Can I handle peds?

[jj16, BSN]

 Hi!  I’m a second career nurse - former special education teacher with a master in education/developmental delays. I became a nurse after one of my children developed a severe childhood epilepsy (Doose syndrome) and we spent the better part of a year trying to get his horribly uncontrolled seizures under control. I was so inspired by the incredible nurses who literally saved his life (and ours truly). My motivation to become a nurse was 10000% pediatrics. I’m a mom to four amazing kids and kids are just my favorite. At some point in nursing school though I started to worry about how my heart could handle kiddos who have poor outcomes. I’ve spent my first year as a nurse in this pandemic in a busy city hospital IMCU. I had mostly super sick COVID Patients at first and the rest are complex adults with tons of comorbidities. I love the challenge and the complexity but I keep thinking I would love to be in peds - I thinj my disposition/endless compassion and experiences would make me good at it. I am just not sure if my heart can handle it. Sorry for the long post. Has anyone else felt this way?  Help!  

[Rogue1]

Follow your heart and gut--try peds out!  There are many different types of units/jobs within a peds hospital or clinic--you can move around until you find the one that appeals most to you.  I have been working in peds (acute care, med/surg floor) for 5 years and always deal with the 'oh how can you bear to see those children suffer' comment from outsiders by reminding the commenter that these kids come to us already in some type of distress and we are the ones who get to participate in relieving their suffering and guiding them on their path to healing, so how could I not love this job?