Smart dummies, water aerobics, and half marathons

Well... I should be in clinical right now, but as we were waiting for our instructor in the lobby of the hospital, a pediatric nurse came down to tell us that our instructor was sick, and we could go home. So! Here I am, trying to think of ways to use my time "wisely". I have so many options!
I have a couple of papers I could work on, or a presentation on ADHD- medications versus behavioral therapy- for next week, a presentation on women's health in two weeks, a pediatrics test starting this week, a religion test ending this week, two online quizzes, cleaning, grocery shopping, reading for my classes, preparation for a pediatric simulation lab tomorrow, and/or go running! But don't worry, I don't have to do all of this today!
(For those who may be wondering, "What is a pediatric simulation lab?" this is a lab where we are given a specific scenario and we practice our skills on Tiny Tim, who is a child- size dummy who actually breathes, has a pulse, reflexes, and blood pressure etc. He is controlled by a computer and he responds to the care we give him/ her. I guess he is a smart dummy.)

Here is an update on my classes and clinical: Last week I spent two days in the NICU (Newborn Intensive Care Unit) and border nursery (the feeders and growers- the babies who are almost ready to go home). It was a positive experience. I had to write a short paper on it. I will put part of that paper here:

"I was impressed with how efficient and calm almost everyone was in different situations. Most of the time there wasn’t anything very exciting going on in the nurseries, and we just watched the respiratory therapist and nurses caring for the babies, or, more commonly, we read chart after chart to try to learn about the conditions and treatments the babies were receiving. We also found a couple of nurses who were willing to answer all of the questions we had for them! The alarm to go to assist babies that had just been delivered sounded twice while we were there. The first time we were told we couldn’t come, and we didn’t know what to do, so we just stayed in the NICU. On the second day while we were there, the alarm sounded again, and again we were told that we couldn’t go in because there was already a student there. We really wanted to see the process of admitting, even if we couldn’t watch the respiratory team helping the baby, so we decided to follow them to the room and wait in the hallway. Eventually we were able to accompany them back to the NICU and watch them continue to work on this baby. We watched them insert a UVC (umbilical vein catheter) and UAC (umbilical artery catheter- they put these in instead of a regular IV which could be painful to the baby) and intubate the baby and put it on an oscillating ventilator. Everyone remained very calm, and worked very fast. A large team was there to help the baby.

"Most of the time, I really enjoyed this experience. I was really curious about what went on in the NICU and what it was like for parents who had children there. I feel like it was important for me to see the process, and what the role of the nurse was there. I also realized how frightening it must be for parents to have their child taken there and not know what was happening. It would be so important for the nurse to explain what was happening and realize that the parents have a need to be reassured and to understand what is going on. I think that because of this experience I will be able to understand parents better when they have had a child in the NICU and remember how important it is to treat them with respect and answer their questions."

I have also had the opportunity to shadow a nurse practitioner and a nurse midwife at a midwife clinic. Those were both very neat opportunities, and great learning experiences. Also, for the same class, we had to attend some sort of prenatal class. One of the options was a water aerobics class... which I did with some of my friends yesterday! It was pretty fun, and the pregnant people loved the class and said it was the only way they could get good and safe exercise.

Some other exciting news is that the half marathon is here! I will be running my 13.1 miles this Saturday! I'm a little nervous about it, because I hear it is going to be pretty warm, and I will be running farther than I have run yet! I am taking it pretty easy this week, although I will probably run or jog a little today and tomorrow. My dad will be flying in tomorrow, and will be doing the half marathon with me, Marissa, and two friends from the nursing program. My goal is to just finish and not hurt myself... maybe the next one I do I will try to get a good time or something. I will just be happy to be able to say I've done it!

Well, that's my week; I'm sure I'll be seeing/ talking to many of you soon.