Good evening everyone, hope your Monday has been a productive one!
It feels like ages since I've written in this blog, and on reflection it has been ages. Honestly, with the midwifery course, one week blurs into the next and before you know it, you're in placement and then off placement and then it's Christmas and then it's not! Time sure flies when you're having fun and by fun I mean you've got an overrun and understaffed labour ward and a tea and coffee shortage.
It's not all bad, but there's never a dull moment in maternity. In December I went to Labour Ward, I had a good time and felt positive about it at the end, however the beginning of it was a big adaptation for me. I had only ever experienced low risk birth and deliveries and Labour Ward made me feel as if the midwives had no faith in their women, and I just wanted to rip the CTG monitors off of the wall, pop them on a birthing ball and massage them with some Clary Sage. But midwifery isn't always that clear cut.
I came round eventually to the labour ward midwife's way of life, and the adrenaline and scrubs that came with it; I really did find my feet and got lovely feedback from my mentors and women and got 9 deliveries, making my total 10. Only 30 to go (internal scream).
After labour ward I headed for the neonatal unit. The buzz of delivery suite compared to the NICU would mean I would be so bored - at least that's what I was told, and that's what I prepared myself for, how wrong I was…. shouldn't I have learnt by now to never underestimate or try to predict anything on this course?!
I wasn't expecting to like NICU, but I did, I enjoyed myself hugely and found the work so rewarding. I am very passionate about continuity of care, and I think that's probably one of the reasons I enjoyed NICU so much. I knew the babies, I knew the parents and they knew me, and we built up good, trusting relationships.
Looking after individual babies may not be as thrilling as delivering a baby but when you're in a room with 6 special care babies, you do more exercise silencing sats monitors than I've ever done on the ward, I genuinely heard the alarms in the shower when I got home.
It probably helped that the ward was rammed, the unit was full, and was often closed to new admissions when I arrived on shift. But all of our babies were in it for the long-haul and weren't going anywhere fast, so we cracked on and carried on growing and warming and feeding these precious little ones.
I developed my confidence quite quickly, despite the fact I was scared of how small they were at first, but prems are so feisty they always remind you how resilient and strong they are, and they all know exactly what they want. For the majority of my placement I was autonomous, I had to be, they needed my help and I was glad I could support them. I think that's probably what made the placement so fulfilling for me, I really feel I made a difference there, and I got cards from Mums when I left thanking me for my care.
I wish I hadn't allowed people to cloud my judgement of non-midwifery placements, particularly NICU, these placements have truly affected and improved my practice and I have learnt so much from my experiences. I honestly believe you just have to embrace what this course throws at you, everyone's experience and development and journey is different and midwifery will just carry you through the wildest ride of your life.
N x
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