Doctor on the Side

I just started my NICU (neonatal intensive care unit) rotation.  I had been dreading it all year and it’s finally here.  And it’s as scary and horribly stressful as I expected.  The babies are tiny and on ventilators and in incubators and their skin is weirdly transparent and they all scare me.  And they randomly stop breathing (apneic/bradycardic events, or “spells”).  And I’m supposed to know how to fix them, I think.  That sort of stuff.  My first day went something like this:

Me:  “…Baby A’s ventilator settings are currently at 16 over 6 with a pressure support of 8 and a rate of 25, with overnight FiO2′s ranging from 21-26%, and she had oxygen saturations between 88-94%.”  

Attending:  “Baby A is actually a boy.  But that’s ok.  Did he have any spells overnight?”

Me (frantically looking through my loads chicken-scratch notes): “Ummmmm…………….. No!”

Attending (skeptical): “Let’s review his flowsheet.  Spells.  One, two, three, four, five………. elevent total spells.  He stopped breathing eleven times overnight.”

Me (sweating): “Oh yeah.”

At the end of the day everyone was like, “Oh my gosh, you did such a fantastic job today!”  I didn’t believe any of them.

I want to d0 medical genetics!  Ventilator settings and complicated hydration orders could not be farther from what I plan to do with my life.  But alas, they are the necessary evils of becoming a real doctor (because interns really are just fake doctors… don’t tell the patients).  And in a month, I’ll be done with it.  But every day when I come home, I am greeted by the most wonderful warm-fuzzy house and pets (and sometimes, when our schedules coincide, an equally half-dead Jeffrey).  And our house is all Holiday-ready, which is the best way to come home!

This year, Jeffrey’s parents came up for a visit in early November and helped us decorate, which made it extra special.  Also extra special:  I have December 23-26 off (YAY!!!), and my parents, brothers, and grandma are flying up to spend the holiday with Jeffrey and I.  Sweeeeeeet!!!!

So here’s what greets me at night after 12+ hours of scary babies…

For the first time in my life, I had a mantle to decorate!

Then there’s the tree.  The beautiful beautiful tree!  One of my fellow interns told me she doesn’t Christmas-decorate because it’s too much work.  TOO MUCH WORK?!!!  I don’t get it.

I tend to have a less-is-more approach for most things… except my Christmas tree.  I like TONS of mismatched ornaments with special meanings.  I collect them from here and there, and love shopping the post-Christmas 75% off ornament sale at Anthropologie.

Did you know that I put up the Christmas decor as soon as Halloween is over?  Waiting until after Thanksgiving gives you like, a measly month of holiday cheer!  And I do not like to waste potential holiday cheer time.

And let us not forget the nativity scene!  My grandma found this miniature set at a garage sale in Minnesota.  It was too cute, so I could not resist asking her if I could keep it.

If you forget that this is Jesus’ 2011th birthday, you might get a lump of coal from Santa Clause.  It happened to my youngest brother once, though for different reasons…

Happy Holidays, everyone!!!

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