Midwifery School - Trimester III - End of 1st Year!!

Well, we did it! The 1st year of Midwifery school is officially complete! The last couple weeks, none of us were sure we would make it across the finish line, but we did! It was a pretty intense finals week. Papers, presentations, finals galore. Somehow, we did and are ready to begin our 2nd year of schooling. I've decided midwifery school is a lot like labor. It feels like it flies by and time is standing still all at the same time. If you've ever experienced the labor time warp, you know exactly what I mean.

This last semester, I had the opportunity to have my first 4-handed catch (the midwife's 2 hands along with my 2 hands actually catching the baby together). I also managed all prenatal and PP visits and did pelvic exams, cultures and Paps. I got more and more comfortable with Leopold's Maneuver to determine a baby's position in the uterus. Blood draws now feel like 2nd nature. I am looking forward to learning the skill of putting in IVs. I am also looking forward to learning the skill of doing pelvic exams during labor and catching a baby by myself.

There have also been some big changes for me in school. The entire 1st year, I was precepting with a midwife at a busy birth center. By the end of my 1st year, I had 30 managed births and I only need 50 by the time I graduate.  The week of my finals, I moved to a new midwife. This new midwife is a home birth midwife that has a much smaller, so less busy, practice. I will be going from 12 births a month and 2 clinic days a week to 2 births a month and 1 clinic day a week. I learned so much so quickly with my 1st preceptor and I am so thankful for the experience but I am looking forward to the slower pace and being home more with my family.  This year, Morgan will be graduating from highschool and I am so glad to have the opportunity to spend more time with her as she finishes her high school years. Next year will be the same thing with Avery so the timing seems perfect.  I also think my little toddler is in need of a mommy home a little more. I have never had to leave any of my other kids as much as I have left him. It's hard to teach a 2 year old boundaries and structure when there is a new person every day in charge. And, I think one of these days, somebody is actually going to need to potty train that little guy :)

So, all in all, I think we are all looking forward to this coming semester and the slower pace that I will be having. Right now, I am enjoying not only the slower pace of births but the 3 weeks of break from school. I start back 1 week from today. It's hard to believe that in only 2 years, I will be a Licensed Midwife!

Family Staycation

Every Summer we are blessed with the gift of staying at a timeshare. I help a couple kids learn how to swim and be safe in the pool and their grandma gives me a week at her timeshare. It's a pretty awesome deal. This year we tried a new location and absolutely LOVED it! The rooms were very nice, the pool was super fun and the costumer service was top notch.

We were also 5 minutes from Disney and lots of other great places to explore. 

Jessica and her family got a room across the hall from us for the first 4 days were there and my kids invited a couple friends to stay with us a couple days as well. The last 3 days, it was just our family. It was the perfect mix of hanging with family/friends and having some time to ourselves. My kids were finished with school and I didn't start my semester until our last day at the hotel. So, we really did have the benefit of just enjoying each other's company and chilling.
Google Photos made me this cute little movie from the week and I thought it turned out sweet. So, for the viewing pleasure...

Midwifery School - Trimester II

The middle of April ended my second trimester of midwifery school. It was a whirlwind of a semester with lots of great classes and a crazy amount of births. During this semester, I was able to start the role of co-managing births with my preceptor. I started with managing the 3rd stage of labor (delivery/inspection of the placenta and estimated blood loss of the mom).

I also have taken the lead on getting all vitals for mom and baby during and after labor. I have been able to be a lot more hands on during prenatal and PP visits as well. The hours are still crazy. Some weeks I am gone from home 70 hours and others only 15.  I am hoping this semester I will be able to assist in the actual birth of the baby and physical exams on clients. I have several classes I am excited about this semester and I am ready to dive back in!

My family continues to support me like crazy and we cherish any time we have all together. Cory does an amazing job of picking up my slack and we are finally starting to find a groove in this craziness. Some days we do better than others but if anything we are learning how to offer each other grace. My kids have also started to get into their own groove. Even with this past semester being during their own school, they really did a great job of having a schedule for the day and sticking to it. I know they didn't do things exactly the way I would if I was home with them, but there comes that grace word again. I had to learn over and over (and I'm sure will continue to learn) how to offer my kids grace when things didn't go exactly according to my plan. I had to remember what I was asking of them and how fortunate I am to have kids that I can trust enough to leave home to watch my 2 year old and each other. Really, my kids are pretty great! Hopefully, this Summer gives all my people a little relief. They will still be in charge of a 2 year old that is testing every boundary and always checking to see who is in charge 3 days a week, but at least they won't have that combined with trying to get 6 hours of school done every day too.

Morgan has also started her first job at Publix. She started a couple weeks ago and is doing wonderful! I am so proud of her and she works around the corner from the birth center I am at. Transportation can sometimes be a little challenging with both of us working and her not having a license or car but we are managing so far. She decided to take the Summer off from all classes as she adjusts to this new pace.

Easter 2016

On Saturday, we busted out the egg dying adventure! This year, we used different color crayons to color before throwing the egg in dye. It worked really well and there were some pretty cool designs.

Morgan and Avery (all of Avery's eggs were different emojis; Morgan's were designs and Humpty Dumpty) 

Troy was very unsure of the egg dying process at the beginning. His first 2 eggs went promptly thrown to the ground.

These 2 are weirdos 

He finally realized this could be fun :)

He asked for a bite of his eggs the entire time we were dying them. So, by the end, he ate one of those "floor eggs" from earlier on.

Easter Sunday

These 2 are so adorable!

Family Picture

Grandma and Grandpa wanted a picture with all their babies. 

Annual Picture of the kids waiting to run out the front door.

And, they are off!

The big kids' egg hunt was inside. It was SO hot outside that we decided to be lazy and just throw everything in the middle of the floor and let them race to find their eggs first.