So, this post is actually going out only one day after it is meant to which has become a bit of a novelty in recent months – what can I say, this course is really busy and third year really ain’t no picnic!
This past week has been yet another busy one – with only one day off to myself (in which I had about a thousand different things to do!)
I started the week with a night shift, still on the antenatal ward. I’m really starting to feel like I’m getting the hang of night shifts now, but that doesn’t mean they are any easier…I think they are always going to be tough, I’ll just get more used to recovering from them.
Anyway, it was quite a nice shift – not too busy, able to really pay proper attention to the women and look after them properly, and then come 3am, have a nice break and get a bit of shut eye for an hour before getting going again and finishing up the shift. It was nice, nothing dramatic happened, no emergencies and I went home feeling tired but like I’d done my job right and looked after all the women properly.
After a bit of sleep and recovery time from my night shift I had to get my brain back in gear to do some preparation. Wednesday was my interview day for the Nursing Times “Student Midwife Of The Year” Award and so I needed to read over all the criteria and make sure I was ready for any question they decided to throw at me.
Wednesday morning I got myself all sorted, with my hair and makeup done properly, and headed in to London. The interview went well…I think. I answered all the questions and despite being really nervous I think I managed to keep myself calm and not make any mistakes or chat too much rubbish…
The award ceremony is at the end of April, so it’s just as case of wait and see now, but even being shortlisted for this incredible accolade is so flattering and I’m so so pleased to have got this far – anything more would be a huge bonus on top!
I got back late afternoon and after dinner and an hour or so of chilling on the sofa it was time for bed ahead of another day in the hospital.
My shift the next day was quite a bitty shift. It sometimes happens like that – there was a lot going on and we were all mucking in to get everything done. I felt quite drained from the busy day on Wednesday so by the time I got home I was absolutely shattered and ready for a proper dinner and bed.
Friday morning I treated myself, as it was my “day off” to a bit of a lie in. Friday was a bit of an odd-job day, with things like laundry and emptying the dishwasher needing doing, the tesco man arriving etc, but I also needed to finish the pre-course work for my hypnobirthing course.
I had been thinking of doing the training for a while and so when a student midwife rate came up I had to jump on it.
The course means I can teach couples to do hypnobirthing and run my own courses for expecting couples, wherever we end up, which is quite exciting and another string to my bow.
Before the course I had to do two online modules; one in the basics of pregnancy & birth and the other in hypnotherapy. As you can imagine the first was not anything new to me, and as it wasn’t a compulsory module for student midwives or qualified midwives, I made sure that it was all stuff I already knew and skipped through it quite quickly.
With the Hypnotherapy module, however, I took my time, and found it so interesting. The power of words, and the choice of words used is amazing. I found the whole module really interesting, and really relaxing too!
The training course lasted all weekend, going over the details of hypnobirthing, how to teach it, the relaxations involved, why it works, and all sorts of additional information to pass on to parents – I’m not gonna go on and on about it here, as I’m sure I’ll share more about it in the future, but I’ll just say, I went in a little sceptical (as I think a lot of people, particularly health professionals are) and I came away empowered, excited and completely sold on it!
It was a long weekend but it was so so worth it.
Now, I have to do a final assessment and send it off to be marked, and then if I pass I will be a fully qualified KGH Hypnobirthing teacher, able to teach couples in groups or individually – so definitely watch this space for that! There’s gonna be a lot of things to sort out (insurance, domain names, website design, social media accounts, naming the business, registering with the tax man etc) but then I’ll be launching my company and getting ready to help more people discover this incredible way of bringing their baby into the world, calmly and empowered, no matter the manner of the birth. (As you can tell, I’m already really excited about this!)
It’s been a really busy week, and I’m totally exhausted, but it’s been such a positive week – and in comparison, next week is looking quite blissfully calm, despite the full time hours in the hospital!
Image by freestocks.org
To read my last Midwife Mondays post, click here:
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