Holy hell... It's been a crazy month

So, I started school this month. I also started clinicals. My first 7 weeks is in Labor and Delivery, my second 7 weeks is in Pediatrics. I got to see a baby being born on the 20th. It was awesome... right up until the moment after dad cut the umbilical cord... Everybody gather 'round, let me tell you a story...

It is 0720 (that's 7:20 AM for those of you not used to military time which is used in the medical field as well) and I and the other 6 people in my clinical group are gathered around our instructor who is looking for appropriate assignments for us. I say "I'd like to see a labor." and my instructor goes, "Ok, but there's an orientee with the nurse in one of the ongoing labors do you mind not having a partner?"and I go "Nope not at all." and so by 7:35 we all get assigned rooms. My instructor tells me to wait outside my room because the nurse is in there with the patient right then, and I needed to double check that she was ok with me being there. So I'm standing outside the door and I hear "OK. We're gonna start pushing." and my mind goes "OH! I should be in there right now!" and so I knock and the nurse comes to the door, and I go "Hi, I'm Brooke, I'm a nursing student and I've been assigned to this room." (notice how I didn't give her a choice about whether or not I was there...) And she goes "Oh, ok, Come on in. You can help dad support mom's leg." So I go to the far side of the bed, and I help dad support mom's leg. The nurse is coaching the mother from the end of the bed.
Nurse: "Ok give me a big push"
Mom: "Urgggghhhh..."
Nurse: "I can feel his head, gimme another push."
Mom: *inhales deeply* "Uuuugggghhhh"
Nurse: "He's crowning, take a few deep breaths and then give me another big push."
Mom: *breathes for about 10 seconds* "Uhhhng"
*baby's head pops out*
Nurse: "We've got a head! Take a break for a little while."
Me: "You're doing great mom!"
Nurse: "Are you ready?"
Mom: "Uh-huh"
Nurse: "Ok, gimme a big push"
Mom: *squeaks*
*baby's arm shoots out like it's trying to get the teacher to pick him in class*
Nurse: "Great! One more big push and we'll have a baby."
Mom: *groans and pushes*
*baby shoots out*

Inside my head I'm like, "That was so cool!" and "Why the hell did I talk?" and "Oh my god there's a baby here that wasn't here 3 minutes ago!". And then I was asked to hand dad the scissors to cut the umbilical cord. And that was cool. I was like "Hey, I'm getting to be an active participant in this baby's first few minutes." And dad's hand is a little shaky, but he cuts the cord, and the baby takes it's first breath and begins to cry. And it is amazing and magical and astounding. And then I looked at mom...

GRAPHIC DETAILS TO FOLLOW!!! (THOSE WITH ACTIVE IMAGINATIONS AND WEAK STOMACHS MAY NOT WANT TO READ THIS)

Big Mistake. Now, to clarify, I knew bleeding was a natural part of childbirth, and I'm familiar with periods, and I've seen a head wound (which for those of you who don't know, bleeds like a sonovabitch) and I have had no problems. Last summer I sliced the back of my hand open down to the bone, and I was looking at the bone and muscle and fat tissues and how the muscle slid over the bone the entire ride to the Urgent care clinic to get stitched up. So, I have no issue with blood and insides of people.

However, while I expected blood, I did not expect as much blood as there was. A few seconds after the cord was cut the placenta detached from the uterus. And the placenta is stuck to the uterus by many many blood vessels. So, when it detached blood started to pour out of the vaginal opening. Like a bright red waterfall. and inside my head I'm going "OH god. She is gonna bleed out right in front of me. Why is nobody else freaking out? This cannot be normal." And I began to feel dizzy... So I backed away from the bed and sat down. The nurse asked me if I was ok, and I was all "Yeah, I'm fine." and inside my head I'm going, "YOU WILL NOT PASS OUT. YOU WILL NOT PASS OUT!" I watched the placenta get delivered, and then.... Nothing.

The next thing I know, everything is black and the nurse is slapping my upper arms.
Nurse: Brooke... Brooke! Can you hear me?
Me: Yeah...
Nurse: Ok good, Stay with me.
Me: ...
Nurse: Brooke! Stay with me... Keep talking to me.
Me: uhhh... Ok... *inside my head   "What the hell do you want me to say??? Also, WHY CAN'T I SEE??? ARE MY EYES EVEN OPEN?"*
Nurse: Keep talking to me.
Me: Ok. I can hear you.
Nurse: Ok, We're going to scoot you over and lay you down"
Me: Ok. *grab bench with hands and slide myself over*  *inside my head "Wait... I'm still sitting up? Bonus points for me!"*
Nurse: I'm going to grab your shoulders and guide you down. *does so*

So now I'm laying down and I hear,
Nurse: Did somebody get her instructor? Her color is coming back.
And then I end up getting my vision back just as my instructor walks in... *facepalm*
Instructor: So, How're you feeling?
Me: I'm alright. *inside my head "I'm laying down and people are standing over me, how do you think I'm doing???"* 

AND THAT, Kids, is the story of the first birth I saw. I did end up taking care of the mom and her newborn for the rest of the day, and the family was pretty good natured about it. :P
I Have other things to report, but that's enough for today. I'll have more time to update next week.

Brooke

First Day of Classes.. Yay?

So, I'll be writing a more complete post once I've had some time to get over the trauma of my first class.... But I'm back to the grind.... And I have a 12 hour clinical rotation on an L&D floor on Friday... Yay for screaming women...

Anyhow... School... It's a bitch. I want it to be done... And I only had 2 and a half hours of class today... This is going to be a long semester...

Something I'm working on in the (little) spare time I have.

I realize this may not be the most interesting thing to a lot of you, but it's what I'm doing right now, and since I haven't posted in a while, I feel like I should, and this is as good as anything else I could do right now. I'm making a photobook on Shutterfly for Bruce, to give to him on sweetest day. (Which is a holiday I vehemently oppose... It's a freaking manufactured holiday because there was a downward trend in sales one year... It's a Hallmark holiday... But, Bruce likes the idea, so, I'll participate.)

Anyhow, It's a book of the time we've been dating, and how we came to be dating. And this is a couple pages worth of writing I've done in it... Feel free to tell me if it sucks.

"So, how did we start dating?

   There was the possibility that I was going to move away I told you about it, and the next day,  we were hanging out, just doing what we usually did. We got food, we saw a movie, and then on the way back, you told me you wanted to date me. I was shocked. You were my best friend. You knew how weird I was, and why in the world would you want to date me? However I did like you, and we got along very well.

   Unfortunately I was in another relationship, and even though it wasn't going well, I couldn't just jump ship. So, we agreed that if in the future, if we were both single, and interested in each other still, we'd give it a shot.

   One week later, we went to the Maker's Faire at the Henry Ford Museum. Emily came with us, just to keep things from being awkward. Not that they weren't. I tried to set you up with jailbait, you flirted with a robotics team.

   For the rest of the summer I tried to set you up with various friends of mine, and it didn't work out... But as it turns out, that was for the best.

Our first date was Thursday, December 27th 2012. I remember being ridiculously nervous beforehand. The night before Amanda came over and helped me pick out an outfit. I actually spent about an hour getting ready beforehand... I even did my hair. (Which is a rarity as you well know.) I must have texted Amanda thirty times in the 2 hours before our date... She kept reassuring me everything would be fine, and that it would all work out.

I remember being so ridiculously nervous when you finally picked me up, I felt so awkward. I remember giving you a super quick hug hello, and then thinking 'Was that ok? Should I have hugged him longer? Should I have not hugged him? What the hell am I doing????' 

   On the way to dinner I think we talked a bit, but I don't really remember... I do remember thinking about how we were best friends and now we were on a date and if things didn't work, could we still be friends, and so on and so forth. When we got to the restaurant we started talking more, and then things got awkward again, because we already knew all of the things about each other that you would normally find out on a first date. Then we talked about how we didn't really have anything to talk about, because we knew everything about each other, and bitching about our significant others was off the table, because we didn't have any...

   After dinner when we were walking back to your car, I remember you looking at me and saying something along the lines of "One of us has to do something or this is going nowhere" and sticking out your hand for me to hold. I recall feeling anxious about it, and then somewhat giddy once our hands actually connected. It wasn't as though we had never touched each other before, but this time was different. I won't lie and say I felt some magical spark, but what I will say is that I felt happy for the first time in a long time. While we were walking I remember you enthusing about your new underwear, and how comfortable it was, which made me laugh, and I recall thinking that maybe things wouldn't be so awkward all the time. You opened the car door for me before walking around to the other side and opening your own door. I remember being surprised because nobody had done that for me before.

   We headed to the bowling alley, on the way I made fun of your projectile sports skills. You however won, seeing as I hadn't played in 2 years... Which was the same amount of time it had been since we had last gone bowling. (I will kick your ass if you want to go again... I'm less rusty now.) "

That's all I have so far... It's about 2 solid pages of writing in the book. I'm planning to finish it this week... actually I have to... School's starting again... Urgh... 

Dear God I'm Busy...

So, I haven't had much down time, I've been working like crazy. However, I apparently have had enough time for Arts and Crafts... So here's my latest bunch of things I've done...

For Bruce, Just because.

For my Grandma, for her birthday.

For Bruce's Brother and Sister-in-law,
to commemorate the christening of their children.

For my family.

For Bruce's mother, as decor for her bedroom...
I did two of this one, identical mirror images.

 So, apparently I enjoy melting Crayons... A bunch. Because this is how I de-stress... I do arts and crafts... Plus, right now at Meijer you can get 24 packs of crayons for 50 cents. And you can buy packs of canvases in bulk at Michaels for 20 bucks... Which is awesome. And will be a major reason I'm out of money. Because, Impulse Control, I Do Not Has It.

I may have lied a little...

When I said I'd be back to a more regular posting schedule, I may have lied a little... It has been crazy busy for me over the past few weeks, and I haven't had time to do much of anything really.  But Bruce was totally awesome yesterday. He sent me a text that said "I got you a thing"and had a photo attached...

That is Bruce's hand holding the book.

It's the most recent book from My Absolute Favorite Series.... He is the best boyfriend ever. Now I just have to find the time to read it.... :D

I Am Back!

I'm back from my hiatus in the woods. And I have a spiffy new piece of artwork to show for it!

Mary Poppins in the most colorful London rain you have ever seen. Now I'm humming Chim-chim-Cher-ee to myself...

Anyhow, I should be back to more regular post intervals. Thanks for tolerating me. :)

Brooke

Sooo..

I'm taking a break from the interwebs for a while... I'm starting to wander through the woods again, and I need to get a handle on it... to understand what I'm talking about, CLICK ME.
So, I'm going to be not on here for a while. But I'll be back, whether you like it or not. :P

Also, if you wanna see something not depressing,  Click HERE or HERE.


Brooke