Holy Cow, 2 years!

Tomorrow, my baby boy will turn 2. Time sure does fly. I started this blog at the very beginning of my pregnancy with him and I kept a log of what I was feeling and what was going on with the entire pregnancy, birth and afterwards, of course intermixed with all the wild L&D tales. Sometimes I wondered as I would type up a post, "why am I publishing my life on-line? Should I really be this honest about life?" but now that I'm able to look back, I'm glad I did. I can see just how I was feeling at different parts of my life the last 2 (almost 3) years. The L&D stories are composites with some changes, as to protect privacy, but the rest is just me. I just can't believe it's been 2 years already. He's not a baby anymore. This morning, Isaiah crawled into bed with me and I thought to myself "Two years ago, I woke up on Dec 19, knowing that this was the last day I'd be the mother of only 2 children as Isaiah's birth was scheduled the next day at 7:15am. That night, I didn't sleep in anxious anticipation of meeting my new son. I remember worrying how I would manage 3 children, and although it hasn't always been easy, I wouldn't change it for the world! Happy Birthday tomorrow Baby Boy!


38+ week gestation, night before delivery


Sweet 7lb 15oz newborn Isaiah


Sweet, ornery, full of fun 2 year old Isaiah. Who could resist this handsome little man?!?

Concert

It's pretty easy to get wrapped up in trying to keep up with the amount of work that 3 kids, and two adults create. There is always a pile of dishes in the sink, bottomless laundry baskets, a sippy cup with rotten milk buried in a toy box, screaming, yelling, crying, tantrums, and just a general loudness in my home. Sometimes I forget to stop and just enjoy these kids as they are. Right now I am trying not to disturb Clara and Isaiah. They are both sitting in the recliner and Clara is singing Christmas songs to him. He is sitting quietly (amazing in itself) and is quite happy to listen to her renditions of Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Away in a Manger and O Little Town of Bethlehem. She's been singing to him for the last 15 minutes, which if you have ever been around kids under 8, you know they have attention spans of usually 15 seconds, if they find something entertaining. While I know this little concert won't last much longer, it's been nice to listen to, a nice break to the sound of yelling and the dryer. Maybe the next song I'll see if they'll let me join in...

That's not what its for!

It's always good to continue to learn. Even after several years of working as a labor nurse, I am still learning new things, but there are very few things that could shock me...so I thought. Last weekend I had a patient in labor. It was her and her husband's first baby and they were very excited. She was progressing nicely, got an epidural and went to sleep for the rest of her labor. Since she was numb from the epidural, I placed a foley catheter to keep her bladder drained because she wouldn't be able to feel when her bladder was full. I noticed that the urethra seemed larger than normal, but everyone's anatomy is different so I didn't think too much about it. A couple hours pass and I decide it's time to recheck her cervix. I go to check her and find the foley has come out. The catheter was sitting between her legs with the bulb still inflated, and no sign of bleeding. I searched my mind for the possibilities. I know it was in the right place, because I had a bag full of urine. That foley bulb had 10cc of saline in it - it should not fall out. And if it was pulled out, there would be a fair amount of blood, but there wasn't any. I was dumbfounded. I check her and find her to be 9 cm, so I don't worry about it. She progresses and pushes well so I call the doc for delivery. Perfect delivery, healthy baby with great apgars and the parents are thrilled. Afterwards, I go out to the desk and the delivering doc explains to me that this patient had dilated her urethra for sex. Huh? Maybe I live under a rock, but I had never heard of this. I know people may have their urethra dilated by a doctor for medical purposes, but not for this reason! I wish I was making this up! I guess she has seen a few people, this patient included, that have managed to dilate their urethra enough so their husband/boyfriend/partner can penetrate the urethra during sex. It explains why a fully inflated foley just fell out. Apparently its quite pleasurable for the man, but these women are, as you can imagine, going into the office with raging UTI's and kidney infections. Ouch! WTH people? I can't imagine there being any pleasure in that. Are these men so small that the vagina just isn't enough? I thought just having a catheter put in before my 1st c-section was unpleasant, I can't even imagine something larger. They must find pleasure in pain. But what happens down the road when they are 50? They'll be wearing depends by age 35! I guess everyone is free to do what they please to their body, but damn. I was completely shocked, still am. But, next time I see a fully inflated foley lying in the bed, I'll have an explanation.

Addition: I had to know how common this is and from what I've found, it's not very common, but happens. Maybe this couple used other objects and not a penis, but regardless, why, ouch and yuck!

Watching a Friend Become a Mother

Awhile back, I had the opportunity to take care of a former coworker having her first baby. She was a great L&D nurse with the sweetest disposition, very caring, and never hesitated to advocate for her patients. She started about a year after I did and after a couple years, she went to work in my OB/GYN's office. She had mentioned about 2 years ago that she and her husband were going to start trying to get pregnant, so I've been waiting to see her roll through the doors pregnant and when I'd see her in the office, I'd look to see if she had a belly. She did finally come in. An induction was scheduled for PIH and she had requested that I be the nurse. It was what we call a staged induction: a cervical ripening agent was used to "ripen" the cervix and once the cervix was soft, then pitocin would be started to get things going. They arrived at midnight and I got the induction going...and it lasted all through the day and when I came back the next night, she was still there. Only 3 centimeters. The nurse handing off to me told me that there had been some late decelerations, but she said they had resolved so she had talked with the doc and the pitocin had been restarted. I looked at the strip, still saw lates, and wondered why on earth she had restarted the pit. So I go in and do all the things to try to get the baby to be happy, but it was to no avail. I called the OB, she called for a c/s and we head back to the OR. It seems most of the time when we go back for a c/s for a non-reassuring fetal heart rate pattern, the baby, thankfully, comes out with Apgars of 9 & 9, leaving you to wonder if it was really necessary. Not the case here. This baby did not tolerate labor and was worn out and came out pale, floppy and was not breathing, but after resuscitation, she came around and made her feelings about the whole process known! The pediatrician showed the patient her baby and she looked at my friend and told the pediatrician "That's her mother, let her mother hold her". And with that, the very young birth mother made a huge sacrifice and changed the life of my friend by making her a mother. My friend, who had to leave the OR for a second because it was too much to watch as they worked to get her child to come around and take that first breath, cried tears of joy and relief. Watching someone become a mother is always amazing, but when it's someone you know, it's even sweeter.

The birth mother makes what is probably the most difficult choice she'll ever make when she decides to give the baby up for adoption, its a choice that she will think of for the rest of her life. I can't imagine the grief that birth mothers feel as they hand their baby over to a couple who will provide the life she wants for her child, a life that she can't provide herself. This birth mother said that it was a difficult choice, but she was comforted by the fact that the adoptive parents would provide a life she couldn't at this time, and that this little girl would be surrounded by love. Thank you to all the birth mothers out there for giving couples who are unable to have a biological child, the opportunity to be parents. Thank you for being brave enough to decide not to terminate the pregnancy, but to nourish and carry the child, to labor and deliver, to bear the physical scars of childbirth as well as the emotional scars, in order to give that child the life you want for her. May God bless you.

6 Years

Wow, 6 years. It's been 6 years since my niece Mirabel was stillborn at 39+ weeks. It's amazing how quickly time has passed. She'd have been in kindergarten. I talked with my SIL tonight and she said she is comforted a bit because this Christmas, her daughter has a little cousin to take care of and play with. It is a nice thought if heaven is really like that. Two souls of innocent children, who left this world before they were even born, one left at full term, the other while it was still an embryo. Tonight, the family is remembering little Mirabel Ozara.

Here's a link to Mirabel's story.

Are you tired?

Dear well meaning coworkers,

It is not helpful nor is it ever nice to comment to me "Nurse Lochia, you look tired. Did you not sleep?" or "Are you not feeling well?". Trust me, hearing this every single weekend from the dayshift is old, but when evening shift starts saying it, it gets downright irritating. Yes, I am tired, I work 12 hour night shifts, I have 3 children, the youngest still will wake up in the middle of the night, and he thinks that 5:30am is an appropriate time to wake up for the day. I have a house, kids activities, so yes, I guess I am a bit tired. People, this is how I look. Thanks for the boost to the ole' self esteem. Grrrrr.

Thanks so much,
Nurse Lochia

Football?

When there are young children in your house, you just never know what they will do or what will come out of their mouths. This afternoon, Isaiah was sitting on my lap. Well, it's more like he's bouncing, jumping and climbing. I just happen to be sitting in the chair he's climbing on. I'm fairly certain he's long forgotten all the hours we sat in the recliner, while he happily nursed and fell asleep. He seems much too old for that now. He turns to face me, reaches out and grabs one of "The Ladies". I tell him "No, Isaiah, that's not nice". And his reply? "Football?" No, Isaiah, they are not footballs.