October Update!

So a quick update from the last month...
Regarding clients, I am getting ready to go on-call November 2nd for what should be my first official birth.  This is the joint arrangement with my other doula friend.  We are doing the prenatals together.  Did our first one a couple weeks ago and have the 2nd/final one coming up this Friday.  LOVE this couple and I just really hope her body is going to kick in and go into labor before her doctor schedules the repeat c-section.  The plan is for me to show up regardless, and if timing works out, the other doula will come too and they get 2 of us.  I had a babysitter change, so my project for this week is to make sure that I have my on-call time completely covered and then I'm good to go!

I decided against the other November scheduled c-section.  This mom was really just going to let me be there to help me get births for certification.  I decided to pass because I'm not sure how much value I really would be adding.  Plus, I can only count one c-section and it is possible since my earlier November birth is a VBAC, that her doctor could schedule her for a repeat if she doesn't go into labor on her own "in time."

I do have another back-up scenario for mid-December scheduled.  This couple was again my doula friend's contact.  They were students in her Bradley class and wanted her to be their doula.  However, she'll still be subbing, so we're going to do a similar arrangement.  However, due to her due date being at the end of my finals week and I have a couple tests/project presentations that I may not be able to miss, it's a little more iffy about whether I can show up.  BUT, they liked me and I liked them, so if I can at all possibly be there (even if I'm not really needed as a back-up), I'll be going to that birth too.  Just in case, I'm going to do all their prenatal appointments too.

My January birth is still on.  It seems like it's been a long time since I've met with them, but we keep in touch, so I know she's doing well.  The first prenatal with them is at the end of the month.  I'm excited about it because I think I have a lot of information to share and I'm looking forward to finding out exactly how they want to use me.

My midwifery class is good.  I wasn't sure what to expect, but basically it is going through alot of the history of CNMs in the U.S. and the ACNM (American College of Nurse Midwives) history.  We've went through core values, scope of practice, etc.  We had a project during National Midwifery Week to do an educational outreach project/public presentation.  It was a really good project because I don't think I really knew how mis-informed people really are about what nurse-midwives do.  Overall, the class is really putting the profession into perspective and getting me to think about how I feel about the job and our committment to women and how I need to be able to communicate that to others.  I think it's a really good foundation before we start getting into the skills and knowledge foundation for practice.

So planned for the next month is to probably do at least 2 or maybe even 3 more prenatals with these clients.  I should also be going to my first birth (as a doula).  Yay!  Also, mulling over the idea to try to talk to someone who may work with teen pregnancies and offer a freebie to someone in need.  My time in my Community Health clinicals is kicking in my desire to help those less fortunate.  We'll see about that one, I'm not sure when I'd schedule it.  So, I'll be back in November hopefully with some info about how awesome my first birth was!