Good morning! It is dark and
cold out. How dark? Dark enough that I can’t see a whole lot from inside. Not
so dark that if I were to go out, I wouldn’t be able to see well enough to get
around. How cold? Not as cold as it has been. Try 26°, feels like 15°. I can
handle that; much better than yesterday’s feeling like 0 (as in degrees, not
nothing).
Amena just got on the bus and it
is time for me to go wake up boys. Such fun the mornings are when there is
school. Some days I really wish that we did homeschool because I would let
everyone sleep until 7:00 and then we would begin the day. I will be back:
threat or promise, you decide.
The boys have all been warned of
the impending water to be dumped on their heads if they do not get up within
minutes. The darkness outside is due to the very cloudy nature of the morning.
What will they bring? Snow? Rain? Nothing? Time will tell.
Yesterday I went to the bank and
Staples and the post office. Today I need to go back to Staples because I
forgot one thing that I wanted and two of the things I got are not quite what I
wanted. At least I found my Rewards card. And I can take the empty ink
cartridges I forgot to yesterday.
I also got a big envelope ready
to go with cards for Alisha and Imani. Imani’s birthday card is very late and
by the time they get them, the Thanksgiving cards will be as well. Hopefully
the thought counts for something.
I also got twenty-four
invitations to the Young Women in Excellence ready to go and in the mail. I
think they are kind of cool and I am very glad for modern technology that
allows a person to see something online and tweak it to fit their needs. I
‘borrowed’ an invitation that another ward somewhere in the United States used
and I am going to use it for the program as well. I also worked on the program
yesterday and other than the information that I don’t have for it yet, it is
all done.
Yesterday afternoon Joanna took
her Jeep over to Ray’s so he could do the brakes. Paul called and told me she
needed something else. I thought he said calipers but he says he said rotors. I
told Joanna calipers so that’s what she got. Paul is going to get the rotors
when he goes to get his hair cut this morning and he’ll drop them off with Ray
on his way to work along with a part that the truck needs. (The truck is almost
done, finally, yay!) In the meantime, Joanna is going to need a ride to school
this morning. I’ll take her in the Jetta and probably pick her up in the van
because Paul ought to be gone by the time she needs to be picked up.
Right now I am going to go print
some papers for Cedric. They are printing and I think it’s snowing out and Seth
is going to need that glass of cold water dumped on his head. He also needs a
good talking to because Joseph announced to Cedric that they were going to get
two Halo guys from Logan. “Logan next door?” I asked? Joseph nodded. “Don’t
take ANYthing from Logan,” I said. “Nothing.”
They have been instructed to
take nothing from Logan and if Logan manages to give them something, to give it
to Mr. Hale, the bus driver, and tell him that it is Logan’s. I want nothing to
do with that child. He has been nothing but trouble since the day the boys
began playing with him.
It is snowing outside. Seth is
finally out of bed and Joanna needs to get up. I don’t like being late and it
drives me crazy when other people push the limits even if it doesn’t directly
affect me.
Anyway, back to yesterday. I
made cupcakes to take with me to the Meet the Doula Night because we were
having a Fall Festival after any potential patients (I still would prefer to
call them clients) left. There were no potential patients so after we
introduced ourselves, which took the better part of an hour, we brought out the
food and ate and talked and ate some more. Liz hadn’t been able to have the
unit specific orientation yet but she was able to after the introductions so
she’ll be able to attend births now.
I signed up for the 11-7 last
night but I called in to see if anyone was in labor (no one was) and to leave
my number in case anyone came in (no one did). It was nice to sleep but I did
wake up at least three times during the night and felt compelled to check my
phone to be sure I hadn’t missed any calls. When I woke up at about 5:45 I
still hadn’t missed any and it was time to make sure Amena was at least awake
and getting up because she needed to have a paper printed out and really needed
to write another paragraph but didn’t have time for that.
While we were doing
introductions, I mentioned that all I have to do to apply for the nursing
program at the Mount is take microbiology and that I’ve been seriously
considering that. Which is odd because I have. The odd thing is that I’ve been
seriously considering it. I don’t like hospitals and I think that most women
who give birth in them sell themselves short. Anyway, it is true that I am
lacking only microbiology. If I were enrolled in it, I could apply this spring.
I think I might take a little trip up to the Mount soon and talk to an advisor.
Today might even be a good day if I am giving Joanna rides (which I might be
because she doesn’t want to drive the van).
Sometimes I don’t know why I say
things. The bit about applying for the nursing program last night is one of
them. But then as I was leaving, I had an epiphany. In Massachusetts, a CNM is
not allowed to attend homebirths and a CPM is not allowed to attend birth in a
hospital. If an RN wants to become a CNM and do homebirth, she is required to
give up her RN. The thought that came to me is that I have heard nothing about
being an RN and CPM. As an RN, I could work in a hospital and as a CPM I could
attend homebirths. The two could work together very well.
It is time to go for now. Joanna
needs to leave soon. The boys need to leave soon. I haven’t had time to discuss
Pitocin yet but I will before I am done for the day.
11:09 am
Well, here I am again. I just
have a few quick bullet points about Pitocin and then I’m done. For now.
Promise.
Good news:
*
Pitocin can get a stalled labor going again
*
if mom is really pooped out, a little Pitocin
boost may be what she needs to finish up
*
if mom is ‘overdue’, Pitocin might be able to
get things going (remembering that if the cervix isn’t ripe, Pitocin will do
nothing to ripen it)
*
when the water has broken and nothing is really
happening, Pitocin may provide the little boost needed to get things going
Bad news:
*
Pitocin can cause hyperstimulation of the uterus
which leads to prolonged contractions which may result in
o abruption
placenta
o uterine
rupture
o decreased
oxygen to baby
o rapid
labor resulting resulting in
§ cervical
or perineal lacerations
§ pelvic
hematoma
§ trauma
to the baby
*
Pitocin is antidiuretic and mom has an IV (that’s
how she gets the Pitocin—along with the fluids) so she has a good chance of
developing water intoxication which may result in
o irregular
heart beat
o hypotension
o nausea
and vomiting
o excessive
swelling
o difficulty
nursing
*
for baby, those prolonged contractions are
likely to cause a decreased oxygen supply which will result in heart rate
decelerations
*
also, baby may end up jaundiced
*
lastly, baby may have a decreased clotting
capacity
Sorry, that’s longer than I
thought it would be. As you can see, while there are some good reasons to use Pitocin,
there are also some good reasons not to use it. No matter what the
circumstances, the pros and cons should be carefully weighed before making a
suggestion and the next time someone suggests its use because the doctor is
going off shift in an hour, I might vomit.
With that cheerful thought, have
a great day!
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