So this week starts the last 6 weeks of the semester, and subsequently, my junior year of nursing school! Went by so fast, it’s ridiculous.
The next 6 weeks (9 days total) I’ll be spending at a suburban hospital in my Maternity rotation. That means I’ll be hanging out with laboring women, women who’ve just given birth, and little teensy-eensy babies!
I believe they’re splitting us up into 3 sections in our various days on the floor: Labor & Delivery, NICU, and Postpartum Care. I don’t think they have a nursery at this particular hospital, so the newborns are kept with the mother in Postpartum Care. We’ll be responsible for performing assessments on the new mothers and new babies, and (hopefully) observing a ton of vaginal births and some C-sections. I’m actually really looking forward to this!
Part of the reason I’m excited is because it’s very much out of my comfort zone. First, as a man, I’m required to have a “chaperone” with me at all times when I’m with a mother. I can’t examine or assess her by myself, so another female student will have to be with me whenever that’s happening. Secondly, I was never very good with babies. They just usually cry when I hold them. Some people claim it’s just because I’m tall and have a relatively deep voice, so maybe the babies are frightened. I’d like to imagine it’s something much weirder — like I emit some strange aroma only babies can detect and it really scares them.
Well, now that I think of it, maybe it’s an aroma only babies and women can detect. Hehe.
Been very much M.I.A. lately here on AiNS. Been working very hard as Co-Chair of a local Relay For Life, as part of the American Cancer Society. It’s a lot of work, and it’s been taking up all my free time, unfortunately.
Hopefully I’ll start posting regularly again. Maybe nothing long, just small tidbits that people can read quickly.
Hope you’re all well!
Adventures in Nursing 