Showing posts with label Studying. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Studying. Show all posts

Friday, November 16, 2012

Advice to an SRNA

Close to 30 months ago I found out I was pregnant. 
27 months ago I started school to become a nurse anesthetist. 
In that 3 month period of being pregnant and preparing to start school I scoured the internet for any kind of advice about going through anesthesia school pregnant/with a newborn and I could only find a couple of chats. I asked my school if there was anyone I could talk to that had gone through this before, but they had no names to give me (it's been done many times before, but they had no contact info). I talked to students in the class ahead of me and they encouraged me, but had no real advice for a new mother. 
SO, if there is any one out there in the same predicament and scouring the internet for advice on what you should do if you are going to have a baby in anesthesia school - here it is!

I can only speak for my program, so obviously it could be different elsewhere. I've already given this spiel to a few other people who have asked me and they appreciated the straight forward, no sugar coating truth.

1) It's doable. Not ideal, but doable. And it's worth it! My best advice and what I told every one who asked me if I was crazy for trying to juggle a new marriage, new baby, and anesthesia school is "I take it one day at a time". Of course, you need to plan ahead so you can study and what not, but if you look to far ahead it gets overwhelming. Just focus on getting through one test, one more doctors appointment, one more feeding, one more paper. It's much less daunting that way!

2) I would never have gotten through it without the help and support of my family and in-laws. I didn't want to have to put ButterBean in daycare when he was so little (I went back to class when he was a week old) and through the help of ButterBean's grandmas I was able to keep him out of daycare the entire time. 

3) You will be tired, so tired! If you didn't drink coffee already, you will. Oh yes will
If you want to be extra tired you can do what I did and work your regular ICU nursing job every weekend for the first 5 months of school while pregnant because you need your health insurance! I can look back now and say "What on earth was I thinking?" But, you gotta do what you gotta do!

4) You will have intense mommy guilt. Add in fun postpartum hormones and you have a recipe for an emotional merry-go-round! When you are studying, you feel guilty you aren't with your baby. When you spend time with your sweet bundle, you have the massive pile of books and future test looming in the back of your mind. 

5) If possible, find someone else in your class who has kids. You are going to to need someone to talk to who can relate to your situation. Other students (without kids or spouses) in your class will complain to you about how they just don't have time for this or that, or can't get time to study and you are going to want to jump across the table and smack them repeatedly saying "YOU don't have time? YOU are tired?!! Do you realize who you are talking to? A sleep deprived, emotionally racked, hasn't even been able to shower in three days, just spent her lunch break pumping breast milk crazy woman!" Usually, as soon as the words come out of their mouths, you can see they know exactly what they just said and they back-pedal with "But it's nothing compared to what you are dealing with"
Anyway, the point of that was to say, only other mothers with kids will understand the stresses you are going through. Your significant other and family won't understand anesthesia school (unless the are an anesthetist themself) and other students won't understand parenting. I have my study-buddy and we vent to each other all the time. It's quite therapeutic really!

6) Your husband MUST be 100% on board with this decision because he is going to be picking up slack. He is going to be dropping of baby with the grandparents or at day care because you are going to be getting up at 4:30 to be in the OR by 6am. He is going to have to watch baby while you hole yourself away with authors like Nagelhout, Miller, and Barrash. He is going to have to listen to you whine complain talk about your crazy day in the OR, hard test, or annoying coordinator. If he isn't supportive of you being in school, I guarantee it's going to fall apart. I've been told story after story of couples getting divorced during anesthesia school. Both of you have to be in on this together!

7) As far as taking time off - that will depend on what your school allows. Mine gave us 30ish days off to use how we wanted within the 27 months. We could work holidays to get extra days off later. Like I said earlier, I went back to class when he was a week old, but I didn't go back to clinicals until he was 5 weeks old. My body would not have tolerated going back any earlier. In all I only used 17 days of my vacation days for a "maternity leave". With the next kid, maternity leave is seriously going to feel like a vacation compared to this!

OK this is long enough. If I think of more I'll make another post. And truly, just contact me if you have any questions. I'd love to be of help.

I will post later about the study material I bought to help me with the SEE exam and to study for boards. I'll post that AFTER I pass, though.

Wednesday, November 7, 2012

Fall fun

Full swing into fall! It's official of course because I have my at-least-once-a-week pumpkin spice latte and there is a continual loaf of pumpkin bread on my counter.
Babies playing in leaves is one of the cutest things! Cue montage of baby in leaves!! (My sister took these photos...talent!)





ButteBean with the aforementioned sister
Oh, and one little detail that makes this fall extra special: I'm DONE WITH ANESTHESIA SCHOOL!!! El fin! Ok, almost el fin! I still have to pass this pesky test...no biggie, just the scariest biggest test of my life: the certification exam!! Even with that looming, I'm still overjoyed to never go to clinicals as a student, go to class, write a paper, or have a group project EVER again!! Hardest 27 months of my life are over! 
That's right ButterBean!! Mommy's almost a CRNA!!


Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Mother's Day

I had a marvelous Mother's Day! My own little bundle can't do much for his mama yet, but I know one day he is going to bring me home a droopy marigold that he planted himself in a little pot at school and I'm going to gush over it like is was the finest rose! This Mother's Day was more about my own mom! It happened to be her birthday this Mother's Day. She has done a superb job raising me and my sisters and I will always look up to her!
Soooo, I made her a birthday cake of course: Martha Stewart's Lemon Cake! It's so rich, it's almost like a pound cake. It calls for lemon zest, so I definitely used organic lemons for this cake. I've made it a couple of other times and it always turns our delicious. (This is actually a picture from another time that I made it.)

And I made all of us a nice little brunchy breakfast. My favorite were the rhubarb scones that I made with rhubarb from my mom's backyard. Yummm. 

I have more rhubarb in my fridge and I plan to make these again! I recommend them good with a cup of tea, like all good baked goods should be enjoyed!
We also went over to celebrate Gatsby's mother and got to relax some more in the sun! Perfect weather for the cousins to romp in the backyard! ButterBean had a "hair-raising" experience: learning to drive! We all got a good laugh at his static style!

The pictures don't do justice to the amount of hair that was sticking up!
he was very frustrated that he couldn't stand in the car
ButterBean had a very in depth conversation with his godfather. It sounded pretty serious!
Mother's day was a perfect example of balancing school and family. I had a big test on Monday, but there was no way I was missing this amazing family time. I was able to completely forget about the test for a few hours and enjoy good food, good weather, and good company! I got in a couple hours of studying between celebrations while ButterBean and Gatsby napped. For anyone considering anesthesia school, believe me, you're world will be utterly consumed with studying! Take a break sometimes and forget about it! You don't (and you won't) ace every test! And that's ok! Happy Mother's Day to all the overly busy mom's out there!



Monday, July 18, 2011

(Not) Studying

Things I did today when I should have been studying

-  Wrote this blog and read other mindless things on the internet
- Organized baby clothes
- Thoroughly cleaned out a mustard bottle so I could put it in the recycling
- Found a delicious snack...or two
- Went to Target just to get one envelope and some new pacifiers

It's a sad, sad state I've fallen into...when you clean out mustard bottles just to take a break from studying...sad. I'm all studied out!
This month has been ridiculous in school. For example, last week: 3 tests. This week: 3 tests, a paper, and a presentation. That of course, is on top of about 20 hours of clinical and other classes. Gaahhh! I can't wait for August to come and to be done with this crazy month!

Ok, I really should study now.
Oh - ButterBean is crying, guess I'll study later ;)
This is why he's crying - he got his latest round of shots today, poor baby! He smiled so sweetly at the nurse before she stuck him. Sweet little ButterBean. He's starting to get a little feverish and it's time for more Tylenol.