Hi everyone!
It has been so long that I don't think I even know how to blog anymore (not that I probably did in the first place). I thought I would post something (nothing) so that I might get back into the swing of things. Not sure that this will work, but you never know : )
I have been able to breathe more this year so far compared to last year, hoping that things will stay this way! If they do, then I might actually get more time to blog. So far I have been using my extra time to volunteer for Church rosters, read AMAZING books and spend more time with the family. I am also babysitting half a day a week and will start back at the nursing home casually after 6 months break. I am really looking forward to having more than $11 in my bank account!
I am being trained up at Church in the sound system, and will help with set up and pack up in our new Church Hall. We had to move from the Church building as we grew out of it, which makes for a fair bit of extra work to do every week, as we have to totally pack up everything and take it away each week. But so far 3 weeks into it we are going alright. It isn't as nice as being in our Church building as it is large, cold and impersonal; but it does mean that we can chat to everyone and not trip over everyone's feet! It has been nice, just hope that it all becomes a little easier soon.
I read the Harry Potter series while in Tasmania (which I love!), Edmund Spenser's "Faery Queen": amazing and beautiful! I have been reading Oscar Wilde's plays and children's stories and some poetry. And a lot of Midwifery books of course : ) My friend whose birth I recently was privileged to attend has been lending me books from her vast library. So I have read "Pushed" (which was excellent) amongst others, and am starting "Calm Birth" which looks pretty good so far. I love reigniting my passion for Midwifery with books, seems to me to combine 2 passions wonderfully!
Right now at uni we are all trying very hard to recruit our 20 continuity women for this year. I had 11 but 3 have moved out of Canberra, so am down to 8. All the Booking in visits I have done at the hospitals (each taking approx 1.5hrs) have proven fairly disappointing as the women are asked at the end of each of these visits whether they want a midwifery student to follow their pregnancy through, and most of the women are saying no to me. So just have to keep attending visit after visit until I am able to get up 20. What is lovely is that I am able to take 5 women through the birth centre, I am so loving that!
So, I hope to post randomly throughout this year, keeping myself as well as anyone who is even remotely interested up to date with the life of me : )
Sunday, March 20, 2011
Friday, May 7, 2010
Here's Cheers to Queanbeyan Midwives
Here's cheers to Queanbeyan midwives
But the Age stopped in to talk about the important role the unit has in everything from pregnancy and birth to post-natal care.
Clinical midwife specialist Cathy Carter said many people did not know midwives had a specialised role.
``There's a lot of autonomy in the profession. Our focus is wellness, not sickness,'' she said.
``We have a share-care model with GPs so women get to know their midwives. This has very good outcomes.''
As the Queanbeyan unit is smaller than ones in larger cities mothers get plenty of support. Many travel from Canberra to give birth in the unit.
``They like the personal care, and they have their own rooms here. Most public hospitals have share rooms,'' she said.
``We are involved in the birthing process from start to finish, unlike larger hospitals where midwives are posted to a particular section, for instance post-natal.
``Here we cover the whole lot. For young nurses it's a great educational experience.''
Karli Axelby, 21, of Canberra is experiencing that learning curve first-hand.
She's currently spending three weeks in the unit as part of her studies.
``I'm in my second year at Canberra university studying a Bachelor of Midwifery,'' she said.
``I love being around babies. I didn't know what the course would be like until after my first day but I just loved it.''
Miss Axelby said so far work experience had been great.
``Everyone is so supportive,'' she said.
At university, her peer group includes mature age students, people with adult children, and a few young people.
'`They aren't any men in my year,'' she said.
The course is new in the scheme of midwifery.
``The age of midwives is moving up so they're desperately trying to get more women into it,'' Mrs Carter said.
``In response to that there's now a direct course people can do rather than having to be a registered nurse first then study midwifery.''
The midwifery specialist said research on the benefits of midwifery was very positive.
``For women the unit is essential we certainly have a bond with women,'' Mrs Carter said.
The unit has 25 nurses in total, ranging from casual, part time and full time positions.
One program run by the unit is Midcall where midwives visit homes of new mothers and offer support to the family.
Taking a look around the tea room it's easy to see their work is appreciated.
It's filled with flowers and chocolates from thankful families.
``Many community groups also regularly donate cakes, rugs and hand-sewn blankets,'' Mrs Carter said.
Another program on offer through the unit is a four week birthing and parent class.
In addition there are dieticians on hand to offer healthy eating and pregnancy advice.
``Women who come to the unit have access to a lot of information and advice.
``We cater for everyone; young mothers, mothers having their second and third child and so on,'' she said.
``The size of our unit means we're flexible to various parents' needs.''
Mrs Carter said the birth rate in Queanbeyan was increasing.
BY ERIKA SEYMOUR
06 May, 2010 02:38 PM
SPECIALISED CARE: Clinical midwife specialist Cathy Carter, midwife Carla Santarossa and intern Karli Axelby say midwives are important in pregnancy, birth and post-natal care.
The dedicated team at Queanbeyan Hospital's low risk birthing unit didn't stop to celebrate International Midwives Day this week.But the Age stopped in to talk about the important role the unit has in everything from pregnancy and birth to post-natal care.
Clinical midwife specialist Cathy Carter said many people did not know midwives had a specialised role.
``There's a lot of autonomy in the profession. Our focus is wellness, not sickness,'' she said.
``We have a share-care model with GPs so women get to know their midwives. This has very good outcomes.''
As the Queanbeyan unit is smaller than ones in larger cities mothers get plenty of support. Many travel from Canberra to give birth in the unit.
``They like the personal care, and they have their own rooms here. Most public hospitals have share rooms,'' she said.
``We are involved in the birthing process from start to finish, unlike larger hospitals where midwives are posted to a particular section, for instance post-natal.
``Here we cover the whole lot. For young nurses it's a great educational experience.''
Karli Axelby, 21, of Canberra is experiencing that learning curve first-hand.
She's currently spending three weeks in the unit as part of her studies.
``I'm in my second year at Canberra university studying a Bachelor of Midwifery,'' she said.
``I love being around babies. I didn't know what the course would be like until after my first day but I just loved it.''
Miss Axelby said so far work experience had been great.
``Everyone is so supportive,'' she said.
At university, her peer group includes mature age students, people with adult children, and a few young people.
'`They aren't any men in my year,'' she said.
The course is new in the scheme of midwifery.
``The age of midwives is moving up so they're desperately trying to get more women into it,'' Mrs Carter said.
``In response to that there's now a direct course people can do rather than having to be a registered nurse first then study midwifery.''
The midwifery specialist said research on the benefits of midwifery was very positive.
``For women the unit is essential we certainly have a bond with women,'' Mrs Carter said.
The unit has 25 nurses in total, ranging from casual, part time and full time positions.
One program run by the unit is Midcall where midwives visit homes of new mothers and offer support to the family.
Taking a look around the tea room it's easy to see their work is appreciated.
It's filled with flowers and chocolates from thankful families.
``Many community groups also regularly donate cakes, rugs and hand-sewn blankets,'' Mrs Carter said.
Another program on offer through the unit is a four week birthing and parent class.
In addition there are dieticians on hand to offer healthy eating and pregnancy advice.
``Women who come to the unit have access to a lot of information and advice.
``We cater for everyone; young mothers, mothers having their second and third child and so on,'' she said.
``The size of our unit means we're flexible to various parents' needs.''
Mrs Carter said the birth rate in Queanbeyan was increasing.
Saturday, April 24, 2010
Wow!
Read this article on Marriage:
Marriage weathers icy blasts
"Regardless of Hollywood pessimism, a generation that has felt first-hand the effects of marriage breakdown and instability is embracing the institution afresh.
"Instinctively they know the truth of what C.S. Lewis wrote in Mere Christianity:
''If you decide to make thrills your regular diet and try to prolong them artificially, they will all get weaker and weaker, and fewer and fewer, and you will be a bored, disillusioned person for the rest of your life. It is because so few people understand this that you find many middle-aged men and women maundering about their lost youth, at the very age when new horizons ought to be appearing and new doors opening all round them.''
Miranda Devine
Marriage weathers icy blasts
"Regardless of Hollywood pessimism, a generation that has felt first-hand the effects of marriage breakdown and instability is embracing the institution afresh.
"Instinctively they know the truth of what C.S. Lewis wrote in Mere Christianity:
''If you decide to make thrills your regular diet and try to prolong them artificially, they will all get weaker and weaker, and fewer and fewer, and you will be a bored, disillusioned person for the rest of your life. It is because so few people understand this that you find many middle-aged men and women maundering about their lost youth, at the very age when new horizons ought to be appearing and new doors opening all round them.''
Miranda Devine
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Saturday, April 3, 2010
"Scout's honour: to salute a literary masterpiece" SMH
Scout's honour: to salute a literary masterpiece
April 3, 2010
’’I got back and it was like, ‘Oh, Lord only knows what that child has learnt out there in Hollywood’’ ... Mary Badham as Scout, with Gregory Peck in To Kill a Mockingbird.
After 50 years the Mockingbird still sings, writes Warwick McFadyen.
'Darling, I'm so sorry, you probably got up at the crack of dawn. We're dealing with major snow here and today was my last day before I fly out, and so I was trying to get everything taken care of. I've been digging for two days, busted up my knee and my shoulders, but anyway ..."
The voice on the line is apologetic, having missed the agreed interview time by four hours. The voice is from Richmond, Virginia, deep in snow and ice, frozen over by winter storms. It belongs to Mary Badham, who, as Jean Louise Finch, better known and loved as Scout, has to many become frozen in time for her role in To Kill a Mockingbird.
Badham grew up in Birmingham, Alabama. Fifty years ago, the city was a synonym for racial injustice, its streets battlegrounds for riots. An image of a police dog attacking an African-American circled the world and became a de facto portrait of the city.
One book she didn't read was Mockingbird. That came many years later, and only then because a professor asked her to do an English literature class on the novel. "I had not wanted to go there. I had everything I wanted right up there in my little memory, which was fine," she says.
But when she did open the covers, the little world of Maycomb that had been defined by the film grew bigger, the characters and their relationships deeper and wider. "It was so interesting," she says. "It expanded the knowledge of everybody so much, it was fascinating. There were all these characters I didn't know anything about; the whole friendship with Calpurnia [the African-American housekeeper] – going to church with her."
Badham could identify with this. The Badhams had an African-American helper to raise six generations of family. Of the episode in the book of going to Calpurnia's church: "Well, we did that when we were kids."
What they wouldn't have been allowed to do was share a seat on a bus with an African-American. "When I grew up in Birmingham," she says, "black people still rode at the back of the bus. They still had to drink out of the coloureds-only water fountains and use their own rest-rooms."
Badham says the filmmakers were doing a "cattle call across the south" and wanted "children of the south who could speak with a true southern accent". They were taken to Hollywood and Maycomb was created on the studio backlots.
The west coast was an eye-opener for an Alabama schoolgirl. People lived in mixed-race relationships and Badham learnt that "there was a whole different world out there and not everybody thinks the way they do down there [the south]". When she returned to Birmingham, she couldn't fit in.
"The Badhams were founding fathers of Birmingham. My dad was a general in the air force, and really well thought of; I had been welcomed into the best homes in Birmingham. Well, then I got back and it was like, 'Oh, Lord only knows what that child has learnt out there in Hollywood."'
What she did find in Hollywood were friendships that endured, most notably with the film's biggest star, Gregory Peck. "He was a wonderful, wonderful human being," she recalls. What people saw on the screen is what they got off-screen.
Too familiar to call him Mr Peck and too young to call him Greg, Badham says, "Atticus it was for him and Scout it was for me, and that's how it stayed. We were really, really close."
Through the years that bond stayed strong. "It was like a family," she says, "and I don't know of any other film where you can say that the people kept up with each other and would take the time to call one another or if they were in the same town to see one another.
"It was nothing for me to pick up the phone and it would be Atticus on the other end of the line, saying 'Watcha doin', kiddo?' And that meant a lot to me."
Memorising screenwriter Horton Foote's lines hadn't been a problem for Badham until she realised the adventure was about to end. There was one scene to go, the pivotal moment outside the jail where Atticus was guarding his client Tom Robinson against a lynch mob. Scout and her film brother Jem (Phillip Alford) were there to see what all the fuss was about. It was Scout who turned the crowd around with her wide-eyed innocence in speaking to one of them. But Badham faltered.
"That was the last scene that we shot and I knew that after that I would have to say goodbye to all these people that I had fallen in love with, and I didn't want to say goodbye," she says.
"I hadn't had any trouble up to that point, and then all of a sudden I started stumbling and bumbling. Finally Mr Mulligan [the director] called 'cut'. My mum took me back to the trailer and she's like, 'Young lady, you better get your lines right and you better do this scene because you know what the freeways are like at five o'clock and these people want to go home,' and I'm like, 'OK,' and I go out and do the scene."
While time has not dented her love for all things Mockingbird, it has taken its toll. "I can't watch it any more, I just can't. It's so upsetting because nearly everyone is gone," she says.
Source: watoday.com.au
April 3, 2010
’’I got back and it was like, ‘Oh, Lord only knows what that child has learnt out there in Hollywood’’ ... Mary Badham as Scout, with Gregory Peck in To Kill a Mockingbird. After 50 years the Mockingbird still sings, writes Warwick McFadyen.
'Darling, I'm so sorry, you probably got up at the crack of dawn. We're dealing with major snow here and today was my last day before I fly out, and so I was trying to get everything taken care of. I've been digging for two days, busted up my knee and my shoulders, but anyway ..."
The voice on the line is apologetic, having missed the agreed interview time by four hours. The voice is from Richmond, Virginia, deep in snow and ice, frozen over by winter storms. It belongs to Mary Badham, who, as Jean Louise Finch, better known and loved as Scout, has to many become frozen in time for her role in To Kill a Mockingbird.
Badham grew up in Birmingham, Alabama. Fifty years ago, the city was a synonym for racial injustice, its streets battlegrounds for riots. An image of a police dog attacking an African-American circled the world and became a de facto portrait of the city.
In her youthful innocence, Badham played a part in confronting the racism with her role in Mockingbird. Her portrayal of Scout resonated with millions.
It still does. And she still responds to it as strongly as she did as a 10-year-old in 1962 when, for three months, she became Jean Louise Finch, daughter of Atticus.
This year marks the 50th anniversary of the publication of To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee. The novel is one of publishing's global phenomenons, selling an estimated 30 million copies. It won the Pulitzer Prize, and is one of the best-loved works in literature.
Lee said in 1964: "I never expected any sort of success with Mockingbird. I didn't expect the book to sell in the first place. I was hoping for a quick and merciful death at the hands of reviewers."
And with that, Lee all but vanished from public view, becoming, with the recently departed J.D.Salinger, one of the most famous intensely private people in the literary world.
If Lee is the reclusive keeper of the flame, then Badham is the enthusiastic torchbearer, albeit through film. To Kill a Mockingbird was nominated for eight Academy Awards and won three: best actor to Gregory Peck as Atticus, best screenplay to Horton Foote, and best cinematography/art direction. Badham was nominated for best supporting actress; she lost to Patty Duke but it didn't faze her. She wasn't into movies and was more like Scout. "We read books on rainy days, we went outside and played when it wasn't."
One book she didn't read was Mockingbird. That came many years later, and only then because a professor asked her to do an English literature class on the novel. "I had not wanted to go there. I had everything I wanted right up there in my little memory, which was fine," she says.
But when she did open the covers, the little world of Maycomb that had been defined by the film grew bigger, the characters and their relationships deeper and wider. "It was so interesting," she says. "It expanded the knowledge of everybody so much, it was fascinating. There were all these characters I didn't know anything about; the whole friendship with Calpurnia [the African-American housekeeper] – going to church with her."
Badham could identify with this. The Badhams had an African-American helper to raise six generations of family. Of the episode in the book of going to Calpurnia's church: "Well, we did that when we were kids."
What they wouldn't have been allowed to do was share a seat on a bus with an African-American. "When I grew up in Birmingham," she says, "black people still rode at the back of the bus. They still had to drink out of the coloureds-only water fountains and use their own rest-rooms."
Badham says the filmmakers were doing a "cattle call across the south" and wanted "children of the south who could speak with a true southern accent". They were taken to Hollywood and Maycomb was created on the studio backlots.
The west coast was an eye-opener for an Alabama schoolgirl. People lived in mixed-race relationships and Badham learnt that "there was a whole different world out there and not everybody thinks the way they do down there [the south]". When she returned to Birmingham, she couldn't fit in.
"The Badhams were founding fathers of Birmingham. My dad was a general in the air force, and really well thought of; I had been welcomed into the best homes in Birmingham. Well, then I got back and it was like, 'Oh, Lord only knows what that child has learnt out there in Hollywood."'
What she did find in Hollywood were friendships that endured, most notably with the film's biggest star, Gregory Peck. "He was a wonderful, wonderful human being," she recalls. What people saw on the screen is what they got off-screen.
Too familiar to call him Mr Peck and too young to call him Greg, Badham says, "Atticus it was for him and Scout it was for me, and that's how it stayed. We were really, really close."
Through the years that bond stayed strong. "It was like a family," she says, "and I don't know of any other film where you can say that the people kept up with each other and would take the time to call one another or if they were in the same town to see one another.
"It was nothing for me to pick up the phone and it would be Atticus on the other end of the line, saying 'Watcha doin', kiddo?' And that meant a lot to me."
Memorising screenwriter Horton Foote's lines hadn't been a problem for Badham until she realised the adventure was about to end. There was one scene to go, the pivotal moment outside the jail where Atticus was guarding his client Tom Robinson against a lynch mob. Scout and her film brother Jem (Phillip Alford) were there to see what all the fuss was about. It was Scout who turned the crowd around with her wide-eyed innocence in speaking to one of them. But Badham faltered.
"That was the last scene that we shot and I knew that after that I would have to say goodbye to all these people that I had fallen in love with, and I didn't want to say goodbye," she says.
"I hadn't had any trouble up to that point, and then all of a sudden I started stumbling and bumbling. Finally Mr Mulligan [the director] called 'cut'. My mum took me back to the trailer and she's like, 'Young lady, you better get your lines right and you better do this scene because you know what the freeways are like at five o'clock and these people want to go home,' and I'm like, 'OK,' and I go out and do the scene."
While time has not dented her love for all things Mockingbird, it has taken its toll. "I can't watch it any more, I just can't. It's so upsetting because nearly everyone is gone," she says.
Source: watoday.com.au
Monday, December 14, 2009
1st year of Midwifery done and dusted
Wow! The first year of midwifery is over!
Well, almost. I do have half an afternoon of class to go to on Wednesday, some revision of pharmacology, and most exciting of all, an extra continuity experience with a woman who is having twins in late January!
I haven't posted up the stories of the last 5 continuity experiences I had. I got really busy with uni, writing essays and horrible things like that! My 6th woman had an elective Cesarean, she had an allergic reaction to the morphine in her spinal block, so that wasn't at all pleasant. Also the midwives were really rude and ordered me and her mother out of the postnatal room later on; I was not impressed. Neither was Jenny my course coordinator. The 7th was another elective Cesarean, that went really smoothly. The 8th was an induction as there was meconium stains in the liquor. That birth was totally amazing! She was given the lowest dose of synto to start off labour, and 75mins later she was handed her baby! I love births like that : )
Unfortunately, I missed the last two births. I had to work when the 9th women was birthing, she reported having a lovely birth! I was able to be present during the labour of the 10th woman, but then had to take Mum and Dad to the airport when they were going away up to the Gold Coast, so missed that birth as well.
I have been attending fortnightly visits with the woman who is having twins. She is really well, just feeling H.U.G.E! I am really looking forward to her labour and birth. I won't be able to do much by way of getting in there and helping because there will be a consultant, neo-reg and a couple of midwives; I am last on the pecking line! But I get to see amazing things : )
This photo was taken at our end-of-year dinner that we students planned as a thank-you for our wonderful teachers.
It was a fantastic night. We saw a slide-show of the year. Heard speeches. Gave flowers and gifts to our teachers. And presented them also with a quilt that many of the students contributed to by decorating a square. N. and I put the quilt together and in the end it looked fabulous!
It has been a fantastic year. I am a looking forward to next year in some ways, and kind of sad also that it will be different. We will be spending 24hours a week in the hospitals doing rotations of all the wards and antenatal clinics and neonatal special care nursery. That will be pretty full on. But we also do not get to do any continuity, so that's really sad.
Hopefully I will get to posting up more regularly next year. I am sure there will be lots to talk about!
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Re: my fourth birth...upright position and estimated blood loss
Catherine commented on my fourth birth post, asking:
I was interested to hear about women bleeding more readily when they give birth on their knees - I have for all three and never had that problem, except for the first but that was most likely because of the length of the second stage.
I replied:
I am not entirely sure Cath, Mum said she had the same experiences as you so that's two (actually many more!) stories against one : ) It is highly likely that I misunderstood, or that the midwife was speaking only from her experience ??
Later on though I was required to do some specific reading around birth, and came across these comments on birth position and estimated blood loss:
"Blood loss appears to be higher following upright birth (Gupta et al 2004), but this may be due to the ease of measuring blood loss when upright."
"Gupta and Nikodem (2000) undertook a meta-analysis of controlled studies of positions in the second stage of labour.
They noted that in all the parameters they assessed except one, a policy of upright positions led to benefits for women.
The exception was an increased risk of estimated blood loss above 500mL.
In interpreting these findings, it should be noted that 'upright' included kneeling, squatting, sitting, use of a birthing stool/chair, and use of lateral tilt, while 'recumbent' included on the back, lithotomy stirrups, lateral (without the tilt) recumbent and semi-recumbent.
It has also been observed that where maternal preference was elicited, the most frequent positive responses were from those women who had used an upright position (Sleep et al 1989)."
I was interested to hear about women bleeding more readily when they give birth on their knees - I have for all three and never had that problem, except for the first but that was most likely because of the length of the second stage.
I replied:
I am not entirely sure Cath, Mum said she had the same experiences as you so that's two (actually many more!) stories against one : ) It is highly likely that I misunderstood, or that the midwife was speaking only from her experience ??
Later on though I was required to do some specific reading around birth, and came across these comments on birth position and estimated blood loss:
"Blood loss appears to be higher following upright birth (Gupta et al 2004), but this may be due to the ease of measuring blood loss when upright."
- Chapman, V & Charles, C (eds) 2009, The Midwife's Labour and Birth Handbook, 2nd edn, Wiley-Blackwell, West Sussex
"Gupta and Nikodem (2000) undertook a meta-analysis of controlled studies of positions in the second stage of labour.
They noted that in all the parameters they assessed except one, a policy of upright positions led to benefits for women.
The exception was an increased risk of estimated blood loss above 500mL.
In interpreting these findings, it should be noted that 'upright' included kneeling, squatting, sitting, use of a birthing stool/chair, and use of lateral tilt, while 'recumbent' included on the back, lithotomy stirrups, lateral (without the tilt) recumbent and semi-recumbent.
It has also been observed that where maternal preference was elicited, the most frequent positive responses were from those women who had used an upright position (Sleep et al 1989)."
- Henderson, C & Macdonald, S 2009, Mayes’ midwifery: A textbook for midwives, 13th edn, Baillière Tindall, Edinburgh
Thursday, August 6, 2009
My 5th Birth
Hi All,
I actually had this birth around 3 weeks ago, but as it kind of disturbed me a little I haven't written about it 'til now.
This woman and I had a very good rapport; we had had a massive chat waiting 1 1/2 hours for the doctor one time, so I got to know her birth wishes quite well. She wanted a natural, intervention-free labour and birth, then wanted to fully breastfeed afterwards. This was her first pregnancy.
Well at 10 days over her due date, she was induced. They tried prostoglandin gel; then broke her waters; and finally hooked her up to syntocinon. She dilated to 3cms, then for 3hrs was "not progressing". I was working a full 8hr shift so couldn't come in until 3:30pm. When I got in, they were just about to do another VE. I walked into her room, she was sitting in the chair (as she said it hurt so much more on the bed) and we had a little chat in between contractions. Another VE was done, still "no progress", and the doctors were talking about a c-section, which I thought was a little weird as her waters were broken only at 7am.
Well the midwife pushed for an epidural instead, as this can make the muscles relax and so dilatation continues. The doctors reluctantly agreed to offer it; the woman reluctantly agreed to have one, and it was put in. Only the anaesthetist drove in 4cms too much of the tube (catheter?) into her back, so after 4hrs of excruciating pain another anaesthetist diagnosed the problem and took some of it out. After that the pain relief was immediate and she could sleep. She was ordered nil by mouth as she might have to go in for a c-section, 2-3 hourly VE's, and given until 1am to fully dilate (the epidural went in at 5pm).
Whenever a VE was done it showed that things were progressing really well, and by 1am she was fully. All this time the fetal heart rate was perfect; but her HR was a little high, and she was febrile but as she had a cold/slight flu this was to be expected, however the doctors were not too happy about it. Her HR rose to 130bpm, and she wasn't seen to be "pushing productively". At around 2:30am the decision was made to use vacuum (without really asking for consent...it was just, this really needs to happen, though they never really said why). Well, we went down to theatre, and trialled vacuum. I was nominated scribe, so had to write down times that the individual doctors came into theatre (neonatologist?, consultant, registrar) and when vacuum was started, stopped, etc. The registrar pulled as hard as she could on the vacuum, then the consultant took over. He pulled as hard as he could, until the cap came flying off; then he tried forceps. He pulled until he was red in the face, and with an episiotomy, the baby eventually came out, at 3:20am.
Baby didn't make much of a sound; and was taken to the neonatologist. Baby was really limp, blue, not crying. The neonatologist picked his arm up and let it drop (just from a small height) and it did just that, drop. He had a 0 for muscle tone, overall a 5 at 1 min. They put O2 on him, and after allowing the parents to kiss him, took him up to special care nursery.
I went up with him and the midwife, saw that he pinked up with O2 (and that I liked the look of the midwives in there...feeling very protective of MY baby...they were fantastic). I went back to the midwive's station, and promptly fell asleep in the chair. I had to get my Mum to pick me up and slept for 12hrs straight!
Went back the next day and baby was doing okay. Over the next few days he got better little by little; my woman was expressing and feeding him, and he went from having mainly formula, to having a little bit of formula to comp the breastmilk. The hospital was fantastic in allowing my woman to stay until baby was discharged on day 5. The last night both parents and baby slept in the rooming-in nursery which was lovely; dad got a little shock from having to get up to baby in the middle of the night though : )
All that week both parents kept saying how wonderful it was to have the continuity of a student midwife, and how wonderful it was to look up in the foreign and scary theatre and see a familiar face (that was trying very hard not to show the fear that was inside!).
In the end, a lovely baby handed over to lovely parents : )
I actually had this birth around 3 weeks ago, but as it kind of disturbed me a little I haven't written about it 'til now.
This woman and I had a very good rapport; we had had a massive chat waiting 1 1/2 hours for the doctor one time, so I got to know her birth wishes quite well. She wanted a natural, intervention-free labour and birth, then wanted to fully breastfeed afterwards. This was her first pregnancy.
Well at 10 days over her due date, she was induced. They tried prostoglandin gel; then broke her waters; and finally hooked her up to syntocinon. She dilated to 3cms, then for 3hrs was "not progressing". I was working a full 8hr shift so couldn't come in until 3:30pm. When I got in, they were just about to do another VE. I walked into her room, she was sitting in the chair (as she said it hurt so much more on the bed) and we had a little chat in between contractions. Another VE was done, still "no progress", and the doctors were talking about a c-section, which I thought was a little weird as her waters were broken only at 7am.
Well the midwife pushed for an epidural instead, as this can make the muscles relax and so dilatation continues. The doctors reluctantly agreed to offer it; the woman reluctantly agreed to have one, and it was put in. Only the anaesthetist drove in 4cms too much of the tube (catheter?) into her back, so after 4hrs of excruciating pain another anaesthetist diagnosed the problem and took some of it out. After that the pain relief was immediate and she could sleep. She was ordered nil by mouth as she might have to go in for a c-section, 2-3 hourly VE's, and given until 1am to fully dilate (the epidural went in at 5pm).
Whenever a VE was done it showed that things were progressing really well, and by 1am she was fully. All this time the fetal heart rate was perfect; but her HR was a little high, and she was febrile but as she had a cold/slight flu this was to be expected, however the doctors were not too happy about it. Her HR rose to 130bpm, and she wasn't seen to be "pushing productively". At around 2:30am the decision was made to use vacuum (without really asking for consent...it was just, this really needs to happen, though they never really said why). Well, we went down to theatre, and trialled vacuum. I was nominated scribe, so had to write down times that the individual doctors came into theatre (neonatologist?, consultant, registrar) and when vacuum was started, stopped, etc. The registrar pulled as hard as she could on the vacuum, then the consultant took over. He pulled as hard as he could, until the cap came flying off; then he tried forceps. He pulled until he was red in the face, and with an episiotomy, the baby eventually came out, at 3:20am.
Baby didn't make much of a sound; and was taken to the neonatologist. Baby was really limp, blue, not crying. The neonatologist picked his arm up and let it drop (just from a small height) and it did just that, drop. He had a 0 for muscle tone, overall a 5 at 1 min. They put O2 on him, and after allowing the parents to kiss him, took him up to special care nursery.
I went up with him and the midwife, saw that he pinked up with O2 (and that I liked the look of the midwives in there...feeling very protective of MY baby...they were fantastic). I went back to the midwive's station, and promptly fell asleep in the chair. I had to get my Mum to pick me up and slept for 12hrs straight!
Went back the next day and baby was doing okay. Over the next few days he got better little by little; my woman was expressing and feeding him, and he went from having mainly formula, to having a little bit of formula to comp the breastmilk. The hospital was fantastic in allowing my woman to stay until baby was discharged on day 5. The last night both parents and baby slept in the rooming-in nursery which was lovely; dad got a little shock from having to get up to baby in the middle of the night though : )
All that week both parents kept saying how wonderful it was to have the continuity of a student midwife, and how wonderful it was to look up in the foreign and scary theatre and see a familiar face (that was trying very hard not to show the fear that was inside!).
In the end, a lovely baby handed over to lovely parents : )
Monday, June 22, 2009
My fourth birth
Hi All,
I had my fourth birth this morning!!! I received a call at around 6:30 this morning to say that I had better get in there quick as she was in 2nd stage already.
When I got there she was already pushing, but her husband was encouraging her to "breathe through" a lot of the contractions, so she didn't have a fast 2nd stage, but it was good. Her "big" sister and auntie were also there; big sister was such a brave girl! She was calmly eating away while everything was going on, talking about her baby sister coming soon, and eagerly watching for the head with the rest of us! Apparently she was also having a baby, but as soon as she saw the final parts of the birth she changed her mind (probably looked like to much hard work!). When the midwife suggested to the woman to just push, immediately the baby's head was out! Really amazing little thing, trying to breathe even before the rest of her could be born Such a cutey!
The shoulders were a little more tricky to birth, but the midwife pulled gently up. Baby also had the cord wrapped around her neck twice, but it was loose and easily taken off. She was born around 8:30 with a gush of blood, but apparently that is fairly normal when women birth on their knees (the midwife did immediately give her sytocinon though).
Straight onto mum's breast, and feeding away like a starving child almost immediately. She could be heard suckling from across the other side of the room, just amazing! Mum is doing really well, a little knocked around with the afterbirth pains though (she also needed a few stitches). Baby is fantastic! And the midwife and I decided we both really wanted to bundle up both the little girls and take them home with us, so cute!
I had my fourth birth this morning!!! I received a call at around 6:30 this morning to say that I had better get in there quick as she was in 2nd stage already.
When I got there she was already pushing, but her husband was encouraging her to "breathe through" a lot of the contractions, so she didn't have a fast 2nd stage, but it was good. Her "big" sister and auntie were also there; big sister was such a brave girl! She was calmly eating away while everything was going on, talking about her baby sister coming soon, and eagerly watching for the head with the rest of us! Apparently she was also having a baby, but as soon as she saw the final parts of the birth she changed her mind (probably looked like to much hard work!). When the midwife suggested to the woman to just push, immediately the baby's head was out! Really amazing little thing, trying to breathe even before the rest of her could be born Such a cutey!
The shoulders were a little more tricky to birth, but the midwife pulled gently up. Baby also had the cord wrapped around her neck twice, but it was loose and easily taken off. She was born around 8:30 with a gush of blood, but apparently that is fairly normal when women birth on their knees (the midwife did immediately give her sytocinon though).
Straight onto mum's breast, and feeding away like a starving child almost immediately. She could be heard suckling from across the other side of the room, just amazing! Mum is doing really well, a little knocked around with the afterbirth pains though (she also needed a few stitches). Baby is fantastic! And the midwife and I decided we both really wanted to bundle up both the little girls and take them home with us, so cute!
Saturday, June 6, 2009
A C-section !!
Hi All!
I was called yesterday from my woman to say that she was in labour!
All the time I have been with this woman antenatally she was having some bleeding; which just before I met her was assessed by an Obstetrician. I met the woman at her 32 week ultrasound, which was to confirm the position of the placenta. She was diagnosed with placenta praevia, where the placenta is right down near the cervix. It was unsure at this point whether the placenta would move further away from the cervix, so we were kind of just waiting to see what would happen as things got closer.
At 39+4 the GP advised to go back and have another ultrasound as she had experienced continued bleeding bi-weekly since her last ultrasound (filling up two pads each time), including some clots. I was REALLY worried about this, but every time she rang the birth suite she was told it should be okay. The GP didn't seem all that worried either, so I was concerned that they weren't looking hard enough, or being responsible. At the ultrasound it was confirmed again that the placenta was near the cervix, only 2.5 cms away.
As I was still worried about this, I rang Jenny and had a chat to her about it. She said that actually if the placenta is near the cervix, it can be normal to have bleeding, as the cervix is getting ready to birth it moves a little and can cause the placenta to move a little too...so that should be fine. Next day Michelle rang and re-confirmed what Jenny had said, so I felt better about everything.
On Monday my woman's waters had broken, and everything was fine, until Friday morning when she noticed some green fluid on her pad. So she went into hospital and they said she had a meconium stain in her liquor so they would have to induce her. She rang me around 3pm to say that she was 1cm, so I went in. She was really out of it when I got there as she had just had some morphine...she was hanging out big time for 4cm dilatation when she could get her epidural! I went for dinner with the postgrad students around 6:30. After 3 hours or so the epidural went in, I placed myself in a prime position to watch...that is the grossest thing I have ever seen!! It looked so terribly painful. She had the local so didn't actually feel a thing. The anesthetist was having just a little trouble pushing the massive needle through the ligament (which is apparently what has to happen with every epidural, ewwww!!), but it was all fine, she felt the effect immediately, and we could turn up her sintocinon (induction drip) to speed things up a little.
Around 10:30 she was 5cm, I went for a 1/2 rest. The Midwives were just lovely and so was my woman, they kept asking if I was alright, and did I want to go for a rest. I was amazed at how often my woman asked me that, she was the one who was exhausted!! They are such a lovely couple!
At around 3:30 she was 8 cm, but had a swollen lip of cervix, they gave her a few hours, and even though she came to 9 and a bit cms she never got any further. I and the primary Midwife had an hours lay down, then was called by the other Midwife as they had decided to go to the operating theatre and do a c-section. I didn't have to scrub, just put on the ridiculous clothes, shoe socks and hat, but we all looked ridiculous together so it didn't matter. I put myself in a great position again, and got to see everything as it happened. The woman's epidural didn't work like it should have, so she had heaps of top ups, gas and a few breaks from being opened, but in the end a beautiful baby boy was born!!!! He is such a cutey : )
Poor dad cried so much, it was really emotional for him. He said it was really scary going into theatre, and the poor woman was frightened too. I was nominated photographer, so since the woman was being stitched while baby was weighed and everything I took a million photos! It was just lovely. And the woman got to touch her little one while his dad held him, so I got heaps of photos of that too. It was such a lovely outcome in the end, even though it was a shame that they had to go through a c-section.
So there you go! I am can't wait to go see them, I have developed such a lovely rapport with both the parents, so I just really want to see that poor mum holding and breastfeeding her baby!
I was called yesterday from my woman to say that she was in labour!
All the time I have been with this woman antenatally she was having some bleeding; which just before I met her was assessed by an Obstetrician. I met the woman at her 32 week ultrasound, which was to confirm the position of the placenta. She was diagnosed with placenta praevia, where the placenta is right down near the cervix. It was unsure at this point whether the placenta would move further away from the cervix, so we were kind of just waiting to see what would happen as things got closer.
At 39+4 the GP advised to go back and have another ultrasound as she had experienced continued bleeding bi-weekly since her last ultrasound (filling up two pads each time), including some clots. I was REALLY worried about this, but every time she rang the birth suite she was told it should be okay. The GP didn't seem all that worried either, so I was concerned that they weren't looking hard enough, or being responsible. At the ultrasound it was confirmed again that the placenta was near the cervix, only 2.5 cms away.
As I was still worried about this, I rang Jenny and had a chat to her about it. She said that actually if the placenta is near the cervix, it can be normal to have bleeding, as the cervix is getting ready to birth it moves a little and can cause the placenta to move a little too...so that should be fine. Next day Michelle rang and re-confirmed what Jenny had said, so I felt better about everything.
On Monday my woman's waters had broken, and everything was fine, until Friday morning when she noticed some green fluid on her pad. So she went into hospital and they said she had a meconium stain in her liquor so they would have to induce her. She rang me around 3pm to say that she was 1cm, so I went in. She was really out of it when I got there as she had just had some morphine...she was hanging out big time for 4cm dilatation when she could get her epidural! I went for dinner with the postgrad students around 6:30. After 3 hours or so the epidural went in, I placed myself in a prime position to watch...that is the grossest thing I have ever seen!! It looked so terribly painful. She had the local so didn't actually feel a thing. The anesthetist was having just a little trouble pushing the massive needle through the ligament (which is apparently what has to happen with every epidural, ewwww!!), but it was all fine, she felt the effect immediately, and we could turn up her sintocinon (induction drip) to speed things up a little.
Around 10:30 she was 5cm, I went for a 1/2 rest. The Midwives were just lovely and so was my woman, they kept asking if I was alright, and did I want to go for a rest. I was amazed at how often my woman asked me that, she was the one who was exhausted!! They are such a lovely couple!
At around 3:30 she was 8 cm, but had a swollen lip of cervix, they gave her a few hours, and even though she came to 9 and a bit cms she never got any further. I and the primary Midwife had an hours lay down, then was called by the other Midwife as they had decided to go to the operating theatre and do a c-section. I didn't have to scrub, just put on the ridiculous clothes, shoe socks and hat, but we all looked ridiculous together so it didn't matter. I put myself in a great position again, and got to see everything as it happened. The woman's epidural didn't work like it should have, so she had heaps of top ups, gas and a few breaks from being opened, but in the end a beautiful baby boy was born!!!! He is such a cutey : )
Poor dad cried so much, it was really emotional for him. He said it was really scary going into theatre, and the poor woman was frightened too. I was nominated photographer, so since the woman was being stitched while baby was weighed and everything I took a million photos! It was just lovely. And the woman got to touch her little one while his dad held him, so I got heaps of photos of that too. It was such a lovely outcome in the end, even though it was a shame that they had to go through a c-section.
So there you go! I am can't wait to go see them, I have developed such a lovely rapport with both the parents, so I just really want to see that poor mum holding and breastfeeding her baby!
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