Went to the office for chart review today. We got done, Lynn had a few clients to see, the phone rang. I happened to pick it up and one of our clients said rather breathlessly, "Something might be happening, wee-ooo". She said "wee-ooo" every few minutes and Sara said, "um, they're every 2-3 minutes".
I had just finished admonishing us all that whenever we have clients who are having baby number 2-3-4, etc, we need to bust a move and get over there because they might go really fast. (we've missed two births recently). So to take my own advice, I yelled to Lynn that I was leaving to go to the mom and she yelled back that she was on her way. We passed several cops by the side of the road but they were all busy, hehe, and we blasted on up the freeway.
When we got into the house, the momma was doing dishes and wailing that she wasn't ready, she had too much to do. Her kids were milling around, a precocious girl and sweet boy we had also delivered. Then she went into the bedroom to make the bed ! while breathing and bending over with moans. Her husband was somewhere trying to get home. As soon as I could, I examined her and she was fully dilated with a bulging bag of water. We got equipment out, our student arrived (hurray!) and we got some pads under the mom and told her she could start pushing. About five pushes later, after the water broke all over the bed, she had her lovely wee girl. Her husband is from Burkina Faso and her kids are all gorgeous with curly dark hair and huge brown eyes. Whew.
Her husband arrived after the baby and eventually he held his new daughter. Their son went into the living room and fell asleep on the couch. We cleaned up the room, the bed and mom. We heated some food for her and fed her while she nursed her babe. We gave them our usual instructions and made our leave.
I got home in time to walk through the park. By myself. In the growing dark listening to the geese talking to each other out on the water. I couldn't see them but I could hear them.
Tonight I give thanks for another safe delivery and for a loving family who welcomed another beloved child into their hearts. May it be so for all babies everywhere.
7 comments:
This is so beautiful and stark and filled with love that I almost can't bear it. Thank you for sharing these stories of what you do. You're a goddess.
Every time I read one of these stories I wish I had my babies at home. *sigh* At the time midwives were not covered through my medical and I never would have been able to afford it. It was the following year that BC medical started covering midwives.
How long did you have at this delivery from arriving and the baby's birth?
She was making the bed!
It's so good to read this. So calming and reassuring and right. Why the hell do we read the "news",
which has opposite effects?
I know, it sounds like it took about twenty minutes! I love the 'whee-oo' :) Sweet story, but I'm sad for them her husband missed it!
Ah- if only they were all like this! Well, if they were, I'd have fourteen children instead of four so probably not a good idea.
When I first went to work at the Birth Center in Tallahassee, the nurse I was mentoring under was a woman who became one of my best friends in the world- my Liz Sparks. She told me that part of her ritual after a birth was to go into the kitchen and say what her granny midwife had said after she delivered one of Liz's babies which was, "Thank you JEESUS for another healthy baby!"
I continued the tradition in my own work there.
I'm a nurse but labor and delivery always scared me. It seemed that so much could go wrong and there was so much at stake. I ended up at the end of the line with end of life care which I love but I would love to see babies come into the world.
Beautiful. That's all.
xo
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