Scholarship

There is a scholarship opportunity for nurse-midwifery students in my state, and I applied for it. Just dropped it in the mailbox this morning, in fact. :)

The scholarship application itself was very straightforward and it involved writing an essay about how I would use my future career to further the nurse-midwifery career in my state or how I will affect maternal-child health issues in a positive way.

I - of course - mentioned the desire to work with teens/younger mothers.

I've been wanting to include this in a post for some time. Here is an excerpt from my diary, dated June 9, 2004 (yes, you are quite privileged to be allowed to read such personal content!):

So many times I wish I were just a Psych major and nothing else - how much pressure would be gone. Like I said, *SIGH*. What to do? As I wrote on my webpage, I started a book called You Look Too Young To Be a Mom: Teen Mothers Speak Out on Love, Learning, and Success. As I started it, I had a burning desire to help pregnant teens. To work in a special home for pregnant teens. Btw, I finished the book less than an hour ago. It was great. I know what my interests are, but I can't seem to put them together into a career. I have several options, but I can only choose one. I'll see what happens.

I didn't really go into detail about this topic, but this is proof that the desire to help teens started almost seven years ago. Not sure how it would work as a CNM, but I would still welcome the idea of working in a special home for pregnant teens. :)

Cool

I am on Day 3 of winter term. I am really, officially a nurse-midwifery student now. So far it is going pretty smoothly. Most of the confusion I had about what I needed to do has been cleared up. I think I am feeling better (as in, maybe a little less anxiety). I am even caught up in my Pathophysiology course.

There is a LOT of reading, as to be expected for a graduate level program.

Well, the main reason I wanted to write this post was to share with you a portion of an article I am reading for my other class. It made me excited because it's something I am hoping to focus on once I become a CNM:

(Click on the picture to read what I highlighted)

Haha yes.....I even stuck a smiley-face sticker next to it because I liked it so much.

The picture was taken from this source:
Barger, M.K. (2005). Midwifery practice: Where have we been and where are we going? Journal of Midwifery & Women's Health, 50(2), 87-90.

Here We Go

I start classes tomorrow. In case this is the first post you're reading from my blog (or need a reminder ;)), I will be starting classes for my Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) to become a nurse-midwife.

I have been wanting this for quite some time. The dream originated in 2004, but it was an off-and-on thing until about somewhere in 2009, perhaps? Sometime during nursing school, I had decided that I wanted to pursue my passion of becoming a nurse-midwife (as opposed to having it be just a thought in my head).

- I want to serve women who are of childbearing age and help them through their pregnancy and birth.

- I want to give gentle care to women. Short story, maybe TMI for some: Once when I was in nursing school, I had a well-woman visit at the student health center. I was so, so impressed with the physician assistant who did my visit. She was so gentle during the exam and had a great bedside manner. See, when I went to the ER in 2003, I had a pelvic exam done that was extremely painful. So I was afraid of having another pelvic exam or Pap smear. But the PA who saw me was so gentle, I was like, "That's it?" at the end. I decided that I myself would also give that same kind of care to women.

- As a nurse-midwife, I realize that I will also serve women who are my mother's age.

- I want to be a health care provider that they can trust.

- I want to show women that they have options in their pregnancy, labor, and birth. That they can question things and have informed choice.

- I want to encourage breastfeeding!

- I want more gentle births to occur and show women that they have can have a birth experience they want to remember. And even if things don't happen the way they want them to (which happens often in birth), that at least they had choices, were prepared, educated, and informed. And that their babies are safe and healthy, as well as the moms themselves.

- I especially want to help teenage girls - both pregnant and non-pregnant. I have had a longing to help pregnant teens/younger mothers since 2005 (I think - it was sometime in my college years I decided this). I don't know how, but I just...want to be involved, somehow. God has certainly given me a heart to serve them.

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I want to be excited! But to be honest, I am nervous, too. I hope that if I remember what I listed above, that will help me get through the program. Oh, and of course I can't forget the support of my classmates, faculty, friends, and family. And ultimately God Himself, who makes this all possible. :) I will pray hard - for perseverance, endurance, and discipline.

I'll do this, for all the women out there. We need more midwives - and good OBs, too!

"Climb Every Mountain"

This past week at Frontier Bound, Kitty Ernst played a slideshow for us. It contained pictures of the school's history accompanied by instrumental versions of some well-known songs.

One of the songs was "Climb Every Mountain" from The Sound of Music. Immediately when the song switched from the previous one to "Climb Every Mountain," I felt moved to tears.

Interestingly, I watched The Sound of Music a few weeks or so before I came to Frontier Bound. It had been a long time since I had watched this musical in its entirety. When Mother Abbess sang that song, I just felt so inspired and driven to reach my goals. I even posted a part of the lyrics on the header to one of my main blogs - "Follow every rainbow, till you find your dream."

To those of you who have a dream - pursue it, and don't give up. Sometimes it may take you a while to discover what your dream is. Life usually doesn't follow the path that you want it to take (at least, not for me). But every part of my life has shaped me into who I am now and has allowed me to have a passion to live life abundantly. For me, living an abundant life means acting on those desires God has placed on my heart and making a difference.

So, go climb those mountains and find your dream - and act upon it! :)

Climb Every Mountain

Climb every mountain
Search high and low
Follow every by-way
Every path you know

Climb every mountain
Ford every stream
Follow every rainbow
'Till you find your dream

A dream that will need
All the love you can give
Everyday of your life
For as long as you live

Climb every mountain
Ford every stream
Follow every rainbow
'Till you find your dream

(c) Rodgers and Hammerstein

Future Baby-Catcher

I am a future baby-catcher! Yes......I was accepted to Frontier School of Midwifery and Family Nursing!! I am SO HAPPY and thankful.

Okay, so here is how I found out........I was online, had one of my browser windows on Facebook, and I had just gotten a notification that one of my friends (who applied to the same class as me) had applied to our class' discussion board on FB. So for some reason, I decided to check my email first - I think I did that because I would have gotten an email notification of it as well, and well, maybe I just wanted to clear up my inbox. I'll never know exactly why I did it that way.

That is when I saw IT. THE email. THE email from Frontier. The first few sentences went as follows:

Dear FSMFN Student:

Welcome to the Frontier School of Midwifery and Family Nursing! I am pleased to inform you that you have been accepted to Class 82.

I read about that much and started bawling. Like gasping breathing and just crying tears of happiness.

I went back to our FB discussion board and posted that I had also been accepted. Then I called my mom, dad, brother & SIL.

I emailed Frontier back and said I gladly accepted my admission. :) I have to pay a huge amount of fees, but the deadline for that is still a few months away.

This is funny, but before I got accepted, I was thinking of different ways to announce (on FB) that I got accepted.

Side note: *sigh* That is what Facebook does to you....you brainstorm what kind of status updates to post!

The status (that I posted to announce this news) is pretty much what I had imagined posting, even the teary smiley faces -----> :*). And you know what? I really did cry, as I mentioned above!

The news came at just the right time. It not only made my day, but probably my month.

I am so, so happy and so, so thankful. The dream that started 6 years ago is starting to come true.

NBBE

Just a quick summary of this afternoon.

Today I went to the Natural Birth & Baby Expo! It was my 2nd time attending it, and I just knew I had to go again this year.

I am so glad I went! I got there a bit later in the event, but I still had a wonderful time. There were several vendors there, like last year. But one vendor that was there this time (that wasn't there last time) was the American College of Nurse Midwives for our local chapter. The ladies holding that booth were - get this - CNMs and both were Frontier alumni!!! WAY COOL!!

I know I said a quick summary, but I want to share a little more detail about my interaction with them. :) I talked with them for a long time and got some insight and encouragement. One of the things they mentioned were that it was great that younger women were going into the profession of nurse-midwifery because when the "older" ladies retired, there needed to be more individuals coming into the profession. I told them how I was applying for Class 82, and one of them was in Class 8 - wow. :) I asked them about their schedule, and like I had heard, it does seem very busy. But if your heart is in it, then......why not go for it?

And they personally invited me to attend their ACNM chapter meetings! I was so totally excited by this, as you could imagine.

I also saw some other vendors that I met last year, and they all remembered me! Plus a few other individuals that I met this year. So nice to see friendly, familiar faces, plus meet new ones! And as usual, it was great to be in the presence of other like-minded mamas and birth professionals.

Well, I should be getting to bed soon. But I just wanted to document this lovely afternoon. :) Have a great week, everyone!

A cold week

It was a cold week this week! I am glad it will be warming up over the weekend and into next week. My body just does not like it. First of all, my ears hurt very badly when I'm walking outside and it's windy. It doesn't necessarily even have to be that cold, but if it's just merely windy, then you can bet my ears will ache. Also, I am thankful that my SIL made me a scarf - that has made a difference in how cold I am when walking around outside. If my face is covered up, it really does make me feel warmer.

Second, my skin does not like the cold and dry weather. As I type, my right hand has cracks in 3 places, one of which bled openly not too long ago (it is bandaged up now). It doesn't help that I have mild OCD and wash my hands frequently. Combine that with the cold weather we've been having and the heater on occasionally, and it is just not fun.

Anyway, I'll stop talking about the weather. Yesterday I did one of my community clinical rotations. I was at a health resource center. It kind of worked like a health clinic. I assisted the medical assistants and mostly observed them. I also wanted to note that I tried Stevia for the first time yesterday. It was the coldest day of the week, and I was taking a break. One of the medical assistants asked me if I wanted to try tea, to which I obliged because I was so cold and warm liquids would help. She asked me if I wanted sugar, but I said no thanks because I drink mine plain. Well, this one was pretty bitter - or maybe it was because I left the tea bag in there too long.

Anyway, I wanted to finish it, but all I could find were a bunch of Sweet 'n Lows (AUGH, saccharin!!!), one Splenda packet, and a few packets of pure sugar. I felt bad taking the last Splenda, so I just kept looking. Finally, near the coffee pot, I saw a canister of something.....it was Stevia! I heard that it was an all-natural, zero calorie sweetener. The canister said that it didn't leave a bad aftertaste and what-not. I think my SIL is even growing it in her and my brother's garden?

So I tried it, and it wasn't bad! And it helped me be able to finish the green tea.

On another note, I have been seriously praying about starting training to become a certified birth doula. I had heard about doulas back in my college years (most likely it was at the midwifery booth in April 2004), but I never had serious thoughts of becoming one. Since the end of last semester and even more this semester, the desire to become a CD (or CBD, as CBI certifies them to be) has grown a lot. I have done some reading on both Allnurses.com and Alldoulas.com about whether OB nurses should have doula training. It seemed that a majority of the posters said that OB nurses should indeed have doula training. They teach you things in doula training that they don't teach you in nursing school. I esp. like the fact that doula provide physical and emotional support. I wonder about how I am going to get my 2 births in, but I am sure I will work that out if I start certification.

This is very exciting, and I am not sure if/when I am going to start. Childbirth International is the program I want to certify with. They give you 3 years to complete your certification. I want to start NOW, but I have so many school assignments to do between now and spring break. So currently I am reading through the introductory course, which is free. I would love to support a woman in labor. Especially pregnant teens, single moms, moms whose spouse cannot be present, etc.

I am going to keep praying. Like my friend said, if God has put a passion in my heart, then it makes sense to act upon it. I believe that, too. I have to remember one of my life mottoes: One life to live. How am I going to make a difference in this world? God put a passion in my heart for serving pregnant teens. Maybe I could serve them through being a doula for them. I am not sure if I will work as a doula (possibly thinking of volunteering?), since I will work as an RN, but it will be super valuable if I get into L&D and will be a good background if I go onto nurse-midwifery school.