baby baby baby time.

Not mine, of course! (phew) And really, it was more like the severe lack of babies in my OB rotation.

Evidentially expectant mothers in Omaha decided not to have their babies on Tuesday mornings, because I had the chance to see ZERO labors. Yeah, ZERO, zilch, nada. What luck, right?

So that was a little disappointing, but what can you do?

Now, if I must be honest my whole OB rotation wasn't a bust. My first day in OB was pretty exciting. I got to give a not even one hour old baby her newborn immunizations! So that was really cool, to be a part of the whole newborn admission process. And I got to give a newborn bath, which was probably the highlight of my whole rotation. I got to give a TRUE newborn her very first bath! Now, how many people can say they've done that? That was really, really cool.

But after that excitement of the first day, it kind of all went downhill from there. The second day in OB there was not a single mother in labor, in fact there was only ONE baby on the whole floor! But no worries, we took full advantage of the down time and spent all morning learning/working on discharge teaching for a new family, and then I was able to be involved in one mom/baby's discharge teaching. And let me tell you-beside the whole fact that the parents have a brand new baby on their hands, we then go and overload them with all of the discharge information. WHOA. It's a really good thing that everything we tell/teach them is written down, because if I was in the parent's place I wouldn't remember a single word anyone told me. I can't even begin to imagine how overwhelming the whole process of having a baby can be, but for me I thought it was like the coolest thing ever. I took in everything in that I could, soaking in all up like a sponge.

I am just amazed by the fact that the human body can produce another human being. I mean, that is just out of this world. I think that it's my fascination with that whole concept that made me so excited for my OB rotation. And I know that I'll be just as excited for my 2nd OB rotation next semester, because the whole process is just so mind-blowing. And that's why even though I did not get the chance to see a labor this was still my best and most favorite rotation thus far.

ending of an era.

Well, kind of. But today was kind of an epic day for me. (with nothing nursing related!)

For the past year I've been an officer in my sorority (Kappa Kappa Gamma) and today was the day that I passed off all my my officer-ish belongings to the my incoming officer.. Now, I'm still the current House chairman until late January when we transition officers, but really I'm pretty much done.

And this is a little depressing. It seems like it was just last month I was the new officer, with pretty much no knowledge of what I was getting myself into. And now, today, I was the experienced veteran, suddenly I am the knowledgeable one, suddenly I am the grown up, suddenly I am done-and it's my time to pass along my knowledge.

And I'm not quite sure what to think. I wanted to become an officer because I wanted to feel like I had a voice in my chapter, like I could change things. I wanted to make a difference. And I got exactly that, and so much more. I remember being shocked when I got the call that I had been nominated for my position, I was actually amazed that the nominating committee had actually thought to even consider me. I was so excited when I got elected- excitement which carried itself though my whole term.

I really did enjoy my officer position. I was House chairman, and because our chapter doesn't have a house I really didn't have to do much- but I was still an officer. I had my fair share of work to do, but all in all it was nothing to stressful. I found that however stress out I was with school, Council was my built in break time, my little stress reliever. As a whole I love going to chapter and council, because it's a time when I get to forget about school and hang out with all of my friends that I haven't seen all week. It was really my time to relax, if even for a little bit. Also, being in nursing this year, I haven't really had much of a life outside of schoolwork- so council and chapter was my time to 'socialize with the outside world' in short.

Now, next semester I will still religiously attend chapter all all the outside events, but I won't have council. And I'm really going to miss it. I met one of my best friends this year through council, and it's going to be weird to not see her every monday in council. I know our friendship won't suffer because I won't be there, but it's going to be different.

I guess what I'm trying to get at is that I'm going to miss it. It's always hard to give something up that you've worked so hard on- but that's also part of growing up, and moving on. I have to trust that things will still run smoothly without me, and that I taught my incoming officer enough so that she doesn't feel like I fed her to the sharks. I have to trust that next semester I'll still be just as involved in Kappa, just in a different way.

So, as always, life pushes on, we move forward, making a difference little by little.

FYI- this isn't a picture of my sorority house, it's the Kappa house at Northwestern University. But because my chapter doesn't have a house I thought it was only fitting to post another Kappa house!

Also, the top picture is from this past year's bid day (2008) and we're in the shirts that I pretty much designed!