Pimping myself...

So today was a pretty productive day as days go. I went to my first affiliate meeting of ACNM (American College of Nurse Midwives for all you non-midwives). I tend to be open and opinionated when the situation warrants, but I hate putting myself out there. And yet today was a day where I needed to overcome my fears and hesitations and pimp myself to some of the midwives in the area. I had the opportunity to put my name and face out there, and talk to women of various practices who may have some potential opportunities available over the next few months. I feel like I'm at such a disadvantage because I don't know a lot of the newer faces out there, and today was a great opportunity to overcome this. So stay tuned!
Information wise, today was also a good day to get info on the legislation that is making its way through our state government. We are hoping to become independent practitioners here in NC, being free from supervisory relationships with physicians. I've come in on the tail end of this but have been able to send emails and bug some of the house members representing my district on this matter. It's great to see that we're being heard and taken seriously. Hopefully, we will have some good news soon on this matter as well so keep fingers crossed and throw some positive vibes out for us.
As for me I'm close to finishing clinicals in the next couple of weeks, and I'm slowly starting to make some good progress studying for comps and boards. I think I mentioned that this past week I was going to spend with my main preceptor and this was my make or break week. Well I'm happy to share that things went really well! My preceptor was impressed with my progress and feels that completing the rest of my births will help cement everything I've learned. I try to keep things professional but I must say it was hard not to jump up and down and scream for joy. I'm proud of myself for turning such a discouraging event into a positive learning experience. Can't wait to share my gifts with the world!

Closing in on the end of the journey...

No matter how many times I say the words "I'm almost done" it still doesn't feel real. I apologize for the lack of updates but I've been super busy with clinicals. In my last post I alluded to running into some trouble with a preceptor. That experience caused me a great deal of stress and embarrassment. I looked like a complete idiot in front of the nurses and to be quite honest, I was ready to throw in the towel. My biggest challenge has been that I don't have previous L&D experience. No matter what I've done birth related, I know now that some prior experience might be important if you want to breeze through clinicals. I thought I would get in and out in 16 weeks but as it turned out, there was a lot of information that I didn't know. So here I am, nearly 18 weeks into clinical. I really had to buckle down and throw my plan out the window and create a new one. After that incident, I've been making more of an effort to review the material I knew and learn the material I didn't.
So far its paying off. I've been deemed safe enough to care for patients in an office setting and my last day was last Monday. And starting tomorrow I'm putting my full focus into L&D. I'll also be with my main preceptor this week so I really want to prove to her over the next few days that I can practice on my own. With only a few more babies to go and a little over 100 hours, I really need to prove myself so I can be done with this stage. With that said, any and all good wishes/vibes are appreciated.