Your Mom Goes to College

BUT NOT FOR MUCH LONGER!

Oh my goodness. I am so excited everyone! SO EXCITED! By the time I leave this program I will have spent almost three years getting this degree.

I graduate in Mid-August of 2012. That means I have one more semester, and I will be eligible to sit for the RN boards (aka NCLEX). This transition scares me a bit. I won't lie. Being a student has sort of become my identity. There is a seasonality to the whole experience. Every semester starts and it's exciting! And by the end of it....you're just ready to move on to the next one and get this one over with. With nursing school (at least with mine) it goes straight through the summer without skipping a beat. Three straight years.

What WILL I do with myself?

Well, actually....

Yeah. I'm probably going straight back in. I know that's crazy talk. I had a goal when I started this crazy adventure, and that was to my Advanced Registered Nurse Practitioner, or ARNP. ORIGINALLY I wanted to get my Certified Nurse Midwifery, or CNM. But, I do believe I would prefer to get my Family Nurse Practitioner, or FNP. This would allow me to see a wide range of clients in a more general way. I've always loved working with babies and women. Big fan. So who knows. Maybe I'll even get my Women's Health, and my Pediatric Nurse Practitioner. I DO know that I plan on doing this all at Frontier Nursing University.

I'm obviously still sorta figuring the details out.

But the important part of this message is this - I will be able to take care of myself and the Redheaded Wonder. By myself. It won't be a glamorous lifestyle, but I don't need glamour. I just want comfortable. Happy. Self-sufficient. Independent.

Honestly, I love being a nurse. It's a great job for me, I think. I love the critical thinking, and the teaching, and the skills, and customizing care plans for patients individual needs. My original motivation was essentially to extend my doula role into a larger childbirth specific role - but I have discovered that the entire field (while there are still floors I don't like) happens to be something that I think I am pretty good at. It's nice to feel that way.

So here goes fifth semester. I've got my eye on you. And I'm taking you DOWN.