My Best Attempt At Writing About Birth

It is hard to even explain how unbelievably beautiful, healing, amazing, and life changing this miracle called birth is.

Seriously. It was unreal. It took me to a place of complete vulnerability; healing and progress began in ways that I needed; the face to face human connections were out of this world; and there was such a ridiculously beautiful true love and acceptance for this mother and her baby (and most importantly, I think, I felt more love and acceptance for myself.)

My nursing cohorts and I had hopes that the labor and delivery experience would be meaningful to our education; that we would feel it was worth it to learn about; that we would experience things that we had never experienced before; that we would feel the time and effort was worth it no matter what area of nursing they were hoping to be working on. And well, it's safe to say that most people were so happy they did. One friend said she could have left after Day 1 and it would have been worth the cost of tuition. The clinical group even begged our instructor to do a birth a week from now so that we could do a repeat of the experience. And one guy told us it would be a CRIME to not offer the opportunity again and again to others. Honestly, I looked at each nursing student like...holy crap $#*@!!! We took a risk. We put ourselves out there to learn this thing. It was scary to do it. But it unfolded better than we ever could have imagined. It was a massive day at IMC (19 babies in one afternoon). And mostly, a massive feeling of satisfaction to know that some dear people got to have their babies and experience something beautiful for their souls.

Here's how it all went down...

The first day of clinical was in the lab and we all collaborated on the birth of a mannequin mom and baby. 

Our instructor, Tara, gave out papers with different scenarios on them with each of the different roles involved. 

I could hardly believe it when I read Certified Nurse Midwife on mine. 

I was a bundle of nerves.  Oh....it's a strange thing to meet people who know about you and perhaps expect a lot of you. Because I'm just like all of them! Seriously. I'm no different. Students told me they were nervous, too. Ah, the ice was broken quickly. And they were all so lovely and warm and happy to be there. Oh man, it was really incredible to just be there with everyone. Even though they were all so smart and competent to me that I had moments of feeling intimidated.

Our first day at the women's center arrived at 6:30 am on a Tuesday. 

And get this...I felt as if I was home. Really, really home. I don't know, I just felt drawn to this unit. And I LOVED our patients like we were already friends. It was like we had enough common thoughts and struggles and intentions that somehow we were just connected in some way. There were twins being born via C-section that I was originally assigned to. In fact, they went in shortly after the doctor came in that was so familiar to me. Anyway, that part was really amazing. I wish I could have taken pics of some of their beautiful faces. HIPPA laws prohibit this though. 

People that I did have assigned to me and the nurse I was shadowing had various backgrounds which was kind of a thrill to me. I'm glad the hospital reaches people far and wide as I believe it makes this a welcome place for all. There were single women, married women, divorced women, a mother of 10, people from multiple different religions, some that were not religious at all, and people from all over the intermountain west. 

We started right in with our first stage assessment. Tara and the hospital team created some incredible experiences for us. Parents to be seemed to be loving the anticipation. Though going all natural was difficult for a few. I mean, it's a completely new experience. Contractions set in. Pain will raise their heads. Some had to adjust their threshold to the level of labor they were in. Until the epidural started to do it's magic. People started to have some noticeable improvements in their pain, smiles, and overall radiance. And everyone agreed that it was so much easier to do the labor as a GROUP with an entire medical team serving them and preparing all the trays and tools. Plus, I think everyone eventually caught on to how fast some of the first time labors could be. Morgen needed a ride from school so I ran out to pick him up on my lunch break. When I walked back in to the labor I was attending she was pushing. Can you say fast? How about having a baby during lunch? 

The arrival was incredible. We all held a leg or an arm and supported this first time mom by being there. WOW. My heart was about to burst. We ALL felt unbelievable love and acceptance for each other that moment. It was a human experience I'll never forget.

The next weeks continued as we essentially followed the same schedule only on a different unit (maternity, nursery, NICU, postpartum, antepartum, and breast feeding classes).

And yes, I got to hold babies. I bathed and dressed and swaddled and rocked and fed babies...It may seem like a small thing, but I am guessing it was the best moment for all of us - to stand there and have these little people you love and respect help teach you about assessing newborns - to have someone touch you. To have your body and any flaws you might have just there and possibly being seen. And also to hold their little tiny hands. 

And there were also some additions to the schedule :) : Morgen got a text from his friend, Dalton, that his mom was in labor. So he got to stay at the hospital and hold a baby that day. :). Those clinicals were INCREDIBLE and some of my favorite moments of the entire semester!! LOVED working and chatting with each nurse about nursing and love and healing. How I wish we could all be working partners all the time.

Also, one member of the staff was someone I talked to about working on that unit after I graduate (she was actually leaving IMC next week and moving to McKay Dee since she just remarried and moved up there). At our clinical post conference Tara taught an incredible class on maternity. Every word that woman spoke to us was worth gold. Other additions to the schedule: ice cream therapy! YES. It was pretty awesome. Tara is truly a gifted soul and a woman of so much strength and wisdom. You can't imagine how she is able to bring our group to some moments of learning. She was valuable and gave us feedback on our papers that taught us how to really write an APA format and like it. Most of us got at least a 90 as she was so good. (How I wish she had been my nurse when I was in labor!!)

A favorite treat was talking with Morgen about his friends little sister. 

These people are truly wonderful and brought SO MUCH love and care to everyone there.

I left the maternity clinical feeling completely in awe of the entire 4 weeks and in awe of each baby that came. I love them all so much. It's an experience I'll never forget. 

XO,

B

P.S. THANK YOU for your interest!! There is some hope for this blogger to get her act together. :)