Hey there,Rebels! Welcome back to our Day In The Life column for the thirty-first edition! For the thirty– first edition we’ve interviewed three members of RPF from a Cadet, Major General, and a RPF Veteran! Now, let’s read about what each of their days typically looks like!
FallenRaven
A typical day for myself really depends on if I am working or not! If I have the day off, I usually wake up between 7-8am. I’ll cook breakfast at home and spend some time with my boyfriend before he heads out for the day. Then I usually try to fit a workout in at home, I love using my kettlebells or having a good dance session. After that, I take a shower and get through my self-care routine. I’ll usually meal prep if I know I have a streak of shifts coming up and combine it with lunch. I like to find a good tv show to watch when I’m eating. I love The Rookie, Fire and Sheriff Country, any and all Gordan Ramsey shows, Grey’s Anatomy and so on. After that, I usually make sure the laundry is done and the apartment is cleaned up. If I have any tasks I’ll try to complete them for the day. If there is an RPF event I’ll try to join in! After that, when it’s nice out, I try to explore or get a walk in. Then when my boyfriend gets home I’ll make dinner for us and we usually pick something out to watch together. Some nights I go to my parents house, and if that’s the case then you’ll catch me on VC!
If I have to work that night, my day is usually WAY more structured. I will wake up and make breakfast, but then I try my best to go back to sleep so that I am rested for my night shift. I will wake up around 3:30pm to attend the RPF event. I enjoy hanging out and playing before work so I can do something for myself! Then I make a meal so that I can eat before heading in. I’ll shower and throw my scrubs on, make sure my snacks and food are packed for the night, and then head to my car around 5:50pm. I like to play music that can hype me up before a long shift, or I’ll listen to an engaging podcast. When I get to work, my shift depends on the role I have and starts at 7:00pm. At my job, we wear many different hats. I work in a Level 4 NICU, which is the most critical you can work in, so it is always busy! If I am working at the bedside, I’ll typically have between 1-3 patients. If I have 1 baby, they are usually really premature or sicker and required . If I have 3, they are usually healthier and getting closer to going home. Sometimes I am the charge nurse, this is when I don’t have any patients but I’d call myself the chaos coordinator when I wear this hat. You are the nurse that is making assignments, coordinating with Labor and Delivery, working with outside hospitals, and ensuring that everything is going well overall. You oversee the whole unit and all of the nurses and patients, and respond to anything that might be happening. Sometimes I am the NICU Transport nurse. In this role, I also don’t have any patients but I am always on standby. I usually help out on the unit with anything someone might need. If there is a different hospital that cannot take care of a baby, or the baby needs a higher level of care, they would contact us and then I would get into an ambulance with a practitioner or sometimes a respiratory therapist. We would go pick that patient up and bring them back to us or to another hospital. I really enjoy that role and think it is cool to see other hospitals! Other times, I’ll be the delivery response nurse. Usually I would have 1-2 healthier patients in the NICU and if Labor and Delivery needs help then I would be the nurse to respond to that delivery. If the baby is premature or needs more help, then I would admit that baby to the NICU. In the same scenario I might sometimes be on the code team, in which I would respond to any emergencies that may show up! Another role is precepting! This is when I have a new nurse work with me and I help to train them one on one! I really enjoy teaching and find this to be a lot of fun. I also teach at a bunch of the new grad nurse classes! I teach on neuro and body cooling days, and I’m now also teaching our new hemodialysis class!
Depending on whichever of those MANY roles I have, my shift goes accordingly. I usually drink some coffee or tea at the start, sometimes I try to go a full night without any caffeine (LOL). My shift comes close to an end at 7:00am when the next nurse comes on and I get to give them a report on their patients. I usually leave around 7:30am. If I have to come back to work I’ll go home, make breakfast, sleep and repeat. If I don’t have to come back, I’ll get home and make breakfast, then aim for a nap and wake up around 1-2pm. Then I try to do something for myself and go on like a regular day, that way I don’t waste a whole day just recovering. And yeah, that’s kind of what life looks like for now! Sometimes I debate on going back to school to become a NICU APRN, but that will be for the future to tell! Hope you enjoyed! 🙂
Spanda
Hello, and welcome to a little sneak peak in my life! Since I am currently a college student/unemployed, I have a few classes going on but I still have lots of free time 🙂 When I do have classes, I tend to wake up around 8 am, grab a waffle if I have time, if not then I’ll just go straight to making lunch once I come back from my class. Once I eat I go to my room and relax on my bed until its event time. Later on the day I tend to relax and chat with friends. Then I’ll have some dinner and take a shower. Sometimes you can still see me past midnight talking with my friends on vc. There are some days that I don’t have classes, so for those days I tend to do my chores or homework. For the days that I dont have classes, instead of waking up at 8 am, I usually wake up at 11 am or 12pm. Also, because of me not having too many classes right now, I’m able to have a longer weekend so my parents always pick me up from my university thats a few hours away from home. I don’t have a car but my parents are always willing to pick/drop me off so I can be with them. I’m close with my family so I do enjoy going back home. It’s nice having a break from being on campus, helps me to relieve some stress and not think about uni. On the weekends, I tend to help my parents with our family businesses so I’ll be working with them. After my weekend is over, my parents will drive me back up to my uni so I can be there and ready to go for my classes.
Ohasa
A day in the life of Ohasa:
I work long hours 12 hours a day, 6 days a week. Sometimes on days, sometimes on nights. If I’m on days, I’ll wake up for just long enough to get ready for work, and then head there. If I’m on nights, I’ll sleep from about 9a – 3:30p and get up to either get some food or be productive before work. Once I’m there, I try to find a way to eat some breakfast (doesn’t always work), and some days, I’m running back and forth or caught up with a project for the whole day. Other days are super slow, and I get to work on personal projects, like planning my wedding, which is what I’m currently focused on (I’m so excited!).
When I’m not working, I work on my personal projects like coding apps (shoutout to contactman.org) – the best way to share contact information between iOS and android, completely free) either eat some food that I have available or get something (I would love to cook more, but I just can’t be bothered with that when I’m working 72 hour weeks). Then I try to relax with some Pokopia or Animal Crossing gameplay, ultimately end up craving something competitive like Go or Rocket League. Then I spend some time with my fiancee over FaceTime or discord (I miss her 😔) , make sure my alarm is set for the right time, and try to get at least 6 hours of sleep before I start all over again.
That wraps up this edition! Thank you for reading, and thank you to Fallenraven, Spanda and Ohasa for allowing themselves to be interviewed!
Until next time, Rebels!
