Babies!

Well Folks,

I'm starting the year off right by blogging (not just in general, but in a timely manner also) ...and instead putting off my maternity reading! (I'm sorry 100 pages in one night? Not gonna happen.)

Anyways, I can already tell that this blog, at least for me, is going to get more stories from my maternity clinical than my public health clinical, but nonetheless here are 4 terms to describe my public health clinical this week:
1. headaches
2. sore throats
3. itches
4. one SUPER obvious faker!

Even though it was a lot of the same as last week, I'm still really enjoying it. The kids are so cute in their (real and fake) misery. That sounds bad, but you know what I mean.

Maternity Clinical - first day on L&D, and it started out with a bang! I "helped" deliver a beautiful 7 lbs little girl to a set of first-time parents, and it was wonderful. For those of you who are close to me, you may remember a time not so long ago where I had sworn off maternity forever because it seemed...well, totally gross. And it is gross, let's be honest, but it's beautiful too. And coming out of it (this being the second time I've witnessed/participated in a vaginal delivery), still the major thing that I'm taking away is not the grossness of it all, but the miracle of life! It sounds silly I know, but man, when you actually see a baby - a real. live. baby. come out of another human - it's totally incredible. I mean that baby is alive! And it's crying! And it's tiny! And these two people in front of me MADE it. It's incredible. God's incredible. I mean, nursing school has taught me that in pregnancy and in childhood, a whole lot of things can go wrong so easily. But to see this little piece of perfection entering the world is truly amazing. So...I've been converted, maternity isn't too bad after all. I'm still trying to figure out if it's what I'd like to pursue (assuming it worked out with the Navy of course), but I like it so far!

And men reading this blog (or women who can tell husbands/sons), be supportive of the mom! The husband yesterday was SO supportive and encouraging, and it was really great to see. She pushed for less than an hour (first time moms usually actively push between 1.5-2 hours, so this was unusual in a great way), and I think the support of the dad had to have been part of it. And they both cried when the baby came out, and I have to admit that, again, I had to blink back a few tears.

So a great start to my maternity clinical, stay tuned for [hopefully] more interesting stories in the future.

And a funny picture to leave you with: a sign hanging in the bathroom on the L&D floor.

Erika!