Last Clinical Done (And I'm Still Standing)

So I just finished my last clinical rotation at Rex Hospital. Six months pregnant, exhausted, and officially DONE with the hands-on portion of nursing school.

Last Clinical Done (And I’m Still Standing)

My professors keep telling me they’re impressed, which I’m choosing to take as ‘wow, you didn’t pass out or throw up on anyone’ rather than ‘wow, we had such low expectations.’ Either way, I’ll take it.

My classmates have been absolute angels - bringing me crackers when I look green, letting me sit during the long procedures, and pretending not to notice when I fall asleep in the hospital library during lunch breaks.

The congratulations card from my professors

Yesterday I woke up face-down on my pathophysiology textbook with drool on page 247. Glamorous stuff. But you know what? I’m growing a human AND getting a degree, and if anyone tells me I can’t do both, I will SIT on them. I am large enough now to make this a legitimate threat.

Organizing my clinical notes one last time

The weird thing is, I actually love working with the pediatric patients. Even when I’m waddling around like a penguin and can barely see my own feet, the kids just light up. Maybe it’s because I’m at their eye level now when I sit down, or maybe they can sense that I’m going to be a mom soon. Either way, it feels right.

Official clinical completion paperwork

Now I just have to survive finals week in May, graduate with this beach ball under my scrubs, and figure out how to be a nurse AND a mom at the same time. No pressure.