Clinical Placement - Week Two - The Birth Centre

Bonjour beautiful bloggles!

Week 2 is over and I’m more emotional than a dog-owner watching Marley and Me. And let’s be honest, that film is killer.

I had 3 more shifts in the birth centre this week and I feel like I’ve come away stuffed full of knowledge, experience and pride. To top it all off I ended my last shift by delivering my very first baby!!!! Woohoo! You can read about that here!

I had a couple of shifts with my sign off mentor this week and I’ve got to say she is FANTASTIC. I feel like the woman is a walking talking font of knowledge and a master of multi tasking. She enters the room like a tranquil tornado and can deliver a baby, keep the Mum calm, manage the other midwives in the birth centre and explain to me in detail about everything she’s doing all-at-the-same-time! Both of my mentors are inspiring me so much and setting a great example of the kind of midwife that I want to be.

I had 2 more witnesses in 2 days…one a very quick water birth that was great to be a part of. I think the Mum was shocked that the baby came so quickly but that is so common with multiparous (women who have already birthed a baby) women from what I have seen so far. It’s a lot to do with the cervix not taking as long to efface and dilate but also I think the woman and her body know what to expect and so the pushing comes a little easier and familiar if they had a fairly uncomplicated first labour. 

My last witness was a lovely birth with a Mum of 4 (now 5!) who really appreciated my support. I had assumed, stupidly, that as she had already done this 4 times she might not need as much encouragement and may have wanted me to take a step back leaving it to her husband to be her support, boy was I wrong. Her husband was very present in the room but more as an observer during her labour, he was a lovely man but it seemed apparent that he would only come to her if she asked him too and they both seemed happy with this distance. I stayed by her side, holding her hand, helping her control her breathing through each contraction and making sure she was drinking plenty of water as the gas and air (entonox) can make you feel very spaced out and give you a dry mouth…especially after hours of panting through contractions. She didn’t want me to leave her so I sat in almost complete silence by her side for most of the labour. She had only briefly been introduced to me after handover from a colleague but immediately she wanted my support.

The amount of trust these women and their families bestow upon the midwives and students is just beautifully overwhelming and makes me feel so grateful for their belief in us. The silence is something that becomes second nature to you as a student midwife. There’s no awkwardness or need to speak all the time and it can be very peaceful to have such calm in-between the contractions.

As I was sat next to her on the floor by the birth centre bed (they’re less of a bed…more like a sofa with a bean bag on to detract from the medicalised labour ward rooms) I was able to monitor the fetal heart beat with a handheld monitor every 15 minutes to ensure that it was recovering from the normal decelerations that occur during the compression from contractions. There was no need to do a vaginal examination, as there are other none-invasive signs that the labour is progressing to the transitional phase. With this lady in particular, although her waters had ruptured earlier, as the baby’s head moved down more of the fluid began to gush out and there were signs of bulging, if she had the urge to push we would let her go with her body as we knew she was ready to deliver. Her husband came over to give her support as she started to push so that I could help the midwife prepare for the delivery with towels and opening the delivery pack… becoming more involved in the actual delivery was so exciting!!

Once baby was born and put onto the mother’s chest it was all very quiet and peaceful in the room. Usually when babies are born there is an eruption of emotion and pure elation in the room. Tears and cries of joy fill the silence but with this lady I felt a very different air of tranquillity so I kept quiet and busied myself with helping the midwife. I’d later find out that this silence actually was golden…What I loved most about this birth was that the lady and her husband were Muslim and after their lovely little girl was born they had a few religious rites that they needed to perform. The father put sweet water onto the baby’s gums and recited an ‘adhan’ in his daughter’s right ear so that it is the first words she hears... this is why it was so quiet after the birth. An adhan is a call to prayer is used in the mosques daily "there is no deity but God, and Muhammad is the messenger of God.”

A while later after the mother had bathed and dressed (you would have NO idea she had just birthed her 5^th child from looking at her!!) you could tell that she was just brimming with oxytocin haha! She was in such a happy, chatty, excited mood and as a student I was able to sit and talk to her whilst the midwife completed the admin for her discharge. I took the opportunity to ask her all about the rites of birth in Islam… she was so enthusiastic and knowledgeable! I find myself in awe of religious people and a little jealous of their ability to have so much faith and conviction in their beliefs. I soon realised that I’m going to experience a lot of different religions and really I should research to try and understand their different traditions so that I can be respectful and accommodating for the woman and her family when caring for them.

So there you have it, my last witness and I’m now birthing babies with the help of my mentors. I wanted to do a separate blog-post about my first hands on birth so I’ll get that written and posted ASAP! I’m bursting with excitement to tell you all about it!

Clinical Placement - Week One - The Birth Centre

I feel like I need to pinch myself, I've just finished my first week of placement in the birth centre at my placement hospital but I still feel like I'm dreaming!
I'm bloody-actually-flipping doing it! Although the last year and a half has flown by so fast there's still a huge part of me that can't believe what I've achieved (and I'm a teensy bit proud of myself too but shhh).

My first 5 weeks at Uni were intense and nerve wracking but SO much fun. I've met some lovely ladies (there are no men on our course booo) and my cohort are a diverse bunch of confident, caring and capable women who all strike me as super passionate about women-centred care. So YAY :)

All my stressing and worrying about making friends or feeling under qualified were soon assuaged when I realised that we were all pretty much in the same boat. It was lovely to feel that from day one we were all supporting each other, even if it was just helping someone find the loos!

There is a great mix of students ranging from 18 to 50yr olds, originating from many types of academic and social backgrounds. Some, like me, have taken access courses or A'levels but there are also people with no qualifications that have some fantastic work experience under their belt. There are a lot of us (63!!) so we've had some issues with small classrooms and communication blips but all in all we are working together like one big ol' happy family and everyone is friendly, patient and kind.

Of course there are smaller cliques forming within the cohort but everyone is comfortable mixing and working together as a team which is so lovely.

Don't wanna brag but I reckon that if there was some kind of generation-game-styley-name-

memory-quiz-thang I could remember the whole cohort....that's how friendly it is.

So yeh....I'm chuffed :D

We hit the books big style and after a couple of awkward days 'breaking the ice' and finding our feet, we were straight into lectures. I'm really enjoying learning again, especially the biosciences module which is similar to my access course but more in depth. We're also looking at midwifery from a historical and objective perspective which is fun, as my friends would tell you I love a good debate and hearing other peoples views...even when I disagree with them ;)

We also had a skills week in which we were taught how to take observations such as heart rate, respiration rate, temperature and blood pressure. We practiced urinalysis, injections and abdominal palpations... For me it was skills week when I started to feel a little bit wobbly.

Personal circumstances meant that I wasn't having a great time at home but Uni and the lovely group of girls I've become close to (thank god!) was really keeping my brain focused on other things, still...I felt drained, exhausted and was really struggling to concentrate...

Halfway through that week I really had to give myself a good talking to. This has been my goal for so long and I've already struggled though a year of college, interviews, assessments and a full time job... I pulled myself together and had a really good sort out of all my Uni notes to help me straighten out my head. The rest of the week I fully immersed myself in the skills lectures and came out feeling prepared and confident about starting placement.

We had one last week of lectures at our university hospital, also arranging some study groups so that we could do some extra revision to prepare us for clinical practice. The group of friends I've made are so supportive and without them making me laugh and feeding me cake (it doesn't matter what you do the stereotype fits. Midwives eat cake A LOT) I don't think I would have finished our theory block feeling as happy and content as I did :)

We had an evening of wine and Indian to celebrate (and commiserate our last full weekend of freedom) and wandered off towards our placements like lambs to the slaughter.... Just kidding (sort of)

So....PLACEMENT! I'm working at my local hospital on the very cushty birth centre where low risk, or manageable risk (as I have come to learn) women can come to give birth.
There are birthing pools, bean bags and fancy bubbly light thingies which make it all a very nice relaxing environment, one of the rooms is actually bigger than the flat I used to rent so yeh....it's niiiiice.

My shifts consist of three twelve and a half-hour shifts per week, either day or night hours with an hours break. A lot of people have reacted to my shift pattern with "ooooh so you get 4 days off?" But after one week in the job (which included 2 night shifts- urgh!) I can safely confirm that at least 2 of those 4 days are solely for recovering from feeling absolutely pooped! I don't mind the hours though because I really do think it's the best job ever! Hell - I'd do a 5 day week if they'd let me!

Before we can start being hands on in placement (meaning actually delivering the babies with the assistance of a registered midwife) we students have to witness 5 normal vaginal deliveries. Being at the birth centre means that as most of the women there are low risk I should rack up my 5 witnesses quite quickly! After my first week I've seen 3!

Now as this is a very public blog about very private care, I can't tell you too much about my experiences as I don't want to share any personal details about the women and families I've encountered or cared for. I won't ever name or mention any details which may compromise this anonymity but I will try to describe how I've approached care from a professional view and what I've learned from my experiences.

On my first day I arrived with another girl from my cohort- we met way back before we started Uni during occupational health checks so it was lovely to be sharing my first day on placement with her as well :) we were both pretty nervous and must have looked like such newbies in our pristine uniforms that scream 'I have no idea what I'm doing!!'. We were told that we had just missed 2 births (bah!) but this meant that we spent our shift providing postnatal care for 4 women and getting to know our lovely mentors. Both of them were really friendly and got us stuck in right away doing observations on the women and babies as well as showing us how to fill out the notes. It's really nice that they don't make me feel stupid for asking questions all the time and they always explain everything so well. The toughest part was saying goodbye to the families at the end of my shift, it's so bitter sweet knowing that I probably won't see them again!

I had a day off in between shifts and (as is always my luck) I had 2 night shifts to look forward to. I tried to get some rest beforehand and it wasn't as bad as I had anticipated. Especially as my first night shift was also my first witness!!

It had been a quiet night with no one in the centre and we had received one phone call from a lady in very early stages of labour so I had low expectations for the shift. Just before midnight and to our surprise the lady and her family turned up and she seemed to be in a lot of pain so we admitted her and started to prepare her for labour. She and her family were lovely and chatty so I tried to keep her calm and comfortable whilst gabbing away to the very proud Dad and grandparents-to-be. She had some manageable risks which we had to prepare for, but whilst we were arranging for the appropriate medications and pain relief she rapidly progressed! Within 20 minutes I had witnessed my first SVD (spontaneous vaginal delivery) and could not have been prouder of mum or felt more privileged to have been there. The mum was amazing and she was so pleased that the birth of her little baby boy had been my first witness :)

It was a great experience for me to understand how we prepare for any risks in labour and also how we maintain the management of those risks after a speedy delivery. As I still had a lot of my shift left, I was able to provide a lot of the postnatal care and see how we observe mums and babies with risk factors. I felt like I had a great relationship with this woman and she even requested my assistance with breast feeding which I found really touching. She did a great job and I was in absolute awe of how much she took in her stride.

I certainly won't ever forget her and her family - when I went to say goodbye to her I couldn't wipe the huge grin off my face.

My second night shift was even more eventful with 2 more births. One was super speedy again (note to self, my uniform is a no-no when dealing with explosive waters. Scrubs all the way from now on...) but the other took a little longer which enabled me to give the Mum some encouragement and support during her labour. I find it amazing how these women really listen to my advice and every time I encouraged her to slow down her breathing or relax her muscles she did it straight away. Feeling like she was using my knowledge was so fulfilling and it seemed to help her a lot. The baby girl was beautiful and had the longest eyelashes! I got to give her a cuddle whilst the mum had a physiological third stage which was also a great learning experience. Gravity is definitely the best aid for a natural delivery of the placenta.

So there you have it! My first week in placement!! I'm exhausted, overwhelmed and could not be happier! I'm hoping I get all of my witnesses before I start my placement on labour ward the following week as I feel really comfortable and confident in the birth centre now. It would be lovely to end my time there with my first hands-on delivery... Keep your fingers crossed for me and watch this space :D

Welcome to The Midwife Diaries!!

After a long hard slog over the last year with full time work, evening college lessons, University entrance exams, interviews and a very worn out refresh button on my UCAS Account – I am FINALLY about to start University! In 6 weeks!

I’m such a mixture of emotions at the moment, excited, petrified and in complete disbelief that I actually managed to get myself here. 

So now this blog will be my baby, excuse the pun! I’m going to try and keep it updated regularly with lots of info in the different pages so take a look!

Here I’ll be telling all (within the realms of the NMC code of conduct of course..*) about what its really like being a student midwife at University in one of the most amazing and diverse cities in the world, the ups, the downs, but mainly I predict that I’ll just be moaning about how tired I am. Definitely worth a read – ha!

 

I’m really looking forward to building this page, a collection of birth stories from Mother’s I know and Mother’s that I’ll meet along the way. If you would like send me your birth story or have a chat with me and I can write it for you - just get in touch on the ‘ask me’ page!

 

This does what it says on the tin. Click the button and ask me anything…about uni, about your pregnancy, your birth, anything! I promise I’ll answer every question and research as much as possible. I’ll consult my lecturers when I don’t know the answer and get you an response asap :)

 

If you want to know anything non-midwife related about me (you nosey parker) this is my blog-in-progress about all things beloved by moi!

It’s been a rollercoaster of a year (jeez I can’t believe it’s only been a year…less even!) but it will all (very soon!) be worth it….

You know The Little Mermaid? Incidentally my favourite Disney animation except for the Lion King but that goes without saying for everyone surely?.. Anyway I digress… So my favourite part of that film, when she sings the reprise and gets all sexy on the rock, THAT’S how I feel. I’ve been singing it in my head for weeks now. I just know something amazing is starting in my life and I’m SO looking forward to the next chapter…. *waves crash* 

 
*Any views expressed on this blog are purely my own and of course I will never share information or birth stories about my clients without permission. All Birth Stories are written by or with the consent of the Mothers in the story.