PS
Gotta talk about work a little: I had a bad evening cuz they floated me to L&D to help. I literally was crying in report because they planned to give me two delivered patients of babies who had died or were expected to(renal agenesis - no kidneys and severe intruterine growth retardation). I have never had a loss patient, or even one with a really critical baby - so I was just overwhelmed. I didn't feel like I could turn them down, because skillwise, and medically, I could care for them, and of course no one finds losses easy. But I couldn't stop the big tears rolling down my cheeks and the charge nurse said I didn't have to take them. I guess I'm selfish, but I was just so glad not to have to do that. I would just feel so guilty with all my healthy babies and easy pregnancies. I would have no idea what to say.
So they sent me to help 2 nurses with four preterm patients, but due to my lack of training in that area, I was next to useless. I was talking to one of the nurses that I was (supposedly) helping about how maybe I could help if there was a delivery cuz now I was trained to baby-receive though I had only ever done it at C-sections. I had no sooner said that, when they called out for a baby receiver and I went into the room for my 3rd vaginal delivery of my life (other than my kids). I've been to about 10 C-sections, but they just don't count to me as attending a BIRTH. (not trying to negate anyone's C-section birth experience - just talking about what I find interesting)
It went fine, though there was a tight cord around the neck so the mom had to not push, while the doctor clamped the cord and cut it while the head was just at the perineum. The mom had no epidural, not by her wish unfortunately, but due to a medical condition she had that made it too risky. Watching her go through the discomforts of pushing brought back incredibly powerful body-memories of my own births. I swear my hip bones were remembering the feeling of that unbelievable pressure from the head between them.
I then got to recover the mom and baby and care for them till I took them to their post-partum room. They were very nice and it was a pleasure to be involved in their care (my pat phrase when I am thanking people for being decent patients). I also had to take over recovering another mom and baby about an hour into their care. It was really stressful because someone needed a check like every ten to fifteen minutes, so it was hard to get anything else accomplished. Plus, I didn't know where things were and found the logistics of moving a mom, baby, wheelchair and IV pole, dad and belongings to another room a little daunting. I coped with this by making the dad and any other available family members carry things and learned the trick of getting the mom up to the bathroom and directly into her wheelchair, so we could move on out.
Well, that was my night, hopefully I can leave it behind me now and go to bed! I actually got off early - I had supper at 9:15pm and by the time I was done, there was nothing for me to do so I got to go home around 10pm. They would have let me stay on the clock but I was so physically, emotionally and mentally exhausted that I had developed a terrific headache and just wanted to get out of there. Woohoo, two more shifts to go before I am off for a short stretch.
Weird, writing that out got rid of my headache. Staring at a computer screen doesn't usually do that for me (haha) so it must have been the mental catharsis I needed.
Gotta talk about work a little: I had a bad evening cuz they floated me to L&D to help. I literally was crying in report because they planned to give me two delivered patients of babies who had died or were expected to(renal agenesis - no kidneys and severe intruterine growth retardation). I have never had a loss patient, or even one with a really critical baby - so I was just overwhelmed. I didn't feel like I could turn them down, because skillwise, and medically, I could care for them, and of course no one finds losses easy. But I couldn't stop the big tears rolling down my cheeks and the charge nurse said I didn't have to take them. I guess I'm selfish, but I was just so glad not to have to do that. I would just feel so guilty with all my healthy babies and easy pregnancies. I would have no idea what to say.
So they sent me to help 2 nurses with four preterm patients, but due to my lack of training in that area, I was next to useless. I was talking to one of the nurses that I was (supposedly) helping about how maybe I could help if there was a delivery cuz now I was trained to baby-receive though I had only ever done it at C-sections. I had no sooner said that, when they called out for a baby receiver and I went into the room for my 3rd vaginal delivery of my life (other than my kids). I've been to about 10 C-sections, but they just don't count to me as attending a BIRTH. (not trying to negate anyone's C-section birth experience - just talking about what I find interesting)
It went fine, though there was a tight cord around the neck so the mom had to not push, while the doctor clamped the cord and cut it while the head was just at the perineum. The mom had no epidural, not by her wish unfortunately, but due to a medical condition she had that made it too risky. Watching her go through the discomforts of pushing brought back incredibly powerful body-memories of my own births. I swear my hip bones were remembering the feeling of that unbelievable pressure from the head between them.
I then got to recover the mom and baby and care for them till I took them to their post-partum room. They were very nice and it was a pleasure to be involved in their care (my pat phrase when I am thanking people for being decent patients). I also had to take over recovering another mom and baby about an hour into their care. It was really stressful because someone needed a check like every ten to fifteen minutes, so it was hard to get anything else accomplished. Plus, I didn't know where things were and found the logistics of moving a mom, baby, wheelchair and IV pole, dad and belongings to another room a little daunting. I coped with this by making the dad and any other available family members carry things and learned the trick of getting the mom up to the bathroom and directly into her wheelchair, so we could move on out.
Well, that was my night, hopefully I can leave it behind me now and go to bed! I actually got off early - I had supper at 9:15pm and by the time I was done, there was nothing for me to do so I got to go home around 10pm. They would have let me stay on the clock but I was so physically, emotionally and mentally exhausted that I had developed a terrific headache and just wanted to get out of there. Woohoo, two more shifts to go before I am off for a short stretch.
Weird, writing that out got rid of my headache. Staring at a computer screen doesn't usually do that for me (haha) so it must have been the mental catharsis I needed.
posted by KatyM @ 9:05 PM
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