Recharge

Turns out all I needed was a three day weekend to finish my essay and become addicted to Grey's anatomy.
Things are looking good, it's amazing what you can do when your brain has a full 12 hours of sleep :) Still lots of work to do on the essay but the first draft is done and that about 75% of the effort I think. Plus a few hours on manual handling tomorrow and so tomorrow afternoon I have time to work on my portfolio and evidence for placement outcomes. The to do list is looking skinny and so I've resorted to looking for things to do. Obviously my brain just needed to recharge :)
Placement isn't going badly either, I am getting to the point where I'm good at my outcomes now, working with different midwives often throws me off balance a bit because you get used to doing it one way and then you spend the day with someone else and suddenly every things changed. The underpinning knowledge and physiology is the same but how it's translated to women depends on time and the midwife, Acting is definitely what it feels like as a student, your always on your toes ready for a question...I often turn red and pretend I'm a retard that knows nothing. Which in some instances now is not the case. So, some of it's going in.
It's easy to look at this massive journey I have in front of me and feel disheartened about how much there is still to learn. However, one new thing learnt each day however small is something and I cling onto such as how the spell the bloody word "eczema" it took me weeks to learn to spell that one word correctly or to know the correct work for excessive vomiting during pregnancy (Hyperemesis Gravidarum). I have to work to remember, so often when I get home at the end of the day my brain is almost full but I try so that the next time I'm quizzed about it I know. sometimes I remember sometimes I don't it's a bit hit and miss at the minute but I'm getting there. I just have to keep reminding myself that all the little things I remember are just pieces to the puzzle. I have a few but nowhere near enough to put it together yet. I'm still at the sorting stage of a 3 year jigsaw puzzle.

A busy week

Lacking in the energy for blog writing at the minute...
Placements hard and hours are long so most nights I curl up in bed and I'm asleep by about 9:30.
I have a three day weekend so I'm planning to nearly finish my essay by the end of next week and then live at the dean of students while I try and work out the glitches in it.
I also have uni on Monday for manual handling which means I get another lie in... Amazing! :)

No Rest For the Wicked...Or For Student Midwives

Being woken up at seven in the morning on a Friday is never fun...
That's unless your called to a home birth :) Lovely birth and fairly quick, it was nice to see a normal-ish birth. However, when I go to a home birth I had no idea what to expect, so when I got to the house it wasn't what I'd expected. Messy and busy. The night shift were still there and handing over, they had their students with them and then the new midwives coming and me in a small one bedroom house. Safe to say it was a bit hectic but from what I can work out home births normally are... Anyway it took a while but when things finally got going everything was quite quick. Nice normal-ish birth so it was nice however the aftermath of missing a clinic and some visits was not fun so we spent the whole day trying to catch up and go and see the most important ladies. Safe to say my brain in now like mush and I would be no good at anything at the minute. All I can say is TGIF!!!
Weekends are never quiet though and I'm hoping to complete essay paragraph 2. write 2 reflections, neaten up and proof read some work, sort out some forms, write in my green and blue book and do some washing. No rest for the wicked and student midwives I'm afraid

Counting

So, Struggling at the minute because my mentor has decided I should do a lot more and it turns out that I'm actually retarded. Would quite like to give up and go back to a nice easy 9-5, because at least then when I finish work it stays at work. Instead of doing 8-5 midwifery then coming home and reading about midwifery. Anyway otherwise everything is good, essay is coming a long nicely and managing the to do list well, so other wise no concerns and can't wait until the next 3 weeks are up :)

The Stuff University Students say...

Being productive

I wrote a whole 600 word paragraph today, (more than I've done in the past month) and I'm feeling pretty good about it, also decided to try and do two weeks worth of washing in one go today...That ended badly with my bag slitting while walking back and me scrambling to pick it all up again. Serves me Right I suppose. only 4 weeks left of placement, this is a good thing as my mentor is slightly crazy due to her pregnantness and therefore at times a tad grumpy.

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Note to self must learn how to spell eczema because every time I do a booking interview i spell it wrong and look like a complete idiot. My mentor is quite quickly now pushing me to do things, I enjoyed it when I could sit in the corner, smile and think about whats for dinner. Where as now I actually have to use my brain, write, give advice and generally avoid looking like I'm panicking when I'm asked a question. I've decided that midwifery is acting. With every new lady that walks in with a baby you must act like it's the most exciting thing in the world. Which it is, for the first 1000 times you do it. After that every baby starts to look the same and you end up repeating the same advice you've already given about 50 times before. Don't get me wrong I enjoy it but it gets a bit repetitive at times. Bring on labour ward placement in the summer, I'm already getting excited for that now, but first back to the job in hand. Writing this essay...

Mid week already!

So Wednesday normally means a full booking clinic, so when I found out we only had 3 this afternoon I was reasonably pleased. I'm getting fairly good at them now and after the initial wobble during the first week I've managed to convince myself that I'm not too terrible at them, I'm taking longer but only because I'm talking more and it's nice to now be able to answer a few questions that I'm asked.

Yesterday was also a good day as I was able to give good breastfeeding support by myself with out much of my mentors help- I achieved this as an outcome so even more of a bonus confidence builder...
It's nice to feel like I'm slightly better at it but I'm definitely not learning a fast.

I must stop napping when I get home because then I don't sleep well at night, I tried to do a bit of work last night, however after 5 minutes had given up and decided Grey's Anatomy was much more exciting and fell asleep, only to be woken up by noisy flat mates at 11'o'clock, as you can imagine I sat and swore to myself in my room.

Good news on the essay front too! My plan was marked and my AA didn't seem all that concerned so I'm guessing that's a good thing... Onwards and upwards

Awaiting the imminent comedown soon.

Student Finance

Apparently it's that time of year again to sit around and spend hours calling random people and sitting on hold for hours. Fun. I remember how much of a pain in the ass this was this time last year. At this moment in time it is the last thing I'm worrying about.

Starting to miss my ginger puss now :( I'm sure he's missing me lots too...

5 weeks left of placement and I can't wait until it's over, I'm bored of being a grumpy, tired recluse who rarely leaves her room.

I worked with a different mentor on Friday and she was pretty good, I refreshed my memory a fair bit which is a bonus and it was nice to get a different perspective from someone different. I should really be back into the swing of things by now, but I would be lying if I said I was.

On the up side, I managed to sort out 2 posters- one on the active and physiological third stage of labour and the other on Vitamin K for babies. My to do list is looking slightly shorter, however I haven’t written a reflection since I started placement :-S EKK My bad!

Keep Calm

One step forward and two steps back

At the minute everyday I manage to get through is a bonus, came home a 5pm today got into bed and slept until 8pm for a little nap, I HATE GETTING UP EARLY!! At the moment I do feel like I'm failing and I'm finding it difficult to get back on my feet every time I do something wrong, I managed to do 4 booking interviews to day with a little help from my midwife and although that's good, it still isn't as good as I was last time and I've forgotten a lot of what I knew before.  I'm praying for a good day because I'm getting pretty bored of feeling crappy at the end of the day and then having to come home and do masses of reading... 

HMM Think positive thoughts!!!