It's off to work I go

   I've been thinking a lot about my career. Well, I don't like to sound formal, I've been thinking a lot about my job. I'm back in school going for my BSN in nursing. I have my RN so this isn't as big a leep as the latter. Non the less it's a quest I'm on and I'm enjoying it greatly. I'm taking a major certification this summer and going for my IBCLC, which means I'm going to be a lactation consultant. Lactation education and assistance is a major part of my job so no big leep except paying the 550.00 for the exam. My question to myself is...then what? Do I just sit back and enjoy my life? Relish the fine art of relaxation? Maybe vacation a bit more? Or do I go on and get my masters in nursing and teach? My family would say, in the most supportive tone, "Mom/Hon, it's totally up to you!" Giving emphasis to the "totally". My 80's girl has to come out sometime!
   I recently went to a baby shower for one of our midwives at "The Birthplace", I arrived and looked at all the women who followed the same path I did. These are the women that I see at night, every night and we back each other up with everything we have.We know what the other needs sometimes without even asking. We share magical moments together, and we get to do this! We actually get paid to do this amazing thing we do. Support, assist ,educate, and care for women and their families in labor and the postpartum period. So once I was out of my reviere I thought their wasn't a doubt in my mind that these women are an extension of my family. We ended the party with a blessing for the newest birthplace arrival, we all lite a candle and said a blessing a wish for the midwife and the new life inside her. It was an incredable day.
    So now I'm not going to speak of any particular night at work but I must say that just the environment at our little birthplace would make the most uptight/conservative person warm and fuzzy. My friends and fellow RN's love, breath, and live birth. We're good at what we do and it shows in our patients faces. Becoming a nurse was no short of a miracle for me. Being raised by a very sick grandmother and a very mentally unstable mother it would have looked bleak for me way back in my childhood. But, I believe nursing was a drive and I wasn't going to be held back from that. What ever I decide to do after I get this degree I do know one thing, caring for women and their families is my future.