Had a kind of odd night at work. We ended up being a little flush for staffing so I had a very decent pt load. I had more time on my hands so I was able to do everything on my pt's timetable rather than being forced to impose my own. It makes my pts much happier when I can do that but when you are busy you just can't.
I saw the full gamut of families, which I can't talk about with any detail. There were two nice, educated early 30s couples who had wanted, planned for, and prepared for their babies. One decently nice young (early 20s) unmarried couple - people you think will probably do okay. And one scary, sad, pathetic social mess. I can't talk about it grrr but I just wanted to apologize to the baby.
That case is still bothering me, but it is no worse than many others I have seen. I really dislike that part of the job - even the fairly sad (ie poor outcome) cases are better. They are sad, but there isn't the sense of anger towards the mom for bringing a baby into their chaotic, messed-up life and then needing to care for and support that mom who is also my pt. I hope that doesn't sound really harsh, but it wears you down after awhile. I, of course, behave professionally and am often a little kinder than usual towards these pts in the hopes that being supportive and attentive to the mom will have a trickle-down effect on her family.
I DID have alot of fun with one family in particular - the mom commented on how cute I was cause you could tell I really loved what I was doing. WOW! What a compliment, I really do love what I do, but no one has ever said it that way before and it made me so happy. :) She also said I was the best nurse she'd ever had. Brag brag - sorry but if I can't brag in my own blog...
Well, that's it from this tired nurse. Moral: If your nurse is nice, tell her, it will make her day! Most of us don't do this for the $ and glory (haha) but cuz we really like to help people - our best reward is knowing we did that. Oh yeah, chocolate is good too. :)