I must be a Dinosaur!!

...you know sometimes I think it is a thing of the past. Natural Childbirth I mean! It's a very rare thing on my unit to have a mom come in saying she has a doula and will Not be getting an epidural. Very rare! Almost nonexistant!! I'm starting to think I'm some sort of dinosaur!! Seriously! I pushed out 4 babys, the first being almost 12lbs. ( 11-7 3/4lbs to be exact) and I had no pain medication. Oh yeah it hurt, but I knew having a baby was suppose to hurt to some degree! I mean I expected discomfort and was prepared for it. I read like a feign before going into labor. My doc had No idea I was having a Humongous child lol. Boy you can imagine the look on His face when the nurse weighed him!

But it was not unbearable pain. As you moms know, its a hard pain to describe..so I'm struggling to find the words to describe how I felt. But I knew it was work I had to do to birth my baby. I didn't scream. I didn't say nasty things. I didn't panic and I didn't freak out. Weird huh?

I just don't get it today. No one seems worried about the possible effects epidurals could have on our babys. They haven't been around long enough to truly know if there are any problems or lingering aftereffects. I often wonder if epidurals have any relation to the large increase in Autism. Its true today as it was 25 yrs ago. Everything you put in your body is absorbed and is filtered thru the baby. All of it. I think maybe we just don't know if there is any correlation. Time will tell tho.

I watched a few YOUTUBE video's of home births the other day. I have to say that the women delivering their babys without any pain medication have the same level of discomfort as the women I assist in delivery today With an epidural.
The funny thing (to me) is that woman are Surprised and Shocked to feel anything with their epidural. Seriously!! They say "I can feel something!! Make it stop!" Usually its the babys head decending. They don't like it that they still feel that. Some ask me to call for epi bolus's. Lucky for them I can administer a small bolus without calling the Doc.

Last night I had a girl who was just blown away that she was having rectal pressure. LOL, I said "honey you are Going to feel that. You need to push your baby out!! I can'ttttt she crys. I didn't feel anything with my last baby!" Simply amazing.
So I thought I'd share one special YOUTUBE video of women having multiple births "Au Natural". It's beautiful in my eyes. Omgosh I really loved this video!

Yeah, I think I'm a dinosaur lol.

Rudeness!

Man I felt a bit peeved last night! I answered a light for a coworker who was not at the desk. I went down and asked the young lady what she needed. "Bathroom". Ok so I unhook her from her devices and head for the door. I hear "Will you get me a drink?" I felt like saying.."what? Do I look like your waitress?". But I said sure I'll bring you apple juice. No Way was I giving out a menu of the various juices ect available to the "MOM" to be. We don't make a habit of catering to the familys. They can sure nuff look out for themselves. Its mom we're looking after.
Anyway, then the "BF" or "Baby Daddy" says "Me too! OH and some ice in cups too". So out I go and get them juice. They're waiting outside the door when I come back. No thank you. No sorry to bother. Nothing.

OH wait.

There was something.

"Can I have a pair of those neat socks you have here with the rubber on the bottom. I like them!".

Need I say more??

Our Garden 08

No Peanut Butter for Pregnant Moms??

Expectant moms who eat nuts boost child asthma risk
By Michael KahnTue Jul 15, 1:20 PM ET

Pregnant women who eat nuts or nut products like peanut butter daily raise the risk their children will develop asthma by 50 percent, Dutch researchers said on Tuesday.
The study also showed that moderate amounts did not seem to have an effect, meaning it is too soon to say whether pregnant women should give up nuts because they contain many important nutrients and healthy fats a developing fetus needs, they said.
"We were the first to find these strong effects on asthma symptoms," said Saskia Willers, an epidemiologist at Utrecht University, who led the study linking nuts with asthma.
"But until we are certain we don't want to restrict them from the diet. So it is important that other studies replicate the findings," she said.
Asthma is an inflammatory disease causing wheezing, coughing and labored breathing that can be life threatening. In some countries as many as 30 percent of children develop the condition, according to the World Health Organization.
Scientists do not exactly know why some children develop asthma, although some believe that allergies can trigger the disease that causes a narrowing of the bronchial tubes.
Nuts and seafood are known to contain allergens that cause food allergies but the Dutch team only found a link between peanuts and asthma, Willers said.
In their study, more than 4,000 pregnant women completed a dietary questionnaire that asked whether they consumed vegetables, fresh fruit, fish, eggs, milk, milk products, nuts and nut products rarely, regularly or daily.
The researchers, who published their findings in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, then assessed the children's diets and looked to see who had developed asthma over an eight-year period.
Children whose mothers ate as little as one peanut butter sandwich a day had a far higher risk of asthma, Willers said in a telephone interview.
"If you eat moderately, it is probably not a problem," she said. "It is only if you eat nuts or nut products on a daily basis."
The study did not find a mechanism but Willers said peanut allergens may be crossing the placenta and sensitizing a fetus, making a child more prone to the disease.
The researchers also found a small benefit from eating fruit daily, and reported that the link between asthma and nuts remained after factoring for the child's diet, Willers added. (Reporting by Michael Kahn; Editing by Ibon Villelabeitia)

Wow. How did I Ever go through 4 pregnancys safely! I avoided too much coffee and drank NO alcohol of course, but otherwise I ate everything! Gosh I'm glad I'm finished with pregnancy because I Love peanut butter!

Ok so after getting up late this am (9:30am) and making myself a nice pot of coffee, I thought I'd try to put together my idea for a birth poem card. I came up with this...so what do you think? This size seemed to look nice in hand, and I thought I might laminate them. Then I thought instead of making a big deal about giving it to the mom, I would just tuck it in with her belongings as I pack her up to go to the floor. Feedback peeps!! =)

Breastfeeding Anyone!!

Well I have an experience to share. Some of my fellow L&D nurses will shake their heads because they've had dealt with this too..

I had a young mom (18yrs old) last night who I accepted as my patient when I came on my shift last night. Her family was around her encouraging her on. She pushed like a trouper and did a great job with her birth. Great! So about 30 mins. after birth I ask her if she is bottle or breast feeding. She looks at me and says.. "umm well bottle, but I want to try breastfeeding just to see...". I say "I will help you. You can do it!". I sit her straight up in bed and unbutton her gown and put a few pillows on the bed. When I place her sweet baby boy to her breast he latches on immediately. "Seee! I told you you'd do great!" I place the pillows so her arms don't get weary holding the baby up. Baby contines to nurse for 20 mins then sleep quietly at her breast. I feel like I've shown her how easy and how natural her baby took to her. Well her girlfriend asks her if she likes it. She says, "Well no but I know its good for him, so I'll do it for a few days." Well I give her the whole talk about how easy breastfeeding is, how it makes her skinnier faster lol, how it makes her uterus go down faster, how convienant it is, and how its FREE!!! She just looks at me and says "well I'll do it while I'm here in the hospital. But my mom bottle fed me and I don't think I like having him pull at my nipple."

I felt a bit frustrated by her disinterest, because this baby boy was truly one of those babys who just Knows what to do without any help! But I've also learned that if the mom isn't really keen on breastfeeding it is Very hard to convince her otherwise. I mean, her mother in the room LEFT when it was time for me to help her nurse. Like she was embarressed or uncomfortable. She looked at me like I had two heads when I told her how wonderful breastfeeding was. She said "well I bottlefed my children and they were fine". Sigh. There was no support there. The BF only said "She can do whatever she wants to do..."

Well so I did my bit. Baby nursed well. I told her how lovely she looked feeding her baby. She smiled. But I don't think she'll keep it up. I hope she proves me wrong!! But I'll never know.

Baby Poems?

Ok this might sound Reallyy dumb to some here, but its rolling around in my head. I would like to make a very small "gift" to give to the moms who I deliver. Not anything that would cost bucks, but something thoughtful and something for her to keep. I was thinking of just a short poem about babys and how lovely sweet wonderful ect ect they are. I could laminate it and give it to mom after the birth. I could sign it in handwriting at the bottom, "From Joanne, your nurse".
Does that just sound stupid tho? I get very connected to moms many times (not all tho believe me) and feel almost a part of the whole celebration of birth. I'd like some little remembrance like this to give them before they do their time in recovery and leave for the floor.
Anyone have any ideas? Poems? Or am I just getting TOoooo involved ?