Well, as of Friday, I have finished my externship at Intermountain Medical Center. Now, my last grade will be submitted, my information will be sent to the school of graduate studies, and my degree to be posted. Most of my clinical experience has been working in the schools, but I had to complete clinical hours with the adult population. IMC's neuro rehab unit works with adult patients who have had traumatic brain injuries, strokes, or other medical problems that have had neurological affects. I was a little nervous going into the whole experience. Any of you who know my history of fainting and my hypersensitivity to germs, you understand my concerns. It turned out to be a wonderful experience though, and there were only a couple of times I had to sit down when I started to feel woosy. I'm sure everything was intensified (germ phobias and proneness to fainting) due to being pregnant. I just made sure I always wore gloves and washed my hands, and my supervisors were always very good about telling me to look the other way or letting me sit down. I learned so much from this whole experience. It was REALLY great to be able to get some experience in a hospital setting. I feel like it will open up some doors for me in my profession. Up until this externship, I didn't feel very confident in the neuro aspect of speech language pathology. I had taken classes, but had never really had the chance to put all of the information into practice. I still have tons to learn, but this gave me a boost in confidence that I can work with this population successfully. My supervisor was wonderful and very encouraging, which helped me feel more capable. It was such a blessing to get this externship- the timing was perfect, the setting was perfect, and the people I worked with were perfect.
Also, as of Thursday, I am finished teaching summer school. I committed to this before I realized how busy I would be with my externship, so I have had a very full summer so far. I LOVED teaching summer school. I had a class of about 9-11 high school age severe special ed students. I work with most of them during the school year, so it was a pleasure being able to spend some time with them over the summer. Working in special education makes me so happy. I love it! There is something so rewarding and enjoyable about spending time with students who have such special personalities. They never cease to amaze me with what they are capable of doing. They are such an endearing group of kids. We laughed together a lot. I think one of my favorite moments was when we were making toast as part of a cooking activity. I looked over to see one of my students waving his hands above the toaster and humming, much like a magician would do above his magic black cloth before he made something reappear. The toaster popped and with the snap of the student's hand, Voila, the toast appeared. He looked at me with a "Ha, what do you think of that?" look. I just had to chuckle.
So what now? I have 3 weeks of waiting until the baby comes. I take an exam on Saturday for my national certification, so studying for that should keep me busy this week. Aside from that, I think I will read all of my books about labor and how to be a mom, set up the baby's room and wash her clothes, and try to work the baby out of me by moving around as much as possible.
