As I was flipping through this week's issue of the New York Magazine, I encountered an interesting article about a topic we were frequently exposed to during our labor & delivery class in nursing school-- home births. It's not surprising that a school with a midwifery program would try to persuade it's students that a natural home delivery-- without an epidural, fetal heart monitoring, or an obstetrician-- is the ideal way to give birth (another hot topic was breast-feeding, though it's much less controversial.) Despite the lectures and videos that made us all think we wanted to give birth in hot tubs (just google home births), the field of midwifery seemed like a path that few students wanted to go into; I remember hearing someone stereotyping midwives and their clients as hippies or bitter feminists that lived by mantras like "I am Woman. I am Strong." While at my clinic in the hospital, the labor and delivery RN's seemed like the toughest, meanest nurses I'd ever met. And I didn't blame them. That experience was enough for me to know that I did not want to work where all my patients would be 100% women. Women in pain. No, thank you. Anyways, this is a topic I don't plan on thinking about for at least a few more years. By then, I hope that either of the options, home or hospital, won't seem like such frightening experiences. In the meantime, it's interesting to see yet another movement, or fad, gaining popularity these days.

Last night (this morning) I accidently stuck myself with an insulin needle. And most likely exposed myself to pneumonia. Twice. Oh well. I am working 7 out of the next 9 nights. But I'll survive... I am Woman. I am strong.