The past 5 years of my life have been spent having babies and going to nursing school. Love the having babies part....nursing school....not so much. Don't get me wrong, it was an awesome experience and I met some REALLY great people but I'm SO tired of studying, taking tests and being away from my family....and not getting paid for it!
I hit a few bumps in the road along the way, that's why it took me SO long. Actually, for all that I have been through over the past 5 years, I'm surprised it didn't take me even longer. I started school in August of 2005. Connor was almost 1 year old. In January, I found out I was pregnant with Andrew and he was born on the first day of classes that August. I made it to class later in that week. Minor bump. Then in April that following year, when Drew was 7 months old, I found out I was unexpectedly pregnant again. Nolan was born in January. He was diagnosed with cancer and he passed away that March. Needless to say, I took that semester off. MAJOR bump but I'm so glad to have known my little boy and to have gotten to spend every single day for 10 weeks, 2 days with him. He made me even more determined......I was accepted into the nursing program that following August. Before I started school though, we got pregnant with our little Taylor princess baby. :) She was born in March, by scheduled c-section during my spring break. I returned to school without missing a day! Minor bump. It was smooth sailing after she was born. The end was in sight with only 5 more weeks of school left. Then I fell down the stairs at school (in front of my entire class by the way). I totally broke my foot in 3 places and dislocated my lisfranc joint. I had surgery and they placed 4 pins. I was in a cast for 6 weeks and a walking boot for 6 more weeks. MAJOR bump. I almost didn't graduate. Thankfully, the Dean at the school allowed me to participate in the nursing pinning ceremony and finish up my 5 clinicals over the summer. I was not eligible to take my state boards until my technical graduation date of August 5th since my clinicals were not done.
So I finally finished my clinicals and I scheduled my test on the next available date which was September 20th. I have never studied so hard in my life. I heard horror stories of how difficult the test was and I've personally known people that have failed. Smart people. I was totally freaked out. I read 3 NCLEX books, cover to cover, well, 4 including a review workbook that someone lent me. They weren't small books either! I would estimate that I read a good 2000 pages of information and took at least 1000 NCLEX practice questions along the way. So yeah, I was freaking out.
So the day came that I was driving in the car on my way to the testing center. This sounds really stupid but the last 5 years totally flashed back. It all came down to this test and I was doing it for my baby Nolan. I really felt like he was with me that day.....and a calmness set in.
I got to the testing center....man, they're not fooling around. First I showed my license and my testing form to the lady and had to put all of my stuff into a locker and spit out my gum. Then I filled out a form that said I wouldn't cheat or tell others what was on my test. After that was over, I showed my ID again and she took my fingerprints and I had to put both of my hands on this this contraption that read the unique outline of my veins in my palm.....yeah, totally James Bond. I got my picture taken and was advised that I would be videotaped for the entire test. Then she made me empty out my pockets, take off my flip flops and sweatshirt, I had to frisk my own pantlegs and then I showed my ID again. She finally escorted me to my computer. I snuck a peak at a few other people's screens...just out of curiosity. The guy next to me was taking his abdominal surgery certification test. Not just nurses in there apparently.
So I sat down at the computer and the test flew by. It was all a blur. I had tons of "select all that apply" questions. Those are REALLY hard because you have a really good chance of selecting something or not selecting something and having it count wrong. I just did my best and crossed my fingers it would be over at 75 questions, the minimum amount of questions. I have never known anyone to fail after only 75 questions. The way the test works is that the computer asks you an easy question. You get it right, so it asks you a harder question. You get that right and it asks you a harder question. If you get it wrong, it goes back to easy again. It's not about how many you get RIGHT, it's about the level of questioning that you are getting right. The computer stops the questions when it knows with 95% certainty that you are at the "level". It tests your ability. The maximum questions is 265 or 6 hours, whichever comes first. So, if you get 75 and it shuts off, you are either really dumb and the computer knows with 95% certainty NOT to give you more questions because you won't pass or you are super smart and you passed with flying colors. You can also tell by the level of questions the computer is giving you. If you get super easy questions and NO hard ones, you are pretty much failing.
Anyway, my test shut off at 75! I felt okay about it but still really nervous. The following day I looked at my State Board website and there was an RN license number next to my name!!!! I PASSED! Thank you Lord (and Nolan)....I passed!!!
We celebrated by going out to dinner last night to Buffalo Wild Wings. Yummy food and a loud atmosphere....a must when you go with three kids under 5. Bryan sent me flowers and Bryan's mom brought over balloons and a cake the day of the test. I treated myself to a pedicure. I figured I deserved it after all of my studying! My boys made me a card, they were so proud of their mom.
My next mission is to find a J-O-B. It's really hard for new graduates to find jobs right now....our economy sucks and the hospitals don't want to spend time and money training us. Wish me luck!! I want to work in postpartum or labor and delivery. That's where my heart is and I think I'd be good at it. After all, I've had 4 babies and breastfed and pumped (for Nolan) a total of 3+ years of my life. I also really like working with the mommies. I can relate to them!
**Just got my license in the mail today! It's official!
No comments:
Post a Comment