Here I am again…studying. I feel like that is all I do these days. I chose to go to nursing school because I am 33 years old and I didn’t think I had the energy for medical school. What was I thinking? I had no idea nursing school would require so much work. This said from a non-traditional student who is pursuing her 3rd college degree. I already have a Bachelors & Masters degree, therefore I thought this nursing school thing wouldn’t be so hard. Just another degree to add to my plethora of education. Not so. Here I sit studying for my 1st Maternity exam. I’m trying to memorize the normal Fetal Heart Rate, the newborn respiration rate, the first period of reactivity which makes breastfeeding effective during the first 30 minutes, how to determine contraction patterns and heart rate variability, and on & on. You know when you sit in a class and ask “Will I really ever use this information?”, well, everything we learn in nursing school is something that one day we may need to know for a life or death decision. That is a lot of pressure. I can’t just “get through the exam”, I have to internalize this information into my brain somehow. The problem is, everyday I learn so much more I feel like my brain is overloaded. As a good Anatomy & Physiology student, I know biologically my brain can’t get overloaded, but it sure feels that way at times.
What I’m realizing in this process of school work + clinicals is that they definitely compliment each other. There is no way I could incorporate everything I need to know for tests, the NCLEX, & my future career if I was just memorizing material. My first day on the maternity rotation, I saw a vaginal birth. That was cool until the attending nurse asked me to suction the baby (<1 minute after birth) and get her vitals. Just a little scary. I’d never gotten a pulse on anyone less than 40 years old. I learned pretty quickly though and the next week when we talked about taking vital signs on newborns, I made sure to take good notes. Nursing school is like no other I’ve been to; there’s stress, pressure, studying, memorizing, more memorizing and then there’s the implementation. Our success at any of the previous has the potential effect on a future patient’s health…that’s why I’m always studying. 
