A Cold Day

It's rather cold outside. Twenty degrees Fahrenheit, to be exact. I saw on the news that Russia is having one of it's coldest winters on record, though. It is about 20 below there, and isn't expected to get any warmer for about a month. Morocco is about the same latitude as parts of Texas and Mexico. Hopefully we don't see too many twenty degree nights. It does snow in the mountains, however. I'm reading that I need to take warm layers. I'm getting excited. I'm getting really sad to leave my job, I really have grown a lot in the last two years there. I had a patient the other night that had a lot of complex health problems, and also happened to be pregnant and having issues with that. It was a little scary getting report because I hadn't ever taken care of a patient with all the lines and IV fluids that she had. Not since school, and I didn't know anything about it then. I made it through the shift, and I felt good because I was scared and I took on the challenge. It made me a better nurse. There was also a little bit of office politics going on that night that I was a part of, but I feel like I did the right thing. I did the professional thing, and the right thing, and it was the same thing. I think there were ruffled feathers, but I still feel like the outcome was good. The patients got good care, and I stuck up for the right thing. I'm going to miss the feeling of accomplishment I get every shift. I'm going to miss the sight of newly born babies nursing for the first time. I'm going to miss the excitement in the voices of the first time moms who hear that, yes, this IS the real thing. Labor has arrived, and it's time to have that baby. I'm going to miss the kind words from the mom's who've done this a time or two, but still feel like this one was really special because they had a great nurse. I'm going to miss the intensity of the unmedicated ones. I'm going to miss the crazy nights where we are all running around like chickens with our heads cut off. I'm going to miss talking to the students. I'm going to miss the doctors. I'm sure they won't miss me calling them at three am. I'm going to miss the adrenaline rush of a crash c-section. I will even miss the tense moments waiting to see if the babies will respond to the resuscitation when they come out limp and blue. I will miss the four am games of Who, What, Where, Why. Twisty-Cone Fantasy.... hee hee.... I suppose I'm just going to have to find new friends to play games with. There will be other rushes of adrenaline. There will be other people to help. There will be other students to teach. Time to go start studying my Arabic.