Double Date, Covid Testing and Scary Dream!

New Covid-19 measures meant we could go on an outdoor double date, I took my first at-home Covid-19 test and we celebrated Christmas jumper day! 

Click here to watch the vlog or see below. 

I haven't done too much over the past two weeks, so originally decided to combine the two weeks into one but ended up recording far too much so I thought I'd share one this week anyway, despite what I say at the end! Life got a little hectic towards the end of the course with completing little bits and bobs, organising summative assessments and trying to tie up loose ends. 

With Nottingham moving from lockdown into tier 3, not much has changed, but we can now meet up with other people outside for walks. Amazingly, after not having a weekend off since August, I ended up having my last three weeks of placement being really nice and having both Saturday and Sunday off. Luke and I ended up going on a Sunday walk one week, after a lovely home cooked roast dinner. We met up with Harriet and David, walking along the canal toward Beeston. We ended up turning around when it started to get dark, which feels so early nowadays! 

Luke's been coming around a lot more as he also lives in a tier 3 area now, which means he can't see friends and family either. But it's honestly been lovely. I've defintely made the most of him, having him around. I even managed to convince him to let me cut his hair, although in the end he somewhat had to convince me! 

I have absolutely loved my mentors this year. They have all been absolutely amazing and truly inspiring. Over the past month, I finally got a sign off supervisor and it's actually been really refreshing. She's really pushed me out of my comfort zone and encouraged me to complete my own care, including confidence cases. My first went so well and was a truly amazing experience. The second didn't quite go to plan but it was a learning curve and I've reflected on it a lot since. 

My last shift with my main mentor was a little sad. Because the ward was really busy, it didn't quite have the same feel to it and sadly we couldn't get the same goodbye so I ended up going in on my day off to give her her gifts, but of course, she was at work and busy so that was a little rushed as well. I also tried to see one of the families I'd looked after, but they'd already gone home a few hours earlier. 

I finally ended up taking a covid-19 test. All NHS staff should now be testing a minimum of every other week and I thought it would probably be safest for me to test before I went home for Christmas. Thankfully it was negative which meant I could still go home and be with family for the holidays...as long as the next two are also negative! I'm going to share a blog post all about the experience tomorrow! As much as I want to be able to visit extended family and do all the things I had planned before starting work, at least there is some small sense of normality. 

It was a strange week because I really struggled to sleep the entire time and one night I had an awful scary dream/nightmare. I talked about it in the vlog, but basically...a baby was born and when I went to check the gender, I couldn't decide what it was. The other midwife said it was a girl and as I was handing baby back to mum, I dropped it and then when I went to pick it up, it jumped on my face and sucked to me. It was awful! I think in reality, Luke probably put his hand on my face whilst we were asleep and I shoved it off, and wacked him...which is what he remembers. 

To end the week, it started off a little poor as Luke woke me up, so of course I got angry. I then headed to the shops to do the grocery shop, before heading back and wrapping some presents and then going to work on my day off as above. As the weather was miserable all day, we ended up putting on our Christmas jumpers and heading to the garden centre. I really wanted to go to a Christmas grotto but sadly it was charged and also fully booked, but we wondered around for a little bit, before heading home for a yummy Sunday lunch - our last one together for the entire year!