Coming Full Circle

What an amazing thing to feel the joy of the baby moving inside of me after the heartbreak of two miscarriages. I can not wait to meet this little miracle.

A Different Side of the Storm

As some of you know, Kansas had a big ice storm come through last week. While I really don’t enjoy dealing with ice storms, I experienced this ice storm in a way I never have before…
The storm moved through last Monday night and left about 1 - 1-1/2” of ice on the ground. I worked Monday night and while at work I was told that I might get called in to work on Tuesday (my now normal day off) to help. I pretty much walked through the door Monday night and my phone rang to let me know that I needed to come to work Tuesday afternoon.

My husband and I woke up Tuesday morning to discover we lost our electricity at some point during the night. We weren’t too concerned because we have a fireplace downstairs. I went to work early to shower in the locker rooms at the station. I think that shift I ended up working became my initiation into dispatching. (Last week was my first week on my own.) I was busy for 8 hours nonstop taking phone calls from the public about downed power lines, no electricity, trees catching on fire, cars catching on fire, you name it I received it. The most frustrating part of the night was listening to people whine about not having electricity and wondering how they were going to function. By far the best call of the night was from a woman who wanted a police officer to stop by her house in the morning to wake her up for work. When I told her we didn’t have the resources to provide that service she started whining about what she was going to do. Then she asked me to send an officer by to take her out to buy candles. I provided her with the Red Cross number and told her that maybe someone there could help her out. I don’t believe any of those people ever gave one thought to the dispatchers or cops who were working to help them out, who didn’t have power, who were hungry because they didn’t have a way to heat anything up in their homes or who took showers at the station so they could have warm water. Even the police station was running on a generator.

We did manage to find food to eat. My husband drove around the town looking for anywhere that was open. He brought us three pizzas, which ended up feeding a lot of people. The local Holiday Inn graciously cooked food for the emergency workers. One of our cops brought back cartons of takeout food to us dispatchers who were stuck on the phone lines all night. It really was neat to see how the community pulled together to help people in need. There were people transporting the elderly to emergency shelters and calling us to make sure no one was left behind. There was even one guy who volunteered to tow people out of ditches all night long for free.

This storm really changed my view of the aftermath of bad weather. It really gave me an appreciation for the people who are willing to help out and who do their jobs without complaining. Now if only my power would stay on…

Make up my mind...

So, I spoke too soon about no more jumping around to different shifts. Last night I was told that they would prefer to move me to day shift because I’m new and there is a relatively new girl on swings. She has been there since May. Apparently every Sunday night we will be working together by ourselves and there are a couple of upcoming days where we would be working together just the two of us. So, instead of me working swings for the next three months, they want me to go to days permanently. The only problem with days, most of the cops are grouchy and rude. I was thinking I would get some time to find my niche while working with people who have more patience and understanding towards new people, but it’s not meant to be. I guess God is in control and knows what’s best for me. Maybe once they figure out I’m pregnant they’ll be kinder, but I doubt it!

The good thing about days... I'll get Christmas Eve and New Years Eve nights off. That's exciting!

No more midnights...

The last two weeks I have worked midnights. I can definitely say that midnights are not for me. At this point in my life, they leave me too tired to do anything. The people that work on the midnight shift are extremely nice and I really enjoy them, however I just don’t like working all night long. I actually feel that I get less time with my husband than if I work any other shift. It has definitely been a learning experience, one that I’m kind of glad to put behind me.

But the end of my night shift training means…

I am done with training. My last day was last night, and it is definitely safe to say I am glad to be done. No more having to read daily evaluations, and no more having someone hover over me telling me what to do. (Okay, that might not change for awhile.) The best thing of all is no more jumping around to different shifts with different days off. I will be on the same shift with the same days off for a while, so I will be able to actually plan things in the future. It’s kind of nice to know I might get a life again.