Busy Day

What a busy day at the clinic on Sunday! I worked the day shift and it was my first time being one of the main 3 staff on duty as opposed to being the 4th, extra person. It turns out there was much more work or me to do. And it was an exceptionally busy day. We had two women in labor who throughout the day gave birth to their babies. I got to deliver one baby and I assisted at the birth of the other. Plus we had 2 postpartum patients with their newborn babies to look after, a woman at risk for premature labor on medication & bedrest plus the usual walk-ins for prenatal exams and STD testing. You know it's busy when I'm left downstairs to do gram stain exams all by myself! Luckily I learned how do that a week ago. Of course I run everything by the supervisor on duty to see if I forgot anything before I let anyone go.
I was assigned to one of the women in labor who gave birth later that afternoon and so I delivered her baby with coaching by my supervisor. It was my second delivery being the "handle" which means I coach the woman, do her exams, monitor her progress, catch the baby, deliver & inspect the placenta, and monitor the health of the mother after the birth. Everything went well and it was a great experience. So far I've gotten to "assist" for a hand full of births. The job of the assist is to monitor the health of the baby so it involves monitoring fetal heart tones during labor, suctioning the baby at birth, cutting the cord, assisting the first breast feed, giving eye ointment & vitamin K shot, bathing the baby and doing the newborn exam - basically doing everything needed to help the baby transition into the world. It is an incredibly special experience to be involved right then and there at such an important event in a family's life. I love it! Also, it's a good feeling to finally be useful at the clinic and to not be just standing by asking how I can help, not quite knowing what to do. I can't believe how much i've learned in only 2.5 months!
By the time things settled down I had an hour left of my shift to finish my assigned monthly work duty. I was so tired when I got home. I realized I haven't worked that hard in a long time.
So today was our final exam. Each year the director of the clinic trains the existing staff with weekly teachings and exams over a period of 3 months. I was able to join in soon after they began in mid-June. The training isn't a part of my course work for the National College of Midwifery which will begin officially in January but it's been a good way for me to learn what i need to help me do my job at the clinic. So the test was fine and I'm glad the weekly assignments and tests are done for now.
Today at the clinic was the monthly baby party where all the moms who gave birth in the past month come to eat cake, get a baby gift, sing Happy Birthday, share what their thankful for, get their photos taken, worship, receive prayer, and listen to a family planning teaching. It's a really fun time seeing all those newborns all in one place at one time! We must have had 35 mom & baby pairs today. Many fathers were there as well. Many parents stood up to share how happy they were with how things went and to say thank you to the staff. You can really see the joy in these families' lives. So in a few days be sure to check out the photos on the Glory Reborn website because the photos from today will be up soon. www.gloryreborn.com