Week 10 as a level 3 nursing student

This past week was eventful! On Tuesday, we had our very first day doing maternal assessments. We were paired up, though, so I didn't get to do one. I still felt like I learned a lot, though. On Wednesday, I was supposed to watch a live birth!!! But before you get too excited, I spent the whole day with her and her sister in law only to move into post-conference and come back out to her being 6cm dilated.

As 'boring' a day as you might think it was, I thought it was so neat. Let me explain. In our family theory class, we learn about different family dynamics and we always are taught to be open minded, that every family is different, cultures are different, etc. The neatest thing this week was for my concepts of family theory to really solidify. I can be considered a 'strong character', so it's been difficult for me to really realize that my way isn't necessarily always the right way. It's not that I haven't known it, but it's being able to accept it and work with different ways. I guess in a nutshell, flexibility is something I'm continually working on, is how I could put it. What I see as a 'family' isn't what someone else sees in a family. Just because a family is different from mine does not mean that it's dysfunctional and vice versa. I really saw that this week. Not that I went into the room thinking, "oh this family is going to be dysfunctional" but I mean that it's so interesting to see that their way of living is so different from mine yet works so well. I think I say that because I admire their family for doing things their way because I would struggle in their situations. I admire them and think it's remarkable.

I really valued this week because I was really able to connect with the family. They were so lovely and even invited me to come back after my post-conference to have cake with them! I went back, not just for the cake, but because I wanted to say goodbye and to see if she had delivered yet (she hadn't). I didn't have cake either, FYI. :)

I spent all of this weekend on my PBL paper but I don't regret it at all because it's over and done with now. I'm also done my assignments for family theory! SMOOTH SAILING THIS WEEK, FOLKS!

Also, not that there are any die-hard fans out there, but I'm going to change my update schedule to do it on Wed instead of the weekend because I find the span difficult. I don't have as clear a flow as I would if I had clinical on Thur/Fri.

Oh! Another highlight of my week was being able to prime an IV bag successfully without any glitches because I went to open lab last week! I was very proud because that was time I took out of my day and took ownership for my own learning. This past Friday, I practiced my sterile dressing changes! I was so rusty. I'm going to do it again this weekend. :)