Yesterday.

I had a lovely late shift yesterday.

My mentor and I took over the care of a lady who was already labouring, she was term + and coping well using just Entonox during contractions.

As labour progressed my mentor asked if she could perform a ve to assess the woman's progress, she agreed to this, and when my mentor had completed her assessment she asked the woman if it was ok for me to try, explaining I was a student etc. The lady agreed, I felt really nervous as it was the first ve I had done. My mentor talked me through what I needed to do, and asked could I feel this and that, and I found I could, I was so surprised as I didn't expect to be able to.

Towards the end of my shift the woman was advised to use a birthing stool to help her push the baby out which she did. I was on my hands and knees along with my mentor when, with her guidance I delivered a beautiful baby boy, it was brilliant to experience a delivery with Mum in a different position, when I started to deliver the placenta with my mentor's help I could tell something didn't 'feel' right, my mentor told me to leave go of the cord, she eased the placenta further down gently, and I was able to deliver it without any problem.

My mentor later told me that the cord was snapping, this is what I was afraid of when I thought it was different, but she reassured me that it wasn't anything I had or hadn't done, and can just happen somethimes.

It was a lovely end to a great shift, getting to know the couple from the beginning of the shift, and delivering their baby was a fantastic experience. Made all the more special when the couple both thanked me for the support I had given them.