Today, as I was driving home from clinicals, I cried on and off. It sucked. This is the email that I was composing in my head, trying to sound appreciative, and not needy but ---- what's the word?? (Not desperate, but close...)
"thanks for your patience this week (and in general), this week in particular just was not impressive and i'm not sure why. the areas that i'm not 'getting' are frustrating to me - as an OB nurse not to mention as a SNM - and it is getting to that point that i feel like i'm losing ground. i know i need more confidence and to be more assertive, etc - but am not sure how to get there from here, if that makes sense. not being able to palpate fetal body parts/find FHT's, determine what a cervical exam is/isn't, how to tell if the anterior shoulder has delivered or not (is that just feel or is there another obvious sign -- does the anterior shoulder become slightly visible before you switch to the posterior?), etc.
i know that these are women and families that you have been working with for a long time and i appreciate that you are giving me the opportunity to learn with them; i also recognize that your reputation and license are ultimately on the line as well and i am grateful to you for that reason and for the advice/criticism/info that you share, because i need whatever i can get to keep going forward.
also, just as an FYI - i know we talked a little about it when A was here - i have been trying to work out another site to get another perspective for at least part of my remaining hours... if/when that happens, i will let you know (i don't know if it would be just for a month or so, or longer/shorter term, etc... do you have an opinion on that?)
thanks again, have a great weekend... ~m"
(Maybe I'll jump in here and say that all of this may be exaggerated by the fact that (a) I'm probably a bit hormonal... I think AF is going to rear her lovely head *any* day now... and/or (b) I've been outta my little happy pills for days and days - so hopefully for us all, the Warm One has picked some up for me and life can cheer up soon...)
Anyway. Back to the post.
And I've been tearing up randomly ever since getting home. I've blogged before about self-doubt and having low self-confidence, I think. I don't think this is a great thing, but may not be that uncommon, either, for a student going into this sort of field... in fact, part of me thinks that being less-than-100% confident may be a good thing. (Isn't some bit of humility, some sort of willingness to admit that one might not know everything, probably good for everyone?) Anyway, I keep getting off-track here.
Earlier this week, I had a rough night with The Midwife. (My own fault) We had an induction, and another labor patient had come in as well; at around 12:30 a.m. the Midwife called me to let me know that the induction was going to be AROM'ed due to some concerns with the baby's heart rate (rather than "slept" and induced in the morning, as was the original plan...). I unfortunately was out like a light when the Midwife called and talked a lot of mumbo-jumbo, making little to no sense about needing a floor to sleep in if I came in and some sort of lighthouse or something --- totally looneyness, until my brain caught up with my mouth. Eventually, I made it in --- I live about an hour from the hospital --- checked in on both moms and caught up on their labors, and then laid down. Suddenly, it was four hours later when the nurses called to let me know that Mom A was about to deliver. Fast forward a bit, Mom A delivers, all ends up well, blah blah blah.... but it just wasn't my best delivery. At all. Mom A froze during pushing, head delivered, and I froze as well; baby was of course delivered and did wonderfully, but Mom A did get a tear and needed stitches, and the question comes up as to how much of her tear might have been avoided. Mom B delivers later, all is well... yadda yadda...
But, the crux of that night/morning was the Midwife's comment (at the nurse's station) that I need "a lot" of work in L&D. That stung... "a lot". Like many things, of course, that sting, it was important and necessary to hear. I do need a lot of work in L&D.
Of course, now, as the week has progressed, those words have been eating at me more and more. I've been walking on eggshells, slightly anxious about doing or saying the wrong thing... and a teensy bit scared to death about going back to L&D with the Midwife. (The irony is that what I was afraid of happened at work - away from clinicals - and went perfectly, without a hitch, in the meantime...) Not so, though, at clinicals... Our next go-round with L&D was tense again; my cervical checks seemed to be off (I don't get how I'm feeling a rim of cervix all around, and the Midwife can only feel an anterior lip when she checks right after me... I swear I have been checking cervices for years. I can, I can!) The delivery - same thing. Head delivers - mom tenses, fights pushing; I have a hard time "catching" when the anterior shoulder delivers... has it? Hasn't it? Time to go for the posterior shoulder now, or keep with the down and out pressure? I can tell the Midwife is not happy with my indecision (easily) but I JUST DON'T KNOW.
Again, baby delivers, all is well in the end... but the vibe, again, is not so hot. I want to talk with the Midwife before leaving, but it's 5 p.m., Friday, my babysitters at home wanted to leave by 5 (and I still have an hour drive...), and the Midwife is at the desk yet. I change, stop to say something on my way out, and she mentions that she will email me with "a few things"...
Can my preceptor dump me via email?!
ere are parts of this game that I need help with - that's the point of learning. That doesn't mean, though, that I have to let myself and my confidence in my own abilities be funneled down... whether I'm doing that to myself, or letting the nurses, the Midwife, or the families I work with to do this (and please understand, this is not to say that they are or are not doing it intentionally - so many of these issues I am certain are happening in my own mind).
