Changes

What a week the last week has been! I realized this a.m. that Isaiah is probably a week away from being completely weaned. He nursed for about 2 minutes yesterday and that was the only time he's nursed since Saturday afternoon. He's almost 19 months and that's exactly the age Clara was when she weaned. It will be nice to have him weanede, but sad at the same time because it's another piece of evidence that he's growing up. And at some point, there will be a last time.

Husband and I also had a discussion about our finances. We have a pretty tight budget and with kids, an old house and, well, life, so we decided we needed to really pull in the reigns on where our money goes. I'll admit it, a lot of money is wasted on dumb things and short trips to the town store to pick up just milk which costs $3.29 when it only costs $1.98 at the big store I usually get groceries at. Not only is the small town store more expensive, we also end up picking up other things we didn't need because we think "well, we're just getting milk, so chips or whatever won't be that much". But it adds up. So we will be having a weekly meal plan. I've heard that saves a ton of money. We'll see how well we can stick to that. I also plan on having a list before I get groceries and getting ONLY what is on the list. I always have a list (I LOVE lists, by the way) but I always end up buying things not on the list. We also started a savings account at a credit union and will be having a bit of money directly deposited out of our checks every 2 weeks into that account as well. Another cushion is always welcome. I'm also planning on picking up extra shift while we are short staffed. With the way the economy is, the hospital has decided to do away with our annual raises based on performance, and they are doing tiny quarterly raises for everyone...if the Hospital meets budget. So basically, even though they said we could potentially get a .5% more than the usual annual raise with this system, there will probably be no raises this year. Which, I guess since some hospitals are laying off nurses, I'm thankful to still have a job...and work in a department that it's possible to pick up several extra shifts.

There are other changes at the hospital as well. The bigwigs are still in talks with a larger healthcare system about us becoming part of their system. Maybe there won't be much change, or maybe there will. None of us know, but it does in fact look like we will be consolidating with them. That would mean more money available for the hospital to continue with the plans for the new building which will have a new OB dept, a big name healthcare system behind the hospital, and potentially better benefits. They will probably make some changes, too. As long as I can still do my weekend, I'm fine. They have said in a few meetings the COO has held to answer staff questions about the coming change, that they would not get rid of the weekend option. There are so many of us doing the WEO that it would completely change how every department staffs and does their weekends. So, I figure it's safe and worst case, they just don't fill positions as people leave. But, I don't really know. Another change is regarding anesthesia. We currently have 2 anesthesia groups that work at the hospital, but a contract was just signed this past week so at some point in time, there will only be one group providing anesthesia at the hospital. And of course it's the group that we are less familiar with. That's been causing an uproar! But,we've been told we'll now have CRNA's doing epidurals, we'll have better anesthesia coverage and we will no longer have grumpy docs refusing to come in and put in an epidural because they don't want to get up out of bed, or because their call ends at 7AM and its 6:15AM. So, hopefully it's a positive change.

So in home life and at work there are so many changes going on around here, some small and some huge! All positive so far. Jacob is now 6, I have 2 more races I'm planning on running. One 5K August 8 in Husbands hometown, if I can get someone to switch my Friday night shift for Saturday night. August 22 I had planned on a half-marathon, but will probably just do the 5K race they have that day. We'll see how I feel when August rolls around! I had races I wanted to do through the end of the year, but they may be on hold for now. It's hard to plan too far in advance with children!