11pm 8/23: I head to bed with the "boyfriend"also known as the clinic phone after an evening of studying. Blah.
2am 8/24: Worried that I might miss the phone going off I groggily wake up and check it. Nothing.
Some time between 2am & 5:30am: I dream about a birth - do you think I am being consumed by what I do?
5:30am: The phone goes off and I hear it (which I always do), pulling on my scrubs I head down stairs to check the patients chart as I wait for her to reply back to a question I asked.
5:45am: She texts back and is in early labor. I ask her to text again when her contractions get stronger.
5:50am: Crawling back into bed, I don't even bother to take my scrubs off again. Sleepy.
8am: I get out of bed to the sound of the tile workers pounding on the porch by my bedroom. This has been happening every morning but Sundays since I returned from break. Everyone who sees me asks me if I have a labor. "No" I reply, "I just have not bothered to change out of my scrubs".
8:15am: I drink a glass of black tea as I usually do and for a special treat I eat some cherry pie from the night before (which may I add is a special treat indeed!).
9:30am: Right as I start thinking it is time to change out of my scrubs the woman from earlier texts that her labor has picked up and she is coming.
10am: My labor arrives, smiling & sweet. She is 7cm and she will stay. I like her.
Between 10am & 12pm: I check my patient off and on as I am trying to read a book report book. She is happily laboring outside.
12pm: Her contractions are much stronger and I stay in the birth room to help her labor. Yet, she is still able to smile and giggle.
12:30pm: I really have to pee....
1:45ish: After some hard wok for my patient breathing through her contractions she starts to push. She is still able to smile and giggle
2:02pm: She pushes her baby out into my awaiting hands while sitting on the birth stool. I get splashed with amniotic fluid. My sweet patient cries out "my baby, my baby" as I place her new little one on her tummy.
2:05pm: With a smile she exclaims "its a girl"
2:23pm: My patient delivered her placenta. Now some of you may want to stop reading at this point, while some of you might find this interesting. Normally the placenta comes out by itself or with a little traction on the cord, this time however, I had to reach in and manually assist it (if anyone would like to know more about this just message me).
2:40pm: While the practically perfect intern, Suzie, takes care of my patient, I hurry up to change my birth fluid splattered scrubs and then wash the birth fluids off my body. Oh and I finally got to go pee! Better, I feel better.
2:50pm: After drinking a cool glass of water I head back down stairs.
From 2:50 until 4:30ish: I am scurrying around doing odds and end for my patient, such as; vitals for both mom and baby, getting her situated in the postpartum area. When all of a sudden I hear a voice coming from the delivery room bathroom. It's Anie one of my supervisors and experienced midwives on staff. She also had a patient that gave birth around the same time as mine. She needed help, her patient had passed out in the bathroom and was vomiting and bleeding. I along with the intern Suzie rush next door to assist. For the next 15-20 minutes I assisted getting her stable and situated, new IV tubing and fluid were hung, repeated blood pressures and pulse taken and mopping up the floor. Thanks to the help of several other midwives all turned out well. Oh and somewhere in there, I think about 3:30, I was finally able to take about 5 minutes to stuff down some much needed food. That piece of cherry pie had worn off long ago.
5pm: I flop onto my bed, with my patient on 4 hour checks now, I can rest a bit. Oh, but I forgot to mention that tonight is a going away party for Suzie, who leaves on Sunday. In fact while I was busy with my patient, a videoke machine had been delivered and a delightful spread has been prepared. With yumminess and fun at hand, I just couldn't stay in bed long.
5:20pm: Another shower... Ok, yes, I may have practiced my singing a little bit as I shampooed my hair.
5:30pm: We begin our feasting, starting out with "dynamite" deep fried cheese stuffed peppers and deep fired pork belly. YUM. Thanks to a friend from Manila, we also had a fresh lettuce salad. Double YUM.
6pm: Time for videoko, a favorite Filippino pass time. The machine is siting on the front porch of the clinic and yes, we will leave it there. This will be the third time this month I have sang videoko, I didn't know what songs I really knew and others that I thought I knew and didn't. My song, yes the song that I sing well is the titanic theme song, My Heart Will Go On. I didn't even know I even knew the words very well, much less that I could sing it at all. Yet here I am for the third time in a month belting it out for the neighborhood and yes, our patients to here. Funny thing about the video part, is instead of seeing a couple in love on the screen, there is downhill skiers crashing in the powdery snow. Weird.
From 6pm to 8:30pm: We dance and sing together. Fun, silly, and simple good times.
8:30pm: I do my 4hr postpartum check. Both mama and baby are doing well. Then back to singing...
9pmish: I am belting off Shana Twains "Man I feel like a woman" when I glance over to see my patient's face in the small window! She needed me for something... How weird is this? Where else in the world would I be singing on the front porch of a maternity clinic? I love it!
From 9pmish until 12:30am: Slowly everyone but Suzie and I meander up stairs to bed. We stay on the porch and sing and sing and laugh and sing and dance and laugh. Good times, very good times!!
12:30am 8/25/12: Another postpartum check, mom smiles and baby sleeps. They are both resting well.
1am: Off to bed, alarm clock set for 4:25am when I will get up to check mom & baby again. I drift off to sleep worried I will not wake up to the alarm clock. I always worry and I always wake up
2:30am: Check the clock. whew, I have two hours left to sleep.
4:25am: Chiming, that is getting louder. "Uh, what is that? Oh, gosh my alarm clock" I groggily slip out of bed.
4:30am: Quietly enter the postpartum room. My patient is sitting up. She smiles. I ask her how she is feeling, "OK mam". Chatting with her I ask when the last time she nursed her baby. Not for awhile she tells me. Too long, so I go to work waking up the baby. She does not want to wake up. I tickle her toes, tickle her ribs and move her arms. She blinks sweetly and tries to go back to sleep. "No, no sweet baby, I coo to her, you need to nurse now" Her mom laughs. I glance at the clock. This is fun, but it would be more fun if it wasn't so early. "lets nurse already baby" I think to myself. About 40 minutes later, baby is finally awake enough and she starts to nurse. I the tired midwife heads back to bed.
8am: Up again. I fill up my special blue cup with instant coffee and head down stairs. I start the task of getting my patient discharged. Time for another set of vitals, filling out the birth certificate, postpartum instructions, baby bath...
9:30am: I am praying with my patient and taking a family photo. They are ready to head home with their new special blessing. I am tired, yet I am happy. What a gift to share this special time with this family. God is good.
10:30am: I am finished with charting and tidying after my patient left.
11am to 12pm: Nap. Nice wonderful nap.
12pm: Time to get on with where I left off studying... doing what I don't like, so that I can spend a life time doing what I do like, being the hands and feet of Jesus to families through midwifery.
2am 8/24: Worried that I might miss the phone going off I groggily wake up and check it. Nothing.
Some time between 2am & 5:30am: I dream about a birth - do you think I am being consumed by what I do?
5:30am: The phone goes off and I hear it (which I always do), pulling on my scrubs I head down stairs to check the patients chart as I wait for her to reply back to a question I asked.
5:45am: She texts back and is in early labor. I ask her to text again when her contractions get stronger.
5:50am: Crawling back into bed, I don't even bother to take my scrubs off again. Sleepy.
8am: I get out of bed to the sound of the tile workers pounding on the porch by my bedroom. This has been happening every morning but Sundays since I returned from break. Everyone who sees me asks me if I have a labor. "No" I reply, "I just have not bothered to change out of my scrubs".
8:15am: I drink a glass of black tea as I usually do and for a special treat I eat some cherry pie from the night before (which may I add is a special treat indeed!).
9:30am: Right as I start thinking it is time to change out of my scrubs the woman from earlier texts that her labor has picked up and she is coming.
10am: My labor arrives, smiling & sweet. She is 7cm and she will stay. I like her.
Between 10am & 12pm: I check my patient off and on as I am trying to read a book report book. She is happily laboring outside.
12pm: Her contractions are much stronger and I stay in the birth room to help her labor. Yet, she is still able to smile and giggle.
12:30pm: I really have to pee....
1:45ish: After some hard wok for my patient breathing through her contractions she starts to push. She is still able to smile and giggle
2:02pm: She pushes her baby out into my awaiting hands while sitting on the birth stool. I get splashed with amniotic fluid. My sweet patient cries out "my baby, my baby" as I place her new little one on her tummy.
2:05pm: With a smile she exclaims "its a girl"
2:23pm: My patient delivered her placenta. Now some of you may want to stop reading at this point, while some of you might find this interesting. Normally the placenta comes out by itself or with a little traction on the cord, this time however, I had to reach in and manually assist it (if anyone would like to know more about this just message me).
2:40pm: While the practically perfect intern, Suzie, takes care of my patient, I hurry up to change my birth fluid splattered scrubs and then wash the birth fluids off my body. Oh and I finally got to go pee! Better, I feel better.
2:50pm: After drinking a cool glass of water I head back down stairs.
From 2:50 until 4:30ish: I am scurrying around doing odds and end for my patient, such as; vitals for both mom and baby, getting her situated in the postpartum area. When all of a sudden I hear a voice coming from the delivery room bathroom. It's Anie one of my supervisors and experienced midwives on staff. She also had a patient that gave birth around the same time as mine. She needed help, her patient had passed out in the bathroom and was vomiting and bleeding. I along with the intern Suzie rush next door to assist. For the next 15-20 minutes I assisted getting her stable and situated, new IV tubing and fluid were hung, repeated blood pressures and pulse taken and mopping up the floor. Thanks to the help of several other midwives all turned out well. Oh and somewhere in there, I think about 3:30, I was finally able to take about 5 minutes to stuff down some much needed food. That piece of cherry pie had worn off long ago.
5pm: I flop onto my bed, with my patient on 4 hour checks now, I can rest a bit. Oh, but I forgot to mention that tonight is a going away party for Suzie, who leaves on Sunday. In fact while I was busy with my patient, a videoke machine had been delivered and a delightful spread has been prepared. With yumminess and fun at hand, I just couldn't stay in bed long.
5:20pm: Another shower... Ok, yes, I may have practiced my singing a little bit as I shampooed my hair.
5:30pm: We begin our feasting, starting out with "dynamite" deep fried cheese stuffed peppers and deep fired pork belly. YUM. Thanks to a friend from Manila, we also had a fresh lettuce salad. Double YUM.
6pm: Time for videoko, a favorite Filippino pass time. The machine is siting on the front porch of the clinic and yes, we will leave it there. This will be the third time this month I have sang videoko, I didn't know what songs I really knew and others that I thought I knew and didn't. My song, yes the song that I sing well is the titanic theme song, My Heart Will Go On. I didn't even know I even knew the words very well, much less that I could sing it at all. Yet here I am for the third time in a month belting it out for the neighborhood and yes, our patients to here. Funny thing about the video part, is instead of seeing a couple in love on the screen, there is downhill skiers crashing in the powdery snow. Weird.
From 6pm to 8:30pm: We dance and sing together. Fun, silly, and simple good times.
8:30pm: I do my 4hr postpartum check. Both mama and baby are doing well. Then back to singing...
9pmish: I am belting off Shana Twains "Man I feel like a woman" when I glance over to see my patient's face in the small window! She needed me for something... How weird is this? Where else in the world would I be singing on the front porch of a maternity clinic? I love it!
From 9pmish until 12:30am: Slowly everyone but Suzie and I meander up stairs to bed. We stay on the porch and sing and sing and laugh and sing and dance and laugh. Good times, very good times!!
12:30am 8/25/12: Another postpartum check, mom smiles and baby sleeps. They are both resting well.
1am: Off to bed, alarm clock set for 4:25am when I will get up to check mom & baby again. I drift off to sleep worried I will not wake up to the alarm clock. I always worry and I always wake up
2:30am: Check the clock. whew, I have two hours left to sleep.
4:25am: Chiming, that is getting louder. "Uh, what is that? Oh, gosh my alarm clock" I groggily slip out of bed.
4:30am: Quietly enter the postpartum room. My patient is sitting up. She smiles. I ask her how she is feeling, "OK mam". Chatting with her I ask when the last time she nursed her baby. Not for awhile she tells me. Too long, so I go to work waking up the baby. She does not want to wake up. I tickle her toes, tickle her ribs and move her arms. She blinks sweetly and tries to go back to sleep. "No, no sweet baby, I coo to her, you need to nurse now" Her mom laughs. I glance at the clock. This is fun, but it would be more fun if it wasn't so early. "lets nurse already baby" I think to myself. About 40 minutes later, baby is finally awake enough and she starts to nurse. I the tired midwife heads back to bed.
8am: Up again. I fill up my special blue cup with instant coffee and head down stairs. I start the task of getting my patient discharged. Time for another set of vitals, filling out the birth certificate, postpartum instructions, baby bath...
9:30am: I am praying with my patient and taking a family photo. They are ready to head home with their new special blessing. I am tired, yet I am happy. What a gift to share this special time with this family. God is good.
10:30am: I am finished with charting and tidying after my patient left.
11am to 12pm: Nap. Nice wonderful nap.
12pm: Time to get on with where I left off studying... doing what I don't like, so that I can spend a life time doing what I do like, being the hands and feet of Jesus to families through midwifery.
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