baby, baby, baby...

I just want to start with saying that I LOVE my job. I don't say that everyday, and that's because I don't feel like that everyday...I'm not sure anyone does. Obviously there are other things I'd rather do than work, a million things I'd rather do actually. And when I have a crappy night at work, I feel like why do I even bother? My job is serious, pretty much all the time, and when I have a bad night, believe me...its bad. Thankfully I've only had a handful of "bad" nights, and in my line of work that means...well I work with sick and premature babies, you get the picture.

Last night I had the privilege of taing care of the sweetest babies ever...3 little boys, who just so happen to be triplets. They are doing so well and are absolutely thriving. They are the reason I LOVE my job. It is the best feeling to take care of little people who have fought so hard and are on the path to go home. Normally I take care of sick babies, the sickest, and when they get better I move onto the next sick one. So when I actually get healthy babies, I take advantage of the situation. Their mother was discharged from the hospital last night, so she was pretty tearful. Every mother imagines going to the hospital, having a baby and then going home with that baby...so its only appropriate to be sad when your vision doesn't take...especially times three.

Since I had three very nice babies last night I decided that they needed to be fluffed and buffed...meaning baths and linen changes for everyone. We just so happened to get a delivery of clean baby laundry so everyone got cute bedding and outfits. The hospital provides standard baby shirts, but we are fortunate enough to have a closet of donated baby clothes and blankets. Most are preemie outfits donated from our graduates and others are bought by staff. (If anyone has preemie and newborn outfits lying around look into donating them to a children's hospital. We are always VERY grateful.) Anyways, after bathtime it was photo-shoot time. Its amazing to me that I can not motivate myself to scrapbook anything at home, I don't really know why. I love scrapbooking and I'm always looking for new ideas and buying things, but then I get home and I have no desire to do it...hmm.

A lovely family donated a digital camera and printer after their son was discharged so now we frequently do "photo-shoots" of our babies. Then we make cute cards and signs and banners when we have the time. So each of my boys last night got footprints done, a picture of their face, and a close up of hands or feet. I creatively scrapped each picture on different colored paper and attached each square with ribbon for each boy. It's not the greatest but it was the best I could do while at work. Hopefully mom will be surprised when she comes in and feel at ease that her boys got plenty of attention while she wasn't there...

...and my baby itch was satisfied, at least for a little while.

so I repeat...I LOVE my job!

If your looking for something new you should consider being a NICU nurse...its pretty great.