I don't usually post about myself, but I have some ideas/concerns/thoughts to share about my job situation; and it is easier to share them here than to call or email all of my friends and family.
Currently I am in orientation for labor and delivery, either my 3rd or 4th week, I have lost count. Anyway, after my 2nd week I was having severe doubts about labor because I worked 3 night shifts, and had a migraine every night, and felt like crap. So I didn't know if it was the night shift that caused it, or the work I was doing. But now, the last 5 shifts I worked were day shifts, and I had great experiences and felt fine. So not sure what that was all about. But I am still unsure if labor is going to be my thing. I feel I am catching on to many things, but at the same time I feel like I rely on my preceptor too much at times. Granted, I have many more weeks of orientation to go, and haven't even touched on the 'sick' pregnant women (mag sulfate/diabetics etc) or the C-Sections, and evals and what not, but I just don't know that this area is my cup of tea.
In addition, I am not super happy about my schedule after orientation is done. It seems as though I have little control over it compared to what I was used to at St. Joe's (due in part to my good friend Cora). They have given me a 'footprint' schedule of what I should usually be scheduled, but that isn't always the case apparently. So, I assumed that being hired for a 12 hour position, I would always work 12 hour shifts, but they are trying to give me a week of 3 - 8 hour PM shifts, which is very inconvenient for daycare and our family (they say they have to staff to accomodate the other 8/12 hour employees; so then perhaps they should hire more 8 hour people to match their needs). Also, being hired as a 12 hour 0.6 FTE, I assumed I would be scheduled 2 shifts a week, but they are trying to give me 1 shift one week and 3 the next. Again, not a huge deal, but they screw with your schedule a lot it sounds like. Oh, and there is potential to have to work at the affiliated hospital if their census requires more staff, which not many people seem to be a fan of, which means I am sure I won't be a fan of it either.
That being said...
Sunday night I decided to go out and look at the hospital websites in the area with NICU's to see if there were any postings. And by golly, Children's Hospital - Fox Valley (located in ThedaClark, which is in Neenah) had a 0.6 FTE position available in their NICU. So I went ahead and applied. The only down fall of this position right off the bat is it is every other weekend, and I am used to every third weekend. The posting said that it may take 2-3 weeks to hear anything after applying, and I got a phone call yesterday already. But I was working yesterday and wasn't able to get back to them until today, had a mini HR interview over the phone and now have an interview next Wednesday with the Supervisor of the unit. So we will see what happens, I have mixed feelings on leaving AMC so quickly, and am concerned if I do get a job offer and take it, that I might not love it there either. I like the people I work with now, but that isn't always enough to make you like your job. So we will see.
Oh, and I have only been working at AMC since the end of March, and I already got a raise. So maybe it isn't so bad?
So that is my current situation. Sorry some of this post might not make sense to my non-nursing friends and family, but I think it is easy enough to get the idea of what it going through my head.
Saturday night we went out for dinner! Great Grandma Elaine and Great Grandpa Ron joined us. I think they all finally realized why we don't go out for nice dinners. Let's just say, we spent more time chasing Rowan than we would like to when out for dinner. But overall she did okay!
Other things we squeezed into our visit: 4 Wheeler ride, Hula Hooping (Grandma Pam bought Rowan one while we were shopping), and lots of puzzles! Rowan was the center of attention above while showing off her puzzle skills! Super cute!
