Category Archives: Academia

Lions and tigers and tenaculums, oh my!

By The Midwife | Published: January 24, 2006

The IUD, I’m beginning to learn, is a much maligned form of contraception. It got a terrible reputation in the US because of all of the furor surrounding the Dalkon Shield in the 1970s, however, the two modern versions of the IUD (ParaGaurd, aka The Copper-T, and Mirena, aka The Hormonal One) are actually safe, [...]

Also posted in Contraception, Education | 9 Comments

Dreaming in the Dark

By The Midwife | Published: January 18, 2006

Yesterday was Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Hormonal Contraception Day, EVAR. Yes, truly. Everything. We staggered out of class at the end of the day with pressure ulcers (read, bedsores) on our ischial tuberosities (read, butt bones), and heads that felt rather like over-full waterballoons ready to burst, or maybe gigantic blisters ready [...]

Also posted in Education | 1 Comment

The Secret Garden

By The Midwife | Published: January 12, 2006

Today was devoted to the flora of the vagina: what’s normal, what’s not, what happens when yeast decides to take up residence, or when the lactobacilli flee in droves, or when all sorts of unfriendly sexually transmitted diseases invade. Our professor referred to the vagina as the secret garden, and that’s such a beautiful name [...]

Also posted in Education, Gynecology | Leave a comment

Menstrual Magic

By The Midwife | Published: January 9, 2006

The curse, the red tide, my period, my monthly, my friend, on the rag, on the spurt, and on and on. All the jokes, all the whining, all the bitching, all the unfair media portrayal, the cultural stigma, the fear, the shame…menstruation gets such a bad rep that, at the very least, I felt it [...]

Also posted in Contraception, Fertility and Conception, Menstruation, Primary Care | 2 Comments

The Score

By The Midwife | Published: December 7, 2005

One exam down. Two to go. One massive paper to finish. And a final discussion question to answer for Research. I have one week left to accomplish all of this. The paper and discussion point are due next monday. The two exams are next Tuesday. My hope is to finish the paper today or tomorrow, [...]

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The Quiet before the storm

By The Midwife | Published: November 21, 2005

There’s not much on my plate this week, schoolwise, so it’s easy to let your gaurd down, especially with Thanksgiving this week, and that lovely holiday feeling in the air, but Note To Self: it’s only the deep breath before the plunge! Starting next week, and moving into December, things are going to get Very [...]

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What is this, med school?

By The Midwife | Published: November 13, 2005

Amazing how much of midwifery school has absolutely NOTHING to do with pregnant women, or babies, or birth, AT ALL. I’m up to my neck in a presentation on hyperthyroidism at the moment. Haven’t even discussed anything pelvis or speculum related for the past two weeks. Le sigh. At least our clinicals start tomorrow, at [...]

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Updates all around

By The Midwife | Published: November 9, 2005

I’ve been a bad blogger, lately, and haven’t been writing posts nearly as often as I should. Which is not to say that nothing has been happening lately (in fact, I’ve been quite busy, and have been having a hard time finding a moment to write), but none of it has seemed particularly news-worthy. School [...]

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The check-out

By The Midwife | Published: October 28, 2005

I didn’t get a chance to write about this yesterday, because it was a pretty busy day, but we had our check-out exams in the morning, and they both went very smoothly. There were de facto slip-ups, of course, but both my partner and I did well, even though I was so nervous that my [...]

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Peer Pelvics

By The Midwife | Published: October 25, 2005

Just a brief update on the peer pelvic experience: overall, absolutely stellar. They were fun, intimate, very educational, and only marginally uncomfortable (we were in groups of three, which meant one person was examined twice by each of her peers, and let me tell you…by the end of the second exam…boy, were you ready to [...]

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