Enjoy the Journey, Class of 2021

John 10;10 The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life. (NLT)

Jesus came to earth so we could enjoy our lives, but it will never happen unless we realize that life is a journey that involves many different ingredients, including a lot of waiting, detouring, twist and turns. Most of us just want to get to our destination or reach our goal, but actually, the joy is in the journey. When we do reach our destination, the journey is over, and before long we want another challenge.

Everything in the earthly realm operates according to the law of gradual growth. Most things grow so slowly that the natural eye cannot even see it happening. Think of a tree. It is growing all the time, but we cannot see it grow.

God could have arranged for everything to happen very fast, but He didn’t. I think this is because we can only appreciate what we have to wait for. The anticipation of the good things to come is part of what makes them exciting. I urge you today to make a decision to stop being in such a hurry and simply enjoy your journey.

With that being said, here is my journey of finally reaching my niche in nursing, the place I am most passionate about. All things OB and for those that don’t know OB stands for Obstetrical nursing. Obstetrical nursing is a nursing specialty that works with patients who are attempting to become pregnant, are currently pregnant, or have recently delivered.

From the very beginning of my nursing career which started January 2012, 3 months after my military career ended. I knew I was aiming to be a Registered Nurse because they are allowed to work in hospitals. The hospital is pretty much where all things OB go down at. I also knew I wanted to get my bachelors degree because I wanted to end my nursing career with my doctorate degree in nursing. I had all these things in mind as I was looking into schools and what I thought would be the best route to getting me there.

I started at Baker college, a private more expensive college. I wish I would have done more research because I would have chosen a different school doing my pre requisites. Going in I knew I had to be an almost straight “A” student because nursing was so compatible. In nursing school anything below a “B” is failing. I never thought I would get to a point where my grade would fall below a “B” because I always got “A’s” and “B’s” in school. Well it happened, I cant remember the exact class anymore but I had to drop it because there was no way I was going to pass it. That was the second class I had to drop. I also had to drop anatomy and psychology 2 for the same reason. Welp, at Baker you drop 2 classes in the program, your done! You have just disqualified yourself from their nursing program.

From the point I then went on to attend Macomb community college which was the best thing ever. The classes were so cheap there. I wish I would have started off there in the first place. By the time I had got to Macomb I only needed 2 more classes. I was not doing so good in my Micro biology class I wasn’t passing according to nursing school standards so I end up finishing the class with a ‘D”, which at the time it was best to finish the course since I already knew I was taking it over. The “D” grade dropped off once I took it and got a different grade which I still only ended up with a “C”. At Macomb you had a little more lead way in the pre-requisites. My advisor suggested I take it again because she said I would not get in the program with that “C”. I fought hard enough for that “C” and I was not retaking the class. I moved forward. At this point I am done with all my pre requisites and its time to actually apply for nursing school. I took the Hesi test which was Macomb required nursing school entry exam. I end up with a 70/100, basically not good enough to be in somebody’s nursing program. I would have had to sit out for a year cause you are only allowed to take the Hesi test once a year.

At this point it was time to do something else. I had to find another way to reach my destination. I then started considering the LPN route, I figured it would be easier to transition from a LPN then just starting out as a Registered Nurse. I was closed minded to becoming a LPN because I knew they weren’t hired in the hospital setting. My great grandma would always tell me, “a girls gotta do what a girls gotta do”.

I end up applying for Nursing school in Ohio. I started there the fall of 2013. I got rid of my apartment and moved in with my mother and my grandma depending on which day of the week it was. I put all my furniture in storage. I was broker than broke. I only had enough money to put gas in my car to drive back and fourth to school and pay that storage bill. I ate launchable and drank kid juice boxes for lunch almost every day. I attended school Monday-Friday from 8am-2pm and because I still had to work almost full time, some nights I would have to leave straight from work and drive to Ohio. I end of failing OB I think by 3 points and I had to retake that class which pushed me back 3 months. I finally had graduated from LPN in December of 2015.

After that I took my N-clex exam and I failed it the first time. I had passed 2nd time in May of 2016 becoming a LPN.

By the fall of 2016 I was back in school. One school I was looking into to get my Bachelors wanted me to have chemistry 1 and 2. I got through chemistry 1 just fine but chemistry 2 I was struggling. I just couldn’t get it. When I do it when the class I was good but when I was doing it on my own I kept missing the mark. Doing it on your own is what really counts, especially on test date. I got a random letter in the mail from Davenport University. At the time I don’t think I knew much of their program or that they even had one. The first thing I did was looked into what pre-requisites I needed and all I needed to know was they accepted my “C” that I had in biology and I did not need chemistry 2 only chemistry 1. I was a little hesitant at first but with out too much thought I dropped chemistry 2 and decided I was rolling with Davenport. I was a little hesitant because I wasn’t sure at the time I would be accepted into the program. The only way I was getting from point A to point B was to work point A like its point Z, I feel like that’s somebody word right there.

By I believe April of 2017 I received my acceptance letter. Best day ever. Davenport had accepted all my pre requisites from my previous schools. I did not have to take anything but my nursing courses. I felt this school was a good fit for me. It was a longer route compared to some 1 year programs. Keeping my end goal in mind I knew I needed to have my Bachelors, because your girl is getting her Doctorate in midwifery and I need my Bachelors in order to get there. Davenport was going to take me more time but I appreciated having the summers off and not having to drive to Ohio every day.

I was originally expected to graduate in May of 2020 but of course another fork in the road. I had failed Med surg 2 by about 17 points. That pushed my graduation date back to May of 2021.

School had started back for me in January of 2020 and I passed Med surg 2. I was finally on my way to OB. I started my OB course the fall of 2020. I am so blessed that I had the privilege of not working much, where I was able to focus on my OB rotation. But of course because of covid, I did not get to have an OB clinical. I just could not believe it. I was hurt. Thankfully I expressed to my professors my passion for OB in a stern yet tactful and they heard me very loud and clear. I am so thankful for the phone call from my professor, that she placed me right where I wanted to be.. I did my preceptorship at Henry Ford Macomb in the special care unit but since my instructor was very well known on the unit for her expertise in teaching and leadership. I was able to get the best experience ever. I learned a lot from the NICU which is the unit she worked on, but I had lots of opportunities to cross train and see the labor and delivery, post-partum, and breast feeding classes. She also knew my desires and made sure I had got everything I wanted out of my experience.

I just knew I get hired there since I had did my preceptorship there. I needed to have 6 months of experience. I stopped letting people tell me I needed to start on a med surg unit before going into a specialty. I knew I wanted to be in OB since I was in my mother’s womb, I am very sure of that LOL. Jeremiah 1;5 I knew you before I formed you in your mother’s womb. Before you were born I set you apart and appointed you as my prophet to the nation. (NLT). I wasn’t accepting anything less than a labor and delivery position or in my case post-partum. I was determined and I was gone do whatever to make sure my first job was somewhere right where I wanted to be even it that meant packing up my condo and moving to Texas with my best friend.

Fast forward to after graduation, yet again I was met face to face with taking the Nclex again. I’m guessing by now you should have concluded that I am not the best test taker. It took me 4x before I actually passed my Nclex.

I went to DMC open interview in September and I knew without a shadow of a doubt I wasn’t leaving until I had me a position. That is exactly what happened. My supervisor who I was interviewing with looked me dead in the face and said “I want you”.

I had a post -partum position lined up to start October, then it was pushed back to beginning of November because I had not passed my nclex for the 3rd time the end of October. My supervisor was holding the position for me. After November she could no longer hold it. At this point I had to move on with my life in a sense cause I had put all other areas of my life on hold to focus on this test. I told myself I was taking the whole month of November without studying and I would start back in December and prepare to test again the beginning of 2022.

My supervisor text me the beginning of December telling me she had a position for me. I thought it was for another job tile outside of RN because I had made it clear that I didn’t plan on testing again until the new year. After our conversation I went on the site to see what was available. There was only like 2 days open in January and they were towards the end of the month. I hadn’t plan on taking it that late in January. There was a date in December and I felt spirit lead to book it. I started studying in December and I only took Sundays off. I gave myself 16 days to study and I only did 1 hour a day. To my surprise I passed the 4th time. I kept my test day to myself.

I start telling family members once I saw I had a licensed number up there. Immediately thereafter I text my new supervisor that I had passed my test. That same night I had reapplied for the position, the next day she did what she had to do and by the 3rd day I had another offer letter from DMC in my email. I also emailed my 2 supervisors at my current jobs so they can increase my pay immediately. I eaRNed it!!

I will officially be starting my new position as a post-partum nurse on February 14, 2022. I am excited and that day cant get here fast enough.

As I close out this blog I hope I said something to encourage you to keep going no matter what it looks like. Today, just seems like a terrible day to give up. If you could only see what is on the other side of your obedience you wouldn’t dream of quitting. We never know Gods plan when we are in the middle of it. During the worst of circumstances, He is there and has a plan to turn our situation into good. We just have to trust Him. Not knowing God’s Plan I will admit can be scary but I know that its perfect and its mapped out to perfection just for you.

No one. NOT A SINGLE SOUL -will work for YOUR dream harder than you will. Cry if you have to, but don’t stop pushing. DREAMS ARE COMING TRUE EVERY SINGLE DAY!! Why not yours? It may have taken you a little longer than someone else, but baby girl GUESS WHAT? When your children ask you “ what did you want to be when you were a kid”, don’t you want your response to be “I wanted to be exactly who and where I am right now! Instead of feeding them lame excuses on why you didn’t achieve your goal? Yea, me too. See you at the top sis. Happy Saturday.