Trip to the "cold room"

Ok, so my friends will appreciate this little story (especially you Sarah). My friends know that really random and crazy things happen to me a lot. I think they used to think I made this stuff up but then they experienced some of them with me and realized that these things just happen. So Monday I had one of those experiences and all I could keep thinking was, I have to tell Sarah this when I get home.. Monday was my first day back as a nurse. I have not been a bedside nurse in 18 months. I had to drive all the way up to HOllywood at the crack of dawn for this first day. I was orienting with somebody, but since I am an experienced nurse, I did everything and he taught me the new computer charting. I was to take care of a few week old baby boy who was going to be taken off life support. How great since I will be having my very own baby boy soon. The nurse I was with was a man who has a three week old little one at home too. We both just looked at each other and thought hope we can keep this together.

We took the baby off all the equipment and he went quickly (thank goodness). Then the nurse looks at me and says I have to do a bunch of paper work why don't you go clean up and prepare the body. OH THANKS! I bathed this sweet little boy and wrapped him up and since his parents left right away, I held him and rocked him and sang to him. (please note I would never sing to a living patient cause that would probably kill them). He needed to be loved. Usually parents stay forever, and I felt bad for him that he had nobody. Then the nurse walked in (keep in mind male nurse) and caught me singing and holding the dead baby. He had this freaked out look on his face. Great now at my new job I am going to be the dead baby cuddler/singer. Not how I planned on starting off.

Here is where the story gets good. At all my other jobs the morgue comes and picks up the patient. Oh not at this place. You have to take the body down. It took me forever to find the morgue. Turns out it is called the "cold room". Then I had to get let in by security. My friend brenda went with me. And the guard opened a door and said go on in and get a gurney. We just looked at each other. You mean we have to go in this big fridge? We walked in and there were bodies in there just lying on shelves, luckily bagged. But I almost lost my breakfast. We went back upstairs got the baby and headed back down. Next we had to put the baby in this big fridge. This took more time and I saw lots of yucky things and bumped into some things that I am not really sure what they were. The best was people just kept staring at me the whole way down to the morgue. Here was this pregnant lady pushing this big old thing around, totally lost. But everybody knew where I was trying to go by the big gurney I was pushing covered in sheets. Nobody would help me. I was all over that hospital just trying to get this horrible task over with. I called my dad and when he said how is work I replied, "You will never guess what I just had to do. This new job is nothing like I thought it would be." Over all it was a great first day, at least I had some good laughs out of it.