Social Work Experience Essay

There were many events, experiences, and turning points that led me to want to pursue my MSW. One event gave me the push I needed. This was the pregnancy and birth of my daughter.
During my senior year of completing my Bachelor’s degree in Social Work, in 2015, I was diagnosed with a high-risk pregnancy. I was told my daughter would be born with gastroschisis, a condition where the abdominal wall near the navel does not close and the intestines are exposed at birth. I had to travel to see specialists for my prenatal appointments and I had to have a scheduled premature labor at John Hopkins.
I completed my degree while working forty plus hours a week at Holly Center and attending an internship two to three days a week at the Salvation Army in Cambridge. I walked across the stage a happy, yet tired, six-month pregnant graduate. I knew that there were only good things to
come after this. I moved into my own apartment. I had extra time to create a beautiful nursery. Most importantly, I started to get more well-needed rest.
Things were going well until I told my mother to transport me to the hospital because of pains that I had been having for two days. Once I was evaluated, I was told that I was ten centimeters dilated and transported to the delivery room. I could not believe that this was real. I did not know how to feel. I kept thinking how could I not of known I was in labor for two days or why did I not go the hospital after the first night of pains.
My daughter was born two months and two weeks premature, weighing three pounds and two ounces. Everything was such a touch and go process after that. My daughter was transported to Johns Hopkins Hospital while I had to stay behind thinking, wondering, and praying for her.
This was one of the hardest times of my life.
I could not hold my daughter until she was two months or bottle-feed her until she was three months, meanwhile she still received total parenteral nutrition through an IV. I went through five months of driving back and forth across the bay Bridge and sitting in the hospital day in and day out as surgeries and procedures were performed. I felt like an actual mother, with no assistance from those in scrubs, on December 22, 2015. My daughter was finally discharged from the hospital.
At that time, I was more focused on being a mother more than anything. Although, I was still interested in pursuing a career in social work. I applied to take my BASW licensure exam and passed. I started applying to local places, even willing to accept a lower position to get my foot in the door. I just wanted to go into the field with my mind free of any impurities that would cloud my mind and cause me not to put forth one-hundred percent effort into my work.
As of right now, I am an office secretary for a treatment foster care agency, with hopes that in due time I can do
more.
The experience(s) I had and will continue to have with my daughter have taught me valuable skills such as time management, active listening, and patience.
Noel, my daughter, pushes me to want to make a change. To tell others that even through the hardest times you can still overcome situation. To feel acceptance on things that happen in life because everything happened for a reason. She made me change, which I in return would like to do for someone else.
I have assessed my own interpersonal skill and through reflection of personal experience I have come to the crucial realization that pursuing my MSW is what I need to do to make a better change.