First Day as a Real Nurse (aka RN)

That title is meant to be a joke. No RN does not stand for Real Nurse but ya know... it does kind of fit!

All of us have been waiting for the day that we will become "real" nurses and yesterday was my day!

Like I mentioned before, I will be working day shift (7am-7pm) for a few months while on orientation and then will move into my home of working nights.

I was unsure of how I would feel about having to work days since I was used to seeing how the unit runs during the night. But I was pleasantly surprised at how much I really enjoyed day shift.

I have been paired up with an awesome preceptor which makes all the difference. Unfortunately, I will only be with her for the first 3 weeks and then will be handed off to someone else to learn a different area of the unit. By the end of orientation, I will have been oriented to Post-Partum, Newborn Nursery, and Labor and Delivery. I love the way this unit trains its employees to be well rounded in their ability to work all three areas. This allows for more flexibility in staffing and ensuring all the needs of the unit are always going to be met no matter who is on shift that day.

So the next three weeks will be my Post-Partum experience. After going through Maternal/Newborn clinicals during school, I really had a liking for the Post-Partum unit. It was so laid back and easy going and my experience yesterday proved the same.

The moms and families are so easy to get along with, because at this stage of the game, they have their precious baby they have been waiting for 9 long months to meet and that is all they need. So our job is to ensure mom is recovering well and her pain in under control. Otherwise, we try to leave them alone and enjoy their new bundle of joy.

Yesterday we had four mom's and four babies to take care of all day. Even though this was a big load for just the two of us, it kept us busy and the day went by really fast.

That is the one thing I realized that is different than night shift thus far....the 12 hour shift goes by much faster during the day. And since our bodies are actually meant to be awake from 7am to 7 pm, I never felt like I was about to fall asleep. Pretty good deal considering a 12 hour shift can be brutal.

But it went GREAT! I love the facility, love the staff, and most of all LOVE my job!! I couldn't be happier with my decision to work in Labor and Delivery and most importantly, at this facility. I can tell it really is going to become "home" for me over the next few months and I look forward to the new friendships I am going to build along the way.

The new chapter has begun and it looks like it will be one filled with lots of excitement and fulfillment. The time is finally here and I am now living out my goals and dreams. Couldn't ask for more.

Meredith DeWitte, BSN, RN

It's official!!

---

Whew....SO glad that is over with!! What a relief!

Next steps: New Hire Orientation (NEO) will be this next week for two days, then I can get officially get put on the schedule. I was hired on as Full Time, Nights but will be starting out on the Day shift during my orientation period. The orientation period can be as long as three months and then I will be on Nights.

Wes said last night, "And now is when the real learning begins."

He is so right. Now it is time to put all that school and knowledge into actual action, in the REAL world. (What a concept, right?) Hard to believe we are at that point where we will be making real life decisions as an RN.

It is a lot of responsibility but I am ready for the challenge. Although I've already learned so much, I know I have so much more to learn and I can't wait to get started.

Here's to the beginning of a new and fulfilling career. :) Welcome to nursing!

Fall Decor and NCLEX

I have officially decided that Fall is by far my favorite season! Unfortunately, living in Oklahoma, we don't get to experience fall weather for more than a few weeks but while it is here, it is awesome!!

What I love most about Fall is the fall decorations and fall scents. I got so excited to pull out my fall decorations that I bought last year and what happened? Can't find them anywhere! I'm sure they will turn up around oh...Christmas time. ha ha

So of course this meant a trip to Hobby Lobby for some new fall goodies!! (oh darn!!) I absolutely LOVE Hobby Lobby around the seasons because all the "in season" decorations are always 50% off. Doesn't get much better than that! Just under $50 and the inside of the house looks a little more like Fall. :) Ahh...love it!!

Have a look!

---

Love this cute pumpkin for the dining room table.

---

This shows my fall colored swag above the mirror.

---

Another look at the big pumpkin and another little pumpkin in the background.

---

Happy Harvest!

---

Another little pumpkin.

---

I have to mention the picture of my precious parents. My mom came to stay this past weekend and surprised me with this new picture of them. LOVE it!!

I am such a lucky daughter to be blessed with amazing parents. :)

---

Autumn leaf decoration for the coffee table.

---

And another pumpkin. :)

---

A view of the living room from where I am sitting as I blog.

---

Outside decorations. Not much but the OSU flag is flying!! Go Pokes!!

---

That's the extend of my Fall decorating this year. Hopefully I learned my lesson and will place the things I got this year somewhere where I can find them next year. Or go buy more. :) I'm sure Wes would like for me to keep track of where I store things instead.

And I can't finish up the post without mentioning that today was the day I took my NCLEX; bright and early at 8 AM this morning.

How did it go you might be wondering??

Let's just say I left the room shaking....and not with excitement. Excitement maybe that it was finally over but wow....it was H-A-R-D.

I have been told that it was going to be hard so I shouldn't have been surprised. But I guess I needed to experience it for myself to really understand what they mean when people say, "It isn't easy".

It wasn't easy.

But it's over.

I won't have "official" results for two more days (torture!!). But there is a sneaky way of "unofficially" finding out if you passed that we all believe to be valid. Valid enough to calm our nerves a little bit until the official results are in at least.

And if the sneaky way is in fact true.... I PASSED!!

I'm not holding my breath until I see my name on the Oklahoma Board of Nursing's website, but until then.... I'll take it!!

A few weeks ago, I got interested in wanting to buy a Nook (e-reader). I do enjoy reading but since most of my life the past 15 months has been nursing books, I haven't read much for pleasure. So of course the first thing I want to do is enjoy a NON nursing book and the Nook sparked my interest.

Well, Wes suggested I wait for a few weeks to make that type of purchase. I agreed to wait and that maybe it would be a good "gift" to myself for passing boards. So I have been waiting patiently for the day to arrive and last night we went to buy the Nook. I didn't take it out of the box though.

And when I got home from the test, Wes had it all charged up and ready to go for me!

---

I don't know what my first book to read will be, but I'm super excited to start using it!

You will notice the OSU orange I have on..it's game day tonight! GO COWBOYS!!

---

The day started out extremely stressful but is turning out to be a great day. Ready to enjoy my evening relaxing, not studying, reading, and watching football. Sounds like a good day to me!

Happy Fall!!

Picture Post

Last Thursday was the Open House at Wes's studio. We had about 20-25 people make it out to tour the studio, eat some snacks, and enjoy music.

It was a looong week getting ready. I have much more respect for people who entertain often or event planners. It takes a lot of work! (and money!) But everyone had a good time and were all very impressed with the studio. We hope it leads to tons of business for Wes in the future!

Hollie and I got together the day before to put together all of the food. We made: Gone in 60 Seconds Dip (yes, it's THAT good to have a name like that!), deli pinwheels and for dessert: Oreo Balls!

I didn't get any pictures of the dip or pinwheels because honestly...they weren't very pretty to take pictures of in the "in process" stage. But the Oreo Balls definitely called for a few pictures. We were very proud of how professional and gourmet they looked. Oh and of course they tasted AMAZING! :) They were a hit!

---

Mmmm! Don't those just look awesome? Yeah, we were pretty proud!

---

I decided to try and play photographer on these next pictures. Not too bad for an amateur! :)

---

This one was my favorite. Makes you want to just pick it right out of the picture and eat it!

---

I didn't get as many pictures of the Open House as I had wanted. I was too busy playing hostess. :) But here are a few pictures of the food and beverage area.

You can see the final product of the pinwheels (front right) and the dip is in the center of the serving dish (the red topping is a Jalapeno Jelly) SO good and SO easy!

---

---

Great time and went really well...but gosh were we glad it was over! Needless to say, we spent the entire next day taking it easy and stayed home. Wes has continued to stay busy with studio work which we thank God for every day.

The next big event in our house will happen this week. I take my nursing boards (NCLEX) this week. Ahhh!! It's starting to get a little bit stressful just thinking about finally taking the dreaded NCLEX that we have been waiting to take since day one of nursing school.

I was telling Wes last night that it's not that we all think we might not pass NCLEX that stresses us out...it's just that it all comes down to this ONE test....all of nursing school ultimately comes down to this test. Oh and of course our jobs depend on it. Small detail...

I know I have nothing to worry about but it's hard to convince your brain that to be true. This is one of those situations where your head is saying one thing and heart is saying another. Usually I use this example in reference to relationship dilemmas but it works in this situation too...

My head is telling me, "You better study like crazy! How can you think you should not study? This is THE biggest test of your life, so you better get studying!" and then my heart (which we all know this is always God's voice shining thru) says "You have nothing to worry about. The test will go just fine. You know this information and will do great!"

So tomorrow's agenda is to listen to my head for one more day and study. But Wednesday's agenda (day before the test) is to listen to my heart, relax, take it easy and go shopping with Hollie! haha Have to get your mind off the seriousness of the situation somehow, right?

I ask for your prayers as I prepare for the test and for the day I will taking it. God has it all under control and before I know it... I will be an official RN! Can't wait!

The rest of the pictures I have are of Lexi. She has been such a sweet, fun dog lately. With all the late days/nights working to get the studio ready, she made the trip out to the studio with us almost every day.

---

She is kind of a control freak and decided she should help Wes drive this day.

She always has us laughing!

---

Life is rough...just hanging out on the dashboard while we ate breakfast at Sonic.

---

For those who don't know about the weather change in Oklahoma recently..Fall has arrived!!! Sunday morning we woke up to 70 degree temperatures and it has been gorgeous outside! Lexi and I have already been taking advantage of the weather being outside as much as possible.

---

Waiting patiently for me to throw her ball. Such a cutie!

---

Lexi was definitely what I call an "impulse buy" back in February but it was the second best decision I ever made (marrying Wes will always be the first of course).

Wes and I love spending time with this little one!

---