Second Year Preparations

I write this blog entry on the eve of beginning my second year at university, full of a cold and fully unprepared.

I sit making the same promise to myself that I’m sure every student is making which is to fully get myself together this year. That includes not leaving work to the last possible second and to attend all of my scheduled classes, no matter how pointless they may seem. The aim is to finish this year with high grades and a little more willpower than I ended first year with.

I am fully determined to be more organised from now on, not just in uni life. Over this academic year I vow to set myself goals to ensure my life doesn’t consist purely of university, as this is as draining as you can imagine. Goals below…

-Learn Fluent Spanish

-Learn Sign Language

-Hopefully Blog More

Now I’m sure i’ll be losing, changing and adding goals as the year goes on but I am using this blog post as motivation and a reminder of what I want to achieve before third year. Wish me luck

 

Love Meg X

I Got A Love Bird

Some time last week i had a hard day at university so my mum being the angel she is took me out and treated me to a nice, healthy lunch. After our lunch we stopped off at the pet shop next door to the café, being the animal lovers we are, and as you can probably guess from the title…we got a love bird.

She is a beautiful little bird with a yellow body and an orange face (a mutation of the original green and peach faced love birds…from what i believe anyway) and my favourite part, little orange tips to her tail feathers.

I should add at this time my partner was at work so had no idea about the little new addition to our family of two. It’s safe to say when i messaged him to let him know that we were now parents to that beautiful little bird, he refused to believe i was that impulsive and thought i was bird sitting for the day.

She’s been part of the family for a few days now and i already know so much about her that i want to share with the world, so come join us and get to know our little mango…

• She likes to nibble fingers (not bite) we have now realised this is mostly when she wants us to deliver her seeds to the window as she watches the birds while she snacks.
• She sleeps A LOT, she tucks her head round under her wing and closers her tiny eyes. But her favourite place to sleep is snuggled in mine or her dads necks…adorable i know.
• She loves to sit on heads while you’re catching up with some uni work.
• She is 100% a granddads girl, flying over to him every time he’s in the room.
• She likes talking to the wild birds outside.
• She can repeat her own name back to us.

Can you tell I’m in love with her already… many more bird tales to come (honestly i didn’t mean the pun I’m not that way inclined)

Love Meg x

 

Spring Is Finally Here

Now I think anyone living in the UK has long awaited the return of spring and summer. After one of the longest winters of my life, which included not only the storm named ‘the beast from the east’ but another miniature version of that just a few days ago, I can finally (touch wood) say bye to the snow. Yesterday we saw the return of spring and our first little bit of sunshine of 2018. So to celebrate we decided to spent the day at the beach. Now obviously our beaches here in Britain can be a little neglected compared to that of the beaches in many other parts of the world but I wouldn’t say the puppers minded.

After spending our morning in bed, me and the boyf planned to take the restless pups to the beach. Obviously my boyfriend couldn’t allow me the privilege of being able to get ready in peace, he mentioned the words ‘beach’ and ‘walk’ in the same sentence which then made one of our pups very upset that we weren’t walking out of the door in that exact moment. Of course I then had to do my makeup (I went for a bold red lip, to compliment our change of season) sat next to a crying puppy. It took us around an hour to drive to the beach, two excited pups in the back seat, often hanging out the window. Let’s just say on the way back they were more exhausted than excited and slept the whole way home. Must of been a successful walk then…

Love Meg x

An Average Sunday

Sunday is my favourite day of the week. Being a student nurse on placement Monday to Friday and then working on a Saturday, Sunday is the only day I can have as my own. Thus I want to bring you along with me…

9:00 am 

I woke up, this is a huge lie in for me with the normal rising time of 7am. Today is both mine and my boyfriends day off so we spend the first part of the morning off with cuddles. We stayed in bed for a while and then decided we were going to go out for breakfast. I got changed, did my hair and makeup, and did a little tidying up before leaving for breakfast.

11:00am

We arrived and the restaurant, we both weren’t very good and got two large English breakfasts (of course I couldn’t eat all of mine, my eyes are bigger than my stomach) accompanied by a cup of orange juice and a cup of tea each. We had a chat and caught up from the busy week beforehand, thanks to the no phones at the table rule.

12:00pm

Shortly after finishing the remainders of our drinks, we decided to do a little shop in a few of the stores next to the breakfast restaurant. We bought a few random things including sweets, candles and car screen wash aha.

1:00pm 

After our shop we arrived home, we were met by some very excited puppies. Time for housework. I also cleaned out our dressing table, it was well needed to say the least.

2:00pm

At around 2pm the puppies were getting restless so we went on a last minute walk around the park. We took a football and tennis ball as they both have different preferences (spoilt). But as per usual our little staffie didn’t want her tennis ball today, she decided she wanted a 3 foot long branch which had fallen from one of the trees. She proceeded to carry this around the park for the rest of this walk, brought it home and attempted to dig up the garden in hopes of hiding it from her bulldog brother.

3:00pm 

We got home from the walk and in hopes that the fact that our bulldog jumped in every muddy puddle wouldn’t be a problem, we sat in the front garden for a while. The puppers enjoyed some fresh cold water (as its actually quiet warm here today, surprising seeing as it snowed all day the day before). It was then quiet obvious our problems had not disappeared and we had to wash the bulldog. We bathed him, dried him and put on his doggy aftershave while our staff thanked god she wasn’t like her brother.

4:00pm

Knackered after our walk; me, my boyfriend and our staffie all decided to have a little rest in bed. I went on the laptop to update the blog, check messages and watch some youtube while my boyfriend checked his phone and our puppy slept. Meanwhile, the bulldog was causing havoc downstairs rearranging all the shoes in the household (thanks frank).

6:00pm

At around 6 we had our sunday roast dinner, which every brit must partake in on a sunday. We had; roast lamb, carrots, peas, cabbage, roast potatoes, mash potatoes, Yorkshire puddings and gravy! as well as a little bit of mint sauce.

7:00pm

Despite filling up on a roast dinner, the boyfriend decided he wanted something sweet so we went to a takeout dessert restaurant near to our home called ‘cube’. My boyfriend got a Ferrero rocher waffle and I had a jolly rancher milkshake as I wasn’t in the mood for something big.

8:00pm

By now I was beginning to become tired, I decided to have a pamper night. I had a bubble bath with muscle relief by radox and had my loreal charcoal face mask. I also painted my nails for the first time in 10 weeks as my placement has finished.

9:00pm

I got in bed after my bath and watched tv until falling asleep around 10pm.

 

Love Meg x

End of Placement- Day in the Life of a Student Nurse

So in January of this year I started my very first placement as a student nurse, I was placed in community with the health visitors. I remember getting the placement and being so disappointed, I wanted to work in a hospital so bad.

However, the 9 week placement has been amazing and I couldn’t fault a single thing. The relationship I have with my mentor meant that I was never made to feel like a spare part and felt very comfortable asking questions or speaking to her about any previous worries I had. The whole team was fantastic and ensured I had the best experience that I could, with many learning opportunities.

With being in community, it’s very hard to get the basic clinical skills you would get in a ward setting but I learned so much! I was able to assist with weighing babies, plotting the weights on the charts and speak with parents to grow my communication skills. I also sadly got to see many children in neglectful homes where I followed there cases and worked with parents to ensure the best life for the children. Unfortunately many parents didn’t assist us and didn’t follow the care plan resulting in the children being removed. It was very emotional to see.

Yesterday was my last day with the team and I now have 3 weeks off which will be spent doing assignments and revision and then back to uni. Seeing as I was disappointed with the placement 9 weeks ago, I really don’t want to leave and will miss everyone at the team greatly. They bought me cake and various other sweet treats to celebrate the time I spent with them, I even embarrassingly got emotional. I can’t believe how fast it has gone.

Thank you to the team for making my first placement such a good one…

Love Meg x

Passing Placement- Day in the Life of a Student Nurse

Yesterday my mentor had me doing my assessment for my placement (known as a DONA). I’m in community so there isn’t many practical things I could be assessed on so for the assessment I helped her conduct a visit with a patient.

We entered the house and I visited this family when the baby was born so introductions were already done a few weeks beforehand. We spoke to mum and asked her if she would like the baby to be weighed, she did. She got him undressed and placed him on the scaled. I recorded his weight, converted it and worked out how old this little boy was in weeks. After this I plotted his weight on the graph to see if he was following his centile, which he was. So I informed mum that he baby was gaining weight how we would expect him to and he was following his centile perfectly. She was an anxious mum so this reassurance calmed her down a lot.

After this my mentor began to talk to the patients mum about how she was and she assisted her in areas in which she was concerned. When we got back to the office my mentor helped me fill out my paperwork and informed me I had passed, which is so relieving in your first placement. I hope the next DONA I do this year will have the same outcome.

 

Love Meg x

Nursing School…Year 1

In September of 2017, I began a three year journey on the road to becoming a registered paediatric nurse. One of those three years will be coming to an end before I know it, so here’s a recap of the most emotional year of my life so far…

I decided to live at home during my studies so Fresher’s week for me wasn’t the typical turning up for lectures still drunk on the night before’s vodka. Even though I respect my decision to not live in student accommodation 7 months on, the week was a struggle. Commuting to and from university was tiring and seemed pointless for the fresher’s week lectures on what was expected of us as future nurses. Many students became friends with flat mates, where I was alone. Overall, I didn’t enjoy the course and was disappointed due to my high expectations.

However

The travel became easier and I got to know a lot of the girls in the course. The lectures were more engaging and I was beginning to feel a bit more relieved about my previous hatred of university life.

Then

Placement began in January. It began to all make sense again of why I chose to do nursing in the first place. Even though I was placed in the community and I have not been exposed to much clinical practice, I could not fault the experience I have had! My mentor is amazing and made me feel comfortable from the get go, not once have I felt like a spare part. It 100% has made me excited and proud to be doing this course.

That brings us to now, March 2018. I’m 2 weeks of completing my first placement and I honestly can not wait for my second placement to begin in May! Wish me luck…

Love Meg x

Squirrel Feeding

Stop whatever you are doing, grab a bag of nuts and get to Chester, England.

Not long ago, my family and i spent a weekend away in Wales. On our way back home we decided to have the day out in Chester which resulted in one of the best things you will ever experience! After strolling through the thousands of shops available and enjoying the amazing views of the River Dee, we made it to a huge park.

We did spend time at this park on many occasions before this day but i tell you, the park comes alive during the autumn time. When the leaves begin to change colour, the squirrels come out to play. And i’m not talking about a rare glance at a squirrel every now and then when you turn into the dog from ‘Up’ shouting ‘Squirrel’ due to your obsession with animals. But in this very park, the squirrels fear nothing!

This is where the trip got interesting.

I don’t think my words could justify how amazing this was so i’ll just show you.

I-Fed-A-Squirrel!!

I think that this surreal experience should be had by everyone, i promise you, you won’t be disappointed.

Love Meg X