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Adrenal Fatigue aka Burnout
Today’s #podcastpick is from The Balanced Bites Podcast, Episode #15 Adrenal Fatigue, Part 1. You can listen here. Your adrenal glands are located on top of your kidneys, they are responsible for producing & releasing cortisol (the stress hormone). Prolonged elevated cortisol levels (high stress levels) can lead to adrenal fatigue. Symptoms Fatigue, headache, weakened immune system, afternoon slump, feeling full/bloated, blurred vision, dizziness, hemorrhoids or varicose veins. Hitting the snooze button several times or feel like you can’t get out of bed. Feeling like you need to drink coffee/caffeine all day long because can’t stay awake. Not feeling recovered 20-30mins after a workout. Causes/Effects Unstable blood sugar levels: if…
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How To Become A Foster Parent (In Kentucky)
The approval process to become a foster parent is not difficult, but it can be lengthy & time consuming. The following are the steps Blake & I took to become an approved & open foster home (there may be new steps/requirements that I’m unaware of). I found it difficult to find information online on how to become a foster parent in our area, what was required, who to contact, and when trainings were offered. I recommend locating & calling your local DCBS office for direction/information. OR if you know someone that is a social worker or works for a foster care agency, they can be a wonderful resource. Attend an…
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Cortisol/Thyroid/Interpreting Labs
I love to listen to & learn from podcasts. We live in a time where there is an endless amount of free information at our fingertips, and I like to take full advantage. I’ll be doing some #podcastpick posts and writing a summary for you all. I’ll include my biggest take aways/action items from the episode as well as a link to where you can listen to the episode for yourself if you wish. For today’s #podcastpick I’m listening to What the Func? Season 1 Episode 30 HORMONES, featuring Dr. Kyrin Dunston, MD which you can find here Biggest topics of the conversation: Cortisol, thyroid dysfunction, and interpreting lab results.…
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What You Actually Need For Pumping At Work
1. A medium to large bag for all your supplies I personally preferred a backpack. There was plenty of storage space and it was easy to carry—some days I had my purse, my pumping bag, a lunch bag, a drink, and my breakfast to carry into work. 2. Milk storage bags or containers I used tommee tippee bottles like these for Kenely when she was at the sitter, but I also had 6 large bottles like this. I used these bottles to store my fresh milk and send to the sitter the following day instead of sending frozen milk. I ordered these lids to use for storage. The number of bottles you…
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Things I Wish I Knew Before Nursing School
1. Memorize normal lab values This is a major component of any foundational nursing course, which is typically taught as your first nursing class. I recommend memorizing the following lab values: WBC, Hgb, Hct, platelet count, Na, K, Ca, Mg, Phosphorus, pH, pCO2, HCO3, BUN, Creatinine, PT, PTT, INR, Glucose, and HgbA1C. If you have these already memorized it will make your first semester much easier, as well as future courses because you will always use this information (yes, even after graduation). Keep in mind that each nursing school/hospital may vary in their normal ranges by a slight amount. 2. Start taking practice NCLEX question quizzes Finding practice NCLEX questions online was…
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How To Help Your Baby Sleep
After a few weeks of inconsistent sleep, I was desperate for help & advice on how to help my baby sleep because I needed to sleep! This led to a lot of middle-of-the-night amazon purchases for anything that I thought might help her, as well as scouring Pinterest for hours at a time for any tip we could try. In hindsight, I found the following things to be most impactful: 1. Consistent wake up time When I went back to work, Kenley started going to a private sitter each day. Since my husband & I both leave the house at 6am each morning, this means she consistently is woken up at…
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Why We Decided to Foster
I’ve previously shared here that I dated someone with a child, that I’m a nurse, and that I’ve always wanted to be a mom. All of these things played a big role in my desire to be a foster parent. I guess I could give the cliché answer of “I loved kids so much that I just wanted to help them all” because that’s true, but my actual decision to foster took a lot more thought than that. I worked with pediatric patients for the first five years of my nursing career, and before that as a nursing assistant. As a pediatric nurse you see a lot of neglect/abuse that…
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Getting out of an Unhealthy Relationship
After calling off my engagement I spent a lot of time being single. I went on dates here and there, but it never really went anywhere. I constantly got asked when I was going to get married, didn’t I want a family, why hasn’t someone taken you off the market yet. All while also seeing the majority of my friends get married or have the first of their babies. That was a really hard time for me; I was so happy for my friends, but I was devastated that it wasn’t my turn yet. I remember being made to feel like I was “too-much woman” to attract a husband because…
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I Called Off My Wedding
While attending Campbellsville University for nursing school I was introduced to a great guy by a co-worker. At the time I was very focused on being successful in school and didn’t have time to commit to a new relationship, but I thought this would be a nice person to hang out with and do fun things together when I did have free time. As school progressed, I figured out how to balance my time and our relationship progressed. Over the next year we fell in love, got to know one another’s families, and began to dream of what a future together would look like. I knew a proposal was in…
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How Blake & I Met
Blake is three years younger than me. Never in my wildest dreams, did I think I would ever marry someone younger than me. I’ve always been considered “mature for my age” and thought I would most likely marry someone older than me, or at least my own age. But, as a good friend used to always tell me: “if you want to hear God laugh, tell him your plans”. From age 18 through 25 I had been in a series of crappy relationships and had spent a good amount of time being single. I was discouraged and frustrated—all I had ever wanted was to have a family of my own. …
