Child Life Month

March marked the 9th month of me working as a child life specialist. This is significant because when I was first hired, 9 months was with the deadline of me getting re-certified. At first that seemed like it wasn't going to be that tough, but as the months went on and the classes went on (an on and on...) I was a little doubtful that it was going to happen. In fact, it was going to be by the skin of my teeth.

Lucky for me, the hospital adjusted its time frame on un-certified child life specialists from 9 months to 18 months. Although this relieved a TON of stress for me, I still just desperately wanted to pass. I mean, it had been hanging over my head for close to a year! I just wanted it over. So a lot of time in March was spent in pouring over the books. I felt like the more I studied the more stressed I felt about remembering it all, and the more I felt like I needed to add to my reading list. Nothing to do but keep on reading, highlighting, and making flashcards. I think the stack was 6" high by the time I was done.

In the meantime, there was a lot going on at the hospital! It was officially Child Life Month, and we celebrated with  a lot of perks and treat. For starters, we got to wear jeans on Fridays (though I don't work that day), and we got a few lunches catered. We got treated to new t-shirts and cute sippy cups and all sorts of fun. We had a few dress up days - St. Patrick's Day for one. (Themed t-shirts have become a very big deal, and all my coworkers have stacks of cute tee's for all the holidays. My office mate talked me into getting a chicken-themed St. Patrick's Day shirt, and I shall that I felt so dumb wearing it. (Feelin' Clucky!) I think I'm going to take a pass on holiday shirts from here on out.

One of our days was a "throw back Thursday" and we could wear any t-shirt we wanted that was any sort of throw back. I went with a sweatshirt that had a '67 Ford Bronco on it. (Best I could do from Smith's Marketplace late the night before.) My cute office mates Ashley and Becca went with their beloved 90's designer, Lisa Frank. I wouldn't have known her name, but seeing her art brought back a flood of memories. They were so cute - jelly shoes, butterfly hair clips, the works. So cute. I'm not up for stuff like that. 

Other happy things happened at the hospital - for one thing, my niece who is in medical school had a one-day rotation in the NICU and let me know she was there. Of course I zipped right up to the fourth floor so I could get a hug. I sure love her. 

Well finally the dreaded day came. March 22. I was so nervous I could barely sleep. Finally it came close to the time to go and I made my way up to the UofU testing center so I could take my dreaded certification test. I would like to say here that I have a lot of faith in blessings. I received a priesthood blessing from Troy, and in it he said that that I would find the answers to be obvious to me. I put my faith in that, and could only trust that I had studied enough and would get the help I needed. 

One hundred and fifty questions. Four hours. What a marathon. But to tell you the truth, once I sat down and took a deep breath and opened the test and answered the first question, I felt so much better. I'm not going to say that I found the test to be easy - it wasn't. But I did feel certain of my answers. They actually did feel obvious to me. I forced myself to reread through the entire test twice just to make sure. But I felt confident when I hit that submit button, and what a relief it was when I immediately got notified that I had passed. To be totally honest, it's possible that I only just barely passed. And it's possible that I got 100%. I will never know. They don't tell you!! It makes me a little nutty thinking about it, but I'm trying to just let that go and be so so so grateful that I passed. 

Everyone asks me how my job is different now. Did I get a pay raise? Did my schedule change? Was I given more responsibility? Nope. The difference is now that I get to keep my job and not get fired. I can't imagine a better way to celebrate Child Life Month.

PHEW and Thank Heavens and PHEW PHEW PHEW.