[NICUplease]

I am a pre-nursing student... applying to schools in OK. I have always wanted to be a nurse and I'm so excited that I'm actually applying to schools now. I love kids. I love the idea of new life. When my son was in peds cardio ICU for his heart surgery (15 mos old.)... I thought that that would be something I'd like to do too. But when my son was in NICU I remembered appreciating the nurses so much! I know "loving babies" just isnt enough to be a NICU nurse. So now, I'm going back and forth between NICU and peds cardio. How do I know what is for me? How did you guys figure out that neonatal was for you?

[WeeBabyRN]

I knew NICU was really for me about 6 months into my job. Somedays loving babies is what gets me through my shift. The opinions you get here will be biased, it seems like most (if not all) of the nurses who work here like their jobs for the most part. There are things we don't like about our jobs, but that is how it is with any job.

[mybabies]

I discovered I wanted to do NICU when I did an extern over the summer while I was in nursing school. I would recommend since you are just starting out to see if you can extern in these two areas. Or at the very least be a tech or secretary in the area. I have also found that many hospitals will let you shadow a nurse for a day or so and see if you like it. Just a few ideas.