Ever since I was a young girl, I was fascinated by birth and with babies. If I had a new cousin, I would want to hold them all the time. If there was a show on TLC about birth, I would plop myself in front of the TV and watch, in awe of the amazing process. I couldn’t tell you why I was so drawn to it, but the entire process of birth and newborns had a magnetic pull on my heart.
Sophomore year of high school when I realized I wanted to be a nurse, it wasn’t hard to figure out what specialty I wanted to go into. This had always been something I had dreamt of. When I was accepted into nursing at UNH, my dreams started to slowly come true. While at first it was hard and not everything interested me, I knew I had to get through it all to cross the finish line. Taking my maternity class junior year of college solidified my dream. I knew as I watched a birth my first day of clinical, that this was what I was meant to do.
Fast forward to the summer going into senior year, I made the sacrifice to complete my senior immersion (kind of like an internship) over the summer instead of spring semester senior year. I completed my practicum in the labor and delivery unit at one of the best hospitals in the seacoast area of New Hampshire. I was finally living my dream. I was able to see so many births, natural and C-sections, hold so many babies, and bond with my patients who had just become new parents. When my practicum finally came to an end, I didn’t want to go. Leaving the unit was so difficult because of the relationships I had formed with staff and the memories I had gathered. It was one of the most rewarding experiences I had ever been able to complete and if I could do it all over again, I would, even if it meant sacrificing more than just a summer.