I am originally from Bosnia but currently live in Canada. I was in El Paso from May 15th - Aug 1st 2003, 10 weeks altogether. During that time I attended 36 primary births (as first on) and also assisted at 22 births (as second on). When I first came to Casa de Nacimiento I had no clinical experience at all but during my time there I learned a lot. I attended my first birth as a primary about 10 days after my arrival. My situation was a little bit unique because I wasn't staying on the premises like the other students. My family came with me to El Paso since I have a small son (20 months old at that time) and I didn't want to be away from him for too long. We lived in a nearby apartment that we rented so I would be at the clinic and working during my shift and then go 'home' to my family. It was difficult to balance both at the same time. I missed out on births that were taking place during times I wasn't there and I missed out on being with other students and around birth all the time but for me it was important to spend time with my family as well. Sometimes it was also difficult to schedule my shifts since we were required to work sometimes 24hrs shifts (12 hours as first on, 12 hours as second on) which meant for me staying on premises for this entire time but generally I found the Casa staff to be very understanding about my particular situation and very accommodating whenever it was possible to do so. I enjoyed my time there very much and I learned a lot although it was at times very hard. It is a very busy birthing centre and there were times with 5 women or more in labor at the same time or 3-4 births in one shift. I found that some of the other students had communication problems with each other and also some of the midwives which made it harder for them to work together.

I would encourage everyone who comes to Casa to come with an open mind and ready to learn lots of different things and ways of doing midwifery. There are lots of different midwives with different ways of doing things and that is definitely very beneficial. After coming back from Casa (like I said, I had no previous clinical experience previously except three years of studying through Ancient Art Midwifery Institute) I started attending births as a second birth attendant with a local midwife and I also attended prenatals with another homebirth practice nearby. Currently I am preparing to apply to register as a midwife in Canada, hopefully within next year or so.