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Please enjoy reading about the process of becoming a doula, running a doula business, stories from the families, and highlights from the births I attend.

Monday, May 14, 2012

Update for May 2013

So another month goes by...Just two updates for this month.  First of all, I am now a Registered Nurse!  I took the NCLEX-RN on 4/19 and found out on 4/20 that my license was issued in the state of Ohio.  Woo Hoo!  So, I'm not looking at any RN jobs at the moment.  They have been pretty clear that once our clinical hours start, we really won't have the time to work.  Plus most new nursing jobs require a 12 week orientation or internship in which you need to be available pretty much full time and considering I'll need to be doing about 25 hours a week of clinical time this summer, that doesn't seem feasible.

Classes are going well this quarter.  I have a class on Scientific Thought in Nursing that is certainly not difficult, but is torturous due to the papers on critical thinking and "knowing" and required weekly discussion board postings.  I also have a Financial Reimbursement class that is a 3 hours a week that doesn't take much time outside of class except for a couple of homework assignments.  My third class is Advanced Assessment.  I really enjoy it because we have a weekly lab that is just Midwifery and Women's Health students.  Each week we get online lectures for a specific system or area of the body, then in lab they adjust the lecture to what we're likely to see with women or pregnancy and then we get a couple hours to practice assessment techniques, take a history, and do some differential diagnosis based on case studies.  My favorite so far was our female reproductive week in which we had paid pelvic models available to do speculum and manual pelvic exams and Pap smears on.  I was able to do 3 exams that week!  While the first time is a bit awkward, by the third one I was finding the cervix like a pro and able to finesse my technique (I hope) to keep my model more comfortable too.  Tomorrow is a skills day and we get more pelvic practice and get to learn suturing techniques on pigs feet.  Yay!  The summer quarter will start in June and I'll be sent out into the world to work on skills in primary care and prenatal care.  It's starting to feel real now!

Regarding the doula world.  I got an e-mail from DONA the other day just to let me know that they do have my packet, but they have a backlog and it may be a couple of months before I get a response on the certification.  Sigh.  I'll just wait patiently and hope all is in order.

I'm not actively searching for clients at the moment.  My website is still active, but I don't think it's easy to find by random searching.  I would be able to take some this summer as I think I can be somewhat flexible during these precepted hours, but as of August, I may not be in Columbus for clinical time, so I'm not sure how that will work.  So, if any prospects are reading, just let me know.  I have an amazing friend who can be my back-up and if someone wants me after August, I could offer a reduced rate just in case it's not going to be me.

Well, I need to work on some other school work and the kids are napping, so I'll be back next month!