THE NEWS YOU HAVE ALL BEEN WAITING FOR!!!!!!!

I was blessed to have witnessed TWO births last night!!!!! It was such a great experience! I decided to go a little early....AND GOOD THING!......because a baby was born about 10 minutes..not even...after my arrival. I just had enough time to change into scrubs....that weren't see-through or white!! That was a great part of it! The only thing that showed that I was a student was my little name tag...the rest of me looked like a nurse!!!

I had two great birth observations. One was so fast (from my arrival to the birth) that it was pretty action packed. NICU was called to check something....and one of the profs from the faculty of nursing that I slightly know arrived as the NICU (oh....for those that don't know that acronym...Neonatal Intensive Care) team. So, she threw me some gloves and told me to count the baby's heart beat from the umbilical cord. I haven't done maternal child since September 2002 and had just arrived 5 minutes ago.....and felt honored but a little intimidated about the whole thing! Oh those awful student feelings of doing something wrong, feeling stupid because you should know something but don't and such. I didn't really have time at that moment to think all of these things, because I had to count that heart beat right then. I found it...THANK GOODNESS!!! After we had cleaned off the baby and all the inital checks were completed, I got to bring the baby to the parents. I got to hold the little new one! I almost cried along with the dad!

I was whisked away to the next one and spent more time there with the laboring and pushing mom. She was hilarious and I was specifically told, "Don't EVER have sex!". She had such a great sense of humor! I was one of the honored stir-ups during that birth and had an up-close-and-personal view of the whole thing.....that head was maybe a foot from me! It was so great! Boy, I had even forgotten how to do an APGAR (the score each baby gets at birth...it shows how well they are doing...related to breathing, color, crying, movement, etc.)

I even got to see an epidural administered...as in, the anesthesiologist (don't remember the spelling) put it in and I got to watch. I have seen it done before, and really don't enjoy that part. I am not a squimish person, but the idea of putting a needle around someone's spine really freaks me out! I don't care how nice the pain control is.......I don't want anyone fiddling with a needle around my spine!

Unfortunately I must run back to work to finished my day! I just had to share some of my highlights of yesterday's experiences with you!