Did I REALLY sign up for this??

  So tomorrow is my last day of Peds clinical......While I am VERY happy to have a little break from clinical to breathe & get caught up ( and not have to get up at 4 am ), I have to admit I am TOTALLY going to miss this clinical.  I wish I could just skip all the rest of these classes & get to working in pediatrics already!!  I am so happy to have found my niche.  I have to be honest.  Up until this point I was kind of wondering if I had made the right career decision.  Of course I never wanted to be a floor nurse anyway, but even so I was really worried that I had made a bit of a mistake by choosing nursing.  Up until this clinical nothing has really sparked my interest & I had just been waiting for this clinical from the very beginning of nursing school.  I kind of knew that I would like it, but I never thought that I would fall head over heels in love with Peds.  And the cherry on top is that there is a fabulous Pediatric hospital in my favorite city around, Cha

Or at least listen to all of the podcasts...or maybe just study?  Either way I bombed my first CC test.  I got a 73, which I guess is better than a 53 but it's still failing in our program.  But fortunately it's nothing that I can't come back from, so I'm not too terribly bummed about it.  Had my 2nd peds clinical, LOVED it! I mean seriously, I just can't explain how much I love pediatrics.  After I get out of nursing school I don't ever, ever, EVER want to take care of an adult again.  I seriously don't.  And while I would love to get my PNP, the only program around here is at Vanderbilt, which although Vandy is an AWESOME school and very prestigous, it also comes with an AWESOME & prestigous price tag as well.  I wish there was an online course that was doable but I haven't really found any.  I found one in Alabama at USA but it's double the time of the one at Vanderbilt and you have to have 2 years of floor experience first.  BUT the good

So yesterday was my first day of Peds, the clinical I have been waiting for since I started nursing school was finally here.  To say I was nervous was an understatement.  I was TERRIFIED, and honestly I have no idea why.  Maybe because it was the tiny human population?  Maybe because it was VANDERBILT, maybe because I didn't get enough sleep the day/night before.  Maybe because my best friend was no longer with me in class?  Honestly, I don't know why I was so skittish but seriously I felt like I could cry at least 3 times that day.  Ok, here's a recap of how it went & why it was so terrible & wonderful at the same time. Worked 7p-7a Saturday night.  Slept on Sunday until about 1:30 then got up because I knew I had an 36 strip EKG assignment due on Tuesday & I knew I wouldn't be able to do it Monday since I had Peds clinical.  Worked on my strips for as long as I could but then I was just totally exhausted by 6 pm.    Finally decided I couldn't do