My name is Manya and I thought it worthwhile to share my Casa story.  I was an apprentice for about 9 months when I decided I needed to get some numbers under my belt in order to stay motivated. I had been losing interest because I did not feel as though I was learning as much as I could or at the pace in which I was capable.  In the late summer of 2003 I started an internship at Casa de Nacimiento.  I had heard about it from friends that had been there and from my preceptor.  It was recommended to me that I should be prepared to go with the premise that I was there to learn and not teach.  That I would learn a lot more if I functioned as a student because I would constantly have the mindset of absorbing. People told me mostly good things about Casa and I went expecting the best, though I knew it would be stressful.

Upon arrival I was frantically whisked off to the intern house by another intern.  I thought, for sure, that I had made a mistake and needed to call a cab back to the airport.  Needless to say, I stayed and toughed it out for the first 2 weeks.  By the 3^rd week I was doing so much hands on that I really began to feel like a midwife and I felt much more confident with my Spanish (of which I had none upon arrival).  It was initially tough to learn to work with so many midwives, but that too eventually started to feel comfortable and work out very well.  I learned so much more by working with so many different people, students and midwives, than I had in those previous 9 months of apprenticeship, and knew I had done the right thing by going. 

One of the main things that was tough for me was the transition of working with birth at home to working with birth in a very high volume birth center.  What I think helped me the most was to truly think of it as a job and dedicating myself to that premise.  I was there to complete a job and, like my apprenticeship before, take the information that I thought was most applicable to me and store it away for later.  All the while completing my job in the way I was told and was needed according to the rules and regulations of the birth center and the safety of moms and babies.  This made it easier to transition to the schedule and the practices of the birth center.  I learned much more observing this practice than I would have otherwise because I did not fight what was asked of me but instead allowed myself to enjoy what I was doing. It also made it easier on me because I was always aware of what I was supposed to do and did not have to guess at what I thought was the “right” thing to do.

In the end I had learned to draw blood, speak moderate Spanish, communicate the needs of the client as I saw it and also listen to what the midwives thought, perform newborn screens, cope with loss, emergencies, and hospital transports.  I also became much more skilled at palpation, vaginal exams, taking vital signs, and seeing birth as a total picture of many things combined.  Above all else I learned to deal with many different people and personalities within a short amount of time, most of which ended up in friendships that will last a lifetime.

Thanks so much for letting me share my story.