They don't come very often. They are like those rare times that seem too good to be true, and the whole time you keep expecting something to happen, yet nothing ever does. My Monday night shift was an easy shift.
We only had one patient the entire night. We didn't even get the patient until 10pm and once we got them settled, called the doctor, and got all the paperwork in, it was 11:30pm. The patient never used their call light, never had any pain, and slept the whole night except when we went to get blood at 4am. We kept expecting house resource (our charge nurses) to call and let us know about a new admit or just something crazy to happen where we weren't just sitting and hanging out. But, nothing ever happened….
By the time 6:30am rolled around, the new nurse came on for the day shift and she was just as shocked as we were when we first realized we only had one patient. It really is a rare occasion and trust me, we weren't complaining.
I had prayed right before I got to work in the parking lot asking God for a good night. I recently had a very hectic night shift where it seemed like I didn't even get a chance to sit and think for a second. I wasn't ready for another one of those shifts and I think God felt the same. It really was a nice break from the crazy, go-go-go nature sometimes that comes with being a nurse. A blessing like that shift is truly a blessing; a sweet gift you honestly have to be thankful for.