Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Nurse-A-No-Go

We've had a crazy week here in the Schwartz household. We've been getting ready for Stephen's first road trip and trying to get everything set and coordinated for nursing care for Stephen. I've started working one day a week doing some consulting and thought I finally had everything set and ready to go this morning with the nurse, but when 8am rolled around, there was no nurse in sight.

I spent weeks trying to get Stephen nursing when he first came home from the NICU, eventually gave up, then got offered this job, so fought again to get him nursing and thought it was all taken care of and then poof! Back to the drawing board. I even spent over two hours with the woman yesterday afternoon training her and showing her all of Stephen's medications and things. And another hour with the nursing agency doing paperwork. The full story is yesterday I did get NOT get the warm and fuzzies with this woman. She had a little bit of an attitude with me and was not warm and friendly, but she seemed to be knowledgeable and was really good with Stephen. And more importantly, he seemed to like her. So I figured I would give her the benefit of the doubt and try today out. But just before 8am, I got a phone call from her that she was stuck in traffic on the Beltway and didn't know how long it would take to get here.

Seeing as how I only work one day a week, Bill told me to go and he would wait for her. But by 9:30am, Bill needed to go to work too (especially considering his Blackberry bit the dust). The nurse was lost, didn't know where she was, couldn't figure out how to get her GPS to get her here and when Bill called her to try to help, she snapped at him and that was it. So little Stephen went to work with Bill, my Mom jumped in the car and drove down from PA (she was headed down here tonight anyway to help me pack up for our trip), and I left work a few hours later to pick up Stephen and meet my Mom at our house so she could watch him while I worked from home. What a total cluster!!!!! And on top of that, I had dropped Mabel off at doggie daycare in the morning and paid for a full day because the nurse didn't feel comfortable with the dog. And poor Mabel...she really gets the short end of the stick because she HATES doggie daycare. It's like torture day care to her. I tell ya', I think we seriously have the worst luck in the world!!!

So even before day #1 began, the nurse has been fired and we're seeking a replacement. I can totally understand and sympathize with her on the traffic thing. That happens and you can't do much about it. But the attitude thing and not even apologizing for being over 2 hours late on your first day....not cool. But maybe it's for the better. I'm hopefull that they'll find someone who is a little more warm and courteous. It's hard enough leaving your child alone with a stranger, but when you don't feel 100% comfortable, it's not good.

But on the flip side, I'm super happy to be back at work! This will be my third week back. Bill and his Mom tag-teamed with Stephen the two weeks prior and did an awesome job! Although maybe one day I'll share the story of how Stephen ended up in the ER on Mommy's first day back at work :)

1 comment:

  1. Hi Lindsey,
    Sorry to hear that you had some trouble with the nurse. Take it as a blessing---you didn't feel comfortable with her and probably would have worried about Stephen being in her care. Your "mother's instinct" has been right on target since Stephen was born and you were probably right about this nurse. Don't fret--you will find someone who will fit the job perfectly. I will be checking with your Mom this evening to see if Stephen's "roadie" is still on. We are going to try to get out to meet him so we are keeping our fingers crossed that all will go as planned.

    Love to all,
    Aunt LuAnn

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