Hi! I'm new here.

One of the electives I took last quarter was U-TEACH, "A Unique Teaching Experience About Childbirth and Health." The elective is way better than its acronym suggests. It's a perinatal elective which has a didactic and an experiential component. The didactic lecture series happened last quarter where we learned about different issues in pregnancy and childbirth. In the experiential part of the class, we get paired up with an expectant mother and family. In order to get a longitudinal patient perspective, we attend prenatal appointments, act as a liaison for the patient and resources, and attend the childbirth. It's a really great program.

Less than a month ago, U-TEACH contacted me saying that they had a mom who was eager to have a student, but was due in just a few weeks. I was paired up with her, and everything since then has been an amazing experience. We met early one morning and I got to learn about her family, expectations about pregnancy and childbirth, and her medical history. I also got to know her interests, jobs, and hobbies. It was really good developing such a secure relationship with a patient. She was incredibly nice, extremely open, and great about helping me get as much out of this experience as I could.

I was able to attend two fetal monitoring sessions. They were really interesting. The mother, the husband, and the nurses were so kind to me. Ultrasounds takes a while to learn to read. Although I have trouble seeing finer structures, it's really cool to make out the spine or arms or head of the baby. After that, they monitor the fetal heart beat and movements.

The title of this post is from a super cute baby outfit the couple bought. It was an infant "onesie" with the words, "Hi! I'm new here!" and a picture of the globe. Very adorable.