I never know quite what to title these posts as this is pretty much a summary of our work week in a nutshell.  This week I was scheduled Sunday, Monday, Tuesday day shift.  Sunday was one of those days where all the mommies come in with their water broke who knows what the barametric pressure change was but there must have been an environmental factor.  It was a kind of fun change of pace to take an ambulance ride to Eugene and back.  (I enjoyed, later in the week, talking to the manager at Silverton FBC finding out that since we can’t transport a non stable patient and to date they had never had an ambulance delivery, they no longer send an RN on maternal transports unless medically the patient needs the advanced level of care.)  I was under the impression that once a patient presented to a certain level of care (RN) we could not pass them off to a lower level of care (paramedic, although paramedics are awesome they are not a fan of obstetric emergencies) it makes sense and it would have made staffing the unit much easier as we called all employed RNs to try to get an additional pair of helping hands.  No worries though it all worked out just fine.  Monday had a record number of out patients: triages, NSTs, and follow up newborn appointments.  It went so smoothly the nursing team worked like a well oiled machine.  Tuesday promised to be busy with a few scheduled procedures and for sure the clock was kind to us as we were continuously on our feet with every room full the minute hand may as well have been a second hand.  The day flew by, steady but not insane.  The manager came up from her office and helped with a discharge and NST.  She, a midwife and the nurse that was on with me were working out the details of a nursing conference then turned their focus on housing for me saying, “What can we do to get you to stay here? We are going to find you housing!” I am really enjoying this assignment so far.  I hate to allow myself to feel that way this early when I am still in the honeymoon phase, but I do.  The nurses, the manager, the providers, the unit.  They are not only happy people who enjoy their job, they are passionate about providing a positive birth experience promoting family autonomy by supporting their choices in a loving non judge mental way that I have not experienced since leaving Silverton.

Housing continues to be an adventure and we have pretty much given up on housing and embraced the hotel lifestyle.  Chad’s mom gifted us a crockpot and Chad has dove whole heartedly into the challenge of preparing all of our dinners with this food artist’s medium.  Breakfast of cold cereal or oatmeal the fixing for sandwiches for lunch have managed to be great meal options as well.  Who would have thunk it… A mini fridge and crockpot could be sufficient to keep and feed a family of five for four days every week.  The fact that Chad has happily taken on this challenge has relieved a lot of stress off of me.  Meals out plus hotels each night would have quickly broke our budget.  As much as money is not our primary motivator for working as a travel nurse family.  We can’t exactly afford to spend more on living than we are bringing in, really who could?

 Chad is a certified carpet cleaner which is a notable accomplishment it requires a lot of classes and continuing education credits to maintain.  He was due to take a few credits to remain certified so he had been scheduled for a water damage restoration class this week in Portland too.  As a one car family we were thinking of every option to manage my work schedule and Chad’s class schedule being three and a half hours apart.  Not to mention what would we do with the kids?  Chad and the kids stayed with me until Monday he then reserved a room for me in a hotel with in walking distance and then headed back to Salem where Stephanie offered to help us by watching the kids.  Eve declared that she has always wanted a four or five year old brother follows by a, “Cyrus, will you be my brother?” (Thank you Steohanie and Jayson for all of your help especially with the kids.) After work I walked to the hotel and crashed then got up early got ready walking to Dutch Brothers on the way to work for a Coconut Dutch Freeze breakfast.  The sunrise was beautiful!  I was thankful to get to witness it.  Mary Beth came and picked me up after work we enjoyed dinner at the Tiki on 51st for dinner, my treat.  Ahi wraps and a wicked mocha with extra cayenne…Onolicious!!!  As always and perhaps more than usual we enjoyed our time together and conversation.  Thank you Mary Beth for coming and picking me up I loved the quality time.

  We loved the beautiful flower baskets by the Tiki on 51st.