(no subject)

[ocelot]

It is after 10:00PM and still 93 degrees inside the house. Somewhat cooler outside on the porch, where Beeb and I are, but not a ton.

At least the teething seems to be over for now, and Beeb is back to being a good sleeper.

I went to my first birth since Beeb's today. It ended in a c-section - the first one where I've been there at the time the c-section was decided. I'm having a hard time figuring out where to start writing about it.

When I left, the baby had been out for a while but they were still operating on the mom, and talking blood transfusions. It felt wrong leaving them (her mother and husband) standing there alone in the l/d/r room holding the baby, but I didn't know what else I could do beyond make them eat more hospital food.

Comments

[tellinellen.livejournal.com]

how long had the baby been out? were they talking about giving her a transfusion in the O.R.?

i think generally it would be good to wait until mom was in recovery, hopefully give a hand with the first nursing session...

[therealocelot.livejournal.com]

At the time I left, the baby had been out for at least half an hour, and I wasn't getting an update on when the mom was getting out of the OR. And all the people who had any clue what was going on were busy in the OR :(

I also felt a little intrusive at that point, though I suppose I could have waited in the lounge.

In any case, I'd agree with you in general, but as a volunteer with a nursing baby, I can't always stay around open-endedly (I'd been there for 8 hours at that point). Which I suppose is a bit of an excuse, as I would have stayed if she had still been in labor. I dunno.

[tellinellen.livejournal.com]

i understand that it was hard to know what was going on, you weren't getting much information, it was your first c/s client, etc. totally. i hope i'm not sounding negative.

are you working on your own or with a group? (i probably already know this somewhere in my brain so i apologize). if you're with a group, do people take over for each other, or are you on duty from whenever you start to whenever the client doesn't need you anymore? because i know that sometimes doulas are with clients for 24 hours etc and i'm sure that would not be easy to work out.

[therealocelot.livejournal.com]

It's a program the hospital runs, so a group. We sign up for 12 hour on-call shifts, and are expected to stay through the end of the shift (if we're needed that long). I generally stay longer if needed. But in this case, they called on a day I wasn't actually on call, because they just go down the list if no one is on call or the on call person flakes.

At that point, I don't think they would have called in someone new to cover for me.

Uncomfortableness with staying for potentially multiple days at a time is part of the reason I haven't worked harder at getting a certification and paying clients.

[tellinellen.livejournal.com]

that sounds like a great program!