I got involved in a conversation at work today. There's a nurse that I work with who will be giving birth sometime in the next two months. She was on her lunch break with a few other girls, and I walked into the childbirth conversation. These are the times that I just have to shut my lips and listen, and not put my two cents in until I'm asked, rather than spouting my views on childbirth. There was the inevitable horror story part, and the epidural discussion, followed by someone talking about how they LAUGHED at their sister while she was in labor because she wanted to do it naturally and was having a difficult time managing labor. Yep, you read right...the support person laughed at a mother in labor and told her she should have had the epidural! Nice. Anyhoo, finally the conversation reaches me and someone says "Jessica, don't I remember you saying that you had a waterbirth?" Finally, my invitation to the conversation! I told them about the births of my sons, and how, although I am not one of those blessed women for whom childbirth is not painful, even orgasmic, I found the pain to be quite manageable. I explained how it was all in the mindset, how to look at the pain as good and productive, how to relax with it and let it work. New-momma-to-be mentioned how she's been to the L&D floor and heard women screaming, which led to a conversation about making low noises rather than screaming, etc. New-momma-to-be is still pretty set on the epidural, saying that she wishes she could just have her baby without giving birth, and having an epidural and sleeping through the whole thing is the closest she can get to that, but I hope I at least planted a seed. If not in her mind, maybe in some of the other girls' minds. I was recently asked by someone that I work with to put together an instruction booklet to understanding your fertility. So strange to me that a woman could ebb and flow through her cycle every month and not even understand the mechanics of it. Bodies are ignored, and when I mention things like knowing when I ovulate, things that I don't even think twice about, I get all kinds of "well how in the world can you know when you ovulate?? By taking a test??" type of questions. *sigh* It's so simple to understand your body. I've recently gotten a couple of people interested in moon cycles at work. Some people think I'm just the crazy hippie on the floor, but other people listen and ask questions.
Speaking of work, I've been approached about another leadership position. My manager is looking for a handful of nurses to become "epilepsy nurses". We have a room on our floor with continuous surveillance and remote EEG capabilities, and we'll soon have 3 more rooms like that, tallying a total of 8 potential seizure rooms. That's two nurses with 4 patients apiece. We're to be trained in the specifics surrounding epilepsy, treatments, tests, etc. Pretty cool, I think. I also have two classes this month for Epic superuser training. I've used the Epic system before, so when my manager heard that, she pounced and asked if I'd take the classes so that I can train the nurses on the floor. And I'll be doing the resource thing too, as I previously mentioned. It's wild how a few years of experience in a lot of areas (travel and registry/agency) opens a lot of doors for advancement. My manager comes to me about so many things. I have to admit that it's flattering, although slightly scary. I was thinking about it all today and decided that I was going to go for it all, and try to get comfortable again in leadership roles. That kind of attitude will come in handy once I'm a midwife, and running a birthing home!
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