Yesterday, I finally picked up volunteering in the NICU again. I had taken time off before Jon left so that I could spend more time with him, then Christmast rolled around, and then I brought home with me a mild virus--I did not want to share this with those fragile babies! I had to change my shift from Friday evenings 5-9 to Saturdays because Sammy relies on just me now to rescue him from his crate. If I stayed on Fridays, he would be in there over 14 hours because I wouldn't be able to come home from work before my shift!

I love this job. Who wouldn't be happy cuddling a little baby for four hours straight? The whole time I was there, I cuddled two babies, and stayed for half an hour later. I could have stayed longer, but figured I should go home and eat dinner. I always feel bad leaving the nurses to all the crying, so I make sure I get the baby to sleep as best I can and then put him/her back in their cradle. I haven't failed yet, but what do they do when I'm gone? Sometimes, it's really hard to calm a baby down and no amount of cuddling, patting, or sucrose will get the little bugger to just be quiet. I feel like I'm not doing my job when the baby is wailing at the top of his lungs! But what can you do? I do my best! I'm seriously thinking about working here, should I get accepted into UA's accelerated BSN program. I applied kind of spur of the moment, figuring what the hell, Jon's gone and I'll be about done by the time he comes back home. Waiting for their decisions come March.....