I recall the day I received my clinical year schedule. As I quickly glossed over the colorful rows, I made note of the rotations I was least looking forward to. At the time, Women’s Health was undoubtedly the top contender, it was the rotation I was dreading the most.

I still remember telling myself “Oh good! I won’t have to deal with this for another year” as I clicked off the Excel document detailing where I’d be rotating for the next 12 months.

I wanted to preface my reflection with this brief anecdote to demonstrate how foolish my thought process was. I didn’t feel very passionate about Women’s Heath and my opinions were based off the experiences of upperclassmen. These factors skewed my perception of the rotation, leading me to believe that I would not enjoy it. It was not until I was actually on my Women’s Health rotation that I realized how valuable, fascinating, and precious this specialty is. For my first two weeks I worked with PAs and attendings in the GYN clinic. I performed speculum examinations, bimanual examinations, collected cervical samples for pap smears and STI screening, assisted in family planning, measured fundal heights, listened to fetal heart sounds, and more. I was able to interact with patients of varying backgrounds, all with unique complaints. In particular, I remember one patient who came to the clinic with desires of becoming pregnant. The attending I worked with explained the most opportune time of each month to achieve pregnancy, and provided education on artificial methods for achieving pregnancy should she be unable to on her own. The patient expressed sincere gratitude and even asked for this attending to be assigned as her regular GYN provider moving forward. Working with providers like this inspires me to continue learning so that one day I can provide phenomenal patient centered care.

For my third week I was on GYN on-call. Each day, I worked closely with a different PA and, together, we examined consults. The majority of our consults were patients from the emergency room but I found myself scrubbing into two c-sections and assisting in a laparoscopic hysterectomy. During the lap hysterectomy, the PA I was paired with had to leave for an emergency consult. I was left in charge of the uterine manipulator which initially frightened me because I had never used one before. With the guidance of the attending and resident, however, I became more confident using this tool and the procedure was successful. By the end of this third week, I was considering GYN as a specialty but I wasn’t sure yet. This would change by the end of my 4th and 5th week.

During my last two weeks I was required to attend three overnight shifts and five day shifts on the labor and delivery unit. I assisted with two vaginal deliveries which I found absolutely life-changing. I will never forget the overwhelming happiness that came over me as I listened to the first cries of these babies. For the remainder of my time on labor and delivery, I was able to be more hands on with patients and perform postpartum examinations. The midwives, nurses, and other students on the unit were friendly, receptive, and eager to answer questions. It didn’t register until I was on my way home on my last day that I had more fun that I could have imagined. I loved my Women’s Health rotation, and I am proud to say this is now my top specialty. I learned to take the experiences of others with a grain of salt, and to go into every situation with my best foot forward. After all, “you get back what you put into these rotations!”