night shift, creepy story, toddler talk, and my credit cards!

Night shift and my creepy story...

Well, it's been quite some time since I've had the chance to post. Things have been pretty busy around these parts! I did my first two night shifts on Sunday and last night and tomorrow I work a day (classes). I was terrified of doing nights. I dind't know how I could possible stay up all night and function. It is pretty crazy how you can feel you body beggin you to go to sleep and the whole circadian rhythm thing become really apparent. I got so cold I had to wear a contact isolation gown around for a few hours. I got very sick to my stomach and dizzy but it only lasted for a few hours on the first night...and as we approached 7:30 a.m. I loss some serious brain power! The strangest thing happened last night/this a.m....First, I should explain that all the nurses in the hospital wear locators that have an emergency button on them that we can push at any time if we are in trouble (only work on our own floors) and they also are hooked in to a computer system that allows the unit manager to locate us if we are needed. For example, if i can't find my preceptor, i can ask the unit manager to look her up and the computer will tell her what room she is in by finding her locator. Anyway, that being said, my Preceptor andI were in the med room this a.m. (very early, like 3 a.m.) and we heard this strange beep (the emergency locator beep) but it wasn't either of ours. We opened the door and asked the unit manager if our locators were going off for some reason, like if some how the button got pressed (which would have been nearly impossible)...she said, "No, it's not either of you guys...who else is in there?" there was no one else, just the two of us. We told her that, and she said, "Well, there are two 'unknowns' that are locating in that room right now as well as you both"...It was very creepy, and we just had the feeling that someone else was in there. My preceptor said eerie things like that happen a lot on evening shift. She said she never believed in ghosts or anything like that until she started working there. And a lot of people have died on this floor which makes it even more unsettling. It was really really weird. Also, I had to use the bathroom last night but someone was in the one on our unit...so i had to walk to a further one off the unit. I had to go into an office area completely off our unit, so no one was around and the lights were all dimmed. I wasn't scared until I was walking back to the floor and thought someone was walking behind me. I looked, and no one was there, but i was just sure someone was there behind me. I kept feeling it, and then when I passed another hallway, the feeling stopped, like whoever it was turned to go down the hallway. But, still, I saw no one. That really creeped me out and I picked up the pace to get back to my unit. Very bizarre!

But, alas, I survived and it wasn't quite as bad as I imagined. I'm not looking forward to working tomorrow, but at least I just have to sit in classrooms. That won't be too hard. Plus, it's halloween so I get to look forward to trick-or-treating with the bean and Timmy.

Halloween....

Alex is going to be a lady bug...or part of one anyway. She won't wear the part that goes on the head, so I guess Tim or myself will wear that part so people will know what she is. We won't be actually going to the doors, just walking the neighborhood looking at the costumes. We did this last year at Tim's folks' and it was pretty fun. He blogged about it, I think, we had a funny run in with a crazy man. I will take some pics, but right now our hard drive is down on our main computer so I can't get my pics online for awhile. bummer. I will post as soon as I can, though.

baby talk...toddler talk....

So, sometimes I feel like Tim and I live with a foreign exchange student or something...Alex. Trying to decipher her words can be quite a challenge sometimes. It is like she has renamed common household items or tasks and given them her own unique word, sometimes just reusing words that already exist but just for different things...sometimes they sound like the American version...other times, they are clearly another language. And she almost always follows her sentances with "yup"--though i finally realized why she does that...sometimes when i've finally figured out what she's saying, like if she says, "poopy e-it", to verify i'll say, "coopy eat it, yup". So, now, my daughter thinks adding yup to the end of her sentances is just the way you do things. great. i only have myself to thank for that confusing tid bit! i now to say, "that's right!"For example:

Milk= "moop, yup"

Daddy do it= "daddy dooey, yup" or "mamma dooey, yup"

Blankie= "b-b-b-b, yup"

coopy= "poopy, yup"

play= "bye"

bye="bye"

drink="ish, yup"
spoon= "moon, yup"

and for nearly all animals, instead of going by their name she just uses the sound the make...i think that is common though? anyway, i could go on, but i realize, this is probably only interesting myself and to tim. ;)

Credit cards...

We are officially out of credit card debt! except for my gap and von maur, but those are very small balances and i'm not planning on closing them, so we aren't too worried about them. we had racked up some debt when i was in nursing school, and when i wasn't working when i was pregnant...but, I got my loan forgiveness check from work and we put it towards our debt, and the rest will go to fees for getting a mortgage for our house. While we still have umpteen zillion in school loans, it feels good to NOT owe money to damn credit card companies! we will no longer be using credit cards, except for emergencies---real ones, not shopping emergencies due to sales! ha!

conclusion....

well, that about covers it. i can feel myself getting extremely tired and it is taking me longer to type. i got up early this afternoon, allowing myself to only sleep about 4 hours after my night shift, in hopes that it will allow me to sleep through the night and feel ok tomorrow. here's to hoping!

tim's b-day is this weekend...i hope we do something fun. he's taking a half day off on friday and we are spending the day together, with alex, of course...and then maybe getting a sitter for later! fun times! after wednesday I have almost 6 days off! I only have a 3 hour class on thursday, and then a 3 hour class next wednesday! then i work nights through next weekend--when i'll make $10 over my hourly! that's worth it!. after next weekend, i go back to days for like 6 more weeks or until i'm done precepting...so, there are perks to this nurse business afterall!! ;) after i'm here a year or so, i'm hoping to transfer to hem/onc's day hospital/day clinic where I will work no nights, no weekends, and no holidays, and only three days during the week, and the emotional factor of this field will also not be so intense in the clinics! it will be a beautiful thing!