This might be just a simple smiley face balloon to some, but when you have chaos going on all around you, something so simple as a smiley face balloon can get you through your day. I don't call myself a superhero, and I most definitely do not wear a cape. But, some people look at a nurse as a superhero. To me, I'm doing what I love. I'm not only making an impact on a child's life but I am saving that child's life. So here is my letter to all the pediatric nurses out there or to anyone who wants to become a pediatric nurse. Life is not all about holding the babies, feeding them, and cuddling them, but it's also about helping the child when they absolutely need you, being there to support the family during this time, and most importantly being that nurse they never forget.

Dear pediatric nurses, future pediatric nurses, or anyone willing to listen,

There are so many ways to be that "superhero" without working in the hospital in the pediatric intensive care unit, neonatal intensive care unit, or even the oncology floor for kids. Pediatric nurses can even be outside the hospital in the community. I've experienced both, not only in the hospital, but outside the hospital. Inside the hospital, your feet might be tired, your back hurts, and your stomach might be currently growling because you missed lunch again today. Working in the intensive care unit, you might have a patient hooked up to ten medications, breathing on a ventilator, and constantly needing sedation every hour on the hour. Or it could be the other way around where you are working on the floor and have six patients to take care of: two being babies, two toddlers, one elementary school aged child, and one teenager. Outside the hospital, you can be the person in the clinic constantly seeing the child for their check-ups after their open heart surgery. Or you could be that school nurse there for the child everyday when they are "feeling sick" because they are so hungry and have no food at home.

As you can see, there are so many options to take in the pediatric world. But my advice to you is to open your heart fully for your patients. Johnson & Johnson can make it look so easy by just singing a song with a patient to get her to take her medication. Sometimes, it can be that easy, but sometimes, it's not that easy at all. Sometimes you have a screaming kicking child who refuses for you to give them any medication, don't give up. That is my large word of advice for you, do not give up. You thought nursing school was tough, well it just gets tougher. Yeah, the papers sucked, you might have had a bad clinical instructor, or you might fail an exam. Well, guess what, that is the least of your worries once you get that license and become a nurse. Your employer does not care if you failed your pharmacology exam. They care about if you know how much of a medication to give, why you are giving it, and if you can properly give it. Yeah, you might have failed that pharmacology exam that had the drug you are giving on it, but you won't forget the drugs you need to give on a daily basis in order to save a kid's life. Heck, you might just be giving the kid Tylenol for an earache that you don't think they really have but they have been down to your clinic five times in the last hour crying and the parent wants you to just give them medication. But, if you look at it, you are still impacting that child.

There might be times when you want to give up at the end of your shift. You want to just leave and say you are done with it because you are sick of having the aches and pains. Maybe you are sick of the broken heart you get after work because of the child that died during your shift. But know, the family has time to go home and morn over the loss of their family member, child, etc., but as a nurse, we have to finish our shift, no matter what. I remember that happening to me and not one ounce of me wanted to finish the shift, but I knew that the next patient coming in needed me and so I needed to be that nurse who had her backbone and stuff together. I'm not saying being a pediatric nurse is the hardest nursing out there. But it's the path I chose, I in no way could be that geriatric nurse doing chest compressions on a 96 year old lady because her family wants that done for her. You might not be the type of person that can do chest compressions on a 6 week old baby when that child no longer has a heart beat. There is a type of nursing out there for everyone, even if it is just behind a desk pushing papers. I know I could never do that, but some nurses would rather be on the business side of things instead of out in the patient world.

But just remember, you are that superhero to someone. You might even be that superhero to that child sitting in the hospital bed looking at you frightened because he is scared of what might be coming next. During that questionable time the child might not remember you are his superhero, but afterwards when you bring him his favorite popcicle or lollipop, you can become that superhero again. So to all the pediatric nurses out there, know that you can make it through the days that you never thought were going to end. You can get through the days that might have started off as the worst day ever. There were numerous days where I have walked in, coffee in hand, thinking it was going to be the best day ever but it ended up being the worst.

To all the nursing students that are wanting to become a pediatric nurse because they think you get to hold babies all day, and feed them, and cuddle them. Well...sorry to say, sometimes that does happen, but that is not the reality of it. You might walk into a room of six babies crying and four of them are your patients but it isn't all sunshine and rainbows in the pediatric world. You might be thinking well, I want to be a pediatric nurse because it's easier than adults, well guess what, we still get code browns just like in the adult world and sometimes it is WAY worse, trust me, I've cycled through my memory bank and it's not pretty. If you want to be a pediatric nurse, you actually want it because you want to make a difference in that child's life.

To all my fellow nurses out there, remember there is more than just you in the world. There is a whole team of nurses that are there by your side. You might work at a clinic by yourself, but reach out and you might find someone else who does the same job as you and, you are able to share ideas with each other. You might work in a hospital where you don't know many of your co-workers because the floor is so big, ask your neighboring nurse for support. We all need to support each other. You might be going through the roughest day of your life and that simple smiley face balloon might just make you stop where you are and laugh. I know that's what it did to me. I saw it staring at me as I went back and forth between the medication room and the patient's room and in my red-eyed, frizzy hair, growling stomach stupor I saw that simple balloon just sitting there smiling at me and it made me realize that I don't need to go through my day alone.

So to everyone reading this article, this is not the whole truth of pediatric nursing. I could write about it all day long and it could become a twenty page article, but instead, this is the basics of just an everyday reality of being a pediatric nurse. Yeah, it might be true for some other areas of nursing but I come from a pediatric background and I am here to support my fellow pediatric nurses. So as you kick your feet up after a long 16 hour shift with your glass of wine or maybe sippy cup of wine because you were too tired to fetch any other glass, know that you are not alone and other nurses out here are more than willing to support you.