Thursday, October 02, 2014

Came home this morning after an all-nighter birth. Every scary thing happened at the birth but everyone is fine. I noticed that my hands were shaking afterwards. I stared at them and they stopped. I mean really. Sometimes all hell breaks loose at births and we just wade in. We deal with it. Sara, my new midwife hire was there and she was everywhere at once.

I actually had blood on my butt that soaked through my scrubs to my underwear. I must have sat in a puddle. Sheesh. My student kindly pointed out the er, butt mess. As I was taking my team to breakfast, I took off my underwear,  put my scrubs back on with a long shirt to cover the gore, and ta-da! No one was the wiser. Really need to bring clean clothes to births.

I slept through the guys banging and hauling outside. We had a meeting about the progress. I like them. They come, hammer, drill, saw and haul to the dump. Then there are plastic tarps flapping in the wind hanging from the roof line.

My health insurance is going up again. Gawd it's a fortune. When can I get Medicaid? Can I get Medicaid? This is the plight of many many people here in this ole USA.

Just keep working, that's what I get to do. And I'm lucky. I'm healthy. I have a job I love. And I'm the boss.

Off to bed again. Looks like someone else is in labor.

6 comments:

Ms. Moon said...

Oh, god. I have been to those births. EVERY THING that can go wrong does, and yet...all ends up well. And bloody.
And who even notices? Someone else.
I love you so, Beth Coyote. I do.

Elizabeth said...

I love hearing these tidbits of your work -- and the honest way you tell it. I can imagine the babies who you help bring into the world are the more fortunate because of it -- because of you!

beth coyote said...

Mary-ditto

Elizabeth-Thanks. We do our best to give those kiddos a good start, a loving start. But when they pull these, ' I'm not gonna breathe unless you make me' shenanigans, I wanna leave the room and have me a gin and tonic.

Mostly birth is normal. Except when it isn't.

XX B

Jo said...

So glad all things ended well. Scary. My first midwife has just had her insurance suspended by our loving health executive because she ... brought a mother who was feeling dizzy to hospital. No mother is unhappy, has pressed chargers or complained, no baby is unwell... She has 31 years of experience and no negative outcomes... and despite the fact that we have hospitals where babies and mothers have died in suspicious circumstances, no one there has been suspended... so frustrating. We have 25 mothers left without her care at the moment. It's despicable.

beth coyote said...

Jo-It is despicable when a good midwife is harassed and hounded by the 'authorities' and mothers are left without a care provider.

Happens in the US, of course. Sometimes the midwife is unsafe but mostly its the stupid OB community that thinks we're all incompetent.

Makes me crazy.

Beth

Jo said...

Ugh, it's making us all crazy. And the worst thing is that most people will just look at it and go, oh, fair enough, keep people safe, while ignoring the news about malpractice, over crowding, intervention etc etc in hospitals. GAH!