What does one do on a full week off from school?  Well, if you're me, you plan a wedding. 

Spring break marks the break between the first seven weeks and the second seven weeks of the term.  This term I took 4 required courses and am taking two electives.  My required classes are Pharmacology, Pathophysiology and both Psychiatry and Nursing the Childbearing Family.  The last two are broken up so I took OB first and now am starting psyc next. 

OB was wonderful; it was a whirlwind of woman, fetal and neonate health information. We covered all the development of the fetus, the growing and changing of the mothers body and the normal and problematic states of the newborn.  On top of this class, we also had clinical. 

Clinical was a blast.  I had a wonderful time on both the labor and delivery and postpartum wards.  The first day we were running from place to place on the L&D ward and it pretty much continued through my first 3 weeks. Then we transitioned to postpartum and it was an interesting shift from caring of laboring mother to caring of hopefully a well mother and neonate.  And my first day on the postpartum ward I had the incredible opportunity to care for a very good friend of mine.  She had had a beautiful baby girl in the morning and was just transferred up to my floor when I came on... what a gift to be there for their first day as a new family, it really was such a privilege. 

Pharmacology and Pathophysiology is kickin' buns hard.  Both classes are so much information over such a short time; so many drugs and so much physiology that goes behind it.  My instructors continue to be top notch and help from friends and the support of my fiance lets me get in as much studying as I can while I continue to do relatively well in class and clinical. 

Then, of course, there's real life outside of school.  I am still commuting and still trying to live my life even though school overwhelms me at times.  On Feb. 17th Dan and I ran our second marathon in Austin.  We'd been training for 5 months, going out in rain or shine during the winter months to run our long runs on Saturdays starting in our town just outside the DC border, heading NW to Bethesda and down a the wonderful Capital Crescent Trail to Georgetown in DC and back up through Rock Creek Park.  Twenty three miles total and we did it twice before actually running the marathon!  The marathon was so much fun and I’ve sworn off marathoning for the rest of my life (or at least until next year when I forget how much it hurts).  Austin is a very hip town and Dan and I enjoyed a much needed break from work and school to get in sync again. 

And finally, the wedding; I put off planning anything for when I have a little bit of time.  Well, with school, marathon and generally trying to run a house and stay on speaking terms with my fiancé (oh, we also just purchased our first home...!) sometimes important stuff has to be sacrificed.  Wedding planning is pushed into the nooks and crannies of my daily life; phone calls to set up appointments with DJs here, emailing with the photographer there, a quick hello at the florist and that’s about as much as I can handle in a day.  With one week off, I crammed it in.  The florist, the photographer, DJ, caterer, invitations, websites and dress shopping…all of it in one week taking a little time to study here and there.  Now that school is back in, it will be another 7 weeks before I’ll have any time to dedicate to planning and hey, that’s okay with me, everything always works out in the end and at the end of it, I have Belize to look forward to!