January has brought many changes in my professional life. During the 1st week of January I found out I was hired as a Clinician at Planned Parenthood (PP). On January 15th I did the new hire paperwork & on January 16th I had my first full day at the clinic! Of course, I was ready to go. I had my DEA # (or Drug Enforcement Agency number; it's necessary in order to prescribe narcotics), NPI # (or National Provider Identification number), Nurse Practitioner license, current CPR card & up-to-date immunizations. Since being hired I have been traveling to various PP clinical sites for my residency, so to speak, & attending clinical services & job benefits orientations. I have been really impressed with the organization & look forward to mastering my 1st Nurse Practitioner job! I have also quit my job as a Resource Team RN & accepted a position as a per diem RN on a medical floor at the UWMC. As a per diem nurse I am only required to work 2 days per schedule (or per month). This way I can keep up on nursing skills.
On January 11th Gerritt got his 2nd set of immunizations: PC (pneumococcal vaccine) & Hib (Haemophilus Influenza type B). He had the same reaction he had to his first set of vaccines a month ago: fever, increased fussiness & poor sleep for 3 days. Gerritt also caught his 2nd cold so we had to deal with his coughing & congested nose as well. My Mom has arrived from Russia later that day & was really concerned about us since, in her mind, Gerritt was such a "difficult" baby. Thankfully, the vaccines' side effects went away by Monday & my Mom got to meet the real Gerritt. It only took them 3 days to bond & from then on they became inseparable. After recovering from her long flight & a time-zone change, my Mom insisted on caring for Gerritt during the day as well as at night time.
On January 12th (Saturday) we had the 100-day celebration for Gerritt at uncle Ananth's house in Bellevue. This event is a Korean tradition meant to celebrate the baby who has survived 100 days after birth. In old days so many babies did not reach this milestone due to various factors. So if the baby has lived 100 days he was destined to make it. My husband's Mom had been preparing for at least 2 weeks & delighted our 50+ guests with delicious Korean food & a huge rice cake. Gerritt received many gifts & red envelopes with money. We've used this gift money to set up Gerritt's college fund. We are sure blessed to have such wonderful friends! Unfortunately, Gerritt did not enjoy the party. He was overwhelmed with all of the noise & attention from so many people at once & cried constantly. My husband, my Mom, my mother-in-law & I attempted to calm him down all at once & he was very confused. Russian, Korean & English languages were spoken at the same time & poor thing couldn't deal with it. I couldn't wait for the party to end since I was at my wit's end from Gerritt's constant crying & not having a quiet place for him to relax enough to nap. All in all, I am happy we had this party since Gerritt is half-Korean. I believe it's important to remember one's roots & to celebration one's heritage. :-)
In early January Gerritt also had his first two days with his Ukranian babysitter Anna. I was busy getting ready for my Mom's visit from Russia & dropped him off at Anna's for two 4-hour sessions so that I could run some errands & clean our house. It was so hard to leave Gerritt, but I knew I had to start at some point to preserve my own sanity & health.
Around the same time I've started transitioning Gerritt from the bassinet to a crib. The use of a bassinet is not recommended for babies older than 3 months for safety reasons. Plus Gerritt is much bigger than a typical 3-month-old baby, so it was time...
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