Back to Work

Well my maternity leave is officially over and I find myself asking the question, "If we lived in a VW bus, could I get away with not working?" My friend Lauren points out that if I hadn't "made" Matt get sell "Camper's Camper" then I would never have to work again. For those of you who are not familiar with "Camper's Camper" it was a 1970's Shasta camper, kelly green and white. Needless to say it wasn't exactly the prettiest vehicle on the road. It wasn't the fastest either. On my one trip in the ol' beast we were passed by a little girl in a Barbie Power Wheels Jeep. Well, not really, but it could have happened if Power Wheels were allowed on the interstate. But, I digress. The point is that the first week back to work was a little rough and I found myself wishing I could just stay home with my sweet little angel!

My first night back, last Monday, I walked in on a Cor Zero. For those of you who enjoy Grey's or ER, a Code Blue. Thank goodness, the baby is okay, but it was a rough start to a rough night. Torrey, my coworker for the evening, recently returned from her own leave of absence. She spent the summer in the Philippines. It was her third shift back and my first, so it was the blind leading the blind that evening. We ran our rear ends off. Neither one of us ate, I did manage to pump but that took precedence over eating or peeing. I think I ate my string cheese while I charted, and my yogurt while I tried to fix the printer that prints out the stickers we put on our labs. Not exactly a nice lunch break. Torrey was a trooper and took care of the sick baby and took an admission. I had one patient, was in charge and ended up taking care of Torrey's admission as her sick baby needed quite extensive care that night. We made it through the night and I am proud to say I started a sweet IV on Torrey's patient at 6:30 am just before day shift arrived. The two good things about our crazy night are that I was mostly too busy to miss Ella and the night flew by.

Ella went to stay with our friend Joy, who is a stay at home mom that lives just 5 minutes away. She had a great day and took a nice long nap when we got home which allowed me to veg out on the couch a bit longer.

My next night back to work I had to float to the pediatric floor. Not my idea of a swell night, I sometimes say I would rather hang upside-down by my toenails. Luckily that night was quite a bit more pleasant than toenail torture. The crew of nurses up there was made up of a few of my favorite girls from the floor and I had a nice easy assignment. The only trouble was that the kids up there are not intubated, so they cry and every time a baby would cry my boobs would ache and I thought I would spring a leak. Don't worry, those lovely little cotton pads under my nursing bra are quite absorbant.

Ella spent that day with our friend Heather and her little girl Lily, who is almost exactly one year older than Ella. Heather fell in love with Ella, of course! We are very thankful that we have so many great friends willing to help with caring for her!

So, I survived the first week, but I sure do miss my little monkey while I am gone. I like to think she misses me too.