New Year, New Job

Toward the end of last year, I decided I needed to make a change. Working nights was killing me physically, and I wasn't happy doing what I was doing. It wasn't necessarily the work itself, but a number of things. I started looking, and almost out of the blue was contacted by a company that I had submitted a resume to many months prior.

The company is a branch of a well-known fertility clinic. Anyone who has gone through fertility treatments has heard of CCRM (Colorado Center for Reproductive Medicine). They are the top of the line in reproductive medicine - high quality, high success. Women and couples would fly from all over the country to Colorado just to be seen at this clinic. Eventually they figured why not bring the excellence of CCRM to the women so they don't have to travel so far. Hence, CCRM Boston was born! (haha get it?)

I have always had a passion for reproductive medicine, and I learned a great deal while going through fertility treatments. And if you've been following my blog since the beginning, you will remember all of that. :) I actually wish I had done a better job of blogging it, but I was a newbie and didn't really know what I was doing. I spent more time on the WebMD and Fertile Thoughts message boards in those days. Then I was made the beta (hCG) board coordinator on Fertile Thoughts and became somewhat of an expert in interpreting beta levels...something that comes in handy in my new job, but let's not get ahead of ourselves in my story.

I always knew I wanted to work in women's health, but after all I had been through in midwifery school and on L&D, I realized I didn't /need/ to work in birth to find fulfillment. I didn't even need to work as a midwife to be fulfilled. In fact, I had quite enjoyed my job as an OB/Gyn office nurse. I like office work. I've done enough secretarial and reception work to know that. I love computers and feel comfortable with them. I like working with patients...getting to know them....helping them.

So when CCRM Boston called, I jumped. Being an IVF Nurse Coordinator was almost like a calling. I felt like I knew reproductive medicine inside and out, and what I didn't know I could learn easily. From the moment I first stepped into the clinic during my interview, I knew this was where I belonged. And then...they hired me! To make a long story short, I'm getting to do something I absolutely love and feel like I'm dreaming every day that this is actually my life now. I'm putting all of the knowledge I gained during treatments to good use!

I have never felt more welcomed and loved in a workplace ever before. I feel valued and cherished. I'm giving it my all and loving every second of it. Even when I'm really busy, I still love it. I especially love it! I get to talk to patients and counsel them. I'm learning all about protocols and medications. I feel useful and competent, and I feel like part of the team even though it's been less than a month. I am seriously so happy - if you couldn't tell. Every day I am so grateful that I've been given this opportunity.

There are two things that I am looking forward to in this job that haven't happened (YET). #1 Doing an IUI for a woman...and having her get pregnant and have a baby! #2 Calling someone with their positive (and increasing) beta. It's only a matter of time! Baby dust to all. :)

You Miss Me?

How surprised was I today to see that someone was looking for an update and that I hadn't posted anything since last August when I became a CNM. I'm not really sure why I don't update more. I am busy - doing my DNP, working, kids - but not so busy that I can't take a few minutes to say hello to anyone who is still reading. *waves to all of my "fans"*

The nine months have not been particularly eventful. The twins are in 2nd grade and doing fairly well. Dovid is on a medication that has made him much easier to handle at school, though he still struggles with anything related to social interaction. Chana is progressing steadily and hopefully will be able to continue on to 3rd grade with Dovid next year. Tzipora has whizzed her way through kindergarten and can read! She's got a lot of sight words down, and we are all super proud of her. She also is friends with basically her entire class. Gavriella is also having fun in her first year at "school" in the 3-year-old class. She's an adorable gem, and I love it when her teachers send me photos of all of the fun things she is doing in class.

As for me, I /finally/ got a job, but not as a midwife. I was hired to work as a labor and delivery nurse (part-time nights). This is not ideal, but it is work. Meanwhile, I am plugging along with my doctoral studies and will hopefully finish in September. At that point you can all call me doc. :D

In about a week, we're going to be attending a family reunion with my grandfather and people from that side of the family that none of us have met. My mom, Uncle Ron, my sister and brother-in-law will also be there. It's going to be very exciting, and I promise to take lots of pictures and actually post about it. Maybe I'll get back into a groove or something... Feel free to leave a comment if you want me to post about something in particular. I feel as though I don't know what to talk about. I've made some pretty interesting genealogical discoveries over the past few months, but I doubt they would be interesting to anyone outside of my family.

Certified Nurse Midwife

I know I do not post here very often, but exciting things don't happen very often, and I have no idea if anyone even comes to look at my blog any more. My day to day life seems pretty dull to me, especially because I have been in school for so long (seems like forever). None of my kids remember a time when I wasn't in school studying for something. They have no idea who Mommy is when she doesn't have her nose in a book. I started my pre-requisites for nursing school in January 2010, when my twins were not even a year old. My now 5-year-old was conceived during my first semester of pre-requisites, and my almost 3-year-old was born about two months after becoming an RN. My goal from day one was to become a midwife, even though it seemed like that day would never come.

It took six and a half years of blood, sweat, and many tears. These last few semesters of midwifery clinicals nearly broke me entirely. There were times when I wondered if I really should be doing this. I was beaten down so hard that I thought I would never graduate, even after spending all of that time and money. But, after eight months of clinicals, I did graduate (finally!). I got my congratulatory email from my school the day after my birthday last week. But even though that gave me my master's in nursing, I still could not call myself a midwife. Not until today...

Today I passed the AMCB (American Midwifery Certification Board) exam which makes me a CNM (Certified Nurse Midwife).

I took this selfie right after getting into my car after passing the exam. I studied my brains out over the last week, and it paid off.

I wish I could tell you that I'm done with school, but there is one piece left for me to accomplish. I am going to do my school's 9-month DNP program for my doctorate. Once that is finished I will be 100% done with school, and then you'll be able to call me Dr. Kahn. (I've always wanted to be called that. See 90's Nickelodeon TV show Salute Your Shorts if you don't know why.)

My next step is to find a midwifery position in my area, though that is proving to be somewhat difficult. I have interviewed at several hospitals, but most (if not all) places want someone with at least some midwifery experience or at least some labor and delivery RN experience. I have neither. In the meanwhile, I will be working at Roxbury Community College as a maternity clinical instructor for their nursing students and hopefully will pick up some doula clients to keep improving birth on a small scale even if I'm not working as a midwife (yet).

New Diet

I'm starting a diet. I have so much weight to lose (20 babies pounds and 20-40 from pre-babies) and breastfeeding is not dropping the weight off like *everyone* says it will. Obviously I'm going to be doing this safely...I'm not stupid. The diet is called Start Fresh and it's a kosher diet!! Wooo! They even sell kosher diet food (crazy expensive). They give you recipes, including traditional ones for Shabbos and tell you what kinds of things you can and should be eating to help lose the weight the right way. I'm quite excited to get started even though it will mean I actually have to cook--ICK! I hate cooking with a passion. I'd rather be doing nearly anything else.

I'm also job searching. I need to find a position that will pay me enough to pay for a Nanny and actually bring home a "profit" after taxes. We have to pay the bills and this is the only way I know how. Obviously my main search is within Citizens Bank (where I already work), but I don't know if they have any appropriate positions for me to come into. I'm looking to be an executive administrative assistant, so if anyone has any ideas, let me know!