soxley

Ugh! When I see the topic of this type of post, I cross my fingers and hope the OP is at least older than me...alas. Another young one worried about being too old. This thought has NEVER crossed my mind (and I'll be turning 38 when I graduate). But considering it has crossed yours, I really and truly believe age is simply a number. If you act "old" your peers and instructors will treat you as such. You're going to do great, but only if you believe in yourself and work hard.

My son was in the PICU off and on for months during cancer treatments and almost exclusively for the month prior to his death. It was never a question of if I would be welcome in the room. Thankfully this wasn't an issue with the hospital my son was at. Im still a student so I don't have the real life experience, however, I can't imagine how this is actually an issue. This situation can be so scary for kids and parents alike. I couldn't imagine my child spending nights there alone without me. A 16 year old patient might have a different perspective but for my son who was diagnosed at 7 years old, it sounds ludicrous to keep parents away.

My first day of clinical we did patient care stuff like baths, bed changes, vs, etc. We also sort of tagged onto a CNA and assisted them (passing out food trays, feeding, that kind of stuff). Have fun!

I started with my first semester of my ADN program when my little munchkin was 7 months old. She just turned one and I'm in the second semester. She is my only little one at home. That being said, I am glad I didn't wait any longer. When they are that young, they sleep quite a lot. They're also less mobile so I was able to get some studying in during tummy time, play mat time, etc. now that she's moving around a lot, it's a lot harder to get anything accomplished until she goes to sleep (and when she goes to sleep, I'm ready to go to sleep too!!). It's, of course, your choice. But it never gets easier (until, maybe, they head off to college themselves!), so I'd be hesitant to delay things too long....it will be difficult to do at nearly any stage with kiddos at home, but like so many before you, it can totally be done. Good luck!

Ebooks!!! I love them HOWEVER I am not a fan of the kindle platform. I love my kindle for reading novels, etc, but it's just not terribly functional IMO for a textbook. I bought, through the bookstore, an ebook bundle that was through pageburst and have it on my iPad (as well as on my laptop). The platform, although there are improvements to be made, is a million times better than kindle. The search, the copy/paste, etc. fantastic. I'll never have a "real" book again.

I love PERRLA software for all those APA papers!!! It made my life so much easier!!! They have a demo video on their site and a free 30 day trial. I tried it for one paper and was hooked. I didn't have a separate planner because I keep everything on my gmail calendar (so I can share them with my man so he knows when he needs to watch the baby), but I totally see the benefit to a paper planner. Prior to first semester, bought a lot of stuff I wish I had waited to purchase. I had every recommended additional book, etc for first semester and didn't use them at all. So this semester I think I'm waiting to buy anything until I know for sure. Amazon prime can get you whatever you need in 2 days. :-)

I'm 37. Will be 38 when I graduate. Age means nothing. I feel lucky I have so much perspective and focus. I'm not sure I would have straight out of high school. So happy birthday!!!! And be proud that you've started the journey now. :-)

Buy! But I'm all for ebooks. So I'd say get the ebook version if you can. I love them.

.....

I guess I should also add that I'm super happy and feel very lucky I am not working. Between the 10 month old and school, I'm wiped. I couldn't imagine having to work as well. Good luck!!

I quit my job as well and we're doing it on one income. It's tough!! But we almost never eat out, never buy anything spur of the moment, plan meals for a week or two at a time, and have made a budget and stick to it religiously. The hardest part was breaking my Starbucks addiction. :-). It takes a lot of dedication and it also takes a lot of time that you have to allow for...otherwise it's really easy to pick up food to go because you have been in school all day.

Love, love, love my iPad for my books and online content/learning. I was super excited to use it for notes in class...I got one note, Notabillity, a fancy keyboard, etc all with the intention of using it for taking notes in class. But it didn't really work out that way. For me, it's just easiest to take notes the old fashion way. During class I follow along with the powerpoints or look at charts, graphics, etc on the iPad but note taking turned out not to be realistic for me. I still use my laptop or desktop for writing papers and stuff that doesn't work on the iPad, but I don't ever take it to school.

Hi everybody! I just had to say a quick hi! I'm in my first semester of the program at CSN (full time RN track) and it's been really awesome so far. I've hardly been back to all nurses since classes started and ran across your thread and it brought back how exciting this time is!! These first weeks are a flurry but you get the hang of it fast. You guys will all do great!! I just wanted to note that if you are an alternate, make sure you show up to the orientations (I assume they have two for the spring students like they do for the fall ones?). In our group, many full time people didn't show up to the second orientation so I believe all of the alternates in attendance got chosen. From what I could tell, it seemed that there were still two or three spots left (and no one to fill them). The moral of this story is....don't give up. Show up! Good luck guys!! See ya at the K building in the Spring!!