Hannah Elizabeth

We got a belated White Christmas, officially said goodbye to 2020 and hello to a new year, and lockdown 3.0 commenced.  Click here to see the vlog or watch below.  Although it didn't quite reach us in time for Christmas, we did get a thin covering of snow which was lovely to wake up to. It even stuck around for a while, although there wasn't quite enough to play with.  The same day, I completely burnt my foot. We have an electric heater and I accidently pushed against it as I was passing. It was barely on for a second because I jumped away so fast, but the grill left marks on my foot. It didn't hurt for the first few hours, but it blistered quite badly and by the evening it was very tender.  I then spent a few days chilling. It was freezing, there wasn't much to do and I had a constant headache. I binge watched Bridgerton, and watched both The Witches and another movie I can't remember the name of. I loved Bridgerton and really hope there will be a new season.  I al

With lockdown 3.0 well and truly here, my partner has actually semi-moved in with me for the next 6 weeks whilst we are in lockdown. Spending more time together has been lovely but it's not easy. I live alone and therefore my support bubble is him and his parents house, although I don't have contact with anyone but him. As such, he's obviously the only person I can really see and it's hard to be so reliant on someone for all of your social in-person interaction.  I think it's normal in these circumstances to have relationship difficulties, because with constantly being on top of each other, without time apart, it can be hard. We have defintely be bickering a lot more than usual and let's face it, it's not fun. That's not how I want my relationship to be and so I'm putting measures in place to help us reconnect and be closer. They're only small, little steps, but I'm hoping it will make us remember why we're together, starting with 2 small

I truly cannot believe that my three year, student midwife journey has come to an end. I have finally finished my degree and I am officially a midwife. As you know, my last day was 18th December, but I officially became a grandaunt on the 4th January. Here is a reflection on my experience as an undergraduate student midwife. Year one was a unique experience. I started my midwifery journey surrounded by individuals I never would have otherwise had the opportunity to form a relationship with. For the first time, I had a social life, alongside studying, and I didn't struggle, spending every waking moment learning and revising. I often found myself feeling guilty for not finding it hard, but I've learnt to accept that everyone's paths and journeys to get to the end goal is different, with unique difficulties and hardships. Second year cemented in me that midwifery was right for me. I developed a true passion for midwifery, for the women I looked after and the workforce a

Following on from my year three review , I'm continuing with the assessments side of things. As I'm writing this, I couldn't be happier with my assessment results this year, especially given everything that has happened and switched up the course. Of course, this year has been a little different and the assessment side of things also had to be altered slightly, but luckily, that meant no official exams for us, and instead they were all assessments.  Our first module was run normally.  The Politics of Maternity Care had two separate assessments, the same as for every first module of the year in our midwifery studies. The first was a debate and the second an essay, however unlike previous years, this year, each contributed 50% to the total mark towards the module, therefore they were of equal proportion to our grade.  My topic for this year was another tricky one with: "FOR - All women should be offered a caesarean section". I took the approach of the biological sid

Unlike previous years, I didn't talk about much of my placement experience in my overall  review  of the year because I thought it was better placed in this section of the posts. My placement in third year has obviously been a little more difficult. Not only was I a third year, with all the added responsibility that entails, but it was also during a pandemic. Changing policies in the country was nothing like the changing guidelines in the hospital. We were constantly being updated daily with new policies, especially at the very start of my placement, so I was honestly grateful when we were pulled. The staff were struggling to keep on top of it all, so there wasn't much in place from a student perspective. Personal protective equipment (PPE) was limited, we had one set on the ward to start with, and the ward manager was going to daily briefings and reporting back. It was such a strange time for everyone.  When I returned back to placement in August, it was much calmer. There wer

As promised, I am sharing my experience of being a third and final year student midwife in three separate posts once again. I will be doing what I did in previous years , and splitting the post into an overview, assessments and placements.  I'm starting with a full review of the year and I think it's defintely a strange one, given everything that has been going on. It's hard to believe that the year started off so normally. Back in January, we never would have expected the year to take the path that it had, and although I don't want this post to focus on the pandemic, it's played a huge part of the course and the changes that have been made have impacted on the way in which we have learnt. On that note, I think it's important to mention that although the content remains the same, my experience may not be the experience you should expect because, hopefully, normality will resume and in person learning will be back.  As I've discussed before, the University of

This week is the week I am officially no longer a student. Although, I had my last day on the 18th December, as I've explained elsewhere (somewhere?), the university then has 7 days to officially submit everything and do the paperwork. As it has been Christmas, this passed over into the new year and so as of yesterday, I am no longer a student! To round the experience off, this year is going to be all about my third year, starting off with a fun post. Be prepared for all the midwifery content. Sorry in advance if you're not interested in this aspect of my life but like I said, it is an aspect and quite a big one!  I haven't seen any written posts of Never Have I Ever's but I saw this Student Nurse/Midwife Edition and I thought it looked so much fun so I wanted to share my answers before my "Student Midwife" journey is officially finished. I'm still waiting for my final degree classification and pin number, and as usual, I will be sharing my year 3 review o