ob/gyn.

wowsa. ever feel really, really dumb? i mean, really. dumb. i know next to nothing about obstetrics. and gynecology. too bad my preceptor starts every interrogation session with "what do you know about...." NOTHING i want to scream. NOTHING AT ALL. i know i'm disappointing you on at least an hourly basis by not knowing the most common cause of vaginal itching or the epithelial cell type in the endocervix or the incidence of neural tube defects in women who took folate supplements versus those who did not. i'm IGNORANT. and don't offer to let me in on a procedure by asking me the question "any good at phlebotomy?" in front of the patient. i'm going to have to shake my head no. even though the one time that i did it, i hit it on the first stick. but that in no way means i'm GOOD at it. i've done it ONCE. and dimples (my phlebotomy partner, who happened to be H-O-T) had really good veins.

argh. i'm just frustrated with feeling so out of my element. and not really knowing what i should be able to do. i mean, we did inpatient rounds this morning on the post-surgical patients. i coulda done that by myself. written the progress notes, discharge orders, consult orders, etc. all. by. myself. apparently i'm supposed to put myself out there and just start offering to do things.

on a lighter note. i've seen a LOT of vaginas in the past couple days. i'm getting better at measuring fundal heights. i did an ultrasound the other day. not very well, but i had minimal instruction, so i fumbled through on my own. it wasn't a necessary ultrasound - just a mom with her 6 year old daughter who wanted to see the baby. so he let us play together.

i stopped by the hospital to give the nurses my phone number so they could call me when there's a delivery coming. i mean, come on. that's really the only part that seems exciting to me. i'm reading about the stages of labor now so i'll be ready. not really. i'm reading it because just before i left this morning, dr. b asked me what i knew about labor. (see above for answer). so then i was assigned stages of labor and management of complications within each stage. which is an ok thing, because even though i don't have my text in yet (barnes and noble ordered it for me monday night), i DO have lecture notes from last year that enclose those topics in two very succinct power point presentations.

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the only really good thing is the hours. i work very few hours. which is unusual as far as obgyn rotations go. i work mondays 1-6, tuesdays 1-5, every other wednesday 1-3, thursday 1-8 (but he says he never makes the students stay the whole time...), and friday 10-noon. it works out nicely, since there's so much READING for me to do.

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in other news, thanksgiving here was nice. different, but nice. we had to wear dress up clothes and we ate off of china and drank sparkling grape juice out of crystal wine glasses. fancy, no?

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one more thing. i love panera. and i LOVE that they have free wireless internet. i took this picture on my way here this afternoon to show you how much i loved it.
let's be honest. i really took it to show you how hot i look today.