A natural birth

Finally, two births in the past couple of weeks which were completely normal (well as normal as they can be in a hospital).

Both fast (not first babies) and no drugs or other medical intervention. One was a complete posterior and came out posterior (and I caught it).

I'm becoming more confident each time - although still have freaked out moments. It is very interesting that at most of the birth's I've attended as a student midwive, the women are so tired and wrung out when baby arrives that the ecstasy of birth is not there. Some are not even interested in looking at their babies.

I've just seen the Business of Being Born (which is a great film), and the homebirths on it show that orgasmic moment - something that has not been present in some of the births I've seen. Is it because they are in hospital? Are women not prepared? I'm sure it can be like that for more women - what is the point of difference that makes a woman feel euphoria at the moment of birth?

I do find being in the hospital environment seems to squash that and really increases the intervention in birth. I so want to get a primary birthing unit established in our area so that women can have a middle ground between home and hospital.

Next week is a big week. The plaster cast comes off Matt's arm - at last. Hopefully we will get the permit to begin building so we can move forward on that. And a big week with the Midwifery exam.

The pressure is on, we have to pass or else that's it for the year ...so back to the books....

Stop the world I want to get off!

It's been a crazy few weeks and I sometimes wonder what the hell I am doing - then I go to a birth and realise it is because in my soul I am a midwife and was always meant to be a midwife!

Events in last three weeks - Matt's arm (which will be in plaster for four more weeks), Nana's funeral, assignments, births and lectures - not to mention moving house and trying to organise builders, kitchens blah blah blah. I feel that I need to just hop off for a day, take a deep breath and get back into it.

We have got assessments an exam coming up for Midwifery Practice plus two assignments due for the Research paper (which I HATE!) as well as attending clinic and births. It is very full on and I'm starting to panic a bit. The midwifery stuff I feel relatively confident on, but the research paper is giving me major headaches and nightmares! My last assignment I had felt was OK but just got it back with a D on one of the learning outcomes - it was very disappointing and the paper is an online paper with the lecturers not being particularly approachable. This is one paper where I will definitely be giving fairly robust feedback on.

We presented our community project on monday, and after a bit of nervousness we presented an awesome project and were very happy with the way it went. One more job off the list.

Tuesday night was the last session for antenatal and I've got the next series off, so that will give me a bit more down time. It was a great group and I will miss them - we had lots of meaty discussions and loads of fun! I was still there chatting to them at 10pm when I got the call from Matty that our woman's waters had broken and that she was contracting but didn't want to move so I needed to race to hospital, meet another midwife and get a homebirth kit. So I raced in and picked up the kit. We'd just got it into my car when Matty phoned and said they'd managed to convince the mum to come into hospital. I went up and waited at the midwives station and did a couple of little bits for Lyndon (the other midwife). Eventually Matty turned up with the mum and her partner. We raced around getting her admitted and doing paperwork and setting up the room. They arrived at 2250 and at 0022 baby was born. We gloved up and Matty said to me "you can catch" and then we were looking at the head and realised baby was a complete posterior which explained why mum was in so much pain! So at 0022 I caught my second baby, a little girl. She needed a little oxygen at about 20 minutes after birth but came right, fed well and is just adorable. I showered mum and did some of the baby check and Matty did paperwork and the transfer and we managed to get mum over to Postnatal ward pretty quickly.

I got home at 3.30am and had a nice long shower, a cup of tea and a sandwhich and massaged my feet which were very sore (I was in my "dressy" clothes from work - so had full make-up, boots and not my normal midwife attire!) and I was just getting into bed when Steve's alarm went off, so had a quick chat with him and then grabbed a couple of hours sleep before my day started!

Sam and Matt's memories of Nana

Hi I’m Samuel Carson and this is my brother Matthew we’d like to talk about my family’s memories of my great grandmother, or as we affectionately called her, old granny.

Whenever we visited old granny at Northbridge we wanted to see the fish in the pond. Old granny always used to give us mints or some money.

Whenever we sent old granny an invitation to our birthday parties, old granny would send a card and a nice note back to us.

Old granny loved to do jigsaw puzzles. She gave us one of a boat with 1000 pieces and we have never ever done it. Once when we visited her she had done a whole puzzle where none of the pieces matched up and she had just forced them in. We thought it was kinda funny.

Old granny loved to sing and had a special song she would sing to me called Sam Sam the dirty old man who washed his face with the frying pan . She gave me a nice Christmas decoration which said S for Sam and she gave us a Santa decoration which we hang in our Christmas tree every year.

One year we took cupcakes with purple icing down to old granny and sang her happy birthday and she was really happy. Old granny had some pretty cool soft toys which we used to like playing with.

Old granny always used to get me and Matthew muddled up (like everybody else). We had a big celebration for old granny’s 80th birthday.

Most of all I remember old granny had a really nice laugh.

These are some of my mum’s memories of old granny. Mum remembers working in the shoe shop with old granny. Old granny taught her the value of hard work, taking pride in your work and also made mum realize that she didn’t want to work in retail.

Every Sunday Mum and Gran went to church with old granny and would have morning tea together afterwards in gran’s kitchen.

Old granny would make the most delicious roast dinners and whenever she visited she would always have some caramello chocolate in her pockets for mum and Uncle Paul.

Old granny was away with poppa on a cruise when mum turned 10 and they sent her a telegram from the Fairstar, which mum still has. They brought her back a transistor radio for her birthday present which in those days was pretty cool.

Mum says that old granny was a crazy, impatient driver and a hazard on the road, and she wasn’t much better in her noddy car, but she always would let mum drive her car.

Mum says old granny always voted national and woe betide anyone who didn’t. Apparently old granny gave some of mum’s boyfriends a hard time if their families were labour supporters. Politics and religion were never discussed at dinner when old granny was around! Old granny had strong opinions and wasn’t afraid to stand up for them.

Old granny was strong and was good at arm wrestling and mum said her and Uncle Paul used to hate it when old granny would rub Vicks on their chests…it was very painful.

Mum remembers the year old granny brought Gruncle Peter a bottle of Gin for Christmas, but it was only half full!

The Hospice shop in Highbury was never as well run as when old granny was in charge.

Mum remembers staying for the weekends at old grannys and being spoilt rotten.

Mostly mum remembers how old granny loved her family and that she had a wicked sense of humour.

We all have memories of old granny and she touched us in many ways. Even though she is gone, her spirit lives on in all of us in the memories we have of her.