hired: June 2011

Friday night I had applied for a RN position in the Perinatal Special Care Unit. Monday night I received a call from their manager. She scheduled me for an interview the next day at 1:30.
I spent the morning at Kinko's putting final touches on my portfolio. I sat for a panel interview with 4 professional women firing questions about myself, clinical situations, ethical situations, and interpretations of fetal heart strips. I went home feeling good, and uncertain.
The next day I sent off thank-you cards. Wednesday I was called by the enthusiastic manager. "You put here on your resume that you are enrolled in the Summer Session of the Regional Perinatal Systems Course. We just called them and found out you're fourth on the wait list."
I had just found that out too, earlier that day when they called to tell me that.
"So we really want to offer you the position, but you have to be enrolled in that class first. Try to see if there is some way they can guarantee you a spot and then we can guarantee you a job. Oh and side note, when are you scheduled to take the boards?"
"In a month and a half." I said.
"Okay well I reccommend you reschedule that. To process new hire paperwork you'll have to take them in the next 2 weeks. Okay?"
"No problem."
"Great."

I spent all hours of the next week and half studying for what I thought I had a month and a half to do. I sat for the nursing boards and passed. The elation of becoming an RN was unlike any high I have ever experienced. I jumped up and down in my living room and screamed at the top of my lungs. I hyperventilated a little. I screamed some more. Then I focused in on pestering the coordinator of the Regional Perinatal Systems course. I brought her a portfolio and tried to convince her of my absolute need to get into the class. I think there was a group of us waitlisters doing the same thing because she completely restructured this 2 month (16 hours a week) course by increasing the class capacity to 70 and moving it into the Medicine Lecture Halls on the UCSD campus, which meant, I was in.

Finally, after what felt like years and years of desire and work and struggle and blessings- I was taking the next big step. I accepted a position as a registered nurse on a unit specializing in treating women with high-risk pregnancy. I couldn't be happier.

You never know

One of my longest childhood friends was in the midst of having her baby. She had asked me to be her doula, so I was there in the room. Her husband was too. In a hospital with a very high C-section rate and very few women who attempt a "natural birth", Nora was trailblazing one breath at a time. She has always been an incredibly strong person. Her mind is strong, her body is strong, her convictions are strong, she has a strong voice. So it didn't surprise me that she met each contraction head on. I watched her face and scanned her body for signs of suffering. Doulas reverse suffering back into pain. She moaned "These are like period cramps on steroids" but she was dealing really well. Her face had the smoothest birthing expression I had seen in a long time, even the nurse was impressed. When Nora stepped into the shower and her husband followed I stayed back in the room. The nurse had been coming in and out of the room all day. Having just graduated nursing school I was envious of her work. Twice a year that hospital announces openings for new graduates and thousands of people apply for just a few positions. She walked back in to put more paper into the fetal heart strip machine. I desperately mumbled a prayer for something to be made of my time with this nurse.
That is when she turned around and said "So what are you?"
"What am I?"
"Yeah, I mean, are you Nora's friend? Or a doula?"
"I'm both!" I said.
"Ohhh... okay. That explains it. You guys are so comfortable with each other, and you're so good at what you're doing. Really."
She sounded so sincere.
"Thanks. I love this." I said, pointing around to the scene.
"I can tell."
"I also just graduated nursing school. I want to do nursing in labor and delivery."
"Well give me your name and your number and I'll give you mine!" She pulled a paper towel out to write on. "You would be awesome here. Seriously. I've worked here for over 20 years and I've found one other person this way before. You should apply!"
"I did. But I'm waiting for the next session because I wasn't called back the first time."
"Okay. Well once there is an opening and you apply again, email me, and I'll talk to HR cause you belong here."
Then she handed me the paper towel and walked out.
Drowning in a sea of jobless desperation this 10-minute interaction gave me a renewed sense of hope and inspiration.

Snatch the opportunity

A month and a half out of nursing school and it seemed all my classmates had been going on interviews and some of them were getting jobs. I had neither. People outside the nursing world constantly heralded this career path as wise in that there would always be work. Perhaps nurses are in high demand... but not really in Southern California, and not really right now.
I thought my resume set me apart, with my time in Ghana working with Ma as her midwife's apprentice, my 3 years back home volunteering as a doula in the local teaching hospital, my insane passion for birth. I also was finishing up an optional externship (which I paid to do) in a postpartum unit at one of the more prestigious hospitals in San Diego. I was scheduled nights and was supposed to work this particular Friday evening but each time I thought about going in I felt strange about it.
Later that day one of my closest friends from nursing school called.
"All of us are going out tonight. Come! It'll be fun."
After debating whether or not I should go in to the externship, and being a pretty responsible person who hangs out with responsible people, I was surprised when I was convinced and supported to cancel my shift and go out for Mexican Food.
Sitting around the table while they discussed having passed the boards (I hadn't yet), sat for interviews (nope), and gotten jobs (not even close) was a little disheartening. I held on to the hope of merely knowing the nurse I had met at Nora's birth.
We went back to our friends house and started up a bonfire. I put my jacket on and slouched back into a chair. I decided to just listen and remove myself from active conversation.
All of a sudden I heard a voice amplified from around the corner. It was Eliane, our friend from Brazil. Her accent stood out as she mentioned getting an email about an open position for new grads at Sharp Mary Birch, the largest women's hospital in San Diego. It was a random position- most new grad positions wouldn't be posted for another 4 months.
As if possessed, I stood up walked over to her and asked her to follow me to a computer. She looked up the position and sure enough it was still open. Registered Nurse: New Grad: Perinatal Special Care Unit. Something in me had to get home and apply. I couldn't be at the party anymore. People tried to convince me to just hang out and do it the next day but I refused. My friend drove me home early and I spent the rest of the night finishing up the application.