Personal Narrative: My Job Shadowing At Avera Hospital

On January 12, 2017 in Sioux Falls, SD, I job shadowed at Avera Hospital with Teri Ruiter who is a midwife. When I first got to the hospital I had to find a place to park at plaza 1. I went inside and a guy behind a desk asked me where I was going, I told him the Avera Women’s on the 4th floor. From there he showed me where the elevator was. I went up to the Women’s center and the lady behind a desk asked how she could help me, I explained to her I had a job shadow with a midwife. She then brought me back to the midwifery section. There I met 4 ladies, one of them was Ruiter. We introduced ourselves. Then got busy. Before visiting with every patient, Ruiter had asked if it was ok if a student came in with her. The first patient we had was in her late 20’s she was in there for post pardon. She had her baby two weeks before this appointment. She was in there to receive birth control. They had told me that if I got light headed or dizzy to have a seat. I was just fine with it. It was gross and I had no idea thats how they inserted it. The second patient we had saw was in there to hear the baby’s heart beat. The variety of patients we had was cool. The ages varied from 12 to 75 years old. I had watched Ruiter and the two other midwives that were on
This was a great experience. The think I disliked about this job shadow was watching them insert birth control. I did not like the smell or anything about it. But as Ruiter said “It takes time getting used to the smell and not letting it bother you.” I learned a lot about the different kinds of birth control and birthing methods during my shadow. “So much of what we do and see is beautiful and magical. Part of our job is hilarious and gross, and another part is borderline unbearable and heartbreaking” (A day in the life of A Labor and Delivery nurse