It's coming up to the end of my maternity leave (boo hoooo) and I've been busy busy busy trying to organise my return to work. By trade, I'm a midwife but long-story-short, I've not worked as one for a few years (did a bit of travelling; lived in Canada; fell pregnant etc). So, in 7 weeks time, I'll be back in the land of childbirth. And we all know what this means, don't we? Uh-huh. Vomiting.
Pregnant women vomit. Labouring women vomit. There's no escaping it. I'm sure you're puzzling over why I've chosen midwifery as a career when I'm so terrified of people puking? Well, as I've mentioned before, in my weird little brain there are varying degrees of vomit! Pregnancy vomiting doesn't fill me with the dread that illness vomiting does. Don't get me wrong, I do get a nervous rush of adrenaline when a woman utters the dreaded "I'm gonna throw up" but I try and hide it, pass her a kidney bowl and busy myself updating her notes or taking care of other clinical business until she's done. So far me not being right there, rubbing their back hasn't caused any problems and none of the women I've worked with have been even remotely fazed by the fact that they're throwing up (I must admit I'm envious). I usually make a little deal with the partners of the women I work with that I'll deal with the urine, the poop, the blood, the waters and any other bodily fluids, but they're in charge of puking. Luckily, they all understand and are glad to be given something to be in charge of... even if it is that!
So, in 7 weeks I'll be back outside of my vomit comfort zone. Mildly anxious about having to face my fear but on the whole, very excited that I'll be back in my element!
