Busy Birthroom!

When Sarah, Michelle (1st year girls) and I arrived at 5:50am, all seemed very quiet, but that changed quickly. This turned out to be one of the busiest shifts I have had in a very long time!

At about 6:05am a mom pregnant with her 3rd came in and said, "no I can't go to the bathroom, the baby is coming!" So we rushed her to the bed, and sure enough a handsome little boy joined us at 6:23am!

Then, just as things were settling down, another girl walked in, but this was her first baby, and she barely looked pregnant (sound familiar mom?) She said she felt like the baby was coming, but she had a big UTI which makes contractions seem worse than they really are so my supervisor sent her to the bathroom anyway. She came right back out, not having been able to pee, laid down on the bed, and once again, not long after her little baby Angle Norraine joined us! She was so beautiful. Her mom's tummy was just barely pregnant looking (several cm's smaller than we like to see at her gestation) so when her baby came out, her stomach was actually concave! Angel's dad was amazing - bringing a towel to support the mom's arm while she breastfed and singing to his baby!

While I was assisting in this birth, Sarah checked in a labor for me. Sarah sent her outside to walk around until I could do her internal exam, and we both expected to send her home because it seemed she was in latent labor. First baby also. However, to our surprise, she was already 8cm and the baby's head was incredibly low (which means it won't take long to dilate the rest of the way!) I was blown away!

So I continued to check in with Ai-Ai (short for Aires) and did 2 baby checks. As I was doing the 2nd one, the guard said "Labor! - Active!" Yikes! We tried to find Ate May since she was next up, but couldn't, so we asked her to pee even though I didn't think that was a good idea at this point, and then brought her inside. She was fully, and Sarah was all set to catch her baby when Ate May came in and took over :) She had a few complications, I continued to assist Ate May while waiting for Sarah to finish her baby check up. This lady's blood pressure was high (130/100), but when Sarah took over I ran out to try and do my other baby check up. I managed to get in a consise teach in on family planning because this was her last check up and she had no idea what method she wanted to use. Just as I was finishing the teaching, I was called in to insert an IV. I prayed so hard as I was preparing it because I knew she needed the IV fast and my last shift I had blown 2 insertions so I was nervous. But I asked God to really steady my hand and help me, and that is exactly what He did! I got it in the first try without Ate May right there guiding my hand! I think this is the first time that I inserted an IV all on my own and really felt like I knew what I was doing! Praise God! I ran back out after inserting the IV sent my baby check home, and then Ai-Ai wanted to push!

Wow. So I went back inside and although head was visible, she had a cervical lip and I tried so hard to work with her on positions so that she could control the urge to push until it was gone, but it was so hard, she just had to push. She ended up birthing on the birthstool, and it was a good birth, but she still had 2 small tears and needed to be sutured. The placenta needed some "coaxing" to get it out completely, and we had to give pitocin to control the bleeding, but otherwise it went well.

At this point it is heading on towards 1:30... I did another baby check up in between my 5 minute checks and then the new midwives for the next shift started to show. I ended up staying past shift a bit to continue paperwork and get it all as organized as possible for Laura who continued Ai-Ai's care. As I was finally leaving, another labor walked in and had her baby within 10 minutes!

I had had only coffee for breakfast, and no lunch yet, so I grabbed some leftovers really quick and went up to class where we were supposed to share on a midwife we had researched. (meaning Laura - who was extremely busy in the birthroom and Tiffany whose continuity had just delivered!) So that didn't happen, instead I listened to other people's presentations and we will present next time.

Phew. Sorry about the longness (not a word I know) for this post, but I couldn't make it short, it would have taken the excitement away. I got home at about 4pm and laid down to take a short nap until dinner, but ended up sleeping through it and eating leftovers again at 7:30pm! I love my life :)

About the pics:
Top: Ate Chi-Chi giving her daughter a bath in the laundry area - just too cute.
Middle: Sophia Hope, my continuities' baby (Emilou Maghinay) It was her 3rd day bb check.
Bottom: Aires (Ai-Ai) and her almost husband (Darwin) and their baby.