"Um, is this your first time examining a woman there?" "Hell no!"

I gave in.

I know I said I was going to sit out the Maternity Hands-On night, but I didn't go just for the vaginal exams (and what if I did, anyways? I'm going to be a doctor, I need to get experience, nothing weird about that? right? why do I feel as though I have to justify this?) I went for two reasons: 1. I was there anyways for a meeting of the Emergency Medicine club, and 2. free pizza!

I'm glad I went, too. Not only did I get elected to a position in the ER club, but this was probably one of my most practical and interesting events since starting med school. Hopefully it's a taste of things to come in January when we stop the cirruculum of undergrad review and get into the doctory stuff.

I delivered a baby, determined how dilated a woman's cervix was, and felt for the position of a baby inside a woman's stomach!

Had I known the first two of those would be on fake silicone models, I wouldn't have been so shy about attending. Mind you, I was clearly not the only shy one. Even though there was a great turnout - almost a quarter of our class showed up - the men in the group were far fewer in number.

It was interesting, too, learning how much an experienced physician can tell from an exam; how the baby is lying / presenting, etc. Someday I'll be that good - someday at the end of my OB/GYN rotation, and it will probably all go downhill from there.

And the best part? If a woman ever asks me while I'm conducting the above procedures, "Is this the first time you've ever done this?", I can emphatically and truthfully say, "Hell, no!"