It is really bad when a mother is sick, but when it is a baby, it is so sad. It is a helpless feeling. Recently, we went to a call for a baby who was not reaching her milestones. She had a dazed look and her eyes would sometimes not focus on the same object. She didn’t have much of an expression and her tongue would hang out of her mouth a bit. She was very floppy and lacked what seemed any muscle tone. She was almost 10 months and still ate from a bottle and didn’t sit up. We called to get her into the primary care doctor who would then refer her to a specialist.
Another baby has had really bad GERD. She is only 5 months old and barely sitting up. So, she will most likely grow out of it, but I hope with the help of the prescription we got her, she will be feeling better soon. While we were at the pharmacy waiting for her medicine, the pharmacist asked who we were. Not really wanting to go into much detail, since we didn’t remember this baby’s name or her birthday since she was a UC, we just said we were community nurses and did some midwifery. He said wow; you are like angels for the community. What a nice thing to hear after a long 10-hour day!
Finally, a few Amish babies have been struck with pneumonia and RSV this year. It is sad to see these little babies struggle to breathe. This one little baby has been struggling since he was born. He was the brow presentation, then super-jaundiced, then losing weight, now this. His oxygen sats were 80 and he was life-flighted to the hospital. This is another reason I may need to invest in a pulse oximeter.
This semester has flown by, which is a good thing. I wish I had more time to read my texts and really soak in all the information. It seems like I will need to read and reread these texts and then I may fully understand more. My goal is to do that his summer—really read each book again, especially Varney and Frye. I want to know them inside and out.
I feel like I touched on most of my goals for this semester, but definitely could improve. I have had a few opportunities to conduct the newborn exam, but really don’t feel confident that I am getting everything yet. I am getting better at gestational age, but again, not totally correct. Likewise, APGAR scoring seems so subjective, but I am working on remembering to look at my watch and get those uber important times down. The more practice I get, the better I feel prepared. I think I finally mastered handling those baby shots. I don’t like to do it, but I can. The Rhogam ones intimidate me. Haha. I do need to still work on those boggy uteruses. Ultimately, if I can get more hands on time, and make more births, I could have achieved my goals.
The NARM changes have really got me fired up to finish my numbers, if at all possible. I don’t want to leave early and definitely don’t feel like I will be prepared to go out on my own after reaching the NARM quota, but I don’t want to do more numbers that I need to record. I would love the opportunity to continue to work with whomever after I turn in my paperwork, but don’t think I can commit to staying longer than a year, if I need to finish the new NARM requirements. I may have to rethink staying in this program if it doesn’t allow some flexibility in completing the numbers. Although I value a brick and mortar education, I can’t continue to attend SWTC if it is holding me back form achieving the very numbers it required me to get.
My Journey as a Licensed Midwife in Louisiana 