becoming a midwife..

Lots has happened within the past couple of days that I haven't blogged about. SO this miGHt be hard to follow!
On tuesday, I had my second pre-natal day. MayFlor, my filipina supervisor, had me observe the first half of women that came through (we had 5 beds/rooms set up, and NINEty women to get through, between 5 midwives!) and THEN she was just like "ok, you do the next one." ....and I was...very hesitant!
I grabbed the next chart, called a name...hahah (I feel like sUCH a doctor! it's awesome) I introduced myself in Cebuano (the language most commonly spoken around these parts) "Ako si Jenna", as I looked over her chart. :)
I felt RIdiculous that first time, asking questions and such...i felt like I didn't know whAt I was doing, but the mORE i did (ya, i did the REST, except for the special case where the lady had TWINS inside!...i just assisted that one!) the more confident I got. It's AMAZing!...this is why I first got into midwifery, for the relational part of getting to kNOW women.
After I spend some time talking with them (sometimes MayFlor has to translate, sometimes they understand english) I ask them to lie down (legs flat) so that I can measure their 'fundal height' (how big their bElly is) then I get them to raise their knees, to make it easier for me to 'palpate' the baby! I'm prEtty sure the bESt thing in the world is to feel a baby inside a womb. It's INCredible! You need to palpate (feel around) for the baby's position, from that you can tell where best to listen for the fetal heart tones...again, an incredible experience!
Because there are so many women waiting for pre-natals, we can not spend as MUCH time as I would like with them...if I could I would let them listen to their babies heartbeat and take time explaining why certain positions are better than others, but that's just not the way it goes here. I can not wAIt when I'm an actual midwife, and can take time to make pre-natals more fun and personal!
Also, we got our assignments back today! (ya ya, i pASsed :P) and tonite i have my first night shift (from 10-6am) with my first TEST tomorrow @ 2pm, sooo, thAt cOUld be interesting...but I'm confident that all will go well. ALSO, we get our next assignment tomorrow as well!