the cluttered life

We all live in a cluttered mess. My room has boxes of it. They are remnants of my college days in stacks of photocopied readings and materials that I used while I was writing my thesis, boxes of bags that I no longer use, and clothes inside my closet that are old, I don't wear anymore, or I've already outgrown. My nursing books are on top of a sidetable and another stack of nursing material readings is also growing each time I attend class.

I want to devote one day to throw away stuff that I don't need but everytime I try to do that, I can't make myself throw away a lot of pesos worth of college reading materials. For the clothes and bags, I can pick out the ones that I can donate (it's almost Christmas!) just so others could make use of them instead of just sleeping inside my closet.

Our brains are also a cluttered mess evertime. We think about school, we think about work, we think about a lot of things. Even while we're asleep the brain never stops thinking! Material things, they're easy to clean. Just organize everything or give away the stuff you no longer need and you'll be clutter free. Easy breezey. But when the brain gets cluttered, there's no vacuum that can suck away all that clutter. NO EASY WAY. Sleep may provide temporary relief for the stressed but there's no EASY remedy for a cluttered brain. It's just complicated.

Yesterday's high were
1. listening to fetal heartbeats
2. eating at Mr. Kabab after a very tiring first day clinical at the health center. You can never go wrong with sizzling keema with pita bread and a yogurt shake!
3. And free parking at the health center! HAHA!

I woke up yesterday at 3.30AM. My routine is always the same-- I wake up, eat breakfast (usually it's just cereal because it's fast to eat and it's filling plus a mug of coffee), and take a shower. I left the house before 5AM, met up with my groupmates at the nearest Shell station near my house, drove thru the nearest McDonald's for food, and then convoyed to the health center because they didn't know where it is. It was a rainy, chilly morning and it was bed weather but the morning's excitement kept me awake and a mug of coffee for breakfast too.

I thought I'd enjoy my rotation at the health center. I did enjoy it especially when we took care of pre-natal check up of pregnant women (I'VE NEVER SEEN THAT MUCH PREGNANT WOMEN IN MY ENTIRE LIFE!), specifically taking their info and listening for the fetal heartbeat. Leopold's Maneuver, that was what I did most of the day. If I can't hear the fetal heartbeat I ask help from my groupmates and that's what we do most of the time, we work together. Anyway, it would've been a better experience if the midwives in the area were cooperative enough to at least be nice to us. But NOOO they're not only rude to the patients (pregnant women!) but they're also rude to us. Good thing our clinical instructor is nice and he understands how we feel.

I thought I'd assist in giving birth but that didn't happen because in our entire duty there only two women gave birth. Both of which I didn't get the chance to scrub in because during the first delivery, I was in the prenatal check up room doing Leopold's Maneuver and on the second delivery, I was already in my duty uniform (white uniform, stockings, and white shoes) because we re already supposed to go home. So only the ones who were still in their scrubs got to assist. BOO! It's true when our instructor said that deliveries happen mostly in the early noon and not early in the morning or maybe yesterday was just a slow delivery day.

It was a great experience to listen to fetal heartbeats. There are rock hard tummies, really flubby tummies (you won't even believe they're pregnant!), and tummies where the fetus moves around a lot! It was a busy day yesterday because pregnant women just came pouring in! I'm hoping next week will be a better week.

clinicals round 2

I just had my first Hep B vaccine shot. Two more to go in the succeeding two months and a booster shot after that. I need to protect myself espcially when I'm doing my clinicals already. Speaking of clinicals, my second rotation starts tomorrow at a lying-in/health center. I'm excited! Except that I went to pick up my scrub suit today because I had it altered and the shop said it isn't finished yet. So I'll have to go back after grocery shopping tonight. Boo!

I went to scout the area last night to see how long it is to drive there. It's pretty far from where I live and driving along Commonwealth in the dark can be pretty scary with the buses and jeepneys ruling the highway. Here's to waking up at 3.30am in the morning again but it's okay, it's worth it.