I caught a baby!!!

YEA!!!! I finally caught my first baby as a CNM and let me tell you it was amazing. His mama had a hypnobirth the first time and labored like a champ. She drank root beer and ate an apple while she was transitioning! It was wonderful and my chunky friend came right at dawn. It is moments like this that remind me why I busted my butt to get through school. I know all of my deliveries won't be this fun and with the best darn picadillo made by grandma, but for a first it was awesome!

Good times are on there way. I am starting to take more call shifts next month and man I am excited. I won't be fully alone and trust me I will take whatever guidance I can get!

Finally!!!!

Hey everyone! I am so sorry about taking so long to post, but man I have been busy. I spent the first few weeks just trying to get paperwork in order. Licensure, hospital credentialing, insurance credentialing, and site orientation has put many cramps in my hands. Every state has a process and I belong to one of the most dysfunctional one! At this point I finally have my license and most of my credentialing done, but I am halted waiting to get my DEA number. It's $550 bucks! Needless to say this is still a working process.

By week three I finally got to start seeing patients. It was here that I began to remember why I have been working so hard. I am having the most wonderful complex time with some of the most interesting folks on this planet! Their struggles are very different from the population I left. For the last three years, I have been taking care of compliant Latina women who only challenge care when it conflicts with cultural considerations. Now, I am faced with constant non compliance based on overpowering social issues that supersede their current situation. I wanted a challenge and boy am I getting it! I have to create new ways to deliver my care with special considerations for the families I am taking care of. SO, far so good.

Now on to some hard core midwifery concerns! I am not going to lie. I had been having this reoccurring nightmare that I would be having a busy clinic day and not be able to visualize one cervix! I know that sounds crazy but all the way up till my first day, I keep feeling anxious and worried about my pap skills. The difference from being a student to a LICENSED midwife is that you shouldn't have to consistently call for help to visualize a cervix for a pap. I know, I know I can ask for help, but I don't wanna! I have done at least 100 spec exams, so why am I freaking myself out.

I am happy to report I only require minimal assistance with the FIRST one. Call it performance anxiety. Since then I have been able to visualize 98% of the time and placed my first IUD. Some students are lucky and get the opportunity to do this often, but I hadn't even seen one placed. Not for lack of trying, but I was working in population who relied on breastfeeding and depo as their main forms of contraception. As for IUDs, I don't like the tenculum! I feel like I am gonna rip the cervix apart. However, I have learned a cool tip on how to have the woman cough as you are closing the teneculum. Amazingly enough, she didn't even notice! One down and many to go. Our practice provides numerous IUDs every month.

As for births, I have been to 4 birth center and 2 hospital. Man, I love not admitting anyone until they are 4-5 cms! My first birth was a 20 mins after she arrived to the birth center. My big boy was 10lbs and mama had an intact perineum! Fabulous. I am officially able to catch now and boy I can't wait. I haven't delivered a baby since Dec and I miss it. So hopefully my opportunity is coming up soon. My call schedule has been awesome so far, nothing too crazy. Let's see if I feel the same by next month. Till next time and hopefully I will have caught a baby by then!