Getting closer to getting the babysitting days & people worked out. A little less nervous now thankfully. Also thankful that clinicals don't start til Sept 12th. Class starts Aug 31st.

Austin is regressing a bit in the sleep department lately. We've been trying to get him to not nap on me. Its a work in progress. Also having to do a formula bottle the last 2 (or maybe 3?) nights. Makes me sad. :( I hope its just a growth spurt...I don't want to give up breastfeeding. He is still a very happy boy most of the time. :)

Andy may be applying for a new position within the credit union.. he's still a bit undecided. It would be more money but its at a further branch.

Prayers for peace and wisdom would be much appreciated.

So, of course after I blog about Austin sleeping til closer to 8am he starts waking up between 6:45-7am consistently since then. grr! Oh well. He wakes up happy so that's all that matters!! :) This is the one thing that is consistent with babies...as soon as you think you know their schedule ...it changes! Gotta just roll with it.

I was able to get all my assessments done at Methodist yesterday (the NNP had to change my day from Tues to Wed)!! Yay for them having 34 babies to choose from!! I was there from 8am-2pm so it wasn't bad at all...and my lunch was free (not to tasty pizza but that's ok). That hospital itself is ginormous...used to be the 10th largest hospital in the US believe it or not but its not as big as it used to be due to some construction improvements and the fact that most adult rooms are single only (versus double). The NNP that I was with has been there for 38 years....talk about some experience with the neonate population!! :) They have 3 NNP's and I spoke with one of the neos that was there yesterday and he said he'd like to hire more and would like to start going through the possibility of having night coverage (more sleep for the neos..but more job opps for NNP's). So maybe that'll be a potential job location after I graduate...we'll see.

Sorry so long! Still VERY anxious and nervous about how the whole clinical and class issue is going to be resolved as far as who will be watching Austin and on what days, etc. I tear up every time I think about how much I'm going to be away from him for Fall and Spring semesters. Just going to have to have a countdown as soon as each semester starts. :( Just have to tell myself that 1)It'll be worth it in the end and 2) in the fall semester I will be with him more days then I'm away from him.

Happy 7 months to Austin!! :)

He is growing up to fast! So blessed to be spending time at home with him everyday... very much enjoying it while I can. Austin has been moving his bedtime up a lil bit on his own...he is now going to sleep closer to 8:30pm instead of 9 most nights. He also sleeps closer to 8am now instead of 7. Going to feel bad when I have to wake him up earlier on class/clinical days next month. :(

No teeth yet but he still chews on anything...especially likes his cold teethers and anything rubbery (like the bath toy type toys).

Loves the zoo, we've been 3 times so far and he really likes to "talk" to the giraffes! :)

Sits on his own for longer periods of time. Scoots backwards now when he's on his belly. :) Rolls over to his belly while sleeping now which makes mommy nervous!

Finally got news of where I can do my assessments (with 3 weeks left of class). I'll be going to Methodist Hospital in Indy. Wanted to go to Ball Memorial but the NNP wasn't returning my professors calls so she thinks she's on vacation. Luckily these 10 assessments shouldn't be a big deal at all to get done and if there isn't enough variety when I go on Tuesday then I'll go back on one of the weekend days so that Mom won't have to take another day off. Glad my professor has been understanding about all the hospital drama here in Fort Wayne. Still makes me mad but I've gotta move past it. Not totally sure where clinicals will be for fall/spring.

Still trying to work out babysitters for fall semester and working on my anxiety about it all. God has a plan.

Some good news and some bad news to report.

Austin's eye doctor appt went well yesterday. The doctor does not think he needs surgery, glasses or patching at this time. He said if we notice his eye turning in more than 50% of the time then we should come back sooner than our next appt, which is in January. He did some tracking exercises, checked his reflexes with the light, dilated his eyes and measured them. We were there for a long time but it's worth it since I didn't want to let this turn into a big problem. His eye didn't turn in at all while the doc was looking at him of course. It really doesn't happen all that often but better safe than sorry! He thinks his skin near his eyes just might be covering part of the sclera (white part). His eye measurements were normal for age so that's good too! :)

The other piece of good news we received deals with Andy's student loans. We/he got approved to put them in deferment for a while due to our financial hardship. Yay!! That'll help out since our savings account is getting low!

Now for the bad news....

Spoke with a lawyer earlier this week and he wanted me to try to talk to Lutheran Hospital on my own to see if I can get my file cleared without having to pay him for his legal assistant. Finally got an answer today from Lutheran and the lady stated that every person terminated will have a no rehire tag on their file for the whole network of hospitals. She said that by law they couldnt tell me not to apply for positions ...so even though I wasted my time since no one in the network could hire me they were following policy. Frustrating!! Wish that Parkview Hospital would take a chance on a terminated person or at least interview me to hear why I was terminated!!! I'll be calling the lawyer back to update him and see if theres anything else that can be done and whether or not he thinks suing for lost wages is a viable option.

Sorry so long!

Still waiting to hear back from my professor about clinicals. She is supposed to be working on placements for us (5 girls total) this week and next week.

Happy July blog readers! :)

This past week was stressssful for me. The short story of the drama is that I will not be able to do my spring semester clinicals in Fort Wayne (was going to split time btw Dupont and Lutheran). The compliance officer at Dupont made the decision & said me being terminated was to big of a risk for me to come in as a student. :( Very upset!!! I even faxed him paperwork from the judge saying I didn't violate HIPAA. Parkview is not an option since they don't have a NNP to be my preceptor.


This also a big reaon why I can't obtain a RN position lately...there is a no-hire tag on my file for the Lutheran network of hospitals (thats a lot of hospitals) and my termination does not appeal to other potential employers it seems to appear. I was not made aware of this tag on my file until about 2 weeks ago.
So it looks like I will be commuting both semesters now. This is actually going to be quite difficult. Clinicals in the fall are 2 days a week with a 6 hour class every other Wednesday and then Spring semester is 3 days a week with class every other Wednesday. Plus all the driving, studying, ...and taking care of Austin! So even if I had a job it would have to be a weekends only type job!

Ball Memorial in Muncie is looking to be a good option for Spring semester since it'll be a little closer during the worst of the weather. I'll know within a couple weeks where I'll be going for both semesters.

Just pray for me. I'm having a lot of anxiety about how I'm going to handle all the driving and time away from Austin. Also running into a little trouble finding enough people/the right people to watch Austin during all this since my mom cannot take 2-3 days a week off in the fall and then 3-4 days a week in the spring!