Okay, so I have now had a further 3 shifts, but none have been anywhere near as busy as my first! I think I just got lucky because it was my first shift... I have seen a couple more births and have helped out in the pre-natal clinic.

It's great now I am becoming more involved- I have started charting (recording everything the midwife says as the labour progresses) which is pretty easy apart from the fact I have never studied midwifery and so I don't know the words that I am looking out for, and so when I am listening to the midwife who is speaking with an american accent, it is often hard to catch what they are saying... for instance- SEMI, took me about 5 mins to work out what she had said... oh dear, at least they are all very patient and fantastic teachers, answering all my questions and explaining everything else as it happens.

Today in the pre-natal clinic, I was able to feel the women's tummies to assess the position of the baby, whether it was right lying or left lying, whether the back was posterior, translateral or anterior and where the head was. I was also able to measure the fundus, so this is the measurement from the top of the pubic bone to the top of the fetus and I was also able to listen to the baby's heart beat using a doppler. A great way of assessing whether the women were anaemic was to look at the bottom of the eye and if it was not red, then they were anaemic.

During birth room shift I chartered for the only birth of the 8hour shift and the midwife explained a whole lot, so my head is now buzzing with information. I was also able to check the baby's heart beat inbetween contractions and so I already feel like I am getting involved. Previously I have helped out with the newborn exam- done it's footprints, given a couple of babies their first bath, helped the babies breastfeed (latch on) and checked the mother's pulse several times.

Today I was the one who wrote down the exact time of birth! Woooo- first time I have done that, feels amazing.

So there we go, that's my latest update- pretty tired after having almost a 14hours shift....