12 hours

6:30am - leave for work
6:30pm - leave the hospital
Hours of work: 11
Hours on my feet: 10
7:00pm - arrive home
9:00pm - go to bed

11 hours is a very long time to be at work. Friday will be 12 hours.

Wild Weekend

My friend came out from CA to visit this past weekend. She's been thinking about applying to UA so it became my job to convince her that Tucson is a rockin' place to live. So maybe it's not rockin' but at least a fun place to live. She came the best possible weekend - weather wise. The monsoons finally managed to drop the temp down to a reasonable level and the humidity wasn't to bad. She got to witness a monsoon rain. I absolutely love those. We had a really big one on Friday. Driving home from work I had to go through these huge, intersection wide puddles - don't worry, I watched to make sure cars smaller than mine got through first. I wouldn't want to be fined under the Stupid Motorist Law (yes, it's really called that). Anyway, cars would go through these puddles and would put out wakes comparable to a medium size boat! It was so bizarre to watch! I wanted to get out and take a picture but not quite as much as I wanted to stay dry and get home to eat my dinner - 12 hour shifts are long. My car got me home reasonably unscathed except now when I use the remote to lock it the horn sounds like it has a cold. I'm hoping that will somehow, miraculously resolve on its own. The regular horn still works fine.

Speaking of 12 hour shifts, I finished my first week in OB. I got to observe a C-Section (Mom and Crissie - I am so sorry!) and a vaginal birth (Ash and Kelli also very sorry). It makes me think twice about having a baby but then I think of my adorable nieces and nephews and think, maybe I can just love them and not go through the whole birthing thing. Kudos to all you moms out there. Friday I spent in the nursery and with the lactation consultant. It was a really good experience for me and I got to hold babies so how could be not be a great day. I gave my first HepB vaccine to a brand new kiddo and learned to take vitals. Vitals are much harder on infants than on grown ups! I'm getting pretty decent at it though.

Saturday I showed my friend around Tucson - mostly taking her to all my favorite restaurants. We went to The Waffle House for breakfast - just because we thought it would be good since it's pretty dive-y looking. It was - once the waitress brought us the correct food. I think she just ordered whatever she wanted for us - of the four people she was serving she didn't get a single order right! My friend later told us that The Waffle House has been described as a gas station bathroom that serves waffles. Not to far off! After waffles we went shopping then saw "Hairspray" and I LOVED IT!!! I was hoping they would just start it over so I could see again. Ash - we might have to go see it when I come home. Fabulous, Fabulous!! Of course we were starving by the time it was over so we went to Beyond Bread - my favorite bakery/sandwich shop for a late lunch. By the time we were done it was almost time to meet up with friends for a birthday dinner at Chili's. We weren't very hungry but the company was awesome. Then we came home for a dance party. We didn't have a lot of people but we managed to get the cops there anyway. Good times. It felt so good to dance!

Some of the boys...

A couple of the girls (some of us were smart enough not to be photographed!)


Us in our stunner shades (my aren't quite big enough but the color makes up for it).

Sunday was church and then we had friends over for games. Today I had to go back to school and my friend went home but before she did we took a drive out past my house and into some beautiful country. It's not Yosemite but it's not bad. So I'm back to studying and longing for home. Only 9 more days!

Happy Birthday to Me!

Today was the best 30th birthday ever! It started out a bit wild - I somehow thought that if I needed to leave for work at 6 that I should get up at 6. My schedule is so wild it's amazing I manage to ever get the right location on time. So I got ready in 10 minutes this morning. Probably didn't look my best but that's okay. I got to work in labor & delivery today. Today was the day of pre-term laborers and teenage moms. We weren't optimistic about seeing anything. They tend to want to keep those pre-termers in. Happy surprise, at 7:30 I got to go in to observe a C-section. I'll admit, I almost cried. Later in the day I got to be in a vaginal delivery. I was there for all the pushing and I'm telling ya - this girl was amazing! She didn't have any drugs and hardly made a sound. There's not much I can say but wow! And maybe that I'm a bit scared to have a baby. Throughout the day I got tons of texts and messages! It was great to be so remembered! After work I met up with some friends at Claimjumper and had some amazing desserts. It was a great day and Theresa is planning a party for Saturday night. Should be super!!!

My first day in hospital scrubs - so much more comfortable than uniform scrubs!

Birthday Dessert with (L to R)

Theresa, Adriana, Elizabeth, ME, Kira, Karen, Jamie, Chris

Monsoon

The last couple of days the monsoons have come in. Late in the afternoon the clouds turn black, the thunder rumbles and lightning illuminates the sky and then it rains. I've never seen rain like this before. It literally comes down in sheets. Running from my car to the door - a whole 10 feet - soaked me through. So yesterday, knowing I had all day today to study, I cuddled up on the couch, opened the blinds and read Harry Potter and watched the storm. Absolutely delightful.


The view from my apt. before a storm.

No more LTC!

I officially completed my long-term rotation! YEAH!!!! Next week I start OB. I can't wait!!!

Welcome to my home...

I've had some requests for photos of my home and life here in Tucson. Here is the first instillation.

The front of my condo.

My living room. I do most of my studying on that couch.

My living room from the other direction.

My kitchen.

My room - at the end of my bed is the wind tunnel - a fan, a humidifier and a HEPA filter. Someday I'll be able to breathe!!