Hello everyone!  First of all, I just want to thank all of you who wrote me emails yesterday.  They were all so kind, and it was awesome to hear from you.  I was in desperate need of some encouragement, so thanks a lot. 

Yesterday was a really interesting day here, so I think I'll tell you about that.  I have just moved from dayshift to nightshift for a week.  I started by worked from 6 am to 10am on Tuesday, getting the Grubs up and ready and fed their breakfast.  I want you to imagine that you are in a room with 12 hungry, fussy infants and young toddlers who all want to be fed immediately, and then imagine that there are two of you to feed them all.  Yeah-meal times are really hectic!  They'll all be crying at once, and then they start the younger babies crying-you wouldn't believe the noise!  Anyways.  I got off at 10 so that I could sleep and prepare for my night on nightshift.  Of course, having just slept for the night, I only managed to get about a two hour nap in.  Nightshift begins at 7 pm, and as I was heading in for nightshift, I was asked if I would possibly be able to take one of the babies to the hospital to get a CT scan done.  3 kiddos had to go to the hospital for testing, and they had no one to take them without pulling people off dayshift, and as I've mentioned, we're already short staffed.  So at 6 am, after just getting off nightshift, Eric, who has been here for a year or so, Penny, who also just got here, and I loaded up the 3 kids and left.  Eric dropped me off at Jo'berg General, while he and Penny headed to another hospital, and I was on my own with a 3 week old preemie baby to find the CT scan.  The hospital is HUGE!!!!!!!!!!!  I found my way to CT fairly easily, although I attracted quite a lot of attention.  Some of you probably remember that before I left, I was wondering what it would feel like to be a part of the minority.  I felt so conspicuous,  especially carrying a tiny black baby!  Everyone was really nice, but I got so many comments on how tiny she was, and many people asked me whose baby she was.  It was a fascinating experience!  I think she's officially my favorite baby here, just because we spent to much time together yesterday!  The scan went well, I waited a few hours for the results, and then went to wait out front for my ride back to the farm.  Brendan arrived around 12, and I got back just before 1.  Although there were several times when I felt lost and confused and completely out of my element, I'm really glad I went.  After I finished, I was thinking about how nice it was to feel independent and capable!  At home I take those thins for granted, but here it's nice to be reminded.  Moving on.   Needless to say, I didn't get much sleep yesterday, and was exhausted for nightshift last night!  I spent most of the night in the nest with the tiny newborns and preemie babies.  It was such a neat experience!  They're all so tiny and sweet!  I'll have to send you some pictures of just how small and cute these babies are! 

I'm going to end there for now.  I'm supposed to be sleeping, but I'm not having much luck with that.  Love you all, and miss you terribly!

 

Amanda