Placement continues…
So this week is week 2 of my placement and I am having a lot more fun. My finger is much better and I only have to splint it occassionally so that I don’t use it too much. I have been brave and am trying to use it more, but I can’t bend it enough to write properly so my writing looks like chicken scrawl at the moment.
Today I got a case load for the first time! I got 3 patients assigned to me, two of whom had c-sections yesterday and 1 who had a c-section a few days ago. I took out catheters, helped them shower, helped with breastfeeding, helped with pain relief, chatted to assess their mental health and how they’re processing the transition, and generally looked after their care for 8 hours. I got to hold babies (the true perk of the job!!!) and change clothes and change nappies and burp babies and had so much fun while all the while keeping an eye on the mothers and how they’re dealing with babies. I now smell like babies (well, actually baby cleaning cloths and lotions and stuff).
One of the babies was a surprise girl (well, not a surprise but she doesn’t suit the names chosen by her parents so far) and has an older brother. He came in today, all of 2 or 3 years old to see his baby sister and on one of my visits, his mum was asking him what the babies name was going to be, with the options being Poppy or Sarah… and he said "Popah" in all seriousness cause really, who can choose. *dies of cuteness*
The next time I visited, he petted my leg and said, "Lady - baby shishter!!" while pointing at the baby. I asked him what noise babies made and he looked thoughtful for a moment before saying, "Squeak squeak squeak!" with his face all scrunched up (baby’s eyes are still closed). *again dies of cuteness*
Yesterday I attended two births in rapid succession. The first was a lovely birth with the woman pushing her bub into the world with dad and mum looking on, and tears all round. I’m not sure I’ll get over the whole tearing up thing when babes are born. This babe had a very short umbilical cord though, which lead to all sorts of rapid responses when it snapped mid-delivery. All is well now though! The parents were delighted with the baby’s gender, which was a surprise (which certainly is a trend I’ve noticed recently - most parents don’t know the babe’s gender unless they have had in-depth tests for another reason) and names were immediately bestowed. In a stroke of bad luck, dad had left their cameras behind at home and was going to use only their camera phone… but for some strange reason, I had tucked my camera into my bag on the way out that day, and was able to take amazing photos for them of the first few moments of life, and the weighing and measuring. I even burnt them to a cd last night and took it back this morning so they had them immediately.
The other birth was with a multip (someone who’s given birth at least once before) who previously had a very fast birth… but this one went quite slowly to start with. The midwife left to call the obstetrician to update him on the progress and I stayed with mum, watching her labouring and helping her with water and breathing. The moment the midwife stepped out, the contractions doubled and in the 20 minutes it took for the ob to get to the hospital, mum went from 4cm to 10cm in several bone-rattling contractions. In a few very vocal pushes, a new babe entred the world! And - I got to catch!!! Not a true whole catch, but I did get handed the baby immediately after she entred the world, and watched as the cord was cut and babe handed to mum. Mum looked stunned that it was over so quickly!
Today I was lucky to only have 3 patients today because I had the time to sit and chat to them all, and get to know them a lot better, and offer one details on CARES for some help with debriefing, and someone else advice on nipple care. I also had time to speak to an obstetrician about attending clinic with them so I can see some ante-natals in what is supposed to be an antenatal placement.
