You Know You Are a NICU Nurse When...

I came across these on facebook and I couldn't help but laugh! I had to post my favorites...

1. You don’t understand why talking about sticking a needle in a baby’s head is making other people at the dinner table ill.
2. At one time or another you have had breast milk, poop or urine on your work clothes.
3. You can change your patient’s bed linens with one hand while holding your patient in the other.
4. You can make an IV arm board out of some 4x4 gauze and tape.
5. You’ve used a sock or a piece of tape for a restraint.
6. You check out the scalp veins, cap refill and fontanels on a friend’s new baby.
7. You use a cotton ball to obtain urine samples.
8. You use saran wrap to keep your food fresh and your patient’s warm.
9. You think all crying babies need benadryl, versed or intubation.
10. You think the pulse oximeter, CPAP and those crappy no sticking leads were created by the devil.
11. You have ever shown a doctor a green residual while they were eating.
12. You have obtained a 10cc residual when the patient only gets 1cc.
13. You have put an intensive care patient in a swing.
14. You prepare your patient’s bath water in a Dixie cup.
15. You use a rubber band for a tourniquet
16. Newborn babies look like preschoolers to you.
17. You tell people what you do and they think you sit around and rock babies all day.
18. When you tell people what you really do they start to cry and/or vomit.
19. You have assisted with surgery on your patient in their bed and on the unit.
20. You have considered using duct tape to hold a pacifier in a screaming baby’s mouth.
21. You have met your patient’s father, mother’s boyfriend, and husband all in one day.

Here is a picture of one of my primary patients...I took care of this little boy on every one of my shifts for the first six months of his life! We shared some ROUGH nights together, but I loved him to death!