David's job!

• I have inherited my mom's love of Target.  It will probably be my financial downfall, ha!  I normally grab a Starbucks and walk around the store for about an hour.  It's amazing how I always find things I just "have to have". ;)  I do have to say though, that I've been pretty good about not over-spending lately!
• I am deathly afraid of the ocean.  I love the beach, but can't stand the water!  On the east coast, our ocean water is murky and you can't see anything.  I'm petrified to think about what is swimming next to me and I don't even know it!  And David's cousins will go fishing and catch sharks of all sizes and I am not a fan.  In the bahamas and Hawaii, the water is crystal clear and while I'll venture into the water there, I still feel so uneasy because now I can see what is swimming towards me!  If something is going to attack, well, I'll see it coming...it's just awful to think about, haha!
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• Friends is my all-time, favorite show.  I just love it!  I've turned my cousin Amy on to it, who has turned her boyfriend Tyler on to it!  We all use Friends quotes daily. :)  In Amy's toast to me at my rehearsal dinner, she even quoted Joey!  And when David and I first got engaged, my mom got us lobsters with our engagement date on them because David is my "lobster".  They sit on the dresser in our bedroom. :) I do share my blue eyes with my handsome granddaddy! I am the only one in my family with blonde hair.  My entire family has brown hair, although my mom started out with dirty blonde hair as a little girl.
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• Speaking of my hair, I am a serial hair twirler.  It started when I was a baby and at 24 I still do it.  My mom tried to get me to stop multiple times when I was little and my 12th grade teacher called me out during class one time for twirling my hair so much.  I can't help it.  I honestly don't know that I'm doing it.  I do it a lot more when I'm concentrating hard and when I'm tired.  And because of this, I constantly have split ends.  Woops. 
• The only fast food restaurant I eat at is Chik-fil-a.  Occasionally I'll get fries and a milkshake from McDonald's, but as for actual food, Chik-fil-a it is.  I don't trust other fast food restaurants and now that I haven't eaten at other places in a while, the food doesn't even taste that great anymore!  
• I have had major jaw surgery.  I had severe TMJ with headaches and my jaw would lock- the whole shebang.  So in 2008, I had a Le Forte 1 osteotomy done to my upper jaw (The Le Fort I osteotomy involves separating the maxilla and the palate from the skull above the roots of the upper teeth through an incision inside the upper lip. The maxilla is fixed in its new position with titanium screws and plates.)  I can feel the screws on both sides of my nose and I can see the scar on the inside of my mouth! 
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• I love to read.  And I almost always prefer the book to the movie.  
• If I could go back and do my wedding all over again, I would.  In a heartbeat.  The whole day was perfect and I find myself wanting to put my wedding dress on quite frequently, haha!  But of course, if I went back and did my wedding all over, I'd have to do the honeymoon all over again, too. ;)

Questions from Michelle:

• What is your favorite vacation spot?  
• Hands down, Hawaii.  Specifically, Maui.  I would move there if I could.  It's beautiful, time means nothing and the atmosphere is so relaxing.  I can't wait to go back.
• What are the 5 items you cannot live without?
• I can't live without my phone.  I married a technology freak and I caught the bug.  I love staying connected!  I also can't live without my planner.  It's color-coded and my life line.  No surprises for this girl, everything has to be in the planner!  As weird as it sounds- I can't live without my toothbrush.  I don't like to have dirty feeling teeth.  It's gross.  I can't live without Pandora (or any music avenue for that matter).  I love music and I love to sing- in the car, in the shower, while I'm cooking.  And I can't live without a book to read.  I always have one with me and now that I have my nook, it's a much lighter load! :)
• What are your top 3 favorite movies?
• My favorite movie ever is Elf.  It's good all year round, not just at Christmas!  Second favorite is Pride and Prejudice.  I love the story by Jane Austen and the movie is wonderful!  My third favorite movie is a tie between A League of Their Own and That Thing You Do.  I like both of them for such different reasons, I couldn't just pick one!
• Chocolate or Flowers?
• Hmm, tough one!  I love chocolate to the point that I eat two pieces every.single.day.  But I hardly ever get flowers.  I think flowers are just beautiful.  I'd say flowers since I don't get them often enough. :)
• What are you most proud of so far in your life?
• I think I am most proud of myself for landing my dream job.  I worked really hard in school, graduated Summa Cum Laude, applied for a summer internship with 160 other people and was 1 of 15 chosen, and was offered 2 jobs on one day.  One of them being my dream job of working in the NICU.  And I wouldn't trade it for anything.  I love taking care of those sweet babies!
• What is favorite cocktail/drink of choice?
• I don't drink many cocktails.  I'm more low-key I guess!  But I really like a good Riesling!
• Do you prefer the beach or the mountains?
• The beach!  I love tan lines and the smell of the ocean.  (Not the actual ocean...).  I love going out to dinner, and warm weather!
• What's your guilty pleasure?
• Dessert.  Bottom line.  I love sweets, probably too much!  Whether it's a handful of m&m's, a bowl of ice cream, or pumpkin pie at Thanksgiving, I always have to have dessert!
• What is your dream job?
• Being a NICU nurse. :)  And I'm living the dream!  Although, I do think it would be cool to have a job where you sit at Starbucks on your computer all day....who are those people?!
• Ballet flats, boots, or heels?
• I'm a boots girl!  I can hardly walk in heels (graceful is my middle name..) and I don't have too many cute ballet flats (maybe I should invest in more!) but I love all of my boots.  Cute with most everything!
• Would you rather run outside or on the treadmill?
• I enjoy running outside.  I'm a people-watcher and while there are always people in the gym, much more interesting stuff is going on outside!  Plus, fresh air is always nice and I feel like I get a better variety of hills and I don't have to run at a set pace!

My questions for you:

• Dogs or cats?
• What is on the top of your bucket list?
• What are your three favorite books?
• What do you like most about yourself?
• If you could interview anyone past or present, who and why?
• What is your favorite childhood memory?
• Yoga or zumba?
• What is your favorite meal?
• What do you wish to accomplish in the next year?
• Favorite piece of clothing?
• Favorite sport, to play or watch?

I don't have 11 people to tag, but here you are! :)

Lauren

Leslie

Anna

Lessons from the NICU- 6 months

As of January 20th, I will have been a NICU nurse (and a practicing nurse in general!) for 6 months!  I can't believe how fast time flies.  I was just talking to one of the doctors about how in some ways it seems like I just started, and in others it seems like I've been there forever.  I think it will be fun to re-cap some of the things I've learned over the last 6 months.  Please know though, that these are just my thoughts and may not be shared by every NICU nurse ;)

• Half of your shift involves untangling IV tubing.  I'm convinced we should have had a class on this at school.   
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• There are doctors you like and doctors you don't like.  And some who scare the bejeezus out of you.
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• Losing a baby is hard.  Taking pictures, hand/feet molds is harder, and hearing the wailing cries of moms and dads is the hardest.  
• The best cure is cuddling with another sweet baby. 
  
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• I would rather stick an IV in a 26 weeker than an adult any day! 
  
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• I can hold my patient in one hand and change the bed with the other.  Multitasking! And cute bedding counts. 
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• The alarms come home with you...in your sleep!  
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• I've learned who the nurses are I can go to who won't laugh at me, and the ones who will make me feel as big as an ant.  
• I've learned to appreciate those nurses who don't laugh at me.  They have provided me with silent confidence that I do have what it takes to be a NICU nurse. 

I love what I do.  It's the most important thing I've done so far in my life.  I still get nervous every time I walk into the NICU to work, but I think I'd be worried if I didn't!  It's an incredible job to be trusted with these little miracle lives.  I saw this on a friend's facebook profile the other day and thought I'd post it.  I don't know who wrote it, but if I find out I'd love to give credit where it's due!  Hopefully it will give a little insight into my little world :)

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"Who is a NICU nurse?  She spends her days behind locked doors, in an area that only a select few may enter.  Many people do not even realize her department exists.  Lights are dimmed, voices hushed and the hum of technology provides background noise.  The quiet is broken only by the cries of distressed infants and warnings of beeping alarms.  Her patients know no other environment, except the protection of their mother's womb.  They start their lives here, but many will never feel sunlight touch their skin.  She knows that the patient she holds briefly in her hand, she will hold in her heart forever.  Her tools look like they come from a child's toy box, miniature versions of the real thing.  Her day is measured in fractions of micrograms, milliliters, and millimeters, rather than grams, liters, and meters.  She can start an IV in a vein thinner than a strand of hair, but will hesitate before the forearm of an adult.  She recognizes the healing power of sleep, but sacrifices her own to show up before daylight to cover busy shifts.  She is amazed daily by the strength and will to survive of some of the tiniest, most fragile people on earth.  She cringes every time she must poke a needle into a tiny hand or foot, knowing that the result can change the course of a lifetime.  She has seen many tears of sorry, joy, frustration, pain.  Yet she holds her own in, shedding them only in private for no one to see.  She has no response when people say "that must be hard" or "I couldn't do what you do" because she knows her words are inadequate.  She just smiles and nods, thinking of all the crying babies she has rocked to sleep, all the scared parents she has calmed and the lives she has touched.  At the end of her shift, she walks out into the fresh air, with a new outlook on life daily, proud to be able to perform a job she loves.  This is what it means to be a NICU nurse."