Feeling Tired…

Why has the every other day, crazy-early day shifts kicked my butt this week? Maybe because I haven’t been getting to bed as early as I should. When you have a run of shifts you can recoup for one day then go exploring but if you only get one off in a row do you recoup or explore? I was so happy to find out that I would have postpartums, and less happy to do a full admit in the last hour of my shift, while still having all my couplets. And here you have to chart on every mom and every baby every hour, and one of my babies had vitals every hour. That and needing to tape report on all my patients made me stress that I wouldn’t get to something. I was just glad that she hadn’t come earlier as I would have imagined them keeping me doing the induction and my three couplets. Needless to say I was very glad to turn in my keys and phone and head for the car. A previous patient recognized me as I was walking down the hall, she called to me and waved. I ran to tell her goodbye and congratulations on cooking her little “bun” as long as she had. It is fun to be able to see on occasion that you do make a difference in people’s lives. I held the door for them as they got all of their stuff out to the car.
I’m still wiped, ready to crawl into bed and sleep for a couple of days, but it was just the reminder I needed to keep on plugging away doing what I was meant to do, even on the days I don’t feel it.