stay classy, San Diego

  We were a little depressed to not be in college and on Spring Break, but we formally named this the "1st Annual Adult Spring Break".  And that it was.  Amy and I flew out to San Diego on a Saturday morning and were greeted in the airport with huge smiles by Abby and Sam (we were all in nursing school together).  We knew it was going to be a great trip just because we were getting to see each other again, but I don't think any of us knew just how much fun it was going to be.

Welcome to sunny San Diego! We were welcomed with 78* and sunny skies.

Oh, and margs :)  Jet lag + margarita= nap time at the pool for Jamie

The pool at Abby and Sam's apartment

Sam pulled Amy and I aside once we were at the pool and told us that Katie and Rod (Abby's neighbors) were wanting to plan something for Abby's birthday.  We were in! Later that evening, we found out Rod had gotten us into VIP at Stingaree (a club in downtown San Diego) with bottle service. What?! We felt like celebrities :).  We sure did stay classy, San Diego.

We started off at Henry's, a Purdue bar downtown.

Walking to Stingaree...Abby is clueless to what we all know.

Short detour with the birdman

Happy Birthday Abby!

My first time ever trying Dom Perignon...yum!

The waitresses with their sparklers.  They carried each bottle out with them.

PERFECT lunch the next day.  My first experience with IN-N-OUT burger...so good!

Coronado Beach

 A little chilly

Naval Hospital Abby works at.

She's famous.

Scooter...Abby in dog form

We all wore our nursing bar crawl T-shirts from senior year and did a bar crawl down at Pacific Beach

I had so much fun in San Diego and miss my friends so much already.  Until next time...

-almost a big girl-

I have one more shift of level 3/4 orientation and then I am on my own.  

Woah! Seriously? Like you mean I'll be trained to the highest level of our NICU?  I can care for any baby? Woah.

(link here to see my post from the beginning of 3/4 orientation)

I am excited.  But obviously nerrrrvvvvoussss.  I feel as ready as I'll ever be.  Bring it on!

I have had some really awesome orientation days.  I have had some pretty amazing preceptors who taught me A LOT.  I have found my own way of organizing and doing things.  Yes, I have felt overwhelmed, but that's a good thing.  I have seen some of the craziest and most interesting cases/assignments on our unit and I feel like my orientation was perfectly well-rounded.  I have had nurses tell me I have seen/done things they haven't done themselves in their 3+ years in the unit.

 I love learning.  Sometimes, I listen in on the docs teaching the residents and hold back my smile when I can answer a question the resident can't.  I know I'll continue to learn and grow everyday and I am so happy about that.

The best advice came from another nurse today:

"Take the most complex/sickest baby you can your first day off orientation...have a nurse close by that you trust and know that there is always someone there to help and ask questions."

love. my. job.

San Diego bound!

I will be on a short hiatus from blogging because...I am leaving tomorrow morning for San Diego!!!

Matt is driving me up to Midway early in the morning (he's not so happy, but we are taking Jax along so hopefully that will make his drive home better).  I am flying out of Midway to meet up with my friend Amy who is also going out there and we will be on the same flight!  It will be a long flight, but at least she will be with me.  My plan is to catch up on my reading, catch up with Amy, and hopefully get some sleep since I had a crazy busy day at work today.  

I am sooooo excited to see Abby and to meet her pup Scooter.  I haven't seen Abby since around Christmas and it wasn't for very long so I miss her so much.  I am so pumped for these next 4 days. 

Sunshine and 70's, here I come!

learning...NICU-style

I love my job.  I know I have said and will say it 100 trillion more times how much I truly love this job.  Matt has told me it makes him happy to hear me say it and to tell his friends and family how much I am loving it.

I love my co-workers.  They are the best group of girls in the world.  There is always someone there to learn from, laugh with, and talk to while feeding a babe.  There are so many nurses that I look up to, and aspire to be like. Their skill and compassion amaze me.  At times when we are so slammed and busy, but we work together to get everything done. Sometimes I stop what I am doing and look around and realize how cool it is to be there and to be doing what we are doing.  Seeing the hands of one of us in the isolette of a 1 lb. baby taking special care to things others would completely disregard like the noise and the control of temperature.  Or going on a delivery, never knowing how the baby will come out, and seeing our team work together to help them transition.  I used to watch this kind of stuff on TV thinking there was no way I could ever do that, but I am. We are so blessed to have such amazing doctors a part of our team.  They really trust the nurse's instinct and that feels so good. I am just so lucky.

I was nervous when I accepted the position because I had a couple nursing friends tell me it was not a good idea to specialize in nursing so soon.  Try out med-surg, even peds why don't you? Well, guess what? I think I made the absolute best decision for me.  I learn so much. Every single day. And I can't imagine working on any other unit.  I love my patients, I love their families, and I love the difference we are making in their lives.  We are saving their babies and giving those tiny miracles the opportunity to live healthy lives.  

I love making memories for families.  Introducing them to their new baby and explaining what we are doing to help them. I don't know why, but it's the dads that get me every time.  Once they get teary-eyed, so do I.  I love when they are so eager to just be looking at their new baby.  My favorite is when we go on a delivery and the dad sees the baby for the first time and says, "Can I touch her?".  Why sure! :)   I have yet to "primary" a baby which means you sign up to have this baby every time you work.  You get to know the baby like the back of your hand and their family comes to know you as their nurse.  

I am currently orienting to level 3/4 which includes the babies on mechanical ventilators, high-frequency ventilators (oscillators and jet vents), drips (for cardiac and blood pressure medications, insulin, sedation, pain medication), venous and arterial lines, and so on.  Basically the tiniest, most complex, and sickest babies.  There are kids with heart defects, GI defects, multiple anomalies, chromosomal syndromes, babies needing to go to surgery, and babies the size of your hand.  I learn so much from the nurses I am paired with.  When I am done with this orientation, I will be fully trained in the NICU.  I can take on any baby, no matter how small or sick or how many medication drips they may be on.  Scary.  But exciting :) 

San Diego!

I am SO excited.  I just booked my flight to San Diego!  

My friend Amy and I are going out to see Abby! Abby and I met sophomore year at Purdue and then we all started hanging out Junior year when we had our MedSurg clinical together...fun times :).  Abby moved out to San Diego last July for the Navy.  She is a nurse at the Naval Medical Center San Diego in same day surgery.

When Abby moved out there, I was a little depressed because California is just so far away.  It's not like I could pack up and drive to see her (I mean I could, but that'd be a darn long drive).  I wasn't sure if and when I'd be able to get out to see her, especially since we just had the expense of our wedding.  

Amy had been planning on going out there for her Spring Break, but I had said I couldn't go.  I got to thinking that if I didn't go now, when would I go? It's so easy to want to go so bad, but to just put it off. Soooo, I saved and now I am going :). My flights are booked!  I think Matt is a little sad he can't join for the trip, but the next trip to see Abby we will both go out there.

At my wedding. Kylie, Abby, me, Amy.  Kylie won't be able to join us this trip :(

Last dinner before everyone moved away

Breakfast club

Daytona Beach SB 10- I can't believe I went on SB with Lady Gaga

Love this girl.

Dave Matthews concert campground...

Amy and I


If this is anything like our trip to Daytona Beach last March, I think I am in store for a good time :). Can't wait to see you!!!!

2010 Recap...Welcome 2011!

2010 has definitely been the best year of our lives filled with so many amazing memories.  I knew it would be exciting, but I had no idea just how much we could pack into one year.  In a compact version, here is  a glimpse into what we had going on the past 12 months...

We started out 2010 by going on a vacation to Jamaica!  It was my graduation gift from Matt and we decided to go over my Winter break since we would be so busy after graduation.  We were so right!  Matt had told me my first year of nursing school that when I graduated he would take me anywhere I wanted to go.  Jamaica was paradise!

We spent the year planning our wedding :).  We had an engagement party and I found my beautiful dress in January.  Each month had big milestones for me to check off our list. It was difficult to plan the wedding while trying to finish up my senior year at Purdue.  The work really paid off because our wedding was the best day of our lives and it was more than I ever imagined it would be.

I finished up my nursing degree at Purdue with some of my fabulous friends that moved away after we graduated :(.  Abby moved to San Diego to be a Navy nurse, Amy moved to Nashville to pursue her degree for Family Nurse Practitioner, and Kylie moved to Indy (yay! close to me!) to work at Riley.  In the midst of finishing school I was looking for a job, applying for jobs, interviewing for jobs, and trying to decide what my future in nursing would hold.  Did we want to stay in Lafayette? Did I want to do NICU? Did we want to uproot and move to Indy?  I was offered two NICU positions at two different hospitals in Indy and gladly accepted my RN position on days at St. Vincent Women's in March.  Best decision I ever made! I LOVE my job.

We spent a couple months searching for a place to live in Indy since we decided to move here and not have me drive from Lafayette anymore.  We were nervous at first, but we are really loving Indy and can see it being our place to call home.

I graduated with a Bachelor's Degree in Nursing from Purdue in May and passed my NCLEX in June. I am a real Registered Nurse!  I'll always remember the first piece of paper I signed at work as J.Barrett, RN (later to be J. Dunn, RN which I was so excited to be signing!)




I married my best friend and became Mrs. Dunn on September 18th, the anniversary of our 6th year together!  Our wedding day was absolutely amazing.  We were surrounded by the love of our family and friends and I was able to soak up every little aspect of our special day.  I'm so lucky to call this guy my husband.

We welcomed Jax, the Boston Terrier, into our family in October.  We had always wanted a dog, and one random Sunday we decided we wanted to go get him.  We looked up a breeder on the internet and 2 hours later, we were in northern Indiana picking out our puppy!  I can't imagine not having him around.  He brings us so much happiness and laughter.

We took a belated honeymoon the beginning of November back to Jamaica.  We went to the same Sandals resort we went at the beginning of the year.  It was great get-away and a much needed relaxing vacation after the stress of the wedding and everything else we had done the past year.  We braved hurricane-turned-tropical storm Tomas and had a fantastic vacation, mon!

I am looking forward to 2011, a little because it won't be as jam-packed and a little because there are so many things to look forward to...

-I am excited to become more proficient in the NICU...I get level 3 and 4 trained (the highest level in NICU)  in February and March and then I will be fully trained to take on a baby at the highest acuity.  Scary, but so exciting to be functioning at the same level as my mentors.

-Visiting friends.  San Diego, Nashville, and Georgia are calling our names :).

-Seeing where life takes us.  Will we still be in Indy next summer when our lease is up?  Will we buy a house? Who knows! That's the fun part!

-NOT looking forward to DMB not touring in 2011...guess we will have to find another concert to hold us over until 2012 when they return :).

-Spending more time with Matt in the summers since he will be home more than last summer with his job change.

-Welcoming a friend's new baby into the world next June...congrats to the Hills!! :) 

Tonight, we are ringing in the new year together at home since I work tomorrow on New Year's Day.  Happy New Year to all of you!!