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The Nurse Mom life...



To mother's everywhere, I salute you. I salute single moms, working moms, office moms, stay at home moms, teacher moms, retail moms, factory moms... you get it. Every mom that cares about their children and every mom that wants the best for their children, I salute you. In  my line of work I do run into mothers that should never be mothers. Mothers that have born children, but do not deserve to have those small lives in their hands. However, most mothers have much of which to be proud. I have only ever been a mother and a nurse. I was a teacher, but not as a mother. I was pregnant in nursing school, and started my first job in the ER 4 months after my daughter was born. Therefore, I can only speak to healthcare moms. Much of my posting will be in regards to that, as it is all I know. So for all of you other moms out there working hard, this is never meant to downgrade what you do. That being said...

Working in healthcare and being a parent is the most rewarding, exhausting, thankless, joyful, devastating, stressful, harrowing, terrifying, exciting... did I say exhausting? Oh yes I did. It is all those things and more. I am at a loss for more adjectives at this moment. It is mind boggling how much "caring" goes on in one day. I am an ER nurse, and we can be harsh and cynical at times. We see the absolute lowest of the low. The drug seekers, the con artists, the drunk drivers, abusers, inmates, and the rest that are considered a dredge on society. I care for all of these people. I care for people that lie to me, yell at me, try to assault me. I also care for sweet old ladies, tiny babies that are close to death, cardiac arrests, and cancer patients. I see people die, I work code blues then care for the drug seeker screaming at me because he or she isn't getting narcotics for a toothache. I speak with family members of those who have just passed or those that are close to passing. I care for them to the best of my ability too. I clean up bodily fluids, and start IV's, and am constantly making life or death decisions that impact my patients. I do all of this for 12-16 hours. Then I go home to my husband and my children, and care for them. (Not to take anything away from my husband! He is literally the best person for me, as he is a "self care" husband. He cooks, cleans, does his share with the kids. We really are a team and we really do share all of the household duties. He doesn't clean bathroom however... this may need to be addressed....)

I, honestly, have had some of the most hilarious experiences, both at work and at home. In this blog I hope to outline some of those (protecting all personal information, of course!) I wouldn't trade any of it for anything. I have some great people in my life that I can't imagine being without. For all the stress and sleepless nights, it is pretty amazing. Oh, did I say exhausting?? That's right... I did. Pregnancy brain. Did I mention our third child under 5 is on the way?? More on that....

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