My name is Pammie. I’m a labor and delivery nurse turned nurse educator, which in a nutshell means I work five eight-hour shifts behind a desk instead of three 12-hour shifts supporting women through labor. My new job feels like a perfect fit, but I have days when I really miss the floor. (And yes, that means I miss the bloody, poopy parts of labor too.)
I have a wonderful husband, Chris, and little boy, CJ, who is equally wonderful but about ten times more smooshable. It's currently the Spring of 2012—CJ is about to turn 4 and I'm about 26 weeks pregnant with our second son.
In a previous life I was a marketing associate. I worked at a publishing company at a very cushy job with very fun people. The atmosphere was so casual we were actually encouraged to take breaks to talk to our coworkers (read: best friends) with the thinking that once we got all that talking out of the way, we’d really get down to business. I’d say that philosophy was right about half the time.
I grew up in a suburb of Chicago and graduated from a very small, very Catholic high school in 1997 that until 1991, had been all boys. In 1992, it went co-ed, and in 1993 I became part of the second class of girls to be admitted. We had to wear these horrible uniforms but we could pick any shoes we wanted. I chose cherry-red Docs. To say that I got made fun of would be an understatement.
I attended college from 1997-2001 and graduated with two degrees, one in Honors Biology and one in Honors Rhetoric (I need to make that clear so you understand just how completely I was working my ass off). After that I had to make a choice: to stay in my college town and find work, or go back to the suburbs and live with my parents. I chose to stay, and not only did I find work (the aforementioned cush job), but I also found my husband.
After we got married I quit my marketing job to go to nursing school. Being newly married and living on one income was a...how to phrase this creatively...learning opportunity for both Chris and I, and a true test of how little you can have in your bank account before you start to drive each other crazy. There were times when we got by on $25/week. There was one night when we ate bacon and jelly sandwiches on hamburger buns because it was all we had. But ultimately it brought us closer and I loved every minute of it.
I’ve had some form of a blog since May of 2002, when a friend was like, hey, if you could publish your journals on the Internet, for free, would you do it? He hooked me up with Live Journal and after a couple years on there I found Blogger. I completely deleted my LJ site because all my old entries were really whiny and annoying and I’m surprised my two friends that read them actually did.
I love coffee, french toast, canned peas, Sarah's House, Smash, Glee (please don't judge me), and going out to eat. I use way, way, way, too many commas. And I am always tired.
