My name is Angella and my introduction to Casa started in May of 2002. Since then I have been back three times and advanced from an intern to a staff midwife. I came to Casa as an intern without any Spanish skills but with past home birth experience, midwifery schooling and herbal and nutritional training. I came at a very busy time and I was able to obtain bundles and bundles of experience very quickly.

At first, my faltering Spanish made communicating with the clients very frustrating but being immersed in the language daily made assimilation of the language swifter. The numbers I was able to accumulate in two months were extremely high. The combination of observes, assists and primaries numbered around 130-140 births. I also performed hundreds of prenatal and postpartum exams, finished 5 continuity’s of care, some well women exams, and practiced plenty of venipuncture. If you want those kind of numbers don’t plan on sleeping very much and do plan on living at the birth center! At that point in time I wanted as much experience as I could get because I was finishing my bachelor’s degree at the UCM (Utah College of Midwifery, now known as the Midwives College of Utah).

I returned the next month for a period of 4-5 months as a Junior Permit where I participated in another 100 or more births. The position of a junior permit is a wonderful opportunity specific to Casa. It is where after completing your internship some interns are invited to come back to go further on with their skill mastery. They are allowed under the staff midwives guidance to make clinical decisions and to discuss their reasoning as the junior permit is placed more into the role of the primary caregiver, so that the person may become more comfortable with added responsibility in a safe environment. It is rewarding and enjoyable to live with other aspiring midwives but the stress of working, eating and sleeping with those same people need to be taken into consideration for a longer stay. I personally am a birth junkie and I learned that the best thing to do is to go with the flow, keep your humor, and to take one day at a time.

A year later I revisited to help again as first on and to junior permit during the holiday seasons when student help was unusually low.

My final advancement came when I became a staff midwife at Casa. The experiences I had at Casa are priceless. I have learned and grown so much. Some days were hard and some were boring and some just flew by but every day I learned something new and I learned to love the Hispanic families, midwives and interns that I worked with daily.

Enjoy the lessons of birth you will learn and the wonderful knowledge and skills you may take home from the different staff midwives and students. Be ready to learn and to work together and you will cherish your time well spent at CASA.