Friday, March 7, 2008

i need a babysitter!

i have definitely used up all my favours with family and friends now, while i attend births. the last 3 have all been 24 hour plus births which means that my husband or mother or sister has to take time off to watch the kids.

clearly this is not an ideal situation.

but i'm SO paranoid and i simply can't imagine leaving my kids with a stranger. and to complicate matters, i need to leave the kids somewhere close by. i can't be driving in one direction to leave the kids and then drive downtown to the hospital.

so i've posted an ad in our laundry room bulletin board and i hopefully will find someone that i will feel comfortable with.

wish me luck!

Thursday, March 6, 2008

abandoning a birth

well it happened.

i had to literally RUN out of a birth. in retrospect my mother had been sick two days earlier with a stomach bug but on the day i was called to meet my client at the hospital that was the furthest thing from my mind.

my client had PROM (premature rupture of membranes) which means that her water broke before contractions started. she was admitted to hospital for a cold induction, meaning that her cervix was not showing any signs of being ready. After nearly 24 hours on pitocin, my client was still laughing through her contractions. the pit was as high as it could go for more than a few hours and she was still at barely 2 cm.

going backwards a little, i arrived at 6:30am. at around lunch i went to get some food and i didnt feel entirely right. for comfort food i sought out the dreaded mcdonalds (my comfort food even though i know its going to kill me).

back to 24 hours on pitocin....

the OB tells my client that its looking like caesarean. i had given my client a heads up about this prospect so she wouldnt be shocked but still it was upsetting to her. my client started to mention that i should leave because she didnt want me hanging around just for a c-section. i had every intention of staying to see the baby born (thats the best part dammit!) shortly after this discussion however, i started to feel unwell.

at first i didnt even understand what i was feeling. i thought maybe i needed to eat more or drink more and i called my husband to cry into the phone because i just felt so sick. i didnt know what to do. then i realized that i needed to throw up and thankfully ive spent enough hours in this particular hospital to know where all the nice, private bathrooms are.

i threw up my life and went back to my clients and let them know that i was under the weather. i thought i was fine and while they insisted that i go home, i really thought that i could stay with them. and then i realized that i was going to be sick again and i also realized that something was wrong with me.

i apologized profusely, wished them luck (i think) and RAN out the door.

again, i was violently ill. i ran to the subway, caught the train and made it home just in time to throw up again. and then again and again and again.

seriously, every hour. i have never in my life been that sick.

the good news is that my clients baby was delivered via c-section a few hours after i left and both mom and baby are doing well. the bad news is that while i have recovered, my son has now caught the bug. :(