Cheers to the inclement weather which throws a snowball into your normal routine - as if being off school Friday wasn't already enough, I decided to, instead of be productive, play video games all day.
To be honest, bad weather makes me lazy - I didn't go to the gym on Friday, I didn't feel like going to work Saturday, and I barely have enough motivation to be sitting here typing up this blog. All I feel like doing right now is blowing my workout from earlier today by eating tortilla chips and brownies and playing more games. But no, Elizabeth this week is going to be a big week, and I need to get prepared. In addition to beginning my clinical rotation this week, I have my first exam, lots of paper work {which accompany clinical}, and a Mass Casualty Event.
This week flew by, and this month is almost over - the first month of 2016 is almost over. Time has a way of sprinting - and it sprints are faster than sometimes I can handle. I guess when I get so busy, I forget to stop and take a morning where I can peacefully drink my coffee and meditate in God's Word. I forget to take a deep breath and most nights I spend most of my REM sleep subconsciously thinking about what I need to do when I get up. I spend my commutes getting mad when the light turns red, losing two minutes of my time to dedicate to my studies. Even when I am running outside or in the gym, my brain is telling my legs to speed up, but my legs are crying out for mercy, "please oh please, not so fast!" I guess I need to learn and to train my body to take time to enjoy the run; the pace can still be that of a run, but one with more time to do the things that make life more enjoyable - like spending a half an hour in the morning with the Lord and coffee, or jamming out to Taylor Swift while letting boys in the car next to you mock you during the drive home, or slowing down the pace during an outside run to focus less on my {sometimes} tight shins and more on the beauty with which God has blessed me.
Nursing School semester three, week two was a success, although there were moments that didn't always seem like a success. Tuesday was filled with Pathophysiology's general genetics lecture and more Maternal-Child knowledge which continues to fascinate me. It has only been two weeks, but constantly talking about the reproductive system has slightly desensitized us nursing students in the sense that our lunch conversations and my dinner conversations at home are nothing less than interesting. Wednesday was spent getting to know my clinical home a little better - of course, I haven't driven somewhere new without getting some type of 'lost' - and you better believe I made it over halfway to my destination without turning on my GPS. . . and then when I started getting 'directional anxiety' and diagnosed my self SOL, I grabbed my GPS and plugged her in to allow her to do her magic. No worries, I was on time! Thursday began with a drive to Pembroke for the beloved nursing student task of 'check-offs' where the nursing student meets with the clinical professor one-on-one in the Clinical Learning Center to perform a skill while the professor checks off the ckeck-off sheet to make sure the student has completed it correctly; hence the name 'check-offs.' During my three our break between my check-off time and my afternoon Maternal-Child class, I decided to go on a run in the gym since it was a tad too chilly outside for me. That run had me feeling good the rest of the day; thank you, endorphins!
To be honest, bad weather makes me lazy - I didn't go to the gym on Friday, I didn't feel like going to work Saturday, and I barely have enough motivation to be sitting here typing up this blog. All I feel like doing right now is blowing my workout from earlier today by eating tortilla chips and brownies and playing more games. But no, Elizabeth this week is going to be a big week, and I need to get prepared. In addition to beginning my clinical rotation this week, I have my first exam, lots of paper work {which accompany clinical}, and a Mass Casualty Event.
This week flew by, and this month is almost over - the first month of 2016 is almost over. Time has a way of sprinting - and it sprints are faster than sometimes I can handle. I guess when I get so busy, I forget to stop and take a morning where I can peacefully drink my coffee and meditate in God's Word. I forget to take a deep breath and most nights I spend most of my REM sleep subconsciously thinking about what I need to do when I get up. I spend my commutes getting mad when the light turns red, losing two minutes of my time to dedicate to my studies. Even when I am running outside or in the gym, my brain is telling my legs to speed up, but my legs are crying out for mercy, "please oh please, not so fast!" I guess I need to learn and to train my body to take time to enjoy the run; the pace can still be that of a run, but one with more time to do the things that make life more enjoyable - like spending a half an hour in the morning with the Lord and coffee, or jamming out to Taylor Swift while letting boys in the car next to you mock you during the drive home, or slowing down the pace during an outside run to focus less on my {sometimes} tight shins and more on the beauty with which God has blessed me.
Nursing School semester three, week two was a success, although there were moments that didn't always seem like a success. Tuesday was filled with Pathophysiology's general genetics lecture and more Maternal-Child knowledge which continues to fascinate me. It has only been two weeks, but constantly talking about the reproductive system has slightly desensitized us nursing students in the sense that our lunch conversations and my dinner conversations at home are nothing less than interesting. Wednesday was spent getting to know my clinical home a little better - of course, I haven't driven somewhere new without getting some type of 'lost' - and you better believe I made it over halfway to my destination without turning on my GPS. . . and then when I started getting 'directional anxiety' and diagnosed my self SOL, I grabbed my GPS and plugged her in to allow her to do her magic. No worries, I was on time! Thursday began with a drive to Pembroke for the beloved nursing student task of 'check-offs' where the nursing student meets with the clinical professor one-on-one in the Clinical Learning Center to perform a skill while the professor checks off the ckeck-off sheet to make sure the student has completed it correctly; hence the name 'check-offs.' During my three our break between my check-off time and my afternoon Maternal-Child class, I decided to go on a run in the gym since it was a tad too chilly outside for me. That run had me feeling good the rest of the day; thank you, endorphins!
Thursday's Maternal-Child lecture was even more interesting than Tuesday's! Fertilization and conception were discussed, along with the development of the fetus and the changes through which the mother's body goes. The circulatory system is the first system to develop in the fetus, followed by the respiratory; the heart is fully developed and functioning by the eighth week and sex differentiation can be observed by the seventh seek. Fun Fact: the fetus swims around and drinks the amniotic fluid, which contains much of the fetus's urine. . how does is the urine filtered you may ask? Well first of all, everything in the uterus should be sterile, and second of all, the placenta is the way in which toxins and waste are excreted from the baby. Also interesting, the fetus does not breathe while in the uterus, the circulatory system 'breathes' for the baby while the lungs are being developed by allowing the oxygenated blood from the placenta to bypass the pulmonary circulation through an opening in the heart.
Pretty cool, right? That's only the beginning. . .
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Learning a little more about Maternal-child nursing with me!
This week is fertilization - it fills me with awe to know that out of some three million different genetic combinations I could have been, I am the one I am. And how conception plays out at a cellular level - it strikes me as such a magnificent moment that there can only be one explanation.
Isaiah 64:8 Yet you, Lord, are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand.
This week is fertilization - it fills me with awe to know that out of some three million different genetic combinations I could have been, I am the one I am. And how conception plays out at a cellular level - it strikes me as such a magnificent moment that there can only be one explanation.
Isaiah 64:8 Yet you, Lord, are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand.