Pounding Pavement, Papers, and Pre-school

This morning I am back on a day schedule for the rest of the summer. Thank goodness. My time in OB confirmed that NICU is the place for me. Don't get me wrong, I loved being able to provide laboring support for the mom's and teaching how to breastfeed, but there is a lot of sitting around waiting. I would go batty. I also got to witness "active management" of labor, i.e. give everyone pitocin and sign them up for a c-section if they don't progress at the "1 cm an hour" rule. It was horrible. I'm not a home birth person; I like having the security of MDs on hand should something go wrong, the option for some pain management, and a day or two or recovery. But labor doesn't need to be actively managed, just periodically monitored while the mom is actively supported. And don't freak out over one late decel in 3 hours, the baby recovered, the baby is fine, let the mom labor. If I landed a job on the OB floor, I would be hitting my head against a brick wall daily. Can't do it.

That was a huge aside related nothing to the title of the blog. Back to topic. This morning I dropped the girls off at school and headed to walk my usual circuit around some neighborhood lakes. Felt inspired by a friend to run it, instead. Heck, she's running 5ks, the least I can do is try to pick up the pace. It felt AMAZING!!! Ran the whole thing only to discover my "3 mile walk" is likely only 2 miles. I ran the loop in about 20 minutes and I know I don't still run a 7 minute mile in VA humidity with lots of hills. I just feel accomplished that I challenged my mind and my body.

Speaking of challenging my mind, I have to write 3 papers in the next two days. The challenge is surviving the torture that is writing papers. The topics aren't difficult and none require much research, I just loathe writing papers. I do not get a good educational return for my investment. My classmates feel like they are getting a break this summer, I feel overwhelmed. Just shows that while the experience is the same, the interpretation can be completely different.

The princess graduates from pre-school tonight. Complete with red caps and gowns, musical numbers and snacks. Pictures to come.