Super exciting

This week went by pretty quickly. Monday was our suturing lab class. It was kind of informative but I don't feel comfortable at all with suturing yet. They said we could borrow the instruments (needle holder, forceps, scissors) to practice on our own time but we have to find and acquire sutures. I'm supposed to be in my hospital tomorrow with my preceptor so maybe he can give me a bag full. We will see. I got kind of annoyed bc there is a girl in my program who is always at least 30 minutes late to everything. She doesn't really participate and bond with the rest of the midwives. On lab day, it was no different --- she came in late after we all had to wait for her to arrive. She also came unprepared -- no chicken breasts. She asked if anyone had any extra and someone volunteered that I had an extra breast (which I did.) I said sure and she waltzed over and took my whole package. Didn't say thank you or act gracious or grateful that I had given her my chicken! She just acted entitled to it. I was so mad -- I wasn't the only one with extra but I was the only one who offered. So freakin rude!

We also had our first midwifery skills lab on Tuesday. We talked about determining fetal presentation, lie, and attitude. It's amazing to me at how much of what I do is based on touch and feel. V*rney's recommends feeling all sorts of circular things with our fingertips to estimate their size then measure to see if we're correct. Speaking of my measuring tape...I have no idea where mine ran off to. Hmmm.

My preceptor emailed me today to touch base with me about when I can do my 24-hr call shifts. He wants me to be on call with him first but I'm not available for the next two weekends (bummer.) So we'll have to work that out. I'm not worried about call hours or my delivery numbers. My practice is big enough to where I should be able to get 2-5 deliveries every time I'm on call. We're required to do 40 before we can graduate. Our call hours are continuous until December. The midwifery circle in this area is pretty close-knit and many of my instructors are very familiar with how our preceptors practice. I heard that my preceptor is one of the only midwives in the area who delivers breech/twins/etc. So I'm super excited I will learn that from him. He's been a midwife longer than I've been on the planet. I'm eager to see his practice-style. I haven't had much opportunity to work with him in the office due to our conflicting schedules.

It's so interesting to see how my fellow midwifery-students are developing their own preferences and thoughts about how they want to practice. I feel like I'm in the process of seeing how I want to do things with my patients...being the decision maker is very exciting. And my approach to how I will practice is shaping more and more every day. I feel like I'm getting closer and closer to my life's dream and it's super exciting. Soon I will catch my very first baby. I can't wait.