Yesterday I was having a nice chat with a good friend who is in the birth world and so when we get together, naturally the conversation moves towards birth. While we were talking, she mentioned that a friend of hers was planning to go to one hospital but after thinking through her options chose a different one because her original choice didn't have a level 2 NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit) and so if her baby had any more serious complications she would be separated from her baby since she would be in one hospital and her baby would be in another.
One one hand that makes sense. On the other, as I have had more time to think about that - both as a midwife and a mom who delivered a baby in the hospital after planning my whole pregnancy to be at home (my daughter was born too early) I wouldn't plan my birth setting around a "just in case" scenario.
Ok - here is my opinion that could be contradictory. I believe that planning where you deliver around the "just in case" thought process is like not planning to get divorced from the person you are going to marry and are very much in love with, but getting a pre-nuptual agreement "just in case."
Friday, April 20, 2012
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
Sometimes you just need a day off...
Last night was rough. Eleanor has been sick once before, but not teething at the same time and I guess both at the same time was just too much for her little body to handle. We went to small group last night and had a good time - she played with the other little girls there and stayed up way past her bedtime without being crabby even! Then, on the ride home, she feel asleep almost immediately. I thought to myself, "Great! She will transition to her crib easily and we can make it an early night!" Wrong.
I rocked her to sleep when she woke up when we arrived at home, and it was a process getting her back to sleep but nothing unusual for a teething baby with a slight cold.
But then the real fun started at 12:30am - like it always does. I tried everything. Finally I brought her down to our bed (which I never do) hoping I could cuddle her to bed, but she just wanted to play. So - we went back up stairs. I laid blankets down and laid down myself on the floor thinking she would just fall asleep seeing as there was nothing to do. Wrong again. She found cords and proceeded to chew on them! Yikes. So I put her in her crib and again laid down on her floor. Screamed.
So, in desperation, we went for a car ride at 2am. She feel asleep before we had been driving for 10 minutes. I got her back in the house, carried her in her (not so light) car seat managing not to wake her up and set her on the floor in her room. Before I had the chance to close her door - the dog shook making his tags on his collar jingle. She woke up. So - again we went out. This time it took a bit longer to get her to sleep. But she finally did fall asleep and I opened the windows in the car, covered her with a blanket, brought her monitor out to the garage and went to bed myself feeling a bit bad at my unorthodox way of putting my child to bed.
She slept for 2 hours. Then I brought her upstairs, made her a bottle, tried a few different things and she seemed to be calm. She normally falls asleep on her own when it's the wee hours of the morning and in fact I slept for 1/2 an hour but then she woke up screaming. My husband then went up to try and try as he might she would only stay asleep in his arms.
So I went up and scooped her up and we both slept off and on in the papason chair in the living room. She threw up once but I think that was just from her overexerting herself and not sleeping enough so we got cleaned up and slept some more. At 7:30 am she was awake and crawled around playing while I slept for another hour.
Then my nanny arrived, and seriously I could have hugged her! She only comes over once or twice a week, but if ever there was a day I needed her it was today! I handed her the baby, explained the situation and that I wouldn't be going to my midwifery meeting that morning but back to bed and I was gone.
I slept for 2 blissful hours, showered, did a home visit for a client of mine, got a coffee and then got my nails done. Frivolous I know, but sometimes, you need to. Lucky for me I had a groupon for just that - a mani/pedi - that was expiring soon so I managed to sneak in an appointment. Now I have beautiful fingernails and toenails and came home to a sleeping baby. Bliss.
I have to admit that I have nannied for some SAHM's before and although I was grateful for the job and the extra cash, I wondered what they did that made them need a nanny when they didn't have another job besides raising their kids. Although I don't think I would have a nanny if I wasn't also doing midwifery part time besides raising my daughter - I was sure grateful to be able to check out for 8 hours today.
But then the real fun started at 12:30am - like it always does. I tried everything. Finally I brought her down to our bed (which I never do) hoping I could cuddle her to bed, but she just wanted to play. So - we went back up stairs. I laid blankets down and laid down myself on the floor thinking she would just fall asleep seeing as there was nothing to do. Wrong again. She found cords and proceeded to chew on them! Yikes. So I put her in her crib and again laid down on her floor. Screamed.
So, in desperation, we went for a car ride at 2am. She feel asleep before we had been driving for 10 minutes. I got her back in the house, carried her in her (not so light) car seat managing not to wake her up and set her on the floor in her room. Before I had the chance to close her door - the dog shook making his tags on his collar jingle. She woke up. So - again we went out. This time it took a bit longer to get her to sleep. But she finally did fall asleep and I opened the windows in the car, covered her with a blanket, brought her monitor out to the garage and went to bed myself feeling a bit bad at my unorthodox way of putting my child to bed.
She slept for 2 hours. Then I brought her upstairs, made her a bottle, tried a few different things and she seemed to be calm. She normally falls asleep on her own when it's the wee hours of the morning and in fact I slept for 1/2 an hour but then she woke up screaming. My husband then went up to try and try as he might she would only stay asleep in his arms.
So I went up and scooped her up and we both slept off and on in the papason chair in the living room. She threw up once but I think that was just from her overexerting herself and not sleeping enough so we got cleaned up and slept some more. At 7:30 am she was awake and crawled around playing while I slept for another hour.
Then my nanny arrived, and seriously I could have hugged her! She only comes over once or twice a week, but if ever there was a day I needed her it was today! I handed her the baby, explained the situation and that I wouldn't be going to my midwifery meeting that morning but back to bed and I was gone.
I slept for 2 blissful hours, showered, did a home visit for a client of mine, got a coffee and then got my nails done. Frivolous I know, but sometimes, you need to. Lucky for me I had a groupon for just that - a mani/pedi - that was expiring soon so I managed to sneak in an appointment. Now I have beautiful fingernails and toenails and came home to a sleeping baby. Bliss.
I have to admit that I have nannied for some SAHM's before and although I was grateful for the job and the extra cash, I wondered what they did that made them need a nanny when they didn't have another job besides raising their kids. Although I don't think I would have a nanny if I wasn't also doing midwifery part time besides raising my daughter - I was sure grateful to be able to check out for 8 hours today.
Saturday, February 11, 2012
Birth Marathon!
Birth is a beautiful thing - no matter if it happens so fast you barely have time to put your thoughts in an order that makes any sense at all, or so slowly you want to pull your hair out because you don't know what's keeping this little one from joining his family!
I was about to leave my house on Wednesday morning to start gentle labor induction (read breast pump and herbs and environmental helps etc)to encourage labor to really kick into gear when I get a call from my other client that she is in labor - oh and by the way - she lives 35 minutes from me and the contractions are only a few minutes apart and she has a history of going fast!
So plans change quickly to us (my assistant and I) going to my other client's house and not too surprisingly everything is all done and mom and baby are happily tucked into bed a little after noon so after we get some lunch and debrief the birth, we call my first client and ask if she still wants us to come over today or wait until tomorrow.
She wants us to come today still. So we go around 3pm and as long as the breast pump is going she is having strong contractions but otherwise they almost completely stop. The labor pattern is so mystifying that I end up calling my dear midwife friend from the Philippines to talk through the situation since she had attended a woman in a similar situation not too long ago.
In the end, we all decide it's for the best to go to bed at 1:30am. Baby had been in a good position, but then at one point shifted and as long as mom was in a running start position he was fine, otherwise not. We all slept and then woke up around 7am the next morning.
Around 10:30 we found a wonderful chiropractor who was willing to come out and help baby get into a better position and so with some adjustments and a little acupuncture and breast pump action labor finally got going and strong!
Soon after we were joined by a handsome little man and joy permeated the room as all the hard work finally paid off.
Thank you Lord for beautiful births.
I was about to leave my house on Wednesday morning to start gentle labor induction (read breast pump and herbs and environmental helps etc)to encourage labor to really kick into gear when I get a call from my other client that she is in labor - oh and by the way - she lives 35 minutes from me and the contractions are only a few minutes apart and she has a history of going fast!
So plans change quickly to us (my assistant and I) going to my other client's house and not too surprisingly everything is all done and mom and baby are happily tucked into bed a little after noon so after we get some lunch and debrief the birth, we call my first client and ask if she still wants us to come over today or wait until tomorrow.
She wants us to come today still. So we go around 3pm and as long as the breast pump is going she is having strong contractions but otherwise they almost completely stop. The labor pattern is so mystifying that I end up calling my dear midwife friend from the Philippines to talk through the situation since she had attended a woman in a similar situation not too long ago.
In the end, we all decide it's for the best to go to bed at 1:30am. Baby had been in a good position, but then at one point shifted and as long as mom was in a running start position he was fine, otherwise not. We all slept and then woke up around 7am the next morning.
Around 10:30 we found a wonderful chiropractor who was willing to come out and help baby get into a better position and so with some adjustments and a little acupuncture and breast pump action labor finally got going and strong!
Soon after we were joined by a handsome little man and joy permeated the room as all the hard work finally paid off.
Thank you Lord for beautiful births.
Monday, January 23, 2012
Baby Constipation
If you thought it was unpleasant for you to be constipated, let me tell you - it all takes on a new meaning when your 7 month old baby is the one having troubles. She can't say what's bothering her - just that things aren't right. One night - the night we hit google big time asking for remedies - she woke up from a sound sleep and just looked at us sadly before bursting into tears. Talk about ripping a parent in two! That night we found ways to help her fix it and continued to have to help her (mostly with qtip covered in a lubricant) while I searched for the reason why this might be happening. I thought for sure it had something to do with the fact that I could barely get her to drink 20oz of milk when she was supposed to get between 20 and 28 so I would try harder to get her to drink more, but when she didn't want it there was nothing I could do.
I had already completely eliminated bananas from her diet and tried to make her cereal more soupy but she wouldn't eat it if it was too liquidy. Then, we went to my in-laws in Iowa for Christmas and I didn't want to bring a 1/2 empty box of baby cereal with me so I bought a new box while at Target. I was giving her Gerber brand cereal - not rice, oatmeal and whole grain so I thought I was doing good, but then because the box was smaller, I bought the Good Earth brand. I gave that to her and once she got that in her system the constipation totally disapeared! I love accidental discoveries like that and I hope that this post will help another mom struggling with the same issue figure out the problem faster for her baby.
I had already completely eliminated bananas from her diet and tried to make her cereal more soupy but she wouldn't eat it if it was too liquidy. Then, we went to my in-laws in Iowa for Christmas and I didn't want to bring a 1/2 empty box of baby cereal with me so I bought a new box while at Target. I was giving her Gerber brand cereal - not rice, oatmeal and whole grain so I thought I was doing good, but then because the box was smaller, I bought the Good Earth brand. I gave that to her and once she got that in her system the constipation totally disapeared! I love accidental discoveries like that and I hope that this post will help another mom struggling with the same issue figure out the problem faster for her baby.
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
TIme Passes and Things Change
I realize that my last post was more than a year ago which means quite possibly no one reads this anymore, but as I learn more and more of what it means to be a midwife and a mom I have more to write. The problem is, until now, I haven't figured out how to write in here about things other than midwifery until now.
So - I changed the title. Now I can write about either mommyhood or midwifery or both as they collide :) And I do have some burning posts that I have been mulling around in my head as I learn first hand what this mommy business is all about. So stay tuned!
So - I changed the title. Now I can write about either mommyhood or midwifery or both as they collide :) And I do have some burning posts that I have been mulling around in my head as I learn first hand what this mommy business is all about. So stay tuned!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)