Today...

...I had the privilege of being able to tour the newborn intensive care unit (NICU) at our local hospital and do some shadowing of an RN. It was an amazing experience. I was able to hear the physicians do their rounds, hear stories on some of the babies, and see some really tiny babies (some were just over a pound). Some stories were so incredibly sad and some stories were truly miracles, and I was overwhelmed with how such a tiny person can pull on your heartstrings. I am incredibly thankful that I have never had to go through that with my children. Being in the NICU, however, provided further confirmation that I would love to be able to work in that kind of an environment. Emotionally, I know it could be really draining, but there are also some incredible rewards. I love the thought of getting to know the families, I love the thought of being busy, and I love the thought of continuity of care. I'm not kidding myself: I know that I will have a hard time when a baby dies (because the reality of the situation is that deaths ARE a reality of that kind of nursing). I know that there will be days I will want to give up and go push pills somewhere. But I also know that there will be days where I see God doing amazing miracles that mystify the medical community. Days when a baby who was never supposed to make it goes home with his mom and dad.

On another note: Less than two weeks from now and I will be done with finals and only one year away from graduation! It has gone so quickly (although, there have been VERY long days!) Two years ago I was making the decision to go back to school, one year ago I was stressing about getting into the nursing program, and one year from now I'll be graduating!

The plans for this weekend are to relax and sort through stuff! We have a ton of clothes and toys that the girls have outgrown, so I'm going to pull those together and try to sell them at a sale in a few weeks. I'm heading on a cruise with my mom and Luke is most likely going to take the girls to NC to visit some friends, so any $$ I can get off my junk would be fabulous! Anybody want size 3T girl sweaters?!