Hannah Elizabeth

In my first three years as a qualified midwife, I feel very comfortable in my role and my ability to be a midwife. It's not been the easiest three years, in fact it's been the hardest years of my life. The first year qualified was a struggle at work and then just as I felt comfortable at work, my personal life blew up and hasn't been the same since. Despite it all, it really has flown by and I'm so proud of everything I have been able to achieve before my first revalidation .  In my preceptorship programme , I completed 6 months on labour suite, 7 months in community and 3 months on each ward (antenatal and postnatal). I loved my labour suite and postnatal ward rotations, but was not a fan of the antenatal ward. Luckily, the majority of time, I got pulled but when I stayed, it all seemed to go wrong, and I didn't love some of the core staff members there.  The community was a lovely role and I loved the job, however there was one member of the team I felt was very r

January marked the time for my first revalidation as I had reached the end of my first three years as a qualified midwife. I actually ended up doing my revalidation at the start of December because I was strongly encourage with Christmas and the New Year that it might be delayed, and I am so glad I did, because it took 6 weeks for it to be approved, which was a little worrying at the time.  I had prepped for my revalidation throughout the three years, but mainly collected everything together the month before.  Revalidation is about promoting good practice, as well as strengthening public confidence in the nursing and midwifery professions. It is a requirement to keep your PIN number and registration as a midwife.  In order to revalidate you need: 450 practice hours 35 hours of CPD including 20 hours of participatory learning 5 pieces of practice-related feedback 5 written reflective accounts A reflective discussion A health and character declaration A professional indemnity arrangemen

I have wanted to go to Disney on Ice for so many years. I love the idea of celebrating all things Disney and I would absolutely love to go to America and visiting Disneyland and DisneyWorld one day, but that will be a long way away, if ever. I have been to DisneyLand Paris as a solo adult, but it’s not quite the same. I tried to get my sisters to let me bring my nieces or nephew but none of them were interested, and my oldest niece has actually already been before. Instead of waiting yet another year, I decided to go alone and I am so glad I did. Whilst, it wasn’t quite what I had initially expected, it was still so much fun and filled with all the magic that Disney is.  Now I think they tried to really make the show interactive for the kids, which was nice in a way but personally not for me and I found it quite gimmicky. It centred around 2 American young adults who came around to encourage the audience to be entertained. From here, the story evolved from bringing out the key Disney m

It's been just over a month since I bought my new car and today I thought I would share all the details, my purchased accessories and of course, a little review too! For those that don't know, my last car sadly got written off so I was forced to buy a new car and I ended up choosing the Citroen C3 Aircross Flair. I got a second hand car, with one previous owner. It had some expected wear and tear damage, but is just 3 years old and has done less than 20,000 miles.  Starting with my dashboard and console. I love how sleek and smooth this interface looks and one thing I really wanted was a touchscreen for a SatNav and Apple Play, with a digital speedometer. I've found it lovely to be able to connect my phone directly and listen to music and audiobooks especially. As well as having Google Maps on screen. I have actually tried the in built SatNav which I do actually like, however, the confidence from up to date information comes from my phone. The speed dial has been so crisp

After submitting my PMA workbook and the final part of the assessment, I eager waited the result. It took a long time as the grading boards meet once a term and of course, as it was in the middle of a term, I had to wait until the end. Nevertheless, I now have the result and supposedly I got 100%. I was obviously very happy initially but it turns out it's a pass or fail criteria, rather than a grading which is a little disappointing. I'm not sure what that means for the overall mark and classification of degree at the end, but I guess that will be awarded based on the other scores instead.  I had thought I would receive recognition of the qualification, alongside a certificate with this but I didn't, so I reached out to my module lead again. She said that although I have passed, I have to wait for a MAP ratification the next term, so I can't work as a qualified PMA just yet, but hopefully soon! 

I sadly saw Nottingham's annual pantomime in the last week of it's run so I didn't get to write a review before it finished for the season, but I always love the pantomime's at the Theatre Royal and this year was no difference. It was a hilarious rendition of Dick Whittington.  Having never seen or heard of Dick Whittington before, I was actually quite excited to watch a brand new to me story. Although, I'm still a little confused by the storyline to be honest and what exactly happened. The premise is that it follows Dick on a journey to become Mayor, fighting the Rat Queen and falling in love along the way. The cast itself was incredible. Unlike Peter Pan, the songs were sung incredibly. There were some beautiful voices, backed by incredible dancing. At times I wished the stage wasn't as busy as I couldn't give each member the attention that it was deserved. The character interactions were perfect as well. It was manageable and appropriate, alongside perfec

Another belated hotel review and I do apologise for the delay, but better late than never. I went to the Dominican Republic in Autumn last year and stayed at the beautiful Grand Sirenis Punta Cana Resort and Aquagames.  The rooms looked beautiful on paper and in pictures. There were some small areas of complaint like someone had punched a hole in the corner or one wall and the shower leaked, but they were cosmetic. Otherwise, we had a prime location right in the middle of the restaurant complex and swimming pools area, with a beautiful view of the gardens. Unlike a lot of hotels, we had a lot of space, a sofa and chairs in the room and the most spacious bathroom with a bath as well.  The grounds were amazing. Nothing felt cramped or close together. There was a lot green garden spaces and they were so vibrant. I loved all the palm trees. It was a really beautiful location.  Unlike Jamaica , the pools here were beautiful. They were big and spacious, but it was also quite quiet which help

It's been a while since I wrote a university post so be prepared for weekly updates whilst I catch up. This one is apart the second part of my Professional Midwifery Advocate (PMA) course assessments. This assessment for this module was split into two parts. The first part was an essay. I was actually quite disappointed in my mark for this as I explained earlier, so I wanted to try really hard to make the workbook aspect the best it could be.  The workbook ended up being a lot more work than originally anticipated. I asked for an extension as I wasn't able to complete all the activities required to meet the competencies but the module lead said that was quite normal with the course so it was meant to finish at the end of July, however my extension was until the end of October.  The workbook was made up on a number of activities, which were required to meet a number of competencies. I had already been able to achieve some through previous commitments but I felt I also needed to

My first annual leave of 2024 called for a cousins day to celebrate Christmas, car shopping and buying a new car and seeing lots of friends from high school! Click here to watch the vlog or see below.  Everything started a little stressful. I woke up early and got ready for a cousin's day out in Leeds. I was so excited, even having time to paint my nails. I was waiting for my cousin to come and pick me up and then got the dreaded message to say she was running late. I was somewhat expecting it, but when I hadn't heard anything in 40 minutes, I contacted her again, only to find out she'd lost her car keys and was no longer coming. Talking about frustration and stress. I then had to race to book an Uber and a train and only just made it to the next one available, but of course, it was 2 hours and so I was over an hour and a half later than planned.  My mum picked me up from the train station and then we went to the car dealership to collect my  new car . I've shared prett