Girls night out

It's been ages since I hung out with some of my friends - the ones with babies at home keeping them occupied. But tonight they decided they'd been bound to home for long enough and we all went out for supper. It was a lot of fun and a good end to a relaxing day.

I realized that from Monday to Sunday of last week..... I'd worked almost 90 hours. Oh. So after I met my one morning committment, I hung around my apartment the rest of the day. Ate lunch. Had a nap. Tried out the New York City Ballet workout video. Now it's 10pm or so, and I think I might just go to bed early. Because I can.

Stuck

Well, Mom and Dad are very happy with the birth, and the little one is breastfeeding like a pro. I wasn't surprised when the doctor said after the C-birth that the baby was malpositioned.

The OB was kind enough to visit the next day and talk through the Cesarean, why they made the decision for a surgical birth, answer any of their questions, explain what had occurred etc.
I think that probably goes a long way towards parents being satisfied with the experience.

I can't control the process or outcome of a birth, but I can do my best to help those present frame the experience in a positive light. Mission accomplished. :)

Home, but not sleeping yet

I am home. I would really like to take a shower and crawl into bed. But there is a man outside the window - fixing eavestrough and hammering loudly. So instead I am stalling by eating Turtles ice cream straight from the tub while I type.

I met my client at the hospital yesterday morning but her body did not seem ready and so after some prostaglandin gel the doctor sent her home, with the instruction to come back Tuesday morning at 7:30am again and they would start the next step. So my clients went about their day, took a nap, etc. I went straight to work to try and cram in all the things I would have done on Tuesday. I was at work until 6:30pm, came home to make supper and then got the call at 7pm that they needed me now.

I went over to my clients home last night around 7:30pm, and we laboured there until around 11pm when contractions were in a good close intense pattern and she felt ready to go to the hospital. We got there to discover she was only a little dilated and little effaced and the head was not yet engaged Hmm - it was going to be a long night. She laboured well all night long, but the only progress after nearly 12 hours was a bit more thinning of the cervix. Everything was still okay though - the dr would start induction meds soon and then things would progress.... We never got that far because of a serious cord compression problem which the doctors and nurses could not remedy with oxygen or position changes and so she gave birth to a healthy baby boy via an emergency Cesarean.

There were student nurses on the floor today so I wasn't able to sqeak my way in to the operating room, HOWEVER, I did get the evaluation forms I needed so all I have to do is finish my end of the paperwork and send it all in. I don't remember off hand what the particular specifcations are for a C-birth to qualify towards my cert. I'll go look that up later.

On my eval, a nurse commented that I was "........co-operative" Co-operative is not generally a word used to describe me. EVER. So while it caught me by surprise, I think that comment means the most because I know it is outside what comes naturally to me (Yes - I am saying that naturally I tend to be a pain in the rear)

Okay, I'm really tired and I want the handyman to go AWAY and stop banging my windows. I WANT TO GO TO SLEEP.

Tomorrow Tomorrow (sung to the tune from "Annie")

I'll be at a birth tomorrow. Another induction. 8am. Talked to 'Mom' tonight and answered some of her questions about what will happen when and what sort of things she might expect, what questions she can ask of her caregivers etc. We discussed Bishop's Score and induction options and hospital protocals etc. I suggested she try for a massage and long rest tonight and wished her a good night sleep. She said the same for me because "You'll be there as long as I am!" More to come....

Eagerly waiting

I watched one of my favorite movies on thursday night with a couple friends. "The Man in the Moon" is always a good movie when you want to cry. I found it in WalMart for less than $10! Mmm, and had the yummiest supper: fettucine alfredo with garlic, snowpeas, portabello mushrooms and bacon. Followed by the perfect cup of coffee, and diced strawberries with a sprinkling of raw sugar, pure vanilla, and cream. SO good.

I am eagerly waiting for my cell phone to ring. My current client is around her EDD, and has been told that if she doesn't go into labour this weekend she will be induced on Monday morning. She does have information on non-medical induction* options, but I reassured her that even if none of the home things she tries work to start labour, they will certainly help her body be more ready for Monday. And to relax and enjoy her last weekend as a pregnant woman! Be pampered and spoiled in whatever way suits her best.

* I call them non-medical options, as opposed to natural induction options, because "natural" implies 'without risk' to a lot of people, and some of the 'natural' methods like herbs and enemas carry genuine risks and can be mighty uncomfortable!

I'm particularly excited about this birth because if all goes well, it will be my last certifying birth and then I can get all my paperwork in to DONA. I want to get my papers in as soon as possible, so that even if their volunteers are busy and it takes 8 weeks to get back to me, I will have my certification papers in hand before I go to Ghana in July.

Well, I only have a few hours before I am suppsed to head out to my parents house for Easter supper (yes, on Saturday, it's when our schedules fit best). And I need to get over to the office today still since there are MANY things to be done, some of which have Tuesday deadlines....

Speaking of which, that has been an internal debate of mine lately. When things are really busy at work (which they are right now), AND I have a birth coming up, do I:

(a) work like crazy to get my non-doula ministry stuff done and out of the way since I don't know when I'll be going to a birth?

(b) Take it easy on non-doula ministry work since I need to be well-rested before going to a birth?

I don't know.....

Ugh, and I need to do laundry. I need to do a lot of laundry. I have so much laundry to do that I considered going to a laundrymat. I think I'll drag it to my parents house tonight because at least if I get called away from there my socks and undies will be in safe hands!

Hurting

There seems to be a lot of hurting women in my 'circle' at the moment. I know of a woman who is trying to get out of an abusive relationship. One who had her drink drugged while at a bar. Another who is depressed. Another who keeps blaming her children for HER issues and refuses to face reality. Another who is feeling the (family) stress of being without an income for a long time. Another who battles with an eating disorder and is at her lowest weight ever. Those are just the 'big' hurts. What about the women I know who are sick? who are tired out? who don't have enough money to pay the bills this month? who are unhappy in their jobs?

I wish I could scoop them all up and hug them and love them and somehow just make things better for them.

I understand that this world is full of suffering. I don't for an instant believe that God is punishing us through these sufferings, or that we suffer because of His lack of presence or lack of care. Knowing that suffering is a part of life doesn't seem to lighten the load my heart is carrying for these women though.....

Refreshed

My time away in New York was wonderful - I can hardly stop raving about it. What's funny, is that it was work/ministry-related, but felt like vacation. I've been thinking about why I feel so refreshed even though I was still working, and in fact had a lot of responsibility on my hands. I think it's because I only had ONE responsibility, and that was to chaperone some incredibly fun, and responsible, high school students. I wasn't trying to juggle things, I wasn't waiting for the phone to ring, I wasn't checking e-mail and I wasn't going about all the normal things of life like cooking and cleaning etc. For those few days I only had one task which completely encompassed me, and that in itself was such a refreshing change that I feel great. It's like all those buildings and people and experiences and the LIFE of the city filtered out everything from here for a while. It was good. :)

Actually....

Back in my CBC post I commented about changing all the clocks and watches in the house. Actually, my darling room-mate changed them throughout the house and I only changed the ones in my room. And in the hotel I was at Saturday. Just so credit goes where credit is due. Thanks Les!

Site stats

I was looking at my blog stats tonight, seeing who had visited recently, and someone got to my blog by doing a Yahoo search of "birth client unhappy with doula". I felt sad for the person who did that search. I'd like to think that doula's are all kind and gentle and respectful and empathetic and... and... and.... But the reality is that we are human and we make mistakes, and sometimes a client isn't happy. I hope that whoever did that search finds the closure they need, so that they can look back at the birth and see it in a positive light.

CBC time

Every other Tuesday morning, I spend a couple hours cleaning for an elderly woman from my church. I set my alarm before going to bed last night, then read for a while before going to sleep. This morning my alarm went off, and I reached over to turn on my radio to catch the weather and news on CBC. I heard a voice say something along the lines of "after the news and weather, the Current will be back". Huh? The Current starts at 8:47am and it's only 8am, how can they be returning to the Current? Ohhh. A sinking feeling hit me. I changed every clock and watch in the house EXCEPT my alarm clock. It was actually 9am and I was now late. She's a rather particular woman who does not like it if I am even a minute early or late, so I generally stand and wait to knock on her door until exactly 9am. Oh dear. Fortunately she was having a good day - didn't mind at all that I was 20 minutes late. Thank goodness for CBC!

Prenatal Class

My brother is away for work, so tonight I get to go to prenatal class with my sister-in-law. Not only will I have the opportunity to support her, but I also get to network with a local childbirth educator, and meet other pregnant folk. Woohoo.

While in New York City I visited Strand Books, and was able to buy Elizabeth Davis' "Heart & Hands" for only $15 US. Know what one of the suggestions is for a woman who passes out after birth? Burn a piece of hair, crumble it up, and stick it under her tongue. Now obviously that is well outside my Scope of Practice, so I won't be doing it anytime soon. But it interesting to know nonetheless - even though there is no explanation as to how it works, just that it is an effective old-time remedy. How in the world does one discover that crumbled burnt hair under the tongue does that?

I also bought "The Post-Pregnancy Handbook" by Sylvia Brown for only $7 U.S. I have so many books on the go right now.... Taking Charge of Your Fertility, A Book For Midwives, Birthing From Within, and now the two I bought in NYC. I'm not complaining at all - all those books to read makes me very happy. :) I don't have anything by Ina May Gaskin in my collection yet, and will start to keep my eyes open for used copies I think.

Post 27 Line 4

Lesley suggested going to the post number which is your current age, then read the fourth sentence, just for fun. I don't know if this is fun exactly, since the line I came up with is:

"So when I die:..."

I love New York

After a whirlwind few days, I am home again. New York City was amazing. We drove back to Canada through the night. I'm tired. I'll write more later.