So, so, soooooo tired.........

Working as a birth assistant or a midwife is never easy under any circumstances -- long, unpredictable, irregular hours, limited sleep, births full of euphoria, births full of stress.  It's a constant whirlwind of driving, sleepless nights, and extremes in emotions.  It gets hard physically as I get older, and it makes me wonder how much longer I'll be able to do this job.

Just in the last five days:

Thursday AM, I was picking up carpool kids to go to our homeschool co-op (where I also co-teach two classes) when one of the midwives called and said we had a client in labor.  I told her I'd send my partner Lori, since Thursdays are a difficult day for me, and also because I already had a car full of children!!!  Just about the time I got to the co-op classes, the midwife called back and said, "I need somebody there now!!  She's starting to push!  Where are you?"  Fortunately, I was only about 10 miles or so away, so I dropped off the kids, called Lori and told her to head back home, I was taking this one!!  I arrived at 8:38 AM; the midwife arrived at 8:43 AM; the baby arrived at 8:47 AM!!!  Wow.........  followed by a hemorrhage and a baby who needed just a bit of help in getting started.  All really was fine, it just was a long, tiring morning.  And we still had violin lessons that afternoon and other errands to run..... a full, busy day.

Friday, I was supposed to take Morgan to college for her class.  However, she woke up with a migraine and decided to stay in bed.  Fine by me -- I needed some rest and a day without so much running around.  However, that changed when my hubby called in mid-afternoon, said there'd been a change in work schedules, and he would be flying in that evening from Georgia.  While it was nice to hear he was coming home, my house was a disaster, I had an already scheduled six-hour meeting with the midwives the next day (our annual training, OSHA review, practicing emergency drills, etc), plus I'd scheduled Morgan's appointment for the new hairdo -- AND Mackenzie was getting sick.  Didn't matter -- Nelson still wanted to come home.  So I spent the rest of the afternoon/evening cleaning house in preparation for his arrival.

His flight was supposed to leave Atlanta around 10 PM, arrive at BWI shortly before midnight.  However, it had been snowing heavily up north all day long, and the previous leg of his flight had originated in Pittsburgh.  His plane ended up leaving Atlanta nearly an hour and a half late.  There was no way I could sit up and wait for him -- I needed to get up at 7 AM for my meeting, and at this point, he probably wouldn't be arriving home until 1:30 or 2 AM.  When I woke in the AM, he was asleep.  I gave him a quick hug, said goodbye, and told him I'd see him in the evening.  I left for the meeting, came back in the late afternoon, swapped cars with him (got a quick hug!), and took Morgan for her 'do.  As I was coming back, I got a phone call from my partner -- we had TWO clients in labor and we both needed to get going..... sigh........ I got home, swapped cars with Nelson again, and apologized for all the craziness -- but what could I do about it?

The birth I went to turned out to be long, slow, tedious.  I arrived around 8 PM; the midwife, the student midwife and I took turns sitting with the client most of the night and trying to catch catnaps when it was our turn to rest.  I got very little rest, because I was trying to curl up and sleep on a small love seat!!

By mid-morning on Sunday, I knew there was no way I was going to be home before Nelson flew back to Georgia -- his flight was leaving at 1:30, and my client was nowhere close to birthing.  I had to call and regretfully tell him that I wouldn't get to see him, and I hoped he would have a safe flight back to Georgia.  He wasn't too pleased, but what could I do??  Plus Mackenzie was now home alone and getting sicker..... sigh......

My client's labor just kept stalling, and by late afternoon, the decision was made to transfer to the hospital.  The client, her husband, their extended family, the midwife and the student midwife all headed off to the hospital.  I stayed behind to clean the birth center -- a long job, mostly because I was exhausted at this point.

I couldn't sleep in Monday AM -- had to take Morgan to college, so I dropped her off and went to Costco to buy a few necessary items (mostly dog food!!) and do some pricing on possible wedding foods.  During this time, I got a call from the midwife that our client had finally birthed around 2:30 AM (Monday morning) and she'd had a TEN POUND, SEVEN OUNCE baby boy!!  Wow!!!  I also spoke with my client who'd birthed on Thursday about all the nursing troubles she was having.  I tried to offer her some ideas and suggestions -- I hope something will help.

I came back home, did some school work with a now very sick Mackenzie and tried to get some things done around the house.  Tired, tired, tired, moving too slowly.  I took a short nap in the evening, which was the wrong thing to do -- then I couldn't get to sleep at bedtime!!  I stayed up doing things around the house and finally told myself that this was ridiculous around 1:15 AM.  I NEEDED to be in bed.

So of course, what happened?  At 2:30 AM, one of the midwives called me.  She had another client in labor and the birth assistant was sick -- could I come help?  Uh...... yeah, sure, I guess.......... I'm DYING, but I guess that doesn't matter........!!  I drove all the way to Falls Church, VA (nearly 50 minutes non-rush hour) and by the time I arrived, the "labor" had slowed WAY down.  Thankfully, we only stayed a few hours before deciding this wasn't the real thing, and headed back home.  I arrived at 7 AM, and was able to sneak in quietly enough that I didn't disturb the dogs too much.  I just plopped on the sofa and went to sleep for two hours until the dogs and Mackenzie got up.  Later I slept about another hour, and right now, I'm so tired, I can barely see to type!!  I think I'm going to set Mackenzie up with some independent schoolwork and go take another nap......

And I'm back on call again at 10 PM -- pray for me!!!  Oh, to be 25 again.......!!!

Sick and tired of being sick and tired!

Sorry for the lack of postings recently -- I've been "trying" to get sick since last Friday. On Monday I took Mackenzie to a field trip at the National Aquarium in Baltimore, and one full day of activity was all it took to kick the "trying to get sick" into "really being sick". Yuck......

So right now, my world is only the living room sofa and lots of soda and hot tea, trying to break up the gunk in my throat and head. Good thing for the internet, because it's the only way I can "talk" right now!!
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Pray for Baby Oliver

My job, while usually fun, exciting and rewarding (though often exhausting!) does have its share of nail-biting moments, moments of despair (such as the loss of baby Logan this past summer), and times of worry. Right now is one of those "times of worry".

We had a client give birth on Monday night -- a very straightforward birth for the most part, especially for a first-time mother. Mother and baby left the birth center and went home about 5 hours later. Therefore, I was quite surprised when the midwife called me the next afternoon to tell me that the baby was in the NICU. He was EXTREMELY jaundiced, especially for being less than 18 hours old. Most pediatricians don't start to really worry about the bilirubin count until it's hitting 16 - 18; Oliver's was 26. That's terribly high by any standard.

Oliver was immediately sent to the hospital, and last night underwent a complete transfusion of all his blood. It turns out he and the mother had a blood incompatibility issue which set all this off; hopefully with the very quick treatment he received, he will have no long-term damage from this. But what a way to start off life with a new baby....... Please be praying for parents P & M and their new baby Oliver.

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Oh, the pain -- I'd never make a good "drunk"!!

Man, this "getting older" stuff stinks. It seems that changes in my hormones have also produced a tendancy to get migraines. I don't think I'd had more than ONE migraine in my entire life until about three years ago, and now I'm getting them twice a year -- and they last FOREVER.

I started getting this headache on Wednesday afternoon, along with a very stiff upper neck. I thought that maybe if I took a short nap, it would go away. WRONG!!! My "short nap" ended up being 3 hours, and when I work up, I was dizzy, my vision was blurry, and lights and noise were killing me. At that point, I knew what what happening..... again...... sigh..........

I did all my normal tricks -- ibuprofen, warmth on my neck and shoulders, resting, Excedrin Migraine..... some improvement, but no real relief. So on Friday, we decided to pack me off to the doctor's.

A quick check showed that it was indeed nothing more than a "simple migraine" -- what's so "simple" about it, I don't really know. Regardless..... the doctor gave me a prescription for Imitrex -- said it would "kick the migraine's butt" and make me feel much better in a few hours. At that point, yes, I was desperate -- I think I would've taken almost ANYTHING that offered some relief. We picked up the medication, and I tried to read through the extensive list of side effects. But by then, it didn't really matter to me; side effects like "heart failure" and such seemed like a pretty remote possibility, as did most of the others. But of course, since I'm such a tea-totaller, the side effects that did catch up with me were "dizziness" and "drowsiness"!! I took the meds at 7:30; by 8:30, I could barely sit up straight on the sofa!! By 9:00, my hubby walked me down the hall, helped me into my PJ's, and plopped me on the bed. He was afraid if I fell asleep on the sofa, he'd never get me moved -- and he was right! I slept the sleep of the dead until about 5:30 AM -- I was just TOTALLY out of it! Unbelievable how hard that medication hit me!

Even now, 17 hours after taking Imitrex, I'm still feeling a bit dizzy. How much is from the meds and how much is from the remainder of the migraine, I don't know. But either way, most of the pain is gone -- and THAT is a good thing!

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A great way to start the day!!

Here's my first attempt at making the cinnamon rolls I mentioned yesterday!! Not as pretty as the other gal's, but good anyway!! I need to do a bit of tweaking -- I think it might've been better if I'd rolled the dough a bit thinner, and used a bit less flour when I rolled out the dough, but all-in-all, a good first try!! My family certainly didn't complain! It does make more than I expected -- the picture above is one of TWO trays of rolls. I think we'll be eating them for a day or two..... hope nobody is too upset (hah!!!).

On the down side, Mackenzie started getting sick yesterday and just could not sleep last night. Poor kid -- she was still up at midnight with a stuffy head, sore throat and coughing. This morning, she sounds like she's hacking up a lung and doing nothing more than resting on the sofa watching TV. Hopefully a bit of rest, fluids, and TLC will cure the problem -- otherwise, I suspect we'll be visiting the pediatrician soon.......