Yesterday was my first shift as a pediatric nurse. The contractor I work for mainly does home health, however - they staff the nurses for our county Elementary, Middle, and Highschools. I got hired to be an Elementary school nurse. Which I am ecstatic for. While I've been waiting for my official school assignment, I decided to pick up a pediatric home health case in the meantime.

I figured what the heck? Maybe I'll like it and on the plus side, earn money while doing it. I did a quick 4 hour training and then picked up my first solo shift. It didn't seem too bad during training man, was I wrong.

It wasn't my patient or anything of that nature that sucked. It was the family! I thought being outside of a hospital setting the family wouldn't really be an issue, that wasn't the case. I absolutely adored my patient. I just felt like a glorified servant to the family. That's not what I went to nursing school for and that's definitely not what I signed up for either.

The worst part was I was stuck there for 12 hours! I am no stranger to 12's. In fact, I used to work 12-14 hours in Urgent Care without a problem. Yet yesterday felt like 12 hours of pure torture. I even threw out my back somehow at some point during the day. Being pregnant and having your back all out of wack is literally the worst.

Luckily when I finally got off of my shift, Matt called me right away to chit chat and try to make my horrible day better. And I can't forget my momma, who ordered me pizza to pick up on my way home. Even my favorite cheese and onion pizza all for myself! Gotta love a strong support system!

Needless to say I don't think I will be picking up any more home health cases for now. I love being a nurse and I love what I do, but I've realized that just wasn't the right fit for me. My aunt is a home health health nurse and has been for a while. I know she loves it and she's great at it too. But just because it works for one person doesn't mean it will for another. I'm just glad I tried it. I'll always try something at least once to see if I like it. That goes for food too LOL.

Moral of the story, try something - at least once. If you don't like it, don't do it. Always do what makes you happy because at the end of the day you are the one who controls your own happiness.